I flew home today to visit my family for the weekend (everyone needs a break from P-Town every once in awhile), and we went to the a fine art exhibition. The art was amazing, but what I enjoyed the most was actually talking to the artists themselves. I quickly lost my parents and stated talking with an amazing young artist named Kris. His long brown hair pulled back at the nape of his neck made him look like a cliche. He sat bent over a canvas-in-progress his lips were slightly parted as if the colors that mingled on the canvas were actually spilling forth out of his mouth from the depths of his body. As I looked at the muted beauty that prevailed on his canvases, he asked me which was my favorite. I answered that his painting entitled Echo was my favorite because it looked like liquified earth that still seemed to be in motion. After that, we fell into easy conversation about art, literature, and life in general. Aparently we both have a fondness for Billy Collins and Philip Larkin. We spoke about how smaller paintings are more difficult and how that was similar to writing poetry, because in poetry every word counts and on small canvases every stroke counts. All in all, he was a fascinating man. I also spoke with a girl named Asha who is originally from India and we fell into conversatoin about her artwork and traveling and the influences on her work. I liked a set of two paintings by her entitled Soul Search I & II. It was a very enjoyable experience and makes me want to pull out my paints once I get back to Utah. Art is so powerful, but also so draining. After this weekend, I think I'll try my hand once again at painting my soul.

No one likes feeling stupid.

I was not aware that ‘retarded’ was such an uncouth word in today’s society. I guess I assumed that everyone had accepted the amelioration and spread of this word's usage beyond the sphere of psychology. I would never use the word in reference to another person because that would be rude, however, I have no problem using this adjective when referring to inanimate objects as the word can hardly be misconstrued to be an insult to that objects mental capacities considering it has none.
I was sadly mistaken in this matter, which I unfortunately found out by declaring the ancient Greek word for ‘ship’ retarded. At which point my professor threw a piece of chalk in my general direction (this is a normal occurrence and not notable in and of itself) however, what followed, was a rant that I thought was totally uncalled for. It went something like this:

Professor: What did you say?
Me:(always wanting to be honest) I said the word is retarded
Professor: Did you mean retarded or did you mean gay?

This was very disconcerting to me, since I do not find those words similar at all, so I then repeated that no, indeed, I said and, yes, meant retarded. At which point he rants about stepping up our language above that of the average student… blah, blah, blah...

Professor: Not that I care if you swear or anything like that…
Me: (I love getting permission) Ah Hell. Ya for real? Damn it
Professor: hmm, Hell in the vocative (sometimes my professor is just awesome) but I meant I don't care if you swear outside of the classroom

At which point he said something else insulting in anger, but I can't quite remember what. All I remember is that next I swore vehemently in Arabic (a language he doesn’t know) and he responded with equal vehemence in a language I did not know. All in all it was a bizarre class period. I was kind of pissed that he would imply that I was prejudiced or homophobic, because I am not and did not use ‘retard’ in that manner, so I’m still kind of pissed at him. Seriously, he isn't morally superior because he is so-called 'liberal' any more than I am morally superior for being mormon. I guess we’ll see how it goes today.

Headlights

The headlight shines through the window causing the window to light up, shining like thousands of diamonds on a vertical glass table or the tears of hundreds of children glittering as they turn their eyes skyward seeking peace.

Rewriting Creation

The word is the most powerful tool. God created the world, the light, the dark, with words. In the beginning was the word….

That is the power of the original, perfect language that we have lost. But we still have fragments left. Diluted, but still powerful. We are gods in embryo and are driven to create as God creates. That is why every culture throughout history has produced literature whether oral or written. That is why we feel driven to create music, literature and art. But literature. Literature is the most powerful of all because it uses the most powerful medium. The author creates a world using language, just as God did. However, literature is bigger than just one world, because not only is a world created when the author writes it but it creates a blueprint from which thousands of worlds are built, a new one created whenever someone reads the book. The reader is therefore creating their very own world, even if they never thought it possible for them to do so, or felt any artistic inclination at all. It lies within all of us. Authors just make it more accessible for everyone else.