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Stories to Inspire
Jake's Story
Every now and then you meet someone who has transformed their life so
significantly it makes you stop and think about your own. Jake Love is one
of those people. I had the pleasure of getting to know him at a recent
concert I gave in Hillsboro, Oregon. Much in the same way the music
transformed me from a shy young man to being very comfortable with myself, Jake
has connected to something deep inside himself like an irresistible pull to be
something more and give something back to others. We asked Jake to share
his personal story.
He is a promise for
tomorrow.
- Chris Collins
When I was about 5
years old, I would lie in bed and dream about singing for people. That little
boy later grew up in a poor household in the ghetto area of a small Oregon
town. I was surrounded by poor kids and later began to surround myself with the
wrong crowd, namely the kids that drank and did all sorts of drugs, and friends
that had gang connections and were very lawless people.
My music of choice
eventually became rap, and I began to emulate what was in the music. It didn’t
help that everyone that I was hanging around at the time already did. The bad
language, baggy clothes, bad attitudes, drugs, sex, and violence all became a
part of my life as I continued to become my music. A few of the guys I spent a
lot of time with rapped, and I began to make up my own rhymes about money,
violence, women, and drugs. Occasionally, the little boy who once longed to sing
for people, would come around, and at that moment, I thought if I could, I would
trade the rap and everything for the ability to sing to people. Of course I told
no one this, and it just stayed quietly inside of me. I was arrested several
times, and was expelled from High School for drug peddling. At this point in
time, many things began to change in me. I started to realize more things about
myself.
I
realized that I had to change or I would die one night when I was in a juvenile
cell having been arrested for drunkenness, theft, and other things I won’t
mention. Somehow I came to the realization that the music I listened to
directly affected the way I felt about myself. The more I thought about this,
the more I realized how unhappy I was. I knew there had to be more. The angry
violent music fed the anger and violence I had learned. I knew that was not
originally in the 5 year old boy from 11 years ago. Whenever I was angry, I
turned on the angry music. It was like 1+1=2. Whatever you surround yourself
with, will at some point become a part of you. And then the task becomes
significantly harder to go back to the way you once were.
I prayed and
prayed that I would find some music that reflected the 5-year-old that once
lived in my heart. Months went by, and still I prayed. One day I was sitting at
my computer and a song title came into my head. “Annie’s Song.” I didn’t even
know who it was by I just thought maybe I would download it. When the song began
to play, it was like something inside of me said, “Yeah, that’s what home feels
like.” I began looking up more and more John Denver songs, and it was like he
was the poet of my heart when he sang about, “country roads”, “rocky mountains”,
“eagles and hawks.” I had never experienced these things for myself. But through
his music, I learned who I really was. And I found myself doing all the research
about John that I could. I wanted to know everything about him. Every time I
learned something new I thought, “This man is my brother.” I never met him, but
I know if I ever had, our hearts would connect.
From that point
on, I threw away my entire collection of rap, rock, dark, angry and violent
music. More and more things began to change in me. I lost all of my friends
-
every single one. But that was okay; I would soon find new friends who loved
what I love. The drugs and the drinking stopped. The violence and anger stopped.
Breaking the law stopped. I realized that I wanted to help others that were in
my situation. I wanted to give back to them all that John gave to me through his
music.
Since that day I
fell in love with his music, I have graduated from High School. I was nominated by
the governor and secretary of the state of Oregon to be on the JJAC, a Juvenile
Justice board that examines different laws and ways to improve the judicial
system for young people. We also meet with young people in detention facilities
and try to implement ways to help them. In fact, I flew to Denver
later in October 2007 for a national conference. And, I am currently going to college
to be able to help young troubled kids that are in similar situations as I was. The story does not end here however.
I found a
wonderful group of people that I call family. They, too, share my love of John
and his music. I am the lead singer for Aspen Meadows now. We perform concerts
for private and public audiences in our very own amphitheater which we built
ourselves.
