I was working in the kitchen all afternoon making clam chowder and listening to Tom Waits. Some days are just right for a process soup and Tom's straight-to-the-gut renditions of life. Like sandpaper on a newborn's belly.
My wife and kids can't stand Tom. It's that way with a lot of people. I think Tom is something you feel more than you listen to.
An old friend, Bjorn, sent me this video this morning. And though I don't yet need a dime, there is something very haunting in the lyrics. In the way he talks about building an empire.
Showing posts with label unemployment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unemployment. Show all posts
Monday, September 20, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
The Left and Leaving
"All this time lingers, undefined. Someone choose who's left and who's leaving. Memory will rust and erode into lists of all that you gave me: some matches, a blanket, this pain in my chest, the best parts of Lonely, duct-tape and soldered wires, new words for old desires, and every birthday card I threw away. I wait in 4/4 time. Count yellow highway lines that you're relying on to lead you home." ~ Jon K. Sampson of the Weakerthans
This song sums up journalism so much for me. Of course for Mr. Sampson it seems to sum up his experience playing a hometown venue or some such meaningful place. Songs are beautiful for the fact that they can produce so many different meanings and emotions for different people.
If I had to make a list of all that journalism gave me, it would look and sound an awful lot like what the soldiers had in Tim O'Brian's "The Things They Carried." Journalism, like few other jobs, packs an emotional wallop and leaves you both humbled and under the burden of a weight most would not choose to carry.
For the last five years I've watched those who left, those who are leaving and those who were given the boot reach blessed obscurity, though I know no one who'd actually call it that.
They were the best and the brightest, the innovators and the ones who would not, could not toe the line. Today they are blessing others with their prowess, their imagination and limitless ideas. I miss them.
Today I'm counting yellow highway lines and relying on them to help me find a home.
Tim
This song sums up journalism so much for me. Of course for Mr. Sampson it seems to sum up his experience playing a hometown venue or some such meaningful place. Songs are beautiful for the fact that they can produce so many different meanings and emotions for different people.
If I had to make a list of all that journalism gave me, it would look and sound an awful lot like what the soldiers had in Tim O'Brian's "The Things They Carried." Journalism, like few other jobs, packs an emotional wallop and leaves you both humbled and under the burden of a weight most would not choose to carry.
For the last five years I've watched those who left, those who are leaving and those who were given the boot reach blessed obscurity, though I know no one who'd actually call it that.
They were the best and the brightest, the innovators and the ones who would not, could not toe the line. Today they are blessing others with their prowess, their imagination and limitless ideas. I miss them.
Today I'm counting yellow highway lines and relying on them to help me find a home.
Tim
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