Put Yourself to Bedlam

“I mean, there needs to be a wholesale effort against racial profiling, which is illiterate children.” ~G.W. Bush

I like Facebook. I like keeping a daily tab on what's going on in my friends lives, albeit in blurbs. But - these quizzes...interminable quizzes that take time, then won't give you the answer unless you have it texted to your cell phone (are you serious?!) And THEN they have the hutzpah to ask you to send the quiz to "All of Your Friends!" so that YOU can "compare your answers to your friends!" Gee! That sure sounds like fun! Don't it?

 

What these really are are psych tests designed to build the biggest, most invasive data base of our personal information, including these self imposed psych evaluations as well as our medical records, library history and purchasing habits. All of that information will be sorted and processed by super computers and anyone with authority can summon nearly every aspect of our lives using an internet connection.

Are we blind to the possibilities here? This scale of database will make nazi papers look like report cards.

I may be zen but I'm not stupid.
XXKHT

"Soar, eat ether, see what has never been seen; depart, be lost, but climb." ~ Edna St. Vincent Millay

My life has been experiencing a sea change this summer and particularly this fall.

In rapid succession people have being arriving into my life bringing new ideas, philosophies and experiences and through them an evolution of my own thought processes and courses of action.

It began with the change of seasons and with that earthly rebirth came a spiritual rebirth for me. Not in the sense of finding God or adopting a particular ism, but rather in a sense of awakening and finding myself in tune with the collective consciousness.

The past is falling away and as it does, more and more signs are arriving that I'm on the right path. Not a day passes that I don't find myself sharing exchanges with friends and strangers alike on subjects that I need to hear right at that moment, often finding that I've got something to say that is right on track to what they need to hear as well.

As my individual transformation occurs, I've noticed there's a collective transformation going on as well, especially in my town. Everyone seems to be evolving rapidly. Not one person I've spoken to this summer would describe the vibe here as par for the usual course. We're all feeling it. Experiencing it. Growing from it.

One of the more obvious influences is the presence of Poppa Neutrino. Poppa is a 76 year old life long traveler and raft builder. A great philosopher and kindred soul to so many, he's helped give guidance and shape to our collective transformation, and brought us together into a community of dreamers and philosophers who are putting action behind or desires. His creed is "Courtesy, Eye Contact and Due Process."

Through his wisdom and vision, he's brought us on board to believe that anything is possible, that men can live free and that nothing can hold the human spirit back but self doubt. He's lived his whole life true to these ideals, having never paid rent, raising a large family on the road and although I can't say he's never wanted for anything, he stands before us as a survivor. A living talisman of the proof of possibilities realized.

He came along just as I was beginning to discover the effects of manifesting an optimum reality by thought and visualization on my own. Exhausted by my fears for the world and my own interests therein, I began to give them up one by one. I stopped obsessing over politics - they're out of control, and made me feel out of control. I mean, I'm still paying attention as we should pay attention, but I'm no longer going to allow it to ruin my psyche. 

I have accepted that change comes from within. We need to make the changes in ourselves that we wish to happen in the world around us. We are reflections of our world, and we must create the world we want to reflect. The effect becomes more powerful as more and more people join in building upon this movement and connecting us all deeply to one another and the beautiful universe that is speaking to us ever more clearly as the momentum builds.

Bitterness begets more bitterness - disappointment and regret, the same. Inner peace and love are the most powerful tools we have to make this world a better place and I'm here to bear witness that it works. We need to change our perspectives. Focus on our dreams and make them reality. Change our negative speech patterns and our thoughts will follow eventually becoming physical manifestations of those positive floes.

You attract what you put out into the world. Be miserable, and you'll find yourself immersed in your kind. Put all your love out there, and love will find you. Give all you have and everything you need comes to you. Be a friend and you'll find real friendship.

I believe we're living in one of the most spiritually electric times in human history. We can't go on like we have been, consuming everything around us without concern for the collective good. There's going to be a new world order, but whether it is a social and spiritual renaissance or the darkest of dark ages is entirely up to us. It's up to YOU. We're all capable of being Gandis. We're all Lamas. The same powers available to them are here within every human being and every blade of grass alike. We just need to believe in it.

Much love to all and tremendous gratefulness for this time.
XXKHT
7 Days Article about Poppa Neutrino
The Flying Neutrinos

"Phone Home..."

So I had my wallet with my phone stolen last Friday and I lost a LOT of numbers. (if you're reading this and you have mine, call me so I can recapture yours please).

Coincidentally, my friend is throwing an ET party this weekend..theme: "Phone Home" It's gonna be a blast. I went looking online for an ET doll to put in his front yard in my bike basket, but came across this funny Youtube...thought I'd share..

and then this onewhich is a bit long but made me giggle a LOT...:

By the way, I did not steal his stereo and Yoda, I WANT MY RECORDS BACK!
XXKHT

Sarah Palin and John McCain are Minions of the New World Order

Main Entry:

min·ion

Pronunciation:

\ˈmin-yən\

Function:

noun

1 : a servile dependent, follower, or underling 2 : one highly favored : idol 3 : a subordinate or petty official

It's sickening. This country is clearly doped up on Thorazine. I received this email today that puts things in perspective. I have not checked the accuracy of the facts, but many of them are well known. If anyone reading this can rebut any part of the following, I promise to print the corrections.

