October 10, 2007
Performance Class: Lauren
My friend Lauren sang three pieces for our class. Here are all three of them.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 2:21 PM
A Window to his Love
Here is my final performance from our Classical Mothers of Boulder County Performance Class.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 2:08 PM
O Divine Redeemer
We only taped half of this song because it was so pathetically bad. But it does illustrate the nature of our group, peer review and support. Lauren encouraged me to sing it to the bitter end, even though my voice gave up half way through. I'm preparing this Gounod Piece to perform in sacrament meeting during the Christmas Holidays. I know it needs a ton of work, but hopefully I'll have a much more polished version to share in a couple of weeks.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 11:33 AM
Come Sail Away
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 10:58 AM
October 9, 2007
Classical Mothers of Boulder County October 9th performance class
This morning we had our performance class. Three moms and three children attended. I had to show up a half hour early because Paul had to take Allison to the orthopedist to get her shoulder checked. She tore her rotator cuff playing basketball last spring and the season starts in a few weeks. She has been going to physical therapy, and had to give up the fall gymnastics season while she healed. Doc gave her a big thumbs up for playing BB and she does not need surgery...relief!
Anyway, Ben and I went early and I messed around on the piano for a half hour before the other gals showed up. I filmed a couple of my songs. Please note these are rehearsal quality, as is most of the stuff I share on this site. It is nearly impossible for me to get actual performances filmed, so the rehearsals are all I have to share at this point.
Here is one of them titled, Eternity is You!
I'll upload the rest of the clips over the next few days. We had a very productive class, even though my cords were a little under par and I have the sniffles.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 1:38 PM
August 23, 2007
Huff Po: Stressed Opera Singers Turn to Drugs
Stressed Opera Singers Turn to Drugs
This is one of the reasons I love being an amatuer singer. If I were under all of that professional pressure, it would take the joy out of singing. The definition of the word amatuer
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 6:13 AM
August 2, 2007
Broomfield Choral Festival - Beethoven
Tonight I had a rehearsal with the Broomfield Choral Festival.
We are performing several works of Beethoven.
The "Hallelujah" from the Mount of Olives, my personal favorite
Mass in C Major
And The Choral Fantasy
This music is so majestic! I just love listening to is, rehearsing it, and having it running through my mind during the day while I do housework. It is just awesome!
I stopped by the mall on my way home and caught the last few minutes of a real disco band playing for free in the garden. This band, Boogie Machine, was playing some classic Earth, Wind, and Fire when I walked by and it just called to me....."come on in and dance Jen....so I did. They were playing Let's Groove, which is one of my favorite dance tunes. It was fun and the crowd was going crazy.
I have had my musical hit for the week, time to go back to mothering and help the children get ready for school registration next week. We bought all the school supplies and Allison has Gymnastics camp all next week. Should be fun to get back on a schedule. We are also winding down the last few days with Michelle Home before she takes off for University life!
I need to sleep!
Love, Jen
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 10:06 PM
April 3, 2007
HuffPo: Leslie Benetts: The Feminine Mistake
Bleech!
"I wrote The Feminine Mistake: Are We Giving Up Too Much? because the typical reporting on the job-versus-family issue was so biased and incomplete. The media gave lots of coverage to women who quit the labor force to become full-time mothers, but they treated this decision as if it were simply a lifestyle choice. They never seemed to mention the risks of economic dependency -- or the myriad benefits of work. As a result, women were being lulled into a dangerous sense of complacency about relinquishing their financial autonomy. Why wasn't anyone telling the truth about how much they were sacrificing -- or what the consequences could be?
When I researched the subject myself, my findings made it all too clear how false that sense of security really is. Over time, most stay-at-home wives are likely to face major hardships as a result of divorce, widowhood, a spouse's unemployment or illness, or any number of other challenges. Women who abandon their careers and become financially dependent on their husbands often look back on that decision as the biggest mistake of their lives -- even women in stable, enduring marriages. I interviewed women all over the country, of every age, socio-economic level and background, but many used the exact same words to ask an angry question: "Why didn't anybody tell me what a mistake this was?""
