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Friday, January 31, 2014

 

“Every man has his own meshugas [craziness].”

 

(Leo Rosten’s Treasury of Jewish Quotations)

 

Abjured (swore off, renounced, disavowed)

 

He abjured his error and was reinstated.

 

[Corrections were made, again.]

 

[I’m more tired on Friday evenings than any other time.

When I’m tired I write passive literary rot with tons of mistakes. Ha!)

 

---  ---  ---

 

Hello.

Happy Chinese New Year’s!

***

Super Bowl XLVIII

Vs.

Kiddy Porn

 

What would I know?

Nothing.

 

          No, I’m not about to scold 106.6 million (reported by the Huffington Post, 2013) Super Bowl viewers because it’s common knowledge that most Americans abhor to be preached at and the more one scorns them then the more rebellious they become in their demeanor even if it means having them cut off their nose to spite their face. (Ha!)

 

          It’s simply the work of any excellent writer to “judge” and “challenge” readers to evolve as E. L. Doctorow best described writing to be on Charlie Rose this week.

 

So here goes nothing.

At least enjoy the literary rollercoaster ride. Fun!

 

 

***

          As of December 2013 the population of the United States of America was estimated at 317 million which means that exactly 211 million non-football fans or viewers of the violent sport get ignored by mass media culture by in large when Super Bowl time rolls around because mass media has bought into the false notion that the entire nation gets behind the Super Bowl but factually we’re not.

 

Mass media is under the delusional pretense and falsehood that football is our “religion” (careful) just like media’s probably under the false impression that we care about Justin Bieber’s drunken stupors or assaults which we don’t care because “massive culture” isn’t a subculture like “pop culture” is.

 

Two-thirds of the American population goes under represented as our nation’s mass media ‘lose their marbles’ and regresses into high school mentality which most of us would like to forget our high school days because our mature and adult lives are way sweeter than high school ever was thus we’ve evolved.

 

(Let’s face reality: if one’s still ‘crazy’ about football well into their mature adulthood then it’s due to regressed cognition and suppressed emotions because one prefers to look back instead of forward.)

 

Regression more or less means that one doesn’t hold real hope for the future because the only real feelings of comfort and warmth were those that they experienced at the age of 16 and 17 and not at 30 and 40.

 

Believe it or not: two thirds (2/3) of the United States of America cares less about the Super Bowl because mature adults have far better and more important aspects of adult life to conduct.

 

For two-thirds (2/3) of the population, they don’t give a hoot if the NFL chokes on their vomit or their 2012’s $9.5 billion revenue (profits) because the NFL is one of those companies like Coca Cola that contributes just about absolutely nothing of value or worth to our nation’s cultural standing like supporting musical and art education in schools or the environment except to make large sums of profit and that’s a thing of the past when Americans want to support companies that make a solemn promise to humanity rather than to their miserly ways.

 

 

***

          Factually, on the day of the Super Bowl, kiddy porn and sex trafficking rises at a staggering rate by more than 200%.

 

          When it comes to Super Bowl kiddy porn its girls the age of 13 who are highly sought after.

 

          Now, this indeed remarkable research for anthropologists to study because as much as our media outlets promote the Super Bowl to death than the less they get “to the heart of matters” and public issues which directly effect our daily lives such as the staggering rise in Super Bowl kiddy porn and sex trafficking.

 

Around Super Bowl time our media outlets are “supposed” to serve our entire citizenry but media tends to become marketers instead of reporters or journalists at this time. (For some reason our media personnel become cheap vendors hawking knock off goods from the trunk of their cars like politicians do following the State of the Union address rebuttal.)

 

          Yes, there’s a connection between the Super Bowl and kiddy porn and sex trafficking no matter whichever way one chooses to look at it.

 

The mere fact that kiddy porn and sex trafficking are so prevalent during the Super Bowl says a lot about some of the more perverse persons in a subculture of violence and sexual exploits; people whom care less about our nation’s children and more about abducted kiddy pussy because they relate the two together.

