Poetry Sunday: Phenomenal Women

One of my friends was presenting a short film at a Women's History event on International Women's Day. Another person I sort of know, a grad student who is in my small group in my Leadership in Community Service class, performed this poem and it was lovely. She is really beautiful, and this poem is pretty empowering to strong women.

Phenomenal Woman

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman

Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me. 

Magic - Coldplay

I have a couple of friends who hate Coldplay because they think that everybody makes too big of a deal out of them. They think that Coldplay lyrics aren't particularly beautiful or meaningful, like they're a cop-out or something.

I personally rather enjoy Coldplay. I don't need music to touch my soul every time I listen, I just want it to make me feel something. In this case, Coldplay's Magic makes me happy.

Mid-Morning Thoughts

• I wish I had breakfast foods in my room.
• I actually do have some food in my room, I'm just going to have to be resourceful.
• I love that my curtains block out the sun so fervently.
• I have been sleeping until 9 or 9:30 and I hate it. I am excited for the day I can live in an apartment and have a kitchen and wake up at seven and make tea and eggs on toast, then go for a run around the neighborhood, or to the nearby hot yoga studio. I ride my bike there, a really cool bike that's like a gorgeous kelly green color.
• Okay, let me tell you about what I would consider to be an ideal weekend day in a happy life for me: After my hot yoga class, I come home to my small but bright-with-natural-light apartment. I feed my adorable cat, and then I go to a farmer's market, because hopefully they have that peanut butter goat's milk fudge that they always have at farmer's markets near Minerva. If not, I'll settle with some basil and cherry tomatoes and avocados and homemade salsa and beets and bell peppers. Then I get lunch with my friend, hopefully Erin or Gabrielle or Leanna or Jonathan (even though they probably don't live where I live, but wouldn't that be nice?), or I guess I could have lunch with a new friend. We get tacos. Then, we go see that new movie that will be coming out with all of my favorite actors, a happy romantic comedy starring John Krasinski and like Mindy Kaling, Justin Timberlake, Andy Samberg, the cop from Bridesmaids and Tina Fey. After that, I go back to my bright apartment and go swimming, because we have a pool in our apartment complex, and I make small talk with the nice new neighbors, but not too much small talk because that's the worst. Finally, it's like seven p.m. so I go back to my apartment and my really nice roommate and I have a light dinner of salad (spring mix, beets, corn, chickpeas, onions, feta, cilantro vinaigrette like I get at school). We have a  show that's on at 8, so we make some tea and do our nails and what the show, that's probably a dating show, a talent show, or something really funny like the Office (even though nothing can really compare). I end the night by calling my mom, then reading a new Jhumpa Lahiri book and going to sleep.
• I'm probably going to go make ramen in a second.
• Beer has SO MANY calories in it, and it tastes awful. What is the point?
• Alcohol in general: What is the point? I think I quit.
• I wish I liked the Higher Ed program at UT Austin better, because that would be really fun.
• The school I think I'll apply to so far are UT Austin, University of Michigan (booo), Ohio State (True love), Vanderbilt and UPenn. That seems like plenty for me. Do I have to keep researching? :(
• I played Battleship last night and it was a BLAST. Teams of four sit in canoes and try to capsize the other teams.
• I wish my room weren't a mess.
• Is it going to be warm ever again?

"Original Kindle"

Poetry Sunday: She Walks in Beauty

One time in high school we did a unit on poetry, and we went outside and did poetry readings like in the movie The Dead Poet's Society. We each could share a poem we wrote, or read a poem from a poetry book. I chose this little love poem by Lord Byron, not remembering that it is featured in The Dead Poet Society when they are in that weird tiny cave.

She Walks in Beauty

She walks in beauty, like the night

   Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that’s best of dark and bright

   Meet in her aspect and her eyes;

Thus mellowed to that tender light

   Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,

   Had half impaired the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress,

   Or softly lightens o’er her face;

Where thoughts serenely sweet express,

   How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,

   So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

   But tell of days in goodness spent,

A mind at peace with all below,

   A heart whose love is innocent!

