What is Think Out Loud?

What am I doing?

This fall I am making an album of original compositions. 100% of the profits will go to helping the homeless here in the Twin Cities through supporting and partnering with local agencies. My hope is to develop a long-term commitment and dedication to caring for the homeless in Minneapolis. An informative article on the problem of homelessness in Minneapolis has been written byMadeleine Baran.

Who am I?

I am a writer and local musician here in Minneapolis. My first album Out from the Darkness was released in 2008, under Ezekiel Records and Creative Group. I have published a poetry collectionClay Eyes in 2008, and my memoir Mud and Poetry: Love, Sex, and the Sacred is scheduled to be published by Fresh Air Books this spring. For information, visit www.tylerblanski.com

Why am I doing this?

I am a young man, and I want to have an impact. I want to make art that makes us more engaged to life. I want to help care for the homeless in the Twin Cities in a practical way.

How am I doing this?

Through building relationships with caring artists, business men, and local charities, I hope to produce a work of art that can have a positive impact on the Minneapolis/St. Paul community. I am building a team of trustworthy, loving people to manage the charity, accounting, legal, artistic and relational facets of project.

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Rainy Day Rhyme EP (Free Verse)

Listen to me drop some free verse for the "Think Out Loud" EP

Click here to listen to "Rainy Day Rhyme", or the EP "Bourbon"

My Neighbor

My sister took this picture of me. The fall leaves were just starting to turn, and I'm gawking like a fool.

Most days I write in the sun room of my Minneapolis apartment. The windows are south-facing and in autumn the colors are amazing. Across the street lives a blind man who is also mentally handicapped. He walks with a stick and when he takes a cab, he pays in single one dollar bills. When he's not walking he rocks back in forth in place, holding his stick like Moses or Abraham would a staff.

Last October, I looked up from writing and saw a rush of wind sweep up ten thousand golden leaves to swirl and eddy in the sky. My windows were wide open. The air smelled crisp and sweet. So much color and light everywhere.

My neighbor stepped outside and immediately stopped. He began to rock—uncontrollably and forcefully—back and forth in place with a huge smile on his face. He could feel the leaves brush across him and hear their clatter all down the street. He could smell the crisp sweetness that flooded our neighborhood. Though he could neither see the angle of the light nor the canopy of color swirling around him, he savored something I felt I could not savor myself. And I've been haunted by his joy for over a year now.

Think Out Loud

Making a new album in collaboration with local musicians. 100% of the profits go to fighting homelessness in the Twin Cities. Check it out. Spread the word!

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Free Poster

Buy "Out from the Darkness"

Get this poster and an Ezekiel Records sticker FREE

www.tylerblanski.com/songs

Tickled Pink

If you ever get the chance to hear Phyllis Tickle speak, bring your laptop: you won’t be able to scribble your notes fast enough. This mother of seven and the lay eucharistic minister and lector in the Episcopal Church has a mind as fast and as sharp as a switchblade. She has become somewhat of an authority on religion in America today.

Tickle is the founding editor of the Religion Department of Publishers Weekly. She’s written numerous essays and articles, and is the author of over two dozen books in religion and spirituality—most notably, the popular “The Divine Hours” series of manuals for practicing fixed-hour prayer.

I recommend her most recent book, "the Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why." It's a clear view into the patterns of the church and how they continue today. The "Great Emergence" is a once-every-500-year phenomenon wherein new questions and new life are breathed into the church. She argues it's happening now, and makes a pretty convincing case. Phyllis Tickle is warm, lovable, and sincere: but if I had to capture here with a single word, it would be insightful.

Spring

Three Poetic Thoughts on Leviticus

1. Leviticus rhymes (sort of) with conspicuous and hippopotamus.

2. Chapter 13 has much to say about laws concerning the "mildew" and "leprosy" of people, a common poetic theme.

3. Laws concerning harvest, fraud, the deaf, blind, elderly, poor, poisoning the well, hate, sex with slaves, self harm, shaving, tattoos, prostitution, sabbaths, sorcery, familiars, strangers, and just weights and measures are illustrated in Chapter 19. Whoever pays attention to the syntax of things, it has been said, will never wholly kiss you.

Winter Will Come

The Color of Love