The Violin Society Of America: Fill & Download for Free

I’m not an expert at appraising violins, but that is the person you need to talk to and more than talk…you need to bring the violin with you so they can look at it and inspect it inside and out. The label means absolutely NOTHING, so far as value. It might indicate what the maker felt they were using as their model. The good thing is that this is an old violin, and as I’ve told others who were searching for an instrument, older violins frequently have antique or collectible value.Marilyn Wallin, who is president of the Violin Society of America (Capital City Strings of Lincoln NE) or Claire Curtis of Curtis Violins in Berwick ME could recommend someone in your area who is knowledgeable and honest.Or you can check the American Federation of Violin & Bow Makers for a good appraiser in your area. There’s a search engine you use to search by city/state, even!

As an actual FOB who immigrated to the United States, I think Joseph Han’s answer is on point.“Get the fuck out of America!”“Learn to speak some damn English!”“I hate the Chinese language; it’s such an ugly language!”“Eww! Chinese food is nasty! Bring some American food next time!”These are all words that Asian Americans claim to hear when growing up. I agree, I have heard my fair share of them as well… except, the twist is that I’ve never heard them coming from white people; they all came from ABC’s (American Born Chinese), or some other kind of Asian Americans.When I first came to America, I did not speak a lick of English. My parents settled down in Arcadia, California (a suburb of Los Angeles. About 50–60% of the population is Asian). They thought that by settling down in an Asian American community, I would have an easier time fitting in as I made the transition from Taiwan to America, since there were so many Asian Americans. However, in my first year in America, I had no Asian American friends. All of them avoided me like the plague. I was, however, still able to make friends. Ironically, the friends I made were all white people, the very kinds of people that I thought it would be the hardest to make friends with.Joseph Han’s answer nails the point that FOB’s represent everything that Asian Americans want to forget. In addition to speaking our native language and eating ethnic food, many of us were brought up in a cutthroat environment where we chose to pursue what is profitable instead of what is enjoyable (so being good at math and science, instead of arts and getting girlfriends). I was the very essence of that: I loved science (particularly physics and chemistry) classes; spent at least 4 hours doing homework after school every day; had no interest in sports or chasing after girls; had no interest in being artsy, creative, etc. Oh, and I chose to play the violin. That’s right, every Asian kid begs his parents not to make them play a musical instrument, but I actually begged my parents to let me play an instrument so that I could fit in with the other Asian kids in school. Seriously.One of my favorite things to do is to road trip across America. I’ve traveled to more than 30 of the 50 states. I’ve been to rural, countryside areas of Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, etc., areas that are widely considered to be full of racist rednecks. I’ve stopped in small towns and farming villages on my road trips where people proudly hang the Confederate flags on their houses and trucks; I’m positive that in some of the places I’ve been to, I was literally the first Asian man that the people there had ever seen. Yet, I’ve never encountered any overt racism. In fact, I would say that American Southerners in small towns are some of the nicest and most polite people I have ever met. I’ve had random homeless people come up to me and wish me a nice day (WITHOUT asking for money) in Memphis. Occasionally, you do run into someone who thinks you can’t speak English, but when they find out that I can, they always apologize.On the other hand, my experience with Asian American kids were that they were the most racist people against Asians. I’ve been relentlessly bullied and intentionally left out of social interactions by Asian Americans. They do wise up after adulthood, but they never admit their mistakes to me. They either blame the “media” for brainwashing them to hate their heritage (I have no freaking clue what this means; I never see anything in American media that demonizes Asian culture); or they say that they are finally starting appreciate their heritage.While my post is very bitter against Asian Americans, I want to say that I have let go of most of my sorrows and anger. Asian American adults are far more mature and accepting of their own heritage; most of my friends currently are Asian Americans. However, my bitter memories of Asian Americans when growing up is something I can never forget.

Damn , how can we forget this dude :Benjamin Franklin .Seriously , how can somebody do so much in a single life . Have a look on his versatility :Successful newspaper editor at 23 (!)Fellow of Royal Society , first president of the University of Pennsylvania , first secretary of the American Philosophical Society , later President of the American Philosophical Society .Successful entrepreneur(America’s first millionaire) , author (wrote The Almanack , The Way to Wealth and later , his own autobiography) , printer (published two magazines ; came up with America’s first monthly magazine ever) , politician and diplomat (one of the founding fathers of America) , postmaster ( first US Postmaster General , creator of the US postal system) , statesman , scientist , inventor and a civic activist (one of the abolitionists of Slavery) .United States Minister to Sweden , United States Minister to France and the 6th President of Pennsylvania .But that’s is not where it ends . This is what he did as a scientist :Gave the concept of positive and negative charges , and electricity ( damn! )Supported Huygens's wave theory of light , in the era of Newton’s corpuscular theory .Noted and later , proposed theories on refrigeration and invented the Franklin stove .Proposed a dependency of temperature on electrical conductivity .Invented bifocal glasses , lightning rods and Franklin's electrostatic machineElectricity , thermodynamics and optics , all by a single man .Of course , it did not have to finish here , there’s still more to come :Composed music , could play the violin , the harp and the guitar . Heck , he went on to develop his own musical instrument : Franklin’s armonica .Was awarded degrees from Yale and Harvard .Was an avid chess player , the first chess player known by name in the American colonies , and also gave the second known writing on chess in America .All of this by one man . In a single life . No doubt his Wikipedia page mentions Walter Isaacson quoting Franklin as "the most accomplished American of his age and the most influential in inventing the type of society America would become."He once quoted : “In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is Freedom, in water there is bacteria.”Oh , and of-course , how can I forget , memes :Savage? Bad-Ass ? That’s what kids are . This man was a legend !