The people of Salem, Massachusetts came to the new world seeking freedom to practice Puritanism, but history will forever remember the town for its search for black magic.  The Salem conspiracy originates in the home of Reverend Samuel Parris, the Puritan Minister of Salem, where his niece Abigail Williams, and her friends Betty Parris, the Reverend’s daughter, and Ann Putnam, the eldest child of Thomas Putnam, took part in a ritual performed by  Samuel Parris’ slave Tituba.  The town eventually forced the girls to trial for their blasphemy, and instead of confessing, they decided to lay blame to countless other women.  Salem had no reason to doubt the accusations because when the girls spoke, adults listened, in part because they believed in witches and the girls seemed…troubled,…Betty was the minister’s daughter,…and Ann’s kin nearly monopolized local office. (Hoffer, 103) Though these girls deserve to shoulder most of the blame for the whole ordeal, the judges appointed to the case also furthered the problems of Salem.  The appointment of John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin, both successful merchants and politicians, to the position of judge created a crucial foundation stone for the conspiracy as a whole.  In order to prove themselves as magistrates, the trials needed to run smoothly, for…the conversations [between the accusers and the accused] were tests of their mettle as witch finders, and to fail would bring a taint to their careers in law. (Hoffer, 106) The judges allowed the use of spectral evidence, invisible torture of the girls by witches, as proof in the court cases.  The decision would create impossible circumstances for the accused to prove their innocence, furthering the boundaries of the already untamed conspiracy. (Hoffer 102-130)

Abigail, Betty, Ann, and the magistrates effectively installed conspiratorial thinking into the minds of Salem through the medium of public trials.  The town took the bait, falling into a fateful down spiral.  Mass panic broke out in the small farming community when each new trial [seemed] to bring in its train a battalion of new accusations. (Hoffer, 178) The most insidious part of the witch hunt came from the inevitable event of public execution.  The so called justice of death…was carried out fairly speedily after trial. Hanging at the gallows emerged as the standard method of execution, but Giles Cory [, one of the accused,] refused to be tried and was pressed to death with boulders. (Hoffer, 175) The Puritan leaders of Salem first championed the witch hunt to help strike a fear of God into the hearts of the town’s denizens; however, the extremity of the fear bled into nearly all facets of life.  A conspiracy to sway people into God’s favor spun out of control, endangering the lives of an entire community. (Hoffer, 154-178)

Over one hundred years later another major instance of conspiratorial thinking emerged, but it came from a much different venue.  The city of Charleston, South Carolina acquired its own conspiracy when Denmark Vesey, a black man who bought his freedom from his master with lottery winnings, supposedly conspired to a violent revolution and the inevitable destruction of the South’s premier slave city. (Robertson, 51) Slavery still ravaged the American South, and Southerners would do anything to ensure that their economy still could base itself upon cheap slave labor.  Vesey attempted to create a slave force through a very discreet selection of “lieutenants”, none of which knew the entire plan.  The problem came when a recruiter approached Peter Prioleau, an ordinary house slave, asking for his support for the movement.  Prioleau wanted nothing to do with the revolt and subsequently turned in the entire conspiracy.  Ned Bennett, one of Vesey’s lieutenants, initially played a key role in swaying decision by lending his reputation to the cause.  Bennett was a trusted and beloved slave of South Carolina’s then governor, Thomas Bennett, [and] the governor was disinclined to believe the whole affair because Ned’s “attachment and fidelity” to his master was unquestionable. (Robertson, 55, 74) However, further rumors in Charleston reinforced the idea of a black revolt, eventually leading to the arrest of all those named as a conspirator. A recent historian named Michael Johnson insists that Charleston’s whites purposely wrote the events backwards in a cross conspiracy, in order to quell any slave rebellions that could have eventually formed.  Evidence exists that points out inconsistencies during Vesey’s trial, implying the white government staged the entire revolt to show slaves what would happen if they stepped out of line. (Johnson, Oct. 2001)

