My family have often times forced me to attend cultural events.  These events are not always my favorite past time, but seeing that I live in such a cultural community and that I oneday want to earn a higher education, I realize that these events do make you learn and grow and turn you into a well rounded individual.
I have reluctantly attended most of these events, sometimes against my will.  My sister sang in the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus.  I have been dragged to each one of her performances and they sang heavy numbers such as Italian operas and Catholic chants.  I started to appreciate the music, but not as much as I should have.  There were also the times my mother took me to the LA Symphony in the Walt Disney Center and we had prime seats, in the orchestra section.  The music was awesome, but I did fall asleep during the second half of the performance.  For me a tiny seed was planted and some mornings to calm myself down I would listen to classical music.
This all lead up to the most epic cultural experience of my entire life; Coachella.  My parents finally agreed to take my sister and me as a graduation gift.  It took a lot of nagging and convincing, because they always refused in the past.  Coachella is a snapshot into the youth of America.  The young people come from all over America to attend this music festival.  It is also a study in anthropology, because you see people like yourself, dressed for the occasion, enjoying the moment and being care free of the outside world.  In this Utopia of music they lose themselves in the moment.  Like an army of rockers we jump up and down to the deafening sound of the music all in unison.  We chant and scream and high fived strangers, because the music causes euphoria that everyone feels deep inside. 
I’m not denying that some of the euphoria of the people next to me was perhaps caused by other substances, but the joy and carefree spirit of all 250,000 people could not be ignored. The performers such as AC/DC, Drake, Hozier, Vance Joy, Alice in Wonderland, Florence and the Machine and many more were well prepared and catered to the crowds.  The instrumentals were fantastic and the music soared up into the night sky.  I also realized how very different we are from my parents’ generation.  It was very hard for my parent to understand how a DJ’s such as Cascade could be such a rock star.  DJ’s are becoming increasingly popular with our generation and I realize how technology has morphed us into a society that is hard to relate to at times for people in my parents’ generation.  We get it and we love it.  That is not to say that I did not get a big kick out of the fact that my parents were rocking it out to AC/DC.  These guys were old, but they could still play and the crowds went crazy. The guitarist in his school uniform could out play any young guy. It was our generation saluting our parents and the music of days gone by.
Looking at the people around me I thought of us as a generation.  Strangers were kind and helpful and the entire time I did not witness any aggression even when some of the music was filled with profanity.  I then realized that if we as youth could be kind to one another in a environment filled with people from so many backgrounds.  If we could celebrate peaceful and have a common cause; just as we did enjoying the music we have hope for our future.  I know this cultural event might not be the top choice for my parents for me to attend, but trust was built between us and it also gave them insight into the culture of my generation. This cultural event was probably the best representation of the youth in this country.  Even though it looks as if we only live in the moment and we only live for fun.  We love to create, make sounds, we command technology and we are ready to take on the future one beat at a time.
Coachella was awesome!