I've Met Her, And She's In The Washington Post

Photo Credit: Jeff Hutchens Photo/Getty Images for the Discovery Channel

First Person Singular
Caroline Darby, Southwest Airlines flight attendant
Washington Post
Sunday, October 1, 2006

I just completed 20 years back in March. You have to be very flexible because you are on the road; you're living in different hotels every night, different restaurants, different crew members. At this stage, I know my weaknesses. Honestly, I like the shorter flights. Anything over three hours, and I get antsy. The flight attendants that sit up front -- there's two of them -- one's on the aisle, so she's always in view of everybody. And when I fly on the inside, where they can't see me, I always tell her, "Keep a nice, straight face, honey." Naturally, if the plane drops, it's like you're on a roller coaster, but people look to you for guidance. They say: "My God, we dropped -- Oh, she's okay. The stewardess is still laughing and smiling, so everything's good." They still call us "stewardess." So that's what you try to do: You talk to each other in the jump seat to portray that feeling and look that everything's fine. You just have to be prepared to accept anything. At this point ...more>>

Every Damn Year

For the first baseball season in years, I resisted the urge to root failingly for my Cincinnati Reds. In recent years, I have begun the season with intentions of not even paying attention to them. But then something happens and they get on a winning streak. I start to notice. I begin to check their standings in the newspaper. And then I start looking for their games on TV. And before long, I am a watchful fan again.

They always get my hopes up, and then fall short - sometimes way short. And I am reminded of why I tried so hard to do anything but watch baseball at season's beginning.

Anyway, the 2006 season is almost at a close and I made it the whole way without getting sucked into false hope for a Cincinnati Reds post season.

Wait. They still might make it? A few games left and they are still in the hunt?

Go Reds!

Damn.

[Edit to add: Eleven hours after this post, the Cincinnati Reds are eliminated from playoff contention. That didn't take long.]

Overheard in Nashville

Man #1: What brings you to town?

Man #2: My son. I was up in Clarksville helping him with some stuff.

Man #1: Military town. Military kid?

Man #2: Yeah. He did two tours in Iraq and not a scratch. Now we find out he has ALS.

Man #1: That sounds familiar to me but I can't quite remember what that is.

Man #2: Lou Gherig's disease. (short pause) Fatal.

Man #1: (after a bit of silence) My sympathies. My sincerest sympathies.

Man #2: Thanks. I appreciate that. (pause) So, where are you from?

N.B.S. (Nervous Blogger Syndrome)

I'm sure there is a more clever title in there somewhere, but I wonder if anyone else has had this happen to them.

I work for a place and I also have a blog. I just checked my sitemeter page and found that someone is viewing my blog from work. If it's a fellow employee, I simply wonder who. If it's an employer, I wonder why. The good news is that I don't really write about work and I certainly don't use the name of my workplace on here. The bad news is I don't know how sensitive my workplace employers are about workers who blog. I don't want to get fired for writing about music I like.

Or maybe the unexpected will occur and I will be called into H.R. tomorrow. Only instead of being fired, I'll be offered big bucks to maintain a corporate blog. Wouldn't that be special? Regardless, I hope that the workplace reader likes it. Or, more importantly, I hope that the workplace employer doesn't care one way or another.

Anyway, it's time to close and go to the Mothership for lunch.

Where To Eat, Where To Eat

Thursday should be a busy day for me. It'll start early with me taking the family to school so that I can have the van all day. I need the van to help my dad take a rocking chair (surely worth millions) to an auction store.

He's offering to buy me lunch for my efforts but I just can't think of where I'd like to eat. We'll be in Green Hills, but not too far from the whole Woodbine/100 Oaks Mall area. I'm not quite in the mood for burgers or tacos, but maybe some kind of barbecue would be nice.

I like to blog, so it'd have to be a place where a blogger would feel welcome. I love music, so a restaurant with some kind of record album decor would be a nice touch. And don't get me started on what I look for in restroom motif.

Hmmm.....

Any ideas?

Tom And Steve Will Have To Wait

Today feels like the perfect day for lying on the couch and listening to Tom Waits and Steve Earle records all day long.

