Poetry - Bleeding
I'm standing on the coastline.
And my knuckles are bleeding,
drip.
drip.
drip.
Blue and silver,
Through the tape wrapped over my palms.
Friday, January 25, 2019
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
Quotes - Fred Rogers - Life Isn't Cheap
Quotes - Fred Rogers - Life Isn't Cheap
"Fame is a four-letter word; and like tape or zoom or face or pain or life or love, what ultimately matters is what we do with it.
I feel that those of us in television are chosen to be servants. It doesn't matter what our particular job, we are chosen to help meet the deeper needs of those who watch and listen--day and night!
The conductor of the orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl grew up in a family that had little interest in music, but he often tells people he found his early inspiration from the fine musicians on television.
Last month a thirteen-year-old boy abducted an eight-year-old girl; and when people asked him why, he said he learned about it on TV. 'Something different to try,' he said. 'Life's cheap; what does it matter?'
Well, life isn't cheap. It's the greatest mystery of any millennium, and television needs to do all it can to broadcast that ... to show and tell what the good in life is all about.
But how do we make goodness attractive? By doing whatever we can do to bring courage to those whose lives move near our own--by treating our 'neighbor' at least as well as we treat ourselves and allowing that to inform everything that we produce.
Who in your life has been such a servant to you ... who has helped you love the good that grows within you? Let's just take ten seconds to think of some of those people who have loved us and wanted what was best for us in life--those who have encouraged us to become who we are tonight--just ten seconds of silence.
No matter where they are--either here or in heaven--imagine how pleased those people must be to know that you thought of them right now.
We all have only one life to live on earth. And through television, we have the choice of encouraging others to demean this life or to cherish it in creative, imaginative ways."
-Fred Rogers
"Fame is a four-letter word; and like tape or zoom or face or pain or life or love, what ultimately matters is what we do with it.
I feel that those of us in television are chosen to be servants. It doesn't matter what our particular job, we are chosen to help meet the deeper needs of those who watch and listen--day and night!
The conductor of the orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl grew up in a family that had little interest in music, but he often tells people he found his early inspiration from the fine musicians on television.
Last month a thirteen-year-old boy abducted an eight-year-old girl; and when people asked him why, he said he learned about it on TV. 'Something different to try,' he said. 'Life's cheap; what does it matter?'
Well, life isn't cheap. It's the greatest mystery of any millennium, and television needs to do all it can to broadcast that ... to show and tell what the good in life is all about.
But how do we make goodness attractive? By doing whatever we can do to bring courage to those whose lives move near our own--by treating our 'neighbor' at least as well as we treat ourselves and allowing that to inform everything that we produce.
Who in your life has been such a servant to you ... who has helped you love the good that grows within you? Let's just take ten seconds to think of some of those people who have loved us and wanted what was best for us in life--those who have encouraged us to become who we are tonight--just ten seconds of silence.
No matter where they are--either here or in heaven--imagine how pleased those people must be to know that you thought of them right now.
We all have only one life to live on earth. And through television, we have the choice of encouraging others to demean this life or to cherish it in creative, imaginative ways."
-Fred Rogers
Politics - On Jason Kenney
Politics - On Jason Kenney
On Jason Kenney, and Dignity.
"Why would I never support Jason Kenney?" I was asked today.
I'll explain it as clearly and concisely as I can. I will NEVER support a politician who worked in a movement that advocated for denying gay men the right to visit their own dying spouses.
There is a myriad of other reasons, but that one sticks out the most for me. I don't believe he's changed. I think that is the kind of action that is irredeemable. You do not get a say as an outside party in the practices of another person's systems of grief and mourning, or to deny them their final opportunities with other people. It is reprehensible.
No amount of 'he might be good for the economy' will undo that bloodstain. You cannot equate money, with ethics. As someone who has spent a lot of time studying and writing about ethics, once you begin to allow that compromise, your values will erode.
I will go so far as to say that anyone who supports Kenney, their values are so far removed from mine I have nothing to say to you. Not now. Not ever.
No amount of propaganda from CBC about his 'favourite snack is movie popcorn' will erase the absolute horror in my heart for every person ever affected by his callousness with their personal grief.
Edit:
Citation. https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/kzvnea/alberta-ucp-leader-jason-kenneys-anti-gay-speech-surfaces-on-world-aids-day
On Jason Kenney, and Dignity.
"Why would I never support Jason Kenney?" I was asked today.
