#the only plays i ever read in school were r&j as a high school freshman and macbeth as a sophomore

[britneyshakespeare]

i have finished henry iv, part one, the nineteenth shakespeare play i have read out of all 38 extant ones

[lovemesomesurveys]

A How artistic are you? I’m not at all. Do you want to go to Africa? I’d love to stay at Giraffe Manor! AC/DC or Aerosmith? Aerosmith. 
Do you know what Armenia is?
  Yes.

B
 What’s your beer of choice (if any)?  Blech, none. Do you know the title of Buffalo Springfield’s one-hit wonder?  Okay, I didn’t recognize the name so I Googled it and yes, I am familiar with their one hit wonder. I actually wasn’t familiar with the song title either, but after reading the lyrics I quickly realized what song it was. Do you have a brother? (Do you like it that way?) I have two brothers, and yes I love them. Which bank do you use?  Not sharing that. C
 Which comedian do you most enjoy?  I think Kevin Hart is funny. Would you ever live in California?  I have all my life. Is it possible/likely that you’ll become a cat lady?  *Dog lady, but yes. How many different countries have visited? Just one. D
 Do you believe there’s a devil? Yes. But demons maybe?  Yes. Does eating dessert often make you feel guilty?  Nope. Can you legally drive?  I’m definitely old enough to have my license, but I don’t.  What have you been diagnosed with (if you don’t mind sharing)? Depression, anxiety, and other physical health stuff. E
 How often do you drink energy drinks?  I like to drink Starbucks Doubleshot energy drinks often. 
Where did you live when you were 11 years old? The house next door to where I live now, ha. We had our big move to the house next door to us haha about 10 years ago because our landlords wanted to install new flooring and stuff to our house, but since they had just finished this one they offered for us to just move in here lol. Do you like the actor who played Edward Scissorhands in that movie?
 Why not just say Johnny Depp? Anyway, yes, I think he’s a very talented actor. Have you ever felt an earthquake?  No, just aftershocks from one. F
 When was the last time you saw your father one-on-one? Yesterday. Do you think French is the most beautiful language?  I don’t know what I’d say is the most beautiful language. Is Friday your favorite day of the week?  No. All the days are the same for me, so meh. Have you listened to Jimi’s song ‘Fire?’  Doesn’t sound familiar. G
 Do you have real gold jewelry?  No. How often do you watch ‘Gossip Girl’?  I never have. Is Google your homepage?  Yeah. 
Do you like Geico’s commercials? Most of them are annoying. The gecko character is cute, though. H
 When did you last feel happy? Uhhh. Do you prefer Hollister, Hot Topic, or H&M?  Hot Topic is the only one I shop at now, but I used to shop at the other 2 as well. Did you dress up last Halloween?  Nope. I stopped doing that a few years ago. Would you voluntarily watch the History Channel?  Yeah and I do if there’s something of interest on. I
 Have you ever been on an island?  No. I live on one in Animal Crossing, though. ha. Would you be able to locate Indonesia on a globe?  I think so. Do you know if Iceland or Greenland has more ice?  Greenland. I remember it’s the opposite of their name for some reason. 
Did you watch the last presidential inauguration?  No. J
 Do you enjoy jogging?  No. On which instrument could you most easily play ‘Jingle Bells’?  I’ve played it on the piano. How much do you know about John Lennon? *shrug* I know some stuff. Do you know how Jell-O is made?  I know how to make Jell-O with the mix, but no I don’t know how the mix itself is made. K
 Have you tried Krispy Kreme doughnuts? (Was it love at first bite?) Yeah, but no they’re definitely not my favorite. They’re not real donuts to me, they’re just pure sugar.  
How many pairs of khaki pants do you own? “Uh, khakis?” ha, if you know, you know. Anyway, I don’t own any. 
Have you ever been a fan of the Killers?  Yeah. L
 Does it bother you when couples are lovey-dovey in public? No, unless they’re having like full on makeout sessions, straddling each other and feeling each other up and whatnot lol. Hand holding/locked arms/arm around each other, hugging, little pecks, and just being playful with each other is cute.  
Do you have your own lighter (why or why not)?  No. I don’t have a need for one. In how many languages (besides English) can you count to 100?  I can in Spanish. What’s your favorite lollipop flavor? Not a lollipop fan. M
 Do you believe in miracles (why or why not)? I do because I'm a woman of faith. What do you think of shows like Maury and Jerry Springer? I used to like watching Maury, Jerry Springer was just for laughs.  
Do you care that Mars (the candy co.) uses deadly animal testing? I haven’t heard that... I’d have to fact check. How did you form your opinion of marijuana? Based off the research supporting that it has a lot of benefits. I was especially swayed when I saw how it helped cancer patients.

N
 How often do you sleep naked?  Never. I wouldn’t find that comfortable at all, I very much like being clothed.  Do you actually check the Nutrition Facts before eating something?  Not usually, but I sometimes will just out of curiosity. 
Who is your favorite musical artist/band beginning with ‘N’? Nirvana. 
How nerdy are you (in what ways)? I’m socially awkward, for one. I also cared about school and did well, which is often considered nerdy. Also, a book nerd, Star Wars nerd, Marvel and DC movies nerd...  I enjoy those things so I don’t care, but they’re deemed “nerdy.” What do you think about olives?  Black olives are good, green olives are gross. Are you much of an outdoorsy person? Not at all. The only time I enjoy being outside is when I’m sitting out at the beach. How big of an Oprah fan are you?  I don’t really consider myself a fan. How often do you shop online?
  Quite often. P
 Are you looking forward to your prom? If you already went, how was it? My prom was over a decade ago D: Anyway,  I danced with the guy I had a huge crush on at the time, so hey it wasn’t too bad. How are your local policemen? I think they do a pretty good job overall.  What is your ideal PB&J sandwich like? Just peanut butter and grape jelly, pretty simple. What do you think of the movie ‘Pineapple Express’? I could not get into that movie at all.  Q
 How true is the saying, ‘quitters never win and winners never quit’?  I mean, can’t say “never”, but the main point from the saying makes sense. Do you prefer Quiznos or Subway and why?  I’ve gone to Subway many times, but I think I’ve only been to a Quiznos once or twice. Have you learned the quadratic formula yet? (Do you remember it?) I think I actually remember it. What is the one question you most want to ask someone and who?
  I don’t know. R
 How many rooms are in your home?  2 bedrooms. 
Do you like raspberries?
  Nah. What’s one of your best memories from during a rain storm? Hmm. I don’t know, but I just really love that kind of weather. 
Have you actually read Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo & Juliet’?  Yeah, my freshman year in high school. S
 Do you know any Sign Language?  I know the alphabet and a few sayings. What is your sleeping schedule generally like?  Oh, my sleeping schedule is an absolute joke. How well do you sing? I can’t sing well at all. How often do you listen to 60-70’s music? Now and then. I actually have several songs on my main Spotify playlist from those decades. T What do you think of Twitter?  I like being able to post my random thoughts and following certain celebrities and just interesting people for funny and interesting stuff. How much do you value the Ten Commandments?  I value them a lot. Are there many trees where you live?  Not really. 
How much taller/shorter do you wish to be? “I wish I was a little bit taller.” 🎶

U
 Where do you usually buy your underwear?  Various places. How do you define ‘ugly’?  It goes a lot deeper than just the outer appearance. Do you like to shop at Urban Outfitters?  I’ve only been to an actual store a couple times and I’ve checked out their website a few times, but I just think they’re ridiculously overpriced. V
 Would you like being described as ‘voluptuous’? No one would use that word to describe me. 
For listening to music, do you like to crank up the volume or keep it calm? I like it at a reasonable level, I don’t need it blaring.  Do you ever watch the annual Victoria’s Secret fashion show? They cancelled that a few years ago, but I never had any interest in watching that. 
Would you agree that ‘variety is the spice of life’?  Yeah. W
 Are you currently on wireless Internet?  Yeah, that’s all I have. I haven’t had to connect to a wifi router or whatever with a cord in a very long time. Can you recall memories of learning how to whistle? I still can’t do it. Do you go to White Castle or just vicariously through ‘Harold & Kumar'? I’ve never actually been to one cause they don’t have one anywhere near me (they’re on the east coast, I’m a west coast gal). I’ve only had the the White Castle burgers from the store that you cook in the microwave. I actually like them, but I’m sure the real deal is even better. X
 Why did you need your most recent x-ray and what were the results? I had to get a CT Scan a couple years ago. When it comes to ‘xoxo’, do you interpret ‘x’ as the hug or the kiss?  It’s hugs and kisses, so the X’s are hugs. What does X stand for in Roman numerals? Can you write the previous number?  X is 10, IX is 9. Why do you think xylophones are only popular with young children? That’s true, that is a pretty common baby toy. At least it was when I was little. Also, I played the xylophone in music class in elementary school. I don’t know why that’s a thing with kids. Y
 Can you explain the meaning of the yin-yang symbol? Opposite, but complimentary principles. Like, you can’t have good without bad, lightness without darkness, etc. It’s about balance. Do people more often mistake you as being younger or older than you are? Younger. Did you know that yawning is contagious?  Yeah.  Would you like a bottle of Yoo-Hoo or it’s not really your thing?  I actually like Yoo-Hoo, but I prefer it in the little carton or whatever with the straw (kinda like a Capri Sun, but it’s a box carton). It’s the perfect size, not too much. The strawberry one is my favorite. I haven’t had one in a long time, though. Z
 How many places’ zip codes do you know by heart?  Uhh, not many. What comes to mind when I say ‘Zero to Hero’? Disney’s Hercules movie.

