2017 - September 28 - Anthem

I love Steve Wynn’s 1990 album Kerosene Man, which also was his solo debut. This was right around the time I discovered him as well, as a result of a more or less chance visit to a solo acoustic gig at Skansen, which also happened to be the club where my parents met a long, long, long, long time ago. It was also the same venue where I saw my first rock concert seeing TNT around 1985. The club is no longer there, but Steve Wynn is still going strong with a reunited Dream Syndicate. Today’s song is not about our supreme leader or the NFL - but it is an awesome song. It is Anthem.

2017 - September 27 - Toe to Toes

Mastodon released Empire Of The Sun earlier this year. It is a solid album, but to me, the highlight from the recording sessions was not included on the album itself, but rather on the very recently released Cold Dark Place EP. The video features studio antics, but the song is quintessential Mastodon. The song is Toe to Toes.

2017 - September 26 - Die Mauer (The Wall)

There isn't much to say. Die Mauer was written about the Berlin Wall, but it's just as relevant today. It tells the story of two lovers who lived blocks apart, but were separated by the wall. We all saw how spectacularly well the Berlin Wall worked (yes, that was sarcasm) - and now our Supreme Leader will try a much longer version of it.

Ebba Grön was one of my favorite punk rock bands, and this song is simply great! I shared a new version of it on Facebook yesterday, it was done by Joy M'Batha in a very powerful way, so check it out (it was on Swedish TV's program Ebbots Ark). But the original is also powerful, so here is Ebba Grön with Die Mauer (The Wall).

And then there is a more recent version by Pimme himself - Thåström

2017 - September 25 - Gimme Some Truth

For the last song in our 1971 installment for this time, I am choosing yet another Beatle. John Lennon released the album Imagine that year, and the title track has been my guiding light for as long as I can remember. But that is not the song I will be playing today. Imagine is the hopeful, dreaming Lennon - but I feel like angry man Lennon today, so, dedicated to the Orange in Chief, here is Gimme Some Truth!

2017 - September 24 - Heart Of The Country

In 1970, the music world shook. The Beatles disbanded. Luckily the individual members embarked on highly successful solo careers (and then there was Ringo...), and Paul McCartney was no exception. In 1971, he released the album Ram, and it has the very charming little ditty Heart Of The Country. I first heard it by a Norwegian folk quartet called Ballade, featuring some of Norway's finest singer/songwriters of the 70s: Lillebjørn Nilsen (one of the best singer/songwriters Norway ever produced), Lars Klevstrand, Åse Kleveland (later Culture Minister of Norway), and Birgitte Grimstad (originally from Denmark)ø however, that was more of a novelty version called Katt og Kaniner (Cat and Rabbits) - and I have come to really appreciate Paul McCartney's original...

2017 - September 23 - Embryo/Children Of The Grave

1971 also brought us the third album from Black Sabbath. There are several standout tracks on this album, but I have chosen one that really highlights Bill Ward, the unsung hero of Black Sabbath - and the only member not present on the final tour due to a contract dispute. It got ugly. But his drumming is a huge reason they were as successful as they were. Just listen to the tom work on Children of the Grave - although you have to enjoy the intro, simply known as Embryo first. .

2017 - September 22 - Stairway To Heaven

As if on cue, today's song was one of the two songs that gave rise to the title of the compilation album from yesterday. Stairway to Heaven was released on the fourth Led Zeppelin album in 1971, and has grown immensely in stature over the years. I have been tired of it. Really tired of it. To the point where I have thought that it has been one of the most overrated songs in rock history. Yet today I am playing it. I am remembering back to 1985. JFK Stadium in Philadelphia (these were the days before corporate sponsorships). The massive anticipation of a possible Led Zeppelin reunion following John Bonham's death in 1980. I wasn't awake when it happened, but we had it all taped on VHS, so I did get to see it. It was Jimmy Page and Robert Plant - and that was all that mattered to me then. Phil Collins is a good drummer, but he ain't no Bonzo. Watching it now it is really cringeworthy, but back then I was caught up in the moment. "Does anyone remember laughter?" Robert Plant's question just really doesn't sit right with me, but it is imprinted in my brain.

