Out in the Garden

Out in the Garden is a delightful book by Dean Riddle that first convinced me that I, too, could be a gardener. And that it was a task worth taking on.

I just came in from my tiny, unimpressive, needs-tons-of-work suburban Virginia garden. (It's funny how, in America, we say "yard" where the Brits would say "garden." Ground Force, in addition to providing endless hours of porn in the form of Tommy, (about whom I feel the way the comic strip Cathy's mother felt about Prince Charles on his wedding to Di: "He never even got to meet you!") Tommy, if you ever tire of Mrs. Walsh, those children, the Cockney part of London, ok, my father's family were Cockneys while the Walshes were still living in Wales, but, you know what I mean . . . ) also helped to convince me that gardening wasn't too serious an endeavor for me to mount. Pun intended)). I pulled weeds from the herb bed, esp. the section devoted to dill. By mistake, I pulled up a tender dill seedling along w/ the weeds and grass. I ate it. it tasted fresh and green and the way that I imagine Spring in Sweden (the land of my peeps) must taste -- forget the Wild Strawberries, Ingmar. (Do you do this too? Do you free-associate all the way through your garden? If you do, I'd love to hear about it, either in comments here or via email!)

I stuck my nose deep into the tiny, pink old fashioned roses that the people who were here before me planted outside the screen porch. It's enough to say that I'm not a huge rose fan, (rose bushes look gorgeous for about three weeks out of the year and, for the other 49 weeks, not so much). But the smell of a rose does amazing things to a human. At first, my thought, nose buried deep in the rose, ass pointed high in the air, was that smelling a rose takes us to a different place. But then, I thought, "No, not really. It takes us to Earth." We live too little of our lives here on Earth and too much of our lives on tv, on the internet, in our heads. Smelling a rose brings us back to Earth.

T. Thorn Coyle is big on reminding us of this: we are EMBODIED consciousness, at least for this time around, this life, this attempt to become who we really are. We are spiritual to the extent that we are able to connect our bodies, our minds, and that ineffable something else that the xians call soul. I remember this best in the garden, fingers dirty, nose in a plant's sex organ, dill leaves on my tongue, sun reaching past me to have the most amazing sexual congress with the green leaves that make food from the sun.

Thriving. For me, it happens out in the garden. Where does it happen for you? How will you make it happen, how will you keep on making it happen under the Bush (was any man ever more incongrously named?) coup? Does it happen for you at all?

I'm going to go plant moonflower seeds (I bought some more, since the last packet had so few) around the foot of my deciduous magnolia and see if they'll balance the leaves of GWPDA's black iris for the rest of the summer. And attract the hummingbirds. Then I'm going to sit under the Green Man wind chimes that my gorgeous friend Kathy gave me and see what the wind can say to me today.

Love Ya, Big John, But You Still Aren't Getting It

Go here and listen to Stephanie Miller's interview w/ a very hip, very funny John Kerry. Kerry "gets" so much -- he gets that we need to quit cutting taxes on America's wealthiest citizens while borrowing money and shipping manufacturing jobs oversees. He gets that we need a real, comprehensive energy policy -- yesterday.

But how he can still defend his vote to give Bush authority to use force in Iraq is beyond me. He says now that he regrets the vote because Bush broke his word to Congress to use force only as a last resort to enforce inspections. Well, John, what possible reason did you have to trust George Bush even back then? Come on. You just can't be that naive.

And how can he say that his only mistake in response to the SwiftBoaters was not having enough money? John, you were one of the best-funded Democratic candidates in history. If you didn't have enough money, no one's going to. The problem wasn't money. The problem was spending the money you did have on Bob Shrum and shit consultants who told you to ignore Karl Rove's attacks -- a strategy others have tried and that has NEVER WORKED EVEN ONCE.

And how can Big John still not get it about election fraud? John, they stole the election from you. Miller does a good job of trying to hold his feet to the fire on this one. Finally, he says, well states will legislate paper ballots even if the feds won't and hopefully we'll win back one House or the other this fall. John, that's not a plan. I guarandamntee you Ohio and Florida won't institute paper ballots and Ohio and Florida have selected George Bush twice over the will of the rest of the country. I know that I sound like a broken record (butcha are Hec, butcha are!) but until the Democrats decide to throw everything they've got -- and I mean everything -- at electing the Secretaries of State in Ohio and Florida, they might as well not bother running anyone for President.

So here's a smart, hip, personable, funny guy, the kind of guy I'd love to hang out with and have an elitist glass of pinot noir, a guy who would move America forward, a guy you can see beginning to repair the damage done to our image abroad, not least because most world leaders would probably also enjoy having an glass of elitist pinot with him, a guy who desperately wants to be president. In short, he'd be a great president. But he's not going to get that chance because he still has the huge blind spot all the Democrats seem to have concerning what's happened to electoral politics in America. John, more money isn't the answer and the fact that you think it is scares and depresses the bejebuz out of me.


Thanks to cs, art is bread at Eschaton for the tip.

Catholics! Could You Please Go Feed the Poor or Comfort the Sick or Something for a Change?

I've just about had it with these whiny-ass titty babies.

Totally Frivolous Friday Blogging

When I was a little girl and my mother needed to do something nice for herself, she'd buy herself a hat. Ladies don't these days, as a rule, wear hats -- more's the pity -- so when I feel that need, I buy myself a Hermes scarf. (I'm not saying how many I have, although my son occasionally asks me; that's a secret known only to my brilliant friend Elizabeth, who helped me set up a database to catalog them.)

So, last night Elizabeth and I went to the invitation-only party for the grand re-opening of the Hermes store in Tyson's Corner. Tres impressionnant.

Hot air balloon in the trademark Hermes orange. Gorgeous black Clydesdale paraded through the store accompanied by chic young girls in jodhpurs and boots. Massive bouquets of white peonies that smelled so much like honey you kept expecting a beekeeper to show up. Attendants at the valet parking who were, shall we say, pretty-pretty boys avec accents français who surely have never done valet parking duty ever before in their young lives.

Nice people passing trays of champagne and nibbles. E and I tried the steak tartare, which was being served, as so many appetizers and desserts are these days, on spoons -- automatic portion control. But it was very nice, just the right amount of spice to go with the steak. There was a gorgeous, huge, black Kelly bag that I looked at the way Jimmy Carter admitted to having looked at some women -- with lust in my heart. E and I perused the scarf counter and then had a lot of fun noting really big hair, really big boob jobs, and really bad plastic surgery. Speaking of which, the only semi-celebrity we saw was Andrea Mitchell, wearing a rather mud-colored Roccaille shawl.

We headed across the courtyard and had dinner at Colvin Run Tavern. We split the pate appetizer and E had lamb while I had flounder stuffed w/ crab, shrimp, tasso, and asparagus. Then we split the cheese tray. The food was amazing; the service pretty so-so and not nearly as nice as I've had the other times that I've been there. Colvin people, here's a clue, if you no longer carry Six Grape Port, don't suggest Six Grape Port.

So, I know, I know. There's a hole in the ozone, the world's a mess, there are wars and famines and diseases and all kinds of problems demanding our attention. But by now you know that I think we were put her to thrive, not just to survive. And once in a while, you have to put it all behind you and enjoy yourself. Now, go buy a scarf.

Well This Is Totally Cool

BBC reports that, "New York has announced plans to expand free wireless internet connections into Central Park and other public places across the city. Officials estimate that the new system will be up and running by the summer and will attract thousands of outdoor computer users." BBC notes that, " For the ever growing number of on-the-move New Yorkers addicted to laptops and PDAs, this is good news. Many have grown used to paying for wi-fi connections in New York's cafes. Now, though, they will be able to log on outdoors and for free. . . . It is all paid for by corporate sponsorship and may be the blueprint for even more ambitious projects in locations including Philadelphia, which aim to eventually offer free wireless access not just in public spaces but across entire American cities."

Love the idea of free wireless available everywhere.

DaVinci Would Be Amazed

Via Witchvox, here's a very good editorial from the Portsmouth Herlad concerning the snit some xians have managed to work themselves into concerning the upcoming movie version of the DaVinci Code, a book that was really nothing more than a moderately entertaining potboiler mystery.

