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Archived Posts from this Category
March 8, 2012
Ils Font des Fonts
Posted by mayiwrite under lists, miscellany, my life | Tags: having fun etc., marriage, poll, yay |[3] Comments
October 23, 2011
A Little out of Focus
Posted by mayiwrite under friends, lists, miscellany, my life, relationships, weekend | Tags: byu, class, feeling a little overwhelmed, having fun etc., week |Leave a Comment
Well, it seems I’m a bit distracted.
It’s crazy how quickly time passes.
So much is happening. So much to write about.
So much not to write about. I mean it.
Maybe I’ll write a poem. I should write a poem.
So, there’s that. Poem ideas crash into my head all the time. I would much rather be working on poetry than my other schoolwork. I wish it was all I had to do.
Toward the beginning of the semester it was easier. But now, I’m starting to flounder.
Oh, I met and spoke with Pulitzer-Prize winner, Marilynne Robinson. That was ultra cool.
Let’s look at this week’s schedule.
Monday: Midterm; homework
Tuesday: Poems, My Fair Lady; homework
Wednesday: French Party; homework
Thursday: Meeting at the library; homework
Friday: There’d better be nothing, except homework
Saturday: Concert; homework
Also, 20 hours of work, 14 hours of class.
Also, I had a damn good weekend. It was fun.
But, I won’t blog about it.
This is the worst blog post ever.
October 16, 2011
Small Haul
Posted by mayiwrite under advice, friends, links, lists, writing | Tags: awesomeness, books, french, having fun etc., library, reading |[2] Comments
The public library sale was fun. Today, hardbacks were $1.00, and paperbacks were $0.50. Pretty cool, eh?
Here’s what I got:
Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du Mal
- We’ve been reading a lot of Baudelaire in one of my classes, so when I saw this, I got really excited.
Germaine Bree, Great French Short Stories
- These are in English, and they’re most of the famous ones.
Geoffrey Brereton, A Short History of French Literature
- I bought this one for pretense. Of course.
Annie Ernaux, La Place
- This looked interesting. And it’s short, which means it’s more likely that I’ll finish it.
Other Random French Short Stories
- These are in French. I like short stories. I like French. It only makes sense.
***
T.C. Boyle, When the Killing’s Done
- I hear he’s good.
Don DeLillo, Underworld
- This guy is supposed to be great, too.
Joan Didion, Play It as It Lays
- I haven’t read a lot of her fiction; I’m looking forward to this.
Louise Erdrich, Four Souls
- This is supposed to be awesome.
Louise Erdrich, Love Medicine
- I think I have a copy of this in New York City. Oh, well.
Hemingway, Short Stories
- Short stories is pretty much the only way I like Hemingway.
Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner
- I’d read this before.
Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns
- I hope this one is okay, too.
Zora Neale Hurston, Jonah’s Gourd Vine; Mules and Men; Their Eyes Were Watching God
- I remember that a friend was reading Their Eyes her junior year while I was a senior in high school. I’ve been wanting to read Hurston ever since.
Carson McCullers, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
- I read this the summer before my junior year of school for an AP English class. It’s time to read it again.
W.S. Merwin, The Lost Upland
- I like Merwin. I like France. Enough said.
Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
- I put off getting this for a long time.
Chaim Potok, Davita’s Harp
- I love the Chosen, hopefully this one will be great, too.
Annie Proulx, The Shipping News
- Proulx seems pretty important, but I’ve read very little of her.
Thomas Pynchon, V
- Same thing with Pynchon.
Betty Smith, Joy in the Morning
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was pretty amazing. Fingers crossed for this one.
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
- The Red Pony, The Pearl, Of Mice and Men; it’s time for a big Steinbeck book.
Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn, pocket size
- I think I will always carry this one with me.
Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own
- I’d read excerpts of both of these for a class, and that was enough to decide that I really, really like Virginia Woolf. I hope she likes me, too.
Definitely, I got my $16 worth today. I know I’m good for the year, at least.
If you want to borrow these or any of my books, let me know. If you’ve borrowed books and haven’t returned them, I’m gently reminding you that you still have them.
And that’s okay. Take your time.
October 1, 2011
It’s General Conference Weekend, and This Doesn’t “Feel” Contrary …
Posted by mayiwrite under advice, church, friends, lists, mormonism, my life, observations, relationships, single life, therapy, writing | Tags: byu, class, depression, general conference, school |1 Comment
Life coasts along, life dazzles, life punches squarely in the stomach. What else should we really expect?
I know I keep saying I’ll post actual updates.
A lot is going on,
and I’ve found time to blog about it before, but
Yeah. No legitimate excuse.
—
Classes, really quick:
My religion class and I sometimes butt heads. But it’s been good for me.
History and Criticism of Rhetoric is fun. We’ve talked about Legally Blonde and My Cousin Vinny, and we’ve done homework based on Sunset Blvd and Law & Order. And this weekend we’re analyzing oratory style of any talk at General Conference, according to Saint Augustine.
Introduction to French Literary Analysis is a lot of fun. I may have to dedicate a post just to how much I love French poetry. Because, SERIOUSLY.
Early American Auto/Biography blows me away. I’m reading excellent things by fascinating people, and I wish we could read more women. But if it’s any consolation to myself, reading what I have so far — Benjamin Franklin, PT Barnum, Ralph Waldo Emerson — makes me feel pretty outstanding. I have stories about this class, too.
My poetry writing class. Oh, my heart. I’m cultivating this profound appreciation and there’s only 11 students in the class, and the instructor is adorable and instructive and encouraging. She stood briefly on a soapbox the other day about how a lot of television these days is produced at a 5th-grade level and that Americans don’t know how to think anymore. I felt so much pride then. And, then it’s crazy how we workshop each other’s poems and how I’ve just had to simply get over or ignore being scared of sharing what I know to be mostly subpar poetry with my genius classmates. I wish you could read my classmates’ poems, because WOW.
Aside from classes, there’s church and dating and work. Visiting friends and maintaining friendships because I love my friends so very much.
OH and applying to grad schools and talking to professors about all my options after graduation.
Which will be in April.
Holy crap.
But my original reason for posting right now is that I want to reblog some useful things I came across this past week. Just two things, one each from a Utah couple I’ve been following for the past five years. I’ve mentioned them before. Winter’s on its way. People get sad in conjunction with or separately from the approaching and increasing darkness. Also, although I’m decently insulated in Provo, I try to remain aware of what’s happening around me. Bad things happen all the time, regardless, and we have to deal. While we’ll be receiving counsel and encouragement from Church leaders this weekend, I think a few other resources are okay, especially for those square punches in the stomach. Please reblog if you feel the need.
From Jon Armstrong:
Depression Hotline: 1-630-482-9696
Suicide Hotline: 1-800-784-8433
LifeLine: 1-800-273-8255
Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386
Sexuality Support: 1-800-246-7743
Eating Disorders Hotline: 1-847-831-3438
Rape and Sexual Assault: 1-800-656-4673
Grief Support: 1-650-321-5272
Runaway: 1-800-843-5200, 1-800-843-5678, 1-800-621-4000
Exhale: After Abortion Hotline/Pro-Voice: 1-866-4394253
And, Heather Armstrong (click the quote for the entire post):
Enjoy Conference, y’all.
September 11, 2011
Just a Few Things Intentionally and Unintentionally Related to Today
Posted by mayiwrite under government, links, lists, new york city, observations | Tags: 9/11, kay ryan, music, NPR, poetry, ray! |Leave a Comment
HOME TO ROOST
The chickens
are circling and
blotting out the
day. The sun is
bright, but the
chickens are in
the way. Yes,
the sky is dark
with chickens,
dense with them.
They turn and
then they turn
again. These
are the chickens
you let loose
one at a time
and small–
various breeds.
Now they have
come home
to roost — all
the same kind
at the same speed.
–Kay Ryan
From her interview at NPR at the time she became the poet laureate:
First of all, it comes from the thing we say to other people when they’ve done a lot of stupid things, and now they’re getting their comeuppance. We say, well, your chickens are coming home to roost, and I have no doubt that when I wrote this, I was chastening myself, and I was telling myself this, but unfortunately, this poem was sitting on the desk of an editor in New York at the time of 9/11, and it suddenly took on this terrible added significance, and I had to withdraw it because it seemed cruelly appropriate. . . . Now right after 9/11, that sounded, you know, the blue sky in here, the clear sky, sounded just like the beauty of that day, and those chickens sounded much too much like airplanes.
In relation to the beautiful day it was 10 years ago, here are a friend’s sentiments.
You can view this interactive map from the New York Times to see where people were on that day. You can click on it and write where you were and how you felt/feel.
This is an NPR interview with John Adams and his commission to compose a piece to commemorate the one-year anniversary of 9/11.
This is the first third of the composition:
10 years.
Still healing.
September 10, 2011
So I Went to My Cousin’s Concert on Wednesday
Posted by mayiwrite under links, lists, music | Tags: broadway, concert, lea salonga, live music, youtube |[5] Comments
And I tried to take notes of the setlist. I have most of the songs down, considering I was writing in the dark and had to decipher my writing. Two full days after the concert.
Lea is a great personality. She’s been in the biz for a long time, and she’s at ease with the audience. The band was great.
No one in our honorable audience seemed to post any contraband video on YouTube. So, here’s concert coverage from everywhere else in my attempt to recreate the experience for you.
It was a lot of fun. My cousin speaks great English. Awesome.
Feeling Good
This has got to be one of my favorite cabaret songs.
-
Hahanpin Ko
I played part of this for my mom, and she at least translated the title for me.
http://youtu.be/bcrcEk-8tgk
-
I Dreamed A Dream
This always makes me want to cry.
-
Pokerface
She said she wanted to sing something fun after turning 40 this year. We had fun with her.
-
Reflection
She told the story to us about how Disney cut the song in half for the movie, so she had to sing it again. And she always sings the full version when she can. Which is perfectly fine with me.
-
(A song I don’t remember)
I Give My Life for You
Yeah, of course girl gets a Tony for this role.
-
The Last Time
-
Blackbird
Very pretty version.
-
(Another song I don’t remember)
On My Own
-
For Good
Wicked will always carry wonderful memories for me.
-
A Whole New World
The volunteer from the audience who sang with Lea during this song had a good voice, but he was nervous and missed a few cues. It was still pretty fun, though. The guy in the video does a much better job.
-
Everybody Says Don’t
So, she didn’t say at BYU what she says in this video. She just went right into this song without an introduction. Maybe she felt it was safer not to say anything.
-
Journey
-
Encore
On My Own – She resang this one with a camera man circling her for footage for a series BYU TV is producing for the spring. It’s called something like “The Song that Changed My Life.” We clapped extra hard, partly because she told us to, but mostly because it’s an incredible song, and she doesn’t ever sound like she gets tired of singing it, even after thousands and thousands of times.
Forget You
I sort of cringed throughout this last song, because I wondered how many people in the audience were aware of the original version, which is the first version I had heard. I felt uncomfortable for the older part of the audience who expected more of the Broadway hits. Anyway, this is a very interesting sign-off song. Just saying.
September 5, 2011
This Song and the Heart on My Sleeve
Posted by mayiwrite under lists, music, relationships, reviews | Tags: folk music, forgiveness, music, patty griffin, sigh, songwriting, youtube |Leave a Comment
This song is from Patty Griffin’s first album, Living with Ghosts. It has been on my mind a lot, especially as I contemplate my life. If I were an island, the song would not make any sense. The principle would be ridiculous.
Maybe just a mini-review of this song.
It’s Patty and her guitar and her feelings. Rawness and purity and vulnerability. Universality and dissipation in bygones. It hurts, it heals: I like it.
May’s rating scale:
|
MAY! |
May. |
meh… |
meh? |
MESS. |
-
We are swimming with the snakes at the bottom of the well
So silent and peaceful in the darkness where we fell
But we are not snakes and what’s more we never will be
And if we stay swimming here forever we will never be free
I heard them ringing the bells in heaven and hell
They got a secret they’re getting ready to tell
It’s falling from the skies, it’s calling from the graves
Open your eyes, boy, I think we are saved
Open your eyes, boy, I think we are saved
Let’s take a walk on the bridge, right over this mess
Don’t need to tell me a thing, baby, we’ve already confessed
And I raised my voice to the air and we were blessed
It’s hard to give, it’s hard to get
But everybody needs a little forgiveness
We are calling for help tonight on a thin phone line
As usual we’re having ourselves one hell of a time
And the planes keep flying right over our heads no matter how loud we shout
“Hey, hey, hey!”
And we keep waving and waving our arms in the air but we’re all tired out
I heard somebody say today’s the day
A big old hurricane, she’s blowing our way
Knocking over the buildings, killing all the lights
Open your eyes, boy, we made it through the night
Open your eyes, boy, we made it through the night
Let’s take a walk on the bridge, right over this mess
Don’t need to tell me a thing, baby, we’ve already confessed
And I raised my voice to the air and we were blessed
It’s hard to give, it’s hard to get
It’s hard to live, baby, but still I think it’s the best bet, hey, yeah
Hard to give, and I’m never going to forget
But everybody needs a little forgiveness
Everybody needs a little forgiveness
August 30, 2011
How to Have a Successful First Day of Class
Posted by mayiwrite under advice, lists, mormonism, observations, relationships | Tags: byu, class, school |[3] Comments
You should. Have seen. The clouds. This morning. You guys. I wish you were sitting at the bus stop with me wondering at the underglow, trying to figure out if it’s really underglow if you’re looking at the clouds from beneath.
