Sunday, October 17, 2010

Spirituality, Part I

I haven’t written for quite awhile, so I’ve decided to jump right in and talk about one of the two taboos: religion. I’m not very religious anymore, but I am by no means an atheist or even agnostic. I’m quite spiritual and consider myself to be very open minded. I’m wary of anything that claims to have a monopoly on absolute truth.

I need to begin at the beginning. This will take several entries.

I was adopted (at birth) into a fairly conservative Christian family and I don’t have any problems with that. It’s my history and part of what has made me the way I am today. The first church I remember attending was a CMA (Christian Missionary Alliance) church. I think it’s moderately conservative in the Protestant spectrum, although my family only attended there until I was almost five years old. Then we moved. Over the next two years, I went to school at a private school run by the Assemblies of God (which is basically über-conservative) and we attended a Baptist church occasionally, which is also on the right-hand side in the Protestant denominations. Through the end of kindergarten, I went to church and Sunday school, attended a Christian school, and watched ample amounts of Bible cartoons. Then we moved again.

It was the church we moved to afterwards that I stayed at until I was 22. Then the shit hit the fan. But I’m going to talk about the intervening years first because there’s a lot to tell. This church was a non-denominational one, which means it’s once again pretty far to the right of the Christian spectrum. In elementary school, we learned about inviting Jesus into your heart, going to Vacation Bible School (VBS), praying to God, and watching loads of Bible cartoons at Sunday school. I still marvel how I didn’t get stories like Jonah and the Whale and Jack and the Beanstalk mixed up.

Anyway, the summer after sixth grade was transformative. I had been going to church summer camps for the previous two summers, but for whatever reason, I got really freaked out that year that I would be going to hell if I died. I had just moved up to the junior high youth group at church and didn’t know anyone. To top it off, I was just about to begin junior high and I knew I was rather awkward and probably wouldn’t be in the “popular” crowd. I went to two church summer camps that year and during the latter, I got baptized. I think I had finally convinced myself and felt secure that I was, in fact, “saved.”

This was a horrible way to begin junior high. I went to church every Sunday and now that I was “religious,” every Wednesday night, too. Whereas in elementary school, we learned standard Bible stories and very little theology, now we were being told what to believe about the modern world. Suddenly, we were being persecuted for our beliefs. It was inevitable that we would be learning about the dreaded evolution in science class, but we must remain strong and believe that God had created the entire universe in six literal days no more than 6,000 years ago. (Despite whatever ALL the branches of science had to say about the matter.) We had to get all of our friends and classmates saved, bring them to church parties and crusades, especially the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Back in the mid to late 90s, there weren’t very many Muslims or Hindus to be reached, although one did run across the occasional Jew. In short, now that we were teenagers, we were at war with the world.

We were also at war with ourselves. No one but us had the truth. Catholics were damned. No one knew who the Eastern Orthodox were and they were never mentioned at all. The Jews were probably going to hell. Everyone else, no matter how well-meaning, were going to be damned to hell. Also, homosexuality was obviously a sin because the Bible said so. (The Bible also condones slavery, but how many Christians are advocating that nowadays?) Relationships were frowned upon or discouraged because they could obviously lead to premarital sex. I think junior high is probably too young to be having sex, but at least allow kids to experiment within reason! I mean, I had the whole NO SEX BEFORE MARRIAGE so crammed down my throat that I’m a 27-year old virgin! Granted, I’ve never been in a romantic relationship, but it’s probably because of the near brainwashing I received for so long during my teenage years.

After completing eighth grade, I started going on summer mission trips, like every good Christian teenager. Most kids go to Mexico or something; we went to Oregon. There were a lot of Mexican migrant workers there and loads of their kids to run Vacation Bible School for. It’s no wonder that attending church two to three times a week, participating in countless summer camps, retreats, and mission trips, and constantly inviting loads of friends and acquaintances from school to go to church with me, I would be just a little bit shunned in junior high. I was the Jesus girl and not only was it not cool, it was repulsive to people. Most people have no problem with Jesus. Actually, they rather like the guy. They don’t like Christians who shove Jesus at people as though they have the only set of keys to Him.

Then I moved on to high school. Those tails will ensue with Part II.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Autumn, Chu'Seok, and Robert Frost

I love autumn. October is my favourite month of the year. All the colours of the leaves are beautiful. And the weather is usually enjoyable enough. Not to mention my favourite holiday is Halloween. I pass the month watching scary movies, celebrating, and finding some type of outrageous Halloween costume. And since I used to work at Starbucks, I usually partake of the Pumpkin Spice Lattés and Pumpkin Crème Cheese muffins.

However, this autumn is different. This October is different. Because I am in South Korea. Teaching English. There will be no Thanksgiving this year, apart from Chu’Seok. Chu’Seok isKorea’s version of Thanksgiving and it is happening today. To honour Chu’Seok, the hagwon director gave every teacher an entire crate of grapes. How am I supposed to eat twelve large bunches of grapes before they go bad? One word: freezer. Now I can eat grapes in January. Ingenious.

The leaves have not begun to change yet. It’s still unbelievably warm for autumn. And humid as fuck. And I need to purchase some autumn clothes. I found some sweet leather boots on etsy.com. I just hope I don’t look like a Larper.

To finish, I like poetry. Especially Robert Frost. Robert Frost reminds me of autumn. I will not post “The Road Not Taken” because it’s so overdone. But this poem of his is fittingly called, “October.” And with that, I welcome autumn to South Korea. And I’m ready to partake of some kimchi. Happy Chu’Seok!

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;

To-morrow's wind, if it be wild,

Should waste them all.

The crows above the forest call;

To-morrow they may form and go.

O hushed October morning mild,

Begin the hours of this day slow,

Make the day seem to us less brief.

Hearts not averse to being beguiled,

Beguile us in the way you know;

Release one leaf at break of day;

At noon release another leaf;

One from our trees, one far away;

Retard the sun with gentle mist;

Enchant the land with amethyst.

Slow, slow!

For the grapes' sake, if they were all,

Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,

Whose clustered fruit must else be lost--

For the grapes' sake along the wall.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Tribal Fusion Bellydance

In the past, I have toyed with learning bellydance techniques, but never got very far in my practice. (I can’t shoulder shimmy.) Later, I turned to ballet and started taking a few classes over three years or so, but then I hurt my foot. I still don’t know how I did it and neither did any of the doctors I went to see, but it hinders me from doing ballet as much as I used to. To make a long and boring story short, suffice it to say that I’ve let myself get terribly out of shape and I get rather disgusted when I see myself in the mirror.

I am also becoming somewhat of an insomniac. It’s nearly 6am here in Jeonju and I’m not even a little bit tired. I overslept every day this weekend and now I can’t sleep at all. Anyway, while I was whiling away the wee hours, I came across something mesmerising on YouTube, which is one of my favourite places to waste time. It was Rachel Brice and I am now in love with tribal fusion bellydance. She has inspired me to learn this particular type of dance. Hopefully the DVD will find its way safely through customs to me in the SK (South Korea). *fingers crossed*

Enjoy the vid. It’s the very one that inspired me.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

I've Been Away

I’ve been away for some time. I do apologise for the vast amount of people who are hungrily reading my blog. (sarcasm intended.) I moved to South Korea to teach English and have finally become accustomed enough to my surroundings to begin blogging again. Pictures, stories, and thoughts on life are soon to ensue.

Monday, April 12, 2010

The Gypsy Bohemian


Here is my Bohemian persona: the Gypsy!

By Laren Stover, excerpt from “The Bohemian Manifesto”

These are the expatriate types. They create their own Gypsy nirvana wherever they go. They are folksy flower children, hippies, psychedelic travelers, fairy folk, dreamers, Deadheads, Phish fans, medievalists, anachronistic throwbacks to a more romantic time. They may listen to Joan Baez, Marianne Faithfull, early Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and Captain Beefheart but more than likely they make their own music, even if it’s playing the spoons.

Gypsies scatter like seeds on the wind, don’t own a watch, show up on your doorstep and disappear into the night. They’re happy to sleep in your barn and may have without you even knowing it. They are comfortable living out of cars and vans and are nondigital. The only time line they can rely on is the one on your palm, which they will undoubtedly read, either that or they’ll cast your chart, tell your fortune, or do your numbers. Gypsies like jobs that they can pack up in a bag, or not pack at all. They are painters (canvases and houses), muralists (the ones with a baby strapped to them while they paint), sign painters for small establishments, dancers, singers, actors, and musicians. Other Gypsy jobs include juggling, carpentry, leather tooling, jewelry making, and midwifery.

Gypsies also give lessons: music, singing, dance, especially tango and belly dancing, painting, sculpting, welding, language, horseback riding, fencing, and stage combat. When they set their mind to it they get extra work in films and an occasional theatre piece. They play Gypsy, tango, chamber, and medieval and Celtic music for parties and weddings, and of course they play on the street.

They know a little about a lot of things, like how to milk a goat and what to feed a wild abandoned baby animal, how to fix a carnival ride, make candles and soap.

It is not wise to play cards with them.

Gypsies wear the traditional clothing of their native country when it’s considered quaint and out of style and embrace their lost heritages. They will also embrace a new heritage. They costume themselves after lost cultures and forgotten times. They practice crafts on the verge of extinction: stone carving and masonry, glass-blowing, papermaking, paper marbling, stained glass, frescoes and encaustic. They hand make their own violins, mandolins, and dulcimers. They love pocket instruments and play the pennywhistle, recorder, Jew’s harp, and kazoo. The largest thing they own, besides their vehicle, may be a harp or potter’s wheel. They’d rather tell stories than read them.

Their books will be Beowulf, The Tales of Genji, Grimms’ fairy tales, Dracula, poetry by Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott, The Sibyl by Pär Lagerkvist, Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis, biographies of Augustus John and small leather-bound books with faded covers and crumbling tea-colored pages that are at least a hundred years old. Never magazines or newspapers, except for the classifieds.

They make wind chimes out of old silverware or broken pottery. Mix their own essential oils, grow their own herbs, embroider their clothing, crochet their own clothing, build little houses in old tree stumps for elves. They may even decide to settle down later in life and form a commune with other like-minded Bohemians. Here they will keep goats and sheep and make yogurt and cheese. They will keep bees and sell honey. Their children will be tutored at home and on the road and run around naked and free. Good luck trying to figure out the family tree.



Thursday, April 8, 2010

Artist Profile: Bright Eyes

Such a lovely song. And an even lovelier music video.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Religion, Easter, and Spirituality: Some Kind of Treatise

I am so tired of religion. And especially religious hypocrites. So. Fucking. Tired.

It’s quite insightful that the next chapter that is the endless saga of the Catholic priest abuse scandal broke just before Holy Week. Juxtaposed is the selfless, sacrificial love of Jesus and the selfish and self-righteous attitudes of some priests pretending to follow in His footsteps.

Personally, I have come a long way from the religious atmosphere I was exposed to as a child and what I experienced throughout my teens and early twenties.

Mainly, I was influenced by a fundamentalist/evangelical Protestant non-denominational Christianity. It was drilled into my theology that Catholics weren’t really Christians and anyone who had not “asked Jesus into their heart” were probably (definitely) going to spend an eternity suffering in the fires of hell. In junior high and high school, we were encouraged to bring our “unsaved” friends to evangelical crusades and expose them to Christianity. The more students we got into church on Sunday mornings, Wednesday nights, and all the events in between, the better. Quantity was of the utmost importance; never mind the quality. Jesus was all about entertainment.

I was subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) influenced to have a conservative ideology of the world … both in religion and politics. I can remember sermons in high school and college condemning homosexuals, abortion, and President Clinton. We needed to “take America back for Jesus.” (Whatever the fuck that means.)

In college, things got even worse … for awhile. 9/11 occurred one week before I moved on campus at a conservative Christian college. People all over the country (and at my university) were afraid and throwing their faith behind God and country, as embodied by President Bush. Americans were angry and wanted revenge on the Muslim extremists who had destroyed the World Trade Center, killed thousands of civilians, and attacked (as we were told) our freedoms. They just couldn’t stand our liberty and freedom. (I’m sure that’s the only reason they aren’t fond of us.)

I had been so brainwashed by my environment, by the constant media scare-tactics, and by the conservative Christian belief in the End Times being upon us (thanks Left Behind), that I was completely supportive of a US-led invasion of Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein and liberate the Iraqi people. (Because if there’s one thing the Iraqi people needed, it was definitely another war.) During the summer of 2003, when things began to come apart in the Middle East and at home, my mind began to rebel against the conservative cocoon I had been trapped inside for so many years.

I spent my junior year of college living in Europe attending real liberal arts colleges. These were universities where people could actually think, learn, and understand the world in an intellectual environment without the ever-present tinge of religious fundamentalism. I read a few books by Michael Moore and suddenly realized that I agreed with basically all of his arguments. Not only was I probably a Democrat, but I was a complete liberal. Shit. My parents were going to kill me.

It was also during this time that I nearly gave up belief in the entire idea of Christianity. The only thing that sustained me was that I had always been drawn to Jesus and His message. And then I was attracted to the Catholic faith. I had a wonderful professor in college who was Catholic and while living in Rome, I was surrounded by the beauty of the Catholic Church. I began learning about its history, its spirituality, and its advancement of social justice. The churches I had previously been exposed to had only a brief stint of history on the world stage, a McDonaldized spirituality, and no interest in social justice.

I became Catholic in 2006. Part of me regrets it. Part of me is ecstatic that I am no longer Protestant. And most of me has come to realize that it doesn’t really matter.

I follow the teachings of Jesus and I believe that if you truly follow them, you simply live for love. Loving God and loving people. All people. I believe that Jesus was the unique Son of God, but I don’t think it’s requisite to “get into heaven” to believe that. I think He showed people how to live, and if you follow that example, you’re in whether you believe the right doctrine about Him or not.

I truly believe that if a person were to really follow His teachings, their life would be incompatible with what the right-wing conservative (by American standards) Christianity and politics teach. Although Jesus never intended to set up a political system, I think socialism would be pretty attractive to Him with the whole ideology of taking care of everybody’s basic needs. (i.e. health care, education, community involvement, etc.) He wouldn’t be locking Himself away in a beautifully manicured $3.5 million home with undocumented Mexican gardeners and housekeepers whilst driving His Hummer down the street to shop at Wal-Mart. I’m certain that capitalism (particularly the American model of the past two years) would be abhorrent to Him and He would simply choose not to participate in such a corrupt system that exploits the weak for the benefit of the rich and powerful.

But I digress. So where am I today?

While I still consider a part of me to be Catholic, I don’t attend Mass every week. Sometimes I attend a Catholic church and sometimes I go to an Episcopalian one. Sometimes I just read a book about Jesus. And sometimes I just watch “Jesus Christ Superstar.” (The 1973 version, of course.) I also believe that anything that is spiritually beautiful is beneficial. So I practice Eastern meditation and yoga. I like to learn about astrology, dream interpretation, and Tarot. Unlocking the human subconscious can only strengthen a person’s spirituality, and how could that ever be a negative thing?

I didn’t attend a Catholic church this year during Holy Week. I was too disgusted by what had come out about the deviousness of the highest levels of the Catholic hierarchy. (I don’t think Jesus is too pleased about what’s happened either.) It’s when shit like this happens that people need to remember that the Church (and any other spiritual organization) is made up of the people and not those who lead it. We need a spiritual revolution. The Church isn’t a democracy, but perhaps it should be.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Artist Profile: Brandi Carlile

Brilliant song. Brilliant artist. Brilliant performance.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