So after a while I soured on Stairway to Heaven. But then, in 2003, they released the live album How the West Was Won, and Pagey's guitar is amazing. Not in the solo part, but in how he fills in all the other little pieces. And I had to start listening again. In 2007, ten years ago, they performed at the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert, and that is in all likelihood the last time they will play together. On drums, they had a great person to fill his dad's shoes: Jason Bonham. The concert was fantastic. It is released on DVD as Celebration Day. It is mind blowing how good they were. And it is even more mind blowing that they turned down a lot of money to go back on tour. Bonham, Page, and Jones were reportedly willing, but not Robert Plant. And I really respect that decision. They got to do a proper goodbye in massive style, and they got to do Ahmet Ertegun proud. He signed them and had a huge part in their success.

But today we go back to Headley Grange in 1971. Led Zeppelin had set up shop there to record their fourth studio album, and it did yield spectacular results, from acoustic romps (The Battle Of Evermore) to bluesy footstomping hard rockers (When the Levee Breaks). And there, at the end of side one, is the song that bridges both sides of Led Zeppelin - and both sides of the album. Stairway To Heaven. It starts out as a nice acoustic ballad, turns around on Pagey's blazing solo (he doesn't shred, but you can feel every note of the solo hit your spine), and explodes with Plant's fury before it is all subdued in the end, with the afterglow of "...and she's buying a stairway to heaven." It is a great song. And although I find it to be overplayed, I can't deny the power it holds.

2017 - September 21 - Move Over

Taking a cue from yesterday's song, today's was also covered on a compilation album. This time it is from the benefit album Stairway To Heaven/Highway To Hell, which I believe was put together by notorious manager Doc McGhee following a 40,000 pounds of marijuana smuggling conviction. Of course, in the war on drugs, an affluent white man got 5 years of probation and a laughable $15,000 fine (he was managing Motley Crue and Bon Jovi at the time - and he has also picked up Kiss - this guy likes his money). He started "paying his debt to society" (quotations are for sarcasm, FYI...) by organizing the Moscow Music Peace Festival - and then there was Stairway To Heaven/Highway To Hell, which came shortly thereafter, featuring artists from the festival along with a live rendition of the Led Zeppelin classic Rock & Roll from the festival itself, if memory serves me right.

One of the songs on the album was Move Over, originally by Janis Joplin, but here covered by Cinderella. But in contrast to yesterday's Levon, this cover version really sucked. Really bad. So I found my parents old tape of Pearl, Janis Joplin's final album, and played the original. I knew how great the album was, but Move Over had passed me by. Well, it shouldn't have. It is a great opener on a fantastic album. Pearl was the last album she released, and it was released posthumously in 1971, following her death in October 1970. There are better known songs, such as Me and Bobby McGee, Mercedes Benz, and Cry Baby on this album, but Move Over is one hell of a song from one hell of a voice that was silenced too soon...

2017 - September 20 - Levon

I wasn't ever a real big Elton John fan. My parents had Blue Moves from 1976 in their record collection, but that is one of the weaker albums of his 70s output - yet it has one of his strongest songs in Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word. It was nevertheless easily dismissed by me. But in 1991 there was this collection being released called Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John and Bernie Taupin. I did not have this cd, but at this time, I was actively involved in a teetotaler youth organization and frequently travelled to the Oslo area. And while I was there, I usually stayed with my good friend Stein Pettersen, who lived a little bit north of Oslo at the top of the hill in a small place called Rånåsfoss (which also happened to be where my engine head of the nice brown Renault 5 cracked - although the likelihood was that it cracked at Elverum during an incredibly cold overnight stay but was asymptomatic until I got closer to Stein's following a very nice Christmas party in Oslo).