And man, isn't our society lucky to have such a sage in Leslie Benetts, that she is here to let us know how big of a mistake we are making when we marry and become financially dependent on our men.
A few thoughts....I have not read this womans book, just her piece at Huff Po, so maybe it is wrong to even comment on her piece without her full argument being reviewed.
That being said, the very title of her essay, calling this choice to become dependent on our husbands a MISTAKE, sets the tone of the debate.
I suppose in Ms.Benetts ideal world all women attend college until they are 32, then accept a job from some "empowered" she-male, and then gets artificially inseminated to give birth to one child, you know, just for the experience, and because that time clock is ticking, and the second the baby turns four weeks old, shoves it into the care of someone else while momma stays "independent and financially stable", and thus saves herself the trouble of having to ask that ANGRY and hopeless question...."Why didn't anybody tell me what a mistake this was???"
In Ms. Benetts ideal world womyn have no need to mess with the rather untidy life of the stay at home mother, and no worries about the future. Momma as breadwinner means womyn will never have to bow down to any patriarchal system, and can stay nice and healthy, financially and otherwise, and never ever have any problems, whatsoever. Because everyone knows that the only women who have problems are those who get married young and rely on a man to provide their food, clothing, and shelter.
Sorry Ms. Benett, your whole premise stinks.
I am completely aware of how dependent I am on my husband. I like to think of us an an interdependent team. However, I choose not to wallow in "what iffing" about the future. Should some unforseen situation present itself where I am the sole breadwinner for my family, I trust that as a smart, intelligent woman, I have the capacity to take care of the children who would then be dependent on me for the basics to survive.
I don't have a degree. Outside of stints working as an actor, waitress, medical assistant, maid at a hotel, house cleaner, health club dance instructor, and various network marketing businesses, as well as childbirth teacher, I have never had what others would term an ideal "career".
I have spent the past ten years writing books that few people are interested in reading, promoting natural childbirth in an epidural world, and blogging about natural family living. Endeavors that are not exactly tied to financial freedom.
I suppose if I wanted to make some money at blogging, I could promote sickness on my Blog and then the various sick culture big money machines would come calling, but for now promotion of healthy family life is not a cash cow for our family budget.
Truth be known, without my husbands support I could never have written my E-books, set up my web sites, or even considered blogging. As a computer genius specializing in web connections and fire walls, Paul has been most supportive of my Blogging adventures. Perhaps it would have been better for me to hire a web expert, just so I could say that I was an independent womyn not guilty of making any goofball feminine mistakes like depending on my husbands generousity of spirit while helping me blog.
He installed Movable Type on my site and has helped me in a thousand different ways to be a better online writer. As my in house "free" tech support, he has been the reason I've been able to share my words, pictures, and videos on the web. Perhaps your next book should be titled - "The Male Mistake; hard realities for the husband whose wife spend every spare second blogging."
I am fully aware of the difficulties that COULD happen if my husband were unable to work for some reason. Yet I continue to take my children to the park, spend my time cooking, cleaning, and raising our five children, and call myself most blessed among women for the luxury of this amazing lifestyle where I have the freedom to be queen of my own little castle.
And, I get to choose how I will schedule my free time without worrying about providing food, clothing, and shelter for our brood.
Every time we go out into the sunshine to play, I feel this overwhelming gratefullness in my heart for a man who is willing to work hard every day to provide for me and our children. And I trust and have complete faith that should my husband be called home to heaven, that a kind FATHER In Heaven, the ultimate Patriarch, will be as aware of me as the Lilies of the field, and will help me to know how to feed, shelter, and clothe my family as a single woman.
Don't call my life choice a mistake.