1. Pick Your Bohemian Avatar

  1. Your dentist says you need a root canal and it will be quite expensive. You …
    1. offer to play music, juggle or draw caricatures at your dentist’s son’s bar mitzvah.
    2. go through several bottles of Ambesol until the tooth falls out.
    3. make monthly visits to the dentist for cleaning, etc., so dental overhauls are not necessary.
    4. tell the dentist that you’re sure your toxic old fillings are your real problem, but since the planet Mercury is in retrograde it’s not a good time to start.
    5. offer to redecorate the waiting room.
  1. You’re on a road trip with friends and have run out of food. You …
    1. help yourself to nature’s bounty – fruit from an orchard, corn from a field, etc.
    2. pawn your guitar, great-uncle’s pocket watch, etc., in the nearest town.
    3. work at a soup kitchen or local ashram in return for food.
    4. polish off what’s left in the flask and keep driving until you get to a fine restaurant where you order the most expensive entrée on the menu and the finest Champagne. Then thank the waiter for a lovely meal and impeccable service and make your exit, acting as though you’ve left cash and a handsome tip in the billfold.
    5. would never let this happen, so you pay for everyone.
  1. Driving with friends, you’re pulled over for speeding and have no driver’s license. You …
    1. hide the pot and give the officer your friend’s license.
    2. tell the officer you’ve had quite a hectic day at country auctions and to please, please pick something out of the back of the vehicle and forget about this silly thing.
    3. if the vehicle is “borrowed,” wait until the officer gets out of the car and approaches you and then floor it.
    4. ask the officer where you can get a pair of those cool boots.
    5. start chanting.
  1. You’re about to be evicted for nonpayment of rent. You …
    1. call your dealer, publisher, aunt, great-aunt, anyone, everyone, for an “advance,” because you can’t bear to move all your stuff again.
    2. are packed up before the notice even arrives.
    3. hold a rent party.
    4. think, No problem. By the time this goes to court you’ll be in Tibet.
    5. must have forgotten when you were making that documentary film in the Middle East for a few months.
  1. You move from Portland, Maine, to New York City to paint for a month and discover a rat in your basement studio. You …
    1. a basement studio? Are you kidding? This would never happen. No, thank you.
    2. move your sleeping bag to your worktable.
    3. feed it, get it a running wheel and learn to live together.
    4. figure you must be hallucinating and pay it no mind.
    5. think, How exciting, I must be in New York. This experience can only enhance your creativity, and you start to keep a journal.
  1. It’s 7:30 in the morning and the bell rings. You …
    1. assume it’s the police or the landlord and don’t answer.
    2. get out of bed and answer the door in the nude.
    3. are still meditating, and think, life is all about tests, and decide to let it go.
    4. put on a smoking jacket or kimono, take a quick glance in the mirror and run hands through hair before answering.
    5. think what a mistake it was to have booked a shiatsu appointment when you were at a party till 5:00am.
  1. You’re feeling depressed. You …
    1. take advantage of the angst and paint a tortured self-portrait.
    2. play melodramatic music, e.g. Jean Sibelius’ Finlandia and Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, and systematically drain all the decanters.
    3. drink the leftover red wine, get the razor blade and scissors and dramatically alter your appearance in the bathroom mirror.
    4. forget tofu and brown rice. Hello, fast food and chocolate!
    5. struggle between rescuing animals at the shelter and a shopping spree at Christie’s Oriental erotic art auction.
  1. Your vehicle overheats and you find yourself next to a lake. You …
    1. go skinny-dipping, play a little music, and maybe camp out there for the night.
    2. realize there are no mistakes and decide to listen to the cicadas and watch the bulrushes wave rhythmically in the wind until the car cools.
    3. get water from the lake for the radiator and get back on the road, for chrissake!
    4. seek the most majestic house on the lake and ask for coolant for the vehicle and rye for your flask.
    5. enjoy the smoked salmon, open the Pouilly Fumé, and wait for road service.
  1. You can’t sleep. You …
    1. drink some red wine, smoke some hash, and sketch the person sleeping in your bed.
    2. fire up a pot of coffee and rehearse your monologue loudly enough to wake up your roommate so you have someone to talk to. If you do not have a roommate, get out the typewriter or play your guitar.
    3. light some incense, put on a CD of The Eternal Music of Nature, and go online to check out airfares to all your dream destinations from India to the Himalayas.
    4. start polishing the silver plate you picked up at the flea market. That’s bound to put you to sleep.
    5. call other proven insomniacs and invite them out for drinks. Either that or finally start your memoirs.
  1. You’re at a new job and you get a call that you have to be at an audition in an hour. You …
    1. say nothing and vanish.
    2. photocopy a hundred of your résumés, poems, etc., then tell your manager your father is dying and you have to go to the hospital.
    3. disable your screensaver, position a full cup of chai on your desk, rub your laughing Buddha and trust the universe that no one will notice your absence.
    4. tell your boss you feel an “onset of the spleen” and need to see your physician at once.
    5. request a leave of absence for the rest of the day. If questioned or denied, resign.
  1. Your idea of breakfast is …
    1. leftover caviar, poached eggs, crêpes Suzette.
    2. coffee and a cigarette.
    3. ProGreens or Hawaiian spirulina with filtered water followed by leftover brown rice with soymilk, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
    4. tin of smoked oysters and a pot of Lapsang Souchong Sample toast, two-day-old brioche or old fortune cookies as available.
    5. smoked trout if you have your own smokehouse. Otherwise, stewed apples you picked from an orchard or anything as long as you’re not paying.

