Lucy Gray

Reposted from sbaglia.comI was going to tackle this idea in a completely different way, then late at night I stumbled across this video. Watch it first before reading on, as it may give an insight to my state of mind when writing this.I received a message from an artist whose work I downloaded from Jamendo, who goes by the name of iamthis. The message, sent to all Jamendo users who had downloaded his work, was surprisingly personal and heartfelt. It sounded like this artist had been through some difficult times, and that the appreciation of his music shown by his fans on Jamendo had helped him move away from the brink. He left the above video as a link, and late at night, it had an effect on me on several levels.The only one I wish to describe in this blog post is that it reminded me of how personal the web is. We assume that technology continues to make our lives less personal, and for some it might, but for this person, it has obviously brought him a great deal of self-esteem. And think of how Jamendo has made the relationship between this artist and his fans more personal. I could not imagine receiving such a message from a commercial artist.We so often hear only negative stories in the media about the effect of technology on our social lives. Stories like this, buried deep within the internet, don't get the airplay that I feel they should. Here is an individual whose work has been meshed with the work of another. Without the ability technology gives us to connect, this rather beautiful video would not exist. As the artist himself says in the comments section of the YouTube clip:this is the first time for me seeing this video. absolutely amazing. even though i wrote it, i now feel like the song is not complete without the video.I think we can underestimate the impact recognition has on some students. Not all, granted, but for some, the ability to have something important to them validated as worthwhile is enormous. I feel that we as teachers need to strive to bring that feeling to all our students.See More