It is in the suttle things . . . .

Guest — Tue, 13 May 2008 15:18:37 -0400

. . . that we can sometimes find the deepest things. Alice, it is great that you are taking this person's comment as a prompt to deepen the reflections you have with the creative world around you. I think people sometimes think that you need to be smacked upside the head to see the connections in life. But the true secret and suprise (that a lot of people ignore or don't want to know) is that there are new ways of processing and recreating our lives around us every second of the day. We just have to have our eyes, ears, and hearts open to them, which takes a new level of awareness, consciousness, and ownership of our lives that is not always easy. Thus, some people live very unconscious (and in the end much less passioniate, energetic, and joy-filled) lives. So, BRAVO to you for embracing the creative gifts of the world for what they are truly intended for.

No, a Song Is Not Just a Song

Alice Brooks — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:00:01 -0400

After my Ingrid Michaelson song post, someone commented, "It's just a song people."

I loved the responses to that, but I especially loved this one:

"And a poem is just a poem? And a painting is just pigment on a canvas and (so the song goes) life is just to die? Sorry, I don't buy that. I think it's good, great, wonderful to look to art, music, architecture, nature — all these things — to try to find or understand our connections to one another and to find some meaning to go with our experiences."

I spend more time doing this these days — finding new meanings in pieces I've already known. Songs, especially — whether they're about splitting up, or, more recently, being in a relationship that makes me happy — songs I've known forever I hear again and suddenly understand, suddenly feel like they're connected to me.

Suddenly, there are songs that mean something. Books that suddenly make sense. Poems that make me feel like I know where I'm going.

Because I like that — that feeling of connection — and because I want to irritate the commenter who thinks songs mean nothing but a paycheck to the songwriter, I'd like to spend a little time this week on those connections.

That's the thing about major life shifts: There's new meaning to find, and there are others trying to find the same meanings. Sometimes they say it better than we do.

firstwivesworld - No, a Song Is Not Just a Song - Comments

It is in the suttle things . . . .

No, a Song Is Not Just a Song