American sober or Irish sober...

you still gotta love homer simpson after all these years. Marge says to Homer " You are going to this party sober" and he replies " American sober or Irish sober" Tah duh!!
I am going to spare myself the usual year end reflection, read someone else's version and agree or disagree. Takes a lot of time to do that and most of it is contained in these words so not to be redundant...
I beleive in 2008 that I will continue to evolve into my mid life with grace, dignity and of course, tenacity. I literally have a couple of things to prove with my professional challenges so that will keep the saw sharp but the pressure is subsiding. Certain forces are gaining strenght in my life and it is precious and sweet. Many forces are subsiding as well and holding onto old hurts, memories and actions weakens me as a person. I pray for peace in myself, for the people I love that I know and for the people I know that I don't love. Here but for the grace of God go I...2008

Benazir

My memories of you extend back to your brave mourning for your father, a victim himself of the country he loved. The 70's, to a young teenager, were chaos, dysfunction and questioning. Lots of violence. You came home to Pakistan after self imposed exile, knowing it would end this way. Either way Benazir you are now a martyr for the cause. Will Islam elevate you to that level because you are a woman? As a professed christian, that is how I see you. How can anyone see this as less than. Dying for a cause that is wrapped in your DNA is why we are created?? Dying in service of others?? A recurrent theme in my otherwise" semicharmed kinda life, baby".

What the hell do anyone of us know about regression in service of the ego let alone death in service of the masses?? I've never joined "the service", I went on to college, for god's sake. The ultimate in "what me get a job?" lifestyle. I've marched in rallies but with not one scintilla of violence or threat to them. Hundreds of people have died in your presence since your return to Pakistan in Oct. How many would turn out for Hillary or Obama or John if they feared for their lives. Hell, most people don't vote as it is. Listen up and I include myself in this: Don't let this event be just another blip on the radar screen. If she had power in life, it will only be elevated after today. 2008 and we'll just have to wait.

don't taze me bro'

Ah, the big easy. New Orleans. city built under water. city sung about levee's breakin'. city suffering beyond any we have known in this country. Its been long enough now that the folks are getting restless but not voiceless. it creates a sudden paradigm shift when your world becomes closely linked to a world comprised of a history of mistrust and questioning. Suddenly they are people you love. As we watched video, my husband cited all that the law enforcement had done, in the strategic order that has me wondering for the first time that when the right to peacefully assemble teeters then someone has to try to restore the totter. Chemcials first, tazers next. They did what they had to do. Now i need to do the same. Rethink the people in the uniforms now that karmic forces are creating a corrections officer in my husband. HMMMM.....

Dont taze me bro is probably my favorite urban expression for 2007.

here's what we know...

Eric Voltz...who I wrote about long time ago has been freed by a Nicaraguan Judge but when his attorney went to get the offical release papers the judge was "gone for the day" now Nicaraguan communications are urging people to 'take matters into their own hands" since "justice" was not obtained for Doris' death. It appears he may be in more danger now than before. Eric's mom will appeal for his safety and swift exit from Nica on tv tonite. Allow him to leave unscathed and pray...

theres a world...

ur living in...no one else has your part...all gods children in the wind...take it in and blow hard. ---Neil Young circa 1970.
What a powerful message for where I find myself circa 2007.

If I haven't mentioned or prayed or spread the word about Randy Pausch, on Youtube is "the last lecture" of this remarkable young man. I say young because he is one year older than myself and dying of pancreatic cancer. But is he really dying? Of course in the biological sense he is. However, there is no way that he gives any indication of it in any other sense.

This is how I want to live my life. Do I have time? Am I on my way? Am I there yet? youbet! Helping other live their dreams...Head Fake...brick wall...just a few of the paradigm shifts that have rocked my cerebral world lately courtesy of Professor Randy.

Follow his blog...he has far more consequential things to say than I for now...

neil's rules

and neil rules.Time travel the last 2 nights to places deep within the period I "came of age". Some type of emotional/molecular relationship between you and the music of that time in your life. musical dna, if you will. Watching Neil Young morph into an "Old Man" is a wonder. As if he wrote about and set about becoming that song. But also more than that. I first saw him in the now demolished Richfield Coliseum in 1978-79 with Crazy Horse during "rust never sleeps". Life by his rules. Still is. Signs up at the Shea's Theatre to remind us of the irony. No alcohol sales while the music plays. No cells or recording devices. A few more no's from a man who once didn't understand the meaning of the word that let the show flow from him to us. He can't lose concentration, he can't move very fast, but he scorches on the guitar. What's left of his hair bobs up and down and side to side just like rust never sleeps.

Johnny Mellencamp still retains an ignitable temper that still says "fuck you" "i fight authority, authority always wins. Poor bastard was clearly sick with some cruddy cold but he rocked on. Sat so close I could read their lips and say Gesu ndhuit once in a while. Rumor has it that he has been inducted into the Hall of Fame for 2008. It was a good on-your-feet kinda show. Los Lobos covered a Cream song and I felt the channeling of Stevie Windwoods voice right there at the Civic Center.
Spooky.
Does it get any better than this?