[ethospathoslogan]

okay so this is definitely me self-projecting but i haven’t been able to stop thinking about roman and logan as “””competing””” english teachers. like, i know it’s common to have logan as a science teacher and roman as the drama/choir teacher!!! which i love!!! but i also think the two would make great english teachers

they both teach 9th grade english, roman also teaches 10th grade english, and logan teaches 12th grade ap english literature

logan’s favorite books in his curriculum are the great gatsby and the lord of the flies. honestly, though, he gets frustrated teaching them because the curriculum and ap test make him hammer out “the green light is symbolic for what” and “who does simon represent” so much that his students can’t have fun with the books. so, after the ap exam, he hosts a game of “survivor” amongst his 12th graders where they all compete in teams and take on various challenges (scavenger hunt/jeopardy/riddles/etc) and, as students are “eliminated,” the final surviving student wins five points to their overall average and also logan buys them a lunch of their choosing

(my old high school did that but we didn’t do it in ap lit and im still sad abt that)

roman’s favorite thing to teach is anything shakespeare. he’s a sucker for romeo & juliet but he also loves twelfth night to no end. he casts his students as the characters and does his best to get them involved and interested in what they’re reading. when students are nervous about being seen as weird or dumb for getting into the plays, he’s like, “so what! have fun! who cares what others think!” also, at the completion of the plays, he shows the ‘90s r&j (yeah the one with leo) and she’s the man (im reading twelfth night now for college and i was amazed to find out that she’s the man is deadass twelfth night)

their classrooms are next to each other and every student of theirs Knows that shit is gonna go down each class period

like when both of their freshman classes were doing romeo & juliet and roman’s mercutio was absent the day he was supposed to do the queen mab monologue??? roman took over and. oh boy. logan had to shut his door bc “dammit roman you’re being too loud and my students are only on scene two of act one, you’re spoiling everything”

when roman teaches catcher in the rye to his 10th graders, roman makes so many slights at logan. “oh yeah, mr. sanders, what a phony, amiright, kids? don’t worry, i won’t tell him you agreed”

this makes his students think that he hates logan. when a student finally steps up and asks roman, roman’s like, “wait what? mr. sanders is my best friend. my ride or die. he bought me coffee this morning.”

during his seniors’ free periods, they typically come to logan’s class to have him proofread their college essays and other papers. roman typically waltses in (because, i must repeat, their classes are next to each other) and gets all nostalgic because he had a lot of logan’s seniors as former students.

“oh, valerie, terrence, leo! i had all of you and it felt like so long ago and-” “mr. prince, please, i am trying to read their essays.”

everyone expects logan to be the hard-ass and roman to be the super easy going teacher. this results in a lot of students being, at first, terrified of logan and ready to take advantage of roman.

and then they learn that logan is the teacher most likely to throw random bagel/pizza parties (he believes that it’s positive reinforcement) and roman is notorious for pop quizzes when his students don’t read (most of them end up not being counted, he just needs to put his foot down occasionally)

both of them are well respected teachers and their students typically come to both of them to talk about things. students like logan’s honesty and how he tries to realisitically assist his students in things going on in their lives. with roman, they like his optimism and how he encourages all his students to pursue their dreams.

(true story based on something that happened to my old english teacher) bet you thought that, because roman is an english teacher, he has no connection to theater, right? well, you thought wrong!!! roman is also the director of the school’s plays and musicals. during musical season, roman rallies some of his leads and ensemble members and crashes logan’s freshmen class with a performance. logan is shooting daggers at roman from his desk. the freshmen are entertained and also slightly terrified. roman is having the time of his life. the musical opens the next night.

to get revenge, logan sticky-notes roman’s entire classroom. roman’s desk, students’ desks, the bookcases, even the walls. every single thing in and on roman’s desk has been sticky-noted. no one ever finds out how logan had the time to do it in one night, nor where he got all the sticky notes from.

when roman found his classroom, he actually dropped his coffee. he waited in line at starbucks for ten minutes. he is going to kill logan.

anyone who has logan as a teacher is told that they need to try to get roman, and vice versa. students of both teachers can never choose a favorite.

they both go to graduation, even though roman hasn’t had many of those students for years. they both are extremely emotional.

logan is definitely the type of teacher to be like “in this classroom, we’re professional. you cannot have my twitter or my instagram or anything because i am your teacher and you are my student. and- oh, wait, you’re graduating right? oh shit then here take my number, here’s my snapchat and my twitter handle, retweet my pinned tweet.”

it is through this that logan’s graduating seniors discover that roman and logan have been engaged for eight months.

(patton, the 12th grade ap calculus and 9th grade geometry teacher, is logan’s best man. virgil who is either the art teacher or a history teacher i haven’t decided yet is roman’s.)

[ask-shakespearehigh]

Q&A post with the Mods!!!!

This is going to be a long one oh boy

How strict is the delineation of creative control vis-a-vis characters/plays between the mods? (@pedanticlecturer)

We generally have the plays split up along lines of “what we know”— we have a list at the very beginning of the blog. Sometimes we’ll draw the others’ characters (mostly me drawing some of Star’s…) but even then the final say on characterization is up to the “main” mod for that play — mod aster

what aster said -- mod star

What is your favorite play? What is your favorite character in terms of how they were written in the source material? (@pedanticlecturer)

I think my favorite play overall is Macbeth, just because I like the vibes (and the fact that I too could kill Macbeth), the fact that you don’t say it’s name in theatres, and the fact that it’s a play I did a full read through and analysis of in class. Favorite character? Puck from Midsummer. — mod aster

uhhhh,, hmm. ive always had a soft spot for midsummer since i saw it with aster esp bc of how fun the costumes were. of the comedies it has the largest potential to be the most visually pleasing bc of the concept of fairies,,,and im gay and dramatic so i love that. id die if i got to costume design for midsummer,,,or be in it,,,yeah. fav character. hmm. probably mercutio?? i recently saw a version of romeo and juliet where mercutio was played by a woman and oh my god it was amazing!!! not to mention mercutio’s portrayal in baz luhrmann's INCREDIBLE version of r n j!!! (I based my mercutio design on him) he just spends the entire time making dick jokes. love that. -- mod star

How do you answer asks so fast? I mean it's great but I'm impressed 😂 (Anon)

Personally, it’s a mix of: notifications on, quick drawing speed, and using the blog to avoid my class work — mod aster

aster is fast and (as you can see from all of my answers) im lazey -- mod star

Are there any elements/characters of the plays you're covering that you would have liked to work into this blog's plot, but couldn't due to the constraints of the setting or the synthetic nature of the blog? (@pedanticlecturer)

I wanted to make everyone gay but unfortunately due to plot constraints we have to have some hets but that wont stop me from making it lgbt as possible. -- mod star

I did want to make The Tempest more of a central play, but it just didn’t translate well. Similarly, other supernatural elements like the witches in Macbeth. This isn’t so much a constraint mentioned, but my own time/energy means that I want to show the Macbeth backstory, in a specific format, but I can’t right now— mod aster

Is there a hierarchy of import when it comes to each play's individualized impact on shakespeare high's general arc? If so, what plays are crucial to the foundation of the story? Which ones did you do mostly for shits and giggles? (@pedanticlecturer)

This is phrased like an ACT question and i might not answer it right so sorry in advance but: mod aster and i only selected a few plays for each of us to do given we dont know all of shakespeare’s works, but we tend to put more emphasis on the the more well known. But it also comes down to 1. How much we have plotted out for each play and 2. What the followers ask about most. Our two most popular are hamlet and macbeth bc people are familiar w those but around march caesar always becomes relevant again. I didnt even have designs for some of the characters until someone asked about them. -- mod star

I would say the same as star— it generally comes down to what people ask about. I will say that the overall plot is sort of separated into “has happened” and “is happening”. Like, the human potion of Midsummer, Julius Caesar, and Macbeth are all in the ��aftermath” portion, while Twelfth Night, Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet, among others, are happening. We’re trying to incorporate as much as we can, and I don’t think any of them were really put in without some thought.— mod aster

What personal significance does shakespeare hold in ur guys' lives? (@pedanticlecturer)

I go to a theater school rn and so ive dealt w shakespeare (although not all of them) it also helps that i was in loves labours lost last year as moth and that i read hamlet and r n j. Theres also a theater in my state that always does One Big Shakespeare per season and they always do them super well!!! My love for shakespeare probably started w seeing midsummer at that theater w mod aster!!! So. Theater kid rights!! -- mod star

To be honest, I got back into Shakespeare Because of the blog. I’ve been friends with some people that got really Pretentious about Shakespeare, and it kinda put me off of it. I did have a book of abridged plays (the plays’ plots written out in prose, basically) that I read as a kid, which is what got me into not only the plots of a lot of the plays, but also the idea of having them illustrated. And, same as star, the theater in state does the One Big Shakespeare— and they tend to do some really cool things with the costumes, setting them in diff time periods. I haven’t been able to see any lately since I’ve moved, but they still slap. — mod aster

🥰😘💙🥰🥰💜💟🥰I 😍💗💚😍😍LOVE🖤🖤 YALL ♥️♥️🧡💛💚💝❣️💕💘💖💗💓💞💝❤️💛💜 okay now i have a question i swear— how long have the two of you been doing art??? and what were your first shakespeare plays??? (@hellaghosts)

