By Torie Wright
Note: The Icon welcomes Torie Wright as a fall intern. She attends OSU-Lima where she is an English major. Torie is a 2011 Ada High School grad and will be contributing several stories to the Icon.
To start things off, tell us the name of your college, what your major is, and what year you are.
I go to VanderCook College of Music in Chicago, Illinois. I am a flute major here and will go on to be a music teacher. I am currently starting my senior year here.
What was the hardest part about first moving from Ada to Chicago?
I think the hardest part was the same as the easiest part, actually. I didn’t know anyone here. It was strange at first, and a little intimidating, but once the year got started and I was forced to participate in group activities, which I loathe, haha, I met a lot of good people and many more crazy ones to hang out with.
Aside from your drives from Ada to Chicago and vice versa, have you done any traveling? Where would you most like to visit?
I have been to several places outside of the actual city such as Peoria, Harvard and Joliet. These are all mostly smaller places that my friends know of and we go out there to have fun weekends because the city is so expensive. I also go to the CSO (Chicago Symphony Orchestra), the ballet, jazz performances and the theater. I think one thing that I would still really like to go see is Don Giovani at the opera. I haven’t seen an opera before and that’s a big one on the music college bucket list.
What is your favorite thing about Chicago?
My favorite thing about Chicago is the access you have to everything. There’s the Art Institute, The Joffery, The CSO, The Green Mill jazz bar and all the free festivals that go on in the parks. It’s a great city and it has been some of the best times of my life.
Have you ever bumped into anyone you know?
No, I haven’t. The closest to that happening was when some of my family flew into Chicago from Australia and came to see me for breakfast.
What do you miss about Ada while you’re gone?
I miss the quiet. Chicago always has some sort of emergency so there’s all these sirens that whiz by you, no matter where you are, and then there’s the Dan Ryan Expressway which is a total of eight lanes of traffic. And, as if those aren’t enough, the White Sox stadium is four blocks from the dorms and the fireworks that they shoot off every night during the first four weeks of classes get pretty old. Yeah, I miss the quiet and being able to see the stars.
How do you describe Ada when someone asks about your hometown?
Small. That’s the very first word out of my mouth. Then, when they don’t believe me, I tell them that there were 63 people in my graduating class and their jaws hit the floor. “Small” in Chicago means 1,000. Then I tell them that we have drive-thrus, like Four Seasons, and they don’t understand what I mean because Illinois does not have these. No one believes that people can pull up through a garage, ask for a case of beer or a bag of Doritos and that someone will then bring it to their car. Illinois people are crazy and, this is slightly off topic, will judge you harshly if you even think about putting ketchup on a hot dog. I do it anyway, ha, ha!
You’ve brought some of your college friends to Ada. What were their first impressions?
“Wow...small.” It always kills me when they plan their first visit and block out about two hours for a “Grand tour of Ada.” We finish touring and then finish lunch in 45 minutes and there’s this look of shock and awe. They do like going through ONU’s campus, though. It’s a lot nicer than IIT/VanderCook.
How has your taste in music changed since junior high?
In junior high, I used to listen to a lot of Christian rock and that sort of thing. Now, I listen to almost everything but that and rap or this “dub-step” business. I love to have an open mind about things because, as a music major, it is my job to be able to listen to all music and see how everything fits in with everything else. My friends all think my iPod is broken when the song changes from Elvis Presley’s Jailhouse Rock to Otep’s Eet the Children. I can’t blame them though, that’s a big genre leap.
What are you currently listening to?
I will confess that I am in love with the Frozen soundtrack. Mostly because I decided that if I had to choose between which Disney Princess I could be, I’d be stuck between Belle and Elsa. Other than this, I am also into the soundtrack from How to Train Your Dragon. It’s beautiful and there are so many little things that go on within it that it becomes a really great way to practice analyzing music and its structures. The movie is also fantastic.
What are your favorite instruments to play?
Besides my flute, I love playing the oboe. The fingering system runs very close to the flute so when I learned it in class, I spent more time learning how to really play it rather than worrying about if I had the right note and I got very good. I also love the saxophone. The downside to the saxophone is that it is very heavy and it puts too much weight on my tiny little wrists. Despite this, I really do love playing it.
Which teacher from Ada High School guided you the most to where you are today?
There is no question here. Ms. Lindsey Brickner remains one of the best teachers I have ever had and anyone who has or will learn under her should really take a moment to realize how lucky they are to have the experience.
I do know and realize that she is married and is now Mrs. Brinkman, but I only ever knew her as Ms. Brickner, whose classroom was a safe environment and who loved hiding her mountains of candy wrappers in her desk drawers.
She was one of the first teachers to believe in me and this other person I know, wink wink, and to give us the confidence to be who we are today, and we are pretty amazing people, if I do say so myself.
