Make Sun While the Hay Shines

As I lay in bed last night, my arms wrapped around my sweetheart, words came to me in the form of a poem. It was as though a muse had set down lightly beside me on my pillow and whispered these words in my ear. It flowed, it made sense and it expressed how I was feeling at that moment.

Not wanting to get up from the warmth and love that surrounded me, I tried to repeat the words, the verse sounded again and again in my head. I thought I should get up and write this down. This is great! What if I just reach over and grab my iPod and start a note? But I know the light and the tapping would wake her, as she slowly breathed and dreamed beside me.

So I promised myself, first thing, I would race to my computer, or grab a pen and pad of paper and write down this fantastic rhyme. Only, morning came and the sun rose and I got out of bed and those words? They were nowhere to be found. I scoured every crease in my brain. I flipped over every cell. Then I checked Brocca's area, the space in our left temporal lobe that is thought to play a role in our ability to speak. Nothing. Finally I looked in Wernicke's area, that area right above my left ear, probably the same ear into which that muse whispered. But again, there was nothing.

Those words had vanished as quickly as they had appeared. I clutched in the darkness of my mind to grab hold of what once was. They had slipped away. A sadness came over me. Not a deep, dark, melancholy but a feeling of missed opportunity. As though I had run to catch the bus only to see it pull away from the curb. But I knew that another bus would be along shortly and I was now at the bus stop and ready to get on and take a ride.

A lesson had been learned. When writing, 'doing the work' as Martin Eden called it, we must always be ready to put pen to paper and fingers to keyboard. Get those words out. Out damn Spot! Out!

Be ready to hear those whispered words. That muse, the thought, those words that come from some  unknown source and are there, waiting to be born from the tip of your pen, the stroke of a key. Give them life. Be ready to let them breath. Be ready to hear.

Listen.                      

Resolute - Be The 1% Changer

RESOLUTE -adj. Firm or determined; unwavering

RESOLVE - verb.  to come to a definite or earnest decision about;

RESOLUTE -  n. 1. The state or quality of being resolute; firm determination.


The big problem with resolutions for the New Year is that they are usually too lofty and not specific enough. They are almost always made with great conviction and determination. They are almost always not attained. Most surveys place the failure rate at around 88%.

The idea behind the resolve is usually self improvement, which in and of itself, is a noble pursuit. To remain stuck or worse yet, to move backwards in life is unnecessary, sad and a waste. Time is of the essence when it comes to living, when it comes to improving, when it comes to making this much too brief period of consciousness, as fulfilling and enjoyable as possible. Unfortunately when a resolution is made there isn't always thought given to the amount of time needed to reach that goal. We see how we are now and how we wish to be and we just want it. (Of course we want it or  we wouldn't make the resolve to change.)

So we resolve to lose weight, to exercise more, to be more organized. Days go by and we stick to our plan. We are going to lose weight. We are going to be more organized. We are going to exercise. Weeks go by, perhaps months, but as the time goes by our resolve wains, we lose focus, we give up trying. We set the bar too high or perhaps we really didn't resolve to at all. So. what can we do to stick to it? First we must understand the words we are using and what they truly mean. We are saying we will be firm, determined, unwavering. So our first "resolution" is really about being ready and committed to change. Then we need to set the goal at a manageable level.  I resolve to lose weight, or we will stop watching television should be replaced with a more manageable goal like, I will lose 10 pounds by xx/xx/xxx or, I will stretch every morning for two weeks and then I will stretch twice a day for two weeks or I will watch television for one hour less a night for two weeks then two hours less. Small goals, baby stepping, instead of giant leaps.

Be honest with yourself about what you can commit to. But perhaps an even better resolution to make is to not be so hard on yourself, to not give up or give in. To not think that because you stepped back you can't go forward some more and achieve your goal(s). So what exactly is my point?