And don't assume that I am some idiot who has no ability to prepare for the future, or understand that my husband being gone will mean major adjustments to our lifestyle. I am well aware of how quickly things could change, but that does not mean I am going to put my children into the care of someone else and go start working on a career.
I am engaged in the most fulfilling career any woman could desire.....writing living epistles as we partner with God in the creation of something eternal and holy....A Family.
As I read this essay I was reminded of the play Pippen, which I performed over forty times during summer stock theatre in 1987. The main character in the play is a young man who wants to find meaning in his life, and so he experiments with a variety of lifestyle choices, running from war to politics to womanizing to family life in search of the ultimate happiness and fulfillment. At the end of this musical, he learns that being committed to a family is what will bring him the most fulfillment, and admits that he is "trapped, but happy".
Here is a clip from the final performance of the cast of 87 in West Yellowstone Montana at the Playmill Theatre. I included our curtain call, as well as the tradition of "street greeting" that we did after the final show of the evening. This particular audience was made up of many friends, family members as well as members of our church congregation in town and former players from previous casts. So alot of hugging was going on as we said our goodbyes.
I am dressed in light blue, and show up here and there in the clip.
Sometime in the future I will share a bunch of clips from this play, it is a profound and wonderful commentary about what brings true happiness and fulfillment in life.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 9:03 AM
March 23, 2007
Final Performance of Down By the Riverside
Here is our March 17th, 2007 performance of Down by the Riverside from our recent concert with Colorado Repertory Singers.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 11:26 PM
March 12, 2007
Music
Church of the Holy Ghost in Denver
I sang in a concert yesterday at the Catholic Church of the Holy Ghost in Denver. We performed a couple of songs from our upcoming concert this weekend, and I sang the solo in Down by the Riverside. Here is the clip of my solo:
And here is a short clip of our finale: Shelter your name:
And the final clip of Shelter your name:
When the director asked us to snap and do a little leaning at the end of the song, I joked to those around me that we would look like Steve Martin in the Jerk trying to snap to the blues. A couple of sopranos were laughing so hard we were crying.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 6:03 AM
February 27, 2007
Bens Sings Book of Mormon Stories
When Ben started attending Primary last January, he immediately fell in love with all of the action songs that we use to teach the children gospel principles. The song he loves the most these days is Book of Mormon stories, with all of the actions. Here is a short clip of him singing it last summer, with a little help from Mom.
Tomorow I am starting a Mommy and Me music class at our church. I plan to teach a ten week course for Mothers with small children and finish the class with a simple talent show to be performed for the Dads and older siblings.
This should be a really fun project. I'm curious to see how many people show up.
I also have my Colorado Repertory Singers performance coming up. Have not heard yet on the Les Miserables solo. The director held five and a half hours of rehearsal last week and on saturday held a sort of call back audition for On My Own. He gave the I dreamed a dream solo to someone else, but he asked me and four other singers to sing the On My Own solo one more time. Truth be told, I would rather sing that one than the dream song.
He also auditioned me for the solo in Down by the Riverside, which is a spiritual. I found this great version of it on You Tube. Click on it to hear Sister Rosetta Tharp singing it. The soprano solo in our version is at the end, about five pages. I'm looking forward to doing it if he decides I'm the right voice type.
We are also gearing up for the Carnegie Hall Performance of Faure's Requiem. I have been rehearsing it quite a bit this week, and find myself loving it more and more each time I sing it. Music about the Savior just melts my heart.
Well I better run, busy day tomorow.
UPDATE: Later that night
Paul and Andy have just spent the past two days baking the most amazing chocolate peppermint cake. Tonight was the blue and gold banquet for weblos and they have a tradition of father/son cake baking every year. They pretty much chased me out of the kitchen these past two days while they mixed, baked, melted, sifted, and frosted the most amazing cake.
No contest this year, our stake is becoming politically correct with both this cake contest and the road shows. Competition is BAAAAAD. Cannot hurt the little tykes feelings....they are soooo sensitive. Its pathetic but indicative of our nicey, nice world. No more competition, everyone is equal, bland, same....what a load of collectivist horsey puckey.
