Thursday, June 30, 2005
Bold steps by Europe's Catholics
Roman Catholocism has long been one of the more socially conservative forces worldwide, continuing to this day to denounce abortion, same-sex marriage, and even contraceptives. However, one of the most Catholic nations in the world, Spain, passed into law today a bill that made same-sex marriage legal nationwide. It is the third country to do so after the Netherlands and Belgium. It's another country in the list that is making our own look more like the religious fundamentalist right-wing group of prudes that we are.
Just on Tuesday Canada's House of Commons passed legislation that would also legalize same-sex marriage; their Senate needs to approve the bill, but it is expected to do so during July, making it the fourth country to legalize same-sex nationwide.
It amazes me that we rove around the world denouncing other country's cultures as 'savage', praising our own in the name of freedom and democracy, when we have such difficulty with issues of equality on our own soil. We were the last nation to formally abolish slavery, politicians are on the war-path to pass a "ban on same-sex marriage" Amendment, and yet we feel righteous in spreading our values to other parts of the world. It is a remnant of the Manifest Destiny policy of the westward movement during the first part of the 19th century. "Get in the way of the white man's civilization and face extinction" mentality continues today with the exchange of words from "civilization" to "democracy" and "whites" to "Americans".
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Just on Tuesday Canada's House of Commons passed legislation that would also legalize same-sex marriage; their Senate needs to approve the bill, but it is expected to do so during July, making it the fourth country to legalize same-sex nationwide.
It amazes me that we rove around the world denouncing other country's cultures as 'savage', praising our own in the name of freedom and democracy, when we have such difficulty with issues of equality on our own soil. We were the last nation to formally abolish slavery, politicians are on the war-path to pass a "ban on same-sex marriage" Amendment, and yet we feel righteous in spreading our values to other parts of the world. It is a remnant of the Manifest Destiny policy of the westward movement during the first part of the 19th century. "Get in the way of the white man's civilization and face extinction" mentality continues today with the exchange of words from "civilization" to "democracy" and "whites" to "Americans".
Sunday, June 26, 2005
Something a little Strange
I was flipping through the "Friday fun" of the blog I have bookmarked here, 'Left is Right'. One of the sites he had listed was Optical Illusions, although not all the unusual things on the site were visual, though probably most were. There were some that we all know from psychology class like this one.
But another did something with Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" that I hadn't heard before, playing a specific verse forwards and then backwards, similar to some Beatles album craze around the same time. Check it out here and tell me there's nothing strange going on; I'll feel better. After playing it backwards once, and then forwards again, I felt a compulsion to listen to it backwards again and again and again. And wouldn't have stopped except that I began to feel like I should. It resounded in me that place that must've been going on with Paulo Coelho when his character in "The Valkaries" had taken part in the writing and marketing of the mystic lyrics that swept the Brazilian pop music scene, eventually coming back to haunt him in overwhelming dark psychic power.
Who really knows wtf is really going on with this stuff, but I've a long held belief that pychic energies can be channelled, negatively and positively, with consequences that will return to us somehow.
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But another did something with Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" that I hadn't heard before, playing a specific verse forwards and then backwards, similar to some Beatles album craze around the same time. Check it out here and tell me there's nothing strange going on; I'll feel better. After playing it backwards once, and then forwards again, I felt a compulsion to listen to it backwards again and again and again. And wouldn't have stopped except that I began to feel like I should. It resounded in me that place that must've been going on with Paulo Coelho when his character in "The Valkaries" had taken part in the writing and marketing of the mystic lyrics that swept the Brazilian pop music scene, eventually coming back to haunt him in overwhelming dark psychic power.
Who really knows wtf is really going on with this stuff, but I've a long held belief that pychic energies can be channelled, negatively and positively, with consequences that will return to us somehow.
More of us!
I tried to email you, Lauren and Dad, and get you invited to join the discussions we're having online here, but since neither of you have responded, I'm wondering whether or not I did it correctly. Post a comment and let me know.
The rest of you out there, what's going on in your brains these hot summer days?!
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The rest of you out there, what's going on in your brains these hot summer days?!
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Bamboo Flutes
Just got in and had an urging to listen to some Tull. "Life's a Long Song" and had this unbeliebable sweeping memory of the three of us playing on those wooden bamboo pipes at the Renaissance Festival prancing around with our long hair and grateful dead teeshirts. That was when Johnny and I first became friends at the back gate of the school when the bad kids had stolen my flute and I had to confront them on it and Johnny stood by me...my boys. How ridiculous were we with those things? I loved those flutes. We had a bunch of them too - big ones and little ones. Listening to these songs (I'm into 'wond'ring aloud' and 'witch's promise' now) totally brings me back to high school and the Beacon Theater and Nick's old house and my first car Cliff. Crazy that that was a decade ago now.
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Sunday, June 12, 2005
Unveiling
I used a gift certificate to Barnes and Nobles to buy "The Best Science Writing of 2004" which has given me many subway rides worth of enjoyment and astonishment. One of the best pieces I've read in this complilation edited by Dava Sobel was "A Comet's Tale: On the Science of Apocalypse", by Tim Bissell.
His narrative threads a brief geologic history of volcanoes and their cycles of incredible explosive forces with cultural apocalyptic fanaticism as well as the potentialities of large-body impacts of asteroids (and comets) with earth. The result is a well-researched, interesting (if not anxiety-producing) article that explores the many possibilities of catastrophe that face modern civilization. From the population boom of the last 300 years and the stresses that this puts on the environment (ecological population changes, climate changes) to those elements that we do not have control over (volcanoes, asteroids, comets), Bissell draws for us a sketch of modern man's good fortune to be living in a breathing period between supervolcanic explosions, ice ages, and large-body impacts, but also puts apocalyptic furor in its sociological place. Will take more than one sitting, but worth the read.
