Emma Philbrook: STUDENT LIFE

On Friday night, the senior class of Waitsburg High School graduated. I’m sure there’s a lovely article about this somewhere in this paper, so I won’t go into much detail.

On Monday morning, all the classes of Waitsburg Elementary School went to the Bruce Mansion to learn a bit of hands-on history on Pioneer Day. There’s probably a story – or at least a few pictures – in here somewhere. If not, check back next week. [Thanks for the tip, Emma. We’ll get on it. – Ed.]

I attended both events – the first one as a graduate, the second as a demonstrator. I and several other young musicians played old-fashioned tunes for the students in the mansion’s parlor and discussed our musical careers and the workings of our instruments.

Either event would be worthy of a column unto itself, but seeing as they have so much in common, I figured I could get away with dovetailing.

*Both venues were incredibly hot and crowded.

Both, at least for me, entailed talking to the audience about what I had learned over the previous four years.

*Both events required mentioning As and Fs – during a discussion of academic honors at the graduation, and then during a discussion of the types of mandolin at Pioneer Day.

*Both events involved c(h)ords – honor cords and G chords, respectively.

*At graduation, I waited the whole ceremony to get my hands on a medal. At Pioneer Day, I played so long that I got metal on my hands.

*Both events involved awesome young people who struggled with sitting down on cue.

*Both the jam participants and the graduates were excited for their upcoming break. (In bluegrass, a “break” is a solo during a song.)

*One event ended with the flipping of tassels across our caps, the other with the switching of classes when the first graders left. (Okay, so these don’t sound quite as similar as they did in my head, but just play along.)

*Graduation has class rings. Bluegrass has brass strings. (Oh, fine, I admit I’m getting a little desperate with the rhymes here.)

*Ummm…

*Y’know what?

*I think that’s about all the catchy stuff I can come up with.

*And most of it wasn’t even that catchy.

*And now I’m out of room to actually write anything.

*So you might want to start hunting through the paper now.

*See if you can find that piece on graduation.

*Who knows? There might even be a picture of me there.

*Maybe just one.

*You use a pick to play the mandolin, so the Times might choose a pic of the valedictorian.

*I’m going to stop trying to be clever now before somebody gets brain damage.