When the final scene faded to black, and the credits silently rolled, I did not leave my seat or take a breath. Neither did the other moviegoers who chose to see “Precious” that Sunday night.
In an age of linear and mechanical movies, deemed “spectacular” due only to their hypnotizing special effects and loud explosions, “Precious” is unparalleled in its sincerity, social commentary and uninhibited production.
Based on the novel PUSH by Sapphire, this nearly two-hour long movie is the painful, honest and hopeful story of obese and nearly illiterate Claireece “Precious” Jones (newcomer Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe), a 16-year-old African American girl living (if you can call it that) in the ghetto of Harlem in the late 80s.
Precious lives under the physical and emotional abuse of her welfare-fed mother, Mary (Mo’Nique), and is currently pregnant with her second child by her dead-beat and addict father, whom we never see except in shaky flashbacks. When her middle school principal kicks her out, she joins an alternative school where she meets friends and an insightful teacher and mentor, Blu Rain (Paula Patton). With the help of Rain and understanding social worker, Mrs. Weiss (Mariah Carey), Precious learns to deal with the abuse she has suffered and currently is suffering.
Though this may sound like another sob story, director Lee Daniels knows how to cut through the realities of impoverished and unfortunate Harlem just enough to leave the viewer tear-stricken, but not guilty for their presumably more fortunate life. It’s as if he has an instinct to come back to the precious moments in life at just the right time.
Daniels’s style is gritty and honest, using unsteady camera movement and seemingly unrelated edits, i.e. Precious being raped, to chicken frying in disgusting grease (her father treats her like meat. Clever, eh?).
Sidebe handles the challenging role with talent far beyond her acting experience and siphons any empathy from viewers in her unique, courageous, and silently hilarious screen presence – implying wisdom beyond her years, on and off the screen.
Sidebe isn’t the only one who captures the raw reality of the Harlem streets. Mo’Nique, a comedy actress known for her sassy-plus-sized-woman attitude in all of her films, is terrifying and brilliant as Precious’s mother. It’s apparent she prepared and invested much of herself in this film, from the backwards affection she shows to her cat, to the most heart-stopping and vicious parent/child fight scene in cinema.
Patton also delivers a sincere performance as Precious’s teacher, which leaves the viewer unabashedly dependent on her presence and guidance to Precious. Carey is surprisingly believable, free from all her glamour she usually dons, and redeems herself from her performance in what was quite possibly the worst film ever made, “Glitter (2001).” Fans might not even spot her at first, but will soon recognize her salient self-esteem.
“Precious” is elegantly done and consequently, steers clear from the sappy clichés about learning to love oneself despite a mountain of hardships. The film delivers hope and inspiration but doesn’t give in to the temptation many screenwriters fall prey to of allowing the main character to conquer all in two hours. “Precious” remains grounded, causing sorrow, consolation and enjoyment in viewers.
Don’t be surprised if any of the main characters snag an Oscar nomination – the film’s importance and performances will not be over-looked.
“Precious” is beyond worthy of a nine-dollar movie ticket. The insight and powerful credibility will stay with you long after you exit the theater – if you can leave your seat, that is.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
If you didn't already own a motorcyle, you'll want one now
If there was ever a movie that would make anyone drop their briefcase, cancel their newspaper subscription and drive out on the open road with no place to go, “The Motorcycle Diaries” would be it.
“Diaries” is a biopic about the journey and written memoirs during 1952, of Ernesto “Fuser” Guevera, played by Gael Garcíal Bernal (“Y Tu Mama Tambien”), then, a young medical student. With the companionship of his older friend and biochemist Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna), he sets off to finally “see” South America at its crudest and most candid form across 5,000 miles with an ancient motorcycle.
The two-hour film, directed by Walter Salles, not only projects beautiful and breath-taking scenery of the oceans, thick forests, raw mountains and weathered plains of South America, but it also captures the worn and sincere faces of its people.
Guevera and Granado meet the good friends they were hoping for: doctors, a leper colony, mistreated peasant laborers, menacing foremen, and loose, lovely ladies. However, lingering heavily in each of these engaging scenes is the air of disparity between the rich and the poor throughout all of South America.
Salles uses symbolism to highlight these social issues wherever he can, most notably, the wide river dividing the healthy doctors and staff of the leper colony from the dying patients on the other side. It’s as if Guevera gains 10 years of wisdom in each artful scene.
Salles brilliantly inserts black and white shots of the weathered poor. These aren’t stills, but the people are standing as still as they can to represent how critically their poverty and mistreatment by the government tainted Guevera’s naïve political perspective. Memories of these shots resonate throughout the film’s entirety.
The mystery of this movie, for anyone aware of Guevera’s path of eventually becoming the repressive leader, “Che” Guevera of Cuba’s Communist movement, is that Bernal’s performance is so sweet and endearing. The thought of his authoritarian future seems almost inconceivable…until you factor in the constant injustice he witnesses after leaving his sheltered upper-middle-class life as a student.
You can’t help but root for the happiness and success of Bernal and de la Serna until the end credits when you read that Guevera stood alongside Castro and smothered the civil liberties and freedom of speech of the people. This conflict makes the naïve aura of the lead characters all the more captivating.
While Bernal and de la Serna are strong and convincing in their parts, their dynamic never develops much past what you know – they are good friends. A traveling duo in all the great movies develops many complexities (think Thelma and Louise), and these two just don’t have it. Regardless, the strong performances by the minor characters hold their chemistry solidly enough.
