Black is the new Black

So the Republican Party elected its first ever black, party chairman. Touche republicans, touche. I found this choice particularly interesting because prior to the election of Barack Obama, I had always thought that the first African-American President, if there ever was one, would be a republican. My reasons for thinking this was that I figured that because of how controversial it would be to have a black president, it would probably be unrealistic for this candidate to have the super liberal values required to get the Democratic nomination. My mistake. The choice of selecting Michael Steele (a maryland native no less!) as Republican Party Chairman is a good way to revitalize the republican party. I think that the fact that 96 percent of African-American voters voted for Obama indicates that race is a strong incentive for many voters. Also, given the fact that members of minority groups tend to be more socially conservative (as shown by the fact that 70% of black voters supported prop 8...) developing minority leadership within the Republican Party could be very effective. This is not to say that minority voters will vote for anyone belonging to their ethnic group. For example, I don't think Al Sharpton would be able to get enough black votes to get elected to any prominent office within the United States (and as per his past attempts, he didn't). But I remember back in the day there was some talk of Colin Powell running for President and I think that in a lot of ways he would have been more appealing to many black voters voters than Obama (older/more experienced, more 'black'/less controversial ancestry, military experience, etc.). Anyways, these are just some thoughts.

In other news, I really want to see Ryan Adams in concert. But i've heard he gives terrible performances because he is a barely functioning alcoholic. Oh well. I feel like these lines are the story of my life:
"If I could I'd treat you like you wanted me to, I promise.
But i'm fractured from the fall"- Ryan Adams, 'Two'

Also, I feel like I'm in 8th grade again. I don't mean that in the like 'omg i feel like a middle schooler again,' I am just experiencing incremental growth.

The case against Conor Oberst

Apparently, I have discovered since my last post that no one likes conor oberst. So yea, no one's perfect... I found an amusing thing on him.
I will definitely be the first to admit that his singing voice is pretty terrible. But I think the fact that his songs are still relatively popular is proof of his songwriting skills. He's definitely had some really terrible songs but his good songs are really good and more importantly very efficient in their word usage.

I think that the mark of all bad writing is too many words. Bad writing is runny and usually dripping with too many adverbs/adjectives/tired metaphors. Bad writers don't trust their readers to understand the point they're trying to make so they just keep saying it....or they keep describing...on and on and on. But if you think about it the most interesting pieces tell you enough to keep you engaged but leave you to draw your own conclusions. This is why I've always found science fairly uninteresting. When you read a chemistry book, you discover that under specific conditions, specific elements will always interact the same way. There's no mystery. Or maybe there is and I just never cared to learn enough chemistry to discover that. Anyways, today I read the only poem I have enjoyed in the New Yorker in a long time (i.e. ever lol):

"Learning to Read"
by Franz Wright
If I had to look up every fifth or sixth word,
so what. I looked them up.
I had nowhere important to be.

My father was unavailable, and my mother
looked like she was about to break,
and not into blossom, every time I spoke.

My favorite was the Iliad. True,
I had trouble pronouncing the names,
but when was I going to pronounce them, and

to whom?
My stepfather maybe?
Number one, he could barely speak English;

two, he had sufficient intent
to smirk or knock me down
without any prompting from me.

Loneliness, boredom and terror
my motivation
fiercely fuelled.

I get down on my knees and thank God for them.

Du Fu, the Psalms, Whitman, Rilke.
Life has taught me
to understand books.

Bored in Merryland

I miss winter time in the northeast. I miss snow during Christmas (it hasn't snowed once!). I miss running into people I know while taking the train into the city. I miss seeing terrible off-broadway plays and terrible on broadway plays (and knowing how there so different and still so terrible). I miss diners and aggressively rude old ladies. sigh.If I move back to Howard County after I graduate, I believe I will die. I feel like a death row inmate here. I have been trying to learn guitar to pass the time. The only song I've completely mastered so far is "Thanks a Lot" as performed by Neko Case.

On the bright side, tomorrow I am going to an open mic thing for Blues Musicians in Bowie. I can't wait, it's supposedly very good. I really love jazz/blues. But the actual things I've listened to have been fairly limited so I'm stoked. I took jazz piano lessons for less than a year in high school but all I really remember was that it was really hard because I had to learn a bunch of different scales. I don't remember which scale this was but I recorded myself improvising today, mostly out of boredom. I messed up three distinct times see if you can hear it!
(http://www.imeem.com/people/jjUp7rg/music/h01ItBh9/sarah_stew_sarah_songaif/). It's a pretty terrible recording mainly because I didn't feel like doing it more than once.

In other news, I've decided that I would be an awesome songwriter. The only catch being, I can't really compose music or write song lyrics. small details. I could totally edit song lyrics tho. I'd do it for free, public service for all of the Britney Spears of the world. My thoughts on the best songwritters in no particular order:
1. Sufjan Stevens
2. Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes)
3. Ryan Adams
4. Lucinda Williams
5. Radiohead (I think Thom writes the songs?)
4. Stevie Wonder
5. Aimee Mann
Honorable Mention:
1. Ne-yo
2. Neko Case

Mmmhmmmm.