 

(It’s got to be written about and there’s no other way to put it delicately. I can’t make light of the subject matter nor can I gloss over it with delicacies. I’m a real writer and that’s what my job is, to shed light where darkness prevails.)

 

There’s something about the violence of brain damaged games such as that of American football and kiddy porn and sex trafficking that prompts some of our football watching male population to suck on barbeque wings and yank on their penises while they go back-and-forth between the game and online kiddy porn. (What gives?) (Loneliness and desperation.)

 

It’s so interesting to think about the vast complex intricacies when it comes to this dire combination.

 

Now, is it football that creates erections and perverse fantasies or is it kiddy porn that creates an enthusiasm for football?

 

(I can’t seem to figure it out. That could become an entirely new psychological case study all of its own.)

 

Which came first? The chicken or the egg? (Ha!)

 

Was it a game of brain damaged players in tights which made some of our male football watching population horny or was it kiddy porn that made fans out of our boys?

 

Could you imagine if it were kiddy porn that made fans out of our boys?

 

If it were a case of kiddy porn that made fans out of our boys then that would say a whole lot more about the psychology of some in that specific fan base subculture then it would the other way around.

 

If it were a case of violence and ability to get turned on by a game of brain damaged players then that’d make more sense in the prompting of fans’ sexual arousal and horniness and perverse sex drive by igniting the brain’s sexual desire through visual imagery in the violence of men in tights.

 

There’s something about violence that sometimes makes some men (with impulse control issues) want to dehumanize children (there you have it) but for kiddy porn to prompt a fan base of some perverts would be less unlikely although who knows?

 

I do wonder if having a partial perverse male fan base understand that some of the football players are brain damaged; if that raises motivation for perverse sexual behavior because then it would prove that some perverts derive great comfort in overpowering those of a weaker status like brain damage or naked 13 year old kiddies masturbating online in their bedrooms or in some pimps’ dirty forsaken basements set up for the purpose of videotaping kiddy porn and sex trafficking.

 

What is it about the Super Bowl and kiddy porn and sex trafficking which creates such a stark comparison between them?

 

(There must be something that prompts one with the other.)

 

          I can’t imagine it: so some in this subculture of football watching perverse males tend to watch a tackle on television and immediately they get a hard-on and an innate urge to order a 13 year old masturbating online?

 

They like to have our children spread their legs and masturbate for them as they ejaculate all over their computers and turn back to the game?

 

(You know what goes through my mind, don’t you? It most likely means that some of these men were children of sex abuse crimes.)

 

          What mentally disturbed nearly one-third (1/3) of the nation’s population but I blame and judge their perverse parents and Grandparents even more so.

 

This devastating perverse aspect of some in this subculture and their spiritually-intellectual disconnect not only speaks to their perverse loneliness and need for power but also to their lack of ethics.

 

          Finally, I’d suggest to the two-thirds (2/3) of Americans who don’t give a shit about the Super Bowl to lock it down.

 

Keep a strong safe guard over your children especially their online activities and to remember that 13 year old girls are the hot commodity of the Super Bowl this season and every other season.

 

Its 13 year olds that some of this morbid and perverse subculture are after.

 

Safe guard your little ones because people sure are scary weird and fundamentally screwed up when it comes to their childhood sex abuses and traumas that which they can’t seem to overcome.

 

It’s not only a subculture of partially some perverse male fan viewers but also Douglas Dietrich talks and writes about how the army was granted substantial funds and all they did with the money was to set up computers for the main purpose to view kiddy porn. (You’ll have to look up his research because I’m not very good at reiterating what he spoke about.)

 

I do wonder why child sex abuse is so prevalent in America.

What gives?

 

Violence perpetuates further violence.

 

Yes, football’s a violent game and it’s for adults to watch.

 

No, we wouldn’t allow for our children to watch football because if you’ve ever done any research on child psychology then you know how confusing it is to explain abstract concepts like violence to children. (Any type of violence resonates inside their little brains and sits there festering away like shame or humiliation does.)