But I have to work instead. They'll just have to wait for me to clock out tonight. I know they'll understand.

Hotel Rwanda, From A Comfortable Seat

I finally saw Hotel Rwanda tonight. It was screened at Sarratt Cinema in preparation of Paul Rusesabagina's lecture tomorrow. At one point early in the movie, cameraman Jack Daglish captures some footage of the horrible slaughter that is occurring just a mile or so beyond the hotel walls. Mr. Rusesabagina thanks the man for helping to show the world what is going on. Surely, help will come soon as a result. Jack shrugs, knowing all too well how the world works, and replies, "I think if people see this footage, they'll say 'Oh, my God, that's horrible.' And then they'll go on eating their dinners."

I watched the movie in its entirety, thought, "Oh, my God, that's horrible," and then I walked around Tower Records afterwards and listened to some CDs. Of course, it was 9 p.m. on a Sunday night. What else to do? Where to start?

My workplace has enriched me by helping me to forge friendships with people from all over the globe. My coworkers come from El Salvador and from Bosnia, from Argentina and Peru, from Egypt and Albania. They are beautiful human beings and I am proud to know them all. Some came to this country to escape horrible struggles and hardships. Some of them came here as children and don't necessarily have any memory of their home countries.

I am sure that many of us have very different religious beliefs, and if we look hard enough, we can certainly find reasons to hate one another. But the truth of it is that we are all happily and singularly human, we punch the same clock and we clean the same tables. We share roads and we share rights.

Of course, beyond our little corner, hate in the world continues. We just seem hard wired to fight. Just like in Rwanda before them, the people of Darfur also face horrible violence, rape, and genocide. This just in: Aerial bombing continues in Darfur.

Local blogger, Sam Davidson does a noble job of keeping a writer's focus on Darfur. We live in the richest country in the world. We might not all be rich, but in reference to Jack Daglish above, we can say, "Oh, my God, that's horrible," have our dinners, and then do something about it.

The Captain and The Kid

A few weeks ago, I read some promising things about Elton John's forthcoming release. I wrote about what I read, hoping that it was true.

Tonight, as I type this, I am four songs into The Captain and The Kid and I have to say that it is fantastic. That long period of safe, sappy crap?* All is forgiven. This album is interesting and brave. So far, I don't hear an obvious single. I just hear quality songwriting.

(Wait. I just heard the single. "The Bridge" is confusing me. I kind of like it, but I am kind of cringing, too. Listening to the lyrics, I can see them fitting into The New Yorker's BLOCK THAT METAPHOR! category.)

The rest of these songs are kicking ass though. I'm recommending this one.

*Just one man's opinion.

My Name Is Not Volek. Can I Start?

Admittedly, the accompanying self pic depicts a barefoot center and not a barefoot quarterback. But unlike at The New Yorker, this blog relies on no Department of Factual Verification. We just have fun.

What Music Prepares You?

For a while, I would always start my drive to work while listening to "King's Highway" by Tom Petty. My brother would get ready for his big high school basketball games by listening either to "Call Me The Breeze" by Lynyrd Skynyrd or Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture."

In this article about opera's Swedish soprano, Annalena Persson, she reveals that she cranks Springsteen or the Stones before going on stage.

While preparing to sing opera's most demanding soprano role - Wagner's Isolde - Annalena Persson will probably pump herself up with either the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen or a favourite band from her native Sweden, Ebba Gron.'

It's how I get myself ready,' she explains. 'Some people at the Royal Opera in Stockholm used to ask me to turn the music down, but we're not all like that. There are people in opera who know exactly what Britney Spears is doing.'

What's your ritualistic song choice?

Closed Captioning, Apropos of a Typical Vandy Football Game

Last night, Vanderbilt defeated TSU. Good for them. They got a win. And that contradicts my following observation.

