The Northern 📍

  R.I.P. Johnny & Matthew Gaudreau      Absolutely heartbreaking news to wake up to. To learn that two brothers, two athletes, two stand-up individuals, killed by a drunk driver. The words themselves almost don’t ring true as I write them. Something so hard to even believe, that it causes me pain just to say out loud. An absolute tragedy, in every sense of the word.        Sudden death like this is such a difficult event to truly understand. It is so far-out and uncommon, that the very thought of it takes a while to truly seep in. The constant denial of learning about it, not truly believing what we see. How just yesterday, things were no different- only to wake up today and find that the world has changed.      It’s a weird thing, learning about the deaths of two athletes. For starters- I never personally knew the two brothers. However, the real sense of tragedy is the connection we all shared. The tight-knit community that we ...

  Yesterday. All my troubles seemed so far away.      Sampling on songs is one of the greatest game-changers in all of music history. Seriously. When you sit and think about it, it’s absolutely mind-blowing.        I always remember an interview I once watched with Prince. He said that songs were now samples. And that samples, would soon be taken of samples, making songs nothing more than samples of samples of samples of songs. Try saying that one three-times fast, eh? Regardless- he was right. Music has now become nothing more than a repeat of a repeat of what somebody else once wrote. There’s no fighting change- only embracing it.      Honestly, it is what it is. I suppose one could argue that true talent is fading, and now music is simply a by-product of production within the machine. So be it. That is the future of the world. software running the entire show. I feel like if you can’t beat them, you might as well join them, eh? ...

Kobe Bryant was a world-class athlete.        He was an individual who used his all-in, mama mentality to attack the game that he loved, to become the greatest version of himself. Overall, he was an inspiration to millions of individuals and athletes alike. Who hasn’t at least once thrown a piece of paper into a garbage bin and yelled “Kobe!” at some point or another? His mark on sports, as well as Western Society, is undoubtable.        I still remember where I was, the day the news broke. At the gym, running on a treadmill, watching the television up above the machines. Non-stop 24hr coverage of Kobe Bryant in a helicopter crash. It felt surreal. I was listening to it, staring at the pictures and words across the bottom of the screen- but I had a hard time believing it. I had a hard time fully absorbing the news and accepting it as reality. Something about the entire event felt like it was a movie- a bad dream. I don’t know Kobe Bryant- I’ve nev...