O proud left foot, that ventures quick within
Then soon upon a backward journey lithe.
Anon, once more the gesture, then begin:
Command sinistral pedestal to writhe.
Commence thou then the fervid Hokey-Poke,
A mad gyration, hips in wanton swirl.
To spin! A wilde release from Heavens yoke.
Blessed dervish! Surely canst go, girl.
The Hoke, the poke -- banish now thy doubt
Verily, I say, 'tis what it's all about.
A new meaning to the word producer.
Mr. Cleanee Man is mopping the floor as I leave work. He says, "G'night, Dave."
I put my briefcase, with my accounting homework, down for a moment because I notice he has a small beige lizard on his collar. "You know they're gonna sell this hospital?"
Mr. Cleanee Man looks at me. He leans on the mop. He puts the lizard into his mouth and says, "Um huh." When he takes the lizard out it is pink.
As the LA Times reports, Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, it was all a lie, & yet the world is less safe now that the u.s. government has flexed (& continues to flex) its nuclear muscles.
You can now post comments to my entries, & even subscribe to an RSS digest in your news reader, as if anyone will use that;) (Abby, I suggest NetNewsWire Lite.)
comment (2)saw the matrix. oh well.
Played a wedding & reception tonight with the San Francisco Klezmer Experience. That band is about the funniest group of people I've ever met, (along with perhaps Adam Good & Timothy Quigley). Any brief period of space in a tune has equal likelihood of being punctuated by a quote from Wagner or the Chicken Dance. A particularly moving violin solo will elicit cheers of "tell your story white boy!" from the drummer. Meanwhile one member, unnamed to protect the guilty, quietly informs us exactly which women in the room he'd like to do exactly what with (in a remarkably non-sexist way).
Lost my wallet on the bus in the Mission. At the end of the gig, there's a message (how'd she even figure out my cell phone number?) from a woman who works at the Women's Building, who somehow found it on a street I wasn't even on tonight, & the money's there & everything. Incroyable.
Sometimes warm, beautiful days are the most melancholy, like the loneliness among a crowd. Today this is my soundtrack (lo-fi version), even though I need to practice peppy Greek music.
Mixed in, though, is a good bit of anger. I'm really exasperated in my life right now. Both musically & romantically I'm feeling frustrated by people's inconstancy, perhaps insincerity. The people & things I get excited about disappear instantly, as if by design. Perhaps I'm supposed to be introspective right now, but if so why am I so overwhelmed by mundane tasks & uninspiring projects?
Smoked a cigarette today. Well 2/3 of one, it was nasty.
Abby & Tomas get to go to Paris, I'm jealous. Maybe I'll move to Australia.
comment (1)Philip Greenspun has an interesting educational proposal to motivate students with practical applications of what they're (supposed to be) learning: Should high school students design & build bicycles?
Abby has been assimilated. She now has her own online journal just in time for her trip à gay paree.
comment (1)In response to Abby's journal entry of May 25, The Temptation of Transcendence:
That's how I felt when I entered the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. I was utterly in awe of whatever could inspire people to create something like that. So many people, so many different arts & passions coaxed to their ultimate quintessential expression.
& of course you know what an anti-authoritarian I am, & I had many similar feelings--I thought myself a sucker falling for it, & was angry at the seduction & its efficacy....
But something I'm trying in my life right now (& actually when I was travelling three years ago as well, though I forgot in the meanwhile) is to welcome those attractions, explore them. There's often something there.
It's simplest with people--I'm attracted to people all the time. For years, I've been conflicted when I've felt that, as if it meant that I wanted something from them that they didn't want to give. But an attraction is just that, a pull towards someone. It can find expression in a trillion different ways, some of which are sexual & many not, perhaps there'll be some insight we'll share, or a beautiful experience, or who knows.
Perhaps your pull towards the catholic cathedral is similar. It doesn't mean you're being duped by anything, it just means there's something there that speaks to you. There IS something transcendent in such grand beauty. On one level it means Catholicism, but on another, it transcends such divisions & simply means "devotion." & THAT is something I know I love to be around.
I like the imagery in yr blog by the way, stone lace & piercing light shards. Oh & i fixed yr trackback & comments links.
comment (1)The Christian Science Monitor has some excerpts from the wartime diary of Iraqi teenager Amal Hussein. Plus there's a (slightly famous) journal by the (evidently pseudonymous) Iraqi Salam Pax (name means "Peace Peace" in Arabic & Latin) which is an interesting read.
Now welcoming into the blog collective: rachel brice, who blew my mind with a solo dance to industrial music last night, & who is about to begin her bellydance tour with Lollapalooza.
By the way, i'm open to other folks who want to set up a blog, particularly if I know you;) It's becoming easier each time; Rachel's took me about 15 minutes. (If you know CSS, you could even do the design yourself.) Just email me (see my contact page).
comment (1)Tonight I saw a glimpse of what's possible--being an open channel for direct expression by the source of life. Music flowing, but also erupting, struggling, squealing torrentially through every open crack & fissure of a saxophone. A trumpet so profound & true, honest. Playfulness & joy. Musicians communicating through gestures & eye contact but creating, channeling, simultaneously, such exquisite love & truth that could only have been the unified, uncensored voice of something else.
I recognized what I witnessed, too. I have felt this channel in myself at times, & seeing it again, I think I know how to open it fully. It's not hard, it's right there. It's not some difficult path to tread, it's simply a willingness to be led, swept away along a swift uncontrollable current. We'll see in the morning--when I can actually make some noise--what bursts.
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