Coming out from a long cold winter. . . .

Wow,

I'm in the Spring

of 2013. 

We made it to the other side.

I will admit, I've been way too busy

to even find words.

I'm deluged in the words of others.

The words of young people,

some of whom

are strangers in the land of written words.

Still,

I could write for hours about what my students say.

I heard a great idea today:

A student named Anthony presented an argumentative paper to me,

and his thesis was that we have to train everyone to be able to recognize

the signs of depression. 

And I said:

Everyone?  How can we do that?

And he said:

Change the education system.

He went on to say:

We worry about physical health,

and we have to take classes about that,

but why not mental and emotional health?

He proposed changes to curricula, beginning at the lowest grades,

in which we teach young people about their emotions.

We can teach them, he said, about the fact that they'll

be sad and happy and frustrated and angry

all in the same day,

and that's normal.

We can teach them ways to manage

their emotional states.

(Like yoga and meditation, I would add.  He didn't say that.)

And we can make it mandatory, Anthony said, throughout their education.

Because our emotional needs change, you know?

Yeah, I know, I said.

Anthony also thought we should teach, in this class,

morality and ethics,

separate from any religion.

So the young know that's it feels best

when they do the right thing.

As Anthony left my office, I thanked him.

And I felt exceedingly 

happy.

Because I think Anthony has a fabulous idea,

that could change the world,

and if Anthony,

and the thousands of young psychology majors in the world

all feel the same way about this,

well, 

we may be going in the right direction,

after all.

mantra

                                           

Every day                                                    

        

                                                           is

Another day

                                                            to

practice

                             being happy.

To be it

                                                          despite

the hurt;

                                                          to smile

through the fog

                                                           to love

through the apathy

                                                          until

You can do it

                                                           everyday

                                 without a hitch.

                                    Today is

                                  another day to

                                    practice

                                  being happy.

                                  being happy.

                                  being happy.

                                  being happy.

                                  being happy.

Been In The Storm So Long

I really thought

that after

12/21/12

we'd enter the time

after the end of time.

Or rather I hoped that.

So far,

it's business as usual.

As we slog through

continued hate,

bickering,

belittling,

I thought I'd toss out

a song,

a prayer:

Hope this storm ends,

soon,

and we all figure out

that we're better off working together

than tearing each other apart.

how do you say "sequester"?

I keep hearing the word,

but I'm still not sure what it means.

So I went online and looked up the meaning of 

Sequester.

Nearly every site I went to gave this as the primary definition:

"To cause to withdraw into seclusion"

Hmm.

So I turned to a far more 

amusing past time.

I listened to the different voices,

at the different dictionary websites,

as they said

sequester.

Here,

you do it to:

online.dictionary

meriam-webster

dictionary.com

thesaurus.com

answers.com

vocabulary.com

If I had more technical savvy,

I might be able to splice them all together,

and make a song.

But I won't.

Notably, when you listen to the pronunciation

of "sequestration"

it's hard not to notice,

that it appears 

that sequestration

includes

castration.

. . . . not too far from where I live

Buffalo, New York

gets a bad rap.

But after all the travels I've done,

and the places I've lived,

this is where I've ended up.

And sometimes they do things here that are just

too right.

Like this:

This is called a "Little Library."

Anyone is welcome to take a book, and to leave one.

they're just out there, on the streets (in the snow!)

And yes, if you're thinking:

isn't that a Frank Lloyd Wright house in the background?

Well, yes,

you're right.

That's the Darwin Martin House, one of the few multiple structure residential complexes 

designed by Wright,

and one of the biggest reconstruction projects of a Wright work.

Yes, I volunteer there, too.

I can't live in a city with something like that going on

and not try to help, even in 

the smallest way.

~ ~ ~

I'd like to say I'm hibernating, by the way,

and that is why I've not been here.

But that's not really true:

I am working like a dog.

I am tired,

and I am also writing~ ~ 

other things,

not this blog.

But I miss this blog,

and love its readers,

and I promise to return,

if only intermittently.

I'll be trying to return more and more

in the next few months

because this blog

helps me stay in touch with me.

'Til next time,

and

I hope it's soon,

here are a few photos

of Buffalo snow

:

stay warm, 

my dears ~ ~

Unlucky, 1 - 11 - 13

Lordy, Lordy,

I hope this doesn't establish a pattern for the year:

Luckily, we learned with 12 21 12

that numbers and their significance

may or may not 

be something to get our knickers in a twist about.