My point in all this is that it is great to want to improve yourself, your life and the world in which you live. It is great to want to not waste the time you have here. It is great to set goals. But you must not set a goal that is guaranteed to fail. You must not give up once you begin. So you must resolve to be resolute!

If you are not resolute you are just kidding yourself and basically saying, I think I might want to do __________.  You are dreaming not doing. So before committing to change you must commit to being committed. But don't try to change overnight. If you can change yourself by just 1% each day, just think where you will be in a year.

Thursday Morning Thoughts

SOPA AND PIPA protest yesterday. It was great to see so many websites participate.

It strikes me as ironic that while many were participating in a protest to protect freedom of speech and expression there was some focus placed on further dampening the free expression of thoughts and ideas. In particular, McKay Hatch of the No Cussing Club (Are you fucking kidding me with this shit?) was upset that a young character, on the ABC sitcom, Modern Family, would be allowed to swear. Lilly appears to say FUCK about 6 times in total during the show. You never see her say the word since it is pixelated. You never hear the word since it is bleeped. She never even says FUCK because the script had her say FUDGE.

McKay Hatch freely voiced his opinion about what was really a nonissue. There is a simple solution if you are upset by such trivial matters and that is don't tune into ABC at 9pm on Wednesday night and watch the show. Easy as that. I for one don't watch MSNBC or FOX or a host of other channels because, well I don't like what they say and represent, so I don't bother to take the energy and time to turn on my television, lift the remote and enter the number for those channels.

Now what strikes me as really odd about all this is that this "protest" took place on the same date that a move was underway to stop the US Congress and Senate from passing bills that would further hamper freedom of expression and speech via the internet. Here we have a huge issue, US Government intervention in expression, being slightly overshadowed by some nonissue, brought to light by a young man, a self appointed anti-cussing crusader and splashed on the front page of one of the sites not participating in the STOP SOPA AND PIPA strike, Yahoo, which itself has participated in censorship (cooperating with the Chinese government to censor search engine results - as by the way, have other companies).

One of the greatest things about the internet is the ability to pull up vast stores of information. It is like having an electronic library on your desk. You do have to sort fiction from fact in your findings however. So, I decided to look up Mr. McKay Hatch and see who he is.

This includes not attempting to censor Fox, MSNBC,
The KKK, Westboro Baptist Church or anyone else with
whom you disagree.

The Facebook page for McKay Hatch was easy enough to find. He seems like a nice young man. He is just is a little misguided, but I will defend to the fucking death his right to be a little shithead meddler.

ON STRIKE!

SOPA and PIPA

SOPA and PIPA: This is NOT about a new laundry detergent or the new british "royal".
This is about government intrusion, once again.

SOPA = Stop Online Piracy Act (Congressional measure)

PIPA = Protect IP Act (Senate bill)

First and foremost, whenever the United States Government says they are trying to help you should immediately be suspicious. The best way to assuage your suspicion is to find out who the bill sponsor is and then who the primary financial supporters (donors) are for that Senator or Congress person.

So let's start with SOPA. Sponsored by Lamar Smith (A self proclaimed rancher with apparently vast IT experience). The top donors for his 2012 reelection campaign are...may I have the envelope please...that't right movie, television and music industry corporations. You see corporations are now people and the government is of for and by the people. (you thought it was there to serve you...silly human)

As for the Senate version, sponsors include Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), as well as Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) Some of the top contributors for these Senators are Time Warner, Disney and Comcast.

In other words, those really wanting this power are large corporations involved in the entertainment industry, both traditionally (TV, radio, declining CD sales and movies). You must always follow the money, always.

