Jungle and Telephone Poles: 10

20100731

yes please

train hopping

show me the wide-open spaces

20100728

it's coming across photostreams such as this one that make me realize yes, i am still interested in fashion, and please, can i dress like this all the time? and have beautiful glossy korean hair? ok thanks.

i have not forgotten you

a spot-on observation:

“ Under the current ‘tyranny of slenderness’ women are forbidden to become large or massive; they must take up as little space as possible. The very contours a woman’s body takes on as she matures - the fuller breasts and rounder hips - have become distasteful. The body by which a woman feels herself judged and which by rigorous discipline she must try to assume is the body of early adolescence, slight and unformed, a body lacking flesh or substance, a body in whose very contours the image of immaturity has been inscribed. The requirement that a woman maintain a smooth and hairless skin carries further the theme of inexperience, for an infantilized face must accompany her infantilized body, a face that never ages or furrows its brow in thought. The face of the ideally feminine woman must never display the marks of character, wisdom and experience that we so admire in men.

— Foucault, Femininity, and the Modernization of Patriarchal Power, Sandra Lee Bartky

who truly wants a real woman? who does? the "tyranny of slenderness" poisons the minds of men and women alike.

20100724

things you should know

i drink hot cocoa in the summertime

--more posts and pictures coming whenever my internet decides to shape the hell up--

20100715

this is how it goes

kicking biology exam ass in the morning

falling in love (via the internets) with crafty decorator men in the afternoons

i found the blog of Daniel Kanter, rising sophomore (fetus!) at NYU, documenting his apartment adventures at Manhattan Nest. i read through the archives. i have great fondness for this kid.

Daniel made this desk, starting with an old bedside table. how perfect is that chair?

this post highlights my inner struggle between my strong minimalist tendencies-as referenced in other posts- (tangent- one of my close friends told me the other day she was watching Fight Club and many of the lines reminded her of me. so flattering!) and my strong thrift-hunting, crafting, decorating tendencies. whatever will i do? curate, curate, curate! and detach, detach, detach.

20100713

dcdcdcdcdcdcdcdcdc

oh, DC! and who am I to look to the past? but there it is- in the books I pick up, the blogs and magazines I read, the people I meet. I'm feeling a strong pull back to the East Coast. it's undeniable. and its curious as well- I never really experienced DC the way an adult could, growing up as I did in a conservative community 30 minutes out. and also curious that out of all the places I want to experience, DC should be pulling on me so severely (a repeat location!) but nevertheless, I want to be there so badly. bring me the monuments, the gorgeous W&OD bike trail, bring me Appalachia and the Shenandoah Valley! I did not believe my mother or I would have the money for me to come visit this year- life is so unstable there. but I'm holding out hope.

I haven't seen the cherry blossoms for four years now

this is a section of the W&OD trail that passes right through the town my family stays in- I biked and ran this stretch many times the summer after my first year of college

more trail

this photo is from the journey of Jack, writer of Adventures in Voluntary Simplicity. I encourage you to read his story from the start of the blog. he embarked on a bike trip across the US, starting right in- you guessed it- DC. this photo was taken in the first week, still riding through Appalachia.

i just want to be back there- it's an ache in my heart
(all photos from google image search, except Jack's)

20100712

mohammed

"Mohammed" by the Dandy Warhols

It came on my ipod as I was walking back to campus

Through the eerie, silent plasticity of midwestern suburbia

Today the skies were heavy with the threat of rain

My body and soul were weary- but I endure, looking forward to deep rest

It just felt right.

Lyrics:

Again and again.
I get up and say, I only want to get it right.
I only want to do the right thing, but all these demons harass my soul.
I won't be today, I'm alone again.
No one can make that alive, no one can say they're better not when,
all this freedom you get is a lie.
Again and again.

20100709

unschooling: the only real option?

[source]

ok, so I know this blog is everywhere, topic-wise. but so am I. it was in ghana, actually, at the u of ghana-accra library, that I happened upon a fascinating book about unschooling and alternative schooling movements. kids are something on the FAR horizon for me, personally, but I think the topic of unschooling is riveting. today I came across the blog Unscool Days, written by a former high school teacher who is now unschooling her own child. This post was her resignation letter from the high school job, and also is a sort of manifesto for why she believes unschooling is the only real option for society's children. Her writing is well-rounded, easy to understand, and I would dare say I agree with her on every point. Have a look.

20100708

those days

this post from Adventures in Voluntary Simplicity made me a bit sad, reminding me of the summer days I often wish I was having, and making me miss DC as well.

but it's a good kind of ache

there will be more summers, and more time to be spent in Virginia as well

I'm currently in the process of reading this blog from the start of the journey to the present- I've felt very privileged to be able to read such a raw, honest account of someone's life