Hello, my name is..

It is one of those things where I am occasionally awaken in the middle of the night from a sound sleep by thoughts of how the way Jay-Z described his lyric writing process in his interview with the New York Public Library can be applied to a faculty writing workshop on teaching writing as a process or of why "The Ballad of Sean Foley" is a perfect example of how to build the round, solid characters that are not easily achieved in creative writing courses.  I would not say it is a deliberate obsession, but it is an obsession.  I love writing, and working in the local university's writing program I read about, talk about, think about, and write about writing and writing pedagogy constantly.  If you were to walk into my office on any given day, there would be music playing on my Mac's speakers.  I try to make sure music surrounds me at all times - in the car I have carefully selected the CD based on my mood. I don't go to the grocery store without my ipod, and at home we take turns picking what music we play each night.


When I meet people and the topic of music comes up - likes, dislikes, recent discoveries - I visibly perk up, and they become a character based on their musical palette.  "Oh.  You just went to a Kings of Leon concert.  That must have been fun."  In my mind, this guy tries too hard in the bedroom, secretly watches Oprah for a good cry, and loves his dog more than his wife.  At a pause in our labored and only conversation, I meet his wife, a thirty something who is the essence of "Stuff White People Like".  She mentions early Beyonce, and her husband rolls his eyes when he mentions her love for singing Mary J. Blige at karaoke.  She is automatically my friend because, in my mind, she is carefree, not caring about what people expect from her or think about her.  She also tried line dancing once but only to people watch, participate in a cliched American pass time, and enjoy her incoordination.  We would do fun things together, like dancing to every song at a Vampire Weekend concert where most the audience could be calling us aunt or even mom.  One grey afternoon we drive all the way to Emerald Isle in October on a whim just to enjoy the crisp cold water and empty beaches.  I am more involved with the characters I am building in my head than the people in front of me.


I could be completely wrong about the tags ("Hello, my name is I use to really like Limp Bizkit" and "I'm with stupid") I hastily placed on them based on a few offhand remarks.  Maybe he only went to see KoL because his best friend really wanted to go.  Maybe she only sings Mary J because she thinks she has a great voice, and Mary J's music accentuates its beauty.  But music helps me build these characters, relate to people, perceive the greater world, and possibly create something.


So that is all this blog is - a place to process ideas about how music relates to writing and writing relates to music, maybe write a few short stories that musicians and their music inspire, to share and decode some of the songs  and musicians that are inspiring, and to write.

Kerri