For anyone passionate about art, history and coming of age stories, “The Motorcycle Diaries” is a wonderful cultured conglomerate of all three. The viewer will undoubtedly inherit tiny wisdoms from the characters’ conversions and leave him or her thinking long after the final credits.
“Diaries” is a biopic about the journey and written memoirs during 1952, of Ernesto “Fuser” Guevera, played by Gael Garcíal Bernal (“Y Tu Mama Tambien”), then, a young medical student. With the companionship of his older friend and biochemist Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna), he sets off to finally “see” South America at its crudest and most candid form across 5,000 miles with an ancient motorcycle.
The two-hour film, directed by Walter Salles, not only projects beautiful and breath-taking scenery of the oceans, thick forests, raw mountains and weathered plains of South America, but it also captures the worn and sincere faces of its people.
Guevera and Granado meet the good friends they were hoping for: doctors, a leper colony, mistreated peasant laborers, menacing foremen, and loose, lovely ladies. However, lingering heavily in each of these engaging scenes is the air of disparity between the rich and the poor throughout all of South America.
Salles uses symbolism to highlight these social issues wherever he can, most notably, the wide river dividing the healthy doctors and staff of the leper colony from the dying patients on the other side. It’s as if Guevera gains 10 years of wisdom in each artful scene.
Salles brilliantly inserts black and white shots of the weathered poor. These aren’t stills, but the people are standing as still as they can to represent how critically their poverty and mistreatment by the government tainted Guevera’s naïve political perspective. Memories of these shots resonate throughout the film’s entirety.
The mystery of this movie, for anyone aware of Guevera’s path of eventually becoming the repressive leader, “Che” Guevera of Cuba’s Communist movement, is that Bernal’s performance is so sweet and endearing. The thought of his authoritarian future seems almost inconceivable…until you factor in the constant injustice he witnesses after leaving his sheltered upper-middle-class life as a student.
You can’t help but root for the happiness and success of Bernal and de la Serna until the end credits when you read that Guevera stood alongside Castro and smothered the civil liberties and freedom of speech of the people. This conflict makes the naïve aura of the lead characters all the more captivating.
While Bernal and de la Serna are strong and convincing in their parts, their dynamic never develops much past what you know – they are good friends. A traveling duo in all the great movies develops many complexities (think Thelma and Louise), and these two just don’t have it. Regardless, the strong performances by the minor characters hold their chemistry solidly enough.
For anyone passionate about art, history and coming of age stories, “The Motorcycle Diaries” is a wonderful cultured conglomerate of all three. The viewer will undoubtedly inherit tiny wisdoms from the characters’ conversions and leave him or her thinking long after the final credits.
The Reality of Sex
There seems to be a new fad in the teen pop-culture world – chastity rings. These rings, worn on the left-hand ring fingers of stars such as the Jonas Brothers and Jordin Sparks, symbolize a commitment of abstinence until marriage.
Despite of this rising abstinence trend, teen pregnancies and abortions are still prevalent in the United States. In fact, according to the Guttmacher Institute, the United State’s teen pregnancy rate is almost twice as high as those of England, Wales and Canada, and eight times as high as those of the Netherlands and Japan.
If abstinence is becoming a trend, and is the only 100 percent effective way to avoid pregnancy, why then are our numbers so high compared to other countries?
There is a devastating absence of “safe sex” curriculum throughout grades six through 12, and a devastating abundance of “abstinence only” curriculum.
In 2002 one third of teens had not received any formal education about contraception. This is because, as the Guttmacher Institute states, “86 percent of the public school districts that have a policy to teach sex education require that abstinence be promoted. Some 35 percent require abstinence to be taught as the only option for unmarried people.”
On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, sex-ed curriculum in Europe is highly supported and extremely candid, according the Advocates for Youth website.
Europeans see sexual relations as normal and natural, with government supported long-term public education campaigns and sex education integrated across all school subjects and grade levels. Teens also have access to free to low-cost access to contraception through national health insurance.
In the United States, the pregnancy rate per 1,000 women ages 15-19 is 78.9 compared to France’s 20.2. If America’s teen pregnancy statistics equaled those of France’s, there would be about 550,000 fewer pregnancies per year. Clearly there needs to be a major governmental adjustment to the type of sex education in the United States.
It is a fact of life that teenagers will have sex. Teens are human beings with a desire to fulfill the five essential life processes as a living thing, reproduction being among those. With sexual intercourse imminent, all schools should require their sex-ed curriculum to be a comprehensive program teaching both contraceptive and abstinence options to reckon with the reality of teenagers’ sexual appetites.
Despite of this rising abstinence trend, teen pregnancies and abortions are still prevalent in the United States. In fact, according to the Guttmacher Institute, the United State’s teen pregnancy rate is almost twice as high as those of England, Wales and Canada, and eight times as high as those of the Netherlands and Japan.
If abstinence is becoming a trend, and is the only 100 percent effective way to avoid pregnancy, why then are our numbers so high compared to other countries?
There is a devastating absence of “safe sex” curriculum throughout grades six through 12, and a devastating abundance of “abstinence only” curriculum.
In 2002 one third of teens had not received any formal education about contraception. This is because, as the Guttmacher Institute states, “86 percent of the public school districts that have a policy to teach sex education require that abstinence be promoted. Some 35 percent require abstinence to be taught as the only option for unmarried people.”
On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, sex-ed curriculum in Europe is highly supported and extremely candid, according the Advocates for Youth website.
