I.II.a.b.III.a.1.2.3

Guess what. It's a new list.

Perhaps when it's complete, I can add it to the tentatively titled "E's Obsessively Compulsive and Elitist Opinions on a Variety of Topics". Enjoy.

Category: Music Videos Worth Watching, unranked

Andrew Bird's "Imitosis"
Beck's "E-Pro"
Grizzly Bear's "Two Weeks"
The Avalanches' "Frontier Psychiatrist"
Tool's "The Pot"
Andrew Bird featuring Dianogah's "Lull"
Iron & Wine's "Naked as We Came"
Modest Mouse's "Float On"
Grizzly Bear's "While You Wait for the Others"
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros' "Desert Song"
Angus and Julia Stone's "Chocolates and Cigarettes"
Marcy Playground's "Saint Joe on the Schoolbus"
Simone White's "Yakiimo"
Marcy Playground's "Sex and Candy"
Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Scar Tissue"
Ben Kweller's "Penny on a Train Track"
The Great Lake Swimmers' "Your Rocky Spine"
Iron & Wine's "Boy with a Coin"
Jeff Buckley's "So Real"

I Like What They Call "Weed".

I have missed being a morning person. I woke up around four this morning and I never went back to sleep. Instead, I got up, got dressed. Then, I went out and got Wood and we went foraging. Guess what we found...

...that is wild garlic (Allium Vineale). It grows well here and it's considered a weed even though it is edible because some crops, especially grains like wheat, can pick up it's pungent flavor. Even the beef of cattle who eat it can be tainted. It has a stronger aftertaste than garlic, which some people don't like. But, it is grown in herb gardens for it's strange blooms and, because it is allium, it still carries positive health benefits. Also, it is fairly common in the delta, because the structure of the leaves withstand chemical herbicides.

Earlier in the week, I took my grandfather to his doctor's appointment in Memphis. We were in the waiting room for a while, but I didn't complain. I discovered what is probably my favorite magazine now, Gun&Garden. I know what you're probably thinking if you've never read an issue...I thought it was probably a bathroom basket reader. It may be. But if so, I think that the gunmen and gardeners who subscribe are probably spending a lot of time in their bathrooms. The journalism is fantastic. Anyway, I particularly enjoyed several articles, and I managed to locate this one online: http://gardenandgun.com/article/forager. It struck a fire under me to spend a lot of time trekking around to collect and identify plants, and to figure out what kinds are edible and to be able to differentiate between those good for herbal remedies and those that are poisonous. We certainly don't want another Christopher McCandless.

In the process, I've discovered that both sides of Josephine are essentially nothing but dewberry briars, wildflowers, and johnson grass. I've enjoyed going out to pick with my family, our friends, and just with Wood. Yesterday, I took Hallie and Winn out, and they had a grand time. I think more berries made it to their mouth than their bags, and they both picked half a bushel. When I took them home for baths, we had to scrub their purple faces and hands.

My agenda for the afternoon is going out for another collection, and maybe taking a trip to the library. Here's to the hopes of finding some arrowhead, wild strawberries, violets, bellflower, mallow, and virgin's bower, to name a few.

The Time has Come to Speak

What an unconventional and bewildering Friday night I've had. Not only is there an absence of laughter, background movie noises, and any number of sounds associated with college weekends, the only sounds that I can hear at all are the clacking keys I'm typing on, the cicada's chirruping outside, and the whir of the ceiling fan above me. My dad took my brother and sister out, and my mom celebrated a night at home by hitting the hay around nine thirty. Therefore, I am having a night of "me-time". I think I should be enjoying it more than I am. I've become so accustomed to company...Not dependence, but company. I like being alone. But there are times when you just know a night is better shared. This just happens to be one of those.

In my effort to occupy myself with something other than housework that didn't need to be done (my next option), I discovered something very lovely.

Simone White has a few very good new songs. I dare say they surpass her previous ones. She breaks past the efforted indie category that she fit so well into in her last album, I am the Man, and enters gracefully into that of folk singer-songwriter. Let me say, she has been a very talented song writer all along. However, these few new songs that I've happened across bring her into a new light as a sort of delineating narrator...in a non linear sense. I'm not sure that makes sense at all. I think what I'm trying to say, is that she has created a story-like kind of life in these songs, (let's use "Victoria Anne" as an example), by providing a sort of patched at plot line, which doesn't need to be fully delineated to provide a detailed account of what she is getting at. She bears it all in under three minutes.

If I had to say, I think she fits into place right next to the likes of Antje Duvekot.

Because I am doing such a poor job of this musical explication and critique, I recommend that you don't take my word, but listen for yourself. http://www.myspace.com/simonewhite I promise you, it is worth it.