Whether Vesey, the Government, or both had their hand in the conspiracy really proves negligible to the effect that the calamity had on Charleston and its population.  The South Carolinian Government had treachery entrenched in their minds, and it would prove difficult to settle.  Vesey lost his trial while declaring it unfair and died by hanging in 1822, but not before he renewed emotional feelings in the black community.  Slaves who knew very little about law knew that Vesey died a martyr for a glorious cause, [and that] the singing of Psalms in [the Work House, the jail,] the night before was carried on to a great extent. (Robertson, 102) Vesey’s death ultimately secured him a position in African-American canon as a fighter for the freedom of slaves, but immediately after his death, the slave community knew better then to test their power for fear of meeting the same untimely fate.  The white population in South Carolina knew that a revolt like Vesey’s could easily happen again, and that measures must be taken to prevent future rebellion.  Slave owners no longer showed any signs of sympathy toward their slaves when it came to disobedience, creating an even worse humanitarian situation.  The public read the article on Vesey’s death in The Courier, the local newspaper; it stated that Denmark Vesey (a free black man)…had been hanged that morning…upon conviction “of [attempting] to raise an insurrection in this State.” (Robertson, 101) Whatever little trust existed between the races effectively burned up during the aftermath of the Denmark Vesey conspiracy. (Robertson, 72-87)

The American Civil War finds itself as perhaps the greatest and most tragic event in the course of American History.  Even in the modern day United States, arguments arise over Confederate issues in the South, especially in the minds of those with Confederate ancestry.  (King-Owen Lecture, 3/8/2010) During the time of westward expansion and Manifest Destiny, the question of slavery in the new territories created an abundance of tension between the Northern and Southern states, and by the time the country elected Abraham Lincoln as President, the South had decided to secede from the Union.  Southern States now argue that the issue of State’s Rights propelled the need to secede, but through the words of the commissioners hired by the Southern States to help persuade the rest of the waning states, we can see the true conspiracy that caused the Civil War.  The commonality found between all of the commissioner’s speeches to their designated states lies in the topic of slavery.  Some of the men argued by citing religion, as slavery was ordained by God and sanctioned by humanity; while others blamed Lincoln’s election [which] was “nothing less than an open declaration of war because of his clear pro-abolitionist platform. (Dew, 33, 54) The Southern Secession Commissioners preached about the horrors that would occur because of Lincoln with his Republican Government and about the huge conspiracy the North had to make the South submissive.  In reality, the Commissioners ended up as bearers of a conspiracy of their own, the conspiracy of the evil North. (King-Owen Discussion, 3/8/2010)

The conspiring of the Southern states escalated the conflict over slavery to the point of warfare, the likes of which America had never before witnessed.  The Civil War pitted brother against brother, causing massive amounts of casualties on both sides.  While the commissioners claimed that rejoining the North would bring about nothing due to [their hatred for] you and your institutions; Lincoln offered amnesty to all Southerners who wanted to rejoin the Union. (Dew, 67; King-Owen Lecture, 3/8/2010) General Robert E. Lee, the commander of the Confederate army, decided to launch an offensive attack against the Union, but ran into a wall at The Battle of Gettysburg.  Forced to retreat, General Ulysses S. Grant, the commander of the Union army, pressed forward eventually forcing Lee to surrender.  The Southern, post-war propaganda suggested that [the resistance’s purpose was only] to [fight] Northern tyranny, and for a defense of state’s rights. (Dew, 13) Whatever the reasoning, the fact still stands that over 600,000 Americans died and the South remained utterly devastated at the conclusion of the war, a direct effect from the conspiratorial thinking of the Secession Commissioners.

After looking at various conspiracies during the course of this class, the links between conspiratorial thinking, irrational consideration, secrecy, and forcing faith into trust have always negatively effected the protection of the public’s own good.  The word conspiracy itself brings a negative connotation to the table, and hiding what some consider an “evil” from the public always results in mass turmoil.  Conspiracies undoubtedly cultivate Chaos.

