Snow!

I can't remember the last time we had snow around Thanksgiving. We got a good 2-3 inches too. Last I heard Lake Stevens got 6 and was expecting 3 more!

I don't know who won...

Angela looks completely blissed out

This year

I have much to be thankful for. This is a bit belated, but nonetheless true.

Mom
Angela
Nathan
my faith
my students
my art
my future in grad school (hopefully)
the fact that I now look at the light side of things instead of always the dark
my teachers
Jessica
yams and peaches
the fact that in spite of everything wrong with this country and the messed up people in it, I have the freedom to pursue my religion, my dream of working in academia, my artistic endeavors, without major reprisal

I have let go of a lot of the bad this year and embraced a lot of the good.

I am very thankful for that.

What can we say?

The fight about whether or not Americans are spoiled could go back and forth all day, with much vacillation b/n different ideas about wealth, comfort, luxury, cultural context, etc...

One thing is for certain though. We have never experienced this level of atrocity. I hope this level of cruelty and psychopathic action never comes to the U.S. But another part of me wonders how any of us here, in our relatively sheltered communities, can ever understand the full scope of horror these women have faced. Can we? The cultural differences, the language barriers, the different societal hierarchies; how can we fight through these and reach out to our fellow human beings?

Why aren't we? Why are these horrible practices just now starting to hit mainstream sources like Newsweek? And why is the gritty truth only revealed in a web exclusive? Are the people who choose paper over pixels somehow unable to handle the verity of such a situation?

What is it in human nature that makes us close our eyes, stop our ears, hold our mouths shut?

I will never give up my books.

With America's literacy rates plunging down the tubes, I can see how an article like this, http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14823087/?GT1=8717 , could be conceived, and perhaps even be carried to fruition on the msnbc homepage. However, my strict emotional reaction to the above, was "WHAAAAAAAAA?"

Seriously though, this feels very much like a GRE writing topic that gets bandied about a lot.
"Instead of requiring students to take courses in a variety of disciplines—that is, courses ranging from the arts and the humanities to the physical and biological sciences—colleges and universities should allow students to enroll only in those courses that will help prepare them for jobs in their chosen fields. Such concentration is necessary in today's increasingly work-oriented society"

Baby out with the bathwater anyone? Yes, finding a vocation is important. And yes, there might be a surplus of jobs in today's technologically mediated society that do not require expository skills. But to say that reading should be treated as a luxury, something extra, is too extreme of a view.

From the article - "But just as every citizen is not forcibly trained to enjoy classical music, neither should they be coerced into believing that reading is necessarily pleasurable. For the majority of students, reading and writing are difficult enterprises with limited payoffs in the modern world."

This was a telling passage for me. Here, reading is equated with music, a form of art. Art is severely underfunded in our educational system. Someone arguing against funding arts programs could merely switch out "reading and writing" in the 2nd sentence with painting, modern dance, ballroom, etc... Music/Dance/Visual Art programs are receiving less and less money every year. Are literary classes going to head down this route as well? I sincerely and fervently hope not.

We need the arts, and that includes reading and writing of all sorts. People joke about going to college b/c they don't know what they're going to do with their lives. I have so many friends who were in that boat, until they read something amazing in college that opened up new intellectual vistas. Yours truly now wishes to be an English professor, something that wouldn't have even crossed my mind before the boatloads of reading in college.

I could see one arguing that reading could still be considered a luxury, something for intelligensia/academics. But that standpoint completely disregards the enriching effect that reading has. So if reading is a luxury, it should be one that we strive for continuously.

Chaucer

When in April the sweet showers fall
And pierce the drought of March to the root, and all
The veins are bathed in liquor of such power
As brings about the engendering of the flower
When also Zephyrus with his sweet breath
Exhales an air in every grove and heath
Upon the tender shoots, and the young sun
His half-course in the sign of the Ram has run,
And the small fowl are making melody
That sleep away the night with open eye
(So nature pricks them and their heart engages)
Then people long to go on pilgrimages
And palmers long to seek the stranger strands
Of far-off saints, hallowed in sundry lands,
And specially, from every shire's end
In England, down to Canterbury they wend

Chaucer really was a timeless author. When rereading The Canterbury Tales, it's amazing how much of his discerning witticisms hide a deeper moral truth that is still relevant today. It's also a bit sad that he is still so relevant, as that means human foibles haven't really changed since the 1300s.

Mr. Blunt, 06

I'm not quite sure what or how exactly I feel about the James Blunt concert that occurred roughly four hours ago. This man is so darn talented, and he knows how to go for the jugular with heart-wrenching genuineness, but that makes it all the more disappointing when he falls back into the jaws of media legerdemain.

