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>Let the Battle Begin
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April is officially the month of writing, although unfortunately not the kind I look forward to. It’s that time of the semester, when the due dates of my final projects become a scary reality and I realize that I better start writing if I want a fighting chance of completing them on time. Along with that, a month of extreme stress and anxiety begins.
So in the spirit of mental preparation, here are some photos for motivation. The first is a picture I took of Charles Bukowski‘s typewriter, on display during a special exhibit titled “Charles Bukowski: Poet on the Edge” at the Huntington Library in San Marino.
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Side note: If you, like many others, feel slightly uncomfortable at the thought of gawking at Bukowski’s personal items and seeing his face plastered on gift shop souvenirs in a slightly upscale, privately funded museum, let me redirect you to a blog post by my good friend Eric Aldrich. He encompasses the sentiment quite well here.
The rest of my motivation is simply more typewriter awesomeness.
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| “That typewriter is it. If I die, I hope I go with my head on that typewriter. It’s my battlefield.” -Charles Bukowski |
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| “Don’t be ‘a writer’. Be writing.” -William Faulkner |
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| William Faulkner gets two pictures because a) he’s rad and b) he’s the subject of my first paper. |
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| “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” -Ernest Hemingway |
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| “I hate writing, I love having written.” -Dorothy Parker |
>Art for Japan
>Heroes and Introductions
>In my seventh grade English class I was asked to write about two personal heroes, one historical and one current. I failed the assignment when I turned in a paper on Doc Holliday and Greg Louganis. My teacher wrote in big, bold marker “Hero = someone who does GOOD for other people,” followed by a long line of exclamation marks. I don’t think Doc Holliday needs an explanation, but Greg Louganis makes more sense when I mention this was 1994 and openly gay, HIV positive, legendary comeback, world champion divers didn’t make the cut then. I should also mention I was shocked to get this grade. I wasn’t trying to be defiant, these were just my honest, twelve-year-old-self’s heroes at this time.
If you are reading this blog, not a lot has changed. Almost eighteen years later, I’m still obsessed with nineteenth century American culture, anything western, and I still root for the modern-day underdog heroes (although I’m now giving the English assignments instead of failing them). This blog will undoubtedly reflect that spirit, along with some of my other random interests that include: city exploring, squirrels, old music, county fairs, secondhand shopping, spoiled ex-street cats named Cleo, baseball, food trucks, and other unexpected oddities. Thanks for reading and enjoy!
>Music: Lazy River
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Lazy River Live at Oak Street Pub on August 15, 1976
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Internet Archive is an amazing website for so many different reasons and one of those reasons is here. Live recording of thirty-four great songs, performed by a very talented, short-lived band in the 1970s. Excellent sound quality and it’s FREE! They sing a pretty clever version of “Salty Dog” and sound like they would have been a lot of fun to see live. Special thanks to Monte Barry for sharing his great collection with all of us.
>Postcards
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folk life revival 