Saturday, October 3, 2015

Hi?

I've had the intention to revive my blog for some time now. So here I am-- writing in this space after a 2+ year hiatus. There are many things I feel like I should, might, or could write about, but I think those things will come if I just start writing… so I suppose I'll get to it. 

Henry is a school boy now, and with one month left until his third birthday, seems a little more independent each day. We are no as longer completely physically bound as we were during his first couple of years, and with this new phase of motherhood comes periodic pockets of time, with which I am free to do with myself as I please. This feels partly disconcerting… besides feeling the whiz of time, I do worry about him out there in the world-- it's a feeling I realize will be around for the long haul though, as a part of my technically-a-Jewish-mother status. However, I also know that he's out there thriving; learning, growing, playing-- and so besides the disconcertion, I find the bits of time to be a respite, and a chance to get to know myself again in a new context, and during a period of my life that often feels like a bit of a maze. 

I spent a lot of my free time this summer running. I first started running when I was a sophomore in college, which means (whether I want to admit it willingly or not) that running and I have a relationship that now spans over a decade. I think I even documented my first 2 mile jog after Henry's birth in my blog. Since then, I've steadily built up a new base. I certainly won no awards in my pre-Henry days (except that one time that I placed 1st in a 5k, only to have my glory stolen by the 2nd place finisher: an 8 year-old-girl), and the same is true for now.  I've really been covering the distances lately though, and even ran my first full marathon last weekend. Honestly, it's been a restless time in my life, and the long runs have given me concentrated time to process, and on the other side of anywhere from 10 to 26.2 miles, reengage with my life a little bit differently, or at the very least too tired to keep overthinking.

Music is an integral part of my multi-hour run routine, and over the years I've listened far and wide while running-- jam bands, reggae, electronic... but, I've found nothing keeps me moving or my interest piqued quite like rap music. As my distances upped over the last several months, so did my admiration for, and fascination with one rapper, Lil' Wayne-- affectionally referred to as  "Little," by my dear friend Heide, who I have, much to my delight, managed to hook on Wayne as well. 

I'm not sure what the target readership of my blog is, but here's a little bit about Weezy: He hails from New Orleans, and has been a signed rap artist since the tender age of 9. He's had a very public addiction to codeine cough syrup, as well as a very public incarceration. He's also an extremely prolific artist. For what was arguably his finest album, The Carter III, he recorded over 400 songs. He's released almost every track he has ever recorded (for that album and otherwise), much of it for free on the internet. 

Plenty of his music is utter crap, but for a period, when he was hungry and had something to prove, Wayne had a total mastery of the style, and an ability to make intricate and funny rhymes sound effortless. Coupled with his unashamed and unbridled weirdness, he's really an artist in a category all his own. Wayne's music is certainly not for the faint of heart, or for the easily offended, but being neither of those things I've found Wayne's confidence and intensity to be a good musical match for me and my runs over the last few months. Anyways, I hope to be back writing again before too long. Until then, here are some of my favorite Little jams:


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