Friday, November 30, 2007
Adios!
Thank you all for participating in this little mind experiment this month. I enjoyed the dialogue. Some of you enjoyed this month less than others. That's okay, I've always been more at home with revolutionaries and mystics than the saintly and orthodox. That's probably a symptom of too much liberation theology. Afterall, Jesus spent most of his time with tax collectors, prostitutes, and the poor sick and homeless. His work was done amongst what most considered the dregs and outcasts of society not amongst the "church". When he did get to the church he was so mad at what he saw going on there, he tore the place apart.
Who are you hanging out with?
I'm trying to think of something to leave you with that could wrap up our time together. I've come up with a few options. Pick the one that you feel suits you best.
1) Y'all don't wanna hear me you just wanna dance. ~OutKast
2) Everyone has the right to be stupid, this guy (meaning me) just abuses the privilege. ~Anonymous
3) The problem to be faced is: how to combine loyalty to one's own tradition with reverence for different traditions. ~Abraham Joshua Heschel
4) Jesus was a revolutionary. ~Anonymous.
I love each and every one of you. Don't miss me too terribly much.
Who are you hanging out with?
I'm trying to think of something to leave you with that could wrap up our time together. I've come up with a few options. Pick the one that you feel suits you best.
1) Y'all don't wanna hear me you just wanna dance. ~OutKast
2) Everyone has the right to be stupid, this guy (meaning me) just abuses the privilege. ~Anonymous
3) The problem to be faced is: how to combine loyalty to one's own tradition with reverence for different traditions. ~Abraham Joshua Heschel
4) Jesus was a revolutionary. ~Anonymous.
I love each and every one of you. Don't miss me too terribly much.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
YES!!!
I'm going to the UCLA v. USC football game on Saturday! Go Trojans! This is probably the second best, maybe the best, regional college football rivalry in the nation. Number one might be Michigan and Ohio State but this rivalry is in the same city. I'm stoked to go.
And now for something completely different. Interested in saving a little energy? Try Blackle.com as your computer's home page.
And now for something completely different. Interested in saving a little energy? Try Blackle.com as your computer's home page.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
My favorite poem
"Anthem" by John Powers (1999) keep in mind this poem was written to be performed, not read.
before i begin
let me say that blank stares may abound
as round as zeros
rise in the eyes
of misunderstanding,
therefore I feel most comfortable
speaking in tongues�
i am a white man
but my eyes are not glowing green
with manifest destiny
i have no anthem to sing
& i can see you as you can see me
as you seem to know me
so i be� so i be�
�gin with the color of my skin
because extremism is a luxury
bought by those with expensive taste
but poor understanding
quickly swallowing half truths
because whole meals take too long to digest
while offering lint balls as charity
to empty stomachs growling reality
generalization is quick sand
kickstands
are sinking
rapidly
no atrocity is concrete
except for what i have done
because i resemble the cop
that kicked you in the head
i came at you
while i raped you
after you were blinded on our date
i lied to you
after i deprived you
opportunities i gave away
to keep control of the class
i am the head of
i fed insanity LSD & Narcotics!
i AM RJ Reynolds
a cancerous HG Wells
selling you a science fiction
that sells diction
in voice boxes
tied with bows
of oxygen tubes
i used to murder my father
the mad doctor
on the mountain top
i forged my green card to Atlantis
Smith & Wesson are my cousins
John Colti is my alias
URANIS IS MINE!!
i own the moon
i am the son of the sun
hiding in the shadows
revising history
resurrecting God
in my image
i have no anthem to sing
& i burned the proof
in old paintings for light
as i redrew Christ
from photo reference negatives
changing black to white
(a color that pleased us)
who was that model for our savior Jesus?
i forget, but he looked nothing like me�
but he was me�
because you & i ARE me
except i chopped down
the trees of slavery
then sat on the boards
to make prisons
used the surplus
for high backed Virginian electric chairs
presented them to every new King rising
to take my place
ignored the cries of color
muttered discrimination
let INCRIMINAION be heard
as cause because
i am not a normal man
i have no anthem
the deeds of generations
weigh me down
i am not a mortal man
i'm a guilt machine flogging myself
with unseen whips of remembrance
of everything i have done
slipping through life on the slick
my ancestors spilled greasing the system
while throwing off approaching race cars
i am that baby on board
who saw the potential i did not earn
now i'm a tourist in my own town
a bearer at my own funeral
walking below this Provident Skyline
trying to figure out how
to undo everything
i have done to the world
throughout time
SO CUT ME DOWN
my atrocities go farther back
than you can imagine
because i own the sins of the father
of my father's forefathers
& their 4 forefathers
& fathers that go farther
back than that
SO CUT ME DOWN!
the sins of a millennium are pushing
against the blade!!
