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agarnergirl
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Name: Andrea
Gender: Female
Interests: caffeine, ethnic conflicts and reconciliation, pseudo indie music, theology, NPR, the great American novel, hip-hop, intellectual men, road trips, uncontrollable laughter, St. Louis, singing in the shower, Wes Anderson films, merengue, kissing in the rain, mini vegetarian corn dogs, culture, Cairdea's and Kaldi's, PBS, manuscript studies, Hindi movies, green tea, speaking Spanish, outdoor jazz concerts, and driving at night
Expertise: learning, sticking my foot in my mouth, self-depricating humor, language and cultural faux pas, and literary analysis
Occupation: Other
Industry: Nonprofit
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
4/7/2005
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| these days we go to waste like wine
that's turned to turpentine
'til it's 6 am and i'm all messed up
i didn't mean to waste your time
so i fall back in line
but i'm warning you
we're growing up
And sometimes the words of others are better than my own.
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| ...you can do what you want now / knock it outta the park...
I've been carrying on a love affair with words for as long as I can remember.
Three years ago I wrote in my journal that I wanted to tattoo some on my foot. Specifically the words, "oh, you are the roots," and specifically on the top of my right foot.
The words form part of a line from my favorite Bright Eyes song, "Oh, you are the roots that sleep beneath my feet and hold the earth in place," As soon as I heard those words I felt the weight of their significance. Roots have been a spiritually powerful image for me over the past several years. Rooted. Established. Planted. Recently I've also been thinking about the way God uses people - community - to form our roots.
My roots are tangled with the stories of countless people who have reflected grace and beauty to me through their words and deeds. I find myself caught in the middle of a really good story.
I'm ready. The time has come to act on the impulse of three years ago. I want the story of this scar - one that will speak of community - to require the involvement of other people, even in its creation. My sincerest of thanks to those of you who are helping to do just that.
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| ...but say today and she will kiss your face and maybe forgive...
I've been experiencing vivid moments of memory. A lot of times it happens when I'm driving. Yesterday I thought about the first time I heard the Dobson High School Symphony Orchestra perform. Each spring the junior high that I was slated to attend hosted an orchestra concert that included its orchestras as well as the orchestras from its elementary feeder schools. The evening culminated with the Dobson Symphony taking the stage. I must have been in fifth or sixth grade. One of the selections they performed was the "Hoe-Down" from Aaron Copeland's Rodeo suite made famous by that, "Beef. It's what's for dinner." advertising campaign. I was in absolute awe. Mr. Pendelton, my elementary school orchestra teacher, walked over to where I was standing and whispered in my ear while pointing to the stage, "That's going to be you someday." My response was something along the lines of, "No way!" I couldn't imagine it. They were so good.
Fast forward to my sophomore year in high school. I remember searching for Mr. Pendelton in the crowd after my first performance at that same concert as a member of the Symphony. When I found him he was beaming. "Do you remember when you told me that I would be here one day?" I asked him. "Of course I do," he replied. I thanked him.
I am so glad I got to do that. Mr. Pendelton died in a car crash before I graduated from high school. When we played the Rodeo suite my senior year I thought about how grateful I was for his encouragement. I haven't thought about that in a long time.
But yesterday I did. As I drove down Delmar trying to remember the bowing pattern for the opening bars of "Hoe-Down" I smiled my thanks.
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| Fear makes me run faster. I don't make a habit of running at night. Tonight I made an exception because I knew I wouldn't want to wake up early in the morning to get it done and so I ventured out into the drizzly cold and forced my legs to move. I took a route I haven't taken recently and was feeling some pain after the first ten minutes of steady incline. I really wanted to slow down once the terrain leveled out and I started winding my way through the quiet neighborhoods of University City's 2nd Ward. Then I started noticing the creepy Halloween decorations, the dimly lit streets, and the light rain beginning to fall - needless to say I kept my pace. At one point I jumped when someone across the street dumped a bunch of glass into their recycling bin.
I am a skittish night runner and so I plan on sticking with day running. I need motivation, but there are much better ones out there than fear.
This most recent spurt of running discipline is a result of some pretty good motivation. As many of you know this running thing is a wagon I've been falling off and jumping back on for nearly three years. Yikes! That's more falling and jumping than I care to recall. This time the jumping was motivated by a volunteer position I took as an assistant coach with Girls on the Run. The girls refer to me as Coach Andrea which is the weirdest thing for me to hear - I never imagined myself hearing "Coach" in front of my name. One fourth grade girl asked last week what I was doing after practice and I told her I was going for a run. "You're always running!" she announced and threw her hands in the air.
Oh, child if you only knew that coaching you and your friends is what's keeping me running! For now that will be my little secret.
Yesterday I found out about these:
I think I may have found my next pair of running shoes.
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| sleeping is giving in / no matter what the time is...
It's official: I'm obsessed with this album. Obsessed! I know I technically can't refer to it as an album and I know that I'm not technically obsessed with it. It's just that I like to speak in extremes.
It's also official that some sort of cloud has lifted. I don't know when or how. Probably when I wasn't looking. I am thankful for the absence.
And in the absence of dark things with a looming quality I notice the stringing together of delightful moments - the invitation to a hobbit-themed birthday celebration, the running three miles in the rain, and the generous words of people who barely know me.
I could get used to this.
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