I always enjoyed staying there, I would race cars with his son, Anders, and Stein would fire up the grill from time to time, so I always ate well while there. And then there was his record collection. He had a lot of crappy pop (right, Stein?) - he was really into music produced by Trevor Horn, if memory serves me right. And we would always argue about what the real Genesis was - I maintained that the Peter Gabriel era was superior (and I still do) and he claimed that their popularity and ability to write intelligent pop was proof positive that the Phil Collins fronted era reigned supreme (and a similar discussion about Pink Floyd, I believe). I have always been good at maintaining that bands were better before massive commercial success - and I have had good points, I believe, to all of that. 

But that wasn't while I was going there today. Stein had the Two Rooms cd in his collection. It is filled with the big names of the day: Sting, Kate Bush, Joe Cocker (with the aforementioned Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word), Eric Clapton, and Sinead O'Connor, to mention but a few. However, there was one song that really stood out for me, and that was Jon Bon Jovi's rendition of Levon from 1971's Madman Across The Water. The most popular song from Madman... is probably Tiny Dancer, thanks to the movie Almost Famous, but I hold Levon a notch higher. It is most definitely worth a listen - Bernie Taupin's lyrics are cryptic but evoke strong images for me. He shall be Levon...

2017 - September 19 - Riders On The Storm

I think I will stay in 1971 for a little bit. The Doors released their final album with Jim Morrison in April that year, only months before he died in Paris. The album was LA Woman, and both side A and side B of the LP ends with an extended song. Side A has the title track, which is a rollicking romp about the city of lights. However, for me, the true gem is the final track, Riders On The Storm. The driving bass riff played by Jerry Scheff (this is one of the time Ray Manzarek didn't play the bass on his keyboard), and laid back drumming by John Densmore with almost a jazz sensitivity holds the center of the mix and starts us off. Ray Manzarek's electric piano is placed to the left in the mix with cascading notes over the backdrop of a rainstorm. Jim Morrison performs one of his most haunted lyrics, placed centrally in the mix, with Robbie Krieger joining in the right channel just after Morrison starts singing - and his singing voice is double tracked with a whisper of the lyrics, creating a haunting effect. It is glued together better than the extreme left/right mixing The Beatles did at the same period - but much of the reason for that is that the keys and the guitar play similar figures when they are backing the vocals, while they help accentuate and augment one another as they solo. This is just about as jazz as The Doors ever got with Jim Morrison - and I absolutely love it!

2017 - September 18 - Aqualung

Today's song is one of those songs that I had heard of for much longer than I actually have heard it. The opening riff and following lyrics... "Sitting on a park bench" That was really all I knew. But after several listens, the reason it has been considered a prog-folk classic is obvious. The song is Aqualung by Jethro Tull. It is without Ian Anderson's trademark flute, but his voice and acoustic guitar is prominent. The lineup for the Aqualung album from 1971 featured Martin Barre as lead guitarist, he has played on every studio album except the debut, This Was from 1968, and was for the longest time the one consistent member along with Ian Anderson, who is the only member who has been in every single lineup. Rounding out the band for Aqualung were John Evan on keyboards, Jeffrey Hammond on bass, and Clive Bunker on drums. The album is really great, but the opening track - and the opening riff... Wow!

2017 - September 17 - Paris, Texas

Harry Dean Stanton passed away Friday, 91 years old. He played a lot of different roles throughout the years, but for me, he will always be Travis, the lost soul in Wim Wenders 1984 masterpiece, Paris, Texas. It is one of those rare movies where the mood captured me more than any storyline, but Harry Dean Stanton's accomplishment as an actor was absolutely breathtaking. This is also a movie where the music is as important as the dialogue - and that is a good thing, because the dialogue is sparse (but masterful) and the music is outstanding. Written and performed by Ry Cooder, it perfectly evokes the lonely sound of the desert. This is one of my favorite instrumental pieces of all time...

2017 - September 15 and 16 - Dear God

I did miss yesterday - but I have been thinking about a one-two punch for doubters... I like songs that pose questions, especially about things that often are taken for granted. These two songs have the same title, Dear God, and the same questioning and seeking character, and they were released two years apart by musicians who definitely were in the arty camp of British pop music in the 80s. The first artist is the band XTC, who wrote their letter to God on the album Skylarking from 1986.

