after the snow melts

Song of the day: cant tell what the title is-willie nelson

a picture from hess' dad

Song of the day: watershed - indigo girls

my father

i called my father the other night....we hadnt spoken in almost a decade, but ive been thinking about him more and more since andy died

ive been curious for awhile, looked up his number but was afraid to dial....i didnt want to fight

but we didnt fight...i actually think we took the first step toward an adult relationship

Song of the day: oh father- madonna

February 2, 2008: a must read

The opinions expressed here are those of the author alone, and not those of the Women’s Media Center. As a 501(c)3 organization, the Women’s Media Center does not endorse or support candidates for elected office.

Goodbye To All That (#2) by Robin Morgan


February 2, 2008

“Goodbye To All That” was my (in)famous 1970 essay breaking free from a politics of accommodation especially affecting women (for an online version, see http://blog.fair-use.org/category/chicago/).



During my decades in civil-rights, anti-war, and contemporary women’s movements, I’ve avoided writing another specific “Goodbye . . .” But not since the suffrage struggle have two communities—joint conscience-keepers of this country—been so set in competition, as the contest between Hillary Rodham Clinton (HRC) and Barack Obama (BO) unfurls. So.



Goodbye to the double standard . . .

—Hillary is too ballsy but too womanly, a Snow Maiden who’s emotional, and so much a politician as to be unfit for politics.

—She’s “ambitious” but he shows “fire in the belly.” (Ever had labor pains?)

—When a sexist idiot screamed “Iron my shirt!” at HRC, it was considered amusing; if a racist idiot shouted “Shine my shoes!” at BO, it would’ve inspired hours of airtime and pages of newsprint analyzing our national dishonor.

—Young political Kennedys—Kathleen, Kerry, and Bobby Jr.—all endorsed Hillary. Senator Ted, age 76, endorsed Obama. If the situation were reversed, pundits would snort “See? Ted and establishment types back her, but the forward-looking generation backs him.” (Personally, I’m unimpressed with Caroline’s longing for the Return of the Fathers. Unlike the rest of the world, Americans have short memories. Me, I still recall Marilyn Monroe’s suicide, and a dead girl named Mary Jo Kopechne in Chappaquiddick.)



Goodbye to the toxic viciousness . . .

Carl Bernstein's disgust at Hillary’s “thick ankles.” Nixon-trickster Roger Stone’s new Hillary-hating 527 group, “Citizens United Not Timid” (check the capital letters). John McCain answering “How do we beat the bitch?" with “Excellent question!” Would he have dared reply similarly to “How do we beat the black bastard?” For shame.



Goodbye to the HRC nutcracker with metal spikes between splayed thighs. If it was a tap-dancing blackface doll, we would be righteously outraged—and they would not be selling it in airports. Shame.



Goodbye to the most intimately violent T-shirts in election history, including one with the murderous slogan “If Only Hillary had married O.J. Instead!” Shame.



Goodbye to Comedy Central’s “Southpark” featuring a storyline in which terrorists secrete a bomb in HRC’s vagina. I refuse to wrench my brain down into the gutter far enough to find a race-based comparison. For shame.



Goodbye to the sick, malicious idea that this is funny. This is not “Clinton hating,” not “Hillary hating.” This is sociopathic woman-hating. If it were about Jews, we would recognize it instantly as anti-Semitic propaganda; if about race, as KKK poison. Hell, PETA would go ballistic if such vomitous spew were directed at animals. Where is our sense of outrage—as citizens, voters, Americans?



Goodbye to the news-coverage target-practice . . .

The women’s movement and Media Matters wrung an apology from MSNBC’s Chris Matthews for relentless misogynistic comments (www.womensmediacenter.com). But what about NBC’s Tim Russert’s continual sexist asides and his all-white-male panels pontificating on race and gender? Or CNN’s Tony Harris chuckling at “the chromosome thing” while interviewing a woman from The White House Project? And that’s not even mentioning Fox News.



Goodbye to pretending the black community is entirely male and all women are white . . .

Surprise! Women exist in all opinions, pigmentations, ethnicities, abilities, sexual preferences, and ages—not only African American and European American but Latina and Native American, Asian American and Pacific Islanders, Arab American and—hey, every group, because a group wouldn’t exist if we hadn’t given birth to it. A few non-racist countries may exist—but sexism is everywhere. No matter how many ways a woman breaks free from other discriminations, she remains a female human being in a world still so patriarchal that it’s the “norm.”



So why should all women not be as justly proud of our womanhood and the centuries, even millennia, of struggle that got us this far, as black Americans, women and men, are justly proud of their struggles?



Goodbye to a campaign where he has to pass as white (which whites—especially wealthy ones—adore), while she has to pass as male (which both men and women demanded of her, and then found unforgivable). If she were blackor he were female we wouldn’t be having such problems, and I for one would be in heaven. But at present such a candidate wouldn’t stand a chance—even if she shared Condi Rice’s Bush-defending politics.



I was celebrating the pivotal power at last focused on African American women deciding on which of two candidates to bestow their vote—until a number of Hillary-supporting black feminists told me they’re being called “race traitors.”



So goodbye to conversations about this nation’s deepest scar—slavery—which fail to acknowledge that labor- and sexual-slavery exist today in the U.S. and elsewhere on this planet, and the majority of those enslaved are women.



Women have endured sex/race/ethnic/religious hatred, rape and battery, invasion of spirit and flesh, forced pregnancy; being the majority of the poor, the illiterate, the disabled, of refugees, caregivers, the HIV/AIDS afflicted, the powerless. We have survived invisibility, ridicule, religious fundamentalisms, polygamy, teargas, forced feedings, jails, asylums, sati, purdah, female genital mutilation, witch burnings, stonings, and attempted gynocides. We have tried reason, persuasion, reassurances, and being extra-qualified, only to learn it never was about qualifications after all. We know that at this historical moment women experience the world differently from men—though not all the same as one another—and can govern differently, from Elizabeth Tudor to Michele Bachelet and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.



We remember when Shirley Chisholm and Patricia Schroeder ran for this high office and barely got past the gate—they showed too much passion, raised too little cash, were joke fodder. Goodbye to all that. (And goodbye to some feminists so famished for a female president they were even willing to abandon women’s rights in backing Elizabeth Dole.)



Goodbye, goodbye to . . .

—blaming anything Bill Clinton does on Hillary (even including his womanizing like the Kennedy guys—though unlike them, he got reported on). Let’s get real. If he hadn’t campaigned strongly for her everyone would cluck over what that meant. Enough of Bill and Teddy Kennedy locking their alpha male horns while Hillary pays for it.

—an era when parts of the populace feel so disaffected by politics that a comparative lack of knowledge, experience, and skill is actually seen as attractive, when celebrity-culture mania now infects our elections so that it’s “cooler” to glow with marquee charisma than to understand the vast global complexities of power on a nuclear, wounded planet.

—the notion that it’s fun to elect a handsome, cocky president who feels he can learn on the job, goodbye to George W. Bush and the destruction brought by his inexperience, ignorance, and arrogance.



Goodbye to the accusation that HRC acts “entitled” when she’s worked intensely at everything she’s done—including being a nose-to-the-grindstone, first-rate senator from my state.



Goodbye to her being exploited as a Rorschach test by women who reduce her to a blank screen on which they project their own fears, failures, fantasies.



Goodbye to the phrase “polarizing figure” to describe someone who embodies the transitions women have made in the last century and are poised to make in this one. It was the women’s movement that quipped, “We are becoming the men we wanted to marry.” She heard us, and she has.



Goodbye to some women letting history pass by while wringing their hands, because Hillary isn’t as “likeable” as they’ve been warned they must be, or because she didn’t leave him, couldn’t “control” him, kept her family together and raised a smart, sane daughter. (Think of the blame if Chelsea had ever acted in the alcoholic, neurotic manner of the Bush twins!) Goodbye to some women pouting because she didn’t bake cookies or she did, sniping because she learned the rules and then bent or broke them. Grow the hell up. She is not running for Ms.-perfect-pure-queen-icon of the feminist movement. She’s running to be president of the United States.



Goodbye to the shocking American ignorance of our own and other countries’ history. Margaret Thatcher and Golda Meir rose through party ranks and war, positioning themselves as proto-male leaders. Almost all other female heads of government so far have been related to men of power—granddaughters, daughters, sisters, wives, widows: Gandhi, Bandaranike, Bhutto, Aquino, Chamorro, Wazed, Macapagal-Arroyo, Johnson Sirleaf, Bachelet, Kirchner, and more. Even in our “land of opportunity,” it’s mostly the first pathway “in” permitted to women: Representatives Doris Matsui and Mary Bono and Sala Burton; Senator Jean Carnahan . . . far too many to list here.



Goodbye to a misrepresented generational divide . . .

Goodbye to the so-called spontaneous “Obama Girl” flaunting her bikini-clad ass online—then confessing Oh yeah it wasn’t her idea after all, some guys got her to do it and dictated the clothes, which she said “made me feel like a dork.”



Goodbye to some young women eager to win male approval by showing they’re not feminists (at least not the kind who actually threaten thestatus quo), who can’t identify with a woman candidate because she is unafraid of eeueweeeu yucky power, who fear their boyfriends might look at them funny if they say something good about her. Goodbye to women of any age again feeling unworthy, sulking “what if she’s not electable?” or “maybe it’s post-feminism and whoooosh we’re already free.” Let a statement by the magnificent Harriet Tubman stand as reply. When asked how she managed to save hundreds of enslaved African Americans via the Underground Railroad during the Civil War, she replied bitterly, “I could have saved thousands—if only I’d been able to convince them they were slaves.”



I’d rather say a joyful Hello to all the glorious young women who do identifywith Hillary, and all the brave, smart men—of all ethnicities and any age—who get that it’s in their self-interest, too. She’s better qualified. (D’uh.) She’s a high-profile candidate with an enormous grasp of foreign- and domestic-policy nuance, dedication to detail, ability to absorb staggering insult and personal pain while retaining dignity, resolve, even humor, and keep on keeping on. (Also, yes, dammit, let’s hear it for her connections and funding and party-building background, too. Obama was awfully glad about those when she raised dough and campaigned for him to get to the Senate in the first place.)



I’d rather look forward to what a good president he might make in eight years, when his vision and spirit are seasoned by practical know-how—and he’ll be all of 54. Meanwhile, goodbye to turning him into a shining knight when actually he’s an astute, smooth pol with speechwriters who’ve worked with the Kennedys’ own speechwriter-courtier Ted Sorenson. If it’s only about ringing rhetoric, let speechwriters run. But isn’t it about getting the policies we want enacted?



And goodbye to the ageism . . .

How dare anyone unilaterally decide when to turn the page on history, papering over real inequities and suffering constituencies in the promise of a feel-good campaign? How dare anyone claim to unify while dividing, or think that to rouse U.S. youth from torpor it’s useful to triage the single largest demographic in this country’s history: the boomer generation—the majority of which is female?



Old woman are the one group that doesn’t grow more conservative with age—and we are the generation of radicals who said “Well-behaved women seldom make history.” Goodbye to going gently into any goodnight any man prescribes for us. We are the women who changed the reality of the United States. And though we never went away, brace yourselves: we’re back!



We are the women who brought this country equal credit, better pay, affirmative action, the concept of a family-focused workplace; the women who established rape-crisis centers and battery shelters, marital-rape and date-rape laws; the women who defended lesbian custody rights, who fought for prison reform, founded the peace and environmental movements; who insisted that medical research include female anatomy; who inspired men to become more nurturing parents; who created women’s studies and Title IX so we all could cheer the WNBA stars and Mia Hamm. We are the women who reclaimed sexuality from violent pornography, who put childcare on the national agenda, who transformed demographics, artistic expression, language itself. We are the women who forged a worldwide movement. We are the proud successors of women who, though it took more than 50 years, won us the vote.



We are the women who now comprise the majority of U.S. voters.



Hillary said she found her own voice in New Hampshire. There’s not a woman alive who, if she’s honest, doesn’t recognize what she means. Then HRC got drowned out by campaign experts, Bill, and media’s obsession with everything Bill.



So listen to her voice:



“For too long, the history of women has been a history of silence. Even today, there are those who are trying to silence our words.



“It is a violation of human rights when babies are denied food, or drowned, or suffocated, or their spines broken, simply because they are born girls. It is a violation of human rights when woman and girls are sold into the slavery of prostitution. It is a violation of human rights when women are doused with gasoline, set on fire and burned to death because their marriage dowries are deemed too small. It is a violation of human rights when individual women are raped in their own communities and when thousands of women are subjected to rape as a tactic or prize of war. It is a violation of human rights when a leading cause of death worldwide along women ages 14 to 44 is the violence they are subjected to in their own homes. It is a violation of human rights when women are denied the right to plan their own families, and that includes being forced to have abortions or being sterilized against their will.



“Women’s rights are human rights. Among those rights are the right to speak freely—and the right to be heard.”



That was Hillary Rodham Clinton defying the U.S. State Department and the Chinese Government at the 1995 UN World Conference on Women in Beijing (look here for the full, stunning speech).



And this voice, age 21, in “Commencement Remarks of Hillary D. Rodham, President of Wellesley College Government Association, Class of 1969.”


“We are, all of us, exploring a world none of us understands. . . . searching for a more immediate, ecstatic, and penetrating mode of living. . . . [for the] integrity, the courage to be whole, living in relation to one another in the full poetry of existence. The struggle for an integrated life existing in an atmosphere of communal trust and respect is one with desperately important political and social consequences. . . . Fear is always with us, but we just don't have time for it.”



She ended with the commitment “to practice, with all the skill of our being: the art of making possible.”



And for decades, she’s been learning how.



So goodbye to Hillary’s second-guessing herself. The real question is deeper than her re-finding her voice. Can we women find ours? Can we do this for ourselves?



“Our President, Ourselves!”



Time is short and the contest tightening. We need to rise in furious energy—as we did when Anita Hill was so vilely treated in the U.S. Senate, as we did when Rosie Jiminez was butchered by an illegal abortion, as we did and do for women globally who are condemned for trying to break through. We need to win, this time. Goodbye to supporting HRC tepidly, with ambivalent caveats and apologetic smiles. Time to volunteer, make phone calls, send emails, donate money, argue, rally, march, shout, vote.



Me? I support Hillary Rodham because she’s the best qualified of all candidates running in both parties. I support her because her progressive politics are as strong as her proven ability to withstand what will be a massive right-wing assault in the general election. I support her because she knows how to get us out of Iraq. I support her because she’s refreshingly thoughtful, and I’m bloodied from eight years of a jolly “uniter” with ejaculatory politics. I needn’t agree with her on every point. I agree with the 97 percent of her positions that are identical with Obama’s—and the few where hers are both more practical and to the left of his (like health care). I support her because she’s already smashed the first-lady stereotype and made history as a fine senator, because I believe she will continue to make history not only as the first US woman president, but as a great US president.



As for the “woman thing”?



Me, I’m voting for Hillary not because she’s a woman—but because I am.

Song of the day:

A Hard Day's Night

Song of the day: hard days night- beatles

thank you, david, for acknowledging the amount of energy this type of program can take, and the importance of having support at home

appreciated confluence

somehow, super tuesday ended up being a little emotional for me...i actually watched cnn (and i mean watched, not just flipped through with a quick check in)for the first time in over a decade last night, and i was close to tears many times as i thought about what a beautiful thing it is to belong to the democratic party as the millenium advances...to think that over 70% of us will be happy no matter which of our choices win the primary and that the candidate- be he black, or be he a she- will be su[pported by all....our asses are finally cashing the check our mouths have been promising....

now the true answer will be, how well will our candidate do nationally

wharf rat

my favoritest dead song

Song of the day: wharf rat- grateful dead

...thanks, hess

hard-working woman

she never sits, re-
sponsibility outweighs
the weight of water

while i was looking for the light

for one moment,
i considered becoming a buddhist nun,
though i am not a believer,
not in the heirarchy-
not even in the recycled
spirit on a jouney of enlightenment-
my way is western, maybe,
rigid, true, but i am also looking,
praying to live in the light.

i surfed the internet for my
journey, googled 'enlightenment,
america' and clicked on a link-
a group of women- with british
ordination into this eastern
philisophical religion and they were tree
huggers living on the west
coast if i was so inclined. for ten minutes
i read up on the ten senior nuns-
ajahn 1 to ajahn 10.
all were bald and beautiful and smiling-committed
to purpose, set....but still,
my head chattered:
i bet they look better with hair

my fear

What are some signs or symptoms of right hemisphere brain damage?
Cognitive-communication problems that can occur from right hemisphere damage include difficulty with the following:

attention
left-side neglect
memory
organization
orientation
problem solving
reasoning
social communication (Pragmatics)

Attention: difficulty concentrating on a task and paying attention for more than a few minutes at a time. Doing more than one thing at a time may be difficult or impossible.

Left-side neglect: a form of attention deficit. Essentially, the individual no longer acknowledges the left side of his/her body or space. These individuals will not brush the left side of their hair, for example, or eat food on the left side of their plate, as they do not see them or look for them. Reading is also affected as the individual does not read the words on the left side of the page, starting only from the middle.

Memory: problems remembering information, such as street names or important dates, and learning new information easily.

Orientation: difficulty recalling the date, time, or place. The individual may also be disoriented to self, meaning that he/she cannot correctly recall personal information, such as birth date, age, or family names.

Organization: trouble telling a story in order,giving directions, or maintaining a topic during conversations.

Problem solving: difficulty responding appropriately to common events, such as a car breakdown or overflowing sink. Leaving the individual unsupervised may be dangerous in such cases, as he or she could cause injury to himself or herself, or others.

Reasoning: difficulty interpreting abstract language, such as metaphors, or responding to humor appropriately.

Social communication (pragmatics): problems understanding nonverbal cues and following the rules of communication (e.g., saying inappropriate things, not using facial expressions, talking at the wrong time).


Song of the day:

muppets revisited

ok, tooooooo funny!!!

i rememb er the new muppet show, though i never really watched it, living in atlanta and following bands aound the country at that point in my life, so no time for tv

but when we started talking about "phenomena" in gestalt, i immediatly heard that old muppets classic, manamana.....and i added it to the cd to represent penomena...but then i came across this bit....guess im not the only genius who thinks this way

Song of the day:manamana- the muppets

Just One Victory

my gestalt group started with 30 members and six practitioners, and now we are down to 26 members and 4 staff

making it through is definitly an accomplishment

Song of the day: just one victory- todd rundgren

thank you, scott, for this song of holding on to the importance of every small success

we are the world

more gestalt music

Song of the day: we are the world- michael jackson and friends

thanks assumpta, for this reminder of our global community, and the importance of caring for eachother

another enlightenment

one thing i like to do is edit poetry with other people.....its something hess does with me sometimes, though slightly hesitantly, as i pretty much put down every idea i am given...i done mean to be a curmudgeon, its more like im trying to expand my thinking and am looking for a conversation around why he would make the changes he would, and for myself, i actually enjoy the process because i know that it will definitly change how i look at my own poem....

i keep trying to figure a way to take what i am being given without defending my original work or putting down ideas, but since neither of these things are my intentions, im struggling with how to get the discussions without being offensive, because i cant take what You say it should be, instead i need You to rip apart and rewrite so i can rewrite myself....having other people critique your work is actually an important part of the process, and i am not totally sure how we forget that

Song of the day:

You Get What You give-New Radicals

i think this will be my song for the gestalt cd...

Wake up kids
we got the dreamers disease
Age 14 they got you down on your knees
Souls polite, we're busy still saying please
Friendnemies, who, when you're down ain't your friend
Every night we smash their Mercedes-Benz
First we run; and then we laugh till we cry
But when the night is falling
and you cannot find the light, light
You feel your dreams are dying
Hold tight

Chorus:
---------
You've got the music in you
Don't let go
You've got the music in you
One dance left
This world is gonna pull through
Don't give up
You've got a reason to live
Can't forget
We only get what we give
---------

I'm coming home baby
You're tops, Give it to me now

Four a.m. we ran a miracle mile
we're flat broke but hey we do it in style
The bad rich
God's flying in for your trial
But when the night is falling
You cannot find a friend, friend
You feel your tree is breaking
Just bend

(chorus)

This whole damn world can fall apart
It'll be ok, follow your heart
You're in harms way I'm right behind
Now say you're mine

(chorus)

Don't let go
I feel the music in you,you,you YOU!
Fly ....... high .......!
What's real ....... can't die .......!
You only get what you give
Gonna get what you give
Don't give up
Just don't be afraid to live .......!

Health insurance rip off lying
FDA big bankers buying
Fake computer crashes dining
Cloning while they're multiplying
Fashion shoots with Beck and Hanson
Courtney Love, and Marilyn Manson
You're all fakes
Run to your mansions
Come around, we'll kick your ass in!

Don't let go
One dance left
Don't give up
Can't forget


Song of the day: you get what you give- new radicals

MC Jilly from Philly (Jill Scott) - Breathe

gestalt always brings it back to groyunding, to the breath....one of my favorite techniques as facilitator is to bring my client back to a cshared breath

....i wonder why i cant engage my therapist in this natural connection

thanks again jarrod

light comes shining

light comes shining
-for lisa

no darkness,
not on this cold
night as the rounding
moon shies behind
no cloud- her gentle face,
her light comes shining,
filtered through the window
pane and you,
your back in knots,
you roll onto your side
and breathe in the clarity
found only in Luna's
demure gaze.

Song of the day:

reentering the real world

(janice and jen with pocohantas feathers at the cottage, winter wolf creek weekend)

i have to say, a gestalt weekend, followed immediatly by a wolf creek weekend is a pretty intense combination, and i am not sure how to re-enter the real world again, knowing it is a full two months til i gestalt again, and even more, four months til i see any wolf creek sisters....atleast in the natural setting (i am very good at gathering people together, and have kept in touch with many women)

i need a little more time to process in order to share anything else, though i woke up with the beginning of much poetry in my head this morning and hope i manage to capture some of it on paper sos i can share it

Song of the day:n manamana- the muppets

why isnt impeachment on the table

ok, not to be too inquizitive, but lying about getting a blow job from someone who is not your wife is impeachable, but lying to the american public in order to garner support for an unneccessary war is not impeachable?

what ever happened to priorities?



Study: False statements preceded war By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 32 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.

ADVERTISEMENT

The study concluded that the statements "were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses."

The study was posted Tuesday on the Web site of the Center for Public Integrity, which worked with the Fund for Independence in Journalism.

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel did not comment on the merits of the study Tuesday night but reiterated the administration's position that the world community viewed Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein, as a threat.

"The actions taken in 2003 were based on the collective judgment of intelligence agencies around the world," Stanzel said.

The study counted 935 false statements in the two-year period. It found that in speeches, briefings, interviews and other venues, Bush and administration officials stated unequivocally on at least 532 occasions that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or was trying to produce or obtain them or had links to al-Qaida or both.

"It is now beyond dispute that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or have meaningful ties to al-Qaida," according to Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith of the Fund for Independence in Journalism staff members, writing an overview of the study. "In short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003."

Named in the study along with Bush were top officials of the administration during the period studied: Vice President Dick Cheney, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and White House press secretaries Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan.

Bush led with 259 false statements, 231 about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 28 about Iraq's links to al-Qaida, the study found. That was second only to Powell's 244 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 10 about Iraq and al-Qaida.

The center said the study was based on a database created with public statements over the two years beginning on Sept. 11, 2001, and information from more than 25 government reports, books, articles, speeches and interviews.

"The cumulative effect of these false statements — amplified by thousands of news stories and broadcasts — was massive, with the media coverage creating an almost impenetrable din for several critical months in the run-up to war," the study concluded.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080123/ap_on_go_pr_wh/misinformation_study

"Some journalists — indeed, even some entire news organizations — have since acknowledged that their coverage during those prewar months was far too deferential and uncritical. These mea culpas notwithstanding, much of the wall-to-wall media coverage provided additional, 'independent' validation of the Bush administration's false statements about Iraq," it said.

___

On the Net:

Center For Public Integrity: http://www.publicintegrity.org/default.aspx

Fund For Independence in Journalism: http://www.tfij.org/

Song of the day:

gone camping

gone camping, be back monday...

