Last summer, my daughter traveled throughout much of the United States with a drum corps named Glassmen. She loved it. That phrase is overused – she LOVED the movie, he LOVED the pretzels – but she did. It was hard work, and tiring, bordering on exhausting, but she came home delighted – not to mention, a few pounds lighter, and noticably more tan. She was eagerly looking forward to going again next summer, keeping in touch through Skype with people she'd met through it. She was even considering have a discreet Glassman symbol tattooed somewhere on her foot or calf.
About a month ago, we began to get hints that the organization was in financial trouble. A drum corps isn’t simply a lets get a bunch of kids and an old bus and just GO; it’s a major logistical challenge, on the order of a traveling Broadway show – but entirely done with volunteers. This morning, we received an email. Glassmen is shutting down for this year. She suspected that this might happen. Just the other day, she was talking about how another, more popular drum corps had just gotten an anonymous major gift " which is what happens when you are usually one of the winning corps; we usually aren't " – but still: she’s going to be bitterly disappointed.
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