"Losing Hope": Jack Johnson
Yesterday after rehearsal Maryn and I went to meal hall and realized we were too late for supper because now they are cloing meal hall at 6:30. We decided to head to Joey's for a late supper. It was a nice change to go eat somewhere else other than meal hall. After having a wonderful meal we were going to go see Chicago but by the time we were done, it was too late to go see the movie so we headed to the video store and we ended up doing a Robin Williams marathon. Three movies for three days for three dollars. Not bad eh? We got "Dead Poets Society", "The Birdcage" and a movie that neither of us have ever seen called "Being Human". We watched "Dead Poets Society" and it is a great movie. There aren't very many "poetry" movies made nowadays so it was a blast to see Robin Williams do justice to the medium on film. I think everyone should take a moment and read a poem. Take out a book. Read the classics. Read Leonard Cohen, Pablo Neruda, Byron, Sylvia Plath, Robert Frost, Fredrico Garcia Lorca, E.E. Cummings, I could go on and on forever.
These people have put what it means to be human on paper. They use language to make images dance in our minds. They make words flow like honey from our tongues.
This goes out to all the poets, musicians, writers, artists, filmmakers, actors, playwrights, etc. who are still alive and who are no longer with us. Thank you. Thank you for making this world a little bit more beautiful to live in.

O Me! O Life!

O ME! O life!... of the questions of these recurring;
Of the endless trains of the faithless--of cities fill'd with the foolish;
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light--of the objects mean--of the struggle ever renew'd;
Of the poor results of all--of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me;
Of the empty and useless years of the rest--with the rest me intertwined;
The question, O me! so sad, recurring--What good amid these, O me, O life?
Answer.

That you are here--that life exists, and identity;
That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.

-Walt Whitman

An Excerpt from "Walden"

I went to the woods because I
wanted to live deliberately...
I wanted to live deep and suck
out all the marrow of life!
To put to rout all that was not life...
And not, when I came to die, discover
that I had not lived...

-Henry David Thoreau