Leaving mom's place 4 what's likely the last time I know somethings i-ll never see again ....whpere will they go? Best not to ask. A mahogany chest where daddy's starched white shirts lay in their laundry boxes. In a triangular tray for years he kept his wisdom teeth, the navy took them out and sent them home w the sailor who valued learning maybe wisdom & so couldn't let the ivory go
They're gone now...but where .
We end up anyway blown w the 4 corners of the earth.
I looked at the brass pulls where his hands had been ....wondering if his ashes lay in. Crevices deep within.
What will happen now to the chest he owned and used to dress his young self?
Sold given away
With a couple of my streak tears diem the front of it
no one will ever know
Daddy
Iii
Monday, November 29, 2010
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Besotted
Sitting in mother's soon to be sold living room w Hector I cannot help but be amazed at all the lost world's of talent that there are .Never met a man so savvy ...sexy...suave ...cashmere sweater, shorts & crocs in the drafty, dusty room....this is at once the most sophisticated but kindly person. How kind he's been to my mother! Breaks my heart he didn't get a fairer deal in this life. But he did get to play his horn for the prez when he was a kid in USAF Band of the West. He did get to go up to the stars in a swing with me in OLDE Virginia as we listened to a pondfull of croaking frogs one summer night. There has been so much magic .
Friday, November 26, 2010
flying rapedly
Before leaving I carefully considered each item...minimal packing...few accutrements...so to speak. Mostly black, gray, going for elegant, comfy, refined. I wrapped my suede shoes (worn twice) in tissue paper , pearls in plastic baggy ,.stockings and camisoles carefully rolled. All I did was. to.avoid discord, for above all, I loathe contact with strangers. Even hugs from family & friends are not for me really .So.being violated by a government official came as a shock. Days later I still cringe .... feel the shame. This has changed how I feel about my country & its government. At 62, after years of faithfully voting, paying taxes, public service to the poor, determined to live a decent l ife, I felt.the hands of the state on my BODY.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
groped
Retreating to my mother's house where she no longer lives ...cannot help but think how she'd have reacted to some stranger's hands on her privates! I also wonder my dignity was sacrificed on the altar of political correctness and how many burka s were lifted...how many Muslims were thus violated . Yes, ma'am, they pick the low hanging fruit guessing (wrongly) that a meek, mild mannered 62 y/o catholic school teacher would simply comply.But I am outraged at this profiling. I renounce the govt & political caste that imposed this abuse, no assault on me.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Hummer 4 Me?
Since the BP Disaster, I've begun to KNOW that the world as I knew it really is ending.
I'm sorta giving up. Yes, after 40 years of being as green as could be in the context of my world & times, I'm now calling it quits.
I feel like Chill Wills riding the Nuke in that old Kubrick movie, 1966. What was its name? I grow old, I grow old...shall I wear my trousers rolled (Eliot)Have CRS disease.
So my VW is giving me shit, along with everything else in my life. No AC, again. In So TX, that is a death sentence. The only way to survive a trip to the grocers is to drive real fast w all windows open or else its suffocation before dinner. SO HUMID!!!
+, One more yr of payments to go, & 155K miles.
Why not get a Hummer and become a Humman Being. Just say, f it.
I'm sorta giving up. Yes, after 40 years of being as green as could be in the context of my world & times, I'm now calling it quits.
I feel like Chill Wills riding the Nuke in that old Kubrick movie, 1966. What was its name? I grow old, I grow old...shall I wear my trousers rolled (Eliot)Have CRS disease.
So my VW is giving me shit, along with everything else in my life. No AC, again. In So TX, that is a death sentence. The only way to survive a trip to the grocers is to drive real fast w all windows open or else its suffocation before dinner. SO HUMID!!!
+, One more yr of payments to go, & 155K miles.
Why not get a Hummer and become a Humman Being. Just say, f it.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
I Can Eat Sausage!
I Can Eat Sausage
I look around and see no path. Nothing leading me where I want to go. What I’ve been thinking is that religion is a search for who or what is responsible for the deplorable state of the world and all its sorrows. Who or what takes all this beauty and brings it to rack and ruin? Who is making it so that many of us cannot draw an un-medicated breath? I am in a New York frame of mind, when it comes to what is called ‘the environment’. There is no environment, there is a world. I feel like being very direct with myself and with you.
For whatever reason, maybe it’s just all I know, I see such relevance in Christianity and other religions in the BP Gulf of Mexico crisis. I see parallels. I see suffocation, I see suffering, I see death, I see the Slaughter of the Innocents. I imagine what it is like to be a fish or a turtle or a bird, just minding my own business and then being washed over by the oil… and I die gasping. I see Everything that never had to be destroying everything that ever was.
I have come to see the useless destruction of a blameless victim. I look around and I say, “Who’s in charge here?”, and I realize that I am. And it is you, whoever you are. I say, looking at the dying bird, “Who smothered this wonderful creature?”, just as I said, as a child, who killed Christ and why, and what does that mean to me. Historically, when bad things happen to good things, we look around for someone to blame, a poor, miserable, confused scapegoat running pall mall through the storm of accusation and blame, this sort of thing can turn into a Holocaust. Unless I realize that I am responsible.
I look around and I say who, dear God, who is to blame? And I realize that I create and sustain a thing like a British Petroleum through my own stupid consumerism.
I know that since through my actions I uncorked the well that sends the black cloud through the sea, I know I am the only one who can put it back. I can use less of everything starting with my car and my dwelling. I have been in the throes of doing this and by God, this is really hard to do. Trust me. I have no where to set my ‘stuff’…it is suffocating me! I am hiding my shame under a giant pile of things I haddahave. What does the suffering and death of a bird say to me? It says, yes…
You can eat sausage.
Yes, sausage. I was raised to be a carnivore. But not a mindless carnivore. My father and other New Yorkers of my youth ate the whole thing…tongue to tail. They ate tongue sandwiches and sipped oxtail soup. Liverwurst was big. Bologna.Something called Taylor ham. They boiled every chicken carcass. My Dad made not-so-toothsome concoctions after the holidays---Big pots of grey soup. He had been hungry before, you see. He was implacably opposed to the wasteful ways of his children.
