A Poem for Thursday: "Song of the Open Road", 5. - Walt Whitman

"Song of the Open Road"
Walt Whitman

5. 

From this hour I ordain myself loos'd of limits and imaginary lines,

Going where I list, my own master total and absolute,

Listening to others, considering well what they say,

Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating,

Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that would hold me.

I inhale great draughts of space,

The east and the west are mine, and the north and the south are mine.

I am larger, better than I thought,

I didn't not know I held so much goodness.

All seems beautiful to me,

I can repeat over to men and women You have done such good to me I would do the same to you,

I will recruit for myself and you as I go,

I will scatter myself among men and women as I go,

I will toss a new gladness and roughness among them,

Whoever denies me it shall not trouble me,

Whoever accepts me he or she shall be blessed and shall bless me.

Memorial Day Weekend

I'll be spending Memorial Day Weekend in Salt Lake with the Fam. Nothing too exciting planned, though I assume we'll be making the cemetery rounds to visit family gravesides. Oh. And I NEED to see this:

I was so excited because it's opening this weekend... but only in L.A. and New York. Utah isn't even included on the list.

What the cuss.

When we do finally get it in theaters, I'll be ready. Bingo cards in hand:

You can go to Slate to print your own.

Hope you have a great weekend!

The worst thing about being in a singles ward is...

... you don't get primary programs in sacrament meeting.

Sorry for the hiatus. I have nothing of importance to report.

A Poem for Thursday: "Song of the Open Road", 1. - Walt Whitman

Song of the Open Road
Walt Whitman

1. 

Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road, 

Healthy, free, the world before me,

The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.

Henceforth I ask not good-fortune,

Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,

Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,

Strong and content I travel the open road.

The earth, that is sufficient,

I do not want the constellations any nearer,

I know they are very well where they are,

I know they suffice for those who belong to them.

(Still I carry my old delicious burdens, 

I carry them, men and women, I carry them with me wherever I go, 

I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them,

I am fill'd with them; and I will fill them in return.)

"Head Full of Doubt / Road Full of Promise"
Listen

A tune

From a biker without a bike

I don't have a bike.

And apart from one fateful spinning class at the JCC that I went to with Katie and George (oh man, that class was all kinds of awful), I don't think I've even sat on a bicycle seat in over 10 years. My bike-riding days were pretty much limited to my youth. 

But now I WANT to bike. 

I'm tired of driving around, it makes me feel like a robot.

Screw that, man!

Til then, I'll just be walking around a bunch.

Here is my latest post on the United Way of Utah County blog about the mayor's Bike to Work Day.

click here! click here! click hear!

also.

I don't know if I'm made for office life.

Lost Songs

I just found  a lost song.

I hadn't heard it in about 6 years. It used to be on my iPod, and I would listen to it on repeat over and over. I couldn't remember the singer, or the song name. Google searches failed me.
Until now.
Thank you soundcloud!

Here it is:
No Photographs - Emily Trowbridge

A Poem for Thursday: "I Sing the Body Electric", 4. - Walt Whitman

I Sing the Body Electric
Walt Whitman

4. 

I have perceived that to be with those I like is enough,

To stop in company with the rest at evening is enough,

To be surrounded by beautiful, curious, breathing, laughing flesh is enough,

To pass among them or touch any one, or rest my arem ever so lightly round his or her neck for a moment, what is this then?

There is something in staying close to men and women and looking on them, and in the contact and odor of them, that pleases the soul well,

All things please the soul, but these please the soul well.

"Many Reunions" - Biran Kershisnik source

I'm falling in love...

... with Provo!

Can you believe it?

My relationship ship with Provo has been rocky at best. When I first moved here as a BYU student, I spent most of freshman year pretending I was a student at the U. I mean, come on! The U had a free Ben Kweller concert! BYU didn't stand a chance. I spent most weekends in Salt Lake, and when I was in Provo, I rarely strayed outside my dorm. Subsequent years were campus focused. I spent my summer in Arizona, on a mission, and back east. Last year, I hardly knew Provo at all since I was living by the Sundance Ski Resort. 

But now.

Now I have my first summer with no school following it. My first summer in Provo. 

So far, it's been lovely. There are so many great things to do, it's hard to fit it all in. I have high hopes for the next few months. 

My new ward is a cool mix of people. Yesterday, we had family home evening at Muse since some of the kids who run it are in the ward. Everyones eccentricities were on full display. Every musical number was totally different. And all topped off with a dance party. Lovely. This week alone, I have free yoga classes, institute, the RSL v. BYU soccer game, the pacific islander festival, an art show opening....not to mention our soccer league and community meetings. It's busy, and I like it.

Because I work in the United Way office, we try to keep track of community events. I went to the Mayor's "Bike To Work Day," and it was lovely. I was "on assignment," taking photos for a blog post. Can I just tell you how much I miss having a camera? Really, my soul hurts. I used one of these:

It was AWESOME. I felt like a fool, just had to use it on automatic cause I had no idea what I was doing. But guess how much it cost...

OVER $1,300!!!!

Is that normal?

No wonder people were staring while I was scarfing down my free bagel, getting crumbs all over the poor thing. 

Whatevs. 

I'll see if I can sneak some of the photos from the event onto this blog. I miss taking pictures so much.

May Mix: Holla Balla Hullaballoo

Here is your mix for May! Eat up.

