Ibrahim Ferrer

Sadly, many of you out there don't know who this man is. I'm not judging you - I didn't know until a few years ago. A documentary was put together called "Buena Vista Social Club" and it was about the Cuban musicians who basically had to go into hiding when communism was brought to Cuba. Cuban jazz has a sound of its own - and in the documentary, they showcase two excellent singers: Ibrahim Ferrer and Omara Portuondo.

I was blessed with the opportunity to see both in concert (Ibrahim twice!) and the energy and soul they both posess on stage is nothing short of amazing. You have to understand, both of them are in their 70's and I knew that our time to cherish them was limited.

Ibrahim died at the age of 78 last weekend. I missed the BVSC concert last jazz festival... first one in 4 years that I have missed. I sure wish now I went, and had the chance to see him again.

If you are into music, and have an open mind (ie: you are not limited to the crap that is played on the radio or other equally bad sources of music information) or if you just want to hear what I am talking about - check out the documentary this weekend.. get some albums...

I hope all is well in your world....

Intent

If one does not have the intent to do wrong, is one still wrong? I suppose in the criminal world, a charge would be dropped to negligence... which still has a "price tag" attached to it. Our price tag was 10%.

For the first time in my entire academic life, my team and I were told we had stolen work... really Microsoft Word just dropped the footnotes and we missed one, but we did not have the intent to cheat. There was potential for us to lose the entire mark - which would have resulted in my second practicum failure. But since the professor knew the intent wasn't there, he gave us a chance, and as a result our 86% paper was dropped to a 76%.

In my mind, it was a clear, sloppy oversight. We should have caught it upon the final read-over... but we didn't. At least our teacher understood that. And, at least, I know that paper was an 86 paper.

Intent is a weird thing. Each day we have the intent to eat, to sleep, to accomplish certain tasks. Each year, many of us start off with the intent to "quit smoking, lose weight" or any of the other numerous resolutions we make with good intentions. And then there are the actions that occur without intent, breaking someones heart, getting into a random car accident, hurting someones feelings.... there are many things that we don't have the intention for in life that we get off scott free from... I still want my 86%, but since this offense was clearly negligent, I'll take my 76% and raise you a degree.

I hope all is well in your world... I'm a ramblin woman (rose) today.