
I just want to be clear on where I stand regarding this very important issue.
Image used with permission. You can get it at imwithcoco.com. Artwork by Mike Mitchell. Join the Facebook page.
The thoughts, opinions and experiences of John Andrew Ledwith • jaledwith.com

I just want to be clear on where I stand regarding this very important issue.
Image used with permission. You can get it at imwithcoco.com. Artwork by Mike Mitchell. Join the Facebook page.
I really enjoy creating my annual soundtrack. It’s fun to consider the music I’ve been listening to over the course of an entire year and decide what songs best express the seasons I’ve been through. This marks the third such soundtrack I’ve made. (Have a look at the ones from 2007 and 2008.)
I have a few rules when picking the songs for my soundtrack. First, I limit myself to twelve songs, which is somewhat of an arbitrary number. Second, I limit myself to one song per artist. Third, I use both quantitative and qualitative data to make my decision. The quantitative data is how many times I played the song (I use my Last.fm account to keep these stats). The qualitative data is how the song impacted me personally. Finally, I can’t repeat a song from a previous soundtrack. Something else to keep in mind is that these songs weren’t necessarily released in 2009; they are songs that impacted me in 2009.
Now it is my pleasure to unveil this year’s soundtrack.
Does anyone else dislike Facebook’s “Reconnect” feature? It’s on the home page, under the box that suggests people or pages you might want to connect with. Suggesting a first-time connection with someone is actually somewhat helpful. But suggesting I contact a friend I’ve been out of contact with for a while because some Facebook algorithm thought it’d be nice? That’s nearly useless. And because I can never leave well enough alone I found a way to block the bothersome nag.
One of the top memories I have of my first two years in college is of Saturdays spent at Camp Special as its residents Brent, Joel, Rob, and JD hosted Big Breakfast. No, it’s not much more complicated than the event’s name makes it sound. About once a month on a Saturday morning at around 10am — okay, maybe closer to 11am or noon — I’d crawl out of bed and make my way off campus where a veritable feast was waiting for me and scores more. Eventually the Big Breakfast tradition migrated from Camp Special to a number of different dorms on campus, including Salley Hall and Kellum Hall the years I lived in them. And I’m sure it also inspired the Saturday Morning Breakfast with Disney Movie crew who met frequently for two years or so in the apartments behind Camp Special. But for whatever reason, with the exception of one final hurrah before Brent moved to Austin two years ago, Big Breakfast has not returned to its point of origin.
Tomorrow it will.