Why Hamilton is an Inspired Musical

Unconventionally hopeful.

If I could use any words to describe Hamilton, those would be the two. Hamilton is unlike any musical that has ever been done before and is absolutely brilliant.

I'll admit that when I first heard of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton, I thought it was some musical bowing to political correctness culture. Or some weirdo ghetto rap musical that would never catch on.

I was dead wrong. Why?

1. The Music and Dance - If you haven't listened to the soundtrack, go listen to it right now. No, I mean it. Stop reading this and listen to it. My sister showed me a rap song and my reaction was "eh..." until I listened to the song "You'll be Back." The song is literally a break-up song between the King of England and the American colonies. By now I account about a fifth of that video's views. The music is killer and does not consist of cheesy flashy dance numbers whatsoever. The soundtrack is a hip-hop/Broadway fusion. Unconventional, yes. Awesome, heck yes. The dancing is phenomenal. Side note: the dancers have no gender-specific part. Many musicals do this but I found this to be amazing. Watching the back-up dancers online only makes me want to dance. 
2. History IS cool - Hands down, when did Alexander Hamilton become so cool? I don't see John Hancock's name trending. Not only does Hamilton educate on Alexander Hamilton, it asks the valuable question of "How will people remember you?" 
   
3. #EduHam - This hit it home for me. Hamilton gives tickets to New York public school students to see the show for only $10. As soon as the production embarks on tour, Hamilton will expand to accompany over 100,000 school students - most of which are low-income schools - with the Rockefeller Foundation already pledging over $6 million to the expansion. My jaw can't stop dropping. In Miranda's words, "I do believe firmly that approaching history in this way [...] that it forces you to reckon with what you're going to do with your life. And I think it forces you to confront what it is to live a life of meaning [...] whether that's theater or whether that's architecture or whether that's medicine or biology." 
   
4. Diversity - Now here's the way I see the whole political correctness argument. I am not a huge Black Lives Matter supporter nor do I want to get into the whole Oscar Awards debate. Amidst all of the controversy and blaming one race or another, I think Hamilton is a nice refresher from it all. It's the one thing everyone can agree on. Rather than fighting each other on the matter, in this day in age we just need to be inclusive of everyone. When you start seeing a certain race a lot, you no longer see them as those 'Hispanic people' or 'Black guys' but rather see them as people. It's the same concept that the new Star Wars movie is based upon. No one sees Finn as 'that black dude who stole the Hispanic dude's jacket' but rather as the Finn who is lovable, maybe completely useless, but is probably your favorite character. 

   

   I doubt you can work it this hard. 

   Overtime, we transition from seeing people as one of their race to an individual. That is why I think Hamilton is important. Hamilton celebrates that we are ALL Americans and that history belongs to everyone. You can't get more patriotic than that! (P.S. The cast is KILLER.) 
5. Mr. Miranda is BRILLIANT - Honestly, the man can sing, dance, write, - what can't he do? I honestly believe he is changing the way we look at Broadway. Broadway is no longer for just whites or gays. It's not just for flashy dance numbers or princess costumes. No. Broadway is something that can literally be celebrated by everyone. The concept itself reflects upon American history from a modern lens. 
   
   

Hamilton. It's completely unconventional, different from everything we've ever seen before, yet completely hopeful, maybe the future isn't so bad after all. 

Now please excuse me as I keep calm and try to get tickets for Hamilton. And congrats on the Tony's!

Five Reasons Why Disneyland is Better than Homecoming

My senior Homecoming was my first and last school dance. Yes. I know. It's sad. 

My favorite place in the world, along with almost every other American except their parents who pay the bill and wait in lines is Disneyland. Of course, whenever you are in a place in which you are alone and miserable (environment of school dances), society encourages you to think of a place that is happy. Naturally, I thought of Disneyland. So here are the best reasons I could come up with as to why Disneyland is better than Homecoming. 

1. You don't leave Disneyland needing therapy. Where did all those couples grinding in the middle even come from? And why are all these girls' parents letting them leave the house in those dresses?They're about as close as you can get to Chip and Dale and I don't mean the chipmunks.
2. You don't need to be breathalyzed to get in the park. Nuff' said.
3. You don't have to wait in a one hour line to get breathalyzed. I think an hour wait for a two-minute Space Mountain ride was better than an hour wait for watching people grind in the middle of the dance floor. Life scarring. 
4. You aren't forced to listen to inappropriate music with a beat so heavy you can barely understand the words to. And people thought 'It's A Small World' was annoying....  
5. You have fun. If your definition of fun is grinding, you might as well believe that Twilight deserves an Oscar award. Ew.

While I'd rather be in Disneyland, Homecoming really did have its perks. For example, I really enjoyed getting to hang out with friends and suffering through the awkwardness together. It's fun to laugh at the awkwardness. Plus, that trip to In n' Out was sooooo worth it after.