My name is Andy. I'm 16 and a junior at Gilman, an independent school in Maryland. At Gilman, I'm around the middle of my class. I try not to work too hard, but I want to get into a good college like Georgetown or possibly UPenn so I am going to try to work just hard enough. We get a lot of free periods, during which nearly everyone at one point or another plays chess. This is the most unique part of Gilman. Regardless of who you are, it is not weird to play chess, and no one would be considered a "nerd" simply for playing. On the other hand, members of the chess team actually refer to themselves as nerds. Although I am on the team, the other members decided that I was not nearly strange, awkward, or uncoordinated enough to be a true nerd. So I was deemed an honorary nerd.
At Gilman, chess is a huge portion of my identity, but outside of school my true passion is music. The music that I love most is the kind that was formed in a tightly knit community in which the music is foremost, and pleasing others and making money is not even considered. Music that I have been listening to recently that fits this description includes early Against Me!, Titus Andronicus, Johnny Hobo, and several others. In my personal experience, the music written in these situations is again the most passionate and entertaining of anything I have ever heard. I am a regular at MKS practices, and in the past several months I have been to two house shows at Earl's friend Joey G's house, each of which have featured performances by MKS, TV Dinner,and Failed Attempts At Facial Hair. At the latter of these shows, there was even an appearance of a rapper who calls his act Is He Misery. These first three groups all play music that I am familiar with and love, but I have never enjoyed more than a few rap songs. I genuinely believe Is He Misery was the best act after MKS (I may be biased, but because my brother and I have extremely similar musical tastes, I think he just plays what we both like) despite my distaste for rap. Well, anyway, the combination of these acts made for the best night of my life (along with Mr. G pulling out the atlas, which was a lot more entertaining than it sounds). Music is my life, and I hope nothing ever separates me from it or changes my taste for the worse.
I don't want to limit myself to music, chess, or school because I really enjoy all of these, and I wouldn't give any of them up for the world.
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