Wednesday, April 02, 2008
So The Story Begins
and so the the story begins
City dweller, successful fella
Thought to himself
oops I've got a lot of money
I'm caught in a rat race terminally
I'm a professional cynic
but my heart's not in it
I'm paying the price
of living life at the limit
Caught up in the centuries' anxiety
It preys on him,
he's getting thin
He lives in a house,
a very big house in the country
Watching afternoon repeats
and the food he eats in the country
He takes all manner of pills
and piles up analyst bills in the country
It's like an animal farm
lots of rural charm in the country
He's got morning glory,
life's a different story
Everything going jackanory,
in touch with his own mortality
He's reading Balzac,
knocking back prozac
It's a helping hand that makes you feel wonderfully bland
Oh it's the centuries' remedy
For the faint at heart,
a new start
He lives in a house,
a very big house in the country
He's got a fog in his chest
so he needs a lot of rest in the country
He doesn't drink smoke or laugh,
takes herbal baths in the country
Says she's come to no harm
on an animal farm in the country
In the country, in the country
Blow, blow me out I am so sad,
I don't know why
Blow, blow me out I am so sad,
I don't know why
He lives in a house,
a very big house in the country
Watching afternoon repeats
and the food he eats in the country
He takes all manner of pills and
piles up analyst bills in the country
Oh, it's like an animal farm
lots of rural charm in the country
He lives in a house,
a very big house in the country
He's got a fog in his chest
so he needs a lot of rest in the country
He doesn't drink smoke or laugh,
takes herbal baths in the country
And she's come to no harm
on an animal farm in the country
He's Wearing Out His Shoes
Running away
To get away
Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
You're wearing out your shoes.
Look at you fooling you!
Making blues Of day and night.
Hee! Hee! Hee! Hee!
You're stretching out your dues.
The shorter cut is quicker,
But . . . Ha! Ha!
Time is here to stay!
Look at you fooling you!
The deeper in debt
The harder You bet,
Hee! Hee! Hee! Hee!
Need more room to play!
Look at you fooling you!
Another day
You're farther away.
Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
A longer trip back home!
They'll Come a Time
Mercy mercy me
things ain't want
they used to be.
and I know
a man ain't supposed
to cry.
Don't Look Back in Anger, I Heard You Say
Slip inside the
eye of your mind
Don't you know you might find
A better place to play?
You said that you'd
once never been
All the things that you've seen
Will slowly fade away
So I'll start the revolution from my bed
Cos you said the brains
I had went to my head
Step outside the summertime's
in bloom
Stand up beside the fireplace
Take that look
from off your face
You ain't never gonna burn my heart out
So Sally can wait,
she knows its too late
as we're walking on by
Her soul slides away,
but don't look back in anger
I hear you say
Take me to the place where you go
Where nobody knows
if it's night or day
Please don't put your life in the hands
Of a Rock 'n Roll band
Who'll throw it all away
So I'll start the
revolution from my bed
Cos you said the brains
I had went to my head
Step outside the summertime's
in bloom
Stand up beside the fireplace
Take that look from off your face
You ain't ever gonna burn my heart out
So Sally can wait, she knows its too late
as we're walking on by
Her soul slides away,
but don't look back in anger
I hear you say
Don't look back in anger
Don't look back in anger
Don't look back in anger
At least not today
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Safe House For Slaves Provided by Quakers
We've been with you all along.
Follow the drinking gourd.
We as a people will get to the Promised Land.
Follow the drinking gourd.
We as a people will get to the Promised Land.
Preserve Your Memories, There's All That's Left You
We are equally confused on a daily basis and I believe we can all agree to that sentiment, no matter what our theological leanings might be.
Let me share two passages with you today.
Blessed are the meek
for they shall inherit.Blessed is the lamb
whose blood flows.Blessed are the sat upon,
spat upon, ratted on,O lord, why have you forsaken me?
I got no place to go,
I’ve walked around Soho
for the last night or so.Ah, but it doesn’t matter, no.