The editorial notes that, "Various Christian organizations have planned protests at theaters that will begin showing the movie, which is based on a book written by Rye Beach resident Dan Brown, tomorrow night." After noting that the DaVinci Code may, in fact, spur some people to investigate religious ideas, the editorial concludes, "However, many of these leaders are so outraged that such a book could be published, much less made into a movie for mass consumption, that they are missing the educational opportunities inherent in the discussion.

They are using words like 'heresy and 'blasphemy' - those ancient calls to arms that struck fear into Christians during the dark days of the Inquisition and witch trials, to limit the number of followers who will even consider reading or seeing what Brown has to say.

But these are not the Dark Ages. The light of intellectual inquiry burns bright and for the truly religious, whatever is revealed by that light will not detract from the beacon of faith that lies in their hearts.

It is only the irrational actions of self-protective church leaders who profess to be the only ones capable of seeing truth that can dim that beacon."

I think that's about right. I'll just add that the ONLY thing that could induce me to go see the movie would be the chance to piss off some fundi whack-jobs who think that they get to tell the rest of us what we can and can't read, watch, discuss, etc.

Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121

Here's a very good idea from People for the American Way:

"Wow.

I wrote you on Monday urging you to call your senators – often – until they stood up to the Bush administration’s troubling violations of our privacy rights. You certainly took the ball and ran with it. We have call reports pouring in on your conversations with Senate staff and they are encouraging.

Not only did many of you give your elected officials a piece of your mind, it sounds like many senators are listening more closely than they were when the week began. Judging from the call reports as they came in, staffers for the senators appeared increasingly overwhelmed and increasingly willing to note that their senators understood the public outcry and had concerns themselves.

Sustained input is powerful – and invigorating. Keep the calls coming. Give those on the fence an extra push, and encourage those already on the right path. If you haven’t called, pick a time today to dial your senators and let them know:

• vote NO on any legislative ‘fixes’ that would whitewash the executive branch’s illegal eavesdropping,
• support proposals to cut off spending for illegal surveillance, and
• support a full investigation of the NSA’s domestic wiretapping and its massive database of phone records, including the appointment of a special prosecutor.

Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121"

*****************************

I figure if they're going to track our calls anyway we might as well make some calls to bitch about it.

If Only We Were Serious About Conserving Energy

BBC has a fascinating report on smart meters. A smart meter is a device that shows the consumer, possibly even remotely via the internet, how much energy her appliances are using and what it's costing. They have, as BBC reports, the potential to save not only money for the consumer, but a huge amount of energy. In turn, that's very good for the environment.

Most consumers are unaware, because they don't have any way to tell, that the electrons they use at, say 3:00 in the afternoon are usually much more expensive than, say, the same number of electrons used at 3:00 in the morning. This is because at 3:00 in the morning, there's not as much demand -- fewer people are running computers, hair dryers, diswashers, etc. So electric companies shut down the plants that cost the most to run (due to, for example, fuel type or emissions costs) and run their cheaper, baseload, plants, likely nuclear, wind, hydro, etc. As more people wake up and start to use their toasters, electric coffee pots, computers, etc., the electric companies begin running their more expensive plants. But that simply doesn't show up at all in the electric bills that consumers receive, nor do current meters show this information to consumers. Similarly, consumers are often unaware of how much money they could save by, for example, unplugging their tvs when they turn them "off" or by setting their refrigerator a degree or two higher. A smart meter can provide this sort of information.

As BBC notes, there are some implementation issues that need to be worked out, but I think smart meters have a lot of potential. Instead of giving huge tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans, it's too bad the US government isn't giving a dollar-for-dollar tax break to electric companies to install smart meters in every home in America.

And You Know, If Fifty People A Day Do It, They Just Might Think It's a Movement

BBC reports that "Ecuadorean oil officials cancelled Occidental Petroleum's operating contract after a long-running dispute." This follows Bolivia's nationalization of foreign energy companies and the imposition of hefty extraction taxes upon oil companies in Venezuela. There's something very interesting going on in South America, although Bush is too obsessed with the Middle East to notice.

For years, the conventional wisdom has been that countries couldn't nationalize assets because it would scare off investors. No one would, for example, build natural gas pipelines or oil wells if they worried that, once built, they'd be seized by the state. There may still be some wisdom to that, but I'm not sure that it's the hard-and-fast rule that it was once thought to be. Once a company recovers its investment and makes some profit, nationalization may be disappointing, but not necessarily disappointing enough to stop all future investment. Occidental Petroleum invested money in Ecuador. It made a large profit in Ecuador. Why wouldn't it invest again just because that profit was finite?

As I've noted before, I think that, over the next fifty years or so, oil and natural gas assets will have to be nationalized. Carbon-based resources are too scarce and the demand for them is too high to allow private investors to reap the windfalls that are already beginning to occur. Perhaps by the time we overthrow the Bush Coup, our neighbors to the South will have a history of energy asset nationalization that we can learn from.

The Mountains of the Moon Whose Snows Feed . . . The Nile

BBC reports that a "fabled tropical ice field in Africa could disappear in two decades because of climate change, a study says." The article continues, "The Rwenzori Mountains straddle the border between Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. They are home to one of four remaining tropical ice fields outside the Andes and are renowned for their spectacular and rare plant and animal life."

But what makes this more than just another in such a long stream of melting-ice stories that many of us have become, you should excuse the expression, numb to them is that this particular ice field truly is fabled. As BBC explains, "Their legendary status may stretch back to a reference by the 2nd Century AD Greek geographer Ptolemy, who wrote of snow-capped equatorial peaks that fed the Nile: 'The Mountains of the Moon whose snows feed the lakes, sources of the Nile'.

Some researchers think conceptual maps prepared by Ptolemy are a good fit for the Rwenzori, which feeds Lake Albert, which in turn feeds the White Nile."

Ptolemy. These ice fields were mapped and described by Ptolemy. They'll be gone in a few decades at this rate. It makes me very sad.

It's a Coup. We Need to Call It What It Is

Dictionary.com tells us that a coup is a sudden and decisive change of government illegally or by force. Synonyms include coup d'etat, putsch, and takeover.

A group of corporatists and neocons, using fundies as dupes, desperate that their attempt to seize power by impeaching Bill Clinton had failed, stole the 2000 election and the 2004 election. George Bush is just their puppet, the purportedly likeable cowboy that they used as a front man for their coup.

The difference between the American coup and, for example, a South American or African coup was that, in America, the might of the Supreme Court, rather than the might of the Army, was used to effect the coup. Like a skilled pickpocket, the corporatists and neocons stole power in plain sight. Unable to believe its eyes, America pretended that there had been no coup.

But that doesn't change reality. It doesn't make those in power today any less guilty of a coup. Nor does it change the fact that the tools we'd normally use in a democracy to effect a change of leadership won't work when dealing with a group that steals elections and engages in all the illegal acts against American citizens (warrantless spying, detention w/o charges or access to a lawyer, free-speech zones, arrest of those wearing t-shirts that could displease the emperor, leaking state secrets to smear opponents, lying us into a war where they've (via Haliburton) stolen millions of dollars and killed thousands of innocents, etc., etc., etc.) that this group of fascists are eager to perform.

The Democrats must quit pretending that we are dealing with honest opponents in a fair election. They must quit pretending that, if the rank and file will just donate enough money to fill the pockets of the right consultants, we can take our government back. Those tactics work if the other side doesn't get to "count" the votes in a darkened back room. They won't work in the American Interregnum, as I think this era will come to be known, because the other side steals elections.

So what is the answer? I don't believe in giving up. So the first thing the Democrats must do is begin to call the current administration what it is -- a fascist coup. They must begin to acknowledge what we're up against and quit living in the pretend world that they wish we still inhabited. They need to begin, loudly, announcing that the Republicans have stolen and will continue to steal elections. Will the press scoff? Yes, loudly at first. Democrats will be called poor losers, shrill, and insane, and will be accused of undermining our democracy (remember these people project like a metroplex). That can't stop us. The Democrats need to present evidence to back up the claim and they need to keep making the claim. They need to announce that the Republicans plan to steal the election this fall and state how they expect the heist will be pulled off. When the Republicans steal the November election, the Democrats need to call for, and we need to be ready for, massive civil disobedience. Let's not wait until November 8th to start organizing.

