I just received my alumni magazine from my high school (Notre Dame Academy, now Notre Dame Cathedral Latin, in Chardon, OH). Usually, I really enjoy catching up on what is going on at the school, and seeing what my former classmates are up to. We were pretty close, I guess–it was an all-girls’ school at the time and the nuns really fostered a sense of community in us. So it makes me sad to read bad news–one of my classmates passed away. I read that she was very active in the Cleveland Music School Settlement. I remember her being in music in school–she was a quiet, but usually smiling person, who unlike me, behaved herself in orchestra. I still picture her as how she looked in high school–in my mind’s eye, we are all forever 18, our hair combed into Farrah Fawcett ‘dos and dressed in our school uniforms. I think of all this life she has led since, that I don’t know about, and now she is gone.

We were so young then and had our whole lives in front of us, and we had no idea what lay in wait in the future. Some of us were luckier than others I guess… as far as I know, she is only the second one of my classmates to have passed away since we graduated in 1980. I just really makes me stop and reflect–and it makes me feel old. My dad graduated in 1938–there are so few of his class left that they don’t have individual reunions anymore. Sad, huh?

I don’t mean to be morbid, but I just wanted to remember a classmate and a special time in my life. Notre Dame was the best high school ever, by the way. Had I not attended it, I doubt I would have even graduated from high school. I was such an underachieving student at the local public school, but those nuns whipped me into shape. I owe them so much!

She is not my candidate and I wish she would quit already, but I did love one thing that Hillary Clinton said tonight:

“I think the Republicans need to apologize for the Bush years and not run anyone.”

So my thoughts on the remaining Idol contestants:

David Cook the rocker: I like him the most. I think he is the only one on there whose cd I would actually listen to. Mostly I like him because he plays the kind of music I like, though, not because he is something so special. At least he is an actual musician. Still, he has a sameness about him week after week.

Michael Johns: Like the Aerosmith screamer (”Dream On”) and I think it was a brave choice. He did a decent job with it. I like his maturity, he is so much deeper than…

 Baby David Archuleta: Tonight is the first time he even appealed to me a tiny bit. I just haven’t seen why everyone loves him so much. His voice is good, but he has a lot to learn about artistry, I think. He did do a great job on the Robbie Williams britpop song “Angels”.

Jason Castro: I really liked his brave, funky take on “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” with the ukelele. Maybe he saw Macca’s “Dance Tonight” and figured if he can do it, it must be cool.

Kristy Lee Cook: She did a better job tonight, probably because she found her groove on a country song. She is a pretty girl, and seems sweet, but I don’t think she will last much longer. I still havent forgiven her for her massacre of “Eight Days a Week”.

Carly Smithson: I want to like her but she just has never made me want to listen to her that much. She’s just okay. And I am sick of the tat week after frigging week. Please wear something with sleeves, we don’t love it as much as you do.

Syesha Mercado: I think she might be gone this week. She sings well but she is just another Whitney-wannabe in a world of them. I am so sick of the female soul screamers, she just doesn’t do anything for me. Maybe that is more a problem of AI–I am not a fan of pop, I love real music. And AI is all about pop and the crap that will sell, if we are honest about it.

Brooke White: She is very, very earnest when she sings. She wants to come across as Joni Mitchell, I think, but she is too slick. She needs more authenticity. Well, all of them do, really, but if you are going for the folkie/hippie/granola crunchy crowd, you really need to not be so made up and perfect looking. I like her some weeks, some weeks she leaves me bored. This was one of them.