Uhh i started drawing when i was like idk 12 and i have the giant boxes of sketchbooks to prove it!!! I moved to digital art at abt 14-15 but mostly stayed traditional until this yr when i got a Neat New Tablet so some of my sketchbooks are sitting abandoned rip. My first shakespeare was either romeo and juliet or midsummer nights dream and i love both of them v much!!! I have a very old piece of art that i did for r n j for my freshman class assignment on it and it hasnt aged well alsdjfjafd circa 2016 i think??? -- mod star

Oh man. I started drawing when I was about 10, but it was Bad. I don’t think I got much into drawing again until I was about 14? Sometime around the end of middle school/beginning of high school. I would say I started getting into drawing as more than doodling/coloring edits sometime around 2015-16? I would draw on my iPad with my finger, then I got a tablet for my computer, and now I pretty much stick to my iPad with an Apple Pencil. My first Shakespeare play was….. uh…… probably Midsummer???? I have No idea. We would go to plays when I was little, so I honestly don’t remember if I saw others before. It may have been Romeo and Juliet— I had that book where it was the original and the “modernized” with the little dog that explained things— which, if you know it makes sense, but if you don’t is probably a bonkers answer. — mod aster

Do you think this blog has like? An overarching thesis (be it b/c intentionally or simply b/c ur own take on the world has bled thru to the point where u believe it’s central to the piece at this point)? (@pedanticlecturer)

Not gonna lie, I had to read that like three times AND dm you to figure out what you were asking from us and all I have is “be gay, respect women, write your own happy endings”. — mod aster

This blog started with an ides of march shitpost and you think we have enough brain energy to write a whole thesis? I projected feelings of found family onto my half of the blog but idk if that counts. Be gay do crime 420 69 -- mod star

What’s the nature/rough dynamic of ur relationship? How do y’all know each other? (@pedanticlecturer)

Met mod aster when i was like 4 and even tho we didnt live close we became like, best friends although the Best part didnt start until we were like 13-ish and eventually we talked like non stop (about anime and homestuck. Yknow. 13 year old kid things) and we didnt see each other a lot bc of Distance and now its even worse bc aster is in colleg.,e but we consider each other siblings regardless of family bc we’re adopted into our own respective families so that bled over into our friendship and it would feel weird calling him anything other than my brother now. We’ve seen each other at our best and worst and if you really want a good insight on what we’re like as siblings watch griffin and justin mcelroy’s overview video of catlateral damage wherein i am griffin and he is the long suffering justin. -- mod star

Star is basically my long distance sibling and functionally the only cousin I recognize bc like their parents are basically an aunt and uncle and like our dads look enough alike that we’ve both accidentally gotten the wrong dad for a hug or similar so like. Anyways yeah Star is the Griffin to my Justin, complete with our absent middle brother who we love dearly— mod aster

Dubiously relevant q but what kind of music do y’all listen to when u do art (if that is indeed a habit either of u partake in) (@pedanticlecturer)

It can depend on the piece? I was working on some (unrelated) oc prints that were song-focused, and for those I just listened to said song on loop. Sometimes I have playlists. Sometimes I’ll just be in a Mood and throw a song on loop. But a lot of time for the blog, I’ll listen to The Adventure Zone for the billionth time, because I have Too Much Attention. I’ve also, on request from Star, linked the most recent “loop song”.— mod aster

I tend to obsess over the same like 3 songs every few weeks so those get listened to on repeat but it also depends on the tone of what im drawing or who im drawing i might genre switch bc of that. If im drawing ophelia i stick to lana del rey and if im drawing hamlet its the neighborhood, horatio is sufjan stevens etc. i have categorized,. Most of the characters i draw into different songs/genres/energies of music but not like i ever follow that. Sometimes i just pull up a really long nonsense video and forget to draw. Essentially: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ -- mod star

How’d y’all come up with ur pseudonyms? (@pedanticlecturer)

I love space so much and my main blog is starryeydsailor space gay rights!! Im also tiny and full of energy and bright so basically i;m star -- mod star

Uhhhh i was like “hey i want to do uhhhhhh flower?” And then I google searched flower names until I found one I liked —- mod aster

How did you end up deciding the rough timeline of events in canon? (@pedanticlecturer)

It’s mostly determined by like. How we choose per story? If that makes sense. Like, we just take story by story, and decide “is it happening, has it happened, and when?” And then we fit them together in relation to each other just by dint of. All existing at once. Like, I knew I wanted Macbeth to be in aftermath, because like, even though there’s no murder, the way I’ve translated it to the AU is still kinda heavy, and it’s something that I don’t know that I could do properly if it were happening right now. Also, it’s more interesting IMO to have them at different times. Tl;dr we wing it per story and slot them together— mod aster (mod star agrees I just can word better, in theory)

If you could tell the story of shakespeare high in a different format than an ask blog, would you? Obviously y'all are making very good use of the format, but would you want to write this as a animated series or like? a comic book? or is the form inseparable from the story? (@pedanticlecturer)

I kinda wanted to do a webcomic or maybe to plot develop through like, animatics but the element of surprise comes from the asks we get and really makes us think so the blog is a good start. We didnt think we’d get this far -- mod star

Pretty much what Star said— there are certain elements where it’d be neat to do as a comic or as an animatic. Like, the fantasy dream is like, an anthology webcomic of each story, where you can like, see other characters in the background and stuff. But to be honest, we develop a lot by what we’re asked— there was a post about developing worldbuilding by being asked questions and then pretending you’ve thought about the answer, and it’s not far off. Personally, it’s hard to just lay out a story, because I have a whole WORLD and what’s relevant? What are people interested in? It’s by getting questions that I can then focus in on an area to develop. And yeah, we Super didn’t think we’d get this far lmao — mod aster

Any headcanons about your characters that you don't think will ever come up on the blog through asks or plot posts? (@pedanticlecturer)

I could make a whole separate post for this!!!!! Mostly its voice headcanons (and by mostly i mean like 1 or 2) or relationship hcs!!!! -- mod star

Honestly same. I don’t think I have voice headcanons for mine, though I bet I could find some. I’ve got a bunch of miscellaneous headcanons that just kinda float around, but like they’re scattered, too numerous for this post, and also not always things I’m sure are canon yet.— mod aster

[ps-yourockmyworld]

i did the music alphabet challenge thing!

@pancakesforamber asked me to do this. i’ll put a read more because this is super long. also this is in response to amber, so that’s why a few of these are directed at her!

okay so i wanna preface by saying this was super hard because some of these aren’t even songs i really listen to anymore, and usually i really like to make playlists with songs that have a similar feel or at least flow together well. this definitely will not! but i think regardless it’s kind of a fun glimpse into the music that’s impacted me throughout my life? also i tried not to repeat artists because that’s no fun, so a few of these include like secondary options but whatever. also also...i just KNOW i’m gonna think of better options for some of these later, but again, whatever!

·         A: an uplifting song miracle by ghost beach. this one was hard for me but i listened to this song a lot when i was trying to get over stuff and it’s a happy song so yeah!

·         B: a song to listen to before you go to sleep whiskey by voxtrot. i don’t really listen to music before i fall asleep, but if i did i’d pick this song because it’s calm and sweet. can a song feel warm? because this song feels warm to me. you’ll have to listen to this one on youtube because i believe this is one of voxtrot’s b-side songs? one of my faves by them though. 

·         C: a song from a soundtrack we’re gonna be friends by the white stripes. i couldn’t think of many songs i listen to that are from movies, but this was in napoleon dynamite back in the day but i think it’s such a cute song!

·         D: a song that reminds me of a fictional character miserable by rodeo church. look, by this point i hope you’ve accepted the only fictional characters that i really think about are my own...i know that’s so vain. anyway, this song reminds me of dominic from wtru given the depressing lyrics but kind of manic energy of the song. 

·         E: a song by a band I’ve seen live in my dreams by eels. i had to include them at least once haha but they were my first ‘real’ band i saw live, and i’m glad it was this way. and this was the song that got me hooked/still one of my favorites so :)

·         F: a song that I’ve used as a ringtone at some point california by phantom planet. uhhh so this is embarrassing: my sister and i used to get super obsessed with shows we didn’t even watch by watching like youtube clips and stuff, and this includes the o.c.  this song is the theme song and i can’t remember if i actually had it as my ringtone at one point or just almost bought it for my ringtone, but it’s the only song ringtone i’ve ever had haha

·         G: a song to party your butts off to desperate measures by marianas trench. there are probably more recent energetic songs to dance around to, but this is my JAM. found this song...freshman year of college? still such a jam though, i love it. 

·         H: a song that reminds me of my childhood moonshadow by cat stevens. growing up i listened to a LOT of elton john and cat stevens. but i had to just pick one, and this one reminds me of driving in our family’s car because we had cat steven’s album. 

·         I: a song that gives me butterflies kiss the breeze by sticky fingers. have we talked about this band? one of my favorites, and again, this is the song that made me discover them. weirdly, this band is kind of like a stoner/reggae british band, but this song is so beautiful. i found it right before my england/scotland trip and then proceeded to play it a lot during the trip too, so it reminds me of england. 

·         J: a song by the beatles blackbird by the beatles. i know tumblr hates on the beatles, but i still have a soft spot for them. this is another band i had an obsessive phase with, so i could pick a bunch, but i’ve always really liked blackbird. 

·         K: a song I know all the lyrics to jump into the fog by the wombats. i used to sing this ALL THE TIME in the shower yikes

·         L: an instrumental song claire de lune by claude debussy. i got stuck on this one for a while before remembering my absolute favorite instrumental song. so so beautiful it makes me emotional.  

