22. Gavin DeGraw

In honor of me turning 30, I’m making mix CDs of my favorite songs from each of my 30 favorite musical artists/groups. Read the introductory post for more background information on my 30 at 30 project. Reminder: there is no scientific rationale for this list. They’re simply my personal favorites. Coming in at number 22 is Gavin DeGraw.

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Gavin DeGraw released his debut album Chariot in 2003. That was an influential year for me. I graduated high school and began college in 2003. I attended my first ever concert (Counting Crows) in 2003. I also met my future wife in 2003.  We worked together at Giant Eagle. Discussing our musical interests was one of the first connections we ever made.

In 2004, DeGraw re-released Chariot with a bonus disc called Chariot Stripped, featuring “stripped-down” studio recordings of all of the original songs. When I purchased Stripped, I was left with an extra copy of Chariot, which I gave to Jessie. Even before we had romantic chemistry, we shared a friendship built, at least in part, over a shared love for music. That Gavin DeGraw CD was one of the first of many musical gifts we would exchange over the years. 

Continue reading 22. Gavin DeGraw

23. Howie Day

In honor of me turning 30, I’m making mix CDs of my favorite songs from each of my 30 favorite musical artists/groups. Read the introductory post for more background information on my 30 at 30 project. Reminder: there is no scientific rationale for this list. They’re simply my personal favorites. Coming in at number 23 is Howie Day.

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Howie Day hasn’t released any music since his 2011 Ceasefire EP, and 2009’s Sound the Alarm offers the most recent of his music to make the cut for my compilation. However, his early work, 2002’s Australia and 2004’s Stop All the World Now, was influential enough to earn him this spot on the countdown.

Day fits comfortably into the singer/songwriter mold. Aside from the live rendition of “Ghost” there is not a whole lot that stands out musically, but lyrically his songs resonated. If I could make singability a word, the tracks listed at the bottom of would rate very high in terms of being singable.  That’s important to me.

Continue reading 23. Howie Day

30 at 30 List #2: Places I’ve Played Basketball

In honor of me turning 30, I’m compiling 30 different top-30 lists on a wide variety of topics ranging from trivial interests of mine to meaningful life moments. Read the introductory post for more background information on my 30 at 30 project. Reminder: there is no scientific rationale for these lists. They were composed by a panel of one—me.

Basketball has been part of my life since about the time I could walk.

As a kid, I watched my cousin Keith Nies and the Cathedral Prep Ramblers compete in three state championships, including the 1996 showdown with Lower Merion and Kobe Bryant. I had dreams of following in his footsteps, lacing up my sneakers for the orange and black, earning a Division I scholarship, and playing in the NBA. I never realized any of those dreams. After playing freshmen and junior varsity basketball for Prep, I was cut from the varsity team as a junior, steering my basketball career into another direction playing in the local CYO league for my home parish of St. Jude.

Although my basketball career fell a few steps short of a Hall of Fame enshrinement, I’ve had more than my fair share of shining moments. They may not have been ESPN or even Erie Times-News headline worthy, but they stand out in my memory just the same. To this day, basketball is entangled in my identity—player, coach, fan, student of the game. My relationship with the game changes and evolves depending on my role in it, but I cannot imagine my life without basketball being a part of it.

As I approach age 30, it’s pretty clear that my best basketball-playing days are behind me. Still, I plan to continue to find opportunities to play as long as my body will still allow it. Whether it’s a game of H-O-R-S-E or P-I-G at a family bonfire or a student-faculty game at Prep, if there’s a court calling my name, I’m going to answer.

In my life, I’ve had the pleasure of playing basketball in a variety of different places and in different contexts. Click to read the full  list counting down the top 30 places I’ve played.

Continue reading 30 at 30 List #2: Places I’ve Played Basketball

24. Ben Gibbard

In honor of me turning 30, I’m making mix CDs of my favorite songs from each of my 30 favorite musical artists/groups. Read the introductory post for more background information on my 30 at 30 project. Reminder: there is no scientific rationale for this list. They’re simply my personal favorites. Coming in at number 24 is Ben Gibbard.

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If you only know Ben Gibbard as the ex-husband of Zooey Deschanel, you’re missing out. Musically, Gibbard is best known as the lead man of Death Cab For Cutie, although he has been associated with other groups including The Postal Service. I had to cheat the system a bit and combined Gibbard’s acts to compile the ultimate 30 at 30 compilation. Seventeen tracks come from Death Cab For Cute, three come from The Postal Service, and one comes from his 2012 Former Lives album simply released as Benjamin Gibbard. The tracks are all united by Gibbard’s unique voice.

Continue reading 24. Ben Gibbard

25. Jill Scott

In honor of me turning 30, I’m making mix CDs of my favorite songs from each of my 30 favorite musical artists/groups. Read the introductory post for more background information on my 30 at 30 project. Reminder: there is no scientific rationale for this list. They’re simply my personal favorites. Coming in at number 25 is Jill Scott.

