A New Venture

Sometimes when you work with someone for a long period of time, you develop a unique understanding of each other's perspectives, passions and strengths. Working with Jared Kaltwasser at the Home News Tribune/Courier News and NJBIZ was a great blessing to me for many reasons, and when we realized that we would both be relocating to Europe within a few months of each other, the opportunity to continue writing and bouncing ideas off of each other opened up.

Jared, right, with me and our friend/colleague Josh at the 2011 NJBIZ Christmas luncheon.

This has led to a project that both Jared and I are very proud of, a new blog called 4th and Centimeters. 4th and Centimeters is intended to reflect our experiences as sports fans living in Europe, as well as an extension of years of hilarious, poignant, insightful e-mails that we've exchanged.

We will also be tweeting under the handle @4thandCM with smaller bites of sporting observations.

Please check out www.4thandCM.com when you have some free time, and send the word on to people who may enjoy our writing! Thanks for the support! 

Absorption and proficiency

One of the greatest gifts of this move to Belgium is that I have time to read for pleasure. Be it a book, magazine or news article, for the first time in years I truly have time to appreciate what others in my field are doing and try to learn as much as possible from them.

It took me two days to read Kevin Smith's book, "Tough Sh*t" which is part memoir, part advice, and part crude humor. And while I agree with Smith on many fronts -- including a sincere appreciation for the Great One -- what struck me most what his take on what happens when you're not forced to produce something new every day.

Feeling Deco

As soon as I saw the first trailer, a classroom in Grafton High School popped into my head. How many days had we debated all of the symbolism in that book? The eyes watching the misdeeds of the protagonists, the rotten yellow core and pristine white appearance of the egg-shaped islands where the fateful summer happened.


Seeing Leonardo DiCaprio appear as Jay Gatsby released a whole wave of memories from high school English, and reignited my interest in the book and the period. While I never made it to the theater to see Baz Luhrman's take on F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, I have been totally engrossed in the style, art and history of the period. (I have never been one to shy away from pearls and drop-waist dresses, anyways.)

But what really got me was the timelessness of the story: unrequited love, obsession and loss.

As I reread the book, the lyrics to "Motorcycle Drive By" by Third Eye Blind seemed to be telling the same story.

Particularly, the refrain reminded me of the title character; "I've never been so alone, and I've never been so alive." Gatsby is throwing outrageous parties with the glitterati of the time, but he's completely alone, save Nick and his imagined version of Daisy.

Other lyrics that mirror the book:

• "You smile and say the world it doesn't fit with you, I don't believe you, you're so serene, Careening through the universe, Your axis on a tilt, you're guiltless and free." Between scenes of Daisy languishing on chaise lounges with Jordan Baker to her reckless driving killing Mabel (sorry, spoiler, but shame on you for not reading the book if I did just spoil it), the airiness of Daisy's existence is summed up pretty well. 
• "Where's the soul I want to know, New York City is evil, The surface is everything but I could never do that, Someone would see through that." Going back to the good optometrist's bespectacled eyes watching the final scenes play out as the gaggle goes into New York and returns, and the true nature -- not the surface sheen -- of all of the characters plays out. Soulless is apropos.
• "I go home to the coast, It starts to rain I paddle out on the water, Alone, Taste the salt and taste the pain, I'm not thinking of you again. Summer dies and swells rise, The sun goes down in my eyes, See this rolling wave, Darkly coming to take me Home." Echoes of the final moments of Jay Gatsby's brief-yet-dazzling life in the mansion on West End.

The beauty of Fitzgerald's work is that he entwines classic, timeless stories -- with endless layers to peel back -- while also capturing the essence of a singular summer in time.

Do you have a favorite book-and-song combination? Leave me a note in the comments!

Bonus Video!

I tore my skirt tonight

I tore my skirt tonight.
Trying to escape the feeling of
everything Europeans want Americans to be
everything Americans in Europe want Americans to be
everything society wants me to be
everything I want to be.
I tore my skirt tonight
Trying to escape the feeling of
everything I think I should be
everything our budget says I should be
when all I want to be is me.
In my most honest, intellectual me.
The most absorbing, accepting me.
The me I want to be.
I tore my skirt tonight.
And it was not all that was torn.

Carnival

The local carnival came to the end of its six week run a few Sundays ago. Since it was two blocks from our apartment, Peter and I went to check it out on its last day. The weather cooperated just long enough to get us on the Ferris wheel, where we snapped some pictures whenever the wind died down.

Expectations

For those who have never read “Melinda Makes Herself,” which I’m assuming to be quite a few people, let me explain that this is more of a writing experiment for me than anything. You’ll find opinion columns, journal-like entries, photo essays, literary critiques, sports play-by-play and just about any other stylistic deviation from straight news reporting you can find.

Small Update

Limited Internet access has left me with so much to blog about, it's a bit overwhelming. For today, I'll just add a short thought, with intentions to write much more later this week.