Europeans see sexual relations as normal and natural, with government supported long-term public education campaigns and sex education integrated across all school subjects and grade levels. Teens also have access to free to low-cost access to contraception through national health insurance.
In the United States, the pregnancy rate per 1,000 women ages 15-19 is 78.9 compared to France’s 20.2. If America’s teen pregnancy statistics equaled those of France’s, there would be about 550,000 fewer pregnancies per year. Clearly there needs to be a major governmental adjustment to the type of sex education in the United States.
It is a fact of life that teenagers will have sex. Teens are human beings with a desire to fulfill the five essential life processes as a living thing, reproduction being among those. With sexual intercourse imminent, all schools should require their sex-ed curriculum to be a comprehensive program teaching both contraceptive and abstinence options to reckon with the reality of teenagers’ sexual appetites.
Nature Is Calling
I’d be willing to bet my college tuition that as you are reading this your cell phone is no more than ten feet away. I take cash, check or money orders.
I love the convenience of my cell phone just as much as the next person. I always know the time when rushing to class. If I need to borrow money, my parents are just a speed dial away. If I get lost while driving, I can call an information line. And if I want to check my Facebook page (because, why not?), I’m there in two seconds. My cell has become my watch, my camera, my address book and my lifeline. But unlike some people, it has not become me.
On a cloudless, bright and chilly winter Saturday, the kind you only read about, a few good friends and I decided to hike the Cascades waterfall trail in Virginia. We had made a pact to leave our phones in the car so that we wouldn’t get distracted, and we could have girlie-friendship-bonding-time while relaxing after a hard week of schoolwork.
That shouldn’t have been a problem - the hike was only four hours - but being adults in the 21st century, the termites of technology have ravished the “able to relax” section in our brains.
A few feet into the hike the fires of panic rose in me as I remembered I was mid-texting conversation with my boyfriend, and if I didn’t have a timely response, he would no doubt need an explanation from me later that night.
Must turn back and get phone.
Just when I was about to risk falling in a semi-frozen stream, contracting hypothermia, and possibly breaking a bone in a mad dash for the car, I suddenly had the urge to just pause and listen to where I was.
What I heard was nothing spectacular. There was no chorus of angels shedding light upon the trail ahead. What I heard was just nature. Natural, comforting and lacking the beeping alerts I knew too well.
Satisfied with this freedom, we moved on, all of us without our phones (or so I thought).
A few more twists and turns in, we scaled a rock overlooking the stream and sat down to reflect.
Ahhhh. The constant, steady sound of a stream, the singing of birds mid flight, the wet solid rock that slowed my heart beat, the freezing air as it iced my throat, the comforting beep of a text message alert…
The comforting beep of a text message alert!!! Angry and hawk-eyed, I snapped my head around and scanned each of my friends. Who could possibly have brought their phone? Who dared to destroy the unflinching course of nature? My judging eyes landed on Bridgette, who sheepishly looked up and said, “Oops, must have forgot.”
As we continued our hike, every few feet and every natural sound was tainted by incessant beeping. Self-righteously I secretly imagined tackling her down to the ground, ripping the phone from her death grip and hurling it into the raging stream. With every new text message came a new scenario of saving my friends and me from this Judas who betrayed our no-phone-pact while destroying nature, the only thing sacred. Just as I was swinging from a vine and snatching the phone away, we heard a panic-stricken “NOOOOOOOO.”
Terrified to find Bridgette falling into the river, or face-to-face with a rattlesnake we all ran to see what was wrong. But she was just standing there, phone in hand and a look of nausea on her face. “No service,” she said in disbelief.
Secretly thanking a higher power, we went on without electronics. The silence was beautiful.
After the hike, Bridgette told me how wonderful the day was, and then shut her phone off.
What Bridgette, like so many others has forgotten, is our innate need for the kind of simplicity found in nature. So much of our day is spent connecting with our 3G phones, email accounts, trafficked roads, and theater sized TVs, that we forget what we are connected to fundamentally: Mother Nature. For human beings, she has supplied exceptionally for millions of years. We can’t bury that in an electronic earthquake.
What feels better than lying on the grass, blanketed by the sun? What renders you speechless more than an awe-inspiring lightning storm? It certainly isn’t a cell phone.
Immersing yourself in your natural surroundings will reboot your stress-ridden system, make you more aware of the beauty in even the smallest things, and allow you to appreciate everything you are.
These days, it’s hard to escape the evil reach of a cell phone tower’s signal, but it’s not impossible. There should be time set aside in your week to connect with nature, even if it’s just a walk around the block. Take a hike, visit the beach, sleep in the shade of a tree, but whatever you do, leave your phones at home.
If going cold turkey is too hard for you, I guess it’s okay to change your voicemail so people aren’t worried about your lack of response.
Hello, you’ve reached Kaleigh’s phone. Currently, she’s outside enjoying her freedom from you and me. Leave a message, but she probably won’t be getting back to you. Beep.
I love the convenience of my cell phone just as much as the next person. I always know the time when rushing to class. If I need to borrow money, my parents are just a speed dial away. If I get lost while driving, I can call an information line. And if I want to check my Facebook page (because, why not?), I’m there in two seconds. My cell has become my watch, my camera, my address book and my lifeline. But unlike some people, it has not become me.
On a cloudless, bright and chilly winter Saturday, the kind you only read about, a few good friends and I decided to hike the Cascades waterfall trail in Virginia. We had made a pact to leave our phones in the car so that we wouldn’t get distracted, and we could have girlie-friendship-bonding-time while relaxing after a hard week of schoolwork.
