becoming
Childhood……
This post was inspired by fellow blogger, Oannes. He has been posting some wonderful songs about childhood. Be sure to check out (and follow) his blog https://oannes.gr/category/other-musical-stuff/
For my own contribution I present Chuck Mangione’s title track from CHILDREN OF SANCHEZ which was also the soundtrack for the Mexican-American movie of the same name.
A passionate track that covers so many emotions. While listening I can’t help but think about Children in the world in which we now live. Are we teaching them to hate instead of love? Are we teaching them to be afraid instead of accepting and courageous? Are we teaching them to not trust anyone? We adults set the example for these adults of the future. Just what are we teaching our children? What kind of dreams are we giving our children? What memories will our children have?
This album is one of 3 favorite Chuck Mangione albums. And I highly recommend it. This title track is ambitious starting off with powerful lyrics sung by Don Potter. And then once your heart is softened the drums and horns come in full force to break it all apart. The lyrical verse is then repeated with Chucks Flugelhorn replacing the vocal and then again by guitar virtuoso Grant Geissman. There is a whole verse improvised around the theme by Chuck that is pure hopeful celebration followed by a lyrical reprise. By the end when that last drum and horn break forces it’s way into the song I find myself pumping my fist in the air in righteous agreement – wanting to shout “WAKE UP PEOPLE AND THINK OF THE CHILDREN!”
I recall how Native American tribes would plan not only for their children but for the 7th generation. We need to get back to that. It’s not too late. That seems to be a good lesson for our children and our children’s children….
Without dreams of hope and pride a man will die
Though his flesh still moves his heart sleeps in the grave
Without land a man never dreams cause he’s not free
All men need a place to live with dignity.
Take the crumbs from starving soldiers, they won’t die
Lord said not by bread alone does man survive
Take the food from hungry children, they won’t cry
Food alone won’t ease the hunger in their eyes.
Every child belongs to mankind’s family
Children are the fruit of all humanity
Let them feel the love of all the human race
Touch them with the warmth, the strength of that embrace.
Give me love and understanding, i will thrive
As my children grow my dreams come alive
Those who hear the cries of children. god will bless oh yes he will
I will always hear the children of Sánchez.
does this sound familiar?
Are the two videos describing things that we are seeing now?
The situations are different but the practices and results are the same.
Any American citizen who is afraid of China and Russia needs to watch these videos and ask if we should continue down this path we are on. Just because we can doesn’t mean we should. These videos highlight two history lessons from America’s past. A dark history at best and a sinister dangerous chapter that should NEVER be repeated. But it IS currently being repeated with a 21st Century twist promoted by the President of the United States enabled by his republican supporters, spread by the media, a democratic opposition propagating dangerous alternate views. There is no balance. The deep cynicism of politicians in Washington is doing more harm than help. While Trump and his Republicans have ushered in the end of Democracy the Democrats are securing it. There is only foolishness on both sides. Surely the hunger for POWER, the FEAR, ANGER, HATRED, IGNORANCE and DISTRUST are the same.
“Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.” – Matthew 12:25
Cocoon
mobius faith · COCOON
I am in a personal, creative, social,
emotional and professional cocoon.
Once a caterpillar,
I thought I understood life.
Now it feels like time has passed me by
and I no longer understand or
recognize the world I live in:
irrelevant, voiceless, useless.
I can’t move.
Wrapped in blankets on a bed.
Cocooned in my cotton chrysalis.
I peer out through fuzzy threads
and see people moving about,
attempts at normalcy.
But, I have no desire.
I am weak and sickly;
left to the shadows of a previous life.
I have neither the will nor the strength.
I’m left to wonder if I will emerge from this cocoon
to a new life,
a new type of existence
or if I will die in my encasement.
Will I be able to break free and
enjoy new life?
A new existence?
Better Health?
Feeling “at one” with the world around me?
Or will this shell become my abattoir
slaughtered in silence.
