Grace: Dada

James is an art guy. He's actually pretty good at it. He doesn't like Dadaism. I fully hope he rebutts in the form of a "RAGE" entry.

I think some of it's kinda rad:

"We are human and true for the sake of amusement, impulsive, vibrant to crucify boredom."

"I love an ancient work for its novelty. It is only contrast that connects us to the past. The writers who teach morality and discuss or improve psychological foundations have, aside from a hidden desire to make money, an absurd view of life, which they have classified, cut into sections, channelized: they insist on waving the baton as the categories dance. Their readers snicker and go on: what for?"

Dada Manifesto 1918, Tristan Tzara

-Louise

GRACE: Happiness

Music is a wonderful thing. It helps us connect with people, lets us get out our cathartic rage, and from time to time we even get our groove on. It can effect us in ways that we can't even describe, touch us in our very souls. This is probably why I spent almost $200 on iTunes in the last two months (I had a gift card- don't judge me!)

I'm an unabashed music lover, my ears happily gobbling up anything from the scariest and thrashiest of metal bands to the lightest and sweetest folk ensembles to the grittiest of rappers. I've climbed stairs of sweet 16th notes into the sky with Vincent Herring and ventured to the dark depths with Otep but rarely do I find a song that slips down into my noggin and makes all those joyful chemicals go into overload.

That is why I'm directing you all now to go ---> here

Let the video load, maybe dim the lights, lay back, relax, press play, and let the sweet joy wash over you. I'll admit, its a long song with no words and may not be appropriate for those with short attention spans, but give it a go. Just let the music flow- trust me.

-James

RAGE: Ass Hat

90% of insults are actual things.

Dickhole, douche bag, mother fucker...these are plausible images.

But ASS HAT?

That's illogical. What is an ass hat? It is the idea of a person WEARING an ass as a hat? Is it an ass wearing a leopard-print Fedora?

(You have to admit, the image is compelling)

The point is, these illogical insults are reserved for a special breed of person. And sir, yes you sir, the one who is complaining about giving money to the poverty/catastrophe stricken people of HAITI because of your own perceived socioeconomic inequities (you have none) are undeserving of an insult that makes sense.

ASSSSSSHAAAAAAAAT.

-Louise

RAGE: Passive Aggression

Lets kick this thing off. Louise and I started this thinking that we'd write about things in our lives that piss us off (rage) and make us remember that the world is beautiful (grace). We'll be writing separately with no discussion of what will be posted when. I'll probably wind up writing about Grace more than Rage but that doesn't mean I don't get the occasional urge to kick someone in the jugular till they die.

I figure that I should start by telling you a little about myself so that you can all stop wondering who the hell I am and can move on to wondering what the hell I'm talking about.

My name is James, I'm 21, single, an artist, dreamer, reader and in love with way too many types of music. I'm moseying my way through my 3rd year of college and having an amazing time doing it.

Now on to the main event!!

I'm sure everyone out there has had to deal with the complete and utter bullshit that is passive aggression. You'll be on the rocks with your significant other and instead of talking to you when you call or responding to your texts, they'll passive aggressively "have their phone on vibrate" for 2 straight weeks or "went to bed"... at 6 pm. You'll be having a nice time with your friends when your roommate busts in and huffily begins cleaning everything around you like you're one of those two ton people that can't even bathe themselves.

And sadly, this horrible condition isn't limited just to interactions with people we know, oh no, even in public places we are not safe. Passive Aggression can rear its ugly head to ruin the day anywhere. Waiting in lines, on buses, and even in the most sacred of places, the internet, passive aggressive bullshit is a problem that is ravaging our population.

We've all been there, suffered through the teen-angst tactics of people that can't just deal with situations like adults. We should come up with a good name for these people. How about..

Bitches.

Bitches can be of any gender, color, class or creed. They can look like normal people, which is what makes them so difficult to deal with. You can think that everything is fine until BAM! they flip the switch and the bitch-ness bubbles to the surface. Everyone can, and likely has, been a bitch at some point in time.

So the moral of this blog dear reader is to make you more aware of your own internal bitch. I think we can make this worlds a much better place if we all just said what we actually meant out loud. The next time that you think your roommate is a slob, calmly tell them when you're alone together that you'd like them to try to be a little neater, maybe list off some problems you've been having so that they can try to be more aware of it next time. Its really not that hard, I promise.

So lets all try not to be bitches, ok? I want you all to locate that switch, that passive aggression in you, turn it off, and keep it to your fucking selves.

-James

GRACE: Living Your Dreams

As this is my inaugural post, I'm going to give you a little bit of my background.

I'm Louise. I'm 21-year-old college student in the Pacific Northwest. I'm single, I work, I like punk and classic rock, I like good movies, I like my family.

I don't really know the direction that this blog is going to take. What I do know is that James and I are a little obsessed with dissecting the events in our lives and looking at the shared experience of people in general. This includes the good (grace) and the bad (rage!). Yes, we've borrowed the title from an Offspring album. If you don't like the Offspring, fuck off (rage!). But I'm sure you have some redeeming qualities (grace).

So, to start with the positive, I'm writing my first post on grace. Rage is funnier, so I'm guessing I'll probably end up writing more posts under that category.

The last time I was at my parents' house, I was rummaging through some of my old stuff and came across a drawer with all my old journals and poetry notebooks from elementary to high school. This lead me to eventually reading through the Livejournal I kept in my teen years. I spent hours looking through them, and let me just say--

Hi-fuckin'-larious.

Through the laughter/tears, I learned a couple lessons:

1) THINGS ARE RARELY AS BAD AS THEY SEEM

This is absolutely true, and I've been using it as a mantra ever since I found those journals. I had entire pages dedicated to unrequited love for boys I BARELY EVEN REMEMBER. Entire rants about co-workers in my high school grocery store job that seem sympathetic or hilarious now that I don't have to work with them.

Just look at this quote from an entry titled "I've Never Even Been to a Carnival" from January of 2004 (I was a freshman in high school):

God I am tired of school. I just want to drop out and join the traveling carnival. Yes, I would rather be a member of the carnival than go to school. I wouldn't even want to be a part of the show, I'd just sell concessions. Can you envision it? I would never have to wake up at 5:30 in the morning ever again. I'd never have to take another test. I'd never have to be nice to anyone. I would just be able to spend the rest of my days as a tumbleweed in different cities and towns across this great nation telling people to enjoy the show while wearing a silly hat.

I don't even RECALL being tired of school as a high schooler. And now I'm in college, studying to be a teacher so I can be in school for the REST OF MY LIFE. That's nothing short of hilarious to me.

This was an awesome epiphany. Sometimes the day-to-day of life can be so daunting and monotonous. Studying for tests. Papers. Waking up early. Working. Those basic, ingrained human rituals.

But the fact is, those aren't the things you remember when you think back on the montage sequence of your life. I think about my friends and the end result of the knowledge acquired in school and at work.

2) Me from 2002 would be STOKED about Me in 2010

Quote from a May 2002 journal (I was in 7th grade):

I can't wait until I live on my own. I'm gonna go to rock n roll shows every weekend and eat cereal for dinner when I want and write scandalous shit and no one can tell me what I can or can't do.

All I can say to that is,



-Louise

Rage and Grace

Hello, void. How are you this evening?

We're setting up this blog to discuss things that piss us off and things that we find beautiful . Hence, "Rage and Grace." Fitting, right?

From here on out we'll be posting separately. Hope you enjoy the ride.

-James and Louise