Saturday, March 31, 2007
Art and Chaos Day
A Review of Maurice Pialat's A Nos Amours
Pardon me for using one of the oldest of cliches, but A Nos Amours is a film one will either love or hate. At worst it will spread fear into the hearts of all of those who have or will eventually have teenage daughters. At best, it will foster a discuss as to the true nature of love and what inspires it. It begs the question: to what extent do our parents influence the nature of whomever we are attracted?
In her first screen role, Sandrine Bonnaire, (Suzanne) plays a nihilistic, sexually active sixteen-year-old who is incapable, it seems, of feeling love or compassion for anyone who truly loves her. She sleeps with a modicum of young men she meets at summer camp, at parties, at coffee bars, and on roadsides. This is likely to blame for her dysfunctional upbringing. Both parents are lower middle class artisans. Her home life is chaotic--fraught with physically and emotionally violent conflict between all family members. Love/hate might typify best the interaction between all family members. A gentle touch is quickly followed by a harsh word or painful backhanded slap.
But above all, Suzanne, seems desperate for love and acceptance from her absentee father who leaves the family early in the action. Her mother, a neurotic basket-case, emotionally overwrought and over-the-top, envies her daughter's beauty and freedom. Any sort of mother-daughter affections are muted and paradoxical, to say the least. Her brother's violent nature barely obscures a incestuous jealousy of whomever Suzanne's latest paramour might be. He is the stereotypical overweight oaf of a man whose jealous nature obscures his own deep insecurities regarding his physical ugliness.
She sleeps with whomever she wishes, but with along the obligatory French flair for stoic pessimism, she feels nothing but contempt for those whom she takes into bed with her. Those who wish to find some sort of deeper meaning in her actions will find themselves greatly disappointed. The film shows us, rather than tells us much of what transgresses. It's up to the audience to determine the exact meaning behind Suzanne's actions.
Clearly, she is bereft of the ability to feel real love for anyone other than her father, who leaves mid-movie, only to return at the film's climatic ending. Any sense of tenderness from a strictly romantic standpoint exists only between father and daughter.
The film has a disjointed, highly chaotic narrative style that will only frustrated those who long for some sense of coherent plot, foreshadowing, and other narrative techniques for which Pialat refuses to include within his film. It has been noted that the film attempts to incorporate the physicality and framing of silent film within the context of the sound medium. It is poetic cinematography, through and through, and like all poems draws no firm conclusions for the audience.
The reviewer finds himself deeply ambivalent as to rating the quality of this film. It will either try one's patience or scares one senseless and potentially both. The ironic nature of this film is that, though twenty-three years old, if prefaces the hook-up culture of which I mentioned a few entries back. That an obscure French art film could pick up on undercurrents of society is either a stroke of genius or the musings of an eccentric, cantankerous old man. As with everything else about this film, the audience must be the final judge.
Friday, March 30, 2007
fears
feeling it best
to confront my
fears directly
i decided
on horrorshow
forced
my subconscious
through the
meat grinder
of the grieving process
seeking closure
seeking forcible
end
is it possible
to ludivico away
those concerns
so prescient
one reveals them
to no one
and barely to oneself?
to confront my
fears directly
i decided
on horrorshow
forced
my subconscious
through the
meat grinder
of the grieving process
seeking closure
seeking forcible
end
is it possible
to ludivico away
those concerns
so prescient
one reveals them
to no one
and barely to oneself?
Why We Are Not A "Christian" Nation
From Reinhold Neibur again.
The Declaration of Independence assures us that "the pursuit of happiness" is one of the "inalienable rights" of mankind. While the right to its pursuit is, of course, no guarantee of its attainment, yet the philosophy which informed the Declaration, was, on the whole, as hopeful that all men, at least all American men, could attain happiness as it was certain that they had the right to pursue it.
America has been, in fact, both in its own esteem and in the imagination of a considerable portion of Europe, a proof of the validity of this modern hope which reached its zenith in the Enlightenment. The hope was that the earth could be transformed from a place of misery to an abode of happiness and contentment. The philosophy which generated this hope was intent both upon eliminating the natural hazards to comfort, security and contentment; and upon reforming society so that the privileges of life would be shared equitably. The passion for justice, involved in this hope, was of a higher moral order than the ambition to overcome the natural hazards to man’s comfort and security. It is obviously more noble to be concerned with the pains and sorrows which arise from human cruelties and injustices than to seek after physical comfort for oneself.
Nevertheless it is one of the achievements of every civilization, and the particular achievement of modern technical civilization, that it limits the natural handicaps to human happiness progressively and gives human life as much comfort and security as is consistent with the fact that man must die in the end.
I would argue that the premise by which America was founded on was an idealistic notion that many of us on the left have long since discounted. But we cannot afford to throw in the towel and conform to this massive cynicism that has characterized our ideals. As Neibur points out, we cannot escape our own mortality just as we cannot escape our own failings.
But we cannot afford to sacrifice our own independence to those who would have us see things in black and white, petty, Old Testament terms. That flies contrary to to the very notion by which this country was founded, which was itself a LIBERAL notion.
The Declaration of Independence assures us that "the pursuit of happiness" is one of the "inalienable rights" of mankind. While the right to its pursuit is, of course, no guarantee of its attainment, yet the philosophy which informed the Declaration, was, on the whole, as hopeful that all men, at least all American men, could attain happiness as it was certain that they had the right to pursue it.
America has been, in fact, both in its own esteem and in the imagination of a considerable portion of Europe, a proof of the validity of this modern hope which reached its zenith in the Enlightenment. The hope was that the earth could be transformed from a place of misery to an abode of happiness and contentment. The philosophy which generated this hope was intent both upon eliminating the natural hazards to comfort, security and contentment; and upon reforming society so that the privileges of life would be shared equitably. The passion for justice, involved in this hope, was of a higher moral order than the ambition to overcome the natural hazards to man’s comfort and security. It is obviously more noble to be concerned with the pains and sorrows which arise from human cruelties and injustices than to seek after physical comfort for oneself.
Nevertheless it is one of the achievements of every civilization, and the particular achievement of modern technical civilization, that it limits the natural handicaps to human happiness progressively and gives human life as much comfort and security as is consistent with the fact that man must die in the end.
I would argue that the premise by which America was founded on was an idealistic notion that many of us on the left have long since discounted. But we cannot afford to throw in the towel and conform to this massive cynicism that has characterized our ideals. As Neibur points out, we cannot escape our own mortality just as we cannot escape our own failings.
But we cannot afford to sacrifice our own independence to those who would have us see things in black and white, petty, Old Testament terms. That flies contrary to to the very notion by which this country was founded, which was itself a LIBERAL notion.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
The End
I couldn't do it. I dropped the charges. It was the only sensible thing to do.
Hatred surely poisons. It leads to revenge and I cannot live my life holding grudges. I must keep going onward. I must move forward into my new self, having shed my previous self and ways of doing things wrongly.
"The real test is this. Suppose one reads a story of filthy atrocities in the paper. Then suppose that something turns up suggesting that the story might not be quite true, or not quite so bad as it was made out. Is one's first feeling, 'Thank God, even they aren't quite so bad as that,' or is it a feeling of disappointment, and even a determination to cling to the first story for the sheer pleasure of thinking your enemies are as bad as possible? If it is the second then it is, I am afraid, the first step in a process which, if followed to the end, will make us into devils. You see, one is beginning to wish that black was a little blacker. If we give that wish its head, later on we shall wish to see grey as black, and then to see white itself as black. Finally we shall insist on seeing everything—God and our friends and ourselves included—as bad, and not be able to stop doing it: we shall be fixed for ever in a universe of pure hatred." (Mere Christianity)"
-C.S. Lewis.
Hatred surely poisons. It leads to revenge and I cannot live my life holding grudges. I must keep going onward. I must move forward into my new self, having shed my previous self and ways of doing things wrongly.
"The real test is this. Suppose one reads a story of filthy atrocities in the paper. Then suppose that something turns up suggesting that the story might not be quite true, or not quite so bad as it was made out. Is one's first feeling, 'Thank God, even they aren't quite so bad as that,' or is it a feeling of disappointment, and even a determination to cling to the first story for the sheer pleasure of thinking your enemies are as bad as possible? If it is the second then it is, I am afraid, the first step in a process which, if followed to the end, will make us into devils. You see, one is beginning to wish that black was a little blacker. If we give that wish its head, later on we shall wish to see grey as black, and then to see white itself as black. Finally we shall insist on seeing everything—God and our friends and ourselves included—as bad, and not be able to stop doing it: we shall be fixed for ever in a universe of pure hatred." (Mere Christianity)"
-C.S. Lewis.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Where We Went Wrong
These words were written by theologian Reinhold Neibur, and was published in 1952. I include these words because they may suffice as an effective challenge to a President who has already started one war on false pretenses and might attempt a second.
Begin citation:
The political term for such an effort is "preventive war." I
Begin citation:
The political term for such an effort is "preventive war." I
A democracy can not of course, engage in an explicit preventive war. But military leadership can heighten crises to the point where war becomes unavoidable.
The power of such a temptation to a nation, long accustomed to expanding possibilities and only recently subjected to frustration, is enhanced by the spiritual aberrations which arise in a situation of intense enmity. The certainty of the foe's continued intransigence seems to be the only fixed fact in an uncertain future. Nations find it even more difficult than individuals to preserve sanity when confronted with a resolute and unscrupulous foe. Hatred disturbs all residual serenity of spirit and vindictiveness muddles every pool of sanity.
In the present situation even the sanest of our statesmen have found it convenient to conform their policies to the public temper of fear and hatred which the most vulgar of our politicians have generated or exploited. Our foreign policy is thus threatened with a kind of apoplectic rigidity and inflexibility. Constant proof is required that the foe is hated with sufficient vigor. Unfortunately the only persuasive proof seems to be the disavowal of precisely those discriminate judgments which are so necessary for an effective conflict with the evil, which we are supposed to abhor. There is no simple triumph over this spirit of fear and hatred. It is certainly an achievement beyond the resources of a simple idealism.
For naive idealists are always so preoccupied with their own virtues that they have no residual awareness of the common characteristics in all human foibles and frailties and could not bear to be reminded that there is a hidden kinship between the vices of even the most vicious and the virtues of even the most upright.
In Pictures
I watched you age
from teased blonde bangs
reluctant countertop kisses
heavily eyeshadowed
reject from Dallas
To model designer
your obvious pride
in your own fortitude
and creativity
and then
all I saw were pictures
of you and he
and in all of them
you were smiling.
the only picture
I can remember in
which you weren't playing
some role
was when you glared
roller-skate skinny
teenage obnoxious condescension
and I knew then
who you would have been
had you been my age
at the time.
from teased blonde bangs
reluctant countertop kisses
heavily eyeshadowed
reject from Dallas
To model designer
your obvious pride
in your own fortitude
and creativity
and then
all I saw were pictures
of you and he
and in all of them
you were smiling.
the only picture
I can remember in
which you weren't playing
some role
was when you glared
roller-skate skinny
teenage obnoxious condescension
and I knew then
who you would have been
had you been my age
at the time.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
The Hook-Up Culture and Why It's Damaging
Recently, I've been reading the book Unhooked by Laura Sessions Stepp.
Essentially, it breaks down all the societal issues we have discussed on various and sundry other blogs, primarily the ways in which a hyper-sexual society combined with a perverse corruption of first-wave feminism have created massive confusion for young women.
"Hooking-up", as defined by Stepp, is the practice of having some sort of intimate contact with the opposite sex in lieu of anything resembling a romantic relationship. My only criticism of the text is that it focuses narrowly, mostly on upper-middle class young heterosexual females who attend exclusively private schools. She does pull in one example from the black community, to her credit.
And her primary thesis is that today's children are so driven by their parents to succeed; that so many parents micromanage their children's lives that they find themselves utterly without the time, nor the inclination for love. They separate love from sex, or at least try to, and many fail miserably.
Towards the tail end of the book, Stepp discusses what mothers, daughters, sons, brothers, and all of us can do to end this tailspin that young girls (16-20 year old demographic) can do to avoid the confusion that seems to plague them.
I quote directly and add my own insights.
Essentially, it breaks down all the societal issues we have discussed on various and sundry other blogs, primarily the ways in which a hyper-sexual society combined with a perverse corruption of first-wave feminism have created massive confusion for young women.
"Hooking-up", as defined by Stepp, is the practice of having some sort of intimate contact with the opposite sex in lieu of anything resembling a romantic relationship. My only criticism of the text is that it focuses narrowly, mostly on upper-middle class young heterosexual females who attend exclusively private schools. She does pull in one example from the black community, to her credit.
And her primary thesis is that today's children are so driven by their parents to succeed; that so many parents micromanage their children's lives that they find themselves utterly without the time, nor the inclination for love. They separate love from sex, or at least try to, and many fail miserably.
Towards the tail end of the book, Stepp discusses what mothers, daughters, sons, brothers, and all of us can do to end this tailspin that young girls (16-20 year old demographic) can do to avoid the confusion that seems to plague them.
I quote directly and add my own insights.
- A guy can make you feel valuable, but it's not the guy that makes you feel valuable, rather it's yourself. You are in charge of your own life and you and only you can make yourself feel as though you have self-worth
- Don't let men have what you've got until you, and they, know who you are.
- Explore your feminine side beyond the black lace bra. Don't be afraid of conventional feminine norms like having the door opened for you.
- Admit it, the bar scene is for men. You'll never meet anyone decent at a club
- Love won't change you; it will just make you more of who you are. This is what I take potential resonance with, since we seem to teach our young women that love is this life changing (which it is) experience, but we seem to have drifted away from the concept of delayed gratification. Love is not a snap of the fingers; it takes time and work and effort.
- The past is prologue. Let it go. We could all use a dose of that.
- Breaking up is hard to do--but instructive. We seem to have inundated our young girls of a fear of breaking up, realizing that pain within a constructive means is very instructive, rather than destructive.
- Even with a good guy, you'll still need friends. We all need a support network beyond our primary partner.
- Think erotic, rather than pornographic. You don't need to perform a simulated sex act to get a decent man, indeed, that's probably the way to find the worst sort of man for you.
- Sex always has meaning, even when it is "meaningless". That more than anything is what we have desensitized our youth through our sex-pervasive culture, particular in the media.
Testing Faith
I have had several incidents test my faith recently.
The first was getting over my head into a job that I could barely handle.
The second was being involved in a church with an interim minister who believed that the best way to handle a crisis was to shuffle things under the rug and favor the one who had given the most money and had the most influence.
I think about how sin builds upon sin. I think about what a human response retaliation is and as I go to court Thursday to fight my harasser, who is still allowed into the church, I guess all I want really is an apology.
I want a heartfelt "I'm sorry for putting you through all of this." I may never obtain it, but that's all I really want.
The first was getting over my head into a job that I could barely handle.
The second was being involved in a church with an interim minister who believed that the best way to handle a crisis was to shuffle things under the rug and favor the one who had given the most money and had the most influence.
I think about how sin builds upon sin. I think about what a human response retaliation is and as I go to court Thursday to fight my harasser, who is still allowed into the church, I guess all I want really is an apology.
I want a heartfelt "I'm sorry for putting you through all of this." I may never obtain it, but that's all I really want.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Putting Gay Marriage Into Perspective
I, like most of you, have been encouraged by the strides made in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, Hawaii, New Jersey, Maine, and California and like most of you, have been dismayed by the attempts to transform marriage into an heterosexual-only union.
But if the rights of same-sex couples to marry is truely a civil rights issue, which I believe it is, then one must realize that such changes will not occur nearly as quickly as we'd like them to occur.
If this is anything like African-American Civil Rights, it will be a painstakingly slow, drawn out, highly contentious issue for decades to come. I don't want anyone to give up the fight and be discouraged at the amount of pressue and time it's going to take to change the minds of a lot of people.
The minds of many people are made up already and no amount of wishful thinking will make them see logic through their own prejudices and homophobia. I know that my generation is a much less racist generation than the one which proceeded it and I know that future generations to come will more open minded. Likewise, I see in my own generation, a much more open-minded group of people who are willing to see gay rights as the human rights which they rightly are.
There is something inherent in human nature which makes people resistant to change. That's been true as long as there have been humans roaming the earth. It may take people of my age reaching positions of authority in 20-25 years before we really see any mass change for the better. Otherwise, lots of people have made it clear that they attend to fight against us tooth and nail.
I don't know how you can argue logic with not-logic. We can chat about what ifs all day long but the key is going to be standing firm in what we believe. But inevitable, time is going to be what makes things better.
40 years ago, the city I live in was considered the most segregated city in the nation. Now, you'll find a spirit of racial toleration that many who lived in those times dreamed would never come to pass. I know the very same thing will come to pass with gay marriage and gay rights in general.
My reason in writing this is to let all of you know that this will take much longer than any of us might want to believe. This struggle has just begun, and those who are against gay marriage feel as though they are the Roman Senate perched among the Ruins...the last standard-bearers of Mother, God, home, and apple pie. Though they may be fighting a losing cause, they will not go down easily.
But neither would I take temporary setbacks such as our president's support of a gay rights amendment to the constitution as defeat. Many southern governors refused integration to really be implemented for 10 years...a full decade before their resolve broke and they succomed to what was right and what was decent.
I don't know if outright violence in the streets will arise from this current struggle, but I know that a war of words and of stiffening resolves will continue for a very long time.
Yet again, I say...be not discouraged and angered by those who choose to defy logic and let their prejudices govern their policy. We've got to ride out the storm, however long it might rumble. Progress will be made, but at the pace of a snail...but I know when we look upon the situation of things in 10-15 years that we'll be satisfied with the results.
Some words that Winston Churchill said after the first initial Allied gains were made in World War II seem appropriate...words I know many of you have heard before.
"This is not the end, yet neither is it the beginning. Perhaps it can be said that it is the end of the the beginning."
But if the rights of same-sex couples to marry is truely a civil rights issue, which I believe it is, then one must realize that such changes will not occur nearly as quickly as we'd like them to occur.
If this is anything like African-American Civil Rights, it will be a painstakingly slow, drawn out, highly contentious issue for decades to come. I don't want anyone to give up the fight and be discouraged at the amount of pressue and time it's going to take to change the minds of a lot of people.
The minds of many people are made up already and no amount of wishful thinking will make them see logic through their own prejudices and homophobia. I know that my generation is a much less racist generation than the one which proceeded it and I know that future generations to come will more open minded. Likewise, I see in my own generation, a much more open-minded group of people who are willing to see gay rights as the human rights which they rightly are.
There is something inherent in human nature which makes people resistant to change. That's been true as long as there have been humans roaming the earth. It may take people of my age reaching positions of authority in 20-25 years before we really see any mass change for the better. Otherwise, lots of people have made it clear that they attend to fight against us tooth and nail.
I don't know how you can argue logic with not-logic. We can chat about what ifs all day long but the key is going to be standing firm in what we believe. But inevitable, time is going to be what makes things better.
40 years ago, the city I live in was considered the most segregated city in the nation. Now, you'll find a spirit of racial toleration that many who lived in those times dreamed would never come to pass. I know the very same thing will come to pass with gay marriage and gay rights in general.
My reason in writing this is to let all of you know that this will take much longer than any of us might want to believe. This struggle has just begun, and those who are against gay marriage feel as though they are the Roman Senate perched among the Ruins...the last standard-bearers of Mother, God, home, and apple pie. Though they may be fighting a losing cause, they will not go down easily.
But neither would I take temporary setbacks such as our president's support of a gay rights amendment to the constitution as defeat. Many southern governors refused integration to really be implemented for 10 years...a full decade before their resolve broke and they succomed to what was right and what was decent.
I don't know if outright violence in the streets will arise from this current struggle, but I know that a war of words and of stiffening resolves will continue for a very long time.
Yet again, I say...be not discouraged and angered by those who choose to defy logic and let their prejudices govern their policy. We've got to ride out the storm, however long it might rumble. Progress will be made, but at the pace of a snail...but I know when we look upon the situation of things in 10-15 years that we'll be satisfied with the results.
Some words that Winston Churchill said after the first initial Allied gains were made in World War II seem appropriate...words I know many of you have heard before.
"This is not the end, yet neither is it the beginning. Perhaps it can be said that it is the end of the the beginning."
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Athens
To you
every building had
a story.
Every sorority house
its own memory
and you were part
of all of them
but this had been
years ago
and your memories
had been muted by time
only the good things remained
I'm sure there were bad things
time heals but doesn't change
The fraternity
comprised
of closeted gay men
your drinking buddies
in photos you had showed me
the day overcast
beginning of winter
and I remember thinking
why would anyone
want to live in such a
ratty place?
you pointed out
the details of your riotous
youth
the prominent southern
literary figure
you danced with
long ago
he is now deceased
as is the town you once knew
the eternal middle aged
banter
wishing to escape the rat race
but all cities
have their rat races
on the way home
listening to the new albums
I had purchased
while stuck in traffic
some seventy miles away
from home
you deliberately flipped off
a song that reminded me
of my riotous miserable youth.
it was the perfect
symbolism for a union
about to grow sour.
every building had
a story.