Perhaps I will emerge an avatar
able to engage, teach, foster and encourage the souls who remain?
“If you live long enough and hang in long enough
the world will learn to love you again” (*)
So, now is the time of waiting
and hanging in there
waiting for the metamorphosis to complete
as I wonder….
Will I be a butterfly or a moth?
Will I dine on the sweet nectar of milkweed?
Will I flit and flutter toward the light of my undoing?
In the end the question is not “how?” but “when?”
Even butterflies can die in their cocoon.
* quote by Toya Willcox in the liner notes to her new boxed set.
ESCAPING ONE’S OWN SHADOW
When fiction becomes fact
The above video is from the US television series HANDMAIDS TALE. It is a dystopian fiction that proves Margaret Atwood was chillingly prophetic. Unmarked, unidentifiable secret police attacking protestors. A violent response to a nonviolent protest. People excercising their rights.
And now July 2019. Portland, Oregon. Can a “Gilead” made up of Trump supporters be far behind? A nation divided.
And what’s Trumps response? “We’re also looking at Chicago and New York”. He views ALL protesters (who aren’t protesting for him) as anarchists that must be squashed. He is wrong. He will find out what true anarchy is. He needs to remember what happened to Romanian dictator Ceausescu.
There is no way this ends well. And now he say’s he may not accept the election results in November if he loses. If there is any doubt from people around the world that the United States has fallen into dictatorship. I say, WAKE THE FUCK UP!
The American Nightmare continues.
Dig deep down from Planet X, yeah Thirteen ghosts in the devil's head Step right up and feel the fire Hardcore love of the never dead Call me the American nightmare Call me the American dream Call me your soul corrupted Call me everything you need Yeah, motherfucker Yeah, who do you love Yeah, motherfucker Who do you love, yeah Black boots stomp and penetrate, yeah Lust and death gone in your head Rat pack mind degenerated Thirteen ghosts sing the body red Call me the dark intruder Call me the haunted sea Call me your Monster Zero Call me anything you need Call me the American Nightmare Call me the American dream Call me your soul corrupted Call me everything you need Yeah, motherfucker Yeah, who do you love Yeah, motherfucker Who do you love, yeah Call me the American Nightmare Call me the American dream Call me your soul corrupted Call me everything you need Yeah, motherfucker Yeah, who do you love Yeah, motherfucker Who do you love, yeah Yeah, motherfucker Yeah, who do you love Yeah, motherfucker Who do you love, yeah
“Maybe it’s time to get uncomfortable”
I know many people with similar stories.
It’s time to acknowledge the problem!
Nina Simone – I WISH I KNEW HOW IT WOULD FEEL TO BE FREE
It’s time to build up people of color and ALL people.
Nina Simone – TO BE YOUNG, GIFTED AND BLACK
It’s a human thing. To die by disease is one thing, to die by the hands of another person is reprehensible and UNACCEPTABLE.
in the unlikely event mackerel are holy
LibraryLibraryLibrary
Continuing with the posts of the past couple of days todays image has a different source. The base image (bottom) was from the outside of the elevator shaft on the top level of a car park that is used for the Akron Public Library. I also used the steam engine shot from yesterday to add some curves and texture on the final manipulation. Many Many layers were used in this process. I like the Monochrome against the orange and blue of the Library sign. I can imagine printing this on a large aluminum metal sheet.
Cage The Inferno
This severe abstraction is closer to what I normally like to create. Again the base shot (bottom image) was a detail from the same steam engine as yesterday – where the engine boiler meets the cabin where the engineer hangs out.
Flip The Script
Today I’m starting a new series of posts. This series does not have a name – it’s just the way I’m going to post. I’m going to show the final image which features heavy manipulation. And then below that I’m going to show the original image so you have some idea of what I start with and the extremes I can end up. Todays final image is mild by my standards but I really like and found that the more I “messed with it” the less I liked it. The bottom image is a detail from a steam locomotive that’s been “rotting” on display in downtown Akron. I like visiting it from time-to-time just to see if something strikes my fancy.
3 Good Friday haiku
Winter’s dying gasp
Before Easter’s rising dawn
Good Friday’s snowfall
This morning out my window #2
Snow falls on Friday
A Savior rises Sunday
Spring surprises all
This morning out my window #1
April morning snow
Quiet soft burial melting
to resurrection
It may be Friday – but Sunday’s on the way!
The Carnival Is Over
Outside the storm clouds gathering
Moved silently along the dusty boulevard
Where flowers turning crane their fragile necks
So they can in turn reach up and kiss the skyThey’re driven by a strange desire
Unseen by the human eye
Someone’s callingI remember when you held my hand
In the park we would play
When the circus came to town
Look over hereOutside the circus gathering
Moved silently along the rain swept boulevard
The procession moved on, the shouting is over
The fabulous freaks are leaving townThey’re driven by a strange desire
Unseen by the human eye
Someone’s callingThe carnival is over
We sat and watched
As the moon rose
For the very first time
carnival of rust
To breathe the name
Of your savior
In your hour of need
And taste the blame
If the flavor should remind you of greed
Of implication, insinuation and you will
Till you cannot lie still
In all this turmoil, before red cave and foil
Come closing in for a killCome feed the rain
‘Cause I’m thirsty for your love
Dancing underneath the skies of lust
Yeah feed the rain
‘Cause without your love, my life
Ain’t nothing but this carnival of rustIt’s all a game
Avoiding failure
When true colors will bleed
All in the name
Of misbehavior
And the things we don’t needI lust for after no disaster can touch
Touch us anymore
And more than ever, w hope to never fall
Where enough is not the same it was beforeCome feed the rain
‘Cause I’m thirsty for your love
Dancing underneath the skies of lust
Yeah feed the rain
‘Cause without your love, my life
Ain’t nothing but this carnival of rustYeah feed the rain
‘Cause I’m thirsty for your love,
Dancing underneath the skies of lust
Yeah, feed the rain
‘Cause without your love, my life
Ain’t nothing but this carnival of rustDon’t walk away, don’t walk away
Ooh, when the world is burning
Don’t walk away, don’t walk away
Ooh, when the heart is yearning
Don’t walk away, don’t walk away
Ooh, when the world is burning
Don’t walk away, don’t walk away
Ooh, when the heart is yearning
digging in the dirt
Something in me, dark and sticky
All the time it’s getting strong
No way of dealing with this feeling
I can’t go on like this too longThis time you’ve gone too far
This time you’ve gone too far
This time you’ve gone too far,
I told you, I told you, I told you, I told youDon’t talk back, just drive the car
Shut your mouth, I know what you are
Don’t say nothing, keep your hands on the wheel
Don’t turn around, this is for realDigging in the dirt
Stay with me I need support
I’m digging in the dirt
Find the places I got hurt
Open up the places I got hurtThe more I look, the more I find
As I close on in, I get so blind
I feel it in my head, I feel it in my toes
I feel it in my sex, that’s the place it goesThis time you’ve gone too far
This time you’ve gone too far
This time you’ve gone too far,
I told you, I told you, I told you, I told youDon’t talk back, just drive the car
Shut your mouth, I know what you are
Don’t say nothing, keep your hands on the wheel
Don’t turn around, this is for realDigging in the dirt
Stay with me I need support
I’m digging in the dirt
Find the places I got hurt
Open up the places I got hurtDigging in the dirt
Stay with me I need support
I’m digging in the dirt
Find the places I got hurt
Open up the places I got hurt
I got hurtDigging in the dirt, to find the places we got hurt
Digging in the dirt, to find the places we got hurt
Digging in the dirt, to find the places we got hurt
Digging in the dirt, to find the places we got hurt
glory & consequence
I’m more afraid of living
Than I am scared to die
I’m more afraid of falling
Than I am of flying high
Every moral has a story
Every story has an end
Every battle has its glory
And its consequence
I’m more afraid of loving
Than I am of being scorned
But I will keep on trying
Though I have been forewarned
Every moral has a story
Every story has an end
Every battle has its glory
And its consequence
I would rather me be lonely
And you have someone to hold
I’m not as scared of dying
As I am of growing old.
Every moral has a story
Every story has an end
Every battle has its glory
And its consequence
lovers in a dangerous time
Don’t the hours grow shorter as the days go by
You never get to stop and open your eyes
One day you’re waiting for the sky to fall
And next you’re dazzled by the beauty of it all
When you’re lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
These fragile bodies of touch and taste
This vibrant skin this hair like lace
Spirits open to the thrust of grace
Never a breath you can afford to waste
When you’re lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
When you’re lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
When you’re lovers in a dangerous time
Sometimes you’re made to feel as if your love’s a crime
Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight
Got to kick at the darkness till it bleeds daylight
When you’re lovers in a dangerous time
When you’re lovers in a dangerous time
When you’re lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
Dune Quotes
and be sure to check out my FAVORITE Frank Herbert quote – the litany against fear – on an older post from 2016 but perfectly suited to the age of COVID-19 (click the link below).
https://onbeingbecoming.com/2016/11/10/on-fear/
arriving somewhere but not here
Never stop the car on a drive in the dark
Never look for the truth in your mother’s eyes
Never trust the sound of rain upon a river
Rushing through your earsArriving somewhere but not here
Did you imagine the final sound as a gun?
Or the smashing windscreen of a car?
Did you ever imagine the last thing you’d hear as you’re fading out was a song?All my designs, simplified
And all of my plans, compromised
All of my dreams, sacrificedEver had the feeling you’ve been here before?
Drinking down the poison the way you were taught
Every thought from here on in your life begins
And all you knew was wrong?Arriving somewhere but not here
All my designs, simplified
And all of my plans, compromised
All of my dreams, sacrificedDid you see the red mist block your path?
Did the scissors cut a way to your heart?
considering…
Considering the overwhelming impact of humanity on this planet I’m left with the following questions and statements to think about:
How much more of humanity can our planet support?
How much more of humanity will our planet tolerate?
At what point will our natural resources run out?
Then what?
Is there a danger that humanity will become extinct?
Would that be a bad thing?
Is the problem Humanity or merely the sheer volume/numbers of our species? After all no other species has completely dominated the earth like Humanity.
Nature always attempts to reset.
Isn’t the Corona Virus COVID-19, an attempt by nature to reset the balance of humanity to earths resources? Should we fight the Corona Virus, COVID-19?
In fighting nature aren’t we trying to control it and force it to our liking, our whims regardless of what may be best for our species AND the planet?
Does humanity have a false sense of value?
Does humanity have a false sense of what is morally right?
Does humanity have a false sense of importance?
Didn’t God create humanity to be caretakers of this planet?
when did humanity evolve from the “Image of God” to being god?
Hasn’t God always punished humanity for overstepping (think of the Tower of Babel)?
Even if we defeat the Corona Virus, COVID-19, something else will come along?
Just because we CAN – does that mean we SHOULD?
People will always get sick and people will ALWAYS die. Personally I’d rather die by natural cause like a virus than by a gun, war, violence or technological accident. Just think how much better the world will be if people took the same extreme measures to stop war, curb gun violence, domestic violence and other crimes of humanity – is it really just and right to imprison people in their homes because we are afraid?
http://www.anthropocene.info/pb5.php
what are the 7 signs of the Anthropocene – a manmade epoch?
1.Nuclear Weapons
2.Accelerated use of fossil fuels
3.The invention of 3 materials that have forever changed how we live: Concrete, Aluminum, Plastics
4.manmade change of earths geology through farming, mining, deforestation, landfills, dam building, coastal reclamation
5.Increased use of fertilizers
6.Climate change/global warming
7.mass extinction – we are currently in what is called the 6th mass extinction in planetary history with 3/4ths of species due to be wiped out in the coming centuries.
I Still Believe!
I been in a cave
For forty days
Only a spark
To light my way
I wanna give out
I wanna give in
This is our crime
This is our sinBut I still believe
I still believe
Through the pain
And through the grief
Through the lives
Through the storms
Through the cries
And through the wars
Oh, I still believeFlat on my back
Out at sea
Hopin’ these waves
Don’t cover me
I’m turned and tossed
Upon the waves
When the darkness comes
I feel the graveBut I still believe
I still believe
Through the cold
And through the heat
Through the rain
And through the tears
Through the crowds
And through the cheers
Oh, I still believeI’ll march this road
I’ll climb this hill
Upon on my knees
If I have to
I’ll take my place
Up on this stage
I’ll wait ’til the end of time
For you like everybody elseI’m out on my own
Walkin’ the streets
Look at the faces
That I meet
I feel like I
Like I want to go home
What do I feel
What do I knowBut I still believe
I still believe
Through the shame
And through the grief
Through the heartache
Through the tears
Through the waiting
Through the yearsFor people like us
In places like this
We need all the hope
That we can get
Oh, I still believe
You’re the only good thing in my life
You only fuck for love
Told me you could never get enough
Posing as a Playboy centerfold
You could be my Penthouse Pet, I knowYou make me think of storms on the beaches
With all the lights offEverything is wrong, but it’s alright
You’re the only good thing in my lifeDo what your heart desires
Love is always strange when it just starts
Shouldn’t have a care left in the world
Naked, tanning by the swimming pool…Laying in the sun,
Never need to tell me when you come
Because you know that I can just feel it
Songs From The Wood
Let me bring you songs from the wood:
To make you feel much better than you could know
Dust you down from tip to toe
Show you how the garden grows
Hold you steady as you go
Join the chorus if you can:
It’ll make of you an honest man
Let me bring you love from the field:
Poppies red and roses filled with summer rain
To heal the wound and still the pain
That threatens again and again
As you drag down every lover’s lane
Life’s long celebration’s here
I’ll toast you all in penny cheer
Let me bring you all things refined:
Galliards and lute songs served in chilling ale
Greetings well met fellow, hail!
I am the wind to fill your sail
I am the cross to take your nail:
A singer of these ageless times
With kitchen prose and gutter rhymes
Songs from the wood – make you feel much better
Songs from the wood
Let me bring you love from the field:
Poppies red and roses filled with summer rain
To heal the wound and still the pain
That threatens again and again
As you drag down every lovers’ lane
Life’s long celebration’s here
I’ll toast you all in penny cheer
who wants to live forever?
There’s no time for us,
There’s no place for us,
What is this thing that builds our dreams, yet slips away from us.Who wants to live forever,
Who wants to live forever
There’s no chance for us,
It’s all decided for us,
This world has only one sweet moment set aside for us.Who wants to live forever,
Who dares to love forever,
When love must die.But touch my tears with your lips,
Touch my world with your fingertips,
And we can have forever,
And we can love forever,
Forever is our today,
Who wants to live forever,
Who wants to live forever,
Forever is our today,
Who wants forever anyway?
coronavirus 2020 #8
The harder you try to “do it right” – you’ll always end up “going down, down, down”. Become an anomaly. Be different!
tempest
Message Massage
Starting off the month of March, all this week, like February ended – Abstracts inspired by music.
Favorite Quotes by Marshall McLuhan:
“The Medium Is the Message”
“Advertising is an environmental striptease for a world of abundance.”
“Art at its most significant is a Distant Early Warning System that can always be relied on to tell the old culture what is happening to it.”
“Today the Tyrant rules not by club or fist, but disguised as a market researcher, he shepherds his flocks in the ways of utility and comfort.”
Surrender
Life Is A Virus
Everybody Breaks
Life Will Break You
valley view ungolfed
