The World in Six Songs

"One important thing that makes us human, one thing we have that separates us from all other species on our planet, has been noted by psychologists and biologists. It's not the fact that we have a language to communicate with- other animals, such as birds, whales, dolphins, even bees, have sophisticated signaling systems. It's not that we've learned to use tools (chimpanzees do that), that we have built societies (ants have those), or learned to deceive (crows and monkeys). It's not that we're bipedal and have opposable thumbs (primates) or that we often mate for life (gibbons, prairie voles, angelfish, sandhill cranes, termites). What distinguishes us most is one thing no other animals do: art. And it's not just the experience of art, but the centrality of it. Humans have demonstrated a powerful drive toward making art of all different kinds- representational and abstract, static and dynamic, creations that employ space, time, sight, sound, and movement."

HW 2

"There's always that one real catch in your circle of friends who's never single when you're single. But you just know there's something there. And even though you're desperate to hook up with each other, your love lives are completely opposite. He's falling into love as you're burying it. And he breaks up with her just as you're into someone new yourself. When you run into him at parties you attend with your boyfriend, your thoughts drift to what it would be like if he were the one taking you home. You see him thinking that too when he's with his new love and you just went on a break-up diet and look awesome. His girlfriends always distrust you for good reason. And your boyfriends never invite him out for a beer. Now, if you felt like you were soul mates you'd take drastic action but you know in your heart of hearts you really just want one night together. It's an unfair cycle, cupid conspiring against lust. But every once in a while cupid is not paying attention, hung-over, or napping, when the unthinkable happens. At two separate apartments, in two separate relationships, in two separate cities, someone says, "It's over." And all of a sudden anything is possible."

- from "My Boyfriend Wrote A Book About Me" by Hilary Winston

HW 1

"There's nothing like that feeling of waiting for a guy. It's the lonliest feeling in the world. Holding that cell phone in your hand as you take out the trash, use the bathroom, change the litter box. Fearful that the one second you aren't looking will be when they call. Pathetic. And something I have done as recently as last week. What I do know now, and didn't know then, was that no relationship that makes you feel that insecure lasts. You aren't really waiting for a phone call; you're waiting for the other shoe to drop."

- from "My Boyfriend Wrote A Book About Me" by Hilary Winston