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Blue Orange Green Pink Purple

pastiche:

-noun

1. a literary, musical, or artistic piece consisting wholly or chiefly of motifs or techniques borrowed from one or more sources.

2. an incongruous combination of materials, forms, motifs, etc., taken from different sources; hodgepodge.

3. my blog.

music with a message.

So during our recent SID retreat (which was fabulous), a couple friends introduced me to this man:


--K'naan--

who may in fact be the best thing i've found in a long time.

think: Somali-born Rapper, with amazing voice, rhymes, beats.
think: Activist, drawing from his own incredible hardships and experiences, singing for global awareness of war, poverty, the real issues in world politics, appreciation of music, poetry, culture, love, life.
think: collaborative Genius, working with metallica's guitarist, Maroon 5's adam levine, mixer J. Period, laying down an awesome (and free) mix tape in tribute to three of music's greatest Messengers, Bob Marley, Bob Dylan (both of whom I have long loved in their own right) and Fela Kuti (who I think will soon become another favorite).
think: the Next Big Thing- his song was chosen for the World Cup 2010 anthem. oh yes.
think: truly inspiring.

listen:



Also, download this and listen to "Don't Think Twice."


I'm pretty much obsessed.

Read More 3 comments | Posted by Madeleine Gleave edit post

Quandary and Crisis.

So... about this time every semester (and by that, I mean when registration is about to open up) I go through a serious existential personal identity life goal reevaluation crisis. I question everything-- my class choices, my major, my summer plans, my study abroad dreams, internship goals, job possibilities, and pretty much what I want to do with my life. Making decisions is so stressful. It makes me really frustrated, because I feel there is a serious dichotomy regarding college: on the one hand, people tell you you need to plan everything out, start setting up internships, prepare for classes and jobs and just decide everything now. The world is competitive, and opportunities will pass you by.
On the other hand, people say you need to relax, you're just starting out, you'll figure it out, don't stress, you'll change your major 5 times anyway. These are the same people who criticize that high schoolers are too pressured at too early of an age to decide their major/their career.
But do you know what? I think it's really unfair to college students to spring such a huge decision on them out of nowhere! We ought to be educated and investigating, shadowing, exploring careers- not just taking some silly aptitude test that tells you you'd rather not work at a desk job and you work well with people. No duh. At the same time, who knows if I would have come to the same conclusions then as I have now or will in the future.
But still, if there's one thing I've learned in college, it's that you don't magically grow up and figure things out when you graduate high school. I also really envy those people who have set career and professional tracks- nursing, elementary education, engineering. Your classes are lined up for you. When you graduate, you know what you want to be, and what kind of a job you'll look for. Oh, the curse of the social sciences. Oh, the curse of the liberal arts. I wish I could be like my sister Emma, who's decided it's her dream to be a dentist. She is literally Hermie from Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. Except not a femmy elf with a nasally voice. But otherwise.

So basically, I'm trying to decide the following: Do I switch from IR to Econ for my major? Dependent on that, do I take French 102 and/or Econ 382 next semester? (something's gotta give, because as it is, I'm looking at 18 credit hours. And no "fun" classes. Not going to work.) Do I take more calculus? Do I take it this summer? Do I still plan on India study abroad for Fall 2011? Where else can I go? Should I go to Haiti this summer? Will my mom ever let me go to Haiti? Do I go even if she doesn't? Where should I intern? What do I want to do on an internship? What should I do for grad school? How does economics (a cool social science, with cool research...but being an official economist sounds kinda dreary) apply to what I want to do? What do I want to do in a career? Do I have any skills at all? Will I be able to get a job doing what I want? Will I be able to raise a family doing what I want? Is my whole passion for development completely idealistic and futile?

*deep breath*
Om, shanti, shanti.

I'm glad at times like these I have things like the Hare Krishnas (yay for stress-relieving chants) and the Hunger Banquet and SID and awesome people who are out there living the dream. It is possible. I just hope I can figure out how it's possible for me.