The making of a mindless carnivore took an advertising industry working with me, a complicit and lazy carnivore. I have always felt that I deserved a break today, not a beak today.
I do not have a thing about meat. But I think eating a pile o wings off of 16 probably tortured birds is a little buggered up. I can choose to be responsible for the whole thing that sacrifices (doubtlessly unwillingly) for my sustenance. I can eat the whole thing through my choices of foodstuffs. I can get real and eat sausage, for example. I can no longer conscionably pick and choose to consume only parts of what I have caused to be killed. Like a good Indian.
To me, suffering as I do over the Gulf Crisis Du Jour, and as I am sure you do, over the Gulf Spill, over having to have a Memorial Day for the Gulf of Mexico and the Turtles and Birds who gave their lives (we need an Eco Gettysburg Address to honor these noble dead) I must now make choices in every aspect of every day of my life. Nothing less can be expected of one to whom so much has been given.
Yes, I cringe over my own hypocrisy. I blush to toss away that bit of plastic that I should never have had in the first place. I cannot believe I am cooled as a corpse in a morgue twenty-four seven. I know that no make up covers the multitude of my vainglorious sins as expressed through my consumerism.
But I can become deeply conscious that how I treat this planet and its flora and fauna, is a spiritual, a deep soul issue. It is all about mindfulness.
So I cry on and do my best, and make myself see what I have done and am doing.
I remain a “Little Sister of the Wilderness”….
I look around and see no path. Nothing leading me where I want to go. What I’ve been thinking is that religion is a search for who or what is responsible for the deplorable state of the world and all its sorrows. Who or what takes all this beauty and brings it to rack and ruin? Who is making it so that many of us cannot draw an un-medicated breath? I am in a New York frame of mind, when it comes to what is called ‘the environment’. There is no environment, there is a world. I feel like being very direct with myself and with you.
For whatever reason, maybe it’s just all I know, I see such relevance in Christianity and other religions in the BP Gulf of Mexico crisis. I see parallels. I see suffocation, I see suffering, I see death, I see the Slaughter of the Innocents. I imagine what it is like to be a fish or a turtle or a bird, just minding my own business and then being washed over by the oil… and I die gasping. I see Everything that never had to be destroying everything that ever was.
I have come to see the useless destruction of a blameless victim. I look around and I say, “Who’s in charge here?”, and I realize that I am. And it is you, whoever you are. I say, looking at the dying bird, “Who smothered this wonderful creature?”, just as I said, as a child, who killed Christ and why, and what does that mean to me. Historically, when bad things happen to good things, we look around for someone to blame, a poor, miserable, confused scapegoat running pall mall through the storm of accusation and blame, this sort of thing can turn into a Holocaust. Unless I realize that I am responsible.
I look around and I say who, dear God, who is to blame? And I realize that I create and sustain a thing like a British Petroleum through my own stupid consumerism.
I know that since through my actions I uncorked the well that sends the black cloud through the sea, I know I am the only one who can put it back. I can use less of everything starting with my car and my dwelling. I have been in the throes of doing this and by God, this is really hard to do. Trust me. I have no where to set my ‘stuff’…it is suffocating me! I am hiding my shame under a giant pile of things I haddahave. What does the suffering and death of a bird say to me? It says, yes…
You can eat sausage.
Yes, sausage. I was raised to be a carnivore. But not a mindless carnivore. My father and other New Yorkers of my youth ate the whole thing…tongue to tail. They ate tongue sandwiches and sipped oxtail soup. Liverwurst was big. Bologna.Something called Taylor ham. They boiled every chicken carcass. My Dad made not-so-toothsome concoctions after the holidays---Big pots of grey soup. He had been hungry before, you see. He was implacably opposed to the wasteful ways of his children.
The making of a mindless carnivore took an advertising industry working with me, a complicit and lazy carnivore. I have always felt that I deserved a break today, not a beak today.
I do not have a thing about meat. But I think eating a pile o wings off of 16 probably tortured birds is a little buggered up. I can choose to be responsible for the whole thing that sacrifices (doubtlessly unwillingly) for my sustenance. I can eat the whole thing through my choices of foodstuffs. I can get real and eat sausage, for example. I can no longer conscionably pick and choose to consume only parts of what I have caused to be killed. Like a good Indian.
To me, suffering as I do over the Gulf Crisis Du Jour, and as I am sure you do, over the Gulf Spill, over having to have a Memorial Day for the Gulf of Mexico and the Turtles and Birds who gave their lives (we need an Eco Gettysburg Address to honor these noble dead) I must now make choices in every aspect of every day of my life. Nothing less can be expected of one to whom so much has been given.
Yes, I cringe over my own hypocrisy. I blush to toss away that bit of plastic that I should never have had in the first place. I cannot believe I am cooled as a corpse in a morgue twenty-four seven. I know that no make up covers the multitude of my vainglorious sins as expressed through my consumerism.
But I can become deeply conscious that how I treat this planet and its flora and fauna, is a spiritual, a deep soul issue. It is all about mindfulness.
So I cry on and do my best, and make myself see what I have done and am doing.
I remain a “Little Sister of the Wilderness”….
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Amazing Grace Moment
Amazing Grace Moment
What a year for epiphanies! Looking at dead and dying marine life is always stressful, sad, threatening…especially knowing that by my thoughtless actions, and those of my fellows, I have had a hand in their deaths…hurts the soul. I could never just walk up to a bird and pour oil over it and cause it to suffocate. Take that, Ms. Egret!
Could I? No, but I can sure drive my car two blocks when I could certainly walk or bike to my destination. Then I might not harm a single feather.
The latest Torture of the Innocents we are seeing on TV, the calves beaten with metal rods, etc., reminds me of the Biblical Slaughter of the Innocents. What did these poor baby animals do to bring out the Anti-Christ in man? How am I responsible---before I point the finger at the slaughter house workers I saw on my screen yesterday?
The hymn “Amazing Grace” is the leitmotif for our time---we will wake up when our own bacon is on the line, we will, as cowards, turn to prayer, the government, “regulators” and authorities instead of doing it ourselves. All of these are great but have their limits. We need a new favorite hymn, maybe. Sung to the tune of A.G. it could go, something like:
“Responsiiiiible, that’s what I am. I have to help, Myyyyyself…I have to save the pre-e-e-cious birds and leave the calves alone…I know that I sure have a role, in all I see before…Me… iiiin the Gulf of Mexico, and in the slaughter homes….”
