A letter to those in high school marching band

High school marching band was something that defined me. I went to all the events - contest, football games here and away, pep rallies, etc. I held leadership positions. I made my high school career committed to the band life. There are many like myself that find marching band to be their safe grounds where they have others there to support them and laugh with them. It's a team essentially. One thing I did not understand as a high school student in band is the lack of recognition the band received. I was always troubled at how the band was successful and won many awards but was second to the athletics department. 

In high school there seemed to be a division between those in athletics and band. Neither liked each other. The band kids normally dogged on the football team for "not being very good" or bashed the spirit squads for being "revealing". The same happened in direction towards the bandees saying that we are "nerds". Yet almost every Friday night they all came together for football. 

Now that I am in a college band, I have had many of these issues come to light, but my perspective has changed. I want my high school band friends to take the things I've learned into consideration:

1. The band is there to support our teams to victory.

I know a lot of us do not want to hear this, but if it were not for the football team the band would be limited. The reason the band goes to the games is not to perform at half time - anyone can do that - but to cheer our teammates to victory. We are teamed together with the spirit squads to bring spirit to our team by pumping our fans and students up. If we fail to bring the highest level of support to our team, then no matter how good the half time performance is, we have failed. 

2. Peace between football and band.

The only way to end the "rivalry" between football and band is to uplift each other and honestly, that starts with whoever is going to be the bigger person. I would hope that would be my fellow bandees, but I have faith in the football players. 

3. Not everyone is going to "play nice".

Some people are just going put you into a stereotype. Some people are going to call the band kids a nerds, but you cannot let that bother you. There are going to be people who are rude to band kids, but I am going to use the "kill them with kindness", maybe it will change their mind about those band kids. The first week I was in college, I told a newly freshman guy I was in band, he made fun of me, but anyone else I have told thinks it is super cool!

4. Being in band is cool.

What we do is so cool. Bandees make pictures whiling playing music and counting in their heads. All memorized. Plus, we have to do it perfectly or we could pull a K-State (too soon?). The experience of playing in a stadium like Boone Pickens is so amazing. I want my high school bandees to know how cool band is in college. Stick to it. 

And the role of marching band does differ a lot from high school. High school involves contest while college typically does not. Aside from that, we all have a purpose. Which is honestly to support our teams and make it FUN for the team, the spirit squads, the students, the fans, and most importantly yourself. That's something to take pride in. 

Katie Joye

Shake It Off, Thanks T-Swizzle

I have had a certain topic gnawing at me for sometime now. I have often thought, "I really want to write something about this," or "people need to understand something about me". This thought has a lot to do with my pursuit for happiness. I suppose I should start off with a question to those reading this...

Have you ever found out someone said something behind your back? Have you ever had someone say mean things about you?

More than likely, you will probably answer "Yes!" and trust me, you are not alone. It has come to my attention from one of those silly "to be honest" post that teenagers put on each others social media, that I am not really talked about in an "oh so friendly" way. Or I guess in another words, people "talk a lot of shit on me". When I learned about this, I thought to myself - "Huh. I must be something special if people have the time of day to talk about me." It made me chuckle to myself.

It stuck with me for a while though. I wondered who it could be, what could have been said, and why? I seriously let it get to me. After thinking about it throughout the day, the week, and even right now as I type this in my statistic class, I have come to a realization that I am happy. I am more than happy with the life I am living right now and let me tell you why.

I have the best friends ever - REAL ones. I know people say that all the time, but let me tell you I am a difficult cookie and this cookie crumbles easily (especially with my  sugars fluctuating and raging hormones). My friends really understand what my intentions are and what my pursuits consist of at the time being. I have a family that I love. My family does not mean all blood, and, honestly, I can count my family on my two hands. After my parents' divorce, I lost a number of family members, but I really learned what family and love really means. I also have really good grades, and I am very proud of what I have accomplished in my academics, leader roles, and extra activities that I have found a love for doing. I am going to college (Oklahoma State University) and I almost have a full ride. I am happy with me. I like me. I love me! I like my style, my looks, my thought process, my open-mindedness, my hopes and dreams, my positions, my life, and my outspokenness especially. I really do like who I am and what I stand for in life. Some people like me, some people love me, and unfortunately some people dislike me, but that's okay. No matter who thinks what about you, it does not matter if you like you.

I have taken a liking to Taylor Swift's quote from her song "Shake It Off," and it goes "the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate; and I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake. Shake it off." Yeah, the people who do not like you are not going to like you, and the only way to change that is perception and open-mindedness, so just shake it off.

