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Archive for the ‘Magazines’ Category

Wolfgang Hilbig–“Lip Service” (Harper’s, June 2015)

Posted in Excerpt, Harper's, Isabel Fargo Cole, Tiny Desk Concert, Translation, Unreliable narrator, Wolfgang Hilbig on January 27, 2016| Leave a Comment »

june2015 SOUNDTRACK: WOLF ALICE-Tiny Desk Concert #503 (January 22, 2016).

wolfaliceI have been really enjoying Wolf Alice’s album My Love is Cool. It has many familiar elements of shoegaze and grunge but it’s played in different and unexpected combinations.  The album is moody and at times abrasive. But there are some lovely melodies underneath these songs.  (They were originally a folkie band before going electric).

So this Tiny Desk Concert plays to their origins (all of five years ago).  And they really change their songs for this set.

“Fluffy” on the original has noisy guitars and some great stop starts and big screams.  They really, really slow it down for the set.  They remove the abrasiveness, sing delicately (with the drummer providing backing vocals), and for the chorus of “sixteen, so sweet” they actually whisper it.

On record, “Turn to Dust” is pretty and soaring and very moody.  This version is quite folky.  I prefer the original but I really like this version especially the way you can really hear the interesting lyrics. Also, Ellie’s voice is quite lovely with no effects on it.  They even hit Bob’s gong at the end.

The recorded version of “Bros” is upbeat and somewhat poppy.  This acoustic version takes on a similarly upbeat feel but in a very different style.  It feels like a real folk song and works surprisingly well in this context.  I love the ending that they take onto it which make it even prettier.

I enjoyed this set a lot, even if it took me two listens to recognize two of the songs.  But I didn’t really enjoy the band members all that much.  I’m going to assume they were nervous rather than disaffected.

After the first song the bassist casually asks, “How’s everyone doin?  Good?” and when everyone chuckles, he says, “That’s the end of that banter,” which is pretty funny (and makes Bob laugh out loud), but it proves to be true.  And it takes Bob to break the silence (while the guitarist tunes).  Bob tried to barter with the drummer for his shirt, which gets them to admire the strange things around the office.  Also singer Ellie Roswell seems really strangely uncomfortable looking at he ceiling quite often, which seems very unlike the cocky persona she puts on in her videos.  But the music is great, so that’s okay.

[READ: January 10, 2016] “Lip Service”

“Lip Service” is an excerpt from Hilbig’s book I which was translated from the German by Isabel Fargo Cole.

This was a strange story which is all about perception.

It starts “Most of W’s perceptions were acquired by looking from outside into the interior of lighted dwellings.”

He would watch people talking but he could barely hear them.  And so he learned how to perceive what was going on and how unimportant the actual words that people said could be.

And he really enjoyed the non-gratification this afforded–the idea of being a voyeur who never completes his quest. (more…)

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Joshua Ferris–“Solo: Learning to Fly Part 4” [of 4] (Popular Mechanics, June 2015)

Posted in Airlines, Completed Series, Essays, Fears, Funny (ha ha), Joshua Ferris, Popular Mechanics, River Whyless, Set in New Jersey!, Tiny Desk Concert on January 26, 2016| Leave a Comment »

sept2015SOUNDTRACK: RIVER WHYLESS-Tiny Desk Concert #502 (January 19, 2016).

whylessRiver Whyless is an interesting band, at least during this Tiny Desk Concert.  They have several singers, different instruments and a whole bunch of interesting percussion on hand–including a typewriter!

The band has one EP out, from which the first song “Life Crisis” comes.  The female singer (none of the players’ names are given) says that this was their tiny desk submission.

On this song the male singer (actually everyone sings) plays typewriter and presents his typed document at the end of the show–although the audience never gets to see it–I imagine it’s gibberish, but it would be amazing if it wasn’t).  The female singer plays a violin solo in the middle of the song (which was unexpected since she doesn’t have it as the song opens).

Under the typewriter is a pump for a harmonium which has an accidental vibrato on it.  Shes says that one day it started doing that and they love it and hope it never fixes itself.

The other two songs are new–not on their EP from last year.  “Sailing Away” starts with violin and harmonium.  There’s also a guitarist who sings leads and a percussionist (who has all manner of gadgets and drums and mallets around him).  The harmonium player/typist also plays a melody on the toy piano.  All of these items may seem like novelties or goofs, but their songs are quite lovely and these little accents just add to the overall feel.