Follow the bouncing ball!
Gods, if you will only save me now I will never drive another unnecessary mile in my o-so-unnecessary-SUV. I swear that I will combine my trips, think before I drive, eat less and less meat! If you will deign to save my bacon this time, I will eat less and less of someone else’s.
Ye Gods, I know I cannot say I have absolutely no role in the beating and cruelty done to innocent calves. It is my appetites that, in part, have brought this about. I know I cannot say, “Tough it out, Mr. Turtle. I guess its just your karma.
What will it take, O Lords of the Universe, for me and mine to behave? Will we need to be (and this is a direction in which we seem to be headed) under constant and continual surveillance? Up with the big lights. I have to be watched 24/7 to be a decent Humanthing.Oh! Dear Gods and Goddesses, Dear Jesu, Maria, Shiva and Alla, come to find out, as we say in Texas, I am responsible!
What a year for epiphanies! Looking at dead and dying marine life is always stressful, sad, threatening…especially knowing that by my thoughtless actions, and those of my fellows, I have had a hand in their deaths…hurts the soul. I could never just walk up to a bird and pour oil over it and cause it to suffocate. Take that, Ms. Egret!
Could I? No, but I can sure drive my car two blocks when I could certainly walk or bike to my destination. Then I might not harm a single feather.
The latest Torture of the Innocents we are seeing on TV, the calves beaten with metal rods, etc., reminds me of the Biblical Slaughter of the Innocents. What did these poor baby animals do to bring out the Anti-Christ in man? How am I responsible---before I point the finger at the slaughter house workers I saw on my screen yesterday?
The hymn “Amazing Grace” is the leitmotif for our time---we will wake up when our own bacon is on the line, we will, as cowards, turn to prayer, the government, “regulators” and authorities instead of doing it ourselves. All of these are great but have their limits. We need a new favorite hymn, maybe. Sung to the tune of A.G. it could go, something like:
“Responsiiiiible, that’s what I am. I have to help, Myyyyyself…I have to save the pre-e-e-cious birds and leave the calves alone…I know that I sure have a role, in all I see before…Me… iiiin the Gulf of Mexico, and in the slaughter homes….”
Follow the bouncing ball!
Gods, if you will only save me now I will never drive another unnecessary mile in my o-so-unnecessary-SUV. I swear that I will combine my trips, think before I drive, eat less and less meat! If you will deign to save my bacon this time, I will eat less and less of someone else’s.
Ye Gods, I know I cannot say I have absolutely no role in the beating and cruelty done to innocent calves. It is my appetites that, in part, have brought this about. I know I cannot say, “Tough it out, Mr. Turtle. I guess its just your karma.
What will it take, O Lords of the Universe, for me and mine to behave? Will we need to be (and this is a direction in which we seem to be headed) under constant and continual surveillance? Up with the big lights. I have to be watched 24/7 to be a decent Humanthing.Oh! Dear Gods and Goddesses, Dear Jesu, Maria, Shiva and Alla, come to find out, as we say in Texas, I am responsible!
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Make the Bad Thing Stop
As a Crustacean, that is a citizen of Corpus Christi, or Crustyton, Texas, I have observed that the BP disaster ‘fixes-so-far’ are more Mickey Mouse than McIver. And really there are none. Did I hear right that this thing hemorrhages 800,000 barrels of crude per day? What it looks like it comes to is…no techfix for this…Challenger, Chernobyl, Katrina …Sometimes we don’t’ get caught playing with matches---sometimes we do. Sometimes we are burned beyond recognition like unfortunate children who wouldn’t listen. Sometimes we wake up worried after an evening of fun with the Octomom!
Did I really hear that this could’ve been prevented with a sort of prophylactic device called an acoustic trigger, and that such device costs only $500k a pop, and that BP got a pass from our Interior Dep’t and didn’t have to use it??? Did I hear this? Now, pundits, scholars and sages are beginning to say that there’s no fix. See the Lehrer Report for May 31, 2010---Memorial Day for the Gulf of Mexico. On the News Hour, among several scholars, was one Amy Jaffe—a Senior Energy Advisor at the Baker Institute at Rice University. Here is a quote re public reaction, from the best and the brightest, on this deal:
“So -- and it was really amazing that the industry -- we were sort of running out of oil onshore, and the industry was able to go out to the depths of the earth, under the sea, and keep us driving around in our cars. So, to sit here night after night and watch all these scientists unable to close a simple pipeline, even though it's a very complex engineering problem, as a layperson, when you sit here and watch the oil just spewing out of this pipeline, it is. It's just this horror movie, like we cannot believe that there isn't a technology to close this pipeline. And we, as Americans, believe there's a technological solution to everything. And the idea that we're going to have to wait until August for the technological solution, I think it's just got people just gripped in terror.
OMG, Amy! There’s no fix other than to conserve. Is that so hard? Are we, as wondered before, such narcissistic babies that we can’t do this? Are we that weak as a people? The one certainty is that leaders will never ask the American people to take their share, take responsibility for this, which we should. Everything you see about this suggests that ‘they’ should fix it---the gov’t, the oil companies. What if we go ahead and fix it ourselves by not driving SUVs and by moving out of our McMansions and into right sized houses, etc.
To me, this is a call for the little guy to do her/his part.
But if you pose as a leader, then you have to lead. You have to stand up and tell the folks the truth, for once. Like it is not okay to build a Las Brisas here is Crustyton, because if something goes wrong, and it very likely will, we won’t be able to make the bad thing stop!
If, in addition to braces and a college education, you want your kids to have the luxury of breathing, you will ‘unsupport’ Las Bs if you have not already done do.
