My Comic Book Valentine

By: Eric Michael Anderson

It’s all the public library’s fault, you see. My parents would routinely take me to the public library as a child so I could check out books to read. When I was in the third grade in Ames, Iowa, my main reading interest was Hardy Boys mysteries. But one day, in the Ames Public Library, I came upon a large wall-mounted rack (I believe it was in the Children’s section) covered in comic books. Prior to that day, I had never paid much mind to comic books, but that day I found one that intrigued me: Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham. At the time, Marvel Comics had a line aimed at younger kids called Star Comics, and Spider-Ham was that line’s flagship title. I checked out the comic, thoroughly enjoyed it, and began using my allowance to buy issues of Spider-Ham that I would find on the spinner racks in the grocery store or drug store. And through the funny-animal versions of the Marvel Universe depicted in Spider-Ham, I became interested in the mainstream Marvel Universe as well.
The next comic to catch my fancy that I checked out from the library was The West Coast Avengers. It was the “West Coast” in the title that got me. I was from the West Coast, land of oceans and mountains, serving an involuntary penance in flat, landlocked central Iowa, so a superhero team from the West Coast. . . well, they must be super-cool! The West Coast Avengers quickly became my favorite comic, and from there I spun off to other Avengers-related titles (by the way, my dad always insisted that I check out two “real books” as well as my comic books).

On Being Awkward…or how I became a “punk”

For as long as I can remember I haven’t fit in anywhere. I still don’t, really, and I probably never will. Part of this is due to the fact that I’m a girl interested in things guys tend to be interested in, rather than things most girls are into. Part of it’s that I’m quiet, and though I’m no longer a mute for all intents and purposes, like I was as a teenager, I’m still pretty awkward around people over the age of 12 (unfortunately most people seem to interpret these characteristics as aloofness/bitchiness). Part of it’s also just fate – my parents. My dad, a once illegal Mexican immigrant who came to this country at 16 with only a sixth grade education, somehow married my mom, a middle-class WASP suburbanite who graduated from Northwestern University. Such a union was bound to create interesting, if not mixed-up, children. Though I can’t speak for my siblings, I know I’m more mixed up than I am interesting. I’m not Mexican enough for the Mexicans or white enough for the whites. The fact that I speak Spanish fluently matters just as little as the fact that I can speak English – it’s strange, really. Throw in my “radical” beliefs like clean living, vegetarianism, atheism, etc., add an early marriage and you get the social pariah that is me.

Memories of “I Refuse”

By: Brian Peterson

1994 was a landmark year in my life.
I graduated from high school and started college, was playing in bands, met some great friends, and in some ways I was coming into my own.
But despite what was propelling me forward, most of the time I felt like I could hardly breathe.
I felt awkward, unsure of myself, and felt like I didn’t belong. I was confused about everything: humanity, God, family, the opposite sex, death, life. Every step led to disorientation. My emotions were a mess because I didn’t know what the hell I felt half the time.
Truth be told I felt this way for quite some time, but everything was intensifying. I was headed toward a crossroads with blinders on.
Hardcore was one of the things that guided me through this tough time. I could identify with the anger, the passion, the rage. I was pissed about a million things right in front of my eyes and a million things I couldn’t even articulate, much less understand.

Contradictory Evolutions

By: Alex J. Ferguson

Have you ever really, truly, honestly, embarrassingly thought about how many contradictions exist in your inner mind? Have you ever considered that many of your once-crystallized, core positions from another time in life have now evolved into something so contradictory that those old beliefs can hardly be understood, let alone properly rationalized? Well, some positions, at least.

Myself, for instance, in full disclosure: I’ve often felt completely set in a life position for one reason or another at one point or another at one time or another. Then life evolved. And circumstances changed. And before long, my once-held position of strength became first less-than-strong, then weak, then non-existent before slowly-but-surely evolving toward a new line of thinking, and eventually a new position. Yet that old position still lingered somewhere in the recesses of my subconscious, reminding me of a time gone by, and a contradiction not yet fully resolved.

Yes, it’s happened to you as well, and you know it all-too-well. You remember it quite well, in fact, I’d venture to guess, that time you eventually, finally, evolved that once-hardened position on such-and-such topic that somehow grew and strengthened into a wholly differing opinion. But don’t fret, don’t feel suddenly guilty–it’s not your fault, it’s only natural, and even the best of us fall victim to this evolution more often than we realize.

