Megan Stielstra's Blog

There’s this band I’ve loved for years, The Moldy Peaches, mostly because I’m just in awe (re: drooling fan) of their singer Kimya Dawson for all sorts of reasons, like she says what she thinks and can pull off angry and funny at the same time and also she’s played with They Might Be Giants and Regina Spektor and, in the middle of a song, launches into a hard-core a capella cover of Whitney Houston’s Greatest Gift of All (HA!), plus she wrote a song with MJ Geier who A. is in tenth grade and B. co-chairs (in honor of her sister) the Love Hallie Foundation and also, on Kimya Dawson’s bio, it says this—

“The world is in a state of disarray and Kimya sees that, but she also sees all the magnificent strangeness and unwavering beauty in the world and in people. And she shows us how to see it too.”

—which is really inspiring, I think. I like that as a mission for an artist: to show people there’s greatness in the midst of all this craziness.

So anyhow, what’s got me thinking right now is her song I Like Giants which she wrote after a really kick-ass conversation as a thank-you. I’m thinking what a great idea that is: to thank someone for good conversation. When was the last time you had one? About … anything: the future or love or education or your fears or frustrations or art or books or music, anything that gets you thinking, helps you feel better, helps you feel something! So, thank you, Amanda, for that talk yesterday about the psychology of storytelling and the use of point of view as a possible defense mechanism and thank you, Jeff, for the talk about what it means to be a part of community and must you adhere to all the rules/stereotypes of that community and thank you, Betsy, for five years of You Can Do It I Totally Believe In You and Kim, thank you for that discussion last month after Kimberlee Soo’s play and Lott for that talk about what you and your students saw in New Orleans over Alternative Spring Break and thank you to all my students for everything you teach me every week and thank you, Dad, for the whole When is it appropriate to still parent your kid and when is it time to treat them as an adult thing and thank you, Randy, for pretty much the last decade of conversation and thank you, Dia, for every What Am I Even Doing With My Life talk and thank-you, Kat, for that one at Marigold last month about how sometimes I just can’t handle all the pressure and Julia for the Wednesday afternoon crazy caffeine-induced ramble sessions in your office and all the girls at the Bongo Room for ten years of Sundays at that back booth and Shiow for the This is How We’ll Take Over the World stuff and Adam for the turning dreams into actual reality discussions/planning sessions and Mom, thank you, for every pep talk for the past thirty years and Christopher—thank you. For all of it, every day, the silly talks and the big heavy ones and the This is How You Changed My Life stuff and everything we have to do to get through the day and the lists and the plans and the laughing and the laughing and the laughing.