Birthday Music #10: Teri

Name: Teri

Girls Rock Camp Donation Tally: $60

Relationship: Teri and I worked together for a very brief period and are Facebook friends, but we've never hung out. Unless I've terrified her with a post I may or may not have made to her Facebook page suggesting we get a drink, that may change soon.

How Did We Meet: Teri was a super star media planner/buyer at OMD before she left to become a super star media planner/buyer at Merlino Bauer Media. In other words, we were both corporate slaves (my take, not necessarily hers) — sharing office space in downtown Seattle — until we decided to strike out on our own. She did it first, one of the folks on the list of those I followed who made me think I could do it too.

Something about Teri: She has pretty red hair and her kids do too. And, judging by her Facebook page, she spends an inordinate amount of time attending their sporting events.

Teri's Playlist: Teri described it as a collection of songs that make her happy: jazz, boys with guitars, girls with louder guitars, hip hop, R&B, smoldering ladies and my very first SpongeBob song.

Delivery: Teri mailed her CD to Oliver's Twist. This is Robert opening it. We were anxious. Well, I was; I think Robert just wanted to cut something.

Favorite (Nostalgic) Tracks: "Tell Me Something Good," Chaka Khan and Rufus, and "Monkey Man," Rolling Stones (Why does this song make me think of David Duchovny?)

Favorite (New to Me) Tracks: "A Change is Gonna Come," Leela James and "Shit List," L7

Time's running out, but here's the address if you want to send me music too:

Alison's Birthday Music

c/o Oliver's Twist

6822 Greenwood Avenue

Seattle WA 98103

Remember, for every playlist I receive this month, I am making a $5 donation to Girls Rock Camp.

More Birthday Music posts to come…

Birthday Music #9: Tim

Name: Tim (aka @tfrommer)

Girls Rock Camp Donation Tally: $55

Relationship: Tim is a friend of mine who lives in Seattle. We've known each other for a few years now — four?

How Did We Meet: Tim worked at DDB, but left before I joined the staff. We met online first — through friends we have in common — but the first time we hung out was at Collins Pub near Pioneer Square.

Something about Tim: Tim and I went to see a show together at the Seattle Museum of Art one weekend when I was stuck in Seattle — before I moved here and was, foolishly, flying back to D.C. to live in my shitty apartment, where my view was the sad girl who lived across the courtyard and not the Olympic Mountains and the Ballard Bridge. But that's about me, huh? And I can't even remember the show we saw. But I do remember being more interested in talking to Tim than the art. LOOKING AT the art, not talking to it. That would have been weird.

Tim's Playlist: Five songs each: 1) Boys, 2) Girls and 3) Boys and Girls. Tempted to give up on the idea that I'm going to be able to pick my favorites and just share the whole damn playlist with you. Lots of singing along and seat dancing — while speeding down the highway. Consider avoiding the Seattle streets for a while.

Delivery: Tim dropped off his CD at Oliver's Twist on a Saturday before they opened; slid it through the door and then followed up to make sure I got it. I'm thinking of getting a tattoo of the Jenny Toomey/Tsunami lyric featured on the front of the CD: "It's a man's luck to get to play strong but be weak; it's a woman's lot, I've got to play weak but be stronger."

Favorite Boys: "Who Taught You to Live Like That?," Sloan and "Beautiful Night," Casey Neill

Favorite Girls: "Stolen Car," Beth Orton and "Red Orange Green," Emma Pollock

Here's the address if you want to send me music too:

Alison's Birthday Music

c/o Oliver's Twist

6822 Greenwood Avenue

Seattle WA 98103

Remember, for every playlist I receive this month, I am making a $5 donation to Girls Rock Camp.

Birthday Music #8: Amy

Name: Amy (aka @AmyLKunz)

Girls Rock Camp Donation Tally: $50

Relationship: Amy and I do not know each other; she says she reads this blog. I went to LinkedIn to see if we had any friends or colleagues in common because she works in the nonprofit sector in D.C.; we have a 3rd degree connection (her connections know my connections.)

How Did We Meet: We haven't yet; but Amy was kind enough to introduce herself with this playlist, so perhaps we will.

Something about Amy: Amy works for the Latin American Youth Center as their Senior Grants Manager. The organization's mission is to support academic achievement, promote healthy behaviors, and guide youth toward successful adulthood.

Amy's Playlist: Amy says the playlist got her through college and grad school. She apparently comes from the Alison school of mixed CDs, which is to start off with a bang; I started dancing as soon as I heard the first song.

Delivery: Amy mailed her CD to Oliver's Twist, including a Post-It (with a picture of a small doug dressed like a leprechaun or the marshall of the St. Patrick's Day Parade) and a business card to introduce herself.

Favorite (Nostalgic) Tracks: "Mandinka," Sinead O'Connor and "September," by Earth Wind and Fire: I danced to the latter in a recital when I was in sixth grade, wearing a pedophile's fantasy version of the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders costume. Despite the weird sense that I should be wearing something with white tassels whenever I hear it, I love this song. As soon as I heard it I started dancing, trying to recreate those jetes from all those years ago.

Favorite (New to Me) Tracks: "Cornflake Girl," Tori Amos and "See a Little Light," Bob Mould

Time's running out, but here's the address if you want to send me music too:

Alison's Birthday Music

c/o Oliver's Twist

6822 Greenwood Avenue

Seattle WA 98103

Remember, for every playlist I receive this month, I am making a $5 donation to Girls Rock Camp.

More Birthday Music posts to come…

Birthday Music #7: Chris

Name: Chris (aka @chrissandoval)

Girls Rock Camp Donation Tally: $45 - Just like Jeff, Chris decided to match my $5 and send along $5 of his own. Hero.

Relationship: Chris and I are friends on Twitter but we hung out one night a couple of years ago in a bar in San Antonio when I was in town for a conference. Chris says I am the most famous person he knows.

How Did We Meet: I think we must have connected through Spike Jones; the pain in the ass, not the filmmaker.

Something about Chris: Chris has curlier hair than I do. And if he's your neighbor, don't cut down his tree.

Chris' Playlist: Okay, here's the thing; Chris sent me a 55 SONG playlist (apparently that's how they do things in Texas), so Chris wins the award for endurance. Do you really expect me to summarize 55 songs? You have more faith in me than I deserve.

Delivery: Chris mailed his CD to Oliver's Twist. The CD has a map of the state of Texas on it. It's smaller than I would have imagined, cause I hear things are big in Texas.

Favorite (Nostalgic) Tracks: "By the Time I Get to Arizona," Public Enemy and "I'm Waiting for the Man," Velvet Underground

Favorite (New to Me) Tracks: "Cowgirl," Underworld and "The Golden Path," Chemical Brothers

As a reminder, here's the address so you can send me music too:

Alison's Birthday Music

c/o Oliver's Twist

6822 Greenwood Avenue

Seattle WA 98103

Remember, for every playlist I receive by the end of the month, I am making a $5 donation to Girls Rock Camp.

More Birthday Music posts to come…

Birthday Music #6: Dawn

Name: Dawn

Girls Rock Camp Donation Tally: $35

Relationship: Dawn and I attended Hampshire College together and reconnected recently via Facebook. ("I do enjoy our interweb friendship," said Dawn in her note. Me too, Dawn.)

How Did We Meet: If I recall correctly, Dawn was the TA in the first video production course I took; the great Joan Braderman was the professor.

Something about Dawn: I don't know if it's still the case, but back in the day Hampshire was famous for its annual campus-wide Halloween party. Some of it was myth, but essentially, every year on the night of the party, the campus was shut down to outsiders and students from the other four colleges in the area (Amherst, Smith, Mount Holyoke and UMASS) clamored to get on. One of the supposed reasons for the lockdown was the acknowledgement that a fair amount of drugs were to be taken that evening. So…in my first year, I decided to partake and took acid with a few friends (let's just acknowledge here that I will never be elected President) only to remember when I was in the full throes of it that I have a pretty intense phobia of people dressed up in costume. Not good. So, one of my most intense memories of Dawn was her standing in front of me — dressed in a furry costume, if I recall — chatting away and me being absolutely scared shitless. I don't think I've ever told Dawn that story…

Dawn's Playlist: Dawn sent me a playlist that she herself listens to on a regular basis. (I love that.) "What it may lack in hipness, it makes up for in sentiment." It's a Joni Mitchell to Joan Jett, with a few steps in between.

Delivery: Dawn mailed her CD to Oliver's Twist. It came with a handmade (by Dawn?) card featuring a lightning bolt striking a heart.

Favorite (Nostalgic) Tracks: Tough, because the CD is pretty nostalgic overall. But I'll go with "Crimson and Clover," Joan Jett and the Blackhearts; "Pretty in Pink," Psychedelic Furs and "Across the Universe," Rufus Wainright.

Favorite (New to Me) Tracks: "Sister," Sufjan Stevens

As a reminder, here's the address so you can send me music too:

Alison's Birthday Music

c/o Oliver's Twist

6822 Greenwood Avenue

Seattle WA 98103

Remember, for every playlist I receive by the end of the month, I am making a $5 donation to Girls Rock Camp.

More Birthday Music posts to come…

Birthday Music #5: Dan

Name: Dan (aka @DanGoldgeier)

Girls Rock Camp Donation Tally: $30

Relationship: Dan and I are friends on Twitter. We've had drinks a couple of times and he was kind enough to write a post about Aggregate on AdPulp when we first launched.

How Did We Meet: Dan said he started following me on Twitter after he read the John Hughes post. I believe him. But we didn't meet in person until he moved to Seattle this past year. We had a drink at Spur, which is another great bar in Seattle, but certainly not as fabulous as Oliver's Twist.

Something about Dan: He wrote an ebook called View from the Cheap Seats about the advertising business that is available on Amazon and I'm pretty confident he would be pleased if you were to check it out.

Dan's Playlist: Country-tinged pop

Delivery: Dan brought his CD to Oliver's Twist in person and I happened to be sitting there at the end of the bar when he did, so I got a free drink out of it. In fact, I got TWO free drinks out of the night, because Brady the bartender bought me a drink too. Score.

Favorite (Nostalgic) Track: "The Kid is Hot Tonight," Loverboy

Favorite (New to Me) Track: "My Handy Man," Alberta Hunter

As a reminder, here's the address so you can send me music too:

Alison's Birthday Music

c/o Oliver's Twist

6822 Greenwood Avenue

Seattle WA 98103

Remember, for every playlist I receive by the end of the month, I am making a $5 donation to Girls Rock Camp.

Birthday Music #4: Jeff

Name: Jeff

Girls Rock Camp Donation Tally: $25 (Jeff matched my $5 donation, bumping up our total $10. A good man, that Jeff.)

Relationship: Jeff went to the all boy's Catholic high school down the street from my all girl's Catholic high school in Connecticut. We recently reconnected (within the past couple of years) via Facebook (of course.) He's coming to Seattle in March for work and we'll reunite when he does.

How Did We Meet: I don't remember the specifics, but I think Jeff and I met at a hotel room party that became a common occurrence in our senior year. (Think Super 8 Motel and the potential that someone may have died in one of the beds and they didn't change the bedspread.) Jeff was friends with Chris, who remains my best friend to this day.

Something about Jeff: Jeff shares tales of his children on Facebook and they don't make me want to puke. In fact, they make me think his kids are pretty cool and that they, in turn, think he's cool too.

Jeff's Playlist: Every song on Jeff's playlist makes reference to a geographical location and manages to get both Neils (Diamond and Young) in there.

Delivery: Jeff mailed a CD, titled "The Evening Star Must Be Drooping and Shedding Her Sparkler Dims on the Prairie" (a quote from Kerouac's "On the Road,") to Oliver's Twist.

Favorite (Nostalgic) Track: "Kentucky Woman," Neil Diamond

Favorite (New to Me) Track(s): "Bloodbuzz Ohio," The National; "Hello Seattle," Owl City

As a reminder, here's the address so you can send me music too:

Alison's Birthday Music

c/o Oliver's Twist

6822 Greenwood Avenue

Seattle WA 98103

Remember, for every playlist I receive by the end of the month, I am making a $5 donation to Girls Rock Camp.

More Birthday Music posts to come…

Birthday Music #3: Arlene

Name: Arlene (aka @wzzy)

Girls Rock Camp Donation Tally: $15

Relationship: Arlene and I are friends on Twitter. I'm not entirely sure how we found each other. I do remember, however, that Arlene was the first person on Twitter to share the post I thought no one would ever read.

How Did We Meet: We've never met in person. We almost did. Once. When Arlene came to Seattle. She and I will drink scotch together in Los Angeles one night. And talk.

Something about Arlene: She's kind. A persistent supporter. And she went to Smith. And she loves her son dearly. And she manages Curt Smith. (And, yes, there is a Curt Smith song on her playlist.)

Arlene's Playlist: Eclectic pop from multiple decades; lots of stuff I'd never heard before.

Delivery: Arlene mailed a CD to Oliver's Twist via USPS Priority Mail. She definitely wins the "I put energy into this, damn it" award: a custom CD cover and an enclosed spreadsheet explaining why she selected each song. It made me want to talk to her more about the stories at which she only hinted.

Favorite (Nostalgic) Track: "Mayor of Simpleton," XTC. It has been too long. And, Arlene, I love Andy too.

Favorite (New to Me) Track(s): "Champagne Taste (Live)," Eartha Kitt; "Amateur," Aimee Mann

As a reminder, here's the address so you can send me music too:

Alison's Birthday Music

c/o Oliver's Twist

6822 Greenwood Avenue

Seattle WA 98103

Birthday Music #2: Jon

Name: Jon

Girls Rock Camp Donation Tally: $10

Relationship: Jon and I worked together at DDB. Now we play Words with Friends on a nearly daily basis. I count on it.

How Did We Meet: We met at DDB. My first significant memory of Jon was that he sent an email to me involving a case of beer, high school friends and Elvis Costello that would have caused the HR police at my last agency to escort him out of the building, but which made it clear that things were a little different at DDB.

Something about Jon: Jon tweets every two months, but they're good. And he is a great hugger; sincere without being creepy.

Jon's Playlist: Lots of smart, witty boys (like Jon) singing about love and disappointment, with a tinge of hope. Just a tinge.

Delivery: Jon mailed a CD to Oliver's Twist. The CD is titled "Songs to Face Your…" I can't read Jon's handwriting, so I'm not sure what it is he wants me to face. I don't feel like it, whatever it is.

(Update: Jon has informed me the title is "Songs to Fill Your Drink," thereby allowing me to continue drinking and not face things. Thank you, Jon.)

Favorite (Nostalgic) Track: "A Perfect Sonnet," Bright Eyes

Favorite (New to Me) Track(s): "I Can't Make You Love Me," Bon Iver; "Confetti," Frightened Rabbit

As a reminder, here's the address so you can send me music too:

Alison's Birthday Music

c/o Oliver's Twist

6822 Greenwood Avenue

Seattle WA 98103

Birthday Music #1: Mara

A week or so ago I asked people to send me music for my birthday with the promise that every playlist/CD I received (by mail) would equal a $5 donation from me to Girls Rock Camp. I'm sharing the playlists I've received to say thank you to those who have sent them and to encourage others to do so as well.

Yeah, I'm greedy like that.

You've got two weeks! Hurry!

Name: Mara

Girls Rock Camp Donation Tally: $5

Relationship: Mara is on the team at Aggregate, the creative strategy group I started in October. She's also one of my good friends in Seattle.

How Did We Meet: We met at The Dismemberment Plan show on March 12, 2011 in Seattle. (We're both friends with the band.) Mara did not put a The Dismemberment Plan song on the CD she gave me. I forgive her.

Something about Mara: She let me borrow her husband one night because I didn't want to go see Dinosaur Jr. alone. She's good like that.

Mara's Playlist: An odd (GOOD odd) mix of chick music and hip hop, just like Mara.

Delivery: Mara dropped the music off at Oliver's Twist in person. In a bag. With a Happy Birthday paper cup inside.

Favorite (Nostalgic) Track: "Eye Know," De la Soul

Favorite (New to Me) Track(s): "Dark Come Soon," Tegan and Sara, "North by Northwest," Blue Scholars OR "Show Me," Mint Royale

As a reminder, here's the address:

Alison's Birthday Music

c/o Oliver's Twist

6822 Greenwood Avenue

Seattle WA 98103

Filling My Day (Month) with Music

I have a request to make. I want something from you.

(I'll be honest; I find this to be a little awkward.)

I love music; it is the one thing upon which I can rely to lift my spirits. If I'm lying on the floor in a pool of my own tears, turn on a song and I'll at least be able to remember to wipe the snot from my face. If I'm already feeling pretty damn good, turn on a song — the right song — and the joy can be difficult to contain.

(Cue Rufus.)

Sunday, February 12, is my birthday. I want to fill it — and this month — with music.

(AKA, I want to fill it with joy.)

So, this is what I am asking of you. I want you — yes, you — to send me music.

In the mail. In an envelope.

A CD.

A mix of songs you think I might like. A mix of songs YOU like. A song you created. A song someone you love created. A playlist you already created; something new in response to this request. It can be one song, it can be many.

In exchange for every CD I receive before the end of February, I am going to make a $5 donation to Girls Rock Camp. Because I want you to know I am grateful, because, yeah, I feel weird asking you for something, and because I want other girls to feel the joy I feel from music.

And I'll be posting here — and sharing on Twitter — to let others know about the music I receive and the people who were kind enough to send it. So, if you want a shout out, include your Twitter name if you have one. If you don't want a shout out, you can tell me that too.

My lovely friends at Oliver's Twist in Seattle (Sarah, to be exact) — my favorite bar in Seattle and where you can often find me seated in the corner — have said I can have the CDs sent there because, well, sometimes it's not a good idea to put your home address on the Internet. If you're in Seattle, on a regular basis or because the gods have smiled on you and transported you here for a short time, visit them. Give them your money; they will give you a tasty cocktail (and play good music as well.)

Here's the address:

Alison's Birthday Music

c/o Oliver's Twist

6822 Greenwood Avenue

Seattle WA 98103

Happy music/joy making.

Thank you. Sincerely.

the moral of the story

Is that someone thought I had the capacity for greatness and I just won't let him down until I have run out of my ways to get myself there.

stay tuned

After three and a half years, I made the decision to leave my job. It's been a long time coming and there is a back story that there's really only one other person who will ever understand completely, but — in the middle of a horrendous economy — I am going to do my own thing. I'm going to work with the best creatives and strategists I have had the opportunity to work with during my 15 year career to develop creative solutions that bring people together to create social and policy change.

(More on that later.)

I keep saying that I have never felt this unsure of the future before in my life, but I think it's more that I presumed at this stage in my life I would be a little more confident about the path. It's like thinking, when you are 14, that you'll feel like a "grown up" when you're 30: a big ol' lie.

Right now, I'm fighting the urge to take a six month hiatus, get in my car and go for a drive across the country spending time with people I love, asking them why the hell they think I was put on this earth and if they think I could pull off that conflict zone photojournalist gig I have always dreamed of.

Last night I made a spreadsheet of the 52 places (in the order in which I would visit them) I wanted to go to on that 6 month trek.

Stay tuned.

a reminder

Veronica is finding her voice and reminding me to use mine.

not "the" story, MY story

I've received a few emails lately from people interested in speaking to me about my pen pal relationship with John Hughes, i.e., producers, filmmakers. It's been a while since I've received messages like these; most of them came in the days and weeks immediately following John's death — which is now almost a year ago.

The messages from John Hughes fans have never stopped.

Like those initial messages, I am flattered by the interest from those who want to tell the story, but I already made the decision that I was not going to follow that path for a number of reasons — some of which have to do with John, some of which have to do with me.

The majority of the messages are very kind and from people who seem to be fans of John themselves. The odd thing is that there have also been messages that suggest that the story will be told whether or not I want it to be.

Wait, let me rewrite that — not "the" story, MY story.

And, apparently, that's something that's totally cool. Okay, not cool necessarily, but kosher, as in I have nothing to say about it.

At least that's what Tod Goldberg told me earlier today. (I asked Tod if I could use screen shots of his tweets in this post and he said yes. I'll remove them if he asks me to do so.)

Read from bottom to top. Sorry, I'm too lazy to grab each tweet separately.

By the way, don't shoot the messenger; Tod's not saying it's right, he's just saying it is.

Does anyone else think this is bullshit or am I just ridiculously naive?

looking for a reason to be somewhere

I graduated college just before I turned 24 (I had dropped out for a year and a half) and, after a month or so of lingering, I moved to London with a work visa I had secured from the British Universities North America Club (BUNAC).

I had a rather vague plan to continue to pursue some of the thinking I had done in my senior thesis. (Div III for those of you fortunate enough to orbit or even enter the Hampshire College universe). My work had been centered on media literacy education and, as I was happy to tell you in those days, England was light years ahead of the U.S. on the topic. Hampshire had given me a small grant — a Threshold grant — that was intended to support students to do just that — continue the work they had done in school.

But, really? I think I just wanted a plan, a reason to go somewhere and, ultimately, to be somewhere. And so I lied to my parents (who wouldn't have stood in the way if they knew the truth, but I lied to them compulsively anyway) and concocted a tale that involved already having a place to live when I got there.

I didn't, of course. I barely knew where I was going to lug my suitcase when I got off the plane. But I found an apartment — on Mordaunt Street in Brixton — and a job — near Liverpool Street Station — within a couple of weeks of being there and everything worked out just fine.

Why did I tell you that? Why did I think to post that this morning?

Because, this morning and for some time now, I have been desperately looking for that thing that was inside me that enabled me to do what I did. I wanted a reason to go somewhere, a reason to be somewhere and I found it.

I need to find it again.

i'm back

I was looking through posts last night in an attempt to gather information that a friend had requested about "favorite" movements. (I sent her details about Etsy and the DIY community, the Green My Apple campaign and Dallas Clayton, whom I referred to as a "burgeoning movement" in my idealistic and hopeful eyes.)

And then this morning, when I should have been getting ready for work, I discovered Topsy.com and, for the first time, started browsing the tweets that had been written in response to "Sincerely, John Hughes."

And I remembered — for the 1,784th time — that I really love blogging because it is a chance to write — about what I want to write about. It is my space to do the thing that makes me happiest in this world.

I'm back. I apologize for my absence. I love you, Twitter, but it just ain't the same.

having an impact

I've become increasingly aware of people who are doing what they want to do with their lives and having a positive impact on others' in the process.

I wrote recently about Dallas Clayton, who wrote a beautiful book for his son to inspire a little boy to think big and, when he couldn't find a publisher, published it himself and is now giving copies away.

I watched Jonathan Demme's Jimmy Carter: Man from Plains this morning, about a former president who is willing to ruffle feathers and speak his mind because he lives according to a code of justice and has no other option.

I have, for years, admired my friend David Wilson, for developing the truly inspiring True False Film Fest in his hometown of Columbia, Missouri, capturing the attention of filmmakers from around the world for his love letter to documentary films, his beloved hometown and his family.

I have obviously written about my childhood mentor, John Hughes, who rejected a world that nevertheless embraced him and encouraged me and instilled in me a desire to follow my own passions.

Then there's my friend, Christie Herring, a documentary filmmaker who is working hard to complete her film, The Campaign, about the campaign to defeat California's Prop 8, which, one year ago, overturned the right to marriage for same sex couples.



There was a great post about Christie and The Campaign this morning in The Huffington Post, with Georgianne Nienaber relating today's fight for equal rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people with her own experiences in the gay rights movement of the mid-1970's. It was a lovely reminder to me that, once again — people can do what they want with their lives and have a positive impact on others' lives in the process.

It sounds so stupidly obvious, doesn't it? But how many of us are really doing it?

I don't think I can say I am.

another chapter for the book

In college, my friend Andrew and I would rationalize bad behavior (on our part) or painful experiences with the comment that it was "another chapter for the book." In essence, we believed these things made us more interesting, gave us more fodder to tell tales.

It's a notion I still believe in.

I am a more interesting and thoughtful person because of the obstacles that I have had to overcome. I have better stories to tell because of those obstacles and due to risks I have taken.

They are another chapter for the book.

Unfortunately, it won't be THAT book. I am not writing the book about my pen pal relationship with John Hughes — for reasons I'd rather not discuss, but which sadden me.

Another chapter for the book?

Not this time.

dream big

Dallas Clayton is the guy behind Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are-related blog, We Love You So. He's also the author of An Awesome World, which is why I am completely enamored of him.

Dallas Clayton is awesome.

It's not just that Dallas wrote a book for his five-year old son that is completely inspiring. He's also traveling all over and reading the book to kids and giving away a copy of the book for every one he sells.

And the message of Dallas's book, the message that every kid should hear — whether you're five or 35 or even 75 — is to DREAM BIG.

You can read the whole book online, but when you get to the end, you're still likely to want to buy a copy for yourself to remind yourself to dream of "rocket-powered unicorns" or to inspire someone else whom you hope will dream of "dancing wild animals with diamond-coated wings." Or maybe you just want to buy a book so Dallas can give someone else a copy to urge them to "dream a dream as big as big could ever dream to be."

The book proposal is on hold. I'm dreaming big, but I think I'm also dreaming different.