Song of the day: breathe- jill scott

thank you jarrod, for bringing me back to the breath

here comes the sun

there are so many different aspects and moments to the gestalt expereience...

i am really glad i have this space because i am finding it hard to hold all these different feelings of the people in my group...i want to share it with someone, so i will share it here with you

Song of the day: here comes the sun- beatles

thank you, kathy c., for this song of the light at the end of the tunnel, of hoipe and joy

where are you going

ok, the professional video was blocked from being embedded into blogs so i found this live acoustic version to share....

Song of the day: where are you going-- dave matthews band

thank you jody, for addressing the fear of connection, the resistances....and i am not going anywhere, i am right here

seasons of love

ok, another gestalt contribution to mark the year point (or the nov. 2007 session)....you know, by the time i actually give out this disc, i will be sick of all the songs...so maybe once i am done putting it together, i will just put all the songs away until we meet again

Song of the day: seasons of love- from the musical 'rent'

thank you, lisa, for this song of love and memory...it opens my heart

energy

so one way i show my love is by making tape mixes...well, CD mixes in this modern world, and for gestalt, i have gathered one song from every member, and im creating our story in music...now i know that the cd definitly will have a molly bend, and i will throw in a couple extra songs to make sense of what seems like random music

but as i learned long ago, many aspects will be hit upon in the selection ive been handed and indeed, so far ive received songs that address the natural phases of all groups (beginning, middle, endings), and others hit certain gestalt concepts (taking it back to the breathe, the resistances, developmental stages... )

this is the song that represents field theory....and the world really is just energy

Song of the day: energy- the apples in stereo

thanks tony, for this song of connection among everything

gestalting

so yet another gestalt weekend is upon me.

the theme of the weeekend is the "gestalt approach to development", and yesterday was more of a review for those of us already in mental health, but we were introduced to a couple of development theories that are new to me (prolly cause its difficult to make them 'evidence based' theory, which is necesarry for payment by insurance companies)

but what was most interesting is that anna freud was discussed (yeah! a chick!)and she appears to be the first to put a more gestalt bend to her thinking process

in gestalt, process is foremost important, and anna freud, instead of creating a series of linear steps (which even erikson, whose stages can remain incomplete, but still in order) anna freud created a design of four continuums that occur simultaniously (and yes, i know my spelling is atrocious) which is a fascinating idea to me...
plus, tyhe state of women is currently on my mind alot (i have alot of feelings around hillary clintons campaign right now, and what it means for society to possibly have a female president)

we also learned about ken wilbers theory, which is more thematic then stage based. he has 26 facets (which really made me cringe, another 30 some things to know by hear for the assessment process?), who looks at things like sspirituality, religiousity, feelings on dewath (which us americans dont even want to think about, let alone be judged on) sexual and gender identity...like i said the list goes on....but the facilitators are creative and interesting and i am not so bored as ive been at some of the lectures recently in this program

coming to crystals

you will have to forgive my absence, i havent felt much like talking, taking a swing inward to figure out how to create change for self....but i am finding myself interested in something new, crystalss

the intangebility of many things is difficult for me to acccept, concepts such as wisdom, my friend jim always says that if you name something, you have changes the entire meaning, and you are back at square one (a very sufi-ish way to think, i think) but its true

i dont know how electromagnetic energy works, or if i take it as truth yet, but playing with rocks definitly changes how i feel
Song of the day:

weather

jan. 5

jan. 7

Song of the day: last bohemian- global warming band

A, O, OH WAY TO GO O....KLAHOMA

from yahoo news

Oklahoma City mayor puts city on a diet
By SEAN MURPHY, Associated Press Writer Fri Jan 4, 8:13 PM ET
OKLAHOMA CITY - With a button-popping spread of cornbread, sausage and gravy, chicken fried steak and pecan pie designated as Oklahoma's official state meal, it's no surprise that Oklahoma City's mayor wants to put the city on a diet. Mick Cornett has challenged the city to shed 1 million pounds as its New Year's resolution.

Prompted in part by his own struggle to lose weight, Cornett wants to end Oklahoma City's dubious distinction as one of America's fattest cities.

"The message of this obesity initiative is that we've got to watch what we eat," Cornett said Thursday. "Exercise is part of it and the city is trying to change into a city that is less sprawling, has more density and is more pedestrian friendly, but you're not really going to take on obesity unless you acknowledge that we eat too much and don't eat the right foods."

now granted, the mayor neesd to lose weight, so this idea has a selfish bend, but i still think its brilliant

As part of the initiative, residents can sign up and track their weight loss on a new Web site, http://www.thiscityisgoingonadiet.com. More than 2,600 people had registered by Thursday. They've lost more than 300 pounds.

Besides a body mass index calculator, the site includes recipes and links to metro-area fitness centers. Plans call for expanding the site to include the opportunity to blog and network with other participants, Cornett said.

"It's always easier if you're doing something hard if you have other people to do it with," he said.

The mayor timed the start of the weight-loss program to the beginning of the new year, when many people begin exercise programs after holiday feasts.

Oklahoma City ranked 15th in a 2007 survey of America's fattest cities conducted by Men's Fitness magazine. The survey examined lifestyle factors in each city, including fast-food restaurants per capita and availability of city parks, gyms and bike paths.

since december 31, the city has registered about 20% of its citizens and lost 776 pounds....

how much do you think this will affect the economy in oklahome city? i wonder what percentage of people work at fast food restaurants, i wonder if doctor visits will go down, i wonder how much this city wide diet will change the entire system of this one city

i wonder where on the list cleveland falls on most obese, and what having a skinny mayor representing all us chunky folks has cost us...

my city was gone- the pretenders

kenya- anything learned?

(photo from 2001 ethnic fighting from bbc

from yahoo news

Kenya death toll near 250
By Daniel Wallis and Wangui Kanina 47 minutes ago
NAIROBI (Reuters) - A mob torched a Kenyan church on Tuesday, killing about 30 villagers cowering inside, as the death toll from ethnic riots triggered by President Mwai Kibaki's disputed re-election approached 250.

[editors note, the death toll has risen to 275 since this version of the srticle yesterday afternoon]

Fire engulfed a church near Eldoret town where hundreds of Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe had taken refuge in fear of their lives. Witnesses said charred bodies, including women and children, were strewn about the smoldering ruins.

"This is the first time in history that any group has attacked a church. We never expected the savagery to go so far," police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said.

Kibaki was sworn in on Sunday after official election results showed he narrowly beat opposition leader Raila Odinga. Both sides have accused the other of massive vote-rigging during the December 27 election.
The dispute ignited long-simmering tribal rivalries in one of Africa's most stable democracies and strongest economies.

did no one learn from rwanda?

World powers called for calm and urged the political opponents to "exercise restraint" and talk to each other.

certainly the world seems to have forgotten how little calls for restrain did

Police and a senior security official said the blaze at the Kenya Assemblies of God Pentecostal church in western Kenya was deliberately started by a gang of youths.

Television pictures shot from a helicopter showed plumes of white smoke pouring from burning homesteads in the area. Young men, some toting bows and arrows, manned roadblocks.

truly, rwanda all over again, with people running the streets with machettes

Residents and a security source said the victims had sought safety at the small church, about 8 km (5 miles) from Eldoret.

too bad the church wasnt owned by white people, they may have survived id that was the case (pleas ehear my sarcasm)

"Some youths came to the church," said a local reporter from the scene. "They fought with the boys who were guarding it, but they were overpowered and the youths set fire to the church."

they keep talking about boys, where are all the men? what role does hiv play in children being in charge, if any

Local media said 20 people suffered life-threatening burns.

The attack revived traumatic memories in east Africa of the slaughter in churches of tens of thousands of victims of Rwanda's 1994 genocide, and the mass suicide of hundreds of Ugandan cult members in a church fire in 2000.

well, i dont know about the cult thing, but im not the only one who sees rwanda in this

Police said more than 70,000 people had been displaced nationwide and about 170 killed. Reuters reporters around Kenya estimated the death toll at around 250.

Leading local newspaper, the Daily Nation, feared the country was on "the verge of a complete meltdown." Fuel prices rose sharply in Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda and Burundi, all of which get petrol, diesel and other products from Kenyan ports.

and it will destabalize the entire region since it involves oil....

THOUSANDS FLEE

Police were out in force in the capital on New Year's Day and Nairobi's streets were initially quieter, before violence erupted in the slums again as dusk fell.

Ghana's President John Kufor, the chairman of the African Union (AU), is due in Kenya on Wednesday to meet Kibaki and "discuss the current crisis," an AU spokesman said.

Washington had first congratulated Kibaki, then switched to expressing "concerns about irregularities." Former colonial power Britain, the European Union and others pointedly avoided congratulating Kibaki. Instead, they expressed concern, urged reconciliation and a probe into suspected voting irregularities.

leave it to our president to speak before researching the situation

[snip] The Eldoret area where the church massacre took place is multi-ethnic but traditionally dominated by the Kalenjin tribe.

It suffered ethnic violence in 1992 and 1997 when hundreds of mainly Kikuyus were killed and thousands more displaced.

A senior security official in Rift Valley said that as many as 15,000 people were now sheltering from the violence in churches and police stations in Eldoret.

He blamed the opposition for incitement.

"We have lived together for years, we've intermarried, we have children, but now they've asked them to turn against them," the security official said. "We don't do this in Kenya. It is what happens in Yugoslavia and Sudan."

yes, blame the opposition, since it only takes one to tango, right

haiku

fast

in slowness, silence
of body- clearing the mind
relations with self




Song of the day:

elixir

elixir

she's taken to pocketing
rocks of shape and substance,
anxiety reducing, patience
enhancing, feet grounding
intuition controlling, pocket
fulls of rock, chipping, clanking
you might say uncared for,
she had stone in all her pockets-
hip, behind and chest...

he asked her in a note,
an electronica, melodious
lettering of the hearts desire-
he asked if she could be a friend,
and he clarified his innovations
concerning connection
and life-wasting, a timeless
nesting comfortably in his truth,
unafraid of her wishes

he didnt want to be careless
with her affections- and
clutching at the blue and silver
crystals bouncing against her breast, she promised
never to let him become something
profoundly unwanted
as he becomes himself.


Song of the day:

work

havent been blogging cause ive been covering at the hospital-i should be back full force next week

Song of the day:get me away im dying- belle sebastion

consequences

oh, sweet justice!

from yahoo news

Hotel heiress Paris Hilton's potential inheritance dramatically diminished after her grandfather Barron Hilton announced plans on Wednesday to donate 97 percent of his $2.3 billion fortune to charity.
[snip
Barron Hilton, chairman of the foundation, intends "to contribute 97 percent of his entire net worth, estimated today at $2.3 billion, including the created trusts, at whatever value it is at the time of his passing," the foundation said.

Paris Hilton was not immediately available for comment on her grandfather's plans for his fortune.

Jerry Oppenheimer, who profiled the Hilton family in his 2006 book "House of Hilton," has said Barron Hilton is embarrassed by the behavior of his socialite granddaughter Paris and believes it has sullied the family name.
[snip]
Paris, a symbol of celebrity privilege in America, gained notoriety in 2003 when a home video of her having sex with a boyfriend was posted on the Internet.

She parlayed her notoriety, fueled by tabloid headlines about her partying lifestyle, into a celebrity career that has included a reality television show, a book, a music album, and film roles. Then this year she spent more than three weeks in jail for violating probation in a drunk-driving case.

(Editing by Daniel Trotta and Eric Walsh)

foreclosure

i started reading this article about california, because it reminded me of a book i read in under grad, the title which i cant remember, but it chronicled the homeless population setting up tents in a public park, bu this is much more than just california.....please take the time to read this story, and demand that our leadership (better known as politicians and legislators)do something REAL about this, something fully for the citizens and not for lenders and contractors and ceo's, not so they can have maximum profits, as they never should have made such grand profits by being vampires on vulnerable communities.... something that could save out our country from increased marginalization.....a balanced society is a healthy society, and our scale has become very tipped in an uncomfortable direction

from yahoo news --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tent city in suburbs is cost of home crisis
By Dana Ford
Fri Dec 21, 8:18 AM ET

ONTARIO, California (Reuters) - Between railroad tracks and beneath the roar of departing planes sits "tent city," a terminus for homeless people. It is not, as might be expected, in a blighted city center, but in the once-booming suburbia of Southern California.

The noisy, dusty camp sprang up in July with 20 residents and now numbers 200 people, including several children, growing as this region east of Los Angeles has been hit by the U.S. housing crisis.
[snip]
As more families throw in the towel and head to foreclosure here and across the nation, the social costs of collapse are adding up in the form of higher rates of homelessness, crime and even disease.
[snip]
Nationally, foreclosures are at an all-time high. Filings are up nearly 100 percent from a year ago, according to the data firm RealtyTrac. Officials say that as many as half a million people could lose their homes as adjustable mortgage rates rise over the next two years.
[snip]
The pattern is cropping up in communities across the country, like Cleveland, Ohio, where Mark Wiseman, director of the Cuyahoga County Foreclosure Prevention Program, said there are entire blocks of homes in Cleveland where 60 or 70 percent of houses are boarded up.

"I don't think there are enough police to go after criminals holed up in those houses, squatting or doing drug deals or whatever," Wiseman said.

"And it's not just a problem of a neighborhood filled with people squatting in the vacant houses, it's the people left behind, who have to worry about people taking siding off your home or breaking into your house while you're sleeping.".....

the amero?

i recently learned about the idea of an "amero", which would be a financial merging of the three north american countries....doing research, this is what i am coming up against- a lot of conspiracy, very little main stream attention, but all based on a real agreement....what do you think? canada free press

old thinker news

news with views

center for research on globalization

boston globe

lou dobbs

reality sandwich- i have found this link to be the most helpful and likely reliable of the whole bunch

spp.gov- a north american partnership-a note on this site, this is a GOVERNMENT website, nothing here is conspiracy theory....nothing about an amero, but it is what alot of the speculation of an amero is based on

loving solstice to all

december22, 2007

and chack out the rest of her work, she makes beautiful mandalas

Song of the day:

the greatest story ever told

from the transcript of zeitgeist

This is the sun. As far back as 10 thousand B.C.E., history is abundant with carvings and writings reflecting people's respect and adoration for this object. And it is simple to understand why as every morning the sun would rise, bringing vision, warmth, and security, saving man from the cold, blind, predator-filled darkness of night. Without it, the cultures understood, the crops would not grow, and life on the planet would not survive. These realities made the sun the most adored object of all time.Likewise, they were also very aware of the stars.The tracking of the stars allowed them to recognize and anticipate events which occurred over long periods of time, such as eclipses and full moons. They in turn catalogued celestial groups into what we know today as constellations.

This is the cross of the Zodiac, one of the oldest conceptual images in human history. It reflects the sun as it figuratively passes through the 12 major constellations over the course of a year. It also reflects the 12 months of the year, the 4 seasons, and the solstices and equinoxes . The term Zodiac relates to the fact that constellations were anthropomorphized, or personified, as figures, or animals.

In other words, the early civilizations did not just follow the sun and stars, they personified them with elaborate myths involving their movements and relationships. The sun, with its life-giving and -saving qualities was personified as a representative of the unseen creator or god..."God's Sun,"the light of the world, the savior of human kind

Song of the day: laugh as the sun- rusted root

even foxnews cant deny the bush legacy of

WASHINGTON — President Bush's grandfather was a director of a bank seized by the federal government because of its ties to a German industrialist who helped bankroll Adolf Hitler's rise to power, government documents show.

Prescott Bush (search) was one of seven directors of Union Banking Corp. (search), a New York investment bank owned by a bank controlled by the Thyssen family, according to recently declassified National Archives documents reviewed by The Associated Press.

Fritz Thyssen (search) was an early financial supporter of Hitler, whose Nazi party Thyssen believed was preferable to communism. The documents do not show any evidence Bush directly aided that effort. His position with Union Banking never was a political issue for Bush, who was elected to the Senate from Connecticut in 1952. {bloggers note: why not?}

Reports of Bush's involvement with the seized bank have been circulating on the Internet for years and have been reported by some mainstream media. The newly declassified documents provide additional details about the Union Banking-Thyssen connection.

Trent Duffy, a spokesman for President Bush, declined to comment.

Union Banking was owned by a Dutch bank, Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaardt N.V., which was "closely affiliated" with the German conglomerate United Steel Works, according to an Oct. 5, 1942, report from the federal Office of Alien Property Custodian. The Dutch bank and the steel firm were part of the business and financial empire of Thyssen and his brother, Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, the report said.

The 4,000 Union Banking shares owned by the Dutch bank were registered in the names of the seven U.S. directors, according a document signed by Homer Jones, chief of the division of investigation and research of the Office of Alien Property Custodian, a World War II-era agency that no longer exists.

E. Roland Harriman, the bank chairman and brother of former New York Gov. W. Averell Harriman (search), held 3,991 shares. Bush had one share.

Both Harrimans and Bush were partners in the New York investment firm of Brown Brothers, Harriman and Co., which handled the financial transactions of the bank as well as other financial dealings with several other companies linked to Bank voor Handel that were confiscated by the U.S. government during World War II.

Union Banking was seized by the government in October 1942 under the Trading with the Enemy Act (search).

Fritz Thyssen broke with the Nazis in 1938 over their persecution of Catholics and Jews, and fled to Switzerland. He later was arrested and spent 1941 to 1945 in a Nazi prison. His brother lived in Switzerland from 1932 to 1947 but continued to operate businesses in Germany.

The new documents were first reported by freelance writer John Buchanan in The New Hampshire Gazette.

Song of the day:

a note to self (and to anyone else who may find it helpful)

hold on to the messages coming to you in life, things such as humility, all things loving and honest, passion and justice....this is just a journey, molly, possibly one of many, its just a journey....

whether the message is sent from a man in the waters of cambodia

"love without truth is heresy, but truth without love is brutality"

or the message comes through joni mitchell lyrics (or is it yeats?)