“Baby Brother” opens with a buzzy acoustic guitar and a whole landscape of percussion.  And this time the harmonium player switches to guitar while he sings lead (everyone sings lovely harmonies by the way).

I love everything about this band…except their songs.  All three songs are quite nice, and while I’m listening to them I certainly enjoy them, but they are really not that memorable.  There’s no hooks in them.  Despite the fact that all of their accouterments are not really gimmicks, those are the things I will remember most about River Whyless.

[READ: January 18, 2016] “Learning to Fly Part 4”

This is the final part of the 4 part essay.  A series like this is bound to be anticlimactic because presumably if his solo didn’t go well, he’d be dead.  And if he didn’t do the solo, there likely wouldn’t be a part 4 (unless he talked about chickening out instead).

But Ferris takes an interesting tact for this end section.

He opens the essay by explaining that he was commissioned by Popular Mechanics to write this essay.  This makes sense but is something  hadn’t thought about–they asked him to do it.

He says that he was full of anxiety the entire time–which we knew he would be.  He was terrified to fly–a wobbly commercial airplane takeoff would totally freak him out.  Plus, being a writer, he had an overactive imagination. (more…)

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Elmore Leonard–“For Something to Do” (Harper’s, May 2015)

Posted in Drinking, Elmore Leonard, Harper's, Les Claypool, Marriage (Happy), Sean Lennon, Short Story, The Claypool Lennon Delirium, The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, The Who, Violence on January 25, 2016| Leave a Comment »

may2015SOUNDTRACK:  THE CLAYPOOL LENNON DELIRIUM-“Cricket and the Genie” (2016).

claypoollennonLes Claypool and Sean Lennon (who has recently come back on my radar as being much more fun than I realized) have joined forces to create this unlikely (but perfectly suited) band.  Lennon’s band Ghost of a Sabre Tooth Tiger opened for Primus and Dinosaur Jr this summer (and I am still bummed that I missed that tour).

What surprised me most about this collaboration is that it (well this song anyway, which is the only one I’ve heard) doesn’t sound like so many other collaborations with Claypool–meaning it’s not all Les.  Les plays bass and provides some backing vocals and that’s about it.  All the rest–the whole psychedelic craziness–is all Lennon.

The song has a totally retro psychedelic vibe (one that Lennon has been working with very well over the last few year) and Les’ bass is thumping and heavy without doing a lot of his Claypoolisms.  Not to say that the bass is shabby–it’s not–it’s just not as Aggressively Claypool as it might be (for the better of the song).

Having said that, the opening notes are pretty distinctly Claypool, but once the music (fuzzy guitars and hummable vocals) come in, the bass sounds more like a big 70s Jon Entwistle bass than a funky Claypool bass.

The song has many many parts and changes.  There’s a brief psychedelic interlude, there’s interesting organs sounds, there’s some heavy dissonant chords sprinkled throughout and there’s some great harmony vocal.  There’s even a pretty lenghty sea-shanty feeling instrumental section (the song is 8 minutes long after all).

But lest you think there is no Claypool, he gets plenty of places to show off his stuff, too.

I really dig this song a lot and I can’t wait to hear the whole album.

[READ: January 8, 2015] “For Something to Do”

As part of my 2016 plan, I intend to catch up on all of the magazines that I blew off during the latter half of 2015.   Basically, that means Harper’s, The Walrus and the New Yorker.  And I’ll write about the stories that I ignored.  Interestingly I was also planning on reading several large books in 2016.  Wonder how that will play out.

So here begins a slew of Harper’s pieces

This is the kind of story that, were it a novel, I would probably give up after a chapter.  But, because it was a short story, I read it all the way through, and I was glad I did.

The reason I’d have given up is because the story is dark and unpleasant, about men getting drunk and beating up other men to try to impress a woman.  I don’t know a lot about Leonard’s writing, so i don’t know how his stories tend to resolve, but I was worried about just how dark this would go before any resolution was present. (more…)

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Geoff Dyer–essay for “Travel Day” (Harper’s, December 2014)

Posted in Garry Winorand, Geoff Dyer, Gyptian, Harper's, Photo Essays, Sklava Veder, The Future, Tiny Desk Concert on January 21, 2016| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: GYPTIAN-Tiny Desk Concert #102 (January 2, 2011).

dec2014gyptian I had not heard of Gyptian.  He is a Jamaican singer.  His singing style is kind of like rap, but with all of the Jamaican inflections and emphases that make it sound more flowing and smooth.

I enjoyed his sound quite a lot.  It helps that he has an acoustic guitar player (Anthony “Tony Bone” DiFeo) keeping the melody and rhythm.

Evidently his first song “Hold You” was a huge hit, although I didn’t know it.  “Beautiful Lady” has a bit more of a reggae feel, a bit slower with lyrics about, yes a beautiful lady.

The final song, “Nah Let Go” feels like a lullaby with his gentle delivery.  I don’t listen to this style of music very much but when it’s done well, I can totally groove on it.

[READ: January 7, 2015] “Travel Day”

“Travel Day” is a photo essay about airports.  Dyer was assigned to write a short essay for it.  I like Dyer’s work and I found his essay a lot more compelling than the photographs.

Dyer begins by talking about how when he was 8 years old, his family was on vacation in London and took a special trip to Heathrow Airport because, back then, it was a destination.  In the sixties and seventies the glamour of air travel was at its peak.

The earliest airports were designed to look conservative to reassure nervous flyers.  But by the Sixties, airports gleamed with sleek confidence and modernity.  But now airports are just hubs–non places.  The allure of the future that guided the design of airports in the sixties and seventies also makes airports look really dated now.  Especially since the “future” was based on designs from the Sixties anyway.

You can also see it in flight attendants outfits who had sort of futuristic look back in the Sixties (at least what the future was supposed to look like).

He talks about Garry Winorand who took photos of the social landscape in the Sixties and Seventies and has a book devoted to airports.   He says the photos really documented the social life of Americans as much as it did airports.

In addition to the main photos of this essay, there are two small older photos included.  The first is by Sklava Veder and it is a photo of Lieutenant Colonel Robert L Stirm being greeted by his family at Travis Air Force Base in 1973 after spending five years as a POW in Vietnam.  It’s an amazingly powerful photo.  The other is by Winorand which shows a subtle version of the same image– a fellow with a beaming face holding a sign that says “Welcome to California Jane.”  It’s about a person coming to a new place and Winorand captured the eternal promise of flight and of the American West in a single moment.

These photos in the essay were taken all over the world and do show the human condition.  But it is less glamorous and therefore to my eyes less interesting.

The one interesting idea however, is that people have stopped reaching for their cigarettes when the get off the plane and have started reaching for their phones.

But that doesn’t make for very interesting photography.  And with a few exceptions these photos aren’t that compelling.  Perhaps because airport themselves are no longer compelling places.

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John Edgar Wideman–“Williamsburg Bridge” (Harper’s, November 2015)

Posted in Angst, Harper's, John Edgar Wideman, Lizz Wright, Short Story, Suicide, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Tiny Desk Concert on January 20, 2016| Leave a Comment »

novSOUNDTRACK: LIZZ WRIGHT-Tiny Desk Concert #116 (March 14, 2011).

lizz Lizz Wright is a gospel singer with a lovely voice.   For some reason she only has two songs here (the editing makes it seem like she does at least one more).

I don’t know Wright at all, but the blurb gives context: Raised on church music in Georgia, Wright is well-versed in the freedom songs of Sweet Honey in the Rock, without whom none of the music here would exist; “I Remember, I Believe” is by that group’s leader, the great Bernice Johnson Reagon, whose daughter Toshi Reagon (Wright’s best friend) co-wrote “Hit the Ground.”

“Hit the Ground” is upbeat and lively.  Whereas “I Remember, I Believe” is far more powerful, but much slower.

Sadly for me, I don’t really like gospel music, especially the slower songs like the second one here.  So I didn’t love this Tiny Desk, but I can certainly appreciate how good a singer she is.

[READ: January 15, 2015] “Williamsburg Bridge”

I don’t know anything else by John Edgar Wideman, so I didn’t really know what to expect with this story.

I certainly did not expect a long (rather dull) story about a man on the Williamsburg Bridge contemplating suicide.