Preferably before Fall registration in a few weeks.

Sigh.
Read More 4 comments | Posted by Madeleine Gleave edit post

Hunger Banquet!

The time is fast approaching when the culmination of all my efforts (and many, many other people's efforts far greater than mine) will come to pass:

The BYU Hunger Banquet.

I'm so so so excited. Like, really. So excited. Here's how it works- everyone pays the same amount for a ticket, and then is randomly assigned into different groups representative of the world income levels. So, 10% of people will get a three course, fancy schmancy dinner; 20% will get a hot dog and some chips; and the rest will sit on the floor and share rice and beans. It creates a truly amazing visual of how the world really lives.

There will also be oodles of fabulous entertainment! There will be dancing, and singing, and drumming, plus the awesome Martin Burt, former mayor of Asuncion, Paraguay and current philanthropist running an agricultural vocational school, is coming all the way from Paraguay to speak! So cool.

The best part is that all the money that is raised goes to development organizations and projects all over the world who have applied for grants. We, as members of SID (students for international development, the club that I'm in and that really gives meaning to my life) get to judge and rate and decide which group gets the money. Last year we raised $15,000-- and this year we're shooting for $19,000.

To do so, we need lots of people! So to those few readers who may actually be able to come, Come!! It's Thursday (March 4th) and Saturday (March 6th) at 7pm in the Wilk Ballroom. You can buy tickets, $8 each, at the Info Desk in the Wilk.

I am seriously so excited.
Seriously.
Read More 1 Comment | Posted by Madeleine Gleave edit post

An Anthropological Moment

Last night I went on a field study, of sorts. Rather, I was thrown into a bit of a counter-cultural experience. My friends McCall and Stephanie have a friend who sings in a band. And they invited me, along with a few boys from their stake back home, to attend a concert he was playing in. And so we went, trekking off for a bit of a Friday night adventure.

Did I mention he sings in a hard-core punk band?
And that the gig was in a random house, on a deceptively quiet and dark street in Taylorsville?

Oh yes. This is because we didn't discover such details until we arrived.

Needless to say, it was quite the experience. Let me describe how it went down: walk around people bumming on the lawn. Most are attired in a manner similar to the below (or not attired at all, as with one dude who felt inspired to strip down to his skivvies. Not good.):
(btw, the caption for this picture is as follows: "Ah, the ultimate accessory. Arm candy. Just remember that you don't have to hook up with a person that's all punked out, too. Just because a cute mohawk walks by, it doesn't mean that it's destiny. However, if you do find someone with a creative fashion taste such as your own, suddenly you've got a living breathing doll! It's so much fun to have someone around who will let you slather gel in their hair or craft recycled clothing with."


Through a door, met by wall of B.O. smell. Not breathing, crowd into corner, wait for band to start playing. Band starts playing. Noise ensues. Circle forms. People dance in a very strange manner, unlike anything I have anything hitherto witnessed- a sort of crouching, twitching, headbanging movement. People around the circle push the individuals in the middle around, and occasionally, full-on moshing breaks out. Several of us in the corner nearly get elbowed in the face, or break an ankle tripping over guitar cases stacked against the wall.

We only stayed for 20 minutes to listen to the rest of the set, but, all in all, I found it a highly educational experience. Entertaining, and eye-opening. My Anthro 101 TA always asks us if we've had an Anthropological moment, and now, I have something to share. I have entered in and observed a ritual practice of the Punk culture. I have seen their dress, their dancing, and their music. I have observed their interactions, and relationships- between male friends, couples, female roles, and so on. It was genuinely interesting. I don't think I'll be going back, but I am really quite glad I went. Besides, it was free. So nothing lost. And really, a life experience gained.
Read More 1 Comment | Posted by Madeleine Gleave edit post

An insight.

This seemed to me to be a pretty acute summary of the past 10 years. It made me think. Maybe it will make you think too.