Improved Bibliography

Peter Charles Hoffer. The Devil’s Disciples: The Makers of the Salem Witchcraft Trials. The Johns Hopkins University Press. March 10, 1998.

David Robertson. Denmark Vesey: The Buried History of America’s Largest Slave Rebellion and the Man Who Led It. Alfred A. Knopf 1st edition. August 24, 1999.

Michael P. Johnson. Denmark Vesey and his Co-conspirators. The William and Mary Quarterly. October 2001

Charles B. Dew. Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War. University of Virginia Press. February 18, 2002.

Gregory Scott King-Owen. Lectures from American History 151. The Ohio State University. Winter Quarter 2010.

Recently our class discussed the conspiratorial mind of our seventh President, Andrew Jackson.  Democracy changed a great deal during the course of Jackson’s presidency, and his platform altered already established institutions in a way which supported the common man.  Although Jackson always maintained a very imposing image on the national stage, several fears about conspiratorial matters constantly plagued his mind.  I’ve always maintained a great interest in Andrew Jackson and have completed much research on his life and times, leading me to believe that his experiences heavily influenced his somewhat unfounded anxiety.

During the War of 1812, Jackson earned the nickname Old Hickory and after the Battle of New Orleans, the people recognized him as a war hero in the likes of George Washington.  His background along with the military shaped Jackson into an extremely hard man, creating some problems which would define his later life.  One of Jackson’s trademark issues lied in his hatred for the National Bank, which eventually led to its disestablishment.  Jackson believed that aristocrats held all of the nation’s power, and foreign powers overseas also played a large role by owning a portion of the Bank’s stock.  His fear of the wealthy did not begin after he took office, for one of Jackson’s favorite pastimes included dueling.  President Jackson would duel anyone that posed a challenge for him, many of which maintained an aristocraticesque status.  These ordeals led to trust issues for the man against the wealthy and most likely founded some of his conspiratorial viewpoints on money.  Preaching from the platform of “the common man”, Jackson assumed the form of a folk hero.  Taking up this mantle by placing all of his faith into The People would also force a lack of confidence in bureaucracy, creating a grand mistrust for those who sought power for themselves in the government.

Joshua Charles “David Hasselhoff” Clasen

“Nothing is true, everything is permitted.”
- Hassan-i Sabbah

Professor King-Owen lectured on the American Revolution and truly how “revolutionary” the rest of the world perceived it through their eyes.  Never before had a group of people risen to overpower the strongest and one of the most influential countries in the world by means of rebellion, but questions have arisen in recent years as to whether or not the ideals behind the war were actually radical.  Republics existed many years before the United States in such countries as Rome and Greece; however, the power of government always kept in the hands of the rich and noble.  In this controversy of radicalism, I decided to weigh different options before reaching my decision.

A revolution typically involves the repudiation of a government by means of force and replacing it with a new form of law by the people governed, and radicalism by definition requires the favoring of drastic changes within a system of government.  From this standpoint, many aspects of the new American system turn debatable.  Both the United States and Great Britain shared a basic form of government in republics; however, the means of executing their governments prove fundamentally different.  The American system championed the people by allowing all free, white, landowning men to cast votes for law, while the British system only allowed for legislation through “noble” Parliament.  On the surface these appear very different, but until Andrew Jackson, a man of the people, takes the office of President, America essentially proves no different in its selection of government officials than its perceived evil parent.  White men rule, and not until Lyndon B. Johnson’s civil rights movement in the 1960’s are all “men” truly born equal.  200 years after the political experiment began, we can look back and see how radically our founding fathers shaped the world, but I do not believe the immediate results of the Revolutionary War impacted society radically.

