Fearless

I like Taylor Swift.

I feel no shame in this.

In fact, I adore her (who doesn't?), and I'll tell you why (because I know you're dying to know):

First, she's a writer, and I've always believed that singers who write their own material are infinitely more interesting than those who show up and sing whatever is handed to them. Did you know that Taylor Swift walked away from her first record deal, because they wouldn't allow her to record her own songs? RCA wanted to package her up like all the other little pop-tarts out there. Which brings us to the second reason:

She's not Britney Spears. She writes her own material. She plays her own instruments. She keeps her clothes on. She seems like a genuinely nice person, and genuinely grateful for the opportunity that she's been given.

Taylor Swift is only twenty, and her life experience is that of a twenty-year old girl, but I relate to what she says. That's the sign of a great writer -- someone that can write personally, and still make it accessible and identifiable to a larger audience. Two months ago, on my last day of work -- at a job I held for ten years, and hated for nine and a half --  as I drove home, facing unemployment, wondering if I could really make the jump into the photography business and with my emotions swirling, I put in Taylor Swift's Fearless. The song the came on first was Change.

"It's a sad picture. The final blow hits you. Somebody else gets what you wanted, again. You know it's all the same, another time and place. Repeating history, and you're getting sick of it. But, I believe in whatever you do -- and I'll do anything to see it through, because these things will change. Can you feel it now? These walls that they put up to hold us back will fall down. It's a revolution, the time will come for us to finally win."

By the time I got home, I believed I could do anything.

I'm not quite there yet, but when I find myself getting overwhelmed by the whole situation, I play Taylor Swift, and it changes me. Every time.

And there are two more reasons.

There's a line from "Fifteen" that sold me on Taylor Swift:

"In your life, you'll do things greater than dating the boy on the football team."

I think that line should be burned over the doorway to the bedroom of every girl in America. And, as long Taylor Swift is writing lines like that, she can play at our house.