The cold rain and snow

All last week, I was in Orange County, California, where it was mostly about 80 degrees. As I arrived home in Seattle, a month into spring, it was snowing. And it snowed all weekend sporadically...never sticking, but snowing every few hours. It even snowed on my way to work this morning. I was driving to the freeway, and there was an inch of snow on the ground and it was hailing and snowing. Traffic was slowing, and it looked like it might take hours to get to work. Three miles later, I was in the sunlight.

As it turns out, I am going back to Orange County tomorrow, where I'll get another blast of heat before returning to who knows what?

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A Blogger Meltdown, mostly of my own authoring?

You may have noticed the sporadic postings (partly due to being in California all week) in the last few days? I completely pooched my blogspot template. It seems partly due to collisions between last year's new blogger switchover and the new beta blogger sandbox. I am still missing a lot of the marginalia and widgets, but I have mostly recovered everything else. Except (!!!) the post date now appears beneath the first post of a day. And it's huge. And ugly. I've deleted all references to it, changed the color to white in the CSS section of the template, attempted to move it above the posy title somehow, and pasted in sections of old templates that I know looked good. All to no avail. I had one problem a couple years ago, where I sent the whole template to blogger and they immediately figured out what I'd done wrong. I have to throw myself on their mercy. I am a bonehead.
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Karate Monkey-- Video of martial art Chimp in action

So Grandma's Boy wasn't that far off. You apparently can teach a monkey karate. Or Tai Kwan Do. Or Judo. Ok, it's not a monkey, it's a chimpanzee. Monkeys have tails.



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Poem: Stackabones

[I started this poem 21 years ago in Berkeley, California, the week before my daughter was born. I finished it tonight, in Irvine, California]


Stackabones

for Claire

"What is it?," you'll ask, and I'll hedge.
Things with no title aren't,

So make a name. Our dreams have no lexicon.
We'll look at wildflowers

In the chapparal and fill the silence
Around the blossoms with a name.

Waiting on you to be,
I try to remember not to forget.

In a dusty corner of my head
I've opened files with Websters of words,

Waiting on you to be.
We'll cover the earth with Venn Diagrams

Of our steps bisecting the old steps.
We'll breach the barricades

And walk circles from here to here.
The wheel itself rolls flat

And you can't slow it down;
With each spin of the ball it grows flatter,

But still rolls up and down the hill.
The list of whom the bucket was kicked by

Grows longer every day
And that bucket fills with tears.

Our job is to stay off that roster.
Back to the story.

God, gets the fire going
As She spins us back into the sun

To warm us up in the morning.
The sun didn't rise today,

But the sun doesn't rise.
The last cricket falls asleep,

And the birds begin their rounds.
Earth rolls over like a dog,

And the light
Floods in.
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Poem: In California, I write down the names of every great tree name I can remember

Cedar, cypress, juniper mulberry, buckeye,
Gingko, hickory, ironwood, magnolia, persimmon,

Paw paw, pussy willow, sassafrass,
Sumac, tupelo, witchhazel, oak,

Alder, crabapple, devilwood, dogwood.
And they call me John.

Who do trees and meeting rooms
Get all the good names?
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Video: Bob Dylan Plays "Like A Rolling Stone" With The Rolling Stones

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Poem: Ephemeral Communication

Native American smoke signals
May be the most transitory
And ephemeral communication of all,

Next to the voice
—A Jiminy Cricket whisper
In your ear—

That transmogrifies instantly
Into memory
While the smoke signal

Takes its own sweet time
And rises in a langorous backstroke
Drifting slowly and inexorably

Toward Heaven,
Achieving evanescence
Somewhere in the troposphere.

[Irvine, California 4/16/2008]
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Shine a light! Martin Scorsese's rolling stones movie

click the stones to enlarge

I am not a huge Rolling Stones fan--I liked them in the 60's/70's, but pretty much lost interest sometime around Some Girls.

This concert film reminded me of why I did like them--they wrote some good tunes, and they always had attitude. We saw the movie at IMax--on the six story screen with fantastic sound. It really made me think about what would have become of the Stones if Brian Jones had lived.

The movie was edited with a lot of rapid cuts--and you rarely if ever saw the whole stage. And, of course, the focus was often on Mick, who is still an amazingly energetic dancer and performer. I think the cuts would probably be more tolerable on a smaller screen. It took a couple of minutes to get used to the jump cuts.

The best moments were where Keith Richards was in the spotlight (he sang two tunes). And the camera would frequently zoom in on him. He seemed to happy to have survived, and I had forgotten what an amiably lovable rascal he is. I will buy this movie just to savor those Keith moments. Jack White, Buddy Guy, and Christine Aguilera also did guest shots. Jack White's was just OK. but Aguilera and Buddy Guy were off the hook. You should go see this film. Even if you're not a fan.

/jack reporting from Orange County, California...


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Obama issues clarification on his "bitter" remarks

by Pablo Fanque,
National Affairs Editor, All this is that

(Seattle, Wash. - All this is that wire) — Senator Barack Obama on Sunday attempted to clarify (and mitigate!) what he meant when he said some small-town Pennsylvanians are "bitter" people who "cling to guns and religion."

Sen. Barack Obama told All This Is That's Pablo Fanque that his statement was misunderstood and misrepresented. "I didn't say it as well as I should have," Obama admitted to Fanque in Muncie, Indiana, on Sunday, the day after he first defended his comments,

"Many of these traditions are passed on from generation to generation -- but that doesn't mean they're right. These people in the flyover states are shooting innocent animals, are inveterate racists, homophobes, and I understand many still have sexual relations with cousins, in-laws, siblings, and even barnyard animals. Just because these are traditions with these backwoods folk, Pablo, doesn't mean they're right, or that they shouldn't be changed."

"But will the peckerwoods and crackers ever make these changes?," he asked Fanque on Sunday. "No freakin' way! And that, friendos, is why we need to make the changes for them."

"That's why my first act as President will be to round up every single gun in this country. And the second will be to enroll every citizen in this land in mandatory sensitivity training. And in case you're interested, I also plan to raise taxes. Through the roof. And in case you're interested, I have not ruled out mass involuntary sterilization."
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Digital painting: 16 heads (from a drawing by jack brummet)

click to enlarge

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Senator Barack Obama: These people are a bunch of gun nuts, tariff freaks, racists, and cross wavers, or, an Obama Nation Abomination

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's campaign began taking on water yesterday after he thumbed his nose at the middle class of Pennsylvania.

Obama's rival, Hillary Clinton, and Republican presidential nominee John McCain both pounced on the comments Obama made last weekend at a fundraiser in San Francisco.

"And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations," he said.

Video of the speech, which was closed to the press, surfaced as Obama was campaigning in Indiana on the working-class issues like job losses and rising mortgage foreclosures.

"And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations," he said.



His opponent, Senator Hillary Clinton responded at a rally in Pennsylvania: "Pennsylvania doesn't need a president who looks down on them," she told the crowd. "They need a president who stands up for them, who fights for them, who works hard for your futures, your jobs, your families."

The McCain campaign, of course, also lambasted Obama: "It shows an elitism and condescension toward hard-working Americans that is nothing short of breathtaking," said Steve Schmidt, a senior adviser to the Arizona senator. "It is hard to imagine someone running for president who is more out of touch with average Americans."
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painting: George W. Bush in full regalia

click to enlarge

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