Joshua Charles “David Hasselhoff” Clasen

“Nothing is true, everything is permitted.”
- Hassan-i Sabbah

My professor, Scott King-Owen, lectured on the summary of Native American Indian culture during the first week of class, stressing the diversity between Indian groups as one of the most important points to remember.  Before the Europeans arrived in the “new” American world, native peoples already lived across a great part of the land.  Although the new Caucasians immediately classified all Indians into one common stereotype, savages, each of the different Indian tribes bread their own systems of customs, languages, and governing systems.  The different traditions and histories of each tribe brought me to question how the Indian inhabited Americas compared to the White inhabited Europe.

I believe that Indian society and European society contained many more similarities then either side chose to realize.  Putting technological advancements aside, these civilizations shared many problems including quarreling governments, religious differences, and cultural variances.  History shows that fighting and war plagues no continent more than Europe, and I credit this to the many different countries with powerful governments in place.  England, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, and many other countries fought each other to gain land, quell resistance, and to obtain more power.  The American Indians went to war against one another to accomplish some of the same goals European nations held in their military advancements.  In the Americas, almost every Indian tribe worshipped a different religion and maintained its own way of going about on a daily basis. Though similarities existed in how economies and other facets of life functioned, significant variations also occurred.  I feel the same holds true in Europe.  Catholicism and Protestantism caused major religious division, and Englishmen didn’t hold the same daily routines as Frenchmen or Italians.  When the Europeans arrived in America, the Indians saw them as trespassers, and the Europeans saw the Indians as pagan savages.  I don’t believe that either group saw the distinct similarities between each other.

Joshua Charles “David Hasselhoff” Clasen

“Nothing is true, everything is permitted.”
- Hassan-i Sabbah

Schedule

History 151 “American Civilization to 1877″ MW 2:30pm-4:30pm Boyd Lab

Spanish 103.66 “Intermediate Spanish II” MTWRF 8:30am-9:30am Central Classroom Building

Astronomy 161 “Introduction to the Solar System” MTWRF 9:30am-10:30am Postle Hall

Music 205.02 “Athletic Band” TR 4:00pm-5:30pm Ohio Stadium

Joshua Charles “David Hasselhoff” Clasen

“Nothing is true, everything is permitted.”
- Hassan-i Sabbah

If you don’t want to take the time to read all of this then all you have to know is that I had a wonderful time on the Pacific Coast and experienced many amazing things, some of which I’ll tell you about and some of which are forbidden secrets, with people that I genuinely care for.

We departed Steinbrenner on the 29th on time (3am) for Rickenbacker Airport, and everything surprisingly was going very smoothly until we had to sit in the lobby of the airport for a good 45 minutes.  Not all was lost, Bret and I had an enthralling political discussion with Bevan about all sorts of things, including Chap’s party affiliation…ha.  Finally BTXCDStaff started getting called through security, but the flight manifest was in some random order which made the ordeal somewhat time consuming.  The security team members took their time going through our carry-ons and scanning us for any weapons we might possess, while showing us some contempt for making them be at their jobs 6 hours before the sun rose.

When we finally got on the plane, we called out all of the sexual innuendos we could find in the mandatory safety video (much to the cheerleader’s disdain), and the plane was pretty restless until we got into the air.  They fed us French toast sticks as part of some airplane breakfast cuisine, and showed two worthless movies, one of which starred John Travolta…blah.  Mostly everyone fell asleep eventually, and when the captain turned on the overhead lights we were flying over the beautiful Rocky Mountains into California.  One of the strangest thing’s I’ve ever seen was the vast city below us.  We were flying over pure urban environment for at least 30 minutes which translates into tons of square mileage of city.  After a successful landing, T-Row stepped off the plane in true Cali-style, Blazer Uniform complete with aviator shades.