There were some beautiful passages and phrasings here, especially the reflections on Sonny Rollins, but man, this thing just seemed to go on and on. (more…)

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Joshua Ferris–“The Landing: Learning to Fly Part 3” [of 4] (Popular Mechanics, July/August 2015)

Posted in Airlines, Benny Sings, Elton John, Essays, Fears, Funny (ha ha), Joshua Ferris, Popular Mechanics, Set in New Jersey!, Tiny Desk Concert, Unfinished series on January 19, 2016| Leave a Comment »

popjlu SOUNDTRACK: BENNY SINGS-Tiny Desk Concert #501 (January 15, 2016).

bennyBenny Sings is a Dutch singer songwriter.  I had never heard of him, and no wonder, this was apparently his first performance in the United States.  And “this is also where he performed with background vocalist Jennah Bell for the first time.”

The blurb says that he layers R&B, jazz and pop over hip-hop foundations.  Although the first of two songs, “Love” is just him on the piano.  For the second song “Beach House,” he busts out the drum machine.  But it still comes across as an orchestra pop song (maybe like slower Elton John).

It’s all fine, but nothing special.

According to my records, this was the 500th Tiny Desk Concert.  And if you count all of the concerts on their Tiny Desk Page, it tallies up to 500 today.  But I know that they are planning something big for #500.  So I don’t quite know what to think.

[READ: January 14, 2016] “Learning to Fly Part 3”

Part three of this story (see, I said it wouldn’t be too long before I continued with it) is all about the landing.  Ferris explains that the landing has always been the hardest part for him.  He managed turns and banks and rises and everything else, but frankly, had his teacher not been there he would have died dozens of times with bad landings.

He says that as you slowly (or quickly) sink towards the ground, your instinct is to pull up away from it, which is exactly what you shouldn’t do.

This particular part of the essay doesn’t have a lot of flying details in it, because most of it is taken up with his fears about his poor landings.  Although the way Ferris tells of the time he easily should have died from not slowing down is pretty harrowing and exciting–how is his instructor so calm?

He sums up landing though you need patience when things are most hurried, composure when things are most fraught.  You need focus when your attention is most scattered.  You need a light touch on the controls when the urge to yank hard and pull them off the panel is at it strongest.

Then he describes all of the things that his instructor appears to be doing at once to land the plane:

He was descending, turning the yoke, applying back pressures, lowering the flaps, adjusting the trim, peddling the rudder, adding power, nosing down–all more or less simultaneously.

Ferris swears that he will quit.  He cannot land the damned plane.  His wife will be pleased that he has quit ans she is terrified of him crashing.  But he knows that he will likely not quit–because it’s a challenge and any tough challenge is one you want to quit hundreds of times but which you never do,

But for his final lesson, he was going to go up once more and then quit.  “And that was the day I had my first perfect landing.”

Great cliffhanger

The final part comes next.

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Ludmilla Petrushevskaya–“The Story of a Painter” (New Yorker, January 18, 2016)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Anna Summers, Art, Books about writers, Damien Jurado, Greed, Humiliation, Ludmilla Petrushevskaya, New Yorker, Russia, Short Story, Surreal, Tiny Desk Concert, Translation on January 14, 2016| Leave a Comment »

1182016SOUNDTRACK: DAMIEN JURADO–Tiny Desk Concert #114 (February 28, 2011).

damienI had always assumed that Damien Jurado was someone else entirely.  I had no idea that he was (as the blurb describes him) “a big dude playing sad songs.”

And he is.

For this Tiny Desk it’s just him and his guitar.  He keeps his eyes closed tightly as he sings these sad songs.  His guitar playing is simple–just strummed chords and his voice is simple as well–there’s no tricks.  It’s all about his songwriting.

I liked all four of these songs: “Cloudy Shoes,” “Newspaper Gown” (that was my favorite), “Arkansas,” and “Beacon Hill.”

The strangest thing about him was how uncommunicative he seemed to be–almost nervous.  He barely spoke and when he did it was hard to hear.  And as soon as the set was done he immediately stood up to leave.

Although he does say it’s “nice.”

His songs were lovely although I don’t think I’ll be seeking him out anytime soon.

[READ: January 12, 2016] “The Story of a A Painter”

This story was translated by Anna Summers and, as the title suggests, it is about a painter.

But this story delves into surreal territory pretty quickly.  It may even be a fairy tale as the opening line is “There once lived a painter….”

This painter has had some bad fortune as of late.  His landlord promised to get him a lot of money if he would sell his large apartment.  But the landlord sold the place and kept the money (a lawsuit is pending).  Then the landlord offered him a place under the stairs–no running water–which the painter accepted.  But he can’t pay the landlord, so the landlord gives him grief every day.