So I'll try not to take this idea that an entire year

numbered 13

could be bad luck,

but

bad stuff is happening, 

forcing people

to either stick their fingers in their ears and pretend it's not relevant

or twist the facts to suit their needs

or to look for a real answer.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Well, I don't mean to make too strong of a parallel

between the suicide of a brilliant man

and controlling guns,

though there is something to be said 

for the fact that yes, I think Aaron Schwartz was chastised

for being too smart.

And sadly, we live in a country where 

being smart is not to be trusted.

And in that same country,

being armed is valued.

For some reason, the idea of anti-intellectual folks

armed with guns

makes me (a college teacher)

really frightened.

I'm going to have a lot more to say about Aaron Schwartz's death,

I think,

but for now I'll say:

something like this was bound to happen.

Aaron Schwartz may have understood,

innately, and early,

that ownership of texts 

is an archaic value.

Knowledge is to be shared,

and if we want to create an intelligent public,

we have to get it out there.

Aaron Schwartz knew that.

May he Rest In Peace.

Love Poem For Today

(from: senior hiker )

My grandmother always said

the honeymoon's over

when you fart in bed,

and then the test of true love starts,

a love that sometimes ignores the heart

and demands a patience greater than

that of the wisest fisherman.

Well,

 you and I are growing old

and seek a fairy tale more real

where companionship is the moral

and star-struck ever-afters, vile,

and bed a place to sleep,

to caress,

to talk and cry

and

to die.

I'll lie by your side,

my gentle prince

and forgive fragrant emissions.

They mark a life

well lived, and full

of wisdom and

forgiveness.

Of pain and disappointment too,

and respect for every hour,

and the worship

of the sacred

in a budding flower.

This love I welcome:

well worn,

flawed,

but always new,

and pray I give the same

to you.

(photo by me)

Diva For Today: Jill Bolte Taylor

Happy New Year, all.

I keep slipping in and out of blogland,

and this doesn't make me happy.

If I'm not blogging, that means I'm over extended somewhere else.

Not a good thing.

Today, I heard this TED talk, and it blew me away.

This woman is a diva, and what she's talking about

could change the world,

if we dare let it.

I also tend to think that what she's talking about is what is wrong with the world:

we're too left brained,

overburdened too with being linear and logical.

So we short circuit.

Listen to what this wonderful woman,

and hear her solution:

Christmas Thoughts, From Rumi and Me

Christ is the population of the world

and every object as well.  There is no room

for hypocrisy.  Why use bitter soup for healing

when sweet water is everywhere?

(Rumi)

and from me:

As Christmas ends,

here on the other side of 12 21 12,

make change in the world, dear friends,

by being the Jesus in yourselves. . . 

wishing you a blessed holiday,

every single day.

And again, from Rumi:

Lovers think they're looking for each other,

but there's only one search: wandering 

this world is wandering that, both inside one

transparent sky.  In here

there is no dogma and no heresy.

The miracle of Jesus is himself, not what he said or did

about the future.  Forget the future.

I'd worship someone who could do that.

On the way you may want to look back, or not,

but if you can say There's nothing ahead,

there will be nothing there.

Stretch your arms and take hold the cloth of your clothes

with both hands.  The cure for pain is in the pain.

Good and bad are mixed.  If you don't have both,

you don't belong with us.

When one of us gets lost, is not here, he must be inside us.

There's no place like that anywhere in the world.

(Rumi - both translated by Coleman Barks)

(both photos taken at Cheestnut Ridge Park, 

in Orchard Park, New York)

Today Is Your Happy Ever After

( from: mapmaker )

As we all know,

tomorrow is 12 21 2012.

Not a perfect palindrome, but nigh close to one.

And it is, according to interpretations of

ancient Mayan reports,

the End of the World.

I read somewhere, in fact, that 11:00 am is a time

to be wary of.

Now, I'm not certain if that accounts for

New Zealand Time,

Eastern Standard Time,

Lunar Standard Time,

Central Time,

Greenwich Mean Time,

or 

what to do about the 

International Dateline.

But either way, be on your best behavior,

because no one truly knows the hour,

but we do have the date,

and that's tomorrow.

Now, I don't mean to be flippant about this matter.

