Learning to Love You More

I have a picture in a book. Two years ago I completed a Learning to Love You More assignment (#63: Create an Encouraging Banner) and made a banner out of copy paper, wrapping paper, yarn and tape that said, "Let go." Later that year, the LTLYM folks, specifically Harrell Fletcher and Miranda July, decided to put out a book and asked if my photo could be one of the hundreds included. Then they asked if they could borrow the banner itself for a while, and my little banner had a glorious time touring Europe and NYC as part of a super-cool curated art exhibit. (I find it rather humorous that I have an art degree, but the construction paper banner I made while sitting on the floor in my bedroom is what gets to tour Europe, without me.)

Learning to Love You More is awesome. By creating little assignments for normal people to do, they've given a little reminder that things don't need to be huge or dramatic or super-polished to mean something: "the frequently wild, sometimes hilarious, and quietly stunning creative lives a few people living on Earth right now." In a world where everyone tries so darn hard to be one step ahead, hipster but not too hipster, stylish but without looking like they tried too hard, I love flipping through people's submissions and seeing actual individuality. In the introduction of the book, Harrell and Miranda write "Sometimes it seems like the moment we let go of trying to be original, we actually feel something new. ... For the most part we don't know who the participants are; sometimes we don't even know their real names, only that they come from St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana, or Doha, Qatar, or New York City—and this is the sound that is keeping them awake (assignment 58), or this is how their parents look kissing (assignment 39), or they had this argument recently (assignment 37)."

(As far as I know, I'm the only person on the site who submitted from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana, so I guess that's me in the intro! Selected, I reckon, for how completely NOT cosmopolitan, how completely middle-of-nowhere-Indiana, such a town likely is.)

Why I bring this up now, in addition to telling you to go check out LTLYM right now, is that I just stumbled upon my banner on a random blog in Portuguese (I think) — ;: com urgência — where it apparently spoke to a person I don't know halfway across the globe. How cool is that.

MP3: Frou Frou - Let Go (Buy)

I am so darn excited.

Tonight we had a membership committee meeting for Terre Foods, a local cooperative market that active citizens of the Haute are fervently working to open. Currently, we're scouting locations for the future storefront and recruiting memberships. It is going to be so cool I can't even stand it. Not only a source where we can actually buy bulk grains, local produce and healthy food, Terre Foods will also be an amazing place for the community to gather.

I've also been super-inspired by the group of people working on this thing. Finally, someone got sick of saying, "Terre Haute needs a co-op," and decided to start one. How awesome.

MP3: Peter, Paul & Mary - Inch by Inch (Buy)

Local Nectar: Modern Charm

Last night, a friend and I decided to venture up the rickety stairway between the Corner Grind and Jeshua's (more about them later) to a little place called Modern Charm.  In this great old building, perhaps one of the only ones in TH starting to live up to its potential, Modern Charm is a tiny shop with handmade jewelry, handbags, notebooks and the like. I scored a great beaded hairpin that will serve me well and gave me the chance to support a talented local artisan.

Yvette's hours are sporadic, but she tells us she's working on being open more regularly. Good thing, because places like this are important around here!

Modern Charm: 683 Wabash, Terre Haute

MP3: The Wild Colonials - Charm (live) (Buy)

Local Nectar: Vigo County Public Library

I cannot sufficiently put into words how much I love the public library system. I was that kid who read all of the books in our small local branch and then got told by the librarian that I should try the main branch downtown, a four-story mecca of knowledge in the heart of Cincinnati. I was instantly smitten and still am. From huge university libraries to little local branches in strip malls, libraries make me believe that there is something right with the world.

I recently read A Universal History of the Destruction of Books: From Ancient Sumer to Modern-day Iraq by Fernando Baez. It is one of the saddest books I have ever read — as centuries pass, libraries full of irreplaceable bits of human knowledge burn like dry leaves in summer, on accident or, worse, on purpose.

There are more subtle ways to destroy a library. In Vigo County, the public library recently realized it needs to cut $1 million from its budget. This means branches may close, hours may be cut, etc. This irks me. Last week when I was in the West Terre Haute branch, a narrow little structure that might be up for closure, a librarian and a pre-teen were huddled over a large dictionary. Upstairs, local residents were studying for the GED exam. On a frigid January day, a bike was leaning on the side of the building outside. This is the kind of institution that needs to exist in communities.

(There are two community meetings planned to discuss the future of the library, to be held at the main branch on January 21 and 22. More information about the VCPL Budget Shortfall Public Hearings here.)

Vigo County Public Library Main Branch: 1 Library Square (7th & Poplar), Terre Haute, IN 47807 

In honor of books, a delightfully cheesy rendition of the Princess Bride theme song...

MP3: Mark Knopfler - Storybook Story (Buy)

Ever since I saw the light, my eyes are wider

Around the Haute everything is turning into a sheet of ice, again. While I was sliding down the road, a song came up on the play list and turned a crappy bad-weather highway into a stark and lovely instance of motion meeting sky. "Circles," by TH's beloved Cuba, is a two-chord masterpiece.

Cuba's 2006 release Sounds Like a Story (buy) is quite a bit different from their live shows — it's a folk album from a band that prefers to rock a bit harder live, and after this cd the band line-up changed a bit as well — but it's a CD I keep coming back to. Quite simply, Jon DaCosta knows how to write songs. I discovered their music via this album before I got to know various members of the band, so I feel content in knowing that I would be a fan even if I didn't know how great the guys are. (Its follow-up Epilogue (buy), in 2007, is also awesome in different ways, but I'm sure I'll get to it later. And the fellas are recording again; I can't wait!)

MP3: Cuba - Circles (Buy)


CUBA VIDEO TEASER