"Home"

There are many adjectives that describe Chicago, and yes, many do begin with the letter "c." Although, I do like my adjectives, I am currently drawn to a noun, "home."

It is common for people to equate "home," with "house," something that complicates the phrase "home is where the heart is." So, what is "home?" Is "home" a physical structure where people live? Is "home" a people, a community? Is "home" a set of values, attitudes, customs, etc.? Is "home" a feeling? Is "home" a food, a warm gesture, a favorite pair of shoes, wearing glasses instead of contacts, or is it an animal? Is "home" just one thing, or is it everything? Is "home" at "the heart" of us, individually and as one?

Right now, "home" is Chicago, and to be honest I do not know what that means, but I am curious to find out.

While I deconstruct and reconstruct defintions of "home," here is a "home" playlist for you:

1. Take Me Home Tonight ~ Eddie Money
2. Home ~ Iggy Pop
3. Homecoming ~ Kanye West
4. Don't Leave Home ~ Dido
5. Sweet Home Alabama ~ Lynard Skynard

Gros Bisous,
Your Neighborhood Feminist

Chicago - From Uncertainty to Unbelievable

A week from now I will be in Chicago, as a student in the Associated College's of the Midwest (A.C.M.), Newberry Library Seminar, Research in the Humanities program. Yes, it takes more than one breath to pronounce, and yes, I have taken my fair share of inhilations to prepare.

Two autumns ago, I participated in the Gettysburg Semester at Gettyburg College -  an intellectually stimulating program dedicated to Civil War Era Studies. Due to my previous off-campus experiences, I believed early on that I would not be nervous about going to Chicago. But, as luck, or life, will have you, I felt nervous and overwhelmed, a more appropriate word -- uncertain. Through my dose of uncertainty came a slew of realizations:
*Uncertainty is an organic feeling, something that is not produced by low self-esteem, unpreparedness, or a lack of confidence.
*Uncertainity is a liminal state, it will not last forever.
*Uncertainity, equals empowerment, and once again, the perception is a personal choice.

So, last week I felt uncertain. Yesterday, I felt overwhelmed. Today I feel excited. And all of it, all of the emotions, are absoultely perfect.

So, here is to my uncompleted list, my empty boxes, and my overly excited heart.
Here is to Chicago!

Gros Bisous,
Your Neighborhood Feminist

Image source

Miss Celia Foote

The Help is HUGE right now. Many aspects of the book warrant a warm feminist discussion, but I choose Miss Celia Foote. Her strength, committment to individuality, and unwillingness to forget where she came from, inspire me to do the same. Each day, and each moment, is an opportunity to choose who we are, and Miss Celia emulates that theory in her actions.

So, if you have not read The Help, pick it up at your local bookshop or Target, and fall into the beauty of individual characters and their actions.

Gros Bisous,
Your Neighborhood Feminist

Image Source

Our Kind

Everytime I read Plath's poem "Mushrooms," I feel inspired, accomplished, and connected, to both myself and the world around me. Take a moment to read her poem and reflect on your response.

Do the words remind you to be the change, and be the love?

Plath's poetry does not speak to everyone. Like Professor Watson tells her students in Mona Lisa Smile when they witness one of Jackson Pollock's paintings, the assignment is not to like the painting, but to consider it.

So, the question then, goes beyond feeling. Although you may disagree with the poem's structure, style, or message, do you consider the features and what they offer?

Gros Bisous,

Your Neighborhood Feminist


Mushrooms

Overnight, very
Whitely, discreetly,
Very quietly

Our toes, our noses
Take hold on the loam,
Acquire the air.

Nobody sees us,
Stops us, betrays us;
The small grains make room.

Soft fists insist on
Heaving the needles,
The leafy bedding,

Even the paving.
Our hammers, our rams,
Earless and eyeless,

Perfectly voiceless,
Widden the crannies,
Shoulder through holes. We

Diet on water,
On crumbs of shadow,
Bland-mannered, asking

Little or nothing.
So many of us!
So many of us!

We are shelves, we are
Tables, we are meek,
We are edible,

Nudgers and shovers
In spite of ourselves.
Our kind multiplies:

We shall by morning
Inherit the earth.
Our foot's in the door.

Image Source - Plath
Image Source - Mushrooms

poem courtesy of:

Plath, Sylvia. "Mushrooms." The Colossus. New York: Random House, 1998. 37-38. Print.

Smorgasbords: Sounds & Shades

I love smorgasbords ... they are a full throttle 'everything' experience. Why place limitations on your life or pleasures? With that said, musically, I am much the same way. My iTunes library spans from Siouxsie Sioux  to The Dead Kennedys, Faust operas, von Weber's clarinet serenades, French electro-pop ... it is quite a smorgasbord.

I recently received Bon Iver's latest album Bon Iver, for my twenty-first birthday. (Yes, I love his music, but I also love that he is a fellow Wisconsinite!) Although "Perth" and "Towers" are my new favorites, I am in love with the featured artwork by the Midwestern, Wisconsin born, artist, Gregory Euclide. Ethereal and peaceful, the texturized natural images pull me deeper into my consciousness.

So, here are two awesome links that will hopefully, aid you, reader, on your journery of self-awareness and acceptance.

http://www.gregoryeuclide.com/

http://boniver.org/#/sections/categories/blogtower/all/0/

Bon chance and remember ... Be the change. Be the love.

Gros Bisous,

Your Neighborhood Feminist

Gregory Euclide's patterns of my own acceptance became making

Valkomna!

As a person who is privy to nineteenth century American customs, it seemed a bit strange to step beyond my pen and paper, and into the world of pixelated fonts. However, the transition feels smooth, comfortable even. Although nothing can replace my Moleskine notebooks, writing for a larger audience, a community, is a nice change of pace.
Stay tuned for feminist-esque musings and contemplations.

Gros Bisous,
Your Neighborhood Feminist