Andy and Paul with the cake (And Bens finger swipes on the side)
Cakes at the contest
More Cakes....
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 6:53 PM
February 21, 2007
HuffPo: 'American Idol:' Biggest Big Thing Ever
'American Idol:' Biggest Big Thing Ever
"It's not just 'Idol's' numbers per se, or that it broadcasts thrice weekly, that makes it so hard to counter-program. It's the scope of its appeal. The show almost always wins its nights and weeks in Adults 18-49, Adults 18-34 and Teen, which means that the only thing left standing in the time-slot is programming that aims at a more senior demographic."
This is about the only show on television that our whole family enjoys watching together. Paul and I both agree that having something positive to talk about with our teens is one of the most wonderful aspects of the show. We generally debate who to vote for and sometimes vote for a couple different people on the same night so no one feels left out. Ace Young from last season is from Boulder and his mother is a friend of mine. She is a mormon and we have known each other for years because she is a musician. Having him on the show last year really made it real for our children.
We plan to watch American Idol for a long time to come.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 7:31 PM
February 16, 2007
Life Circles
Woke early this morning, Ben was ill, I gave him a bath and a quick essential oils massage on his back to help ease his symptoms, itchy skin, congested. While he was in the bath I asked him what he ate at the basketball game last night..."any candy?" "No, Mom, all I had were some Cheetos." Not much better, but at least he wasn't sugar saturated.
Allison had her last Basketball Game last night. Spring sports start next week, soccer and track, and she wants to do both. I was hoping we would have a little break, but with new practices next week, plus the regional BB tourney, it will be the most busy week of all.
Ah Life, it just gets busier and busier, no let up in site. More Complicated and more fun.
I found this old picture in an album a couple weeks ago and decided to scan it and then put it here on my blog. Allison was ten days old, and I had just experienced the realities of a cesarean section. One of those baptism by fire moments in my life. I remember feeling betrayed by all of my childbirth ideals.
Yet isn't that life? We have some sort of a picture in our minds of how we think life should go, and then reality smacks and it is so far from the ideal that we had hoped and dreamed about, we could not possibly imagine how things could get worse, and then sometimes it does get worse, not always, but sometimes it does and we look up to heaven and wonder, "God, do you have some sort of wicked sense of humor, is this funny to you?" Or the question Ashers wife keeps asking (yes, almost finished the book...it is riveting) - "Asher, is there a plan? Tell me there is a plan" when trying to reconcile her parents and extended family being murdered during the haulocaust.
I was first introduced to the music of Les Miserables during the summer of 1987. Our music director Matt sang Bring Him Home for the cast of the summer stock I was participating in. And I cried. No, I wept. Stirrings. Again, the deeps of my being stirring. As soon as I had the cash, I bought the London Casette. Then early in our marriage I purchased the Broadway Cassette and was surprised to find out it was even better. We Americans are so conditioned to believe anything from Europe is better than that produced right here in the good ol US of A.
The early years of our marriage defined by Les Mis. Saw the musical three times with traveling casts: Detroit, Cincinnati, Salt Lake City. Singing the songs with guitar, piano, performing, performing, performing. Where is that score? Lost the music, oh well, we can get it off the internet....but never do. Last christmas Paul was asked to sing Bring him Home at the Christmas Party. Sure I can do it, sung it a hundred times. I thought he sang it wonderfully, even though I know he only rehearsed a couple times.
That music swells the memories. Good, bad, ugly.....beautiful. It's funny putting stuff up on You Tube, some of the comments on my vids show that people expect perfection, it is all they hear on the radio, perhaps not understanding how difficult it is to nail a performance live. They don't understand that what they hear on the radio is perhaps something that had been recorded dozens of times looking for perfection. Yet when Amatuers like hubby and I sing and share...perfection is expected and if not delivered well, tsk tsk, you are not quite good enough for me....lowly charlatan.