Did I really hear that this could’ve been prevented with a sort of prophylactic device called an acoustic trigger, and that such device costs only $500k a pop, and that BP got a pass from our Interior Dep’t and didn’t have to use it??? Did I hear this? Now, pundits, scholars and sages are beginning to say that there’s no fix. See the Lehrer Report for May 31, 2010---Memorial Day for the Gulf of Mexico. On the News Hour, among several scholars, was one Amy Jaffe—a Senior Energy Advisor at the Baker Institute at Rice University. Here is a quote re public reaction, from the best and the brightest, on this deal:
“So -- and it was really amazing that the industry -- we were sort of running out of oil onshore, and the industry was able to go out to the depths of the earth, under the sea, and keep us driving around in our cars. So, to sit here night after night and watch all these scientists unable to close a simple pipeline, even though it's a very complex engineering problem, as a layperson, when you sit here and watch the oil just spewing out of this pipeline, it is. It's just this horror movie, like we cannot believe that there isn't a technology to close this pipeline. And we, as Americans, believe there's a technological solution to everything. And the idea that we're going to have to wait until August for the technological solution, I think it's just got people just gripped in terror.
OMG, Amy! There’s no fix other than to conserve. Is that so hard? Are we, as wondered before, such narcissistic babies that we can’t do this? Are we that weak as a people? The one certainty is that leaders will never ask the American people to take their share, take responsibility for this, which we should. Everything you see about this suggests that ‘they’ should fix it---the gov’t, the oil companies. What if we go ahead and fix it ourselves by not driving SUVs and by moving out of our McMansions and into right sized houses, etc.
To me, this is a call for the little guy to do her/his part.
But if you pose as a leader, then you have to lead. You have to stand up and tell the folks the truth, for once. Like it is not okay to build a Las Brisas here is Crustyton, because if something goes wrong, and it very likely will, we won’t be able to make the bad thing stop!
If, in addition to braces and a college education, you want your kids to have the luxury of breathing, you will ‘unsupport’ Las Bs if you have not already done do.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Musings of My Godmother
Musings of your Godmother. In many ways your story is similar to the generation before you (Mary, Katherine, your mother, and me) - the Beach days. Way back when, the Burns family left the sidewalks of Yorkville behind every year around Memorial Day for summer stays at the Rockaways. That tradition continued until the early '50s when charter buses became popular. Shortly, it became obvious that these day-hops couldn't care less about keeping the shoreline pristine. In addition, the ocean itself was becoming noticeably affected by indiscriminate dumpings of the NYC Boroughs into the local rivers emptying into the Atlantic. Standing out in my mind was the disappearance of a daily exciting sight - schools of porpoise in the morning headed towards Long Island and in the evening back to the Jersey shore. Sadly, the time came to move on.
The recent oil spill is another hardship Edward's LA in-law relations and their friends who live near the bayou must endure. The area was ravaged by Katrina and now this on top of a totally depressed local economy. I must say that they're a tough bunch - true survivors - very much to be admired.
It seems to me that your missive could be the opening salvo for a career change - thinking of running for office? Love, Julie
The recent oil spill is another hardship Edward's LA in-law relations and their friends who live near the bayou must endure. The area was ravaged by Katrina and now this on top of a totally depressed local economy. I must say that they're a tough bunch - true survivors - very much to be admired.
It seems to me that your missive could be the opening salvo for a career change - thinking of running for office? Love, Julie
Memorial Day for the Gulf
If you want to let your so-called national leaders know how you feel about the BP catastrophe, here is the Congressional switchboard number: (202) 224-3121. You can call and leave a message for any member of Congress, including our own who, one assumes, just might be closely connected to Big Oil. This is very easy to do, calling, along with emailing them.
What is really needed is for national AND LOCAL leadership to tell people to cut their own personal energy consumption and reduce their carbon footprint---but most leaders have a gnawing “Fear of The Cardigan”---remember when Prez Carter told us all to cut down the heat and wear a sweater---he was right but that wasn’t sexy. The People fired him for telling the truth, but in a wimpy, uninteresting way. He should have waited 'til summer and told everyone to cut down their ac, and take off their clothes…timing is everything.
The American people (and the people of CC) are not such narcissistic babies that they cannot understand or do the thinking, sacrificing, and work that is now required of them to clean up the giant mess they made. The people can and will be held responsible because that is really Nature’s way---as it says in some great book, “You reap what you sow”. It is so much the individual’s and the family’s responsibility, as well as that of society, just likes any great cause. It is very understandable, a crystal clear issue, and NOW is the moment. It is also the responsibility of anyone who wants to be a leader in society to make the bold move. The U.S. has been “bitch-slapped” just like it was in 911 and Pearl Harbor.
This is a Big Moment in History. But just as with slavery, there is a long backstory here---as slavery took 400 years to come to terms with and to own as a personal, familial and national cause, so will the at least 200 year old environmental crisis. It is no new problem but goes to the roots of an exploitive, extractive mind set and economy where the national motto is “Where’s mine?” Fixing this is about restoring justice to all of life---larvae to leaders. Driving a big (empty-except-for-you) SUV is the moral equivalent of holding a slave!
Speaking of our local environs ironically named Corpus Christi or Body of Christ Town, when people talk of a Sparkling City, a resort, a recreation area, how is that compatible with a city that is really like one big coal mine? Polluting industries are the life blood of the area, the only real economy and engine of jobs, and yet we call for and ask for and encourage them all the more, hence, Las Brisas. We do little to get after alternative industries and enterprises that could preserve what beauty is left. Then we say, “Where are our fish? Clams, Shrimp? Birds? Why do my kids have asthma? O, God, look at our filthy beach. Let’s beautify it!”
This is putting lipstick on the proverbial pig! The people of CC were given much in the form of natural resources and beauty. There is a phrase I never get right, and it goes something like, “to whom much is given, of him or her much is expected”. Well, I think a lot more is expected of any ‘green’ organization or group than supporting a coal fired industry! Supporting this is what I call Eco-Treason. This is comparable to a war. Any leader who supports this type of dirty business is selling out the Future.
Senator Cornyn sent me a message yesterday in response to my constant barrage of letters, calls and emails. In this letter, he has the Bqqqs to do the usual fear-mongering and bleat out his message that our enemies will somehow get us if stop drilling for oil in the Gulf. He and other continuously conflate the problems of energy with the problem of Al-Qaida and of terrorism and the Middle East. That’s easy and cheap to do. But you don’t see them asking us to change or really supporting a diverse energy system.
