books

Nothing brings me greater joy than reading a good book. And often after reading such books I am in a dreamlike state, existing in the story I just read, letting everything seep into me.

Sometimes when I read good books I want to share them with everyone, parade around the street and shove it in people’s faces, demand they read it and enjoy it and feel the same things I felt. But other times I just want to keep the book for myself only; a private joy that no one else will know, something only mine.

And when anyone asks me to recommend a book, I am elated and jump at the chance, offering that poor soul a list of at least twenty that they absolutely must read, sometimes even including those special books that are important to me (depending on the person). I recommend everything from poetry to novels, children’s books, graphic novels, nonfiction, etc. I just want to share the magic of good books with people.

John Green wrote, “Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book. And then there are books which you can't tell people about, books so special and rare and yours that advertising your affection feels like a betrayal.”

This quote exactly describes my relationship with books. (I even italicized the same part without realizing it, ha!) I think so many people can relate to this quote because books leave such an effect on people and their lives.

[On another note, comics are highly underrated, in my opinion. Too many people brush them off as things only appropriate for children; while in fact many that I have read have just as beautiful stories as literature does. And beautiful artwork to boot? How anyone can’t enjoy that is something I’ll never understand. Read Blankets by Craig Thompson and Koko Be Good by Jen Wang, or any variety of the lovely storytelling available in web comics online (like Sakana, Todd Allison & The Petunia Violet, June, Curio...I could go on), and you’ll see what I mean.]

the art of music

My love of music was born when I watched the movie 500 Days of Summer. I sat in that theater in 2009 and the beautiful sounds of The Smiths, Regina Spektor, The Temper Trap, and Carla Bruni bloomed through the speakers, and I was in a dreamlike state of love. These songs spoke to me in a way that no other one ever had, and I was blissfully happy.

The music that most people of my age group listen to is...undesirable to me. Totally not my taste. A lot of songs about parties and drugs and sex populate the radio while I retreat to the sanctity of my i-pod where I can listen to music I find beautiful. Don't get me wrong, though, I'm not trying to establish myself as a holier-than-thou hipster or trying to convert people to my music genre; I couldn't care less if I were the first person to like a song before it went mainstream (quite the opposite, because if it goes mainstream then more people can enjoy it). I couldn't care less if you prefer Eminem to M. Ward. I truly just love the relationship people have with music.

I don't know if people realize how amazing music really is. Does anyone ever take the time to appreciate the fact that people are able to make sounds and harmonize them and just purely create something? Musicians can make a song out of thin air. When there is silence a musician strums his guitar, the drummer taps her cymbals, and the singer chants and then that silence becomes beauty. This act is just so awesome to me, and I wish more people could get over their separate musical preferences and just appreciate the artistry musicians of all kinds make. You don't have to love country music or rap music or whatever, but you can't ignore the talent behind their songs.

Music can move people so much. It can save lives, it can make people fall in love, it can stop fights (I realize how cheesy I'm being, but I believe it's true)...it makes people happy. Music is just something so indescribably beautiful, and it's one of the things that makes me so grateful to be alive in a place where music can be played freely and without judgment.

I just love music, and I don't care if people think my music taste is bad or strange. I'm not going to lie though, the music I like is pretty weird...I listen to songs about bandit queens with nine fingers and a killer Santa Claus. But I enjoy them. I truly love the music I listen to. The music I love is honest and pure, and that's why I like it. It's storytelling in its purest form, no matter the genre.

Music is the closest thing we have to magic.

“We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.”

-Arthur O' Shaughnessy

fate and possibility

Jerry Spinelli wrote, "Let the stars keep track of us. Let us ride our own orbits and trust that they will met. May our reunion be not a finding but a sweet collision of destinies!" When I first read this, something about it resonated with me. It led me to ponder the meanings of fate and destiny. Is there really that fabled red string of fate connecting lovers together? Is there really one special person out there in the world that is unbreakably bonded to me?

If there is, Spinelli paints this wonderful portrait of it. Devoid of sadness, and only filled with love and hope of that "sweet collision". An example of this is a pair of high-school sweethearts who separate at graduation and meet again several years later and feel all the love the felt before. And yet, the stars will cross for some. Why do our stars do this? Why doesn't the universe want every pair of stars matched together as they were meant to be? The necessary evil of circumstance keeps the stars apart. A pair of stars meets for a second, only to be torn apart the next. The tragic love of Romeo and Juliet was not meant to be because of the circumstances in their lives. So they became the epitome of star-crossed lovers. Because in this world, nothing can be perfect. No one can be perfectly, absolutely happy.

The stars are not always kind. People romanticize it to be so lovely and perfect, but it never is. Fate is not kind when it draws an abusive husband and a innocent woman together. Fate is not kind when a serial killer latches onto a child and ends their destiny before it has a chance to begin. Fate is not kind when ruthless bullies torment a schoolmate so terribly it pushes him to suicide. But why does fate do this? Does everything supposedly happen for a reason?

I don't believe fate controls our lives. I do, however, believe in possibility. As humans, we have this incomprehensible gift of human consciousness, and what we are able to do with it depends on our personalities and our characters, not fate. We have the ability to do wondrous, revolutionary, and beautiful things, as well as the ability to do cruel, harmful, and terrible things. Humans naturally fight and cause wars and invoke pain upon the world and this causes our crossed stars. It is as Shakespeare said; "The fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves."