Minneapolis Loves Bikes, Gays, Yoga and Hipsters

 

Unexpected unless you live here, like I do. My daughters especially noticed all the hipsters when they came for a visit. Didn't realize there is a "uniform" but apparently there is: fedoras, tight jeans and sweaters, scruffy little beard, ironic thinking. Bicycles have their own lane on almost every major street, people even bike here in the winter. Funny article to read.

Yoga Journal recently named Minneapolis one of ten "Yoga Friendly Cities" in their August 2011 issue. I finally got my certification and registered with the Yoga Alliance as a registered 230-hour yoga teacher! Taught three volunteer/free classes at Lake Harriet, sailboats rocking and clinking in the background. People came up to me afterward to say how much they liked it which was encouraging. The best thing was that after agonizing and terrorizing myself, practicing, practicing, practicing . . . I discovered that I love teaching. I got hired to teach yoga this fall for Minneapolis Community Education.

In April 2012 my lease is up. So from now until then I will concentrate on teaching yoga wherever I can and finish my novel, Get Lost, which may or may not be illustrated. Plus the occasional font, cards, T-shirts, etc. And then, who knows? I might stay here, I might not. That gypsy wagon is still in my mind, has never really left. I've been paring down without really noticing, not adding new stuff, "thinking about what I want to continue with and what I want to change."*

*That's from a piece in O magazine by Jane Fonda. She has always been an inspiration to me. I read her memoir, "My Life So Far" and gained even more respect for her. I love her movies and DVDs, her energy and love of life. She's had her share of screw-ups but so has anyone who really lives. You just salvage what you can and move on. It's called building character.

Gillian Welch, David Rawlings

Got invited to a concert at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul last night. I had only heard one song from Gillian Welch called "Leaving Train" on the "Horse Whisperer" movie soundtrack. I do love that song. My first impression when she walked onstage was of a scrawny girl kind of hunched over her guitar. But then she and singing partner/guitar player David Rawlings stepped back from the microphone for a swift, ethereal humming tune-up -- I think it gave everyone in the theater a thrill -- and then they launched into awesome, tight, energizing, beautiful music. (Review of concert) A sample above where you can see David Rawlings' virtuosity on the guitar -- he does all that with a pick, moving capos up and down all night. His hair is short now, looks better.

Leaving Train
by Welch/Rawlings

The finest silver needle
Shouldn't ever slide between
When lovers stand as parting friends
Gonna put myself on a leaving train
And I won't come back again.


I could wait 'til morning
If it don't come down today
A dime say I won't be satisfied
Gonna put myself on a leaving train
And I won't come back again


The words that go unspoken
On the color of the sun
And the coolin' air of the evening shade
And the breathless hours on the sleeping plane
And the last taillight on a leaving train
And I won't come back again
And I won't come back again.