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Best Buddies Friends Choir Spreads Awareness In Miami Community Through Song

Check out our concert this Friday to see all we have been working on

Feb 24, 2016

Best Buddies Friends Choir Spreads Awareness In Miami Community Through Song

When I first started the Best Buddies Friends Choir as a freshman in the fall of 2013, I had absolutely no idea of the impact it would have on my life.

The Best Buddies Friends Choir is an entirely inclusive choir for adults with and without intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. Similarly to Best Buddies International, it aims to create friendships, but through the power of music. What started out as five members has quickly transformed into a group of more than twenty.

The Best Buddies Friends Choir has sung for thousands of people throughout Butler County, Ohio. A few of our favorite performances include a TEDx Talk, singing the National Anthem at a Dayton Dragons game, and performing with all of Miami University’s a cappella groups at our first annual A Cappella Awareness Concert last year.

We don’t sing complicated music with eight-part harmonies, rhythms, or polyphony, but I can say without a doubt that this is the most passionate choir I’ve ever known.

The Best Buddies Friends Choir has a special focus on advocating for individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. Our biggest event of the year, the A Cappella Awareness Concert, coincides with national Spread the Word to End the Word Day, a day dedicated to ending the use of the r-word (retarded) and other offensive language.

The "R-word" is offensive, derogatory, and hurts individuals with and without disabilities. It is no longer recognized as a medical term, and is no longer used in many legal documents.

The annual event brings together the Miami community to help promote a message of inclusion and acceptance. I invite you to join the Best Buddies Friends Choir, guest star Marlana VanHoose, and five other Miami a cappella groups for the second A Cappella Awareness Concert in Wilks Theater this Friday, February 26th. Tickets are free and doors open at 6:30 PM, and the concert starts at 7 PM.

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Best Buddies Friends Choir Spreads Awareness In Miami Community Through Song

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There are plenty of obstacles that come when taking care of kids, but it's a very rewarding experience.

1. You get excited when the parents purchase season passes to the pool.

2. You've become friends with the stay-at-home moms in town.

3. You get a chance to eat "kid foods" again.

4. You've traded in your cute purse for a large tote bag.

5. You have at least one car seat in your backseat.

6. Their nap time is your happy time.

7. Lunch time can be a disaster.

8. You have to play the same board games repeatedly.

9. You catch yourself using the same lines your parents once told you.

10. Your "mom-mode" kicks in at times.

11. Your heart melts a little when they do something cute.

You'll never find any souvenirs with your name on it

1. You know you are up next when the teacher pauses while taking attendance

2. When “I’m going to do my very best to make sure I know all your names” is said, it may or may be an empty promise

3. “Wow! That sounds so cool! Where is your family from?”

4. You dread when people ask you to repeat your name over and over because it “sounds so cool when you say it”

5. There’s a 50/50 chance that your name will come back either correct or incorrect at Starbucks

6. People try to find shorter, easier nicknames for you instead of calling you by your actual name

7. When someone famous or fictional character shares your name, you get so happy

8. “What’s your name?” “It’s [name]” “I’m sorry, what was it again?”

9. You’ve pretty much seen every misspelling and heard every mispronunciation of your name throughout your life

10. When you find another person with an “ethnic” sounding name, you both get excited

11. Despite the struggles, your name is pretty unique… just like you

Can I be excused for the rest of my life?

Don't Be That Person

1. “Oh, so you/your family are immigrants!”

2. “Is Puerto Rico near Mexico?”

3. “Do you speak Puerto Rican?”

4. “You look too light/dark to be Puerto Rican.”

5. “Do I need my passport to go to Puerto Rico?”

6. “Geez, you are obsessed with your flag. We get it, you’re Puerto Rican.”

7. “Why are you so loud?”

8. “So does your family know English?”

9. “Oh my god, Puerto Ricans are so spicy.”

10. “So did you eat a lot of tacos?”

11. “Are you Mexican?”

Love hard, every day, and never be ashamed.

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