Why I won't go back to the Festival of Colors

The Hindu temple in Spanish Fork is a bit of a surprise. This exotic building rises out of farmland, set on a hill amongst fields. It's certainly not what you expect to see in that area. If you decide to visit, you'll soon find that it is a beautiful temple used for worship by the Hare Krishna Hindus in Utah. It has a sanctuary area on the top floor, with a cafeteria and shopping area. (They sell beautiful traditional clothes and jewelery.) The man and his wife that oversee the temple and shops are wonderful people - very friendly, welcoming, and happy to share their beliefs and culture with others. I've attended some worship services there and while it's quite different than my typical religious experience, it is very loving and harmonious. 

One of the religious festivals which the Hare Krishna's observe is Holi, or the Festival of Colors. It happens in late March. As with all their festivals, this one features music, drama, and dance performances to entertain the patrons. The music usually is mantra, rather repetitious and not necessarily the most thrilling. The dramas depict stories from the Ramayana or Baghavadgita or other sacred texts. While strongly moralistic, they're very interesting. Of course, my favorite part is the dancing! They generally bring in excellent Indian dancers to perform and its simply wonderful to see them perform. But back to the festival....

So after the entertainment, the mantra-chanting picks up again and an effigy is set on fire. If I remember right, it's the effigy of an evil woman. Then comes the next part of the festival, as it goes in Spanish Fork: the throwing of the colors. Using brightly colored chalk, everyone throws handfuls of color at each other in a frenzied mayhem. The general idea is that at the end, everyone is so covered that there's a sense of equality and harmony. It's supposed to be a very transcendent experience. At the very least, it sure does create a sense of camaraderie!

This was from the first year I attended the festival. It was so fun! These are all folk dance friends, which probably accounts for how we knew about the festival. At that point in time, not many people knew about the festival and it was only attended by a group of a few hundred. As dancers, we cared about the culture and story of the festival as much as we enjoyed shmearing each other with chalk!

And then Facebook happened. And people started coming because it sounded cool (which it is). But they didn't care that it was a religious festival. That there were people there celebrating part of their culture and religion, not just trying to manufacture a spring break of sorts for their dreary winter. I went to the festival three years in a row, and by the third year, I had decided that I didn't care to go back (after the 2009 festival). Mostly because it bothered me how other people treated the culture and celebration. It was all ignorance and selfishness. The temple makes a lot of money now from the festival, which is awesome! But I'll stick to the other festivals and celebrations they have. 

Festival of Colors was super fun! But at some point, I believe that authenticity and respect should come into play. I feel like BYU students have appropriated this festival to be their own little spring break, where their behaviour can be wild and crazy and there are no consequences. Their callousness is a disrespect to the religious observance, as well as the Hare Krishnas who come to celebrate in true belief. Maybe that makes me a snob, but oh well if it does. 

And that's why I don't go to the Festival of Colors anymore. 

He's Just Not That Into You

I used to hate the sound of this book. And I especially hated when people would hear my dating stories and spout off that phrase. Still, I decided that I ought to give the concept a fair trial, so I borrowed a censored copy of the  book. (Some sections don't directly apply to LDS dating standards.) It was all right. It had some good points. My dislike for the concept lessened. A little. 

It wasn't until I went through another relationship setback that I truly appreciated the philosophy in this fabulous lime green and hot pink book. Like they say in the beginning, it may be hard to hear this but it really is life-changing!! He is just not that into you. And that is a good thing because we women deserve someone who is into us.  Take my roommate: she started dating this guy a few months before he left the state for grad school. They started meeting halfway between states on the weekends, then finally he just started driving back here twice, sometimes three times  a month. Now that is what love looks like. And they're getting married this summer. 

Now, I don't really need someone to drive 20 hours each weekend to prove they are into me, but there are some basic tenets discussed in the book. And I've decided that not enough people have read this book. It would make dating so much easier! It's like the first chapter says: if he's not calling you, he's just not that into you. So move on! Someone out there will be into you and will do everything in his power to show that. Girls need to read this book and chill out about "the game." And it wouldn't hurt if guys read it too! 

If I ever get to send a girl off to college, I'm packing this book for her. 

(And thanks for sending me my copy, mom!)

You know life is getting better when...

1. You want to go work out at the gym
2. In fact, you want to work out enough that you leave the safety of the womens' weight room and go to the extremely crowded SFH weight room
3. Successfully work the elliptical for 30 minutes, burning 300 calories (woot!)
4. You go to work and the gym with your hair still wild and crimped from your performance the night before
5. You want to cook again
6. You are happy even when it rains

Walking Along Fisherman's Wharf

Souvenir shops abound along the street, showcasing magnets, hats, shirts, miniature trolley cars, key chains. Jewelery vendors and artists take up residence across the street (where there is a little more sidewalk room!), restaurants of all kinds announce their fresh sea fare, and the whole area abounds with a sense of tourism. Which is why you might not expect to walk along and see fine art in a gallery on the same strip. You can take the girl out of the conference, but you can't take the humanities out of her! Shannon and I walked into at least two different art galleries and saw original works by Dali, Picasso, and Warhol. Like this one we both fell in love with.

Martha Graham- The Kick by Andy Warhol

We saw another piece that looked like a Degas, but it wasn't. I was pretty excited about that, but really, just looking in there at the galleries was wonderful! I appreciated that they let us wander even though we were not paying customers. 


Hooray for art!

San Francisco

It's like a hotel from some horror film... gilded lobby, gold elevators, plush red carpets.... lots of mirrors, deep red ceilings, low lighting.. and that's just walking to the room. The room isn't so bad. Two nice beds, an armchair, a TV from the 80's, a small rickety closet, and a bathroom not much bigger. You can feel the humidity in the air (and see its effects on my hair). Lightbulbs flicker in the lamps, and even the wail of sirens outside sounds mournful and eerie. Welcome to Hotel Whitcomb. 

Okay, so it wasn't really that bad of a place. It just had TONS of character, lol. The lobby was gorgeous, but I didn't take a picture of it so you'll have to take my word for it. Our whole HERA conference was held here, and overall it was a nice set up. It was arguably in not the greatest part of town, but aside from attending the conference, we spent most of our time seeing the sights!

Our hotel was right across the street from the Orpheum Theater... that's where "Wicked" and other big shows play at! This was about as close as I got to it, though. 

We took the MUNI streetcars down to Fisherman's Wharf. Public transit like this is so fun! We didn't ride the trolleys because they're more expensive and you don't get a transfer ticket, but these streetcars were plenty fun enough. 

It's springtime somewhere in the world!! I loved that San Francisco had sunshine, palm trees, green, and blooming flowers!!!

Here I am at Pier 39!

Golden Gate Bridge from Pier 39. By the time we made it down on Thursday afternoon, the bridge and Alcatraz had fog settling on them. It was really beautiful with the lighting, and so fitting for SF!

Seagull at the Pier. How could I not fall in love with this place?

On Friday Shannon and I took off to spend the day seeing San Francisco. We got to see just about everything, and it was fun soaking in the local flavor. 

We hiked up Lombard Street, the "crookedest street" in the world! This section is really quite short. I didn't realize before we started walking the city that San Francisco is built on several hills. Everyone there knows how to park on a hill! And it makes for a great aerobic workout too. I loved getting up here and seeing this amazing view of the city! 

Erica encounters the Pacific Ocean for the second time in her life. I vow that the next time I go, I'm getting wet!! San Francisco ocean isn't really swimming ocean ever, especially in early March, so I contented myself with playing with the waves. 

Because everyone runs away from water looking like this. (What, me a dancer?? Why ever would you say that?)

I made sure to coordinate with the nifty ship in the background. 

What goes along with the beach? CHOCOLATE!! We actually visited Ghirardelli Square before we hit the beach, but the view looking back at it from here was fantastic. They gave out free samples of chocolate and I made sure to buy some extra, of course! We went back later that day for their famous ice cream sundaes: Presidio Passion all the way! It's a miracle that I  managed to still fit in my clothes after that delicious monstrosity (which followed on the heels of a delicious and large Indian lunch). 

Hanging around with some California palms

We had to re-visit Pier 39 and see the sea lions!

Looking out to Alcatraz Island from Pier 39. Friday was a much clearer day. Next time I get to San Francisco I'll have to take a trip out here. From what I heard, it takes a lot of the day to ferry out, tour the prison, and get back, so I'm okay with missing it on this first quick trip.

Great shot of the Golden Gate Bridge from the Pier, again with no fog. It looks so huge! Well, it is huge. I know because I walked across almost the whole thing....

Cool sailboat. When we walked the bridge, we could see tons of sailboats in the bay. That would be so fun to try one day!

So I presented my paper at the conference on Saturday, and afterwards I hurried to change into my I (heart) SF shirt for my final day on the town, this time with a native San Franciscan. I didn't have much time, so we went for some delicious Mexican food, then headed over to the bridge.

Kyle!! It was so fun to spend Saturday afternoon with Kyle. He's lived in SF for about 6 years and absolutely loves it, so he made a great guide.  His grandpa even helped get the Golden Gate Bridge built! You can see his name on a plaque on the first tower of the bridge.

The bridge gives you a great view back over San Francisco. (Don't mind the wind.)

That's the first tower (nearest to SF) with the plaque on it. And here I am on the bridge! At one point Kyle had me look down at the sidewalk. Every now and then there are small holes and you can look down and see all the way to the water! It was kind of trippy. There was also a telephone specifically for people contemplating jumping off the bridge. We opted to keep walking and not get too adventurous, hehe. 

As you get over to the Marin side of the bridge, you can look down and see this small building at the base. (We're almost to the second tower at this point.) Kyle said he's going to buy the place and live there one day. I don't think he'll have anyone fighting him for it, given the look of it currently. :)

And here we both are on the bridge, this time in front of the second tower. This is about where we had to turn and head back, so I could catch my flight. Boo. Next time I'll have to get out to Baker's Beach, which I've heard has great views of the bridge but isn't flooded with tourists like Golden Gate Park is. 

San Francisco was such an amazing trip!! I had a great time at the conference presenting my paper and listening to others' academic connections. The keynote speaker made an interesting connection between Manet's paintings and the use of "high value" and "low value" to describe white and black, connecting that into a discussion of slavery. Shannon and Rebecca also had great presentations, and it really wows me that I'm in the same program as them! Sometimes I feel like I don't quite fit in, but I just have a different specialty than the majority of people studying Humanities. While in SF we all went to see the San Francisco Ballet and it was amazing!! I haven't actually seen a ton of ballet companies, but this was definitely the creme de la creme. I could go into raptures, but I was supposed to be writing my thesis instead of blogging, so I'll save that for another post. I loved having fish and chips at the Pier, seeing all the cool things at Fisherman's Wharf, chasing a streetcar for about 4 blocks (need to share that story too), the delicious food, the free mango lassi, the big-city atmosphere, and seeing Kyle. It was different seeing him while not touring with Clog America, but since he can't go this year, this will have to suffice for now. 

Hooray for good friends, good food, and fun adventures! San Francisco has been the highlight of this everlastingly long winter, and I think it will always have a special place in my heart because of that.