It's good to be alive

March 19, 2009

Dear Leslie,

Warmer days arrived just as college students left for spring break. Most of those I know went home instead of to Florida, a sign of the economic times. How many college students can be stuffed into a motel room? This year maybe not so many.

My collegiate spring break forays were to Daytona Beach, South Padre Island and California. It rained all week in Daytona Beach. My friends and I got scorching sunburns on our first trip to South Padre Island, the kind that raises bubbles on your skin. Fortunately a hippie girl who asked to crash in our tent happened to have a soothing tea. On the next trip someone broke into one of our vans and stole everything. Then, crossing the border after a night in Mexico, someone in our group made a joke when asked if he had any drugs. Welcome to the USA and strip searches all around.

The magnificence of driving through the West and down the California coast amounted to my favorite spring break. "Why didn't someone tell me this was out here?" I kept wondering.

But who needs Florida and California when people in Cape Girardeau are already wearing shorts and riding bicycles? Buds are sprouting on trees all over the city. This is one of those moments you spontaneously think "It's good to be alive."

Winter has been frigid with little respite. An ice storm paralyzed the region for a while. Now our backyard is dotted with piles of downed limbs we don't know what to do with. Hauling them away would require a convoy. Burning them will take days. So they sit in piles, waiting for us to decide their fate. How can they best be used?

Someone on one of the morning shows said another sign of the economic times is a 30 percent reduction in deposits at dumps. People are buying fewer new things and reusing more, she said. Which is the true problem, consumerism or recycling?

Spring and the news make me yearn to hear new music. I bought U2's new CD, "No Line on the Horizon." In 1987 I was visiting friends in Salinas when "The Joshua Tree" was released. One was a big U2 fan. The three of us sat in their living room silently sipping beer until the entire album had played. It was nearly a religious experience.

We knew instantly that some of these songs were classics. We knew exactly what Bono meant when he sang "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." The music had a majesty that shines through in the best rock 'n' roll. Like "Like a Rolling Stone," like "Born to Run," like "Layla." Like newer songs I probably haven't heard.

"The Joshua Tree" reconfirmed the belief that art and beauty can inspire and change, that they can be believed in when institutions and individuals prove themselves to be morally bankrupt.

If born in a different century, Bono and U2 might have been Romantic poets. "I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the heart's affections," wrote John Keats, "and the truth of imagination."

That's three chords and the truth.

Love, Sam

Sam Blackwell is a former reporter for the Southeast Missourian.