The second artist rose to fame in Ultravox, and is an accomplished singular and guitar player with a Unigue name. Midge Ure shared his prayer on the album Answers To Nothing from 1988.

2017 - September 14 - A.S.F.E.

I think I mentioned that Motorpsycho released The Tower last Friday. And what a monster album it is turning out to be. It's sprawling, yet cohesive, and there are some killer tracks on it. And today's song is one of them. The song is A.S.F.E. - or A Song For Everyone. Reviewers have noted the similarities with the opening riff and the Black Sabbath classic Paranoid, but I hear clearer Motorpsycho references throughout... To me, this song bridges their final album of the 90s, Trust Us, with the Barracuda EP. There is a guitar riff in here that is the brother of the riff from Psychonaut on Trust Us, and the verse reminds me of the Barracuda EP for some reason. And then the chorus brings it in to today, making it all new still...

And I love the great philosophical chorus: "There's a song for everyone and a singer for every song." This song really needs to be cranked up loud. Like really loud. "Look out, look out, it's bound to get weird"

2017 - September 13 - In Trance

It's time for Scorpions. Some of you may remember them from their monster ballad Still Loving You or the rollicking Rock You Like A Hurricane, both from the album Love At First Sting from 1984, and I will admit that that's how I heard about them too. However, almost by accident, I picked up their live album Tokyo Tapes from 1978 (the US release wasn't until 1979). I didn't know any of the songs, and the lineup was different than what I was used to. Sure, Klaus Meine sang and Rudolf Schenker played rhythm guitar, like they have done on every single Scorpions album - they are the beating heart of this German band. Herman Rarebell had just joined the band on drums, while Francis Buchholz (bass) and Uli Jon Roth (guitar) had been there since the second album. Uli Jon Roth would leave following the tour, and they reached their highest level of success with Mattias Jabs on guitar through the 80s (he is still with the band).

But before they had this success, there was Uli Jon Roth. He has an ethereal quality to his guitar tone, and this was to be his swan song with the band (he had officially left the band and was convinced to come back for the tour of Japan). For me, knowing the early music of Scorpions started with Tokyo Tapes, and the song In Trance, which was the title track from their third album, is a great example of how much Scorpions with Uli Jon Roth had a lyrical quality to their songs - the coda to this song still gives me goosebumps.

2017 - September 12 - Sultans of Swing

Today's song is a beauty... This is a song I simply can't sit still to - and I am very happy to hear it gets a lot of airplay. I think it's my favorite Dire Straits song, and I am bringing it here in the full live version from the first Dire Straits album I ever bought: Alchemy, which is a live album recorded in 1983 and released in 1984. The extended version gives room for Mark Knopfler fantastic guitar playing - although there are a couple of licks in there from Hal Lindes, who is the second guitar player. John Illsley plays the bass, and that's the trio we see through most of this video - but Alan Clark on keyboards and Terry Williams on drums round out this incarnation of Dire Straits.

The song, The Sultans Of Swing, was originally on their debut album simply called Dire Straits, released in 1977. It is about a jazz band playing in a London club. They are not in it for the fame or fortune, and it's a dying scene, "it ain't what they call rock and roll." To me, I can hear the joy of music and the joy of playing without compromise throughout this entire song. The use of dynamics make the emotions ebb and flow - and maybe even more so in this live version, which goes quite a bit faster than the studio version, so the dynamics are essential to the emotional content. Listening to it again is a perfect thing for a lunch break - it sure made mine enjoyable, and I am so glad to be sharing this gem!

2017 - September 11 - Nobody Lives Without Love

If there is one thing I have learned from my family, from my parents and grandparents, and my aunts and uncles on both sides, it is the truth in the title of today's song. I have been so lucky to be born into a family where love always is present. It may not be spoken - Norwegians are not a very vocal people when it comes to emotions, but it has always been felt. My parents have been married for 46 years today, and I am lucky enough to celebrate it with them again this year. I think I will let Eddi Reader share what she learned - Nobody Lives Without Love. Happy anniversary to the best parents I could ever ask for!