It's a coup. The first step towards replacing it and restoring American democracy is acknowledging what it is and naming it. There's power in naming.

May the Goddess Guard Him. May He Find His Way To The Summerlands. May His Friends And Family Know Peace

Former poet laureate Stanley Kunitz died at 100, asleep in his bed. The AP reports that, "In some ways, he maintained a quiet, contemplative life, working for hours at night on an old manual typewriter, and by day nurturing his beloved garden in Provincetown, Mass. But he also helped found two writing centers and was a self-described pacifist who was a conscientious objector in World War II, opposed the Vietnam War and criticized the U.S.-led war against Iraq.

'He was very outgoing, very cheerful, very funny, very interested in you and the others in the room,' said fellow poet Galway Kinnell. 'You could say that most of the American poets younger than he was tended to look up to him as their guide, their leader, their surrogate father.

'Of course,' Kinnell added with a laugh, 'after a while, all the poets were younger poets.'

Shortly before his 100th birthday, "The Wild Braid" was published, featuring poems, photographs of Kunitz in his garden and his reflections on gardening, art and the end of life. 'Death is absolutely essential for the survival of life itself on the planet,' he said, explaining his acceptance of mortality. 'It would become full of old wrecks, dominating the population.'"


He loved two of the things that I love: poetry and gardening. Here's one of my favorite poems of his:

The Long Boat

When his boat snapped loose
from its mooring, under
the screaking of the gulls,
he tried at first to wave
to his dear ones on shore,
but in the rolling fog
they had already lost their faces.

Too tired even to choose
between jumping and calling,
somehow he felt absolved and free
of his burdens, those mottoes
stamped on his name-tag:
conscience, ambition, and all
that caring.

He was content to lie down
with the family ghosts
in the slop of his cradle,
buffeted by the storm,
endlessly drifting.
Peace! Peace!
To be rocked by the Infinite!
As if it didn't matter
which way was home;
as if he didn't know
he loved the earth so much
he wanted to stay forever.


From The Wild Braid: A Poet Reflects on a Century in the Garden by Stanley Kunitz with Genine Lentine, W.W. Norton & Co., 2005.

You know, if you can spend a hundred years writing amazing poems and gardening, die in your sleep, and have Galway Kinnell eulogize you -- well, I think that's about as good as it gets.

Guest blogging: Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?

Having just been there for the second weekend of the annual Jazz & Heritage Festival, I answer with a resounding yes. The sad thing is I was able to say the same while I was there.

THE GOOD

Although I am a frequent visitor to The City That Care Forgot, I am pretty claustrophobic in crowds, so this was my first visit for any of the big festivals (New Year’s, Carnival/Lundi and Mardi Gras, Convergence, French Quarter Fest, Satchmo SummerFest, Southern Decadence). Jazz Fest was incredibly well-run. According to other attendees, the crowd was typical of other years. The music was fantastic, the food and drinks were ample and delicious (I’m now hooked on pheasant, quail and andouille gumbo), and I don’t think I ever waited in line for anything (food, beverages, the shuttle, the bathroom) for more than 10 minutes.

Many of my favorite places to eat, drink, shop and hear music – Galatorie’s, Irene’s Cuisine, Acme Oyster House, Dickie Brennan’s, Desire Oyster Bar, Fiorella’s, Court of Two Sisters, Marigny Brasserie, Johnny White’s, Violet’s, Fleur de Paris, Riverstone Galleries, Trashy Diva, Fifi Mahoney’s, Tipitina’s, Rock n’ Bowl, Blue Nile, Snug Harbor, Donna’s – were open and going strong. Many more places that haven’t re-opened yet are set to within the next month, in conjunction with the planned re-opening of the Morial Convention Center. And the music at the clubs in the evenings was beyond phenomenal, with unexpected combinations popping up everywhere (Bonearama, Rebirth, Dirty Dozen AND some Mardi Gras Indians at Tip’s, Charmaine Neville with several very talented teenagers at Snug Harbor, everybody and their cousin playing a kickoff Rock n’ Bowl romp night on Wednesday).

The first weekend featured most of the big names, while the second weekend featured largely local talent, many of whom came home and are still displaced in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. It was a cathartic event for the many, many locals who attended and performed, topped off by Antoine “Fats” Domino’s appearance at the concluding concert Sunday night. Ill and unable to perform, Fats left the hospital to come give his best wishes to all the festival-goers, and to thank us for contributing to reviving the city.

THE BAD

Aside from a few pockets, the city is a shambles. The French Quarter, which is all many tourists see, is about 2/3 back, with many of the remaining closed businesses due to re-open within the next month. The Garden District is in fine shape, with the high-end boutiques along Magazine Street open for business. Faubourg Marigny is in decent shape too, because most of the businesses there serve the middle and upper class residents who’ve either returned or never left in the first place (it’s one of the neighborhoods that didn’t flood). The rest of the city is a mess.

I stayed in the Central Business District. The hotel I usually stay in has not re-opened, despite the building sustaining no significant damage. (I’ve already composed an angry letter to the corporation that runs the chain.) Many of the buildings in the CBD demonstrate minor damage, but what’s even more worrisome is the volume of “commercial space for lease” signs.

The rest of the city is even worse. Driving up Canal Street to Rock n’ Bowl in mid-city Wednesday night was shocking – business after business is still empty and boarded up. The shopping center that plays home to Rock n’ Bowl currently plays home ONLY to Rock n’ Bowl. With chain link fence around the entire rest of the complex, it looks like a war zone.

Driving to and from the Fairgrounds, one goes past empty neighborhood after empty neighborhood, deserted houses often slid off their foundations, the ghoulish FEMA marks indicating how many bodies, human and animal, were found there. Although there are small pockets of people in most places, the overwhelming majority of houses and businesses are dark and silent. Every highway ramp and overpass parking area is full of flooded vehicles, towed there and abandoned.

THE UGLY

The first time I saw the Morial Convention Center, I burst into tears, remembering all the desperate people who fled there, seeking safety, only to find hunger, thirst, heat, stench, government indifference, despair and death. To quote “Brownie”: “There are people at the convention center?!?” To quote Curious George: “Who cares? They’re poor, they’re black, they don’t give me and my friends money, and they don’t vote for us. Let ‘em die.”

I was constantly amazed at the ignorance of many of the non-residents I encountered. Fest goers didn’t recognize the Morial Center, and even after being told its name, had no idea what had happened there. They didn’t know that the FEMA markings were FEMA markings, why they were there, or what they stood for. They didn’t know what the water marks on houses and buildings were, and even when told, it just didn’t seem to compute. They had no idea where the 9^th ward is, or that it was the LAKEside and canal levees that failed. No, the Mississippi River did not flood the city, people. And no, I don’t think they were drunk at the time. Was I the only person in America paying any attention last August and September?

But the ugliest thing is our political “leaders,” who can’t even be bothered to force the insurance companies to pay up (which would cost the government NOTHING), so that people can go on with their lives. Nor can they be bothered to reign in the Army Corps of Engineers for causing the whole disaster with their decades ass-backwards pork barrel water “management” projects. Nor can they be bothered to pull their heads out of their tax-cutting asses long enough to actually RAISE taxes to go DIRECTLY to Gulf Coast restoration.

Interacting with locals, my most common question was: “What can I do to help?” The answer, invariably (in a town whose primary industry is tourism), was come visit, spend money, come back, and encourage others to come. Despite the many problems the city still faces – loss of residents, loss of neighborhoods, bankruptcy, massive infrastructure problems – it is still New Orleans. It’s a city built on catastrophe, having survived hurricanes, floods, fires, and plagues, always coming back. The birthplace of jazz and the second line, the only city in the United States where the residents truly understand that you’re not promised tomorrow, so you damn well better live today will come back. It’s already on its way. If you can conspire to get there, do, and help the city regain its lush, decadent, tawdry, fabulous vibe.

Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?
I miss it both night and day
I know that it's wrong... this feeling's gettin' stronger
The longer, I stay away

Miss them moss covered vines...the tall sugar pines
Where mockin' birds used to sing
And I'd like to see that lazy Mississippi...hurryin' into spring

The moonlight on the bayou.......a Creole tune.... that fills the air
I dream... of Magnolias in bloom...and soon I'm wishin' that you were there

Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?
And that's where I left my heart
And there's something more...I miss the one I care for
More than I miss New Orleans

Guestblogged by Elizabeth

Buy My Brilliant Friend's CD!

AFTER THE FALL - EP - complete!
I just finished recording, arranging and producing a powerful little collection of songs - I hope you will buy one, listen to it, love it, be inspired, tell a friend, and spread the good word. The EP opens with an emotional piano/vocal performance of "After The Fall", recorded live in New York City. The next two tracks, "Not Your Landscape" and "Wolf" were produced at Delphi 23 Studio in Williamsburg, adding strings, guitar, percussion, and synth effects to underscore their message of warning - you'll be singing along with their infectious hooks. "January Mourning" is a hauntingly beautiful acoustic piece about letting go, and "Fight or Flight" closes the collection with a dramatic call to action.

Rick Tippett of The Washington Post says "Very impressive...as always, what surfaces in (Clarke's) music is passion and soul." All songs touch on themes of love, loss, passion and pride, and they rock!
ITunes & PayPal coming soon - for now, please email me your mailing address in order to purchase a CD:

I will happily mail one to you along with some good karma--->buyatfcd@amyclarke.com

AFTER THE FALL - EP
Release May 1 2006
All Selections ASCAP
1. After The Fall (Live in NY)
2. Not Your Landscape
3. Wolf
4. January Mourning
5. Fight or Flight
All tracks (c) Amy Clarke & ScorpFaery Productions
www.amyclarke.com/music www.myspace.com/amyclarke

Sunday Akhmatova Blogging

How many demands the beloved can make!
The woman discarded, none.
How glad I am that today the water
Under the colorless ice is motionless.
And I stand -- Christ help me! --
On this shroud that is brittle and bright,
But save my letters
So that our descendants can decide,
So that you, courageous and wise,
Will be seen by them with greater clarity.
Perhaps we may leave some gaps
In your glorious biography?
Too sweet is earthly drink,
Too tight the nets of love.
Sometime let the children read
My name in their lesson book,
And on learning the sad story,
Let them smile shyly. . .
Since you've given me neither love nor peace
Grant me bitter glory.
1913
-- translated by Judith Hemschemeyer

*************************************************************************************

Well, this one speaks pretty directly to me. I've been where Akhmatova was when she wrote this. I think it's the same place that Stevie Nicks was in when she sang, "And sometimes...when they ask her about the men in her life...she says, 'well, they are poets...and yet they are priests of nothing...aah, but they are legends.' And I thought that there was a...connection."
~Stevie Nicks, live version ending to Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You/Live From Red Rocks, 1986

And if I ever find a recording or an mp3 of that live performance, BTW, I am going to be the happiest woman on earth.

My generaton of women may be, please the Goddess, the last generation of women who get sold that lovely opium dream of living through a great man, of being muse to a great poet.

You Can't Win a Fight When You Won't Open Your Eyes and Look at Your Opponent

Prior Aelred sent this Smirking Chimp article to me. You've got to go read it right now. Everyone in America needs to read it. The bottom line is that the Republicans have undoubtedly STOLEN the last two elections and the Democrats seem to want to just close their eyes and pretend that this isn't happening. Which, unfortunately, assures that the Republicans will continue to steal elections.

It makes people uncomfotable when you say that the Republicans are stealing elections. They act as if you've just farted, or just announced that you were abducted by aliens who kept you in a spaceship and made you bear their alien babies. The Republicans count on that.

The article notes that, "the Bush campaign was aided enormously in this thievery because their campaign co-chairs in key states were also the Secretaries of State -- that is, the officials in charge of conducting elections and certifying the vote results: Katherine Harris in Florida in 2000 (with brother Gov. Jeb Bush overseeing her work), and, in 2004, Kenneth Blackwell in Ohio, Terry Lind in Michigan, Matt Blunt in Missouri, Glenda Hood in Florida, et al." I've been saying for a year and a half that I won't give any money to any Democratic presidential candidates until the Democrats figure out a way to elect Democrats as SoS of Ohio and Florida. What's the point? So far, I can't see any evidence that the Democrats have made this Job One. They're now busy fighting over whether to give their money to DC consultants (NO! For the love of God, NO!) or local efforts in all states. As if this were going to be some normal election and we just need to figure out where to best spend our money. It's not and that's the least of what we need to do.

The article continues, "One can't escape the conclusion that the Democrats in general still don't know how to respond to cutthroat aggressiveness and criminality on the part of the Republicans. The Dems never knew what hit them in Florida in 2000, in Ohio in 2004 and don't really have their oppositional act together now in 2006, with the midterm election just six months away." This is what really scares me. And, I think it relates to my earlier post on integrity. People are afraid to admit that we're dealing with a group of out-and-out criminals who are willing to break all the rules, because admitting that forces us to face some scary questions about how to deal with those people. It takes us outside the realm of the known, where there are rules that work, and dumps us into an alternate, and frightening, new reality.
We're not going to just get better funded, better organized, and elect better people. I knew when I heard about the NSA phone database that these crooks NEVER plan to leave office. They would never create a tool like that and then turn it over to, say, Hillary Clinton.

I'm not sure what -- other than massive civil disobedience -- will work with the power-mad fascists who have stolen control of America. I am sure that continuing to squeeze our eyes shut and pretend that we're not dealing with a real crisis -- in short, continuing to do what we've been doing but hoping for different results -- will only result in more stolen elections.

In 2004, I hoped that Kerry could pul off a landslide and that a landslide would be more difficult for the Republicans to steal than the close election we'd had in 2000. I still hear people heartened by Bush's low poll numbers who hope the Democrats will pull off landslide victories this fall that will be too big for the Republicans to steal. I don't buy it. In 2000, they had to scramble to steal the election, get help from the SCOTUS (fuck you, Sandra Day!) Again: "One can't escape the conclusion that the Democrats in general still don't know how to respond to cutthroat aggressiveness and criminality on the part of the Republicans. The Dems never knew what hit them in Florida in 2000, in Ohio in 2004 and don't really have their oppositional act together now in 2006, with the midterm election just six months away."

The Democrats are the only hope we've got. We have neither the time nor the resources to organize a third party with any realistic chance of taking control. So we've got to wake the Democrats up, no matter how difficult a job that may be. I'm open to suggestons on how that might be done.

Equs

Bush slips below twenty-nine percent in polls.

An Invitation to the Barricades Based Upon a Realization of the Nature of Our Oppressors and the Need to Live with Integrity

T. Thorn Coyle always has something interesting to say, but this week, her posts keep resonating with things that I've been thinking about, especially within the overall themes of how we thrive in today's world. She says:

"I see that change is possible. Humans can deal with each other in forthright and adult ways, and have fun while they are at it. It is this signal I will follow, not the noise.

I mentioned to my homeopath this morning that my integrity is my only currency. She said it is the only thing any of us have. Yet humans support people and systems that have little to no integrity all the time. Why is this? What blinds us? Fear, greed and neediness."

It's interesting, because I've been thinking about the fact that it is the complete lack of integrity that makes the Bush administration and its supporters, both within the mainstream media and in general, so impossible to deal with. The recent Mary Cheney brouhaha is just one tiny example. She's gay, she's openly gay. She's made a good living off the very fact that she is gay and can supposedly help, for example, Coors attract more gay customers. Her father mentioned shortly before the Republican convention that she was gay. Yet, she and her mama are willing to try to make political capital and sell books by pretending to be highly offended that, when asked a question about gays (that never would have come up at all but for Republican pandering to an inflammable base of gay-haters) Kerry and Edwards mentioned that she was gay. No integrity. How do you deal with that? Kerry's fumbled it up until now. I think the answer may be to do something that liberals have been reluctant to do up until now: to begin to directly challenge these people's integrity.

And of course, Mary Cheney's only one small example in a tsunami of acts that simply reek of a lack of integrity: from the 2000 "election" to the misuse of 9/11 to lying us into an illegal, immoral war to robbing from the poor and the old and the sick to give to the rich to illegal spying on Americans to torture to secret jails with no due process to swift boating and planting kerned documents to polluting the air and calling it "Clear Skies," everything these people do is tainted by a lack of integrity. They don't even feel a need to be consistent; they're happy to claim today that impeaching a president would be the end of the world when just a few years ago they impeached Clinton over a blow job. Kay Bailey Hutchinson got caught recently asserting that lying isn't an impeachable offence, although she'd said the exact opposite about Clinton. Debbie Howell will continue to lie on the pages of the WaPo about whether Democrats were beneficiaries of Abramoff's bribes, even when it's been clearly shown that that is not the case.

Which brings us back, I think, to Ms. Coyle's question: If our integrity is our only currency, the only thing any of us have, why do we support people and systems that have little to no integrity all the time? Why is this? What blinds us? Coyle answers: Fear, greed and neediness. And perhaps she's right. Particularly about the role that fear plays in this process. In particular, I think we are afraid to simply announce and be forced to act upon the fact that we are dealing with people who have no integrity. We're not talking about differences of opinion, about people of good will honestly disagreeing about legitimate policy differences. We're talking about the fact that we're dealing with people -- the people in charge of our government and the largest most powerful nation on Earth -- who lack all integrity. It's an extreme statement to make and liberals have become too terrified of being called extreme, fringe, wacky, dirty hippies, tree huggers, kooks. So it's that fear.

More, though, there's a fear associated with what happens once you admit to yourself and announce to the world that your opponent lacks all integrity. Our system of democratic government, with its checks and balances and respect for diversity, is based to a larger degree than we often recognize upon the premise that even our opponents will act with integrity, that everyone will play by the rules. Once that's no longer the case, when you have a large group of powerful people who refuse to follow any of the rules, our democracy doesn't really provide the tools to deal with that. We can't vote them out of office when they have their fingers on the Diebold hard drive. We can't convince our fellow Americans to vote them out of office when they have blackmail dirt obtained by illegal spying on key members of the media and their bosses.

So, what do we do? How do we thrive when the entire system created to allow us to thrive no longer works, when it's been infected by a complete lack of integrity? If the first part of the answer to that question is to always behave with integrity ourselves, what does that mean in this new world?

I can't remember now where I read it, but I saw something on the web a week or so ago about a woman who attended a political debate where the Republican began by refusing to disavow ads that were clearly dishonest. She said that, on reflection, she wished that she hadn't sat quietly, following the moderator's rule that audience members not ask questions. She wished she'd stood up and announced her objection and refused to sit down until the Republican did the thing that integrity would have required him (or her, I just can't remember) to do. Maybe that's the way we ourselves behave with integrity when dealing with those who have none.

But it's only part of the answer. I think the other part is to acknowledge that we're living in a new world and that new solutions -- possibly involving mass civil disobedience -- are going to be necessary. That's scary, but dealing with the fear that brings up may be necessary in order for us to thrive. Sometimes, a forest fire is necessary to clear old growth and allow new trees to grow. Sometimes, forest fire is the only way for the forest to preserve its own integrity.

I'm not saying anything original. In fact, some guys with long hair said it very eloquently over 200 years ago:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

I Suppose Grown Ups Acting Like Grown Ups Would Be Too Much To Expect/

Via Witchvox, comes an article about the sons of a serviceman being kicked out of the Boy Scouts for being Wiccan. It's 2006 and this is America. For the love of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

The article reports that: "The number one scout law is to do your duty to God and your country," Troop 71 Scout Master Gene Doherty said. "They met to discuss whether or not the boys could live up to that because of their religion."

The conclusion was that they could not.

Doherty called Army Cpt. Todd Buchheim, the boys' father and a former Eagle Scout stationed at Fort Polk, to inform him that the boys no longer were welcome in the troop. The Buchheims said Doherty told them that if Cody had lied about his faith, the boys could have remained with no problem."


Does this sound like the sort of thing we'd like to model for our children? I swear there are days when i think Americans have the emotional age of a retarded twelve year old, but that would be unfair to some retarded twelve year olds I've known. So many of the problems we have in this country could be solved if people would just start to act like grown ups.

The freaking point of the meeting was religious diversity! And when they got religious diversity, the grown ups -- not the kids, but the grown ups -- freaked out.

I'll leave aside why any self respecting Wiccan would have their kids in a gay-hating group like the scouts. This weekend, the cutest little nine year old came up to me at the grocery store parking lot selling something for the boy scouts. I said, "Sorry. I won't donate to any group that excludes gays."

I swear, America, grow the fuck up. Because when you hurt yourself, I will laugh.

Walden

One of the smartest people I've ever "known" has started a blog. You must add it to your daily list.

Hmmmmm.

From today's EEI newsletter: "Real Time Power Prices in Boston Area Top $1,000 per MWh

Data from ISO New England showed that electricity prices in the Boston area spiked to more than $1,000 per MWh and averaged nearly $900 per MWh for several hours on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Neither ISO New England nor area power plants knew the cause of the spike.

Traders guessed the price jump was likely due to either transmission or generation problems. Wrote the newswire: 'A spokeswoman at ISO New England, the grid operator, said that despite the high prices (which remained over $1,000 for several minutes) the system conditions were normal and no emergency procedures were in place.'
Reuters , May 9."

In Which Your Humble Blogess Plays Cassandra

Starting to see a number of Republican fundraising appeals that warn that if the Democrats seize control of Congress this fall, they will impeach George Bush. That's interesting. I wish I had their faith in the Democrats. They can't be doing this because Bush is so popular. In fact, as I noted last week, conservatives are beginning to move away from him in droves, claiming that he's never "really" been conservative. So I'm thinking it's a bit of a time bomb being planted in case the Democrats do retake Congress and, even less believable, grow a real spine and punish Bush.

They want to be able to say, "See! We told you so! Those hate-filled Democrats, attacking our president "in a time of [undeclared] war! They should be focused on other priorities!"

Which, coming from the folks who impeached Clinton over a blow job, is going to be pretty damn rich.

Get Her! She's a Witch!

Via Witchvox comes this report of attempts to curtail attacks on those suspected of being witches in India.

Some excerpts from the article: "Recalling the trauma she faced, Ramani narrates: 'I was tortured and forced to eat human excreta just because I was branded a witch by the ojhas (witch doctors).'

Today Ramani is not alone in the fight.

Vaisakhi, another survivor, says: 'It is a blot on our society. We have to face such inhuman torture even in this 21st century. It is a shame that when women have reached space, we are subjected to such horror.'

Vaisakhi, in her 50s, had also been brutally beaten up by a villager, who branded her a witch.

There are scores of women who have been branded witch by villagers and tortured. Many were killed, sometimes by beheading or dismembering their limbs.

Many like Ramani Devi are forced to drink urine or consume human excreta. Some are ostracised and thrown out of their villages."

We like to think that persecution of those thought to be witches ended long ago. It didn't.

Anne Johnson has a report of xians lined up to yell insults at pagans and others who dared to gather for a festival in the US this weekend. Can you imagine the coverage if a bunch of pagans lined up outside the Baptist church and hurled insults at the Baptists as they waited to go inside?

Weekend Akhmatova Blogging

"When the American national poet Robert Frost had visited her at a dacha in 1962, Akhmatova wrote: 'I've had everything - poverty, prison lines, fear, poems remembered only by heart, and burnt poems. And humiliation and grief. And you don't know anything about this and wouldn't be able to understand it if I told you...' Two years before her death at the age of 76, Akhmatova was chosen president of the Writers' Union. She did not live to see the publication of her collected works in 1986 in Moscow."

So, you know, for this alone, I would love Anna, even if I can't quite access her poems yet.

What do you think of this? I like it as well as I've like anything of her, i think.


When you're drunk it's so much fun --
An early fall has strung
The elms with yellow flags.
We've strayed into the land of deceit
And we're repenting bitterly,
Why then are we smiling these
Strange and frozen smiles?
We wanted piercing anguish
Instead of placid happiness. . .
I won't abandon my comrade,
So dissolute and mild.
1911 (Paris)
-- translated by Judith Hemschemeyer

My Goodness; That's A Surprise. No, It's Not!

The WaPo, which is a piece of crap newspaper whose Sunday readership declined by quite a bit last quarter due, inter alia, to the fact that they have a lying scumbucket for an "ombudsman", reports that -- big surprise -- under the Bush administration, rich women avoid unwanted pregnancies, while poor women increasingly do not.

Because governmental policies designed to do just that have been successful.

The article says: "The abortion rate also rose among poor women while declining among the more affluent.

'Clearly, something is changing, and it doesn't bode well in terms of unplanned pregnancies and abortions for poor women, in particular,' said Heather Boonstra, one of the authors of the report.

Asked what was driving the trends, the authors noted that some state and federal reproductive health programs have been cut or made more restrictive in recent years. State and federal programs have increasingly focused on abstinence rather than contraception, and some analysts have argued that the shift is leading to less use of contraceptives and more unintended pregnancies."

I hate these people.

Culture of Life, my smooth, round, peachy ass.

Through The Looking Glass

There's a natural tendency, I think, to suppose that most others believe what we believe. (You agree, right? See! I told you!) So maybe I'm mistaken, but I've always thought that most Americans generally agreed that there were some things that were best done by the government, particularly the federal government, and that, conversely, there were some things that the government should stay the hell out of.

Examples: Protecting Americans from attacks or natural disasters, building interstate highways, funding research into national problems such as cancer, HIV, or the need for clean energy are tasks best done by the federal government. Deciding who to marry, whether or not to have children, what religion, if any, to practice, and deciding when and how to die are decisions best left entirely to the people involved and the government, particularly the federal government, needs to carefully avoid trampling on the personal liberties involved in those sorts of decisions.

In fact, there was a time, not too long ago, when it was the conservatives who kept proclaiming that government needed to stay out of people's lives. They'd dig up examples of over-zealous Social Service agents who removed a child from her home because her parents sent her to bed without dinner one night to punish her bad behavior and worry that the next thing you knew, Big Brother would have cameras in everyone's home to monitor them 24/7. (OK, we didn't say "24/7" back then, but if the expression had been invented, they'd have used it.)

Now, in George Bush's America (I unfortunately mean that more literally than I'd like), it's as if we've stepped through the looking glass and everything's backward. Our first big clue was the federal government's failure to pay any attention to a Presidential Daily Briefing (PDB) entitled "bin Laden Determined to Strike Within US." The president was too busy taking a month-long vacation in a hell-hole in Texas to bother with protecting Americans from attacks by terrorists. Even after it happened, the Bush administration had to be pretty much dragged, pouting and sticking out their lower lips, into attacking the country that had harbored the Saudis who attacked us. Not much fun for them in attacking Afghanistan, even if that's where our attackers had come from.

Our next big clue -- like we needed another one -- was Katrina. Again, Bush and his administration were on vacation and, even with plenty of advance warning, sat around and did nothing to protect Americans from this natural disaster, nor to help them deal with its aftermath. When pushed uncharacteristically hard about its failure to act by the generally lapdogiscal press, Bush & Co. trotted out an idea that should have shocked all Americans even more than it did: it was the State of Louisiana's responsibility to deal with this problem, size and scope of it be damned. It was a particularly amazing statement coming from an administration that had spent millions and millions of dollars "reorganizing" the federal government around the distastefully-named "Department of Homeland Security."

We got our third big clue just this week. Bush announced that, come the avian bird flu epidemic, Americans could count on whatever help they might get from their state governments, but the federal government -- you know, the people who run the CDC -- wasn't going to bother to get too involved, so don't expect it and don't criticize them when they don't lift a finger because, well, they told us a few months ahead of time not to count on them. A coming world-wide pandemic and the federal government of the United States of America says, "Americans, you're on your own."

Coupled with this stunning abdication of traditional federal responsibilities, we've seen an equally stunning intrusion into American's personal lives. Our fist clue should have been "faith-based" funding of religious activities -- something that would have turned the Founding Fathers' stomachs. From that point on, the Bush administration has been more concerned with legislating how Americans live their private lives than any American government ever in the 200+ years of the Republic. Access to birth control of all forms, but especially abortion, is denied, a particularly odious and distasteful brand of xian fundamentalism is shoved down our throats at every opportunity, right-to-die laws are fought all the way to SCOTUS, gay sex is used as a match to ignite the dry timber of Bush's "base," and Bush flies at midnight back from a Texas vacation -- something he wouldn't do for the PDB or Katrina -- to interfere in Michael Schiavo's decision concerning how his brain-dead wife would have wanted to die.

WTF? WTF? Where are all the conservatives of the 1970s and 1980s who wanted a limited role for government? I'm beginning to think they never wanted to limit the government's role in any aspect of American's lives at all. They wanted to limit the extent to which government could regulate corporations. Period. Because, otherwise, I sure as hell would have expected them to be rioting in the street over some of Bush's intrusions into American's lives.

Sure, we're beginning to hear that conservatives are "upset" with Bush over governmental spending -- which has gone up under Bush while taxes on the rich have gone down. They don't want more taxes, but less spending, apparently on the few social services the government still provides because I haven't heard any of them complain about the cost of our illegal war in Iraq coughHaliburtoncough. Recent polls seem to show that some of Bush's losses are due to people who call themselves conservatives being unhappy with him. Not, I guess, for lying us into a war or turning his back on the traditional role of the federal government, but for getting caught lying us into a war and threatening their control of both houses of Congress.

So get ready to start hearing that Bush was never a "real" conservative and that, in 2008, we should elect a "real" conservative who'll do it right this time. It reminds me of a speech that I heard the now-fired CEO of Reliant Energy give after the California energy debacle. (Maybe that should have been our first clue, when Cheney basically told California it was on its own, even though only the federal government could, by law, regulate the energy prices.) Reliant insisted that the problem wasn't that California had deregulated its energy markets, it was that California hadn't deregulated all the way. True, complete deregulation would, he assured his listeners, fix everything. Shortly thereafter, it was discovered that Reliant had been manipulating California's energy markets and laughing on tape about it.

When Newt Gingrich says that the Democrats' slogan ought to be: Had Enough? it's because Newt plans to answer that question by saying that Bush was never a real conservative, but that a real, true, honest-to-goodness conservative (who'll cut social spending to the bone) would be a real change and great for America.

Goddess, I hope we're now too smart to buy that tripe. But the marketing campaign is coming. You watch.

Thank You Very Much Mr. Colbert. You Rock!

Go here and thank Stephen Colbert for having balls the size of Jupiter.

Beltane and Walpurgisnight!

Scant posting over the next few days. Monday is Beltane -- for me, the highest of high holy days! We celebrate new life, Spring, sex, growth, flowering, potential, fecundity, and -- frankly -- fucking. I love me some Beltane. And, at my age, I take me some time to recover. Also, huge conference that I've organized happening on Tuesday which, by my calculations, takes place precisely one day after Beltane, so I likely won't sleep for about 48 hours.

It's ok. It's worth it. I love to dance and, on Beltane, WE DANCE!

Here's hoping that Spring in all its forms is good to you. that what you've been wanting to see manifest becomes manifest, that all the seeds you've planted, in every area, germinate, and that, to quote the country song, when you get the chance, you dance.

Boobies!

Women! It's the first of the month! STOP what you're doing and go give yourself a breast self-exam!

Men! It's the fist of the moth! STOP what you're doing and get your woman to give herself a breast self-exam!

Here's how it's done.

At the very least, go calendar this so you'll remember to do it at the right time of the month.

I love you. I want you to live long and prosper. Breast cancer is almost 100% curable if found early.

Sunday Akhmatova Blogging

In every revolution, the main issue is power.

V. I. Lenin

"Poetry is power," Osip Mandelstam once said to Akhmatova in Voronezh, and she bowed her head on its slender neck. Banished, sick, penniless and hounded, they still would not give up their power.

