Friday, November 30, 2007
SWALLOWS by Kathleen Jamie -- A Scots poet
SWALLOWS
I wish my whole battened
heart were a property
like this, with swallows
in every room -- so at ease
they twitter and preen
from the picture frames
like an audience in the gods
before an opera
and in the mornings
wheel above my bed
in a mockery of pity
before winging it
up the stairwell
to stream out into light.
Thanks to John Hildebidle for sharing this with me.
I wish my whole battened
heart were a property
like this, with swallows
in every room -- so at ease
they twitter and preen
from the picture frames
like an audience in the gods
before an opera
and in the mornings
wheel above my bed
in a mockery of pity
before winging it
up the stairwell
to stream out into light.
Thanks to John Hildebidle for sharing this with me.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Monday, November 26, 2007
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Friday, November 23, 2007
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Monday, November 19, 2007
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
BBC NEWS | Africa | Displaced in Somalia: Faduma
BBC NEWS | Africa | Displaced in Somalia: Faduma
There but for the grace of God go I.
Compassionate ones, why is this in our world?
What can be done?
I contribute to Doctors Without Borders
You? Feel free to add your favorite aid group.
Basta.
TSC
Monday, November 12, 2007
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Ted Berrigan: A poem
Poem: "I Used to Be but Now I Am" by Ted Berrigan, from The Collected Poems of Ted Berrigan. © University of California Press, 2005. From G. Keillor's The Writer's Almanac
I Used to Be but Now I Am
I used to be inexorable,
But now I am elusive.
I used to be the future of America,
But now I am America.
I used to be part of the problem,
But now I am the problem.
I used to be part of the solution, if not all of it,
But now I am not that person.
I used to be intense, & useful,
But now I am heavy, & boring.
I used to be sentimental about myself, & therefore ruthless,
But now I am, I think, a sympathetic person, although
easily amused.
I used to be a believer,
But now, alas, I believe.
I Used to Be but Now I Am
I used to be inexorable,
But now I am elusive.
I used to be the future of America,
But now I am America.
I used to be part of the problem,
But now I am the problem.
I used to be part of the solution, if not all of it,
But now I am not that person.
I used to be intense, & useful,
But now I am heavy, & boring.
I used to be sentimental about myself, & therefore ruthless,
But now I am, I think, a sympathetic person, although
easily amused.
I used to be a believer,
But now, alas, I believe.
Two Pigs - New York Times Verlyn Klinkenborg
Two Pigs - New York Times
One of America's best editorial writers -- Verlyn Klinkenborg writes about the pending slaughter of his pigs, and lifts the veil for us to see when an animal's life is taken - killed for meat. Klinkenborg manages to matter of factly write of the necessity of violence, witness, and sacred ritual.
basta,
TSC
Seattle Artist Julie Paschkis' NYT Children's Book Review 11/11/07
NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW: Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal: A Worldwide Cinderella
Julie is a friend and one of the best artists in America-- her playful intelligence informs all of her art, comforting us with an ancient art form -- connecting American common sense with Russian primitive beauty.
Best fishes,
TSC
Friday, November 09, 2007
Faith in a fact --by William James
"A social organism of any sort whatever, large or small, is what it is because each member proceeds to his own duty with a trust that the other members will simultaneously do theirs. Wherever a desired result is achieved by the co-operation of many independent persons, its existence as a fact is a pure consequence of the precursive faith in one another of those immediately concerned.
A government, an army, a commercial system, a ship, a college, an athletic team, all exist on this condition, without which not only is nothing achieved, but nothing is even attempted. A whole train of passengers (individually brave enough) will be looted by a few highwaymen, simply because the latter can count on one another, while each passenger fears that if he makes a movement of resistance, he will be shot before anyone else backs him up.
If we believed that the whole car-full would rise at once with us, we should each severally rise, and train-robbing would never even be attempted. There are, then, cases where a fact cannot come at all unless a preliminary faith exists in its coming....Faith in a fact can help create the fact."
