Crap.Vonnegut.And Surviving This Thing.

Today has been a crappy day, a real crappy day. Without getting into painful specifics, I don't know what the hell I'm going to do when I graduate, I have two 10-pagers looming over my head, and everyone seems to want to bail out of commitments, leaving the rest of us to handle not only our own messes but theirs as well. Plus, Mother Nature decided to crap on us all day--it's okay though, I'm sure we deserve it. And I know I'm supposed to be grateful for the rain and the clouds and the misery, and normally I am (sometimes). But today I just wasn't having it.


Anywho, after using Glee as an attempt to try and shut out the disappointing world just to have it come knocking on my door to deal another low blow (that's right, it interrupted me but I said wait until the commercials before you continue to add to the crappiness), I decided to curl up with some quality Kurt Vonnegut and his A Man Without A Country. I have to be honest, I don't know as much about him as many other people do, but I DO know just after reading the first half of his novel that he's someone we could all learn from; plus, his book has given me some seriously good laughs over the past few days and particularly tonight. 


My saving grace today has been my boyfriend Chris who puts up with all this crap and has repeatedly, with sympathy but sternness, encouraged me to keep my head up and not give up on myself or others. Thus, the following passage by Vonnegut made me think of him but also of the general human capacity we all possess to keep each other going when all we wanna do is throw in the reigns...


"I turned eighty-two on November 11, 2004. What's it like to be old? I can't parallel park worth a damn anymore, so please don't watch while I try to do it. And gravity has become a lot less friendly and manageable than it used to be.


When you get to my age, if you get to my age, and if you have reproduced, you will find yourself asking your own children, who are themselves middle-aged, 'What is life all about?' I have seven kids, three of them orphaned nephews. 


I put my big question about life to my son the pediatrician. Dr. Vonnegut said this to his doddering old dad: 'Father, we are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is.'"


And so we are once again reminded that the greatest gift we can give to another is just to be there, helping one another maintain at least a bit of our sanity. 


Together, we can get through this thing--whatever it is.

What People Say

"Found poems take existing texts and refashion them, reorder them, and present them as poems. The literary equivalent of a collage, found poetry is often made from newspaper articles, street signs, graffiti, speeches, letters, or even other poems." --From poets.org


With that said, the following is a found poem I created from two editions of People magazine. I wrote this for my Creative Writing class, but I enjoyed writing it and felt like sharing. There are a few additions and subtractions but for the most part, the material used comes straight from the magazines.  

What People Say

To be beautiful,

begin by outlining your

mouth with a lip pencil, then fill lips in with

creamy lipstick—Sultry Red Lips!

Sweep blush across cheeks for a

natural flush.

[Selena Gomez in a Bebe

cracked leather faux fur jacket, $259]

To be beautiful,

build hair body by spritzing

wet hair with a volumizer, then boost with

lifting spray—Soft Waves!

Amp up lashes with two coats of

mascara.

[Kristin Cavallari in a Funktional Mayan

draped sweater, $267]

To be beautiful,

apply gold shadow on the

lids to the browbone, then layer bronze shadow from

lashline to the crease—Golden Eyes!

Whiten teeth with

Crest white strips.

[Pippa Middleton in a Zara

double-breasted coat, $300]

If all else fails,

cover up and

wear a pair of sunglasses.