Walking on Starshine

Sending the giveaway package kickstarted my letter-writing mode for this summer and beyond. The first batch went out today, so be on the look-out for these bad boys.

They’re star trail photos I found while cleaning out the Lit Soc library at the end of last year. Trinity Astronomy and Space Society, I didn’t know you had ever existed. Thank you for forgetting about leaving behind some of your lovely work.

Follower Love-Fest #30: Emily

If you don’t mind my saying so, and I hope you don’t, Emily is fanfuckingtastic. We met when I was fifteen and guilty of all the crimes that age entails. Being older, wiser, and inestimably cooler than myself (all things that are still true seven years on), she is somebody that I know I am lucky to have had in my life. She writes awesome things, makes gorgeous art, and is one of the best dressers I have ever encountered. Go to her blog already.

Summer Is Coming

You wouldn’t know it from the weather, but it is. Sorry, Ned.

This summer coming up is one of big, though admittedly vague, plans. And the poor fella’ has a lot to live up to. Summer 2011 was one of festivals, cousinly bonding, road trips, and a hurricane. Let’s have a photo-recap.

Pretty Sweet Publication Giveaway Winner

Since I finished my degree last, I’ve had a lot of free time. While most of it has been spent reading Cures for Love as a signal for people to leave me alone while I eat my lunch and fighting losing battles with a certain embassy, some of it has been dedicated to rounding up the giveaway entries and sending the prizes to the winner.

Tricia, come on dowwwwwwwwwwwwwn.

This lovely lady suggested that we all read Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, and it looks like a solid read. For anyone who is not aware of how great Tricia is, I suggest that you head on over to Ventricular Projects and behold her wonders. After that, it’ll be time for you to make your way to Emotions with Jon Hamm. Fear not, mere mortals, for she is a benevolent goddess.

The Follower Love-Fest will be reinstated in the next post. Until now, love Tricia as she deserves.

Hooked on a Feeling

I’ve got that finally-did-laundry-because-all-of-my-clothes-were-dirty-and-I-kept-putting-it-off-to-study-for-my-exam-but-now-I-have-taken-it-and-can-be-human-again good feeling. While I wait for my clothes to dry, let’s have us a blog post. And a little something to set the mood, complete with interesting visual choices.

Bhi Bhiman “Bhiman” Review

It’s no secret that I’ve been sending applications to everyone with a public e-mail, looking for a job. One of the music sites I applied to asked for an album review, so that they weren’t judging me from reviews of festivals that were months ago. I’ve suffered from more than a little oxidation since I stopped doing music writing, but listening to an album I like until I almost couldn’t stand it anymore was good fun. Since I have failed to get any studying done today, let me share with you what I did accomplish.

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Bhiman – Bhi Bhiman Review

With Americana taking the main stage in a lot of popular music once again, it is becoming more and more difficult for guitar-slung musicians to make themselves known. Still, St. Louis native Bhi Bhiman will tell you in the first track of his album Bhiman, “I’m well on my way.”

The album opens with “Guttersnipe”, a classic train song of rambling and yearning. It keeps the steady train-track rhythm and mentions the hot, dry towns of many of its predecessors, but as much as Bhiman knowingly recalls the dust and rust of the tradition he’s working from, his sound is nothing if not fresh and full of life. Even the song’s video moves as far away as possible from the wasteland images of a transient lifestyle long abandoned and idealized in the American psyche, but it does so without losing the train itself or Bhiman’s touch.

Song tropes are subverted again in “Crime of Passion”, the album’s classic murder ballad. The twist is that the song’s Delia figure appears to have been upfront with her would-be lover, the pathetic narrator with a twisted sense of humor, about where he stood.  If revenge songs aren’t your favorite, the song does have one of the best jabs at O.J. Simpson I’ve heard in years.

Bhiman keeps the momentum going throughout the album with his lilting tenor and playful arrangements. Of his two recipe-songs, “Kimchee Line” is a little on the slower side, but it twangs its pleasantly along, not allowing the darker lyrics to distract from Bhiman’s skillful strumming. It leads right into “Cooking the Books”, the second recipe, which is weighed down with heavy sounds and perhaps a bit too much emphasis on how clever the wordplay is. This thankfully doesn’t last long, as “Atlatl” brings a renewed energy that doesn’t let up on the urge to toe-tap until the album ends.

The album is available for download on iTunes or you can download it for free from Noisetrade with a cover of “Crazy” as a bonus. Either way you can’t miss with Bhiman’s talent or Sam Kassirer’s smooth album production. Bhiman only has a handful of tour dates lined up, but they can be found on his website.

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Like Ron Swanson, I never endorse anything I haven’t tried and thoroughly enjoyed myself, so you can trust me on this one. Also, you should enter my giveaway because you are well-read and attractive.

Spring Fever

I know that “spring fever” has several meanings, but it has always been in my mind that this means that flowers and sunshine make everyone and everything want to do it. That’s what WikiPedia lists first, so I’m going to call that a win for me and move on.

Depending on the hemisphere you’re in, you might have noticed in the past few weeks that you have been becoming a brighter, happier person who wants to keep the species alive. Smiling and wearing less clothing are always things that I endorse: keep up the good work!

