Okay, hello to any interested parties. Yeah, that means you, Bearspawprint, Johnny, Charles, Dennis, LaBelleStudio, Lisa and whoever else who might have been wondering why I’ve been so MIA. I’m not sure I’ve found something positive to post about at length. But while finally attending to my email –yeah, I’ve been an equal opportunity AWOL entity on more than the blogland front– a few thoughts crossed my mental landscape — nothing earthshaking, I assure you. I hope this finds everyone enjoying some part of being alive at the moment of reading. If not, it’s my understanding that there are seven seasons of True Blood available for viewing online to help with your perspective. Or perhaps not. Do you get the idea as to why I’ve not been posting for some time? Hmm?
One:
While I’ve been absent from my blogcasa The Breakfast Special’s Sarge and Lily–and their supporting cast, have been running amok for hundreds of pages. Currently I am not sure it’s a good idea on my part to continue posting their romantic adventure online. Thoughts on the pros and cons of this issue are welcome.
Two:
Why the f*&k is Soy appearing in everything from mayo to bread to soup where it serves no purpose except as a filler? I have no affection for soy products as I am allergic to to soy–and its increasing presence in food items where it serves no value is pissing me off royally. Ooops, this isn’t quite positive, is it? But I do feel better for venting. That’s positive relief. Frack Soy.
Three:
My ever delightful friend, Berit, shared this insightful commentary about rape culture in poetic form. Nothing is perfect, but I do think it makes a point well worth sharing. And anything that slams the TSA is right up my alley along with Freedom of Speech. Hmm, the positive is in the poetry. Or so I’m thinking as I’m typing. Hence, let me present Anna Binkovitz’s poem “Asking for it”.
Anna Binkovitz of Macalester College, performing during prelims at the 2014 College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational. Macalester placed 5th overall in the tournament.
Button Poetry is committed to developing a coherent and effective system of production, distribution, promotion and fundraising for spoken word and performance poetry.
We seek to showcase the power and diversity of voices in our community. By encouraging and broadcasting the best and brightest performance poets of today, we hope to broaden poetry’s audience, to expand its reach and develop a greater level of cultural appreciation for the art form.
Four:
Lantern Journal Magazine can be found on facebook for anyone interested in a serious Art Journal. At the moment I cannot paste a link to its website. I have no clue why.
Five:
I’m ending this post now before I start backpedaling like crazy before hitting the post button. 🙂
Music video features segments from several of the 56 songs included on the album Poetry Classics To Funky Hit Beats, Vol 1. . . . . The producers state: “We sought to create poetry with music that would attract the roots, Mos Def, Common, Immortal Technique, El-p, Jean Grae, Rakim, The Coup, Dead Prez, Public Enemy fans as well as fans of classical, pop, rock, Salsa and Reggae. “
If you click-through to watch on YouTube there is more information about the contents of this video. Enjoy.
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What poets and poetry do–or aspire to do. Or not so much. Still, 1874 connects with 1979–poetry travels through time much like Dr. Who.
(c)1874 Lyrics Arthur William Edgar O’Shaughnessy
Born in London 14 Mar 1844, died 30 Jan 1881.
Music Jake Riviera (1979)
Produced by Ingo Schantz
Engineered by Andy Lunn
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A film for anyone even thinking of ‘teaching’ poetry –or anything else for that matter.
Keating’s Triumph~ Maurice Jarre ~ Dead Poets Society
Rachel Rocky Bernstein’s unique blend of music and poetry has been delighting audiences since she started in slam at age 17.
She was a member of the 2006 Youth Speaks Seattle slam team, taking 4th in the Brave New Voices international competition, and coach of the 2010 Seattle Collegiate slam team which placed in the top ten. This year, she will be representing Seattle at the National Poetry Slam, and is honored to be on a team with greats Tara Hardy, Karen Finneyfrock and Maya Hersh.
Rachel is also an elementary school music teacher and spends her days singing, dancing, inspiring, and playing music with kids . Seattle will be sad to see her go this August when she moves to Barcelona, Spain to teach music at an International School and pursue her life-long passion for opera. http://www.seattlepoetryslam.org
It’s all about the DOTS, of course. Since much of my art is composed of tiny dots–a technique called stippling--Michio Kaku’s little chat about his new book caught my attention. Once I lay eyes and hands on The Future of the Mind hopefully I’ll have more to say about it than the fact that my curiosity is highly aroused by Kaku’s notions. What’s brewing in your mind?
Hmm, how’s that poem working for you? May not make the publishing book grade, but it does the introduction rites job today. Sort of. Books are strange things. Never know just what you’ll find between their covers–hard copy or electronic, it makes no difference when the words are what make the mental meat of the matter. I have no clue how good or bad Medsger’s brand spanking new book reads. Yet. It’s literally a NEW release by Random House-as in publication dated yesterday. Ironically the historical story it features is decades old. New book for an old untold story about American citizens taking things into their own hands in order to get to the truth of what matters. According to the interview on Democracy Now! this morning, the newspaper media nearly failed them. The truth was very HOT to handle. Some political folks so feared the FBI that they turned their backs on the right to information regarding illegal activities by the FBI. One mailing of copied documents never reached its destination. Can we say “intercepted”? Or maybe just an honest mistake on the part of the postal service. I wouldn’t bet a penny on that.