On another day a man asked if he would rent him his “apartment.”  The painter said yes for money up front.  The man gave him the money then moved his entire family into the tiny, below-the-stairs place and planned to never leave.  Now the painter was destitute and homeless. (more…)

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Karl Ove Knausgaard [Knausgård]–“My Saga: Part Two” (New York Times Magazine, March 15, 2015) [translated 2015]

Posted in Biography, Cigarettes, Drinking, Esperanza Spalding, Foreign Books, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Karl Ove Knausgård, Minnesota, Peter van Agtmael, The New York Times Magazine, Tiny Desk Concert, Translation, Travel, William Blake, Yuck! on January 13, 2016| Leave a Comment »

karlove SOUNDTRACK: ESPERANZA SPALDING-Tiny Desk Concert #110 (February 12, 2011).

esperanzaI didn’t know who Esperanza Spalding was before this show.  But she defied my expectations by being a fairly tiny woman who sings while playing an upright bass (not a very common combination for anyone).

For the first song, “Little Fly,” she plays a kind of jazzy bass, but has a string accompaniment–violins, guitars etc.  But it’s clear that the bass is the star.   And while her playing is very good (she has some great vibrato), it’s her voice that is mesmerizing–she’s hunched over playing the bass and still manages to sound strong and powerful.  “Little Fly”‘s lyrics come from a poem by William Blake.

“Midnight Sun” is a solo performance–just her voice and bass.  I loved the beginning where she sang notes along with what she played.  Then when the lyrics come in she sings in a very jazz voice (with eyes closed the whole time).  Turns out this is a Lionel Hampton song that only appears on the Japanese release of her album which make explain her singing style.

Because on the final song she sounds very different.  “Apple Blossom” is her own composition.  It’s her singing with the string section playing along (there’s no bass).  The song is lovely, but I prefer it when she plays bass in the song, too.

I enjoyed this performance and how delightful Spalding was.

[READ: January 9, 2016] “My Saga: Part Two”

Speaking of not finishing multi part essays, I ended my post about Part One of this essay by saying I couldn’t wait for part two.  And then apparently I forgot all about it because here it is almost a year later before I read part two (which was published two weeks later).

In this second half of Karl Ove’s journey he spends most of his time realizing that he hasn’t really learned very much for his assignment.  I can’t imagine anyone else being able to write endlessly about how he has nothing to write about (and still make it strangely compelling–his stress produces good sentences).

He does make some interesting connections though. (more…)

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Joshua Ferris–“The Stall: Learning to Fly Part 2” [of 4] (Popular Mechanics, June 2015)

Posted in Airlines, Essays, Fears, Funny (ha ha), Joshua Ferris, Natalie Merchant, Popular Mechanics, Set in New Jersey!, Tiny Desk Concert, Unfinished series on January 12, 2016| Leave a Comment »

popmechSOUNDTRACK: NATALIE MERCHANT-Tiny Desk Concert #500 (January 12, 2016).

nat merch Natalie Merchant was supposed to appear on a Tiny Desk show in 2014, but she was ill on that day (she even tells the story of going to the hospital).  She had to cancel the entire tour.  Turns out we saw her on that tour a couple of days before she got sick!

When Sarah and I saw her we both remarked on how great her voice still sounded.  And it sounds great here too.  The same instantly recognizable voice from her albums with all of the power and inflection that she’s always had.

Although I still don’t understand where her speaking voice accent comes from (she’s from upstate New York after all).

“Motherland” (a 2001 song) she dedicates to the staff of NPR.  Her accompaniment is an acoustic guitar, upright bass and accordion and it works very well for this slow, rather sad song.

“Texas” is another pretty, slow song from her 2014 album which she was supposed to pay at the Tiny Desk show.  She says he most regretted missing the Tiny Desk show when she had to cancel her tour.  She had no idea the desk was not so tiny and that it could fit 1000 people standing around watching.

Then she plugs her new album, Paradise Is There: The New Tigerlily Recordings.  It is a reworking of her songs from Tigerlily (and there was a documentary that accompanied it (which they were filming when we saw her).  She plays “Cowboy Romance” from that album.  I don’t know the original (or I don’t recognize the song) but it sounds fine in this stripped down format.