A 10-Year Dose of Reality


By ALAN MURRAY

If you could travel back in time to 1999, you'd be struck by a remarkable air of unreality. The Cold War had ended, communism had been defeated, capitalism had triumphed, history was over. The Internet had conquered distance, melted borders, offered a cure for ignorance.
There was a vague sense that governments had become superfluous, business cycles had become obsolete, and some broad extension of Moore's law had ensured an ever-accelerating rise in prosperity, ever-expanding wealth, and a Dow Jones average of 36000.
Business leaders, who were popular heroes and graced the covers of magazines in the 1990s (Ted Turner, Andy Grove and Jeff Bezos all made Time's "Person of the Year"), became villains in the new century. Scandals erupted at Enron, Worldcom, Adelphia, Parmalat. The video clip of Dennis Kozlowski's company-financed birthday party for his second wife on the island of Sardinia, with half-naked gods and goddesses serving hors d'oeuvres and an ice sculpture of Michelangelo's David spewing vodka from its member, became the symbol of corporate excess.In March 2000 the Internet bubble burst, destroying trillions of dollars of wealth and awakening us from a technology-induced dream. Then came September 2001 and the unthinkable collapse of the twin towers, bringing a sudden realization that the great clash of civilizations had not ended. Terrorism turned out to be as frightening as communism, and instead of a cold war, we were soon faced with two very ugly hot wars that spanned most of the decade.Then, as the millennium turned, reality set in. It didn't happen at the stroke of midnight, as the Y2K alarmists feared. But it began soon thereafter.
CEOs, whose job tenure once rivaled that of college professors, found themselves booted unceremoniously out the door. Carly Fiorina, Hank Greenberg, Phil Purcell, Hank McKinnell, Bob Nardelli and many more discovered that the corner office had an ejection chair, and someone else's finger was on the button.
China was the great success story of the decade, with soaring economic growth enriching hundreds of millions of people and creating countless new urban skylines. But even that triumph exploded a comfortable myth -- the once-easy assumption of Western thinkers that economic freedom would inevitably be followed by political and social freedom.
Meanwhile, the tectonic shifts of the global economic plates fed a relentless process of creative destruction, spawning dynamic new businesses in places such as Shanghai and Palo Alto, while cratering entire industries in places such as Detroit.
Americans reacted to the reality of the new decade by going on a shopping spree, using the inflated value of their houses to fund their profligacy. Ingenious financiers turned housing debt into an array of complex new instruments that provided the shaky foundation for a financial colossus that stood astride the globe.
Inevitably, the foundation gave way and the colossus collapsed. Soon proud old firms like Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and Wachovia were gone or sold to rivals, and others had been thrown into the arms of government. A great recession ensued, and the world's faith in free markets was shaken profoundly.
Unlike the Hollywood-scripted decade that preceded it, this one turned out to be more like the reality-television shows that proliferated during its span. They showed us that not everyone can sing, not everyone can dance, not everyone can stay on the island, and not every fairy-tale romance leads to happily ever after. The real world, after all, is made up of real human beings, and human institutions and history are inevitably infected with their weaknesses. Greed, envy, hatred, ignorance, corruption -- these are all part of the game.
The first decade of the 21st century offered ample reminders that even with imperfections, human beings are capable of great triumphs. The aughts will be remembered for the greatest alleviation of poverty in the history of humankind, as the middle class swelled in China, India and elsewhere. It will be remembered for a long list of technological accomplishments -- from the rise of Google and the emergence of Wikipedia to the creation of the elegant iPhone. In the U.S., it will be celebrated as the decade in which the nation took a huge step toward breaking free of its legacy of slavery and Civil War by electing a black president.
And the supersized dose of reality dumped on us during the decade is now informing a search for new answers, new approaches, new models, all based on a better understanding of human nature. For a time, at least, experience will trump hope. We won't assume that technology can solve all problems, that markets will cure their own excesses, or that one person can overcome the failures of the many.
The hopeful embodiment of this new tone surfaced at the end of the decade, in the person of an unmistakably real woman named Susan Boyle. Never in a thousand decades would she have been cast for a leading role by Hollywood. Yet her performances became the stuff of the most watched video ever on YouTube -- seen by more than 130 million people -- and reminded us that you don't need fantasy to create success. Reality will do just as well.
Read More 0 comments | Posted by Madeleine Gleave edit post

