Who Do I Love?

... Sarah Vowell.  I never once heard of Sarah Vowell until the day my reporter friend scooped me up and said I had to come with her while she went to cover a lecture a writer was giving at the local university.  As riveting as that sounded, the tone in her voice let me know, perhaps this was some wordy rock star I'd yet to discover... "she had been on NPR" after all.

Her familiar voice is part of her claim to fame and lead to her being part of the Disney film "The Incredibles" as the Gothic-like daughter character, Violet. That all aside, her snarky, ironic fact finding mind amazes all.  I found myself relating to her point of view right away, perhaps naturally because I was rared in a similar fashion, in a super Christian household in a neighboring state.  Or perhaps, she's just that charming.  The most obscure things of my childhood she seemed also to take for-granted as installations as well.  Books, Church and strange bits of pop culture that somehow made their way to the mid-west-ish/south.

After the lecture I bought a book of her's and I must admit I've found myself reading the same 3 chapters of it over and over again, as I can't seem to find the time to really get going but they always make me laugh, and I always read with her voice in my head. I almost prefer to listen to her talk.  She's now like a "touchtone" to me, of what makes sense, how sad and funny it is that history will always repeat itself.  We think that things are always so bad now, worse than ever... but it's just not true.  Life is always good and bad and Whatever.

If I could have a fair god mother (although lets just say "sister" because shes way wise beyond her years) it would be her.  I took it as a sign that my current boyfriend on our first date offered me a scooter helmet that was autographed by her.  It was like her saying "LOOK, this guy has a thinking mind, and he would like to live life to the fullest, but he keeps that noggin safe while doing so!"  So, she might not know she was somewhat of a match maker, but I gotta love that Sarah Vowell.

P.s. Here's a video of her speaking on the day I saw her, which my bf took on the same day in the same room but I did not know him yet.