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I wish to register a complaint.
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| Camp Courage |
[Nov. 20th, 2009|03:26 pm] |
It's been two weeks since I attended Camp Courage. I've been processing the results ever since, knowing that I would write about it at some point, which I guess is now.
For anyone who doesn't know, Camp Courage is an ongoing series of trainings put on by the Courage Campaign, centering around the issue of marriage equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people. It was a two day course in community activism and organization for this issue specifically, though the lessons were meant to be applicable to other progressive activism. The training consisted of some lecture and a lot of interactive, small-group exercises.
( Here follow my impressions that will likely be a bit long. ) |
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| Book review: Gardens of the Moon |
[Nov. 20th, 2009|02:48 pm] |
Let me begin this review by saying I cordially despise most of what is passed off as fantasy literature in the modern world, more especially if it is "high fantasy" or "high concept." I am that rare reader of the genre who couldn't get past the beginning of the second book of the "Sword of Truth" books, am saddened by the profusion of Shannara lit and don't even get me started on the wheel of Slime. George R. R. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" renewed my faith that somebody could still write in this genre, but it's a damned lonely place for me of late.
So I began Steven Erikson's "Gardens of the Moon" which is the first of a trilogy called the "Malazon Book of the Fallen" with great trepidation, little commitment and my hopes very low. And damned if it didn't completely snare me, seduce me and win my heart. It's complex, morally ambiguous, tightly plotted, with a lot of characters to care about on all sides of the multilateral conflicts that form the skeleton of the story. In fact, it was difficult for me to choose whom to root for as just about everyone was against just about everyone else, and many of them were worth caring about, even the ostensible villains of the piece.
It's a dark, high magic world where gods and mortals interact quite directly, though the interactions are hardly one-sided, which is one of the more interesting parts of the attraction of the world for me. Magic is nicely mysterious yet self-consistent, a really hard trick to manage. The hints about the history that I have so far show a richly conceived and textured place. The non-humans are not Tolkien-fodder at all, and the spice of their difference adds more to the tasty brew.
I don't want to say too much about the plot, as it would be difficult to avoid spoilers, even in a short summary, but suffice it to say that it involves a conflict between a young empire and old, non-human powers, in which gods intervene directly, though not in the Iliad sense of things. Within that basic structure are a bushel of personal and cultural conflicts that leave you guessing who is on which side and why.
My only quibble is that the ending felt a little anticlimactic, as certain character arcs were short-circuited by other character arcs, leaving one a wee bit dissatisfied with their lack of resolution. Of course, this is book 1 of 3, so the arcs will continue on and I may be happier with the story as a whole. This alone prevents a perfect score, but I'm still giving it four and a half coins of luck out of five. |
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| Parent fail. |
[Nov. 17th, 2009|11:35 am] |
There are some days when I am the most awesomest dad ever. This is apparently not one of those days.
It seems that in putting Zachary in his snuggly warm sweat suit, I managed to put him in it both backwards and inside-out, a fact that caused Jackie some suffering, since she took him with her to drop Colin off at school. Apparently she received a number of disapproving looks by people who must have thought he was her kid and she didn't know how to dress him properly. Poor Jackie.
Ok, so I rectified this problem but somehow managed to fail to properly fasten the diaper correctly. When I scooped him up in preparation for his heading out with Jackie, I was dismayed to discover a suspicious lack of anything between his suit and his little buttocks. I was even sadder to discover the disheveled lump of diaper hidden in his pants leg. Jackie laughed at me a lot, and really why wouldn't you; I have just copped the incompetent Dad of the month award.
In my defense, the sweat suit has the nubbly fabric on one side and the smooth fabric on the other, and the snaps on top are off on the side in some weird designer's idea of baby chic. Nubbly fabric should go on the inside damn it! I am a victim of fashion, yeah that's it. And the diaper, well Zachary did say "yes" when I asked him if he'd undone it, but I don't know whether to believe him or not.
I'm now off to find some socially acceptable form of parental hara-kiri. And to think, [ Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<lj-user="erisian_fields">') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.] There are some days when I am the most awesomest dad ever. This is apparently not one of those days.
It seems that in putting Zachary in his snuggly warm sweat suit, I managed to put him in it both backwards and inside-out, a fact that caused Jackie some suffering, since she took him with her to drop Colin off at school. Apparently she received a number of disapproving looks by people who must have thought he was her kid and she didn't know how to dress him properly. Poor Jackie.