1. Santa Maria da Feira - Devendra Banhart
2. Gold Chain - Black Light Dinner Party
3. Eat That up, It's God for You - Two Door Cinema Club
4. Leaves - Cheers Elephant
5. Sonho Meu - Maria Bethania & Gal Costa
6. Limon y Sal (Unplugged) - Julieta Venegas
7. Myth - Beach House
8. In Our Own Places - Blake Miller
9. I Am Not Waiting Anymore - Field Report
10. Fight For Your Right (Beastie Boys Cover) - Coldplay
11. Come Back Down - Greg Laswell 3:48 Come Back Down (feat. Sara Bareilles) -
12. Devil's Work - Miike Snow
13. Resuscitate - Wintersleep
14. You Go Running - Deep Sea Diver
15. Una Palabra - Carlos Varela

NOTES:
1. I've avoided listening to Devendra Banhart simply because I've found his name hard to remember and pronounce correctly. What a mistake! He's great.
10. I don't care what you think. I love this cover.
11. Thank you free track from iTunes.
15. Have you seen "Man on Fire"? Did you know it is excellent? Even if you have to close your eyes a few times? I found this song from that movie.

Mom

Happy Mother's Day!

Let her know you care.

TWIX (Twilight Concert Series) Line-up.... whadayathink?

I just feel a little gross every time I talk about the Twilight Concert series. Like these guys should be playing. (Did you know that there was a "Twi-band" movement? I know.) So I'm going to refer to it as TwiCS (TWIX) from now on, because everybody loves Twix. Twix are great.

So...

The Lineup!


July 5 - Beach House with The Walkmen

July 12 - Raphael Saadiq with JJ Grey & Mofro

Aug. 2 - My Morning Jacket

Aug. 9 - Passion Pit with Austra

Aug. 16 - Iron and Wine with Kathleen Edwards

Aug. 23 - M. Ward with Devotchka

Aug. 30 - Common

Overall, I think it's a pretty decent lineup....not super exciting though. I'm interested to see how the $5 charge will affect the crowd. As much as I love Beach House and Iron & Wine, I don't think it would be worth it to see them with 50,000 other people. Yaknowhatimean? Passion Pit and Common on the other hand... PeRfEcT for this sort of thing. I'm anxious to see who will be playing the other shows in July. How about some Hoodie Allen and Jack White? I WOULD DIIIIIIIIEEE.

Here are some of my favorite tracks from these fellows to help you get excited.

Lovely.

So I didn't know much about Raphael Saadiq...
but guys....
this is SUPER hot.

"Wakin' up feelin'.......godly amber
when they tell it phony reads.
Was a bad man from.......California
Tearin' out a stormy breeze.
.....agreed..."
Yeah, I guess I never learned the real lyrics to that one.

This is an instant time machine to the month I got back from my mission.

Who needs a chorus? 
Who needs verses? 
Not Iron and Wine! They do just fine!

I know how it will end... in tears. This song always gets me.

Hello.

Listen to the Twilight Concert Series mix I made on Spotify! Isn't Spotify nift? I just love it. 

A Poem for Thursday: "I Sing the Body Electric ", 1 - Walt Whitman

I'm going back to posting poetry on Thursdays. I've missed it. We'll be doing Walt Whitman for the next couple months.


I Sing the Body Electric
Walt Whitman

1.

I sing the boy electric,
The armies of those I love engirth me and I engirth them,
They will not let me off till I go with them, respond to them,
And discorrupt them, and charge them full with the charge of the soul.

Was it doubted that those who corrupt their own bodies conceal themselves?
And if those who defile the living are as bad as they who defile the dead?
And if the body does not do fully as much as the soul?
And if the body were not the soul, what is the soul?

D&C 88:15

Crazy Old Maurice

We have lost some awesome people the past few days. Maurice Sendak was an integral part of my childhood. Everybody loved "Where the Wild Things Are", but I watched these cartoons over and over; all the lyrics memorized.

Do you remember Really Rosie?

Or In the Night Kitchen?



Oh man. THAT was a trip. I loved that book.

These cool people just need to stop dying already. Gosh.

My life is now complete.

Christian opened his birthday gift from me yesterday. When I asked him what he thought, he replied: 

"I'm impressed."

That's it.

My life's work is done. 

Getting this sort of response from Christian is like getting a standing ovation from Simon Cowell.

Christian has the most discerning and finicky of tastes. He owns every book about Star Wars ever. His collection of Lord of the Rings, and Sci-Fi fantasy art is extensive. What's more, every couple months or so, he decides to "quit" his one of his obsessions; (emphatically declaring that any gift that adheres to that theme will be declined) only to pick up his obsession again a few days later. What do you get the boy who has everything?

This, apparently:

I went out on a limb buying this for him, but I guess it paid off! 

walk it out...walk it out...walk it out...

Oh.
I moved.

Did I forget to tell you that? I'm just a few blocks away from work, so now I can do more walking. It's great. My dream is to live by the Popsicle rule. To have a home within 5 minutes of wherever I need to go.

Inspired by my new living situation, I wrote a blog post about "alternative modes of transportation". Check it out her by clicking here!

Mayday, and Happy Birthday to you.

I've done a poor job of recognizing my family member's birthdays. 

So here's to you Christian! 

Happy Birthday!

May the force be with you.