We boarded the BTX bus and I was surprised by how quickly we actually started moving.  Usually the band likes to take a hurry up and wait approach, so naturally I assumed we would wait on the bus until the second plane landed with the rest of the band.  However this was not the case as BTX pulled out of LAX and headed toward an exit ramp.  Our bus driver drove us through some ghetto in a giant square until we arrived back at the airport.  This event would have been unusual enough in the first place, but the drive continued to do this 2 more times effectively eating up about 45 minutes of time.  The weirder part still was that CDStaff was no where to be seen and we were on our lonesome.  Eventually we ended up back at LAX for a 4th time, but instead of going on another lap, we pulled into the air port.  We found out later that our bus driver decided to follow a tour group’s bus mistaking it for one of ours.

When plane two was safely on the ground and the band was packed on all the buses, we finally departed for the Sheraton Universal Hotel.  On our drive through LA we got to see USC’s “grand” Coliseum, which is actually pretty dull, the infamous Hollywood sign, and we also got to experience firsthand the dreaded LA traffic.  We arrived at the hotel and we all helped Student Staff unload the uniforms and luggage from the trucks into the two banquet halls we had reserved for changing rooms.  It was around lunch time so some of BT headed out to find food, eventually arriving at Carl’s Jr., which is basically the California equivalent of a Hardee’s…this was a bad decision.

After the grease fest of a lunch we got back to the hotel and changed into full uniform to depart for Disneyland (much to Pudge’s excitement).  We played a short concert at Town Square and proceeded to march down Mainstreet USA as I had short nostalgic feelings from doing this a year ago with my high school marching band.  After the parade the OSUMB were unleashed into Disneyland, or the second happiest place on Earth, as we called it.  T spent quality time together for the better part of the day and it was pretty safe to say everyone enjoyed themselves.  The best part was probably the 2 and a half hour wait we had in line for Space Mountain.  We definitely kept ourselves entertained to say the least.  I’m not sure the other people around us were as enthusiastic about our shenanigans as we were.  The only complaint anyone had came from Chap and Pudge who had only one simple request, a corn dog, but all Disneyland had to offer were Churros and Nachos…[insert racist comment here about California's ethnic ratios].  At the end of the day, T boarded the tram to go back to where the buses were parked, but something unusual happened.  A fairly intoxicated Smash, Jackie, and Matt boarded behind us and an unlucky family with two little girls who were trying to sleep boarded behind them.  Leave it to Smash to find alcohol at Disneyland, but after a couple choruses of “Happy Rumple Time” on the tram, that family will have a story to tell for the rest of their lives.  Mostly everyone fell asleep on the bus on the way back to the Sheraton, but not before X-Row tried to start roller bus a couple times.  We trusted Chap on night watch to keep Beven under control.

Wake up call the next morning came way too soon, and we were quickly boarded up on the buses and shipped to Glendale Community College.  This was by far the prettiest community college I had ever seen.  The practice facility was equipped with brand new turf, and we were surrounded by mountains on all sides.

After a successful practice, we were invited to attend a band festival for all of the bands that would perform at the Rose Parade.  There were 4 Ohio Bands there including, Pickerington High School, The Ohio University Marching 110, The Ohio State School for the Blind Marching Band, and us.  There was a decent turn out despite the downpour of rain, and the OSUMB showed who TBDBITL is.

The last component to a long day was heading to Universal Studios to parade through the park for Buckeye Fan Appreciation Day.  There were a good amount of Buckeyes there to cheer us on as we marched through the twisted streets.  After the parade, we were permitted to spend the rest of the day in the park.  T took the studio tour first and had the privilege to sit in the front car.  There was some really cool stuff that they showed us, but I was hoping for Conan to come kidnap our trolley, oh well.  My favorite part of the ride was when they took us into this cylindrical tunnel that spun around to make it seem like the tram was rolling.  These bugs , aka water droplets, got flung at us and Bret screamed like a girl (win).  We saw some special effects shows and rode some rides, but by far the stupidest thing we did was get on the Jurassic Park log flume.  There were only a few of us but 3 cheerleaders who were also at the park got on with us.  As soon as we got to the big drop the ride broke and we sat in silence for about 10 minutes.  Finally it released and we fell down the waterfall effectively getting drenched despite my trying to hide behind the hefty cheerleaders in front of me.