Nadezhda Mandelstam

Akhmatova continue to evade me. I think now I've been misguided in insisting upon reading her poetry before her biography. I'll need to read about her life if I ever hope to read her poetry even semi-competently. But how can I give up on a woman who agreed so eloquently that poetry is about power and about revolution.

At any rate, I like the feminist feel of this poem:

Lot's Wife
by Anna Akhmatova
Translated by Max Hayward and Stanley Kunitz

And the just man trailed God's shining agent,

over a black mountain, in his giant track,

while a restless voice kept harrying his woman:

"It's not too late, you can still look back



at the red towers of your native Sodom,

the square where once you sang, the spinning-shed,

at the empty windows set in the tall house

where sons and daughters blessed your marriage-bed."



A single glance: a sudden dart of pain

stitching her eyes before she made a sound . . .

Her body flaked into transparent salt,

and her swift legs rooted to the ground.



Who will grieve for this woman? Does she not seem

too insignificant for our concern?

Yet in my heart I never will deny her,

who suffered death because she chose to turn.

What's Anna saying? That it's ok to want to look back? That it's ok to love the comforts and memory of home? That men and their patriarchial god too often trail off into the desert ignoring the things important to women? Or was this a huge comment upon the Soviets that I fail to grasp because I know so little of her life? Well, Anna, I wish I could invite you over to sit in my yard and have tea and tell me, while we enjoy the herb-scented breezes, what you were writing about. I'd offer you cheese, fruit, bread -- the things that were in such short supply while you were writing. We could talk about women turned into "transparent salt," which sounds to me like as good a description as any I'm likely to read of tears.

Friday Family Blogging

My gorgeous daughter-in-law, who has turned out to be the world's most wonderful mother, and my wonderful grandson, who loves his Nonna sooooooooo much!

Let Us Know How That Works Out, Will Ya??

From the DCPagan Yahoo Group:

"You have to see this one to believe it. Christians praying to the God Gasolina. How about praying for some alternative energy sources?

Article here.

D.C. prayer rally to seek lower gas prices

WASHINGTON, April 26 (UPI) -- A U.S. Christian group has grown tired of escalating gasoline prices and is set to stage a national prayer rally to lower the numbers at the pumps.

Various Christian clergy from around the country will convene around a Washington, D.C., gas station Thursday at noon to pray. For those who can't attend, a live Internet site and toll-free prayer line have been established.

In a release, the Pray Live group said many people are "overlooking the power of prayer when it comes to resolving this energy crisis."

Apart from sending a message to God, the rally had a message for humanity, said Wenda Royster, the group's founder.

"It is our hope that seeing and hearing some of the nation's most powerful preachers gathered around a gas station and the United States capital as a backdrop, will remind everyone who is really in charge of our world -- God," Royster said.

The Web site is at praylive.com. The toll-free phone number is 888-PRAYLIVE."

Countdown

Too long, by any reckoning!

Fear, Thriving, and Money

I'm thinking a lot this year about thriving. How do we thrive in a world in the grip of madmen? How do we thrive on a planet undergoing dramatic climate change? How do we thrive in the waning days of the carbon-based economy? I'm also thinking a lot about fear. How do our fears keep us from thriving? Do they help us to thrive? What can we learn about ourselves by examining our fears?

Both of these issues -- thriving and fear -- are wound up in the issue of money and, more specifically, in the issue of debt. My brilliant friend Katrina Messenger, who cooks THE best greens that anyone has ever eaten, has posted an article on debt, part of a series she's been doing on the psychology of money in the Western world; Katrina kindly allowed me to collaborate with her on this article. Check it out and let me know what you think!

What are your fears about debt? How much of your debt is related to your fears? In what specific ways would you thrive if you were debt-free?

OMFG, You Should Totally Go Celebrate Beltane At Four Quarters

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Four Quarters is incorporated as a Not-for-Profit Church, Monastery and Church Camp celebrating
Earth Religion in the State of Pennsylvania. FED EIN 25-1853964, PA EXMP 75-467-104
::www.4QF.org:: ::www.FourQuartersFarm.org:: ::www.FourQF.org:: © 1995-2006 Four Quarters, The Church of Four Quarters and Four Quarters Farm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beltaine 2006
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fri April 28th - Sun April 30th, 2006

Real People, Real Traditions, Real Community.
It's about Spring, it's about Family.
It's for Babies and Children, Maids and Gallants.
Our Aunts, Uncles, Mothers and Fathers, Elders and Ancestors.

Our joyous journey through the Wheel of the Year and the Web of Life.

Children under 16 are Loved, Cherished and Free!
Saturday Evening Feast is free to all attending.

Registrations
Friday Arrival - $65
Saturday Arrival - $55

Meal Plans
3 Meals and Feast; Fri Dinner - Sunday Brunch
$30.50 PreReg Only

FRIDAY
Supper with the Starvin' Artist
7:00 PM - Community Setup of Drum Circle where "we the tribe" come together to clean and prepare the space for ceremony; rake the sand, set the candles, bring small offerings for the Drum Altar or the Ancestor Chair, and help decorate! 8:00 PM - First Fire Ceremony in the Drum Circle - Join us in lighting the first fire of the year. Carry a charged ember from this Fire back to your own campsite to share the community's blessings for the season.

SATURDAY
9-10:30 Brunch with the Starvin' Artist
10:30 Kids meet at Fox Altar to begin Ceremonial Procession through camp 11-12:30 Seeding the Stones Ceremony led by Holly Florczyk; Orren Whiddon will aid the Kids' Tribe in Raising a Seed Stone in the Stone Circle. Spiral Scouts in Uniform, please. 12:30-2 Wreathmaking for the Maypole, Main Stage with Echaria; bedecking the symbols of Beltaine for Raising the Maypole 12:30-2 Making Fairy Houses, Day Stage with Coriander Woodruff; crafting small dwellings for the Little Folk. For all ages.

Also beginning around 12:30 in the Stone Circle, Handfasting of Chris Trembly (who is currently serving in Iraq) and her fiancee Ardith Micheaux.

2-4pm Raising and Dancing the Maypole in the Merchants' Green; Learn the steps and follow the dance! Led by Dan Velleman.

4:00 The Handfasting of the Lord and Lady of Spring Eric Young and Kari Thorssen. Stand with us and witness the wedding of Eric and Kari as they step forward into their life together.

5-7 Feast/Reception by the Starvin' Artist
6:30-9 Members Meeting in the Stone Circle; Questions, comments, and dessert!! 9pm Childrens' Story Time at Bardic Circle 9pm Drum Circle to the Stars!

SUNDAY
10-11:30 Brunch with the Starvin' Artist
11-1:00 Spiral Scouts Business Meeting on the Main Stage. New/interested families are welcome to attend to gather paperwork and information, or to drop off applications and fees. Registered Scouts should wear uniforms! 1:00 Closing Ceremony in the Stone Circle

More about Beltaine at Four Quarters - http://www.4qf.org/_Beltaine/index.htm

Well, A Girl Can Dream

OMFG, You Should Totally Go Celebrate Beltane With the Radical Faeries!!

Sorry for the short notice everyone!

Come to DC and enjoy the height of the springtime with the DC Radical
Faeries!

DC Radical Faeries Present
Beltane 2006

EVENTS:

4/29: Walpurgisnacht Bonfire

Come to Potpourri Sashay's glorious bamboo gardens and share in the
feast, light the fire, adorn the maypole with new ribbon, dance the
dance of sacred embodiment and partake of the rite of lubation.

Where: 306 Carroll St NW (Takoma Park Metro, Red Line)
When: Potluck Dinner 7:00 p.m.; Ritual at Sundown
Bring: Potluck Food and Suggested donation of $5.00 (no one turned
away for lack of funds)
NOTE: Recommended 18 and older


4/30: Maypole Procession and Picnic

Join us at noon at Baba Niko's house for the Maypole Procession, the
blessing of those we happen to run into, share in the picnicy
goodness, share in bawdy song and poetry, and dance the maypole at
Dupont Circle.