Cornyn makes little mention about what he plans to do to support clean energy, let alone to ask US to sacrifice. Ha! For our leaders, it is ALL about FOF, fear of foreigners. Nowadays, when a crisis comes along, the bullies shout, “Get the Mexicans!” and hope that will distract the public from its real problems, and sadly, it works. It is not too far a cry from, “Get the Jews”. It is certainly not about “asking what you can do for your country”---and I think to myself, how the mighty have fallen.
If you want to let your so-called national leaders know how you feel about the BP catastrophe, here is the Congressional switchboard number: (202) 224-3121. You can call and leave a message for any member of Congress, including our own who, one assumes, just might be closely connected to Big Oil. This is very easy to do, calling, along with emailing them.
What is really needed is for national AND LOCAL leadership to tell people to cut their own personal energy consumption and reduce their carbon footprint---but most leaders have a gnawing “Fear of The Cardigan”---remember when Prez Carter told us all to cut down the heat and wear a sweater---he was right but that wasn’t sexy. The People fired him for telling the truth, but in a wimpy, uninteresting way. He should have waited 'til summer and told everyone to cut down their ac, and take off their clothes…timing is everything.
The American people (and the people of CC) are not such narcissistic babies that they cannot understand or do the thinking, sacrificing, and work that is now required of them to clean up the giant mess they made. The people can and will be held responsible because that is really Nature’s way---as it says in some great book, “You reap what you sow”. It is so much the individual’s and the family’s responsibility, as well as that of society, just likes any great cause. It is very understandable, a crystal clear issue, and NOW is the moment. It is also the responsibility of anyone who wants to be a leader in society to make the bold move. The U.S. has been “bitch-slapped” just like it was in 911 and Pearl Harbor.
This is a Big Moment in History. But just as with slavery, there is a long backstory here---as slavery took 400 years to come to terms with and to own as a personal, familial and national cause, so will the at least 200 year old environmental crisis. It is no new problem but goes to the roots of an exploitive, extractive mind set and economy where the national motto is “Where’s mine?” Fixing this is about restoring justice to all of life---larvae to leaders. Driving a big (empty-except-for-you) SUV is the moral equivalent of holding a slave!
Speaking of our local environs ironically named Corpus Christi or Body of Christ Town, when people talk of a Sparkling City, a resort, a recreation area, how is that compatible with a city that is really like one big coal mine? Polluting industries are the life blood of the area, the only real economy and engine of jobs, and yet we call for and ask for and encourage them all the more, hence, Las Brisas. We do little to get after alternative industries and enterprises that could preserve what beauty is left. Then we say, “Where are our fish? Clams, Shrimp? Birds? Why do my kids have asthma? O, God, look at our filthy beach. Let’s beautify it!”
This is putting lipstick on the proverbial pig! The people of CC were given much in the form of natural resources and beauty. There is a phrase I never get right, and it goes something like, “to whom much is given, of him or her much is expected”. Well, I think a lot more is expected of any ‘green’ organization or group than supporting a coal fired industry! Supporting this is what I call Eco-Treason. This is comparable to a war. Any leader who supports this type of dirty business is selling out the Future.
Senator Cornyn sent me a message yesterday in response to my constant barrage of letters, calls and emails. In this letter, he has the Bqqqs to do the usual fear-mongering and bleat out his message that our enemies will somehow get us if stop drilling for oil in the Gulf. He and other continuously conflate the problems of energy with the problem of Al-Qaida and of terrorism and the Middle East. That’s easy and cheap to do. But you don’t see them asking us to change or really supporting a diverse energy system.
Cornyn makes little mention about what he plans to do to support clean energy, let alone to ask US to sacrifice. Ha! For our leaders, it is ALL about FOF, fear of foreigners. Nowadays, when a crisis comes along, the bullies shout, “Get the Mexicans!” and hope that will distract the public from its real problems, and sadly, it works. It is not too far a cry from, “Get the Jews”. It is certainly not about “asking what you can do for your country”---and I think to myself, how the mighty have fallen.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Dear Friends,
I could utter a triumphant “Told you so!”, as I have pointed (in writing) to the BP disaster for the 8 yrs I lived on the island and watched the oil rigs which throw off trash onto the beach. (Ask Lloyd Neal about when I wrote to him when he was mayor---he was shocked. I told him even Jesus couldn’t walk on this water, He would trip on the trash floating in it) I have written Senators Cornyn and Hutchison, Congressman Solomon Ortiz, TX Land Commission over the 8 years many, many times and always get the same canned response. In the case of the Land Commissioner, I got a really stupid reply which suggested I get out there and clean up the beach when we have community clean up days---,as if that was all it took! (This is sweet and I do it, but it lets them off the hook and is not effective.) I have called and left messages dozens of times on the Congressional switchboard. I have given money over and over. I have spoken with Congressional aides, I have tried to help by being involved with Beautify Corpus Christi, but am moving on from that for a number of very good reasons, not the least of which is its endorsement of Las Brisas Coal Fired facility. I was the only Board member to vote against it, and even though I felt intimidated and embarrassed, I did it. I feel great about it now. I refuse to be intimidated again. If you want to leave a message or speak to Senators Cornyn or Hutchison, or Congr. Solomon Ortiz, the Congressional switchboard number is (202) 224 3121. If you live in another state, you can use the same number to leave them a message about environmental/other issues.
I just moved from the Island, which place was a constant source of sorrow for me, with daily reminders of our dying planet. If you lived where you could see, feel, taste, touch and smell it you would be concerned and upset too. I have seen more dead marine life on the beach & in the H2o than live, including a very large Kemps-Ridgley endangered turtle floating dead at the National Seashore (PINS) (July 2002)!!!
Red tide caused by pollution and climate changes aggravates respiratory problems for man and beast alike. Allergies are a huge problem. You know when your very breathing is compromised and you are coughing from the pollution that we have a huge problem. (Have asthma again after years of not having it.) Red tides sure kill fish. And overly warmed waters leave piles of dead seaweed each summer which rots and stinks, full of mold. Very nasty smelling and intensely ugly. PINS puts out a report on where you are advised not to fish because of the pollution and red tides!!! It is a huge wake-up call to see this. Go online now and then and check it out. (Okay, I won’t fish, but what about the breathing part?)
[For months, no years, it seems to be in fashion to blame everything on Mexico and Mexicans…people tell me the water born trash comes from there…along with the illegals. There are aliens and then there are aliens, it seems to me. Some are grindingly poor, and some are limo-driven and wear Seville Row suits. It seems to me that BP executives have what I call Golden Green Cards. They have committed an enormous crime. But, they’re privileged aliens who are bringing us this disaster. Let’s deport the Brits! (How shocking, right?) Let’s go after the big players and not the poor miserable man or woman who only works, pays our social security and wants to help his family. These issues are related. Do not be fooled!]
In the fall ‘09, several coyotes died from eating the fish killed by red tides!!! I always thought coyotes and other like animals were ‘bullet proof’ when it comes to diet. Padre Island National Seashore issued warnings regarding letting your pets eat ANYTHING on the beach People were advised to stay off the beach for several days. Local vets said there were several cases of sick or dead dogs who had got hold of red tide affected fish. We were advised it is best to avoid the beach. Nice resort area, right?
I have more than once happened upon a hugs piles of industrial gloves stained with bright-colored chemicals. To me, this pointed to the carelessness and lack of control of the people who run those oil rigs. They cannot even manage to take out the trash correctly. So how can they be expected to do a flawless job of running these rigs and avoiding the kinds of accidents that we have seen? No company, no matter how big and powerful, can avoid making mistakes. So the risks they took were huge. And add to this the fact that BP and other got a pass---they got out of using a $500k piece of equipment on each rig that would have helped avoid this sort of thing. They were given this pass by our government.
There are countless containers, water bottles, rubbers, tampons, etc. There are diapers, disposable razors, couches, etc. People at PINS told me they have seen everything from cast off appliances to dead cows in the water. This is the pollution of the Everyday World and the common man or woman who is careless and stupid. But with all this, would you like to take a dip? A few years ago, about 3 y/a, there was “fecal matter” in our water!!! Are you getting thirsty yet?
When I first moved to PI, some locals told me not to swim in the waters here and at first I couldn’t figure out why…now I know. There is no way I would go in that water. As you know, in the shallows, people fish a lot. Well at least one case of death by flesh eating bacteria has occurred for these unfortunate anglers. Don’t forget you sunscreen, Bubba!
This is all very real. It is not some figment of my imagination. Yet it makes me seem crazy to be writing this. I am just telling you what I see. What is shocking? All of it. The local politicians are shoving a coal fired plant our way and local folks are all over it thinking it will bring jobs. In the end, will it make a positive difference for CC? Is the trade off going to be worth it? The air and water quality here…well.they suck!
So call me a Tree Hugger, everyone, but I know what I see. I am very upset about this and unless EACH ONE OF US TAKES OUR SHARE OF PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY,we will shortly destroy the planet. We are off to a great start on this. Look around you, don’t even look real hard, you will see it. It is way beyond ‘beautification” and gardening.
I know that the responsibility rests with me. I know I need to consume less, downsize my car and home, etc. I am actually doing this. I have reduced the ‘footprint’ of my dwelling space by downsizing 1000sq. ft. We have moved so my husband’s commute is cut in half. There are some things that are harder to do and ask more of me. I could use fewer packaged products like heavily pkg’d cosmetics. I am very vain and this will be a huge challenge. I could come out of my denial and stop saying it can’t be helped and that it is their fault. I could think about the world I am turning over to my beloved grandniece, Margaret Grace. I could and will work harder on behalf of our environment. I could put my own interests on the line. I will be a fool and play the fool if I must. I could speak out more and not care who thinks I’m crazy because I am just a truth teller.
I really see no excuses for anyone. If you are driving a huge SUV and are in it alone, you are not safer! You are NOT protecting your family, not in the long run. No, you are contributing to pollution, and your fuel consumption makes you responsible for what is happening and continues to happen to marine life. You are poisoning the very air you breathe.
If you think of yourself as Christian, you know that when Christ died on the cross, the cause of death was suffocation. After all the blows, all the wounds, all the lacerations, after the taste of vinegar in his mouth, after the jeers and laughter, after the betrayal of His innocence, he suffocated. The next time you see an oil covered bird, know that like Christ on the cross, she too is suffocating. “Whatever you do unto these, the least of my brethren, you do unto me.” Did Jesus mean human children only, or did he mean the little things that support us all, every fly hatched, every larva, every drop of water and molecule of air? Do you think Jesus was working for you or just making a savvy career move?
(By the way, I respect all religions and belief systems, and regard Jesus’ life and death as an excellent example for this particular issue.)
Do you want to be part of a society that does this to the Created World? Do you give up? Surrender? Say it can’t be done and it’s not about you? I hope not. Let’s all get real!
I know so many people who work sincerely on behalf of Creation, the natural world, beauty. They do it for God, they do it for Man and Woman and Child. They love nature, animals, and dare I thank them so much? Thank you!
My purpose shall stand, and I will fulfill my intention.--Isaiah 46:10
I could utter a triumphant “Told you so!”, as I have pointed (in writing) to the BP disaster for the 8 yrs I lived on the island and watched the oil rigs which throw off trash onto the beach. (Ask Lloyd Neal about when I wrote to him when he was mayor---he was shocked. I told him even Jesus couldn’t walk on this water, He would trip on the trash floating in it) I have written Senators Cornyn and Hutchison, Congressman Solomon Ortiz, TX Land Commission over the 8 years many, many times and always get the same canned response. In the case of the Land Commissioner, I got a really stupid reply which suggested I get out there and clean up the beach when we have community clean up days---,as if that was all it took! (This is sweet and I do it, but it lets them off the hook and is not effective.) I have called and left messages dozens of times on the Congressional switchboard. I have given money over and over. I have spoken with Congressional aides, I have tried to help by being involved with Beautify Corpus Christi, but am moving on from that for a number of very good reasons, not the least of which is its endorsement of Las Brisas Coal Fired facility. I was the only Board member to vote against it, and even though I felt intimidated and embarrassed, I did it. I feel great about it now. I refuse to be intimidated again. If you want to leave a message or speak to Senators Cornyn or Hutchison, or Congr. Solomon Ortiz, the Congressional switchboard number is (202) 224 3121. If you live in another state, you can use the same number to leave them a message about environmental/other issues.