·         M: a song that hasn’t got a video but I wish it had AHHH okay okay so i was going to reverse this into ‘a song that has a video that i wish it hadn’t’ and send you this video for i like birds by eels BUT the video got DELETED. basically it was this video that a bunch of old ladies in a birdwatching community made, and it was super dorky and i absolutely hated it (but secretly kind of loved it) and i wanted you to see it to hate it with me. but it’s gone now, so i guess now i’m left wishing this song DID have a video...the video of the old women looking for birds </3

·         N: a song by a band I want to see live forgive and forget by the kooks. there are a few bands i still want to see, but the kooks are one of my faves, and of their songs, this is one of my faves. so that answers that!

·         O: a melancholic song calm calm calm yourself by anchor & braille. okay so...this isn’t a sad song. but the thing is i used to listen to it a lot in like high school when i was trying to pull myself out of anxiety attacks and stuff. so now hearing it makes me sad by association, you know? but it’s a nice song otherwise. 

·         P: a song that I’d recommend you based on your blog who’d have known by lily allen. so okay i feel like your music taste consists of a lot more female artists than mine? you may already listen to her, idk, but lily allen was a classic for me and my sister when i was in high school. and this song is adorable. 

·         Q: a song to drive to sit next to me by foster the people. so i’ve wanted you to listen to this song for a while! this is from their new album, but this is potentially my favorite on the album (top 3 at least). but it reminds me of night driving probably more than any other song. 

·         R: a song that I’ve listened to lots of times recently technically this should be something from the new foster the people album BUT i’m gonna go with the man by the killers. super catchy and i love it. 

·         S: a song by a band of your choice holy roller by portugal. the man. okay so...i don’t think we’ve talked about this, mainly because this is super ‘pretentious hipster’, but let me just say that i liked ptm before they became super famous for ‘feel it still’. this was the song that got me hooked. i still remember hearing it during my freshman year of college at american eagle and frantically scrambling to type in lyrics on my phone so i could find it later. ANYWAY let it be known that i knew them before they were cool. 

·         T: a lovesong delicate by damien rice. i don’t know if technically this would be considered a love song? but it’s so beautiful that it feels like falling in love, i think. love damien rice, but again, this is the song that got me into him. 

·         U: a song that reminds me of a fictional pairing I want to belong to you by katie herzig. GUESS WHICH FICTIONAL PAIRING THIS IS ABOUT. JUST FRICKING GUESS ;)

·         V: a non-english song mi ancla by mindy gledhill. this is kind of cheating. i like mindy gledhill, and i love her song ‘anchor’. this is the spanish version. still beautiful and sweet <3

·         W: a song with an amazing music video typical by mute math. this one is super middle school, but to be honest i don’t watch a lot of music videos? and this song is still a jam anyways. basically (or at least the middle school legend goes) this music video was literally filmed entirely backwards. as in the band members had to LEARN THE CHORDS AND LYRICS BACKWARDS so that playing the music video backwards would actually make the song sound right. i’m only now realizing how ridiculous and fake that actually is. still, this music video rocks harder than anything my 13 year old self had ever seen. 

·         X: a cover your song by ellie goulding. you might know this one. i don’t think there’s many covers i like more than the original, but i actually like this one more than the elton john original (which is saying a lot because i like elton john a lot too)

·         Y: a song I’d send to my crush (imaginary, if you don’t have one) wicked game by james vincent mcmorrow. so in reality, i’d never send this to a crush; i don’t think i’d send any song to a crush though? seems kind of creepy. but this song is beautiful and has such a feeling of longing that i guess i associate it with the feeling of having feelings for someone. 

·         Z: a randomly chosen song bloom by the paper kites. okay i’m not sure if this meant i randomly pick a song or if i let a music playing device shuffle and pick a song, but the songs spotify was pulling up for me weren’t good ones, so i made the call on this one haha. anyway, this song is so beautiful. this one reminds me of fall. 

[dawnofdaybreak]

Unfinished/WIP Jongho Fics

As I try to get back into the gist of writing, here’s a few Jongho fics I’ve worked on in the past that aren’t finished but there’s a possibility that they could be finished? Not to quote Jonghyun but Inspiration is needed.

#001 - something new years related

Jonghyun really should stop drinking.

It’s bad enough that he’s emotional when he’s sober but does he have to be an emotional drunk too?

He’d come to this party to take his mind off of all the shit things that have happened in his life lately, to let loose and have a good time. But instead he ends up sobbing on the rooftop of whoever’s fancy apartment and feeling worse than he had when he was sober.

Perfect. Just perfect.

“Oh sorry I didn’t think anyone was up here…”

Jonghyun looks up at the unfamiliar voice. It’s a guy and the first thing Jonghyun notices is how big his eyes are. He then takes in his sharp nose and generally small face. The guy’s lips are stained a pretty red presumably from drinking alcohol and his ash blonde hair is framing his forehead rather nicely. Jonghyun’s (inebriated) brain finally alerts him that this dude is really attractive, and so he rushes to rid his eyes of the tears gathered in the corners.  

“W-wait are you crying?”

“N-no,” Jonghyun replies but his voice comes out all hoarse and wobbly. He curses inwardly.

The guy ignores him, instead choosing to sit next to Jonghyun on the ledge.

“Dude why are you crying…you shouldn’t be crying.”

Jonghyun doesn’t answer the other male. He covers his face, hoping the male will leave and allow him to shrivel up and die from embarrassment.

“It’s New Year’s Eve, and if you spend tonight crying then you’ll enter the New Year all sad and no one should be sad on New Year’s.”

Jonghyun chuckles mirthlessly at the statement. “Is that so?” he croaks out.

“Yep!” The other man says enthusiastically. “So I’ve got twenty minutes to make you happy or my name isn’t Choi Minho.”

Jonghyun removes his hands from his face, brows furrowing over the familiar name.

“Choi Minho? As in Kibum’s Choi Minho?”

Minho smiles at him. “You know my best friend?”

Jonghyun knows Kibum all too well. They went to high school together, probably made out a few times amongst other things, but Minho doesn’t need to know that. Jonghyun instead is wondering why the Kibum never mentioned that this Minho was so hot.

#002 - Professor Jjong & Student Minho

It’s hard being a young, single and handsome, teacher.

Especially when your classroom is filled with college freshman who are surprisingly more hormonal than high school seniors.

Most kids sat in his class and tried to earn their grades, but there was also your small group of students who tried to flirt their way to the top. Jonghyun thought that sort of thing only happened in cheap pornos – but at the end of his first semester when a female student had bent over his desk and asked “Can you please bump me up a letter grade Professor Kim,” practically shoving her B cup boobs in his face, had Jonghyun realized that those pornos he’d watched in middle school weren’t that far from reality.

That was the first time Jonghyun had actually felt proud about the fact that he was gay. He was able to reprimand the young girl without contemplating what she was clearly offering or getting flustered to the point that she thought he was considering it.

After that incident, he was able to listen to the whispers in the halls about how sexy he was, with just a smile of appreciation and nothing more.  

Until Choi Minho arrived that is.

Choi Minho was a freshman in his second semester when he entered Jonghyun’s class. He was a Physical Education Major – the only one of Jonghyun’s students who was taking his course as an elective. Jonghyun had no problem with that, he liked those who took his classes as electives. It was exhilarating to teach the beauty of music to those who had no prior interest in the subject. What he did have a problem with however was the fact that Choi Minho was always 10-15 minutes late, with his jet black hair still dripping wet from the shower he always takes before Jonghyun’s class. He’d come in with this sheepish little grin on his face and say “Sorry I’m late Professor Kim, it won’t happen again,” and Jonghyun would just roll his eyes because he knows that’s a lie.

Jonghyun couldn’t stay mad at him though.

#003 - Smut that I can’t really remember where I was going with...

Minho likes, no loves, to please Jonghyun.

He loves to reduce the older man to a whimpering mess.

He loves when Jonghyun buries his head in Minho’s neck when the pleasure becomes too much and his moans get too loud.

He loves having Jonghyun’s naked body pressed up against his own, with the shorter man’s arms wrapped securely around Minho’s neck.

What Minho doesn’t love however is the fact that Jonghyun only allows Minho to please him with his hands.

Now don’t get him wrong, he loves touching Jonghyun.

He loves rubbing his thumbs over those perky nipples and squeezing fistfuls of Jjong’s ass in his palms. He loves fingering the other male and stroking his cock when his orgasm seems too far to reach.

But Minho is so sure he could make Jonghyun completely fall apart if he could get his mouth on him – if he could kiss those sinful lips and suck that hard cock. If he could just circle Jonghyun’s entrance with his tongue, the other male would have no choice but to beg for Minho’s lips whenever he came to the younger man.

Minho is sure if he could use his cock to really stuff Jonghyun, the older man’s moans would be loud enough for the entire dorm to hear. Jonghyun would then come to him more eager and more desperate, pleading to be fucked.

But since Jonghyun only allows him to use his hands, that’s what Minho’s forced to do.

When the shorter man opens his bedroom door on a late Friday night, Minho takes one look at his eyes and knows exactly what he wants.

“Are you busy?”

Minho puts the book he was reading down and opens his arms for the shorter male.

Jonghyun bites his lip and then quickly strips out of his clothes. He crawls onto the bed and rests his naked body on top of Minho’s clothed one.

This is Jonghyun’s favourite position when he comes to Minho. It’s easier to avoid eye contact this way.

Minho guides Jonghyun’s hands around his neck and then he reaches downward to squeeze Jonghyun’s ass.