You Can Call Me Grass

I live in Star's Hollow. But it's better...because it is rural. And it isn't fictitious.

Here are some other reasons why Tunica is the place to be:

We are people's people.
When I got home last week, one of the first images that I saw was Ms. Bettie Webb bent doubled in her northerly side-yard garden, big brimmed hat tied beneath her chin. I honked and she stuck her trowel hand up without even looking to see who it was. I got a letter from her yesterday thanking me for a little hare that I'd found in a book and snipped out for her...and to welcome me home. I appreciated it, but its that wave that welcomed me first.

Age is just a number.
I went to the library yesterday and while sitting at a table, flipping through a Sarah Simblett book, I got a strange feeling. I turned around and there was a little girl standing behind me. I said hello and she smiled. Then, she sat down next to me and started talking about grass. This three year old was telling me all about grass. It was magnificent. I gave her some paper and a graphite stick and asked her to draw me a picture. She handed it back with three rows of zig-zags and some specks. "What are the specks," I asked her. "Seeds," she said. I thought it appropriate to read her "The Tiny Seed" by Eric Carle. When we finished, her mother came over and said it was time for her to go. The little girl turned back and waved at me. Her mother asked her who her new friend was. She said, "grass".

We make our own music.
Mhoon's Landing was made symphonic by the multitude of frogs, dogs, and guitars that appeared last night. The muddy Mississippi rolled past and we heard the occasional belch of a barge foghorn. After a while, it came around the bend, lighting the night and sweeping up closer than usual. The water is up right now.

You can sleep safely outside....
when the mosquitoes are tolerable. At least, Wood and I did.

This place is definately real. And it smells like it.

On Presence

This morning, I am sitting at my friend's desk, using her computer, listening to her music on her itunes, and thinking about:

(1.)... how grateful I am that she is staying close enough that I don't have to go an entire three months without seeing her--this was last summer.

(2.) ...how big of a difference presence makes...I am the remaining soul in our dorm suite. Lauren is still here, but she is moving out in waves and training for her two new jobs in between. Last night, Rebecca, Lauren, and Natalie spent the night in Star. This morning, they took our beloved Natalie to the airport. By now, she is surely closer to Washington State than to us. This both pleases me and makes me tear up a bit. But, never fear...she'll be returning shining and new in the fall. She has more than one heartstring tied to the south, now.

What I mean about presence, though, is this-- a truth revealed to me by Lauren yesterday: people learn the most about themselves when they are with someone else. The things that I have learned about myself in the conversant company and mere presence of these women is astounding. I love them with all of the kind of love reserved for dear friends. For the dearest of friends.

(3.) ...how much my grandfather probably misses having a presence in a large, claw-footed, leather chair in his living room. I don't think I can fix that. But I woke up this morning wanting to sit there. I miss his eyes and his hands. I miss him more than I miss my grandmother. I don't mean that I love him more. I mean that I don't have to long for her. She is far better off than he at this point. And he is alone. And this breaks my heart.

(4.)...how being in good company makes time go faster. It's true that time flies when you're having fun. But more than that, I think time flies in the presence of a beautiful person or beautiful people. I have the most fun when I am in the presence of those I love. I don't short cut solitude. I need that. But, I what I am learning about myself from the nearness of others, is that the nearness of others itself is a beautiful thing. I want to see my reflection in this always. I want these people to understand that some of the most important parts of myself are most visible when I am cast off of them in reflecting gazes, or statements that fall out of me that I hadn't previously thought of, or the love that I feel radiating between us. It is very good.

(5.)...how I can't fathom the inner workings of God's creation. I am ever awestruck.

Sanguine & Melancholy Side by Side

1. "Chocolates and Cigarettes"...

is not my favorite song by Angus and Julia Stone, but it is an exceptionally beautiful video. Please enjoy by low light.

2. My family...

came to Jackson today, in the rain, to help me by picking up some things that I couldn't haul home in my car. My dad didn't feel well and everyone had things that they could have been doing otherwise. I so appreciate them and I hope that they realize how big of a help they were to me.

3. Maps...

shouldn't be so difficult for me to learn. I am a visual person. This summer, I will educate myself (at least somewhat) in the area of geography. I feel that this is important.

4. "You Don't Miss Your Water"...

by Otis Redding, was my happy musical discovery of the day. It's a sitting in silence song.

5. Carrots...

are very good when boiled in water and mixed into oatmeal with butter and brown sugar.

6. The Urge...

to watch French movies is overwhelming right now.

7. Thunder...

makes me want to curl up. This isn't a cowering sort of curled up. It's more some sort of passive appreciation on my behalf.

8. Sundays...

are best when they are Sundays. I'm going to keep it that way.