The little boy I
spoke of before, by the way, did find his way out. One day, I couldn’t carry a
tune; I could only rap. I had no singing voice. Then one day it was like a
switch was turned from off to on. Now I am the lead singer of a band that loves
and stands for the same things as I do. I even picked up the guitar and have
written a few songs of my own. Hopefully you will hear them soon.
John influenced me
in more ways than I can say. He taught me about my own heart that longs for
freedom that flies through the mountains, and calls to the world to embrace our
mother the Earth as it was intended from the beginning of time. He taught me
about life and about living. In his music and in his contributions to the world,
John changed my life. I’m only 19, and never had a chance to know him. But
through his message he called out to me as a brother and said, “The music is
you.”
- Jake Love
“Celebrate morning, the cry of a loon on a lake in the night; dreams that are
born in the dawn’s early light. Celebrate morning. Celebrate living; the
laughter that sings in the heart of a child, freedom that flies to the call of
the wild. Celebrate living; celebrate evening, the stars that appear at the loss
of the sun. Whispering winds ‘we are one, we are one.’”
-
John Denver, “Earth Day Every Day”
“Water is our life line…”
Anywhere
water is found, life is an almost certain occurrence. In the most barren of
places, water supplies a life line to all organisms. We have sent ships into
distant planets for the purpose of finding water with the belief that if water
were found, there must be life. In the simplest terms, water is a medium for
life. With the knowledge that water is essential to survival, all people should
do their utmost to conserve this important resource.
There is
a common thought that inhibits water conservation. The belief that water is
abundant, replenished by every rain, filling the rivers and the oceans that
cover most of the earth. But sadly this is not the case. Clean safe water is an
essential commodity and a finite resource.
With the
growing population in the United States, nearly a 90% increase over the last
fifty years (U.S. EPA website), significant pressure has been placed on the
water supply. The average American uses 100 gallons of water daily. In a
government survey, it is projected that 36 states are going to be facing water
shortages at local, regional, or statewide levels by the year 2013 (U.S EPA
website). The demand for water calls for the building of dams, digging of wells
and withdrawing water from natural water bodies. Each of these can have negative
effects on water quality and the future health of our aquifers. Conservation
saves water, reduces demand, and helps to increase water quality. So the
question becomes, “How can the average person conserve, and what can you
do?”
Personal
conservation is very important. On an individual level a lot of water can be
conserved. Just remember “Every Drop Counts!” Throughout the house there are
several easy ways one can conserve water. So let’s take a tour of the house and
start saving some water!
Starting
in the front yard, the typical household uses half of their water for outdoor
irrigation. Some easy ways to conserve water outdoors is to know your lawn,
water in the morning, and watch the weather.
Have an
idea of how much water the soil in your yard can hold before runoff occurs, and
adjust your watering to that time. Also, water in the early morning. This will
help save water from evaporation because the heat is less intense than during
the day, and the wind is usually not strong in the morning. Lastly, watch the
weather. If it is raining, watering the lawn is most likely not necessary.
As we
walk into the house, we will visit three rooms that are the culprits for most
indoor water waste: the kitchen, laundry room, and bathroom. For all of these
places it is important to check regularly for leaks. Try to only have the faucet
on when it is needed. The average faucet uses two gallons of water per minute.
Turning
off the faucet when brushing your teeth can save eight gallons of water per day.
That’s 240 gallons per month! In the laundry room, it is important to only wash
full loads of laundry; most washing machines use around 40 gallons per load. In
the bathroom, fixing leaking toilets is important. A leaking toilet can waste
about 200 gallons daily. An easy way to check for a leak is to put a couple
drops of food coloring in the tank of your toilet. If color appears in the bowl
without flushing, that toilet has a leak. Also taking a shower instead of a bath
can save hundreds of gallons monthly. Filling the average bath tub takes 70
gallons of water, taking a five minute shower uses 10-25 gallons. With just a
few changes to your everyday routine, you could be saving water and making a
difference.
Water is
our life line; we need to work toward conserving it not only for ourselves but
for everything living thing on the planet now and in the future. When thinking
of conservation one should always remember “that the world is not given by [our]
fathers but borrowed from [our] children.”
-
Amanda Platt
Sophomore,
Humboldt State University
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