Wednesday, August 27, 2008

minnesota state fair

i really had no idea what i was getting into when i made plans to go to the minnesota state fair all day and evening yesterday. i was not aware i would watch a cat get spayed. i was not aware i would watch the afterbirth fall out of a lamb after she gave birth to two new little ones. i was not aware of how many people would crowd around the dfl booth, leaving the republicans with a handful of people. most of all, i was not aware of how completely blown away i would be by brandi carlile's performance.

in my life, i've been to a few concerts i would classify as pretty damn amazing. last night, however, brandi topped them all (with the exception of goldmine pickers, which will never be outshined). i knew i liked her music. i knew i loved her voice. i knew she had the perfect cds to listen to as i drive and sing/scream along. now i know how completely amazing it is to see her live. so i beg you... look at her touring schedule from time to time and see if she'll be in your area. believe me, brandi and her band put on a tremendous show. it's not just the voice, but her guitar playing, enthusiasm, energy, spirit, laughter, movement, and style. just trust me. go to a show.

i also made the following ranking of recordings of the song "hallelujah" : jeff buckley, brandi carlile, jason castro, rufus wainwright. i doubt anyone will ever beat jeff buckley in my mind, but brandi did a pretty amazing job with the song live.

a few of the 200+ pictures i took at the fair:

Friday, August 22, 2008

moments

time for a quick journey through some images of me... pictures that i think are pretty good descriptions of me.


Coming Out Vigil -- October, 2005

Every year of college I read something at the Coming Out Vigil. My senior year, one of my best friends, Allie, and I read something together. We told the story of our journey as roommates, friends, and becoming each other's families. The part of "other" was read by another good friend, Erin. For the right/center/left portion, I read the right column, Erin read "Tonight I come out as," Allie and I read the other center items together, and Allie read the left column.

Other: July 22, 2003
Me: Mom, she likes Norah Jones!
Allie: Mom, she likes to sleep naked, too!
Me: Mom, she's BRETHREN!!
Allie: Mom, she's the secretary of United Sexualities!
Other: Maybe she is a lesbian...
Allie: Oh...
Me: Mom, what if she hates gay people?...
----------------
Me: That night, I came out to her.
Allie: I came out as hating president bush.
Me: I came out as liking to sleep naked.
Allie: I came out as brethren.
Me: I came out as a lesbian.
Allie: I came out as an ally.
----------------
Me: Tonight, we come out, in front of all of you, yet again.
Tonight I come out as
Being open to possibilities
Tonight I come out as
A lesbian
Tonight I come out as
Being comfortable with finding women attractive
Tonight I come out as
A democrat
Tonight I come out as
Preparing for heartbreak 2005
Tonight I come out as
Wanting children
Tonight I come out as
Having the babysitter's club movie nearly memorized
Tonight I come out as
Having 7... or 8... tattoos
Tonight I come out as
Usually being naked
Tonight I come out as
Liking lima beans
Tonight I come out as
Craving yogurt and granola
Tonight I come out as
Confused
Tonight I come out as
Simply loving the movie Dirty Dancing
Tonight I come out as
Moving on from my past
Tonight I come out as
Liking country music... and knowing most of the words to quite a few songs
Tonight I come out as
Often sitting in my underwear, eating Chinese food
Tonight I come out as
Pierced
Tonight I come out as
Liking Usher. No... loving Usher.
Tonight I come out as
Liking gay people. No... loving gay people.
Tonight I come out as
a feminist
Tonight I come out as
Being proud of my orange hair, even if it makes me a target of hate.
Tonight I come out as
Loving our Canadians AND their gay bars
Tonight I come out as
A goddess worshipping pagan
Tonight I come out as
Having a weakness for waitresses
Tonight I come out as
Despising wal-mart, yet still going there once... or twice... a month
Tonight I come out as
Liberal
Tonight I come out as
Craving friendship and acceptance
----------------
Allie: Tonight, we chose to come out together.
Me: We come out as comfortable in our own skins. No matter the form, sexuality, or sexual orientation.
Allie: We come out as different... yet very much the same.
Me: We come out as the same... yet very different.
Both: And in a world where labels didn't matter... we could come out as exactly the same.

random journal thoughts -- 2002 through 2007

I don't think I'd care to be here
I would go somewhere
do something
so I didn't have to talk to me
listen to me
nod along with me
I'm just sitting here nodding along.

I try to feel beautiful,
to understand what others see,
to appreciate curves, dimples, skin,
to never underestimate me.
But, I try and I try and all I see is me...
my beauty.

"you have a brush. you have your color. paint paradise. then go in..." -kazantzakis

sometimes i wonder
when i'll allow
closeness to be
enough.

My life passes me by
I notice small things...
A smile
And time escapes the setting
The same old type of
Feeling different this time
Uneasy
I fear I will stumble.

Senior Chapel -- May, 2006

"If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person." - Fred Rogers

When I am reminded that I am supposed to leave this place a week and a half from now, my body tends to cringe with a feeling of terror. How can I leave a place that has witnessed my bud to blossom journey? When I am told to really listen to my life, however, I find different emotions. What is my life telling me? ... That I have survived so much already, it seems impossible something could bring me down. But above all else, I have learned from my life in this place that people make my world.

A wise woman once said, "A good friend is a connection to a life - a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world." When I first came across this quote, it hit me: the people around me are not only my friends and family, but my link to a spiritual world ... a world where I find the most beautiful of beautiful thoughts. The holy, for me, is right there in the meeting of another person I allow to enter into my circle. So my life has been this miraculous series of moments... moments in which I draw a great deal of spirituality from those around me. These connections breathe life into me.

