Monday, December 3, 2012

Future

Hello,

I have been thinking of late about my future. Crazy stuff. So, what does one do with a Masters degree in British and American Literature? Is teaching the only option? We will see...I can read and write well and I hear that in this job market (this terrible job market) that those skills are actually needed. That's sad but lucky for me?
I am applying for the Spring Internship at Lonely Planet here in Oakland. I went and toured their offices and I would be a happy Tej-Tej if I could work with them. They have a room entirely devoted to photo-viewing for when a co-worker returns from a trip. Leslie (the marketing girl) told me the latest one was when a co-worker returned this summer from Croatia. Pretty sweet. Every Thursday evening the Lonely Planet crew goes across the street to grab a beer at Linden Street Brewery.

Suffice to say...I want to work for them. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

I also have been looking at internships with Sunset Magazine. That would also be awesome. Most of their internships are in New York City though. I am not sure I want to move away from the Bay Area yet but maybe it would be a fun new experience.

Another option on the table is furthering my education and going on to get my PhD. If I were to do that (it is not looking like an extremely lucrative decision because tenure is harder and harder to get) I would most likely study Slavophile literature and focus specifically on Slovene literature.  Maybe I could translate since I am fluent in Slovene...but in order to achieve this next feat, I think I would move back to Slovenia and live in Ljubliana with my cousin. Which would be amazing. I wouldn't apply until Fall 2013 for the 2013/2014 school year.

I go back and forth; freaking out and then telling myself I have time. I realistically don't have that much time to figure stuff out...I graduate in May with my Master's....hopefully I will have something lined up by then. If not...then...? I feel like ever since my accident, I take things day-to-day and bad things really don't faze me as much as they used to. At least I am not in the hospital with a dozen broken bones. Life is good.

When I was home for Thanksgiving, I met a friend's boyfriend who just happens to be the general editor of Powder Magazine. He told me that the best way to get noticed by a publication of this nature is to blog about skiing. So I may have some blatant ski/snow posts as the Spring comes. Working for Powder would be awesome. Except that they're located in San Clemente. I don't know how much I would like living in Southern California...but we'll see. That would be a pretty cool opportunity.

And I will leave you guys today with a poem about snow by Wallace Stevens. It really captures the beauty and tranquility of a snowy landscape. I have also beheld "[n]othing that is not there and nothing that is" while walking in the snow...it's a beautiful moment.

The Snow Man

One must have a mind of winter 
To regard the frost and the boughs 
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow; 

And have been cold a long time 
To behold the junipers shagged with ice, 
The spruces rough in the distant glitter

Of the January sun; and not to think 
Of any misery in the sound of the wind, 
In the sound of a few leaves, 

Which is the sound of the land 
Full of the same wind 
That is blowing in the same bare place

For the listener, who listens in the snow, 
And, nothing himself, beholds 
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.



Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Blogs I revere...



Because I am inundated with school work, I feel that I have been neglecting my blog as of late. So, this next blog is to entertain my readers and give you guys references of other blogs that I love. You can read them to take up some of your daily reading time. I'll put the blog and the link and then give you a little summary on why I think that particular blog is so excellent. 

This blog is mainly SPECTACULAR recipes but it also boasts some amazing photography and the author's meditations on the world. For instance her last post wasn't just a recipe for pork confit & black eyed pea cassoulet with honeycrisp apple & sweet potato mash (!!!) but also photos of Appalachia and this poetic rumination: "Time is crass. It sterilizes and homogenizes. But here, in these wild pockets of the South that are still left intact, it's been less profane. I crave being in the heart of Appalachia so much it's actually uncomfortable, a physical tugging I can feel from my sternum to the pit of my stomach. The mountains, they prey on my mind. I want to know them intimately because I want to know myself." 

This is my go-to blog for new music and news on artists that I love. It's an indie music blog but usually has some really interesting entries for artists from all genres. The latest post is on Frightened Rabbit's new EP...

So, this is subjective...this is my good friend, Natalie Smith's blog and she is very funny. She hasn't posted anything in a while but I'll tell her that now that I am endorsing her she'd better get back to it...

Aziz Ansari is my favorite comedian at the moment and his blog is really entertaining. If you are bored there is a chance Aziz might be too...

Also biased here, but it really is an incredible blog. My friend Amy Harris's new blog is called high sierra yoga and it is wonderfully multi-faceted including her writing, photography and a place to sign up for her yoga classes. She has been blogging her food adventures for a couple years now and is translating her expertise to this new blog. She is pretty amazing...

So, these make up my favorite blog collection. I hope you enjoy them!

