Yo-Yo Ma, a cellist and song writer, published this essay in January of 2014. Ma is a very accomplished performer as noted in his bio and is dedicated to spreading the importance of arts in education, even posing the questions “Does art have a role to play in the world? In education?” at the end of his bio.

While I would not have chosen this essay to read in my own free time, I did find myself agreeing with a lot of the points made throughout and it made for an enjoyable read. Growing up I was a theatre kid, so I know all about expressing emotions and just how important they are in everyday life.

The “so-what” of this article is to not only show how beneficial incorporating the arts would be for education and for society, but also demonstrating why it is necessary for the path that life is heading to in the near future. Things are changing and strategies for surviving and thriving in this new world need to be revised and he gives valid suggestions to how those changes can be made to prosper.

A word that I had trouble following throughout the reading was equilibrium. It took up a major part of the essay but I wasn’t quite grasping the concept. I now know that it means a state in which opposing forces or influences are balanced.

Another was the term lewd, meaning crude and offensive in a sexual way, and finally lascivious, meaning feeling or revealing an overt and often offensive sexual desire.

As far as my annotations go, I feel that I have gotten much better at them as I progress in the semester. The repetition has helped me to remember techniques to use throughout snd those have helped me gain a better understanding of the text.