I've never claimed or pretended to be anything than what I am, an amatuer singer who loves music. I missed rehearsal last week for Colorado Rep...too busy with basketball, so I did not know they were holding auditions for Les Mis last night. We are singing a choral medley of the show, 32 pages of it. My friend Patricia called yesterday afternoon and said she was going to try for the soprano solos and did I want to come along. I told her no, I did not plan to audition, my asthma has been really bad and I just didn't think I had the air power to sing it right. She told me I was welcome to come along with her anyway, and so I did. "perhaps you will change your mind", she said as we ended the call.
I had not even looked at the score to see what solos were involved. And I have not sung anything from Les Mis for years. Five minutes before she showed up, I opened up the piano and plunked out the first line of I dreamed a dream, then grabbed the leash for my dog and ran outside to walk him before she showed up to take us to rehearsal. As I walked the dog, I sang full voice the first verse of I dreamed a dream....And it all came crashing back into my mind. The emotion of that song, the lost love, betrayal and depression. "when hope was high and life worth living"...."but there are dreams that cannot be"...
So often in my life I have had moments....long moments, years, weeks, days when hope was gone. When all that was being presented to me was destruction and depression. The words that came from professional lips....devastating to my heart. "you probably shouldn't have any more children"...."you are too fat to be a part of our troop"...."you just aren't good enough"...."No, this illnes is permanent"....."You can't have a vaginal birth after a C-section, you or the baby could die!!!"....and on and on and on.....
Where was MY ideal life? Under that proverbial rock, hidden from view? God, is there a plan? Is all of this mental torture really necessary?
As I walked the dog I sang Fantines words...."I dreamed a dream"
"There was a time when men were kind, when their voices were soft and their words inviting.
There was a time when love was blind and the world was a song, and the song was exciting.
There was a time.
Then it all went wrong.
I dreamed a dream in time gone by.
When hope was high and life worth living.
I dreamed that love would never die,
I dreamed that God would be forgiving.
But the tigers come at night."
with their voices soft as thunder.
As they tear your hope apart,
as they turn your dream to shame...."
Do ALL women feels these same feelings? Do all women have their hopes crushed by one thing or another in life? Do ALL people have their dreams turned to dust while they plod along trying to find out what life is for?
I look at my life and the blessings overwhelm. Once in a while I will meet a new friend who knows nothing about our family and the message that is conveyed to me is that our family is perfect and does not have the problems and issues that other people deal with. When this belief is expressed to me I sometimes attempt to look the person in the eye and nod and accept her assessment of things, but a couple of times I have found myself busting out laughing at the irony of it all, "no, not laughing at YOU, not dismissing YOU...you just don't know anything about it, that's all".
If you think you have met a perfect family, you just don't know them well enough. This does not mean that we all have to air our dirty laundry on a realty show, so that others can see the various foibles and traumas we have experienced. But the question does come to mind, "if we are all struggling with life and the various trials and temptations that life affords, what is it all about?" Why all of this struggle? Why all of this pain? Gut wrenching, lung collapsing, fever inducing pain?
After five minutes of walking the dog, I decided to audition. As we drove to the church where rep singers rehearse, I decided to belt it instead of try to sound pretty. It is not a pretty song. It is that gut wrenching, lung collapsing, fever inducing pain song. It is a song about a woman who becomes a prostitute to save her child. It is about mother love and women love and the depths that a soul will go to try to make her life work.
So yes, I sang it ugly, I sang it powerful and raw, and figured if the director wanted it that way he would have me do it. Sure, everyone else sang it pretty, choral music is pretty and melodic, and QUIET!!! And I sang it loud. When I finished he said "well we just heard the broadway version of that"...nothing else. Somtime I'll record a version of it and shove it up on YOU TUBE, so others can hear my rawness. Is it possible to sing a song like that without the hoplessness it contains spilling out, even when the singer trys to sing it pretty?