Blessed is the land
and the kingdom.Blessed is the man
whose soul belongs to.Blessed are the meth drinkers,
pot sellers, illusion dwellers.O lord, why have you forsaken me?
My words trickle down, like a wound
That I have no intention to heal.Blessed are the stained glass, window pane glass.
Blessed is the church service
makes me nervousBlessed are the penny rookers,
cheap hookers, groovy lookers.O lord, why have you forsaken me?
I have tended my own garden
Much too long.-Paul Simon
Compare it to this passage
3"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
and contrast it with this song.
Lolcatz Lybruls for McKaynez
Oh hai! Mai mindz haz changd. Ah throws mai supportz to teh man with esperientz.
Now ah supportz McKaynez for Presudent.
Iran bombz! He has it!
Esperience! He has it!
Lobbiest contrybuturz. He has it!
Traytor Joez haz it too, but he no has sooper seckret delugate votz enniemorez. Libermenz shurely wantz tuh b veepee, yus?
Demucraktic partiz brokun. Clynton, no wants it. Been dere, done that. Bloo drez, I has it!
Obama, gud man but remyndz me of peenutz farmerz or plaiboyz in Camulotz.
Must say tho, playboyz has most attkrativ wife. Lust in heartz fur her! I has it!
Aige, McKaynez has it!
Red fonez at three in murnignz, he has it! He payz for red phonz!
Who will wake him up?
Monday, March 31, 2008
The Real Author of To Kill a Mockingbird
Cross-posted from Project Mockingbird.
When you get right down to it, what is popular is not always right. And what is right is not always popular. - Anonymous
I.
From reading To Kill A Mockingbird, which is my mother's favourite book, this is the lesson I learned above all.
Ms. Lee's book is so smartly written that I find it difficult to believe that Truman Capote could have possibly written it. Lee's style and Capote's style, while similar, were very different. And I can also understand how Ms. Lee found it rather offensive to think she was merely Capote's surrogate and secondary to his shining talent.
But Capote is a classic example of Icarus. He flew too high. Like in the tale of Greek mythology, his waxen wings melted in the sun, the ordeal,and the trial he faced in writing In Cold Blood ultimately ruined him. This was especially evident in the movie Capote. Indeed, looking at his later works, you see a man who was both destroyed by his greatness and whose zealous crusade to unearth the truth left him little more than a chariacture of his former self. After writing his magnum opus, Capote was good for a few half-hearted pieces in magazines, the talk show circuit, and was probably the best known openly homosexual male in the world for many years. But by the end, he was arguably little more than a joke.
As he himself pointed out, "we all know that a fag is just a homosexual gentleman who has just left the room".
As Oscar Wilde said, rather pointedly, "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars".
At what price, greatness?
II.
As the film Twenty-Four Hour Party People, released in the UK back in the mid-90s, when I was last across the pond points out (and I'm paraphrasing), echoing what I have said,
It's like Icarus. It works on two levels. If you get the first one, then that's great. But if you get the second, well, you should probably read more.
III.
Meanwhile, Harper Lee wrote one book, a masterpiece, and is remembered all around the world, but particularly in the American south as a champion of women's rights, civil rights, and for making a stand against all odds. Sometimes the best artists are those who release one masterpiece and step away from the table, take their winnings, collect their chips, and go home.
If one contemplates other artists, there are those who stay too long and tarnish their former greatness by their later mediocrity. The Beatles broke up when they were at their apex of success, thus preserving their legacy of greatness forever. Their solo careers proved that they were a band in the very truest form of the phrase. They were four guys, as John Lennon said, who made it very very big. But they also had enough sense to know when to call it quits and be remembered by the brilliance they as a group accomplished together, not individually the pathetic burning embers of how they used to be.
That is the challenge that faces every artist. Sell out, or stay pure. Stay with your heart, or sell out for riches. And how difficult it is, my children, for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God.
Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God.
IV.
If we want to have an argument about who shot who, or who said this, where, and when and who and how, we can do that.
If we want to split hairs or kill mockingbirds, we can do that, if we so desire.
We can do that.
But if we do.
NOTHING WILL CHANGE.
And we'll be having the same discussion next year, and the next year, and the next year, and the next year.
As I have mentioned before, brothers and sisters, the Kingdom of God is within you. You are your own salvation, but salvation goes beyond what we can prove factually. There is an element of mystery present in our daily lives and those of us who want to be Doubting Thomas will always inquire for the nail marks in the hands or the place where the Roman spear pierced Jesus's side.
We can do that.
But if we do.
NOTHING WILL CHANGE.
There is a world beyond us. I do believe there is a God above. I do believe that there is something beyond who we are.
Everything happens for a reason. Call it Providence, call it what you will. I may have risen from the ashes like the Phoenix, but I know that the people will live on, as Carl Sandburg put it. I know that Atticus Finch in all his many incarnations will live on. There will be good people who cannot be bought and sold like chattle.
But there will always be mockingbirds, too.
Let us cultivate our garden community. Let us strive to think communally for the greater good first, not for selfish whims first.
V.
Als die Nazis die Kommunisten holten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Kommunist.
Als sie die Sozialdemokraten einsperrten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Sozialdemokrat.
Als sie die Gewerkschafter holten,
habe ich nicht protestiert;
ich war ja kein Gewerkschafter.
Als sie mich holten,
gab es keinen mehr, der protestierte.
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out
Martin Niemöller
When you get right down to it, what is popular is not always right. And what is right is not always popular. - Anonymous
I.
From reading To Kill A Mockingbird, which is my mother's favourite book, this is the lesson I learned above all.
Ms. Lee's book is so smartly written that I find it difficult to believe that Truman Capote could have possibly written it. Lee's style and Capote's style, while similar, were very different. And I can also understand how Ms. Lee found it rather offensive to think she was merely Capote's surrogate and secondary to his shining talent.
But Capote is a classic example of Icarus. He flew too high. Like in the tale of Greek mythology, his waxen wings melted in the sun, the ordeal,and the trial he faced in writing In Cold Blood ultimately ruined him. This was especially evident in the movie Capote. Indeed, looking at his later works, you see a man who was both destroyed by his greatness and whose zealous crusade to unearth the truth left him little more than a chariacture of his former self. After writing his magnum opus, Capote was good for a few half-hearted pieces in magazines, the talk show circuit, and was probably the best known openly homosexual male in the world for many years. But by the end, he was arguably little more than a joke.
As he himself pointed out, "we all know that a fag is just a homosexual gentleman who has just left the room".
As Oscar Wilde said, rather pointedly, "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars".
At what price, greatness?
II.
As the film Twenty-Four Hour Party People, released in the UK back in the mid-90s, when I was last across the pond points out (and I'm paraphrasing), echoing what I have said,
It's like Icarus. It works on two levels. If you get the first one, then that's great. But if you get the second, well, you should probably read more.
III.
Meanwhile, Harper Lee wrote one book, a masterpiece, and is remembered all around the world, but particularly in the American south as a champion of women's rights, civil rights, and for making a stand against all odds. Sometimes the best artists are those who release one masterpiece and step away from the table, take their winnings, collect their chips, and go home.
If one contemplates other artists, there are those who stay too long and tarnish their former greatness by their later mediocrity. The Beatles broke up when they were at their apex of success, thus preserving their legacy of greatness forever. Their solo careers proved that they were a band in the very truest form of the phrase. They were four guys, as John Lennon said, who made it very very big. But they also had enough sense to know when to call it quits and be remembered by the brilliance they as a group accomplished together, not individually the pathetic burning embers of how they used to be.
That is the challenge that faces every artist. Sell out, or stay pure. Stay with your heart, or sell out for riches. And how difficult it is, my children, for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God.
Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God.
IV.
If we want to have an argument about who shot who, or who said this, where, and when and who and how, we can do that.
If we want to split hairs or kill mockingbirds, we can do that, if we so desire.
We can do that.
But if we do.
NOTHING WILL CHANGE.
And we'll be having the same discussion next year, and the next year, and the next year, and the next year.
As I have mentioned before, brothers and sisters, the Kingdom of God is within you. You are your own salvation, but salvation goes beyond what we can prove factually. There is an element of mystery present in our daily lives and those of us who want to be Doubting Thomas will always inquire for the nail marks in the hands or the place where the Roman spear pierced Jesus's side.
We can do that.
But if we do.
NOTHING WILL CHANGE.
There is a world beyond us. I do believe there is a God above. I do believe that there is something beyond who we are.
Everything happens for a reason. Call it Providence, call it what you will. I may have risen from the ashes like the Phoenix, but I know that the people will live on, as Carl Sandburg put it. I know that Atticus Finch in all his many incarnations will live on. There will be good people who cannot be bought and sold like chattle.
But there will always be mockingbirds, too.
Let us cultivate our garden community. Let us strive to think communally for the greater good first, not for selfish whims first.
V.
Als die Nazis die Kommunisten holten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Kommunist.
Als sie die Sozialdemokraten einsperrten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Sozialdemokrat.
Als sie die Gewerkschafter holten,
habe ich nicht protestiert;
ich war ja kein Gewerkschafter.
Als sie mich holten,
gab es keinen mehr, der protestierte.
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out
Martin Niemöller
An Update
All Quiet on the Western Front, so far.
I wanted to check in with all of you. I would have checked in sooner, but my primary computer was hacked into and the hard drive was effectively ruined, forcing me to take it to a store to get it restored.
Since I have come down from my manic state, I understand again how many of my comments made in times past on this blog and IRL could seem irrational, pandering for attention, suspect in veracity, proclaiming a less-than-secret ulterior motive, or merely a distraction from more important matter.
But the truth of the matter is this.
I am a sick person. I have bipolar and I have been in a manic state now for about a month. Those who have already admitted to having such things who dwell on this site know full well the powerful highs and the crashing lows. My bipolar is in a mixed state at the moment. Sometimes I feel powerful and in control, and sometimes, the course of the same day, I am thrown into crying fits so profound that all I can do is sob and weep.
I will not know until Wednesday my condition. I pray it is not HIV or Cancer, although of those two, colon/rectal cancer seems the most likely candidate. This may merely be an outbreak of HPV, which is, as many know, exaserbated by stress. Outbreaks flare up for a month, then subside. Medications can be taken to control it, but in a stressful time, a person is more contagious and thus outbreaks occur.
My life, as I'm sure you understand, has been rather stressful recently.
So I admit to being still very much on pins and needles.
It is possible I have none of the three illnesses mentioned, but I will continue to hope and pray for the best.
I thank you all for your concern and do know you are loved.
I wanted to check in with all of you. I would have checked in sooner, but my primary computer was hacked into and the hard drive was effectively ruined, forcing me to take it to a store to get it restored.
Since I have come down from my manic state, I understand again how many of my comments made in times past on this blog and IRL could seem irrational, pandering for attention, suspect in veracity, proclaiming a less-than-secret ulterior motive, or merely a distraction from more important matter.
But the truth of the matter is this.
I am a sick person. I have bipolar and I have been in a manic state now for about a month. Those who have already admitted to having such things who dwell on this site know full well the powerful highs and the crashing lows. My bipolar is in a mixed state at the moment. Sometimes I feel powerful and in control, and sometimes, the course of the same day, I am thrown into crying fits so profound that all I can do is sob and weep.
I will not know until Wednesday my condition. I pray it is not HIV or Cancer, although of those two, colon/rectal cancer seems the most likely candidate. This may merely be an outbreak of HPV, which is, as many know, exaserbated by stress. Outbreaks flare up for a month, then subside. Medications can be taken to control it, but in a stressful time, a person is more contagious and thus outbreaks occur.
