Debra Baker

I thought I'd dedicate today's blog post to among the best activities ever; one I don't partake in nearly enough. The topic is: Solo Dance Parties. I had gotten on the computer for the sake of homework, i.e.; this post that I am writing right now, and instead found myself on a bad pop playlist (it started with Little Mix, who, really couldn't be called bad, someone might get hurt if they are). I had a little dance party with myself, and stuffed popcorn in my face, and for a few moments, life felt good. I know that it doesn't sound like the most important life activity, but just hear me out. It involves your whole body, burns about as many calories as jogging, is fun. It entertains and stimulates your brain. It is, in a sense, creative expression in it's purest form. Dance is using only your own physicality to express emotion and create emotion, and create something new. It's experimenting with nothing but yourself. I'm not a dancer, but I can understand where the passion that you see in professionals comes from. It's kind of an amazing thing. Now, you're probably not a professional dancer either, but when I say that this blog post is about solo dance parties, I mean ridiculous, silly, embarrassing, solo dance parties. It doesn't matter if it's not a grand spectacle, it's fun. It's a natural ecstasy for your brain. America's a pretty depressed country as a whole, and we could all use a little more happy. Dancing requires a bit of brain work as well: thinking about the movements, the rhythm, the music, the physics. And it's good for the rest of your physical body. It amps up your heart rate and strengthens your lungs and heart and thighs and calves and abs. There's not a bad thing about it. We're all so busy these days. When we're not, we're bored and staring at a screen. I'm anything but a technology hater, but it's nice to give your eyes a rest, and to use the rest of yourself instead. So forget about your homework or chores or Instagram feed. Just dance a little. I swear it doesn't hurt.

Ah yes, an A Day In The Life post. The most cliche of all the personal blog material. Today is a Sunday, which means tomorrow is a Monday, and I will start a new week. My use of the word new is quite arbitrary. I'm sure there will be nothing new about it. Maybe I'll have one or two conversations that I haven't had before. Perhaps we'll learn another song in acapella that I've never heard. If tomorrow goes as tomorrows usually go, it'll look something like the following.

I usually wake up between 6:00 and 6:30 am. I'm lucky enough that I get a mom to wake me up instead of an alarm clock. Then I go downstairs for breakfast and tea. I accidentally spend half an hour staring at the wall and eating too much. Then I'll prepare myself more food to take for lunch. I brush me teeth and wash my face. I'll use Say Yes To Tomatoes Face Wash, then witch hazel, then Aveeno acne control face wash. I'll run upstairs and get dressed and get my backpack together. We'll run out the door at around 7:35 with my mom screaming at me to hurry up while I struggle to get my eyeliner even and grab the last 5 things I need - wait, six! Can't leave without my earbuds. Or my journal. Or last's night homework. If my makeup's done, I'll drive. If not, my mom will so I can finish it in the car.

The foggy cityscape walking to school one morning.
Portland can be beautiful sometimes.

And here's our chemistry class. As you can see we get a lot
done. Just kidding. Maybe 10 other kids and I have a passing
grade? Our teacher's on maternity leave and chemistry
substitutes are surprisingly hard to find.

beautiful

Since it's a dreaded Skinny Monday, I'll have all 8 periods. Last semester, my first period was Radio. I would spend that period arguing with my Baskin Robin poster friend group (We have a Black girl and a Mexican boy and an Asian boy and I'm the white girl - we're as colorful as a bowl of rainbow sherbet. I just think it's funny because it reminds me of a poster at Baskin Robbins that's always made me laugh.) We just started a new semester though, so I'll have digital media instead. It's quite a bit more boring. Next I'll have honors English. My teacher from that class will be reading this, so I suppose it's mandatory that i call it my favorite class, but I swear, it is. I suppose it's also imperative that I tell about how she's the most fantastic teacher around. The bell rings, I hustle upstairs and maybe take a piss before a chaotic 45 minutes of geometry. At 11:26 is lunch. I'll either sit with that rainbow sherbet group of friends or my nerd heard. History comes, then art, then robotics, then chemistry. Acapella is after school at 3:30. One of the more fun parts of my day. Very jazzy and perfect for valentines day, we're currently working on the "Just my Imagination" by the temptations. I'll put it a video for the original song since everybody should know it, but we sing it quite differently. We've got a lovely pair of bass singers who sing "doom doom baby" to keep the beat. Then the altos and sopranos harmonize with a higher pitched "doom doom baby, la la, doom baby baby". Add a soloist to sing the lyrics and it actually sounds pretty good. I mostly just like listening to the basses. I love deep voices. There is nothing better in the world than a good deep voice.
I'll get to school at 8:15.

I come home on the max. Portland is famous for public transportation, but it's hard to notice anything special about it when you ride it everyday. The max is full of crazy people. Most people would list this as a negative, but I love it. I love having conversations with those who are half delusional. They're more... exuberant. On most days however, I'll simply get my homework done and listen to music.

I've already written more boring words than anyone would likely want to read, so I think I'll cut this off here. I hope you all have productive days today. Or a relaxing one. Or a fun one. At least some sort of pleasant one. Just have a nice day. I suppose that's all we can ever really wish eachother. And I hope you encounter something new (of the good sort).

If you can't read, the hat says party

Devoting this one to the oil paint stains on my bedroom carpet. Yep. It's a rental. I can't have nice things.

Art. It's weird. Barely logical. Unexplainable They say humans are the only animals to make it, yet we train elephants and dogs to do it. We train ourselves too, I've never seen someone pick up a paintbrush without guidance, or write a lyric or a line without having ever listened to the radio or read poetry. So, what sets us apart from them? What primal part of a human being knows art? I like to imagine that we like music because it sounds like a heartbeat. Or a birdsong. We've been programmed to find birdsong relaxing. If the environment is prime for birds, it's probably prime for us as well. Did you know that birds cannot sing if it's too hot? As the planet warms, what will take it's place? I hope we never forget the sound of a bird call. In a sense, it is music at it's earliest form. Beaten only by the beating of a human heart.

     And why do we love paintings? Is it the thought of the artist toiling and perfecting and creating something on their own accord? Is it the chalkiness? Or the blur of brushstrokes? The ponderous miracle of the illusion of a 3D world on a 2D surface? Or is it the color? We know that blue and green are calming colors. But is it instinct or because they are supposed to be calming. Is it nature or nurture? When the planet warms and the trees die and rivers warm up, will we desire more green and blue paint? I hope it doesn't run out.

And dance. Oh how beautiful is dance. Why do we find so much joy in shaking our hips to that heartbeat beat and to watch others wave their arms to the vibrato of strings. When the planet warms and crops dry up and animals die and food prices rise, will we be too hungry to jive, too tired to tap, too sad to leap for joy. I hope not.

Art is weird. Barely logical. Unexplainable. But it is necessary. it's been planted in our blood and it flows through our brains. Art may not make sense, but it is just as driving as sex or food or comfort. The most vital things are often the hardest to understand. Understanding is useless. Art is not.

https://www.change.org/year-in-review/2014?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=218876&alert_id=cbUonqdWoV_qU54jY%2FDdpuR8Hufy15AUs%2FDCvkzWHVFL1QKwIu6beQ%3D

This is a short video. Unfortunately, it's not on YouTube so blogger won't support it, but I put in a
screen shot so you know what you're clicking on. The video's an ad for Change.org, but I thought that it touched on some really important things. Change.org is website for online petitions, and it's the biggest of it's kind. Last year, 5,000 petitions made on the site were successful, or one every hour. A 27 year old cancer survivor stopped a hazardous coal plant from being built. Two girls started a movement to prevent female genital mutilation. Journalists were released from prison. Libraries and Bison alike were saved. Businesses from Coco Cola to Barbie agreed to change they're practices and the NYPD launched a body cam project. I've seen many people saying that these kinds of sites don't make a difference. This proves that these websites are actually really helpful, that one person can make a difference; that thousands of simple signatures can make a bigger one.

One of the things that has always annoyed me is people saying that they have nothing to do. (Though I have done this many times.) Being bored is fine. Everybody get's bored, and when there's not enough outside stimulation to keep our brains happy, it can be hard to motivate yourself to get up and do something to un-bore yourself. But please, do not say that you have nothing to do. Half the world is starving and without functioning toilets and sinks, the ice caps are melting, schools suck and like, a lot of other terrible things that could use your help. You live with at least a million other people in a hubbub of different tastes and sights and scents, and, most likely right in front of you, is a magical box with 99.98% of anything you could ever want to know. There is ALWAYS something to do. Not only something to do, but there are always worthwhile, productive, people helping, and exciting things to do. You just have to move your butt. Anyways, if you want something easy and worthwhile to fill your time, go to a petition site. Look for things that you care about. Educate yourself about what's happening in the world. Add your signature to a few causes that catch your attention. You'll be helping to change the world, I promise you it's a good use of your time, and "I was helping to save a starving family in Mongolia," is more likely to get you an extension than "I was whining to my friends on Facebook."