RE: JTS

Third

today i will just be sad.
when someone asks i will
tell them its a long story.
i just cant remember
it without reliving.
and it makes me sad.
so i will be sad.
and ill look at a picture
or listen to music or just think.
and ill distract myself
but still be sad.
and thats ok. tomorrow
i will wake up and
it will be the anniversary
of something else.
tomorrow i will wake up and be ok.
but you will still be gone.

RE: A.E. Houseman

Smart lad, to slip betimes away
From fields were glory does not stay
And early though the laurel grows
It withers quicker than the rose.

From "To an Athlete Dying Young" by A.E. Houseman

To an Actor Dying Young

a perfect record
perfect timing
before rumor or
farewell
or terrible metaphor
like riding horses or
snuffing candles
can take shape

rather
existing on scratched
copies of films
cardboard covers
corners frayed from
studious use
archive footage of
method twitches
copied by strangers
in places that were fiction

back when you were you

An Additional Response to... Well...

Kaela, you make excellent points. (It's after 11 here in the East, so I'm being less formal.)

Your points are valid and accurate. And yes, he has been a better President in every measurable way than our previous President. The one thing George Bush excelled in was the immediate response to the attacks on 9/11. When he spoke to the nation that night, and to a joint session of Congress later that week, even the most cynical, skeptical, granola-eating liberal had to feel proud to have him as a President. The problem with George Bush started after all of this transpired. It was the longer-term response to this tragedy that, I would argue, defined his time in office.

Yes, Obama has raised the level of public health care debate in this country (somewhat). And he has avoided scandal and he has managed not to get dragged into the stupid stuff (tea parties, etc...). But my initial point was, expectations seemed higher to me in January. I'm glad Obama has done a better job than GWB (thus far). I still have a great amount of hope in the rest of his administration. It's just that this first year has been a bit of a let down from the campaign.

"I'm Andrew Sheppard and I AM the President!"

A Response To Your Response

Ms. Altman, your main point is the same as the Presidents. Namely, if the previous administration hadn't screwed up so royally, we wouldn't be in this quagmire to begin with. I agree wholeheartedly with this. I don't want to qualify you, but based on previous ideological discussions we've had, it's safe to say that, like me, you are someone who soured on Republican ideas and tactics during the GWB administration. I was someone who drank the Cool-Aid for far too long.

My position in the original post was not necessarily as clear as I would've hoped. I don't expect any President to perform miracles, nor do I expect him to fix a broken economy, force health care through two houses of Congress and end two wars. That would be far, far too much to ask.

My main contention with the Obama administration thus far, is that he hasn't been able to ride the optimism we all felt this time one year ago into any sort of positive change in Washington. Furthermore, the level of debate in this country seems to have been lowered to the standards of people like Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin, who use no level of logic or sense in their debate, but somehow are the voices conservatives seem to be listening to. The fact that some are still talking about the legitimacy of our Presidents birth certificate is maddening to me. The fact that Palin is still getting press is ridiculous. Based on the optimism I felt last Janurary we should be coming closer together and figuring out the best way to solve our problems, not shouting across the aisle and having cable "news" channels advocating tea parties that all seem to have hints of racism in their chanting.

I know my argument is impatient. And I can't expect the culture of some areas of this country to change overnight. All I want is something to hang my hat on from the last year. Maybe I'm asking for too much, seeing as how his whole campaign was so inspirational. I just want more "Yes We Can," and less "Well, we're working on it."

Instant Gratification!

http://amoderateheart.blogspot.com/

No Good Thing Ever Dies

I am sitting in the exact spot I sat when I watched President Obama deliver his inaugural address. I am watching Sportscenter today, nothing spectacular, although a young wide receiver has died tragically, so there is much less levity this morning, and the sad music is playing.

Anyway, I've been listening to that Avett Brothers song a lot. There's a repeated line, "And your life doesn't change by the man that's elected." The song itself isn't about politics, it's about right and wrong as real things, not some conceptual, pie in the sky ideas that people with graduate degrees sit and think about in a dark room. Right and wrong was easy when we were five. Stealing: wrong. Hitting: wrong. Helping: right. Sharing: right. Simple stuff.

To some degree, that is still the case. Stealing? Wrong. Hitting? Wrong. Helping and sharing? Still right. But what about our President? What's right and wrong for him? War? Universal health care? Taxes? Eleven months on the job and Americans still can't decide what's right and wrong. The president's approval numbers are steadily declining; and he hasn't been the inspiring leader we all thought he would be. His poetry has turned to prose. His saving grace is that the most visible and vocal Republican is Sarah Palin, and even she is becoming more well known for her indiscretions than she is for anything else. Meanwhile, she's spending her newly found free time filming bits for The Tonight Show like she's Dean Martin.

