Voice and Dance Recitals for Sarah Fryer (May 2016)

Yesterday Shelly and I were blessed to watch and attend Sarah’s spring voice recital at Poteet Theater in Oklahoma City, and our entire family attended the third performance of her dance recital in the evening. Wow! It’s amazing to see how much she’s continued to grow and mature. Sarah is absolutely receiving top notch preparation at Poteet for musical theater. She has taken SIX classes this semester in jazz, tap, point, ballet, MTP (musical theater production) and voice. She’s taken all these classes on top of a full load of classes at Classen School of Advanced Studies, where she’s a drama major but continues to take IB (International Baccalaureate) versions of her core classes like English, History, Chemistry, and math. PreCalculus has been a huge challenge this year for several reasons, but it’s shown her to be such a tenacious and hard working student. (We’ve already known this, but it’s confirmed it in big ways.) Sarah is incredible, and I’m not just saying that because I’m her dad. What an amazing young woman she’s growing up to be! She’s finishing up her sophomore year this year, and has grown up so much in many ways, not just in her artistic, musical and creative talents. We are so proud of her. We’re in for some amazing years ahead as she starts her junior year in high school.

I combined both of her voice recital pieces into a single video, which is about 5 minutes long.

Sarah was in several different dance numbers during last night’s recital, since she’s in so many classes, and this really showed off the range of her skills and talents. The combined video of these is almost 9 minutes long. Notice the segment that is strongly influenced by Hawaiian hula! One of her dance instructors goes to Hawaii every year to lead hula workshops. I absolutely love the diversity and high quality of all the dance as well as voice and theater instruction Sarah has been blessed to receive at Poteet.

One of the most touching parts of yesterday’s recitals was a short message shared by Chris Grimes, who has been the director of programs at Poteet this year and Sarah’s voice teacher. She’s leaving Poteet and going to Lyric Theater, and we’re hopeful Sarah will be able to continue studying voice under Chris. Her message to her students was this:

Remember God says YOU ARE ENOUGH. There are so many people and situations in the world of theater and performance which try to tell you you don’t have what it takes. YOU ARE ENOUGH. Right now, on May 7, 2016, at 1:30 pm in the afternoon, YOU ARE ENOUGH. God has made you perfectly, and His truth is that YOU ARE ENOUGH.

Oh how important it is for Sarah and her classmates at Poteet to hear this message! This has been an incredibly stressful and challenging semester for Sarah personally and for us as a family with her schedule and all the demands she’s had… including the demands she places on herself. Thanks to God for Chris Grimes and her spirit-filled leadership of Sarah and her other students! It’s a huge blessing to have Chris living and speaking God’s truth into Sarah’s life at this pivotal time of development and growth.

Praise God for our healthy and loving daughter, who loves God and has such a kind heart. We are so thankful to God for his blessings and we see these manifested so clearly in our daughter, Sarah, who is flowering into womanhood before our very eyes.

Sarah Sings “What Is This Feeling” from Wicked

Sarah and Amber did a great job singing in tonight’s church talent show!

I shared this on Periscope, and both Nana and Trudy were able to tune in and watch it live! but since Periscope videos are only available for 24 hours, I have my account set to auto-archive to Katch.me. I also posted a slightly edited version of the video to YouTube. I wrote a little more about the technical details of how I did this on my main blog.

Alexander did a great job running sound for the entire talent show tonight. His knowledge and skills about sound engineering continue to grow under the patient mentorship of Tom Bowles.

Eliminating the Television

Do you remember when you used to go outside and play until dark? In the twenty-first century many children’s lives are centered around the television. They watch it when they wake up in the morning until they go to sleep at night. At houses for sale in las vegas there will be a great ambiance and a peaceful surroundings that your kids might enjoy and not just stay at home watching television. If I had the power to eliminate any invention in the world it would be the television, because TV causes kids to go outside less, TV advertisements encourage bad eating habits, and TV causes kids to have body image problems.

The first reason why we should eliminate the television is because TV causes kids to go outside less. In Richard Louv’s book, Last Child in the Woods, he states something very interesting. He says, “Today, average eight-year-olds are better able to identify cartoon characters than native species, such as beetles and oak trees, in their own community.” What does that say about how are kids are growing up in this world? Kids need to get outside and play. They need to use their imagination and play games with other children.

In addition to keeping kids inside more, television ads encourage bad eating habits. Picture this: The season finale of your favorite show just took a commercial break, so you’re sitting on the edge of your seat. All of a sudden, a food advertisement is played on your screen.

