Sunday, December 23, 2018

December Mix: DrEaMO

12-11-2018


There she is:

1. Saturday - Real Estate


2. No Fear of Hellfire - Nap Eyes


3. Shipbuilding - Robert Wyatt


4. Alone (feat. Lily Elise) - Twin Shadow


5. I'm Not Scared - Tomberlin


6. Sunday Light - Choir Boy


7. Caledonia, My Love - Hiss Golden Messenger


8. Bring Your Love To Me - The Avett Brothers


9. Beautiful - Bazzi


10. Imagining My Man - Aldous Harding


11. Necessary Evil - Unknown Mortal Orchestra


12. We Were Meant to Be Together - Tom Brosseau


13. Palace (Sam Smith Cover) - Cam


14. Show You a Body - Haley Heynderickx


15. Smoke Signals - Phoebe Bridgers


16. L'Inconnue - Beach House




Tuesday, December 4, 2018

A poem: "Day in Autumn" Rainer Maria Rilke


11-23-2018


I subscribed to the Poetry Foundation's daily poems and it was a great decision. Today's:

Day in Autumn

TRANSLATED BY MARY KINZIE
After the summer's yield, Lord, it is time 
to let your shadow lengthen on the sundials 
and in the pastures let the rough winds fly. 

As for the final fruits, coax them to roundness. 
Direct on them two days of warmer light 
to hale them golden toward their term, and harry 
the last few drops of sweetness through the wine. 

Whoever's homeless now, will build no shelter; 
who lives alone will live indefinitely so, 
waking up to read a little, draft long letters,   
and, along the city's avenues, 
fitfully wander, when the wild leaves loosen.

Sunday, November 18, 2018

Another Mix: Ember


11-16-2018


Hi!

From too little to too much music. I'm trying in podcasts for music at work, which means more and more mixes, for better or for worse. Here's Ember

1. Country - Porches



2. Rollin' With The Flow - Charlie Rich



3. Baltimore - Randy Newman



4. Die Young (Rhye Remix) - Sylvan Esso



5. breathin - Ariana Grande



6. Sympathy (feat. Rainsford) - Twin Shadow, Rainsford



7. passionfruit - Yaeji



8. Silent All These Years - Tori Amos



9. It Is What It Is - Kacey Musgraves



10. The Bug Collector - Haley Heynderickx



11. Standing in the Doorway - Hiss Golden Messenger



12. Brighter! - Cass McCombs



13. Goccia - Christina Dona



14. Asheville Skies - The Milk Carton Kids



15. Dark Room (Demo) - Choir Boy




And you can listen on Spotify here:




Monday, November 5, 2018

Don't miss the election

I revisited the ol' blog back in July and found this forgotten draft from before the election:

"When the election has ended, one candidate will come out victorious. But that doesn't mean their supporters or detractor will dissapear. Friends, neighbors, and strangers will still be there. Ways of thinking will still be there. Those core beliefs and issues will still need to be met, challenged, debated and considered. Our work won't end on November 8th, it should be just beginning."

At the time, I was confident of a Hilary Clinton win, and anxious to leave the sideshow of the election in the past. Opinion pieces were saying that they were ready for the election to be over so that there could be some sort of return to normalcy. Reading these old op-eds are a strange sort of time travel, and living history lessons. I hope I can learn from that past.

I was sitting in a GRE math prep class the day of the election. One kids mentioned he was winning Florida, and then more chimed in with updates, and I just started crying and had to leave. I sat at home alone, and put my wasted "I Voted" sticker on a framed print in my living room.


It's still there. It was supposed to serve as a reminder not to be complacent, but it hasn't really worked. We have a chance tomorrow to do something about it. Let's try.

Friday, November 2, 2018

November Mix: Never (Always) Alone, Always (Never) at Home


10-16-2018



1. Your Wildest Dreams - The Moody Blues



2.  Alone - Halsey



3. Look What I Found - Lady Gaga



4. Little Bubble - Dirty Projectors



5. The Night Comes Down - Queen



6. Friends of Mine (Mono Version) - The Zombies



7. Love Hurts - Mountain Man



8. Everybody Loves You - SOAK



9. Richardson Road - Grasscut



10. Don't Give Up - Peter Gabriel



11. Me & My Dog - Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus (Boy Genius)



12. Rivers - The Tallest Man On Earth



13. Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye - Feist



14. what can you say - Adrianne Lenker



15. Slack Jaw - Sylvan Esso




NOTES:
2. New anthem
3. dun dun dun dun dun duuuuuuunnn dun dun dun dun dun dun duuuuuuun dun dun dun dun dun duuuuuun duuuuuun duuun
4. Guys. Dave Longstreth wrote the most heartbreaking songs from this album and convinced me that love is impossible and then he go married just a couple months ago? Anything is possible, I guess.
5. I should be watching Bohemian Rhapsody instead of writing this right now
8. She's back and this video is way better than it needs to be
14. She's a poet
15. A bonus special session:



Friday, October 26, 2018

A Halloween Mix: Spooky Moodz

10-09-2018

GET SPOOKED



1. Then End of the World - Sharon Van Etten


2. Calling Occupants Of Interplantary Craft (The Recognized Anthem of World Contact Day) - The Carpenters


3. Immigrant Song - SOAK


4. The Killing Moon - Echo and the Bunnymen


5. In Conflict - Owen Pallett


6. Ghost in Summer Clothes (Demo) - Department of Eagles


7. Like It's Something - Blake Mills


8. High Times - Elliott Smith


9. Crack Baby - Mitski


10. Babylon - Mountain Man


11. Bali Ha'I - Sam Cooke


12. Is That All There Is - Peggy Lee


13. Someone to Watch Over Me - Sleeping At Last


14. Dark Turn of Mind - Gillian Welch


15. Devil Town - Bright Eyes


16. False River - A.A. Bondy


17. White Fire - Angel Olsen

Saturday, September 22, 2018

A Beginning of Autumn Mix: Fall In



September 16th 2018

It's the first day of fall, thank goodness. Even better than the real new years day. I am desperate for a new season.

Get it:

1. Milkshake - Riverdale Cast



2. Sleeping with the Television On - Billy Joel



3. He Would Have Laughed - Deerhunter



4. Motion Sickness - Phoebe Bridgers



5. Up In Hudson - Dirty Projectors



6. Once More to See You - Mitski



7. Totes Les Promises - La iaia



8. Brite Boy - (Sandy) Alex G



9. Pristine - Snail Man



10. Free Will and Testament - Robert Wyatt



11. Mother Big River - Jessica Pratt



12. The Other Woman (Live in New York) - Nina Simone



13. To You (Andy Shauf cover) - BadBadNotGood



14. Where Do My Bluebird Fly - The Tallest Man On Earth



15. The Dead Hear - Midnight Oil



16. Big Sis - SALES



17. So Long Ago, So Clear - Jon Anderson, Vangelis



18. Happines - Molly Drake



Spotify:



NOTES:

2. No shame.
4. The. The. The. Song. It is in my head everyday. Let's go.
12. Heartbreak and a half.
15. Actually cool.
18. The bittersweet.

An End of Summer Mix: Overripe

September 2nd, 2018

I lost a whole summer and will never get it back.

Oh well!

Here's a mix:

1. Boo'd Up - Ella Mai



2. no tears left to cry - Ariana Grande



3. Comme Un Enfant (Second Date Mix) - Yelle



4. Break-Thru - The Dirty Projectors



5. I Promise You (Ezra's Demo) - Ezra Koenig



6. Dreadlock Holiday - 10cc



7. Malemolencia - Ceu



8. Herside Story - GoldLink, Hare Squead



9. Nice Boys - Temporex



10. Bad Boy - The Jive Bombers



11. Japanese Denim - Daniel Caesar



12. Love is A Wild Thing - Kacey Musgraves



13. Burning House - Cam



14. The Basement - Marlowe, L'Orange



15. 'Til It's Over - Anderson .Paak



And if Spotify is your thing:



NOTES:
4. My pump up. The best.
5. Thank you, Time Crisis.
10. I found this song from scrolling through an instagram account dedicated to cute boys' jawlines.
12. If you're not listening to Kacey Musgraves all the time, what is wrong with you?


Friday, August 17, 2018

Tomorrow's on the way - A Celebrity May Mixtape

A photo From Daniel Morel:

image.png

A Mix:



Some background on Daniel Morel, Haiti, and the photograph that I included in my email for this mix. Life is wild and weird and can be wonderful:

"I went to Haiti This past November. I had found some relatively cheap first-class tickets due to a mistake fares being posted online. I bought a ticket right away, thinking I could convince someone to go with me. 

Nope.

So I boarded a plaine to Port-au-Prince with a very slim plan as to what I would do when I would arrive, all by myself. A friend of a friend from church, Emmanuel (a true savior to me) met me there with his friend and a motor cycle. All three of us managed to fit on it, I don't know how. Another miracle for the day. They took me half an hour to Hotel Olaffson where I was planning to spend the night. It is walled off from the rest of the city, but a sort of ramshackle refuge. The cobblestone driveways was littered with broken glass and beer bottles from the previous All Souls Day celebrations. No lights were on. No guests around. Dogs roaming around. You would think it was abandoned. I got a room that had a plaque on the door saying that Barry Goldwater had stayed there once. I felt very uneasy and wondering why I was there.

Later that afternoon I sat on the patio of the Hotel trying to access wifi. Daniel Morel was sitting there, and invited me to sit next to him. I learned that he was a photographer, and this is one of the photos he showed me. 

image.png

It was also from the celebrations the previous day. I learned that he was the first person who captured images from the 2010 earthquake. He described taking photo after photo, holding onto the wall as the ground was shaking. He captured all those early terrifying moments as long as he could, until it started getting dark. Night time in Haiti is different from anywhere I have ever been. And after the earthquake there was no electricity. An even darker night, I cannot imagine. But there was electricity at the Oloffson, where he had friends. Daniel got there quickly as he could and posted his photos online. They spread like wildfire, leaving him uncredited. It became a huge law suit that was recently settled. You can read more about it here:


Later that night, Daniel introduced me to Catherine Porter who was working on a story about death for the New York Times. We discovered that we were taking the same flight out of Haiti, and she offered to pick me up on the way out. A true kindness. 

I forgot about the article she was working on, and just found it. Today. This minute.
It is incredible:


I haven't been able to get through all of it because it makes me cry. But I can't think of a more fitting thing to reflect on for this coming Memorial Day weekend. From remembering those we've lost to the incredible service of others who try to ease some of that suffering. 

One little photo can hold so much. Can't it?

I tried to capture all those feelings in my mix this month. I'll let you be the judge as to whether I succeeded or not." 


Friday, August 10, 2018

Friday, August 3, 2018

Can't Hide From a Memory - A Celebrity March Mixtape

I started a little music mix project with a group of friends a few months ago, Celebrity Mixtape. We picked a photo and made a mix based off of what we saw. Here's the first:


Mtich Epstein,

New Orleans I, Louisiana 1974


the mix:



Sunday, July 29, 2018

Something for Sunday: Mankind is our Business

Oh hey! Remember me?

I gave a talk in my new ward last Sunday. Here it is:

I'm excited to be back in a family ward. It is beautiful to be surrounded by people
from different ages and stages of life. I’ll get to see this first–hand as I’ll be working with
some of your children in my new calling as Primary Chorister.
As a child I grew up in an old home on South Temple; the same one where my
grandmother, Billie Ann Devine grew up. She told us stories about running around the
house with her younger siblings, making rope ladders out of sheets across the second
level staircase, and spending summer nights sleeping in the screened-in porch. But as a
kid myself, my mind was firmly rooted in the present where our own family memories
were being made. We had our own Christmases and voice recitals and parties. I learned
how to ride my bike in the driveway. I choreographed dances on the veranda to the
Titanic soundtrack with my friends. And I climbed onto the roof as a teenager to tan.
I honestly didn’t give too much thought to the prior occupants of the house, even
though they were my own family. Several years ago my dad passed away and my
grandma Billie Ann shortly thereafter. Our family moved out of that old house. Now
older and with added experience, I often drive past that home where a different young
family now lives. I have a more generous mind than I used to, and I think not only of my
own past, but of that of my grandmother and wonder what memories the new family is
cultivating there.
I still have a way to go, but I believe that our ability to see outside of our own
experience into the experiences of others is a Christ-like attribute. To recognize who has
come before us and give thought to those who will come after us strengthens our bond
as an eternal family. Our grandparents and children are not simply ancestors or posterity,
they are our brothers and sisters in Christ. 
Part of the actual assigned topic for this sacrament talk was “How does doing
family history work strengthen our testimony”. Maybe you’ve noticed I’ve taken a
circuitous route to approach this topic, and I have to admit why. I just don’t do family
history work. There certainly are plenty of reminders that it’s something I should focus
on. I think God is nudging me in that direction since one, I was assigned to give this talk
and two, my new apartment is less than a block away from the family history library.
Combine that with the fact that I walk by the temple everyday should be enough of a
sign that family history needs to be a bigger part of my weekly routines. I’m very lucky
though, I have a grandfather and aunts and other family members who are doing so
much of the work already, I’ve justified to myself that if I were to get involved, I’d end up more in the way than anything else. But as I’ve
pondered on this topic, I’ve realized that family history work is far too important to
excuse myself from. There are a few things we can do to help convert ourselves to this
cause.
The first key is to learn about our families and where we came from. A core
purpose of the scriptures is to help us “turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and
the heart of the children to their fathers”, (Malachi 4:10). They work to “show unto the
remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers;
and that they may know the covenants of the Lord” (introduction to the Book of
Mormon) As prisoners to the present moment, it can be difficult to cultivate a hope for
the future when so much is unknown. The scriptures provide beautiful examples of
people going being led through trials including financial hardship, infertility, political
uncertainty, and familial strife that still resonate today. Aside from the scriptures, we
have the history of our own families, whether they act as cautionary tales or examples
to emulate, can help us cultivate an eternal perspective and guide us in our own
decisions. One of my friends shared with me how her grandfather was disowned by his
own family when he joined the LDS church. “He immigrated to Salt Lake and his wife and
young son died shortly after they arrived. He had lost everything, but his faith... he
eventually was able to remarry and build a life and teach his kids to work and live the
gospel.” My friend told me that seeing their legacy has helped her want to be more
faithful. Another friend described how the example of her grandmother and how she
was able to follow her example when her own marriage was threatened by infidelity.
Now that my friends and I are facing the same sort of challenges are loneliness as our
ancestors, we can have a deeper appreciation of their lives and what they can teach us.
When we learn more about our families, it doesn’t only strengthen our faith through
their example, but helps us develop a true, Christ-like love for them. When we develop
love, it makes us more inclined to find ways to serve. The church’s focus on family history
gives us the chance to emulate the savior as we bring the opportunity to make and keep
sacred covenants to our ancestors. President Ezra Taft Benson spoke on this subject in a
1983 issue of the Ensign:

“Ours is the privilege of opening the doors of salvation to those souls who may be

imprisoned in darkness in the world of spirits, that they may receive the light of the

gospel and be judged the same as we. Yes, ‘the works I do’—proffering the saving

ordinances of the gospel to others—‘shall [ye] do also.’ How many thousands of our

kindred yet await these sealing ordinances? “It is well to ask, ‘Have I done all I can as

an individual on this side of the veil? Will I be a savior to them—my own

progenitors?’ “Without them, we cannot be made perfect! Exaltation is a family

affair” (“Because I Live, Ye Shall Live Also,” Ensign, Apr. 1993, 6).

When we do family history it strengthens the links between the past and the
present. In reality, if we are true believers in eternity, than we understand that the past
is just as much a part of our eternity, as the present and the future. When we choose to
research the history of our families and gather information to perform ordinances and
make covenants on their behalf in the temple, we are participating in a type of holy time
travel. Just as Christ atoned for our sins before our birth, we can bring help bring eternal
blessings to our loved ones after death.
So much of our society is focused on what we can build for ourselves today instead
of what we are creating for others and our common future. The gospel is all about
attending to the needs of others as a way of sanctifying our own soul. Some of my favorite
lines from Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol” come from the ghost of Jacob Marley. It
reads:
any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its
mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness… no space of regret can make
amends for one life's opportunity misused!” `But you were always a good man of
business, Jacob,' faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.
`Business!' cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. `Mankind was my business. The
common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were,
all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive
ocean of my business!'

Family history brings our focus to the business of mankind. As we look at the
legacies of those who came before us, we can’t help but examine what type of actions
we are taking today. What are we doing now that can guarantee a bright future for the
families that will come after us? Everyday bring us new opportunities to be generous
with others. To be active and informed citizens and neighbors. To be better stewards to
our earth. And to make space for those who are marginalized or forgotten. Building our
present and appreciating our past is all for naught if we are not  focused on mankind as
our business, like Jacob Marley said. President Benson said, “Exaltation is a family affair”.
Our family is not limited to our own nuclear homes, but extends to everyone.
If it is God’s purpose is “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man”
(Moses 1:39). Then it is our purpose to help with that work. In an April 2016 general
conference talk, President Eyring said “It is because our priesthood obligation is to put
our families and the families of those around us at the center of our concern. Every
major decision should be based on the effect it will have on a family to qualify for life
with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. There is nothing in our priesthood service as
important as this… As we are faithful in our service to help Heavenly Father’s children
to go home to Him, we will qualify for the greeting we all so much want to hear when
we finish our earthly ministry. These are the words: “Well done, thou good and faithful
servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things:
enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Matthew 25:21).”