Every sorority house
its own memory
and you were part
of all of them
but this had been
years ago
and your memories
had been muted by time
only the good things remained
I'm sure there were bad things
time heals but doesn't change
The fraternity
comprised
of closeted gay men
your drinking buddies
in photos you had showed me
the day overcast
beginning of winter
and I remember thinking
why would anyone
want to live in such a
ratty place?
you pointed out
the details of your riotous
youth
the prominent southern
literary figure
you danced with
long ago
he is now deceased
as is the town you once knew
the eternal middle aged
banter
wishing to escape the rat race
but all cities
have their rat races
on the way home
listening to the new albums
I had purchased
while stuck in traffic
some seventy miles away
from home
you deliberately flipped off
a song that reminded me
of my riotous miserable youth.
it was the perfect
symbolism for a union
about to grow sour.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
art museum
I breezed by famous pieces
we had prior dissected
some months before
it had been cold then
the place packed to
the gills with
the before-holidays
pleasure seekers
now it resembles June
and the blonde cutie
who took my payment
did nothing to mute
my somber mood.
I remember how
we both had disdain for
sculpture
the ghost of conversation
we had before that day
ruined my own personal experience
so I stayed the minimum
still trying to reclaim
the places we once left
though they all still remind
me of you.
we had prior dissected
some months before
it had been cold then
the place packed to
the gills with
the before-holidays
pleasure seekers
now it resembles June
and the blonde cutie
who took my payment
did nothing to mute
my somber mood.
I remember how
we both had disdain for
sculpture
the ghost of conversation
we had before that day
ruined my own personal experience
so I stayed the minimum
still trying to reclaim
the places we once left
though they all still remind
me of you.
Friday, March 23, 2007
making progress
only a modicum
of sadness
looking at the
last few possessions
remaining from when you
and I were together
in our dopamine high
the black barred
calligraphy of lust
and failed promise
of sadness
looking at the
last few possessions
remaining from when you
and I were together
in our dopamine high
the black barred
calligraphy of lust
and failed promise
overcompensating
I.
it's a common reaction
my very own mother
does the same thing
round Christmas-time
in love with the romantic
ideal wrought from
Norman Rockwell
Currier and Ives
the reality
was much more prosaic
and
we both celebrated
Christmas for the children
(they would have
complained otherwise)
the justification
of many a parent
II.
i'll never forget
keeping an eye
on the children
skating that week
before Christmas
terrified of
not performing
this role i had
not rehearsed
this wise
god-like
authority figure
my arms
crossed round
observing social
interaction
commenting
social small talk
a role i felt
as though i'd grown into
somehow
and you said
i was like her
at that age.
her
the outgoing
peace loving
glue holding together
a gang of youngsters
so i saw them
fulfilling some fantasy
I never was privy to
and for a moment
I wished I were that age again
III.
though
that age was not
pleasant in reality
my acne-scarred
cheeks
and introversion
had a blonde reached
for me then
would i have
chased her across
the ice rink
blaring seasons greetings?
likely not
IV.
in reality
my dearest one
i did love you
enough that i
chased you through
unsmooth patches
jagged rips in the surface
overcompensating
it's a common reaction
my very own mother
does the same thing
round Christmas-time
in love with the romantic
ideal wrought from
Norman Rockwell
Currier and Ives
the reality
was much more prosaic
and
we both celebrated
Christmas for the children
(they would have
complained otherwise)
the justification
of many a parent
II.
i'll never forget
keeping an eye
on the children
skating that week
before Christmas
terrified of
not performing
this role i had
not rehearsed
this wise
god-like
authority figure
my arms
crossed round
observing social
interaction
commenting
social small talk
a role i felt
as though i'd grown into
somehow
and you said
i was like her
at that age.
her
the outgoing
peace loving
glue holding together
a gang of youngsters
so i saw them
fulfilling some fantasy
I never was privy to
and for a moment
I wished I were that age again
III.
though
that age was not
pleasant in reality
my acne-scarred
cheeks
and introversion
had a blonde reached
for me then
would i have
chased her across
the ice rink
blaring seasons greetings?
likely not
IV.
in reality
my dearest one
i did love you
enough that i
chased you through
unsmooth patches
jagged rips in the surface
overcompensating
Bush's Response
I can't believe that Bush has the gall to use the phrase "abdicate", "pork", and "political theatre", when all of these concepts have led to his undoing as a President and his election.
I can't believe that he would accuse the Democratic majority of not acting in the best interest in the American people when long ago people have lost faith in this ill-fated occupation and war.
Again, I cannot make it clear how much of a mistake I think it is that we are in the middle of a war we cannot win. And I try to put myself in the mind frame of a President who seems to beholden to a lost cause.
The War in Iraq has nothing to do with the War on Terror. I do not know how much I can emphasize this.
I remember what H.L. Mencken said. I have never met a true believer worth knowing.
Bush is a true believer in this ill-fated endeavor. LBJ famously referred to Vietnam as his "bitch mistress" and it eventually led to his undoing. I wonder if Bush sees this as a cancer on his presidency or if he sees things in terms of this Armageddon like struggle between Christianity and radical Islam. Does he worry that his reputation as a President has taken a severe blow or does he even think in terms of that?
Politics is all about reading between the lines and Bush, as a lame duck, continues to alienate all but his rapidly shrinking base. But then again, he has nothing to lose.
He is stubborn to cling to positions that set him against the grain of popular opinion and but my hope is that his stubborn denial to face reality will render him more and more irrelevant.
The futurists have long predicted that we will live in an era of terrorism from now until 2050. But I do not believe, no matter what the President says, that a surge of troops can do anything positive towards the inevitable struggle in which we in the Western world will find ourselves.
I remember around 11 September, many believed that these were indeed the end times and this was just biblical prophecy becoming fulfilled. Since that point in time, we have lost our patriotic and religious fervor and found ourselves locked into a futile struggle to contain a civil war that we created.
It seems inevitable that we will be in this conflict for the next two years at least and my hope is whomever wins in 2008 will bring common sense back to the table.
I can't believe that he would accuse the Democratic majority of not acting in the best interest in the American people when long ago people have lost faith in this ill-fated occupation and war.
Again, I cannot make it clear how much of a mistake I think it is that we are in the middle of a war we cannot win. And I try to put myself in the mind frame of a President who seems to beholden to a lost cause.
The War in Iraq has nothing to do with the War on Terror. I do not know how much I can emphasize this.
I remember what H.L. Mencken said. I have never met a true believer worth knowing.
Bush is a true believer in this ill-fated endeavor. LBJ famously referred to Vietnam as his "bitch mistress" and it eventually led to his undoing. I wonder if Bush sees this as a cancer on his presidency or if he sees things in terms of this Armageddon like struggle between Christianity and radical Islam. Does he worry that his reputation as a President has taken a severe blow or does he even think in terms of that?
Politics is all about reading between the lines and Bush, as a lame duck, continues to alienate all but his rapidly shrinking base. But then again, he has nothing to lose.
He is stubborn to cling to positions that set him against the grain of popular opinion and but my hope is that his stubborn denial to face reality will render him more and more irrelevant.
The futurists have long predicted that we will live in an era of terrorism from now until 2050. But I do not believe, no matter what the President says, that a surge of troops can do anything positive towards the inevitable struggle in which we in the Western world will find ourselves.
I remember around 11 September, many believed that these were indeed the end times and this was just biblical prophecy becoming fulfilled. Since that point in time, we have lost our patriotic and religious fervor and found ourselves locked into a futile struggle to contain a civil war that we created.
It seems inevitable that we will be in this conflict for the next two years at least and my hope is whomever wins in 2008 will bring common sense back to the table.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
muses
are fickle things
like flaky flirtations
playing hard to get
sometimes with you
sometimes utterly oblivious
to one's very being
but they call out
they say
"write"
and you obey.
so where has mine gone?
when I arrived late last night
from a night full of welcome triviality
a night full of intoxicated
90's nostalgia slurred conversation
and formulation of
urban legends
(you see
I've learned not to take
life quite so seriously
as I once did
enjoying the spectacle
for once
and not insisting on
the substance.)
my head was full of lines
lines lines
beautifully formed lines
with cadences
ironies
counter-ironies
references to literary
works appreciated by
the novice as well as
the scholar.
alliteration
sarcasm
invective
bookended as always
by the utterly devastating
conclusion.
like flaky flirtations
playing hard to get
sometimes with you
sometimes utterly oblivious
to one's very being
but they call out
they say
"write"
and you obey.
so where has mine gone?
when I arrived late last night
from a night full of welcome triviality
a night full of intoxicated
90's nostalgia slurred conversation
and formulation of
urban legends
(you see
I've learned not to take
life quite so seriously
as I once did
enjoying the spectacle
for once
and not insisting on
the substance.)
my head was full of lines
lines lines
beautifully formed lines
with cadences
ironies
counter-ironies
references to literary
works appreciated by
the novice as well as
the scholar.
alliteration
sarcasm
invective
bookended as always
by the utterly devastating
conclusion.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Excerpt from "The God"
Your heart, mid-Sahara, raged
In its emptiness
Your dreams were empty.