Clearly history is repeating itself in current events. The stakes are just as high regarding freedom and civil liberties. A portion of the public is very paranoid. J. Edgar Hoover would be proud of the media spin on all things of politics regarding the military industrial complex and corporate personhood for inducing much paranoia–according the old documents stolen and “released.” Some times it’s just no fun having a theory proven. My next observation might seem like a side issue, but it’s not. How many ‘cop’ shows are on television? How many feature all sorts of fancy surveillance techno toys? How many feature terrorist threats week after week? How many evoke sympathy for the hardworking agents no matter what their flaws? Have you gotten used to the sound of gunfire from watching crime shows on television? Ever notice the lack of emotion from the people doing the shooting and the characters giving and recieving the news that someone has been killed?
Side note: At the opposite end are the medical heroes who do everything they can to save lives and then seem to suffer a sense of loss when their patients die. Hmm. I’ve yet to encounter any such doctor in my life experience. I’ve managed to send a couple running in a panic. I guess that proved those well educated individuals were human after all.
“Excuse me, doctor, but that’s not his sense of humor. At the moment, he really thinks you’re all aliens out to kill him. He’s a lot stronger than he looks. I advise exercising caution when handling.” Watch doctor run back to ER room.
Back to the regular word flow:
I wonder if there’s a television program in the works about TSA folks in order to show us just how good all their intentions are as they intimidate, strip search, x-ray, hassle and belittle people everywhere with impunity in order to keep people safe. The irony of TSA is a steak so thick an axe is needed to cut the meat.
What’s your paranoia meter reading? I know people who freak out every time there’s a plane crash and others who fear the sight of police people wearing gun holsters. I also know a fair number of folks who don’t give a flying f&*^ about anything except their daily routine and money-making. As long at those boats are not rocked, all is well in their universe.
Is there a safety lock somewhere?
Is this piece fully loaded?
Careful with the drones~
Make sure they fly right~
Status quo depends on the system flowing, flowing, flowing…..
http://www.democracynow.org – One of the great mysteries of the Vietnam War era has been solved. On March 8, 1971, a group of activists — including a cabdriver, a day care director and two professors — broke into an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania. They stole every document they found and then leaked many to the press, including details about FBI abuses and the then-secret counter-intelligence program to infiltrate, monitor and disrupt social, political movements, nicknamed COINTELPRO. Calling themselves, the Citizen’s Commission to Investigate the FBI, no one was ever caught for the break-in. The burglars’ identities remained a secret until this week when they finally came forward to take credit for the caper that changed history. Today we are joined by three of them — John Raines, Bonnie Raines and Keith Forsyth; their attorney, David Kairys; and Betty Medsger, the former Washington Post reporter who first broke the story of the stolen FBI documents in 1971 and has now revealed the burglars’ identities in her new book, “The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover’s Secret FBI.”
Watch part 1 of this interview: http://youtu.be/GMWuJipChs0
Today is one of those days. You know the sort. One of those days where you start off loaded with positive intentions that quickly are buried under the murky weight of dark news information freely flowing from one edge of the cyber swamp to another. Haiku was on my mind at dawn. Something about the crisp cold snow seemed sensible for a few brief lines. Then I got online and hit Democracy Now! for some news. I know better than to start every day off with Amy Goodman’s “War and Peace Report”. For mental health reasons, I try to switch it up for different times of the day after the livestream broadcast. Some days it’s better to read the transcripts rather than listen. Real news can be very disheartening. I don’t know how the news staff of this independent news venue manages day in and day out to thrive on a steady diet of The Dark Side of Humanity–without perky blonde cleavage or airy breathless reading of text monitors. Seriously. Actual journalism work is not for the faint of heart.
A report on the death of another gang rape victim in India lingered long after I moved on to other online tasks. I thought it was disheartening enough to learn that a woman is raped in India every 11 minutes–until I learned that there’s a rape every 6 minutes in the United States. These numbers maybe be skewed because so many rapes go unreported. Violence against women has been on my mind lately. It’s hard to avoid–fans of Downton Abbey will even get a taste of it. Yes, I watched ahead via online venues. In real life, things for the women of Afghanistan are at about the worst ever. So much for all the USA lip service paid to making life better for women and girls. Not so far in the back of my mind loiters the question: What is wrong with all the people who rape women, children and men? Are they born-hard wired to engage in such violence or are they made by their environments? Maybe they’re nature’s form of human predators for our species? I’m not sure. Before I forget, The Invisible War aired on PBS–again. It’s an expose about the rape epidemic in the military. Ladies, I know it’s tempting for some to enlist for economic reasons like supporting your family or college funds–but do so knowing the risks you’re taking by hitching a money ride with the armed forces on any front. Take note, men aren’t escaping the sexual violence either, they’re also targets. I’ve had conversations with people who say that rape has always been a part of war. Hmm, hard to dent that fact. But, how does that explain military people raping the men and women in their own ranks? Is that a by-product of military training people to kill, torture and rape other people who they’re taught to view as non-humans? Possibly. What’s going to happen when the rapists return home? Are they going to cease engaging in violent sexual crimes?
Well, this is now very far afield from haiku about biting frost. Or is it?
Maze of Injustice–The failure to protect Indigenous women from sexual violence in the USA–pdf file. This is the size of a small book complete with very informative end notes.
Revolutionary Association for the Women of Afghanistan ~ RAWA is the oldest political/social organization of Afghan women struggling for peace, freedom, democracy and women’s rights in fundamentalism-blighted Afghanistan since 1977.
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