Jonghyun hitches at the contact, and then nuzzles into Minho’s neck.

“It’s been a while,” he murmurs.

Minho silently agrees by squeezing a little harder.

“We’ve been so busy,” Jonghyun breathes against his neck. It’s ticklish, but Minho doesn’t want him to stop. “I missed you…”

Minho tenses at that and pulls Jonghyun away from his neck, eyes searching for the true meaning behind those words.

“I m-mean I missed your t-touch.” The shorter man avoids eye contact.

“Hyung, why won’t you let me have proper sex with you?”

Jonghyun squirms at the question.

“I-“

#004 - More unfinished smut

Minho isn’t too sure how he’s ended up here…

One minute he was eyeing platinum blond hair from across the bar. The next he was grinding into the man’s ass on the dance floor. Jonghyun – he’d said his name was, was a delicious little thing, short with bits of muscle. The perfect size for Minho to manhandle. The dance floor had gotten so hot, so constricting as their bodies had moved together – Jonghyun’s ass pressing back against Minho’s pelvis, while Minho’s large hands gripped the shorter male’s pecs, pulling Jonghyun back into his body whenever he got too far away.

Now as Minho has the shorter man pressed against the hard surface of a bathroom stall, he finds that Jonghyun does like being manhandled – if the whimpers that leave his lips every time Minho tugs on his hair or spanks his ass are anything to go by.

He still doesn’t know if it was the alcohol or pure unaltered lust that ended up with them here, but right now he isn’t complaining.

“F-fuck Minho I’m not going to fucking break, fuck me already,” Jonghyun whines trying to get Minho to remove his fingers from his tight heat.

Minho chuckles, “I want you to break baby,” he whispers in Jonghyun’s ear before tugging lightly on the pierced cartilage.

Jonghyun whimpers in response, throwing his head back against the wall of the stall.

“Shit, please Minho.”

#005 - Jonghyun’s struggles while dating a Minho who’s poly...dialogue only...Probably won’t ever be finished

“Are you sleeping over tonight?”

 “I always sleep over on Friday nights bub.”

 “Yeah but remember last week, when Junmyeon was sick and you stayed over at his to take care of him.”

 “I just spoke to him today, he’s fine. Don’t worry I’m not going anywhere.”

  ---

 “Taemin and Kibum staged an intervention for me today.”

 “Really…what about?”

 “About you actually. They told me they think you’re cheating on me.”

 “So what did you say to them?”

 “I told them that you’re poly.  And that I don’t care because I know you can love me wholeheartedly.”

 “What’s wrong.”

 “It felt like I was lying to myself.”

 “H-hyung we’ve been through this.”

 “I’ve been with you from we were in diapers. I was your first kiss, I was there when your dad kicked you out because you told him you were gonna play soccer instead of going to college. I was there when you got your heart broken for the first time. I’ve been to every one of your soccer games, I’ve taken care of you when you were sick. I’m the first person you call when you get into trouble. I was the one you had your first time with. Am I really not enough?”

 “J-jong you know I-I can’t help the way I am. But I love you, my love for you has never faltered no matter how many people I date”

 “I know Minho and I r-respect that but I can’t help the way I feel whenever I know you’re out with someone else, probably treating them the same way you treat me. Can’t you at least try to stay with only me.”

 “I-I can’t”

[juleswriites]

⭐️ x 47000

as i’ve said before, we could just write a book.  and i’m definitely not writing 47,000 headcanons, but i’ll give you a few for each of our more established ships.

S H M A R M A N

Even laid-back Marcus has reached his wit’s end regarding one particular thing:  Shane and Roman are not allowed to play Monopoly in the house.  They both get way too competitive and it gets escalated to ridiculous levels.

Sometimes Gizmo wanders into Shane’s room just to sleep on Atlas’s dog bed to prove that he is top animal in the house.

When Shane is bored she’ll wipe her fingers through colored chalk and leave fingerprints in random places throughout the house and time just how long it takes Roman to notice them.

Atlas and Gizmo actually get along pretty well as long as Atlas leaves the cat alone.  Since Shane has only ever slept in her own room when something is wrong between she and one or both of the boys, they all sleep in Marcus’ room.

When Shane can’t sleep, her go-to method to remedy it is to ask Marcus to sing to her.  She likes laying with her ear against his chest and listening to the combination of his voice and heartbeat.

S H A M A N (arranged)

Despite being the creative director for a fashion house, there are times where Shane will still ask Roman for opinions about what she wears during the events they attend together.  She likes when he likes her clothing.

Shane teasingly insists that she will continue to keep her own room in their house even after they’re married.  If she sees the way Roman looks at her in response, she has never said so.

Shane has already decided that if they have a daughter, she will carry Octavia’s name in some part of hers, probably the middle.  Roman’s sister has become very important to her in a short amount of time.  (She is also considering putting Octavia on retainer as an event planner for Nox Fashion House.)

Despite never saying so, Shane is constantly worried she will disappoint Roman and her in-laws.  She is usually fairly proud of her accomplishments, but the Notts bring out her insecurities.

Shane wants to get the fashion house smoothly transitioned to being under her leadership, but afterward, she would not be opposed to going ahead and starting their family.  She’s looking forward to building a future with Roman, and is more than a little excited to see him as a father.

S H A R K Y (bound to you)

Shane has had flashes of her future with Marcus since she was young.  She never knew his name and she never saw his face, but she knew that someday, she’d meet someone who would be a partner to her in a way she didn’t quite understand.

She felt Marcus coming that first day of school and knew the moment she laid eyes on him that he was the one she’d been dreaming about.

While she usually gets strong feelings of things to come when she touches others, she’s usually entirely too focused on how warm Marcus’ skin is and how much she enjoys his touch to actually discern anything substantial.

She’s now really annoyed that he let her gush about him to himself in wolf form.  He’ll be getting an earful about that.

She easily feels closer to Marcus than she’s felt to anyone else in her life.  She was kept relatively isolated from others first by her father and then by her mother to keep her safe, and both of her parents had much larger plans or concerns than to really get to know their daughter.  Shane has no model of healthy relationships of any sort to go off of.

R O ²

When she was younger, Roxy once considered letting her friend draw a dick on her face just because she thought it would be funny for her soulmate to have to walk around with one on theirs.  Now that she’s met Roman, that idea is even funnier.

Logic tells her that Roman should terrify her, but it’s just not possible.  She knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that he would lose an arm before willingly letting someone harm her.

She wants to get a tattoo now in a slightly risque place and see how long it takes him to notice it or bring it up.  She’s considering having his name or the date they finally met in Roman numerals tattooed high on her inner thigh.

Unknown to her, Roxy’s employees are already preparing for her departure.  They have high hopes that now that her soulmate has found her, he’ll get her the hell out of Seattle and away from her stalker.

She’d like to see the world with Roman.  She’s never really traveled, and has always wanted to, but she wanted to wait until they found each other.

T O X Y (fearsome foursome)

One of Roxy’s first memories of TJ involves her running around his yard naked when she was three-years-old.  No one is allowed to talk about it.  Except for Jared who gives no fucks and takes the smacks across his head.

Roxy’s heard a few people say TJ isn’t good for her.  She’s been quick to correct them.  She is not some martyr to be put on a pedestal because of the attack, and TJ makes her feel normal, which she needs.

She had a crush on TJ in fifth grade, complete with a notebook labeled “Property of Mrs. Roxy Ryerson”.  Unknown to her, Jared has that notebook tucked away for blackmail purposes.

Her ideal first date with him would honestly just be driving up the coast and camping in his Jeep overnight so they could look at the stars and talk all night.  She’s not a dinner and a movie kind of date.

She’s already thinking about what she’s going to do when Jared and TJ graduate, and stresses about it.

B I X

While she was isolated in the group home after giving birth, Bianca practiced writing Xavier’s name as it is on her arm so often, she can probably create a believable forged signature.

She has a notebook full of random thoughts and questions she wanted to share or ask Xavier when she finally met him.

She went through a period where she almost gave up on the soulmate phenomenon, around the time she met the father of her child.  She tried to force herself to fall in love, but it just didn’t work.

Bianca was fairly certain she wouldn’t find Xavier until she was an adult.  She didn’t think she’d meet someone her age who she could even begin to relate to after all she’s been through.

She found Xavier utterly breathtaking before she knew his name.

M A R J I N (color me alive)

Hermes had never even considered the possibility he could find his soulmate while crowd surfing.  Now that it’s happened, he’ll have stress dreams for the rest of his life about what could have happened if Eros hadn’t stepped up and found a discrete way of finding Marcus in the crowd.

TBD has an agreement that if any of the band members want out once they find their soulmates, the others won’t hold it against them.  Luckily, all of the matches found thus far have been nothing but supportive of the band and the members’ dreams.

Hermes already has several cheesy love songs in the works inspired by Marcus.  He lets Shane read them before he even attempts to put music to the lyrics because she’s incredibly honest about if the lyrics are too much.  One song has made her laugh to the point of tears, especially the phrase “I could love you more than food”.

It is H’s hope that Marcus and Eros will get to be very good friends.  They are the two most important people in Hermes’ life.

If H gets to celebrate Marcus’ next birthday with him, he is already planning to go over the top and absolutely spoil his soulmate.

B A N E

Boone still unreasonably hates a boy named Josh Zimmerman for no other reason than that he was Shane’s first kiss.  They were six.

Shane once put gum in the hair of a girl Boone dated when they were younger after she overheard her telling her friends that she was gonna nip Boone and Shane’s friendship in the bud.  It happened their freshman year of high school and she still denies it was her.

Before her folks died, Shane’s father gave Boone his grandmother’s wedding ring.  Right up until his their deaths, both of her parents firmly believed that Shane would eventually come home to her husband.  She loved him too much not to.

Shane wore her wedding ring right up until the point that she went back home to face Boone.  It was a small, simple thing because of how young they were when they married, and no one in the new life she’d made for herself figured out that it was a wedding band.

Shane prefers the smell of her husband, hay, and fresh-cut grass to the most expensive cologne on the planet.

J O O N E

Joey has not noticed yet that Boone always makes sure there are extra of her favorite snacks in the house at all times for when she gets cravings.  Blue and Roger have been warned to leave them alone.

On days she’s feeling particularly lazy but wants out of the house, Joey will bring a blanket and lay on the hood of the pickup to watch the boys work out in the fields during the day.

She makes to-die-for fruit preserves and makes sure she’s always got some of the ones Boone likes best.

Instead of going back to her normal job, she has given a lot of thought to trying to open up her own restaurant so that she can share hers and Boone’s family recipes and bring in as much food from local farmers as she can.

She stresses about how she’s going to explain things to her daughter.  If Cam wants nothing to do with them, will she just tell her that he’s an uncle?  She’s afraid to tell Boone that she thinks his little brother could be childish enough to tell his daughter things out of spite of Joey.

[richmeganews]

The Atlantic Daily: All Politics Isn’t Local

What We’re Following

The European project: One mayoral candidate in Barcelona used to be the prime minister … of France. Manuel Valls was born in Barcelona to a Catalan father, but at an early age he moved to France before ascending the ranks in the country’s Socialist Party. After stepping down as prime minister in 2016, he decamped to Barcelona. His campaign, like his dual identity, is centered on the ideal of a global, transnational Europe—but in the age of Brexit, that notion seems almost quaint. Valls has so far skirted charges of carpetbaggery. In a crowded field, does the Frenchman really have a shot?

What’s the matter with Wisconsin? After Trump surprisingly won the purple state in 2016, it overwhelmingly swung blue in 2018 with the victory of a Democratic governor. This week, that momentum hit another roadblock. In a crucial race for a state supreme-court seat, the conservative Judge Brian Hagedorn narrowly beat the liberal Judge Lisa Neubauer—an upset that gives conservatives control of the court for the foreseeable future. The victory should serve as a warning sign to Democrats, argues Charles J. Sykes.

One more thing: Last month, we asked you to help us vote on a new holiday, one that we could celebrate together. Would Lend a Hand Day win out over Get Back in Touch Day? Would Crafter All Day win out over Deadline Day? We have a winner: Step Away Day! Take a little tech sabbath this month (including from, gulp … TheAtlantic.com), and let us know how you unplugged by writing to us at letters@theatlantic.com.

—Saahil Desai

This Week in Numbers

Americans still dragging their feet when it comes to filing their tax returns have good reason to dread doing so: The Internal Revenue Service offers this many different types of forms. (Many other countries approach tax filing differently. In Japan and Great Britain, for instance, people don’t actually file.)

In 2018, happiness among young adults in the U.S. seems to have reached a record low: Only this percent of respondents between the ages of 18 and 34 in the General Social Survey reported being “very happy” in life. That number was lower among young men than women. Researchers interrogate the potential reasons.

“Legacies” get a bump in the college-application process for being the children of alumni. But what do colleges get in return? They claim that the practice helps with fundraising efforts, but the numbers don’t add up: From 1980 to 2010 at Yale, the percentage of freshman students who are legacies halved, yet Yale’s endowment grew by roughly this many dollars.

800 | 25 percent | $16 billion

Our Critics’ Picks

(HBO)

Watch: Richard Wright’s Native Son gets the HBO treatment, and the James Baldwin treatment, in Suzan-Lori Parks’s new adaptation. In theaters now is another superhero movie, Shazam!—but this one is actually joyful and family friendly. And Our Planet, Netflix’s stunning and unsparing answer to the BBC’s nature series Planet Earth, is now streaming.

Read: Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, at 50, “never gets old, is the point. It never wanes in energy,” writes James Parker, who’s read and reread the novel countless times. “I appreciate, more than ever, the exultant brokenness of this text.”

Weekend Read

(Wenjia Tang)

This is the story of the lifelong friendship between Fernando Baldazo, 51, and Elizabeth O’Conor, 49, who grew up on opposite sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, attending high school together in Texas:

Elizabeth O’Conor: Back then, there really wasn’t a border. Some of my friends lived in Nuevo Laredo, like Fernando, and came to the school in Laredo, Texas, and vice versa. Going to Nuevo Laredo for lunch or dinner was no big deal. We would do that all the time, without even really realizing we were crossing a border. In high school, I had friends that lived on that side of the border, so I would go to their houses, go to their parties, and at one of those, somewhere, I met Fernando.

Fernando Baldazo: Yeah, my earliest memories are getting together at different parties. When she was a senior in high school, I was living in Mexico. As soon as I finished high school, I moved back to Nuevo Laredo, but I was working and going to school in the U.S. I was working at an electronics store at the local mall here in Texas. I would make her mixtapes for her graduation or for her parties. I had all these electronics and I loved playing with them, so I would just record a tape for her and her friends.

→ Read the rest

Poem of the Week

Happy National Poetry Month. This Friday, an excerpt from “Truth-Seeker, Half-Naked, At Night, Running Down Beach South of San Francisco” by Robert Penn Warren, from our December 1978 issue:

On the beach, flat I fall by the foam-frayed sea That now and then brushes an outflung hand, as though In tentative comfort, yet knowing itself to be As ignorant as I, and perhaps as feckless, also.

→ Read the rest

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Mervyn Warren

Mervyn Edwin Warren (born February 29, 1964) is an American film composer, record producer, music conductor, music arranger, lyricist, songwriter, pianist, and vocalist. Warren is a five-time Grammy Award winner and a 10-time Grammy Award nominee. Warren has written the underscore and songs for many feature and television films and has written countless arrangements in a variety of musical styles for producers Quincy Jones, David Foster, Arif Mardin, and dozens of popular recording artists, including extensive work on Jones' Back on the Block,Q's Jook Joint, and Q: Soul Bossa Nostra.

Warren has also produced numerous jazz, pop, R&B, contemporary Christian, and gospel artists, typically arranging those recordings, often performing on them (on piano, keyboards, or vocals), and often writing or co-writing the melodies and lyrics. Warren is best known as an original member of the a cappella vocal group Take 6, for having composed the underscore to the number-1 film The Wedding Planner (2001), for producing and arranging songs for the hit film Sister Act 2 (1993), and for producing and arranging most of the soundtrack to the 1996 Whitney Houston film The Preacher's Wife—the best-selling Gospel album of all time.

Early life and education

Warren was born on a leap day (February 29) in Huntsville, Alabama, the son of Dr. Mervyn A. Warren, a university administrator, professor and author, and Barbara J. Warren, a university professor who specialized in early childhood education. Warren's mother taught him to read and to do basic math when he was three years old, which enabled him later to complete the first and second grades in one year. Upon beginning the third grade, Warren's classmates, thinking he had been "skipped" a grade, taunted and ostracized him for the next several years. During that time, he immersed himself in playing the piano, which he had begun under his mother's tutelage at the age of five.

Warren briefly took formal, piano lessons at the ages of six and 10. In each case, he soon lost interest in the strict memorization and regurgitation of the required pieces, preferring instead to create musical variations on the pieces or to improvise upon them. As a result, each stint of weekly, formal lessons was short-lived. Still, he spent hours at the piano daily, playing by ear.

As a child and teenager, Warren, whose parents are Seventh-day Adventists, was not allowed to listen to pop music or rhythm and blues. Instead, he grew up on a steady diet of easy-listening, contemporary Christian, classical, and choral music—from the Mantovani Orchestra to Edwin Hawkins to The Swingle Singers. Warren's family's home was adjacent to the campus of Oakwood University, which has a long and rich history of vocal and choral groups, many of which performed a cappella. Throughout his childhood and adolescence, Warren heard such ensembles rehearse and perform frequently. Each of these elements would later combine to inform his unique musical palette.

In 1976, at the age of 12, Warren was grounded (punished) for having purchased the Earth, Wind & Fire album Gratitude. But in 2006—exactly 30 years later—he was asked to produce an Earth, Wind & Fire Christmas album. Although the project was postponed, the irony remains.

At the age of 15, Warren enrolled in a special, summer program at Alabama A&M University for high-school students with advanced proficiency in the sciences and mathematics. As a result of his performance in the program, the university offered him a scholarship that would cover all studies required to earn a Ph.D. in physics. However, lacking sufficient interest in the subject, Warren declined the offer. In 1981 he was the valedictorian of his senior class at Oakwood Adventist Academy. In the fall of the same year, he became president of the freshman class at Oakwood University.

Intending to attend medical school, Warren majored briefly in biology and mathematics. Though he excelled at both, he dropped both, having decided to pursue his true passion, music. Disappointed by Warren's decision, a professor of biology told him, "You're wasting your mind on music."

Undeterred, Warren graduated summa cum laude in 1985 from Oakwood University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in music with an emphasis in piano performance. At the graduation ceremony, Warren conducted members of the senior class, performing a song he had written for the occasion, entitled "A Moment Like This."

In 1987, Warren received a Master of Music degree in Arranging from the University of Alabama, under the tutelage of noted jazz educator Steve Sample, Sr.

Early musical career

At the age of five, Warren began playing the piano by ear, after being taught a few songs by his mother. For many years thereafter, he immersed himself at the piano—learning to play various styles by ear and creating new arrangements of existing pieces. As early as the age of seven, he was accompanying vocalists at the piano, for their performances at school or church. He soon became sought after as an accompanist in the community and continued to do so, frequently, throughout college and graduate school.

At the age of 10, Warren became the regular accompanist for a vocal group, composed of five of his female classmates, and they performed regularly at school and community events. Within weeks of becoming their accompanist, Warren began creating original arrangements for the group.

When he was 12, he was asked by a classmate if he had ever considered composing an original song. Though Warren had not previously considered doing so, always having created arrangements of preexisting songs, the suggestion prompted him to begin composing original songs and lyrics, which he taught to the aforementioned vocal group and which they began to perform publicly.

Warren had an innate inclination toward jazz and complex harmony, which was evident in both his original songs and arrangements of existing songs. This inclination was met with disdain by some of the more conservative, Christian members of the Oakwood community, resulting in an ongoing struggle between figures of authority and Warren, as he attempted to express his musical ideas. At the age of 13, Warren expanded the five-voice, female vocal group to a nine-voice, mixed vocal group. This group, now called The Symbolic Sounds, sang his arrangements and compositions exclusively, and remained popular in the school and community through 1981.

Warren's first, professional recording session was for a new version of "The Lord's Prayer", set to an original melody, which Warren co-wrote with his friend Eric Todd. It was recorded by Blessed Peace, a popular gospel choir at Oakwood University, at Sound Cell Recording Studio in Huntsville, Alabama. Warren created the vocal arrangement, played keyboards, and assisted Todd with the overall production. During that session, studio-owner Doug Jansen Smith took note of Warren's abilities. Soon thereafter, Warren became a regular session-performer at Sound Cell, contributing arrangements, playing keyboards, and singing on various radio and TV jingles, as well as pop, rock, country, and contemporary Christian recordings.

Many of those sessions included Warren's friend Mark Kibble, also an accomplished arranger, pianist, and vocalist (and future member of Take 6). As early as the age of 13, Warren and Kibble, who were born five weeks apart, had performed concerts together, singing solos and duets, while taking turns providing accompaniment at the piano. One of the duets began with Warren singing and Kibble at the piano; then, halfway through the song, Warren would leave the stage and take over at the piano, seamlessly, at which point Kibble would take the stage to sing.

In 1980, while both juniors in high school, Warren and Kibble joined a preexisting, male, a cappella vocal quartet at Oakwood University, and the resulting sextet became known as Alliance. Alliance became known for its highly unique and complex vocal arrangements, primarily of well-known negro spirituals, but of some newer songs, as well. Most of Alliance's dazzling arrangements were created by Mark Kibble, but later, Warren contributed a few, as well. Alliance was very popular and performed not only on the campus of Oakwood University, but in various cities across the United States. In 1983, Alliance recorded an album at Sound Cell Recording Studio, entitled Something Within for Legacy Records, a custom label founded by Henry Mosley, then-professor at Oakwood University. Mosley also served as the group's manager. Later, an unmarked, cassette copy of Something Within was given by recording artist Michael Martin Murphy to Jim Ed Norman at Warner Bros. Records in Nashville, Tennessee. Norman loved the recording but neither he nor Murphy knew the identity of the performers. In 1987, Norman finally discovered the group's identity and promptly signed Alliance to a recording contract with Reprise Records, a division of Warner Bros. Records. Upon discovering that a rock music band had already recorded under the name "Alliance," the vocal group Alliance was renamed Take 6, released the album Take 6, and went on to earn worldwide acclaim.

In 1981, Warren enrolled at Oakwood University and joined the highly regarded touring choir The Aeolians, under the direction of Professor Alma Blackmon. Warren remained a member of The Aeolians throughout his four-year matriculation, later becoming the ensemble's stage director, assistant conductor, and alternate accompanist. With The Aeolians, Warren toured extensively throughout the United States, Bermuda, The Bahamas, The Virgin Islands, England, Scotland, and Wales.

In 1985, Warren composed an upbeat choral piece entitled "I Ain't Got Long To Be Here" in the style of a negro spiritual. Blackmon allowed Warren to teach the piece to The Aeolians, and it became part of their standard repertoire. Whenever they performed it, Blackmon introduced Warren, who would then conduct the piece. "I Ain't Got Long To Be Here" is believed to be the first student composition ever to have been performed by The Aeolians.

Blackmon was a pivotal figure in Warren's musical development. With her he studied music theory, piano performance, and techniques of choral conducting. By coincidence, as a teenager Warren lived in his parents' home, directly across the street from the home of Blackmon and her daughter Brenda, now Brenda Wood. As of 2010, Wood is an NBC news anchor at WXIA-TV in Atlanta, Georgia.

A Special Blend

Many members of The Aeolians also sang in other vocal groups and choirs at Oakwood University. However, because of The Aeolians' rigorous rehearsal and touring schedule, conductor Alma Blackmon had instituted a rule that no members of the ensemble could participate in extracurricular groups larger than a quartet. This was intended to limit the number of students who might collectively miss any given Aeolian performance. As such, Warren's nine-voice vocal group, The Symbolic Sounds, was disallowed.

In response, in 1981 Warren disbanded The Symbolic Sounds and formed the vocal group A Special Blend, consisting of two women and two men, accompanied by Warren on piano or sometimes by a full rhythm section. He created innovative vocal arrangements for A Special Blend, whose repertoire consisted of new arrangements of familiar songs, as well as original compositions by Warren. The group's core members were Joya Foster, Lori Bryan, Mark Kibble, and Claude V. McKnight, III. Like Alliance, A Special Blend became well-known and popular for its unique style, combining vocal jazz with contemporary Christian lyrics. A Special Blend performed many concerts throughout the United States, primarily on weekends, during the school year. Warren, Kibble, and McKnight were members of both A Special Blend and Alliance. The groups' respective takes on vocal jazz complimented each other, and in fact they frequently concertized in tandem.

At different points during A Special Blend's six-year continuance, vocalists Andraetta Huff, Sheryl Bihm, and Michelle Mayne each briefly served as members or alternate members.

In reality, neither A Special Blend nor Alliance complied with Blackmon's "Rule of Four." However, she granted an exception for A Special Blend, since they were technically a quartet that Warren accompanied at the piano. Alliance, on the other hand, was in clear violation, but Warren, along with Mark Kibble and Claude V. McKnight, III, continued to perform with Alliance stealthily. Although Kibble and McKnight also sang with The Aeolians, they each did so for only one year or less. Warren remained a member of The Aeolians throughout his four-year matriculation.

In 1982, A Special Blend won the first-place trophy at the Alabama State Fair's talent competition.

In 1983, A Special Blend recorded a collection of several songs at Sound Cell Studio, to serve as a demo to help the group acquire a recording contract. Like Alliance, A Special Blend caught the attention of Henry Mosley, who became the group's manager.

In 1984 A Special Blend recorded an album entitled Nowhere But Up, which Warren produced. The album was recorded at a studio in Nashville, Tennessee, for release on Moseley's Legacy Records. To attend sessions, Warren and the group and band members made the 100-mile trip many times—often departing for Nashville after the day's classes, recording for a few hours, then returning to Huntsville after midnight, in time for the next morning's classes. Despite Oakwood University's rich tradition of vocal groups, which had spanned decades, Nowhere But Up was the first student album to feature a full rhythm section plus orchestration, including a string ensemble, a big band, a pop horn section, synthesizers, and exotic percussion, all of which Warren arranged, though at the time he had received no formal training in orchestral writing. Upon its release, Nowhere But Up caused quite a stir within Oakwood University's rather conservative community. While a small number of the most conservative faculty members expressed discontent with the album's decidedly jazzy style, the project was highly celebrated by students, other faculty, and enthusiasts, both within the Oakwood community and around the United States. Only a few thousand copies of Nowhere But Up were pressed, and it is today considered a collector's item. As of 2010, there are discussions of a possible re-release of the album on the iTunes Store in 2011, the 30th anniversary of the group's formation.

A Special Blend often joined Warren at Sound Cell Studio to sing on jingles or commercials or to provide background vocals for other artists' recordings. These recordings ran the gamut from country and pop to "easy listening" and contemporary Christian music. The group also performed background vocals on stage for recording artist Bob Bailey, during his live concert at Oakwood.

In 1985, during a trip to California, A Special Blend performed at gospel-music legend Walter Hawkins' Love Center in Oakland, California. Aside from Hawkins and his brother, the equally celebrated Edwin Hawkins, the concert was attended by gospel-music legend Danniebelle Hall, who had been very influential upon Warren. In fact, A Special Blend's repertoire included a unique arrangement of a Danniebelle Hall New Orleans jazz-styled piece entitled "Theme On The Thirty-Seventh", which A Special Blend performed, to Hall's delight. After the group's performance, Walter Hawkins took the stage and playfully expressed that he had not noticed A Special Blend performing any Walter Hawkins songs. From the audience, Hall replied—tongue firmly in cheek—"Well, if you'd write something decent, they would."

