Blogged Down

Hello again,

I know it has been a while since I blogged. Generally, this is what has been going out.

Turkey Day was great fun. My crazy friends convinced my wife to dress up as the toothfairy and sneak into people's homes. It was hysterical fun.

What else? I took Monday off as a much needed day of reflection and mental holiday. Thanksgiving was crazy, in terms of travel and family that I felt exhausted. I really feel revitalized at work. I am concerned about the long run. I start seeing the kids getting a little more out of hand and I wonder about my discipline. I think generally they are good kids, but I wonder if I can ever push them harder. I think it is a careful game of knowing when to let it up and knowing when to go forth.

Politically, I have been trying to keep up with the Iraqi situation and Malaki and Dubya and the issues. I have plead some apathy towards the whole thing. I just throw my hands and say why are we over there? What the hell did we do? I hope the Baker commission will have an answer.

Eagles continue to suck. I am quickly realizing that football is a boring game. Football is a bunch of mini-rushes that ultimately ends up in boring running drive for the last ten minutes and a bunch of time outs that kill momentum. It is not a game of stories or prolonged drama.

Going out for BBQ tonight and some beers.

Then home to stare at my Christmas tree.

Science, you continually amaze

I am not a huge science guy. I did horrible in Chemistry in High School. Took Geology in College. And, I avoid most PBS sciency-things. But, I found these pictures to be breathtaking and enthralling.

To witness, life in these stages helps me look at Life (with a capital L) with a renewed appreciation. I find it amazing how life is formed from an early stage and how these creatures so much resemble the image of them later in life. Check out the site. It is incredible.

Since tomorrow is Turkey Day, I am glad there is no turkey fetus.

Hello

Again, with the new attention focused on Ku Klux Kramer, I have been addicted to the Seinfeld voice. HELLLOO!!!

I went to an interfaith Thanksgiving day service tonight. It was different to be in a unitarian church. I kept looking for religious emblems, a cross. I think it was refreshing and helped break down some stereotypes and ignorance I had about unitarians. The service was nice, the sermon a bit too long, but it made me think about hunger and how it is still so prevelant in our world.


On the baseball front, it is ridiculous thatpretty boy Derek Jeter isn't MVP. Justin Morneau of the Twins, he isn't even the MVP of his own team. What about Santana or Mauer! The voters simply look at RBIs and numbers and fantasy stats and don't go further and examine how the player fits into their team and their overall impact.



Another poem for the day:

Grammar
Tony Hoagland

Maxine, back from a weekend with her boyfriend,
smiles like a big cat and says
that she's a conjugated verb.
She's been doing the direct object
with a second person pronoun named Phil,
and when she walks into the room,
everybody turns:

some kind of light is coming from her head.
Even the geraniums look curious,
and the bees, if they were here, would buzz
suspiciously around her hair, looking
for the door in her corona.
We're all attracted to the perfume
of fermenting joy,

we've all tried to start a fire,
and one day maybe it will blaze up on its own.
In the meantime, she is the one today among us
most able to bear the idea of her own beauty,
and when we see it, what we do is natural:
we take our burned hands
out of our pockets,
and clap.



from Donkey Gospel, 1998
Graywolf Press, St. Paul, Minn

Fascinating Site and Stats

Damn the Man!

I found out that the money Massachusetts residents spend on bombing Iraq could cover 184,075 Music and Art teachers in the state.

Damn the Man! I find our spending to be ridiculous. Democrats and Republicans look yourselves in themirror and realize that tax cuts and war cannot occur at the same time. We do not need Pork-Filled Highway Bills, but fiscally responsibility and aid to the suffering middle-class, who are facing the housing bubble burst, the rising cost of health care and college tuition. Where are the true Conservatives on this? Rise up, O you sons and daughters of Fiscial Libertarianism! Take Charge! Demand responsibility! This must end!