That shouldn’t have been a problem - the hike was only four hours - but being adults in the 21st century, the termites of technology have ravished the “able to relax” section in our brains.
A few feet into the hike the fires of panic rose in me as I remembered I was mid-texting conversation with my boyfriend, and if I didn’t have a timely response, he would no doubt need an explanation from me later that night.
Must turn back and get phone.
Just when I was about to risk falling in a semi-frozen stream, contracting hypothermia, and possibly breaking a bone in a mad dash for the car, I suddenly had the urge to just pause and listen to where I was.
What I heard was nothing spectacular. There was no chorus of angels shedding light upon the trail ahead. What I heard was just nature. Natural, comforting and lacking the beeping alerts I knew too well.
Satisfied with this freedom, we moved on, all of us without our phones (or so I thought).
A few more twists and turns in, we scaled a rock overlooking the stream and sat down to reflect.
Ahhhh. The constant, steady sound of a stream, the singing of birds mid flight, the wet solid rock that slowed my heart beat, the freezing air as it iced my throat, the comforting beep of a text message alert…
The comforting beep of a text message alert!!! Angry and hawk-eyed, I snapped my head around and scanned each of my friends. Who could possibly have brought their phone? Who dared to destroy the unflinching course of nature? My judging eyes landed on Bridgette, who sheepishly looked up and said, “Oops, must have forgot.”
As we continued our hike, every few feet and every natural sound was tainted by incessant beeping. Self-righteously I secretly imagined tackling her down to the ground, ripping the phone from her death grip and hurling it into the raging stream. With every new text message came a new scenario of saving my friends and me from this Judas who betrayed our no-phone-pact while destroying nature, the only thing sacred. Just as I was swinging from a vine and snatching the phone away, we heard a panic-stricken “NOOOOOOOO.”
Terrified to find Bridgette falling into the river, or face-to-face with a rattlesnake we all ran to see what was wrong. But she was just standing there, phone in hand and a look of nausea on her face. “No service,” she said in disbelief.
Secretly thanking a higher power, we went on without electronics. The silence was beautiful.
After the hike, Bridgette told me how wonderful the day was, and then shut her phone off.
What Bridgette, like so many others has forgotten, is our innate need for the kind of simplicity found in nature. So much of our day is spent connecting with our 3G phones, email accounts, trafficked roads, and theater sized TVs, that we forget what we are connected to fundamentally: Mother Nature. For human beings, she has supplied exceptionally for millions of years. We can’t bury that in an electronic earthquake.
What feels better than lying on the grass, blanketed by the sun? What renders you speechless more than an awe-inspiring lightning storm? It certainly isn’t a cell phone.
Immersing yourself in your natural surroundings will reboot your stress-ridden system, make you more aware of the beauty in even the smallest things, and allow you to appreciate everything you are.
These days, it’s hard to escape the evil reach of a cell phone tower’s signal, but it’s not impossible. There should be time set aside in your week to connect with nature, even if it’s just a walk around the block. Take a hike, visit the beach, sleep in the shade of a tree, but whatever you do, leave your phones at home.
If going cold turkey is too hard for you, I guess it’s okay to change your voicemail so people aren’t worried about your lack of response.
Hello, you’ve reached Kaleigh’s phone. Currently, she’s outside enjoying her freedom from you and me. Leave a message, but she probably won’t be getting back to you. Beep.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Happy 12th Birthday…or 8th…or 15th?
Each year I spring out of bed the morning of September 18 with a twinkle in my eye and a skip in my step. It is my birthday, a day of celebration. There will be cake, yes; I am a year older, yes; my friends and family shower me with love and goodies, yes. These are all very exciting, but the reason I jump out of bed and run to the mailbox, the reason why I painstakingly count down 364 days, is because I will have a present from my great-grandparents in Michigan. And my great-grandparents, well, they are very, very old.
These presents are unorthodox to say the least. When I was younger and ungrateful, I would pout and toss them aside. Where is Malibu Barbie! But I have grown accustomed to the gifts and now my entire family sits impatiently waiting for each September 18 to see what goodies may cause us to burst into uncontrollable fits of side-busting laughter.
September 18, 1995
My seventh birthday. I have dutifully been building my Barbie collection. A package from my aunt and uncle in Vermont reveals a hot pink convertible with an automatic retracting roof. Bliss. The only thing that could make today better would be the addition of Theresa, Barbie’s brunette friend. Having brown hair myself, I have been longing for her. Tearing into a medium-size package from Granny and Grandpa, my heart begins to beat faster with hope. Finally! Through the tissue paper! It’s a, it’s a… It’s seven packaged McDonald’s Happy Meal toys. Thoughtful, one for each year.
September 18, 2001
My 13th birthday. At last, a teenager. No surprise, I’m into teenager things. Make-up, clothes, boys, terrible pop music. After opening all of my presents, the smell of fruity lotions and glitter-filled lip-gloss tubes is nearly unbearable. My mother hands me a present. It’s pink - this is a good sign. Further observation reveals postage from Michigan. My heart sinks a little as I remember earlier unfruitful deliveries, nonetheless, the package is still pink, and I think they must be catching on. As I open the small, lightweight box, visions of sparkling jewelry fill my mind. I pull out shampoo and conditioner in ketchup packet shaped containers. The Ramada Inn logo is stamped on the front of each. I’m beginning to think this is a joke.
