After everyone heard each other’s monologues on the Tuesday before the Monologue showcase, we got the chance to pick out whoever was more worthy to go up on the stage to speak their monologue. Turns out that mine was picked among the class as it was something everyone could be connected to: Pokemon. Now when I went up to the stage, it took some time to get myself ready and composed, like really composed. The fact that everyone before me had impressive monologues made me think mine was really something to be overshadowed among the rest, which made me all the more nervous. I had the PhD. Pikachu propped on my hoodie just for stage effect, and decided to have it on me the entire day after that, really felt like a Pokemon Trainer. What I can reflect on all of these monologues is that among them all, I felt like mine was the only optimistic monologue among the monologues that were showcased.

So my Music civilization professor invited us to a special academic event where his friend from the middle east taught us all about Iraqi Jewish people and their music. It was a fun lesson as he showcased different instruments that aren’t common in Western countries. What I liked most about learning from the lesson that he squeezed 3 course lessons into was the biography and culture of these oppressed Iraqi Jewish people who were shunned by the government and were not recognized as citizens to preserve their culture. What intrigued me especially about the topic was the heritage that came about with the music, which got me into listening to this exotic genre of music. Here’s a sample of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTSefOYsorE