"OH, WON'T YOU SAVE THESE BACHELOR KISSES NOW, THEY'RE FOR YOUR BROW."

PIC INFO: Spotlight on front and back cover art to "Bachelor Kisses," (2008), limited editon, numbered CD single by Swedish indie/dream pop band THE RADIO DEPT. The original photo was taken at the former Southwestern High School, Detroit, Michigan, USA, during the class of 1987-'88. 📸: Manny Crisostomo.

"Hey, wait, please wait, Don't rush off, You won't be late.

Wait, yes, he'll wait, The engine's running At the gate.

Don't believe what you've heard, "Faithful's" not a bad word.

Oh, won't you save these Bachelor Kisses now, they're for your brow. Oh, won't you save these Bachelor Kisses now, they're for your brow."

-- "Bachelor Kisses" (2008) by THE RADIO DEPT. (a cover of Brisbane indie rock band THE GO-BETWEENS, originally released 1984)

Sources: www.discogs.com/release/15434769-The-Radio-Dept-Bachelor-Kisses, Pulitzer, Lyrics, various, etc...

Lund, Sweden (by fede 92)

Lund University, Sweden, 2023

Queen Live!

Lund, Sweden, Olympen, November 27, 1974, during 'Sheer Heart Attack Tour'

Lund University Library, Scania, Sweden

(Kasper Vang Hansen)

Gerard Way’s makeup 2005 vs 2022

Color version of an older photo.......

Lund   -   Eduard Valenta

Swedish, b.1940 -

Oil on canvas, 46 x 54 cm.

Joel for 140th anniversary of Gröna Lund.

"...A BEAUTIFUL RECORD WHICH USES DELICATE SONGWRITING AND DISTORTED WHITE NOISE IN EQUAL MEASURE."

NOTE: Still my all-time favorite rainy day album/record, and it's currently raining in my part of the world in case you were wondering. Never gets old, and they remain the best indie band ever, in my eyes.

"THE RADIO DEPT. are a sensational but understated four-piece from Malmo, Sweden. Already cherished in their home country, they are now ready to unleash their quiet storm on the rest of the world. Their debut album "Lesser Matters," is a beautiful record which uses delicate songwriting and distorted white noise in equal measure. They are unlike anything else around, and the better for it, as anyone from Sweden will tell you."

-- XL RECORDINGS/LABRADOR RECORDS on "Lesser Matters", c. 2003

Source: X (formerly known as Twitter), The Radio Dept. bandcamp (official), & e-zakkamania (Japanese online shop).

Lund

I'm really upset with where I am in life right now. For the past year, I have been planning everything in order to go to Grad school internationally, find a job in Norway, and live abroad for at least a couple of years. But it's just been roadblock after road block. I'm now at a place where my options are use what little money I have and get rid of everything I own to do MAYBE one year of my Grad program and risk getting sent back to the US with nothing and no where to go or stay here and get stuck living in my poverty, drug, and crime riddled neighborhood making minimum wage for the rest of my life. And I know those seem like two big extremes, but anything that happens in between is means to an end. And those ends will either be in my favor or against my favor.

The thing that's killing me is that I just don't have money to do what I want to do. I have all this ambition, I have the education, I have to drive and people to vouch for me, I'm a hard worker, and I leave an impression on everyone I meet. I just don't have the MONEY. It's so frustrating. I figured out a way to finish my first year abroad. I have an idea for how to survive the second year. But after that who knows if I'll have the money to stay long enough to find a job. The Swedish Migration Agency says I need about $10,000 USd in my bank account in order to obtain a residence permit for one year. But all this time I should've been planning to have three times as much to fit my three year timeline.

So I ask around, trying to figure out how other Americans have planned for this. What I get in return is, "I'm not using loans" "I had some money saved up" "I have family in Sweden." AND ITS SO FRUSTRATING (I need a stronger word than that)

Because WHY SHOULD I be excluded from these opportunities when my merit is all there. I had enough to get admitted, that means something. I'm on par with all these people.

But I was born into poverty. A poor, uneducated family in a brown neighborhood in a country that favors white people. And I really am stuck. This is what we mean when we say it's a cycle. I've done as much as I could. I've researched for hours on end. I pulled money out of my ass and utilized every resource I had access to and yet I still can't progress because I'm poor. It's not fucking fair.

It's not fair that I have the potential to do something great. I have ideas. I have an honest passion and a desire to help and all I want to do it let my educational and professional history convey that so that when people see this weird little puerto rican girl from kensington, Philadephia, they won't judge or let their biases poke through. I want to be on a leveled playing field. I JUST. NEED. MONEY.

This Friday, the 30th of May, is Walpurgis Night! (Valborgsmässoafton, or simply Valborg, in Swedish). Walpurgis Night is celebrated in several European countries. It is a celebration of Saint Walpurga, but in Sweden it is, before anything else, a celebration of the arrival of spring. It is traditionally celebrated by gathering around huge bonfires. At the oldest universities in Sweden, a lot of more or less local Valborg traditions take place.

One tradition is that the student choirs gather before the bonfire is lit to sing songs celebrating spring. Längtan till landet, (longing for the countryside), is perhaps the most iconic one. It was written as a poem in 1838 by Herman Sätherberg, and arranged for a male choir in 1839 by Otto Lindblad. The song is often referred to by it's initial lyrics, "Vintern rasat" (Winter has been raging). The lyrics describe the snow melting away, to give way to spring and summer.

Although the song is traditionally sung by a male choir, here is an example of a version with a female student choir from the university of Lund, one of the oldest in Europe. The singers are, as is customary, wearing their student caps from their graduation from gymnasiet.