September 18, 2004
Sweet 16 - The birthday to end all birthdays thus far. It’s no surprise that the quest for becoming the most popular girl in school has consumed my life. To reach this goal however, I will need some help from some birthday presents (mainly the acquisition of a brand new car). After opening my presents I find myself draped in the newest styles in clothes, an iPod, and a new hair straightener. Alas, no car. However, there is hope. An enveloped postmarked from Michigan sits in my lap. I know that at the end of a very sick joke my great-grandparents have been playing on me for the past 16 years, they will have enclosed a check for $8,000 - just enough to buy a car. Surprise! And you thought we were just incredibly senile all these years. Opening the card reveals a deflated purple balloon that reads “Congrats Grad.” Maybe next year.
September 18, 2006
Eighteen years old and a freshman in college. Surely this will factor into the present to end all presents from my jokester grandparents. Packages arrive at my dorm room containing checks and collegiate living essentials. Something is missing. Nothing was sent from Michigan. Is 18 the cut-off year? Incredibly confused, I search my brain for some reason they may have stopped their gifts. I had sent them a thank you card every year at the insistence of my mother. “Kaleigh, I know they sent you a pack of crayons when you turned 15, but it’s the thought that counts.” Thinking harder about my thank you notes, I realized that I had ever so slowly evolved my thanks into notes of sarcasm that tickled me as I wrote them.
Dear Granny and Grandpa,
Thank you so much for the thoughtful white sticky-note pad. The coffee stain gives it character. I’ll be sure to use it for the invitations to my 15th birthday party. The family is well.
Love,
Kaleigh
Maybe they weren’t as senile as I thought. Maybe they had had it with my facetiousness. But wait. What was this manila envelope that I had missed in my mailbox. Excited when I saw MI, and knowing that this present must be the one that would count (Money, after all, I am a poor college student), I tore it open. There in the bottom of the envelope was a plastic wrapped package containing a giant piece of chocolate shaped like the state of Idaho. Idaho. They aren’t even from Idaho, I’m not even from Idaho. Why the hell would they send me chocolate in the shape of Idaho? Disappointed, but ever so amused, I decided to eat it. Might as well. After, I found a note at the bottom of the package:
Dearest Kaleigh,
Happy Birthday! We are giving away some of our possessions as we reach the end of our long, fruitful lives. We have decided to send you this chocolate Idaho we bought together on a trip in ’61. Please keep it safe.
Love,
Granny and Grandpa
PS. Thank you for all your thoughtful thank you notes.
Maybe they aren’t so senile after all.
These presents are unorthodox to say the least. When I was younger and ungrateful, I would pout and toss them aside. Where is Malibu Barbie! But I have grown accustomed to the gifts and now my entire family sits impatiently waiting for each September 18 to see what goodies may cause us to burst into uncontrollable fits of side-busting laughter.
September 18, 1995
My seventh birthday. I have dutifully been building my Barbie collection. A package from my aunt and uncle in Vermont reveals a hot pink convertible with an automatic retracting roof. Bliss. The only thing that could make today better would be the addition of Theresa, Barbie’s brunette friend. Having brown hair myself, I have been longing for her. Tearing into a medium-size package from Granny and Grandpa, my heart begins to beat faster with hope. Finally! Through the tissue paper! It’s a, it’s a… It’s seven packaged McDonald’s Happy Meal toys. Thoughtful, one for each year.
September 18, 2001
My 13th birthday. At last, a teenager. No surprise, I’m into teenager things. Make-up, clothes, boys, terrible pop music. After opening all of my presents, the smell of fruity lotions and glitter-filled lip-gloss tubes is nearly unbearable. My mother hands me a present. It’s pink - this is a good sign. Further observation reveals postage from Michigan. My heart sinks a little as I remember earlier unfruitful deliveries, nonetheless, the package is still pink, and I think they must be catching on. As I open the small, lightweight box, visions of sparkling jewelry fill my mind. I pull out shampoo and conditioner in ketchup packet shaped containers. The Ramada Inn logo is stamped on the front of each. I’m beginning to think this is a joke.
September 18, 2004
Sweet 16 - The birthday to end all birthdays thus far. It’s no surprise that the quest for becoming the most popular girl in school has consumed my life. To reach this goal however, I will need some help from some birthday presents (mainly the acquisition of a brand new car). After opening my presents I find myself draped in the newest styles in clothes, an iPod, and a new hair straightener. Alas, no car. However, there is hope. An enveloped postmarked from Michigan sits in my lap. I know that at the end of a very sick joke my great-grandparents have been playing on me for the past 16 years, they will have enclosed a check for $8,000 - just enough to buy a car. Surprise! And you thought we were just incredibly senile all these years. Opening the card reveals a deflated purple balloon that reads “Congrats Grad.” Maybe next year.
September 18, 2006
Eighteen years old and a freshman in college. Surely this will factor into the present to end all presents from my jokester grandparents. Packages arrive at my dorm room containing checks and collegiate living essentials. Something is missing. Nothing was sent from Michigan. Is 18 the cut-off year? Incredibly confused, I search my brain for some reason they may have stopped their gifts. I had sent them a thank you card every year at the insistence of my mother. “Kaleigh, I know they sent you a pack of crayons when you turned 15, but it’s the thought that counts.” Thinking harder about my thank you notes, I realized that I had ever so slowly evolved my thanks into notes of sarcasm that tickled me as I wrote them.
Dear Granny and Grandpa,
Thank you so much for the thoughtful white sticky-note pad. The coffee stain gives it character. I’ll be sure to use it for the invitations to my 15th birthday party. The family is well.
