Sometimes, it’s just the little details that completely enrich your day. Here’s a list. I like lists. They are so organized and articulate, skills I do not think I will EVER be able to acquire.
1. Looking out the window from 218 McMicken Hall. This morning, I just let my mind occupy itself. I paid about 15 percent of my attention to my professor, by generous estimate. Instead, I slumped in my chair and blankly stared out of the window. Everything was gray and shaded in the room – for some reason, a line from “The Wasteland” by T.S. Eliot came to mind: “Unreal City, under the brown fog of a winter dawn.” I felt such a disconnect – Unreal City is an accurate description of how I interact with Cincinnati. In my distant detachment, however, I did notice a detail outside of the window that drew me in.
McMicken Hall is the oldest building on campus. UC has tried very hard to preserve it and the campus green around it, along with all of the included trees. I was staring at a tree that could very possibly have been around at the time of McMicken’s completion. It looked like an ancient oak, towering up towards McMicken 218. It had far-reaching branches and sprawling roots. I noticed how vibrantly green the leaves were still, despite the season change. It’s pigment pierced through my murky classroom, and seemed to shake me awake.
I thought, if this ancient tree can hang on and still glow that brightly after hundreds of years, I can certainly do the same in my short lifetime. Anomic renouncement from the city or my social position or anything like that aside, I can still be Elisabeast. Nothing is taking my identity away. Thank you, Really Old Tree. You did me a Really Great Favor today.
2. You do not need to turn the doorknob to open my front door. A gentle push is sufficient. Today, I pretended like I had super strength when I opened the door with my gentle push. Thank you, Really Weak Door. You made me feel really strong today. What if my future career path included joining the Justice League of America? Or maybe the Superfriends? You did that for me today, Really Weak Door.
3. My drug dealer neighbor let me pet his dog today. She is absolutely adorable. Sometimes a smile and a wave is just the small detail someone else needs to brighten their day. Small talk and smiling with my neighbor resulted in cute dog petting and a wonderful smile back. Thank you, Drug Dealer Neighbor – I think we provided what we each needed for each other.
4. In my zoo class, I knew how to spell Przewalski’s wild horse. Thank you, Endangered Odd-Toed Ungulate, for reminding me about how much I know about animals, and for helping me remember my passion for learning about them.
5. Janelle Monae and Kid Cudi has some really good songs out. I listened to Cold War and Cudi Zone, performed by each respectively, and noticed some lyrics that appealed to me.
From Cold War:
“This is a cold war. Do you know what you’re fighting for?”
“I’m trying to find my peace. I was made to believe there’s something wrong with me, and it hurts my heart.”
From Cudi Zone:
“On top of the dreams is where I’m found.”
“Only rule of thumb, it don’t really matter just where you from. All that really matter is where you’re goin’ go.”
“When I zone, I’m feeling alright, I’m feeling alright, I forget about it all.”
Sure, they’re just sentences. But, I liked them. I liked their tonalities. And plus, it just kind of made me laugh at myself – which is something that just needs to happen time and again – and here is why. How is it that I can appreciate and admire the intricacies of Ezra Pound, Carl Sandburg, Philip Whalen, and Gary Snyder – all really fly poets – and still be entranced by raps by Kid Cudi? And my mom is just the same way. She is a sucker for Lil Wayne AND William Ernest Henley. Maybe the appeal comes in the realness of both the poems and the raps. They all have stories behind them; I am intrigues by how such different individuals go about wrapping up and presenting their raw emotions and experiences to the rest of the world, how every artist finds a certain identity in their creative works.
Look at me sounding like an overly speculative lame-o. Thanks for putting up with the rambling. I get like this before going to sleep.
Oh wait. One last small thing.
6. My window finally closed. AND we turned on the air conditioning. Small changes, but the source of abundant happiness in my world. Thank you, Modern Day Air Conditioning Advances, for making it comfortable and easy to go to sleep.
And with 6 little things, I say goodnight.
Elisabeth Hieber
uhnet
Sincerely, Elisabeth and Annette 