I just moved from the Island, which place was a constant source of sorrow for me, with daily reminders of our dying planet. If you lived where you could see, feel, taste, touch and smell it you would be concerned and upset too. I have seen more dead marine life on the beach & in the H2o than live, including a very large Kemps-Ridgley endangered turtle floating dead at the National Seashore (PINS) (July 2002)!!!
Red tide caused by pollution and climate changes aggravates respiratory problems for man and beast alike. Allergies are a huge problem. You know when your very breathing is compromised and you are coughing from the pollution that we have a huge problem. (Have asthma again after years of not having it.) Red tides sure kill fish. And overly warmed waters leave piles of dead seaweed each summer which rots and stinks, full of mold. Very nasty smelling and intensely ugly. PINS puts out a report on where you are advised not to fish because of the pollution and red tides!!! It is a huge wake-up call to see this. Go online now and then and check it out. (Okay, I won’t fish, but what about the breathing part?)
[For months, no years, it seems to be in fashion to blame everything on Mexico and Mexicans…people tell me the water born trash comes from there…along with the illegals. There are aliens and then there are aliens, it seems to me. Some are grindingly poor, and some are limo-driven and wear Seville Row suits. It seems to me that BP executives have what I call Golden Green Cards. They have committed an enormous crime. But, they’re privileged aliens who are bringing us this disaster. Let’s deport the Brits! (How shocking, right?) Let’s go after the big players and not the poor miserable man or woman who only works, pays our social security and wants to help his family. These issues are related. Do not be fooled!]
In the fall ‘09, several coyotes died from eating the fish killed by red tides!!! I always thought coyotes and other like animals were ‘bullet proof’ when it comes to diet. Padre Island National Seashore issued warnings regarding letting your pets eat ANYTHING on the beach People were advised to stay off the beach for several days. Local vets said there were several cases of sick or dead dogs who had got hold of red tide affected fish. We were advised it is best to avoid the beach. Nice resort area, right?
I have more than once happened upon a hugs piles of industrial gloves stained with bright-colored chemicals. To me, this pointed to the carelessness and lack of control of the people who run those oil rigs. They cannot even manage to take out the trash correctly. So how can they be expected to do a flawless job of running these rigs and avoiding the kinds of accidents that we have seen? No company, no matter how big and powerful, can avoid making mistakes. So the risks they took were huge. And add to this the fact that BP and other got a pass---they got out of using a $500k piece of equipment on each rig that would have helped avoid this sort of thing. They were given this pass by our government.
There are countless containers, water bottles, rubbers, tampons, etc. There are diapers, disposable razors, couches, etc. People at PINS told me they have seen everything from cast off appliances to dead cows in the water. This is the pollution of the Everyday World and the common man or woman who is careless and stupid. But with all this, would you like to take a dip? A few years ago, about 3 y/a, there was “fecal matter” in our water!!! Are you getting thirsty yet?
When I first moved to PI, some locals told me not to swim in the waters here and at first I couldn’t figure out why…now I know. There is no way I would go in that water. As you know, in the shallows, people fish a lot. Well at least one case of death by flesh eating bacteria has occurred for these unfortunate anglers. Don’t forget you sunscreen, Bubba!
This is all very real. It is not some figment of my imagination. Yet it makes me seem crazy to be writing this. I am just telling you what I see. What is shocking? All of it. The local politicians are shoving a coal fired plant our way and local folks are all over it thinking it will bring jobs. In the end, will it make a positive difference for CC? Is the trade off going to be worth it? The air and water quality here…well.they suck!
So call me a Tree Hugger, everyone, but I know what I see. I am very upset about this and unless EACH ONE OF US TAKES OUR SHARE OF PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY,we will shortly destroy the planet. We are off to a great start on this. Look around you, don’t even look real hard, you will see it. It is way beyond ‘beautification” and gardening.
I know that the responsibility rests with me. I know I need to consume less, downsize my car and home, etc. I am actually doing this. I have reduced the ‘footprint’ of my dwelling space by downsizing 1000sq. ft. We have moved so my husband’s commute is cut in half. There are some things that are harder to do and ask more of me. I could use fewer packaged products like heavily pkg’d cosmetics. I am very vain and this will be a huge challenge. I could come out of my denial and stop saying it can’t be helped and that it is their fault. I could think about the world I am turning over to my beloved grandniece, Margaret Grace. I could and will work harder on behalf of our environment. I could put my own interests on the line. I will be a fool and play the fool if I must. I could speak out more and not care who thinks I’m crazy because I am just a truth teller.
I really see no excuses for anyone. If you are driving a huge SUV and are in it alone, you are not safer! You are NOT protecting your family, not in the long run. No, you are contributing to pollution, and your fuel consumption makes you responsible for what is happening and continues to happen to marine life. You are poisoning the very air you breathe.
If you think of yourself as Christian, you know that when Christ died on the cross, the cause of death was suffocation. After all the blows, all the wounds, all the lacerations, after the taste of vinegar in his mouth, after the jeers and laughter, after the betrayal of His innocence, he suffocated. The next time you see an oil covered bird, know that like Christ on the cross, she too is suffocating. “Whatever you do unto these, the least of my brethren, you do unto me.” Did Jesus mean human children only, or did he mean the little things that support us all, every fly hatched, every larva, every drop of water and molecule of air? Do you think Jesus was working for you or just making a savvy career move?
(By the way, I respect all religions and belief systems, and regard Jesus’ life and death as an excellent example for this particular issue.)
Do you want to be part of a society that does this to the Created World? Do you give up? Surrender? Say it can’t be done and it’s not about you? I hope not. Let’s all get real!
I know so many people who work sincerely on behalf of Creation, the natural world, beauty. They do it for God, they do it for Man and Woman and Child. They love nature, animals, and dare I thank them so much? Thank you!
My purpose shall stand, and I will fulfill my intention.--Isaiah 46:10
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Gifts of the Spirit
The Gifts of the Spirit
Patricia Reinhardt, Writer, September 28, 2009
What are the Gifts of the Spirit?
Creativity, the ability to write, to paint, to weave, to make
Charts, to organize
The Self and the Other?
The very ability to smile?