2017 - September 10 - Powderfinger

There is something about Powderfinger that really breaks my heart. And it's more than the fact that the narrator dies at the end. It's the way he does - and the way Neil Young's voice really conveys the loss of innocence just before he dies. The version I have listened to the most is the loud electric version he did with Crazy Horse on Weld, but Friday his latest album hit the stores, and this acoustic version from the 70s showed up. Here is the Hitchhiker version of Powderfinger...

2017 - September 9 - Time

So today is the wedding anniversary of my dear, dear friends Arve and Katelijn. They went to see an old hero of mine, Tori Amos, who also happened to release a very vital album yesterday, Native Invader. I know she played my favorite song of hers, Leather, but since I've already played that, I found a cover version she did of a Tom Waits song on her album Strange Little Girls. The song is Time, and the chorus, "it's time that you love" fits really well with the still happy couple. I wish them all the best - happy anniversary!

2017 - September 8 - Stardust

My favorite band, Motorpsycho, released a new album today. That means today is a holiday in my book. I feel like celebrating with some Stardust from The Tower as the trio channels their inner Crosby, Stills and Nash with a hint of Young...

2017 - September 7 - Magician (for Mike Seaman)

Today we had a memorial service at work for Mike Seaman, who taught economics and sociology for the college for 27 years before he suddenly passed away this summer. Although passed away is a little bit too much of a euphemism. He was killed. On June 27, he was out riding his bicycle outside Mt. Pleasant, MI, and he was hit by a car driven by a young woman who had been drinking and who didn't see him for the glare of the sun.

Mike affected me in many ways. I liked him a lot. Respected him even more. And then there was his amazing mind with room for so many different things.

He was a bicyclist, but he was also a skier,and that's something I used to know a thing or two about. One of the conversations I had with him that sticks with me was about ski wax. We were talking about Swix, which was the brand I grew up with. In Norway we even have an expression - blue Swix conditions - which really are the perfect conditions for skiing. Cross country skiing. But as I was telling him about my experiences with waxing skis (and yes, there is an art to it, as you want to make sure that your skis glide while still sticking enough that you get some push, yet not too much, as that results in snow accumulation under the skis, and that's no fun), the fact that I last did that about 25-30 years ago. He was excited to share some of the updates with me - and he was enough of an expert that he might have the opportunity to travel to Norway to work with ski wax and other preparations. He also liked hearing me talk about my dad completing the Birkebeiner in Norway (at least I think he did), as the Birkie, the American race inspired by the Norwegian original was one of the ski races he had participated in...

He is also the reason I let my hair and beard grow out. Not because I wanted to be like him, but because I feel more comfortable like this, and he showed me that it is ok to be different - even in a professional setting. By focusing on looking all grown up, professional, and responsible, I had lost track of myself, so about three years back, I just stopped worrying about how others saw me (although I haven't really stopped, truth be told, as I have to remind myself that what other people may think isn't as important as what I think). I am still professional, and I try to be responsible. Being grown up, on the other hand, is a matter of opinion, but I do my best.

I always wanted to take one of his economics classes, but I never did, because I always thought I'd still have a chance to do it later. That opportunity has now passed. But I don't think I'll ever forget Mike. I know he probably would have laughed at some of the more humorous songs I could play - and maybe even enjoyed it if I played a song like Bela Lugosi's Dead. But instead I end up with Magician by Lou Reed from the album Magic and Loss. While it is a song that is a lot more about a slower loss than the very sudden and abrupt loss we experienced with Mike, it is one of the best songs I have ever have heard about death and dying.

2017 - September 6 - Glide

Friday is quite the day... First and foremost, Motorpsycho's new album, The Tower, is released. Then there is Neil Young's album Hitch Hiker, with early acoustic versions of some great songs. And finally... There is The Dream Syndicate, who have reunited and almost 30 years after their last studio album (Ghost Stories from 1988) are releasing a new album called How Did I Find Myself Here? I started following Steve Wynn in the time after the demise of The Dream Syndicate, and for a long time I had to make do with a compilation album and a live album, as their CDs were either out of print or hard to get. I have tracked them all down, and I am very excited for the new album, especially after hearing the title track and today's song, Glide, which is a song with a singer/songwriter structure drenched in feedback and loud guitar, just what I ordered...

