First Amendment Wrongs

Yes, you read that correctly. We no longer have First Amendment RIGHTS. They're gone. Take a look at recent police actions in Boston, NYC, UC Davis, Oakland, etc. This is what the US will look like under martial law.

I do have to say, I am proud of the Lexington KY Occupiers and our authorities for respecting one another and respecting rights. It's wonderful to watch democracy in action. But what the heck is going on in the rest of the nation? Is the Constitution softer than Charmin, so it's gone down the crapper?

And not only is the US's new drone base in Ethiopia "operational," Obama is moving US troops to Australia to counter any possible moves by CHINA. I used to say, "This is not the Obama for whom I voted," but apparently it IS the Obama who got my vote and the votes of millions of others who were duped. But seriously, what was our alternative in 2008? McCain and Palin??? That's not a choice. That's the poor punchline to the bad joke, "Why don't more Americans vote?"

2012 is not looking any more promising, no matter who the Republicans hold up for us in candidate costumes, and we've already seen Obama in action. I'm voting for Stewart Alexander in 2012. I can't in good conscience vote otherwise.

Mitch McConnell's Job Description

7 peaceful adults (all except one of us qualify for the Senior Discount at Dairy Queen) were prevented from going to Senator Mitch McConnell's office in Lexington, KY on Wednesday. They knew we were coming, so they shut down the office, and had police waiting for us before we even arrived. We were not even allowed to enter the building.

Excuse me? Mitch McConnell is my employee, and since when can an employee lock his employer out of the office?

Mitch seems to have totally lost contact with the reality of his job description. He thinks his job is to be sure Obama doesn't get re-elected. That's NOT a Senator's job. A Senator's job is to take care of his constituents, to represent our best interests. Instead, he represents corporations and big money and the GOP.

And what about my constitutional rights to freedom of expression and freedom to peaceably assemble? Hello? Well, we've known for years that the Constitution of the U.S. isn't worth the paper it's printed on. Bozos like Clarence Thomas (who NEVER should have made it to the Supreme Court) have seen to that. (I did send a note in the mail to Anita Hill back when she testified against him before the Senate. I told her I believed her. I still believe her, and Clarence Thomas has no business serving on the Supreme Court.)

I sure hope Kentucky wises up and cans both of our senators the next time they each come up for re-election. In fact, I have absolutely no idea how this state elected Rand Paul to the Senate. This obviously reflects the deficiencies of Kentucky's educational system. We've got people voting who are obviously incapable of basic brain functions. I am amazed.

The Execution of Troy Davis

Can someone please explain to me WHY Troy Davis is going to be executed this evening at 7 p.m. First of all, the death penalty is barbaric, and study after study has proven that having a death penalty DOES NOT DETER CAPITAL OFFENSES. Secondly, I believe that this man is not guilty.

If Georgia won't listen, why hasn't Obama pardoned this man? To do so is within his capacity, yet he seems to be ignoring the issue completely. This is just one more disappointment I have experienced with the man for whom I voted. Gee, he'd pardon that ax murderer, Michael Vick, praised him in fact, but he won't lift a finger to help an innocent man. What's wrong with THIS picture.

No, I won't be voting for Obama in 2012. He's disappointed me too many times. And the Republicans have absolutely NOTHING to offer. Every one of them except Romney comes across as totally out of touch with reality, and I won't vote for Romney either.

So, for 2012, it's Stewart Alexander all the way. It's the only logical choice.

And could someone please explain to me WHY the media is ignoring the protest in Wall Street? Oh, it's all fun and games with the Arab Spring. But when protests hit the U.S., it seems censorship takes over. I didn't realize I was living in Syria or Yemen, but apparently I am!

Park-ing Day

I'm an odd hybrid at Latitude Artists' Community in Lexington, KY. I go there as both an artist and a volunteer, and I love it!

On Friday, Latitude had their third annual "Park-ing Day," where we turned a downtown parking spot into a small park for the day and exhibited a diarama of Tuolumne Meadow in Sequoia National Park. Hap Houllihan and Whitney Baker read some of their own nature-related poetry, and I read "Pastoral" by Steven R. Cope, one of his poems from his first collection, In Kildeers Field.

