October 22, 2019
The surrounding context of this essay is that the author is a world renown cellist- a.k.a. Yo-Yo Ma. The essay was originally published in the World Post, an online news and blog site created through a partnership between liberal news aggregator the Huffington Post and nonpartisan think tank the Berggruen Institute on Governance. This essay was published in January 2014, the same time the World Post was launched. In the author’s bio, it notes that he began his music career at age five and has produces more than ninety albums.
The circumstantial context is that I had to read this essay for academic purposes. Though I really enjoyed reading through his essay, I would not have chosen to read this essay on any ordinary day for a personal read. Given that Yo-Yo Ma is a fantastic and well above ordinary musician, I can understand his thoughts on the subject based on my experience as a musician.
The intentional context is that as a global community, we need to balance our logical, science thinking brains with our artistic, creative, emotional brains. Without a balance between the two, we limit ourselves to only knowing one way of life instead of exploring other cultures and ideas.
Sarabande: “a slow, stately Spanish dance in triple time”
Lascivious: “(of a person, manner, or gesture) feeling or revealing an overt and often offensive sexual desire”
I like that you noted how despite the fact that you would not have chosen to read this on your own, you still enjoyed reading it. How interesting! 🙂