Rhythms for Foliage.

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that this has been the most beautiful autumn I've experienced at Clemson. While rain has ensued on more than one occasion, the sun-filled days we have been granted have been fresh encounters.

No matter where you are, if you happen to be among fall foliage, I would suggest filling your ears with the following music as you roam streets, study in a coffee shop, or walk along nature paths:

-Sufjan Stevens "The Predatory Wasp from Palisades is out to get us" (an ode to my autumn freshman year...it has done the trick yet again)

-The Swell Season "When Your Mind's Made Up," (version accompanied by violins); "Alone Apart" "Drown Out..." Heck just everything off their first album

-Greg Laswell "High and Low" "Comes and Goes in Waves" "Farewell"

-Rosie Thomas...she's just always good (as long as she is singing and not speaking)

I realize a lot of this music is not very recent, but I assure you it will stir your soul.

Enjoy these beautiful days.

Anticipating The Swell Season

Oct. 27th

...should be heart-wrenchingly beautiful.

Musical.

My thoughts are becoming lines.

My fingers are picking at the right strings.

I am finally composing.

Anna Banana.

Anna and I talked on the phone a couple of days ago. I must say, it was the first time that we have ever talked that I felt more like I was talking to a friend then talking to my 10-year-old sister. I asked her how her day had been and she replied, "You know what Kelly? It just has not been a very good day!" I asked her why and she proceeded to tell me about forgetting her homework for Social Studies, and something else that happened in math class. She also talked about how she had four tests coming up. I asked her how she prepares for tests and she told me that she "takes notes on her notes." It made me laugh because that is exactly how I study...

While it was a simple conversation, I realized that it is becoming easier to relate to Anna- when she tells me she has had a bad day, particularly relating to school, I can empathize with her since I, too, have had those days. Her barbie dolls have long been put away. She watches The Weather Channel now and longs to become a meteorologist...My heart stopped a little bit when I realized that in a few weeks she will be eleven, an age that no longer grants her "child status." As she continues to grow, I am much looking forward to conversations and forming bonds. She really is a trip.

Preserved in Video.

I don't know who has seen this yet, but this was released yesterday on the New York Times' website...the only video footage of Anne Frank.

Chilling, but captivating all the same.

SPECIAL ALERT!

This just in-- Central, South Carolina resident and Preiss Company Representative, Kelly Russell, established a NEW post-grad goal early Monday morning.

This is the first change the residents of Clemson have witnessed in two weeks.

"I think we we were all expecting it," said Clemson University student Kristin Beste, "I mean, I was shocked that news of a change hadn't come sooner in the past couple of weeks."

The change features a plan to enter post-graduate school in the Fall 2010, in an attempt to obtain a Master's Degree in Student Affairs. Currently, her focus is on Seattle University's two-year program, with an emphasis in international affairs.

Steps toward this goal are already underway, as Russell was seen e-mailing the Study Abroad office at Clemson University from on-campus Java City. The unidentified source said it looked like she was trying to set up an appointment with her advisors who had obtained similar degrees in the past several years.

"I respect the initial leap," said an anonymous source, "now the community just has to sit back and see whether or not the change will stick this time around."

Russell was unavailable for questioning. However, her publicist commented that she is available for contact via e-mail or phone...though he is weary of her ability to answer her phone.

unknowingly united.

I took this photo last fall while I was in Berlin. The Church of St. Mary and The Television tower are both located near Alexanderplatz.

At the time, I did not realize the irony that exists in this image. I simply thought it was an interesting angle, one that represented a shift in architecture style- traditional meets modern/post WWII communism.

However, this afternoon I've been working on a speech criticism of Ronald Reagan's "Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate," and came across this section of the text:

"Years ago, before the East Germans began rebuilding their churches, they erected a secular structure: the television tower at Alexander Platz. Virtually ever since, the authorities have been working to correct what they view as the tower's one major flaw: treating the glass sphere at the top with paints and chemicals of every kind. Yet even today when the sun strikes that sphere, that sphere that towers over all Berlin, the light makes the sign of the cross. There in Berlin, like the city itself, symbols of love, symbols of worship, cannot be suppressed."

Interesting today to look back at my photograph and see how despite my attempt to capture a shift in changing times, I was actually capturing an unshakable unity.