At a certain point in my blogging career,

I was pretty focused on getting folks to straighten up their acts.

Indeed, I wrote a rather naive entry about 11/11/11,

proposing that everyone should be on their best behavior from then until now,

and maybe, just maybe,

if this truly to be the judgement hour,

the Lord On High would forgive us for our transgressions,

if we were to correct them for a year.

But, judging by the events of the last year, 

no one paid attention.

Indeed, it sometimes appears

that evil has compounded,

reaching heights never imagined before.

I need

not give examples, just

fill in a few for yourself.  There are plenty.

( wikipedia )

Will the world end, though?

Come back on Saturday,

by then we'll know.

In the meantime, remember:

if the end is nigh,

today is the day to say

your goodbyes,

to say your "I'm sorry"s

to tell mom you love her so,

to sit in silence

and listen to snow~

I suspect we won't get off so easy,

we won't disappear in a big bang.

We'll do it to ourselves.

We'll destroy our planet,

we'll kill our children,

we'll refuse to compromise,

we'll perpetuate wars on

unsolvable problems,

we'll go on and on and on,

until someday, slowly, we'll realized 

we're dying,

and no one's coming to save us,

or command us,

or damn us.

Our cruelest judge,

when that time comes,

will be ourselves,

each solitary, self-hating self:

as we look in the mirror of our past deeds,

we'll see,

the evil has existed in you and me.

So, too, does the good.

The attitude I've taken,

and the reason I haven't written here for awhile

(that plus my terrible busy-ness!),

is because I believe

Today

is My Happy Ever After.

Every morning,

I wake up

is the day I've lived all my life to live.

And yes,

I've lived them,

one by one.

You, too.

As you prepare for Apocalypse,

live today as it is

your only day,

your happy ever after,

and every person you encounter

is here for your joy.

And then it won't matter

what happens tomorrow.

Because tomorrow will be

just another day

like today.

True Communion

( from: Food52 )

There are words we pass

To pass the time

And words of civility,

And words, like coins,

That fill that rhyme,

And too many of acrimony.

These words we spend

Without a thought,

Disregarding the ceremony

That occurs each time

We pass a word,

Like bread,

From mouth to mouth.

There is a wordspring,

Deep inside, where

Language lingers,

Brooding,

Aching to bond the hearts and minds

Of each sad, solitary human.

So we must treat the sharing of words,

As it should be, as

Communion,

Because in sharing words,

Like bread,

We find immortal union.

(From: Chopra )

Towards a New Kind of Diva: Goldie Blox

You rock, girl:

Looking for America . . . .

It's painful to me,

how long I go without writing here.

I didn't even get in a post-election entry.

But every day my mind and spirit aches for the time

to sit and write,

even the simplest line,

a bad attempt at poetry.

Of course, I'm happy of the outcome,

but like some aging troubadours,

I wonder if we can still do it,

still fulfill the dream. . . 

. . . and so we dream. . . 

dream on . . . 

Vote

It appears that FOX News

has decided to do political analysis of muppets.

It appears they've decided

to pick on someone their own size:

Unfortunately, the effect of this piece of brilliant analysis

may actually just prove them to be precisely what they

are setting out to discredit:

puppets

So now

I send my feeble electronic voice out

across these great United States

and ask you to vote your conscience,

vote with honesty

and the same idealism that so many people used four years ago.

Why I Voted the Socialist Ticket

BY VACHEL LINDSAY

I am unjust, but I can strive for justice.

My life’s unkind, but I can vote for kindness.

I, the unloving, say life should be lovely.

I, that am blind, cry out against my blindness.

Man is a curious brute—he pets his fancies—

Fighting mankind, to win sweet luxury.

So he will be, though law be clear as crystal,

Tho’ all men plan to live in harmony.

Come, let us vote against our human nature,

Crying to God in all the polling places

To heal our everlasting sinfulness

And make us sages with transfigured faces.

. . . after a brief silence: winter, again

Winter again, this year will it be

rugged, demandingly, indeed

it approaches, insisting

attention, and yet we don't heed

the oncoming force that

belittles elections, not to mention T.V.

                                                   Be

ready to be awed in the true sense of the word. Vocabulary

can't encompass

the winter we're about to see.

(I do hope all my blogging friends

are fine.  I've had a terribly busy

semester ~ ~ nice to just

be moving my fingers across the keys!)

Why The Republicans Gave Obama The Election in 2008.

Do you remember 2008

in the U.S.A.?

(from reuters )

I do.

I remember thinking in 2008:

this economy is going to get worse before it gets better.

( from palinnation )

I also remember thinking the Republican Party made a huge strategical error:

They actually thought the American public still wanted a ticket that was at least

half good ol' boy. And half "we need a war hero

to get us out of this mess."

And they were wrong.

America wanted someone different, and

they wanted someone who could speak in a coherent sentence,

( from wikipedia )

someone who could impress middle-America

and the east and west coast as well.

Who would have believed he could be black on top of it?

I wish I could remember when I realized that the Republicans

were going to give Obama the election.

There was some kind of giddy goofy exchange

that I heard between McCain and Palin,

and I thought:

these two aren't serious about this race.

There was also a meeting,

I think it happened in late October 2008,

a precedent setting meeting,

when Obama met with 

all the living presidents,

and I thought to myself:

I would love to be a fly on that wall.

I imagined the conversation went like this:

ALL THE LIVING PRESIDENTS:  "Barack, we're fucked.  America is in

the worst financial shape she's ever been in, most of the world hates us

and doesn't trust us, we're in a really crappy war,

and there's a really good chance that

it will get worse before it gets better.

Want to be the first Black American president?"

OBAMA: (still with the audacity to hope): "yes! I think I can do that!"

And the Republicans,

who have the calculating shrewdness of the very best psychopath,

said, "We think you're the best man for the job.

 The hope you bring

will make America feel good,

and the rest of the world like us

a little

again."

(By the way, that is an imagined dialogue.

Please don't quote me as accurate

;however,

sometimes I think that's precisely what happened:

Barack Obama was offered a place in history.)

 ( from language log )

What the Republicans also knew,

and probably anyone with half a brain also knew

was that, over the four years between

2008 and 2012

 the economy would continue to tank,

the war would get bloodier,

the terrorists would terrorize more,

and

America would forget,

oh so quickly forget

how bad we were before

Barack Obama became our 44th president.

And yes, under this young new black president,

international opinion began to turn,

as the rest of the world hoped, too, that America

was back on course to living in the world with them.

And yes, even as the Obama Administration made attempts,

with no help from the Republicans in Congress,

to change America's course,

the economy tanked more,

as anything in freefall is prone to do,

and terror became homegrown.

In fact, the Conservative spin industry in 2008 knew 

that

by 2010, Americans would be wondering

why things hadn't turned around,

and by 2011, if the Republicans packaged their product well enough

they could tap into middle-America's 

repressed racism

while also squelching

any real reforms

that this upstart young black man

who was given a historical opportunity to be president

tried to initiate.

This was a theory I developed

a little less than four years ago, 

but I was reminded of it,  tonight as I watched the debates.

Who won?  Of course, 

as a person looking for substance,

I'd say President Obama won.

However, I'm not sure everyone will see that.

Nor will they see what I see when I look at Romney.

I look at Mitt Romney and I see a masked man,

and the Republican machine,

the same machine that has blocked attempts

and bipartisanship during the Obama Administration,

has been working hard to build up his mask --

( from independent agenda )

Mitt Romney is

a man who has been documented over and over

again to be a liar, with a bad temper.

He had no substance tonight;

if anything, he just repeated Obama's points.

But I give Romney credit:

he's a smooth schmoozer

when he's not being a bully.

Notice, too, he only talks about

the last four years.

He's relying,

or rather, the Republican-machine is relying

on America's amnesia.

As I say above, they are also relying, I'm afraid,

on White Middle America's

repressed racism.

It's been allowed to build up over the past four years,

and now the Republicans are tapping it,

while promoting a short public memory.

I am writing this entry because

I really feel this election is urgent.

Ultimately,

Mitt Romney,

like Barack Obama,

is a puppet for the larger

parties and interests behind them,

but unfortunately, 

they are puppets with international power.

We know what happened the last time

America voted a puppet into power

who didn't have a strong sense of 

America's place in the world:

(from whatreallyhappened )

We really need to look past

the spin

and ask ourselves:

who do we really want

in the position of president

of this nation?

Never forget.

Anything.

We need to keep our minds

and memories

crystal clear,

and try to maintain,

despite the apparent odds,

the audacity to hope.