To be a Janus
By displaying both
The welcoming and devouring
Face
The thing about looking out the window and thanking God
Seeing the wind comb the graygreen hair of the palms
Seeing the palms comb the silver hair of the wind
The wind and the palms grooming each other like animals
Hearing the least audible
The tiniest snap along the bough
The footfall of a bird
Are these the Gifts of the Spirit?
Saying shut up to a loudly barking dog in a distant yard
And being understood
Loving the sight of the outline of the beach umbrellas swaying in the gray dawn light
Are these the gifts of the sprit that I so thoughtlessly accept?
My One Child,
Her voice electronically conveyed
Her smile imagined
The icewhite of her teeth like the brilliance
Of the Holy Ghost on Facebook
Are these the gifts oft the spirit?
(I kept her milk teeth in a drawer for thirty years---were these the Gifts of the Spirit?)
And then they mysteriously
Vanished perhaps
Resorbed by the Paraclete herself
The dove that hovers over my breadcrumbs.
This poem was written inspired by trees that have since been cut down by my neighbor. they were in his yard.
Patricia Reinhardt, Writer, September 28, 2009
What are the Gifts of the Spirit?
Creativity, the ability to write, to paint, to weave, to make
Charts, to organize
The Self and the Other?
The very ability to smile?
To be a Janus
By displaying both
The welcoming and devouring
Face
The thing about looking out the window and thanking God
Seeing the wind comb the graygreen hair of the palms
Seeing the palms comb the silver hair of the wind
The wind and the palms grooming each other like animals
Hearing the least audible
The tiniest snap along the bough
The footfall of a bird
Are these the Gifts of the Spirit?
Saying shut up to a loudly barking dog in a distant yard
And being understood
Loving the sight of the outline of the beach umbrellas swaying in the gray dawn light
Are these the gifts of the sprit that I so thoughtlessly accept?
My One Child,
Her voice electronically conveyed
Her smile imagined
The icewhite of her teeth like the brilliance
Of the Holy Ghost on Facebook
Are these the gifts oft the spirit?
(I kept her milk teeth in a drawer for thirty years---were these the Gifts of the Spirit?)
And then they mysteriously
Vanished perhaps
Resorbed by the Paraclete herself
The dove that hovers over my breadcrumbs.
This poem was written inspired by trees that have since been cut down by my neighbor. they were in his yard.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Ask Again Later
Ask Again Later, 1968
(For my little brother, JDR)
By Patricia Reinhardt Mondragon, Writer
When you were a kid I gave you an 8 ball
For Christmas
And since you, an Age of Reason skeptic
Were already a wiseacre
An atheist
An anti-catechist
An infant who would shout
Jesus Christ! when spilling your milk
And since you, a Televiewer, were
Questioner of the Vietnam War at the age of
3 or 4 as in
Mom!
Why is god letting that happen to those people?
As in your savvy assessments of my boyfriends
Presenters of what you knew to be
Hopeless Diamonds
As in your Ed Sullivan like stance where you
Rocking
With arms crossed would query
Other people:
Who…or shall I say,
What, are you?
You the Littlest Interlocutor
At last surprised me.
You so engrossed
So taken with
So carried away
By the little black lacquered ball
Which you turned over and over
In your chapped, red,
Fire starting
Frog
Catching hands
Hardly looking up for hours
Whispering your questions
Seeking the triangulated answers
“Ask Again Later”
(For my little brother, JDR)
By Patricia Reinhardt Mondragon, Writer
When you were a kid I gave you an 8 ball
For Christmas
And since you, an Age of Reason skeptic
Were already a wiseacre
An atheist
An anti-catechist
An infant who would shout
Jesus Christ! when spilling your milk
And since you, a Televiewer, were
Questioner of the Vietnam War at the age of
3 or 4 as in
Mom!
Why is god letting that happen to those people?
As in your savvy assessments of my boyfriends
Presenters of what you knew to be
Hopeless Diamonds
As in your Ed Sullivan like stance where you
Rocking
With arms crossed would query
Other people:
Who…or shall I say,
What, are you?
You the Littlest Interlocutor
At last surprised me.
You so engrossed
So taken with
So carried away
By the little black lacquered ball
Which you turned over and over
In your chapped, red,
Fire starting
Frog
Catching hands
Hardly looking up for hours
Whispering your questions
Seeking the triangulated answers
“Ask Again Later”
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Elegy for a Pit Bull
Elegy for a Pit-Bull
Patricia Reinhardt Mondragon, Writer
That simple.
Like The Stranger I found myself
On the beach
The sky huge
The water huge
The heat huge
Emptiness… a dance to that
A ride across it
On a sea-rusted bicycle
What is it about these endless stretches
Of beach that brings out
The Walker on Water and
The Cool Killer
Alike?
The solitary figure at the edge
Of Life and Time like
Camus’ L’Etranger
Myself
Stragglers and Runaways of Every Kind?
Here it goes.
There was a pit-bull
A skinny skanky near dead dog
Tide to a pole
Tide to pole near Bob Hall Pier
Resignedly
With not the least
Bit of fight left
Whatsoever
Waiting for the tide to roll in
Opening her heart
To the Divine Indifference of the Universe
Body in a curve
Fetal as a pup in a caul
Nearly lifeless
Each and every bone numbered
Not even so much as looking up
Waiting
For the water to come
For her heart to burst
Patricia Reinhardt Mondragon, Writer
That simple.
Like The Stranger I found myself
On the beach
The sky huge
The water huge
The heat huge
Emptiness… a dance to that
A ride across it
On a sea-rusted bicycle
What is it about these endless stretches
Of beach that brings out
The Walker on Water and
The Cool Killer
Alike?
The solitary figure at the edge
Of Life and Time like
Camus’ L’Etranger
Myself
Stragglers and Runaways of Every Kind?
Here it goes.
There was a pit-bull
A skinny skanky near dead dog
Tide to a pole
Tide to pole near Bob Hall Pier
Resignedly
With not the least
Bit of fight left
Whatsoever
Waiting for the tide to roll in
Opening her heart
To the Divine Indifference of the Universe
Body in a curve
Fetal as a pup in a caul
Nearly lifeless
Each and every bone numbered
Not even so much as looking up
Waiting
For the water to come
For her heart to burst
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