Nuts!

It really hit home for me this past weekend that we are in full autumn mode, as I spent about four hours out in the yard raking up the bumper crop of nuts that have fallen from our beautiful buckeye tree. When we were looking to buy a house last summer and had looked at about 30 to 40 properties in search of the right one, I knew immediately that I liked this house because of the big buckeye tree out front.

It’s not necessarily that I’m a sucker for the state tree or a die-hard fan of a certain university down in Columbus. It was really because we had two of these trees in front of the house in which I grew up, in western New York. Back then, in the days of black and white television, we called them “horse chestnut” trees, and all boys loved them for two reasons: they were great to climb, and every fall they provided the local boyhood its arsenal of choice - the nuts.

Now, I’m going to be a bit politically incorrect here and say that we loved those buckeyes as weapons of combat - that is, they were perfect for collecting, shelling, and chucking at one another. Before you gasp and accuse me of barbarous acts that lead to the fall of civilization as we know it, let me clarify: buckeyes are softer than stones, are irregular in shape and thus as inaccurate as a Civil War mini-ball, and carry much less of a weight-to-impact ratio than, say, a slushball in February. Plus, as civilized combatants, we almost always agreed to avoid the nuclear option - leaving the spiked husks on the nut - which really was pretty lethal and left an interesting polka-dot pattern on the skin for at least a fortnight.

We also had a huge shagbark hickory tree in our front yard, but while squirrels greatly preferred the nuts of that tree, they were a poor substitute for the feel and ballistic characteristics of the buckeye. This tree provided ceaseless inspiration for my dad, the watercolor painter, who used it as a subject dozens of times over the years. Sadly, all three of these wonderful sources of childhood lore are now gone, and the yard (and we, too) are the poorer for it. For some reason, we think that something as significant as a tree will always be there, but I guess there is a life lesson to be found in that metaphor. For as much as we complain about raking leaves, trimming dead branches, and cleaning out gutters, there are few things more pleasant than having big, beautiful, colorful trees in our little corner of land.

A couple of years ago, my nephew and I re-planted a buckeye in the front yard. It’s doing quite well, thank you.

Speaking of the new growth and “branching out,” I want to share with you a message written by one of our outstanding Department of Music students, Bryant-Douglas Harris. He studies violin with Callista Koh, a member of our faculty who has helped him to reach great heights at a young age. Here, in his words, is an update on his latest triumph:

My name is Bryant-Douglas Harris, and I am an eighteen year old senior at Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy. I’ve been studying violin at The Music Settlement for thirteen years, and currently I am under the instruction of Callista Koh who has been my teacher for the past eight years. Throughout my violin career, I have experienced many events such as being a member of the Contemporary Youth Orchestra and Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, traveling to Norway with my school orchestra, and attending Interlochen Summer Arts Camp for six weeks during the summer of 2007. However, my most recent experience with my instrument was when I participated in my first national competition.

One year ago, my pastor, Rev. Dr. Charles P. Lucas, and a church member, Mrs. Francine Farmer, told me about a competition sponsored by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The competition was called the Afro-Academic Cultural Technological Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO), and it featured a variety of talents such as performing arts, visual arts, humanities, and sciences. This year I decided to participate in the Classical Instrumental sub-category of the performing arts category. The local competition took place at the Karamu House, and the first place winners of any category received an all expense paid trip to New York to compete at the National Competition where students from all over the US would compete. I, along with seven others, received first place at the local competition, and we all traveled to New York to compete from July 8-12.

This was my first time being in New York, and I had an awesome experience. My group stayed at the Marriott Marquis Hotel which is in the heart of Times Square. All of the activities for the various competing cities including the actual competition took place at the Marriott Marquis Hotel. There were approximately fifty-five competitors in the Instrumental Classical category alone; I was the fourth competitor so I knew that I had to set the bar high. The three judges were all professional musicians teaching at Julliard, and Oberlin University. My performance went really well and I received excellent feedback from all three of them. On Sunday, July 12, the awards ceremony took place at the Hilton Hotel, and there were many celebrities in attendance. The national competition awarded three medals ranging gold, silver, and bronze, and each winner received a monetary gift and a laptop. I was honored to bring the bronze medal in my category back to Cleveland to represent my city.

The overall experience in New York was unforgettable and such an honor. I had fun participating in the competition and I encourage other African American high school students to give it a shot. ACT-SO teaches much about which ever talent one would like to compete in and they make sure that all competitors know that they are already winners!

What a great story! Bryant-Douglas, his family, and Callista should be very proud. This is what we do every day at The Music Settlement; come join us and experience it first hand!

Have a great week!