Where: 1809 Belmont Rd NW apt. 2 (Adams Morgan, Red Line) to Dupont
Circle
When: Gathering for procession noon; step off (about) 12:30; picnic
time (about) 1:30 in Dupont Circle
Bring: Picnic type finger food to share (nothing too sloppy); Sexy
Springtime Poetry and Songs and Musical instruments to share the muse
with others.
NOTE: As this is an event in a public park it is open to all ages.

Additional Notes:
* All events are rain or shine. There is a potential you might get
muddy so wear appropriate shoes or go barefoot when necessary.
* The Maypole Dance is during the day, and sunblock is helpful!
* Come as yourself, whatever that means to you.

For further information contact Fritter at: info@dcradfeys.org,
202-265-0112.

The DC Radical Faeries is a community-based organization of men and
women who explore queer spirituality. We welcome all queer spirits,
straight, gay, bi, trans, two-spirited or searching. We welcome
people from all walks of life who want to share and nurture their
essential fabulosity. DC Radical Faeries is a 501(c)3 tax exempt
religious organization.

"What makes one step a giant leap is all the steps before." -- Leslie Fish

Cross Burning Still Not OK

Via Witchvox:

Supreme Court refuses to hear an appeal of a creep who was convicted as a result of burning a cross in the yard of an interracial couple. Guess they're saving their docket for abortion cases.

So What's Happening Is Exactly the Opposite of What the Free-Market Advocates Promised Would Happen

From the EEI newsletter:

"Dereg States See Rates Rising Faster Than in Regulated States
Electric power rates in states that have moved to deregulation are "rising faster than those in regulated states," the Christian Science Monitor reported today. "That trend could expand as caps on retail electric rates, which have held prices down, are lifted in at least six deregulated states this year."

The Monitor pointed out that there have not been too many examples to point to how significantly prices are likely to rise "because rate caps are only just being removed. But in New England, where many caps came off last year, retail electric rates surged about 15 percent - except for Vermont, where regulated rates are roughly flat. In the Mid-Atlantic region, rates in deregulated New York have risen 16 percent since 2002, while rates in still-regulated West Virginia were about flat."

John Shelk, president of the Electric Power Supply Association, was quoted as saying: "Competition has been incredibly robust. People believe if prices rise something is wrong ... But the reason is the cost of [fuel] increased." The Electricity Consumers Resource Council, in a FERC filing, said: "There has been and is today no true competition in wholesale and retail electricity markets."

Christie Rewey, an energy specialist at the National Conference of State Legislatures in Denver, said some states are considering re-regulation but getting the "genie back in a regulated bottle" may be difficult or impossible. Wrote the Monitor: "Many states sold their generating stations for a song in the 1990s, she says. Now these same states find that those old plants are a gold mine for their owners and would be very costly to buy back. Today, 16 of 23 states that initially passed electricity deregulation offer a fully deregulated power system, studies show."
Christian Science Monitor , April 25."

They're Putting Crack in the Water Supply -- It's the Only Possible Explanation

From MarketWatch:

"U.S. April consumer confidence rises to 109.6, a 4-yr high


WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. consumer confidence continued higher in April, reaching its highest level in almost four years, the Conference Board said Tuesday. The consumer confidence index rose to 109.6 in April from a revised 107.5 in March. The increase was unexpected. Economists expected the index to slip to 106.3 on higher gasoline prices. The present situation index rose to 136.2 from 133.3, while the expectations index rose to 91.9 from 90.3. The outlook for the next six months improved moderately."

Legalized Witchery

Via Witchvox comes the news that Romania has legalized witchcraft. Go, Romaina!

People Who Should Have Had Bloggs

Anne Johnson suggested in comments that Aleister Crowley should have had his own blog. It certainly would have made for interesting reading. She also suggested that H.L. Mencken would have translated well to the blogsphere. It got me to thinking: who else would have made a good blogger, were it not for the vagaries of time and technology? And besides, I'd rather list good bloggers than play the latest game going round of listing my odd habits. I'm a witch; almost all my habits would seem odd! So, here, forthwith, is my list of people I wish had had a blog:

1. Oscar Wilde (just imagine the snark!)

2. Dorothy Parker (ditto)

3. Sappho (she could be catty when she wanted to!)

4. George Sand (she loved to write letters)

5. Jack Kerouac (imagine reading his daily posts while On the Road)

6. Carlos Castaneda (it would be fun to guess which posts were drug-induced)

7. Samuel Pepys (shrewd observations)

8. Walt Whitman (even though he'd talk about himself a lot)

9. Thomas Jefferson (he could have used the $$ from the google ads!)

10. Saul Alinsky (wish you were still here today, Saul, helping us figure out what to do about Fox)

So who's up to the challenge? I'm tagging NTodd, watertiger, four legs good, Vicky, Thers, NYMary, Katrina, and Echidne.

Go Listen To This Right Now!

If I've done this correctly, you should be able to go here and listen to NTodd's latest podcast. And you should, not only because it mentions THIS blog (!!!), but also because NTodd does great podcasts, as I pointed out some time ago. He gets this unhip, old lady to listen to some great new music that I wouldn't normally listen to and he's always honest and self-revelatory in a way few guys manage.

Note to any female readers in Vermont: NTodd is a major hottie who loves animals, takes great photographs, has a job, likes music and poetry, and isn't gay. Why are you not beating a track to his door right now??

(Oh, and go vote for NTodd at podcast alley or he'll kick my ass.)

Yet Another Reason Why Birth Control, Including Abortion, Is Good And Fundies Are Sick, Evil People

From Yahoo, via my brilliant friend Elizabeth, swing dancer, marathon runner, and motorcycle mamma, comes an article demonstrating the need for safe, effective, and free birth control -- including abortion -- for any society that claims to care about children. Culture of Life, Baybeeeeeeeeeee!

Turns out that spacing out pregnancies cuts down on infant mortality.

Fox News Makes People Vote Republican

Luckily, when I get swamped with work and too busy to blog, my brilliant friend, Elizabeth, cocktail mixer and tarot reader extraordinaire, usually finds me some fascinating articles. Thanks, E!

THE FOX NEWS EFFECT: MEDIA BIAS AND VOTING

[SOURCE: Stefano DellaVigna & Ethan Kaplan]

Does media
bias affect voting? The authors address this question
by looking at the entry of Fox News in cable markets
and its impact on voting. Between October 1996 and
November 2000, the conservative Fox News Channel was
introduced in the cable programming of 20 percent of
US towns. Fox News availability in 2000 appears to be
largely idiosyncratic. Using a data set of voting data
for 9,256 towns, the authors investigate if
Republicans gained vote share in towns where Fox News
entered the cable market by the year 2000. They find a significant effect of the introduction of Fox News on the vote share in Presidential elections between 1996 and 2000.

Republicans gain 0.4 to 0.7 percentage points in the
towns which broadcast Fox News. They also find a
significant effect of Fox News on Senate vote share
and on voter turnout. The estimates imply that Fox
News convinced 3 to 8 percent of its viewers to vote Republican.

http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~sdellavi/wp/foxvote06-03-30.pdf

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If valid, this study, printed in Benton's Communications Daily (www.benton.org), makes a very strong case for the need to reinstitute the fairness doctrine and extend it to cable tv. It also highlights the importance of the study that Media Matters for America recently completed, showing that shows such as Meet the Press tend to book far more conservative than liberal "guests." The Dems better wrap their brains around this NOW, as the results show an impact on Senate races as well. How many elections are won or lost on a 3% to 8% margin???

Of course, I suppose there could be another explanation; maybe Fox tends to go into markets that are moving in a conservative direction. However, when the authors say that, "Fox News availability in 2000 appears to be largely idiosyncratic," I think that means that they don't believe this is a factor.

For Rebellion Is As The Sin Of Witchcraft ~ 1 Samuel 15:23

I've been in a poetry mood all weekend. Here's one that I really love by Barbara Starrett, from Drawing Down the Moon. I've read it hundreds of times, but it still makes me teary-eyed and gives me goosebumps every time I read it.

I.D.

I am a secret agent
Of the moon

Ex-centric
Extra-ordinary
Extra-sensory
Extra-terrestrial

Celestial subversive
Con-spiratorial
Spirita Sancta

Holy
Holy
Holy

And then some
And I have friends.