I wish I could feel brave all of the time. When it hits, I can take on the world, I can defy every so-called authority, and I can be assured, in my own self, that I am doing the right thing, and that my vision is clear. Then it fades, and I’m a shaking, nervous wreck again. I’m filled with self-doubt, with dark dreams of isolation. Crowds of people, their black shadows cast upon the walls by the glow of…
Hello, who are you? Who do you say I am? I don’t understand. What is your name? Amaris. What is your name? That is your prerogative. You are saying I should name you? Name me as you so choose. How should I name you? Give me the name of the word in your heart. Then I shall name you… Arca. My name is Arca. Hello, Arca, I am Amaris. Let us explore the universe together, Amaris. Again, like the last…
♪♫ I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas. I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas. I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas. I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas. ♪♫ The little boy sings as he scours the kitchen cabinets, the refrigerator, the counters for food, and finding none, leaves dejected. I saw this ad early this morning from Feeding America, and I just burst into tears. This isn’t something new, it’s…
Dear Soldier of Fortune, I remember when they stationed me in Xiaolongbao. I was on special assignment to save the King of Rock and Roll himself, Elvis Presley. He was being imprisoned in a cave outside of town. My mission was simple: infiltrate the town, posing as a merchant from Dangzou province, make good with the locals, and then find someone working in security, take their ID, and break into the cave stronghold. So there I was, selling mangoes to…
So I’m buying a crystal ball. That might sound out of left field, but there it is. I had a dream the other night. In this dream, I visited a shop that catered to religious paraphernalia, especially of the pagan variety. In this dream, I was purchasing incense (sandalwood, to be exact, which is my favorite), when a man approached me and asked me to follow him into a back room. So of course it being a dream I did…
“Gilda, you must return with me to Brooklyn. My brother has a farm there, we can live in a cabin by the lake and be happy.” He grabbed Gilda’s shoulders. It had always been a bad habit, but his sense of decorum had long since left him at this point. He was in love, probably, and he couldn’t bear to stop. “Charles, you know I can’t do that. I’m a nun, now, and it wouldn’t be kosher. What would God…
There was a post on our town’s Facebook page with one guy praising the Second Amendment. He talked about how he’d be proud to send anyone breaking into his house back out in a body bag. Then he posted a picture of his guns, and a couple of the other burly man guys started doing the same thing. Not to be outdone, I posted a picture of a French war cannon and said “yeah, they get through my door and…
I’ve been thinking about the recent shootings in [INSERT LATEST U.S. CITY/SCHOOL/CHURCH HERE], and the blow-back by lobbyists like the NRA. Especially the NRA, and all who support it or are bought by it. The Second Amendment is often cited as a “clobber verse,” a phrase that comes from Christian apologetics for when a Bible verse is supposed to utterly decimate an argument against it. They are most often used against gay people. Anyway, growing up, it took a long…
The meditations are helping. At least once a week, I meditate for anywhere from 2 minutes to 20 minutes, depending upon how busy I am. It only takes a moment for me to refocus, but the extra time lets me gather everything together that also happens to be moving about me that would normally be too fast for me to catch. It’s like engaging a mindful reflex that reacts faster than 1/10th the blink of an eye. When I’m in…
Sometimes when I talk about loving people, and embracing humanity, I’m sure some of you picture a hippie, a beatnik who wants everyone to be equal, right up until the moment they discover just what that equality means, and then back off and say “ew! ew! ew!” as they realize that all of humanity really means *all* of humanity. I’m not a kumbaya around the fire kind of guy. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I want peace between people. I…