when all I've ever read, on any subject, cannot help me one bit.
haha
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
On Seeing Jean Georges Vibert's "The Grasshopper and the Ant"
Three months since I last had a merry time
And too long 'til I will be able to again.
I never had none,
And what I had, whatever dime,
The ant came and called it a gain.
The lyre kept me alive
Gave me clothes upon my back
The ant came and called it indolence.
Now with feet trembling and stomach empty
A fat ant do I search out for help
And dance he bids me!
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Thanksgiving (or, Black Friday)
Why is it that the day after Thanksgiving day, the day we give give thanks for all that we have, there's a day set apart to camping out in front of stores to buy that which we don't need?
Kitchen Slam Poetry
How 'bout that?
Man, I love home.
Two days ago I sat in the kitchen, re-reading Steinbeck's The Winter of our Discontent as everyone slowed down and got ready for bed. My dad sat across the table from me and said, "That poem you had on your blog last time, the one by Miguel Otero Silva, I loved it!"
I agreed and wondered where the conversation would go next; I can never tell. I made sure I knew what page number I left off in and closed the book.
He continued, "For a long time, I regarded Neruda's Poem #20 as the best to explain that feeling, but Silva blew him away."
"Yeah," I responded, "I love the message."
"Where did you find it?"
"There were like two lines that were on the movie The Motorcycle Diaries, and I just had to find the rest."
"You should translate it. So that girls here know what it says."
It hadn't occurred to me, that not only girls but anyone reading it that didn't know Spanish would be lost. He continued, "Have you ever heard Testamento Gaucho (A Gaucho's Will)?"
"No," I replied. He then started reciting it by memory. I thought to myself, so cool! He hasn't seen it in years! I quickly googled it on my phone, and gave it to him so he could recite it more accurately.
What followed was an hour of poetry, back-and-forth, between my dad and me. It was beautiful.
The only reason we finished was because my dad had to work. I wished he didn't.
Man, I love home.
Two days ago I sat in the kitchen, re-reading Steinbeck's The Winter of our Discontent as everyone slowed down and got ready for bed. My dad sat across the table from me and said, "That poem you had on your blog last time, the one by Miguel Otero Silva, I loved it!"
I agreed and wondered where the conversation would go next; I can never tell. I made sure I knew what page number I left off in and closed the book.
He continued, "For a long time, I regarded Neruda's Poem #20 as the best to explain that feeling, but Silva blew him away."
"Yeah," I responded, "I love the message."
"Where did you find it?"
"There were like two lines that were on the movie The Motorcycle Diaries, and I just had to find the rest."
"You should translate it. So that girls here know what it says."
It hadn't occurred to me, that not only girls but anyone reading it that didn't know Spanish would be lost. He continued, "Have you ever heard Testamento Gaucho (A Gaucho's Will)?"
"No," I replied. He then started reciting it by memory. I thought to myself, so cool! He hasn't seen it in years! I quickly googled it on my phone, and gave it to him so he could recite it more accurately.
What followed was an hour of poetry, back-and-forth, between my dad and me. It was beautiful.
The only reason we finished was because my dad had to work. I wished he didn't.
Monday, November 19, 2012
On the Road Again...
Over the last three days I've been on the road for 26 hours, going to my new home and running errands, even feeding some people in need.
There's really not much to say.
Except of course, that these are the times when there is most to say. I just can't put it in words.
I saw my people.
I hadn't seen them in a long time,
and I probably couldn't recognize one just by looking at them.
I saw my people,
and it did good.
They sing while speaking,
the tune of the everspring country--
I hadn't heard it in a while yet I heard it and I knew it was me.
I saw my people,
and immediately knew we were all one.
Friends were made in a matter of seconds,
I know I will never ever see them again,
but I saw it in their eyes,
the same struggle I go through.
I saw my people, and I saw myself.
I looked in their eyes and saw battles,
I saw resilience,
and an ever present smile.
I saw my people.
There's really not much to say.
Except of course, that these are the times when there is most to say. I just can't put it in words.
I saw my people.
I hadn't seen them in a long time,
and I probably couldn't recognize one just by looking at them.
I saw my people,
and it did good.
They sing while speaking,
the tune of the everspring country--
I hadn't heard it in a while yet I heard it and I knew it was me.
I saw my people,
and immediately knew we were all one.
Friends were made in a matter of seconds,
I know I will never ever see them again,
but I saw it in their eyes,
the same struggle I go through.
I saw my people, and I saw myself.
I looked in their eyes and saw battles,
I saw resilience,
and an ever present smile.
I saw my people.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Looking for answers (this question remains unanswered. . .)
Photo from February. I have yet to get a satisfactory answer from a professor. Courtesy Richard Young.
Since my opinion matters the least . . .