As far as nutrition goes, D, you know as much as we do about it. Don't eat refined foods, eat lots of greens and fruits. Don't drink too many fruit juices cause of the sugar, stay away from too much fat. Balance your carb intake, eat legumes and fish for protein. You don't need us to tell you this. We decided to team up on you cause you don't often get that. I certainly do - you even get your daughter in on making fun of Jesse. So in playfulness, John and I beat up on you in comments. Cheers, brother. You are a specimen of manhood in his prime. Keep doing what you're doing, and keep having fun doing it. To me, that's just as important as efficiency in workouts, if not more. Play. That's my goal for this summer. Indeed, that's my goal for life.
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His narrative threads a brief geologic history of volcanoes and their cycles of incredible explosive forces with cultural apocalyptic fanaticism as well as the potentialities of large-body impacts of asteroids (and comets) with earth. The result is a well-researched, interesting (if not anxiety-producing) article that explores the many possibilities of catastrophe that face modern civilization. From the population boom of the last 300 years and the stresses that this puts on the environment (ecological population changes, climate changes) to those elements that we do not have control over (volcanoes, asteroids, comets), Bissell draws for us a sketch of modern man's good fortune to be living in a breathing period between supervolcanic explosions, ice ages, and large-body impacts, but also puts apocalyptic furor in its sociological place. Will take more than one sitting, but worth the read.
As far as nutrition goes, D, you know as much as we do about it. Don't eat refined foods, eat lots of greens and fruits. Don't drink too many fruit juices cause of the sugar, stay away from too much fat. Balance your carb intake, eat legumes and fish for protein. You don't need us to tell you this. We decided to team up on you cause you don't often get that. I certainly do - you even get your daughter in on making fun of Jesse. So in playfulness, John and I beat up on you in comments. Cheers, brother. You are a specimen of manhood in his prime. Keep doing what you're doing, and keep having fun doing it. To me, that's just as important as efficiency in workouts, if not more. Play. That's my goal for this summer. Indeed, that's my goal for life.
Friday, June 10, 2005
Talking bout sex
When the boys get together conversation usually comes back in snippets, allusions, and jests to the seemingly all-encompassing topic of sex. Whether the original banter was sports or politics, religion or relationships somehow the male mind when compounded by its peers revolves around this central theme and comes back to it again.
I have been to Smith enough times to know that when the girls get together sex doesn't just come up randomly in conversation every once in a while - it seemed to be the ever present ground for which all else depended. Filled with humor, the girls could make fun of boyfriends, ex-boyfriends, random guys they met, even other girls.
Now, many guys I know would die to be a fly on the wall listening to girls' private conversations about sex, and none would come away from it in anyway other than feeling more enlightened for the experience (for what guy doesn't want to know what girls think about sex?). However, it has occurred to me that when girls overhear guys talking together about it - using crude language, for example - their almost universal reaction is to take some form of personal offense at it. I'm sure I'm overstating the case a little, but I have known plenty of women who seem to do just that - feel that what guys say together is their end-all on how they feel and act in the world of sex and relationships.
I can't speak for women, but I do know that when guys banter together, much of it is trashtalking. I see the beginnings of it in my 5th and 6th graders when they 'start' with each other: "your mama sucked my dick last night", and "I get more pussy than you'll ever get". They don't make this talk up, they hear it from older guys, who themselves are just trashtalking to make the insult. It has no bearing whatsoever on their interactions with women, even though women are included in the semantics.
I don't think this is anything new to the human race, or even to the animal kingdom. I'm pretty sure males try to gain the respect of each other in one form or another and make themselves sexually interesting to the opposite sex at the same time. Women, while they can influence men in their intimate relationships, need to understand that boys will be boys, no matter what their age.
I have been to Smith enough times to know that when the girls get together sex doesn't just come up randomly in conversation every once in a while - it seemed to be the ever present ground for which all else depended. Filled with humor, the girls could make fun of boyfriends, ex-boyfriends, random guys they met, even other girls.
Now, many guys I know would die to be a fly on the wall listening to girls' private conversations about sex, and none would come away from it in anyway other than feeling more enlightened for the experience (for what guy doesn't want to know what girls think about sex?). However, it has occurred to me that when girls overhear guys talking together about it - using crude language, for example - their almost universal reaction is to take some form of personal offense at it. I'm sure I'm overstating the case a little, but I have known plenty of women who seem to do just that - feel that what guys say together is their end-all on how they feel and act in the world of sex and relationships.
I can't speak for women, but I do know that when guys banter together, much of it is trashtalking. I see the beginnings of it in my 5th and 6th graders when they 'start' with each other: "your mama sucked my dick last night", and "I get more pussy than you'll ever get". They don't make this talk up, they hear it from older guys, who themselves are just trashtalking to make the insult. It has no bearing whatsoever on their interactions with women, even though women are included in the semantics.
I don't think this is anything new to the human race, or even to the animal kingdom. I'm pretty sure males try to gain the respect of each other in one form or another and make themselves sexually interesting to the opposite sex at the same time. Women, while they can influence men in their intimate relationships, need to understand that boys will be boys, no matter what their age.
