Personal

Guy stuff.

An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Today’s going to be a good one.

Mr. Lawnge's remix of Queen's Flash Gordon Theme is playing on my Launch station as I start writing this. :-) A busy week ahead as I'm taking two days off work to head up to SUNY-Oneonta for a feature on Wednesday night. Robb Thibault - Fargo, 1998 - runs the Student Union and invited me to open their slam season. Have a full 30-40 minutes so I'm looking forward to stretching my legs and doing some pieces I haven't done in awhile. Getting paid nicely, too, which is always a good thing! Hung out with Phil West on Friday night,…

Continue ReadingToday’s going to be a good one.
An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Keep Your Head Up

On my generation’s equivalent of Pearl Harbor Day, another tragedy weighs equally heavy in my thoughts. It’s been 7 years since Tupac Amaru Shakur’s murder and, sadly, not much seems to have changed.

Not in hip-hop, or the world in general, for that matter.

We’re no more or less safe today than we were on February 26, 1993 or April 19, 1995 or September 8, 1996 or March 9, 1997 or September 11, 2001.

Hopefully, we’re a little more aware of our place in the world and that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction and that every cause has an effect and that there is rarely such thing as truly innocent bystanders. Our lives today are the result of our [in]decisions yesterday and the day before that, etc, etc, ad naseum.

None of us are innocent bystanders. At best, we might claim feeling helpless and be honest about that feeling being rooted in complacency.

Anyway, I’m feeling a little melancholy and disconnected today and I dug up something I originally wrote for my zine, zuzu’s petals, back in the fall of 1996.

(more…)

Continue ReadingKeep Your Head Up
An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

It's rant time. The whole home ownership aspect of the "American Dream" escapes me. A couple of years ago, four or five months after Isaac was born, the combination of frustration over being unable to find a decent apartment to rent and the lure of owning our own place, led us to look into buying a condo. Salomé had not returned to work yet so we applied for a mortgage based only on my income and were surprised by how much they felt we could afford. In the end, the whole process nearly drove me crazy, literally, as the road…

Continue Reading
An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Damn! Blogger's lost a post for the first time. Grrrr... Quick shots: * It's gonna be a loooooooooong season out at the Meadowlands. The Jets looked terrible last night with Vinny at the helm. Thank goodness for FANTASY football! :-( * Watched last night's debate and didn't hear anything that changed my mind all that much. Dean is ripe for Saturday Night Live mockery, with that stiff neck and habit of talking out of one side of his mouth. Darryl Hammond should be able to nail him nicely. (Side note: An interesting analysis of the debate at Slate, includes a…

Continue Reading
An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Taking a breather from another whirlwind day at work that will conclude with the aforementioned seminar with the greedy but nervous (don't believe anyone that tells you the stock market has recovered) and me in a suit... Icewind Dale II is the shit! I'm not a big computer gamer - preferring the portability of my GameBoy Advance - but this one has me completely hooked. COMPLETELY! I finally made it through the second stage of the game last night, wresting control of a critical bridge from a ferocious assortment of baddies that would've allowed the evil horde to overtake Targos.…

Continue Reading
An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Ever seen a shitstorm? Head on over to the poetry_slam listserve for a peek at one. Woah! I didn't start it for once but damn if I didn't throw a few tough ones to the body! I really hate that list because it brings out the worst in me. I'm admittedly contentious and have rarely come across a fight I didn't think I could win but shit, this can't be good for my mental health! It's like a mutually abusive relationship. I really have to consider stepping away from it completely because I certainly don't know how to keep my…

Continue Reading
An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Totally forgot to put this out there: Word Street has launched! That's the poetry/spoken word magazine I've been hinting at for awhile that I was writing the article on slam's relevance for. This issue is kind of a sampler, a web-only teaser, but the hope is for the first print edition to publish in October. Check it out at it's temporary address: Word Street Also, drop me some ideas for articles or essays. And tell all your friends!

Continue Reading
Newer Posts
Older Posts