We still don't have health care. It took almost a year for decisive action in Afghanistan. Nothing has been done about crime, nor gay marriage. In short, our lives haven't been changed by this man. But then, is it realistic to expect that all of our lives WOULD change because of one man? And if one man could change all of our lives, why were we all so sure it would be Obama?

It's the same reason we still are today. Hope.

It's something we stopped talking about after the inauguration. But it's something we need to remember. Hope is the reason we all listened when he spoke during the primaries, and the reason half a million people regularly came to hear him speak. Hope. Hope is the reason I voted for him. Not because I hoped he would be a good President, or because I hoped he would win. (I knew he would win.) When I voted for him, I hoped it would signal a change in the ideals of the people. All that civics class stuff about America being a melting pot, and being more united than divided, blah blah blah.

I still hope. But hope isn't enough. There's another line in that Avett Brothers song, and that's what we all need to do. "Decide what to be and go be it."

RE: Mayakovsky

Now I am quietly waiting for
the catastrophe of my personality
to seem beautiful again,
and interesting, and modern.

--Mayakovsky by Frank O'Hara from Meditations in an Emergency

On Senses


I look and smell like yesterday,
watching the world advance around me
while I exist stuck on a page in a book
I refuse to finish. While I sit, am
I achieving higher thought? Am I advancing
past some transcendental gateway?

I watch. Not observing. Not listening.
I see nothing beautiful, nor anything
atrocious. Real. Concerning
essentials. Food. Shower. In this moment,
that need is more important than the value
of the dollar, or war, or why am I here.

Are my thoughts transcendent? Or are his?

Adam and Sanford Part 3: Internet Banter

Sanford and Adam are discussing a beautiful young woman. (Who, for our purposes, will remain nameless.)


akanefive (10:24:50 PM): HELLO

sanfordnh (10:27:03 PM): sorry, i stepped away...but OH MY GOD

akanefive (10:27:17 PM): uh HUH

akanefive (10:27:21 PM): HELLO

sanfordnh (10:27:22 PM): wow

sanfordnh (10:27:32 PM): heeeyyyyoooo

akanefive (10:27:40 PM): HELLO

sanfordnh (10:27:44 PM): WHAT UPPP

akanefive (10:28:04 PM): A-OOOOOOO-GAH

sanfordnh (10:28:23 PM): ARRRROOOOOOOOOOO

akanefive (10:28:37 PM): HELLO

sanfordnh (10:28:42 PM): well, that was fun

akanefive (10:28:50 PM): going on the blog


If anyone wasn't sure... Sanford and I are terribly, terribly, terribly alone.

The Adam and Sanford Dialogues

Another typical Adam and Sanford conversation.

sanfordnh: i hate jersey kids

akanefive: i hate upper east side kids

sanfordnh: they are lame too

sanfordnh: and so are L.A. douches

akanefive: generally

akanefive: i hate people who are stupid

akanefive: and people who arent self aware

sanfordnh: exactly

akanefive: that second one is the big one for me

akanefive: like its ok to do stupid things

akanefive: as long as you recognize it

akanefive: and adjust for the future

sanfordnh: but if you dont know you are being stupid....

sanfordnh: i hate your guts

akanefive : exactly

akanefive : i also hate hypocrites

sanfordnh: me too, but i also love them

akanefive : fair enough

sanfordnh: you know?

sanfordnh: i do and i dont

akanefive : i both understand that

akanefive : and have no idea what youre talking about

sanfordnh: well, as long as we are on the same, and different, point

akanefive : its good and bad

akanefive : i hate this conversation... and find myself oddly drawn to it

akanefive : (ok now im just being a woman)

sanfordnh: haha

akanefive : "oh this conversation is so dangerous... but its so attractive... i can change it... this conversation will listen to me"

sanfordnh: i am so confused, but i feel like i know exactly what is going on

akanefive : i know what you mean...

akanefive : ... but dont

sanfordnh: this is getting really annoying......but im having a blast.....

akanefive : im not....

akanefive : .... but at the same time i am

sanfordnh: well, i have no idea how to read. Also, i just wrote a book.

akanefive : i really need to go to bed

akanefive : but ill probably be up a while