The Confederate Flag – The Push Me Pull You of Culture and Race

Tenured Radical had a post on the 2009 conservative march in Washington. If you follow the link you will see two men holding a flag. I also encourage you to read her full post. When I see the fabric that is called the “Confederate flag” I have very specific emotions. They are visceral. I feel fear inducing recollections based in historical facts and events. No, this is not about bashing white people. First A Bit of Historical Context One of the...

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Women, Health Care and Universal Exclusion?

Are we really saying to save insurance costs we need exclude women's health care and treatment because a portion of the population does not and cannot make use of said treatment?This is a brief exchange between Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ. The topic? Including maternal care in insurance coverage.Wait a minute. Even before her interjection I'm thinking; women carry babies. It is currently an exclusively female function of reproduction.Senator Kyl does not want to pay or have included the additional insurance costs of providing...

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The Lab/WGBH Boston's Open Call for Videos

I like being a part of different communities. Some days I feel like an information conductor. I learned about this from the Videoblogging forum. I posted this on the Create Video Notebook blog, but I want to make sure other folks know about this as well.The Lab at WGBH Boston is having an open call for three minute or less videos on life, life stories or your take on your journey so far.One of the first things to do is check out the eligibility and...

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A Change Is Gonna Come on the Finally Friday Freakout

Seal is a singer. A damn fine singer that American radio is too stupid to accommodate. Ever since the corporate lock down on innovation, new artists and focus on the base level instead of the quality level, well let's just say a whole lot of people are locked out.I'm gonna let contemporary radio continue the march to the tar pits. This is Seal in a mighty fine performance of A Change Is Gonna Co...

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Anne Sexton – Her Whispers of Inspiration

There was an urgency of somebody or something trying to get my attention. I kept hearing Van Morrison’s Inarticulate Speech of the Heart in my head. Well that and various other song lyrics about pain, love and the search of redemptive peace. Finally, I heard Anne Sexton’s name. I had not thought of her for years. I loved her poetry when I was a teen. I remembered how Anne used words that were her tethers to her world.  A world where madness dominated her life and yet she created solid, beautifully crafted poems. Who Was This Woman? Anne...

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The View From Here - Sourpuss in Action

There is a reason I generally don't post photos of myself. I have been asked. The truth of the matter is I am not photogenic. I give attitude when I am taking my own photo.Then again, the camera may be recording exactly what it is seeing. I look like an over-aged petulant child. I was aiming for calm and serene.I really was, being in the park mellows me out. I understand better why homeless bums have put the word out not to hit me up for cash first...

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I Need A Poetry Tonic - Oscar Brown Jr.

Poetry can heal but it can also scream to the rafters that something is wrong. You need a master craft person to say what is in your heart before you get a little too ventilated at your job or on the train. If Oscar Brown, Jr. was still hear he would know how to respond to the talking point idiocy of these times. He'd have us laughing in our tears or syncopating anger into works of art. This is an example of Mr. Brown doing his classic "I Apologize" from an episode of Def Poetry J...

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Lay Down, Candles in the Rain on the Finally Friday Freakout

There are people hurting in this country. The pain is enormous. There are people asking for help and other people defending their God given right not to do a damn thing. There are others people yelling and screaming in frustration and when grown folks do that there will be trouble.By the time I got to be this old I had hoped that we would be better than this, much more civil and certainly respectful in our disagreements. Maybe it is time to lay childlike hope aside. Naw, I can't do that. Not yet.I like all kinds of music. Always have. Except Opera....

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Irregular Flow from 4khz

Sometimes it is a simple idea matched with the breath of execution.irregular flow from 4khz on Vimeo.There is not much more I can add except h/t to Buddha at Musings. I went to Vimeo to find out more about it and the creator but there are only a few more videos and a lot of positive comments.Yes, video can be like this and mo...

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For The Lover in You on the Finally Friday Freakout

A wee bit of normally has returned to the Stoop. I needed a musical infusion. Digging in the Groove Yard turned up something old and something new.There are songs that belong to the community. Not even the performers who originated the song has any say when or where it gets performed. Mr. Howard Hewett has made great albums since his Shalamar days but knows that in a roomful of women that song is gonna have to acknowledged if he wants to get out of the building in one piece.This is a latter day version of the song performed in New York. The ladies...

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A Moment In Time - I'm Older Than I Think

I was researching the new Apple Nano Video camera feature. I click on a video at YouTube where this young man was trying to explain new features in iTunes, iTouch and the Nano. He is doing a screencast of the Apple page.God bless him. iPhoneHelper786 is unintentionally cracking me up. I'm not making fun of him. He is trying to communicate to his community about what is happening with the new products. I'm not hating on him.There is a new feature in iTunes called iTunes LP. Spirit did not know what an LP was. He thinks it is a new menu system...

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Health Care Reform Crib Sheet For Busy People Part 2

I got a letter from my insurance company telling me that they will decide if a medication is valid, not my doctor. The insurance company will decide on the dosage, the length of time I can and can't have the medication and whether I take a prerequisite medication before I can receive the one that my doctor wants me to have. This gives me an excellent opportunity to review of my last post. You see, if I'm telling you about this situation and I...

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Health Reform Crib Sheet For Busy People Part 1

This year, many first year college students will take a class taught by library staff on critical thinking and evaluating sources. I am trying to convince their parents and other interested people that they need to do the same. There is more to contemporary education than reading, writing and arithmetic. The current health care debate is the prime reason why we need information evaluation and literacy skills.  This is a my attempt at a functional...

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Smoke and Deacon Blues on the Finally Friday Freakout

I loved Burt Sugarman's Midnight Special. Everybody was on that show and you usually couldn't slide up and just lip sync. There was no need for wardrobe distractions. This is not to say that people did not dress creatively. Hey it was the 70s, ok?I don't buy from television infomercials. I almost made an exception for the Midnight Special collection. One of these days I'm going to get my hands on a Midnight Special performance I saw by Van Morrison, Etta James and Dr. Hook. It was perfection as I recalled. I could be wrong but, really with these...

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Is Public Education Socialism or Why Should I Pay For Your Child?

I double checked my copy of the Constitution from the ACLU and my copy from the Cato Institute. Education is not mentioned. There is no constitutional reason for the federal government to provide education to anybody. It is not in the Amendments either. Now if you want to get fiddly with it you might make the case that in the preamble that "promote the general welfare" might mean that education is implied but I know how some of you feel about the word "welfare." It is right up their with socialism. The Case for Not Educating Children With Public...

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