the repetition really is in you

a thought:

do you want to dance?

two groups to listen to right now:

Gotan Project (I recommend Lunatico)
Hot Chip (recently featured on NPR)

goddamn i love some good beats.

aeroplanes

Jeff Mangum resurfaces...again.

i am a scientist - i seek to understand me

I have an unbelievable amount of thoughts rolling around. These thoughts are due mostly to (foolishly) watching CNN last night. I should have just stuck with watching Bravo or suffering through The Secret Life of... on the Food Network.

Larry King had all of the female Democrat U.S. senators on last night. It was an interesting show asking the questions of how would you do things differently? Each senator submitted a checklist of issues to talk about and for the first time in a while, I actually think Larry did a great job of staying on task and encouraging the discussion (even among so many guests). They, of course, took advantage of Anderson Cooper's (grrrrrrr....) break-ins (previews for 360) about John Kerry and his debate issue. The commentary was something like, "John Kerry's battle to decide a definite date for pullout from Iraq is dividing the Democratic party and causing friction. Is the shake up necessary blah blah blah?"

To which I commented: I wish that Anderson, Larry, et al had prefaced that statement with, "While the Democratic party needs no help in faltering and division, Senator John Kerry's battle, etc."

I am so over the Democratic Party. Have they learned nothing of the last several elections? The Republican Party (as heinous as it is) is a machine come election time. We are entering into yet another election season and what have the Dems done? Bicker, bicker.

I agree with Kathy Griffin: I'd give Clinton a blowjob just to get him back in office or any kind of power (especially in the DP).

All in all, I enjoyed seeing so many strong women discussing with each other on Larry King and the common phrase among them was: "don't just attempt to do things or attempt to assemble, just do it, get it done." I also particularly enjoyed hearing their checklists which included reployment, Social Security issues, environmental concerns (including suggestions that the Fed. gov't should make certain that the next fleet of vehicles purchased are fuel efficient, re: hybrids), etc. They have smart heads on their shoulders unlike Bill Frist who thinks that gay marriage and flag-burning are the most pressing issues facing us today.

I stayed around for 360 and after Anderson Cooper (purrrrrr....) spoke with Kerry, he moved on to response from Kay Bailey Hutchison (R - TX). She is my new archenemy. Here is an elected official, a representative of the people of Texas. She seems like an intelligent lady, but in response to the question of polling the public (in this case, a poll about a definite pullout date, which favored the definition of redeployment), she answered, "You can't look at the polls or discussion. We need to do what's best for the American people. We can't hand over to the enemy a date of control...etc...enemy...etc...enemy." Not only does she not want to listen to the people she represents (I have my own thoughts about political polling, but I digress), she changed the course of the discussion and wants you to be afraid.

The policy of fear.
When does that end?

last night i dreamt i'd forgotten my name

Courtesy of NPR, take a look at this site: We Feel Fine. What do you think about it?

Singing words, words between the lines of age

mazel tov to my friends, amanda & ben, for their (finally) engagement! a short version of the story is over at Ben's blog as well as a photo of the happy couple on the beach.

those kids are adorable. i'm so so SO happy for them. :o)

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i wrote some time ago about wanting to be a better storyteller. it's not just the oral tradition or the writing tradition of storytelling, but also i'd like to venture into photo storytelling.

after a crazy week of work and *stuff*, i decided to take a drive up to philadelphia, ms. our family still visits the home of my late great-grandparents, which is stuck in time. little papaw (as my great-grandfather was fondly known as, his counterpart being little mamaw. i suppose it was to offset the difference between them and my grandparents. possibly, also, is because they both were just around 5 feet tall.) passed away in the late 70s and little mamaw died the Easter before i was born in 1981. the house looks like it probably did throughout the decades of happiness and hardship they spent there. i've never been up there by myself (its exact location? somewhere in the heart of neshoba county on river road [now known as road 602]) and when i opened the door, tears poured. i've always felt the presence of memory there, not just my own, but the memories of the generations of family that have lived there. i've been on a mission to discover what my genetic code is trying to tell me and what the ghosts of those before me are trying to relay. i had packed up my car with two cameras (my newest digital and the trusty 35 mm--note: NOT a point and click, i've always appreciated the control of the lenses), a big bottle of water and some neil young, gillian welch, grateful dead, neko case, among others. they were my traveling companions for this brief trip. after singing along to 'cowgirl in the sand' and 'i dream a highway', i pulled up to the house on the crossroads.



and here i used to paint watercolors among the splinters,
a tow-headed child with dirty feet and unknown aspirations.
this is the porch where i first saw fireflies
and rocked with the women of generations ago,
this is the house where i came today
and felt at home in a universe of noise.




i ventured throughout the house, revisiting each room fondly like a long-lost relative. i breathed that old air and began snapping pictures, hungry for more memories and listening all the while to the whispers:

freehand drawings of Lon Chaney

BATWOMAN IS THE GAY!

I may have to start reading the "52" series.

Also, Bill Frist can kiss my queer ass. Again.

Flag-burning and gay marriage. The thorns in America's side.

I Y the legislative system.