Weblog 106
February 17, 2008~ 12:15am
We're torn between two worlds.
There's the beautiful dream world where we allow our minds and imaginations to conjure, and it's a place not unmarked by sadness, but it's sadness like the beauty of Spanish moss draped down from trees; there is a definite theatrical, director's touch to this sadness, and we are the arbiters of how much, and of what it's comprised. We control the impact....
We can be aware that we are dreaming, imagining-- perhaps reading a book in which we are lost to all reality and in which we dwell peacefully, feeling our inner selves drifting off and away from us-- but we are holding the tether nevertheless, and feel the safety of entering into a world of our own making.
But there is the Real World too, and it's full of shadows and hard edges and heartbreaking events. This week has seen the ugly specter of more shootings. This time in Illinois, with more innocent blood spilled senselessly and violently. In this world, we stand at the edge of a large crater, looking across into a vague and frightening expanse of anarchy in which all things appear either threatening or unapproachable in their potential for violence.
In places we take for granted we'll be safe-- in schools, in shopping malls, in churches there are blooms of blood, and this is warfare and the enemy is invisible. The enemy sits beside on the bus- eats next to us in restaurants, drives in cars in the lane beside us- looks like us- but they have frying synapses in their brains we cannot see.
We fear that as these violent events become more numerous, they will become the awful backdrop of a reality that's simply accepted as what life is like in this new century. And we are chilled we may be inhabiting the science fiction world of Michael Cunningham, living in "Specimen Days", with its children suicide bombers roaming the streets in search of targets, for we are not far from that- given the way these events keep exploding all around us.
Since 2001, the world has gotten scarier and more alien to me. People as well. I try and try for some memory of what it was like not to be beset by these kinds of stories in the news, this world of piling corpses and the denial of it on so many levels through consumerism and the new debauchery of spirit that has no care of tomorrow-- like the people frolicking in Poes's "The Masque Of The Red Death- I try, but then I power on the computer or hear a story on the radio, and I am shaken to the core.
Scrape away the veneer of willful 'not seeing' and the picture above comes into sharp, bleak focus. We've become a culture of death.
We wield it, we buy it.....we suffer it more and more in our daily lives, and oh, my friends.....it is getting worse.
But oh, if we want to- if we try- we can find peace in our own lives if not in the world at large, and we can start creatively by imagining the bird that is the soul being released....and it's done with books, with reading, in loving those who dear to you, and in always protecting that which you deem sacred.
It's important to know what these things are, and they're different for everyone, but do cherish them; never permit devaluing of any kind creep into the way we look at these personal, precious things. For me part of that is what I try to do online. It's my own small measure of bringing a little light, a bit of sanity to each week, and I analyze, I muse out loud- I throw images out there that have touched me in some way and through which I try to bridge the gap of disconnection to let folks in a little........to share the fire.
With more and more fires out there- warm fires- perhaps we can build a safer camp.
February 18, 2008~ 5:00pm
Are you a person who loves miniature things? Are you charmed by things 'tiny'?
One of my favorites stories when I was a little girl, was the story of 'Thumbelina'. I loved how she fit into flowers or rode on the backs of sparrows.....and I loved 'Disneykins' too!...and my favorite was Tinkerbell, simply because she was the tiniest.
If you're a person who is still smitten with all things diminutive and faithfully rendered, then you will love this site I happened upon today.
It's the Craftmanship Museum, where you can spend quite a bit of open-mouthed gawking at the wonders there....clocks and trains and airplanes, wood carvings....you name it, if it's made of wood or metal, you're apt to come across it here and it will astound you.
When I think of 'patience'- I think of men and women who render this type of art. It's time-taking and precise. They duplicate faithfully, and in doing so, give us a view of the incomparable beauty of unhurried excellence.
Just the fact that there are people out there who joyfully work at things like this gives me hope for us as a species. With painstaking attention to detail and their pride in workmanship, this is a trip back into history, to the time of guilds and apprentices. There's nothing 'McDonalds' or 'Walmart' here-- this is where mass-production doesn't matter. This exists for itself-- and charmingly, making their own little 'Thumbelinas'-- these are artists at work.
February 18, 2008~ 1:30pm
This was downtown this morning just as a snow squall came through. It left the south hills (where I live) momentarily a sheet of ice. Luckily since I'm already at work at 6:30 a.m., this later rush hour nightmare missed me, but we're not out of the woods yet with this weather. An 'Alberta Clipper' they're calling this front......but oh, my, it sure does look pretty.
February 21, 2008~ 9:30am
One of nature's wonders....and a gorgeous one at that! Have you ever heard of PRINCE RUPERT'S DROPS?
CLICK ON the picture above to find out about these marvelous 'tadpoles'. They created quite a stir back in the 17th Century when jokester Prince Rupert of Bavaria entertained his own court with this precursor to the modern hand-buzzer. LOL!
February 21, 2008~ 9:00pm
The Ise Man Cometh
John McCain is all over the headlines today for alleged 'hanky panky' with lobbist, Vicki Iseman. So the mud-slinging has begun, and now we're winding up for a real old-fashioned political melee- and I must say the 'improprieties issue' couldn't have surprised me more. This is quite a feat from a Republican, given how they are steeped in FAMILY VALUES and all... of course, we can't count the evangelical right-wingers....those bunnies are always wrasslin' with their damn libidos... but from a stiff- and according to my own sweetie- "a man with barely functional tiny arms, like a Tryrannosaurus Rex"- this is downright amazing.
McCain's history of infidelity while married to wife No. 1, then tossing out wife No. 1 and snatching up wife No. 2- much younger and well-heeled to boot- already had me question his carping on integrity, etc., but I am posting this today because I wondered if anyone noticed the resemblance of this Iseman character...
to the repeated, wide-eyed wet-dream of Sandro Botticelli females? For instance these...
...
Not bad from the side-- but if you'd see her head-on, you'd find the eyes creep right back to her ears!- and what about that picture of her in a gold sheath gown? What's with those strange bulges under her dress- both at navel level, and what looks to be either a sanitary belt- or some kind of kinky hip-bracelet she may be wearing low-slung on her pelvis?
Oh, and I almost forgot- here is another Botticelli- but it could just as easily be Iseman in yet another fancy clingy gown, and with John in tow....
He sure does look happy, doesn't he? Can't blame a guy for trying with someone who is 30 years younger than his own decrepitude, now can you? Money talks and yes, bullshit walks-- as you can easily see from the strolling couple above.
Do I care about whether or not little Dino made it with this paid Washingtonwhore lobbyist? Not in the least- however influencing his vote though sexual hijinks does bother me, and that's the issue here- and only that one.
(But hell, we Democrats suffered through the Ken Starr witchhunt, with all its attendant 'cigar jokes'....so why not this?) Payback's a bitch. Try keeping issues on track while every reporter in the world is chasing after your bed sheets...yah......that's no fun at all, but better to bring a political campaign to a screeching halt than a presidency. I can think of a million better things to do with tax dollars than tar-and-feather a man because of his stupid randiness.
And Ms. Iseman..... someone should clap two big old books to the sides of your head and snap those eyes back into place. (And that bit of advice dear lady, is free of charge- a concept lobbists might find rather hard to fathom.)
UPDATE: Oh brother. Turns out Vicki is a western Pennsylvania girl. Went to IUP, then shot like a rocket to the top from sheer personal cheerleading. Look at this sickening article from her old Alma Mater. Look who's she's proudly standing beside. Just that first paragraph makes my gorge rise. Hey......you know that strike-out word above? Well, you can substitute that with-- "special assistant"-- any day of the week.
***
(Return To Weekly Archives)
We're torn between two worlds.
There's the beautiful dream world where we allow our minds and imaginations to conjure, and it's a place not unmarked by sadness, but it's sadness like the beauty of Spanish moss draped down from trees; there is a definite theatrical, director's touch to this sadness, and we are the arbiters of how much, and of what it's comprised. We control the impact....
We can be aware that we are dreaming, imagining-- perhaps reading a book in which we are lost to all reality and in which we dwell peacefully, feeling our inner selves drifting off and away from us-- but we are holding the tether nevertheless, and feel the safety of entering into a world of our own making.
But there is the Real World too, and it's full of shadows and hard edges and heartbreaking events. This week has seen the ugly specter of more shootings. This time in Illinois, with more innocent blood spilled senselessly and violently. In this world, we stand at the edge of a large crater, looking across into a vague and frightening expanse of anarchy in which all things appear either threatening or unapproachable in their potential for violence.
In places we take for granted we'll be safe-- in schools, in shopping malls, in churches there are blooms of blood, and this is warfare and the enemy is invisible. The enemy sits beside on the bus- eats next to us in restaurants, drives in cars in the lane beside us- looks like us- but they have frying synapses in their brains we cannot see.
We fear that as these violent events become more numerous, they will become the awful backdrop of a reality that's simply accepted as what life is like in this new century. And we are chilled we may be inhabiting the science fiction world of Michael Cunningham, living in "Specimen Days", with its children suicide bombers roaming the streets in search of targets, for we are not far from that- given the way these events keep exploding all around us.
Since 2001, the world has gotten scarier and more alien to me. People as well. I try and try for some memory of what it was like not to be beset by these kinds of stories in the news, this world of piling corpses and the denial of it on so many levels through consumerism and the new debauchery of spirit that has no care of tomorrow-- like the people frolicking in Poes's "The Masque Of The Red Death- I try, but then I power on the computer or hear a story on the radio, and I am shaken to the core.
Scrape away the veneer of willful 'not seeing' and the picture above comes into sharp, bleak focus. We've become a culture of death.
We wield it, we buy it.....we suffer it more and more in our daily lives, and oh, my friends.....it is getting worse.
But oh, if we want to- if we try- we can find peace in our own lives if not in the world at large, and we can start creatively by imagining the bird that is the soul being released....and it's done with books, with reading, in loving those who dear to you, and in always protecting that which you deem sacred.
It's important to know what these things are, and they're different for everyone, but do cherish them; never permit devaluing of any kind creep into the way we look at these personal, precious things. For me part of that is what I try to do online. It's my own small measure of bringing a little light, a bit of sanity to each week, and I analyze, I muse out loud- I throw images out there that have touched me in some way and through which I try to bridge the gap of disconnection to let folks in a little........to share the fire.
With more and more fires out there- warm fires- perhaps we can build a safer camp.
February 18, 2008~ 5:00pm
Are you a person who loves miniature things? Are you charmed by things 'tiny'?
One of my favorites stories when I was a little girl, was the story of 'Thumbelina'. I loved how she fit into flowers or rode on the backs of sparrows.....and I loved 'Disneykins' too!...and my favorite was Tinkerbell, simply because she was the tiniest.
If you're a person who is still smitten with all things diminutive and faithfully rendered, then you will love this site I happened upon today.
It's the Craftmanship Museum, where you can spend quite a bit of open-mouthed gawking at the wonders there....clocks and trains and airplanes, wood carvings....you name it, if it's made of wood or metal, you're apt to come across it here and it will astound you.
When I think of 'patience'- I think of men and women who render this type of art. It's time-taking and precise. They duplicate faithfully, and in doing so, give us a view of the incomparable beauty of unhurried excellence.
Just the fact that there are people out there who joyfully work at things like this gives me hope for us as a species. With painstaking attention to detail and their pride in workmanship, this is a trip back into history, to the time of guilds and apprentices. There's nothing 'McDonalds' or 'Walmart' here-- this is where mass-production doesn't matter. This exists for itself-- and charmingly, making their own little 'Thumbelinas'-- these are artists at work.
February 18, 2008~ 1:30pm
This was downtown this morning just as a snow squall came through. It left the south hills (where I live) momentarily a sheet of ice. Luckily since I'm already at work at 6:30 a.m., this later rush hour nightmare missed me, but we're not out of the woods yet with this weather. An 'Alberta Clipper' they're calling this front......but oh, my, it sure does look pretty.
February 21, 2008~ 9:30am
One of nature's wonders....and a gorgeous one at that! Have you ever heard of PRINCE RUPERT'S DROPS?
CLICK ON the picture above to find out about these marvelous 'tadpoles'. They created quite a stir back in the 17th Century when jokester Prince Rupert of Bavaria entertained his own court with this precursor to the modern hand-buzzer. LOL!
February 21, 2008~ 9:00pm
The Ise Man Cometh
John McCain is all over the headlines today for alleged 'hanky panky' with lobbist, Vicki Iseman. So the mud-slinging has begun, and now we're winding up for a real old-fashioned political melee- and I must say the 'improprieties issue' couldn't have surprised me more. This is quite a feat from a Republican, given how they are steeped in FAMILY VALUES and all... of course, we can't count the evangelical right-wingers....those bunnies are always wrasslin' with their damn libidos... but from a stiff- and according to my own sweetie- "a man with barely functional tiny arms, like a Tryrannosaurus Rex"- this is downright amazing.
McCain's history of infidelity while married to wife No. 1, then tossing out wife No. 1 and snatching up wife No. 2- much younger and well-heeled to boot- already had me question his carping on integrity, etc., but I am posting this today because I wondered if anyone noticed the resemblance of this Iseman character...
to the repeated, wide-eyed wet-dream of Sandro Botticelli females? For instance these...
...Not bad from the side-- but if you'd see her head-on, you'd find the eyes creep right back to her ears!- and what about that picture of her in a gold sheath gown? What's with those strange bulges under her dress- both at navel level, and what looks to be either a sanitary belt- or some kind of kinky hip-bracelet she may be wearing low-slung on her pelvis?
Oh, and I almost forgot- here is another Botticelli- but it could just as easily be Iseman in yet another fancy clingy gown, and with John in tow....
He sure does look happy, doesn't he? Can't blame a guy for trying with someone who is 30 years younger than his own decrepitude, now can you? Money talks and yes, bullshit walks-- as you can easily see from the strolling couple above.
Do I care about whether or not little Dino made it with this paid Washington
(But hell, we Democrats suffered through the Ken Starr witchhunt, with all its attendant 'cigar jokes'....so why not this?) Payback's a bitch. Try keeping issues on track while every reporter in the world is chasing after your bed sheets...yah......that's no fun at all, but better to bring a political campaign to a screeching halt than a presidency. I can think of a million better things to do with tax dollars than tar-and-feather a man because of his stupid randiness.
And Ms. Iseman..... someone should clap two big old books to the sides of your head and snap those eyes back into place. (And that bit of advice dear lady, is free of charge- a concept lobbists might find rather hard to fathom.)
UPDATE: Oh brother. Turns out Vicki is a western Pennsylvania girl. Went to IUP, then shot like a rocket to the top from sheer personal cheerleading. Look at this sickening article from her old Alma Mater. Look who's she's proudly standing beside. Just that first paragraph makes my gorge rise. Hey......you know that strike-out word above? Well, you can substitute that with-- "special assistant"-- any day of the week.
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