Ok, so I rectified this problem but somehow managed to fail to properly fasten the diaper correctly. When I scooped him up in preparation for his heading out with Jackie, I was dismayed to discover a suspicious lack of anything between his suit and his little buttocks. I was even sadder to discover the disheveled lump of diaper hidden in his pants leg. Jackie laughed at me a lot, and really why wouldn't you; I have just copped the incompetent Dad of the month award.
In my defense, the sweat suit has the nubbly fabric on one side and the smooth fabric on the other, and the snaps on top are off on the side in some weird designer's idea of baby chic. Nubbly fabric should go on the inside damn it! I am a victim of fashion, yeah that's it. And the diaper, well Zachary did say "yes" when I asked him if he'd undone it, but I don't know whether to believe him or not.
I'm now off to find some socially acceptable form of parental hara-kiri. And to think, <lj-user="erisian_fields"> thought I was competent to safeguard her little ones while she was away. Crivens! |
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| The Gift Economy, and a cool album |
[Nov. 2nd, 2009|11:26 am] |
The Mellower, by Yellow Gold is an album I never would have heard of if I were not a listener to Buzz Out Loud, Cnet's podcast of indeterminate length. The engineer of that show, Jason Howell put it together, and I happened to hear mention of it on an episode from last week.
So I went to the Band Camp site for the album and checked it out, discovering in the process that it is sold on a pay-what-you-like model, where you set the price, which can be free. I love this idea.
Now, I have a connection to the artist, if only as a member of a podcast crew that I really enjoy, so I went in expecting to pay for the album. It's nine tracks, so I figured I'd pay something like $7.99, but it was also available in .flac format, which pleased me and bumped my price up to $10. I might have paid less for an album by someone I had no connection to. I then determined that I would listen to it and if it merited praise, I would spread the word about it.
It does merit praise. It's a nicely put-together album that reminds me a bit of somewhat simplified Beck. There are some neat lyrical figures and the music occasionally breaks from expected convention to do something interesting. It's well-produced, and all in all I am going to enjoy getting to know it better.
So, here's a little lesson in the Gift Economy, the sort of thing that Jeff Jarvis advocates in his recent book about Google. Jason Howell is known to me because of his role in Buzz Out Loud. I love the show and feel personally warm towards its presenters. I hear that he has an album. I hear that he is using a pay-what-you-like-including-free model. I am personally motivated to support the artist and ideologically motivated to support the model, so I go and buy what I could have downloaded for free. Having listened to it, I am now giving it the modest buzz of which I am capable in hopes that others in my social circle will follow suit and purchase the album. If so, and if they also provide buzz, then perhaps the wave spreads outward and Jason is able to produce more revenue than he expected.
I like the way this economic model feels. I like the album as well. |
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| It's amazing what pain, suffering, fatigue and dysfunctional lungs can do to cheer you up. |
[Oct. 27th, 2009|09:18 pm] |
So I went back to Aikido tonight for the first time in six months. Yeah, it's been that kind of half year of sucky health, sucky finances and general suck. I probably shouldn't have gone back tonight; I was weak as a kitten and had/have the stamina of an aged dung beetle. My lungs are still on fire and disgorging copious amounts of goo. All my large muscle groups are shaking with fatigue. I gave myself a charlie horse tying my damned shoe leaving the dojo tonight.
And the thing is, it wasn't a kill-you-and-eat-you class tonight. It was a very internal, philosophy-rich class with the physical parts concentrating on really small, though necessary concepts of center, non-resistance and self-awareness. In good health, I wouldn't have even broken a sweat.
And yet, with all that, I am in so much better a frame of mind than I was even this morning. While I may pay a price for having gone, it is totally worth it. I had to go to kick start all my creative juices which have been completely mired in unproductive places for the last month.
And now, I've a belly full of jambalaya, and am gently sipping a lovely 20-year-old Scotch whiskey that arrived in the mail today. Yes Virginia, they actually mail Scotch to you now. This seductive little tramp is a cask-strength Speyside from the Mortlach distillery. It has a rich nose of toffee and caramel flavors, with a lot of promise of sweetness and malt flavor, along with a strong alcohol hit. (it is 55.7% ABV after all.) The mouth feel is rather lighter than I expected, and the sweetness promised is coyly withheld until the very end of the taste, after a delightful alcohol warmth, and notes of lime, burned toffee and an almost IPA bitter, maybe citrus rind. There is a delicate smoke, almost sensed in the nose while drinking rather than tasted. Finally, a long, sweet malty finish follows the deeply relaxing warmth into my chest.