Even though her songs are rather serious, she’s quite silly with the band and crew.  She emphasis “CONfiguRAtion of muSICians” before introducing “Cowboy Romance.”

Everyone assumes she will play only three songs (the standard), but she has a special treat planned.  She says that she heard a story on NPR about how office workplaces would benefit from singing together.  And they are all trapped with her.  So she says they are going to sing a Protestant hymn that she recently found in a songbook in the library.

She says that she and the guitarist are Catholic, the accordionist is Jewish (from Israel) and the bassist has no religion.  he says he’s from the West Coast (she jokes that he’s from a cult in Oregon).  Then when she asks the guitarist what key it’s in and he says, “What song? ” to which everyone laughs because she never mentioned the title.

It’s a lovely old song which she teaches to the whole room.  After the first verse, she says she approves of the group sing-along and says it should be a weekly thing.  I love the way they split the screen to show the whole staff singing along. It’s quite lovely and the staff’s accompaniment is really pretty.

This is a delightful show and a very intimate performance by Natalie Merchant.

[READ: January 12, 2016] “Learning to Fly Part 2”

I really enjoyed Part 1 of this essay, but as often happens to me with broken up pieces, I forgot about the next part until long after.  So here it is over six months since I read Part 1 finally getting around to Part 2 (but at least I have Parts 3 and 4 with me so I’ll be finishing them up soon). (more…)

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Louise Erdrich–“The Reptile Garden” (New Yorker, January 28, 2008)

Posted in Anaïs Nin, Drugs, Hospitals, Louise Erdrich, Mariachi Flor De Toloache, Native Americans, New Yorker, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert on January 11, 2016| Leave a Comment »

1282008SOUNDTRACK: MARIACHI FLOR DE TOLOACHE-Tiny Desk Concert #499 (January 8, 2016).

florI enjoyed Mariachi El Bronx not too long ago.  I guess I didn’t expect much more from Mariachi Flor De Toloache.  But wow, they blew me away.

I compared them to Mariachi El Bronx because they also wear the traditional Mariachi outfit and they use the somewhat comically over sized guitarron (played by Lisa Maree Dowling).

But about a minute through the first song, “Let Down” when the three women sing harmony (a wonderful three-part harmony)–it’s already amazing.  And it just gets better.

“Let Down” is a slow song sung (in English and Spanish) by Shae Fiol who also plays vihuela (which has a great sound for a tiny four-stringed guitar).  The trumpet solo (by Anna Garcia) is great and interesting and the pizzicato violin notes really add character.  But when the song suddenly picks up tempo half way through it gets really fun.  And then Shae sings the first of several beautiful and amazingly long notes.

The second song is a cumbia called “Dicen.”  This one is sung by the violinist Mireya Ramos who says “dont be shy, shake you shoulders “.  There’s group harmony and then she gets the audience to sing the chorus “Ay Ay Ay.”  The song merges into a verse of “Blue Skies” which makes the song even more fun.  Shae sings this part and once again shows off her vocal skills with some more amazingly powerful high notes.  And then Mireya really shows off her fiddling skills with a great solo and some dexterous bow work.  And then she shows off her own amazing vocal notes–holding an incredibly long note through several octaves with great control.

After those first two songs (16 minutes worth), they do yet another one.  This one straight from Mexico (the roots of mariachi) called “Guadalajara.”  It opens with great harmony vocals and a cool vihuela strumming until the trumpet announces a good old mariachi song.  Shae once again amazes with her high shrieks and calls.  And by this time the entire audience (even those of us listening at home) are totally into it.

How do they hold these notes for so long?  (Some are around fifteen seconds). It is truly a wonder to behold.

This was only a fraction of the band and apparently when they are all together live they are really something to see.

[READ: January 9, 2015] “The Reptile Garden”

With a name like “The Reptile Garden,” this story did not do anything that I thought it was going to. In fact, when I finished I had to rethink the story to remember why it was even called that.  That’s pretty cool (since it works).

The story is set in the fall of 1972.  The narrator is a half Native American woman who is going to study at the University of North Dakota.  She is very smart but she knows she doesn’t fit in.  She chose to study French because she dreamed of going to Paris some day.

She says the white girls listen to Joni Mitchel and grow their hair long, while other girls–Dakota, Chippewa or mixed blood like her were less obvious on campus.  Aside from a few who swaggered and had American Indian Movement boyfriends.  (more…)

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