While listening to BBC news coverage of Iran on the radio this morning, the words “Revolution speeds evolution” came to my head. At the time, the words fit the current Iran situation very well and time will tell whether there is a revolution, a new election, or crushed hopes and lives. Since it rang in [...]
Tagged aphorisms, copyright, Iran, wordsRecently, New York Times reporter Motoko Rich wrote an article about how during a recession, what people want is a happy book, with a happy ending. Incidentally, book sales have soared in the romance novel genre, and, as the masses know, the vampire love story genre. Mass-market paperbacks fly off the shelves of your Walgreens, [...]
It seems there is a shortage of gods in the universe today. Here on earth, if you mention the name Baal, Njord, Horus or even Krishna, people will look at you like your nuts, or like you’re alluding to someone out of a fairly tale. These gods, now considered to be blatant myths, are basically [...]
Times are hard, money is short, things seem to be spinning out of control. The new President is trying to fix things but these solutions may be too little too late. There is something the President has brought to the table that has been lacking….a sense of cool. Look back to the old Hollywood movies [...]
Tagged FuriousXorBy Jeremy Benishek and Kyle Romeis Drinking Courvoisier on a random Tuesday night can lead to some random entertaining conversations. But can we truly say that this particular Tuesday night was a “random” night? Or can we say that we had “random” conversation? What about that Tuesday would make it random, and likewise, what about [...]
Tagged jeremy benishek, Kyle Romeis, RandomSagebrush became herds of buffalo stirring on the shoulder of the narrowing road, leafless trees jumped to life like scarecrows flinging themselves at the Jeep in my tainted peripheral vision…
Tagged from the road, John DickNothing is quite as appalling as the choosy eater. A grey and white and yellow plate— well done mush, in essence, drives me to spasms. My patience blanches watching a young woman carefully pick every green pea from her tiny platter of airplane provisions. Once at a museum reception I watched a man take a [...]
Tagged Scott ZieherOver 200 years ago, in 1802, Thomas Jefferson made a prophetically inferential statement apropos the US banking system. As we see our banks faltering, our credit lines freezing, our housing markets crumbling, and enough corporate greed to pass out $18 billion worth of bonuses with government allocated funds, we should review Jefferson’s ethics on our [...]
Tagged jeremy benishekYou cannot put that on the test. That word has two meanings. The students could become confused. That word was not in the textbook. That word was not from this lesson. That word is not used in the same sentence as the textbook. You used a picture different from the textbook. The sentences are in [...]
Tagged Eric SiercksSUPERBOWL XLIII, THE EPITOME OF THE ELECTRIFIED AMERICAN ARENA & THE DEBAUCHED WORLD OF SPORTS TODAY…WHAT ARE MILLION DOLLAR ADS GOOD FOR WHEN NOBODY HAS ANY MONEY? …WELCOME TO THE GENERATION OF THE UNEMPLOYED & IN DEBT. Yes, once again Super Sunday has rolled through and left a path of shameless overpriced advertising and a [...]
Tagged John DickThe year of 2009 is young, but Generation Y should start working on our New Year’s resolution right now. As someone who is pushing thirty, I’m sick of hearing the common mantras of my generation: “I don’t have time,” or “I’m used to doing things my own way,” or “I guess I’m kind of selfish [...]
Tagged Generation Y, jeremy benishekNot living in the States has been a great antidote for election fever. I woke up and went to work today as I would any other day and found that I was actually the least interested in the results. My coworkers greeted me not with “Good morning!” or “How are you feeling?” (I had been [...]
Tagged Eric SiercksYou’ve probably seen, heard or read about the anger at McCain/Palin rallies by now. If not, you should, whatever your political stripe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuSYHnVpYbs http:/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/09/AR2008100903169.html?hpid=topnews http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvCpBvwN0e4 The rage from these crowds shouldn’t come as a surprise. Nor should McCain or even Palin take the blame for agitating these fearful proto-fascists. The number of angry, right white [...]
Tagged politicsAyers is McCain & Palin’s last arrow. There’s nothing left in their quivers but bullshit — and their reputation for bullshit doesn’t resonate as it did back in the 20th century, when it was freely bought and sold and rarely examined. The further negative tilt is in keeping with McCain’s double-down mind think, and with [...]
The 2008 presidential election — especially in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin & battleground states — will be decided by non-white and under-30 voter turnout. A historically high turnout of non-white and young folks in urban areas and universities will have to overcome the number of white, religious, “working class” voters who have found — in [...]
Tagged politicsRead this and weep if you are a rational being: http://www.gallup.com/poll/110053/Religion-Remains-Major-Dividing-Factor-Among-White-Voters.aspx I’ve never been more proud to be an atheist. And never more ashamed of being white. America will move forward or even further backward after this election. Simple as that. America will get the president it deserves. Again. I keep thinking we deserve better.
Tagged politics(A MISPLACED FLASHBACK FROM WINTRY UGLINESS IN MILWAUKEE) “I am guilty, Lord, but I am also a lover – and I am one of your best people, as you know; and yea tho I have walked in many strange shadows and acted crazy from time to time and even drooled on many High Priests, I [...]
Tagged essays, John DickWitnessed an informal poll with black middle school boys about whether or not they can control their erections. Let me back track. I teach at a small school that serves students who have been reassigned from Milwaukee Public Schools because of bad behavior. These behaviors range from use of drugs or alcohol, sex in school, [...]
Tagged Jenny Benjamin-SmithThe gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its own weight. They had thought with some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor. If one believes Homer, Sisyphus was the wisest and most prudent [...]
Tagged Albert Camus, thought fodderPith, the moral fiber of a plant, conflict or commitment…, the brutal act of severing the spinal cord of farm animals, slashing the lifeline of vegetation, beast or mankind. Vulnerability tucked away deep into the fleshy core of a breathing vehicle, shielded by the façade of protection, whether it’s leafy green, unprocessed leather or thin [...]
Tagged John Dick