Category: Seen, Heard, Said

Grieving, as observed by michael azzerad

In a recent interview on KUOW’s Sound Focus, music writer Michael Azzerad reflected on his memories of friend, Kurt Cobain. His interview tapes with Cobain are the basis for the documentary, Kurt Cobain: About a Son.

Michael was so devastated by Cobain’s death, that he didn’t listen to these tapes for almost ten years after he died. Eventually, film director AJ Schnack approached him, wanting to hear the interview tapes for his documentary. So he got them out and the two of them listened to them for the first time in many years.

Michael said he was surprised to find he actually enjoyed hearing Kurt’s voice. At the time of the interviews he was relatively healthy, happy, and writing music, and you could hear Michael laughing in the background of the tapes as they talked. He said he wasn’t upset when he heard the tapes, as he thought he would be. Rather, the experience revived the many great memories he had of Cobain, and it made him laugh to think about them.

I was struck by this. Standing in the kitchen baking sugar cookies, I suddenly found myself identifying with a music writer I’ve never heard of who was grieving over the death of a famous friend. I haven’t exactly brought myself to look at any pictures of Gordy, or watch any video I may have of him, either, and I would likely crack if I heard his voice – I do miss his voice. But I was comforted that, over time, my grief will continue to morph from sadness to fondness of memories – as it has already begun to do.

A Girl’s Gotta Have Standards

Ruthie: I want to wear my WHITE shoes to church this morning!

Jen: Hmmm… I think it might be kind of late in the season for white shoes.

Bryan: You let her out of the house wearing a plaid skirt with striped tights, but you’re worried about seasonal shoes?

Jen: A girl can explore her fashion boundaries, but certain lines should never be crossed.

This just in…

I just read this post on Jeffrey Overstreet’s blog about “Christian Fiction” and the faith of J.K. Rowling and Sara Zarr. It’s a great little rant about Christians who oppose Harry Potter because magic is of the devil.

But also in the post is an excerpt of an interview with Sara Zarr, author of Story of a Girl. As a Believer, she writes honestly and frankly about real life issues, and the interviewer asks if she’s worried she will be labeled as a ‘teen smut’ novelist.

Her answer is quite lengthy, and right on about everything. My favorite part is when she says, “Reactionary people without critical thinking skills aren’t really my target audience.”

I LOVE that.

Regarding the label of “Christian fiction,” Jeffrey writes,

Christians are writing truthful stories all the time, but many of them avoid using the buzzwords and cliches and allegories and moralizing that often characterizes books published under that banner. I have yet to see a definition or defense of the category that makes much sense.

I have really become disappointed over the years with a Christian sub-culture that is too lazy to think and too sheltered to understand what is happening in the world around it. I wonder how many Harry Potter-bashers have even read the books? Nothing frustrates me more than somebody complaining about something that he or she knows nothing about.

That’s my Thursday night rant for ya. I’d love to hear your thoughts (though I think if you read my blog with any regularity, I may be preaching to the choir).

[Edited to remove a paragraph that, upon a second reading, was not very well communicated. And since I am too tired to think of a better way to say it that is less offensive, I chose to delete it and go to bed. Goodnight].

crushes crushed

shewasawoman-thumb.jpgI must confess I’ve developed a blog crush on Hugh MacLeod. I can’t explain these crushes I have. I once had a crush on Scott Berkun, too, and read through pages of essays in his archives. They are just. so. good. Hugh’s cartoons are funny and often irreverent, yet with just a few words he communicates volumes. There are many layers beneath those few words, and many times I’m sure they can be interpreted differently by the reader than how the artist intended.

But to me, that is the mark of a great artist. I hope that when people read my essays, they are not only drawn in by my story, but can also see a bit of themselves, or identify with an emotion or situation.

Last week as I was checking my feeds, I noticed Hugh had posted a video of himself “yakkin on about social objects,” and my eyes widened. Anxiously I pressed play, and then all the air was let out. Perhaps it’s because I also have a crush on Eddie Izzard and LOVE his voice, but I just expected that because he lives in London he would have a British accent.

“Oh.” I said

“What?” said Bryan.

“I just played this video of Hugh, and he doesn’t have an accent.”

Bryan laughs and says, “No, he’s from New York, I think.”