of my left shoulder�
raised because my right arm cradles
my daughter
yet to be born
someone i will teach
just as i've been taught
everything my father has done
cut me down
just explain to her why
i had no anthem to sing
before i begin
let me say that blank stares may abound
as round as zeros
rise in the eyes
of misunderstanding,
therefore I feel most comfortable
speaking in tongues�
i am a white man
but my eyes are not glowing green
with manifest destiny
i have no anthem to sing
& i can see you as you can see me
as you seem to know me
so i be� so i be�
�gin with the color of my skin
because extremism is a luxury
bought by those with expensive taste
but poor understanding
quickly swallowing half truths
because whole meals take too long to digest
while offering lint balls as charity
to empty stomachs growling reality
generalization is quick sand
kickstands
are sinking
rapidly
no atrocity is concrete
except for what i have done
because i resemble the cop
that kicked you in the head
i came at you
while i raped you
after you were blinded on our date
i lied to you
after i deprived you
opportunities i gave away
to keep control of the class
i am the head of
i fed insanity LSD & Narcotics!
i AM RJ Reynolds
a cancerous HG Wells
selling you a science fiction
that sells diction
in voice boxes
tied with bows
of oxygen tubes
i used to murder my father
the mad doctor
on the mountain top
i forged my green card to Atlantis
Smith & Wesson are my cousins
John Colti is my alias
URANIS IS MINE!!
i own the moon
i am the son of the sun
hiding in the shadows
revising history
resurrecting God
in my image
i have no anthem to sing
& i burned the proof
in old paintings for light
as i redrew Christ
from photo reference negatives
changing black to white
(a color that pleased us)
who was that model for our savior Jesus?
i forget, but he looked nothing like me�
but he was me�
because you & i ARE me
except i chopped down
the trees of slavery
then sat on the boards
to make prisons
used the surplus
for high backed Virginian electric chairs
presented them to every new King rising
to take my place
ignored the cries of color
muttered discrimination
let INCRIMINAION be heard
as cause because
i am not a normal man
i have no anthem
the deeds of generations
weigh me down
i am not a mortal man
i'm a guilt machine flogging myself
with unseen whips of remembrance
of everything i have done
slipping through life on the slick
my ancestors spilled greasing the system
while throwing off approaching race cars
i am that baby on board
who saw the potential i did not earn
now i'm a tourist in my own town
a bearer at my own funeral
walking below this Provident Skyline
trying to figure out how
to undo everything
i have done to the world
throughout time
SO CUT ME DOWN
my atrocities go farther back
than you can imagine
because i own the sins of the father
of my father's forefathers
& their 4 forefathers
& fathers that go farther
back than that
SO CUT ME DOWN!
the sins of a millennium are pushing
against the blade!!
of my left shoulder�
raised because my right arm cradles
my daughter
yet to be born
someone i will teach
just as i've been taught
everything my father has done
cut me down
just explain to her why
i had no anthem to sing
Labels: poetry
Monday, November 26, 2007
Existential Pinball
I haven't posted in a while and I'll use the Thanksgiving holiday as my excuse. I hope everyone enjoyed theirs. I've only got a few more days on here. Only a few more posts to get all of your feathers ruffled. Just kidding. That is not my goal. (I have not forgotten about the education post, I do have more comments and if it's the last thing I do on here I will respond. I'm lazy, what do you want?) However, I realize that I've shared very little about myself. Here's a few things you might find interesting.
1) I just got a haircut. It is as short as it has ever been. See that picture up there. Okay, not quite there but almost. (That's the French philosopher Michel Foucault).
2) I love love love spoken word and slam poetry.
3) I just started a new hobby, it's candle making. I've made four votive candles so far and I'm getting better.
4) I haven't dated and Apostolic/Pentecostal girl in almost ten years. I don't know why, we just don't click.
5) My girlfriend and I just broke up. I'm having trouble dealing with it. That's probably the real reason I haven't posted on here. She's got me in an existential conundrum. Here's the deal:
I'm single again, whatever that means. I don't understand the word right now. I could go out and meet other people. pretend I'm not in love with another woman. But I always could have done that. The only thing that stopped me then is the same thing that stops me now. That is my love for her.
She is the only person I've ever been with that when we were together other women did not exist. I saw them but the thought of trying to flirt with someone else or be with anyone else never once entered my mind. There was no possibility of temptation. It was an amazing feeling. I've never experienced it before. I hope I can have it again.
No, we didn't have a huge blow up fight and break up. Neither of us met someone else. I didn't fall out of love with her and she didn't fall out of love with me. She needs a break because she's not ready to be in a relationship right now.I don't know how long this is going to be. Maybe it'll be a few weeks, maybe a few months, maybe a few years (the thought of that kills me). It could be forever. I hope to God that it isn't. It sounds cliche but I don't feel like I can live the rest of my life without her right now. So, I hope that it's temporary (however long that is) and that she and I will end up together. When she decides she wants to be in a relationship, I want it to be with me. I will always love her and she is still my best friend. That much we haven't lost.
I'm trying my best to maintain that friendship without being the weepy needy ex-boyfriend. Any advice from people who have been through this "gotta keep the friendship but also have to manage my intense feelings" scenario before is welcome.
Labels: candle making, miscellania, random facts, relationships
