man- estate

Rachel is my proffesor of Hip- Hop. Tonight inspired by something she said, I turned my blog over to her and she wrote "Hip hop is the new rock'n'roll, which was the new jazz. However, hip hop is different in that it has been stigmatized by the 'crack music' image that is so particular to the black ghettos of the post-reagan era. Whereas both rock-n-roll and jazz sparked necessary cross-cultural awakenings, hip hop has been co-opted and so dehumanized by the mainstream meida that it perpetuates, rather than dissolves racial divisions and wealth disparities. Hip hop has been so bastardized by the upper strata of society that most Americans, particularly those born before the Reagan era, don't even consider the possibility of hip hop as a true art form. Hip hop, more than any other cultural force today, has the power to inspire a much-needed revolution-- we just need to reclaim it. "

We were listening to Baby Chams " Babylon Bwoy" and she refered to a man she had worked with, and so was never able to act on her attraction for. He was the Hip Hop buyer for one of the major record stores in the Bay Area. And she said , " Boy that was a missed piece of man-estate." I thought that was funny. Has anyone heard this expression before?

My friend Kaitrin and I at a party on Saturday.

Kaitrin: enchanted fairy princess, impish punk gamin, savage dancer, doting shepherdess Madonna, sartorial maven extraordinaire -- she can wilt impudence with a glance, glide like a an earthly mobile, turn a room on it's side without warning, and like a skillful surgeon, pull beauty out of the most impossible crevasses.

Restless child

Restless child
bare legged and brown,
lying outstretched in the Lilies
staring up at the Bagworm trees

Summer child
howling into sewer pipes, crawling after possums
throwing rocks at the Cotton Mouths lazing by the creek

Reckless Child
approaching a deserted barn
slanted and rickety, like an old woman beckoning escape
from the swelter of the sun

Wind swept child
squatting in the mud, burning straw and dandelions
next to the creaky porch where the baby rabbits were born

Winter Child
trembling in the gloaming
when the cardinals fly out of the moon
onto the even, solitary snow

Lonely child
luminous and strange, out at sea
where the owl and the pussycat strum in a time
counting backwards into the waves

Rumi

... We all are lions, but lions on a banner:
because of the wind they are rushing onward from moment to moment...

cloney baloney

I was troubled last week to hear on CNN that the FDA was in the process of, after conducting a " peer review " by the beef industry itself, going forward with a legislation that would allow for the use of cloned animal products to be sold for public consumtion without labeling to this effect. I went on the web and found this quote in a CNN artical : " "Based on FDA's analysis of hundreds of peer-reviewed publications and other studies on the health and food composition of clones and their offspring, the draft risk assessment has determined that meat and milk from clones and their offspring are as safe as food we eat every day," said Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's center for veterinary medicine, in a statement. " and then I read this: " A federal bill to require labels on food from cloned animals and their descendents has been stalled in Democratic-controlled congressional committees since February. A similar bill by state Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, passed the Legislature last month, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently refused to sign it....The FDA wants people to share their feedback on the idea of cloning before any big decision is made. They are giving consumers until April second to let their voices be heard." So the FDA made this statement requesting American feedback in February of 2007, and stopped taking feedback on April 2nd 2007. As far as I can gather the story wasn't aired on television untill Jan 2008.

In fact when I went to the FDA website I found this : "Guidance for Industry Use of Edible Products from Animal Clones or their Progeny for Human Food or Animal Feed. Comments may also be submitted electronically on the Internet at www.fda.gov/dockets/ecomments. All written comments should be identified with Docket No. 2003N-0573." On going to the docket link I read " No Dockets are currently available."

I am currently trying to locate any local protest groups apposing the cloning of animal products. Anyone reading this with information for me please educate me further.

www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml

Got your number...

As if to say, "I know what you're up to" or "I've got my eye on you" - where did "I've got your number" originate? Perhaps from knowing the number of the house where the person lived? Remotely, the telephone number, but I think the phrase is older than the telephone. My brother said he thought it was about someone resonating with you in sync. Tell me what you think it means.





A Predilection



Does the earth have the suns number when she looks into its rays with her blue eyes, a soaring symphony of spectacular rainbows?


Does the cheetah have the gazelles number after centuries of bending her throat back into the velds open wind?


And heroin?, does it have the junkies number in the methodical tick-ticking of his skinned, stunned desperation? A whispering promise of what doesn't kill us makes us stronger?


Does the dance have a Tango number burning a hole in its swank, sharkskin suite? Like a "ciao Bella" studied nonchalance?


And what of me? Do I have your worn, pulpy, thread bare number; after years of not memorizing it because it was programmed in my phone?

Nocturnal chaos & old nighties

I cannot figure out why I am so in love with the night. The city stops. No expectation of commerce -- only the thieves and slugs out doing business. Somewhere across town a DJ adjusts his fly. My bunnies munch their hay and hop back and forth in their cages like springy windup toys. The freeway woosh slows like a misplaced, errant ocean on the pavement. I watch Furgeson flirt back at me from a pixilated screen. Why is night sexier than day? Scary things slither around in the night. I stare at my painted toenails on the brass bedpost. So quiet now, I could scream and someone would notice. The chilly air drops a few degrees and everything is still.

Play this game and help feed the world

My favorite new game:

www.freerice.com/index.php

Did you know that a lubber is a lout?

Rachel & Amanda

Can you believe I used to be the Nanny for these two. Now at almost 6' tall, they tower over me, re-hipify me regularly, and generally whip my ass in terms of academics. I used to do impersonations of Queen Victoria to get them to shut up when they where fighting in my back seat. Now we discuss politics. Amazing...

It was a doe eyed, grease monkey weekend

I bought a 92 Honda accord this weekend. It was a week of grease and tools and man sweat under hoods. Strange, dark, mechanical purple lights blinking back from cracked plastic dashboards. Tried not to be femmy, gooey and lost when checking out old Hondas. Used car buying is not a time to be relying on the kindness of strangers. I kept my eyes keen and my hands steady at the wheel. In the 1800s, when buying horses, they used to grab the upper lip of the horse and curl it back to look at he length of the horses teeth. The longer the teeth, the older the horse. This is where the expression, "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth" came from.