 

Please, boycott the Super Bowl.

It’s not worth ‘two beans’ in contribution to our nation’s welfare.

Watch the ads online. Thanks!

 

Peace.

 

Best Regards to our 13-year old girls;

Gabriel

 

Word Count: 1,626

 

Thursday, January 30, 2014

 

“Borrow, and you’ll sorrow.”

 

(Leo Rosten’s Treasury of Jewish Quotations)

 

Abeyance (held in waiting, pending, suspension)

 

The sentence was held in abeyance until more proof could be obtained.

 

[Corrections were made, again.]

 

---  ---  ---

 

Hello.

 

***

‘Hooker’ Wardrobe

Vs.

Golden Globe Awards 2014

 

What would I know?

Nothing.

 

          Yes, for the first time in my life as of this past weekend I sat down and finally watched the 2014 “Golden Globe Awards” because as a matter of fact I do live under a rock embedded into a hillside and I like to watch recorded cable television shows on our DVR which most likely I’ll not watch the Golden Globe Awards again because the material of the clothing made me think of prom dresses and well, I’m no longer in high school so why should I care? I shouldn’t. (Let’s move on.)

 

          It struck me odd, in an era of High Definition television that celebrities don’t seem to understand that material quality comes through on our above standardized pixels.

 

I asked an expert why it was that some of the celebrities’ gowns looked more like prom dresses and the answer I received: “Because they’re only supposed to wear them for one night.” Fair enough.

 

I was struck by the materials more so than the cuts.

 

I thought I was going to sit through a highfalutin Haute Courtier Runway Show only to disappointedly come to the realization that many of the gowns appeared to be something that “ordinary” citizens could purchase at Bloomingdales.

 

It appeared to be a sea of prom dresses by ‘hooker designs’ with the exception of about twelve ladies who were indeed dressed to kill.

 

Cate Blanchett’s dress took my breath away.

 

I had to freeze frame a picture of her in her dress and study it.

 

I got real close to the television set because her dress was indeed astonishing to see a woman dressed in a piece of artwork without giving away anything for free plus she’s drop dead gorgeous.

 

On that night Cate Blanchett had more sexual appeal than most women whose plunging necklines almost touched their vaginas.

 

That’s the entire point when it comes to wearing a plunging neckline down to one’s bellybutton, isn’t it? (Plus it’s so 1970’s ugly disco era.)

 

          When women wear plunging necklines down to their bellybuttons it’s meant to imply that our voyeuristic eyes are supposed to think of her wet pussy in all its glorious juices and tight vastly wonders inside a world of possibilities that she just might jump right out of our television sets and into our living rooms and cum all over our faces while we hang on to our armchairs for dear life as we objectify her to hooker level status. Right? Right.

 

She seizes to be a woman and becomes a pimp’s delight for wild and potentially dangerous violence.

 

We can imagine beating her senseless and punching her on her breasts because that’s what some men fantasize about to commit acts of violence against women therefore some men pay pimps for the vulnerable pleasure to punch prostitutes on their breasts until the women are ‘black and blue’ but never to the breaking point to which the sternum or ribcage are damaged.

 

The women get punched hard enough for the men to get out their rage without ever breaking God’s gift to men. (America, tis of thee.)

 

          Only in real time have I ever witnessed hookers wear plunging necklines down to their bellybuttons and they mean to look like that due to their professions. They get paid to look the part of ‘wet pussy’ and ready to go (excuse me, ladies. I had to make a literary point.)

 

Prostitutes have told me that they don’t like to dress like that but yet again they don’t do it for free. They do it to sell their commodities and goods (their bodies) on the open market and they expect to be paid well for looking “silly” because many of them are mothers.

 

Their words left a lasting impression on me. Even prostitutes have enough sense not to be portrayed as objects by ‘decent’ folk if they don’t have to be.

 

When the women weren’t working they made sure that they were properly and decently dressed because many dropped off and picked up their children at bus stops and daycares and schools.