Hell has frozen over

LONG LIVE INTERNET FREEDOM*


*does not include bomb threats, threats of violence, pornography, or websites about Doogie Howser

White People are Dumb

A bunch of Boston University students decided to start a white-only scholarship in hopes of raising awareness for bigotry in application/scholarship selections. Listen, do I hope that someday there will be no need for affirmative action? Do I wish to live in racial harmony with my brothers and sisters? Do I want to sing Kumbaya My Lord and keep the melting pot a-burnin'? Of course.

This is ridiculous. It shames me to see this as nothing but rich, rich, rich white kids upset at working hard. I hate
Boston University anyway. (Undergrad that is, with all apologies to my sister-in-law) It is a rich, white kid school with no real scholarship and identity complex. It deserves to be more diverse and should not try to be Harvard, but instead, be what it should be a collective urban higher education institution. Shame on these snobs! White people are so dumb. Dumb, Dumb, Dumb.

In my mind, it is already Turkey Day. I love Thanksgiving. I can't wait to go to PA and relax and unwind.

I am not doing another show in South Boston. I can't. I need to focus on things that will feed me as a person. Perhaps, I should take guitar lessons or voice lessons (considering I suck at both). I want to continue to push the kids at Malden and try some different dramatic things.

Politics update: Still thinking long and hard about 08. I want Gore to run. I want the primary to bring out some real issues..Hillary is far too powerful. Edwards is a pretty boy ambulance chaser. Evan Bayh, President Bayh? Yea, Right! Obama, too close to Osama for my likings.

Re-Elect Al Gore. The Last Eight Years would have been good.



I am excited for the Democrats to take office and perhaps force Bush to make some real changes. I feel some changes will come. I think Dubya will shake the yoke of inauspicious Neo-Cons from his world-wearied flesh and at least make some necessary minor reforms.

David Brooks indicated that real, real discussion on Iraq is finally occuring in the White House. Yea, only four years too late.

Turkey, turkey, still on my mind

A great memory

A great memory of my college days from a friend:


Remember the time we were at the club fair and there was the pitiful sign for the *Success Club*, just a sharpie on some poster board, one diminutive kid sitting behind an empty table....I thought of that today and laughed.

Poem that I love

In this poem, disaster strangely invades the ordinary.

Tuesday 9:00 AM

Denver Butson

A man standing at the bus stop
reading the newspaper is on fire
Flames are peeking out
from beneath his collar and cuffs
His shoes have begun to melt

The woman next to him
wants to mention it to him
that he is burning
but she is drowning
Water is everywhere
in her mouth and ears
in her eyes
A stream of water runs
steadily from her blouse

Another woman stands at the bus stop
freezing to death
She tries to stand near the man
who is on fire
to try to melt the icicles
that have formed on her eyelashes
and on her nostrils
to stop her teeth long enough
from chattering to say something
to the woman who is drowning
but the woman who is freezing to death
has trouble moving
with blocks of ice on her feet

It takes the three some time
to board the bus
what with the flames
and water and ice
But when they finally climb the stairs
and take their seats
the driver doesn't even notice
that none of them has paid
because he is tortured
by visions and is wondering
if the man who got off at the last stop
was really being mauled to death
by wild dogs.

My goals in life

I have been thinking lately about my goals in life:

1) Run a marathon and beat Oprah's time (I'll do this during my early 40s mid-life crisis)
2) Learn to fly (first, need expendial cash and to marry a Kennedy)
3) become the artitic director at the Old Vic(A lot of things need to happen for this one to work out)
4) run for public office
5) grow a really cool beard
6) be on a game show (preferrably Jeopardy)
7) get published
8) learn to sing
9) attend a major awards show (Oscar's, Emmy's, American Librarian Association's Best Dressed Librarians)
10) Have a good haircut

Cosmo Kramer: We hardly knew ye

Kramer does his best Mel Gibson impression. I am left befuddled. Typically, I would call for a boycott of all Seinfeld re-runs, yet that would prove impossible in my household. Still, it makes me wonder how disturbed in the head are Hollywood actors? Secondly, did you ever see a black person on Seinfeld, besides the stereotyped Jackie Chiles? I think Michael Richards needs a black and white cookie.