And per usual I will end with a poem Garrison Keillor read on the daily almanac a few mornings ago. It is called "Bless Their Hearts" by Richard Newman. This is taken from the Writer's Almanac blog. It kind of reminded me of how I feel about this past campaigning season...but I also just really liked it and wanted to share. Garrison Keillor reading it is very pleasant as well. Listen

Bless Their Hearts 

At Steak ‘n Shake I learned that if you add
“Bless their hearts” after their names, you can say
whatever you want about them and it’s OK.
My son, bless his heart, is an idiot,
she said. He rents storage space for his kids’
toys—they’re only one and three years old!
I said, my father, bless his heart, has turned
into a sentimental old fool. He gets
weepy when he hears my daughter’s greeting
on our voice mail. Before our Steakburgers came
someone else blessed her office mate’s heart,
then, as an afterthought, the jealous hearts
of the entire anthropology department.
We bestowed blessings on many a heart
that day. I even blessed my ex-wife’s heart.
Our waiter, bless his heart, would not be getting
much tip, for which, no doubt, he’d bless our hearts.
In a week it would be Thanksgiving,
and we would each sit with our respective
families, counting our blessings and blessing
the hearts of family members as only family
does best. Oh, bless us all, yes, bless us, please
bless us and bless our crummy little hearts.


Wednesday, October 10, 2012

"Sleepwalk" and Stuff on my Mind

Wow, I finally saw "Sleepwalk with Me," only a month later...But I've been busy.
I liked it.
Very interesting content. I listened to the episode "Fear of Sleep" from "This American Life" sometime before. It features Mike Birbiglia and the audio from his stand-up  He talks about his REM disorder. The anecdotes are really funny, until you stop and realize that they're really serious. Like when he jumped through a closed window from the second floor of a hotel. ("La Quinta Inn, that's not fair...you can't force me to speak Spanish...")

I think the most important thing from this film is that it shines light on this really serious disorder. And it shines light on it through comic relief making it more comfortable for people watching who may sleepwalk, or have the disorder. This film hopefully spurred people who have REM sleep disorder to get help.

Mike Birbiglia is so likable. I didn't quite realize how heavy it was going to revolve around his relationship but that content too was realistic and truthful. All in all I am happy that I finally saw it. Although, Mike Birbiglia and Ira Glass are hosting a pizza party Friday, October 12,  to watch the film all together through the cyber world. The film can now be downloaded. Well, at least I got the student discount on the tickets at the movie theater...

I have been working on my Master's project. I have decided I want to work with utopias (or dystopias) found in Russian literature, specifically Fyodor Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamozov. Super exciting stuff.
So, here is the place where I will be fleshing out my ideas. Stay tuned.

And as promised here is a poem I read last night by W.H. Auden. I take it to be about reciprocity...are the stars his lover that doesn't reciprocate his love?

The More Loving One

Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.

How well should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.

Admirer as I think I am
Of stars that do not give a damn,
I cannot, now I see them, say
I missed one terribly all day.

Were all stars to disappear or die,
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total dark sublime,
Though this might take me a little time.




Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Shameless self-promotion

In this day and age an online presence is quite valuable and, as much as I resisted a while back, I am slowly creating one. Therefore, even the technologically-stunted Tej is building her online reputation.

http://about.me/matejalane

about.me is a great reference because it eliminates the endless search for social media sites that your potential employer may do. And it shows that you're not hiding anything by readily giving them permission to see your raunchy Facebook profile.

In other news...

This Friday I am FINALLY seeing Sleepwalk With Me, a film by Mike Birbiglia and produced by Ira Glass, the host for This American Life (a man I have revered for a long while). So, check back later in the week for a personal review of the film...I am pretty excited.

The preview of the film is on the This American Life website...

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/

Instead of a poem, I will leave you with a quote from Mike Birbiglia. He is a pretty funny guy...

"When I was a kid I would write songs, little plays, and poetry in school. If you're an adult and you're a poet, it's all about love and pain, but if you're a kid it's, "Does anyone know a word that rhymes with shark?" 









Sunday, September 9, 2012

I'm Back!

It has been a year since I have posted anything in my blog! But I have returned to Mills College to finish up my graduate degree. I am feeling oh-so intellectually stimulated and that is when I feel most inspired to share things with everyone. So this is basically a new introduction post. These are the things that have been on my mind lately...

Here is a video I just watched of a street artist Blu.

http://vimeo.com/13085676

Pretty wild! It is hard to fathom the actual production of a project like this one.

I also just bought Aziz Ansari's new stand up Dangerously Delicious for 5$...and it is hilarious. I recommend it, best 5$ I have spent in a while.

http://azizansari.com/

And his blog is very entertaining...

http://azizisbored.tumblr.com/

As the semester goes on I will share my ideas and projects here. I am enrolled in a Sci Fi Literature class (very surprising for me but it seems like it will be intriguing...), Literature and the Commons (I will do a post explaining the idea of a "commons" next week), a Fiction Workshop (first time I have shared my own work!), and a Graduate seminar focusing completely on different types of Expository writing (which seems very relevant).
I will also finish each post with a poem per usual...

This poem was written by William Carlos Williams in 1923. He was known for very short (but sweet) poems. Take from it what you will...obviously very different interpretations across the board. This poem is used often in Critical Theory courses, which is where I was first introduced. Enjoy!

The Red Wheelbarrow

so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.