Anything that inspires or challenges me! Cooking, music, art & photography, reading, film, traveling, philosophy, learning...I'm also keen to do what I can to raise a happy, healthy boy and to do what I can to make the world a safer, more accepting, more loving place...
Music has always been a driving force in my life. These days it seems that the pursuit of new music has been relegated to finding kids music that I can listen to 1000 over times! I find myself listening to music I grew up to, lots of 70's & early 80's punk, glam, rock and yes, new wave, along with reggae & ska...and then random bands I've hit upon along the way...A current sample of my car discs would have Ralph's World, Ramones, MC5, Jimmy Cliff, Kyuss, T-Rex, Pogues, Arctic Monkeys, Stiff Little Fingers, Lily Allen, Germs, a punk or ska compilation, a Sesame Street 35th anniversary mix, Joe Strummer, Nouvelle Vague - but it rotates frequently! And I pretty much love anything Charles Thompson does...Pixies, The Catholics, Frank Black solo...You name it! For evening or entertaining listening I tend to like things that enhance a mood...Lots of jazz (I grew up going to see jazz greats with my dad) and I'm starting to get to know classical. There's a great '70's disc called Ghana Soundz that is a go to for summer dinners, as well as the likes of Django Reinhart, Miles, Chet and Ella.
In no particular order, and only for example: The Party, Rebecca, Don't Look Now, Chris Guest films, Monty Pythons, Misfits, Breakfast at Tiffanys, Arsenic & Old Lace, How to Marry a Millionaire, Exposed, A Clockwork Orange, Jules & Jim, the original Breathless, Diva, La Dolce Vita, Withnail & I, Bonjour Tristesse, Godfathers, My Left Foot, Better Off Dead, Cinema Paradiso, both Flynn movies, Roman Holiday, On the Waterfront, Some Like It Hot...and on and on and on...
Since having my boy, I find that I watch more TV than I once did (a product of going out much less...boo hiss)...It's got to stop!
I read voraciously and am joyfully overwhelmed in book stores! My go to genre tends to be mysteries and I love to find international authors whose tales will throw me into another place and culture...Delacorta, Batya Gur and Cara Black and Andrew Vacchs are all great fun! But like my music, I treasure old favorites and reread them often...Steinbeck, Hemingway, Capote (amazing short stories!), Marquez, Kundera, the usual suspects...And then there are authors like Dawn Powell, Mian Mian, Norman Howard, Simon Winchester, Ann Patchett, Heather O'Neill, and Ian McEwan, all of whom I adore...Too many...and I haven't even touched on non-fiction...another day...
My son Cole...He's five and has cerebral palsy, yet even as a toddler, he's never let that define him as a person. He's bright, energetic, charismatic and infinitely determined. I am constantly in awe of how gracefully he charges into life full force and manages to enchant everyone who comes across his path. He inspires me every day and challenges me to be a better person, a more compassionate human being...