“The natural [wo]man is an enemy…”
(Mosiah 3:19 in the Book of Mormon)
Toughest critic, newfound cynic, cross examine everything
Radar for threats, emotional debts, I trust only reluctantly
Riches on my mind, not quite as kind, eyeing the world ambitiously
Only a shell of my former self, where is that girl I used to be?
How can I retain my purity after tasting the fruit of iniquity?
Can I regain my innocence in the face of spiritual dissonance?
Struggle between who I am naturally
And the person that I need to be
Caught up in ideal identities
(My best friend and my enemy)
No easy victory in this internal war
I’ve lasted this long; I’ll keep fighting some more
“Got no choice but to fight, so fight on.” -John Mayer
I think it’s high time for a little controversy, don’t you? 🙂
…
Those who are part of the Mormon “Ordain Women” movement make no secret that they will again demonstrate at the Priesthood session of General Conference taking place in 2 days time. Some are even more bolstered now than before (namely author Joanna Brooks), as they seem to take the letter from the PR department as some sort of a challenge.
…
Here’s where I am confused: Why would anyone put themselves through that….again? I understand that being denied permission to attend in October was quite emotionally taxing for those involved. So why would you want to do that to yourself one more time? Never mind that you are now deliberately defying the Church’s request; it just seems unfathomable to try again when you are destined to, well, fail in your endeavor. Before, you thought you had a chance. Now, you don’t have one at all.
…
I’m not trying to be unkind. I’m not even necessarily trying to discourage you. But why? Why are you going to torture yourself again? It seems to me to be emotionally masochistic. I know that you believe you have a greater cause, but at what cost (when it’s already guaranteed that you will not meet your goal) ?
Why (Georgia)?
Who finds a way to fit John Mayer into EVERYTHING?
Before he was famous, John Mayer expressed that he was his own biggest advocate. This maxim has served him extremely well and has led him to his magnificent career; as it pushed him to work tirelessly to polish his skills and achieve musical excellence, stand up for himself when others might have disagreed/disapproved, and fight for what he wanted, artistically and otherwise. Inspired by John (as I usually am), I have adopted this philosophy for my own life and likewise declare that I am my own biggest advocate.
So I am just looooving this chance that I have to write. To express myself and to say things that are valuable and can speak to others. It’s a gift to have the means, the skills, and the freedom to create as I do. Often times during the day I am inspired and think of things to write about! I have to keep it tucked in my mind (or in my notebook) til I can finally get to it. And I do get to it 🙂 So yes, I love the opportunity to write.
But it takes its toll, too! Inspiration is often inconvenient. Like often the best ideas come at really inopportune times (like in the middle of the night). It’s something many artists deal with. John Mayer, Natasha Bedingfield, and Taylor Swift to drop some big names. And it takes energy. Mental, emotional, physical energy. Don’t get me wrong, I ain’t complaining! Not in the least. Just expressing that truly committing oneself to one’s chosen art form can be pretty tiring.
I “studied” this book in a British Lit class at BYU
Embarrassed to admit that I didn’t read it a whole bunch (Sparknotes 😦 )
High Times!
Hard Times!
Friends, we truly are living in hard times. Perilous, even. And there is no single answer to solve our personal/ individual troubles, let alone our world’s problems. But may I suggest just a few:
1) Be kind to other people
2) Do your best to get your finances in order and be a wise steward over your things.
3) Sacrifice what you need to to obey the laws of God even more exactly
Be afraid of what might happen if you allow things to escalate, don’t intervene when you should, and then turn a blind eye to their increasingly obscene and self-destructive behavior, or worse yet, justify it as acceptable, inevitable, and cute. Gonna be a bit crude for a minute ‘cuz I can’t resist the wordplay. (Oh, and this is hardly for Mr. Cyrus alone):
Grow a PARE (adjusted spelling) and be a decent PARENT!
“Mothers [and fathers!] who know…
permit less of what will bring good fruit eternally“
Sephora is the Mecca of makeup stores, in case you didn’t know.