All in all, this may be my second favorite Scotch ever, and I look forward to sharing it with them as like assertive whiskeys. You could water this and it might be good, but I simply don't have the heart to do it. Maybe on a second tasting, which will certainly not be tonight.
All in all, a lovely ending, even though Zachary peed all over our bed. We'll see how I feel tomorrow. |
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| Party moving. |
[Oct. 25th, 2009|09:02 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | party | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | wanting my good health back, d | ] |
In light of the Dead Rock Stars show, and the lack of positive responses to my party invite, I'm going to move the birthday celebration part of things to either Saturday 11/7 or 11/14. If the date makes a difference to any of you, the point is to have as many of you come as possible, so let me know and I'll make a final date decision some time this week.
We will still be having some sort of Halloween festivities over here and anyone is welcome. Let us know so we can plan around the annual candy-begging ritual. |
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| Party announcement. |
[Oct. 21st, 2009|10:49 am] |
Since Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, and I will be really busy over the following weekend attending Camp Courage, we will be hosting a combination Halloween/Chris's 42nd birthday party on 10/31 from, say 5 PM onward. I may or may not be lying in state post-neutering, but in any case, we would like to invite our near and/or dear to come join us for this celebration. There has been a dearth of parties lately, and we need an excuse to clean up the house.
I'd have posted sooner, but I wanted to make sure we had finished the plague so as not to give evil hobbit birthday presents to all and sundry.
If you are reading this, you are invited. I'm being lazy and not filtering to local people. It will be the usual Menagerie pot-luck. Presents aren't required, but if you feel so inclined, I'm formally beginning a Scotch whiskey collection, which I will share generously. I'm also hoping to make liquid nitrogen ice cream, though we'll see if that actually happens.
There will be some subset of people going trick-or-treating with the boys, but others will stay and party.
Anyway, if people could let us know who might be coming, it will aid us in figuring out the size of the potential gathering.
See you soon. |
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| International House of Plague, the update |
[Oct. 16th, 2009|09:58 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | flu, h1n1, plague | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | The Hot Zone | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | tired | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Howard Shore- The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King - The Return of the | ] |
The boys are doing much better thank you. I am on the mend, though I probably still have a few days of occasional woogliness to go. Sadly <lj user="erisian_fields" has finally given in to the odds and is down with it. We can probably get her treated in a timely fashion, so hopefully, her case will be easier or at least shorter than the rest of us. |
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| The Kimberly Trip returns in triumph. |
[Oct. 15th, 2009|11:12 pm] |
Fans of The Kimberly Trip are aware already that their new album, Generation Stereotype came out at the CD release show here in Sacramento last Saturday. (If you aren't yet a fan of the Kimberly Trip, then bloody well get over there and hurry up and become one.) Herein follow some thoughts I have on listening to the new album.
In the interests of legal full disclosure, I received a contributor's copy for my violin part on the song "The Only Road". I am in no other way professionally related to the group, except through personally enjoyable past spots on their last three albums. I am not writing this review at their behest. The preceding disclaimer and disclosure comes from the legislation on blogging that is in Congress that requires that any relationship or receipt of review copies be mentioned by any reviewer. I wouldn't want to fall afoul of such very important work of our esteemed Congress, now would I. Never mind Health care, climate change, energy policy or those other trivial problems, policing of bloggers is clearly the most important thing that your Congresscritter can be doing at this moment in history.
But I digress.
I heard this album in whole for the first time a couple of months ago, on the day I laid down my violin track. At the time, I was not entirely sure what I thought, it was a departure from the KT I know and love. I heard some brilliant things, but all in all, I was worried it would turn out to be another "Popularity Contest", the group's previous effort which was for me a very flawed creation, containing some gems, "Shy girl From Orange County", "Second to Fade", "Number One With a Mullet", and the explosive "The Send-off., along with songs that felt more flawed to me. There were anumber of songs that worked live that didn't play as well on the album-listening side.
I was guardedly positive in my comments at the time, allowing as how I needed to sit with the completed album for a while before giving my final commentary.
