Great American holiday weekend

Maggie says:
Ah, Memorial Day. The phrase conjures up the smells of grilling and the splash of pools...

For me, this was the first bona fide holiday weekend I've had in forever where I really was off the hook. As a student (college, grad, whatever) you're never off the hook. Your deadlines stay the same. You're still thinking about work. But something about the paid holiday is so absolutely mind-clearing, it's phenomenal. Off the hook. Wonderfully so.

This bona fide holiday weekend was also probably my slowest ever, where all I did was turn my brain off and relax, which consisted of:

• Sleeping. Lots of it. Outdoors, indoors, until lunchtime, and back in bed by midnight. Wonderful. And apparently, something I was desperately in need of.
  
• Sunning. Sunning while reading, sunning while sleeping, sunning while chatting on the phone, sunning until I got sunburned stomach... yep, it's Memorial Day.
• Dogging. Hanging with the dog is the best-ever Memorial Day activity. Dog-walking, dog-sleeping, dog-petting. Dog also stole some salmon while we were...
• Hanging. Because what's a holiday weekend without friends? M² had a beautiful cookout and movie screening that started out decidedly family-friendly and ended up just a little bit saucy. If the other Ms agree, we'll have to post our photographic evidence.

Need more proof of the high relaxation levels happening in my world? Here's Jack recovering from his stressful Memorial Day of ... sleeping this afternoon indoors.


Hey wait a minute... what am I doing still awake? Time to take my still-holidaying self back to sleep!

Feed your soul - Friday, May 19, 8 pm

Mikaela says:
Don't miss this important literary event, not to mention the chance to celebrate the life of Malcolm X. Support Albuquerque' s best poets while you salute the man who inspired many to stand up to the establishment and fight for the rights guaranteed them by the Constitution and by the laws of nature. (Click on image below for larger view of details, for those of us without superpower vision.)

Skankin to the Beat

Mikaela says:
Just last Friday, I was whining about live music in general and my lack of desire to attend Spring Crawl in particular.

"I havent really been into the scene since ska died out," I lamented.

"Wow," my companion replied. "You just really dated yourself."

Ouch.

But the sting has lessened since I heard that there is a Ska Prom coming to the El Rey May 20.

Thats right. Ska Prom. Prepared to get dekked out and see all the other dekkers, too.

Anyone wanna skank with this rude girl?

El Rey Theater

622 Central Avenue S.W.
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87102

SKA FEST 2006: SKA PROM
Date: May 20, 2006
Time: 05:00 pm

Performers: 9 Ska Bands, featuring Made in Bangladesh, Third Grade Scuffle, Danny Winn and the Earthlings, Half Stache, Travisty and the Screwups, Tijuanabees, Warsaw Poland Bros., Detective Jabsco, and more! Formal attire is encouraged! All ages welcome. Cost: $ 10.00

ADVANCE TICKETS AVAILABLE AT NATURAL SOUND AND CHARLIES RECORDS BEGINNING APRIL 20TH

Event Website: http://www.elreytheater.com

Dark Head

Philip Levine
from 7 Years from Somewhere

Wakened suddenly by
my own voice, I know
I’ve said your name,
and you stir, your breath
as sweet as milk, and give
me first a hand to hold
and then your head to cradle.
How we came to be together
from the distant ends
of a continent, how we
gave first our hearts
and then the rest, I
can’t say. The night is
ending, the dawn I once
prayed for is cracking
along the eastern rim
of hills, and the first light
floods this filthy valley
of the Ohio River. Here
and there a house puts on
a light, and someone
wakens to a life as strong
as the smell of urine
in the broken cellars
of the houses I walk by
each day. Once more you
are sleeping in my arms,
the arms of a man
you don’t know yet trust.
I’m alone, and more,
awake to the life
that tears us apart,
content to see the day
come on flaming window
after window. Today
I shall be gone and you
will be alone again. Today
or tomorrow I shall be fire
then ashes, then a hint
of something animal
moving out of the corners
of the wind, and then at last
I shall be nothing, not
even the echo of someone’s
voice, and then I’ll be
ourselves once more,
this world, opening
in each eye and damp fist
for those who would have her.