Music, Music, and More Music essays

Music, Music, and More Music essays Since I was young, music has already been my passion. As I travel down memory lane, I can see that music has become part of every bit of my life from being a die-hard fanatic of certain bands, a desperate singer and dancer and even an aspiring musician. Until now, these musical passions have still continued to live and have established a strong bond with my heart which is difficult to detach from. I am definitely someone whom you can call a music lover or maybe even way beyond just loving music, a self-confessed victim of musical obsession. When it comes to music, I am very much addicted to it. Its the kind of feeling that you get when you put on your earphones and when some emo-punk music starts to play, the beat of the song just gets down into your veins, travels into your brain and tells you to do nothing else but get into the music. The whole addiction process really gives me a feeling of being high as I sing my way with the music being played trying to emote and feel as if Im the one singing. And as I try to rest my ears from all the sound by taking off the earphones, they just get plugged into my ears as if they are connected to my veins. Another thing that makes me an addict is my desire of grooving with the music. When some hip-hop dance music begins to play, the beat immediately strikes the impulse on my arms, legs and body and makes me want to groove like Michael Jackson. The music just hits me in a spark, starts my engine, and then I just go with the beat. Dancing with the music is really very exciting but the problem is I dont have the brakes to stop myself from the fun. I feel like my whole body is being manipulated by the music just like a string puppet. Aside from singing and dancing, I also find myself obsessed with musical instruments. My love for instruments started when I first had my piano lessons back in grade school. It was then that I felt like Beethoven. Then...

How to Research Loyalist Ancestors

How to Research Loyalist Ancestors Loyalists, sometimes referred to as Tories, Royalists, or Kings Men, were American colonists who remained loyal to the British Crown during the years leading up to and including the American Revolution (1775–1783). Historians estimate that as many as 500,000 people - fifteen to twenty percent of the population of the Colonies- opposed the revolution. Some of them were active in their opposition, actively speaking out against the rebels, serving with British units during the war, or supporting the King and his forces as couriers, spies, guides, suppliers, and guards. Others were more passive in their choice of position. Loyalists were present in large numbers in New York, a refuge for persecuted Loyalists from September 1776 until its evacuation in 1783. There were also large groups in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and in the southern colonies of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.1 Elsewhere they were a large minority of the population but least numerous in Massachusetts Virginia. Life as a Loyalist Because of their beliefs, Loyalists in the Thirteen Colonies were often treated as traitors. Active Loyalists may have been coerced into silence, stripped of their property, or even banished from the Colonies. In areas under Patriot control, Loyalists could not sell land, vote, or work in occupations such as doctor, lawyer, or schoolteacher. The outright hostility against the Loyalists both during and following the war ultimately resulted in the flight of about 70,000 Loyalists to British territories outside the colonies. Of these, approximately 46,000 went to Canada and Nova Scotia; 17,000 (primarily Southern Loyalists and their slaves) to the Bahamas and West Indies; and 7,000 to Britain. Among the Loyalists numbered not only colonists of British heritage, but also Scots, Germans, and Dutch, plus individuals of Iroquois ancestry and former African-American slaves. Begin with a Literature Survey If you have successfully traced your ancestry back to an individual living in America during the American Revolution, and clues seem to point to him being a possible Loyalist, then a survey of existing published source materials on Loyalists is a good place to begin. Many of these can actually be researched online through free sources that publish digitized version of historical books and journals. Use search terms such as loyalists or royalists and your area (state or country of interest) to explore available resources online in Google and in each of the historical books collections listed in 5 Free Sources for Historical Books Online. Examples of what you can find online include: Siebert, Wilbur H. The Loyalists of Pennsylvania. The Ohio State University Bulletin, 24 (April 1920). Digitized copy. Archive.org. http://archive.org/stream/pennsyloyalist00siebrich#page/n3/mode/2up : 2013.Lambert, Robert Stansbury. South Carolina Loyalists in the American Revolution, second edition. Digital book. Clemson: Clemson University Digital Press, 2010. clemson.edu/cedp/cudp/pubs/lambert/lambert.pdf : 2013. When searching specifically for historical publications, try various combinations of search terms such as United Empire Loyalists or loyalists pennsylvania or south carolina royalists. Terms such as Revolutionary War or American Revolution can turn up useful books as well. Periodicals are another excellent source of information on Loyalists. To find articles on this topic in historical or genealogical journals, conduct a search in PERSI, an index to over 2.25 million genealogy and local history articles appearing in publications of thousands of local, state, national and international societies and organizations. If you have access to a university or other large library, the JSTOR database is another good source for historical journal articles. Search for Your Ancestor in Loyalist Lists During and after the Revolution, various lists of known Loyalists were created which may name your ancestor. The United Empire Association of Canada has probably the largest list of known or suspected Loyalists. Called the Directory of Loyalists, the list includes about 7,000 names compiled from a variety of sources. Those marked as proven, are proven United Empire Loyalists; the rest are either unproven names found identified in at least one resource or those who have been proven NOT to be Loyalists. Most of the lists published during the war as proclamations, in newspapers, etc. have been located and published. Look for these online, in U.S. state archives, in Canadian provincial archives, and in archives and other repositories in other areas where Loyalists settled, such as Jamaica. Sources: 1. Robert Middlekauff, The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp 549–50.