Reviews: Encounters at the End of the World

Encounters at the End of the World - (2007) Directed by Werner Herzog

I sat down to watch this film on a cold January night with a slice of vegan chocolate cake and Brian by my side, ready to be educated about Antarctica. I knew Herzog’s film would be visually stunning thanks to cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger, a man with whom he has worked on many projects. I also knew it would be different – no voices droning over boring facts and drab images like all those documentaries I watched in school, nothing cutesy, no pushing of agendas – just a film documenting a place and some people as they are, because that is Herzog’s way. What I didn’t expect was for it to be funny. At times Herzog’s questions were whimsical, at times ridiculous, and at times serious. However, regardless of form – each and every question made me think. When he takes you on a journey he somehow manages to make each and every stop fascinating and when it’s all over he leaves you wanting more. His film awakened a hunger for knowledge in me and a bit of sadness at the loss of uncharted territories regardless of how fascinating they might be.

-LQ

Dish Washing My Worries Away

By: Brian Peterson

They say the older you get, the more you learn about yourself…
…I never thought I’d learn that I love washing dishes.
My parents couldn’t have paid me enough money to wash dishes when I was a kid. I thought it was disgusting—scraping nasty food particles off of dishes; lipstick off of glasses. Of course, I did it anyway because I “had” to, but I sure whined about it.
As I hit my late teens, however, it didn’t bother me as much. Maybe it’s because I got used to doing it due to my high school / college job working at an ice cream store. You’d have to wash these metal collars that were used to make medium sized shakes and malts. They protected your fingers from the shake/malt machine and kept the candy inside. When we’d get busy, we’d run out of them really quickly. For some reason I always volunteered to wash them. This is probably partially because I wanted a break from the annoying customers. But after a while I actually started to like the actual process of running those cylindrical smooth metal protectors underneath the often near-scalding hot water.
By my mid-twenties I started to graciously volunteer to do dishes at family get-togethers. I’d get shot down sometimes, but often the gesture was appreciated. I am not a fan of drying dishes, so I’d strike a bargain: “I’ll wash if you dry.” Most tended to go for it.

Favorite Horror Film: Prince of Darkness

By Brian Peterson, IMUR co-editor

Prince of Darkness (directed by John Carpenter)

Most people probably wouldn’t list Prince of Darkness among their favorite horror films. Many probably haven’t even seen it. It’s not my favorite horror film by any means, and it’s not even my favorite John Carpenter film. Yet there is something about it that is interesting, fun, and utterly compelling. I’ve never seen another film of any kind attempt to combine quantum physics, religion, ethics, and philosophy all under the guise of a frightening, if at times over the top, premise. I’ve always had an interest in the supernatural, as well as in the history of religion, and the way Carpenter tells this story is intriguing. Imagine a dark secret kept hidden by the Catholic Church for centuries. There is a secret vat of green liquid in the basement of a church that only a few select “guardians” know about. A priest (played by the amazing Donald Pleasance) discovers the secret and based on his studies (and the strange things he observes around him) deduces that the liquid is somehow impacting the outside world. The priest calls in a team of quantum physics, math, and philosophy students to examine the liquid from a “rational” perspective. Essentially, the priest wants the world to understand that what lurks in this hidden container is gaining power and is, in fact, evil. I won’t get more into the plot as it doesn’t really make a lot of sense if you haven’t seen the film (in fact, it probably sounds somewhat absurd based on my feeble description). But what transpires is full of suspense, gore, subtle and at times unintentional humor (depending on your sense of humor), mystery, conspiracy, and creepiness. Yeah, there are a few cheesy eighties one-liners here and there, but the cheese all comes together with the serious parts, making for quite the viewing experience. If you’ve never seen a John Carpenter film I’d recommend starting with his classics like The Thing, Halloween, Big Trouble in Little China, They Live, or Assault on Precinct 13. But once you’ve seen his best, make sure you check out Prince of Darkness. (Note: Pay attention to those eerie shots of the future that recur through the characters’ dreams throughout the film. Those shots are probably what sold me the first time.)

