A few tunes for Monday
I just thought I’d share a few bands I’ve been digging of late…
With Angst: The Mountain Goats - Woke Up New
Angst Free: MGMT - Kids
Head Fakes & Enthusiasm
There has been a lot of upheaval in my life recently. Many things have worked out in unexpected ways, some great, some awful. I wasn’t sure if my time in DC had come to an end 3 months ago, and now I’ve just finished my first week at a new job in Chevy Chase. I’ve always loved the movie “Defending Your Life” and the rollercoaster of recent events has brought it to mind yet again. I think the idea I liked from the movie, that overcoming who we are, that being brave not only when we have to be to survive but when we have to be to learn and grow, continues to ring true to me. The more things I see and do, the more I’m humbled by the difficulty in remaining brave and true to who I am and what I believe in the midst of turmoil and chaos. I try to remember that idea, that it’s about overcoming fear, but fail frequently to. (Another one of my childhood loves, Dune, carries the same message “Fear is the Mind Killer” as I suppose do so many teachings. In fact it seems like most of what we as humans do in our unproud and debased moments do is a result of fear. Often the biggest challenge in overcoming that fear is in simply identifying what exactly we’re so afraid of. Those fears, like the monsters in our closet, don’t stand up well to the light of day and reason, it’s just a matter of finding the right door to open or the right bed to shine some light under in our minds.
With all that’s been going on, I’ve found myself going over my priorities, my decisions, my passions, and my goals. (Even more than is normal for a Quaker. 
A big part of that has been focusing on listening and trying to understand the feedback and input I’ve gotten both from people in my life and from my own reaction to it. While I’ve always loved quotes, well turned words, and even the odd speech, I find myself more and more becoming fascinated with how we learn, and those that teach. It’s not been an easy road, partly due to my own combative and often confrontational personal experience with educational systems. Both in high school and in college I often felt like I was battling my teachers and institutions in various ways. They seemed so much more likely to produce conformity than enlightenment, to stifle rather than to inspire.
As a result, or perhaps just as a precursor, I’ve always had a a bit of pride and vanity about my ability to learn on my own, to be better educated through my own hand than a teacher’s. As I get older I’m more aware of my own blindspots and shortcomings, both as a teacher and as a student, more aware of my weaknesses and continued failures. Each new year makes me realize how often the lesser angels of my soul still hold a mighty sway within me. While I suppose I feel some joy in a growing ability to be self critical and to investigate not just defend my weaknesses, it has also motivated me to suck up my pride and try and learn from others experiences. At this point I’d rather grow than admire my hard earned, and costly self learned lessons. This whole process feels quite ironic to me though, as it’s not that far from where I started with my love of empirical learning, hopefully just with a more full and diversified curriculum.
(Read beyond the cut for more)
Ahh Girl, We never knew you
Hillary if only you had given evey speech in your campaign like you gave your last. I felt a sudden swell of joy tinged wtih sadness while I watched your last speech. It was as if you didn’t care about winning anymore, and ironically you were closer to winning my vote than ever before. As you spoke I felt inspiration, hope for our country, for progress, and could see how much you cared more vividly than ever before. I’m sure I won’t be alone in wondering what might have been… While I’m glad to have Barack to vote for, I’m hopeful this won’t be the last time I see a liberated, strong, and connected Hillary Clinton.
Nevermore
I have really been enjoying the TED talks that have been posted online. Two that I’ve recently gotten a lot out of are embedded below. The first is a thought provoking look at recent science regarding gender and the next one reminded me of an old story that I heard a long time ago growing up.
Raven steals the sun:
Long, long ago, when the world was still new, the Inuit lived in darkness in their home in the fastness of the north. They had never heard of daylight, and when it was first explained to them by Crow, who traveled back and forth between the northlands and the south, they did not believe him.But many of the younger folk were fascinated by the story of the light that gilded the lands to the south. They made Crow repeat his tales until they knew them by heart.”Imagine how far and how long we could hunt,” they told one another.
