two party system

so here is a good monday mornig thought. or not.
so democrats are all for social programs and using the govenrment to help people right? well then why are they for free speech? speech is one of the most harmful things out there. people are offended by hateful c omments all the time, shouldn’t the democratic party want to do smoething about that?

republicans want small government right? they want the government to leave people alone? then how come they want a huge ass military? what are they planning on doing with it? and how come it is always a republican involved in a wire tapping scheme or public monitoring thing. that isn’t leaving the public alone.

meh.

New Poetry Thursday

The rain pelting
Dripping from my hair
Down my nose
Off my lips
Tasting sweet
And cold
Like love in autumn
It sticks to
My eyelashes making
Prismatic glows around
Your head
A halo of loveliness
Showing your true form

mix it up

lately it seems that my thoughts have been turned to one of the primal, shared expereinces of humanity. this is something that resonates deeply insode all of us. it is something that we can recognize and identify regardless of race or creed or nationality. i am talking about the singular concept of the mix tape.
i remember the first mix tape i made. her name was Lauren Kremers. we had gone to school together since first grade, but in sixth grade i looked up and noticed she was hot. i fell in love totally and completely. i was in a romantic face and i embraced it. every song i heard reminded me of her. what else could i do but tape them from the radio and then organize them on a tap. i was devoted to the process. i againized over every song choice. i timed it out so there was a minimum of leftover space at the end of the tape. and then i gave it to her. to this day i have no idea if she actually listend to it, but something i did worked and we wnet out for a while.
eventually i lost contact with Lauren as we went to different schools. i pinned for a while, and thought of her frequently. efventually i found another love. she is my one and only (i’m prety sure) and so again i heard love in every songs. now added with computers and CD burners my mix tape was a little more professinoal. the same dedication went into it, if not more with the esase of technology. another mix tape was completed. this time i know she listened, and i know she liked it and was amused. in fact she even made me a mix tape which i love. and i made her another, and she made me another,
but love is easy and relationships are hard. in my darkest hours i wasn’t sure if Audra Lee was right and i strayed. i began to get closer with a female freind of mine and as i did i listend to songs about choosing and about lust. this became my personal play list but when i told her about it she wanted to hear. and yet another mix tape was born.
the songs from mix tapes are scattered about my music libraries and the radio. i hear them and they take me back or forward or to the present like all good songs should. some i don’t even listen to because they are about things i don’t feel and people i don’t feel things for.

questions

So I got Time magazine today, and while reading through it I actually found myself reading the article on the genocide in Darfur. This is not to say that I have not been aware of the situation. I remember the first disturbing article I read at least a year ago (if not longer). But I find that it is too much. The war in Iraq, Genocide in Darfur, countless other war’s and conflicts that one does not remember or keep track of. Then there are the “smaller” travesties of poverty, health care, immigration, discrimination, and other basic, inalieanable human rights that seem to be alienated. It’s too much. I tell myself that I know there is a problem and I don’t need to read anymore about. And since I now that we are all bombarded with this information I stopped saying anything. And slowly Is stopped doing anything.
I think we all need to ask ourselves the question “what am I doing to make the world better?” The answer can be anything. maybe you are getting an education, which can enable you to be part of the debate and make better descisions large and small. Maybe you give money to a charity. Maybe you give money to a homless person. Maybe you type a few words on the internet. It doesn’t really matter what you do as long as you can ask yourself that one question and honestly answer with that inner contentment and pride that you are doing something for more than just yourself. Especialy in this era where technology has made our world smaller and we see our global neighbors on TV everyday. Their problems are more known to us than our actual neighbors. Well, next time you see that report on Darfur on the news or see the headline on Iraq instead of thinking how awful it is, use it as an opportunity to ask the question of what you are doing and how you feel about it. Or not.