Love,
Kaleigh
Maybe they weren’t as senile as I thought. Maybe they had had it with my facetiousness. But wait. What was this manila envelope that I had missed in my mailbox. Excited when I saw MI, and knowing that this present must be the one that would count (Money, after all, I am a poor college student), I tore it open. There in the bottom of the envelope was a plastic wrapped package containing a giant piece of chocolate shaped like the state of Idaho. Idaho. They aren’t even from Idaho, I’m not even from Idaho. Why the hell would they send me chocolate in the shape of Idaho? Disappointed, but ever so amused, I decided to eat it. Might as well. After, I found a note at the bottom of the package:
Dearest Kaleigh,
Happy Birthday! We are giving away some of our possessions as we reach the end of our long, fruitful lives. We have decided to send you this chocolate Idaho we bought together on a trip in ’61. Please keep it safe.
Love,
Granny and Grandpa
PS. Thank you for all your thoughtful thank you notes.
Maybe they aren’t so senile after all.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Seabrook, Framed
Spring break with a few of my closest friends, which left us with exotic skin, salt-dried hair and a rebirth of youth, has come and gone, but is not lost. Three rolls of film freeze the weeklong stay on Seabrook Island off the South Carolina coast. Seventy-two frames reveal that sometimes having nothing to do means discovering everything.
Frame # 4 – A wood-slat path disappearing into a tunnel of trees. The walk seemed endless as the words to our favorite Ben Harper song flew on the breeze to the beach. The five of us faced the Atlantic with no one in sight for a mile each way and a red sun behind us. We bet on things to come and then laugh about the predictions on the way back to our first night in the house.
Frame # 11 – Three friends are silhouetted against the sun’s glaring reflection off the ocean. Windy, but sun-toasting warm, we lie on the beach all afternoon. Sipping cold drinks with eyes closed, everyone is silent so they can hear tiny rolling waves. “I don’t think I could ever leave,” Maggie says. The most anyone can manage is an affirmative grunt. The great thing was, we didn’t have to leave. Everyone had the time to go nowhere, and nowhere is where we went. Shannon giggled and a viral laugh spread across our towels as we thought of the night before. None of us have a career in professional karaoke.
Frame #15 – Window-filtered sunlight illuminates a wooden chess set inside a coffee shop. Java Java was our morning staple. Four black coffee-of-the-days and we were ready for our walk around the quaint “Circle” village center. Four girls, giddy with friendship, we spill our secrets, which had filled our lungs overnight. Stopping to pet an unleashed black poodle, Bridgette bumps into a table of elderly women who try to suppress smiles. “Have fun while it lasts,” the one with a white wide-brimmed hat says, but we already know.
Frame #27 – Steel stools with ice blue seats ring a soda fountain bar in the Circle. Mimicking a diner in the ‘50s, the soda shop’s checkered-tile floor is cold on my bare feet. “Shirts and Shoes Required,” the sign says. We sprint to the bar to hide our feet before anyone sees. Eating root beer floats Jordan and I imagine what we’d do with a million dollars. “Buy a house on this island,” I say. “Buy it from you,” he says. An ice cream headache forces my eyes shut, but soon I’m relaxed again – Jordan’s fingers are on either side of my temples.
Frame #32 – Huge live oaks dripping with Spanish moss and highlighted by the sun line a straight road to where, I have forgotten. I convinced Ali to join me in a beach-cruiser bike ride. Out of everyone here, I know her the least, but that will soon change. Our dresses fly behind us as we swerve down the silent road. We’ve never been down this one before, but Ali is confident. She begins to sing a song and we arrive on a bridge that overlooks what could be the African Savanna. A blanket of brown and green marshland stretches out in front of us to the Spanish-moss horizon. “Nature’s first green is gold,” Ali says. “The hardest hue for her to hold,” I complete the first line of Frost. Laughing, we head back to the house.
Frame #50 – A small, pink crab claw sits alone on a thick tree branch five feet off the ground. John and I walk straight into a clustered grove of entangled trunks, snaking horizontally across the ground. We begin to climb higher and higher – this is any child’s wildest dream. Never-ending branches provide footing as we finally come to rest at the highest point our bravery will allow us to go. Cradled in seats of bark we people-watch mothers and fathers stroll their babies, chase toddlers away from enticing inedibles, and couples hold hands. Talking about the future, we realize we are both scared. “No rush,” I say. As I climb down from the tree, John is still sitting.
Frame #72 – A reflection of the road dissolving behind us through my side-door mirror. The white fence posts get smaller in the distance as we begin our exit from Seabrook Island. A week as never gone by so fast.
We found that living mindfully every moment reminds you to appreciate the simple things. At 20 years old we discovered the organics of ourselves in the roots of friendship, preserved in 72 frames.
Frame # 4 – A wood-slat path disappearing into a tunnel of trees. The walk seemed endless as the words to our favorite Ben Harper song flew on the breeze to the beach. The five of us faced the Atlantic with no one in sight for a mile each way and a red sun behind us. We bet on things to come and then laugh about the predictions on the way back to our first night in the house.
Frame # 11 – Three friends are silhouetted against the sun’s glaring reflection off the ocean. Windy, but sun-toasting warm, we lie on the beach all afternoon. Sipping cold drinks with eyes closed, everyone is silent so they can hear tiny rolling waves. “I don’t think I could ever leave,” Maggie says. The most anyone can manage is an affirmative grunt. The great thing was, we didn’t have to leave. Everyone had the time to go nowhere, and nowhere is where we went. Shannon giggled and a viral laugh spread across our towels as we thought of the night before. None of us have a career in professional karaoke.