I love this picture. Doesn't he look cute?

I love watching Chris Matthews Hardball. My wife hates it. I think he is a dick, but he generally "asks the tough questions" and "gets down to business". Anyway, last night, he was discussing the issue of having a city president, whether this country would ever elect an urban president? Guiliani? Rendell? etc.

I am not sure. We are romantic as a country. We are people who love people in touch with their roots, with the earth. Dubya on his ranch. Clinton and Hope, Arkansas. Reagan on the horse. Kennedy and his yacht. Oh wait.

By the by, Arabian Nights went well. I can't wait for T-giving. I love Turkey and need rest

A Man Defined

Sean Walsh -- [noun]: A real life terminator 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

If I died..

'What will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Finally...

I really hate Ann Coulter. How could one woman be so so so wrong about everything?
I love this photo of Ann Coulter about to be pie-faced during a speaking event. She deserves it. What a horrible woman!

Also, I ran across this proving a long standing fact that .Larry King is an idiot.


Tonight is the night. An Arabian night. I was thoroughly impressed by the performance of the students last night. I was moved during parts of the story, laughing at new things, and I feel confidant that I achieved all of my goals with this production.

Teaching at Malden has been an eye-opening experience. There is hardly a day that goes by that I am not moved or profoundly effected by hearing the story of my students' lives. Last night was parent night, and sadly, I saw the parents of my white and Asian students. I struggle teaching in this diverse environment and I struggle emotionally balancing who I am as an affluent, white, preppy educated male in this world of missing dads, second languages, povery, and racial diversity. It will be hard to ever leave Malden, because you are bound by the fact that these young individuals have been abandoned and moved so often.

As you can tell the mid-terms are over, I am back discussing education.
By the by, I would have voted Murtha

More Rummy bashing

Here are some Rummy quotes borrowed from Molly Ivins

1. "If you develop rules, never have more than 10."

2. "Don't think of yourself as indispensable or infallible. As Charles De Gaulle said, the cemeteries of the world are full of indispensable men."

3. "Needless to say, the president is correct. Whatever it was he said."

4. "I don't do quagmires."

5. "I don't do diplomacy."

6. "I don't do foreign policy."

7. "I don't do predictions."

8. "I don't do numbers."

9. "I don't do book reviews."

10. "Don't divide the world into 'them' and 'us.' Avoid infatuation with or resentment of the press, the Congress, rivals or opponents. Accept them as facts. They have their jobs, and you have yours."

11. "Don't say, 'The White House wants.' Buildings can't want."

12. "If I know the answer, I'll tell you the answer. And if I don't, I'll just respond cleverly."

13. "I believe what I said yesterday. I don't know what I said, but I know what I think, and, well, I assume it's what I said."

Languishing

I have been very self-conscious of late when it comes to work as a high school director. I always try to balance this notion of educator and artist. What continues to inspire me is those that I have met in my life that were able to balance both so well.

Claudia Emerson is my hero. I think back to how she was always able to wear both hats: she was able to let us into her realm of writing, while allowing us to be individuals in our own pursuits.

With the show this weekend, I am running into the frustrations of teaching at an urban school: committment, finances, support. These elements were never the problem at Pennsbury. Administrative vision and censorship were the problems, as well, as faculty double-speak.



I am excited for Arabian Nights. The set and message and tone of the play are easily some of the best work I have done as an artist, but I feel lacking that this show is a step forward for me as an artist. So, I go back to that notion of educator. This is a huge step forward as an educator. I was able to really pull some performances out of these kids that I couldn't have dreamed of. Instead, I worry that this work (superior by Malden standards) does not live up to my own unrealistic standards of perfection.

I look back at the work I did last year - both Caucasian Chalk Circle and The Colored Museum - which were laborious, creative, enriching, and powerful pieces where I was able to be both artist and educator at a top level, and now I feel I maybe haven't done the show justice.