Catch27

So I didn’t really get into myspace or friendster (until recently) but i was on the online friend scheme. Being the original guy I am, I latched on to a site my friend sent me called Catch27. On the old Catch you start by creating a trading card (this appealed to the comic geek in me) telling about your deepest darkest (or lightest) self. Then you invite your friends and try to collect as many cards as you can. The actual game is based on trying to “catch 27” cards of a particular theme and then you submit them to the all powerful “prizegiver” and win various prizes appropriate to your pack of cards. The game has been going for a while so it is crucial to be original. you can also get cards by buying them directly or buying a random pack. trading cards is best way to meet people and gain the cards you want.
Since I have no money, no friends and (most importantly) no money I quickly gave up on trying to actually catch 27. Lucky for me there is a great blogging feature. The blogging is great because it is a bunch of people hanging out and trying to win friends which inceases price which is equated with prestige. so everyone blogs about what is near and dear to them. some are funny, some are profound, some are totally random. Of course, some are the typical “my day of high school sucked cuz timmy likes sharon” but you can gloss right over them, or read them for hours if that is what you like.
So this is my unsolicited advert for Catch27. stop by, check it out and if you want to join my wicked awesome pack, click here

Things Other People Accomplished

Things Other People Accomplished When They Were Your Age

I will be 23 in about two months and like most of us I figure I haven’t done much with my life. I don’t know whether this is motivativating or discouraging.

At age 23:

John Singleton directed his first film, “Boyz ‘N the Hood.”

T. S. Eliot wrote “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.”

John Keats wrote “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” which ends with the lines, “‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty,’ – that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. ”

English poet Jane Taylor wrote “Twinkle, twinkle, little star.”

Margaret Mead traveled to the South Seas as part of a “giant rescue operation” to study primative cultures before they perished.

Russian-American pianist Vladimir Horowitz made a spectacular concert debut when, impatient with the conductor’s slow pace, he ran away from the conductor’s tempo and finished Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 several bars ahead of time.

Novelist, playwright, and short-story writer Carson McCullers wrote her acclaimed first book, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.

Truman Capote published his first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms.

Orson Welles produced and performed his “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast, terrifying millions of people. He also got his face on the cover of Time Magazine.

Jack Nicklaus became the youngest golfer to win the Masters.

Francois-Louis Cailler manufactured the world’s first eating chocolate to be commercially produced.

By age 23 Marieanne McKeown survived cancer, raised £5,000 for Sri Lankan orphans and spent five weeks taking care of them in Sri Lanka.

20 Reported Killed as Chinese Unrest Escalates – New York Times

20 Reported Killed as Chinese Unrest Escalates – New York Times
i don’t really know what else to say about this, but everyone should check it out. Things like this still happen in the world. a lot more than we would care to think about.

113315857188848945

Bitter songs
Evocative melodies
Killing me
Pleasant tones
Harsh emotions
Losing strength
Being overcome
Sinking quickly
Too much
Too fast
Head spinning
Ears bleeding
Thoughts racing
Stop
I want to stop
But I listen
Very carefully
Again

The Value of Fame

i want to be rich and famous. it is not that fame and wealth are paticularly appealing to me. who needs people constantly wondering where you’re at and who you’re with? fame is ridiculous in our culture. and its not because we keep track of celebrities at all times. that is just a byproduct of the information age and the speed at which our technology flies. fame is ridiculous because of who we idolatrize. we make giants out of people who don’t do anything. literally. like paris hilton. why don’t we respect diplomats and statesman. why not school teachers or firefighters. we should cheer every time a teacher walks town the street. hell, there should be a ticker tape parade! but i digress. the reason i want to be famous is because then vampires won’t attack me. seriously. think about it, if you were a vampire who would you attack; someone rich and powerful and well known or someone living on the street in obscurity? you know it would be the latter. it would be easier to get to the person for statrers, and vampires seem to thrive on anonymity. have you ever heard of a real vampire attack? probably not. so, bring on the money. bring on the photographers. it’s a small price to pay to keep the vampires away.

argh!

i hate blogging. i hate it and i love it. i love it because it is all the good that the internet can be. my blog can be read by someone halfway around the world. it’s not, but it could be. once that person reads it, hopefully they have some reaction. they may agree, or disagree, or just hate the poor grammar. but no matter what, the blog has become a part of them. whether we like it or not, we are connected in a way. in this age when the powers that be are trying harder than ever to separate us by pointing out our differences, we can get online and read something we like. now, regardless of whatever else we learn about that person, there is still our initial connection to them. we know they are like us. perhaps more like us than we realize.
i hate blogging because it scares me. i don’t like putting myself out there, because what if someone eventually does read my blog, and they think i am an idiot with poor ideas and even worse articulation. i am surprised i was able to do it so consistently for as long as i did. we all have surprises.