 

          I wonder, when did prostitute culture make its way into celebrities’ wardrobes and when did celebrities buy into thinking that “hooker culture” was mainstream mass culture?

 

I’m in awe of our celebrities dressed like hookers.

 

It’s really funny to me.

 

I can’t help but laugh that anyone bought into a notion as ridiculous as all that.

 

I like to laugh at the mediocrity of unintelligible decisions especially when it came to the Golden Globe Awards’ attire or lack thereof because it meant that people got lazy about critical analysis and self awareness and what it truly means to be presented before the world just as it is in the same valuable manner to be presented at court.

 

One doesn’t dress like a ‘hooker’ to be presented at court before the Queen. No. Thus, one properly dresses to be presented before the world in the same manner of thought and courtesy as one would to be presented before the Queen, Her Majesty.

 

          I suspect that “hooker culture” made its way into subculture in the form of “pop culture” because pop culture takes itself way, too, seriously, however, it goes to show how out of touch pop culture truly is with the rest of “mainstream mass culture” because while women on the ground are fighting the fight of their lives; pop culture seems to ignore those very plights and treats everything either like a B-porn or a violent video game or a soft-porn music video which no longer tells stories.

 

(Music videos have simply become the portrayal of pimps in cheaply built ‘McMansions’ with hideous ‘bling’ (and that’s not even accessory conscious anyway one looks at it) while women in the videos stick their pussies up in the air and dry-hump themselves into wet bliss and we’re not even supposed to consider the possibilities of venereal diseases, HIV and AIDS.) As if.

 

          When such a pervasive disconnect occurs between “subculture” (like pop culture) and “mass media” then it’s a warning signal to culture experts (anthropologists) to closely inspect and begin to understand such a breakdown in mass media and how it occurred.

 

Not so much why the breakdown happened but more so importantly how did it happen.

 

One of the reasons why there’s such a breakdown between “subculture(s)” and “mass media” is because media isn’t always smart enough to decipher the difference between “pop culture” and “fantasy culture” and that which media gets incorrectly fed vs. what mass culture is actually living through in any current era.

 

Media culture gets lost in a sea of misinformation and social media.

 

When this breakdown occurs then media begins to believe delusions about a “niche market” and “subculture” which barely holds any influence over the rest of civilization but because media tends to fall into “sub-cultural niche rabbit holes” and gets duped to drink the spiked Kool-Aid then they go mad as hatters.

 

Media then can’t decipher “fantasy” from “reality” any longer and they do like to self-promote Go-Go Boots (1990’s ugly replicas) in the workplace through improperly dressed young women who may have a pulse on pop culture” but they certainly don’t have a pulse on quality fashion or haute courtier” therefore such young people become inconsequential as well as their bosses to the rest of “mass culture” and we begin to believe less in what they represent and say than ever before.

 

Of course, you already know all about the psychology of media but more so the bottom line. (Ha!)

 

[Get this: Please, let it not be forgotten: Automatically and subconsciously culture at large doesn’t trust or respect the self-promotion (conflict of interest) and disregard for “mass culture” especially when mass media gets lost in a fantasy world of their own therefore whatever ideals or information or items get hawked by mass media they become less valuable or believable overtime by mass culture because the erosion of media sets in and media’s authority gets chipped away every time a delusional disconnect occurs.

 

Media begins to look more like a “clown car” than a place for news and information which such information is indeed vital to our survival and commerce and important decision making.

 

Information can be presented in a “fun” format or manner but mass culture doesn’t seem to like it when mass media authorities dress like hookers or pimps or try to pass off as some junior high school teens with hormonal imbalances and wet dreams and acne.

 

Mass media becomes less of a place for “mass culture” to attend.

 

Mass culture’s mature adult intelligence disengages because mass media begins to take the form and look more of a childcare center for junior high school teens with gum stuck to their hair than professionals therefore mass media unhinges from their authority and becomes more of a “freak show.”

 

(Oh, we’ll sit back with popcorn but don’t for one moment think that we’ll trust the judgment of “mad hatters” drunk on spiked Kool-Aid.)]

