....back to reality. But I snoozed only 9 minutes past my alarm (plus maybe 3 minutes of cat snuggles). I had laid out all my clothes and packed my bag, so I feel extremely ready to go back to work after 33 days off.

Rewrite my band's song, "I'm Not Sorry," in which we complain about the MBTA in Boston so that it's about the PATH and/or NJT

Practice and perform that song at an open mic (with my band's blessing)

Edit my novel into something readable and find some awesome ladies to help critique it

Learn how to play the keyboard for real, starting with "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"

Find out more about Punk Rock Aerobics, help to establish a class in JC Heights (or even teach it)

Karaoke, karaoke, karaoke

Dancing, dancing, dancing

Mid-May I had a chance to participate in Ladies Rock Campaign Boston. Centered on collaboration, music, creativity, and female empowerment... it was probably one of the best weekends of my life. LRCB is a fundraiser for and abbreviated version of Girls Rock Camp Boston. The Girls Rock Campaign actually has chapters all over, and it's a program to help empower girls (8-17) through music education. The girls get a week and the ladies get 3 days. So what happens? Well around noon on Friday you get together with 4-5 women you've never met and form a band based on what music you'd like to play. You spend the rest of the day coming up with a band name, figuring out lyrics and your instruments. Some folks pick up instruments that they've never played before, so there's working around that too. Saturday is all about finishing up the song (or if you're me, writing a rap for a bridge... heh) and rehearsing like whoa. You also come up with a logo and screen print it onto t-shirts for the band. Sunday night, you get to rock out on stage (for us, it was the TT the Bear's stage). During the camp there are also workshops in self defense, songwriting, the history of women in rock, other instruments you'd like to play as well as different ice breaker games. And well, a whole lot of singing, dancing, and yelling. So why should the world be a little more like LRCB (besides everything I just described)? Well... 

(This is my indie pop band Vowel Movement...heh Like my shirt? :) Photo courtesy of Sharona Jacobs Photography)

>>> Fewer apologies. A lot of the activities we did at LRCB, are ones that they do with the girls. As women, there are quite a few times in our lives that we're taught to be seen and not heard. That our opinion doesn't matter. So one of the LRC/GRC policies is, if you make a mistake on your instrument and you feel like apologizing... don't. Just scream out "I ROCK!". Or if you catch someone apologizing for something they really don't need to apologize for, yell "YOU ROCK!". Wow... what an incredible way to find out just how many times a day we apologize for things that really don't need it. This leads into...

>>> It's okay to scream. There's that saying, boys will be boys. It's okay for them to be loud and aggressive. But women? Nope. Some of the musicians mentioned that when they do soundchecks they always go full out because some sound booth dudes see that they're women and automatically assume they'll sing quiet folk instead of rock or metal. On the flip side, you know what's also okay? Crying. There's that other feeling of, never let "them" see you get upset because then you'll be "that girl". It's okay to be emotional, to be passionate, to let it out when you have to. You rock! Remember? :) 

(this was during "Behind Your Back"... basically when everyone goes around telling people how much they appreciated them for whatever reason. From helping you out with an instrument, to just smiling every morning.)

>>> Praise with feeling. "He's kickin' ass and taking names..." "He's killing it..." "He's crushing it..."  In my world, the startup world, conversations are littered with these phrases. It was incredibly refreshing NOT to hear any of the above. The aggression is unnecessary and what is this "it"? Take a second to actually address what you admire about what the person and their work/music/whatever. 

>>> Focus on you. Another trait female trait is to always act as the caregiver and mother. To be agreeable. This was something we went over a bunch in the vocals class I took. Sometimes people think they can push around the vocalist because they're not holding an instrument... but our voice is our instrument! We do more than just execute, we have opinions and ideas too. So while consideration and collaboration is important, make sure you're doing what's right for you too. 

(pictured: the LRCB AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME volunteers)

I had so much fun and knowing that we helped raised money for the girls is the cherry on top of the ice cream sundae. Did you know that they never turn away a girl camper if she can't afford to attend the camp? Yeah. They rock. ;) If you know an awesome gal that would love to do LRC, check to see if there's a camp in their area. To donate to GRCB chick check out the link below: