Reverse Graffiti (via Inspirational Geek)

I’m going to use this lesson in the classroom. Fascinating.

For as long as there have been dirty vehicles, people have writing "clean me" on them, but visual artist Alexandre Orion has taken this concept to a new level with his much more creative (and time consuming!) take on 'reverse graffiti'.  It's like traditional graffiti, but with an eco twist. Detergents, wire brushes and good ol' fashion elbow grease replace the spray cans and stencils that we're used to seeing from graffiti artists, cleaning away … Read More

via Inspirational Geek

Most Romantic Poem Ever (Perhaps)

somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience, your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully, misteriously) her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility: whose texture
compels me with the colour of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands

~~ E.E. Cummings "Somewhere I Have Never Traveled"

 

Thanksgiving: What High Schoolers Are Thankful For

Recorded in my English II Honors class.

They did a great job (as they usually do).  I think you’ll enjoy this Thanksgiving treat.  Hearing it from some who have a lot to be thankful for.

Happy and blessed Thanksgiving to you and yours.

 

Thanksgiving: High School Students Reflect

Recorded on Friday, 19 November 2010.  Enjoy.

Gratitude for “family” was, I think, the most often cited thanksgiving.

The Kill – 30 Seconds to Mars (Drum Cover)

For fun.  And for something you can watch.

Changes Coming Soon… Check Back

I’ll soon be making changes to this website.  Stay tuned, and check back in a bit.

I haven’t completely forsaken you. “I still love you, only slightly, slightly less than I used to…” – Morrissey.

Bright Eyes: Ten Songs For New Ears

One of life’s most pleasurable “little things” that I relish with youthful zeal is sharing new music with new ears, or old music with new ears.  I should rephrase that first sentence.  The music itself may or may not be “new,” but when it’s new to the listener that’s all that really matters, isn’t it?

One artist that defies both labels of old and new, is Bright Eyes.

Though his music/lyric writing has been no small part of my reflective life for many years now, many of my close friends and family aren’t aware of his work.  Some of you might find yourself just breaking into his work, or may have discovered him through his given name, Conor Oberst, as he is currently touring and producing music.

I thought I’d write a quick “playlist” that is guaranteed to make you a Bright Eyes (Oberst) fan or else just prove that you really aren’t all that human after all.

“Landlocked Blues”

(Found on the album I’m Wide Awake and It’s Morning)

This song is arguably Conor’s masterpiece thus far recorded (I have no doubt that even greater greatness awaits his fans).  With sublime backing vocals from the luscious Emmy Lou Harris, the disillusioned lyrics rooted in endless disappointment sound almost haunting.

“Perfect Sonnet”

(Not found on a major album, released as a b-side single)

This is what I consider to be his most evocative song.  It’s difficult to listen without wanting to join in his expressive tirade against Love and its life-long trappings.

“Poison Oak”

(Found on the album I’m Wide Awake and It’s Morning)

Conor’s most intrepid tune, it crawls from its somber remembrances of the past to culminate in its justified, even lofty, indignation at the present.

“Lime Tree”

(On the album Cassadaga)

Using the occurrence of a friend’s or lover’s recent abortion to reflect on the impossibility of sustained happiness in this life, the song quite simply soothes your soul with commiserated acceptance.  “Now everything’s imaginary, especially what you love.”

“Something Vague”

(Fevers and Mirrors)

Another example of how Conor is able to bridge the gap between the searchers heart with the despondent soul.  “And you’re not really sure what you’re doing this for, you just need something to fill up the day.”

“Don’t Know When, But a Day is Gonna Come”

(Lifted)

Though the music might be a bit derivative or The Doors’ epic “The End” the lyrics are solely the possession of one brilliant song writer.  Anti-war?  Hippy-ish?  Even a bit adolescent perhaps?  Perhaps.  But the pathos infused in each word makes any such description all but disappear.

“Arc of Time (Time Code)”

(Digital Ash in a Digital Urn)

Oberst’s satire of Christianity.

“Southern State”

(A studio-recorded b-side on the live concert album: Motion Sickness)

It is usually the case that from the best bands, the best songs are those least known.  This is one such song.  This song is a stirring diatribe against each and every one of us who has ever left for the wrong reasons, or stayed for reasons even worse.

“Messenger Bird’s Song”

(B-side found on There’s No Beginning to the Story)

A love song.

“Road to Joy”

(Last song on I’m Wide Awake and It’s Morning)

The song title seems to denote some hope, some tilt to a smile.  Perhaps there is hope, perhaps Conor knows who will have the last laugh.  Or, as is likely the case, the description of the songs above too far outweighs the chance that there’s any optimism possible from a band that goes by the also deceptively sanguine name of Bright Eyes.

Go forth and listen.

May Books Be Blessed

“Books are besieged by a great many embattled enemies…

but from books comes the food of the mind.

It is not good for the stomach to be without food for a long period, and it is very much worse for the mind.”

– J.R.R. Tolkien

Be Kind

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle…”  — Plato

In your life there may be the one.  The one that you think of most often.  The one that keeps you up nights.  The one that you think of first as you stumble into the kitchen.  Sure, you notice other ones.  You can’t help it.  You’re human.  You notice and even entertain ideas about others, but when it comes down to it, they’d all be just filler… filler as you hold out hope for the one.

And by some sense of mystery- she knows she’s the one that you so desire.  And so what does she do?  She goes on with her life as if you don’t exist. That’s how it feels sometimes, doesn’t it?

Live and Let Live

When I find them in my house I don’t kill spiders that look like all they eat are tiny insects.  If the spider is large enough to bite me, however, I kill it with disgusted satisfaction.

There are many things in this life that I want to learn about, too many to list here.  Yet what strikes me most about learning and this life is that there are many more things that I do not want to learn.

I have learned that the government of the United States has been hijacked in the exact way that our founding fathers anticipated (and tried to prohibit) in the Constitution.  Power has centralized, decisions monopolized, and tyrants now rule with the consent of the minority in a fashion more akin to oligarchs or even aristocrats as opposed to public servants.

I have learned that what you want most is usually that very thing you cannot have.  And in having, it would likely disappoint.

I have learned too much of love.  And too little.

I have learned that life is too short.  Far too short.  Sickness and ill health are too ready to jump in at any moment and take away or at least tarnish that joy which is readily available in the later years.

I have learned that we are all children.  Some are just older than others.  Some are just younger than others.  Kids without a clue, searching, hoping, wishing, praying, living…  Making the most of such a wild and wasteful and wonderful and wanton existence that at once delights billions, and disenchants other billions.

Next time you go to swat a spider dead… consider these words.