some people may choose to ignore these – i choose to celebrate…
My name is Binta, i read about you in this site and i decide to contact you for friendship hopeing that you will accept my request,if you accept my request ,please reply to my email address (bintaweah59@live.com) or send me your email so that i will send you my photo and more about me, i believe we can make good friends,let distance not be a barrier but lets love connect,because love is a bridge connect far
it’s a rather simple – yet highly intriguing word. (until I had nearly completed this I hadn’t bothered to look at the etymology of the word – and then realized it’s, perhaps implicitly – a feminine name… interesting) it’s extremely short and compact – but utterly profound in its implications. i mean – how often does one find ‘joy’ in today’s world. think about that for a moment – for me – i think simpler times might have more often allowed for this notion of smiling, upturned lips, slightly opened and an allowance for rather easy breathing and almost a lighthearted and lightheaded approach to one’s current plight or even existence. a description of a state of being – really an escape from the most moderate or even mundane what would be the middle position, neutral even, or baseline of human existence. one where we’re not happy or sad – we’re just in a state of existence and then a memory or event or stimuli occurs and we’re brought from ‘nothing’ to ‘something’.
a higher state or awareness of pleasure for most, it’s generally perceived as a good thing, in fact almost an excellent thing – except for the darkest most abused, most perverted – perhaps the idea of evil. quite frankly – that’s a repulsive thought – but, well, i think it exists and we’ll acknowledge it and move on. i prefer the idea of a ‘happy’ thought – a happy place of existence for the many, over the most regrettably dark and hopefully, isolated few.
there are these two letters that hang tantalizingly beside and below an ‘o’. and what’s an ‘o’ to do? some would identify the ‘o’ as the circle of life – no beginning, no end; the ideal, perfect form… and then these two – teases – these two almost deviant and cajoling forms – sirens of sorts – calling out to their shared neighbor – ‘come out and play dear fellow’ – well not fellows. the ‘o’ isn’t masculine, rather it indicates a place for safekeeping, a depository of sorts, an invitation for engagement… and the ‘j’ – it does hang below – but it does appear to ‘turn its back’ to ‘o’ and certainly is perhaps repulsed by its once removed neighbor ‘y’ where it might flee or attempt to remove itself from. whereas ‘y’ hangs it all out there and lures ‘o’ with a cradle of sorts – a saddle or a swing to rest and caress, to hold near and dear and perhaps banters or even teases his once removed neighbor ‘j’. perhaps we were first given ‘jy’ and ‘o’ felt the need to separate them – to act as a referee of sorts, to drop in between and perhaps part or maybe even inadvertently became the link that joined and made them a more perfect and current whole.
the root of all this, this perversion of sorts, stemmed from lying in bed earlier this am that time when you awaken in the seemingly safety of your bed and yet outside – the world is still without much light and is mostly lifeless. for me, my spouse was still sleeping soundly and lost in the universe of limitless potentiality. yet there i was in that point in time when there are still elements of darkness lurking potentially in the shadows of both the inner mind and physical being and it was my mind that sought or more appropriately wandered toward a gnawing gravitational field – a field with undeterminable outcomes; paths; journeys; realities and dread.
and i was considering the plight of my eleven year old son – and the idea of ‘joy’. and what i’m hoping now as i type and formulate this before myself (and actually in consideration of a potential reader) – is the idea that this notion of joy – never leaves him. that somehow as a parent, that i, and along with my spouse – although she’s considerably more adept at perceiving and creating and cajoling this conceptual notion into a reality – instill, develop and invigorate this potential within him. And it should be far more potent than latent. and i know that’s easier said than done – but it is now more clearly identified in my mind.
i hope, as there should be – that there is still a vastly deep and replenishable reservoir of joy in his.
damn – this kat has got it goin’ on… i can imagine @leaflesstree listenin’ to this on LOUD…
these guys are playin’ lollapalooza – and i’ve posted some of their tunes before…
brand new brmc… cover tune – but check out release date & number of views… fresh off the press baby!!!