-- William James, from "The Will to Believe" (c. 1896)
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Poem by Palestinian American Narmeen
Narmeen Dakak wrote me this week to ask for help publishing her poetry. I love poems and poets. Ms. Dakak is 14 and American Palestinian and has been writing poems for about 2 years.
If only you knew
If only you knew
The tears I shed at night
The memories I remember when I cry
The pain I feel when im sad
The feeling of lose when im mad
Remembering you and how you used to be
Wishing you weren’t changed
And go back to being the friend I once had
I once loved
I once adored
And looked up to
But now that’s gone
If you only you knew
The pain I feel every night
The wetness of my pillow
The thoughts of you and me
The feeling of depression when I see what could have been
Watching what I have lost
Hoping one day it was all a dream
And not reality
The pain I feel
When I know that you are there
just not for me
Knowing that you still love me
Just not like it used to be
Knowing that I threw it away
And it wont come back
If only you knew
My reality behind my eyes
If only you saw
How im faking the smile everyday
How im hiding the pain of you inside
How im trying really hard to forget you
But I see you everyday
And this is reality
And life wont change for the benefit
And your not willing to change for me
And im willing for you
How I would be there till the end with a smile on my face
And how you would wander off somewhere
With the look of interest in something other than me
And the pain I feel when I follow
Knowing I cant give up
If only you knew
The pain I feel
Everyday of my life
The sadness behind my eyes
The lies that I say
The fake life that I live for you
The love that I have fading away
Hatred moving upon reality
And life ending slowly
And soul dying
And crying
And If only you knew
If only you knew
If only you knew
The tears I shed at night
The memories I remember when I cry
The pain I feel when im sad
The feeling of lose when im mad
Remembering you and how you used to be
Wishing you weren’t changed
And go back to being the friend I once had
I once loved
I once adored
And looked up to
But now that’s gone
If you only you knew
The pain I feel every night
The wetness of my pillow
The thoughts of you and me
The feeling of depression when I see what could have been
Watching what I have lost
Hoping one day it was all a dream
And not reality
The pain I feel
When I know that you are there
just not for me
Knowing that you still love me
Just not like it used to be
Knowing that I threw it away
And it wont come back
If only you knew
My reality behind my eyes
If only you saw
How im faking the smile everyday
How im hiding the pain of you inside
How im trying really hard to forget you
But I see you everyday
And this is reality
And life wont change for the benefit
And your not willing to change for me
And im willing for you
How I would be there till the end with a smile on my face
And how you would wander off somewhere
With the look of interest in something other than me
And the pain I feel when I follow
Knowing I cant give up
If only you knew
The pain I feel
Everyday of my life
The sadness behind my eyes
The lies that I say
The fake life that I live for you
The love that I have fading away
Hatred moving upon reality
And life ending slowly
And soul dying
And crying
And If only you knew
Cut Carbon: Bummer, Better, Best
Here is new sketch-- rough draft art "Bummer, better, best!!" highlighting cartoons of the worst to best transport tools for people today. What do you think? Should we add some message or let the art speak for itself?
Bumpersticker? Card? small poster?
Bookmark?
I would appreciate your editorial.
best fishes,
Timothy
PS: I want to make a series of these -- next up an incadescent light bulb, compact fluorescent and the sun with bummer better best underneath.
Monday, November 05, 2007
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Saturday, November 03, 2007
Devices Enforce Cellular Silence, Sweet but Illegal - New York Times
Devices Enforce Cellular Silence, Sweet but Illegal - New York Times
Cell phone jammer: I want one. There. I said it. Arrest me for my pleasant thought of quieting a rude fellow traveler. I think cell phone jammers ought to be free and abundant. Sell them as Rudeness Jammers -- for all people who feel their conversations about groceries, work, and --oh honey I am almost at my bus stop merits anyone else's precious time.
basta.
