1) Cheryl's Song: A Proposal To Write Music (From Songs Of The Women Of The L.O.M.) Poem by Otradom Pelogo

Cheryl's Song: A Proposal To Compose Music
Proposal to write the music for Christmas In The Halls Of Scholarship


I had also written within the novel Stasis & Poreris a chapter called Christmas in the Halls of Scholarship. I sat down one day (of course it took several days) and wrote the music for it that was played only with the guitar. I had to write it twice, but now with inexpensive gigabytes and tetrabytes all over the place, no more floppy discs, and the presence of clouds not only outside but on my computer, files are much safer and manageable. (AKA - Lost; due to all of the above, the first draft was lost) . After all of this, of course I'm certain that the second piece of music could be quite different from the first; having clouds in my head (to keep track of it all) or my head in the clouds should soon be here (the future) ...

In 2013 while working on the investing portfolios and talking to some old friends via the internet, and because this was between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I took the notes (letters of the notes of Christmas In The Halls of Scholarship) and put the title Season's Greetings above them (above the notes) and put them on each post (via Facebook) , initiated by me or responded to by me. I first sent it to Cheryl. Cheryl, in the eighth grade at Odom Jr. High School at the age of 12 or 13, was the stand-in piano player for Mrs. Jones, the music teacher, when she needed to give more direct and intimidating instructions for the upcoming UIL Choir Competition, which we won two years in a row. It was some time ago. But the next post from her (Cheryl Black-Fitzpatrick, of course it was just Cheryl Black back then) was a picture of her playing on a child size piano

This was right before Thanksgiving, so I went ahead and posted what I called my Black Friday Portfolio. The Black Friday Portfolio of course was for the day after Thanksgiving, Friday (or rather Black Friday) , the biggest sales day of the year.
It was a small portfolio with about five stocks that would take advantage of the big spike of sales in the retail sector, which I associated with a spike in the volume of stocks bought about the same time on the US stock markets. They were stocks from my main portfolio used just for that event, somewhat of a day trader's style of investing. I use each method, from day trading, to swing trading to value trading (year to end trading) . In about two posts, I put the entire event. Although it was a new and fun concept, it also gave me the opportunity to convey a couple of ideas to Cheryl and some childhood friends, and which I'm sure that some of them and many others could use.

So besides trying to download about thirty years of catching up, of course I suggested forming an investment group (though it was a spur of the moment idea, one that I wanted to see also how it sounded) . So I posted the Cheat Sheet, explaining what it was and how it would aid in personal investing, or as I said, aid a group of people that had thought about getting an investment group together. The Cheat Sheet of course was a page or two of vital key statistics, ratios and formulas. As I said, this was on Facebook, so I didn't go into great detail other than the Cheat Sheet, which became The Triage Form, a more descriptive name (to make a quick assessment) . But after having talked with my friends for a couple of weeks, I was certain that they could, either as a group or independently, put the idea together. I eventually turned the idea into a proposal and mailed a copy to the President (President Barack H. Obama) , as much as being a concerned and active citizen. Somewhat the motif of this whole affair (a group of concerned, enlightened and active friends)

Of course I sent one to Cheryl; besides posting some of her poetry and sharing some of the things she was involved in, she was also posting some of the beautiful people that she worked with as a beautician and hairstylist. I was certain that would have been just about more than she could have handled. Then with my past knowledge of her and doing a little more research, which added to that list: a child prodigy (musician) , a double laureate, university professor and Associate Heat of one of the university departments. So I was certain, if there was any time available, Cheryl would definitely be one of my childhood friends who was able to put it together.

I sent one to Alex, one of our classmates that we grew up with, since after the military, he was now working as a counselor for a social service neighborhood group, which is one of the target groups that I thought could really benefit from a program like that. Rufus, like Alex, a good friend, had a picture of himself with the Burj Al Arab (The Dome of Arabia) in Dubai in the background. Because of having spent some time there (in the city of Dubai) while working overseas and incorporating several people from the city of Dubai that I had met into a lot of the writing that I did, especially from a sociological perspective, a lot of which was written there in the city of Dubai, I sent him (Rufus) one also. Sometime afterwards, Rufus posted that he had decided to open a personal security service business. I had read about it while working overseas, and that it could be a really lucrative business venture. And Jeff made three (The Three White Soldiers; a sign of good things to come...) . Jeff, who was the wide receiver our senior year, had a picture of himself in uniform along with his family, who lived across the street back in the old neighborhood. He seemed quite active at that time, putting to use, all that he learned over the many hears here and there.
About two years later, I was updating some of my work as a writer, somewhat making the transition to the IOS (Internet Operating System, which is part of the terminology used when referring to the new wave of technology like the iPhone, drones and tablets, etc. I had tried to see if I could make Christmas In The Halls of Scholarship an event by itself like Clement Clarke Moore's Twas The Night Before Christmas, or Charles Shultz's Charlie Brown, and the other great family traditional shows that we enjoy watching every year. I was going to make a small book out of it, or a short video on the local cable access channel, of course with music. So once again, I sent Cheryl a proposal, this time to see if she would be interested in writing the music for it.

Dear Mrs. Cheryl Black Fitzpatrick,
I am a local writer, who grew up in Beaumont, Texas but now resides in Austin, Texas. Offer to you Christmas In The Halls of Scholarship, which I'm certain that everyone will love as well as be enlightened by its content.
Christmas In The Halls Of Scholarship is an excerpt from the main novel that I wrote called Stasis & Poreris. The piece opens with the main characters (the protagonists) in the most pernicious and exciting part of the novel, where they struggle to stop the forces of evil; a group of ruthless business leaders stealing valuable information from other computer corporations, who demand their help or otherwise face death. All of the main characters walk out except Stasis, the young lady that they befriend who was sent from a parallel world to help bring back Ben. Ben of course is the leader of the group of corrupt business leaders, and who they later realize is Stasis' father.
This chapter sets the stage for the plot just before moving into the Halls of Scholarship, an auditorium where a Christmas performance is being held for the Capitol city (in Austin, Texas) . Where Stasis, one of the two lead characters meets up with an older gentleman who skates out into the center of the room to meet her; they are sitting on a bench, and begin to talk to one another (in a series of prose and poetry) , before parting again, but this time as part of a Christmas performance. The opening chapter tells about their first and pernicious parting.
Being the age of technology, the worldwide age of the internet, and now the age of POD (Print On Demand) , along with all of the different types of tablets and smartphones out there, Christmas In The Halls of Scholarship can easily be found, and read on the internet, with excerpts and press releases, and downloaded if desired, and at different websites around the globe hosting it by your contacts and clients.
Your childhood friend and admirer,
Otradom Pelogo