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Valentine’s Day is upon us again regardless of whether you’ve been dreading it, eagerly awaiting it or really couldn’t give a rat’s ass. This year it falls on a Saturday so if you happen to be single or heartbroken or lonely or regretful or angsty or hormonal or bored or restless or worried or even just a little blue, it can give that extra little twist of the knife to your heart that you really don’t need.
I can tell you, dear monkeywhalers, that I have experienced the full range of Valentine’s Day emotions. One year I got engaged on Valentine’s and by the next one I had cancelled a wedding, broken someone’s heart who I had loved deeply, alienated some friends and family, and suddenly lived alone in a house that had been meant for two. Heavy drinking, hours of listening to Cat Power, daring yourself to look at old photos… I know the drill. All too well. It’s not pretty. But it’s life, yes? And even those terrible lonely moments in life lead us somewhere.
My dear friend Kara and I decided that we would start a new Valentine’s tradition which consisted of drinking beer, watching college basketball and eating wings. Disgusting amounts of ranch are a necessary ingredient. This is goodness. We look forward to it. We laugh about it. We spit in the face of greeting card and jewelry store commercials that make people feel badly about themselves unless they are giving and receiving diamonds over candlelit dinners.
Ah, but there is hope. New friendships are made, old ones are strengthened, raucous laughter ensues. Love appears just when you thought you’d sworn it off for good. Light comes from darkness and all that stuff.
Call your mothers if it’s possible. Tell your friends you love them. Listen to music that makes you dance. Hug your cat. Buy yourself some chocolate. Stand out on the porch and look at the sunshine. This is what it looked like on Valentine’s Day here last year.
So surely it’s a new year. And a new story has begun. Our lovely friend Molly McGinn has a line in a very beautiful song that seems relevant.
“Every tragedy is just a story that hasn’t had a happy ending yet.” Indeed.
Find your happiness, folks. It doesn’t require anyone but you.
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Here’s something I’ve been looking forward to for months. Thanks in large part to our neighbor Heather and the kind staff of the Weatherspoon Art Museum we gained access to the inner workings of the art installation process and were able to interview Leo in our kitchen.
This was a collaborative effort as part of our [...]
Two songs just aren’t enough. They came to our kitchen, braved the cold and the drizzle in the back yard and ate Indian food with us before returning to Brooklyn, NY. Fear not, they’ll be returning to Greensboro on March 13th as part of our Monkeywhale presents series …
Many thanks to Jocelyn, Emily and Jeremy [...]
For the past 2 years monkeywhale and our kind neighbors have thrown a Halloween party. Nothing fancy. A couple of gazebos, a keg, strings of lights across the lawn and a few lanterns. We also project films on the barn that have fallen into the public domain … like, Nosferatu for instance. Creepy and a [...]
An Apache Relay is the pre-colonial version of a courier system. Chiefs would compete against each other to see who could have a message delivered in the shortest amount of time. A Relay of 8 scouts could hand a message over a quarter of a mile in 3 minutes. Apparently. Just imagine if they [...]
Lyndsay, a neighbor to our fellow monkeywhalers in Asheville, NC came to our attention due to the insistence of Dulci, Shane and Jason of Now You See Them (a prior visitor to the kitchen). Dulci and Shane actually accompany Lyndsay on this song along with the very talented Matt Williams.
Who is this Lyndsay Wojcik? (pronounced [...]
Here’s another song from a very special evening that began with a lovely set by Bruce Piephoff (a longtime friend who inaugurated the Harvey’s Kitchen series). Jim Avett is father to Scott and Seth Avett, of the Avett Brothers who were recently signed to Columbia Records.
The dotmatrix project is a monthly concert series which is [...]
February 14th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Nice, Carolyn. And the photos are lovely too. Happy Valentine’s Day!
February 14th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
Next time you see a monkeywhale, please pass along a message of love for all that the monkeywhale has brought to our lives.
February 15th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
The last photo with the jump roping girl is so beautiful, I want a poster of it for my wall. Keep up the great work!
February 15th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Love, love, love this post. Very nice! & thank you for spending your Valentine’s evening helping out the ‘Spoon. You’re awesome.
February 17th, 2009 at 11:18 am
Reassuring and uplifting indeed! Just wanted to let you know that I”m so glad there is monkeywhale! It’s good to be able to keep an eye on what all is going on in Greensboro. And I’m glad to know you all are doing what you love and practicing your gifts. Hope I can come check out the studio set up soon!