I have now done that. (Having a four-year-old who would listen to it over and over again for days helps with that process.) This album is emphatically the best KT release since "Catastrophic Behavior" in 2004? It's at least strong from beginning to end, with great swaths of brilliant, exciting earworms for the unwary, and a hand grenade of a song anchoring the middle of the album.
I cannot compare GS and CB. They are different enough that any comparison would be pointless, like trying to say which is better, Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi" Blood Sweat and Tears' "Symphony for the Devil" or Poe's "Haunted". The lyrical, musical and atmospheric elements of the two albums are too different to allow for a useful comparison.
All of which is to say that "Generation Stereotype" departs from past KT efforts quite dramatically, from the driving instrumental "Future That Never Was" and "CA" opening barrage, right through the really addictive "Kissing in Digital", a song I disliked on first hearing, but now have come to really dig. This is a darker, harder KT sound, bigger and showing the increasing influence of keyboard writing that has grown in complexity and relevance from previous efforts. The sequenced parts are now full elements in and of themselves in the songs, rather than being the halting and timid efforts of past albums. In short, GS is a fully mature modern pop album.
Now, there are those of you who will be distressed by this. Many of us miss the softer, more personable KT sound of the early group. It is present in places here, the (for me) heartache-inducing "The Only Road" probably brings its fullest expression, and is a worthy heir to other beauties such as "Snowflake" "Second to Fade" and "Fairy Tale Life". There's plenty of juicy lushness hung from Kim's plaintive, determined vocal for any long-time fan to take comfort in.
And speaking of Kim's vocals, they have been the one thing that has improved steadily from album to album, both in production and in her delivery. "Generation Stereotype" is no exception here, as Kim shows an even bigger range and technical prowess than on "Popularity Contest". Whether it's the driving "CA", the pop mortar shell "There's No "i" in "team" But there's a "u" in "stupid", or the forlorn humor of "cliché Love Song", Kim brings it in a way that drives the story of the song home. And I mentioned the hand grenade earlier? "Burn Inside My Skin" will shock people who thought they knew of what she was capable. Listening to that song through headphones, where she whispers into your ear may cause you to have to apologize to your sweetie for cheating or at least have to negotiate boundaries, all while your hair stands on end. I highly recommend the experience to all my readers.
There are a couple of songs that are merely good on this album. "Cliché Love Song" falls short of the rest of the album. I think it does what it set out to do but given the ambition of what is around it, it feels very small and out of place, kind of a hiccup between the pop power of "Love in 90min" and the weirdly fascinating "Kissing in Digital". And the last song, "not_cool" which bears the most obvious DNA of previous KT efforts feels tired lyrically to me. Good to great musical ideas, though a much less compelling melody than others, supporting lyrics that I don't care about.
And my final gripe with this album, and the most important, it is way too short. KT albums have been shrinking right the way along, and have never been generous in length. At under 30 minutes, GS carries this trend to the ridiculous. If I had been paying for this album, I'd not have paid more than $7.99 for it. There's just not enough music, as good as it is. The old adage about leaving them wanting more is no excuse for famine rations. I hope that Jeff will reconsider his ill-advised stance on smash-and-grab albums and that the next release will stagger in at a porcine 40 minutes or so. I hope other KT fans will take up this cry and show him that his market is not content with 29 minutes, no matter how good. Or I may be out of touch with short attention spans, but I don't really believe that.
In sum then, this is a fabulous album. It is in fact, damned near perfect, It should be issued with several earworm warnings. Little Colin is going around singing "Cliché Love Song" at the top of his lungs quite frequently, and I have the lovely little bit of "Kissing in Digital" between the end of the first chorus and the beginning of the second verse wandering through my own head as I write this.
I don't have on-line purchase information for this one yet, but it is likely to be available on the web site. Buy and enjoy. I'm giving it 4.5 * out of 5, and only shorting the half * for the length. |
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| No Dustbunnies for me Friday. |
[Oct. 8th, 2009|07:04 am] |
It is looking increasingly as though the boys may have H1N1 flu, a lot of the symptoms tally and we have had confirmed exposures. In light of this fact, I will definitely not be going to the City on Friday. We'll keep folks posted as to our plague/contagion status. |
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| Casting the die once and for all. |
[Sep. 25th, 2009|02:54 pm] |
Some of you will have seen this story in other venues; I apologize for the repetitions. Too bad there isn't an easy way to write once, post many, with intelligent filtering.
Anyway, I've been unemployed since the end of February. During that time, I've done a lot of thinking about where to go next. I've constructed reasonable business plans, done some meditation, done a lot of applying and other job hunt-related things. And I keep coming back to massage therapy.
I have done this successfully before. I know a lot more about running a business than I did then. I have acquired some confidence and power I did not have then. And, when all is said and done, it's the thing I know how to do that makes me feel good about my work. It's also a job I can do on a flexible schedule so that I can help Crystal do the school thing.
I am going to re-open the business I had in Ann Arbor, that is: A Touch of Reverence. Therapeutic massage will be the cornerstone of what I offer, but I'm also going to offer some tools to empower my clients in meditation, breath work, visualization and other techniques for promoting their own healing and empowerment. I'm going to cross-market to people interested in their own health and to people interested in non-medical model ways of working to improve their health.
I actually began writing a business plan last night. It's a good focusing tool, in addition to being necessary in order to go looking for funding. My goal is to begin the funding search by the beginning of November. (The timing is no accident for those familiar with the alternate New Year.) I'll be looking for a small office near to home with unlimited access. I may move my recording setup over there too, for the sake of quiet.
Make no mistake, this is a somewhat high-risk proposition. I'll be counting on all of you locals to come and patronize my cute little business. (I'll be cheaper than some and more full-service than most.) Depending on how the funding search goes, I may also come to my people for medium-term funding help to get things off the ground. That remains to be seen.
While I am scared about having finally made this decision, it actually seems on rational analysis to be the one most likely to lead to long-term stability. We have a limited window before unemployment funding dries up and blows away. We're going to lose insurance coverage by December most likely. My, well let's be kind and call it a unique resume, does not lend itself to the sort of make-work stopgap jobs that some people take to get through these hard times. (drink) I actually love doing body work. Maybe Obamacare will make it easier for me to purchase health insurance as a small business dude. (Now attempting to banish Munchkin songs from my head.)
The next little while will be spent writing the business plan and looking into various funding sources for the start-up. I will keep everyone posted as I go. I'm happy to receive good wishes, prayers, good advice, money, equipment, chocolate, comfort for when I panic and all manner of good things from y'all. Here's hoping I can return the favor in massage, mead and/or magic. |
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| A neat recording session experience last night. |
[Sep. 22nd, 2009|10:27 pm] |
Last night I went into the recording studio for the band Saveus For those who have been following my adventures, this is the Christian rock band I've been playing with for the last couple of months.
I have to say it was one of the most fun recording experiences I've had. The parts were challenging (I did write the majority of them after all, so I got to make them that way,) I got to do a lot of lead/soloing in several different styles, and while the music is of inconsistent quality, the fervor of the other people doing it is rather infectious in a surprising way.
It's surprising to me, only because it is based very deeply in their faith, which is not of course my faith at all. That topic actually came up last night on the car ride home, and I think we are all happy with the results.
From the beginning of the session, I felt my creative juices flowing really well, and my intensity rose to meet them. I played hard and well. The recording engineer and I have a good rapport, so we were able to experiment with a couple of things that made the recordings better.
I'm enjoying working with these folks in furtherance of what they feel is their Great work. I haven't found it to be oppressive, or their religion to run counter to mine, which is good, since it avoids a lot of complexity.
All in all, a pleasing experience. |
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| Cool security tool from Google. |
[Sep. 22nd, 2009|10:22 pm] |
In episode 214 of Security Now from twit.tv, a listener sent in a cool security tip.
Google provides security reports on web pages as it crawls them. If you go to
http://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=$foobar
Google will return a security report for the domain. So for instance:
http://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=livejournal.com yields the following security report:
Advisory provided by
Safe Browsing
Diagnostic page for livejournal.com
What is the current listing status for livejournal.com?
This site is not currently listed as suspicious.
Part of this site was listed for suspicious activity 190 time(s) over the past 90 days.
What happened when Google visited this site?
Of the 14021 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 141 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 2009-09-22, and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 2009-09-22.
Malicious software includes 3 scripting exploit(s), 2 trojan(s), 2 exploit(s).
Malicious software is hosted on 19 domain(s), including tinnily.info/, convex.ru/, lavyer.info/.
10 domain(s) appear to be functioning as intermediaries for distributing malware to visitors of this site, including lj-toys.com/, goeachscan.com/, susuman.com/.
This site was hosted on 5 network(s) including AS22822 (LLNW), AS10922 (LIVEJOURNAL), AS15169 (Google Internet Backbone).
Has this site acted as an intermediary resulting in further distribution of malware?
Over the past 90 days, livejournal.com did not appear to function as an intermediary for the infection of any sites.
Has this site hosted malware?
No, this site has not hosted malicious software over the past 90 days.
Next steps:
Return to the previous page.
If you are the owner of this web site, you can request a review of your site using Google Webmaster Tools. More information about the review process is available in Google's Webmaster Help Center.
Updated 22 hours ago©2008 Google - Google Home
You can use this to check any domain so far as I know. |
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| Damn, I am a cranky bastard today! |
[Sep. 19th, 2009|04:00 pm] |
There are times when I hate the Internets and the things they do to communication. In particular I hate with deep and purple passion the fact that there are no real-world consequences most of the time for people being asshats. Yeah I know, news flash, right? But I mean really. . .!
And if you're reading this, I'm not cranky at you or referring to you, and it's too long a story to really tell, so forgive the venting, I just want to stab stupid people right now, and that's probably not a socially acceptable thing to do or to feel, but I'm going to attempt to enjoy it while I can. I think I've managed to avoid biting any undeserved heads off so far and will endeavor to continue along those lines.
So, the update, near meltdown on Thursday due to childcare issues, followed by very sweet making up with the sweetie, a relatively laid back yesterday, a cool class, a car accident and attendant kerfuffle on the way home, (everyone is physically all right, the rest remains to be seen) three hours of sleep, and another quiet day, during which I discovered the desire to curse the entire Internet and barely restrained myself, a sleepy football game listening experience, dishes, ants, yeah it's not all that bad really. *stab!!!!!!!!* |
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| Eight years later. |
[Sep. 11th, 2009|09:29 pm] |
I'm sure that there have been three billion pieces written about 9/11/2001 in the last day or two, but this one from Mother Jones is moving in a way that many of them will not be.
I remember that day vividly. I was at home when my friend called from work to tell me to turn on CNN. I tuned in just shortly before the second plane hit the towers in New York. I remember the sense of disbelief and shock that took me as I listened to the amazing and terrifying stories that came from that day.
I remember more, the debates that raged in various fora, the fear and the sorrow, the anger and the desire for vengeance.
I remember my visceral desire to go there and help in any way I could. There was a team of massage therapists who went to New York to give their services to the rescue workers working on the pile. I remember my frustration at not being able to get attached to a group to go with.
I remember my sick horror and fury when I listened to George Bush's speeches following the day. I remember the stories of the people who were part of the events, and the contrast of their quiet nobility with the brazen and craven filth spewed forth by our leaders, the false unity, the rattling of empty saber sheaths and the squandered opportunity to remake our world.
The Mother Jones piece above cited brings back all those feelings and memories to me in a way that almost no piece of writing has done since then. Al Qaida won in every respect by their actions on that day. It was not the people who lost, except insofar as we allowed ourselves to be led by greed, arrogance, fear and the lust for power into a hell of our own making. As the article repeats, it did not have to be so.
So, where do we go from here? There are people who do the needful. ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) thewronghands goes to New Orleans when she can and works to rebuild from Katrina. She has my respect for this act. I point her out because I know of her actions, but she is not unique. There are many people who will do these things, and others who only wait to be shown that such things are possible. Everyone is capable of doing something to make a better country, a better world, it's just that not everyone knows that they can, and that we stand in need of every contribution.
I only hope that should disaster strike where I can help, that I will stand no worse in the test than did thousands of New Yorkers, or the passengers of the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. I hope that none of us are so tested, but if we are, let us do the needful, and never again allow ourselves to be led by fear and the lust for power.
(edit) The link above may well point to the second page of the article. |
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| An autumn poem |
[Sep. 3rd, 2009|09:18 pm] |
I live in a strange land.
Its rhythms do not live in my body.
The softness of summer evenings does not caress my face as of old,
The winter does not challenge me or cleanse me.
And the autumn. . .
I miss the autumn of golden days and snapping cold nights.
I miss the smells of the turning year,
Leaf mold, leaf smoke,
The blade-sharp taste of good cider.
I do not belong here.
This is a beautiful and ancient land,
where the strength of the earth is very close at hand.
But I am no mountain man.
I come from forest country that has become farm land.
I come from lakes and rivers scooped out by ancient ice.
My bones miss the turning wheel of the year.
My skin misses the feel of soft, long-needled pine branches stroking it.
I miss the fury and power of a good summer thunderstorm.
This place has been good to me.
It has given me a family.
It has given me a family beyond that.
It is where I became for the first time fully a man.
But it is not my home.
I don't know its spirits.
I want to go home.
I want to go home.
I want to go home. |
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| Raise your glasses all round. |
[Jul. 20th, 2009|09:29 pm] |
I was less than two when Neil Armstrong first set his boot upon the lunar surface. The only part of Apollo I remember personally was the handshake in space mission in 1975, which marked the bad death of the high frontier in the national consciousness. I have felt cheated ever since I became aware of space, when I first heard that scratchy audio from the moon and learned that we had done that.
It is a source of national pride of course, though the very reasons that made it a national priority were the seeds of the devastation of the space program. But ever so much more importantly, it was an accomplishment for all humanity. We did that. We were bold and outrageous and audacious and smart and brave enough to do that. We flung three men 240,000 miles or so, and landed two of them on the surface of another world. They stood there and looked up and saw their home world in a strange black sky.
How amazing is that? When you compare it with our risk-averse natures these days, it's a wonder we ever had the balls to see it to its conclusion. Three men died along the way, dying horribly in a fire from which no one could save them. Three other men almost died two missions later. And yet I suspect if you asked any of the survivors today, they would strap on suits and ride the thunder right back.
And now, our world faces challenges that will require that same degree of courage, cleverness, commitment and a vision that lasts past the next quarter or the next election cycle. It will require the coming together of peoples from around the world. Are we capable of that anymore?
I think we must be. That capacity cannot have died out of us in forty years. Forty years ago, most of humanity was united in wishing success and safety to our explorers there on the moon's surface. Surely, that is still possible.
So, if you didn't at the moment of the "One small step for (a)? man" speech, charge your glasses, and look up in awe, reverence and pride to the moon in the sky. Raise a toast to Apollo, and what it said about our species.
There's a lot of really bad filk in the world, but there is some tremendous song writing too. I refer you to the Toast for the Unknown Heroes,?a> by, I believe Leslie Fish, one of the best Bless every one of you from the astronauts to everyone who had anything to do with one of our best moments.
"Step by step, the longest march,
Can be won, Can be won.
Many stones can form an arch,
Singly none, singly none.
And together what we will
Can be accomplished still,
Many drops can turn a mill,
Singly none,
Singly none. . ."
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| Am I a bad person for not being inspired by this? |
[Jul. 19th, 2009|10:23 pm] |
Hello, my name is Chris and I am a TED-aholic.
So I was watching this talk by Aimee Mullins from TED, and I was struck by the deep ambivalence I had to it.
So Aimee Mullins is this uber disability achiever, a paralympic sprinter who has spent the last mumblety years being out there representing. She gave this talk about how she had transformed her apparent disability into a source of power. (She does this by harnessing the idea that she can don any pair of prosthetic legs and thus change her disability into an augmentation.
All well and good, so far as it goes. Here's the difficult part. She further talks about the different prosthetics being a partof a conversation about her identity. Ok, I can go that far, but isn't that still defining your identity through external means, rather than as a function of who you are?
And then there's the fact that all this power comes at the generosity of others. She has twelve pairs of these legs, some of which were made for specific projects, body as art. Must be nice to be that connected and/or well off. Give this speech to a vet back from Vietnam or Iraq and see how it flies.
We are meant to be inspired by how disability becomes an actual bonus. Trouble is, we concentrate on superficial means of identity alteration, different height, different artistic looks. And this experience is so out of the ordinary that it can't really stand for a reachable goal for many disabled people. Them as know me know that I don't define myself by my disability, never have, never will, and if I do, I give certain people permission to kick me in the balls in preparation for the shotgun if I continue in my idiotic behavior. But to ignore limitations in favor of what to me feels very superficial strikes me as wildly unhelpful to everyone else carrying the same burden without Ms. Mullins' advantages.
So color me uninspired. But then some people find me a cold fish about this sort of thing. Watch for yourself and let me know what you think. |
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