If I could, I would spend my entire paycheck on books, music, dance classes, and going to Zanzibar on Sunday nights. One of the coolest gifts a friend can give me is a CD they think I might like, or taking me to see a band or DJ I've never heard of. And I love, love, LOVE to dance. To anything. I'm that girl dancing when nobody else is ... not the drunk one, though. Well, at least not all the time. And I am constantly thankful for my politics, because they keep me sane when I become convinced that I am the crazy one.
People engaged in revolutionary ways of thought and action. Or who want to go dancing or check out a show. Or be in a writing group with me.
Music that crosses boundaries, pushes genres to new limits, and puts together elements you would never expect. Keep me guessing and thinking. Neosoul and hippety hoppety keep me grounded. Beats, rhymes, and life, as Tribe once said. Beats more than rhymes, though, I must say, and life through it all.
Check out Pan's Labyrinth. It's great.
TV pisses me off. Seems like the commercials get longer every year. Sometimes I like watching telenovelas to practice my Spanish. Mostly cause they are so dramatic and enunciate every word so I can actually understand.
My own! Word by word, page by page ... at any given time there are stacks and stacks of books in my apartment from three different libraries. Lately I keep returning to the Zapatista reader. My books are my friends, I feel better about this world when surrounded by them. Brigid used to say if she ever wanted to make me cry she would just throw my books out the window. Luckily she hasn't done that. Yet.
My students.