I don't know. I just know how I had to sing it the way I did. Don't really care if I get to sing it at our concerts. (Ok that's a lie) I have not worked with this director long enough to know what he wants, and that is good because it frees me to sing how I like without caving to the pressure to attempt to sing how he would have it. The long timers in the group all sang it choral style, so perhaps that is what will win the prize of the solo. Solos are a prize, they give visibility and kudos and praise and challenge. I love to perform. My heart thrills with each second of connection with a live audience. The overwhelm of adrenaline, the crash of applause, the absolute thrill of touching someone else to the depths of their being....true emotion, true weeping.....I love every bit and piece of it.
We have some women in our world, Amanda Marcotte comes to mind just because she has been in the middle of the current blogger storm, who have used some derogatory language to describe certain aspects of mothering. The Conservative Blogs have been particularly vicious to her. Out of curiousity I went to her site to surf around and see what she really thinks, and found this entry, and several like it, that passionately spoke in favor of women's rights of self determination. Go Here.
QUOTE:
"One woman whose name I’m not sure I can spell correctly (Laura Pemberton I think) gave one of the most moving presentations at the summit when she told her story of trying to evade a court-ordered C-section that violated her religious beliefs. (She had one C-section before under genuinely dangerous circumstances, and the “no vaginal after a C-section” rule kicked into effect.)
Hers was a horrific story of a patriarchal medical and court system that came into collusion and forced this C-section on her in a way that made it clear that after a certain point, it was a punishment against her for refusing to deliver at the hospital and trying to deliver at home.
After all, by the time the police came to the house, arrested her, strapped her down to the table at the hospital and had the court order in hand to operate, the baby was just about to come out. (She said she was dilated to 9 centimeters—I don’t know what this means, but it made the audience gasp.)
After she told her story, she was asked about her views on abortion and she got rigid, stating that she thought it was wrong, and she made it clear at another part of her presentation that she felt it was a woman’s god-given duty to have children. This woman was the religious conservative red stater that people who talk about compromise on abortion want to lure over.
And yet here she was sitting at the table with a bunch of crunchy feminists, queer activists and generally cantankerous pro-choicers (literally, she sat with our little group at lunch one day and was winking at and laughing with some of our more goofily feminist jokes)—not because we had limited our demands for women’s rights but because we expanded those demands and the expanded view of what women’s rights are was appealing to her. Talk about choice, she’s not at the table. Talk about a woman’s right to self-determination and that means something to her.
The reason that liberals are losing people is because we’re too timid about pushing forth our agenda. And this came up again and again—women who for whatever reason aren’t overly interested in this discussion of “choice” came to the pro-choice table because the people at NAPW are talking about the much larger concept of justice and the right to self-determination."
I was thrilled to go to the source and read for myself what she wrote, because I am a conservative and spend quality time reading conservative bloggers, it would have been easy to dismiss Amanda as a feminist nut and stereotype her and yet here she is passionately articulating a view that I completely agree with, nodding my head as I'm reading, thinking "You go girl".
And so the circle of my life widens and broadens. Heck I do the same thing when I listen to Nancy Pelosi talk about immunizations. "YOU GO GIRL!" It is always wise to go to the source and read for ourselves rather than let our minds be dictated to and massaged by other writers.
As maturity bids and I get closer to grandmother years and old age (Stop laughing, I know I just turned 39 and everyone over the age of 45 is going puleese), I find myself mellowing. The fires of movement that ruled my twenties and early thirties into childbirth activism are slowly winding down. Why? Frankly, I'm tired. I want to spend my time and energy on something else. Musical Theatre and Choral Singing satisfys something very deep in my soul and it brings much less distress into my life than birth activism. It's not that I have lost any belief or passion for holistic birthing, it is more that with the writing of my books, the birth conference I organized in 2001, and the various things I have written on my blog, that is about all I have to offer to the cause.