New Years Eve was as relaxing a day as we got.  Practice just happened to be Gray Day which turned into a performance for some Buckeye faithful who came out to watch, but everything went as smoothly as it could have went, with the exception of the Nickerson Turn.

The last official thing we had to do before game day was the Buckeye Bash.  We were transported to the Santa Monica Pier and en route T rookies had to take our Rookie Final since Kyle forgot our midterm for the Michigan game…we all failed.  After the pep rally we took some O-H-I-O pictures on the Pacific Ocean while Pudge and Chap looked around for corndogs.  We had a pretty stacked dinner buffet back at the hotel and had a pretty lazy night hanging in the vets room watching the ball drop…oh yeah and I learned how to wield The Tail.

Finally it was GAMEDAY!  An early wake up call was sounded and we headed for Pasadena.  The band staging area was off of the freeway so we lined up and marched up the entrance ramp onto the mainstreet.  The Oregon ATHLETIC Marching Band was behind us the entire way.  As we waited for the parade to begin, people just sort of wandered around taking pictures with the Oregon Band and Cheerleaders.  Bill Nye even thought to show up!  In short the parade was long…very long.  We went through Parade Sequence 1 (Across the Field and Buckeye Battle Cry) about 3 or 4 times and Parade Sequence 2 (I Wanna Go Back, California Here I Come, and The Stars and Stripes Forever) about 15 times with Cadences in between the sets which all adding up to the 5.5 miles we marched.  I’m proud to say that the OSUMB in our wool uniforms and skull crushing hats had 0 members drop out, but the Oregon ATHLETIC Marching Band in their track suits and baseball caps had 6 members drop out.

After the parade we immediately went to the stadium to get situated for pregame.  We went on first and as USA Today put it, “Any team playing Ohio State has to have its band march onto the field first. If it goes second, it suffers too much in comparison, following Script Ohio. Oregon’s band went second in the Rose Bowl and didn’t stand any better chance than its pass defense.”  Halftime also was a great success despite an instrument tragedy.  For my first time using The Tail I set my trumpet behind me, and after a stand tune Pudge went ahead and sat on it. =P  As everyone knows the Buckeyes won the game and honor was restored to The Ohio State University.  Kyle said it best with tears in his eyes as he told us rookies to never take this win for granted.

What seemed like almost immediately, we were back on the plane and headed to Old Columbus town.  After turning in instruments and uniforms the 09-10 OSUMB season was over, and I am now eagerly awaiting Summer Sessions…GO BUCKS!

Joshua Charles “David Hasselhoff” Clasen

“Nothing is true, everything is permitted.”
- Hassan-i Sabbah

Sunday December 27th

2pm- Music Checks, Challenges, Rehearsal

5pm- Rehearsal Concludes

7pm- Rehearsal

9pm- Rehearsal Concludes

Monday December 28th

9am- Rehearsal

12pm- Rehearsal Concludes

2pm-Rehearsal

6pm- Rehearsal Concludes

Tuesday December 29th

3:15am- Depart Campus for Rickenbacker Airport

5am- Flights Depart for LAX

6:30am- Flights Arrive at LAX

7:30am- Depart for Sheraton Universal Hotel

11:30am- Depart Hotel for Disneyland

1pm- Performance at Disneyland

2pm- Free Time at Disneyland

10pm- Depart Disneyland for Sheraton Hotel

Wednesday December 30th

7:15am- Depart Hotel for Rehearsal

8am- Rehearsal

10:15am- Depart for Ohio Band Fest Including Pickerington High School, The Ohio State University School for the Blind Marching Band, The Ohio University Marching 110, and The Ohio State University Marching Band.

