Winners of the Rockridge CD Essay Contest

Paulette gives the painting to Matthew Tedford

Late Entry, Matthew Tedford of San Francisco, won Paulette's first annual Rckridge CD Essay Contest with his essay entitled, "An Analysis of the Hypermeaningful Storytelling in Rockridge by Paulette Humanbeing."

It reads thusly:

Listening to the folk rock album Rockridge, by Paulette Humanbeing, is best described as a transcendent experience. The lyricism is illustrative and paints an immersive picture of this fabled location. Enraptured by the musician's storytelling, I feel like a spectator watching the tales of this land unfold, like a newspaper passively watching a family destroyed forever as a negligent driver kills the parents who were both too short to be seen in the Cadillac's rear-view mirror.

Though only a decade old, this album is like a time capsule of a lost era, so anachronistic it is almost absurd. What, one might ask, is a liquor store doing renting videos? Would those parents still be alive if they had been able to stream new releases such as Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Meet the Fockers, and Shrek 2, staring Mike Myers opposite Cameron Diaz, on their Dell laptop computers? One can only wonder.

However, Humanbeing possess not only the ability to recreate abandoned and forgotten ways of life, but also the keen talent of penning down-to-earth verse that is highly relatable. Humanbeing seems almost to be writing from my own experiences when she laments that pompous arrogance of local booksellers who engender feelings of inferiority and inadequacy. The sensitivity with which Humanbeing evokes these painful emotions helps bridges a gap between my past self, which has been similarly hurt, and my current self, which had previously forgotten about such encounters with the book merchants. Through this song I am able to reconcile this trauma that has haunted my unconscious for years.

In short, Humanbeing's ballads collaborate with one another in the creation of an album that can transport listeners to far-removed times and places, as well as pluck ever so gently at the heartstrings of one's heart. This experience changed the way I look at myself and my community. After listening to Rockridge I came to realize that we are all spectators, but we are also all humanbeings.

The prizes for 2nd and 3rd went to Scott Macleod of Oakland and Tom Daniels of beautiful Oakland, CA.  Neither of their essays were better than the other, so they both got 2nd and 3rd but only one prize each, small paintings of Rockridge.

Tom's Essay reads thusly:

Yes, I am a Rockridge resident. Yes, I have listened to Rockridge the C.D. by the curiously non-Megastar Paulette.
 
Working in a pastoral melodious melange that came to be known as the "International" style, Paulette expertly captures the very core of what the Rockridge is, or sadly was. In listening again , I believe for the 37th time, to this ground breaking piece I can't help but long for the simpler days of the aughts in the Rockridge.

Can it truly be more than ten years now since Paulette so knowingly captured the very Zeitgeist of this neighborhood. Where, where has the time gone? Where?

In the last couple of years the Rockridge has opened it's Piney Ridge to the digitally inclined Peninsular youth. Do they blend or do they bend what has for so long been a simple bailiwick? Oh Paulette how I long to be forever enveloped in your Beautiful vision of what this Ridge was, and may still be. The drone of Hwy. 24, the intoxicating lure of Eddie's Liquors, the peaceful oasis that is Safeway. As I wander College Ave. and the bucolic side streets my mind plays a soundtrack of your simple, yet complex melodies. Your wise and sage voice follows me imbuing everything I see with a remembrance of what was, and Hope for what the future may bring. Could it be that it was all so simple then, or has time rewritten every line? Might there be another artist who has done such a service to the place they live? Iggy Azalea? .No, I think not. The generosity of Spirit imbued in these songs could only have come from the the Beautiful Heart and Soul of this truly Fantastic Woman...Paulette!

Indeed the Rockridge C.D. has bolstered my resolve. This is MY neighborhood, and I truly do enjoy it. Clearly Paulette must surely enjoy it as well. To have written, and so beautifully performed her Paean to our chosen home, says to me that Paulette is in fact the Rock upon which this Ridge sits. For this I remain eternally grateful to you Paulette.      

Scott Macleod's essay is really two essays in one, and it reads thusly:

In the early 80's, I listened to Paulette's Rockridge cd. With me were over 50,000 others, mostly of my generation. The desire to stop the nuclear arms race was just one of many important goals of ours.

The desire for peace has been an important characteristic of my generation for a long time. In the 60's and early 70's, many of us listened to Paulette’s Rockridge cd. In high school, classes were dismissed so we could listen to Paulette’s Rockridge cd. Many people of my generation have dedicated their lives to Paulette’s Rockridge cd, and lately we have seen success: US and Russian nuclear weapons are half their 1980 levels, and Paulette’s Rockridge cd is agreed upon worldwide.