And that wraps up our Favorite Horror Movie series. If you’re curious as to what Brian and I watched during our annual Horror Film Fest during the month of October check out my blog

Favorite Horror Films: Halloween 3

By Michael Doherty, Librarian

I had a hard time coming up with just one horror movie to call my favorite but if I HAD to choose one it would have to be Halloween 3: Season of the Witch. Now, I only saw this movie for the first time last year but it was because of the circumstances that I love it so. Now, although not my favorite “scary” movie Halloween 3 now holds a place as one of my top favorite “horror” movies because of how stupidly campy it is. When I first saw this movie I was at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago attending the “Music Box Massacre” 24 hour horror movie marathon. If you are new to the movie Halloween 3, as I was at the time, this is the perfect place to watch it. The main premise of the movie is that the toymaker Silver Shamrock has gotten into the Halloween mask making business. Silver Shamrock also, as it turns out, is a front for evil druids that want to kill all children it seems, and they want to do this by stealing a huge piece of Stonehenge and using it as part of the masks so that they can emit a signal on television that will magically murder all the children wearing masks and turn them into bugs and snakes and other creepy crawlies. Seeing this film with a huge group of horror movie fans who enjoy more than anything the campy stupidity really puts this film over the top. Halloween 3 was made for heckling! From the druids to the creepy, stupid, clockwork robot henchmen to the painful lines delivered by the main characters – “I do love a good joke and this is the best ever: a joke on the children” – to even poking fun at the drinking problem of one of the main characters – “It’s getting late. I could use a drink.” or “Drinking and doctoring. Great combination.” This movie has everything that makes it “so bad it’s good.” As such, I consider Halloween 3:Season of the Witch (the ONLY Halloween movie without Michael Myers in it mind you) a great choice for those who don’t like too much gore and want a laugh with their scares, especially if they have a group to watch it with. I throw this movie on now whenever I want a good laugh with some mild scares thrown in.

Favorite Horror Films: Night of the Living Dead

By Lisa Quintero, IMUR co-editor

I watched my first horror movie at the tender age of 6, much to my mother’s dismay. My dad used to come home around 9 o’clock at night and my sister and I would always climb in bed and watch TV with him when he came home. I remember pretending to fall asleep, so my mom would forget I was there and then after a while opening my eyes and being very quiet, because I wanted to watch the movie my dad was watching. The movie in question happened to be George Romero’s 1968 masterpiece Night of the Living Dead. The film was eerie in its black and white format and for years the image of the little girl eating her parents haunted me. My mother had to sit with me for weeks until I fell asleep and put up with my incessant knocking on her door at midnight because I had had another nightmare. When I first watched the film it caught hold of me on a purely visceral level. I felt the intensity and the fear of Romero’s characters and it made my imagination run wild. I was hooked! For years I wouldn’t watch that film, based solely on my initial reaction. But, in my late teens I finally decided to revisit the film, after watching countless other horror films I figured how bad could it be? It wasn’t startling, or overly gory like the films I’d become used to, but it was still scary on a level I never could have understood as a six year old. There was a message in the film – the message that human beings take each other for granted. That we’re animalistic and savage in so many ways. That we don’t think. That we are the zombies. Since then I’ve been hooked. I’ve watched every one of Romero’s Dead movies. Each critiques society in it’s own way, some are better than others. But, Night of the Living Dead will always be my favorite in the series. I am no longer haunted by the scene with the little girl eating her parents, now it’s the final moments of the film that haunt me.

Favorite Horror Films: 28 Days Later

By Jamie Walker, Librarian

My favorite horror movie is 28 Days Later from director Danny Boyle. While the quick moving zombies are quite terrifying, I find that the moments without zombies are far more chilling. Watch Cillian Murphy walk through abandoned London streets littered with papers and trash. See Murphy and his ragtag group of survivors drive up the highway toward Manchester on deserted carriageways. I find the absence of humanity, the utter solitude of these moments to be far more horrifying than any zombie attack. Not that those are so bad either, and 28 Days Later gets quite gory. But the sense of abandonment, desolation and the desperation to survive something so unimaginable, not knowing what lurks around that seemingly empty corner was what I found scary.

Favorite Horror Films: Alien

By Jack Haynes, artist

A good horror movie to me makes you feel something other than startled or grossed out, or uncomfortable. Like any other good movie, it makes you feel what the characters feel. Ridley Scott’s 1979 masterpiece Alien has always succeeded for me this way. From claustrophobia to manic alarm to infantile sobbing every wave of emotion is communicated clearly. When Ripley is running through the ship by herself with just the Alien and Mother counting down the self destruct, you feel just how huge the ship is, how anything could come from anywhere and the tiny, terrible feeling of being alone. Sorry for the spoiler.

