Want to know what makes me sad?

Imagine you're enjoying a nice saturday morning reading the newspaper. You turn to the second page and see. . .


Yep, that's right. Narwhals are totally endangered and facing extinction now because of climate change. I had a suspicion about this and now it's confirmed. The whole article is here in case you're curious.

I have been a little extra sensitive lately, but seeing this threw me for an emotional curve and it made me SO sad. I ended up crying on and off for hours after I read it. I just love narwhals so much, and for me, it represents so much more than just the endangerment of my most beloved weird arctic marine mammal. What's happening in our world? It's frightening.

Anyway, once again I am seriously considering starting up a Narwhal Appreciation society, proceeds going to a Save the Whales or Save the Arctic organization. Honestly, polar bears shouldn't get all the press! Narwhals are way more magical and interesting than a big jerk of a bear.

Songs of 2007.

i did a little quasi-scientific research the other day to determine my favorite song of 2007. The research consisted of sorting my songs by play count on my itunes and ipod. so, here are some of the tops:

(fyi, i'm linking to myspace so you can enjoy some of these fantastic artists' sweet sweet tunes.)

plasticities, andrew bird

lake shore drive, the innocence mission

legs of bees, fruit bats

fake empire, the national


cast a hook, laura veirs. as you can see, there is a video with NARWHALS in it. of course it's one of my favorite songs of the year!

i feel it all, feist

myriad harbor, the new pornographers

empty hearts, josh ritter

two, ryan adams

every song from caitlin cary's "begonias" since i tend to listen to it obsessively when i make art or clean or whatever.

I also think i should add that "can you please crawl out your window," the hold steady and "ring them bells," sufjan stevens, both from the i'm not there soundtrack , probably deserve to be on this list. i'm way into both of these songs right now but since they were only added about a month ago the scientific itunes thing is kinda misleading.

and my number one most played song of this year? flossin', mike jones.


i like to listen to it on repeat at work. for like, hours at a time, no joke. i can't say i can really explain this. but it probably has something to do with my little brother.

My Newest Love

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.
1. unicorns are real 2. wonder to behold 3. narwhal 4. NARWHAL ! 5. narwhal-decks 6. narwhal doll 7. arctic narwhal 8. a narwhal for wiley 9. narwhal

As you may have heard, I recently became intruiged by / obsessed with narwhals. They're fascinating. Did you know they are the only creatures on earth with a spiral tusk? And that the tusk is actually a sensory organ? I'm really becoming a bubbling fountain of narwhal information. Ask my husband, he's heard it all.

I have also discovered that many educated people have never heard of or don't believe in narwhals! Yeah, they're totally weird and mythical, but they do exist. So I'm making it my mission to educate the world on the glorious narwhal.

A few useful links:
wikipedia entry
fascinating new york times article