So that was a minor disappointment. But as long as he keeps posting cartoons that make me whistle and say, “wow, that’s good,” he and I will be okay.

These are my friends.

Tonight as I pulled into the parking lot at Macy’s I was cat-called by a familiar voice behind me. I turned to discover that my friend and her husband were parked in their Toyota LANDCRUISER* drinking beer and smoking cigarettes like they were living out a scene from The Outsiders.

These are the same friends who, when I called them once to see if they could join us for a movie, declined because they were heading out to the mountains to drink Budweisers and shoot her old sewing machine to pieces. With an actual gun.

These are the same friends who’s son (who is three days older than Ruthie) rocks out to worship music at church like he’s front row at a KISS concert, while Ruthie flits about with her twirling and flitting.

God bless friends who keep it real.

*When my friend first acquired this car, every other word out of her mouth was LANDCRUISER, and she drawled out the word like it was in all caps: LAAAANDCRUISER.

“Want to carpool to the party? Because I have plenty of room in my LAAAANDCRUISER.”
“I don’t have a car today because Husband needed the LAAAANDCRUISER to drive in the snow.”
“Have you heard the kick ass sound system I have in the LAAAANDCRUISER?”

I mock, but secretly, I was jealous of her LAAAANCRUISER.

Quote

The longer it takes you to become successful, the harder it will be for somebody else to take it away from you.

– Hugh MacLeod, from this post at gapingvoide.com

—

I appreciate how this can apply to any endeavor, from losing weight, to building a writing career, to deepening relationships, to understanding my faith in God. I think many times, we give up on things too soon – especially marriage.

For all my crafty friends (and fans of Dawn)

My friend Dawn needed a camera carrying case for the new nifty camera she bought for a road trip with her sister. Being the crafty girl that she is, she set out to make herself one with fabric on hand, and asked me if I had any batting to use as padding. I did not, being that I am not crafty – in the way of sewing, anyway.

This being a typical late-night inspiration with an early departure planned for the morning, we had to improvise.

I remembered a box of stuffed animals I was donating to the Salvation Army, so I pulled out one cute tiger to sacrifice his insides for the sake of functionality. Not even an hour later, Dawn presented her new camera carrying case, most definitely redirected from her original plan, having decided to use the tiger as the case.

I never did ask her how it worked out. You reading this, Dawn?

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Rant

I’m a pretty apathetic person, so there’s not much politically or socially that causes a fury in me. But this morning I heard a story on our local NPR station about the State of Washington imposing a rental car tax on customers of the Flex Car. I couldn’t find that story on KUOW, but here’s an article about it from The Stranger.

Flex Car is a member-based car sharing service. Members presumably choose to not own their own car, thus removing cars from congested roadways and saving on gas, money, etc. It’s a genius service, and being a one-car family, we have looked into it for those times my schedule clashes with Bryan’s and we both need the car.

It frustrates me that people who are making good choices for the environment and traffic congestion and even for their own finances are being penalized for those good choices. Raising the Flex Car tax to nearly 20% could deter others from joining the service.

And just an fyi, the rental car tax pays for Safeco Field.

So there you have it: My rant.

Quote

Sometimes I even feel equivocal about claiming the evangelical label. For, theologically, I am right in line with the evangelical mainstream, but what people want to know when they ask me whether or not I’m an evangelical is rarely theology. What they want to know is whether I vote for Pat Robertson, listen to Amy Grant, and believe the Earth is only five thousand years old. In fact, I’ve never voted for Pat Robertson, I prefer Mary Chapin Carpenter, and I think Darwin might have been on to something.

So, when one of my gin-swilling, scratchy-jazz listening Columbia comrades asks me the e-question, my impulse is to temporize, to hem and haw, to split hairs and explain that my theological orientation is certainly evangelical, but culturally, intellectually, and politically, I am much more sophisticated than his stereotype of evangelism. I’m too insecure and worried about how I’m being perceived to risk correcting my interlocutor’s presuppositions – by pointing out, for example, that 38 percent of Democrats in America are born-again Christians, never mind suggesting that not all Republicans or home-schoolers are numskulls. I simply want to correct his impressions of me, No, no, I’m not on of them. I’m one of you. I believe Jesus Christ is Lord, but I also wear fishnet stockings a drink single malt Scotch.

– from Girl Meets God, by Lauren Winner.