Rainy Day

As soon as June commenced, the weather turned . . . for the worse. Now I love summer thunderstorms a lot--they come without warning and they're usually very extreme. But what we've had lately is several days of rainy and increasingly cold weather. I suppose I should get used to it seeing as I'm moving to Seattle. Last night while I was sleeping, I had my window open, and at one point the rain was coming down harder than I can ever remember, and I wanted to go out and stand in the rain (it's always been a fantasy of mine to get caught in movie-rain, the kind that soaks you completely in seconds), but I went back to sleep instead. This morning when I woke up, it really felt like autumn, like there should be soggy brown leaves flying in the wind and a fire lit in the fireplace, which is all a bit ridiculous since it's June and almost Midsummer. Anyway, currently I am enjoying some hot, black tea and cream--if only it were clotted cream. *sigh*

Speaking of Midsummer, I just finished Little Big: or, The Fairies' Parliament by John Crowley and I think I'll have to agree with the critics and say it's the greatest fantasy ever written by an American. However, it transcends the paperback genre (it's not even similar in anyway) and belongs, instead, to the canon of High Literature. It's a very difficult novel but well worth the effort. I just wanted to quote the ultimate paragraph which is so beautiful (and doesn't give anything away, so don't worry).
"One by one the bulbs burned out, like long lives come to their expected ends. Then there was a dark house made once of time, made now of weather, and harder to find; impossible to find and not even as easy to dream of as when it was alight. Stories last longer: but only by becoming stories. It was anyway all a long time ago; the world, we know now, is as it is and not different; if there was ever a time when there were passages, doors, the borders open and many crossing, that time is not now. The world is older than it was. Even the weather isn't as we remember it clearly once being; never lately does there come a summer day such as we remember, never clouds as white as that, never grass as odorous or shade as deep and full of promise as we remember they can be, as once upon a time they were."
So that's another summer book checked off the list. Also, last night was book club. We enjoyed a lovely potluck dinner, and then Megan and I had a wonderful discussion of The Secret History as she was the only other one who finished it (even though it's one of my favorite novels!). Anyway, if you were ever in the Writing Center, you can imagine what it was like for two former English majors to discuss an interesting novel that they both enjoyed while the rest of the group sat around a bit bemused. For our next book we're reading Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller, so I'm very excited.

Yesterday, I bought a ticket to see Tori Amos when she comes to Salt Lake in July. I have to say that Abnormally Attracted to Sin is probably my least favorite album of hers, though, much to my surprise (and then again, not), it's starting to grow on me. In some ways it's not entirely different from much of her work, and then again it stands it stark contrast to everything she's done, especially in relationship to her last album, the rock and roll American Doll Posse. It's her first album that is entirely self-produced, released by her own personal label, and I feel that it's indulgent and would have benefited wonderfully from some editing and outside input. Sonically cohesive, it smolders, slowly, moodily through the whole album building up to the crescendo in the final and longest track: "Lady in Blue." The album reminds me of dark embers--red and black, glowing hot. Gone is the concept album, but also gone is the magic of Amos's freely associative and allusive lyrics creating narrative poems and inverting symbols. Amos the Iconoclast, well aware of her status, has never felt less iconoclastic. Highlights (I don't want to call them favorites or gems; not yet anyway) from the album include "Not Dying Today" (easily the best song and for the Neil reference) and "500 Miles" which are the most upbeat songs, and "Maybe California" and "Lady in Blue," while "Give" for example is repetitive and sentimental. Nevertheless, I'm still excited to see Tori in concert and I hope she plays a lot of her previous work as well.

Lately, I've been thinking of what "liberal" means to me. The American Heritage Desk Dictionary defines liberal as "Open-minded; tolerant." While I agree with most of the Democratic Party's platforms, I am not a hardcore party-liner. I think liberal means being open to all ideas--even (conservative) ideas that make me personally uncomfortable--and trying to understand the issue from multiple points of view; I don't think any issue has only two diametrically opposing viewpoints. After careful consideration, I can make my educated decision on the issue and take a stand, which generally takes on a live-and-let-live flavor, though I still want to be open to new ideas and information that could change my paradigm. Anyway, just some food for thought.