Catch-up

Ok. So it's been.... a LONG time since I posted last. and some pretty crazy things have happened. Not the least of which was my sister being almost fatally impaled by a knitting needle a few days after Thanksgiving. Long story. I wrote some essays for my This I Believe class about my experience, and I think I'll post them sometime. But, needless to say, I'm immensely grateful for the miracle that spared her (the needle found the only empty space inside her ribcage, nestling itself neatly in between her diaphragm and lung and stopping an inch and a half from her heart. Yes. Really. I saw the endoscopic video of it. Freakiest thing of my life.) In other news, I survived finals (YES!) and got a 4.0 (double YESSSS!) even in Econ (a quadrillion times YESSSSSS!!!), I have been spending a wonderful (if not sadistically short) Christmas break with my family and friends, and am preparing to embark on what will hopefully be a great New Year. I've not yet made resolutions, because I feel like I need to evaluate the ones I made last year first, and those are in my journal, which is in Provo. But. I imagine I will be writing at least some of them up on here soon. Best wishes all <3 and a Happy New Year!
Read More 1 Comment | Posted by Madeleine Gleave edit post

Thanks

Hello all! Happy Turkey Day!Here is my de rigueur Thanksgiving day post. I'd first like to share a quote from Abraham Lincoln, from his declaration making Thanksgiving an official national holiday:

“We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in number, wealth, and power as no other Nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God who made us.
“It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended power, to confess our … sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.”

Great words from a great man. I'd like to share with you all what I am grateful for in my life. I contemplating making separate lists, but I think I'll go for it all in one:
What I'm Thankful For:

  1. God
  2. A Knowledge that He exists, and that He knows me
  3. His guidance in my life
  4. A Savior
  5. His atonement
  6. Two parents who love each other and love me
  7. Three crazy and wonderful siblings
  8. A great and hilarious extended family
  9. Good health
  10. My grandpa's good recovery
  11. Beautiful seasons and weather
  12. The opportunity to get higher education
  13. Support and encouragement from my family to get an education
  14. Hard (but interesting) classes
  15. Easy (but fun) classes
  16. Crazy friends who make me laugh incessantly
  17. Wal-mart
  18. Gelato
  19. Waffles
  20. Joe's Barbeque
  21. All kinds of good food- and that I can eat them
  22. Family traditions
  23. Enjoying family time even when we don't do the traditions
  24. Snow
  25. Rain
  26. The beautiful flowers and trees and mountains of BYU campus
  27. Art
  28. Music- oh the wonders of music
  29. Freedom of choice, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of press, freedom of assembly- Freedom.
  30. A nation that, with all its faults, is still founded on and seeks for goodness and justice
  31. Leaders who, despite their faults, seek for goodness and justice
  32. A gospel of peace
  33. Inspiration and revelation
  34. Teachers who have taught me well and made me work and wonder
  35. Books, and the ability to read them
  36. Financial security in troubled times
  37. My cats
  38. My bestest friend Jessica
  39. An eternal perspective
  40. Thanksgiving, so I'm forced to think every year about all the many many things I am so truly grateful for.
I hope you all have a fabulous Thanksgiving. Enjoy it with your family, friends, those who you love most.  I know I am. 



Read More 0 comments | Posted by Madeleine Gleave edit post
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PASTICHE

  • About Me
      My name is Maddy. I am an avid fan of life. I am currently pursuing a dual degree in traveling, helping humanity, and chronic underemployment- aka, International Development. I love indie music, classic and offbeat literature, and gelato.

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