Voila! The secret to a perfectly messy, perfectly parisian bun.
(I tend to find that I spend more time trying to make my hair look "effortlessly" chic than actually just going through my normal routine. But this morning, I am up with the sun and ready to wrestle with this curly blonde mop.)
while listening to this:
written instructions via Experience PARISIENNE (I have a feeling that her secret is the homemade texturizing spray)
Last night, I assisted in CU's DIS orientation and chatted for an hour about my blissful, Danish semester. Copenhagen has been on my mind all day. The city that I am striving for.
This song pulls at my heartstrings for so many reasons. It was originally penned by Hans Christian Andersen during the Danish Golden Age: a stodgy, gangly, ethnic Dane who embodies Danish national identity and everything wrapped up in feeling Danish. He is the most well-known and stereotypically Danish Dane that has ever walked the streets of Denmark. Here it is performed by Isam Bachiri, a famous Danish rapper who was born in Denmark of Moroccan descent. In interviews, Bachiri describes his attachment to Andersen's piece and his desire to perform it as a response to the white-blonde Danes who constantly pose the question, "Hvor kommer du fra?" ... "Where are you from?"
He responds by singing Andersen's song: "I Danmark er jeg født, der har jeg hjemme"
"In Denmark, where I was born, where I am home."
1st Verse "I Danmark er jeg født, der har jeg hjemme, (In Denmark, where I was born, where I am home) der har jeg rod, derfra min verden går; (where I have roots, where my world spins) du danske sprog, du er min moders stemme, (Danish language, you are my mother's voice) så sødt velsignet du mit hjerte når. (in my heart so sweetly blessed) Du danske, friske strand, (You, fresh Danish beaches) hvor oldtids kæmpegrave (where old-fashioned gravestones) stå mellem æblegård og humlehave. (stand between apple farm and hops garden) Dig elsker jeg! - Danmark, mit fædreland! (I love you, Denmark, my fatherland)
Not only does his beautiful voice give me the girly giggles, but his interpretation and presentation of Andersen's piece brings up so many issues pertinent to modern-day Europe. From where does one derive their national identity? An attachment to the land? The blood in your veins? A sense of common values? Where your parents were born? Is the EU a threat these identities?
These are questions that spend far too much time rolling around in my head. Where would you say your national identity is rooted?
The lead of The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, I first encountered Mette on the stage at RUST nightclub in Copenhagen. This Danish band has a funky pop-rock, big-band feel and impressed Apple so much that they used "Around The Bend" in the Ipod Touch commercial back at the end of 2008. Mette's stage presence is fantastic: she moves like a little fairy and that HAIR. That hair is outrageous and I love it. What a darling little woman.
I stumbled upon some glorious black and white photography this morning while sipping my coffee and I am obsessing over these photographs by Rodney Smith. There is something wacky and so inherently joyful about his work. I can't help but chuckle.
Ah, you inventive Scandinavians. You never cease to amaze and amuse me. Wouldn't the spontaneous discovery of a musical staircase instantly brighten up your day?
The time will come when, with elation you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror and each will smile at the other's welcome,
and say, sit here. Eat. You will love again the stranger who was yourself. Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart to itself, to the stranger who has loved you
all your life, whom you ignored for another, who knows you by heart. Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,
the photographs, the desperate notes, peel your own image from the mirror. Sit. Feast on your life.
This poem hangs on my bathroom mirror and reminds me to treat myself well every morning before the beginning of another day.