If you’re having a hard time finding what to say to the individuals you are pheromone-bombing as a result of your fever, though, I’m here to help. Around Valentine’s Day, a few of us wrote love poems to sell and raise money for the Literary Society, and I’m going to share a few of mine with you now. I can’t promise that they’ll work for you, but did have one very satisfied customer.

Should you find one you like, print one out, tie it to a brick, throw it through your love’s window, and tell me how it goes. Spoiler: They’re mostly silly.

Pretty Sweet Publication Giveaway

Time for another giveaway, and I think that title is as snappy as a Golden Girl.

“But why?”
So glad you asked. Trinity loves putting out publications, which is great because its student body loves reading and getting involved with them. This year in particular it seemed like you couldn’t trip up the stairs on your way to class without falling in a loving nest of printed glory. I want to spread the love. One could argue that I’m hyping the quality of these student-run publications up because even the ones I’m not involved with have a handful of folks I know and adore working hard on them; I would argue that, while I am filled with feels every time I flick through one of these delights, I’d still praise them to the heavens because they’re just that good. Now, as good of a hoarder as I am, I wasn’t able to grab extra copies of everything, let alone hold onto them all through the year, but the winner of this giveaway will make off with a decent haul.

The Prize

Let’s try going clockwise.

Siren is new to Trinity this year, started by a vivacious collection of ladies and gentlemen. It’s dedicated to issues of gender equality and those that especially impact the LGBTQ community, featuring articles on politics, social change, art, music, humor, Gilligan, the Skipper, too–you get it. It launched in March to coincide with International Women’s Day and is up for won The Smedia People’s Choice Award for Magazine of the Year.

The Attic is the Literary Society’s annual publication of students’ creative writing. I willingly admit my affection for this little guy because he is made of the snakes, snails, puppydog tails, sugar, spice, and everything nice from the members of this year’s outgoing committee, not to mention all of the talented writers who made it possible. I will never admit, however, the exact measurements of all of those ingredients. For tax purposes.

The Histories & Humanities Journal contains more historical knowledge than any of us probably gained in high school, and it’s more stylish than we were, too. I know less that nothing about most of the topics covered, but the contributors and staff worked together to create a journal that is as well-written as it is accessible. History-Nerds everywhere, rejoice!

The Looking Glass is another publication that is new this year that focuses on writing for children, coupled with some very colorful artwork. Age barriers are not a problem here: the work by new and aspiring writers is the perfect thing to snuggle up with before bedtime, whether you’re reading to someone else or alone.

Trinity Literary Review is also brandy-new: it came out two weeks ago. Well, what did you think was going to happen when you put a lot of go-getter types in one place? Much like the HHJ, it focuses on the critical writing by students and members of staff alike. If you’re sick of critics writing like they’re better than you, read some analytical pieces by folks who are on your level and know it.

Icarus is last, though I’m not sure if curving inward coincides with any clock I’ve ever used. This literary journal by writers from Trinity and beyond comes out three times a year, so take a moment to appreciate how many nights of sleep are lost over it. Extra-impressive is the piece written just for the second issue by guest contributor Michael Longley. This baby is, in competition with Siren for the Smedia competition, also looks damn good on a your bookshelf.

Now that I’ve got you going, here’s how to win.

Pushing Paper

I hate paperwork: always have, always will. It’s tedious, redundant, and can mess up your whole damn life if it’s done incorrectly, making it time-consuming as anything on top of everything else. In all fairness, I probably wouldn’t loathe it as much as I do if I hadn’t encountered so much of it in my life, but between job applications, health forms, lease agreements, surveys, standardized tests, and really anything that asked for my last name first, The Man has enough files on me to paper the walls of the Taj Mahal, were he so inclined.

As you might have guessed, a lot of my distaste comes from a really mature place. When given the task of filling out a simple form, I regress.

Yeah, a bit like that.

Who wore it best?

I’ve wanted blue hair since I was a kid, though I’m pretty sure that back then I thought that my hair was the only thing stopping me from being a mermaid or a Sailor Scout or an astronaut, not, y’know, reality. Well, I’m testing that theory this summer by dying my hair as blue as I please when I’m doing my cross-country road trip, that way my poor mama doesn’t have to cry every time she looks at me. As I’ve gotten closer to Dye Day, though, I’ve been starting to panic a bit. What if I look awful? Go bald? Don’t become a space superhero mermaid?

A wander into Penney’s for a lint roller brought me a little closer to an almost-answer to one of these questions in the form of a cheap wig. Now, my hair will never be as short, straight, or manageable as this wig is, but it gave me a feel color-wise.

The second I shoved it on my oversized head, my alter-ego, Displeased 90s Gal, came bubbling up.

Probably because I fear change.

We go together like sugar cookies and Bob Dylan.

I am minutes from catching the bus to town in order to attend the last class of my college career. Inspired by these cookies, whose biting humor is directed at a certain kind of person, I decided to revive the elementary school tradition of bringing baked goods in on your birthday and the last day of school. It’s no great secret that I lack the baking skills every other blogger seems to possess, but I gave it a go. Besides, my friends and colleagues deserve a reward for besting their essays and dissertations. So long as their heads don’t get too big.

This will be the last time for a good while that I’ll be able to talk about what I learned in class. I’ll leave you with the knowledge that the phrase “tripping the light fantastic” comes from your friend and mine, John Milton. And that’s exactly what I plan to do tonight.