Burn Notice

I just deactivated my account on Facebook. There is just too much contentiousness there for me. It feels like a forum in which everyone has an opinion that many consider to be fact. It feels like an unsafe place for those who are not part of a rabid majority. It is not a place where I feel like I am able to engage in free dialogue with others about ideas and new ways of thinking. So here is a place where I am able to hear myself think; a place where I don't have to listen to the inane rantings of fringe wingnuts.

Watching You

I read the news today, like yesterday. It was rife with suggestions that somebody is horribly off base about something that journalist was reporting to the general public. It seems so crucial that we know the opinion and possible fallout of now sharing the same view. I have come to think that we are no longer hoping to survive as a nation. We are tearing ourselves apart from the inside out. Democrat or Republican; Progressive or Conservative; Corporate or Government; Left or Right; Tall or Short. We almost always see the differences instead of the similarities. We are not nearly as different as so many purport. We eat; we work; we love; we waste. We cry; we laugh; we believe and we disparage. We all have or at least had family. We plant our opinions as if the opinion itself is gospel. We don't question how we "know" this or evaluate new information that might alter our position. It is sad. People can either disappoint you or you can accept that each of us is human.

There are so very many good things to see in this world. Open your eyes to some of the good; the beautiful; the lovely. See kindness and when you don't see, do something to make it a better world. I am going to do it. Maybe it will catch on and we can stop focusing on the "scarcity principle".

NIMBY!

People are people. Americans have emerged from so many national and ethnic groups that it is hard to decide what is an American. This week we learned that some people are incensed that the new Ms America has East Indian ancestry. The blogs were rife with messages about "real Ameicans". I feel sadness when I hear this. Here are some American faces: We had other mass shootings - Washington, DC and locally, here in Minneapolis. We love our guns. We love Free Speech, when the speaker is talking about something we endorse. We have little respect for those whose views are contradictory to our own. Sometimes even when the perspective is parallel but not identical we have troubling understanding why someone might believe other than what we choose. Imagine that. I can't hear myself for the roar of the Facebook rantings and the bellicose tweets. While our elected politcal officials and corporate denizens decide what is in our national best interests we have children missing out on education. We have diminished opportunity. We have disparate treatment of so many groups it is not worth shedding light. We have the powerful and then there are the rest of us. Fortunately, for some, the two groups are not mutually exclusive. We have global uncertainty. Weather, geopolitical issues, conflicting theocracies, political ideologies, Marxism, Facism, Socialism, Captitalism, Anarchy. Choose the one that works best for you today. Who is your neighbor?

Hoodie Alert

I woke up this morning and felt the weight of so many previous generations on my shoulders and my mind.  I heard what the President said about the legal system, but it does not satisfy my lust for revenge.  It is not just revenge for Trayvon and Emmett, those four innocent young black girls, and so many older "soldiers" fallen in the cause.  It is for my children and my grandchildren.

I have to ask myself if we have become complacent with our middle-class existence.  We do not know hunger, or violence, or blatant discrimination.  We have education, and professional status to separate us from the less fortunate.  We have connections in some of the right places.  We have money (not much, but enough) that we can shop at a regular grocery store rather than the corner market.  Why?

ASK YOURSELF THIS QUESTION: Did divide and conquer play an important role in this?  Is it one more manufactured crisis for the communities of diversity to deal with?  Is it another distraction while the neo-cons strategically dismantle our protections?  Do we have to worry about the abortion debate, Stand Your Ground, women's rights, GLBT rights and basic protections for our young and our vulnerable?  What price is too much?

Let's see what happens next?

Dumpster

Anger
Danger
Warning
Staring
Blaring
Killing
Chilling
Willing
Able
Hurting
Blurting
Projecting

Nilly
Willy
Silly
Billy

Guessing
Fronting
Pushing
Daunting

Cowards
Lout
Angry
Sellout
Liar
Bias
Tyrant

Music Weekend: Basilica Block Party and Roots, Rocks and Deep Blues Festival

I did something out of the ordinary for me.  Crowds.  I simply hate crowds of people.  I get anxious.  My breathing increases and I lose some of my focus.  But I have already been anxious.  I sit around the house, watching TV and reading or listening to music.  What I know is that I just needed to do something different.  The Basilica Block Party is one very large outdoor music event right here in Minneapolis.  I completed the online applicaton for Cities 97 and a day later I had a voice message indicating I had two tickets for Friday night.  Wow.

The first two sets were great - Family of the Year and ZZ Guard.  Matt Nathanson was the headliner at the Church Stage.  He was engaging and entertaining.  Fun.

Saturday was another day of music.  Roots, Rock and Deep Blues Festival at Harriet Brewing, the Mosiac Cafe and Patrick's Cabaret.  This time it was Chastity Brown and her band on the 89.3 Stage.  She was funny and earthy and cool.

I am glad that I did both of these music events.  I caught some flak as a result of this, but sometimes you just have to be true to your self.  Be true to your self, too!

NoHope

another ripple
another wave
relationship stipple
relationship grave