We’re fans of the Dixie Chicks older style of music, particularly their last album “Home”, but after hearing the new single, we are sure this may be their best yet. You may not like their style but be reassured this isn’t country. With the help of producer Rick Rubin (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys, Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond) they told the country genre to f**k off and drove a new path to success.

Click here to view the video for their latest single, “Not Ready To Make Nice“. The song dicusses the controversy that revolved around the band saying, “Just so you know, we’re ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas” during the Iraq War.

Do many of you remember the last time you had a conversation that left you enlightened? exhausted? laughing? excited? upset? perhaps all of those emotions in one conversation? In the last few weeks, I have had these conversations that made me appreciate the art of conversing.

I remember having many of these conversations with my friends in the Peace Corps but they seemed to have dwindled since returning. Upon returning home I have noticed the number of people who have chosen to converse through an instant messaging program or email rather than through actual voice. Oh how I have missed the stimulation from the power of one’s choice of words, rational, ideas. It really is an art and one that is needed more than ever these days. As individuals turn to their computers for social interactions, we begin to forget how communicate with one another. And I mean how to communicate while thinking on your feet, no barriers in front of you, eye to eye so that not only your words but also your body speaks for you. It is such a powerful tool that I seem to long for more after such a experience.

I compare it to passionate love that leaves you exhausted, enlightened, lusting, wanting with such desire that you can no longer live without it.

It is truly a virtue for someone to possess such talent to be able to engage you in such an experience or for you to do the same. I wish to improve not only my ability to communicate but to be able to listen to what someone has to say to understand what they have to say. To understand someone comes from questioning them and their motives, rational. How can I learn from someone if I choose to only listen to myself? I can’t. I am striving to gain a better understanding of my friends, my community, and the world which I live in, but it starts with a converstation. It means I need to make a connection with another human. It means I need to step away from the computer. It means I need to begin to speak. I have yet to have a bad experience from a truly stimulating conversation and because of that, I desire more of it. Have you experienced such desire?