2 years…seriously?!

My dear Mo,

Last night, I was feeling all mushy and nostalgic (as, you know, I do), and started flipping through our old blog posts. In case you were wondering, they are awesome. But that’s beside the point. The point is- I finally got to the last one, and GUESS WHEN IT WAS PUBLISHED? That’s right: June 20th, 2012 — e.g. exactly TWO YEARS ago today.

Two. years. Absurd. Insane. Unreal –  is it real? I LIT.ERALLY feel as if we just started college.

I have no profound words at this profound impasse, besides that this feeling of time rapidly collapsing in on itself has made me quite bewildered and panicked. I can think of no poems or quotes to help me process this, although I’m currently frantically searching the interwebs.

Everyone tells you that time moves more quickly as you get older. But you never realize it until you realize it, right? In high school, freshman and sophomore year stretched out interminably, unending – Hell, each DAY felt endless. Now, our freshman and sophomore years of college have passed and it feels as if I got up to go to the bathroom during appetizers and came back to find dessert already ordered and eaten.

But then, despite their brevity, these past two yeas have been… what’s the right word here? Not tumultuous (although, at times they were). Eventful, perhaps? A lot has happened, and I have – I think we both have – grown immensely.

You ask: in what ways, exactly? Oh, I will tell you – I AM THE MASTER OF SELF REFLECTION. But, such reflection requires more than the allotted fifteen minutes I have before it is no longer June 20th, and this post no longer pertinent.

So, self-reflective post to come. And I love you. And I hope you are settling in at Midd –  I know you were nervous, but GO YOU for doing it and getting there and embracing that initial discomfort. That’s hard, yo! Send me photos and info ASAP before you can only speak Japanese.

🙂 love love love, Drew

P.S. Stellar post on your Seattle adventure… props to Carter on the photos. I could totally see you (us…? just gonna put that out there…) living in Seattle (provided the whole San Fran thing doesn’t work out). That food looks SO yummy.

 

 

First Year @ Mac

Dear Drew,

So during this past Spring Break I started to make a short video about what it was like on campus for my roommate while she away and kept adding to it as the year came to a close.  I revisited the project every once in a while (using the in-my-opinion-not-so-endearing-new version of iMovie, which has taken a bit of time to get used to) and included short clips from earlier in the year that I never got around to making anything out of…

And now here is the final product- featuring the song “Dead Hearts” by Stars and some of the wonderful, friendly faces on campus (when I had a flipcam on me).  I got to show you an earlier version when you visited, but I thought I’d share the final version!  Be warned though- the only thing really quality about this video is the people!! (I.e. my hands are super shaky…ok now you’ve been warned.)

Huzzah!  Anywhos- thought that I should finish that up before July- well…okay it’s the 2nd- but before summer sped even further along!

Hope all is awesome,

Much love,

Mo

In Photos: May and June (with some words)

Huzzah!  Some photos from graduation back at home!  Whew- I lost count of how many days I went back to school. I needed to spend a lot of time there for some major re-charging of that energy- I think that’s why it actually took me a few days to head over to school.  I had to get a handle on the nostalgia because I can freeze up a bit (ok a lot)- all moved and excited and so (unusually?) absolutely aware of, as you so wonderfully put it in your post, “the hodge podge of ephemeral moments.”  Drew- it’s like I feel it on a cellular level!  So, yes, that can be a bit overwhelming.  A little different each time, re-entering is, however, in a similarly overwhelming way- always good.  (I become so happy- that, as you know and as your mom once said something along the lines of, “it doesn’t even look like [my] eyes are open!”)

Flew back to MN- back at Mac in Kirk #422!

First Sunday back was Grand Old Day- a beautiful day to walk along Grand Avenue with Lizzie and the rest of the neighborhood. I mean, check out that Connect-4 game?!  (Clearly even with a climbing wall, bouncy-jump-swing-thingie, among other games/stands and the like…the Connect-4 game stood out the most to me…) Umm- but just found out that Grand Old Day is actually THE “largest one-day festival in the Midwest” … Huh.  (So by ‘neighborhood,’ I meant over 250,000 people who come each year from the Twin Cities area, MN state, and [even] neighboring states- cray!)