 

          Clothing is vitally important (especially for a medium such as television and its personnel) because clothes leave a lasting strong impression of the person or people on mass media television.

 

For example; mass culture doesn’t trust politicians who improperly dress outside of professional attire and instead in gardening clothes to hold press conferences or such.

 

The reason why mass culture’s mature and intelligent adults don’t trust improperly dressed elected officials is because a “proper ideal” was imprinted into our DNA and our minds throughout the fabric of our history.

 

As a “massive culture” we believe that our elected officials shall maintain a professional standard in their professional attire and dress code especially if the country ‘goes to hell in a hand held basket.’

 

Standards must be maintained.

One must maintain standards.

Mustn’t one? Yes.

 

We don’t like to think of our elected officials or mass media on-camera personnel in their underwear or bike gear or sweats.

 

It’s simply and completely out of the question to present oneself to the public at large like a slob or like a hooker. It’s a bad idea because such attire diminishes one’s authority. It just does.

 

“Always dress up,” my Grandmother used to say, “Don’t dress down.” How right she was, coming from a woman who wore impeccably beautifully tailored Channel suits.

 

          When a young person is incorrectly or improperly dressed in the workplace then “mass mature culture” simply shuns them and chucks it up to stupidity or ignorance or irresponsibility, however, mass culture doesn’t for one single moment trust them to do proper business.

 

Not for any reason whatsoever does mass culture conduct business with slobs or their bosses because when a young person takes the liberty to wear Go-Go Boots or flip flops or fishnets to the workplace then it sends out a strong symbolic signal (semiotics) that there aren’t any professional standards or discipline in that particular establishment and mass culture likes to depend on those who’ll guard our money and safe keep our standardized values so that our children may succeed in the future.

 

Mass culture is polite and courteous to others when they’re inappropriately dressed, however, we neither leave our money nor our information to such folks. No way.

 

Why would we?

We wouldn’t.

 

Yes, one must maintain standards in the workplace and afterhours unless one wants to portray themselves like hookers those which I met and researched then by all means but that won’t get anyone respect in the world of mass culture where real money is made.

 

          Finally, mass media bought into the delusional ideals of niche subcultures in the form of “pop culture” because this subculture appeared more prevalent and shinny, however, as we move with the times the main reason as to why sex doesn’t sell isn’t because ‘stay at home mommy’s’ or Grandmothers don’t have sexual appeal or sex drive, but more so because mass culture is indeed mature and it must maintain standards in the workplace and in life in general and that’s where the money’s at.

 

Teens no longer hold upward mobility or disposable incomes to spend as they wish.

 

It’s now retirement age folks who have all the toys and hold upward mobility and disposable incomes.

 

It’s always been that way: for the most part by the time one turns 40-50 years of age then one has been working hard for about 20 or 30 years and it means that one’s got money in their pockets and savings accounts and retirement funds.

 

Nevertheless, let it not be forgotten that “mass culture” believes in maintained standards thus civilization thrives.

 

Mass culture doesn’t get confused about maintaining standards in the same manner in which mass media does because it’s business as usual for mass culture.

 

One last point: to dress in the same manner as one’s character (in a movie storyline) to an awards show can only mean a few things: a) wishful thinking to be considered the wettest pussy all around b) wishful thinking to be considered the most beautiful woman alive c) loss of one’s marbles and definitely out of touch with reality to dress like a character in a movie when life is far more fantastic than fantasy ever will be d) immaturity in a woman e) poor decision making f) a terrible clothier or stylist who requires to be fired on the spot for making a beautiful woman look a fool in front of the world.

 

Last point: When did cheerleaders start dressing like ‘hookers’ also?

 

Standards must be maintained because the sole responsibility of cheerleaders is to carry the spirit of communities and cities or a nation (possibly).

 

If cheerleaders can’t maintain standards then mass culture just wants for them to go away from our mainframe view and appear someplace else in videotaped porn and get it over with. (Ejaculate everywhere but not on our watch or on our valuable time.)