Top Five

Rock Climbing
I went rock climbing for the first time today! It was really challenging, but also really thrilling. Although I couldn't reach the top of two of the three walls I climbed, I am still am feeling challenged by them and I want to return as soon as I can find time in order to improve. The feeling of defeating a strange synthetic mountain with shapely, brightly-colored plastic "rocks" jutting out from a flat surface is oddly empowering. The Adventure Recreation Center also had a slackline, which I felt really challenged by as well. I'm glad that I got a taste of this now because I hope I can enjoy doing it more often in the future.



Beets
I have been eating beets so often lately. Something about that gorgeous natural red juice, the tender texture and the slightly sweet yet neutral flavor have been making be get salads solely as a vehicle for beets. Am I Dwight Schrute?


Networking
Although meeting with people is really uncomfortable sometimes, just requesting to meet with someone who could potentially have any information to connect you to resources for your future makes a world of difference. I've found that even if they don't have particularly specific information to give you, having had that one-on-one conversation will make  most people want you to succeed, and will give their hand in doing that. I have met with several people this week to talk about graduate school programs and their advice really inspired me. Networking truly is important.

Like Crazy
I watched a movie on Netflix the other day called Like Crazy. I wasn't exactly "crazy" about it (Oh, Marisa, you're so funny), but it was a really realistic portrayal of how hard long distance relationships are, and how much struggle, disappointment one's heart goes through. It was a beautiful movie, but I wasn't quite satisfied with the choice of main actor (Anton Yelchin), who stole my heart as Charlie Bartlett and doesn't seem like quite interested enough in the relationship to fit the character of Jacob. In fact, I just had to Google his character name, that is how disinterested I was in the character. I found myself identifying much more strongly with the female lead Anna, played by British actress Felicity Jones. Overall, a good movie to speculate about, even if it didn't ruin me emotionally like The Notebook or Hunchback of Notre Dame or something.


Herbal Essences Shampoo 
I just ran out of the shampoo that my dad bought me for Christmas, Paul Mitchell Shampoo One, which smells like a dream. I replaced it with Herbal Essences Moroccan My Shine. I'm rather embarrassed by the pun, but it smells nice and it's blue. I don't know what this obsession with Moroccan argan oil is, but I thought I'd give it a cheap try, as I imagine that Herbal Essences probably adds something like 3 drops per bottle.

One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories by B.J. Novak

As I've mentioned before, I'm a massive fan of The Office. I started watching it in December and somehow laughed and cried through 9 years of television in two months. Oddly enough, one of my favorite characters in the show is Ryan, the slightly delusional, self-centered jerk who thinks he has everything to prove and spends the entire nine years torturing the heart of his dramatic co-worker Kelly Kapoor. When I did a little more research on the actors behind the show, I found that the actor who played Ryan, B.J. Novak, actually spent most of his time in the writer's room rather than on set in The Office, and actually considers himself a writer, not an actor.



I also found that he recently released a book, One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories. During my swift obsession with The Office, I swung by my local bookstore and bought a copy. Luckily, I love short stories, and his absurd sense of humor is right up my alley. I found myself laughing aloud through some of the stories. Some of my favorites were the shortest pieces in the book, lasting only a sentence or two. Although the stories were mostly unrelated, there were several tiny details that connected the stories in a really funny way. They weren't purely for comedy, either. I found some of the stories to have a touching and sad undertone, even if only to end with some ironic punchline, like Kellogg's (or: The Last Wholesome Fantasy of the Middle School Boy), where a boy finds out that he wins a cereal sweepstakes and his parents don't let him cash the prize because his real father is the CEO of Kellogg's.



My top 5 picks from the book were, in order of how they appear in the book:
No One Goes to Heaven to See Dan Fogelberg
Missed Connection: Grocery Spill at 21st and 6th 2:30 pm on Wednesday
Kindness Among Cakes
MONSTER: The Roller Coaster
The World's Biggest Rip-Off




I would recommend the book to fans of short fiction, comedy and the Ryan/Kelly romance.