“Soothsayer” by Of Monsters and Man, Friday, May 21, 2021

 

Every year my school’s first grade curriculum reads an article about life in Iceland. This scenic, yet lonely Northern European island boasts some of the hardest working Europeans and some of the most expensive goods, as so much is imported. As for exports, Iceland sends fish and aluminum to other EU countries and the United States; however, before the pandemic tourism made up to 10% of Iceland’s GDP. As for cultural exports, we get the word geyser from Icelandic. The country harnesses its geysers and volcanos to power the country with what they call geothermic power. Aside from some beautiful scenes in movies like 2014’s The Secret Life of Walter Mitty much of Iceland isn’t common knowledge to most Americans. Some music fans will remember avant-garde singer-songwriter Björk from the ‘90s or post-rock band Sigur Rós. In 2011, Of Monsters and Men did it for Iceland and became the nation’s highest charting hit with the song “Little Talks.”

YOU'VE BECOME A TEMPO THAT MY HEART KNOWS. The band’s third release explores beyond the realm of their home genre of Indie-Folk rock. The result is today’s song, “Soothsayer,” the album’s catchy closer that sounds like a female-fronted ‘80s rock ballad. The song digs into the emotions of a relationship on the hinge of becoming serious. The singer has already invested so much time into the relationship, and she wants her time and her feelings to pay off. Sound familiar? It’s the late night in the blue light of the TV screen conversation you have when you assess your feelings.

I KNOW THIS CAN'T BE WASTED LOVE. But romantic love isn’t the only feeling we have to assess. Lately I’ve been assessing my love for my career. Teaching is one of the most abusive loves. Teachers truly have to be masochists to take the abuse from administration, parents, and sometimes students and the media if we’re particularly unlucky. I’ve been down because of this abuse lately. On a weekend I felt worn down, I thought about designing a teacher website as a kind of digital resume to show potential schools my teaching skills, but I fell discouraged after looking at examples. The examples were educators who wrote articles, had stellar student reviews as well as great student work. I just felt tired from all of the grading and planning and the rinsing and repeating. Even one of my recent podcasts, Straight, White American Jesus, the hosts are religious studies professors, and they talk about reading 100 papers a week and doing the podcast. Who has the time? That being said, when the feelings of being overwhelmed subside--I've not been this busy in prior years, I usually feel fulfillment in seeing my students' achievement. At this point, though, I wonder how to weave all the elements in my story together to make an impactful career? As an educator, I encourage my students to follow their dreams, but I don't know what my dream is. I just don't want my love, the time that I've put into my career, to be wasted.

https://genius.com/Of-monsters-and-men-soothsayer-lyrics