Who they are: (From their website – www.glassmen.org) The GLASSMEN is an Ohio non-profit youth organization. Funding for the group comes from summer performances, special events, individual donors, and other projects headed up by the corps. (I took out a small piece about bingo...you'll see why later in the story.)
What they do: (Also from their website) There are 150 members in the drum corps, ranging in age from 16-22, and an average age of 19.5 years. They travel from all over the world to perform with the GLASSMEN - from as far away as Holland, Germany, England, and Japan, and as close to home as Detroit, Indianapolis, Cleveland and Toledo. About 60% of the corps is based out of the tri-state area: 11% from Indiana, 21% from Michigan and 28% from Ohio.
They experience more than just movement and performance, they learn about life. They experience winning and losing, fatigue and exhilaration, and growing as an individual, yet being a part of a larger whole. They learn about teamwork, striving for excellence, working towards goals, and going beyond their own perceived limits. The members of the GLASSMEN grow physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. The lessons and life skills they take with them continue to serve them and help to define their adult lives.
Why I care: (From me) Well, for starters, after only one and a half years of color guard experience in high school, this organization accepted me, not for my skills in talent (which I did not really possess), but because the Color Guard Caption Head, staff, and Executive Director saw something in me that I hadn’t even seen in myself. To make this more interesting, let’s go back a little further. I marched the Bass Clarinet in my high school marching band. My high school band instructor previously marched with Phantom Regiment, and his wife, the guard instructor marched with Star of Indiana. Because of their history with drum corps, they made sure we were all introduced by taking us to one of the shows in 1993. Knowing that I couldn’t play a woodwind instrument in drum corps, I made the decision to try out for the winter guard in my junior year, 1994, and actually made it. (I wasn’t very good, so I think I had some good friends vouching for me, and I think they needed numbers, so they were hoping I was trainable!) During my senior year 95/96, I marched with the color guard, and seemed to be getting a little bit better by that point.
It wasn’t until I got to the Glassmen try-outs in November of 1996 when I realized I was WAY out of my league. Between all of the other people there auditioning, some with 5 years or so of experience, and one girl had literally been marching and/or affiliated WITH the Glassmen color guard since she was 9 years old (Liz), I knew there was absolutely no way possible I was going to be selected to be a part of this guard. The other people were picking stuff up after being shown once. I had to ask 2 or 3 times, and then only got it if I had an extra 15 minutes to practice it before we moved on. Was I given that extra 15 minutes? Nope. They moved on to the next routine. Teach, now do it. Holy crap! I couldn’t figure out how everyone else was picking it up so quick when I just could not. Besides being overwhelmed by the experience, exhausted from the drive up, and the anxiety smacking me around that I was even there in the first place, I just couldn’t think straight. Fortunately, Friday and Saturday were the learning days, and Sunday would be the true test. So when the lights went out on Friday and everyone else went to sleep, I headed out to my car which was turned away from the building, turned on my headlights, and practiced for another 3-4 hours; not until I got the routine, but until I couldn’t forget the routine. This made for a very long Saturday, and perhaps further delayed my ability to catch on to the new or changed routines learned on Saturday, but after lights out on Saturday, I had to find the energy to do it again or else I knew I wouldn’t get another chance. So on Sunday, while I was tired, I apparently did something right, and they asked me back to the next camp.
December comes, and I find myself in the same predicament. So of course I put myself in the same place, and spend a great deal of time out by my car when everyone else is eating, drinking, socializing, or of course sleeping. I’m asked back to the January camp.
Now my memory is starting to fade a bit because I’m old, but I believe it was the January camp when I found out I was going to be an official member of the Glassmen Drum & Bugle Corps color guard. At this point, I was mesmerized and flooded with emotion but most of all, curiosity. There were some people who didn’t make it and I KNEW they were better than me. Why did I make it over them? I wasn’t about to ask, I was simply happy for me.
After a grueling move-in (3 weeks of practicing every day, day in and day out), then departing for the 3 month summer tour, I was on top of the world. While I can’t say I “enjoyed” doing push-ups every time I made a mistake, I can say that I enjoyed being incredibly buff from having to do a crap load of pushups. It helped me start to focus more on what I was doing and trying to avoid mistakes in the first place. While I can’t say that I enjoyed watching the rest of the guard do push-ups when I made a mistake, I can say that the dirty looks from my great friends helped inspire me to not drop anymore. While I can’t say I enjoyed running around the track constantly for dropping my flag (or for someone else dropping their flag or weapon), I can say that running helped me build my lung capacity and helped me keep my breath during the performances. While I can’t say that I enjoyed the phrase “do it again” or “one more time”, I can honestly say that the repetition made me better personally, and made all of us better as a whole. Once I faced the audience for the very first time (the audience which included my family since this was the “home show”), I knew I was beginning the Experience of a Lifetime.
I learned so much from my first summer. At one point, I was so homesick and frustrated, that when we went back to Toledo for a parade, I called my mom and asked her to meet me at G-west to pick me up, that I was exhausted, couldn’t take it anymore, and needed to quit and go home. Like a good mother, she made the trip to G-west, and to my surprise, had brought some clean clothes, some more money, and a few things from home to help with my homesickness in the hopes she could talk me out of quitting. To her surprise, however, I had already told Sal and Brian that it was my intent to go home. I’ll never forget Brian asking me “what was wrong” and me thinking “as if there’s anything you could do about it”. Then I have Sal on the other side VERY defensive, and letting me know that there is absolutely no way he’s letting me quit after all the convincing he had to do to get the staff to keep me in the first place. “What do you mean by that, Sal?”. And then I heard the story of all the nights that he, or he and Brian, or he and someone else, sat upstairs at G-west and watched that girl practicing flag routines in the headlights of her car while the others slept. Found out once and for all, that they had accepted that girl who wasn’t very good, because they knew what she was capable of, and needed the opportunity to show it. This was the moment that I realized what I had suspected all along. I had beat out many others, not because I was better, but because I had the desire to accomplish great things. No matter how bad I sucked, I strived to be better and wouldn’t accept anything less than the best. More discussions with Brian led to me being able to openly discuss some of the issues that he COULD help, and the very next day, those issues were dealt with immediately and resolved.
Finals night, I couldn’t get over how I felt when I walked on the field, during the entire performance, and the moment I walked off the field, knowing I had just had the best performance of my entire life. Summer was over. I couldn’t wait for winter to start it all over again.
I marched with the Glassmen flag-line from 1997 through 1999 and marched in the Winter Guard in 2000. Of all that I have already mentioned I got out of it, perhaps the most important to me were the friends I made. Most people can count their true friends on one hand. Seriously, how many people could you call if you were in a bind? How many people would bail you out if you needed it? I can honestly say, for a fact, that if my car broke down anywhere in the world, I have a friend I could call. If my plane was grounded in Los Angeles, there are 5 people I know, off the top of my head, that I could call. I would be willing to bet that the first person I called would come pick me up at the airport and take me out for a beer before offering me a place on their couch. If I were stranded in just about any state in the U.S., I guarantee there would be a place for me and my family to sleep if we needed it. That’s the kind of friends you make in drum corps. Friends for life. Friends I only see and hear on Facebook for the most part, but similarly, if any of them were stuck somewhere in Indiana, I’d drop everything, pick them up, and hook them up with a place to stay (after buying them a beer of course now that we’re all adults).
I cannot begin to tell you how strong this organization has made me. The self-discipline instilled in us, the amount of respect, courage, devotion, dedication, loyalty, all of it. Every good quality I have, while I may have possessed it beforehand, was brought out because of this organization.
Now to show my selfish side…. I want my children to be a part of this organization, and want to make sure it stays around for them, as well as your children and your grandchildren, and anyone else who ever walks through those doors with the desire that I had. The once lucrative bingo operations have ceased. Due to the casinos being erected in Toledo and nearby, the bingo operations have failed, and the profit that was once generated by the operation is non-existent. The building was sold and the proceeds used to pay debts. Some debts have been paid, but it didn’t cover them all. Between membership fees, DCI Appearance fees, and fundraisers, they predict they will have about $550,000. Sounds like a lot, but the annual operating budget is over $850,000 per year. This $300,000 gap has to come from somewhere.
The economy is in a serious crisis, and people simply can’t give like they used to be able to give. I know I can’t, so I can’t ask anyone else to. But rather than asking 200 people to give $100 and generating $20,000 in donations for the corps I love, I’m asking 200 people to give $5.00. If you can give $5.00, and if you can ask 5 of your friends to give $5.00, there’s $6,000. If your 5 friends ask 5 of their own friends, that’s $31,000.
So for my final question…. Is $5.00 and 2 minutes of your time to repost this link to your wall along with a request for another $5.00 from your friends, too much to ask of my friends? I’m not asking for donations for my past. I’m asking for donations for our kids’ future!
Please make a donation today either through the official Glassmen site or through their official Paypal link!
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