Frame #15 – Window-filtered sunlight illuminates a wooden chess set inside a coffee shop. Java Java was our morning staple. Four black coffee-of-the-days and we were ready for our walk around the quaint “Circle” village center. Four girls, giddy with friendship, we spill our secrets, which had filled our lungs overnight. Stopping to pet an unleashed black poodle, Bridgette bumps into a table of elderly women who try to suppress smiles. “Have fun while it lasts,” the one with a white wide-brimmed hat says, but we already know.
Frame #27 – Steel stools with ice blue seats ring a soda fountain bar in the Circle. Mimicking a diner in the ‘50s, the soda shop’s checkered-tile floor is cold on my bare feet. “Shirts and Shoes Required,” the sign says. We sprint to the bar to hide our feet before anyone sees. Eating root beer floats Jordan and I imagine what we’d do with a million dollars. “Buy a house on this island,” I say. “Buy it from you,” he says. An ice cream headache forces my eyes shut, but soon I’m relaxed again – Jordan’s fingers are on either side of my temples.
Frame #32 – Huge live oaks dripping with Spanish moss and highlighted by the sun line a straight road to where, I have forgotten. I convinced Ali to join me in a beach-cruiser bike ride. Out of everyone here, I know her the least, but that will soon change. Our dresses fly behind us as we swerve down the silent road. We’ve never been down this one before, but Ali is confident. She begins to sing a song and we arrive on a bridge that overlooks what could be the African Savanna. A blanket of brown and green marshland stretches out in front of us to the Spanish-moss horizon. “Nature’s first green is gold,” Ali says. “The hardest hue for her to hold,” I complete the first line of Frost. Laughing, we head back to the house.
Frame #50 – A small, pink crab claw sits alone on a thick tree branch five feet off the ground. John and I walk straight into a clustered grove of entangled trunks, snaking horizontally across the ground. We begin to climb higher and higher – this is any child’s wildest dream. Never-ending branches provide footing as we finally come to rest at the highest point our bravery will allow us to go. Cradled in seats of bark we people-watch mothers and fathers stroll their babies, chase toddlers away from enticing inedibles, and couples hold hands. Talking about the future, we realize we are both scared. “No rush,” I say. As I climb down from the tree, John is still sitting.
Frame #72 – A reflection of the road dissolving behind us through my side-door mirror. The white fence posts get smaller in the distance as we begin our exit from Seabrook Island. A week as never gone by so fast.
We found that living mindfully every moment reminds you to appreciate the simple things. At 20 years old we discovered the organics of ourselves in the roots of friendship, preserved in 72 frames.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Forget the Economy, Music is in Dire Need of a Stimulus Package
If you stare at a treble clef long enough, it begins to look like a dollar sign.
On February 8, 2009, the 51st annual Grammy Awards ceremony was hosted at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles, California, in an extravagant day long parade of money, money, music and money.
Women strutted down their red runway in their thousand-dollar I-can’t-be-seen-in-the-same-thing-twice dresses, men made minimal movement as not to wrinkle their crisp and fit suits, and limousine chauffeurs proudly guarded their precious cargo. And these were only the hours leading up to the show.
During the ceremony, artists’ performances dazzled the audience with laser display lighting and sparkling confetti, and three-ring circus spectacularia drew ooh’s and aah’s.
But where were the elephants?
Too expensive, and completely unnecessary I guess. After all, the stars were gathered to celebrate their appreciation for the passion and talent that goes into making good music. And everyone knows that music appreciation is synonymous with outrageous spending (luckily, we aren’t in an economic crisis or anything).
When did the arts, and all things that we hold on a pedestal for the sake of our entertainment, become a grandiose parade? When did we sacrifice talent for fast cash and fancy clothes?
The fine arts have evolved into an A-list monster. Led by power and money hungry executives, it sucks the good judgment juice out of everyone in its path – mainly you, the consumer.
This money monster won’t stop reproducing either. It births children that only a mother could, and in this case should, love. For example, one of its kids, named Katy Perry, was nominated at the Grammys for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for her song “I Kissed a Girl.” Read, the song’s signature line: “I kissed a girl and I liked it, I hope my boyfriend don’t mind it.” Now, that’s musical genius.
Her sister M.I.A’s song “Paper Planes” was nominated for Record of the Year. With fantastic lines like, “I fly like paper, get high like planes. If you catch me at the border I got visas in my name,” I’m surprised it didn’t snag the win.
Never mind the fact that my 12-year-old brother can write better lyrics than both of these songs, the girls are hot, skinny and can carry a decent tune.
Neither Perry or M.I.A won a coveted Grammy, and to their disappointment, they may just become another one or two hit wonder and get sucked into the has-been black hole. But it’s ok- their record companies made a lot of money while they were hot, and they’ve been busy scouting for new talent. Maybe they found a new teenybopper who can seductively squeak out a song about cupcakes.
These executives are just playing and winning the game. They have turned something wonderful like the beauty and movement of music into a rat race between themselves and their clients. They don’t care about quality and talent, they care about what sells, even if that means dumbing down the music industry.
In an age defined by synthetic vocals, and elementary rhyming phrases, our generation of music is something short of a sing-a-long track. Why can’t we be blessed again with the sounds that inspired past generations?
