Last Sunday was more than a high-school reunion. In retrospect I took away more appreciation for artists, especially those dedicated to their craft despite the difficult reality of an artist’s lifestyle. I learned too that law students need to look at their lives in perspective, and understand that every profession has seemingly insurmountable challenges: to each their own.
I am interviewing Olivia “Miray” Klugh, an old friend from high school I had not seen since we both graduated. “You need to be young to do this,” says Miray, as she takes a short break from getting the stage and floor set up for the performance. She tells me this is the advice she heard, back as she was an intern in New York, beginning work in her chosen field of computer art and graphic design. She was already beginning her career in graphic design, but turned her attention to music – people who heard samples of her songwriting urged her to take on that arduous challenge that is the music industry.Growing up in a musical family, Olivia was always interested in the art of making music. In high school, she was part of the orchestra, but also took up the drum kit. Through her undergraduate years at Sheridan College and York University, she also sang for the Gospel choir and was part of a band called Soul Collective. As a performer, though, she did not feel that same satisfaction as she did in the creation of music – and in 2011, she styled herself as Miray, singer and songwriter from my hometown of Oakville, Ontario.
To create – to merge new vibes with the old school, along with Japanese pop – became her passion. She describes her music as “Mopop” or “Synthpop,” and since 2011 has been performing her own songs in preference over covers. Her stage name, Miray, speaks of her Japanese heritage and an “evolution from Olivia – the casual, the past – to the present.”
And last Sunday was one more night for Miray to take another step in achieving her goals. This time, she was on the stage with three other very talented and aspiring women for a soulful Sunday night. The temperature outside had dropped, just enough to verge on a wintry night – but the stage was set, and the four ladies were ready to go, on a slow night at Clinton’s Tavern in Koreatown.
The night’s lineup consisted of four very talented young women – Sarah Jordan, Oyane, Miray, and Lilly Mason. Each came with a different life story, but a common philosophy brought them together: to work hard for your goals, as no one else will put in the effort for you to succeed in your stead, and that it is up to you to be persistent in the faith in yourself. That with this in mind, you will be satisfied that you had given your all, wherever you end up.
I think it’s important for us, law students, to consider that philosophy. In many ways in our future profession, we are expected to fit a typical mould. Deviations in character are scrutinized, and many feel penalized to openly opine in a non-conventional way. We as a student body create ideal goals and markers of success that are highly artificial (how many OCI’s did you get?).
We need to think critically about the purpose of our time at law school – the beauty is in the process of learning and the dreams that we develop under the tutelage of experienced mentors. We need to understand that achievement is done internally, through our well being and self-development, and not simply through the tangibles we achieve in the physical world.
MARIE PARK, Layout Editor