not sure the origins of this band yet – but i like the sound – lyrics, kinda ethereal guitar…
and some newer to me…
so this last kat – i started with a british lad and am finishing with one… i’ve been watching the fx series – ‘the americans’ (it’s pretty damn good, really good actually) – and well this is the soul sound from that time (and some before) – but he nails it… enjoy this one xanga folk…
listen loud – listen often – listen for your soul – like it’s no one elses!
never get involved in a war that ends in ‘s’ – they never turn out well. there have been two world wars – a lot of people dead, gone, disfigured and a lot of destruction.
our current international plight puts us in a divided state – over two koreas…
grammar?
think about it – who gets hurt in a grammatical war? nobody – i mean who really cares where an apostrophe goes or doesn’t. twain didn’t; faulkner didn’t; snoop dogg sure as hell doesn’t. and who needs apostrophes more than these guys? Their lives were/are defined by apostrophes. clinton – ‘sexual relations’ – ended in an ‘s’ didn’t it… some soupy splurge on synthetic materials – cigars where involved….
it’s all very evil – ending in ‘s’ – necessary? perhaps? blow jobs… peanut butter and jelly sandwiches – sticky messes…
finances
cha-ching – yeah – all fucking knock down drag out sorts of ongoings. ‘S’ – it’s even part of the symbol that represents this notion, this value – a giant ‘s’ with a vertical line or even two through it. it’s only stating the obvious – battle lines drawn.
babies
there’s a war – an all out assault on the human psyche that no one wants a part of. families that have them have fights – who’s going to take care of? help clean? feed? clothe? educate? talk to about who masturbates? take to the ball game? the prom? people that don’t have them and want them have fights over them; people who think they have the right to force anyone who has ever been pregnant to have that baby – hell – they kill people to secure that ‘right.’ now of course once they are born – tough, life’s tough and we humans always seem to get it right don’t we. and that’s a fundamental definition of war. no babies, love them or leave them – lead to wars that end in ‘s’. marriages. divorces. more often than not no one wins.
and suddenly she didn’t want to play footsies any more.
isn’t a name many people recognize. i was incredibly fortunate to have been awarded a fellowship and i spent a summer as an intern working on a project that mr. soleri had made his life work. he believed that a better architecture existed. that a better means of existing with our environment was necessary to sustain the future of humanity. in his vision ‘arcology’ was the solution – the combination of architecture and ecology. mr. soleri passed today, at 93 – in fact on the very same date that his ‘mentor’ and ‘hero’ – frank lloyd wright died. april 9th. ironic – mr. soleri was far from the egomaniac and pompous ass than mr. wright was – he was quite, shed the limelight and it was a pleasure to have known, talked, laughed and sweated for this man.
mr. soleri founded cosanti and arcosanti – two structures, events – even that will define his legacy. he believed that the form of the city needed to be more resolutely integrated into the earth, our earth – and that man and his built environment should reflect this ideology. that our cities needed to be self-reliant – grow our own foods, employ our own people; be heated and cooled by the earth…
here’s the wikipedia link: and some others as well:
all my images from my summer spent at arcosanti are on slides – at some point i hope i can move them to a digital format. it was one of the most wonderful summers of my life. the other interns that summer – we never kept in touch, but we traveled extensively throughout the southwest on our weekends – the grand canyon; the prescott bluegrass festival; glen canyon damn; montazuma’s castle… we spent the night camping on a debris littered road – thinking we were going to wright’s talesin west when we awoke… however the cops at 2:30 am weren’t particularly amused to find us sleeping in a dump that was more notorious for nefarious ongoings than what we would have ever anticipated. ultimately they believed our plight and let us remain until daybreak – but then made it clear not to return – i remember we were all good with that. talesin west was a let down when compared with what we were experiencing at arcosanti. there was a vibrancy, a pulse – ayn rand (one of my least favorite authors) wouldn’t have understood. we were all just happy to do – something – there was no ego in our mission, no hero worship, no pettiness.