I always worry about cutting corners or disappointing the playwright, more so, on a philosophical note.

Nevertheless, with the lamps and music, and ottomans, and sheiks, and belly-dancers, I have achieved something great and I shall not let myself second guess it.

Torture

Time and Time again, I stumble upon something that really moves me or transfixes me. This work I find disturbing and emotional and something worth sharing. The gift that this administration keeps giving is the gift of incredible protest and passionate art.

I go back to Faulkner's idea that art is the "human heart in conflict with itself". Since 9/11, I find more and more artists struggling with notions of freedom and patriotism vs. security and strength. I have "flip-flopped" on many of the issues, because self-preservation is an innate part of human existance.

It is great to see a painter take on such work and continue to challenge ideas about human abuse in the face of security and preservation.

I had a great discussion in my English class today about Animal Farm. We discussed whether the humans were right to invade animal farm simply because "animalism" - the belief inside the farm - threatened their way of life. Everyone said yes. But, when I said, "were we right to into Iraq?" Everyone said no. I asked, "what's the difference?" Many cited ideas about Bush lying, but many suggested rather than we had more of right to into Iraq, because Saddam did in fact torture people.

Reflect on this artwork and torture, and be upset at Rumsfeld and disgusted at McCain for compromising.

Bye Bye Rummy

I think this about says it all:

Hell Week

I know I haven't written in a while. It has been crazy. My wife was ordained and the ceremony was lovely. As always, we celebrated way too hard. I always end up being the DD, because I see the problem arising and realize I need to be in control.

At work, the play is this weekend and I have been running around with my head cut-off trying to get everything in order.

I surprisingly haven't felt crazy tired, though I know that I should.

Politically, Rudy says he is running, which is cool - though the GOP will never nominate him. Sucks, cause he could win the whole thing, but not the primary.



I found this site interesting insofar as I was surprised the number was so low. Considering everytime I look-up a website for my special hot buttery buns, I get redirected to hardcore gay porn - I thought this would have different.


Trying to rest - watching Jeopardy - feeling smart.

Oh the weekend...

I'm still riding high from the victory of a resigning Rumsfeld and a new direction for this country. I am hoping for Dubya to get the picture.

I'm off to CT tonight for my wife's ordination and it got me thinking about my own spiritual life and journey. I often feel like I take my faith for granted and do not practice what I preach. I miss the focus of having a spiritual director and having spiritual insight into my life and livelihood.

I love the story of Jesus teaching the man who was born blind. To me it serves a lesson that we all can be cured from our pre-born condition. That our faults and flaws and handicaps are not the result of sin and can be altered through profound experiences with faith and will.

Here is the text from the Gospel of John:

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. "Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

Perhaps, this passage is important to our political and social world order. Maybe, I just like the idea of Jesus healing some one with spit - kinda gross, but I think I very profound statement about God and salvia.

enjoy

I got this from a friend:

Yo-ho, Yo-ho, resigning Rums for me

I love the concillatory tone I'm hearing from Republicans about yesterday. This is a quote from Rush Limbaugh that I find telling:

Some of the exit poll data yesterday (it's still questionable whether or not you can believe it). By an 11% margin, voters who voted yesterday believe that Republicans are "the big government party now." How can you blame them? How can you blame them with the Medicare entitlement and with all the education spending, the spending on everything, the lack of discipline on reducing the size and scope of government?

I am in the mindset that this election is like a conservative intervention: "Wait a second, since when did we let Monkey McKnow-Nothing and his War Cronies run the show?"

As a former Republican, I understand the frustration of the conservative. They have let the fringe evangelicals and fundamentalists usurp rationale conservative thought. I am interested in reading Andrew Sullivan's book - perhaps he will sway me back. Anyway, he is one of the bloggers and pundits that I enjoy checking up on. I find it interesting that a gay British Catholic can be conservative, but perhaps, I don't the see the Republican tent as big.

I'm glad to see Rummy's gone. This is a little too late, however. I think it was a smart move politically for Dubya and perhaps, I am naive, but I think Dubya will compromise more than people think with the Dems. With most lame ducks, I think he is concerned about his legacy and some compromises and toning down the rhetoric and some leadership changes, but save him from becoming Warren G. Harding the Second.

On a personal note, I am exhausted from grading and feel I half-assed feedback for the students. I am so awash in curriculum and planning that meaningful feedback was not given. Also, I had a ton of failures. 23% of my tenth grade students received a grade lower than a D. Now, to be fair, five had major attendence issues, so if that is factored into the equation, it is only 12%, which is a more respectful number. I think I need to change the way I give assignments and be more available for the students.

Back to politics, glad to see the ballot initiative on wine/beer in grocery stores pass. It was a poorly worded law that would have killed small business.

I found this great website about moderate voices. I echo this quote, which I think is applicable for the next two years:

"The core of America is not racist. It is not hostile to women. It is increasingly offended by gay bashing. Yet it abhors government waste. It believes strongly in fiscal responsibility such as balanced budgets. It is pro-economic growth. It is concerned about the environment. It is intolerant of people on welfare who disdain the notion of work. But it wants poor kids to have school lunches and it wants to spend money to have good schools. In sum, most Americans are sensible, good-hearted, and prudent. The issue, then, is whether there is a political party that can welcome them home."
—Senator Paul Tsongas

Election Day

I stumbled upon this about Christy Mihos. I think it important to vote independent.

I concur with the article that Deval seems like an empty suit without any real ideas. He is all rhetoric. I want to like him and maybe I do on a personal level, but I am not convinced he is a leader.

Must teach -

In up to my neck in grading.

Election Night Eve

Tomorrow is my Christmas. I love elections. I love voting.

I still have this childlike patriotism and belief in democracy. I don't care if polls make voting non-essentional or that I live in a blue state and Republicans don't have a shot or that only 40& of Americans bother to come out to exercise their right. I love elections day.

I'm going to make a few bold predictions.

Mass Gov - Patrick 63%, Healey 29%, Mihos 6%

Important Senate Races:

VA - Webb 49%, Allen 48% - We will find this out on Thursday.
CT - Lieberman 56%, Lamont 39%, Schleisenger 6% - a great day for Republicans
PA - Casey 55%, Santorium 44% - A good day for sodomy



Bolder Predictions:
Chafee wins in RI, but changes parties to Democrat.
Ford wins in TN, barely escapes anger Toby Keith on horseback.
Steele wins in Md, a victory for black Republicans everywhere or just him.
Democrats win in Missouri and Montana - easily in both.

Democrats win house by eight seats.
Senate breaks down as such - Republicans 49, Democrats 49, Independents 2 - Lieberman because most powerful man in the world - goes back to Democratic party, reluctantly after Bush tries to kiss him again.



good night all. I can't wait for my purple finger tomorrow - just like an Iraqi.

More-at

I came across this observation from Salon.com about the movie and I think it is right on the money:

"But one of the nastier angles of "Borat" is that Cohen seems determined to prove how stupid Middle America is. (He is, of course, an equal-opportunity offender, in that he goes after seemingly sophisticated New Yorkers, too.) Sometimes Cohen seems to be drawing stereotypical behavior out of people, instead of simply locating it. Even so, what's remarkable about "Borat" is that for every American who rises to the bait he so temptingly dangles, there are at least two more who go out of their way to be kind to him: A Southern etiquette coach doesn't miss a beat when he "innocently" shows her some obscene pictures -- she simply tells him that he might not want to share those pictures at a dinner party. And a gun-shop owner deflects Borat's questions of whether a particular weapon is good for killing Jews: He doesn't want to be rude to Borat, but he sure doesn't want to play along, either. (And he refuses to sell him a gun.) In the end, "Borat" may say more about the openness and good intentions of the American character than it does about our closed-mindedness and willful ignorance."

I don't know if I agree with the last part, but it go to show you that this movie is complex. Perhaps, it is the complex, not the inside of a fat man's anus that has caused me to blog so often about this movie.





