My Blog

Another May

Carlos — Sat, 10 May 2008 00:17:40 GMT

Summer seems a whisper away and for all of the storms that throw their walls of tempest rains up into our eyes...we remember that there's a rainbow waiting to spill into our skies again...C

dragonsmoke

Carlos — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 21:38:32 GMT

his cloud the elements do not wait flows and forces natural are momentous they are not reason's allies and so apprehension of their wills and patterns is in some ways an absurdity being aware being attuned to this too is requisite in seeking to be conscious ... what star throws my sail 'cross these seas and 'long these night-hushed trails it is fragrant earthy smoke that we yet breathe of his closeness and too the taste of his form, of every part and all the full cup of those fine graces a perfect cloud to mock dream with root and substance .... and leave our senses in the ripples carlos june 2007

a taste of Reason

Carlos — Thu, 31 May 2007 19:32:53 GMT

30 May 2007 Wednesday ... a summer day and words of reason At the shores of home, I was out for a while in the sweet, now familiar, bright heat. Later, my brother turned me on to the Charlie Rose interview (which I watched Online) with Al Gore as he discussed the challenges to the American Democracy and also, among many other things, his new book: The Assault On Reason. That dialogue is arguably among the most relevant I've witnessed in a long while. In NYC after purchasing Al Gore´s book at B Dalton´s downtown, I sat and read the whole of the introduction and beyond while on pier 45 in the bright summer-like day by the cool river. That was a gorgeous afternoon full of people, sunshine, the river waters, passing boats and that eye-opening book. My mind was flooded with his insights and reminders, which I read with a smile never far from my lips and an occasional explosion of enthusiastic recognition at his very adept use of the ideas and words of visionaries like Thomas Jefferson and prominent thinkers like John Stuart Mills, Walter Lippmann, Marshall McLuhan, Neil Postman, and Jon Stewart (yes, that Jon Stewart). All of these he crafted into the context of his vital message about reason and its place in democracy. Eventually, I bade farewell to the Sun descending into the West and began my journey back to the shores of home. On which ride I caught a glimpse of the nearly full moon, summer's first. Three chapters in at this point, I am awed, humbled and emboldened by what Al Gore has written here. He only has not simply articulated much that has been on our minds, although he has done that and superbly. But I find that Gore, in centering his arguments on the notion of Reason and its crucial Role in a vital and functional democracy, has placed both the responsibility for Americas overall state and the possibility of remaking it into the Republic that the Founders created in their inspired and visionary endeavor on us all. In a conversation with my brother, we fell into a perhaps obvious realization about Al Gore. It is this, and he and Charlie Rose did explore it to some degree. Al Gore is neither the man nor the politician he was six years ago. And, whatever choices he makes, those that he is presently making are probably serving all of us better now than had he been in that office for four or eight years. That is not to say that in the future we might not be best of all served if he were in that exact office some eighteen months from now. But his contributions in the now have been vital and would not have been possible had the Supreme Court not rendered the decision that they did. As to the book, I am reading it with the excitement that one might have been reading Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" a couple of centuries ago, or that familiar and radical bit of Enlightenment lit that Thomas Jefferson entitled "The Declaration of Independence". We are asleep. We live and respond by our impulses much of the time. By our fears most of the time. By our Reason, nearly none of the time. Democracy requires our participation. This can be guided by faith, must proceed from reason but can not be steered nor manipulated by fear. These are some of the issues that Al Gore addresses. It is a conversation we need to be having. We cannot simply blame this or that King George. Al Gore doesn't., and reason might lead us to a less victim-centric view. Here it is again, Democracy, not a spectator sport. hi, Carlos

the bees are dying!

Carlos — Tue, 29 May 2007 18:29:51 GMT

why are the bees dying?

green graces...slipping through

Carlos — Mon, 28 May 2007 22:56:23 GMT

listening to Tori's wondrous sparkling sprites ...and I'm listening again took a walk with a friend to the park and these isles of hers, of Tori Amos' these still were flashing behind my eyes i don't ever know how to hold or articulate the sensitizing ripple effect on my consciousness that some forms have... so, if this sounds unfamiliar you may not have been to this place for a while is it wonder? a return to an immediate clarity that we knew as children... completeness without context, or something...? ...to find yourself awed by the water in a pond rippling and changing completely with every new glimpse...? there is a language that Tori Amos uses has used much of before but Now, it has never been more familiar than Now for some reason i keep falling back to a glimpse i once had of e.e. cummings' poetry yes, maybe i think e.e. cummings, Tori Amos... us yes watching out, june's moon comes round is now soon hi, Carlos

26 May and The Risen Suns

Carlos — Sat, 26 May 2007 18:48:44 GMT

And suddenly, as we had to know, one day the Sun was a different one...He burned with the bright stain of a new season. Now, it was summer. Everything felt...feels...different. Things converge and a familiar rhythm pervades everything. Yesterday we went to see The Pirate movie...there's only one, even if it Is the Third. Cool ride! Love the Johnny!!! Since 21 Jump. Oh yea, lots to love. Brilliant Bang to kick off summer flick season. Though 'Hot Fuzz' is still my fave bomb. But in Pirateland , Keira Knightley, as a whole other Lizzy, was Supa Fab!! All the peoples were...Great! But Johnny...not just eye candy man. His brilliance shines Way beyond HOT. Hello? Did we not see 'The Libertine'! Did I mention that Tori's American Doll Posse is here!?! Well, it is. And...Wow. The universe can be Really generous sometimes, like now. I know, "...treat Triumph and Disaster as the impostors that they are," - Kipling [* Politics Rant Alert * ] So yes, we've ruined a nation (Iraq? ...our own?) Darfur is burning. Genocide, god! we have a word for That. So sad. The US already started poo-pooing the G8 attempts to curtail climate change. Priorities, you know? But hey, my dad just got hit by a car and walked away... I'm looking at a half full universe... And I still got my awe on about what those Enlightenment slave owners actually dreamt up...and DID back in the good ole 1700s. Sure we've strayed a million light years from those ideals, but that lovely old inked parchment the sitting President of us swore to defend..it .may yet prevail. [* Alert ova *] And I just strolled onto the site of my dear friend Mabelyn ...dropped her a note and the smile in her reply ...well, that too has me rising. better than red bull, I swear! Gosh, be careful... bouncing too high off clouds <so Tori reminds us > gives me a long way to fall. It's all a balance, this is my belief. Just be kind along the way. ...keeping in mind that we're all in this together, depending on each other...no matter what the ideologues write on the sky. Let me go out and say hey to Father Sun and I'll catch up another later...k? hi. Carlos

Colours and spring...a spill of ideas

Carlos — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 00:15:21 GMT

Got an email from a friend in the emerging universe <wink> ...what he wrote got me thinking, or better yet, rethinking these realms that I navigate so not-very consciously at times, as once I did other realms, other lands, other interpretations and illusions. this rethinking changed my consciousness (as Paul Atreides once said) how is it that we live as-they-say mythically? I wrote that this morning on the bus into town not quite getting it. Stream of consciousness took over after that and this little glimpse spilled through the so-caled doors-of-perception... we slip through iconic horizons and thus reinterpret the world ()world in a word, what a concept) being thus transformed by these perspectives. . . in what ways do we use language and our other communication tools to cross realms? more and more we slip into/out to more mythic and symbolic expectations . . . and so thus it is (i was in a "thus" mood) realities shift are gilded by a mythic illumination that lifts our rootminds and closes our sigt in a flight of wings we rise on a whisper of metaphors remembering and forgetting thus (ah...) are our senses and perspectives extended and colours collide to recreate these unvisited possibilities A quote that blew the imaginary foundations away for me once, I repeat here: "Perspective, Use it or lose it..." - Richard Bach Illusions Maybe we don't really stray off the path, but just need to keep rethinking it... Peace Carlos

Exploring unknown lands

Carlos — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 01:13:49 GMT

Well, my first excursion into the previously unknown worlds of Second Life were kindof mixed in the results department. But the tale gets ahead of the teller...me. Hi, I'm Carlos spinner of this who-knows-what-it-wil-be hyperspace. Sure, let's call it a weblog for now. I am a forty-something Cuban man, who among other things is GAY and is now venturing into an especially Apple-colored world. I should say I'm feeling it's a sweet time to be among those who have swung over the rainbow, to be fit for fun, to be riding the "Virtual Light" to other places and people and just to be alive. Sure we can talk of war, injustice, corruption, poverty, disease...and the whole murder of crows threatening to darken our skies but it's not over. And I'm thinking that change is not only possible, it's inevitable. If six years of Bushy haven't convinced you, I'm begging you to consider a different outlook. Just consider it, ok? If, however, in these six years everything is just as it should be in your estimation, well, you just go with that. It surely means September 11, 2001 didn't throw you the way it did most of us. I envy you that, more than a little. I hadn't planned on that bit of soapboxing...so I'll wash my mouthout and get back to my previous train, the VR express. So, I wonder how most folks are digesting their first experiences of that virtual world??? Don't spend all your Linden $ in one place. Ok, short version...I came, I saw, I stumbled a bit, I flew...I Flew! That was exceedinly cool. I landed in the water once. That was dumb. But after, I was getting into it...and then my system froze and the ride was over. The abrupt end to my adventure didn't really cool me off to Second Life. Every chance I've had I'll be thinking up new kinds of fun that the place promises. It's pretty endless. Um...I'm going on about SL (Second Life) as though everyone must know about it. So I should say, truly check it out when you have some free time. [secondlife.com] Convergence, what a concept! All the while I'm on about these non-real places and etc. and today here in the NYC spring paid us a surprise visit. The chances I got to be outside folks were actually in the spirit of summer. It was really nice. A taste of things to come, that's for sure. Only, not quite yet, the weather people are talking about snow. Snow!? Still, it was so beautiful to catch the flows of summer in everyone's eye, in their smiles, in the light. Ok, I'll put the monologue to bed for now. No, I won't go tripping through the porn sites, this time. One more check of the emailz and I'm off to the reading zone. Oh man, I forgot to mention Dead Zone....that was a brilliantly depressing book by King... Peace, C April 2007 Update: No way to get into my Second Life without Much More Memory...so, until I expand my little apple's reach...I'll just focus on the pod possibilities. There be many other untried lands to explore and let's see if we can be Greener about it all. Peace, C