My life, as I'm sure you understand, has been rather stressful recently.
So I admit to being still very much on pins and needles.
It is possible I have none of the three illnesses mentioned, but I will continue to hope and pray for the best.
I thank you all for your concern and do know you are loved.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
A Quick Note
Dear Readership,
Comrade Kevin has a lot on his plate right now.
Visiting other blogs is going to have to take a backseat to getting his own affairs and emotional/physical health in order.
I will blog every day, or at least attempt to, but visiting everyone's site in a timely fashion just ain't in the cards right now.
I'm so far behind, I won't even try to read up on a week's worth of 50 different blogs.
Know that I love you all. Know that I care for you all. And know that I am your friend, always.
With great affection,
Comrade Kevin.
Comrade Kevin has a lot on his plate right now.
Visiting other blogs is going to have to take a backseat to getting his own affairs and emotional/physical health in order.
I will blog every day, or at least attempt to, but visiting everyone's site in a timely fashion just ain't in the cards right now.
I'm so far behind, I won't even try to read up on a week's worth of 50 different blogs.
Know that I love you all. Know that I care for you all. And know that I am your friend, always.
With great affection,
Comrade Kevin.
Watch Out, The World's Behind You
Sunday morning, praise the dawning
Its just a restless feeling by my side
Early dawning, sunday morning
Its just the wasted years
so close behind
Watch out, the world's behind you
Theres always someone around
you who will call
It's nothing at all
Sunday morning and I'm falling
I've got a feeling
I don't want to know
Early dawning,
Sunday morning
It's all the streets you crossed,
not so long ago
Watch out, the world's behind you
Theres always someone
around you who will call
It's nothing at all
Watch out,
the world's behind you
There's always someone around
you who will call
It's nothing at all
Sunday morning
Sunday morning
Sunday morning
Find Out That Now Was the Answer to Answers That You Gave Later
Come to see her in the river
She'll be there to wave to you
In the hope that
you'll forgive her
She will join you there.
Find out that now was the answer
to answers that you gave later
She did the things that we both did
before now and who forgave her?
Now you see how down you've fallen
Now you hear your conscience call
Thank yourself alone for not stalling
I'm not there to call
Call me a fool,
cause I need her and see her
but now you're gone
Something inside you
will tell you
I'm wise to what you're
spreading round.
If I could stand
to see her cryin'
I would tell her not to care
When she learns of all your lyin'
Will she join you there?
Find out that now was
the answer to answers
that you gave later.
She'll be there to wave to you
In the hope that
you'll forgive her
She will join you there.
Find out that now was the answer
to answers that you gave later
She did the things that we both did
before now and who forgave her?
Now you see how down you've fallen
Now you hear your conscience call
Thank yourself alone for not stalling
I'm not there to call
Call me a fool,
cause I need her and see her
but now you're gone
Something inside you
will tell you
I'm wise to what you're
spreading round.
If I could stand
to see her cryin'
I would tell her not to care
When she learns of all your lyin'
Will she join you there?
Find out that now was
the answer to answers
that you gave later.
There She Goes Again
There she goes again
She's out on the streets again
She's down on her knees, my friend
But you know she'll never ask you
please again
Now take a look,
there's no tears in her eyes
She won't take it from
just any guy, what can you do
You see her walkin' on
down the street
Look at all your friends
she's gonna meet
You better hit her
There she goes again
She's knocked out on her feet again
She's down on her knees, my friend
But you know she'll never
ask you please again
Now take a look,
there's no tears in her eyes
Like a bird, you know she would fly,
what can you do?
You see her walkin' on
down the street
Look at all your friends
that she's gonna meet
You better hit her
Now take a look, there's no tears in her eyes
Like a bird,
you know she will fly, fly, fly away
See her walking on down the street
Look at all your friends
that she's gonna meet
She's gonna bawl and shout
She's gonna work it
She's gonna work it out, bye bye
Bye bye baby
All right
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