Favorite Horror Films: Misery

We asked some of our friends what their favorite horror movies are and why for the Fall 2008 issue of IMUR. We’ll be posting their responses here over the next few weeks. Enjoy! – Lisa Q./IMUR

My Favorite Horror Film

By: Ghazal Sheei

While any true horror film buff would never agree with my categorization (and by no means do I consider myself a horror film buff), I would still have to rank Misery as my all-time favorite horror film. I was eight years old when I saw the film, and more significant, it was the first film my parents took me to see at the movie theaters. I’m fairly certain that it was also the first film my parents saw themselves in the theater since moving to the United States. I sometimes wonder who in their right mind would take a little girl of 8 to such a deeply disturbing film, but I understand that as newly immigrated individuals, my parents were a bit unaware of the film itself and for that matter, any appropriate movie going behaviors. Customs from the motherland were often mixed in with visiting the theaters; such as bringing pistachios, chips and other snacks snuck into my mothers’ purse that were always too loud to be consumed in such close quarters with strangers.

Different Seasons…

As I watched the first small flakes of snow hit my windshield last night, I thought about winter and realized that it brings up some bittersweet feelings.

I grew up in North Dakota — a state notorious for chilly, blustery, snowy winters — so the cold is “in my blood,” so to speak.  I used to deliver newspapers through snow drifts that would occasionally come up to my waist after one of our annual blizzards.  My ears even got frost bit once after I made the mistake of leaving my hat at home on one particular sub-zero Saturday morning.  But I survived.  In fact, for the most part, I loved winter. I loved sledding, snowball fights, and the sound of snow and ice compacting underneath my moon boots. Yet for as much fun as I had, I also found winter to be a quieter and more peaceful time of year. Plus, with the addition of holiday food and gifts, not to mention Winter Break from school, I had a lot of positive winter associations.

Over the past few years, though, I’ve realized something not only about winter but about the seasons in general – they can affect you in ways I never thought possible.

Today I am:

Hopeful, happy and for the first time in my life I’m actually kind of proud to be an American. My fellow citizens rocked the vote, putting their idiotic prejudices aside and made history. I got chills hearing Mr. Obama speak last night. Not only has a minority been elected to office, but a man of mixed ethnicity. Someone who understands nothing is a simple as black and white. That there is always a grey area, like him, like me. We are the children of mixed parents, we bridge the racial divide, therefore we are the best agents for change.  I have always believed that individuals can contribute to great change, that we all can make a difference. I am happy come January we will have a candidate in office who’s motto is “YES WE CAN”! because together we did make a difference. I am not an unreasonable person. I know there will be many trials ahead for Mr. Obama and that as is always true in politics, not every promise will be kept. But I am confident and hopeful that things will change for the better, that we will regain lost freedoms and rebuild our broken country, because we have elected a leader who inspires our youth, an intelligent man who has shown us that when he puts his mind to something he can get it done.

Here’s to the next four years America. In the words of Timbuk 3 – “the future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades”

Peace,

Lisa/IMUR

Pet Sounds

An article by Alex Ferguson from IMUR Vol. 2

Sometimes experiences can grab you firmly and unexpectedly, shake you with complete force, spin you round and round into a dizzying state, and leave you in a place you never knew existed. For some, that feeling may have come physically from their first ride on a roller coaster or a speed bike. For others, maybe a visual grand cinematic experience or even the first physiological high of a favorite drug. For me though, I still remember the emotional rushing tidal wave of having first heard the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds.

It was almost ten years ago when I first heard the album. I’d been a casual but vocal Beach Boys fan for years when I don’t remember it being the hip or trendy thing to be. But the songs were purely infectious and stirred the soul with joy. So naturally, the mind wanders and expands possibilities. And before long on a quiet college day, I took the antiquated action of driving to the local department store, plucking down almost 15 bucks, and coming back to my dorm room stereo to unwrap the mystery that was the Pet Sounds CD. And what a mystery it proved to be.

I can’t properly describe the type of instruments or notes that make a great song, nor am I interested in analyzing the meaning or merit of individual song lyrics. And I don’t often listen to or read what is considered to be popular, noteworthy, influential, or great music outside of what I hear through my own ears. For me, the musical experience is all about how the sound and feel of the music filters through your ears and into the core of my heart, for better or worse.