TSC
Cell phone jammer: I want one. There. I said it. Arrest me for my pleasant thought of quieting a rude fellow traveler. I think cell phone jammers ought to be free and abundant. Sell them as Rudeness Jammers -- for all people who feel their conversations about groceries, work, and --oh honey I am almost at my bus stop merits anyone else's precious time.
basta.
TSC
Worsening the Odds - Bob Herbert Health Care Editorial New York Times
Worsening the Odds - New York Times
Health care rationing of the worst kind is happening in America today. Herbert tells the story of a carpenter named Lonnie who doesn't have health insurance and won't go to the hospital until it is too late.
Dies at 45 of brain cancer. Totally unnecessary. Yet how many people do you know who have put off treatment or preventive exams just because they cost too much?
This rationing of health care -- not easy free access for preventive care like every other country -- is a moral and ethical noose around America's neck.
Health care delivery is polite lynching-- because poor white, black and brown people are being ganged up on by an inhumane health care system that insures wealthy doctors and insurance ocmpanies get paid, even as it denies coverage to those who need it most.
Grim reaper health care of the worst kind, Lonnie's story is America's story-- when you let a market and private enterprise insurance run health care-- the market -- by definition -- creates winners and losers. This is no way to be together. Publicly funded, single payer health care takes the profit out of health care and gives it to millions without.
And it would help those who are underinsured sleep better knowing that even if they got sick, they wouldn't go bankrupt trying to get better.
How many great little businesses and innovation haven't been started because someone working at a big company is afraid to make the leap into self employment because they can't afford to finance their own health care?
There are losses all over the place because of the high crimes being perpetuated with health care regime today.
The biggest one ( sounding too conservative for me here) is the lack of competitiveness created with American businesses and other countries -- all of which have subsidized health care.
This has to change. But you wonder how? When Congress, unions and other progressives have gold plated health care. These people pay lip service to single payer, but no one is in the streets yet.
People used to gather and watch lynchings all the time -- eventually enough people saw the horror behind it and stopped the madness. Maybe that day will come soon in our country where people organize and stop the health care deaths happening every day in America because people can't get decent preventive health care.
I hope so.
Basta. TIm
Health care rationing of the worst kind is happening in America today. Herbert tells the story of a carpenter named Lonnie who doesn't have health insurance and won't go to the hospital until it is too late.
Dies at 45 of brain cancer. Totally unnecessary. Yet how many people do you know who have put off treatment or preventive exams just because they cost too much?
This rationing of health care -- not easy free access for preventive care like every other country -- is a moral and ethical noose around America's neck.
Health care delivery is polite lynching-- because poor white, black and brown people are being ganged up on by an inhumane health care system that insures wealthy doctors and insurance ocmpanies get paid, even as it denies coverage to those who need it most.
Grim reaper health care of the worst kind, Lonnie's story is America's story-- when you let a market and private enterprise insurance run health care-- the market -- by definition -- creates winners and losers. This is no way to be together. Publicly funded, single payer health care takes the profit out of health care and gives it to millions without.
And it would help those who are underinsured sleep better knowing that even if they got sick, they wouldn't go bankrupt trying to get better.
How many great little businesses and innovation haven't been started because someone working at a big company is afraid to make the leap into self employment because they can't afford to finance their own health care?
There are losses all over the place because of the high crimes being perpetuated with health care regime today.
The biggest one ( sounding too conservative for me here) is the lack of competitiveness created with American businesses and other countries -- all of which have subsidized health care.
This has to change. But you wonder how? When Congress, unions and other progressives have gold plated health care. These people pay lip service to single payer, but no one is in the streets yet.
People used to gather and watch lynchings all the time -- eventually enough people saw the horror behind it and stopped the madness. Maybe that day will come soon in our country where people organize and stop the health care deaths happening every day in America because people can't get decent preventive health care.
I hope so.
Basta. TIm
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