I will go on and say it anyway.
There's a bumper sticker that says, "God is not a Republican. Or a Democrat."
For a long time I considered myself a democrat, in line with the rest of my demographic: hispanic immigrant student. However, as a Christian, I found I hold many of the same views a republican does. Even more eye-opening still was the fact that socialism appealed to me a lot, so much so that I have told some people that I am, in fact a socialist.
Socialist does not mean "Communist," communism being one of the twigs in the branch of Socialism in the tree of ideologies. But being the editor of a newspaper has finally given me what I am.
I am a radical progressive lover.
Radical, in the sense that I go back to the root for the foundation. (Radical means root, that's why the symbol for "square root" in math is called a radical. But you already knew that, because only my dad reads these . . .) hence my similar views to republicans.
Progressive in that I believe that new solutions should be found to problems that simply require new solutions. Putting fires out with buckets of water provided by a line of concerned citizens just doesn't cut it anymore. These would be my democratic leanings.
Lover in that I believe that everyone deserves the same chances, not by entitlement but because, as humans, we all have inherent needs that need to be met. These are my Socialist leanings.
When this political issue of the newspaper was finally printed and I distributed it, one of my writers (Obama supporter) asked me what party I liked best, and I said, "I dislike both parties. I believe in 'sell everything, give it to the poor.' Some might say that's Socialism, but I don't mind."
The problem with the parties is that all of them, from the far-right Tea Party to the far-left Communists, all work nicely on paper.
However, Jesus' view is the only one that gives back.
There is a huge argument about how big the government should be; in Jesus' method, everyone is the same.
Not Socialism, because there wealth is redistributed (give to the poor) but everything else is confiscated by the government (not exactly selling everything, the government keeps the spoils.) However, in Jesus method, it is the rulers who sell everything--the re-distribution starts at the top.
If all the poor have all the rich people's riches, then we see it as the exact opposite from where we started. All of a sudden, the now rich are now to give all to the poor. This creates an equality based on "let me help you meet your needs" instead of "I'll keep everything, everyone survive on the necessary."
There is also no need for the Democratic/Republican capitalism, the system in which only the strong will survive.
The only way to live is to love one another, like Jesus did with us. He is our King, yet He wants to share with us the experience of eternity. He is the ruler, yet He gave it all so that we may have it (and we give it to those who don't have it, and so on).
In short, I don't hate politics, I despise selfish people.
There's a bumper sticker that says, "God is not a Republican. Or a Democrat."
For a long time I considered myself a democrat, in line with the rest of my demographic: hispanic immigrant student. However, as a Christian, I found I hold many of the same views a republican does. Even more eye-opening still was the fact that socialism appealed to me a lot, so much so that I have told some people that I am, in fact a socialist.
Socialist does not mean "Communist," communism being one of the twigs in the branch of Socialism in the tree of ideologies. But being the editor of a newspaper has finally given me what I am.
I am a radical progressive lover.
Radical, in the sense that I go back to the root for the foundation. (Radical means root, that's why the symbol for "square root" in math is called a radical. But you already knew that, because only my dad reads these . . .) hence my similar views to republicans.
Progressive in that I believe that new solutions should be found to problems that simply require new solutions. Putting fires out with buckets of water provided by a line of concerned citizens just doesn't cut it anymore. These would be my democratic leanings.
Lover in that I believe that everyone deserves the same chances, not by entitlement but because, as humans, we all have inherent needs that need to be met. These are my Socialist leanings.
When this political issue of the newspaper was finally printed and I distributed it, one of my writers (Obama supporter) asked me what party I liked best, and I said, "I dislike both parties. I believe in 'sell everything, give it to the poor.' Some might say that's Socialism, but I don't mind."
The problem with the parties is that all of them, from the far-right Tea Party to the far-left Communists, all work nicely on paper.
However, Jesus' view is the only one that gives back.
There is a huge argument about how big the government should be; in Jesus' method, everyone is the same.
Not Socialism, because there wealth is redistributed (give to the poor) but everything else is confiscated by the government (not exactly selling everything, the government keeps the spoils.) However, in Jesus method, it is the rulers who sell everything--the re-distribution starts at the top.
If all the poor have all the rich people's riches, then we see it as the exact opposite from where we started. All of a sudden, the now rich are now to give all to the poor. This creates an equality based on "let me help you meet your needs" instead of "I'll keep everything, everyone survive on the necessary."
There is also no need for the Democratic/Republican capitalism, the system in which only the strong will survive.
The only way to live is to love one another, like Jesus did with us. He is our King, yet He wants to share with us the experience of eternity. He is the ruler, yet He gave it all so that we may have it (and we give it to those who don't have it, and so on).
In short, I don't hate politics, I despise selfish people.
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