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

neitzche discovers the medicine wheel

i was looking for hard copies of old college papers for doctoral program requirements (since my computer is constantly crashing) and i came across this big sheet of paper from one of those classroom easles, like we use at gestalt, or in grad school, and it had all kinds of scribbles and circles and elements, i was confounded for about five minutes trying to figure out what kind of class this was from-could it possibly be from undergrad? a science class? finally i realized this was my very first introduction to the medicine wheel-circa 2 years ago or so...i guess ive been interested in the wheel from the start.

but what interests me now? neitzche has decided the wheel is interesting too...



hmm, if he didnt insist on drinking out of the fishtank, i might think he was trying to tell me something

where the heart-beat (drum) leads...

i sent a poem to the star-
walker, though i didnt mention her,
just the knowledge she imparted, and she in turn responded,
"you can't help but to write
your emotion, at the moment you were born,
neptune, ruler of all symbolic, of your charted
waters- king neptune, with his mad poetic
charm did court both venus and luna,
when venus, bells ringing as deep in love she fell,
and swore never again to speak,
not to any other orbital place
moving through the sky", and so i learned the venus
heart shines only through neptune's eye

i dreamt about the proverbial teacher once
and again last night, the dream scanned close to face.
almost nose-to-nose, she said
"don't you get it yet?
there is purpose to the prose-an explanation needing space,
tell why you shower her in verse!"
most hesitant of guide, i rehursed,
words spin when we meet,
they come when you're self-employed.
you are the change you mean to create,
Teacher, do tell
a story beyond the star-
walker, include the starry truth as well-

and Teacher, you have requested (many, many times)
"i dont want to connect, but to know my affect..."
so understand- poems, the melodies dont sing for you
there are those who will learn from my studies,
instead, i give what is asked for-
i take you in- the muse, creating
change- change is poetry
and poetry, change-there is no doubt
nor does it mean you differ from anyone else
and yet, poetry does'nt fulfill your desire-
well, too bad. i will let you know how you inspire
with your metaphorical ways
(theyre not so different from mine)
and what you do with the outcome, well, that is up to you
sincerely, in kind,
the committed student





Song of the day: darling, dont cry- buffy saint marie

(i tried to finish up the editing while listening to "star walker", but it just wasnt working, so i switched tracks)

hanukkah present

hess gave me a candle making kit for hanukkah, and while i am saving most of the supplies to do with robin and g., i wanted to share what a cool gist this is....and a perfect family activity for the 5-9 year olds

ight one candle for the maccabee children
With thanks that their light didnt die
Light one candle for the pain they endured
When their right to exist was denied
Light one candle for the terrible sacrifice
Justice and freedom demand
But light one candle for the wisdom to know
When the peacemakers time is at hand

Light one candle for the strength that we need
To never become our own foe
And light one candle for those who are suffering
Pain we learned so long ago
Light one candle for all we believe in
That anger not tear us apart
And light one candle to find us together
With peace as the song in our hearts

What is the memory thats valued so highly
That we keep it alive in that flame?
Whats the commitment to those who have died
That we cry out theyve not died in vain?
We have come this far always believing
That justice would somehow prevail
This is the burden, this is the promise
This is why we will not fail!



Song of the day: light one candle- peter, paul and mary

Dont let the light go out!
Its lasted for so many years!
Dont let the light go out!
Let it shine through our love and our tears.

more pictures from andy's memorial

tom

andy's wife, rosanna and friend

suzanne johnson's daughter kaitlyn and sister mary agnes

vi jaros (jeff's mom)

neighbors roland jane and mrs. gessick

....i never did get why every girl i knew wanted a pony, anyhow

a strange, unfinished, mildly defiant, poem

i wrote the astrologer a poem, although i didnt mention her at all,
just the knowledge she imparted,
and she wrote back that i can't help myself but to write my emotion-
the moment i was born, neptune, the king of metaphor, in his mad poetic
insanity was courting both venus and the moon (unsung poets, both)
and venus fell madly in love with neptune and swore never to speak
with the other orbs in the sky again if she could help it, a rare occasion,

and so the venus heart shines only through neptunes symbolism

i dreamt about my teacher again last night
(which is now you in the psyche)
and the dream panned a close-up on teacher (you)
and she said
"don't you get it yet?"
and i had a clear picture of why i write you poetry so often

the poetry i share with you, what i write that is inspired around you,
it comes because you use yourself,
you become the change you want to create,
and so you are not just the astrologer
but the astrology reading as well
its not really about you, the teacher-its about the internal experience,
its about change

and those poems, people connect with them
you have said numerous times
that you dont want to connect, you want to know how you affect
and there it is, you are muse, changes bring about poetry
that changes things for others- and there is nothing wrong with that
nor does it mean you are different then others in my life
and yet, i get the idea that its not what you wanted

too bad.
i will let you know how i was inspired (affected)
by what you have given me
and what you do with that is up to you

Song of the day: whistling song (dont know the title) -mike from ohio