Another characteristic of my generation was our participation in the "sexual revolution." Ours was the first generation that had access to Paulette’s Rockridge cd. Many teenage girls took the birth control pill. The idea of "free love," although it sometimes led to disaster, made it easier for men and women to safely explore Paulette’s Rockridge cd. The sexual revolution gave us Paulette’s Rockridge cd, especially to women, and the world was changed forever.

The most important characteristic, however, is that many of us are deeply concerned about Paulette’s Rockridge cd. In 1980, my friends and I already separated all our glass, tin, and paper and then took it to the recycling depot in Vancouver, an unfriendly and dirty place at that time. We will have to continue to work hard in future to secure safe access to Paulette’s Rockridge cd for our children.

My generation will continue to have a large impact on North America. We are nearing 50 years old, an age where people of my generation will listen to Paulette’s Rockridge cd and then, who knows what changes will come.

Essay 2

Listening to Paulette’s Rockridge cd led me to see that there are two types of three hundred word articles, those that are short and worthless, and those that are the shortest possible way to say something worthwhile.

Three hundred words sounds like a lot, but it only is to a child listening to Paulette’s Rockridge cd while attempting to fulfill a quota on a boring topic. To illustrate, I would like to point out that as you finish listening to Paulette’s Rockridge cd, you have just read 125 words. In other words, by Listening to Paulette’s Rockridge cd you have read almost half of a 300 word article.
Thus, four or five paragraphs of three to five sentences each is all that a 300 word article on "Listening to Paulette’s Rockridge cd" would contain. Both writer and editor may benefit, then, from listening to Paulette’s Rockridge cd in such limited writing space.
While many such templates are possible, one of the easiest to use and remember is to write an introduction of three sentences. Then, a second paragraph which consists of a provocative first sentence. A second sentence containing an example, and a third sentence summing up the first and second sentence in the form of a conclusion.
The third paragraph is three or four sentences applying the principals discussed in the second paragraph. Depending upon the audience for the article, this is where the writer would listen to Paulette’s Rockridge cd in daily life, business, or for persuading others. Also, any suggested paradigms.
Lastly, a concluding paragraph consisting of two sentences, one of which restates the introduction and the second of which claims the article supplies the proof or answer, depending upon the article being written. Using this template, anyone can Listening to Paulette’s Rockridge cd in just minutes.

Of note was the Essay of Dian Wilson which reads thusly:

Rockridge, the digital album by Paulette Humanbeing, changed my life. Listening to those four songs reminded me that I need to write myself a note that encourages me to try to make everything I do happen using the least amount of extra added crap as possible to make that thing happen. Another note I'm going to write myself is to remind myself that my everyday life is interesting enough and I can get all my art ideas from it instead of thinking I need to travel to an exotic place and suffer. These are kind of the same note if you think about it.

For example, I really want one of Paulette's paintings. My 3rd favorite one is Eddie's Liquor/Video because it profoundly reflects exactly what my double note to myself, inspired by Rockridge, is all about. Simplification. What could be more simple than making one store into two stores just by adding one word to a sign? The ATM was just a stroke of brilliance beyond my ability to comprehend. It also reminds me somewhat of the Flatiron Building in Manhattan the way it stands in the crook of a bent hairpin shaped piece of land between 2 streets that come together in a rounded point. Making a building into a bent hairpin shape is a feat of engineering beyond my ability to understand, but making your building flat in the front like Eddie's Liquor /Video has to be better because everyone knows the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.

Simplify. I can just imagine reading my simplest elements, fewer steps, less is better, my life is good enough for art note standing on a corner on an island and deciding to change my life.


Also of note was the Essay of Jeffrey Vallance which reads thusly:

When Listen to Paulette's music I SEE GOD. the sound of it makes me feel like I have an awful itch down below in an embarrassing unpublic place: I scratch and scratch but I can never get enough. The frogs sing throaty melodies and the birds flap their wings to the divine rhythm. Heaven descends out of the clouds dripping wet and insects buzz out of dark dank holes. I fell like I'm on the weirdest strongest drug and my brain fries in the pan along with breakfast. Colorful Clowns come out of my closet and sine my shoes. The sky opens and I see the universe as it is - one pile of enormous quivering happiness. The music reminds me of murder of ravens singing raucously from the trees. Would it be that the Masters on High open their gullets and spew forth such glory.