The ‘50s saw Elvis Presley thrusting through Rock ‘n Roll. The ‘60s were sassed by the Temptations and Motown. The ‘70s were lit up by The Beatles and other long-haired gurus. The ‘80s…well I don’t have much to say about the ‘80s, but at least they were inventive. Even the ‘90s saw the rise of talented solo artists who wrote their own music and played their own instruments. But now, we have little to offer, and much to want.
So why can’t we bring back the talent that used to be? To put it simply, quality is too time consuming. It takes a good amount of time to write a meaningful song and record heart-stopping instrument tracks. It takes even longer to sit down, be creative and invent something new. In this day and age, record companies just don’t have the time for ingenuity. Fast, dirty and mass-produced is more up their alley.
And can you blame them? They are only doing their job, they have promised the artist fame and wealth, and the public catchy tunes they can sing to in the car. Waiting two more months for a brilliant debut album to come out is time that they, or we, don’t have.
Or do we?
Music is one of the most fundamental and precious things that we hold dear, even if we don’t realize it. From the moment you were born you heard lullabies, you sang your heart out to tunes in the car with your friends, and if you haven’t already, you will share a first dance with your husband or wife on your wedding day.
Genuine, solid music has never let me down. There has been a track for every one of my moods. It has told me to cry, pried open a smile, ran with me, slept with me, and most importantly has never abandoned me. I, and I’m willing to bet, you, don’t need music to come in a lavish package, or rolled up on a red carpet. What we do need is for music to move us. And if it takes a few months longer to produce outstanding artists and albums, we have all the time in the world.
On February 8, 2009, the 51st annual Grammy Awards ceremony was hosted at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles, California, in an extravagant day long parade of money, money, music and money.
Women strutted down their red runway in their thousand-dollar I-can’t-be-seen-in-the-same-thing-twice dresses, men made minimal movement as not to wrinkle their crisp and fit suits, and limousine chauffeurs proudly guarded their precious cargo. And these were only the hours leading up to the show.
During the ceremony, artists’ performances dazzled the audience with laser display lighting and sparkling confetti, and three-ring circus spectacularia drew ooh’s and aah’s.
But where were the elephants?
Too expensive, and completely unnecessary I guess. After all, the stars were gathered to celebrate their appreciation for the passion and talent that goes into making good music. And everyone knows that music appreciation is synonymous with outrageous spending (luckily, we aren’t in an economic crisis or anything).
When did the arts, and all things that we hold on a pedestal for the sake of our entertainment, become a grandiose parade? When did we sacrifice talent for fast cash and fancy clothes?
The fine arts have evolved into an A-list monster. Led by power and money hungry executives, it sucks the good judgment juice out of everyone in its path – mainly you, the consumer.
This money monster won’t stop reproducing either. It births children that only a mother could, and in this case should, love. For example, one of its kids, named Katy Perry, was nominated at the Grammys for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for her song “I Kissed a Girl.” Read, the song’s signature line: “I kissed a girl and I liked it, I hope my boyfriend don’t mind it.” Now, that’s musical genius.
Her sister M.I.A’s song “Paper Planes” was nominated for Record of the Year. With fantastic lines like, “I fly like paper, get high like planes. If you catch me at the border I got visas in my name,” I’m surprised it didn’t snag the win.
Never mind the fact that my 12-year-old brother can write better lyrics than both of these songs, the girls are hot, skinny and can carry a decent tune.
Neither Perry or M.I.A won a coveted Grammy, and to their disappointment, they may just become another one or two hit wonder and get sucked into the has-been black hole. But it’s ok- their record companies made a lot of money while they were hot, and they’ve been busy scouting for new talent. Maybe they found a new teenybopper who can seductively squeak out a song about cupcakes.
These executives are just playing and winning the game. They have turned something wonderful like the beauty and movement of music into a rat race between themselves and their clients. They don’t care about quality and talent, they care about what sells, even if that means dumbing down the music industry.
In an age defined by synthetic vocals, and elementary rhyming phrases, our generation of music is something short of a sing-a-long track. Why can’t we be blessed again with the sounds that inspired past generations?
The ‘50s saw Elvis Presley thrusting through Rock ‘n Roll. The ‘60s were sassed by the Temptations and Motown. The ‘70s were lit up by The Beatles and other long-haired gurus. The ‘80s…well I don’t have much to say about the ‘80s, but at least they were inventive. Even the ‘90s saw the rise of talented solo artists who wrote their own music and played their own instruments. But now, we have little to offer, and much to want.
So why can’t we bring back the talent that used to be? To put it simply, quality is too time consuming. It takes a good amount of time to write a meaningful song and record heart-stopping instrument tracks. It takes even longer to sit down, be creative and invent something new. In this day and age, record companies just don’t have the time for ingenuity. Fast, dirty and mass-produced is more up their alley.
And can you blame them? They are only doing their job, they have promised the artist fame and wealth, and the public catchy tunes they can sing to in the car. Waiting two more months for a brilliant debut album to come out is time that they, or we, don’t have.
Or do we?
Music is one of the most fundamental and precious things that we hold dear, even if we don’t realize it. From the moment you were born you heard lullabies, you sang your heart out to tunes in the car with your friends, and if you haven’t already, you will share a first dance with your husband or wife on your wedding day.
Genuine, solid music has never let me down. There has been a track for every one of my moods. It has told me to cry, pried open a smile, ran with me, slept with me, and most importantly has never abandoned me. I, and I’m willing to bet, you, don’t need music to come in a lavish package, or rolled up on a red carpet. What we do need is for music to move us. And if it takes a few months longer to produce outstanding artists and albums, we have all the time in the world.
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