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Although modern day R&B is probably the most fitting category for Jill Scott, any one classification of her musical style is an oversimplification. She borrows from and incorporates elements of jazz, hip hop, soul, spoken word poetry, and more into her music.

Scott actually first began performing as a spoken word poet. In addition to the stylistic carryover into some of her music, the title of her first album reflected this facet of her career. Her 2000 debut album was titled Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1. Three tracks from that album made it onto my 30 at 30 compilation. Her follow-up was 2004’s Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Vol. 2, which had six tracks make the cut. In 2007, Scott released both Collaborations (six tracks on my compilation) and The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3 (three tracks). Her most recent album was 2011’s The Light of the Sun, which landed two tracks on the compilation.

Continue reading 25. Jill Scott

30 at 30 List #1: Student Responses to Mr. Hubert’s End-of-Year Survey

In honor of me turning 30, I’m compiling 30 different top-30 lists on a wide variety of topics ranging from trivial interests of mine to meaningful life moments. Read the introductory post for more background information on my 30 at 30 project. Reminder: there is no scientific rationale for these lists. They were composed by a panel of one—me.

Mr. Hubert

This week marked the end of another school year, my third as an English and journalism teacher at Cathedral Prep.  It was also the first year I was charged with teaching AP Language and Composition—to three sections totaling nearly 70 sophomores. It was a challenging task for me as a teacher, but it quickly became my favorite class to teach. It was also (and rightfully so) a very demanding class for my students, but I’m proud to say that the vast majority of them really learned a lot over the course of the year.

Their development as readers, writers, speakers, listeners, and critical thinkers was evident to me in regular class discussions and frequent writing assignments, but cherry on my teaching sundae came after reading what they wrote about the class and my teaching.

Dating back to my student teaching, one of the things I’ve done each year right before summer break is to survey the students. The survey is completely voluntary and anonymous. I preface the survey with a heartfelt plea to my students to be honest and sincere (knowing that I’ll still get the occasional goofball responses). For the most part, though, students take it to heart when you tell—and show—them that you care what they think. So I try to make my case quite clear. Logistically, principals and assistant principals are only able to observe on an occasional basis. My students see me every day at work. They see me at my best, my worst, and everywhere in between. So I ask them to be candid and spend 10-15 minutes responding to a survey that I put together. I read through every single response and take time to reflect on what it all means to me as a teacher.

The first several questions ask the students to assess on a 1-5 scale (from strongly disagree to strongly agree) several statements about the class, my teaching, and their performance in the class. Then, there are a handful of open response questions that ask the following things:

  • How did this class compare to other English classes you have taken in the past?
  • How did this class compare to the other classes you took this year?
  • What did you like most about this class? Why? Be as specific as possible, and list as many aspects as you feel are appropriate.
  • What did you like least about this class? Why? Again, be as specific as possible, and list as many aspects as you feel are appropriate.
  • What do you feel are the best aspects/qualities of my teaching? Why?
  • What do you feel I need to work on to become a better teacher? Please be as specific as possible.
  • What are you taking away from this course that you didn’t have/know/think about/realize before?
  • In 10 years, what are you most likely to remember from or about this class?
  • If you have any other thoughts/comments/feedback about the year in my class, about me as a teacher, or about my teaching style, please include them below.

When I read the responses this year, specifically those from the students who took my AP Language and Composition class, I was blown away. As a teacher, these comments are the fuel that power me to show up early, stay late, and work nights and weekends lesson-planning and reading essays even when it’s not always easy, convenient, or fun. For them, it’s worth it. The end of the school year was the perfect time to be reminded of that.

My first attempt to comb through the students’ responses resulted in more than 100 results. I tried to include a few of the good constructive criticisms in addition to the complimentary comments. There’s really no logical way to rank all these comments in comparison to one another, but this project is about a series of lists, so what follows is my best effort to narrow those down to a top-30 list.

Continue reading 30 at 30 List #1: Student Responses to Mr. Hubert’s End-of-Year Survey

26. Sufjan Stevens

In honor of me turning 30, I’m making mix CDs of my favorite songs from each of my 30 favorite musical artists/groups. Read the introductory post for more background information on my 30 at 30 project. Reminder: there is no scientific rationale for this list. They’re simply my personal favorites. Coming in at number 26 is Sufjan Stevens.

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The 30 at 30 project has nothing on Sufjan Stevens’ purported 50 states project. Unfortunately, after Stevens’ magnificent musical takes on the states of Michigan (Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lake State) and Illinois (Come on Feel the Illinoise), follow-ups from the other 48 states never surfaced. It turns out the ambitious concept was too good to be true.

Those two albums remain at the core of the Stevens that I have grown to love over the past several years, and so it is no surprise that 60 percent of the tracks that made the cut for this CD come from the state-themed albums.

Continue reading 26. Sufjan Stevens