Final Day of #WriteOut '25 - Marching on with Marching Bands Providing the Final Rhythm for this Year's Celebrations. Now for a Day of Rest.

Marching On 

Day 15, #WriteOut ’25

b.r.crandall

I heard the drums around four, recognizing cadences of my adolescence when my sister marched with the Northstars and, years later, my niece did the same. Autumn traditions of drum majors, dance ensembles, woodwinds, brass, rifles, and flags. To me, a crisp night in the Fall means hot chocolate and the cymbal-ism of all the teams who give their everything to be on the field each weekend. In some ways, the marching tradition is the way I was raised, although I was usually the brother/son/uncle in the stands watching/listening with books.

When I heard the drums, I knew I wanted to walk the dog, as I like to see the schools practicing in the fields a few miles up the road. It brings back memories of this time of year: the CNS, West Genesee, Liverpool rivalry, culminations at the Dome where the acoustics were horrible, and the the onset of the Winterguard season (indoors and warmer). 

It was nice to have the drums practicing rhythms as I walked in anticipation of the last day of #WriteOut ’25. I wanted to capture the flags and the trees, but it was never presented as a possibility. Instead, I just listened to the high schools warming up and did my 90 minute trek around Stratford. I ran into John, Conner, and Summer also out on a walk and we talked engineering, our local pond, the need to let the town know (which I did) not to mow so close to the edge so that the vegetation can grow…we’re three years now with solid cattails, ducks, herons, frogs, and fish. When they mowed all that down, the wildlife disappeared. Let the vegetation grow, and life returns. 

It will calm down over winter, and we’ll have to await the peepers in the spring. The music they create is as awesome as the horns, clarinets, flutes, trombones, and saxophones making music at Bunnell High School last night. I know today NYS bands will be making their own music at Syracuse University as their competition season comes to an end. 

It’s time for us to march on, again, to move to another season of indoor traditions and days with less light. This is the choreography of the year and I welcome the winter months as much as the other seasons (in some ways I like them more, because I love blankets, warm drinks, and sparkling lights). I also love having reasons not to drive when it snows. 

Here’s to another spectacular National Writing Project #WriteOut. May the writing continue, even when it isn't part of a larger collaboration.