"What do you think he's gonna be like? I bet he'll be tall."
"It's hard to tell from the pictures."
"It's definitely hard to tell. I think he'll be tall. He has such a sweet face, I wonder if it'll change at all."
"Because of us?"
"Because of us, and because of all the people he'll meet because of us."
"I bet it'll change a lot. You start to look like the ones you love."
"Do you think so? I hope so. God, I love him already."
"I know what you mean. You see pictures and pictures but you can only see so many pictures, it's a totally different thing standing next to someone. Holding them for the first time."
"Oh, I definitely can't wait to hold him. Squeeze the life out of him."
"What do you think his first words will be?"
"His first words? Well, he's had plenty of first words."
"Sure, but I mean his first words to us."
"Yeah. Maybe 'hi'?"
"Or 'hey'..."
"Oh yeah, from those pictures, probably 'hey'."
"I'm gonna ask him if he's hungry"
"I'm gonna ask him how his flight was."
"I bet he's tall. I bet he's gonna be taller than his ol' dad."
"Aw. If he is, don't be upset, okay?"
"I won't be. I'm not upset. I'm proud. He's our son." [Buy]
Devo - "Come Back Jonee (live)"
The receptionist at my work keeps only a few things on her desk: a bag of baby carrots, a glass of water, and a little laptop that she keeps in the corner. It's open all day long, and on it she has her boyfriend on video chat. He works from home, and they live together. It's as if they are sitting in the same room, it's as if he were sitting next to her in the reception area. It doesn't distract from anything, they're not making lovey eyes at each other all day, in fact they barely speak to each other, save the occasional "who was that?" when they get off a call, or a slight smile when they make eye contact. But today it became very clear how unusual this is. The camera in her boyfriend's home office faces the window, so on the screen you can see a tree behind him. And as she was watching the screen, snapping a baby carrot, she watched a bird fly into his room. And she began to act as if a bird had flown into our room. She was flailing her arms and hooting "Oh! Oh! Honey! Oh!" until it was gone, he shooed it out with a broom. A lukewarm silence fell over the office. Although I half-expected it, no one suddenly broke out in laughter, no one chose to make it light. Because it wasn't so much ridiculous as it was foreboding. We all felt like this kind of connection, this kind of relationship was destined for us all, and we would all look as silly as that one day. Technology is not making us more isolated, in fact it's warping our ability to be isolated. But this is not a curmudgeonly complaint. I don't have any grandfatherly ideas about what "being human" is supposed to mean. I'm no chauvinist to reality. Reality isn't actually all that great. It hurts, it stinks, it's expensive, it dies. [Buy]
Posted by Dan at August 5, 2010 8:39 AMYou've been doing this for 7+ years now. I've been reading (and listening) for 6+.
I sometimes teach a literature class, in which I ask students to keep a 'reader's journal'...I tell them 'it's your journal-- write whatever moves you after reading the text...My only requirement is that when I read your entry, I'll know that you did indeed read the text, because, like a mirror, there's an image of the original in the reflection..that is, you could not have written your entry before you did the reading..." I often use an entry from StG as an eample of a 'good response', one which goes beyond the who/what/etc, and reaches the "ah-ha" of a moving experience with art.
So what is StG? A listener's journal...a daybook of six ears. Sometimes you write so specifically about a song it's like a guidebook (watch out for the changes at 3:27) and other times you write a pure fiction that grew out of your listening. Yes, sometimes it's confusing (and I've written to you before about that, but I've come to enjoy it, usually), but most often you are entries are informing about a piece of music. 'You pays your money and you takes your chance'. Write whatever you want; just don't write a cage..."We listen, we hear, we write..."?
And by the way, once again, THANKS. You guys have given me access to more good music , more often, than anyone else!
You deserve an award for finding your way.
"I don't have any grandfatherly ideas about what 'being human' is supposed to mean."
Posted by luke at August 9, 2010 11:29 AMthis one was really beautiful.
Posted by gabe at August 27, 2010 2:31 AMfunny. i read stg in my google reader so i don't get to see the comments but today i actually clicked on the link to take me to the page of this post, solely prompted to do so by the text coupled with the devo song, thinking maybe there would be more text to read or something. honestly, i don't know what i was really looking for. but it was nice to see that others would moved by the text too. maybe that was just what i needed.
Posted by jackie at August 27, 2010 12:17 PM
and it will begin playing. All songs are also available to download: just right-click the link and choose 'Save as...'