Sadly, I can usually only afford 1-2 items per trip (quality ain’t cheap, ya’ll!). It’s like a diabetic in an ice cream parlor. Sigh. But that doesn’t stop me from spending hours there (sometimes literally!) brushing up on the latest colors, styles, and brands. Oh, and of course sampling a TONof products! Some might call this vain, worldly, and foolish. I call it beautiful, creative, and artistic. After that, I just might tell any haters of my beauty hobby/obsession to go to hell.
Oh, and when I went a few days ago, I heard this classic Natasha song as I was checking out. Don’t hate that!
Sephora is a little bit of heaven on earth. Will write more later…
This is one of those Mayer songs that I didn’t quite grasp or understand the first few times I heard it. But a recent listen helped me realize it is a subtle masterpiece. John pines for an older, simpler time when true art was recognized and appreciated. A time when people weren’t “celebrating broken things” like publicity stunts, reality shows, and the sick culture of the glorification of celebrity. The nostalgia for something real and substantial is a theme that appears in Mayer’s music again and again.
On a personal note, this song perfectly describes my feelings on what I call the artist’s own solution:
When no one has yet expressed what is lacking and
desperately needs to be expressed, you do it yourself.
Much of my own blog is this: no one (at least that I know of) has written some things that need to be written, so I do. I have found that I often have the gift to be able to find the words to describe the feelings/ viewpoints of others, so perhaps they might at times think to themselves that Katherine “Speak[s] for Me” (the title of John’s song)! I believe this is one of the major reasons why my blog has done so well in a relatively short time period.
Other times, some artists have already found the words to express (and often surpass!) what I feel, so I borrow from them! In case you haven’t noticed, John Mayer often is my biggest source of inspiration (duh!).
Okay, I’ve taken a terrific tangent from the song which inspired this particular post. So I’m gonna get back on track! 🙂 Though “Speak for Me” is only 3:04 in length, I could write pages upon pages about it’s chord structure, rhyme scheme, thematic substance, literary/grammatical structures, et cetera. As I said earlier in this post, this song is a subtle masterpiece.
Just one brief detail which I wish to analyze:
I’m not mad about it
But I’m not that mad about it
I’m not mad about it
But I’m not that mad about it
Repetitive? Yes. Lazy? No. Seemingly simple, but cleverly complex? Definitely! The first connotation of “mad” is angry, while the second connotation is crazy/happy about. True to character, John rarely (if ever) becomes angry about things that he wishes were different, but instead expresses a sadness. This is how I often feel myself; not one to get belligerent (except on rare occasions), but on the contrary just am sometimes sad.
Alrighty time to wrap it up for this post. As is the theme of this song, I often am disappointed in the the overall lack of quality in our world today. Not only in music, but just in people and society altogether. Our problems are far from few, and I often get frustrated when I see people compound what is already less than ideal by their (lack of) actions, words, and attitudes. But thankfully in an age of gimmicks and phonies, there are some constants we can count on. Among other things, I can always find something (to borrow the words from Ms. Taylor Swift) “good and right and real” in the music of John.
to the cancer community, and to humanity in general.
Harsh? Yes.
Sad? Definitely.
True? Absolutely.
I appreciate people like Greg LeMond who aren’t afraid to acknowledge the (figurative!) elephant in the room and tell it like it is: Lance is a criminal, a liar, an adulterer, a bully, and a thug.
He belongs behind bars.
“What do you suppose that mercy can rob justice? Nay, not one bit.“
This is one of John’s saddest lyrics. It is also one of my favorites. Also, I strongly dislike the film/book “The Notebook,” (I’ll write why later), but I immediately thought of it when I was listening to this song.