KatieJoye

Eggtastic!

   Today I decided I needed some thing fun to do with my boy friend, Carson. I had been on my Pinterest the night before, and I saw eggs filled with paint.

 We took a trip to WalMart and got all the items we needed. I got to work as soon as we were home. 

  First I had to crack theses bad boys open from the top to drain the insides out. Whiling doing this, I felt like one of our favorite YouTubers, HowToBasic. After spilling all the guts out, I began to fill the eggs with four colors that the boy and I picked out.

  If I were to do this again, I would buy the bigger paint bottles, so I could put more in the eggs. After filling the eggs up, the website said to put tissue paper over the openings. I am assuming they do this so when you actually throw the eggs at the canvas, the paint just does not fly out. 

   Unfortunately, unless you do this on grass, it is messy and you need tarps everywhere! But I must say, that it is super fun and really cool artwork.

(Carson's is actually upside down)

 This is fun to do, just messy. I think children would especially enjoy this. Maybe a fun Easter activity. I would say this is one of the crafts that did not fail from Pinterest.

-KatieJoye

Q: If you were able to take a leadership course taught by your most admired leader, who is this leader and what would s/he teach you about leadership?

    I have always found myself admiring our sixteenth president, Mr. Abraham Lincoln. He lived an honest, humble life while fighting for what was right. He started the path to freedom for all, and he painted a picture of what, “all men are created equal,” truly means by providing freedom to African Americans and other citizens of different color.
    If good ole’ Abe was here in front of me with his wise looks and his looming height, I would imagine him as a gentle giant. He would teach one how to show kindness to all, even to those who do not believe in him/her. Along with kindness, he would model a pleasant disposition, and concern for others.  President Lincoln would genuinely care about what his students become in the leadership world and would hope they aspired for pure leadership instead of corruption. Next he would teach respect. Many looked to Lincoln as a respectable figure, and many others did the opposite and despised him. Although Lincoln had many that were against him, he continued to show respect and kindness. President Lincoln’s message would be: to earn respect you must give respect.
    I believe President Lincoln’s overall message is be a servant to your country and your people. He would teach one to put others before themselves and do what is right for the greater good of the people and the world. This would be his goal in every single student he would come to know. He would strive to ensure that the future leaders did not expect special treatment and luxuries but hard work and dedication.  Teaching these tactics would evolve great leaders that wish to serve with kindness and respect, just as Abraham Lincoln did as a husband, father, lawyer, congressman, and president.

I really like how this turned out, and I hope everyone enjoys the read.

-KatieJoye

New Year Resolution

  I had decided about a week ago when I was getting new shoes for Christmas that my New Year Resolution would be to wear socks. I ruin a lot of shoes from not wearing socks - but I recently read some "click bait" that got me thinking.

  The name of the article was 10 Ways You're Making Your Life Harder Than It Has To Be. My first thought was, "I wonder how much of this will apply to a specific person that irritates me because they make everything so difficult." I realized at number one, this article targeted myself: number 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, and 9 were all true about myself. I also noticed that the resolution to all of these problems would result in bettering my happiness in life. Recently I've heard "life is too short" from a number of people, and I have to admit it. Life is way too short to worry about things in life that really do not matter.

  About a month ago, I was called into the Head Principal's office. Mr. Beierschmitt. We were talking about a speech I was going to deliver at the School Board meeting, and we began to talk about what was going on in our lives. I told him of the recent events going on: moving a lot, divorce, and other let downs. He grabbed a small jar off of his desk. It was filled with rice, which I found peculiar. He began to slowly dump the rice out, and he told me, "do you know what these are? They're rice! They are very small, like a lot of the problems we face are very small."
  As he finished saying this, a large pecan fell from the jar. He said, "But even though we have a lot of small problems, we should really focus on the BIG ones!"
 
  He is right. We need to be taking a look at the bigger picture and what is really important in life, which for myself is being happy. I want to be happy - happier!

-KatieJoye

New Creative Juices

    I have spent some time off of blogger for many reason - us teenagers get pretty busy in high school - but due to recent events I have decided to begin blogging again. I am about to make my way out of high school and into college. This newly updated and "improved" blog will explain a number of different opinions and experiences, including: the boy, politics, my personal morals, school work that is worth posting, future plans, and other stories that are interesting enough to be broadcasted to my few readers. 

   I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays, and there will be much more to come within the new year. Cheers to all!

-KatieJoye