What is the power these people (corporations) want? They want the power to shut down "rogue"sites. Now what exactly is a "rogue" site? According to CNET and Senator Leahy "his proposal permits law enforcement to "crack down on rogue Web sites dedicated to the sale of infringing or counterfeit goods." The actual bill text, however, doesn't require that the piratical Web site sell anything--meaning, for example, if WikiLeaks were accused of primarily distributing copyrighted internal bank documents, access from the United States could be curbed.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce was no less enthusiastic, calling the bill an "enhanced legal tool against 'rogue sites,' which steal American jobs and threaten consumers' health and safety." WARNING: Anytime you see the term, saving American jobs, or protecting American jobs, please note that is simply corporate lawyer code for P-R-O-F-I-T-S.

So how would this all work if enacted. Quite simply, we the corporation (people), would have the ability to ask the US Attorney General to seek a court order against the targeted offshore Web site that would, in turn, be served on Internet providers in an effort to make the target virtually disappear.

SHOULD YOU CARE ABOUT SOPA? In a word, YES! Let's say you decide that you want to post a video from your favorite television show or a clip from a movie, to Facebook. You want your friends to see the clip. Under SOPA a copyright holder could shut down Facebook. Further, SOPA legislation also would make unauthorized streaming of copyrighted material (audio, video, images and such) a criminal offense punishable by up to five years in prison.

Supporters of SOPA say that the two examples I have just shown would not happen but the language of the bill is so broad we are being asked to TRUST the government. This is the same government that decried China's censoring of Google. The same government that cheered the Arab Spring and was falling over itself in regards to the use of social media by Libyans, Egyptians, Tunisians and others. Do you really trust the government (big corporations) to do the right thing?

We do not need another infringement on free speech and free distribution of ideas. There are already enough laws in this country to govern piracy and hold those accountable who bring real harm to people..

SOPA and PIPA are driven by and supported by corporations that are paying big bucks to have their voices heard. You need to make your voice heard as well. Contact your Senator or Congressional Representative and tell them that these bills must be stopped.

Many sites are talking about the "nuclear" option to send the message that SOPA must be stopped. They will be shutting down completely, a 100% blackout on January 18th. I urge you to join them and do not use the internet for anything on that day.

Should you care about SOPA?

bismarcktribune.com

Exposing Oneself

ex·po·sé
An exposure or a revelation of something discreditable.

dis·cred·it·a·ble
Harmful to one's reputation

In an attempt to encourage and support a friend as she considered jumping into the world of online writing, I realized that I was once again attempting to remove the speck out of my brother's eye, when I still needed to remove the beam out of my own.

This thought led me to the further contemplation of my own writing. Yes I am one of those that claims to have a book in the works. Most of the chapters are still in my head, but daily I do at the very least think of the book and have ideas about the book and dream about the book, sometimes even putting pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard and writing parts of the book.

My advice to my friend was to write something everyday, even if it sounds like pure crap. Even if it is pure, smelly crap, a foul running of the mouth (or brain). Do it. You have to. There is no, I am a writer, without writing. There is no, I am a baker, without baking. There is no, I am without being. Which leads to a somewhat troubling (if we allow it to be) idea. Exposing ourselves. But as writers, or those of use who wish to be writers we are, as Allen Ginsberg said, starving hysterical naked. We have to be. We must bare ourselves, turn our thoughts to pixels or scribblings of ink on paper. We must expose ourselves.

That is where the difficulty in writing lies. Whether fact or fiction, what we expose, is every bit a part of us as our hair, our skin, our voice and our feelings. We put our every fiber into our words. We are starving at times. We hunger for the exact words to express that burning idea. That ember of a story. That fragment of a poem. We search hysterically at times for just the right way to say what we are feeling and thinking and then we stand naked, exposed to the reader.

What we write may indeed be harmful to our reputation. Those who hold a certain opinion of us may be swayed and no longer hold us in the same regard. However we are viewed, in order to actually be that which we seek to be we have to expose our thoughts and words to the light of day. We can't hide them under a bushel basket. Or we can. But if we choose to do the latter we are depriving ourselves. Certainly we may deprive the world of some great literary work but more importantly we deprive ourselves of ourselves. If we want to be writers we must write.

       So let it be written, so let it be done.