I'll explain it as clearly and concisely as I can. I will NEVER support a politician who worked in a movement that advocated for denying gay men the right to visit their own dying spouses.
There is a myriad of other reasons, but that one sticks out the most for me. I don't believe he's changed. I think that is the kind of action that is irredeemable. You do not get a say as an outside party in the practices of another person's systems of grief and mourning, or to deny them their final opportunities with other people. It is reprehensible.
No amount of 'he might be good for the economy' will undo that bloodstain. You cannot equate money, with ethics. As someone who has spent a lot of time studying and writing about ethics, once you begin to allow that compromise, your values will erode.
I will go so far as to say that anyone who supports Kenney, their values are so far removed from mine I have nothing to say to you. Not now. Not ever.
No amount of propaganda from CBC about his 'favourite snack is movie popcorn' will erase the absolute horror in my heart for every person ever affected by his callousness with their personal grief.
Edit:
Citation. https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/kzvnea/alberta-ucp-leader-jason-kenneys-anti-gay-speech-surfaces-on-world-aids-day
Thursday, January 17, 2019
Poetry - To Live In This World - Mary Oliver
Poetry - To Live In This World - Mary Oliver
To live in this world
you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it
against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.
—Mary Oliver,
Rest in Peace.
To live in this world
you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it
against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.
—Mary Oliver,
Rest in Peace.
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
West Marches - The Search for Ioleth
West Marches - The Search for Ioleth
The three riders sat at a darkened table in a nearby tavern hardly touching their now warm ales; Azais monitoring the stable hand and his master down yet another round of whiskey.
Sedriks has a notebook out, ostensibly working on new music pieces, but Quiz and Azais could see the bard was scrawling notations between the notes, keeping track of the exact wording the travelers used and charting in rest beats for how long a distance they had traveled.
The three riders sat at a darkened table in a nearby tavern hardly touching their now warm ales; Azais monitoring the stable hand and his master down yet another round of whiskey.
Sedriks has a notebook out, ostensibly working on new music pieces, but Quiz and Azais could see the bard was scrawling notations between the notes, keeping track of the exact wording the travelers used and charting in rest beats for how long a distance they had traveled.
Politics - On Trump and McDonalds - George Godwyn
Politics - On Trump and McDonalds - George Godwyn
The problem with Trump's McDonald's party isn't that McDonald's is uniquely cheap or unhealthy or unfit for consumption or whatever other classist, pseudo-elitist, crap some of you folks seem to think. The unhealthiness of American fast food is generally overstated by almost everyone, as is its alleged inedibility, and the fact that people on a budget can conveniently access hot, delicious meals for the price of 15 minutes of labor is a miracle of the modern world and there’s no goddamn reason for an American President to be ashamed Americans know how to make some good, cheap hamburgers. Only a people as fat and comfortable and safe as Americans could be confused otherwise. Sorry, Belgium, you may have invented the french fry, McDonald’s made it into crack. Anyway, stop fronting. Y’all just had three cruncheritos and a mexican pizza from the Bell. Shit is good sometimes.
And the problem isn’t that Trump is a billionaire or that this repast took place at the White House on all their high falutin’ china, that fast food is somehow too undignified. America loves that shit. Billionaires eat McDonald’s, too (ask Warren Buffet), and when the fuck did we become the kind of nation that’s offended by our leaders having a goddamn burger on some fancy, company’s coming over, china, anyway? This isn’t Europe, the White House isn’t Versailles, as much as that doofus and our Centaurian first lady would like to pretend it is. McDonald’s is just fine on them high-class plates. (And by the way, the White House isn’t a palace because we don’t have kings and queens, we have employees, and as Trump’s employer, if he wants to snort addie off the Resolute desk and then piss on that big carpet seal while no one’s around, that’s fine with me. He should have the same right to misuse, abuse, and degrade his place of work as any other American worker. If your shirt is so stuffed shit like that is going to bug you, move to the 19th century or a Jane Austen novel or something.)
The problem with Trump's McDonald's party isn't that McDonald's is uniquely cheap or unhealthy or unfit for consumption or whatever other classist, pseudo-elitist, crap some of you folks seem to think. The unhealthiness of American fast food is generally overstated by almost everyone, as is its alleged inedibility, and the fact that people on a budget can conveniently access hot, delicious meals for the price of 15 minutes of labor is a miracle of the modern world and there’s no goddamn reason for an American President to be ashamed Americans know how to make some good, cheap hamburgers. Only a people as fat and comfortable and safe as Americans could be confused otherwise. Sorry, Belgium, you may have invented the french fry, McDonald’s made it into crack. Anyway, stop fronting. Y’all just had three cruncheritos and a mexican pizza from the Bell. Shit is good sometimes.