So I don’t write about it all (“it all” being anything and everything going on in my life and in the Universe as a whole). But I most certainly would if I could! In the words of Evita, “the physical interferes.” Like, I gotta eat and shower and go to work and socialize and stuff! And guess what? Those seemingly mundane things inspire me all the more! Good problem to have, but yes, still (somewhat of) a problem. I am constantly wanting to read, and to write about what I read. I try my best, but writing this blog isn’t an exact science. Still, I celebrate what I do write. And also that I write a lot. Like, a LOT! And in case you haven’t noticed, I write about a TON of stuff: The gospel, John Mayer, my love life (or lack, thereof), Natasha Bedingfield, social issues, Charles Dickens, and John Mayer again. And those are just a few; you see, the list is never ending! A never-ending story. Variety is my middle name! Not really, but it might be as well be! Katherine Anne Variety Wilkinson. Got a nice ring to it, dontcha think?
This song is doing it for me totally. Sad, happy. Feel good, feed lonely, all at once. I seriously cannot believe that such talent exists in one man. WOW!
Just stay on the run; get off the grid. Hide yourself out like you know that I did
PS. It took me some time to warm up to this song, as I initially thought it was a little too simple and perhaps even a tad bit boring. But now I loooooove it. Nostalgia, lost love, explicit mention of a woman’s name (which is almost certainly NOT an alias), emotional vulnerability, ambiguous feelings toward marriage/family, blatant admittance of technological stalking in a way that is both comedic and tragic (he does this in “In Your Atmosphere” too!), allusions to geographic locations, a building choral swell at the end, subtle implications of hope, and all set to the classic blues chord pattern?! This man NEVER fails to deliver.
Johnny couldn’t write a bad song if he tried.
Also, I want John to be happy. I think he is and he isn’t. And I know that some may assume that his relationship with Katy Perry is likely just another mistake or celebrity mismatch. But if they are bringing each other some level of love and commitment, I say more power to ’em!
2) I haven’t seen a ton of Billy’s stuff, but what I have seen is almost always disrespectful, sacrilegious, discriminatory, inappropriate, racist, unkind, profane, rude, obscene, and just overall mean.
3) I don’t hate anyone except for Satan (although Maher makes me reconsider somewhat…).
4) I validate people who have concerns with organized religion (or otherwise doctrinally strict life philosophies). Read more here about this:
5) I don’t think all atheists are bad people (read more here!).
6) I VERY MUCH think that Bill Maher is a bad person (and I don’t make comments like that very often!).
8) There are public figures who poke fun at Mormonism (and other religious/cultural groups as well) in a way that is NOTunkind or belittling. Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart are the ones that come to mind at the moment.
9) If you’re dying for a television fix of a gray-haired man, may I suggest checkin’ out Anderson Cooper? I am a fan of his stuff. And I even wrote him a lil’ poem!
10) We may find others’ (religious) beliefs (very) odd, but still we must find the humanity and decency to show some level of respect, even if we do not (fully) agree.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
I’m not worried about (permanent) damage that Mr. Bill Maher will do to the image of the LDS Church (cuz he can’t!). No way. We’re here to say. And he’ll be left to his own sad life. (Sorry if this is a lil’ mean-spirited).
Still, Billy Boy bugs me so much so that I devoted
(a lot of) time and effort to writing this post.
Come on now, Maher. Change yo wayz a lil’ bit, huh?
BILL MAHER PUTS A SOUR taste in my mouth…
and if I’m gonna have those particular taste-buds activated,
I’d muuuuuch rather it be because of something like this:
🙂
PS. I understand that his last name does not naturally rhyme with the word “sour;” I twisted it for a stylistic purpose. Lots of artists do this kind of thing (slant rhyme is the exact term). John Mayer does it in his song “You’re No One ’til Someone Lets You Down.” Check it stat!
PPS. Not gonna lie, I’m quite proud of this post and its plethora of literary/journalistic/celebrity/religious/historical references. Go count ’em!
What do these words mean? Why did John Mayer choose to have this brief interlude (by the oh so talented Frank Ocean) on his Paradise Valley album? A lot of people are wondering. But only the artist(s) know(s) the full answer.
*as ya’ll should know by now, I REALLY don’t like violence. But this lyric is so striking that it deserves attention, huh?
doesn’t necessarily mean you are caving to pressure.
Figuratively or literally.
Listen, we can’t change our minds too much. But we can’t be too stuck in our ways, either! If patterns go too longer unexamined, they become our prisons. Also, we can be empathetic and understanding even as we stick to our guns.
Line of propriety
is there anyone who ever remembers changing their mind from the paint on a sign?
~John Mayer (duh!)
Myth vs. experience
thought love was dead but not you’re changing my mind!
~Travie McCoy (duh!)
you change your mind like a girl changes clothes
~Katy Perry
How do these things relate to YOU?
When have you changed your mind?
When have you not?
Black and yellow, black and yellow,black and yellow…
*PS. Although I don’t hate everything he says/does, I am not a huge fan of Piers.
PPS. Although I don’t hate everything he wrote, I am not a huge fan of Vonnegurt (but that short story I mentioned is an intellectual and literary goldmine!).
PPPS. Although I don’t agree with everything he has done in the past, I AM QUITE POSSIBLY THE HUGEST JOHN MAYER FAN EVER TO WALK THE EARTH!
The HBO series “Girls” has done remarkably well in it’s short time of syndication. Creator/producer/director/star Lena Dunham has gained critical acclaim for her series, which purports to depict a realistic look into the gritty lives of 4 young women living in a less than perfect urban New York setting.
I personally am all about the truth and very much appreciate the idea of realism. However, this show REALLY rubs me the wrong way. No matter what anyone tells you, the show is filthy and is all about sex. Watch the following video for me to expound upon these ideas. And also let me tell you some about a girl who is as real as real can be (thanks Garth Brooks!), but is still very much a lady! As is always the case, the video is safe for all eyes and ears!
friends, I really do usually try to keep it to 2 minutes,
but I just couldn’t help it!
*I meant to say you will gain more than you miss by NOT watching that show…
Recap Schmecap:
1) I believe in free speech.
2) I have watched a few episodes of “Girls” (but I swear on my favorite lip glossthat I will never watch another one).
~Ellie Graham (journalistic boss character from Runaway Bride)
Oh, and this is tangential, but “Runaway Bride” is one of my favorite films EVER. If you think it is a mindless chick flick, you are dead wrong! There is so much thematic substance in it that can relate to everyone. And I do mean everyone. Plus it’s funny, clean, short, and has the cute and talented Ms. Julia Roberts!
I am not an official spokesperson or representative of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (But check out more about Michael Otterson here-he’s one of my faves) But I still do believe it is important (AND GREATLY DESIRE!) to stand as a witness of God, even, and especially when it comes to this blog.
Now I am not perfect by any stretch.
Yes! (hard to believe I know…)
(“um,” I will continue, thanks John…)
And is there sometimes a bit of possible tension between my 3 fold identity of Mormon, woman, and human?
Absolutely.
But has there ever been a clash that I believe could
(in case you are too lazy/prideful to click on that above link,
it is from this wonderful waving woman…)
love this song, it reminds me of Fiji. It will change your life.
LISTEN TO IT!
Girl, get back to your thesis
ANYWAYS, just wanted to express that I am conscious of the fact that this blog in some small way represents not only myself, not only my family, not only my friends, not only the LDS Church, but also Christ himself.
Is that blasphemous or arrogant? No way, Jose. Peace out!
PS. I’d give my bangs (first picture!) a B+ that day.
has, through the years, said publicly many, many tacky, arrogant, sexual, and overall highly inappropriate things with which I find (great) offense. Chris’s wife badly needs to take a course concerning class.
Words cannot express how disappointed I am with not only Miley,
but also very much so with her family, particularly her father.
Mr. Cyrus, I am glad that you love your daughter and you want to support her in a time when many people (myself included) are so frustrated with her (rightfully so!), but don’t defend her despicable actions, especially when you should have helped prevent them in the first place!
(I don’t like the word stupid, but in extreme situations it is warranted.)
Billy Ray, your actions/words on the Piers Morgan show were:
Human/ Mormon/ Woman: KATHERINE 