11:45am- Band Fest

1pm- Depart for Hotel

2pm- Walk to Universal Studios for Performance

3pm- Free Time at Universal Studios until Curfew

Thursday December 31st

8:15am- Depart Hotel

9am- Gray Day Rehearsal

11:15am- Depart for Hotel

2:15pm- Depart for Buckeye Bash

4pm- Buckeye Bash at Santa Monica Pier

5pm- Depart for Hotel

6pm- New Years Dinner

Friday January 1st

6am- Depart for Rose Parade

8am(11am Ohio Time)- Rose Parade (OSUMB is #25 in Parade)

1:30pm(4:30pm Ohio Time)- Kickoff

7pm- Depart Stadium for LAX

8:30pm- Depart LAX for Rickenbacker Airport

Saturday January 2nd

4am- Flights Arrive at Rickenbacker Airport

5am- Depart for Ohio Stadium

5:30am- Arrive at Ohio Stadium

9am- Inventory Instruments and Uniforms

11am- OSUMB 09-10 Season Ends =(

GO OHIO! BEAT THE DUCKS!

Joshua Charles “David Hasselhoff” Clasen

“Nothing is true, everything is permitted.”
- Hassan-i Sabbah

I decided to start this blog mostly out of boredom; however, I believe that it will eventually contain useful information about a variety of topics which interest me and hopefully you as well.  In this post, I thought it might be a good idea to run through a quick bio of myself so that you, the reader, might be able to connect with my posts at a deeper level.

I was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1990 and lived in the Greater-Cleveland area until my parent’s divorce in 1997.  It was then that my mother, little brother, and I moved to the greatest city in the world, Columbus, Ohio.  Though my time there was short (5 months at the most), I knew that I would eventually live there again.  We then moved to Youngstown, Ohio in early ’98 so that my mother could be closer to her work.  It was then that I finally found a place to call home, living in the 330 until my graduation from high school.  True to my prediction, I now live in Columbus once again as a Freshman attending The Ohio State University.

I picked up the trumpet in 5th grade, and ever since then it has been my greatest passion.  I was first chair throughout middle school, and was placed on the 1st Cornet part in my high school’s Symphonic Band immediately.  Wanting to expand my musical pallet, I joined the Stambaugh Youth Concert Band, and was an active member for two years.  At the end of my sophomore year, I auditioned to be the Drum Major and won the position for my junior and senior years.  It was my duty to write drill for halftime shows, conduct concert pieces, maneuver all parade routes, and be an overall effective leader to the rest of the students.  During the off season I founded our high school’s Pep Band and The Austintown Community Youth Jazz Band, two student run ensembles put together for the sheer love of playing.  Since my first Buckeye football game, I knew that I would one day be a steward of a position in the greatest marching band on the face of the Earth.  My hard work eventually paid off, as I am now a member of T-Row in The Best Damn Band in the Land, (David Hasselhoff is my rookie name).  It is quite easy to see that music is my true passion, and I enjoy almost every aspect of it.

My first quarter at Ohio State was spent trying to be a Music Education major, but when my outlet became my work, it was not enjoyable.  I am now a History major with a focus in Military Studies trying to learn as much as I can about Military History so that I might one day be able to teach something that has captivated my interest for many years through many different venues.

On May 1st 2009, I began dating the most wonderful girl on the planet.  I am in a very happy and committed relationship with my girlfriend Jennifer, and I wouldn’t change anything about her for the world.

I want to use this blog for posting research that I find interesting, as well as sharing my views on subject matter that could be seen as controversial.  Since I like to think that my life is a tad on the extraordinary side, I’ll also be blogging about exciting events like my upcoming trip to California with TBDBITL to the Rose Bowl.  Lastly, as soon as I move into my apartment in the near future I’ll be on Xbox Live more frequently, so there might be an occasional post on those kind of leisurely activities as well.

I am looking forward to this experience, and I hope that it will help spark some imagination.

Joshua Charles “David Hasselhoff” Clasen

“Nothing is true, everything is permitted.”
- Hassan-i Sabbah