2017 - September 5 - Bark At The Moon

I have to admit that my fondness for today's song might have something to do with Sky Channel and their Monsters Of Rock program, playing either 30 minutes or an hour of hard rock and early metal videos. I think Mick Wall, one of the preeminent writers in the Kerrang! magazine and now noted for his vast knowledge of New Wave Of British Heavy Metal and just about everything hard rock and heavy metal coming in its wake (and author of Diary Of A Madman, an unauthorized biography about Ozzy Osbourne), was one of the hosts - and a girl named Amanda Redington, I believe. However, I was geeky enough that I was more excited about seeing Mick Wall than the blonde cohost (I had to do some digging to find her name as well). It was the only place for hard rock and heavy metal videos in Norway in the 80s, and my good friend Arve's dad had cable tv and access to the show, so I would regularly tape it on VHS and then watch it at home.

And so it was that I saw the Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde inspired video to Bark At The Moon for the first time. Back then I thought it was awesome - now I recognize it for the campy kitsch it really was. But the song is great. Well... Maybe not great - but it is special to me, as it was the first Ozzy Osbourne solo song I think I heard. I had heard the album Speak Of The Devil, but that was just a stop gap live album with nothing but old Black Sabbath songs following the death of Randy Rhoads while he was figuring out what to do next. In 1983, he had bassist Bob Daisley, drummer Tommy Aldridge, keyboardist Don Airey and new guitarist Jake E. Lee, and the resulting album was Bark At The Moon. It is a nostalgic album for me, because I do believe it was the first solo album I heard, as I believe Jon Inge had the tape. Even though both Blizzard Of Ozz and Diary Of A Madman are better albums, there are some strong tracks on this one as well - and I do consider the title track one of them, with Jake E Lee really showing his chops. And... Tonight we have a full moon here, so you never know what will happen...

2017 - September 4 - Finest Worksong

Today is Labor Day here in the US, the day to show that we-love-our-workers-but-we'll-show-that-we're-not-socialist-by-picking-a-date-other-than-May-1-as-that-would-make-the-day-more-meaningful-by-standing-with-workers-worldwide. Yup, rather than using May 1 - also known as International Workers' Day, the US opted for the first Monday in September. But what else can you expect from a country where the employers are valued more than the employees? If you disagree with that, all I need to point out is that labor protections from mandatory overtime are next to nonexistent, paid sick and vacation time is extremely limited, and minimum wage is constantly under attack and kept so low that they keep full time workers below the poverty limit. Now some might take this as me being ungrateful for my new home country, but I will maintain that part of being an American is to have freedom of speech, and I see it both as my right and my duty to speak up about things I don't like. In my job, I constantly work with students wanting to better themselves to jobs above minimum wage, so I am trying to participate in making a difference. And who knows, at one point it might be time to become more politically charged again..,

The song for Labor Day is by R.E.M., it's a song from the fantastic 1987 album Document, which I think is my favorite R.E.M. album. It's a great song for Labor Day: Finest Worksong.

2017 - September 3 - Kim's Dirt

Today's melody is long and meditative. Warren Ellis has played with Nick Cave since 1994, and that's where I got acquainted with him and his music. I have recently started exploring his other main band, The Dirty Three, in which he plays the violin and is joined by Jim White on drums and Mick Turner on guitar. Listening to the album The Dirty Three from 1994, I was struck by the beauty of Kim's Dirt, and I thought that would be a good accompaniment for a contemplative Sunday...

