Wake Up!

I just bought the new John Legend and the Roots album "Wake Up!" It is all covers from the sixties and seventies about issues of social and political importance. I'm so glad I went out and bought the album instead of downloading it from itunes. Not only is it cooler to have the actual CD and CD case, but the booklet has cool reflections on what they are trying to do with this album, and how our generation is so apathetic and our musicians (I think they are targeting pop and hip-hop) aren't saying anything about initiating change. They include a quote from Nina Simone, "it's the job of an artist to reflect the times." The album was first thought of after Obama's presidential bid. They've been working away, uncovering old protest soul, and they came up with this album. I think it's a great way to introduce social justice to a new generation that needs to wake up.

Speaking of waking up, I have a really hard time getting out of bed every day. I sleep ten hours a night, and I never feel rested. I go to the doctor tomorrow, so we shall see what happens.

I'm sitting here with wet hair even though I have class in half an hour, which means I need to leave in fifteen minutes, yet I'm blogging. It's warm enough I can just put my hair up or wear a hat for this class and do my hair after class. Today is a day I don't care what I look like. I am wearing jeans and a t-shirt, no make up, and I'm sporting wet hair. I like having these days once in a while. Days where I'm just naturally me. It makes me want to sip tea and journal all afternoon, but instead I have class, a break, class, and then a meeting. Talk about creatively stifling.

I heard this awesome author speak about his book. He talked about how sometimes you have to sacrifice for your writing--even if that means not necessarily giving 100% to school. He went to Central for his MA before getting his MFA. He recommended I consider it, if I can get it paid for because that will buy me two extra years to just write and work on a book. Then, I will get some teaching experience and possibly be able to get into an even more competitive MFA program--where I could then put the finishing touches on a book to publish. I'm considering it.

I've been reading lots of poetry, which is nice. It always makes me more observant of little things. A friend of mine and I e-mail each other poems back and forth, which is always a nice surprise. I love that horses one I posted. The images are amazing. I am looking forward to presenting it to my class on Thursday. I get ten minutes to talk about the technique, lines, sounds, etc... basically I just get to gush over how much I love it.

I don't have much more to say, and I need to go to class, but I would much rather sit here, reflecting. Ugh the life of a student.