But let's start at the beginning. Starsailor was an absolutely fabulous opening act. They found an irrepressible source of energy that actually surpasses the versions on their album "On the Outside". James Walsh's burnt sugar voice belted out in a manner that threatened to crack a few ribs in his skinny frame, nicely accented by the band's heavily rhythmic sound. He was the only one of the band that said anything, and he kept the adlib to a minimum, letting the powerful music speak for itself. The band as a whole was lacking a bit of charisma, but given that they had just finished an earlier show at the Crocodile Cafe, they have a valid excuse for being a bit bushed. Because of the lack of chit chat, the songs often blurred together. At one point I realized that they had changed songs a few minutes before, and I hadn't noticed. This is a band that never met a 4/4 tempo they didn't like, but Walsh's voice had enough grit and flavor to keep the audience interested. It will be curious to see if this exposure gives them the push they need to become more recognized in the mainstream. Their single "In the Crossfire" has gotten some playtime, but this is a band that definitely deserves more recognition.

After a very, very long soundcheck, during which several people drifted in late (and the place still wasn't full?), James Blunt and his band took the stage. In true rock star style, Blunt ran on with the typical wide-eyed-on-caffiene-and-something-else-possibly expression and proceeded to groove on the first of many new songs. He's kept the blues tinged rhythms that make Bedlam more than the sum of his first single, but lyrically, it seems he's headed into a jaded area of his creative mind with lines like "Scratch that mild skin/Wasting time like it just doesn't matter very much/So we're happy for the company."

In spite of that cynical start, Blunt jetted through all of the songs from "Back to Bedlam" plus a few new audience pleasers, such as a surprisingly slick cover of Supertramp's "Breakfast in America." Other unreleased singles included "Annie," an exceedingly dry commentary on fame and fortune, or the lack of it, "I can't hear the music," and "1973," where I swear he was channeling a younger Elton John. "I Really Want You" was a tale of love and loss that somehow avoided melodrama in spite of lyrics that look incredibly trite in text - "Wasted time on the silver shores of paradise/Can I come in from the cold?/Killed a man in a faraway land."

There were also some beautiful moments in the Bedlam set. "Tears and Rain" was a standout. Mr. Blunt, front and center stage in a lone spotlight, guitar loosely slung around his waist with his hand lightly gripping the neck, singing his heart out as the piano riffled mellifluously.

So, musically the night was spot on. Even Blunt's obvious voice fatigue lent itself to an organic feel as the night grew long. But it is precisely that organicness, that inexplictly stated but nonetheless present artistic morality, that resulted in the concert feeling uneven. Known for his former military career in Kosovo and strong political/moral stances (the trailer for An Inconvenient Truth was played right before he started), Blunt has built himself an image as the sensitive guy next door that not only cares about world issues and can really sing but can also probably kill you with his ring finger. The concert really hit home tonight how much of that is image, showmanship, and very good PR.
The best example of this was when he played his pathos-packed "No Bravery," which no matter how you slice it, is unsympathetic towards the killing of civilians for the sake of war, any war. He gave a little disclaimer before he started about how short our collective memories really are, and that when he went back to Kosovo a few months ago, nothing had really improved since this issue was the media's favorite poster child. Then as he played the song, appearing to mean every word and every note, personal footage of the carnage and orphans was projected on the backdrop. There was utter quiet, even during the soft instrumental parts. For a few brief moments, there were no "Marry me James" yells or other foolish catcalls. The audience was absorbed in his haunting experience with human cruelty and misery, and it was a powerful absorbtion.
Yet, mere moments after finishing, Blunt grabbed his guitar and started a peppy instrumental that would quickly segue into "By the Sea." The too quick transition reminded me of the "Now This" phenomenon in news broadcasts - Oh look at the refugees in Darfur, how depressing. Now this commercial for Clorox!
I understand that social commentary doesn't sell the boatloads of tickets that being a cute Brit with decent teeth does, but that transition undermined everything he was trying to say about the shortness of our memory. It would have been great, nay, mind-blowing, if instead of ending the concert with the sappy "You're Beautiful," he had taken the road never traveled and ended by giving the audience a hard dose of reality to think about on the way home.

Disclaimer

Although nothing will ever truly replace the tactile pleasures of pen and paper, I have decided to step outside of my usual journalistic habits with the creation of this blog. This will contain mostly reviews, but as my life often becomes too busy to prevent me from seeing anything worth reviewing, there might be a few thoughts on random dead/alive poets, authors, actors/actresses, activists, artists, amazing people, and their subsequent works.

Disclaimer start: I do not claim to be unbiased, although my subconcious often pretends to be on paper or pixel screen. /end disclaimer.