At Manchester I learned that I can make as many connections as possible and find the deep beauty in that. I find the holy in the connections I have made with people. I find it in going skinny dipping with friends in the very lake in which I was baptized about eight years earlier. I find it in grabbing three of my friends and dancing in a circle before chapel. I find it in new friendships tragically formed right as I prepare to leave this place. I even find it in this building.

This building has seen me make an endless number of connections, including time in meetings for United Sexualities, the Vagina Monologues, Take Back the Nights, Coming out Vigils, and decent attempts at a spirituality group. My first time in attendance for a chapel service was the first year service my first year here. I came because Tyler Secor asked me to light his candle... so I lit it. I immediately sat back down as I felt my true lack of comfort sink in. After that service three years ago, an angel named Sonia talked to me and brought me back down to a level of comfort. I was hugged and told that it was good to have me there.

That meant the world to this queer formerly Brethren girl. However, it took me until this year to attend another chapel service.

You see, organized religion and I never really found a common ground. Yes, I grew up in the Church of the Brethren. And you weren't mistaken if you remember me mentioning earlier that I was even baptized. At one point in my life, I knew and could recite every book in the Bible. I know the Lord's Prayer and the Doxology by heart. But that is the extent of my connection to religion. And, opposed to what many think happens inthe path of a queer formerly Brethren kid, I left the church before I ever even questioned my sexuality.

Manchester College first met me as a fairly quiet, long-haired, straight peace studies major who showered every single day. I am SO thankful those things have changed. Now, I am even able to attend chapel services because of my deep connections. It is only here, week after week, that I have two beyond eager women waiting to sit with me and be in my presence. They are a true testament to the thought that "wherever you are, it is your friends who make your world."

Tatiana de la Tierra once made a simple statement... a statement which guided me as I prepared for today's service. She said, "Part of my own path in the land of Otherness is to meet other Others." I have been blessed with the connections I have made while in this place... for I have truly found my Others. At times my college experience has been flat out terrifying. But it was my Others who could always bring me back to a safe, even happy place. My hope for each of you is that even if you find yourself traveling in the land of Otherness (and believe me, you will) that you are able to find other Others and make some deep, long-lasting connections. For without these connections and these beautifully outstanding people, I truly would be lost in this world.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

you don't know -- 2005, maybe

>when this was written, i was working with some intense anger issues, as can be noted in the language used. i'm in a better place now. still angry, just in a better place.

I know so much more than you will ever know. (You don't know shit about me)
You don't know how I feel while I lie in bed alone.
You don't know that I pour a cup of coffee in the morning and let it sit until it is completely cold, only to get mad and heat it up again.
You don't know the feeling I get when making dinner for eleven people when I never cook for myself.
You don't know that I grow my fingernails just to scratch at my scalp when I haven't showered.
You don't know that when I drink alcohol, I first feel it in my ass.
You don't know the emotions I am filled with when I step out of the door to come home from work.
You don't know how much I like the feeling of that green shit you put flowers into.
You don't know how completely drained I get when a client screams at me.
You don't know how often I close the med room door so I can cry.
You don't know that I eat peanut butter at work to stop myself from cussing.
You don't know how fucking awful I am at talking someone out of suicide.
You don't know how much of myself I see in the ladies at work.
You don't know how many times I spin my rings around every day.
You don't know how much I like Meg from the White Stripes.
You don't know how many times I have nearly vomitted at work.
You don't know the beauty I see in obsession.
You don't know how the past has changed me.
You don't know how useless I feel after having a med error.
You don't know how often I think about my mistakes.
You don't know the utter glory I feel when I see the effects of teaching someone a life-skill.
You don't know how loud I can scream.
You don't know how long I will sit in front of a phone before calling someone who isn't expecting it.
You don't know how still I sit while watching challenge shows on mtv.
You don't know the extent to which I am uncomfortable about watermelon with seeds.
You don't know how much of me dies when I have been shut out.
You don't know how much I wish I hated my thighs so I could gain pity.
You don't know how much I want to sit in the audience at the Oscar's or Emmy's.
You don't know how much I love the taste of a perfectly ripe plum.
You don't know the intensity with which I live for work.
You don't know how terrified I am of aggressive women.
You don't know how much I could learn from you.
You don't know my passion.
You don't know that despite my self-love, I still feel I would need to lose weight for someone to truly fall in love with me.
You don't know how much I crave my loved ones to spend time making me presents.
You don't know what it does to me when you don't hug me.
You don't know how my body still reacts to my mistakes.
You don't know that I can make a killer meatloaf, and I myself will never eat it.
You don't know how much I want to dance.
You don't know my motivation for nudity.
You don't know who I think about just before I fall asleep.
You don't know how it tears me apart that the one person I want to comment on photos never does.
You don't know what happens to my soul when I talk to my crush.
You don't know the happiness I get from making lists.
Don't pretend to know.

writings

i'm going to start keeping better track of things i write, because sometimes i really like them. so in honor of the pieces i actually like, or dare i say love, i'm going to start typing some into this here bloggerizer. i'll try to remember to make note of when each piece was written, as you can certainly tell a difference in my writing by where i was in my life at that point in time.

my main thought at this moment in time: menstruation is surprising.

Monday, August 18, 2008

trampolines and feminists

there are young girls on my television jumping on trampolines. they appear to be competing for medals in some sort of event of olympic proportions. what the hell is going on? from far away, it looks like a beautiful, fun, energetic, somewhat hot thing. from up close, i realize it's stunted girls, competition, forced joy. i don't understand the world.

in other news, i started commenting and working on some contributions for thefeministreview listed in the blog section of my sidebar. hopefully we'll be able to knock some sense into the church of the brethren.

as my cramps get worse and worse every month, i wonder if they'd be better if i were a stunted girl jumping on a trampoline. at least i'd be on television...