Savvy Women

I’d like to make a confession. I’ve been incredibly distracted recently. So many things are going on right now. I’m getting ready to go on my annual trip back to the place where I was born and grew up and where all my kinfolk live. There are other things happening in my life right now, so many that I can’t even begin to mention all of them here, so I was wondering if I’d be able to concentrate enough to do a blog this week. I had no ideas or direction, and then I was lucky enough to discover this video.

Please do yourselves a favor and watch the whole twenty-four minutes of this TED clip. What you’ll see (if you persevere) is some magical piano playing—including an improvisational piece that will floor you or lift you to the ceiling (or both)—by a young pianist named Jennifer Lin. You’ll also be treated to Lin’s thoughts on the art of composing, including her comparing writing music to drawing cartoons.

Oddly enough, the first thing that came to mind when I watched this was that time in my life, many years ago now, when I was in graduate school at Texas A & M University. There was this place on campus called the Memorial Student Center, a locale that included bookstores, eating places, quiet study spots, and a large lounge complete with its own grand piano. Anyone who wished could sit down at the instrument and play for as long as her fingers held out. Others could relax on fluffy sofas and listen.

There were many talented pianists at A & M, and I would often be treated to a free concert. I’d stretch out and become totally mesmerized by the music, often falling into a kind of trance as the performer made her way along. It was during my student days that I discovered how listening could be done with the whole body, not just the ears. If one could manage to listen this way, the sounds that one heard would take on a tactile quality and be “felt” throughout the body.

Each time I listen to Lin play, I feel “touched” by the notes of her music as surely as her fingers touch those black and white keys.

I’d been hearing about this musical group called the Drive-By Truckers (sometimes referred to as DBT) for quite some time, but I’d never taken the opportunity to check them out…until just recently.

Their newest CD (“Go-Go Boots”) was on special at Amazon.com, so I had a listen to several of the thirty-second samples they give you access to, just to get an idea of their sound. I didn’t have to hear more than three or four of the tracks before I knew that I needed to go ahead and make a purchase, so that’s exactly what I did, as fast as my mouse-clicking finger could get me there. A few minutes after the last sound file had made its way onto my hard drive, I knew I was in possession of something special.

The DBT have been described as “alternative country,” “alternative rock,” “southern rock,” and even “cowpunk.” (You always know a band’s going to be good when experts have a hard time pigeonholing it.) Patterson Hood, guitarist, lyricist, one of the group’s founding members, and all-around swell guy, has even called the DBT a “noir band.”

I’ve embedded the Truckers performing one of my “Go-Go Boots” faves, a song called “Where’s Eddie?” Have a look and listen.

Is that good or what?! My other favorites are “I Do Believe,” “Dancin’ Ricky,” “Used to Be a Cop,” “The Thanksgiving Filter,” and “Mercy Buckets.” Actually, though, there’s not a throwaway track to be found on the whole compilation!

If you’d like to hear a bit more, with the possibility in mind that you might end up taking the same route I did, go here and you’ll get your chance.

A few days ago I was in the “Biography and Autobiography” section of one of my favorite used bookstores, a place called The Book Spot. My eyes began reading the titles on the spines of all the volumes for sale. As I did so, my head would move, from left to right, as I scanned everything on each shelf. I suddenly came across a title—Autobiography of a Face—that grabbed me and held on. The author’s name was Lucy Grealy. I reached up, pulled the book from its place among the others, and looked at its cover. Right below the title and author’s name was a black-and-white photo of a young girl holding what looks to be a semi-transparent sheet of paper over her face so that everything but her forehead and hair are hidden. I opened it, read the first paragraph, and then went up and paid the price shown on the back cover.

I finished the book last night. For a few days now, I’ve known that I would blog the book, the author, the video—a Charlie Rose interview that Grealy did back in 1994, the year the book was published and made its splash—and a few thoughts that came to mind as I was reading the memoir.

OK, so now you know the basics of the author’s story: That she had an obscure form of cancer which left her face disfigured and that she struggled (literally for decades) to come to terms with her appearance. What you don’t know, if you haven’t read the book, is that Grealy is a talented writer who has written a powerful and moving story. So, if you like memoirs or books about characters who overcome challenges, I would highly recommend that you pick up a copy.

(I just learned, literally minutes ago while doing additional research, that Grealy died in December of 2002, of what her Wikipedia page describes as “an accidental drug overdose” but elsewhere is referred to as “suicide.” Of course, this new revelation raises questions about my “characters who overcome challenges” phrase in the previous paragraph.)

A lot of things came to mind while I was reading Grealy. For one, I was reminded of my own adolescence, a period when I thought I was the ugliest thing on two legs, mostly because I was short, somewhat frail, and had terrible acne for a time. (Most people have had periods of self-loathing like this, I’m quite certain.) But Grealy’s case was really extreme, and I can only imagine what her life must have been like as she endured the teasing and taunting, coming mostly from her schoolmates, that she so vividly describes in her book.

What does it say about human nature that we put so much stock into how our faces and bodies look that simply not being considered appealing to the eyes is enough to undermine self-esteem and inevitably destroy lives? If we put half as much energy into being concerned about what we look like on the inside, this world would undoubtedly be a kinder and gentler place.