On Thursday, Service Dog, Katie, and I attended the workers' rights rally in front of Fayette County Republican Headquarters. Governor Walker was here from Wisconsin (and we know what a mess he's made there) to support David Williams in his run for Governor of Kentucky. What does it say about our nation when the Teamsters and the Old Hippies are all out there protesting together? Now, THAT is a thought to consider. One of the chants was, "Tax the rich; feed the poor." Another was, "We want jobs." And there were far more people at the rally OUTSIDE in the rain than they had attending their cozy rally indoors at the headquarters. Many, many drivers going past honked and gave us thumbs up (Yes, they were definitely THUMBS). I didn't hear a single person going by yell something negative at us. Obviously, if they didn't agree, they just ignored us. But there was a great deal of support.

How many moves are worth a fire?

I cannot recall if Benjamin Franklin said it was 4 or 5, but I can say I feel like I've been through enough moves in the last 2+ years to have been through an emotional fire as well as having lost some belongings I would have preferred to still have. My son is supportively philosophical about it, and wise, "It's just stuff, Mom." He's right! As a Quaker, having fewer things helps me with my testimony of Simplicity. Biblically speaking, where one's treasure lies, there lies one's heart. I would hope that my heart does not lie in material possessions, though much of my heart was filled with my pets and my rescued dog fostering, and I can no longer do that work. However, I am still involved in rescue as background workers are always needed. And I do still have Katie, my Disability Service Dog. Ziva, my Service Dog in Training, will be joining me soon. Having grown up in a military family (though the Coast Guard doesn't move its families as often as the other branches of the service do), one would think I'd be used to the weeding out that goes along with relocation.

Definitely NOT on the road anymore

I'm still reverberating from the hospital and the move and the loss of my canine family and country living. Too fried still to write, but did make it to most of Holler Poet Series #38 which was a grand time. Nice to see poetry so appreciated by the masses!!!

There is nothing so constant as change

I am now living in Lexington, and am sick and tired of feeling like a nomad.

Many losses in the last month. I thought I'd found THE place for me, loved my neighbors, could have my dogs and do rescue, could have a garden (kind of -- since the only 2 places I was told I could use were either on a steep slope or in the shade, so I opted for the level shady place), but the griping and control dramas finally put me in overload. NO ONE should tolerate bullying, and if you think only kids get bullied, think again. It could have been a "win/win" situation. Ah well . . . more of life's lessons learned.

So, now the country mouse must become a city mouse. Big adjustment. Hope to have kale and lettuces growing on my balcony soon, and already have a community garden plot reserved for next summer. I intend to bloom where I've been planted.

On to the next chapter of my life. And I do NOT want to be "on the road" any more. No more nomadic existence for this girl. I need to STAY PUT.

A new koan for your contemplation

How can someone run a restaurant if they do not know upon which side their bread was buttered?

The BAAAAAAD Tenant

Someone I known on Facebook is griping about their landlord (for their business) for NOT fixing things, and this same person and spouse are griping at me, their residential tenant, FOR taking care of the property and the two horses TOO well -- at no expense or hindrance to them, mind you. In fact, I have saved them money and improved the value of their property.

No, I'm not kidding. No I'm not misunderstanding. However, I am amazed, astounded and yes, even appalled.

First, why would any reasonable, logical and HUMANE person object to having their horses cared for well? I don't get it, but yes, indeed there you have it. How dare I care about the two horses that I am legally supposed to care for in exchange for $25 a month off on my rent (though I pay for their water)? First thing I did when I moved here was to get all the boards with nails in them out of the horse pasture where the owners had tossed the boards with nails in them.

Heaven forbid that I should even HOPE that the local feed store carry fly-wipes which would make the horses more comfortable! The local feed store does NOT carry them. WHEW! I'm saved from making THAT horrific error. Oh yes, I was definitely chastised for even wanting to buy the fly-wipes. Gosh, let's just let the horses be miserable! And these are "rescued" horses, no less. Rescued from what? Poor nutrition and insects?

Secondly, do they know how hard it is to get a good tenant?

I had been told multiple times prior to moving in that I could do anything I wanted to improve the property, since nothing I could do could make it worse. True! They had utterly trashed it. They admit it and the neighbors are all witnesses. They had utterly trashed the property, inside and out. I tell no tales, carry no lies.

So, silly me, I was finally able to get YEARS worth of horse manure out of the barn -- and I had already asked and they said they didn't want the manure, so that was not the problem. No, I was chewed out for "obstructing their access to the barn" by removing the manure. HUH? HOW? No access was obstructed. And how would they know? They hadn't been out here in weeks! Actually, while the front loader was being used to scrape the manure out, they would have had GREATER access to the barn, as we had to have the main barn door open. Go figure!

And suddenly, out of the blue, due to my cleaning the barn (so that now when it rains the horses are no longer standing hock deep in wet manure), I am to be sure of seeking their permission for any further projects. A complete 180 from what I'd been told multiple times previously.

Mind you, I've done so much work on the yard, people I don't even know have stopped to thank me for cleaning the place up. This is not an exaggeration.

And yet, there is still a tarp on the side of the house over the gaping hole from the storm damage this spring. The owners got the insurance money and spent it, but the house has gone unrepaired. Hmmmmmm This could make winter rather interesting.

But I'm obviously a BAAAAD tenant. BAD GIRL! Go to your room! Whatever you do, do not take care of the place you are renting. You are a baaaaaad tenant. ;-)

Another koan

If the solid waste from uncastrated male cattle has a molecular structure, how is it we can see right through it when people dish it out to us?

Koan

Why would the master want the horses to be standing in old manure up to their hocks?


(If there's an answer to this, I haven't found it yet. I'm still trying to figure out why I got chewed out for cleaning years and years worth of manure that no one wanted out of the barn. If I'm paid $25 a month to care for the horses, I'd think that would include providing clean housing for them. Obviously, I was wrong. Silly me!)

Digging one's way out of grief.

I've been bad about blogging, but for a very good reason. The death of the very gifted poet and a dear friend, Mark Brown of Louisville, KY, threw me (and a great many others) for a loop. The man had one of the purest hearts I've ever known, and was also one of the most gifted poets I've ever personally known. His colleagues at the Spalding University MFA program concur. Not only was his poetry incredible, but his insights into the poetry of others as evidenced by his acclaimed critical essays which even received national attention remain as living proof of his genius. But it is Mark himself, his laughter, his quick wit, his compassion for others (as in the poem, "Libby's Kiss") is what we will all miss.

So for over a week, I and others have staggered around in the mental ozone trying to process the unbelievable. While some folks who gathered to remember Mark on Saturday had brought pieces they'd written since hearing the news, many of us haven't been able to write about IT or about anything since his death. I suddenly understand the way the Greeks would take 12 days to observe the passing of a loved one. I have not hit the 12 day point yet, but my brain is beginning to function once again.

I first met Mark in 1988 under entirely different circumstances. When we met years later as poets, we kept trying to place one another. It's hard when years have passed and we've aged and put on weight. But finally one day it hit us, and oh what a laugh we had over it. And how many friends we realized we had in common outside the realm of poetry.

He was a multi-faceted man who will be missed by a great many people, and I believe much of our grief is for the poems he will never write.

New Poem: Garden

GARDEN

This meager plot provides distraction.
Toil of weeding, hauling managable buckets
of mulch and rotted horse manure,
turning soil untouched for years --
all leave me boiled in sweat.
My thoughts attempt mutiny,
rebelling against the authority of focus,
but this labor of growing
makes me mindless
which sometimes is a good thing.

an excellent movie!

I had heard of this movie when it first came out, but didn't think about it again until I saw it at the library. Oh, what a find!

Young Victoria didn't get the acclaim it should have. The acting is excellent, the costumes are outstanding (from a clothing historian and finicky costumer herself). It's such a splendid yet eventually sad story, and probably not the best thing for me to be watching at the moment. At least those two lovers, despite their high stations in life, had 20 years of bliss and 9 kids to boot (so we know what they were doing!) And Paul Bettany is such a gifted actor. He plays every kind of possible character -- the sign of a truly great actor. He is malodious as he should be as Lord Melbourne.

See it if you have the chance.

And now, despite the heat, I am off to Shelbyville for a necessary errand or two. Aaargh. High 90s today and tomorrow. The usual temperature for this time of year here is 80 degrees. Oh, that would be a cold snap, and a welcomed one at that.

Got the lawn mowed yesterday in the 91 degree weather, knowing worse was on the way. Did a bit of work in the garden later in the evening. I fear the weeds are getting ahead of me, though I'm at them daily. And more compliments from neighbors on the yard, which is so supportive.

But I've worked so much outdoors, the indoors is far behind other than my several times a day with the shop vac to keep up with the shedding dogs. I am far from unpacked from moving, and haven't even started to paint, though I have the paint.

Haiku for the Day

Sarah Palin needs
to review her history.
Paul Revere did WHAT?

Hot Hot Hot

I haven't been able to convince the dogs that it's cooler outside than it is inside.

After I feed the horses, Butter and Jelly are getting baths. That should help cool those 2 old ladies down a bit. Butter is a yellow Labrador X Redbone Hound mix and Jelly is a Belgian Sheepdog, and they are both 10 years old now, or is it 11? Gosh, I'll have to pull out their files to look.

First thing this morning, I had to get Keelin and Fergus, the 2 Setters Ohio English Setter Rescue took into their program, from Lincoln County (Stanford, KY) to LaGrange to meet up with transports to go to their long term foster homes. Keelin had been an angel the entire 2 weeks she'd been with me . . . until this morning. I put some lavender oil on her for its calming effects, and she's the first dog I've ever found on whom it had the opposite result. She peed in her crate while I was trying to get chores done, then when I put her outside, she rolled in every bit of dirt she could find. She was positively filthy, and I had to do a quicky clean up on her. I don't like sending dirty dogs out on transport. She had never done these things before. Why this morning?

Fergus of course was his typical good boy self.

Then after I got them on the road, I headed to Shelbyville to meet up with Julie Sloan to get the Setter from Flemmingburg, KY, Ben. What a sweetie he is! He must be about 6 years old, and he is crate trained. Knew what "Kennel Up" meant, and is snoozing away in the "quarantine room," where all my new fosters go when they first arrive. It's also the coolest room in the house, "lucky dog." It's on the east side of the house, gets the shade of 2 trees, and has 2 big windows for cross ventilation, as well as leaving the main door open so the breeze blows in.

So, "The Revolving Doggie Door" of Setter rescue continues at the Soggy Dog Croft in Turners Station, KY.

new poem DONKEY BAIT

DONKEY BAIT



She burned the oatmeal
while weeping again over that stupd carrot,
the one that startled her
dangling before surprised eyes,
swinging so close to her nose
she thought she could smell it,
and the breeze of her fingers set it spinning.
It pulled her forward
remaining just, oh just out of reach,
but she could see it's perfection --
the golden glow and that plume of green.
She heard the seller's voice extolling sweetness,
and she longed for that sharp snap,
the crunch between her teeth
and sugar on her tongue.

Snatched away it was,
and sour grapes played no role in discovery
for it was merely Garden Ridge plastic,
an item for display in a table arrangment,
something pretty to gaze upon and occasionally dust
but nothing to allay hunger,
no sweet orange taste on the tongue
and certainly no satisfying crunch.

Now she just feels like an ass
who followed bait set to swing
before eyes longing for more than pasture.

Insomnia!

I slept through the heat of the day. Ah, I love the concept of the siesta. But then went to bed at 10 p.m., slept for 2 hrs., and by midnight, BAM! I was awake. At least my being up has not yet awakened the dogs. I have to be up at 6 a.m., so this 2 hrs. of being awake in the middle of the night does not bode well.

My brain is in over drive. Too much to think about. Waaaaayyyy to much to think about. A romance that failed in 1973 and failed again recently, trying to figure out table weaving, trying to finish writing one of my novels-in-progres: Petros, trying to balance my budget, and then I decided to work on perfecting my naalbinding skills as well.

No wonder I can't sleep! Naalbinding would give anyone insomnia.

Heating up in several areas

Going to be 95 here today. Ugh. The house is already heating up. Need more fans!

And then there's the heat in Columbus, Ohio over the football coach. Now really . . . is he being used as a token example? Students I know at UK say the football and basketball players get all kinds of "gimmes," from leniency on academics to freebies. Yes, all violations to the NCAA rules, but like the IRS, you only deal with penalties if you get caught.

Haiku for the day

Yes, I know, Haiku aren't supposed to have titles, but since when have I cared about rules?


The Drunk Peasant

Put coins in my bowl.
Rice I can easily get,
with dimes I buy beer.