You bowed at your desk and you wept
Over the story that refused to exist,
As over a prayer
That could not be prayed
To a non-existent God. A dead God
with a terrible voice.
-Ted Hughes
In its emptiness
Your dreams were empty.
You bowed at your desk and you wept
Over the story that refused to exist,
As over a prayer
That could not be prayed
To a non-existent God. A dead God
with a terrible voice.
-Ted Hughes
Doubts of War with Iran
There are too many things at stake right now.
My father, libertarian as always, blames the Democratic majority for keeping gas prices still well over $2.50. And I wonder whether or not high gas prices and the taxes derived from them will force people to give up their hummers and Land Rovers.
Al Gore, in An Inconvenient Truth, advocated gasoline stay about $3.50 a gallon for some length of time to essentially force people to use more energy efficient means to power their automobiles.
This is one of these times when what works globally does not work locally. Atlanta, where I live, is a city built on the automobile. Efforts are being made to expand badly needed public transportation but reforms are slow and there are some fighting them tooth and nail.
I do not believe war with Iran would serve any purpose. Despite being a mistake, it would necessitate a draft, which no one in America wants. It would potentially precipitate a major war in the Middle East. If Iran does in fact have a nuclear weapon--this weapon, if detonated would pose a major threat to our supposed allies in the Middle East, namely Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE to name three.
Russia has moved closer and closer back towards an iron curtain mentality, and it recognizes that its number one export is crude oil. If we reduced our dependency on Middle Eastern crude, we would have to find someone else to pick up the slack. Second world powers like China and Russia will have to come on board and develop their economies before we can afford to totally pull our interests away from the Middle East.
And my fear rests with the fundamentalists, who believe that a Holy War is imminent and that it is inevitable that the so-called Christian West will fight the Barbarian scourge over Israel. Whether that passage of scripture is even relevant to today's world, self-fulfilling prophecy is a powerful thing and wars could erupt over perception, rather than reality.
My father, libertarian as always, blames the Democratic majority for keeping gas prices still well over $2.50. And I wonder whether or not high gas prices and the taxes derived from them will force people to give up their hummers and Land Rovers.
Al Gore, in An Inconvenient Truth, advocated gasoline stay about $3.50 a gallon for some length of time to essentially force people to use more energy efficient means to power their automobiles.
This is one of these times when what works globally does not work locally. Atlanta, where I live, is a city built on the automobile. Efforts are being made to expand badly needed public transportation but reforms are slow and there are some fighting them tooth and nail.
I do not believe war with Iran would serve any purpose. Despite being a mistake, it would necessitate a draft, which no one in America wants. It would potentially precipitate a major war in the Middle East. If Iran does in fact have a nuclear weapon--this weapon, if detonated would pose a major threat to our supposed allies in the Middle East, namely Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE to name three.
Russia has moved closer and closer back towards an iron curtain mentality, and it recognizes that its number one export is crude oil. If we reduced our dependency on Middle Eastern crude, we would have to find someone else to pick up the slack. Second world powers like China and Russia will have to come on board and develop their economies before we can afford to totally pull our interests away from the Middle East.
And my fear rests with the fundamentalists, who believe that a Holy War is imminent and that it is inevitable that the so-called Christian West will fight the Barbarian scourge over Israel. Whether that passage of scripture is even relevant to today's world, self-fulfilling prophecy is a powerful thing and wars could erupt over perception, rather than reality.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
last night
i spent three hours
with a deliberately artificial mulatto
doing my best to
embrace the dominant subculture
now suddenly neither
sub nor superior
but certainly cultural
what would you call
this melting pot
except that it is
sounding brass
ceasing to exist
it challenges the myth
conform or escape
to irrelevancy?
a whole new universe of
depth perception
my own private
taste towards
the literati
called into question
and yet i refuse
to relinquish myself
nor do I seek to
reform the glove
to the hand i
formulated with
much trial and error.
with a deliberately artificial mulatto
doing my best to
embrace the dominant subculture
now suddenly neither
sub nor superior
but certainly cultural
what would you call
this melting pot
except that it is
sounding brass
ceasing to exist
it challenges the myth
conform or escape
to irrelevancy?
a whole new universe of
depth perception
my own private
taste towards
the literati
called into question
and yet i refuse
to relinquish myself
nor do I seek to
reform the glove
to the hand i
formulated with
much trial and error.
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