Emotionalism

For those who haven't been able to figure it out, the title of my blog "A Lotta Movin'" is the title of an Avett Brothers song

A Lot Of Moving- Avett Brothers

When I started this blog, I wanted to be able to write and think like they do- with a pair of fresh and honest eyes (that cuts through the BS of flowery language). At this point, Samoa was still a mystical, vast, unknown, and "perpetually far away" place to me, but I wanted to get away from that illusion and just get real with how I thought about it. So, I aim to write from an emotionalist approach...

Emotionalism is the title of one of their albums, and it almost seems like a response to the elitist "emo" music (you know... the absinthe-drinking, Strindberg-reading, people's music) Now, us country folk may not know how to say things real pretty and nice-like, but don't we know what hurtin' feels like too? For me, it's almost impossible to honestly express my deepest emotions while still sounding sophisticated and/ or intelligent. Example:

Tear Down The House

"I remember crying over you, and I don't mean like a couple of tears and I'm blue, I'm talkin' about collapsin' and screamin' at the moon"

These words seem so uncouth, and yet the depth of writing like this lies in its honesty. It exposes all the raw emotions that most people are only comfortable in expressing through lofty and flowery metaphors (which I'm guilty of using but trying to get over).

Most importantly, their music helped me remember where I came from. That's an invaluable thing to understand. There are probably a lot of people (both travelers and people who have never left their hometown) who don't really know what "home" means or what it is to them. I know for fact that the last song I played off of my iPod (R.I.P. 12.25.06-3.15.2008) was All My Mistakes. It was raining, and we were confined to our fales. I typically limited myself to 3 songs a day to save the battery, and this was the last one for that day. I had a lot of time that day to think about things-- about how I "mistakenly" ended up in Samoa (not going to China, not really knowing much at all about Samoa, and the list goes on...) This is a video clip I took on that day, during that moment when I was in my fale listening to the Avett Brothers.


During those 5 minutes, I reflected on my bittersweet relationship with Samoa. Watching the rain pour down while hearing "I can't go back... I don't want to... Cause all my mistakes brought me to you," ... well, that just turned me into an emotionalist.
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The Weight of Lies- Avett Brothers
Lately, as I'm preparing for my next big adventure, this has been my favorite song. I know that I'm the kind of person who craves adventure, and sometimes this makes it difficult for me to create and maintain friendships. But it's also because of this that I value with my life the people who have seen me at my worst, know my flaws, and are still friends with me anyway.

I hope to be somebody who does a lotta movin', not just a lotta travelin'. I don't wanna be a tourist that just goes to a place to "love 'em then leave 'em". I want to stay somewhere long enough to see its flaws, and to expose my own ... I want to learn how to be an emotionalist.