The Importance Of Being A Radio DJ

DJs have one simple task: make people dance. Or that's what it used to be.

I closed my eyes in disbelief. I refreshed the page. I thought Ms. Platt had attached another student’s rubric to my essay. I wanted the nightmare to end. Not only did I not receive an “A” or a “B,” but a “C-.” I earned a seventy percent. My eyes watered, and I began to feel nauseous. I felt as if I failed myself and my family. This grade was not supposed to be possible. In the words of Grendel, it was an accident. But unfortunately, it was not. At that moment, I had to accept, even if I did not want to, that I, for once, did not reach my high goals or had to surrender my unrealistic view of myself. I had erred, like all humans do, and learned that I was not perfect and that I could fail to reach my standards. At that moment, I realized that I wasn’t superhuman but human, and this was something challenging for me to cope with at the time. However, in discovering my ability to fail, my perception of myself had been revolutionized.

At first I could barely project my voice for the entire hornline to hear, I was always self conscious and afraid of messing up. My public speaking skills were questionable at best and my fear of messing up in front of everyone made them even worse. Dealing with my eight person section(including myself) wasn’t as taxing but relaying instructions effectively was my biggest problem. Teaching new material as well as

I failed AP English. I had missed the second quarter of the school year, almost completely, due to… technical difficulties. I got discharged from the hospital mid-February, and for the remainder of junior year, the majority of my waking thoughts revolved around passing 11th grade. With motivational speeches coming at me from my parents, friends, and teachers, I began to believe I had a chance of passing the year. I did my best, which apparently was not enough. My teacher had picked up on my tremendous amount of effort, and on the last day of school, bumped my grade up to a low D — just enough to pass. I was not exactly about to put my grade on display or anything, but I passed! Technically. This is not one of the underdog-who-succeeded stories. The real success for me was (look away, it’s cliché) realizing my best was enough. I sound disgusting.

Up until this point, my challenges were fatiguing, however, the day of the test was the worst part of my quest. The stress that I felt while taking that test was unreal. Each question my brain seemed to convince me that I didn’t know what the answer was. As the test went on, I felt worse and worse. I thought I was in a nightmare. On the other hand, when I finished and walked outside of the building I felt fatigued, yet I had done it. I was finished with this delightful burden. All the troubles were through. The stress I felt that day was later counteracted with a realization about my

Vibe 105 has this special two day event they host called 24 DJ's. It's a DJ Mix Relay Marathon and it features a roster of 24 top tier DJ's from across the country. What's it all about? Well, each DJ has one hour to create an exclusive mix showcasing their individual talent and technique, live to air on teams. Now when it comes to me and my role within the event, you should know that I was Talent Liaison. I was emailed the role and learned about it in more detail during orientation and I knew what was expected from me. I was to wrangle the DJ talent throughout his set and ensure that everything ran smoothly, but it was more than that.

Growing impatient, the day finally came, the test results were online. I logged on to my student portal anxious, hesitant, and excited all at once. When I clicked the button that read View Test Results, I saw that I had not passed my 10th grade reading FCAT. I immediately burst into tears. Not only was I disappointed in myself, but this would be my very first time failing the FCAT. The year I needed to pass it so that I would not have to take it again, was the year I failed. I had went into a depressed mode ever since I found out I

One morning I decided to check before class and hope that my day would not be ruined from there. Having been the only university I applied to at this time, there was nothing to fall back on. Logging in for the eleventh time in three days, the application looked as if there was an ‘add’ on it. Adjusting my eyes, it had read “Accept or Decline”. Getting chills from head to toe, I begin to read further down the page and noticed that I had been accepted to the School of Arts and Sciences. The first tear rushed down my face and it was in this moment that I knew I was happy and proud to say I was going to a school that had football, pride and a sense of

As I walk into the school, I take a deep breath repeating the words “I can do this, I’ve done it before.” Laying my paper down to the table, the woman gives me the okay to head up to room 222. Walking up the stairs I could feel my heartbeat pound harder and harder, as if I had an elephant pounding on my chest. Realizing this was my last chance to take this test before I started applying to colleges, made my stress level rise uncontrollably.

If I were to be in the DJ booth thinking about how I messed up the same song transition last night, chances are that I’m going to overthink it and mess up again. Even worse, before I even started booking shows, many of the venues wouldn’t let me play because they didn’t think I was good enough. Using the power of endurance I kept trying and trying and finally they saw how strong my perseverance was and started booking me for shows. The most important thing is to endure by enduring: understanding the difficulties, enduring the hardships, predicting the risks, and tolerating the abuse, all ensure fame and success for such a person. What makes one truly great is knowing how to tolerate the intolerable and how to endure the unendurable. “Everyone knows how to thrive in the good times. It is the trying times that separate the one who has substance from the one who merely possesses the image” (Chu 141).

There was one thing that made the awkward young man feel good and that was radio.

I was extremely wary of the class: my first attempt had made me afraid of college algebra. But once the class finally started, I realized my worries were all for nothing. I was finally able to understand the content of the class, and I was doing very well on all of my assignments. So well in fact that I had an “A” in the class. I couldn’t believe that after my first attempt had failed so horribly that I was able to make such an amazing

And with that, my sister and mom left my room giving me space in case I had a mental breakdown. I opened the email on my phone waiting for a rejection letter. My hands started to sweat and my heart was thumping like a drum. I closed my eyes, squeezing them tightly. It’s not like this

Only the beginning of junior year, I was afraid to continue the class. I was afraid I was going to flunk out. The class carried on as I sat there day after day with the thought of failing on my mind. However, that only made me even more determined to get a higher grade on the next test. I could not let a bad grade eat me up and demolish my desire to succeed. Later when the second test was passed back, I looked at it, flashed a smile, and flipped through it, noticing only a few minor mistakes. Returning to the front page, I stared at that 92% until the end of class.

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