The Third Degree

Hi. I am not a writer. I am also not a blogger. But, I have been feeling compelled to start a blog, so here we are. “Horn Tortillas” — A blog about life, classical music, the horn, and amazing food…and/or cats and other cute, adorable animals.

In the wake of the recent presidential election, I have been literally SMACKED with the realization that, ladies and gentlemen, I have been duped. My emotions (and control of them) have been hijacked, and I have allowed them to be, by the media, by fake news, and click-bait articles. Frankly? I’m over it. Yesterday I made the BOLDEST move a young, spritely millennial could make here in the 21st century — I deactivated my Facebook [[edit: I only lasted four days because Spotify]] and said “Adios, Felicia!” to allowing my mind to be manipulated by headlines. There is so much hate, fear, anger, and despair flooding the airwaves right now, and I just don’t want to be a part of it. Any of it. So, I am going to cope by attempting to contribute as much love, peace, healing, and humor back into the world. Even if it means that my only reader is my husband, Jimmy (I love you!). 🙂

My name is Marcus Redden. I am twenty-six years old and am a nighttime composer and career French-hornist, or cornista profesional, si prefieres español. I am happily married, currently living in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico with my bunny Pippin (pictured above), and play Fourth horn full-time with la Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco. The journey of how I came to Mexico is a bit lengthy, and it is my new and current life-aspiration to stop looking backward so often. So, in a nutshell, I keep my eyes wide-open for any and all opportunities, and seize them! Mexico just happened to be the place!

I love food. I love everything about food. I love to eat it. I love to cook it. I love watching movies, shows, documentaries about it. I even love looking at pictures of it. And I am CONSTANTLY trying to change my relationship with it. How I eat, how much I eat, what I eat. Life is a constant…journey of self-improvement. And with daily reminders that “perfection” is mere abstraction, I take on the task graciously and humbly with an open heart and mind. On most days. Sometimes, though, you just have to down an entire pizza in one sitting. AND THAT’S OKAY! Humanism is beautiful.

As I so briefly stated before, I am going to be talking about a lot of things. Without the pressure of ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ and without the incessant battering of posts and statuses, I’m going to basically write whatever I want, whenever I want. And to me, that is so incredibly freeing! I am not going to worry if my jokes will land, or if my sarcasm is too much. I, like our all-time favorite celebrity president-elect, Mr. Donald J. Trump, am just going to speak my mind and tell it like it is. So, gentlemen, start your engines! And may the best — woman — win!