Last month I wrote about how a song from my youth inspired me at the end of a taxing day. I stated a firm belief that music can invigorate and drive us to work to help others and make positive changes in the world around us if we let it. It’s hard to put a finger on what it is about music that allows us to feel this way, and I’m very curious about how different music affects different people...
It had been a long day. It was late, and I was feeling a little downtrodden. Some ups and downs of nonprofit work had been endured and it left me feeling physically and emotionally exhausted. I was expecting a rather quiet, sullen drive home when the notion hit me to put a very old CD into my car’s CD player and see what the last song on it was.
There it was. The intrepid, anticipatory strings and horn. The...
Tomorrow is the 3-year anniversary of the death of Eve Carson, UNC Student Body President who was murdered on March 5, 2008. I wrote on this topic on a previous blog, but my increasing feelings of connectivity to a ‘community of do-gooders’ I keep referencing compels me to post this again, and now, on the eve of Eve’s death.
I had never met Eve, nor heard about her before she was killed. But some...
At some point a year or two ago, I stopped calling it “my” nonprofit. In conversation I faltered in attempts to come up with new ways of explaining my role with the nonprofit I’d co-founded and led for the past 6 years. “The nonprofit I serve with,” and “The nonprofit I help lead” became new phrases. They were clumsy and a little awkward, still, but the alternative–continuing to call it “my”...
As a former chorus-geek and eternal lover/practitioner of vocal music, there was no denying I was going to love Glee. This may garner eye-rolls from the more serious and somber of TV-viewers, but I can’t help myself. It’s fun, it takes itself just seriously enough, and here’s a big plus in my book–It frequently illuminates the social issues and problems teens (and adults!) face in a...
Hello! My name is Amber Melanie Smith, and I am a recent Masters in Public Administration and Nonprofit Management graduate from NC State University. I am also a volunteer whisperer and nonprofit ninja, idealist, and unabashed lover of art, music, languages, history, kung fu, writing, a healthy level of geekery, and sappy tales of inspiration and heroes.
