ideas

My contrarian soul

I want God, I want poetry,
I want danger, I want freedom,
I want goodness, I want sin.
__Aldous Huxley

Took the veil and left the world

But when the self speaks to the self, who is speaking? - the entombed soul, the spirit driven in, in, in to the central catacomb; the self that took the veil and left the world - a coward perhaps, yet somehow beautiful, as it flits with its lantern restlessly up and down the dark corridors.

__Virginia Woolf

Old Friends

"Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you’ll need the people who knew you when you were young." __Mary Schmich, 1997

posted by Leigh Householder

Best things I've heard lately - Part I

Talking about last Thursday's release of the CIA's Duelfer report on (lack of) WMD in Iraq, Jon Stewart fabulously described the Administration's response this way,

"Some people look at a glass & see it as half full, and some people look at a glass & say . . . it's a dragon."

Watch the clip (apres a brief commercial message) here.

posted by Leigh Householder

Run, Kids, Run

A truly moving commencement address by Dr. Larry Brilliant at Knox College.

My favorite commencement words of all time by Utah Phillips:

"I was invited to the state Young Writer's Conference....There were 2700 young faces out there, and off to the side of the stage was the suit and tie crowd and the speaker after me was from the Chamber of Commerce. And something inside me snapped. I got up on the stage and said something to the effect of: 'You are about to be told one more time that you are America's most valuable natural resource. Do you know what they do to valuable natural resources? Have you seen a strip mine? Have you seen a clear-cut forest? Have you seen a polluted river? Don't ever let them call you a valuable natural resource. They're gonna strip mine your soul, they're gonna clear cut your best ideas for the sake of profit unless you learn to resist 'cuz the profit system follows the path of least resistance and the path of least resistance is what makes a river crooked.' Well there was a great gnashing of teeth and rending of garments. Mine. I was borne to the door screaming epithets over my shoulder, something to the effect of: 'Make a break for it kids!'"

posted by Leigh Householder

Wisdom

There is an alchemy in sorrow. It can be transmuted into wisdom, which, if it does not bring joy, can yet bring happiness. [Pearl S. Buck]

posted by Leigh Householder

Best Things I've Read Lately

I don't care about John Kerry's policies. He could appear on Nightline with a smack needle in his eyeball and his cock stuck six inches deep into a starving Somalian boy-child's ass and I would still vote for him in November. Why? Because he's not Bush. Period. If the Democrats ran Spuds MacKenzie I'd support his fuzzy ass. [Joshua Zellis (corrected) on zenarchery.com]

I fuck like Mount Vesuvius fucked ancient cities. I fuck like a kitten in a paper bag: relentlessly, endlessly, futilely, covered in fur. [Adam Kinesis, Knot Magazine]

Question for Adam- what if your parents ever google you??!!

And, well this one is just ugly.

posted by Leigh Householder

Happiness

Friendship
By: Dinah Maria Mulock Craik

Oh, the comfort - the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person,
Having neither to weigh thoughts,
Nor measure words - but pouring them
All right out - just as they are -
Chaff and grain together -
Certain that a faithful hand will
Take and sift them -
Keep what is worth keeping -
And with the breath of kindness
Blow the rest away.

[Word of explanation: I'm organizing and cleaning today ... and, I came across this - something I've always found lovely.]

posted by Leigh Householder

World War II Memorial - NPR Style

One of the reasons that I am so intrigued by the whole range of media I indulge in - from NPR to blogs to zines - is my love of stories - of that essential piece that shapes the way we know ourselves and rips us out of our roles (as wife or daughter or employee) and shows an unexpectedly deep and moving moment.

Long distance advertisers delight in people like me - enough empathy to be taken in by a sad or longing story and a quick tear-reflex. I have been known to sob at a radio story or two....

Including this one: Kate Nolan, WWII Combat Nurse

Grandma Kate - mother to seven, grandmother to 14, great-grandmother to one. Were it not for this story, you'd never guess that she is a war hero, who earned medals and blood-stained hands and saved lives just behind the front lines ...

The World War II Memorial is being dedicated this weekend ... this story is a lovely dedication in itself...

posted by Leigh Householder

Overheard

leigh: This Easter Americans will consume an estimated 700 million Marshmallow Peeps
jim: i would like to believe that they only purchase, but not actually "consume" them

posted by Leigh Householder