2017 - September 2 - In Hell I'll Be In Good Company

After a long post yesterday, I will be far shorter today... I don't know how this motley crew appeared in my YouTube recommendations - or what I had been watching when they appeared, but this music video is insanely charming and the music is pretty awesome. I like country an bluegrass that goes off the beaten path, and The Dead South is not in Nashville, but rather in Regina, Saskatchewan (yes, that is in Canada). Four musicians of varied musical tastes and background got together - and their music isn't quite bluegrass or country, but sounds very traditional in an untraditional way. Listen and see for yourself when they perform In Hell I'll Be In Good Company.

2017 - September 1 - Home Chds

I don't think much of my work anniversaries. I don't have to, as LinkedIn seems to do it for me. It appears that I just had my seventh anniversary working as a counselor for Montcalm Community College, as the congratulations keep coming in. That is the longest I have stayed in one job - my previous best was the first four years I spent at MCC as a Student Services Assistant.

My career path has been a long and winding road, but those first four years at MCC really helped me find my way - and eventually find my place. I remember applying for the job frantically, as the deadline was Memorial Day 2001 and I just found out about it a day before. My then wife had just accepted a position as an English instructor at MCC, and as we were ready to move from Illinois to Michigan, I needed a place to work as well. Meijer had just opened their new store in Greenville, and I was looking at being reactivated from my educational leave, which would let me get back to working for them once we got all set; however, a year in the deli in a Robinson, IL grocery store (Buehler's Buy Low) really worked against any desire to work retail at all if it could be helped. That being said, we needed additional income, and I was willing to do whatever it took (that does not seem to be as common anymore - I have heard many people talk about what kind of work or pay they need to take a job). This attitude did serve me pretty well.

I got the application for MCC filled out and faxed in on Memorial Day, and not too long thereafter I was asked if I could come for an interview. I had to drive up from Robinson, IL - and I drove to Bay City, MI, where my mother-in-law lived, spent the night there, then went for the interview the following day. This was in the days before GPS, so I had MapQuested directions (that used to be a verb...), which was sorely needed to find this college in the middle of nowhere. By then, after two years in Robinson, where I earned my Associate Degree at Lincoln Trail College, I was used to being in the middle of nowhere, so that didn't bother me at all - as a matter of fact, I was excited to see something other than soybean fields - and this area even had trees and even some hills and lots of water (I was used to the Wabash river, and that was about it). I had the interview, and then I was asked to do a computer test to see if I had the computer skills they were looking for. That was something I was pretty confident about, as one of my earlier jobs had included teaching basic computer skills to graduate students from developing countries with limited exposure to it (we are talking mid-90s here, so computers weren't as widespread yet).

I did really well at the computer test, and not long after, I was hired, so I must have done ok in the interview as well, despite declaring that I was on a "quest for knowledge." I know, it sounds pompous, but it actually was (and still is) true. I am fascinated by learning new things, and while my words might not have been the best ones to get the point across, they seemed to have worked. I started July 1 2001 in a job that initially was 30 hours per week. Before school started in August that year, they shuffled things around and I was a full time employee. I could say that the rest is history - but that would belie a very important aspect of the job. While a lot of the job had to do with answering the phone for the toll free recruitment line we had at the time and calling for follow-up a week or two after we had sent out the information, what I really enjoyed about the job was working directly with students. My job in that respect was really just to help set up appointments with Jim Lucka, who was one of the two counselors at that time, as well as with our registrar and director of admissions, but I developed a knowledge of our programs that was solid enough to field the most basic questions. I probably went deeper than I should from time to time, and after a while, I started talking to Jim about pursuing a career in counseling.

I completed my bachelor's degree (BA in Family Life Education) at Spring Arbor University in 2004, and Jim had provided me with a lot of information on counseling program. In the end, my experience with SAU had been so positive for my BA that I went back there despite my original plans of attending Central Michigan University (any attempts I had to come visit CMU to talk about the program was pretty much dismissed by them, stating they did most of their work over the phone - I hope that's not the case anymore). Jim's encouragement was there all the way through, which made it more difficult to take a job at Alma College in the summer of 2005, but it was an important step, as I went from support staff to professional staff, from hourly employment to salaried. It was a big deal for me.

