Muscle memory

Scars tissue, but so do triumphs. The slope of yesterday's hill has been coded into the fibers of our hips.

Convention brown-nose ranking 2012

I used the NYT's characteristically awesome infographic about the words most used at the 2012 Democratic and Republican conventions to rank the states in order of how many times they were mentioned by people on stage.

The first number is the total mentions at both conventions per 25,000 words spoken. Within the parentheses, the number on the left is Democratic mentions per 25,000 and the number on the right is Republican mentions.

wisconsin 16 (4-12)
ohio 15 (8-7)
massachusetts 15 (7-8)
north carolina 14 (11-3)
florida 12 (4-8)
colorado 7 (6-1)
virginia 7 (3-4)
michigan 7 (2-5)
montana 7 (4-3)
texas 7 (4-3)
california 6 (3-3)
oklahoma 6 (0-6)
south carolina 6 (1-5)
iowa 5 (3-2)
north dakota 4 (0-4)
nevada 3 (0-3)
indiana 3 (0-3)
illinois 3 (3-0)
delaware 3 (1-2)
new jersey 3 (0-3)
maine 2 (1-1)
nebraska 2 (0-2)
connecticut 2 (2-0)
kansas 2 (2-0)
kentucky 2 (0-2)
new hampshire 2 (0-2)
oregon 1 (1-0)
arkansas 1 (0-1)
hawaii 1 (1-0)
minnesota 1 (1-0)
maryland 1 (1-0)
georgia 1 (1-0)
south dakota 1 (1-0)
utah 1 (0-1)
tennessee 0
west virginia 0
vermont 0
rhode island 0
alabama 0
mississippi 0
louisiana 0
idaho 0
wyoming 0
alaska 0

Lessons learned:

1. Politicians are unlikely to kiss up to a swing state if they think they're going to win it, maybe because it makes them look desperate.
2. People really like talking about the state they're from. Therefore a major component of the convention brown-nosing process is actually the speaker selection.
3. The deep South is just not cool.

Playing Uno

Each month on my transit news website I do a thing where I curate Portland's best public-transit-related missed connections of the month. It's one of the better ideas I've had and always one of the best parts of my month.

This one isn't quite a public transit connection, but I wanted to share it somewhere. It's from 3:03 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 11.

Dear JP. - w4m
from craigslist portland
JP,

It's been years since you decided that my words weren't worth yours. Unfortunately, your music still haunts me from time to time, so I can't help but remember you.

It's been some time since you pulled your stunt. Words, links to youtube videos, tea. Holding doors. Charm, and sly comments about how the waitstaff likes you if they act rude to you.

In that time, I've nearly completed two worthless degrees. I traveled and fell in love with the world. I tried to love romantically more than once before realizing that maybe artists are no good for me. I get sick of feeding egos and scheduling my world around theirs. This new years day, I woke up in the bed of one of my best friends. He can't write a song, but he has a strong mind and sharp tongue. He makes me laugh. We play UNO together in airports and bus and ferry terminals.

Sometimes I think of running off, despite all the beautiful things Portland has given me. I am happy most of the time, but sometimes I feel a longing to get to know the grit of the earth intimately. I want to bike over mountains and international boundaries until I am not sure my body can hold itself together any longer. I want unruly matted hair to be a testament to my time on the road. I want to conquer fear of being alone, of being vulnerable, of being a woman where I'm not supposed to be one. I want nothing left to lose by having nothing at all.

Tonight I listened to your music while I walked home. There was a ring around the moon and scattered bits of valentines weekend litter. I felt a pang of the aforementioned longing. That, and the music, brought me to write this. Why else would I? You don't ever want to hear it. But if I could ask one thing, it would be for your lyrics. You see, sometimes you sing too fast for me to understand. And they are some of my favorite songs, if for nothing else than the words.

After all, it's always been about words.