Some pics from Reunion above.  Weekend attractions included quality bagpipe performances (obvi), cute families returning for a parent’s reunion (or BOTH parents’ reunion…cray), good food, and a fun night outside under a huge tent set up on the main lawn.  I also watched the procession of the ‘Golden Scots’- i.e. graduates celebrating their 50th Reunion(!!)- into the chapel for a special ceremony.  Before the weekend was in full swing, I gave a tour on Friday and a Golden Scot tapped my shoulder as my group was leaving the Campus Center and said, “Even after 50 years- I’m still proud I went here.”  *Happiness*

Even MORE happiness with a visit from you!! Goodness– it had been a while, no?  Yes.  Too crazy long.  It was so good to be with you- as always.  Thanks for coming out to visit.  (And giving me an interesting psych test that now allows me to describe my love life as ‘big, unknown, and fishy.’  Perf.)

Mississippi River & my favorite slab of pavement.

Other pics from around Mac.  Lower left hand photo is a sculpture by the Japanese-American artist Noguchi– information I actually learned during tour guide training!  In fact, it’s the most valuable piece of art at Mac and there are plans to transform the outdoor space (with the sad waterless fountain the sculpture is placed in now) into a more traditional Japanese garden.  (Umm- HuZzAH!!)

Some things have stayed the same-  the day by day work on the Studio Arts building opening this January, the blue (more like iridescent night sky/deep lapis lazuli/yah I’m obsessed) mugs are still rare and still the best in the cafeteria, and mail still makes me super ridiculously happy.  It’s definitely felt different with some close friends not on campus (luckily Christian came to visit before going off on his summer adventure).  But that provides new opportunities like using Google+ for the first time to have my own reunion with my roommates next year- WOOT WOOT!  Having  more time and figuring out how to fill it without classwork to do…has been weird.  Tour guide training kept me busy last week though and it culminated in an awesome scavenger hunt involving photos of squirrels, our swing set, etc.  Otherwise this time thing has me playing video games with friends in the student lounge and- even winning my first game of pool the other night!  Basically a HUGE deal.  We’ll see how long beginner’s luck lasts.  I’m consistently thinking about the balancing act of how I fill my time- the trying to do more and the letting go of the sometimes-guilt-like-feeling I’m not doing enough.  Am I too content to chill in my room and have lots of ‘me’ time, Drew??  Well- it’s certainly no longer ‘chill’- I think I’m heading to Target this weekend to pick up a window fan of sorts.  Anywhos- I think that’s why I love that slab of pavement so much.

Much, much love,

Mo

Some Things

Morgan,

Book Across the Bay was magical. I was thinking about you, and the way you would’ve loved the yellow candles in the snowy darkness, and the beaming moon and stars. There were thousands of people there, and I felt like I was crossing the Bering Straits in the Great Migration. Terrific.

Anyways, I’ve got loads of work (blah blah. The worst), but I wanted to share with you. I feel as if we remember periods in our lives less by dates and months, but by seasons, smells, and the art–the music, literature, whatever–that we are within.

So here are a couple things I’m in now:

*This beautiful video and song, called “John Wayne” by the Green Little Cars

*On The Road, Jack Kerouac. We’re doing the Beats in my Modern American Lit class. .

“because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a common place thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes ‘Awww!’ ” (6)

Now I’m feeling all moody and sad, because these things are so pretty and my work is so boring. Oh well! I hope you had a terrific weekend too. Love love love,

Drew

P.S. I’m still working on your birthday present. At this rate, you’ll have it by your 20th… ah, eventually!

VOTE NO! Minnesota’s Marriage Amendment

Morgan, LOVE the pyramid. Quite impressive. I’m happy you are on the mend!

I was SO JAZZED to vote today. Did you register in Minnesota? I can’t remember if you said you did. I decided to, so I could vote against the proposed marriage and voter ID amendments here (though I’m pleased to report that Chris Murphy has won in CT).

For those unfamiliar, the marriage amendment is a motion to define marriage as between one man and one women. The exact phrasing: “Only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Minnesota.”

Minnesota is one of four states (others are Maine, Washington and Maryland) voting in this election on same-sex marriage laws, and The Supreme Court expects to see one same-sex marriage case this year. The amendment has been pushed by a very conservative state legislature; the majority of minnesotan democrats, obviously, oppose it. .

Same-sex marriage laws, I believe, question our very character as a country. These motions force us to decide whether we will practice what we preach, whether we are honest when we say that the U.S. is a country based on principles of freedom and equality.

I think Pres. Obama put it perfectly in his response to a letter a young girl wrote him:

 

“We celebrate this diversity.” Yes! Yes. 

Because it goes beyond simple legal matters, down to the core of who.we.are. When we define marriage as between a man and a women, we enter the dangerous territory of defining normality. And when we begin to define what is normal, we tell all those that do not fit our (dumb) heteronormative molds that they they do not belong. That they are abnormal, different, wrong, and thus, we do not welcome them.

And those things simply aren’t true, and that’s why I voted no.

Macklemore, le truth speaker, has some sick lyrics about this issue in his song “Same Love.” Read–

The right-wing conservatives think its a decision
And you can be cured with some treatment and religion
Man-made, rewiring of a predisposition
Playing God
Ahh nah, here we go
America the brave
Still fears what we don’t know
And God loves all His children
Is somehow forgotten
But we paraphrase a book written
35 hundred years ago

You can also listen to the song here.

–Drew

P.S. Also when you hate on gay-marraige my brother’s dog Cooper cries.

   

(alright, so we haven’t formally met yet, but i’m guessing like all good pooches, he’s a liberal.)

She’s Alive! And Dayquil Prompts her to Talk about Other Things (and refer to herself in 3rd person in post title)

Alright, so it’s my one-week anniversary of being SICK. Eh.  But I’ve had a lot of tea and used a lot of toilet-paper tissues and am *knock on wood* on the tail end of whatever this has been.

Anywhos.  LOVE the inspiration, Drew.  (Literally- all of it.  Just finished Glass’ commencement speech.)

I think I’ve got to carve out more time (or let’s be real- use some other time more constructively) to sit and think, to pause and bring those moments and words of inspiration to the front of my mind from the back cubbies where they often hang out.  I feel like things have been ebbing and flowing and I’ve been (merci germs) on an ebb- like I need to hold still and find some way to rejuvenate my ‘me’ supply.

Why is it so easy for me to drop off the face of the planet, Drew?  I get sucked into the ebb and flow long enough that I forget this ebbing and flowing cycle, when I really just want to doze on some warm sand.

Other Things:

Thing 1.  You all look terrific as zamish.  The paper bonnets are a super classy (and crafty) touch.

Thing 2.  Roman Pooh is quite dashing.

Thing 3.  I second “McKibben is a total boss.”

Thing 4.  Jeeziecreezie I’ve been a serious blog bum, major apologies.

Thing 5.  Some more slam for y’all.

So went to my second slam poetry in 10K (one of the dorms’ basements I mentioned before) and the guest poet (who performs during the ‘intermission’ for the students performing) was Jamaal May.  ‘Twas awesommme.  I picked up his The Whetting of Teeth and Other Poems,

And HUZZAH- they uploaded some of the poems he performed!  Here’s one I really loved-

“Pomegranate Means Grenade”

Remember the stuff we wrote in Lower School?  Yah some of it was ridiculous, but my mom sometimes tells me things I used to say…it was like I was on a whole different plane, maybe it was just those few old soul moments were more old soul-ly because I was so young.  Or maybe it was just because whatever strange morsel I said came with some chubby cheeks and crazy, crazy short curly hair.  That was probably it.

But when Jamaal (he signed my book and we talked about how CT is the 17th state to abolish the death penalty this past April…so we’re on a first name basis) was talking about his students and the poetry they write…well, it made me think of when we were younger and how, I think, the way we used words created truer descriptions and described truer (?) feelings (Perhaps by ‘truer’ I mean…I don’t know, but I know that’s not the adjective I want to use.  What would you use?).

Another thing Jamaal did that I liked- which is what actually got me up out of my chair to go and buy one of his collections- he signed a friend’s copy with “hope these poems keep vibrating.”  I love that.  To write something that vibrates, to listen, to read something with sounds and phrases that vibrate, to remember something because it’s still vibrating–

Also had brunch with a friend (who is also a sophomore leader in Lives of Commitment) and a friend of his from home.  After brunch I hugged this super awesome now-less-of-a-stranger.  Goodness brownies and frownies, brownies and frownies!  (I’m reading this over, Drew…Dayquil has really got me loopy.  Apologies?  No!  Sorry I’m not sorry!)

Last thing- pretty sure this is my first successful human pyramid!  Can you believe it?  WE’RE VOTING THIS WEEK DREW!

“Ira Glass on the Creative Process”

I’m working on a story right now that I want so badly to be good and sound and beautiful. But it’s ambitious and honestly, I feel as if I’m trying to find my way to the bed in a dark hotel room. I keep bumping into things and I can’t seem to get my bearings–in short, I have no idea what.I’m.doing.

And so (of course) I started searching around the internet for some help and/or inspiration.

What I found was a video featuring Ira Glass, in which Glass talks about what he really wishes someone had told him when he was beginner. It was exactly what I needed to hear and so wonderfully consoling that I felt compelled to share it. Thus, see below.

I’ll admit I’ve got a bit of a brain-crush on Ira Glass. He has, undoubtedly, a remarkable ability to tell stories. I’m an avid listener of This American Life. I play episodes while I work out, walk to class, fall asleep, and each time I’m amazed by how captivating it is, by how fascinated and engrossed I become in the story.

In this Ira-Glass-fawning-vein, Glass also gave a terrific commencement speech at Goucher College last May, chalk-full of humorous, hopeful bits of wisdom and insight. You can watch the full speech here (though I’ll warn you about the unreal peculiarity of seeing the face attached the voice), but below is just one quote that stuck out to me.

“I had to learn that ideas, if you were going to make creative work, you have to find an idea to make the work about. That is a job in itself. And where do ideas come from? They come from other ideas, and you have to surround yourself with things that are interesting to you and notice what is exciting to you and what you want to dive into, and finding what you’re going to make your short story or film or song or art project or movie about is a job.  Finding what you want to do next is a job. It’s a task: You have to set aside hours in the day, and you have to be a soldier, and you have to fight for what you’re going to make in yourself.”

So often I think ideas will simply arrive in my mind, as if the idea fairy is just going to leave an idea under my pillow at night. But Glass argues, No, it’s not as romantic as that; we have to work to form our ideas. That creativity isn’t this natural, flowing entity but something we must nurture daily. Something that requires earnest endeavor; concerted effort.

And I like that thought–I like it a whole lot–because it rings true to me and because it makes my struggling seem useful, worthwhile; heck, maybe even valuable.

–Drew

P.S. The You Tube Channel through which I found the Ira Glass video also has a terrific Steve Jobs’ quote video, which you can see here. Inspiration overload!

A bit o’ Hallows’ Eve history

Dear Morgan,

Happy Halloween!  I hope you are keeping busy with lots of festivities. The full moon is making things particularly ominous tonight.

Halloween is fascinating, when you think about. What a peculiar holiday, the holiday in which we celebrate all things dark and ghoulish.

I know it supposedly came from the Christian All Saint’s Day, but I think the celtic/pagan influences of Halloween are more interesting, especially it’s link to the festival Samhain, which “marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the ‘darker half’ of the year.” Here is some more information I gleaned from wikipedia about it:

Samhain was seen as a time when the ‘door’ to the Otherworld opened enough for the souls of the dead, and other beings such as fairies, to come into our world. The souls of the dead were said to revisit their homes on Samhain. Feasts were had, at which the souls of dead kin were beckoned to attend and a place set at the table for them. Lewis Spence described it as a “feast of the dead” and “festival of the fairies”. However, harmful spirits and fairies were also thought to be active at Samhain. People took steps to allay or ward-off these harmful spirits/fairies, which is thought to have influenced today’s Halloween customs. Before the 20th century, wearing costumes at Samhain was done in parts of Ireland, Mann, and the Scottish Highlands and islands, and Wales. Wearing costumes may have originated as a means of disguising oneself from these harmful spirits/fairies, although some suggest that the custom comes from a Christian or Christianized belief. 

Did you get that? A day when the souls of the dead come and visit your house. Seriously?! How dark and morose. But also, how awesome.

So, now that we’ve had our mandatory two minutes of Halloween history, here are some photos to inspire le spookiness (and of course, a Hogwarts photo…).

And there’s one more I need to share…

Yep, that’s me there, standing on the right… My roommates and I dressed up as “zamish” over the weekend, or in normal language, amish zombies. It was only a little offensive and a lot of fun–and very, very morose…just as we like it…lol.

Much love, Drew

P.S. We made our bonnets out of paper from directions posted on the internet by Martha Stewart. So crafty! That lady knows whats up (well, minus the whole perjury thing).

Winnie Ille Pu (!)

Mo, check out what I found in the library!

Winnie Ille Pu! It took me about a half an hour to translate it, but I think the above sentence roughly says: “The very famous book known by almost all boys and girls now for the first time having been translated from english speech into Latin by the author Alexander Leanord.”

I am just so terribly fond of that little Roman Pooh.

Anyways, just thought I’d write a third consecutive post to shame you into posting. Hope alls well.

Love, Drew

30 Apples and Some Pie; my love for Johnny Appleseed

Morgan–we went apple picking again! I hope you have also had the opportunity to get some yummy Minnesota apples as well. Fall seems to have arrived here. We are keeping a list of notable “cold” dates on a white board in our dorm. Check it: “September 22nd–I could see my breath last night.” RIDIC.

So, we each got a peck, or about 30, apples, which means there’s almost a hundred apples between the three of us. I’m psyched to a) eat them, and b) do cool things with them (we know a guy with a dehydrator. Can you say apple chips?) We also got some PIE at the orchard which was…indescribably delicious.

Fall and apples seems so two and two (or is it hand in hand? eh), and apples just seem…quintessentially American. So, so versatile–apple pie, apple turnover, apple sauce, apple donuts, apple cider, apple apple apple–and hardy, like potatoes. Heck, when Bubba listed all the sorts of things one could make from shrimp he might as well have been listing all the things one can make out of apples. Same deal.

Mo have you ever seen the cartoon of Johnny Appleseed? It’s precious. Check it out:

A) Johnny has some sick apple juggling skills, and B) he didn’t even FLINCH when that swarm of bees came and ate his apple. Cray. (Part duo of this post: the history of Johnny Appleseed? Because…WHAT.a.cool.dude.)

Alright, nada mas. I’ve got to get up early because I want to harvest on the farm here, ergo, sleep is calling. Hope you’re well. Love,

Drew

P.S. I BOUGHT A BIKE.

I’m in the process of naming him (how do I know he’s a him? Well, Charlotte–one of my roommies–and I both bought bikes from this older couple who refurbishes worn-down bikes, and they said the bike I bought, and the bike Charlotte bought, belonged to their neighbors, a husband and wife, and mine was the husband’s (Charlotte’s, the wife’s, is decked out with a more comfy seat and a light. Alas. And yet, I have the rack on the back! Whattup gender roles.))

Thoughts on a name? B-storm it. Note: our hot-water kettle (NOT hot pot…as I thought it was called. who knows what a hot pot is.) is already named Gustaf, so uh, that’s taken.