International Olympic Committee forces ImprovOlympic to change its name.
Less than a month after dropping baseball from the 2012 lineup? Strike two, IOC. Strike two.
Now, editorial and letters.
Bethany W. of Athens, GA, writes: "Drew, if you haven't already, you REALLY need to hear Sufjan Stevens' new album, Illinois. It's amazing."
Dear Bethany,
To answer the first part of your conditional clause, no, I haven't heard Illinois, although I am currently listening to his Michigan album. However, I'll probably track it down simply because it contains the track named, "Come On! Feel The Illinoise!: Part I: The World's Columbian Exposition/Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me In A Dream."
Sincerely,
Boy From Illinois
PS. For your letter, you will receive a free Boy From Illinois Mousepad!
Now, features.
Because, 3 years later, I'm still competing with Daniel to be Ms. Serkedakis's favorite student, I started reading a James Michener novel earlier this week. It's called The Source, and it's about an archaeological dig in Israel that unearths a 1,000-page soap opera about the social-historical origins of the three major world religions (you know... Hinduism, Buddhism, and Adkins). Coincidentally, I'm also listening to Alan Dershowitz's The Case For Israel on tape, a book by one of OJ Simpson's attorneys that is in the process of being discredited on the grounds that 1) it plagiarizes several works and 2) the author didn't even write it (for Mr. Dershowitz's sake, hopefully those two charges cancel each other out). With these two books, I figure, I can learn all I can about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the stupidest sources I can find.
However, the remaining 800 pages of James Michener will have to be put aside in favor of the new Harry Potter, which was purchased within 12 hours of its release, if not directly at midnight. I started reading it and it immediately reminded me of myself.
You must be dying to know where this is going.
Despite getting to attend Hogwarts, a fantastic wizarding school, during the year, Harry has to spend his summers in Surrey living with his non-magical aunt and uncle, right? Well, if I were Harry, I would spend the summer wondering if my time at Hogwarts even really existed, because I would be living in a place so unlike the other that it would be difficult to conceive that the two co-existed.
This is what I feel like during the summer in Alpharetta. Now, Georgia is by no means unmagical. Getting to perform at Dad's Garage, having Kristen less than a 15 minute drive away from me, and the new Ben & Jerry's on Windward Pkwy are all very, very magical things. But it's hard for me to keep school all that active in my mind even though I wear Chicago t-shirts nearly 5 days a week. My thoughts, now, consist of how I'm going to pay the GA400 toll, which Fellini's location is the easiest to get to after work, and when I have to return the latest DVD rental. Where I'm going to lock my bike, who is going to lend me dining points, and how I'm going to print my midterm paper for free are concerns that are not only irrelevant here, but concerns that my mind denies ever really existed they seem so far away. The imperialism of the present subdues any non-immediate facts or details.
In fact, Chicago and Alpharetta are like the Israeli and Arab extremists who reject the two-state solution giving both Israel and Palestine a self-determining state. One side completely denies the other's right to exist. Right now, Alpharetta is the occupying force. I got my school report card a few days ago, and I wondered who sent it. When and where did I take Formal Study of Renaissance Poetry? Did I get drunk and sign up for night school at Perimeter College? If so, why does this tuition bill look like the invoice for two Honda Civics?
That is the psychology of living in two different places. Occasionally, though, I am reminded of what might be going on in my other life without my knowledge, while I unwittingly drive back and forth to work every day listening to the soothing, placid sounds of Alan Dershowitz. Like this e-mail I received the other day from Sarah, my roommate currently occupying (and decorating) our apartment. When I read something like this. . .
"We are thinking about doing a popart/ glamrock themed dining room. Don't be
scared. The table and chairs are going to be finished to match the color of the wood in the living room. We are thinking about splattering the table and chairs with silver. Everyone we know loves the glamrock theme. It is ironic."
. . . then the reality of my other life returns in frightening, frightening clarity.
Less than a month after dropping baseball from the 2012 lineup? Strike two, IOC. Strike two.
Now, editorial and letters.
Bethany W. of Athens, GA, writes: "Drew, if you haven't already, you REALLY need to hear Sufjan Stevens' new album, Illinois. It's amazing."
Dear Bethany,
To answer the first part of your conditional clause, no, I haven't heard Illinois, although I am currently listening to his Michigan album. However, I'll probably track it down simply because it contains the track named, "Come On! Feel The Illinoise!: Part I: The World's Columbian Exposition/Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me In A Dream."
Sincerely,
Boy From Illinois
PS. For your letter, you will receive a free Boy From Illinois Mousepad!
Now, features.
Because, 3 years later, I'm still competing with Daniel to be Ms. Serkedakis's favorite student, I started reading a James Michener novel earlier this week. It's called The Source, and it's about an archaeological dig in Israel that unearths a 1,000-page soap opera about the social-historical origins of the three major world religions (you know... Hinduism, Buddhism, and Adkins). Coincidentally, I'm also listening to Alan Dershowitz's The Case For Israel on tape, a book by one of OJ Simpson's attorneys that is in the process of being discredited on the grounds that 1) it plagiarizes several works and 2) the author didn't even write it (for Mr. Dershowitz's sake, hopefully those two charges cancel each other out). With these two books, I figure, I can learn all I can about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the stupidest sources I can find.
However, the remaining 800 pages of James Michener will have to be put aside in favor of the new Harry Potter, which was purchased within 12 hours of its release, if not directly at midnight. I started reading it and it immediately reminded me of myself.
You must be dying to know where this is going.
Despite getting to attend Hogwarts, a fantastic wizarding school, during the year, Harry has to spend his summers in Surrey living with his non-magical aunt and uncle, right? Well, if I were Harry, I would spend the summer wondering if my time at Hogwarts even really existed, because I would be living in a place so unlike the other that it would be difficult to conceive that the two co-existed.
This is what I feel like during the summer in Alpharetta. Now, Georgia is by no means unmagical. Getting to perform at Dad's Garage, having Kristen less than a 15 minute drive away from me, and the new Ben & Jerry's on Windward Pkwy are all very, very magical things. But it's hard for me to keep school all that active in my mind even though I wear Chicago t-shirts nearly 5 days a week. My thoughts, now, consist of how I'm going to pay the GA400 toll, which Fellini's location is the easiest to get to after work, and when I have to return the latest DVD rental. Where I'm going to lock my bike, who is going to lend me dining points, and how I'm going to print my midterm paper for free are concerns that are not only irrelevant here, but concerns that my mind denies ever really existed they seem so far away. The imperialism of the present subdues any non-immediate facts or details.
In fact, Chicago and Alpharetta are like the Israeli and Arab extremists who reject the two-state solution giving both Israel and Palestine a self-determining state. One side completely denies the other's right to exist. Right now, Alpharetta is the occupying force. I got my school report card a few days ago, and I wondered who sent it. When and where did I take Formal Study of Renaissance Poetry? Did I get drunk and sign up for night school at Perimeter College? If so, why does this tuition bill look like the invoice for two Honda Civics?
That is the psychology of living in two different places. Occasionally, though, I am reminded of what might be going on in my other life without my knowledge, while I unwittingly drive back and forth to work every day listening to the soothing, placid sounds of Alan Dershowitz. Like this e-mail I received the other day from Sarah, my roommate currently occupying (and decorating) our apartment. When I read something like this. . .
"We are thinking about doing a popart/ glamrock themed dining room. Don't be
scared. The table and chairs are going to be finished to match the color of the wood in the living room. We are thinking about splattering the table and chairs with silver. Everyone we know loves the glamrock theme. It is ironic."
. . . then the reality of my other life returns in frightening, frightening clarity.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home