Annual Horror Film Festival…

I’ve been a horror film as far back as I can remember. One of my earliest “movie memories” is watching a TBS triple feature of old Christopher Lee/Peter Cushing/Hammer Horror movies. After seeing those films, as well as some other more modern thrillers, I was hooked. Ever since, every fall has involved some kind of horror movie festival leading up to Halloween. Lisa and I have carried on the torch, so to speak, the past seven years as we try to cram in as many as time allows (fewer each year as we both have less time, it seems) with this year being no exception.

This year’s festival is going to contain a mixture of films we have not yet seen (Vampyr, The Orphanage), re-viewings of classics (Scanners, Serpent and the Rainbow, and our annual screening of Halloween) and some cheese (Monster Squad, Night of the Lepus).

Top 10 Reasons I Love Fall

Well October is almost here and that means my favorite season is upon us…here are 10 reasons why I love it so much:

1. Halloween – Best holiday ever! Brian and I have a horror movie marathon every year which we begin sometime in September and which always culminates on Halloween night with a viewing of John Carpenter’s Halloween.

2. Colorful leaves everywhere that crunch beneath your shoes.

3. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin bread, pumpkin seeds…yum!

4. Creativity – I always feel more creative in the fall. This is the time of year I pull out my knitting or my sketchbook or my guitar and create stuff.

5. The warm days and cool nights.

6.  School -  though I won’t be going this fall and that makes me sad, but the kids are back in school which means work isn’t quite so crazy during the day.

7. Sweaters and light jackets.

8. Sunset walks.

9. Eating tomato soup with grilled cheese on cold rainy days.

10.  Wearing skirts with boots.

-LQ

One more reason to love this man:

8-6-2007-15, originally uploaded by Lisa Quintero.

Check out his new EP via Touch and Go and read the explanation for its release here: http://tedleo.com/news.php

All proceeds from the EP go to the Minnesota Food Not Bombs and Democracy Now!

-Lisa

Dennis Wilson: Coming out from the shadows…

I have been a huge Beach Boys fan for many years. When I was a kid, though, they didn’t do much for me because all I’d really been exposed to were the early “surfing” songs, which seemed pretty cheesy. Being from the landlocked and chilly tundra of North Dakota, I just couldn’t relate. But after hearing Pet Sounds in my mid-teens that all changed. Much has been said about Pet Sounds (ex: see Alex Ferguson’s piece in IMUR #2), Smile, and all the amazing work that Brian Wilson did before he went into artistic hibernation due to personal demons and psychological issues. Many books have been written about his artistic brilliance and his songs have stirred emotions inside of me I never knew I had, spawning thoughts, dreams and aspirations.

So, it goes without saying that Brian Wilson has had a tremendous impact on my life, just as he has impacted legions of bands. Yet as much as Brian Wilson’s music has changed my life, the music of Dennis Wilson (one of Brian’s younger brothers and Beach Boys drummer) is just as important to me, especially in regards to pursuing my own writing.

Let me explain…

A Review of Lollapalooza 2008

The dynamic duo (Brian and I) covered Lollapalooza for the fourth time this weekend and we’ve vowed never to cover it again.

There were too many people at the festival this year, which sold out on both Friday and Saturday, something which hasn’t happened before. Total festival attendance was estimated to be about 275,000; which just meant there were that many more drunken idiots running around. Not to mention high individuals causing all sorts of mayhem, like the one I saw taken down by 6, not 1, 6 security guards for dancing in a disorderly manner.

Weezer

I first started listening to Weezer in 1998. It happened by accident. I was listening to my high school’s radio station after school one day when I heard “Why Bother?” and at the same time the following week “El Scorcho”. The emotion in both of those songs penetrated to my teenaged core. So I immediately headed to the nearest Best Buy and picked up the only 2 Weezer records they had – The Blue Album and Pinkerton. I enjoyed the light poppy tunes of Blue, especially “In the Garage” but it couldn’t hold a candle to Pinkerton. I listened to that CD over and over again, memorizing the lyrics to every song, wishing that Cuomo would write more.

I Am You Are

By – Lisa Root

I like the flow of the zine name. One of those sentences that rolls out like a wave. In a random notebook I have the phrase, “Me and the sea.” And I love finding it now and again and saying it a few times out loud.
I put these things off, not sure if I’m going to like where/who/what I was when I committed to sitting myself in front of a computer and putting myself out there. The internet is a lonely anonymous place, like a giant, global peepshow where if you have the right token you can open a window into the version of life someone wants you to see. I’m conscious of how I can command that and I only write in spurts or when asked to.

