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May 7 - 20, 2021 39
American Life in Poetry BY KWAME DAWES It must be one of the great mercies of life that time provides us with the magical capacity to turn memories of the complete alarm of caring for an infant child into a delightful bit of nostalgia. Adrian Matejka manages to capture both the splendor and bewilderment of early fatherhood in this tender poem. Up, Up from Daydreams/Lullaby
BY ADRIAN MATEJKA
Your eyes close as soon as I put you in the plastic moon of a car seat. Connect the seatbelts, check the seat-to-car belts. Face turned to one side, brown like mine. Fists instead of hands just like me. Is this all you got from me? At least the seat is installed right thanks to a fireman at Station 37. At least you smile when you sleep & sleep like it’s your job since I still don’t know what I’m supposed to do when you wake up. In your dream of passing cars & Oregon hills underneath us, I sing a made-up song while Federico Aubele & the car’s intemperate hum really lullaby: Little one, this is a start. Little one, it starts with a heart.
BIG SKY
Corner Quote “If you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won’t see why we go. What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to live. That is what life means and what life is for.” - George Mallory, “Climbing Everest: The Complete Writings of George Mallory”
BEATS Original songs and their celebrated covers BY GABRIELLE GASSER For many music lovers, the same question sparks debate: Original or cover? In some instances, the cover of a song ends up becoming more popular than the original. On the flip side, some covers flop or are disliked by the band’s fanbase. An interesting function of covers is that they can often blur the lines of genres or even change it entirely. Below is a playlist pairing original songs with their covers and I leave it up to the reader to decide which version you prefer. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
PHOTO BY C D-X ON UNSPLASH
“Southern Nights” (1977) by Glen Campbell “Southern Nights” (2017) by Whitney “Africa” (1982) by Toto “Africa” (2019) by Weezer “Hallelujah” (1984) by Leonard Cohen “Hallelujah” (1994) by Jeff Buckely “Tainted Love” (1976) by Gloria Jones “Tainted Love” (1981) by Soft Cell “Can’t Feel My Face” (2015) by The Weeknd “Can’t Feel My Face” (2017) by The Amity Affliction
