The Life of a Showgirl

Musings on October 3, 2025

Did I get the new Taylor Swift album the day it came out? Yes.

Did I stay up until midnight to go get it? No.

Come on. I'm an old. And though I am very much an old that still stays up past midnight on the regular, I am quite content to prioritize which events are worthy of that sort of effort. That and my local record store, the kind of mom and pop establishment I like to patronize because it matches my values, decided they were perfectly content to offer their customers the album on the day that it was released upon their opening at their regularly scheduled time. A decision I very much support.

My musical listening is all over the board, but largely consists of mixing in 80's pop and rock, 90's alternative, modern folk, modern pop, and a good measure of rap into my more frequent indulgence of 60's and 70's music. I think on most days I'm very content with Earth, Wind & Fire or Simon & Garfunkel as the musical backdrop. In so many ways that's more comforting to me. There is a wonderful integration of musical wonder and protest embedded and that's really something that speaks to me.

Frankly, I like that the 60's had a positive, albeit not perfect, outcome. That is, in the face of a society stuck in a past that othered folks, othered folks stood up and spoke their mind. In the end, the free love, bra-burning, pot smoking crowd managed to move the needle. Enough to start mini-revolutions that allowed protest to grow in the hearts of children.

The ship steers slowly, but it moved.

The common music of today is lovely, and is worth listening to, but I wonder where the protest music has gone. I miss the raw angst and power of Rage Against the Machine. I miss the speaking out.

And some people seem to think that they are musicians not politicians, or that we don't need to sully the waters with such things. And I know there are pockets of music that still rail against the world. It just seems like there is an apathy coming in that has resigned itself to a world that will operate this way.

Where is the optimistic view of what could be and the drive to make change to get there?

The movie one battle after another raised some hope. I mean, sure, violent and intense, but protest centric. Again, though, it's a book from the 1990's. As a grown adult who finds himself speaking his mind in public on occasion (who am I kidding, I was born a protestor, grew up a protestor, and will remain one), I find the demographic of these events disheartening. The voting rolls and directions also feel deflating.

I don't exactly know what to do about all that. I mean, I just don't know what it means in the context of living my life. I've got this ideal in my head where people can live their lives as they wish, work a job so as to provide a meaningful life, and gather together for events that are full of joy, where every voice feels worth listening to. That's what I fight for. I'm just not sure what giving up or giving in would look like. It comes off as selfish (in that I'm not hurting personally for the most part) and it seems heartless to look at others who suffer and say too bad so sad. It's just not who I am.

So I keep fighting.

And I keep listening to music. Mostly protest music.

Well, and Taylor Swift. Today, Taylor Swift.