one year later

another thanksgiving has come and gone. it was the first time in three years that i've been in the northeast. i was able to return to the national day of mourning in plymouth. it was really powerful going there with sailor this time since she grew up on the west coast. it gave me a fresh perspective on the whole thing especially after cruising by plimouth plantation and all the rich white people spending their holiday there trying to maintain the mythology.

sometime, as amanda lewis once pointed out, it helps to consult the archives...

here's to another year.

happy motherf-ing birthday, and don't forget i love you.

another bus journey back to cape cod. this time to celebrate both my sister's and mother's birthdays. yes, both scorpios. friday morning we met sarah at the court house in hyannis we she pleaded not guilty to a speeding ticket from the national seashore in april. she still had to pay $100 buy they dropped the fines for not showing up to court after the notice was mailed to her old address. happy birthday, indeed. then we went out for breakfast just before the hearth n' kettle began serving lunch. she listened to the mixtape i made her on the way up to boston that night.

that night jared and i saw the new film about johnny cash, "i walk the line." i enjoyed it. he was expecting the man in black to be a little more wild and crazy and not just the standard drug-addicted rockstar that it portrayed. it was definitely well done. later on we ended up at the sea dog for kareoke night with a few other friends. so fucking weird. after a dozen oldies tunes sung by local oldies i got up there and rocked the house with "99 luftballoons." hell yeah. we moved on to rick's afterward where various nauset high school grads were wasting away. probably spent about a hundred seconds in there. so uncomfortable. i couldn't deal with being there all the time, navigating the cultural emptiness of the cod.

i spent saturday with my mom which was nice. made gramps' special pancakes for breakfast, went to the beach with the dog, made some amazing vegetarian lasagne, and watch part II of "no direction home" the new bob dylan documentary. i felt bad for leaving the morning of her birthday but i had to work at my shitty job. so yeah, i still felt bad but it was really good to spend time with her and i think she was just psyched to have me home.

now i'm back in northampton for a few days then i'll be going to the national day of mourning ceremonies in playmouth thursday before returning to the cape again.

and my friend who was going out to the midwest this week is going in january instead so i'll be able to go see all my madison people then! get ready...

beyond the day to day

strive for something larger, something real for inspiration. bike across the country. fall in love with everyone. learn outside of academic institutions. fire your boss. cook your friends meals. watch the moon rise. send someone a letter. mean it. resist mediocrity. fight boredom. hug your enemies. kiss your friends. sing outloud. laugh. be impatient. make it happen...

runonrunonrun...

this town is too small for anything beyond a whisper and i can't get any time off around thanksgiving so a wisconsin reunion will not take place after all as my boss suggests that the midwest seems like a scary place for a liberal to be but i'm not a fucking liberal and she doesn't understand the radical tradition of participatory democracy in madison and other midwestern towns so i will just stay in the northeast and do my thing with friends and families and birthdays and days of mourning and radio stations and mixtapes and missing people and missed connections and tragic romance and turning over new leaves before the old ones turn on all of us and the meteorological training wheels begin to give way and we learn again what it truly means to be cold.

new era, new hopes

i find myself back in new hampshire where fall is beautiful and bright in its radiant colors. daylight savings and halloween pass and a new moon begins a new era. riding the bus, i read books about working on my day off. i know, i know.

there's a lot of good people in my life right now and things are beginning to make a little more sense again.

i think i'm going to the midwest the week of thanksgiving. perhaps i'll see you there...