Some achey-breaky stuff I’m loving right now:
This song. “In the dark of this place, there's the glow of your face. There's the dust on the screen of this broken machine. And I can't help but feel that I've made some mistake but I let it go.”
1 It’s a deeply honest prayer. And one that resonates for me.
I was reading at Coffee Shop Formerly Known as Caribou today and laughed so loudly and suddenly that the lady at the next table leaned over to ask what I was reading. Two pages later, I had to take off my fogged up glasses to sob. It’s a sneaky read that lures you in with its hilariously honest narrator and then knifes you in the gut. "My father drops the mitt in the grass and pulls me into a tight hug, exactly like he never did before the stroke. [...] He steps back, keeping his hands on my shoulders. I wonder how old he thinks I am today. 'Where's Hailey?' he says. That narrows it down a bit. I turn away so he won't see the searing pain that momentarily melts my features. In the world he woke up in today, he loves me and Hailey's still alive, and it's like I'm standing outside in the rain, peering through the window and wishing I could come in from the cold and warm my chilled bones at the fire of his dementia. 'She'll be along soon,' I say."
2
You know you’ve made it when they ask you to give a TED Talk. Recently heard Amanda Palmer’s talk on NPR: “The Art of Asking.” I’m a weeper by nature but I dare you not to tear up a little bit when she talks about her time as a street performer: “And my eyes would say, 'Thank you. I see you.' And their eyes would say, 'Nobody ever sees me. Thank you.'"3 Gah.
End Notes
1. Koenig, Ezra, and Rostam Batmanglij. "Ya Hey." Rec. 2011-2013. Modern Vampires of the City. Vampire Weekend. Rostam Batmanglij, Ariel Rechtshaid, 2013. CD.
2. Tropper, Jonathan. How to Talk to a Widower. New York: Bantam Books. 2007. Print.
3. Palmer, Amanda. "The Art of Asking." Lecture. TEDTalks. 1 Mar. 2013. YouTube. Web. 6 July 2013.
