take me back to chicago

i love me some chicago. the band. i've never been to the city.

anyway, just thought i'd write something since i totally didn't yesterday. there hasn't been a lot going on. i'm getting great query feedback on the bransford forums (though, if the offer still stands, i'd loooove for lisa and laura to check it out if they'd let me know their preferred method of receiving it). i'm reading into the wild by jon krakauer and really enjoying it. such a tragic story, especially when you read how close chris mccandless was to actually making it out of alaska alive. heartbreaking. definitely a great read, though, especially for people who saw the movie (which i also loved).

the whole chris mccandless thing got me thinking after i saw the movie. for anyone who doesn't know what i'm talking about, back in 1992, chris left atlanta just after graduating from emory college to embark on his 'great alaskan adventure.' he drove into arizona in a crappy datsun, where he lost his car in a flash flood. from there, he hitchhiked and took all sorts of odd jobs, going all around the west, especially the southwest, just so he could make it to alaska. why? i think, given the evidence presented in the book, that chris was just tired of our bullshit system and wanted to know a purer existence just for a little while. he was a brilliant guy with lofty ideals and rigid morals, and i believe that he wanted to live in an area he thought was untouched by the corruption, greed, and immorality that clashed with his belief system. in a society dominated by money and capitalism, it's hard to wrap your mind around someone who bucks the system and wants nothing more than to live out in open wilderness instead of the concrete jungles we inhabit. but maybe we all need to go "into the wild" and find a way to bring ourselves back to a less materialistic, more compassionate existence.

Oh it's a mystery to me.
We have a greed, with which we have agreed...
and you think you have to want more than you need...
until you have it all, you won't be free.

Society, you're a crazy breed.
I hope you're not lonely, without me.

When you want more than you have, you think you need...
and when you think more then you want, your thoughts begin to bleed.
I think I need to find a bigger place...
cause when you have more than you think, you need more space.

Society, you're a crazy breed.
I hope you're not lonely, without me.
Society, crazy indeed...
I hope you're not lonely, without me.

There's those thinkin' more or less, less is more,
but if less is more, how you keepin' score?
It means for every point you make, your level drops.
Kinda like you're startin' from the top...
and you can't do that.

Society, you're a crazy breed.
I hope you're not lonely, without me.
Society, crazy indeed...
I hope you're not lonely, without me
Society, have mercy on me.
I hope you're not angry, if I disagree.
Society, crazy indeed.
I hope you're not lonely...
without me.
--Eddie Vedder, "Society"
(i wish i'd written that, but alas... i write prose.)