ANSWERS:

  1. a. Gypsy; b. Beat; c. Nouveau; d. Zen; e. Dandy
  2. a. Gypsy; b. Beat; c. Zen; d. Dandy; e. Nouveau
  3. a. Beat; b. Dandy; c. Gypsy; d. Nouveau; e. Zen
  4. a. Dandy; b. Gypsy; c. Beat; d. Zen; e. Nouveau
  5. a. Dandy; b. Beat; c. Zen; d. Gypsy; e. Nouveau
  6. a. Gypsy; b. Beat; c. Zen; d. Dandy; e. Nouveau
  7. a. Beat; b. Dandy; c. Gypsy; d. Zen; e. Nouveau
  8. a. Gypsy; b. Zen; c. Beat; d. Dandy; e. Nouveau
  9. a. Gypsy; b. Beat; c. Zen; d. Dandy; e. Nouveau
  10. a. Gypsy; b. Beat; c. Zen; d. Dandy; e. Nouveau
  11. a. Nouveau; b. Beat; c. Zen; d. Dandy; e. Gypsy

I’ve taken this quiz several times, which is from “The Bohemian Manifesto”, and once again, I land firmly in the Zen and Gypsy categories with a bit of Dandy thrown in here and there. At heart, I must be a hippie getting back to my gypsy roots.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Friday, March 12, 2010

The Bohemian Recluse

When left to my own devices, I’m somewhat of a recluse. After slinging lattes and espressos for a few hours, all I want to do is go home, curl up in bed, and amuse myself with movies, books, or the Internet. I can imagine myself being quirky and social and outgoing, but I have to deal with the fact that I have an introverted personality. I’m also terribly self-conscious about my appearance. Although nearly everyone tells me how beautiful I am, I also struggle with my weight. It’s difficult to think of myself as beautiful, or even pretty, when I’m so aware of the extra poundage. I can’t get away with wearing the kinds of clothes I want: loose, hippie clothing makes me look pregnant and tight, sleek styles simply accentuate the wrong curves. My self-consciousness has kept me from fully participating in the bohemian experience of an open, carefree, and artistic lifestyle.

I’m terrified of turning this blog into a diet, exercise, and weight loss seminar, so I’ll limit the theme of a healthy weight to only a few entries. I feel as though I cannot fully enter into an open and artistic life until I feel comfortable in my own skin. I can’t be fully free until I love the way I look and feel. And being bohemian is all about freedom. Freedom to live, love, and experience beauty in all of its facets.

My challenge to myself is to do something bohemian every day, whether it be going out into the city or sometimes staying at home to practice some sort of revolutionary artistry. Read in a coffee shop. Go to a bar on ladies night. Practice music on my guitar. Drink a bottle of wine in a public park at night (surreptitiously, of course). Go see an old silent film. Shop at a vintage boutique. Go perform some music on the street downtown. Learn to cook Indian food. Go for a walk in a new part of town. I can do this in spite of feeling self-conscious about myself because I believe that anything and everything is possible to experience beauty in this life.

