Every time I start a new journal I choose a quote or a song lyric to inscribe on the first page. It’s always something that I’ve found in my reading or listening that resonates enough for me to stop and jot it down. Something that sets the new written chapter of my life in motion. Looking back at recent journals I find: The world is as the world is/everybody’s gonna hurt like hell sometimes/(I’m comin’ out of the dark clouds). Then: I’d rather be the one who loves than to be

Just last week, on January 10, 2016, singer David Bowie died of cancer at age 69. His media team issued a statement on Facebook late Sunday, saying that Bowie “died peacefully…surrounded by his family.” At the time of my writing, the statement has been shared over 387,000 times. Yet posting more than a week after his passing, and writing here on BACKWORDS Blog, this is neither a tribute to David Bowie nor breaking news of this terrible yet inevitable loss to musical history.

*Please note that what's playing on our Soundcloud is Alt-J covering Bill Wither's "Lovely Day." For the original version, click HERE. Bill Wither’s “Lovely Day” on the Menagerie album came out in 1977. I was born in 1984, and the first time I heard Wither’s soulful refrain was in 2005: “just one look at you / and I know it’s gonna be / a lovely day / lovely day, lovely day, lovely day…” in the home of a boy I was just getting to know; a boy that I would spend the next eight

(Listen and enjoy while you read) Deep breath, eyes closed. Headphones in, eyes opened, and a few steps toward the painting. You see a young European aristocrat with a pinched face, and a subtle overbite that gives the look of a sly sneer. Large, gaudy, pinkish hat blending in with drapes behind and holding an emotionless gray tabby cat wrapped in a white sheet. First thoughts. First impressions. The child is a brat. Young, wealthy, controlling of what is within reach. Music

A couple weeks ago, I wrote a piece titled, “Disney & Cheese.” The important part of the reflection was that it tapped into a deeper curiosity of why the second wave of Disney princesses from the 90’s–Ariel, Belle, Jasmin, Pocahontas, and Mulan, despite the apparent sexism, lack of cultural sensitivity, and appropriation–still bring up such enjoyable moments of nostalgia, and what that might mean for growing up and being a grown up. I want to note, that I’m purposely leaving

I remember little from my early childhood in Phoenix, Arizona. I can picture the black clouds of a monsoon fighting its way towards the city as my brother and I jumped on a trampoline to watch its progress, or the unnerving sound of a rattlesnake coming from the sweltering desert – just a few city blocks from my home – while I roller bladed through the terrain on a paved nature trail. I can remember the way a bunny-scratch cuts deeper than a cat-scratch, thanks to my neighbor

I first heard the musician, Joanna Newsom, in the early spring of 2010, just before graduating from college with an English degree from the University of Utah. My friend, Sam, and I were reconnecting after a year-ish of quietly ignoring each other—something you could do in Salt Lake City (SLC), partly because nobody could afford a scene amid that little bit of blue awash in all that red, and partly because a sort-of unsaid kindness was operating principle for us both. Sam, an

On May 30th, I attended a panel presentation hosted by She Shreds Magazine titled “What Is A Woman: Feminism, Punk, and the In Between”. The panel consisted of moderator Fabi Reyna, founder of She Shreds Magazine; Bree McKenna, bass player for Tacocat and writer for The Stranger Magazine; Kate Nash, solo recording music artist and founder of Girl Gang TV; and Sarah Mirk, online editor for Bitch Media. On the “About Us” section of the She Shreds’ website, it states: She Shreds