In 1986, Warren traveled to Toronto, Ontario, to see The Manhattan Transfer in concert. Afterward, he waited at the backstage door, and upon the group's exit presented them with copies of Nowhere But Up. Over the years, A Special Blend had in fact been compared to The Manhattan Transfer. Some months later, while completing his master's degree at the University of Alabama, Warren received a surprise phone call from Janis Siegel of The Manhattan Transfer, asking if he had heard from the Recording Academy. Siegel explained that members of The Manhattan Transfer had submitted Nowhere But Up for a Grammy Award nomination. Because the album was a small, independent release, it had not reached enough members of the Recording Academy to earn a Grammy nomination. However, Warren and A Special Blend would remain forever grateful for The Transfer's magnanimous gesture. Years later, Warren would write several arrangements for The Manhattan Transfer.

Take 6

In 1980, Warren became a member of the a cappella sextet Alliance, which in 1987 signed with Warner Bros. Records, moved to Nashville, Tennessee, changed its name to Take 6, and achieved worldwide fame in 1988. Warren produced or co-produced most of their first two albums, Take 6 and So Much 2 Say; arranged and co-wrote many of the included songs; and with the group won his first of four Grammy Awards.

Warren's years with Take 6 were characterized by a flurry of appearances, performances, recordings, and travel. Take 6 performed many concerts and embarked upon several concert tours, typically to sold-out audiences, both in the United States and abroad. In 1988, Take 6 toured approximately 12 U.S. cities, opening for singer Andy Williams. In 1989, Take 6 toured 40 U.S. cities, opening for jazz legend Al Jarreau. In subsequent years, Take 6 headlined their own concerts and tours throughout the United States, the UK, Europe, and Japan. Take 6 also performed at a number of well-known events, venues, and jazz festivals, including Radio City Music Hall, Carnegie Hall, The Hollywood Bowl, The Special Olympics, The Monterey Jazz Festival, and The Playboy Jazz Festival. Occasionally Take 6 shared billing with other, popular contemporary-Christian recording artists, such as Bebe & Cece Winans, The Winans, and Commissioned.

The popularity of Take 6 led to collaborations with many, established artists. In fact, it was through Take 6 that Warren first met Quincy Jones, establishing a musical friendship that would last for decades. Take 6 performed on several songs and interludes on Jones' album Back on the Block. In addition to performing with the group and contributing to their vocal arrangements, Warren is the featured voice on "Setembro (Brazilian Wedding Song)", and he penned the lyrics for "The Verb To Be (Introduction to Wee B. Dooinit)." Jones also invited Warren to be a featured vocalist on the song "The Secret Garden (Sweet Seduction Suite)." At the time, for personal reasons, Warren respectfully declined the invitation. Since then, Warren has characterized it as "one of the very few decisions in my life that I truly regret." In the years since, Warren has arranged, produced, or co-produced numerous songs for various Jones projects.

In 1989, Take 6 recorded the song "Don't Shoot Me," for the Spike Lee film Do The Right Thing. Warren produced the recording and co-wrote "Don't Shoot Me" with Lee and with group-members Claude V. McKnight, III and David Thomas.

That same year, Take 6 recorded background vocals on the Don Henley album The End of the Innocence (album). The collaboration had been requested, as a personal favor, by Jim Ed Norman, then-president of Warner Bros. Records in Nashville. Norman and Henley were longtime friends, Norman having previously produced many recordings by Henley's band The Eagles.

Other, notable Take 6 collaborations during that period include recordings with k.d. lang, Johnny Mathis, Stephanie Mills, Melba Moore, Joe Sample, Dino Kartsonakis, and composer Steve Dorff.

During Warren's tenure, Take 6 recorded music videos for three songs: "Spread Love," "I L-O-V-E U," and "Ridin' The Rails," their collaboration with k.d. lang, for the 1990 film Dick Tracy. During the same period, Take 6 also recorded theme music for the television show Murphy Brown, Oprah Winfrey's television miniseries The Women of Brewster Place, and commercials for Burger King and Mitsubishi.

During this period, Take 6 performed live on numerous television shows, including the 31st Grammy Awards, Good Morning America, The Today Show, David Sanborn's Good Evening, The Arsenio Hall Show, The Tonight Show, Saturday Night Live, and Late Show with David Letterman. Take 6 also performed The National Anthem at the 1988 World Series.

In 1991 Warren left Take 6 to become a full-time record producer, songwriter, arranger and film composer.

Music career: Nashville

In the sporadic downtime between recording sessions and tours with Take 6, Warren pursued his interest in producing and writing songs and arrangements for other artists. As the hub of the contemporary Christian music industry, with artists recording everything from pop, rock and country to jazz, R and B, and hip-hop, Nashville provided fertile ground.

Warren also attracted the attention of producers Greg Nelson and Keith Thomas, each of whom would, over the years, hire Warren to write a number of instrumental and/or vocal arrangements for various artists they were producing. Nelson became a mentor for Warren, and, for about a year, Nelson's personal assistant concurrently worked for Warren.

After leaving Take 6 in 1991, Warren remained in Nashville and focused on writing, arranging, and producing.

While in Nashville, both before and after leaving Take 6, Warren contributed to recordings by many artists, including Sandi Patty, James Ingram, Larnelle Harris, Bebe & Cece Winans, First Call, Thomas Whitfield, The Richard Smallwood Singers, Yolanda Adams, Babbie Mason, Cindy Morgan, and Margaret Bell.

In 1990, Warren produced two tracks on the Donna McElroy project Bigger World. The instrumental arrangement for one of the tracks, "Come Sunday," was a collaboration between Warren and Take 6 member Cedric Dent. Warren and Dent eventually received a Grammy Award nomination for the arrangement. The other Warren-produced track, "Take It Away," features background vocals by Amy Grant, with whom McElroy had toured as a backup singer for a number of years.

Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration

In 1991, Warren was asked to arrange and produce a bold reinterpretation of the 1741 oratorio Messiah by George Frideric Handel. The assignment was to enlist various artists to record new arrangements of pieces from Messiah, incorporating multiple genres of historically African-American music.

The result was Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration, featuring a literal "who's who" of recording artists performing pieces arranged in various styles, including spirituals, blues, ragtime, big-band, jazz fusion, rhythm and blues, gospel, and hip-hop. Although Warren had been asked to produce the entire project, the projected release date did not allow for that. As such, Warren produced and arranged seven of the 16 tracks and delegated the remaining production duties to other producers.

The album was released to critical acclaim in 1992 on the Warner Alliance label. Executive produced by Norman Miller, Gail Hamilton, and Mervyn Warren, the artist roster included Dwayne Adell, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Patti Austin, The Boys Choir of Harlem, Tevin Campbell, The Clark Sisters, Daryl Coley, Commissioned, Andraé Crouch, Sandra Crouch, Clifton Davis, Cedric Dent, Charles S. Dutton, Mike E., Janice Chandler Eteme, Kim Fields, Larnelle Harris, Edwin Hawkins, Tramaine Hawkins, Howard Hewett, Joe Hogue, Linda Hopkins, Al Jarreau, Quincy Jones, Bernie K., Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, Leaders of the New School, Lizz Lee, Dawnn Lewis, Babbie Mason, Johnny Mathis, Marilyn McCoo, Stephanie Mills, Jeffrey Osborne, David Pack, Phylicia Rashad, Dianne Reeves, The Richard Smallwood Singers, Joe Sample, Sounds of Blackness, Take 6, Darryl Tookes, Mervyn Warren, Thomas Whitfield, Vanessa Williams, Chris Willis, Stevie Wonder, and Yellowjackets.

Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration received the 1992 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album (Warren's 5th Grammy Award), as well as the 1992 Dove Award for Contemporary Gospel Album of the Year. In 1993, the various artists on the project were collectively nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Gospel Artist.

A music video was filmed for "Hallelujah!," incorporating footage from the rehearsal and recording session. In the video, both Warren and Quincy Jones are seen conducting the all-star choir. "Hallelujah!" was recorded and filmed at Henson Recording Studios (formerly A&M Studios) -- where the original "We Are The World" was recorded and where, nearly 20 years later, Jones would produce and Warren (and others) would co-produce "We Are The World 25 for Haiti."

Despite quiet criticism from purists who believe classical music should never be reinterpreted (such as Wynton Marsalis, who declined to be a part of the project), Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration has been officially and publicly recognized by Handel House, the official George F. Handel museum in London, England.

Film and music career: Los Angeles

In 1993, after seeing Warren's performance on the 35th Grammy Awards (and winning his fifth Grammy Award), Warren was invited by The Walt Disney Company, composer Marc Shaiman, and director Bill Duke to produce and arrange songs for the film Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit. Warren accepted and traveled to Los Angeles to work on the film. During post-production, upon being invited by score composer Miles Goodman to co-compose portions of the film's underscore, Warren extended his stay in Los Angeles. Though intending to return to Nashville after completing the film, additional offers Warren received for both film and artist-related projects convinced him to remain permanently in Los Angeles without returning to Nashville for his belongings.

As of 2010, Warren remains in Los Angeles, where he has "straddled the fence" between the film and music industries for nearly two decades. During this time Warren has spent his time composing and conducting orchestral scores for feature and television films; producing, arranging, and writing songs (music and lyrics) for numerous films and recording artists across many genres; writing orchestral, rhythm, and vocal arrangements for other composers and producers, such as Quincy Jones, Ron Fair, and David Foster; performing live or on the soundtracks of various films and television shows, as either a keyboardist, solo vocalist, or ensemble vocalist; and occasionally serving as pianist/accompanist to other vocalists in live performance.

Warren collaborated with Jeff Marx on a song called "You Have More Friends Than You Know" for the It Gets Better organization. The song is featured on the television program Glee on April 18, 2013.

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