Back in my day… whiteness

For Woodwind Quintet | 3’ | 2018

Program Notes: While I was growing up, my parents used to tell me that when they were younger they had to walk so far in the elements. My mother would say she had to walk five in the snow (the punchline being that it was only 5 houses), my father would then chime in that he had to walk a mile in the smog (he grew up in LA). Growing up in Arizona, I never had to walk far distances in the elements. Even when I lived in New York City, it never snowed so bad that braving the elements was a major issue. Recently I moved to Michigan, and live just over a mile from the building I primarily work in. I walk nearly every day, and on a cold late November morning I walked a mile in a half a foot of snow, that made me realize that if and when I have kids, I can actually say back in my day I had to walk a mile in the snow.

Upon thinking about this, it made me start to question the concept of nostalgia. Older individuals (particularly white male individuals) tend to look back on the past with fond memories. Many of these people look back and see a time that was much better than the world we live in now. A time when women where beholden to their husbands, and Jim Crow laws were still in affect. A time when I as a queer person could have been arrested for existing.

The music should reflect a sense of nostalgia of whiteness. A cold winters day, and the flurry of snow.

Commissioner: Hakeem Davidson

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