And the problem isn’t that Trump is a billionaire or that this repast took place at the White House on all their high falutin’ china, that fast food is somehow too undignified. America loves that shit. Billionaires eat McDonald’s, too (ask Warren Buffet), and when the fuck did we become the kind of nation that’s offended by our leaders having a goddamn burger on some fancy, company’s coming over, china, anyway? This isn’t Europe, the White House isn’t Versailles, as much as that doofus and our Centaurian first lady would like to pretend it is. McDonald’s is just fine on them high-class plates. (And by the way, the White House isn’t a palace because we don’t have kings and queens, we have employees, and as Trump’s employer, if he wants to snort addie off the Resolute desk and then piss on that big carpet seal while no one’s around, that’s fine with me. He should have the same right to misuse, abuse, and degrade his place of work as any other American worker. If your shirt is so stuffed shit like that is going to bug you, move to the 19th century or a Jane Austen novel or something.)
Sunday, January 13, 2019
Quotes - Marie Kondo
Quotes - Marie Kondo
“The process of facing and selecting our possessions can be quite painful. It forces us to confront our imperfections and inadequacies and the foolish choices we made in the past…The things we own are real. They exist here and now as a result of choices made in the past by no one other than ourselves. It is dangerous to ignore them or to discard them indiscriminately as if denying the choices we made…It is only when we face the things we own one by one and experience the emotions they evoke that we can truly appreciate our relationship with them.” - Marie Kondo
“The process of facing and selecting our possessions can be quite painful. It forces us to confront our imperfections and inadequacies and the foolish choices we made in the past…The things we own are real. They exist here and now as a result of choices made in the past by no one other than ourselves. It is dangerous to ignore them or to discard them indiscriminately as if denying the choices we made…It is only when we face the things we own one by one and experience the emotions they evoke that we can truly appreciate our relationship with them.” - Marie Kondo
Saturday, January 12, 2019
West Marches - Leaving the Delve
West Marches - Leaving the Delve
Azais trails Sedriks closely as the small gathering of whiskey riders and dwarves disperses. After the events of the evenings lost souls and twisted magic, people were thankfully distracted by their own thoughts. “Not like you to keep souvenirs” she inclined her head to the small bag of steel-briar seeds. Sedriks had requested. “Planning on walking in Mareen’s footsteps?”
"These?" Sedriks holds up the small leather pouch, "Nay. They are a tree I know well. From my father's estate. Similar to tha' one deep in that dwarven manor. I dinnae expect to e'er see the like again. Ye' think me sentimental?"
“Oh I would never” she teased playfully.
"Hah, aye perish the thought." A rueful, and these days infrequent smile flits the Bard's lips.
Azais trails Sedriks closely as the small gathering of whiskey riders and dwarves disperses. After the events of the evenings lost souls and twisted magic, people were thankfully distracted by their own thoughts. “Not like you to keep souvenirs” she inclined her head to the small bag of steel-briar seeds. Sedriks had requested. “Planning on walking in Mareen’s footsteps?”
"These?" Sedriks holds up the small leather pouch, "Nay. They are a tree I know well. From my father's estate. Similar to tha' one deep in that dwarven manor. I dinnae expect to e'er see the like again. Ye' think me sentimental?"
“Oh I would never” she teased playfully.
"Hah, aye perish the thought." A rueful, and these days infrequent smile flits the Bard's lips.
Thursday, January 10, 2019
Life - Anything
Life - Anything
Sometimes say something.
Sometimes say nothing.
Sometimes, say anything.
Don't wait forever.
Sometimes say something.
Sometimes say nothing.
Sometimes, say anything.
Don't wait forever.
Tuesday, January 1, 2019
Life - Fault
Life - Fault
Sometimes, no amount of being told "It's not your fault." sticks. In your head and heart, you always just hear;
"It's your fault."
Over. And over.
It's your fault.
It's your fault.
It's your fault.
The words twist around and around. Over and over in your head. These are personal failings. They are raw wounds that ache invisibly.
Sometimes, no amount of being told "It's not your fault." sticks. In your head and heart, you always just hear;
"It's your fault."
Over. And over.
It's your fault.
It's your fault.
It's your fault.
The words twist around and around. Over and over in your head. These are personal failings. They are raw wounds that ache invisibly.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)