The detailed, mouthwatering pictures of huge burgers and fries are now on your screen. Your mouth is beginning to water and your stomach is growling. This was just a scenario of what happens in many households. The television plays ads that make you want to eat food that is unhealthy. It’s just too hard to resist this roaring urge inside of you to go out and buy fast food.

The final reason why we should eliminate the television is because TV causes kids to have bad body image problems. Have you ever noticed that on television most characters are usually thin, fit, and flawless? Watching these type of characters on the television can cause some regular, ordinary, flawed people to get self-conscious. That is one reason why so many teenagers have body image problems. They think that there is something wrong with them. Body image problems can not only lead to depression but also eating disorders like anorexia. One of the main reasons young, teen girls are unhappy with their body image is because television shows and advertisements promote dissatisfaction.

Overall the television is just a bad invention. It causes kids to go outside less, the television encourages bad eating habits, and it causes kids to have body image problems. When Philo Taylor Farnsworth invented the television, I doubt he thought his invention would lead to so many horrible things. On other blog, if you need legal help for accident, checkout motorcycle accident law firm.

 

Sarah as Chargee at Chisholm Elementary in Edmond, Oklahoma

Flashback to May 2010 when Sarah was a 5th grader at Chisholm Elementary in Edmond, Oklahoma. Sarah was chosen to be “Chargee” (the school mascot) at a PTSA pep rally after an all-school fundraiser. I shot some video clips on a camera that we FINALLY (3.5 years later) took the media off the memory card! I combined these clips together with iMovie and exported it as a single video. Flashback!

Inspired by the First All-Female USAF Boeing E-3 Sentry Air Crew

Rachel and Sarah had a wonderful opportunity yesterday to visit Tinker Air Force Base by Oklahoma City and tour a Boeing E-3 Sentry (AWACS) aircraft with the first all-female crew in the history of the US Air Force.

USAF Women in the E3 AWACS

The girls spent about ten minutes in the cockpit checking out the controls and asking questions of both female pilots and the female flight engineer.

Sarah & Rachel in the E3 AWACS

Then they learned all about the mission and roles of the air crew in the AWACS, which serves as the “eyes and ears” of the US national command authority worldwide. I’ve wanted my girls to get a better understanding of what officers and NCOs in the US Air Force do and what careers they could potentially have in the military, and yesterday was absolutely the PERFECT opportunity to help them do that! MANY thanks to my friend and classmate Vern Conaway, who let us know about this opportunity.

Oklahoma City’s Fox 25 News interviewed Rachel and Sarah during their tour and featured some of their comments in a video news segment which aired on March 15th.

Rachel recorded a 2.5 minute narrated slideshow, “Inspired by Women in the US Air Force,” using the app SonicPics on my iPhone, sharing some additional thoughts and reflections about the impact of this experience on her.

Thinking and planning for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) careers starts early! Many thanks to all the officers, NCOs, and civilian employees at Tinker AFB who made these experiences possible!

Inspired by USAF Women

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If That’s How It Is

Sarah gave two wonderful performances last night at the Poteet Theater in Oklahoma City last night for her winter vocal audition. Way to go Sarah!

Her vocal instructor and coach, Jay Prock, wisely scheduled a short vocal audition prior to the musical performance of “The Wizard of Oz.” as a result they had a nice audience for the recital!

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

I always like fall
best
you can eat juicy lobster
from Atlantic waters
and peppermint bark
and blueberries
and sea salt and vinegar chips
and lots of
seafood
and hot chocolate
and maple syrup
at the town square
and walk to
the bonfire
outside
at the christmas
village
and go to Starbucks with
Zoë Sprankle
and sip carefully
and laugh constantly
all the time
not just when you hear a joke

Sarah Fryer

Make Your Own Birthday Card

Recently I was going to a friends birthday party, but didn’t want to buy a card. I usually just make one out of paper and crayons. But I had some spare time so I decided to create a card on the Internet and print it out. I had no clue how I was going to find this sort of site, but with using my best friend Google I found one. I just googled, don’t you just love that word “GOOGLED!” Well as I was saying, I just googled Printable Birthday cards. Lots of different sites popped up. So I had to use process of illemanation, or I went through the sites that looked goo until I found one called greetingisland.com I thought it was perfect! So I messed around with the website and found the right background, and the right words to type. I really enjoyed messing around with the website! So now when you are going to a birthday party and don’t want to buy a card or draw one, go on greetingisland.com and create one!!

Crazy for Cupcakes

This video (just over five minutes long) was Sarah’s final presentation for her 5th grade enrichment class at Chisholm Elementary in Edmond, Oklahoma. She learned more about how cupcakes are made professionally and started a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, selling cupcakes. My apologies the audio is quiet in the middle of this video, I may have covered the iPad2 microphone with my hand inadvertently. 🙁

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