d'ya like the taste of my broadsword, mountain-ninja?

so, it's colder. by 25 degrees. that's colder by far. i put on my boots for the first time since may. i think its harder to think in a hot climate, for me anyway. cant remember the last time i did some thinking. which doesnt mean there isnt worrying, but worrying's not thinking, or planning, but planning's not thinking either. no, havent done much thinking since i lived in upstate. it justnt hasnt been possible. on the other hand, there's a whole mess of doing, and also being, located in very different centers of the self than thoughts.

i only mention it because i think i miss thinking. its not possible to be crisp in this heat.

september's flower is the aster, have you seen those?

ps a friend, a young guy who included the note "im sending this to every woman i know", sent me an email with a quote by eve ensler about sarah palin worth checking out, its over on arianna huffington's page here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eve-ensler/drill-drill-drill_b_124829.html

the news that's fit to print... particularly good for anyone who's been inoculated by the endless prattle of the media blitz over the upcoming election, and who thinks that it has nothing to do with ratings and sweeps and keeping everyone glued, very good for you. and who hasnt?

iPod scrabble...

(from www.apple.com, of course)


is a big fat CHEAT and a LIAR!!!!!!! no sh*t! that thing is a total cheat! i swear to you, it 'developed' the words LORIS, RAX, etc. absoLUTE cheatage, no kidding. can't imagine what makes those folks think they can get away w that kinda stuff, man! unbelievable, and i aint got no memory for much, least of all spelling, but LORIS???????????????


dude. time to name that thing hal.

taconic parkway, fall

photos by juliet tondowski and devan mulvaney. landscape by some genius. new york by, well, new yorkers.

aint it great.

full moon

(photo absolutely ripped off by austin blogger mystic friendsy, check out the page.)



louis armstrong once said, "we all play 'do re mi', but you got to find the other notes yourself."

so im working on a couple covers for the record, one of them his and the other, a new piece by stephen mccarthy. mike doughty stole the other cover id been thinking of doing, and he prob did it better so its worth hearing. that was the book of love by peter gabriel; stephen's is just called love.

works for me ;)


ps have you listened to "break it down baby" by robinella????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! god! very nice, and also "press on", sweet.

ike and lincoln, and liberty, too

(pic here of louvre dido © Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons)

one thing can be said for hurricanes, they are very impressive when viewed as satellite orange over the ocean blue or traveling some fine inlet like the gulf of mexico, just slouching towards bethlehem and all like a crude beast. before we were viewing weather like that, the prediction would come in the form of news at sea or impending skies or whatever, or animal behavior. I remember noticing, sitting in the kitchen of a girlfriend's house in sunset junction in LA, watching the morning anchors on the weather channel find new words to describe the upteenth storm that season while my sister on the phone was telling me they were driving out of the state. florida was really hit that year, everyone there remembers it, but most people don't remember what year it was.

i remember because it was the same year i split up with my husband, and the summer had been filled with hunting for a new place while staying at my friend's house.

but this year, there are again storms and in between, life. recently someone i know had to go for some basic tests that they were denied because they didnt have medical insurance and the emergency rooms in their state are not required to provide care and absorb the cost; it happened more subtly earlier this summer to another person i know, subtly because here in texas hospitals are required to provide 'indigent care'. that's pig latin for, 'you gotta give a shit'. in the classical version of the hippocratic oath, physicians would say this:

"i swear by apollo physician and asclepius and hygieia and panaceia and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that i will fulfill according to my ability and judgement this oath and this covenant: [and here some commitments to be decent and respectful to the one who taught the art of medicine, followed by this very significant phrase:] i will apply dietetic measures for the benefit of the sick [that's diet and nutritional measures, you know] according to my ability and judgement and keep them from harm and injustice."

hippocrates was a doctor in athens during the time of the peloponnesian war. its more or less the same in the modern version, the oath, only without apollo and all. hygieia? goddess of health. panaceia, goddess of healing and daughter of asclepius, god of medicine. you know apollo surely. but the physicians are not really more than pawns in a major schematic to completely dehumanize and unsoul and systematize private human affairs in this ridiculous way to where people aren't even sensible anymore and defer consistently to things like this:

"well, my computer screen is saying...." or "you're not in the system" and "that's just not our policy, miss". to whatever degree there is a malevolent, money-grabbing mind behind these changes in the practice of--well everything, medicine, voting, driving, smoking in a restaurant, on an airplane, keeping your shoe laces tied from when you leave home until you finish travels, etc-- really it's a condition of the times to get dumbed down by meanness and stupidity but dont do it! ;) hospitals are the new healthcare program in america and all the private practice doctors are... out of private practice. i know two doctors who had to leave medicine and go into the insurance business, just to support their families! ??? as for diet and nutrition, that is the medicine.


