The Greatest American Poet and a Few Other Things

One of the advantages of having older siblings is that I got exposed to some fucking amazing music at a very young age. I absolutely LOVE Jim Morrison. I fell in love with the Doors when I was about 6 and by the time I was 11, Jim Morrison was dead and the Doors pretty much died too. I still remember the day he died and how much "L.A. Woman" was playing on the airwaves. Many years later, as an English major in college, I fell in love with the beauty and poetry of his lyrics. Although I am not some MAJOR critic of music or literature and poetry, I have always thought Jim Morrison has been the greatest American poet of my lifetime. Although I have a great fondness and admiration for Robert Frost and other great American poetic treasures such as Maya Angelou, since Jim Morrison only lived to be 27, it makes his songs and poems even more important, in my eyes. And as you can see for yourself, he was an incredibly sexy man... 30+ years after his death, there is no one in music who had that magic that Jim Morrison had.

Sounds Like Grunge to Me

Hard to believe that yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the release of Nirvana's "Nevermind" album. This has got to be one of my all-time favorite albums/cd's. Back in 1991, we were living in San Francisco and I heard and played this all of the time. It had such a San Francisco-vibe and since we were living in the Haight, it fit in perfectly. A few years ago, I compiled my "Ten Albums I Would Take to the Island" with me - this was on that list. And today, it still would go with me to that island. "Come As You Are" is my favorite cut on the album. Kurt Cobain, gone too soon just like the guy in my next post.

Thanks to my dear friend, Kelly Kilmer, I am now involved in the Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition project.  As part of this project, I will be working on 3 books during the next year that I will be contributing to this project.  For more information regarding the Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition, go to this link:  http://www.library.fau.edu/depts/spc/JaffeCenter/collection/al-mutanabbi/index.php.

I know I should be focusing on other things such as opening year 2 of our school and making art, however, I am going to focus instead on fashion... It has taken me almost all of the summer to decide on how to update my wardrobe for fall and winter.  These are the items I recently bought to give my wardrobe a little edge and of course, a classic in the form of the wool coat that will be cherished for years to come.  My closet gets an overhaul several times a year.  Anything that has not been worn in awhile, gets donated.  I tend to stick to classics, so that I can go back to them over and over, and mix them up and wear them in a different way each time to make them look new.  And I have always liked giving my clothing my own little edge by adding something unexpectedly.  A couple of weeks ago, I wore a black sleeveless, v-necked  DKNY dress I bought for peanuts.  I wore it out to dinner with a black feather necklace that I tied and let the chain run down the back of my neck.  I added red lipstick (which is SO rare for me), flat black sandals, and a Chanel leather clutch I bought a few years back on eBay.  I try really hard not to look like an administrator and that is why I added the little handcuff bracelet and red clutch to my wardrobe.

On another note, although I worked at my school all summer, I did get an opportunity to work on some new art too.  I finished 2 (yes, Kelly, 2! ) journals.  I finished my "love" and "Frida" journals.  Now, all I need to do is take photos of my journal pages and upload them to the blog.  With school opening in 2 days, I better move on this...

I am excited to find 2 of my favorite journal pages being plugged on Seth Apter's blog, "The Altered Page"!  Seth's blog can be found here:  http://thealteredpage.blogspot.com.  I created these pages several years ago.  Last year, Kelly Kilmer plugged these same pages on Jenny Doh's blog.  Being true to myself has been my motto as long as I can remember.  It is the way I live my life and it is a BIG part of my work ethic too.  For me, there is no job or title that would make me compromise my beliefs;  I would walk away from the job before I would allow myself to be sucked into something that isn't me.  On a personal note, this is a lot easier for me to live with - if something feels like it will make me feel uncomfortable, I just won't do it.