What function does vengeance serve? Fear of it, dread in the face of its inescapability, should be enough to stop anyone from committing a dishonorable act that is damaging to another. It should function as a brake, a restraining voice of reason. If, however, it turns out to be an ineffectual deterrent, and someone commits an offense, the perpetrator will be seen to have set into motion a chain of retribution that can stretch for generations, for centuries even.
There is a kind of dreary fatalism in the mechanism of revenge. Something irreversible and inevitable. Misfortune befalls you and you cannot fathom why.
- Ryszard Kapuscinski
I like this dreary concept far more than the idiocy of the concept of "respect" and farther still than rigid rules we are forced to abide by (my bane, Traffic Laws!). If only we could self police. The golden rule taken completely out of a biblical concept is hands down the best idea that has come out of an ancient text. The ethic of reciprocity in all its forms seems like a great way to conduct one's self.
I've also been pondering the idea of borders lately, in all concepts of the word.
They are made for crossing.
Moms have been asking about my brand new tattoo in very incredulous ways. It makes me happy. It reminds us all that I'm not one of them, maybe someday, but then I'll still be the mom with the sweet tat.
(I'm totally avoiding reading about how my blood pumps through my heart, can you tell?)
Sometimes (at least six times a year) I seriously think about the question of art. What constitutes it? Why make it? Who is it really for? Do I consider myself an artist? Can a world exist without it? Etc. etc. It is indeed always a question that needs an attempt at answering. But in pondering that question it has recently brought up the bigger question of why do anything?
And not in a nihilistic way, but from a survival stand point.
I mean deep down do we really have a choice to do a lot of things? Can you lump art in with that most everything else we don't have a choice about? Yes for some and no for some?
Of course that question brings up a million other questions that will be answered in a million different ways by a million different people.
What I'm saying is, have you sat back and thought about what the important things in your life do for you and vice versa? Actually I don't know what I'm saying.
My hands are so full of weird little aches and pains in places they don't normally ache or pain. This is good, no? I've been hammering and sawing my way into the fall. I've almost finished my piano bench. We have come a long way together. I like this furniture reclaiming business, it makes me a perfectionist. There are few things I even care to do half-ass, so this must mean something. The relationship between my hands/mood to whatever is laid out in front of me is exciting.
But, if I keep up with this I should probably invest in a power tool or two.
It's getting chilly and busy. I like these things. Where did summer go? I felt like I was in a time warp all summer. The days both dragged on and flew by. I don't know how I feel about this summer, but maybe because it's a constant comparison to the backdrop of last summer. I should stop that. Oh well. September is shaping up real nice. I had pumpkin pancakes the other day and oh boy, were they freakin delicious.
This week can't be over quick enough. If I ever have kids their summers will be so jam packed with awesome activities that I won't have a chance to regret making them. Ughhhhh.
Today I went to the Morton Arboretum. Gosh I love trees. In addition to miles and miles of trees, plants, and lakeage they have an awesome library that has books over 500 years old! Anyway they have an exhibit right now called Flora! Illuminated (I know, terrible name) buuut, I'm a sucker for old plant and vegetable prints. So, I went to the website to check out some of the prints and discovered this lovely gem:
I know. I am a cheese for overcoming adversity stories. I won't lie, I have a crush on Pearl and his story makes me feel really warm inside. Especially this quotation:
“Gardening books will tell you that some of these things in my garden can’t be done, but I had never read them when I got started. Not knowing ahead of time that something is supposed to be impossible often makes it possible to achieve. I didn’t have any limitations because I really didn’t know anything about horticulture. I just figured I could do whatever I wanted with any plant I had.”
Paul Mitchel is the brilliant mind behind Patron. Hair and tequila, ew. Actually, I want to go to Beauty Bar sometime ha ha. School doesn't start (for the boys) for another two weeks. I'm not sure I'm going to make it. Today I hauled another piece of wood from the side of the road. It's big. I really am slowly populating an apartment I may never inhabit. How can the month of August be moving so fast and so slow? I guess it doesn't matter. I think I've been watching too much television lately. My. Brain. Feels. Weird.
I also have a desk now, so I'd like to think that my output will be far greater than in the past months. I mean I'm writing now aren't I? Speaking of writing, a few call to words:
Also, my old friend Edwin is putting out a Journal of short prose poems called Drupe Fruits. Email me for extended details, but this is the jist, open to all creative souls:
"This is a call for short prose poems of no more than 175 words to appear in a journal entitled “drupe fruits”. feel free to play around within the paragraph medium, indent or don’t, break paragraphs conventionally or unconventionally, you know... do your thing.
The appeal to the form comes from its narrative possibility coupled with its poetic thrift and attention, its acknowledgement of the paragraph as self-fullfilling and innately distilled, and for an acknowledgment of the natural cadence and musicality of language without line breaks, and blank space common of poetic work.
Please send 1-5 pieces to plumperries@gmail.com, along with a very short and lively bio of no more than two sentences. submissions due by sept. 15th, 2010 for issue #1."
Do it, you won't?
KSJ, doesn't my new template remind you of My Life Without Me? That's why I chose it. <3
I should be studying but I only get a few quick seconds to myself lately and I'm devoting today's to listening to music and writing. Maybe, I'll even dream a little. I need a little adventure. All of a sudden everything got straight and narrow.
I think the straight and narrow stifles my bowels. I think that I'm most regular when my schedule is irregular. Mass suicide of the schedule. Maybe I'll exchange my cello for a trumpet, so I can be more reckless and less careful. I heard the less careful you have to be the more jovial your sleep. But I think the bow does something else for my soul. Who knows.
Who knows. Quick, I only have 30 min. left.
I'm making it my bidness to find my moment of pure summer bliss. Everyone gets at least one. Well alright I can think of one or two, but I think they were technically in spring.