Perhaps, I need to learn some from Jonathan Swift and accept the moral repugnancy of satire. Maybe, I'll start eating babies.



To GRADING!!!!!!!!!

OH MY GOD - MY EYES

I saw Borat. Needless to say, I am traumatized. I am still in shock at what they are allowed to show and still get an R rating. This movie has some of the most graphic scenes one can imagine - I never though I would ever see a man's face deep inside another man's buttocks. It was disturbing, gross - and pretty damn funny.

I can't say I wholly recommend the movie or say that's its offensive nature makes for really effective satire. Critics love this movie and are praising its satire -but I think the satire is often lost. Borat ridicules Jews and Gays and Women in ways that make me cringe and yet, there doesn't seem to be enough scenes or winks at the camera that help diffuse the harshness of his sentiments. I understand that Cohen is attempting to show that these bigoted stereotypes exist in America as well as Third World Countries. And that, our prejudices are deep and born from ignorance as well. Yet, I think his over-the-top racial and discriminatory jokes overwhelm the point he is ultimately trying to make.

With that being said, it is still pretty damn funny. The movie works as a fish-out-of-water vehicle. Let us laugh at some one whose customs do not fit into our society. The movie works well, too, when he is being offensive and forcing individuals to handle such crude remarks. It doesn't work well, when his offensive humor has no context or no American foil.

The scene when Borat and his producer, the grossiest human being ever to walk the face of the earth, wrestle and basically have hardcore gay sex is mind-numbling disgusting, and I think a risk that I still cannot comprehend how any actor can do such a scene. The scene while causing me to puke in my mouth is worth seeing just to show the lengths that Sascha Cohen will go to for a laugh.

The final scene with Pamela Anderson is priceless. It is quite possibly the greatest thing ever put on film. It almost absolves the film for its insensitivites. It is great - I nearly peed myself.

so - that is my comment about Borat. I found it hysterical and nothing like I had ever seen before - yet as satire, I think it doesn't work that well - because of it, I would not recommend this to young people who could really develop some wrong stereotypes. such is Borat.

Thumbs partially up.



It is funny and I will be quoting it for the next six months. Maybe, I'll reverse my opinion once I get the image of Borat's testicles out of my mind.

BORAT

I have never been more excited to see movie than this. I love the clip of Borat on Letterman. Here

I think this man is a genius and should be praised.

Off to the races today, wifey comes home!! YAY!!! Better clean up and fly right.

Demonstrating My Week-ness

This has been a long week. I have been alone and have been processing a lot. I am definitely under the weather. Workwise - busy. I spend a few nights, just relaxing and crashing. Eating tons of candy. Damn Halloween. Still thinking about a good costume - either Suri Cruise or Global Warming.

Political season has been heating up.

Schadenfreude - that is the only word I have to say about Ted Haggard. I really enjoy the fact that more and more anti-gay right wing evangelicals are having gay affairs. I think it proves the idea about homophobia, that those that fear gays the most, fear them because of their own attractiveness to them.

Plus, the dude admitted to buying meth and getting a massage from a male prostitute. That's freakin' creepy.







I like to think of myself as a moderate - a uniter, not a divider. I am excited about next Tuesday - hopefully this nation will become more purple. I tend to think not.

The whole Kerry debacle was interesting. Listen, my good senator is an idiot. John Kerry is an elitist left-wing snob - that is not a clever right wing smear campaign persona - he really is. He made a terrible joke about the President's intelligence that had an unintended, but grossly insensitive double-meaning. It wouldn't have been a big deal, if A) the republicans weren't outstanding at taking things out of context for political gain B) he did one of those "I'm sorry if you misinterpreted my joke" quais-apologies immediately, not two days later and C) if he hadn't been a military basher in the 1970s. I have no sympathy for Kerry - it was a bad joke, but his response was even dumber.








I should sleep it is late. I have more to blog about - I will keep writing.

vote.