Last week, the Vanderbilt Commodores were 0-1 and were about to attempt a soon to be futile game winning field goal kick in the last minute as they hosted the hot Arkansas Razorbacks. I was at work and was unable to watch the game in its entirety. However, I did walk past a television during that closing minute and stopped to see the dramatic ending. The volume was up as was the closed captioning. As the words are quickly typed on the screen, it's always fun to watch the wealth of frenzied typos. But this time, I saw a typo that was quite appropriate and relevant to our loved, but hapless Commodores.

The announcer was describing the weather as the kicker was preparing to give the Commodores their first win of the season. "There is no wind to speak of at Vanderbilt Stadium," he said. Closed captioning, however, told a different story. "THERE IS NO WIN TO SPEAK OF AT VANDERBILT STADIUM."

Indeed, that was a true statement. The kick was just a few feet short and the 'Dores ended the game 0-2 on the year and winless at Vanderbilt Stadium. Oh well, I'll always love my Vanderbilt Commodores.

Music That Moves Me (or, Music That I Move To)

I've had my iPod for about a week or so now, but last night was my first time I used it while exercising. I ran/walked (heavy on the walk) 2.5 miles on the treadmill and lifted weights of enormous heft. On the road to being healthy, wealthy, and wise, I'm feeling good about getting 1/3 of that accomplished in the health club.

But most importantly, those couple of hours of sweaty solitude afforded me the opportunity to be alone with two of my favorite albums: 1992's Triage by David Baerwald ("Our love affair ended, the day she tried to kill me.") and 2004's Know The Rain Here by Geoff Baker. I picked these two albums on purpose. I wanted them to be the first two to break in the iPod for its intended purpose. Why? I'm not really sure. I can only say that they affect me warmly and really resonate with me. Maybe I just feel smarter for listening to these clever songwriters.

I do wonder why music seems to affect us so strongly. And I am reminded of an interesting article that wonders the same. Courtesy of The Boston Globe, the article: Survival of the Harmonious. It's a good read.

Chuck Klosterman IV

It's time again to take a road trip and read to my wife. Why? Chuck Klosterman has released a new book. I've read his previous books to her on past trips to Florida and we even spent our 3rd anniversary at a book store listening to Klosterman himself read from Killing Yourself To Live: 85% of a True Story.

Now the Spin writer on all things pertaining to music and popular culture has written Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas. Here's a good review of it from The Portland Mercury.

An excerpt from the review:

...a terrific interview with Robert Plant ("On 'Whole Lotta Love' you say you're going to give some girl 'every inch' of your love. But you're British. Why don't you use the metric system?")

Paul Rusesabagina To Speak In Nashville

On Monday, September 25, Paul Rusesabagina, portrayed by Don Cheadle in the very important film Hotel Rwanda, will speak at Vanderbilt's Student Life Center.

Hotel Rwanda will also be screened at Sarratt Cinema on Sunday, Sept. 24 at 5 p.m. and again at 7:30 p.m.

Sharon Cobb has more here.

Sharran Srivatsaa has more here.

Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation

Doctors Without Borders Exhibit at The Parthenon

A listing in The City Paper notes what promises to be a powerful and moving photography exhibit:

The Parthenon (Centennial Park, 2600 West End Ave., 852-8431) presents Doctors Without Borders: Photographs from Afghanistan, 1984-2004, a powerful photography exhibition documenting the work of the relief organization Doctors Without Borders.

The Parthenon, Centennial Park, 2600 West End Ave., 852-8431.

Through Oct. 7.

$5 adults, $2.50 seniors ages 62 and older, $2.50 children ages four-17, free for children younger than four.

And it's more than just photography. From the Doctors Without Borders website:

An interactive, educational exhibit, entitled "A Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City," will begin a multi-year national tour in New York City's Central Park on September 15, 2006, followed by stops in Brooklyn's Prospect Park, Atlanta's Piedmont Park, Nashville's Centennial Park, and additional cities to be announced.

"A staggering 33 million people are currently displaced from their homes, having fled violence in more than 60 different countries around the world," said Nicolas de Torrenté, executive director of MSF in the United States. "As long as the response to the plight of uprooted people remains inadequate, we must continue to work to raise awareness of their conditions through public education initiatives like 'A Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City.'" ...more>>