bronze and ceramic bells were being made; bread baked; an amphitheater being built. trust me – it kicked my ass. we worked from 5:30-7:30 – had a 1/2 hour or so for breakfast and a meeting and then back to jack hammers and cement mixers. my supervisor was rocco lombardi. he is forever etched in my mind. a 55 year old mason off the boat from italy – he used to ask me everyday, several times a day – ‘why when i come to america, everything motha-fucka? motha-fucka this… motha fucka that?!? everything motha-fucka?’ i just smiled, probably foolishly and mixed the mortar and moved his shaded work area… it was so damn hot. the rock in that part of the country is volcanic and someone had broken the bucket on the backhoe so we had to haul all of our debris up – and out of the amphitheater by hand. and all the mortar and concrete we’d mix and load into 5 gallon buckets and haul into our hole. you’d cut your hands loading, run your leg against a rock and rip open your shin or thigh… good times. but i loved it. i was sun drenched and ripped after that stint…
i read most of the ‘dune’ & ‘ hobbit’ series’ at night – after eating dinner and showering and some tired conversation i’d shake out my sleeping bag to make sure there weren;t scorpions or tarantula’s in it… and just read. let my mind escape into the world of frank herbert and the pure genius of jrr tolkien. i guess most people read that stuff in high school – i was too busy doing elvis knows what – so i had some catching up and it was wonderful.
i did have a love interest that summer – some chick named erin something… didn’t work out – she had a boyfriend and had already been busted cheating on him once – so i guess i wasn’t good enough to make it number 2… no loss…
there’s been some blogs a bit back about this stuff – the best times of our lives – and i’ve been kicking it around in my head – and well rip mr. soleri – and thanks – thanks for having had an impact on my life. i’m proud to say i knew you.
i’ve been trying to think of something to write about for weeks now. in that time frame i’ve had vertigo – which is no picnic. i don’t recall hugging any piece of porcelain that tightly since my freshman year in college. it also entailed a trip to the er for fluids, a ct scan and an mri. thankfully all negative – not that there was anything there to find to begin with, you know inside my head, between my ears – i could have told them that. oh yeah – i got a choice of music to listen to during the 50 minutes of mri – and i asked for ‘the clash’. they looked at me like i was nuts – but the technicians all said ‘thanks’ afterward for letting them listen to something different and upbeat for the first time in as long as they could remember. apparently my speech was so slurred they thought i’d had a stroke. all i can remember is spinning and somersaulting simultaneously – uncontrollably. i can remember feeling my eyes dancing in my head – and i couldn’t clap my hands… all i wanted was darkness and to keep my eyes shut tightly.
during my now almost three week recovery – i still get bouts of dizziness – but not nearly as pronounced i became addicted to the british tv show ‘shameless’. i guess there is an american version – i haven’t seen it yet. but man was i hooked. i watched like 8 + seasons – struggling through the last one and a half – most of the original family had been written out and the thugs weren’t as compelling to me as the wacky gallagher family. i highly recommend this show.
i also watched ‘vikings’ on the history channel. kickin’ ass and takin’ names. pretty crazy stuff – and obviously the writers have taken some pretty extraordinary creative license – but it’s still compelling stuff. the first episode of ‘bates motel’ was enjoyable as well. what else – soccer – the snow bowl and then the match at azteca… some ncaa…
i missed the first four matches of my daughters high school soccer season – the truck still sends me off a bit – but i’ve figured out ways to compensate for it.
lollapalooza line-ups are set – not really overwhelming… we’ll get a few single day passes. ‘the cure’ for me is the big draw – it was the first big indoor concert i took my daughter to – she was 11 or 12 at the time… a few others of note from my perspective – thievery corporation; local natives; matt & kim; the lumineers; the vaccines; and vampire weekend. lots of others i’m going to have to dig around and figure out who they are…
i missed thao and sallie ford last week – pretty bummed – but i was in no shape to be out and listening to live music…
oh – the movie ‘this must be the place’ – with sean penn – i really enjoyed this film. i watched it probably two and a half to three times (one with my wife and she reallyy liked it too)… it appears to have been filmed in ’08 – not released until cannes or some other festival last year – and i guess it bombed in the box office – but i sure as hell don’t remember seeing any press about it… but check it out… penn rocks…
ok enough creativity for now… went to the art institute too with the kids – and saw a cool bike exhibit as science and industry…
hope everyone is moving and grooving in their own rights…
