| looking for a large parking lot in North Central for fundraiser |
[20 Mar 2010|09:51pm] |
My friend is walking in the Race For the Cure this year, and we plan to have a large used women's clothing sale as a fundraiser, ideally on May 15. We could do this from one of our houses, but it could be a much bigger event, and generate that much more awareness, if it took place in a commercial area with a large parking lot (that usually was not fully utilized), with good road frontage, in a place in North Central that was accessible to the bus and/or train. I've already thought of 5555 N Lamar, Northcross Mall and the Alamo and have contacted their property management companies, but if anyone knows of another good place, I'd appreciate hearing about it.
I'm already taking donations of clean women's clothing, but I'd rather have a site nailed down before I advertise it properly. If you have clothes you wish to donate, let me know that, too. :) Much love if they were on hangers, but clean is good!
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(3 purrs | stroke the pussies)
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| (cold front on the first day of Spring) |
[20 Mar 2010|09:31pm] |
A good thing about the cold front is that it clears beaches of all the frat boys, loud music listeners, the four-wheel drivers, people who climbed the dunes just because they can, others who poke jelly fish with a stick just to see what will happen, and other riff ruff. They leave behind an unbelievable amount of trash. For a moment I forget that all of the world is sacred space. Then I recall a story about the great Ch'an master Ummon. When a monk asked him what is Buddha, he replied "Kanshiketsu -- a dried shit-stick!"* Easy to see perfection in the clear Spring sun rising from the ocean. But what about the garbage spread on the sand. Still, regarding the master and his monk, did they discuss Dharmakaya** while dropping shit in the dunes?
first day of Spring
veiled by cold rainy wind
I cuddle my dogs
____
* In ancient China, people were using bamboo sticks as an equivalent of toilet paper. Most likely, the master Ummon meant this sort of stick while talking with the monk.
** Dharmakaya is one of three "bodies" of the Buddha. The term refers to the invisible body of perfection pervading the entire universe (and not to the historical Shakyamuni Buddha).
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| cat adoption |
[20 Mar 2010|09:57am] |
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I've been looking into adopting a cat and I saw that the spca had reduced fees. Now that I have talked my husband into it I can't find the website I was at. Anyone here know of the shelter that was $40 to adopt cats?
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(4 purrs | stroke the pussies)
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| Calling all Manga Writers/Drawers/Layout People! |
[20 Mar 2010|10:28am] |
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mood |
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 amused |
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Heya, Austinites!
I wanted to let you guys know if you're interested in drawing or creating Japanese-style comics, the Austin chapter of First Storm Manga is meeting tomorrow, Sunday Mar. 21st from 6-9 p.m. at Panera Bread on N. Capital of Texas Highway.
We're currently looking for artists, writers, and people to do layouts to join and meet others to do collaborations together. We will be publishing these collaborations at places like Anime Matsuri, San Japan, and online at our website. The point of our organization is to get people together for feedback and improvement!
Comment or message me if you're interested, and I can direct you to our meeting place!
Hope to see you soon!
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(2 purrs | stroke the pussies)
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| THE FUCK NATURE? |
[20 Mar 2010|09:10am] |
Yesterday I dined at a sidewalk table in front of Cafe Lula in a long sleeved shirt.
Today
It's still falling steadily, but not sticking to the pavement, which is too warm. At least it's not hail, though that used to be possible until June.
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(3 purrs | stroke the pussies)
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| I Have Already Made A New Friend |
[20 Mar 2010|05:36am] |
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Caught Amtrak last night purely out of love of train travel. It's 12 hours scheduled from Walnut Ridge, Arkansas to Chicago. I am in St. Louis, having a smoke.
YESTERDAY
Got picked up yesterday at Mo Man's apartment by Nate and Jeff, students of Lyon College in Batesville, Arkansas about 1.5 hours from Little Rock. The ride up was great. Talked about all sorts of things. Never a boring ride. Great guys.
This was my second show at Lyon. Performed there before in 2006. Didn't remember that until the deja vu set in once I saw the performance space. Barbara, the director who booked me last time, confirmed it, as did remembering her face. Sweet lady.
Kaytee and Ronnie Stephens drove in 4 hours from Fayetteville, Arkansas to see the show. They used it as an excuse to adventure across the state. The audience slowly rolled in. Lyon is a school of 600. Tiny school.
TESTING MY MEMORY
The audience consisted of Jonathan, Lauren, Lauren, Ashton, Nate, Jeff, Tesla, Summer, Forrest, Greg, Vivian, Nina, Lauren, Barb, Kyle, Melissa and Jessica. I love trying to memorize all the names of a small audience. It's crazy that there were three Laurens. We all had a good laugh about it. I also did the birthday test. If you have 36 people in a room, you're almost mathematically guaranteed to have two people match on their birth month and day. Once I did it in Almonte, Ontario and announced mine first and someone matched me immediately. It always gets people excited when they connect on a birthday. Sometimes it's two people who know each other a bit, but had no idea they shared a birthday. It's very cool to see the reactions in the crowd, and it always breaks the ice. No match at my gig, though, the audience was extraordinarily attentive and into the show. I don't recall making as much of a connection the last time I was there.
EDIT 9:02am: There was also a young man named Ryan who stood up to leave after I performed my poem "In Search of Midnight." When I asked him why he had to leave he said, "Your poem made me realize I have to go tell a girl I love her. Before midnight." I asked him if I could hug him and told him that was so awesome. He obliged. That just added to a very connected evening between the audience and I.
After my set, I joined Nate, Jeff, Kaytee and Ronnie at Colton's Steakhouse for dinner. Delicious chicken! We parted ways and The Stephens and I headed northeast an hour to Pocahontas, Arkansas where they booked a room. I had planned to catch Amtrak 12 miles away in Walnut Ridge. It worked out pretty well. The train was running late, so Ronnie and I caught up on life in room 320 as Kaytee quickly comatosed herself in their bed.
MIDNIGHT TRAIN TO CHICAGO
We left around 1:27am. The train was due in WR around 2:01am, 20 minutes late. Our incorrectly mapped directions to WR had me worried as we got near. The street signs in the back country did not match Google's very well. We got through sleepy little, downtown Walnut Ridge and heard the train horn in the distance. We literally played it by ear and made our way toward the direction of the train horn. We hit SW Front Street ("front" roads are always a good sign you're near train tracks, a major highway, or a shoreline) and saw the train in the distance, but it was headed toward us on the left. We turned around and raced the train to the very small depot on our right. I pulled out my suitcase and backpack as the train pulled up around 1:51am. It had made up time and looked to be running closer to schedule. I said goodbye, hugged Ronnie and boarded the Amtrak Train, schedule 22, "The Texas Eagle."
SIDENOTE: Ronnie K. Stephens is my friend, I've known him for about 6 years now. I love that man very much. He's always been there for me between Texas and Arkansas. He has to be one of the kindest, most generous people I know. The man is smart and so observant, and one helluva writer. He loves our spoken word scene and supports it beyond the call of duty. If you're ever in Fayetteville-Tulsa region, find an open mic or a poetry slam, he's probably in the audience. Tell him I said hey and that I love him very much.
I stepped up to the second deck and realized the train was pretty full. There wouldn't be any window seats available. St. Louis would be five hours away and there were sure to be plenty of passengers getting off there. There was a young man sprawled out at the first seats I saw and I asked him if I could take the aisle seat next to him. He obliged and I sorted my suitcase above and claimed my seat. The conductor came by and I paid him for my ticket. $118.00. Would've been much cheaper had I bought it online last week, but I hadn't been sure I was going to travel to Chicago by train until a couple of days ago.
I had a lot of reading to do for my publisher, so I figured the train would be a good place to do it. I should get to that...
The conductor spoke so loudly that my seat mate gave up sleeping and sat up. We began to chat. His name is Emilio, he's 20, and he was headed to St. Louis to pick up his car, meet his college roommate, then drive back to school in Kansas. He's from Northshore, Chicago area, but moved around a lot in a military family. We talked a lot on his future, frustrations and focus. Emilio is a sweet kid. I told him of my life's calling and so he pulled out a poem he wrote on the train before I got on. It was good. Very funny too. I gave him some pointers. We really hit it off. I told him about my gig at Lyon and gave him a book of mine. We connected pretty quickly. I told him I had performed at his school a few years ago and we talked about how awesome Chicago is.
I mentioned my birthday ice-breaker trick and then asked him his birthday. When he said January 12, I nearly screamed for joy. I showed him my California ID card and proved to him we shared a birthday. So very cool. I am thankful I sat next to Emilio.
We dozed off and made our way to St. Louis, whether we wanted to or not. Emilio said goodbye and I started this entry.
PERFORMANCE THIS WEEKEND
Marc "So WTF" Smith told me a couple years ago that he would be sad if I came through Chicago without notifying him or coming by the Green Mill. I notified him of my trip a couple weeks ago and he said he would put me up on stage. I dig Marc. I dig the Mill. It's got to be one of the finest stages there is for a poet. I'll be there this Sunday. Come make hang with me.
Chicago, I have missed you. I cannot wait to make your acquaintence again.
---------
Word to the nerd.
Originally published at Mike McGee Town. You can comment here or there.
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| (haiku by Masajo) |
[20 Mar 2010|07:06am] |
風立つとかなしびあへり雪の樹々
kaze tatsu to kanashibi aeri yuki no kigi
when the wind blows
they share their sorrow --
trees covered with snow
-- Masajo (1969)
I love this haiku. Please, check out the corresponding haiga painting by ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) sakuo3903! It's brilliant.
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(stroke the pussies)
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| So, that happened. |
[20 Mar 2010|12:18am] |
Deadend Margo and I went to see Green Zone.
The first scene is captioned "March 19, 2003" and I thought, "Fuck. That's right. I forgot."
7 Years. 7 Fucking Years.
I know where I was when the war began. Just like wanderingaengus, "I was watching a really good episode of Angel. Then it got interrupted for this lousy war."
I was temping, having lost my full time job and my retirement savings during the dot bust. After a long self-imposed hiatus from dating after one too many heartbreaks, I was trying again with a series of disappointing online meetups. I had yet to meet Deadend Margo or start using Livejournal. Overall, I was getting past a rough time, and would sometimes call postmaudlin to discuss Angel and my life. I don't know if I was still doing that the night of the war.
I know used my annoyance over the petty thing to keep from crying over the big thing. I had already had that cry earlier in the week, when it became clear nothing was going to stop it.
While Green Zone involves a lot of skill and talent, it's a somewhat tepid film beyond the well rendered setting, involves a ludicrous twist at the climax and has an inept and unbelievable attempt to insert an upbeat note in the ending. In retrospect, I find as much thematic resonance in Angel, some of which still seems valid.
That's not the point. The point is I feel weird about having forgotten. We're still there. People are still getting killed, we're still squandering billions as the flow of blood and treasure shifts over to Afghanistan. Gitmo is still open and permanent detention without charge is still policy.
We had already crossed many lines by March 19 seven years ago, but this is the day we took a gigantic dump on our future and fully pissed off the world. The factors leading to the shit we're in now would have been there no matter what, but the 3 trillion dollar clusterfuck ensured it would be ugly.
March 19 is still fucking us and the Iraqi people over. It's never stopped and as far as I can tell it may never stop. Not in my lifetime, I fear.
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| Staying but branching |
[19 Mar 2010|11:24pm] |
Well fuck.
As mentioned before, LJ's recent "upgrade" changed the posting function in a way which conflicts with the older browser at my workplace. I can read posts and leave comments, but the post/edit page is blank (save fixed elements like the LJ logo and the words "Post an Entry").
I was hoping this was a temporary bug but it seems like a permanent conflict (for now).
( Digression on campatibility. )
Livejournal is still my base, I must diversify as a precaution. Information on my additional loactions to come.
( More musing. )
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(7 purrs | stroke the pussies)
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| iPhone 2G cases/covers? |
[19 Mar 2010|09:10pm] |
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I am in recent possession of an iPhone 2G, and since I dropped and broke my last phone I am now terrified of doing the same with this one. Everywhere I've gone today that is big-box only carries cases/covers for 3G or 3Gs. Sigh. Anyone have any recommendations for a locally owned place? Today I tried Target, Wal-Mart, and Wireless Toyz.
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(6 purrs | stroke the pussies)
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| The Smack Addict Scolds You For Drinking A Beer |
[19 Mar 2010|12:02pm] |
The US Conference Catholic Bishops are campaigning against health care reform, claiming it supports abortion. This contradicts the position of the Catholic Health Association of hospitals and and organizations representing 59,000 nuns, who say they've carefully studied the bills and, as care givers and women, know what the fuck they're talking about.
I favor the Bishops, as the men of the Church are such excellent and wise moral authorities, especially wney when it comes to anything to do with sex. Consider these news stories from just the past two days.Belfast - Under-fire Cardinal Sean Brady admitted last night he was sued by a young woman who accused a priest in his Armagh diocese of raping her.
The case was settled in January when the woman received £45,000 from the priest Fr Joseph Quinn over the allegation he raped her in 1997.
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(CNN) -- A police investigation continued Thursday into a Catholic abuse scandal in Brazil, which erupted last week when a network aired a video that it said showed a priest having sex with a 19-year-old altar boy.
The report, aired by the SBT television network, identified the priest as 82-year-old Luiz Marques Barbosa...SBT said the videotape was secretly made by an unidentified 21-year-old man who alleges that he was abused by the same priest, who serves in Arapiraca in northeastern Brazil.
Marques Barbosa's bishop, Valerio Breda, has ordered the priest's removal, according to Brazilian media reports.
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Granite Falls, Minnesota (CNN) -- As a boy in Ireland, Francis Markey dreamed of becoming a priest and serving parishioners all over the world...Now 82 years old, Markey is sitting in an Indiana jail awaiting extradition to Ireland to face the charge that he raped a boy more than 40 years ago...Deeply Catholic Ireland has been badly shaken by a government-backed report that found the Archdiocese of Dublin and other church authorities covered up child abuse by priests from 1975 to 2004. Child sexual abuse was widespread then, the report found.
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ESSEN, Germany — The German archdiocese led by the future Pope Benedict XVI ignored repeated warnings in the early 1980s by a psychiatrist treating a priest accused of sexually abusing boys that he should not be allowed to work with children, the psychiatrist said Thursday.
"I said, 'For God’s sake, he desperately has to be kept away from working with children,'" the psychiatrist, Dr. Werner Huth, said in a telephone interview from Munich. "I was very unhappy about the entire story."
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A Kane County judge Thursday rejected lower bail for a Catholic priest accused of sexually assaulting an 8-year-old St. Charles boy.
Judge T. Jordan Gallagher shot down the motion sought by the Rev. Alejandro Flores, who is being held in lieu of $1 million bail following his January arrest on seven felony counts. Flores, 37, is accused of assaulting the boy in 2005. At the time, Flores was a seminarian assigned to a West Chicago parish.
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BASEL, Switzerland (AP) — A western Swiss diocese has admitted that it hired a priest in 1971 knowing he had sexually abused children.
The Basel diocese says it made an unjustifiable and wrong assessment when it hired Father Gregor Mueller, knowing he was dismissed from his previous post in neighboring Germany for sexual abuse...Chur said Wednesday Mueller resigned after admitting to sexual abuses in the German monastery as well as another one in Austria.
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Pueblo, CO - A new lawsuit filed Wednesday against the Catholic Diocese of Pueblo alleges the former director of youth services for the diocese was a sexual predator.
The suit, filed by former Puebloan John Yengich, claims that Rev. Daniel Maio sexually abused him dozens of times from 1968 to 1969...The suit claims the Pueblo diocese took steps to conceal the abuse and Maio's propensity for committing it.
In a press release, Horowitz noted that Maio was in a supervisory role over another accused priest, Rev. Andrew Burke, who killed himself in 2005 after the diocese received an allegation that he sexually abused a child...Another settlement was reached in a case involving a confidential victim and Rev. Michael Kurz, formerly of the Pueblo Diocese. If I were a Catholic I'd think it was AWESOME that these guys are the ones telling me what's unclean.
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