RE: Positioning Yourself

St. Basil's church originated in Central Falls near my mother's home town of Pawtucket. She and her family have attended that church since her father, my grandfather, came here from Syria. In 1997 the church moved to a new location in Lincoln where my family and I have attended since I was younger. My younger sister and I had attended the Sunday school program there for grades k-8. However in the summer when there are no Sunday School classes we would go to St. Rose and Clemet's because it is in Warwick, so do to inclining gas prices in the summer it is a lot more convenient to go there (I live in Warwick), it is also more convenient because during the summer because St Basil's only offers one mass at 10:00 and it is entirely in Arabic, so since my family does not speck Arabic fluently it makes even more scene to go to an English speaking Church.

I have never under stood the difference between my two religions, Roman Catholic and Melkite Greek Catholic, in their entirety. But some of the differences I have noticed over the years is that the Mekite Greek Catholic Church is in a darker setting as opposed to full of light like many other churches. Also the Communion is different for at the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, (St. Basil's) for at that church the priest dunks bread into the wine serving as the bread and blood of Christ, while the Roman Catholic Church(St. Rose and Clemet's) serves the typical wafer. A bigger difference is that when I was baptized at St. Basil's not only did I complete my baptism, I also completed my first communion and confirmation at the same time, rather than doing it progressively through the years like Roman Catholic Churches. Finally a few times I have asked the Deacon at St. Basil's what the difference is, and all I have been able to receive is that Melkite Greek Catholicism closer to Greek Orthodox than Roman Catholic. I do not know much about what Orthodox is but that is all I have been able to decipher through out the years.

I work at Wendy's in Warwick, since I started working there five months ago they trained me to open the restaurant, so on Saturday's and Sunday's I am the only person available to do so. My dad has mentioned to me that I should talk to my managers about taking Sunday mournings off to be with my family, but since I always open I feel obligated to do so and I feel bad requesting that of my bosses because I just get really nervous and feel very guilty. So do to that I work eight to three every Sunday so I can be home to go to five o'clock mass at St Rose and Clement's, because it is still important to me to make the effort to go to church.

Going back to the beginning of my life with music, I began with the recorder in third grade, then in forth grade I was allowed to join my elementary school choir and I took up violin. I hated the violin, so in fifth grade I continued with the choir and took up the flute. In sixth grade I decided I did not like the flute either so I took up the saxophone while continuing with choir. Finally going into seventh grade I had to chose between chorus or band, hands down I chose chorus, because over the years I hated playing instruments, in fact most of the time I just pretended to play it so it was really a waist of time. So I continued with choir all the way through High School, but I also joined more Choirs in high school. So in tenth grade I joined my school's Jazz Choir, and I continued with that all the way though high school too, then I also made it into Rhode Island Senior Allstate in my junior and senior year and then in my senior year I joined a new choir at my school, Chorale. So by the end of my high School career I was in four choirs at once! That was just crazy for me, but I would not change any of my experiences for the world. So the reason I went a little crazy with music was because through high school I went though a lot of things that hurt me emotionally and changed my life entirely, and when I was going through all the bad things I was experiencing the only peace I was able to get was when I was in my choir singing. Singing was my break from reality, it was something I could do to forget about everything, so today I need music to help me distress and get through, which is why I can never live without it.

(Sorry it took so long!!)