this summer i wrote a song that i called the dido song. i had been reading (or trying to read) the aeneid and got stopped by the impression after book 1 that the entirety of the modern civilization was what rose up out of the trojan war and the start of what was to become rome and all things of and out of rome began on the journey between troy and tunisia and that new city. the story of dido queen of carthage and aeneas is a terrible story and i think is an amazing and precise depiction of what we have done with the divine aspect of the feminine in our brave new rome--er world, and it appalled me so much i had to write a song about it. i read it like the original sin or crime of our current paradigm, knowhatimean? ts eliot called their meeting in the underworld where aeneas tries to explain himself "the most telling snub" in western literature. its a damn bad premise for a brave new anything nevermind world.

ok ok, shep's gonna.... shep! (uh oh)

mmhhhhnnh.

wow, shep!

yeah.

i know i know you dont have to say it: lay off. i know. how r ya, shep?



;)

the new colossus

is the title of a sonnet by emma lazarus, which got partially quoted on the base of the statue of miss liberty... i didnt know til recently so i couldnt have told you sooner. ;)

"give me your tired, your poor,
your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
i lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

calls the mother of exiles. emma was of portuguese sephardic jewish descent and a new yorker.

the sonnet was referenced by lew rockwell introducing ron paul's new platform counter-convention in minneapolis on tuesday. he called it rally for the republic. here he addresses the convention:

http://www.ronpaul.com/events/ron-paul-convention/

did you know that it is written in our original constitution that only those born in this country or its lands are allowed to be sworn in as president? i think i remember hearing that. you can fact check the constitution of the united states, article two, section one, paragraph five. apparently ron may be the only person who might be legally nominated, according to our own laws if we are abiding by those, and sworn in: he's the only one actually born here, except for hillary of course. she was born in illinois. he in texas. plus he's a leo--actually so is obama, who was born in kenya (have you read his book about his father?) even though now he is getting some press about his neat little birth certificate to say something about hawaii, with the certificate number crossed out in smart black ink. mccain? born in panama. leastaways, thats what i know from wikipedia. wiki doesnt even reference a place of birth for mccain- how many bios do you know of internationally known personalities on wiki that have no place of birth? check for yourself. all three guys were born in august so apparently that's indicated for the upcoming election. has a sort of conspiracy of the stars and planets feel, hunh? ;)

ive said a lot about all this presidency stuff, and meant every word. it has become one hell of a debate. have you heard about sarah palin?!?!!!! could this whole thing get anymore interesting?!?!!!! "thank god our time is now!" (dot dot dot)

the whole human race

(photos from austinist.com)

sorry about the lamo thing using another site's pix for this entry, its just 1) i did see some signage downtown when we were registering up under one of the tents that no cameras or video or whatev would be allowed at the race---????--- that's what we thought, and 2) since i still have this concussion thing i knew that even though i wouldnt be dashing heavy off the startline that i still didnt want to have to keep track of my little digi since i hate carrying anything at all walking around. otherwise i wouldve brought it just to discuss one of my goddamn amendments with the nazis when they asked for my papers. man! no smoking in outdoor queus, no taking pix of public events (tiananmen sq or what?), etc etc. damn. however,

austin came in second for average running time worldwide--how groovy is that ;) not that i was in a hurry--ive got this little recovery thing on with my concussion and spine etc so i walked the event and came in at the tail end with the official cop cars trailing us in. it was a gorgeous evening in austin even though apparently the gustav storm was worrying folks along the gulf. there was a moment given to friends there, at the start. apparently the governor was due to turn up and then didnt because of preparation for the effects of the storm. and lance armstrong whose org livestrong was on the list of groups to run for was supposedly somewhere among us; i didnt see him. but apparently he came in at 5 minutes under the best time at 34-something. i was at 2:10'05" ;) not exactly yer five-minute mile. there was a blackout on picture-taking too or i might have some shots...how odd is that? a blackout on a public event. or was it a media/sponser promo (nike, champion, etc?)

it was a river of runners and we were all there ostensibly to support one charity or research organization or another. i dont believe much in charities or most medical research organizations. i try to make sure to have charity as often as possible. sometimes i suppose i fail but i try not to wait for a major holiday or to make a donation -- mostly just respond to people around me when they cross my path. which is why i loved the name of the event so much and being in that group felt.. well, just like joining the human race. there was a rendition of the national anthem (which maybe we need to rethink?) which i was confused about, supposedly sung for friends along the gulf. i am as uncomfortable with organized patriotism as i am with organized religion, ive seen and heard about the abuse of the format enough to be mighty circumspect. but getting to stand in a large crowd of people lending human concern? smiling and jostling and looking a little serious and getting ready for a collective activity? --so much better than war! so much better than pro sports! but of course a great idea! maybe we need to congregate-- i do! and to stand together. sure is nice. not against something, for something. running towards it, in fact.