"You Can Call Me Al"

The song “You Can Call me Al” by Paul Simon has an affect on me that I have never really been consciously aware about. I noticed that since I could remember I always sang and hummed the song. I never knew who sang the song or where I heard it from. To me, it was kind of like that song that gets stuck in your head but you don’t know what it is called. This use to drive me crazy…it was the tip of the tongue feeling.

My previous visit home I was humming the song in the kitchen and my Mom started singing the lyrics. I turned around in amazement and asked her who sings the song. I told her that in the most random times of day the song would magically appear in my head. My Mom turned to me and told me that it was a Paul Simon song and that his c.d. used to be my favorite when I was a baby. She said that when she played the c.d. Graceland I would bounce up and down, clap my hands and rock back and forth until I had exhausted myself out. As I got older my Mom would put the song on when I would through temper tantrums or when she was trying to cook or clean.

After hearing all of this information all the pieces started coming together. This song was a trigger, a cue that brought past childhood memories to life again. Then I began to realize, the random humming and singing would only happen when I would see things that reminded me of my Mom. The song had such a significant value to me because it represented important parts of my life; the memories that I had created with my Mom.

I asked my Mom to burn me a copy of the c.d. and send it to me. And so, I’ve been sitting here listening to the song, “You Can Call Me Al, Graceland, Diamonds on the Sole of Her Shoes” and thinking about all the smells, conversations and feelings that I had when these songs were playing. One of the fondest memories I have with my Mom is her baking chocolate chip cookies. It was raining outside and I had wanted hot chocolate and had asked my Mom to help me boil the water. I remember hearing our old 1960’s wooden cabinets clunk together (really 1960’s!) and wondering what my Mom was doing. Moments later I heard the mixer being used, so I went in the kitchen to investigate. She was making cookies and placing them on the cookie sheet. She smiled and told me that she would love my help. So that evening I helped my Mom make about three dozen cookies while Paul Simon played in the background. I also remember several instances when my Mom would put the c.d. on and quilt. She was a very creative quilter. She used to design quilts that she would see in her dreams or from her childhood. (which is ironic for this project.) Nobody to this day quite understands them or can follow the colors, design or story behind them except for her and those who know my Mom very well. I remember when she would quilt she and have Paul Simon playing she would tell me every story about every patch, color or stitch she made.

Also, my Mom taught me how to play Chutes and Ladders with Paul Simon playing in the background. She said that it always put me in a good mood even if I was a poor sport sometimes! Paul Simon songs make feelings and emotions that used to be regressed, surface. When I hear these songs I think about my family, dogs, friends, and especially Mom. I am the luckiest daughter in the world to have a Mom like mine. She has created lasting and unforgettable memories in my life that I will tell my children about one day. I know that these memories can always be re created simply just by putting “You Can Call Me Al” on in my ipod. 

True Life: Escaping My Life

Living here in SF makes me aware of the people less fortunate than myself who live in poverty. Everywhere I look I see homeless people; begging for food, drug money, or just a place to keep them warm. Personally, I have a hard time wrapping my mind around the concept of being homeless. What brought these people to where they are now? Was it certain life experiences, problems, personality or mentality? I almost feel like it would be close to impossible for me to ever be homeless.  I would never let myself get that point in my life where my home was the streets and my only source of income relied on the people who took pity towards me. I strongly believe that my flight or fight instincts would kick in and I would do whatever it took to maintain whatever type of crappy, depressing and low paying job it was in order to keep a roof over my head and food on the table. I would mentally push myself to extreme limits in order to survive and move forward in life.

I guess that is the difference between the people who “escape life” and end up on the streets in unhealthy conditions, and those who take responsibility for their lives and manage to work through the unfavorable circumstances that life brings them. One of the reasons why people stay in jobs that they don’t like is because they have to make a living.  If they don’t have a job that brings in money than they will have to deal with the consequences such as: no food, shelter, clothing, education etc. Part of life is learning how to make it work and evolve into something that fulfills your dreams, goals and desires. If we all quit our jobs every time we got upset at someone or disagreed with someone we would ALL be unemployed and homeless. In addition, I think that people who escape life show a lack of discipline, strength, perseverance and drive. Life is not intended to be something that just passes us by; it is something that takes a lot of work and effort to make work right. Life, is a task all in itself. The ones who decide to take the easy way out and hide from the reality of it are the ones who miss out on living, growing and reaching dreams. On the other hand, those who confront their problems with work, school, relationships etc, instead of giving up, come to find that often times life’s cruel and unusual punishments are actually blessings in disguise.

By staying alert and engaged in the different spheres of our lives we can fight the feelings that make us want to give up and quit. We will face negative situations in life that deter us from moving forward so that we can accomplish important things. More so, we will resume responsibility in order to better ourselves, reach that step that brings us closer to our goals; whether it  be graduating college, getting a raise, paying off debt; we all have to keep pushing ourselves. Watts had an excellent way of viewing life. He said that life is a journey. It isn’t supposed to be easy. If it was, we would never learn from our mistakes, consequences or develop as a person. Your whole life you are told you need to accomplish something and get somewhere so that you can make advancements in life. When you finally achieve those things you have to start over. We don’t stop and settle with what we have or are given, we continue to created new goals and dreams so that we have a purpose to live life.

We should not take advantage of our lives in the sense that we take things for granite such as a job that we half ass because we hate the people, but we should take advantage of our ability to become anything we want. We have so many opportunities to make something of ourselves and so many resources to help us get there. Escaping life is a choice, a decision to not do anything at all. Living life is a privilege because it allows us to explore and express ourselves on a daily basis.

I’ve been blessed by God or a higher power because my life has been anything but ordinary since I was born. I was born in India Calcutta and adopted by a family in California. I’ve been living here for the last twenty two years of my life. I have the most amazing, loving, and supportive family in the world. Words can’t explain how fortunate and lucky I am to be living here, going to school here and building a life for myself. When I think about my life and the conditions I could be living in, I instantly thank God for giving me this new life. There are times when I complain about school, friends, family, money etc. I realize that I have nothing to complain about. No matter what my problems may be in the moment or what I’m going through that day, it does not compare to what I could be complaining about if I still lived in India. Being adopted really gave me this new look on life. As corny as it may sound I live life to the fullest with no regrets and I don’t look back. I work through all my problems one day at a time and make sure that I remember that there are much worse things in life that could have happened to me.