Music…

Take on Me

Hunting High and Low

a-ha
and Words

Talking away
I don’t know what I’m to say
I’ll say it anyway
Today is another day to find you
Shying away
I’ll be coming for your love. OK?
Take on me (Take on me)
Take me on (Take on me)
I’ll be gone
In a day or two

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.


I grew up a child of the 80’s.  The melding of video transformed the experience from merely listening to music to seeing moving images.  I spend hours tuned to MTV, though somewhat in the background.  We never got the “stereo hookup” that they kept pushing on the commercials.  I imagine they were merely RCA outputs that piped that signal from the television through your stereo.  It was just as well, as the televisions in our house were either large console television, about the size of a fireplace, or a modest 13″ set that sat in my bedroom.  Their speakers were tinny and miserable, but they resembled the washed-out screens that flashed those grainy images.

I discovered music alternating between preset stations on the radio and whatever played on MTV.  My sisters and I were fascinated by the videos.  For weeks, the VJ’s spoke about Rick Springfield’s video premiere for “Don’t Talk to Strangers”, to which we tuned intently.  We imagined it would be a monumental event from all the hype; we didn’t anticipate it would be literally just the playing of the video and then promptly on to the next video…  No other videos by Rick Springfield, nor interviews.  We were more perplexed than disappointed.

Continue reading “Slowly learning that life is okay”

Music…

Amanda

Third Stage

Boston
and Words

Babe, tomorrow’s so far away
There’s something I just have to say
I don’t think I could hide what I’m feelin’ inside
Another day, knowin’ I love you

And I, I’m getting too close again
I don’t wanna see it end
If I tell you tonight, would you turn out the lights
And walk away knowin’ I love you?

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.


On a fall weekend morning in 1986, I pack my 1966 Mustang, my new-for-me car to the brim, but it still couldn’t contain all the things I needed.  My family, my mom and sisters, packed the remainder of my belongings.  Next, we embarked on a nearly hour-long trip down the coast to Coral Gables.  I drove south on I-95, the familiar freeway that travels all the way up the East Coast, down to where it ends; it empties onto US-1.  Finally, we arrive at our destination, a couple of blocks off US-1.  I pull into the unfamiliar parking lot, lock the car, and walk to the front desk of Pearson Hall.

The desk bustled with chaotic activity; to this day, I don’t know how I got situated.  I gave them my name and it started from there.  The young people, likely other students, simply cross-referenced me in lists on clipboards.  They efficiently found my dorm room, handed me a key, and gave me directions.  My dorm room was in the 1R wing; it sat between the ground floor and the second floor, up half a flight of stairs.

Continue reading “The chaotic beginnings of higher education”