Favorite Film: La belle et la bête

“La belle et la bête.” This French, 1940s version of “Beauty and the Beast” is my absolute favorite film. It’s such a beautiful, dark, and elegant masterpiece.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Bohemian Traits

I grew up in an environment as un-bohemian as you can possibly imagine, so it’s rather amazing I write a blog entitled “Bit of Bohemian.” My family was white, middle-class, conservative Protestant Christian, and definitely Republican. I even went to a conservative Christian university, but it was actually during my time there that I began to change and re-evaluate everything I had previously believed. After graduation, caught in the monotony of a soul-crushing nine-to-five cubicle job, I decided to explore my bohemian tendencies.

Personally, I’m still grappling with some of the type-A habits I formed during childhood and adolescence. The worst one is that I love to make lists: to-do lists, grocery lists, books to read lists, movies to watch lists, things I need to do today lists, and so on. It’s one of my only non-bohemian traits and it’s terribly difficult for me to stop doing it. I like typing and I love feeling like I’m getting things done, so I’ve turned to blogging instead. My bohemian blog. No more listing!

I am bohemian, but I am also growing into and discovering my own bohemian-ness.

So, what traits exemplify a bohemian?

  1. Read “The Bohemian Manifesto” by Laren Stover. It’s one of my favourite books and explains quite well what a bohemian is and what kind you may be.
  2. Express yourself through dress, style, and accessories. Don’t be afraid to try new things.
  3. Believe in your own ideals (and why you believe in them). Also, don’t ever be afraid to challenge these ideals.
  4. Always attempt to find a creative means of employment. Never settle for a job with which you’re unhappy.
  5. Express yourself creatively … painting, drawing, music, writing, or photography. The list is endless.
  6. Eat the most healthful diet you can afford, whether it be organic, vegetarian, vegan, Mediterranean, or something else entirely. Know where your food comes from and how it impacts the earth and your body.
  7. Peace. Love. Believe in it. Spread it.
  8. Surround yourself with like-minded bohemian souls.
  9. Small friends (pets): have as many as you can love.
  10. Your body is an artist’s palette. If you want piercings or tattoos, get them. But only when adequately sober.
  11. Experience the art of the bohemian spirit: music, books, poetry, movies, etc.
  12. Don’t confine your mind. Learn about other religions, philosophies, political affiliations, cultures, and such. Always have an open mind and an open heart.
  13. Do what you want and break the rules. (Obviously, within reason.)
  14. Always question authority.
  15. Travel. Far and wide. As much as possible.
  16. Live in the moment.

“Well, isn’t Bohemia a place where everyone is as good as everyone else – and must not a waiter be a little less than a waiter to be a good Bohemian?” ~ Djuna Barnes

Monday, March 8, 2010

Artist Profile: Bat for Lashes

One of my most favourite artists – Bat for Lashes!

Bohemian: A Definition

Bohemianism. La vie Bohème. Bohémienne. An unconventional lifestyle, usually among those of like-minds.

Bohemians pursue musical, artistic, and literary pastimes. They like to travel far and wide and undertake adventures, or may simply be vagabonds with no permanent homes or ties.

The term “Bohemian” arrived in the English language from the French, in which it was used to describe artists, writers, journalists, musicians, actors, and others of such artistic vocations in nineteenth century European cities.

These Bohemians were associated with left-leaning political or anti-establishment opinions and social viewpoints. These artist-types began moving into the lower-rent, and therefore lower-class, neighborhoods of Paris, which were generally inhabited by the Romani people, commonly known as gypsies. Bohémien(ne) was a common term for gypsies, who were believed to have originated in Bohemia, a region of the modern day Czech Republic.

In modern usage, a Bohemian is usually understood to be a person with artistic or literary interests who disregards both standard behaviors in society and a life of convention. It is closely associated with the hippie lifestyle. There are, however, several types of Bohemians, some indistinguishable from “hippies” and others vastly different. “The Bohemian Manifesto” by Laren Stover is an excellent resource to discover which Bohemian you embody best.

"I'm a girl from a good family who was very well brought up. One day I turned my back on it all and became a bohemian." ~ Brigitte Bardot