"The best lack conviction when given some time to think and the worst are full of passion without mercy"

.....there is grey in this world, no matter how polarized we are, and i believe i can find a place in the middle-

Song of the day: Slouching toward Bethlehem- joni mitchell

more on cultural sensitivity

they did not put up holiday decorations in the lobby of my apartment building until this past friday, which generally would please me, but they put up both christmas AND chanukkah decorations.....and that really bothers me

let me explain a little further. channukah actually ended last wednesday, so the decorations were not even put up until the holiday was OVER!! how is that cultural sensitivity-putting up channukah decorations on time would be sensitive, and i believe most jews would be fine with them being down before christmas even began, because its not about things being exactly the same, its about the acknowledgement that this country IS NOT actually based on christianity, but on freedom and if you want to acknowledge one religion, it is appropriate to acknowledge them all.....i have begun to think that cultural sensitivity is nothing but a marketing ploy, though certainly, putting up channukah decorations AFTER the holiday is not a great way to encourage consumerism in jewish culture, as the shopping has long been done

and then there is the fact that there are other winter holiday celebrations that are not represented at the wrong time, but instead not at all.....my building has a high asian population as i live very close to case weastern....and many asians are not christian, but buddhist

once upon a time, i think part of this hoiday inclusiviness was about creating curiosity in people towards other cultures, but now, its nothing but a gimmick, and i think we have become more hateful towards people that are different from us instead of interested in them as of late-

just because its cultural, is it just?

i am all about being culturally sensitive, but sometimes, culture is not reason enough. from yahoo news:


Report: Saudi king pardons rape victim

1 hour, 36 minutes ago
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has pardoned a female rape victim who had been sentenced to 200 lashes for being alone with a man at the time of the attack who was not related to her, a Saudi newspaper reported Monday........Saudi Justice Minister Abdullah bin Mohammed al-Sheik told al-Jazirah newspaper that the pardon does not mean the king doubted the country's judges, but instead acted in the "interests of the people."
[snip]
The victim in the case, known only as the "Girl of Qatif" after her hometown in eastern Saudi Arabia, was in a car with a high school friend in 2006 when they were attacked and raped by seven men.

She initially was sentenced in November 2006 to several months in prison and 90 lashes for being alone in a car with a man with whom she was neither related nor married..........The court more than doubled the sentence last month to 200 lashes and six months prison in response to her appeal.
[snip]
Al-Sheik told al-Jazirah newspaper Monday that the king was the only official who could issue a pardon, and he did so despite the government's view that the Saudi legal system was "honest" and "fair."
[snip]

The seven men who were convicted of raping both the girl and the man were initially sentenced to jail terms from 10 months to five years. Their sentences were increased to between two and nine years after the appeal.

sometimes, we learn that things existing in our culture are not just, and change is necesarry- in american terms, think slavery, women's sufferage, affirmative action...there are many more examples where the majority of people see the errors of the current way and fight for change

why not, then, can the saudi king not understand that in a global sodiety such as we live in now, that change in his culture might be necesarry as well? that maybe the fact that both she and her male friend were attacked and raped did, in the kings mind, supercede a woman being alone with a man she is not married to?



Song of the day:

andy, i miss you

i know that i havent been keeping up with the memorial pictures....its funny, because i was concerned that rosanna wouldnt be ready to look through the pictures, but maybe that was projection from the beginning, maybe its me who is not totally ready to remember...

gary and michellegodess lorraine and family and possum
close up of possum
im not positive who this family is, but taking this picture brought tears of joy for me, remembering that life is a circle
more e. 130th residents and family friends deirdre and judy


Song of the day: eastern pleasures- michelle malone

hanukkah

risk taking

so i think the next step for me in my life is not being too attached to an outcome when i take risks

...its funny, because i wouldnt really consider myself a risk taker, hate extreme sports and even roller coasters, but this year, i took a huge risk in taking the job at beech brook and it didnt work out for me, and now i have taken a huge risk in starting a women's group....and while the outcome was not what i wanted this month (two women showed up out of the 11 who said they were going to try and make it), it is no where near the disaster beech brook was...its just a start

i have commited to running this group through september, and that is a commitment i will keep.

but one thing i am realizing, is that i had depended more on the women who are my personal friends, the ones who i have known for years, to find the space to support me, but it didnt really work that way (and i am not talking about you, alex)

so now i will look at how i support them, what important moments have i missed in their lives and for what reasons, as i definitly believe in karma....and as i have an internal locus of control (too much so at times), it is how i can best support myself through this, and maybe create a differnt outcome in the future

i give thanks for the abundance that has yet to come, i believe that i have an important intention in starting this womens group- and a first time low turn out will not keep me from trying to change the way society has tried to push women further and further from erachother and themselves

Song of the day: i am woman- helen reddy

ani difranco does phil ochs

Song of the day: when im gone- phil ochs

a story for rumblefish

before i interned in the intensive outpatient program (iop), i used to love responding to unwanted emotions that came up in life by saying "get over it"....it was quick, dismissive, and perfect for the things that displeased me or the people around me

in the iop, i had a client, strapped by life, care taker for an aging parent,she would not take anytime for herself, no break, no vacation, no weekly church or bingo game....just her parent day in and day out.

one day during the morning check in, she told us about an opportunity she really wanted to take, but knew she couldnt due to her care-taker position in her family and she started to sob, but angrily choked it back and said "no use in crying. my parent needs me. i gotta get over it"

to this day, i remember how much it hurt to see how unkind she was to herself, and i saw in that moment, how unkind i am to myself when i dismiss my experience with a "get over it"...

that day my new motto became "go through it", and i now do my best to neither hold on to nor dismiss the parts of myself that i am not as happy with, such as my bitterness towards my father, or the strange, sad, disappointment i feel with jackie (she's the majickal professor, and the teacher....)

sometimes the outcome is good, sometimes the mess just gets stickier, but i feel respected in the ways i handle it as i know that i try my best to do what is right for me and those around me, and i try to sit with the polarities when my needs conflict with someone else's (though everyone has a tempertantrum every now and then

there is no need to try and overcome yourself, rumblefish....as you are definitly on a journey toward becoming yourself, a long scary, exciting journey that very few people ever conciously embark on and that is the best any man or woman can hope for.

one.org/ cello song- nick drake

one: the campaign to make poverty history

Strange face, with your eyes
So pale and sincere.
Underneath you know well
You have nothing to fear.
For the dreams that came to you when so young
Told of a life
Where spring is sprung.

You would seem so frail
In the cold of the night
When the armies of emotion
Go out to fight.
But while the earth sinks to its grave
You sail to the sky
On the crest of a wave.

So forget this cruel world
Where I belong
I'll just sit and wait
And sing my song.
And if one day you should see me in the crowd
Lend a hand and lift me
To your place in the cloud.

Song of the day: cellio song- nick drake