How do you keep a relationship fresh? Marry a foreigner! How would I know? Guess! You see, there’s a certain beauty to the fact that neither one of us has a clue to what the other is saying. Yes, we both speak English. But, as I’ve have found to my amazement, ‘English’ means many different things in different countries. How could this possibly be a good thing? Over the past 8 years, every conversation we’ve had is completely new. The words may have been the same as a hundred times before, but the meaning always changes. I don’t know if it makes for a good relationship, but it should qualify us to be good republicans.
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A small story filtered through the web last week that caught me off guard. Some odd type of Chinese river dolphin was declared extinct. Not a plant, not a salamander, a dolphin. We’ve become used to the loss of species lately because of the changes we’ve created. This is now the new ‘normal’. A bird here, a frog there, a little bite-y insect I’d probably would have stepped on anyway..but not a mammal. Not a …dolphin!? These things are supposed to be just as smart as us! Didn’t they notice they were disappearing? Did they try to tell the Chinese to stop? Maybe they just got eaten every time they tried. The Chinese will eat almost anything.
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Just wondering…are there any small or mid-sized vehicles on the market now that can be used for sleeping? I’m not talking about vans or RV’s, either. I currently have a 1st-gen Honda CRV. It isn’t a particularly good or comfortable vehicle, but it does have one saving grace. Its entire interior can be folded-down into a bed large enough for 2 people (or 3 very familiar people). It’s a cool camping feature that we’ve used a few times. I wanted to know if anyone has found any other vehicle, daily-driver sort of thing, with a similar system. Any suggestions welcome.
If you’re looking for more of my writing, see my Literature page. For anything that made it into publication see here.
So I come home for lunch to find a brand-new pair of basketball shoes glued to the front porch. Many strange things have ended up on the porch before, so I almost didn’t notice them. They seemed to glisten in the sunlight, so I reached out to touch them. The glue had sloughed off the rubber soles had solidified into tiny webs, but it still looked very sticky. I stop. Opening the front door, I ask the boy about the artwork on the porch.
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“Is it possible to feel enriched and hollowed out at the same time?…I don’t feel I belong here, but I don’t know if I belong back in New York either”
“The journey changes you, It should change you. It leaves marks on memory, consciousness, heart, and body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.”
-Anthony Bourdain on assignment in Malaysia for ‘No Reservations’
For the first time, I’ve heard put into words the indescribable sensation I felt those precious few times I’ve travelled myself. Bravo, Monsieur Bourdain. Bravo.
there can be
evil without redemption
despair without solution
pain without justice
it is wisdom without hope
it is existence without balance
it is blindness in the sun
it is us
we are ignorant and
still I hope
Steal Deceive Maim Kill
claw your way out of hell
say it is death to try
say it is death not to
it is Not for us when we join hands
the world pains when the mountains move
It children’s scars heal us all
It’s grandchildren live our faded dream: patience be
See the stillness in your heart
as the peace
just before dawn
Remember “Jalousie” windows? These windows made up multiple panels of long, angled glass panes have been relegated to rare use in sun-porches in the US. But, the use of Jalousie windows is ubiquitous throughout Southeast Asia and South-America. This is due to the fact that they are cheap, adaptable, and very easy to repair. In poorer nations, these considerations greatly overshadow their inherent problems. The fact that they cannot seal and have poor visibility is of little concern where repair is common and heating is unnecessary. With the growth in their economies and a cultural push to ‘westernize’, many homes are slowly being renovated. However, their original construction makes this difficult.
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Imagine we invade a country and remove its government, laws, everything. Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a ready set of generic laws and structure we could immediately impose upon a people to create a system of order as quickly as possible? I don’t suppose there’s some college professor out there with this under his desk? (more…)
Early this year, Ohio Senate Bill 16, as it’s now called, set strict prohibitions against strip club operations and the activity of dancers. The bill set distance rules between strippers and patrons, among other regulations, and would have doomed the entire lap-dance industry. It is set to become law in September (http://lsc.state.oh.us/coderev/sen127.nsf/Senate+Bill+Number/0016?OpenDocument).
This law was written by the same sexually repressed (but unusually well-connected) people that tried to force a gay marriage ban in Ohio, and sued to stop pay-per-view porn in American hotels. The lobbying group, Citizens for Community Values (CCV) once again is trying to protect us from ourselves (http://www.ccv.org/). I, of course, appreciate any attempt to save me from myself. This time, their focus is the ravages of strippers and their blight. So, I decided to do what any patriotic American would do, and investigated this Evil American Institution that apparently must be brought-down at all costs. The CCV? No! Strip Clubs.
The hypnotic glow wafting from the liquor bottles behind the bar belie the truth that alcohol is not what we’ve come to buy. (more…)
