VEGANGELICA

Hi MB (and especially boo boo, if you are reading this),

I have finished my lyrics for my activist song encouraging women to feel comfortable with being bald. Since boo boo said he liked the phrase "groove on smooth" that I wrote in the "bald chick" thread, I decided to go ahead and incorporate the phrase into the song.

And for you Shakespeare buffs, I included a reference to Shakespeare's famous sonnet #116, which says true love does not change when people's appearance changes:
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"Smooth" by Erica

Smooth.
Freed from the tresses on the floor,
you don’t need them anymore
to feel like you.

Smooth.
No need for curls or different colors.
No feeling more or less than others.
You just feel like you.

And now you know
nothing about you is permanent.
Easy come, easy go,
and your old conceptions went.
You can change, you can change,
you can change at will,
and you’ll be yourself still,
except you’re grooving on
except you’re grooving on...

Smooth.
No need for ornamentation.
No more augmentation.
It’s enough to be you.

Smooth.
You know where strength doesn’t reside.
There is no reason to hide
any part of you.

And you have
nothing that you need to prove.
You can be the remover
deciding to remove
your locks. Feel them fall,
feel them fall to the floor
and watch yourself become who you were before

And now you know
nothing need be permanent.
Easy come, easy go,
and your old conceptions went.
You can change, you can change,
you can change at will
and you’ll be yourself still,
except you’re grooving on,
except you’re grooving on,
except you groove on smooth.

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Arya Stark

I'm curious, Erica, as to why you make a lot of your works lyrics.
Why not just poems?

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MB Journal.
Azucar y Especia. My blog.

VEGANGELICA

Hi Amandria! How're the camp kids? I am now imagining you in a wooden cabin somewhere with spiders and a laptop.

Answering your question, though: the reason I make most of my writings into lyrics is that...I like to sing them! You don't like bald songs?

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Arya Stark

The camp kids are great.
Silly and adorable as always!
How are studies and such?

That's a good reason. I actually do like the songs you wrote, I just was curious as to why you considered them lyrics. It seems simple enough, I suppose.

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MB Journal.
Azucar y Especia. My blog.

VEGANGELICA

I am done with fieldwork, which is nice, and this weekend I got to go to TWO child birthday parties, plus roller skating. I almost won the roller skating limbo, Amandria! My chief competitor was an 8-year-old who could do the splits while rolling under the limbo bar...so I lost. I'm getting better, though. Someday I WILL win at the limbo!!!!!! This is my new life pursuit.

My point, though, was that yes, kids are silly and adorable. And a little chaotic and uncontrollable. One kid at a party chewed all the way through his balloon string when no one was watching. They do unexpected things like that.

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Sljslj

There's so much I could say about "Smooth", but I'll just keep it simple and say this: Good job!

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Arya Stark

Yeah, sounds like it.
Kids are always doing unexpected things like that.

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MB Journal.
Azucar y Especia. My blog.

VEGANGELICA

Thank you, Sljsljsljslj, for reading and giving some feedback! I wondered how a song about bald women would go over with people, since it is such a concrete topic that isn't sung about very often. I decided to never use the word "hair" in the song, hoping that would reduce the chance of people bursting out laughing at it.

Of course, maybe you liked my "Smooth" song because it *did* make you laugh!

Do they ever! They often have me chuckling and chuckling with their antics and creative pranks and jokes, and then melting at the sweetness of their disarming honesty and guilelessness.

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ribbons

(((Erica))), I am so sorry that your dad’s cancer has come back. You and he are very much in my thoughts and I hope that any treatments he must endure are not too unpleasant or painful for him. I am just sorry that you – especially someone as nice as you – has to go through this ordeal again. Your poem very movingly expresses the feelings of fear, vulnerability and frustration one experiences in dealing with the serious illness of a parent. With a disease as scary and unpredictable as cancer, those feelings are magnified, and can leave you feeling very helpless and destabilized at times.

It’s typical of you that your first “urge” in your poem would be to embrace your son, Erica. I know how much you love him and all the hopefulness you have invested in him. I think your dad must be so proud of the wonderful daughter he raised – and will be drawing a lot of strength from that to get through this very difficult time.

VEGANGELICA

Thank you, Liz, for reading and understanding and telling me. It is comforting to know one is not alone.

When I sit in the oncology waiting rooms, I find a lot of us there...family members, survivors...share smiles, even though we don't know each other. I think it is because we know how lucky we are to even be alive together with our loved-ones for just a little longer. It is sad, though, when the illusion of permanence falls away.

Thanks again for your thoughts. I find that when I am in a situation I can't change, at least sharing the feelings helps, because that is something one can do: acknowledge what you have and what you don't want to lose. Plus, I'm making sure to see my dad almost every day and sneak in more meaningful moments so he and I can both have them: walk by our old house; go hiking in some nearby hills since we can't get to mountains, which he loves; listen to some Bach, his favorite composer, together; enjoy organic strawberries. And I'm reading primary research papers about salvage chemotherapy treatment options! I like to plan for the worst and hope for the best.

I've been meaning to make a song for him for over a year now, something classical, because he likes that and loathes popular music...so I feel more motivation to do that now. Having a deadline always motivates me.

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