Leisa Michelle

Nerdy Monologues of an Autodidact

7 Opera Pieces That Totally “Get” Me Right Now. #QuarantineLife

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1. Waking up on day 298902852 of #quarantinelife feeling like:

What does the coming day hold for me?
All is darkness… No matter, Fate is just.

—Kuda, kuda vy udalilis from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin

2. Staring out the window, wishing I could return to life as I used to know it:

Oh my country, I will never see you again.
Oh blue skies, sweet breezes of my homeland
You glowed in serenity in the morning of my life
Oh green hills, fragrant streams…
Oh my country, I will never see you again.

—O patria mia from Verdi’s Aida

3. Scrolling through Netflix for the fifteenth consecutive hour got me feeling like the Duke from Rigoletto:


One [show] or another, to me they’re all the same
I won’t surrender my heart to one over another
Each [show]’s beauty is destiny’s gift to me
If one enchants me today, another might tomorrow!

—Questa o quella from Verdi’s Rigoletto

4. When the spring pollen invades my sinuses and makes me think I have the Rona:

When I am laid in Earth
May my wrongs create no trouble in thy breast
Remember me!
Remember me, but ah! forget my fate…

—When I am laid in Earth from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas

5. Breaking out the third bottle of wine since noon today like:

Let’s drink! Let’s drink with joyous abandon
May this fleeting hour intoxicate us with pleasure

—Libiamo, ne’ lieti calici from Verdi’s La Traviata

6. Telling my children about my trips to the grocery store 20 years from now like:

Fiercely the flames are raging
The frenzied mob comes running
Their joyous shouts resound
…
Higher and higher, flames mount to the sky

—Stride la vampa from Verdi’s Il Trovatore

7. Going to sleep at 10pm after a long day of nothing and missing my friends like:

Moon in the heavens, your light shines on everyone near and far
…
Moon, tell me, where [are] my beloved [friends]?
Tell me, where are [they]?

—Mesicku na nebi hlubokem from Dvorak’s Rusalka

Cinderella’s Father Is The Real Villain of Massenet’s Cinderella

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We all know the classic fairytale Cinderella. That is, we know how it starts and we know how it ends. What makes re-adaptations of fairytales (or any movie or piece of media, really) so fun to consume is how we get to the ending we all know. All the stuff in the middle is where artists, authors, and directors are able to bring out new themes and new ideas for us to think about.

Jules Massenet’s opera adaptation of Cinderella had a huge change to the story from most other versions I’ve seen: Cinderella’s father is alive and well, and is a major character in the drama. In fact, he might even be the villain.

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The Great Courses on Audible Are the Best Thing to Happen for Autodidacts

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If you’ve ever tried to teach yourself something outside of school, you’ll know it’s pretty tricky. Obviously, new things are hard to learn. It’s also hard to have the discipline to stick with your new project. But the most difficult part of all often comes before you even embark on your learning adventure: deciding which materials to use.

Let’s say you’re curious about DNA. You took a biology class or two once upon a time, but it’s been a while. The only thing you really remember is that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. So where do you start?

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Life Lessons Learned from the 20th Century’s Greatest Physicist

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Richard Feynman was one of the greatest physicists of the 20th century. He worked on the Manhattan Project during WWII, helped uncover the cause of NASA’s Challenger tragedy, and received the Nobel Prize for his work in quantum physics. A set of his lectures are available on Youtube – and they’re extremely approachable even for non-physicists.

I first heard about this dude while listening to the Great Courses’ Particle Physics for Non-Physicists. His name kept coming up, so naturally I had to Google him. I discovered that he had published an autobiography based on some conversations he had with a friend. The book is called Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!, and I ended up downloading it on Audible.

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Where should you sit at an Atlanta Symphony Orchestra concert?

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Buying symphony tickets is such a pain in the ass no matter where you go. The price of tickets can vary so widely, anywhere from ten bucks to hundreds of dollars.

A lot of factors plays into the price of a symphony ticket. It’s said that back in the day, it was more important to be seen at the symphony than to actually see the symphony. That’s why some theatres in Europe have boxes and seats where you can’t even see the stage.

Nowadays, we’re more sophisticated though, right? Ehh, maybe. Obviously, everyone who goes to the symphony today wants to hear the music. That’s important. How well the music will reach your ears will play a factor in your ticket price. But what seems to play an even bigger part in the cost of the ticket is how well you can see the orchestra. Otherwise, why would a ticket in the very front row on the ground cost $50 and the one in the back balcony cost $20? The sound in that front row is going to be terribly unbalanced. But hey, you’ll get a good look at the flailing conductor and first violinists!

If you’re like me, you’re not really wondering what the “best” seat is (as determined by the market and the illusions of value to people today), you’re wondering what the best value seat is.

Google doesn’t always have the answer to this question. So I experimented at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta and discovered what the best value seat is for the price.

Here’s what I learned…

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