Snobbin: Beautiful Trash in the Pop Culture Gutter

In my darkest days I tend to sleep a lot. Nap after nap comes in quick succession when turning off the world is as easy as clicking the light switch and settling into a light snooze. I have become reckless in my pursuit of sleep, searching for one long forgotten dream. Perhaps, I long for anything that will shut out the light. When I was a kid, I had a recurring dream filled with creepy witches and small children, rendered in cartoon detail. This brain animation came weekly for a period, then just stopped. I've never had it again. Could this be the dreamworld I seek? Or, perhaps, there is another world buried deep in my psyche, asking to be explored? I've never had another dream that beat on the doors so often as this one. Most dreams come once and never return. Dreams are always peopled with the strangest or most unexpected characters, random places from the past, and enough chicanery to make election year look like a triumph. Random classmates from grade school appear alo...

This is the world held within two points On the borders of sheen and stripped Darkness not alert from the cry Of a distant owl fluttering and coasting Along the borders of the forest Hunting desperately for food In boundaries of dark and twilight Piercing cries and shrieking crimes Unnatural and distant in the brightest light Ley lines of extremities unshorn What of it. Imaginary or real. The hunt for sustenance Be it shattered bones or feathers.

I find myself sleepwalking through life these days. I spend much of my day writing and listening to music, reading and catching up on movies, drifting through life in a sedentary fashion. Once in awhile I go hiking in a national park or bicycling down the slow moving streets of DeKalb. Most of the time I remain motionless, dreaming dreams and working on my writing. I recently made it out to see The Reigning Sound at the Double Door in Chicago. The band was tight and the acoustics were near perfect. It felt good drifting amongst others. I saw old friends and ate suspect tacos, but most of all I was able to shed some of the doldrums and anxiety of recent days. As I try to kick start my life in other directions, I realized how vital live music still is in my life. It is one of the driving forces that makes each day better than the last. It is as important at thirty-three as it was at sixteen. We are creatures that can drift into habits that are so often bad for us. We forget about ...