I had the pleasure of checking out the first event of Celebrate Brooklyn the other night, David Byrne from the Talking Heads live (and free) in Prospect Park. After arriving haphazardly, sans food, jackets, or any compelling need to be able sit where we could see, my friends and I landed a spot on the grass in the amphitheater. From there we couldn’t see the band, we could, however, see the back of all the idiots standing in front of us so that they could see the band. And then it dawned on me, the fans of The Talking Heads really, really can’t dance.
Please enjoy the parts where Yuna, Julian, and Jim are cracking up, and the part when the guy in front of me scratches his butt.
Another blog about why I love college. And about why I love New York. I’m like a freakin’ broken record over here.
It is always interesting, seeing how you react to transitions in life. There is always the way you expect yourself to react, and then the real way. I guess there is also the memory of it later too, but let’s stick to present tense.
The transition into summer has been relatively smooth (aside from the actual moving, which I am working on blocking out of memory) but like everything else in life it has had its ups and downs. Some ups have been getting enough sleep, actually going out in this lovely (today rainy) spring weather, getting to see my family, and getting my hands dirty on some researchy things.
Both of which seem to be themes of my time in San Diego.
Please, soak up the adorable with this moment of gratuitous, estrogen-fueling fun. Meet Chase Fisher.
The charming offspring of my dear friend Hannah and her husband Travis. He is seven months old and extremely cute. He even sat through Star Trek and made plenty of noise, but didn’t cry, which I thought was impressive.
Also, check out the blog of my dear friend Shelby, who is super awesome as well as super pregnant. The blog is about both her crafty fabulousness and her experiences as an expectant mother, as she and my friend Tomas wait for little Kaleb to make his debut.
Well, as always, the thoughts of other cool things I could be thinking about/exploring/blogging about are piling up. So I shall wrap up my Tennessee findings with these things that I learned and experienced.
1. That Dolly Parton is a businesswoman/media mogul extraordinaire who deserves great respect and discussion for more than just her physical standout qualities. New York magazine agreed the other week when they wrote this article, which I highly recommend if you get a minute. Dolly is the snap! She has written 75 albums, risen from the daughter of a sharecropper who couldn’t read to a multimillionaire off of talent, savvy business skills, and character. If that isn’t the American Dream, I don’t know what is. One of the many projects she has in Tennessee (other than Dollywood) is called the Dixie Stampede, a dinner show, much like Midevil Times, but with horse trickery. By all means, check out the flip clip (and please enjoy Melanie talking like Strong Bad in the background, it was kind if a phase of the trip/our lives):
Another installment in the Tennessee findings. Though I have been in San Diego for days I am still not done expounding on the slice of American culture I experienced there with my family. So these posts continue, making a little collage of my findings, a decoupage, if you will.
Next up to bat, the Sevier County Flea Market. Enter the flip clip:
Kevin and I exploring some flea market finds…
And Jesse Williams, who pulled us over to talk about his newest record deal. Please pause to appreciate the moment when he asks us about our country music knowledge. (more…)
Via text message:
Me: “See you tonight!”
Kevin: “Yeah I am excited for it! I can’t wait to drive tractors and shoot rifles!”
Me: “Dude, I don’t think they have those things anymore”
Clearly, I was incorrect.
Cultural spelunking, of course. Although today I did see a sign to go cave exploring under the Smoky Mountains, so theoretically I could have actually gone spelunking. Physically.
Since arriving in Kodak, TN a very small town about an hour outside of Knoxville, I have been overwhelmed by a new appreciation for American culture. But for the first time in a while, I am in awe not in the melting pot, tossed salad, multi-culturalism kind of way that blows my mind in New York. No, instead I am soaking up Tennessee in the iced tea drinking, tractor driving, “setting” not sitting, family comes first, hot meal three times a day, rolling green pastures, a card game and a long story around the kitchen table kinda way.
After a few days of visiting with my Grandparents and spending time with my family in TN, I feel compelled by the sheer American-ness of it. In a colloquialized way, of course, but also in a very real way. Today we went to their church and watched a blue grass band play, and all of their friends and neighbors introduced themselves to us. Yesterday, we rode on the tractor that our grandpa used to use to run the farm that my dad and aunts grew up on and shot BB guns. I have been reintroduced to actual ingredients, with which meals are made and sat down for. The option of a nap is always on the table, and today I read my dad’s high school valedictorian speech and looked through old pictures. It seems like something out of a storybook, but in fact it is just what’s done and what’s good. The only reason I am now finding time to write this all dawn is because I am waiting for it to get dark so we can all go outside and set off fireworks (yeah all you Californian readers, legal fireworks).
I think that this is the first of my many visits to the interior US which I have been able to really appreciate the uniqueness of it. Likely, this is the most self assured I have been in my own skin to realize that a culture which many caricature and mock, which we all are tied to and branded by as “Americans” to the outside world, which is considered by the pretentious as “uncultured” culture, is truly one to be respected and valued. It is also one to which I am inextricably linked, and I feel truly happy about it. I have been steeped in American values which have been distilled for generations, and here I feel really at home in a way I was embarrassed to admit to myself before.
There is TONS more I have to say on this topic (and obviously, will) once I get back to San Diego where I can upload more rich media like a billion pictures and flip clips, but I had to write this down so I don’t forget it. And those of you who have made it this far reading unencouraged by links, clips, pictures, shout-outs, embeds, and all of the other visual candy I usually fete my posts with, thanks, and way to overthrow the growing stereotype that internet readers have visual ADD.
Speaking of which, I have some fireworks to go set off.
Through the many trials of moving, I have managed to affirm to myself something that my roommates are painfully aware of and my Alternative Breakers have only heard about:
I horde things.
Jars, to be specific.
And this isn’t even the least of it. There are also ones on my desk I neglected to round up for the photoshoot. And in my backpack. And possibly in the dishwasher. (Clearly something else evident from this exercise in how bad I am at packing/organizing).
Filed under: city happenings, observations, world saving | Tags: City places, Flip Clip, Social Work, University Settlement, world saving
To atone for “being extremely insensitive” and “making light of a grave health threat” in my previous, I have decided to share with the world an exceptional bit of selfless social work which will blow your mind occurring on the Lower East Side called University Settlement.
I am so blown away by this place. University Settlement on the LES was the first settlement house in the country. It has been serving the LES for 123 years, offering everything from prenatal care and parenting workshops for moms to day care and after school programs to elderly social support. The institution has been a model for hundreds of others like it all over the world and has been making life better for people in New York every day it has been an institution. I interviewed Melissa Aase after taking a tour with my social work class, check out the Flip Clip:
I know it isn’t funny to joke around about Swine Flu, but apparently I don’t care.
“Fou” means crazy in french, which is clearly what this man strolling down 3rd Ave yesterday dressed as a pig intended us to think. Here’s how it went down. Also, please enjoy the moment of the clip when he falls off the curb, it’s my favorite part.
On the bus on the way to class, my friend Kelly and I sat and chatted and it went a little something like this:
Kelly: Do you see that guy?
Me: Is he wearing a pig costume? Oh my god this is clearly why I have the Flip Cam.
Kelly: Let’s get off the bus! Let’s get off the bus we can still catch him!
Scrambling, running off the bus, scrambling, running down 3rd Ave. And here is what we found…
I love my life. And for those of you who say this title is in poor taste, I counter with: what fun is a deadly, as-of-yet untreatable, pandemic if we can’t at least make bad puns about it?
Political correctness: 0, Valerie: 1