However, admissions was not my thing. Don't get me wrong, I did love meeting with and working directly with students. My favorite parts of the year were the orientation sessions for both my transfer students and my international students. People started joking about me having ducklings in tow, especially when it came to international students as they arrived on campus, but I really loved that part of the job. What I didn't like was the salesman aspect of the job. I am not a salesman. I like to think that I am pretty good at working with people with their best interest in mind, but persuading them that this is what they should do was antithetical to where I came from as a counselor - which was rooted in people making their own choices. So when I graduated with my counseling degree in 2007, I couldn't wait to get a counseling job. However, it would take about a year before I was able to get one.

Through my job at Alma College, I got involved in the Articulation Committee in MACRAO (Michigan Association for College Registrars and Admissions Officers), and I had gotten to know Kathleen Owens, who was a counselor at Grand Rapids Community College. I believe I was introduced to her by Jim Lucka as well during the first MACRAO conference I attended in the fall of 2005. When I saw Jim, I really enjoyed seeing a friendly face that I knew - but as I entered the Articulation Pre-Conference Workshop and later the Articulation Committee itself, Kathleen really took me under her wings and helped a very nervous me (I am not sure if that showed outwardly, but it was definitely the case internally) get used to this new environment. This meeting with Kathleen let me towards my next step on my career path, which was my first counseling job.

Every time GRCC had a counseling position open, she forwarded me the information. I applied for my first job there before I had my counseling license - but that didn't work. I got my limited license with Kathleen as my supervising counselor (you have to have 3000 hours counseling experience over 2 years before you become a fully Licenced Professional Counselor (LPC) in the state of Michigan - before that you are a Limited Licensed Professional Counselor (LLPC)), and I applied for another job. This time it was a part time position as a counselor, and I got called in to the interview. I didn't get that position either, but in the phone call telling me that, they wanted to make sure that I had applied for the full time positions that were open. I thought that might be a good sign, and it was. In November 2008 I started working as a counselor at GRCC.

I thought that was it. I loved my job there, and I loved my colleagues. It was great working with a larger group of people - and I could always go to them with questions I might have. Lunchtime was often spent with Kathleen and Fred Zomer, another counselor there I really connected with. Kathleen and Fred had gone through the counseling program at CMU together, and I really felt like I had found my place. So when Jim Lucka announced his retirement in 2009, I didn't apply. I was very content. The next year, in 2010, Charlotte Fokens announced her retirement. She had been my internship supervisor at MCC in my year from hell (I worked my full time job at Alma while also completing the 100 hour practicum and 600 hour internship, running myself completely ragged during the 2006-07 school year), and I knew that this would be my last chance at getting a counseling job at MCC, which really had felt like home to me, so I decided to apply. I didn't like leaving GRCC that quickly, but it was my chance in a lifetime - at least it felt like it - so I when I got the offer, I decided to take the job, and that is a decision I never have regretted.

They say that if you do what you love you will never work a day in your life. That is pure bullshit, because no matter what you do, there will be days that are more challenging than others, and there are days work definitely feels like hard work. However, loving what you do truly makes the drive in every morning a lot easier. I know, because I have had my dream job not just once, but twice. The difference is that now my dream job is with my dream institution. Montcalm Community College may have its flaws here and there, but from the very first day I set foot on campus for my first interview here, it has felt like home. It is home. When my outside life has been turbulent, I always counted on MCC to be a calming factor. Because that is what home really is.

For a song going along with my musings over the past 16 years, I thought that Lee Ranaldo and the Dust had a great song on their Last Night On Earth album from 2013. I have loved Lee Ranaldo's songs from his time with Sonic Youth, where I often appreciated his melodic approach more than the approach of his counterpart, Thurston Moore (although the two of them together was pure magic). Lee Ranaldo had Steve Shelley from Sonic Youth on drums for this project - he seems to be the goto drummer for both Ranaldo and Moore - along with Alan Licht on guitar and Tim Lüntzel on bass. The song Home Chds seems like a perfect meditation over coming home, which is how I feel at MCC.