My first day of school was great. Here’s what I did, and maybe you can think about doing some of these things for your future first days of class.
1. Wake up SO VERY EXCITED. I’m surprised I got to sleep the night before.
2. Have people you know in your classes. Laugh a lot with them.
3. Roll your eyes at all the stupid. Dating. Jokes. Rolling your eyes takes the place of drinking games, which would very quickly transform our stone-cold sober school into a silly, drunken, orgified mess. I mean, really. People tell a lot of dating jokes around here. Professors especially think they’re funny.
4. Be surprisingly and extremely relieved you’re speaking French again.
5. Read Aristotle.
6. Sit outside while reading for class and munch on a sandwich.
7. Run into a former seminary student who assures you she’ll probably see you again at a concert.
8. Laugh a lot. Some more. Like, obscenely.
9. Watch this video and discuss happiness.
-
10. Understand what it means when you let yourself watch only 18 minutes of an episode of Veronica Mars when you get home.
11. Realize you haven’t cried or worried about personal matters and be surprised at not feeling guilty about it.
12. Take a shower and chuckle at how greasy your hair has gotten during the day.
13. Fall asleep doing homework.
14. Be so very excited to wake up again.
And now, there’s today.
August 27, 2011
Full Day
Posted by mayiwrite under lists, single life, weekend | Tags: friends, having fun etc., movies, provo, summer |Leave a Comment
-called mom to wish her a happy birthday
-found supreme delight in how much we compartmentalize things in our lives
-watched the first hour of Ran, a Japanese version of King Lear
-did a load of laundry
-inner-tubed down the Provo River with Amanda
-shopped at the Roxy/Quicksilver outlet store with Amanda
-put gas in Amanda’s car with Amanda
-watched L’arnacoeur (The Heartbreaker), an adorable and funny French film on Netflix and ate Bajio’s with Amanda
-watched Super 8 at the dollar theater with Amanda
-had A LOT of fun with Amanda
It was great seeing Amanda. It had been a year since the last time.
Dangit, summer. Please stay.
Please.
August 21, 2011
Booklist Checklist
Posted by mayiwrite under advice, lists | Tags: byu, class, excited!, french, nerves and butterflies, school |Leave a Comment
Well, here’s my course schedule for fall semester:
| Course | Hrs | Class Period | Days | Course Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ENGL 319R | 3.0 | 9:30a – 10:45a | TTh | Writing Poetry |
| ENGL 322 | 3.0 | 11:00a – 11:50a | MWF | Hist & Criticism of Rhetoric |
| ENGL 361 | 3.0 | 8:00a – 9:15a | TTh | American Lit 1800 – 1865 |
| FREN 340 | 3.0 | 1:00p – 2:15p | MW | Intro to Literary Analysis |
| REL A 327 | 2.0 | 10:00a – 10:50a | MW | The Pearl of Great Price |
Here’s the weekly layout:
And here are the books I need:
Engl 319R Writing Poetry
Todd Davis and Erin Murphy, eds. Making Poems: Forty Poems with Commentary by the Poets
Amy Gerstler, Ed. The Best American Poetry 2010
Elisabeth Murawski, Zorba’s Daughter
W.S. Merwin. The Shadow of Sirius
Neil Aitkin, The Lost Country of Sight
Dana Levin, Sky Burial
Tony Hoagland, Unincorporated Persons in the Late Honda Dynasty
Nancy Eimers, Oz
Billy Collins. Horoscopes for the Dead
Eng 322 History of Criticism and Rhetoric
McKee, Robert, Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting
Woodruff, Paul, The Necessity of Theater: The Art of Watching and Being Watched
Aristotle, et al, The Rhetoric and the Poetics of Aristotle
Alexander, Gavin, various, Sidney’s The Defence of Poesy and Selected Renaissance Literary Criticism
St. Augustine, On Christian Teaching
Eng 361 American Lit 1800-1865
Douglass, Frederick, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave Written By Himself
Barnum, P.T. The Life of P. T. Barnum, Written by Himself
Pratt, Parley P, The Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt
Jacobs, Harriet, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (Penguin Classics)
Franklin, Benjamin, Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography
Davis, Andrew Jackson, The magic staff; an autobiography of Andrew Jackson Davis
Fren 340 Intro to Literary Analysis
Montesquieu, Lettres Persanes
Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac
De Troyes, Erec et Enide
Balzac, Le Chef-d’oeuvre Inconnu
Molière, Le Tartuffe ou L’Imposteur
Rel A 327 Pearl of Great Price
God, Scriptures
I love the beginning of the semester because I seriously enjoy feeling both excited and terrified. Yep.
One week, everybody!
