Monday, February 20, 2012

Another Shocker from My Favorite Straight White Guy

Ah, Nicholas Kristof, the glorious insights you make. Admittedly, this is a little dated, ok a lotta dated, but I just found it out and it's very interesting. American mainstream network media covered the conflict in Darfur less than MTV's college channel. The site, mtvU covered the conflict, not only with articles, both reporting and opinion, but also linked readers to a game where they have to manage and survive in a refugee camp for a week. I encourage you to play it at http://darfurisdying.com/index.html. It doesn't take long, then again, I have yet to last for more than a day. 

Friday, February 17, 2012

St. Augustine

Can I revise the page of November, when she left me behind that old hospital door?
We all have our stories, some are sad to remember, some are maddening reminder of who we once were before.
But tell me what you see, from high above the trees.
The less that I want, the less to remind me that everything wanted is just more to regret.
St. Augustine will you lay your hands on me and heal my head?
Something unseen, something inside me, twisted mad like a bone through a bone seeing red.
I walked all around with a sword pointed toward me, asking me if I chose to be alive or dead.
But tell me what you see, from high above the trees.
The less that I want, the less to remind me that everything wanted is just more to regret.
St. Augustine will you lay your hands on me and heal my head?
But tell me what you see, from high above the trees.
The less that I want, the less to remind me that everything wanted is just more to regret.
St. Augustine will you lay your hands on me and heal my head?

-Girlyman (written by Dorris)

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Supernova

Supernova: the explosion of a star in which the star may reach a maximum intrinsic luminosity one billion times that of the sun. But from that explosion, new stars are born.
And so the journey continues. I'm well aware that if I keep posting about them I will become the number one creepy fangirl, but I continue to feel deeply connected to this music. I mentioned Dorris' battle with cancer over the last year. During that period of time, a song Nate wrote, "Supernova," became her theme song. They decided to title their new album Supernova as well, and it chronicles all the trials and tribulations of the past year. The album just came out this past week and again I find myself deeply drawn to the songs. A lot of the magic of Girlyman for me is the artful balance of me, as a listener, knowing what of their own personal stories they're referring to in specific songs and sill being able to relate very intrinsically to the messages. Much of that comes from seeing them live and hearing them each describe how they came to write certain songs. They explain how they got there and then play and it always feels like an invitation to add your own experiences into this spinning vortex which is their musical community and fan community and everyone else who has been touched by them. Check out Supernova, it'll be on iTunes soon.

Exposed

Admitting dirty secrets: I am on a dating site. But that isn't the important part, just necessary background information. Anyway, a guy I came across had all of his browser bookmarks listed in the "About Me" section. Ever since then I've wondered what people might think of me if they only knew my bookmarks. So, for posterity:
AOL
Eaglebucks
AUPortal
Blog
Twitter
Grooveshark
Netflix
Hulu
Politico
Facebook
WashingtonPost
TheWeek
Wikipedia
Quite frankly, I can't make much out of that jumble but it seems like an interesting experiment. What labels do we use, consciously and not, every day that undeniably categorize us as a "Politico" or a "Twitter" and are we okay with that?

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Airplanes

Aside all of the obvious differences between being in Fredneck and Washington D.C., the city has a different sound. I don't mean normal city sounds and I also don't mean that the city is loud. The city's sounds are methodic and rhythmic and patterned. But even when I'm in the most secluded place, in the middle of a garden, plenty far from honking cars and squealing busses and rushing workers, I can hear the planes. They do not come and go like at home but are a constant rumble underscoring life in the city. It isn't loud and it doesn't keep me up at night and I have to focus to even notice it. But it is comforting in that it always there. I'm less scared of walking on dark city streets at night than of steeping out my back door into the woods at home. You never feel alone in the city, because you never are. Always there is something more than the rustle of leaves that always inspired so much fear.
So, can we pretend tat airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars?