things I cannot show

some things I've been up to that I cannot video...

I've been listening to a lot of podcasts lately. It makes my 4 hours of commuting each day go by much more quickly and also gives me a more comfortable way of staying up to date. Newspapers never really hooked me, especially newspapers online. NYT is my homepage and I glance at the largest headlines every day (to see something crazy like Cheney shooting someone) but I don't get much further. NPR has some fantastic shows and they do their journalism well... they can make the news relevant to me and my life. And I like the conversation.

I subscribe to quite a few, ranging from Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac (did you know where the Easter Bunny tradition came from? I found out today. Interesting stuff.), to On the Media, to KCRW's Politics of Culture, to NPR's All Songs Considered.

I was listening to the environmental news show Living on Earth this evening as I made dinner. They have a regular segment called Early Signs: Reports from a Warming Planet, today covering the Republic of Kiribati (pro. Kirabas), between Hawaii and Australia. The people living there are not concerned, taking the Bible as proof that God promised Noah to never allow another flood. The leaders, national and local, are trying their best to get the people concerned about global climate change, decreasing fresh water, and erosion of plants... they speculate on 50 years... 50 years left for the existence of Kiribati...

I've also gotten a hold of lots of new musical artists, mostly through the NPR podcasts. A few of my favorites are Jolie Holland, an ex-member of the Be Good Tanyas, and Sarah Harmer, half rocker, half bluegrass ballad singer. Been enjoying it... a lot...

Also thinking lots about art. I'm taking this Arts in Ireland survey course right now, a third music, a third theatre, and a third visual arts. The visual arts has been fantastic, visiting a different Dublin museum every week. Combined with my talks with Michelle, my internship supervisor, and her recommendations of artists she knows and follows, I've been inundated by ideas and purposes.

I've been interested in art since I was little, with my first recognitions of Picasso and Van Gogh. I've always been crafty and creative. Now, I can look at art much more objectively (and subjectively as well) and get to understanding the purpose, the skill, the inspiration... sometimes the lack there of. We shall see if I can channel all this in the coming year.

Speaking of the coming year... I cannot believe I'm on to my final year in college. In school... at least for the time being. I'm constantly trying to decide if I've focused too much or not enough. If I've gotten to a certain level of knowledge in my chosen subjects. Whether or not I have, I'm on my way to graduate and I'm not going to stop now. I hope that this coming year I can construct my cumulative work to be a rubric for how much I've soaked up in the former three years.

Perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself. I have thirteen days left in Ireland. I have fourteen days traveling Europe. Then a long, extended summer in Ringwood, New Jersey.

I cannot stop thinking... the internet is an amazing thing.