“Yes, and see the polar bear before it attacks,” others agreed.
Soon the yearning for daylight was so strong that the Inuit people begged Crow to bring it to them. Crow shook his head. “I am too old,” he told them. “The daylight is very far away. I can no longer go so far.” But the pleadings of the people made him reconsider, and finally he agreed to make the long journey to the south.
Crow flew for many miles through the endless dark of the north. He grew weary many times, and almost turned back. But at last he saw a rim of light at the very edge of horizon and knew that the daylight was close.
Crow strained his wings and flew with all his might. Suddenly, the daylight world burst upon him with all its glory and brilliance. The endless shades of color and the many shapes and forms surrounding him made Crow stare and stare. He flapped down to a tree and rested himself, exhausted by his long journey. Above him, the sky was an endless blue, the clouds fluffy and white. Crow could not get enough of the wonderful scene.
Eventually Crow lowered his gaze and realized that he was near a village that lay beside a wide river. As he watched, a beautiful girl came to the river near the tree in which he perched. She dipped a large bucket into the icy waters of the river and then turned to make her way back to the village. Crow turned himself into a tiny speck of dust and drifted down towards the girl as she passed beneath his tree. He settled into her fur cloak and watched carefully as she returned to the snow lodge of her father, who was the chief of the village people.
It was warm and cozy inside the lodge. Crow looked around him and spotted a box that glowed around the edges. Daylight, he thought. On the floor, a little boy was playing contentedly. The speck of dust that was Crow drifted away from the girl and floated into the ear of the little boy. Immediately the child sat up and rubbed at his ear, which was irritated by the strange speck. He started to cry, and the chief, who was a doting grandfather, came running into the snow lodge to see what was wrong.
“Why are you crying?” the chief asked, kneeling beside the child.
Inside the little boy’s ear, Crow whispered: “You want to play with a ball of daylight.” The little boy rubbed at his ear and then repeated Crow’s words.
The chief sent his daughter to the glowing box in the corner. She brought it to her father, who removed a glowing ball, tied it with a string, and gave it to the little boy. He rubbed his ear thoughtfully before taking the ball. It was full of light and shadow, color and form. The child laughed happily, tugging at the string and watching the ball bounce.
Then Crow scratched the inside of his ear again and the little boy gasped and cried.
“Don’t cry, little one,” said the doting grandfather anxiously. “Tell me what is wrong.”
Inside the boy’s ear, Crow whispered: “You want to go outside to play.” The boy rubbed at his ear and then repeated Crow’s words to his grandfather. Immediately, the chief lifted up the small child and carried him outside, followed by his worried mother.
As soon as they were free of the snow lodge, Crow swooped out of the child’s ear and resumed his natural form. He dove toward the little boy’s hand and grabbed the string from him. Then he rose up and up into the endless blue sky, the ball of daylight sailing along behind him.
In the far north, the Inuit saw a spark of light coming toward them through the darkness. It grew brighter and brighter, until they could see Crow flapping his wings as he flew toward them. The people gasped and pointed and called in delight.
The Crow dropped the ball, and it shattered upon the ground, releasing the daylight so that it exploded up and out, illuminating every dark place and chasing away every shadow. The sky grew bright and turned blue. The dark mountains took on color and light and form. The snow and ice sparkled so brightly that the Inuit had to shade their eyes.
The people laughed and cried and exclaimed over their good fortune. But Crow told them that the daylight would not last forever. He had only obtained one ball of daylight from the people of the south, and it would need to rest for six months every year to regain its strength. During that six month period, the darkness would return.
The people said: “Half a year of daylight is enough. Before you brought the daylight, we lived our whole life in darkness!” Then they thanked Crow over and over again.
To this day, the Inuit live for half a year in darkness and half a year in daylight. And they are always kind to Crow, for it was he who brought them the light.
