goodness.

things are beautiful here in iowa city. in a little over a week, things will be even more beautiful. it's funny how things change so quickly. life is full of unexpected happenings and you just have to go with it. i love it...it's wonderful. i think my life will be more on track soon; not saying that i have a plan, because i don't at all, but again, that's okay with me. i just feel like things are going in the right direction, at least in some of the more important areas of my life (without being explicit). i'm surrounding myself with really great people, but it's going to be weird to be away from iowa city this summer. wow. my first summer in my 22 years of life that i will be away from the comforts and goodness of iowa city summers. i guess i haven't really thought about that. i guess i haven't really thought about the fact that i won't be here to enjoy it, but hopefully it's not my last opportunity. dc should be pretty lovely, though. circumstances have definitely changed, but for a reason, i think...excited to hang with mary beth, explore the city, go on adventures with ray-my emmy & t-nimmy, reunite with the old butler crew, and hopefully walk the aisles of a reconstructed (if not displaced) eastern market. anticipating all of the goodness.

p.s. i'm looking to make yet another drastic change: i need new hair ...thoughts?

at last.

it is finally spring in iowa city.


in other news:
barack obama on the pentacrest sunday : rjd2 sunday evening : amos lee may 1st.

(making a statement)

i think that one of the most important things is to make a statement.

this way, you won't be forgotten.
what we have to say is important, regardless of what is expected of us.

pink has always made a statement.
i know, it's pink, but at least she speaks her mind.
and it's beautiful.

"Dear Mr. President"
(feat. Indigo Girls)

Dear Mr. President,
Come take a walk with me.
Let's pretend we're just two people and
You're not better than me.
I'd like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly.
What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street?
Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep?
What do you feel when you look in the mirror?
Are you proud?
How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Can you even look me in the eye
And tell me why?
Dear Mr. President,
Were you a lonely boy?
Are you a lonely boy?
Are you a lonely boy?
How can you say
No child is left behind?
We're not dumb and we're not blind.
They're all sitting in your cells
While you pave the road to hell.
What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away?
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?
I can only imagine what the first lady has to say
You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine.
How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Can you even look me in the eye?
Let me tell you 'bout hard work
Minimum wage with a baby on the way
Let me tell you 'bout hard work
Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away
Let me tell you 'bout hard work
Building a bed out of a cardboard box
Let me tell you 'bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
You don't know nothing 'bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
Oh
How do you sleep at night?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Dear Mr. President,
You'd never take a walk with me.
Would you?

today's comfort.

i like my body when it is with your
body. It is so quite a new thing.
Muscles better and nerves more.
i like your body. i like what it does,
i like its hows. i like to feel the spine
of your body and its bones, and the trembling
-firm-smooth ness and which i will
again and again and again
kiss, i like kissing this and that of you,
i like, slowly stroking the, shocking fuzz
of your electric fur, and what-is-it comes
over parting flesh . . . . And eyes big love-crumbs,

and possibly i like the thrill

of under me you quite so new

e.e. cummings

secuestro express

"A relentless assault on the senses. More than just a dizzying thrill ride laced with small doses of pitch-black comic relief. It manages to raise awareness of deep-rooted corruption in a world where the cops are more treacherous than the crooks and no one can be trusted."
-Laura Kern, NY Times

i watched secuestro express saturday night, and as much as i want to say it changed my life, i can only say that it changed my perspective on life. it's a strange thing, life is.

while i sit here wishing i had more designer denim and happy that i can drive a 2000 vw jetta around, people in latin america (and likely around the world) are being kidnapped, tortured, killed because they choose to show off their money. the kidnappings, while extremely violent and despised, make a very important social statement. not necessarily with respect to venezuela or latin america, but to society as a whole.

me? i'm just a poor college student (i honestly have very little money to my name), who enjoys nice things. i have now been forced, by the dramatization of very real happenings in latin america, to realize that this is not what's important in life.

*every sixty minutes, a person is abducted in latin america. 70% of the victims do not survive.*

why? money and its consequences.

what an unfortunate way to live this life.

flurries.

the date is april 4th.
it's 23 degrees and snowing.
i thought it was spring, but i guess not.