{Journal entry #15} Farewell?

It's December, the last December of the decade.

This hadn't really dawned on me until my favorite podcast did a "best books of the decade" episode, and then it really hit home for some reason (I mean, decades are an arbitrary measure of significant time, but once the significance aspect sinks in, it's hard to ignore it and stop reflecting on the past ten years). Perhaps it's because this is the last class project I have to hand in to finish my BA, and next year a lot of different processes will begin, but it feels odd. Not bad. Just odd. 

Our Poetry course was cut short for reasons beyond anyone's control, so apart from what I had originally planned to upload I did not really know how to end this. Then I thought of "Auld Lang Syne". Like a lot of people, I've known it as the "nostalgic New Year's Song" (it appears on F.R.I.E.N.D.S, mind you) since I was a child. I didn't pay more attention to it until I attended a conference, organized by my Poetry professor, about Scottish poet Robert Burns. I learnt that he was a big collector of Scottish folklore, which greatly influenced his poetry, and wrote both in Scots language and Scottish English, often playing with both for effect (this was, if I recall correctly, one of the focuses of the talk). He also, as it turns out, wrote "Auld Lang Syne". This might be general knowledge in the English-speaking world, but to me it was a nice tidbit of trivia that launched me into a big "Auld Lang Syne" listening binge, giving a chance to any version I could find for about three days. 

So, let's end this class-inspired era of Unflopping Poetry with "Auld Lang Syne" performed by Ruth Golding, accompanied by beautiful pictures of Scottish landscape.

Did you like it? I thought it a very beautiful rendition (also, take a minute to read the video description; it has some interesting info).

Hopefully, I will continue to read poetry and be inspired to come back here and write about it, to share the love for a genre that is both beloved and belittled (I'm not the most knowledgeable or qualified person for the job, but perhaps that makes it more entertaining). Even if I don't, writing each entry has been really fun, and now I have this archive of memories for years to come. (Going through the entries to check everything was ok made me want to pick up a new-to-me poetry collection and read it right away, so that's a win already!)

Happy New Year everybody!