"I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....

If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're 'exotic, different.'Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American story.

If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim. Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

Graduate from Harvard law School you are unstable. Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.

If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 2 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.

If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian. If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society. If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.

If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.

If your husband is nicknamed 'First Dude', with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much clearer now." (source unavailable)

This campaign is over the top. Ever since 9/11 the GOP has been getting away with murder - literally and figuratively.

WAKE THE HELL UP AMERICA!
XXKHT

"Video Killed the Radio STARRRR!"

I got to be on the radio today on a local station 105.9 The Radiator to talk some more about the ART HOP debacle. It was fun.
Did you know that today is  "National Talk Like A Pirate Day?"

I thought it might have something to do with The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (and as it happens, I was right!) but no one at the station had heard of it, so I got to break that story on the air. Score one for the noodley team!

Yarrggghhhhh...Pastafari Irie I
XXKHT

This should be on all the major networks!

See more Gina Gershon videos at Funny or Die

Why Didn't McCain Choose Ann Coulter As His Running Mate?

He may as well have. They're both big mouthed prostitutes for the GOP.

She makes me throw up in my mouth a little.
XXKHT

Read how she's bitten every hand extended to her (maybe she thought she could get $250!)

“To escape criticism – do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.” -- Elbert Hubbard

Perhaps my fifteen minutes of fame has yet to arrive. Or perhaps, like a cat has nine lives, I'm destined to experience repeated quarter hours over the course of my life and career. This time my fame comes from controversy (who's surprised?).

This weekend, Burlington held its annual ART HOP and through a series of unfortunate (or perhaps fortunate?) events, I found myself at the center of an old debate: What is art? Is it decoration? And when a business agrees to host an art show, do they have final editorial license (or in my case ultimate veto?)

This was my first (and likely last ART HOP) and I signed up to exhibit two pieces - one for the outdoor juried show, and one for the indoor juried show. Through a clerical error, ART HOP assigned me an additional exhibition space to hang a personal show.

I found this out late last week when they phoned to tell me the time and place to drop off my artwork.

"Um, Mr. Art Organizer...I didn't sign up for a show."

"You didn't? Oh."

"Does this mean my name is printed in the program as showing somewhere?"

"Yes, but we could put up a sign that says you're not showing if you like."

"I don't think so. I'll have something for you as soon as possible."

So I put together a show of 24 postcard sized images of mostly bucolic postcardy stuff. The ferry returning for the evening on Lake Champlain. Scottish Highland cows lined up and staring into my lens. Macros of flowers etc. All benignly beautiful and uncontroversial except for the few images of dolls and mannequins I slipped in for my own good pleasure.

Three of the images were of a snow covered doll.

A day after I hung the show, and two days before the public exhibition officially began, I received a phone call from the organizers.

"Kimberley, I'm afraid I have some bad news....The business owner has asked that you take down your show."

"WHAT?! WHY?"

"She said that she didn't appreciate that you hung pictures of 'dead baby dolls' in her space."

"Baby dolls can't die because they were never alive."

"Well, she doesn't want them there."

"Ok."

He offered to let me move the show to SEABA headquarters. The problem was (other than the obvious) that I didn't really have time to move the show and anyway WHY SHOULD I HAVE TO?

So I thought about it and ranted about it some and thought about it some more. I decided to take the show down and wear it on the main day of the festival. I made a poster with an enlargement of the offending image that said, "Does This Photo Offend YOU?"

I also made fifty copies of the image with that slogan and my contact info that I gave out to people at the ART HOP and friends who wanted to support my cause.

The two local papers interviewed me. The 7Days blogged about it at BLURT (their staff blog) and the Burlington Free Press published it in this Sunday's paper (today).

For the record, I did not want to make this a pissing contest between me and SEABA or the business owner but the papers and their readership are sure trying to make it into that.

All I want is for this to stimulate dialog about how to avoid this type of situation in future. If I'd just sat still and done nothing about it - the business owner would have had the advertising she'd signed up for, the traffic funneled to her site and I would have had my name in the program with a blank space where my art should be simply because the host had a reaction to my work (isn't art supposed to illicit a response? Any response is good, right?).

People are pretty pissed that I didn't allow the situation to be swept under the rug, but I'm sticking to my guns (again, who's surprised?). I feel I represent all artists and that the business owner represents all business owners.

The question is, who has editorial control to decide what is and what is not appropriate for showing at businesses? What is art? Are these art shows, craft fairs or is this plain old fashioned business as usual?

Quixotically,
XXKHT

”Do what you feel in your heart to be right, for you'll be criticized anyway .” -- Eleanor Roosevelt

WHATEVER!

Uncharacteristically for me, I've managed to completely ignore the debates and the political "process" these past few eventful weeks. I'm becoming more and more anarchistic in my thinking and this morning I remembered this fun video/song that expresses how I'm feeling about it.

Yeah, HUH?!
XXKHT

"I remember his burlesque pretense that morning of an inextinguishable grief when I wonder that I had never eaten blueberry cake before, and how he kept returning to the pathos of the fact that there should be a region of the earth where blueberry cake...

...was UNKNOWN." ~ William Dean Howells (1894)

Went berry picking in Richmond today with Gavin ("Gavin Fun in Gavinia") and Elliot. Such a great day and now it's time to make something of them (and myself).

XXKHT