I pray that my writings have helped to articulate the truth that creating a body for a child is the ultimate act of creativity. It is the fullness of womanly power. It is the most beautiful and artistic use of her female skill and intellect. If you feel that you have been betrayed by motherhood and your child is anything but the serene, peaceful, beautiful soul that you have hoped and prayed to give birth to, might I suggest approaching mothering in a different way..and would you be offended if I even throw out the idea that perhaps healthier living is the answer?
Teaching Bradley Childbirth in our home in 1992 - nursing baby Allison while I taught.
I occasionally feel a burning desire to go to my young friends, newly pregnant, wide eyed, and so hopeful...so innocent...so beautiful in their mother glow. Grasp them by the arms, shake really hard...and yell so loud, no one can miss one word of what I say, and scream..."DO NOT LET THEM CUT YOUR BODY!!!"
I know that won't be very effective, and so I have never done it. But every once in a while, yes, I am tempted. If you saw someone about to walk over a cliff with their young children, you would yell...right?? You would scream. You might even jump at them and try to pull them away, perhaps even scratching and hurting them or the children in the process, but knowing that what you did was right and good and necessary....You would do that, right???
That is how I feel at times when I listen to the birth stories, when I listen to the young ones quoting their doctors and midwives and sharing the stories....
I'll keep writing, sharing, praying, hoping that something I write will influence someone, even just one, one family, one birth, one baby born more gently, more peacefully....but at times I get so frustrated with the whole thing I just weep.
I remember pouring out my heart to Heaven one day. I yelled in my mind to Father in Heaven...."WHEN is it going to be fair?" "When is this montrosity of a whore going to go down in flames?
What keeps me going are the babies. The birth stories. The glow I can HEAR in the voices of my friends when they call or email to let me know another baby has been born into the hands of its father. Amanda Counter wrote me such an email when she gave birth to her fourth baby at home. It was a painful birth, and when I wrote her back to revel and tried to find the words to comfort, I just told her some life events take you to the depths as a woman and we have no guarantees that birth will be painless. When a home birth feels like a betrayal (Did it really have to hurt that bad???), it does cause the momma to look up and ask, "is THIS pain really necessary???".
I don't know. It just is what it is. Some births are painful, some are painless. I've had both. Amanda was still able to do it at home and it was a triumph for her. Perhaps the pain opens us up to the greater depths of joy motherhood has to offer. And when a woman conciously chooses to anesthetize herself from the pain of birth, perhaps she cuts herself off from the ability to even feel the joy that COULD be hers if she would trust the process of birth.
As I circle around this life, experiencing the joy of music, performance, laughter, the heights and the depths of mothering I trust that in those things I don't understand that there is in fact a plan, a purpose, a meaning...to the pain.
I believe Salvation is the goal and exaltation is the prize.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 4:36 AM
February 11, 2007
Wide Mouth Grin Live in Concert
Last night my friend Lynn and I went to hear her husbands band at the Dark Horse in Boulder.
This is my favorite way to hear live music, in a small venue, intimate, with really talented musicians.
My camera is a cheap one, so the pics and video play out rather badly, sorry to the guys in the band! But for those of you interested, especially those of you here in Colorado who would like to give this band a listen, they play all over the front range and in some of the better Mountain venues. Here is a link to their web site.
And here are some pictures and three video clips on that I put up on You Tube:
Laughing Lynn with Steve!
Mark Jamming on his Bass.
Live Music is the best!
Video Clip #1
Assortment of CDs and promotional materials.
An original jam band!
I loved the various solos and the fact that the band did not limit itself to one style of music. I heard alot of jazzy music, with a great mix of blues, rock, and good old fashioned jamming.
I grew up in a home where my brothers were always practicing music with various jazz and rock bands they put together. We had the drum set, so practice was always at our house, and it was fun hearing the band and meeting the guys, all of whom are fathers with young children, they reminded me of the guys my brothers used to jam with.
Check out their web site, lots of free music to hear!
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 7:11 PM