These past few weeks, I’ve been fairly sentimental, and I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because I feel like my life is always moving, and I don’t have a chance to stop and savor the world and people around me. Maybe it’s because I’m a touch homesick. Maybe it’s something in the water.
However, what I am sure of is that the most palliative catharsis for me is through reflective writing. So yes, like many Facebook users you’ve seen, I will showcase a few quotes and songs that are giving me the feels without all the cheese. However, where I hope to differ from *insert name of annoying friend on Facebook* is that I hope to have a meaningful reflection and meaningful quotes, and resist posts that consist of how Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” is the soundtrack to my life—even though it truly is.
“Shake it Out”—Florence + The Machine
I bought Florence’s “Ceremonials” album because it was on sale at Target. Nothing really pulled me towards buying it except for the fact that it was the only album under $10 that wasn’t One Direction. So by complete accident, I found “Shake it Out.” This of course was before Taylor Swift released her track “Shake it Off”—probably my favorite track off of “1989.” Apparently, I enjoy songs that involve shaking.
“Regrets collect like old friends,” starts Florence as she drifts into the heart of the song. Everyone has regrets, and some of them are more obvious than others. However, when I listen to this song it reminds me of all my doubts. These doubts lead to hypotheticals: “What if I had gone to my state college? Might I feel more afloat and worth something?” “What if I had chosen a different major from the beginning instead of finishing a major I half enjoy?” “What if I had done more to keep people in my life instead of letting them go?” “What if I focused more on the positives in my life instead of whining about the negatives and coming up with these silly hypotheticals?” The latter is easier to say than to genuinely feel.
As drums pulse through the background, Florence’s song reminds me of the figurative “dead horse” that drags behind me. As the vocals pick up and the echo of the lyrics “shake it off” emerge in the song, I feel compelled to move and dance. Why? Because “it’s hard to dance with a devil on your back, so shake him off.” And for a brief 4 minutes, I seem to forget about how my regrets burn the back of brain, but instead, how I shall conquer them and life shall be peachy.
Pocahontas—“Colors of the Wind”
I love Pocahontas. I love this song. I love everything about it. Last semester, I wrote an editor’s note about how I walk around campus with my headphones in all the time—to yield disastrous results. However, this semester, I took the headphones out and took in the world around me. Cranes, blue tarp and all. I think just walking along a wood or looking up into a clear blue sky reminds me that there is something truly special about where we live.
“My husband killed himself. And it was my fault. We were making love and I took the bag off my head.”—Joan Rivers
Joan Rivers is my comedy heroine. She was brave, smart, witty. She said whatever was on her mind. She didn’t apologize. For a woman so bold and courageous to do what she did in the time that she did is so amazing. She was always pushing the line with her comedy and offending everyone all in the heavily male dominated game—I loved it. What made her so able to do these things was that she was able to make fun of herself first. Whether it was about her many plastic surgeries or like the above devastation of her husband’s suicide, Joan believed that humor was the best medicine. In the documentary “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work,” she faces a heckler during one of her stand-up performances who is upset about a joke she made about deaf people. The heckler’s son was deaf. Joan handled it gracefully, but she retorted that comedy is not to be taken seriously. It’s meant to make people laugh not at tragedy, but in spite of it.
Joan Rivers is only comic whose work I can watch over and over again and always laugh out load. She teaches me that we shouldn’t take life too seriously, but should also work our tails off to be the best version of ourselves. As she said, “Never forget to laugh at yourself; after all, you’d be missing out on the joke of the century.”
Dillon Fernando is a Trinity sophomore and the Recess Playground editor.
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