Hi everyone,

I am a new student at Rice University just starting this year and have just moved to Houston. I'm still trying to get situated in the city so I haven't been able to get involved in Occupy yet but would love to once I am mobile and settled. I am writing a message to garner some interest for an event which I think is very relevant to many Occupy issues. Tomorrow, March 1 and the following day March 2, the Houston Symphony is doing staged concerts of the opera Wozzeck. The opera is about a man Wozzeck and his wife Marie who are poor commonfolk (99%.) Wozzeck works for a Captain and a Doctor (these characters who are the 1% of the opera do not get names, but only titles… acting like the banks and corporations of our equivalent world) who bully him and insult his (in this order) intelligence, morality, and sanity because he is poor. Because he is working so much of the time and the Doctor is paying him to perform medical trials on him (interesting topic in a world where many are over or under medicated) he goes crazy and neglects his wife and child. His wife then has an affair with the Drum Major and when Wozzeck finds out, he kills her and then commits suicide. The opera ends with their small child left alone being taunted by other children about his dead mother. Written 100 years ago, this opera is as relevant to the Weimar Republic then as it is to our world today with the same gross differences between poverty and decadence. This is an opera about how society can harm its members so much they only know how to harm one another. Being a classical musician myself, I often wonder how my field of work can contribute to the issues in the world. When it comes to events like this, it is clear that this is a work of art that is not easy to hear and witness but instead incriminates the audience. Marie resists the affair with Drum Major first but when he accuses her of having devilish eyes, she says, "So be it. Everything goes to Hell." These are the words of a woman who does not believe she can change herself or any of her environment and this opera shows us how dangerous that mindset can be. So please join me tomorrow or the next day and lets have a discussion about this opera. I saw the dress rehearsal tonight and was inspired once again to act on my beliefs. Thanks for reading.

Ling