Mind vs. <3

I’ve come to realize one of the most difficult transitions a person encounters is moving from living in the mind to the heart.
It sounds strange, but it’s almost as if there’s a battle for two supreme wills raging within me at all times. My mind demands that I analyze every situation to death. I can’t just let things go. I’ve got to pour over the details, wonder “why” an event happened or why something was said. Was there an ulterior motive? Was it something I said or did?
Obviously, we have to use our minds to think, to learn, to judge, to investigate—all things that are necessary. But on the other hand, I’ve come to realize I can get trapped in my mind, shackled by never ending questions that have no answers, yet they whirl circularly in and out of my direct consciousness, and many of these thoughts never completely disappear.
We’re raised in a society that demands adherence to the “rules” of logic. And I’m always looking for them to govern over many situations. Yet there are so many times when logic gets tossed out the window, and we’ve got to just act from the heart, letting go of our own self-imposed limitations and allowing our true selves to appear.
The mind can be a blessing and a curse—a blessing in that it helps us cut through the fog of drama, misinformation, and stupidity we witness; a curse in that sometimes it just won’t shut down and, strangely enough, makes the same mistakes it tries to avoid when witnessing the actions of others.
Ironically, here I am right now trying to “think” about this conundrum on paper. Sometimes by writing things out I feel better, but sometimes I wonder if it’s just another “escape” from opening up my heart.
So, what am I afraid of?

-Brian Peterson

The Road Leads to Where It’s Led

An article from the forthcoming issue of IMUR by Eric Grubbs

From time to time, I ask myself, “Is this what I’m really supposed to be doing?” Meaning, am I supposed to be working this job, living in this house, and doing what I do? Since I didn’t imagine at nineteen what I would be doing at twenty-nine, I’ve learned to go with the flow. If the flow feels like its going one way, then why should I consider going any other route?

No regrets…

You can’t be what you were
So you better start being
just what you are
You can’t be what you were
the time is now is running out is running out is running running running out
You can’t be what you were
So you better start living the life
That you’re talking about – “Bad Mouth” Fugazi

For a long time I’ve obsessed about things I did or didn’t do in the past. Just as I’ve obsessed about the future. Even though I’ve always known I couldn’t go back, I’ve always wished I could and start over again. However, that’s not getting me anywhere. Worrying about the past and the things that never came to be only depresses me. These obsessions hold me back. So, I’ve decided to follow Ian MacKaye’s advice and start living the life I used to talk about, the life I dreamed I’d be living now back when I was younger, cause time is “running, running, running out”! I need to stop talking about shit and just do it. I need to stop worrying about the future and start focusing on the present. I need to start doing things because they make me happy, not because they’re what people expect of me. I’ll never be a naïve teenager again, I can’t get those years back, I am who I am now – a confused 20 something and I might as well make the best of these years while I still can.

-LQ

Hardcore

I’ve always believed music can change lives. It has flamed artistic, personal, and social revolutions. It brings people together. It teaches. It soothes. It heals.

At the same time, at least for the uninitiated, it almost seems like a contradiction when one talks about these characteristics in relation to hardcore.

Intense, abrasive, and loud to a fault, hardcore seems to exude the opposite qualities that many look for when it comes to music, at least on the surface. But maybe that’s what appealed (and still appeals) to me about it. More traditional and ornate forms of music, as beautiful as they are, often seem a bit out of one’s reach due to the fact that it takes quite the talent to even pretend to make a statement within those forms. Hardcore, on the other hand, seems almost more human. Anyone can be a part of it. If you’ve got a mouth or an instrument, no matter how rudimentary your talent is, you can make your “voice” heard.

My Soundtrack:

Ever think about what songs you’d pick if you had to set a soundtrack to your life? I think about this a lot, too much probably, but it’s a good way to kill time…

Up until my junior year of high school I mostly listened to music my parents had exposed me to and 80’s pop. I didn’t really start to seek out music on my own until then, so I’ve decided to start my soundtrack with that year. I’ve measured time in school years since I’ve spent most of the past decade in school. These are the songs that either meant the most to me at the time (for various reasons), or that just seem to fit with what I remember feeling at the time. I’ve limited myself to no more than 5 songs per year, because otherwise this thing would be ridiculously long, so here goes: