Gonna Be An Engineer

Cattle research done!
Thesis version two, almost done.
Sharing another video, below.

Last year I took the Smithsonian Folkways: American Roots Collection CD collection out of the library.  What a treat!  So many songs I had never heard but were the backbone of folk music, one of my favourite genres.  There were some really cool songs to listen to, some really weird ones, and one that I need to share with you.  It popped up on my playlist today while working and it makes me smile.

When I hear the lyrics I pretend I am a hippie woman at a Folk Festival with my long hair braided (its never long enough to do that, but hey, let me have my dreams), a daisy chain around my neck, a flowing hippie skirt, and maybe even a tambourine gently beating against my hip.  A woman by the name of Peggy Seeger appears on stage with a simple guitar.  She says hello at the microphone and dedicates this to all the women in the audience and beyond who want more choices in their lives.  Access higher (or well) paying jobs, be acknowledged for their intelligence and gifts, for others to see and thank them for their public contributions to the community, be provided with the space to make healthy choices, and live a full life in and outside their homes.

It is a sassy little ditty.

This is for all my engineering female family and friends out there (all 8 of you), and all the rest of us living better lives due to the work, lyrics, marches, sit-ins, folk festivals and potlucks of the 1960's.

I am now in graduate school due to your work.

Thanks!

Pacing the Cage with Bruce Cockburn

I have been listening to this song over and over again for about a week now.  Took the CD out from the library and discovered this 1995 song, Pacing the Cage.  Love it.




Best lyrics in the song:

I have proven who I am so many times

The magnetic strips worn thin

And each time I was someone else

And everyone was taken in

I never knew what you all wanted

So I gave you everything

All that I could pillage

All the spells that I could sing

It's as if the thing were written

In the constitution of the age

Sooner or later

You'll wind up pacing the cage

Sometimes the best map will not guide you

You can't see what's round the bend

Sometimes the road leads to dark places

Sometimes the darkness is your friend

Lyrics are musical poetry.  Beautiful things.

Bruce Cockburn website

I Am Not American

Ok, even though I am partly American (as well as French, Irish, British, Scotish, Metis, and Canadian), I have one niece and two nephews who are half American, I have lived in the US and I have many friends who are American, I thought for July 4th I would share with my 9 readers the incredibly intelligent humour of The Arrogant Worms.  The first time I went to their concert I laughed so much and so hard that the next day my stomach muscles hurt.  Yes, that funny!

Even though this is all in good fun and I don't really want to hang out with penguins, don't want to be called Antarcticans or Northern North Americans, it does bother me with the United States (or the States) is called 'America'.  The rest of us are here and we do need to be acknowledged in the language that is used in casual conversations and in the media (George Strombo makes this error consistently and often in his show).  Either way, enjoy this video and check out a Canadian band whose joy in life is to mock Canadians and others, The Arrogant Worms.




If you have a chance, listen or watch these as well.  Arrogant Worm classics and the ones you sing along to during concerts:

The Last Saskatchewan Pirate

Rocks and Trees (using Japanese Anime)

I Am Cow

Celine Dion (click on the Celine Dion song on the right)