Some good music, a good book, & some good news
Hmmm, lots to talk about. First and foremost, the new Rilo Kiley Album “Under the Blacklight.” There’s always an tinge of anxiety when a favorite band releases something new, and when the members of said band have been doing side projects for the last two years it only adds to the worry that the new album might be kinda blah at best and absolutely horrendous at its worst. I believe I only saw one reference to No Doubt in the pre-release press, which sort of makes sense seeing that there are few bands with female leads and Jenny has gotten more “fame” than Blake during their solo stints, but even just that one reference had me even more scared that we were looking at a totally different band upon Rilo’s reunion. Well, the answer appears to be yes, they’re different, but no, they’re not a different band. My friend Annie said it well when she described hearing the meshing of what Jenny and Blake have been doing separately along with a logical, positive progression from their last album as a band. Although my other friend Valerie noted that many more songs have catchy hooks with repeating choruses, shying away from their storytelling way of old. I was skeptical at first listen, I wasn’t sure if the album was cohesive, and as soon as I told that to Valerie I realized that my intense Bravo watching has resulted in me sounding like a judge on Top Chef or Project Runway, but I digress. Upon a second listen I was in Rilo heaven, between Jenny’s heart-wrenching voice to Blake’s sweet, melodic guitar lines that have just a touch of bravado, oh my, I was reminded of what love sounds like. I actually decided to get out of the house to write this and not take my headphones for fear that I will wear myself out on the material before I even have a chance to see them performed live (9/21, Avalon, can’t wait). My only true complaint is that it’s super short, so it’s more like a tease than a full album, but I won’t lie, I’ll take whatever I can get.
Just finished an absolutely fascinating book last week that I wish I could get everyone to read. As noted previously, I relapsed into my nonfiction reading ways and have been reading “Everything Conceivable,” an extremely thorough examination of assisted reproductive technology (ART), its history, its current abilities and challenges, and the ethical, moral, political, economical, and societal implications thereof. The book goes far beyond discussing In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) because, turns out, that’s just the tip of the iceberg in terms of ART. Some of you have had to endure long and sometimes mildly awkward conversations about the book and it’s many interesting parts, but I’ll save those reading here from such a summary and suggest you a) read the book, I’ll even let you borrow it and/or b) talk to me about it, over coffee, over drinks, whenever, it’s far too interesting to keep to myself. But what I will share online here is something brought up in the end of the book after I thought about it for weeks; ART, if given much thought, tends to get lumped with “women’s rights” and “abortion rights,” and rightly so to some degree, but essentially it needs to be it’s own subject apart from these other issues because it involves so much more than women’s rights and the right to choose. And along with that, it’s a topic that needs to be discussed more openly and more often because, unlike abortion where most people know where they stand, there are no clear positions to take in terms of ART, yet it is something that goes on rather unregulated in our society and is already having a tremendous impact on everyone. And if you don’t believe me, think about what my mom has asked me on more than one occasion; “Alison, why are you even reading this, you don’t want kids?” And I say, exactly. The discussion around ART is only about having children at its very basic level. Dig just slightly deeper and you’ll find all of the questions about life and society that begs to be answered yet isn’t even discussed, at least not enough. What about leftover embryos and the fact that they cannot be used for stem cell research by any scientist that receives even the slightest bit of federal funding? What about parents knowingly passing on infertility to their children just because they want their own biological offspring? What about the rights of a fetus, a child, a woman? Do children have a right to know that they were conceived with a donor egg or donor sperm? Should egg donors be paid? What about the outrageous money factor, my gosh that has a whole books worth of questions. Why isn’t the US regulating the system here like in other countries, thus allowing four, five, six, nine embryos to be transferred in a single IVF round? Do doctors motivated so heavily on the money really have the best interest of the patients in mind? And a somewhat silly thought equally important question, why does our society romanticize multiple births when in reality they are life-threatening to the woman and babies and often produce children with birth defects? Seriously, it’s a good book, and if you don’t get it soon and start talking to me don’t act surprised when come December you get a nice copy all wrapped in pretty paper.
Last but certainly not least, I’m very happy to report that I have a new internship! After several weeks of emailing, resume-building, applying, emailing some more, and an interview, I have an internship with the Museum of Fine Arts here in Boston in their film program. I went today for the interview and already loved the place. The woman I met with was laid back and friendly and when she showed me around the office, I felt like I was in the right place. It wasn’t like being a fish out of water like I felt some days at the American Art Museum, but rather I was surrounded by film, film, and more film! File after file on directors, movements, past series and festivals, movie posters stacked in a corner from screenings past, and just an environment that felt familiar and normal and comfortable. To make things even better, there’s an opportunity to do this for the whole year and work specifically on the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival that goes on every May. I was shown the breakdown of tasks that the woman in charge would like the intern to do and it is exactly what I need and want to do, to learn and be apart of the process from start to finish. So needless to say I’m quite happy right now. Granted, it does require for me to figure out the course credit stuff now and also calls into question whether or not I’ll do a thesis, but I think I can easily work it out and even have time/energy for the thesis. Regardless, I’m just so glad to be getting my hands on the very thing I want to do and hopefully get me moving in the right direction.It’s taco night with some lovely ladies, more thoughts later!
posted by Alison @ 4:36 PM
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