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I haven't posted much lately, but I'm fine. I'm sure you were all concerned. Mainly it's because Cait had the computer in her room most of the time in New York. I would have been to tired to post much anyway. I got sick partway through the week and it was all I could do to do my part in Model UN and get out onto the streets of New York enough not to feel like I was wasting the trip. I have three things I want to talk about, but I think I'll probably have to break them up so they don't become too long.

Last night, after three years of expectation I went shape note singing at the invitation of my friend Gordon Rees. Gordon told me about his experiences shape note singing while we were mission companions in Argentina in the early-middle parts of 2006. I've always meant to go to the group which meets once a month on Tuesdays. Sometimes I just neglected to go, but usually I had classes or church meetings, so I wasn't able to go until last night, when our Model UN class finally finished. I went with Cait and with our friend from MUN Maggie Beasley, who is always up for random activities. We had a good time. I am sure no expert on shape note singing, but from what I understand, it's a way of singing music, originating in the southern US, that is simplified so that a person can read a series of shapes, instead of musical notes. I believe we were singing the variation of shape note music called "Sacred Harp." You can read more about it here and here. And Gordon can feel free to provide any additional information he feels prudent. What it basically came down to, though, was singing traditional southern type gospel music as loud as we possibly could. It was even better then a I thought it would be. I've always enjoyed singing loud, although I don't do it very often, only sometimes when I'm alone playing my guitar. It made me feel a very deep connection to the music and the words,which, for the most part, were very well written, gained more power as I sang them with more power. I was a little sick, so my throat didn't hold up super well, but that didn't stop the enjoyment of just singing loudly with a group just for the sake of singing loudly with a group. Maggie and Cait seemed to enjoy it as well and afterwards we all (Cait, Maggie, Gordon and I) went out to eat at Los Hermanos, one of Cait's and my favorite places to eat and sat and talked for a while. Overall a great night. We'll probably try to keep going next year when we get back from D.C. even though Gordon wont be here anymore. If anyone would like to join us, feel welcome.

Next time I'll post about my feelings about New York.