 

Cheerleaders must represent that overall spirit of everyone otherwise they, too, have lost their marbles and are out of touch with reality as well.

 

We get it:

 

Televised women so badly desire to have their pussies considered the wettest commodity all around but not in front of our children and the elderly or respectable and professional working men and women ‘no you don’t’ ‘out you go’ otherwise such women are perceived as ‘hookers’ who don’t even get paid to get laid. (Ouch.)

 

Mass culture sees right through the nonsense.

 

What more do you want?

I spelled it out for you.

Now take it to the bank.

 

Peace.

 

Sincerely;

Gabriel

 

Word Count: 2,650

 

Notes:

 

*) It’s 5:30a.m.

 

We start out our mornings with “Wake Up With Al.”

We implicitly trust Al when it comes to weather.

 

---  ---  ---

 

Corrections need to be mentioned:

 

*) Yes, an M.A. or Ph.D. degrees are technically considered in more eloquent words “advanced degrees.”

 

---  ---  ---

 

*) Michelle Bachmann the Minnesota politician’s name is spelled with two N’s vs. Bachman the 125 Minnesota family owned florist is spelled with one N.

 

My deepest apologies about making a rather confusing and nasty analogy using the florist’s name in metaphorical terms to that of Michelle Bachmann the politician just for that I owe the florist a poem that I look forward to writing one of these day.

 

(I don’t forget anything especially not my mistakes. Cheers!)

 

---  ---  ---

 

*) Yes, my investors’ contracts run out on 2023. (I made a mistake about the next two decades. I got ahead of myself. Thankfully, there’re people who keep me informed about the fine details.)

 

I’m under contract for one solid decade when it comes to certain rules and regulations to our agreements however financially they’d like it if they could continue to invest in our work for another decade beyond 2023. (A lot happens in one day.)

 

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

 

“The biggest worries can’t pay the smallest debts.”

 

(Leo Rosten’s Treasury of Jewish Quotations)

 

Dromedary: (Arabian or one humped camel)

 

The dromedary can travel swiftly and is used for racing.

 

[Corrections were made.]

 

---  ---  ---

 

Hello.

 

***

State of the Union Address

Rebuttal 2014

 

          When one rebuttals anything it is customary that one doesn’t give an autobiographical account of one’s life story because then it cheapens the rebuttal and such a comeback weakens the position of the speaker and that which the speaker represents.

 

It’s not only disrespectful but also unintelligent of the Republican Party to get stuck inside a 1950’s social construct and to repeat themselves like a broken record.

 

What the overall Republican Party doesn’t seem to understand is that the world became a whole lot savvier as of 1996 with the widespread of knowledge and information through the technical means and in the form of the “internet elders.” (Ha!)

 

It’s not only repulsive to have to sit through a rebuttal that undermines and belittles the intelligence of their audiences but also a rebuttal is about understanding what was said in the first place in order to make counterpoint arguments that which one doesn’t agree.

 

It’s difficult to understand as to why the Republican Party as a whole continues to speak down to their constituents. It’s not like a modern constituency base doesn’t know what a “rebuttal” is in its entire form and definition.

 

          One main reason for the breakdown and diminished authority of the Republican Party is that they seem stubborn to grow along with the rest of the nation’s cultural ideologies and ideals and thoughts concerning our deepest contemporary values and ethics.

 

It seems as though overall modern culture has left the Republican Party in the dust and that’s why they no longer hold an interest in our daily lives much less do they hold any real interest of value when it comes to the 2016 presidential elections.

 

Contemporary culture simply perceives the Republican Party as a bunch of mean-spirited clowns that scare the hell out of us thus we’re willing to watch the freak show but by no means do we wish to participate in it. (Hell, we’ll even sit back with popcorn and enjoy the madness ensue.)

 

One main reason for having Americans distrust the Republican Party is because they seem to be a party of hatred and discrimination and persecution like any other hate group out there.

 

If one wants to pass judgment upon others then keep that out of our politics.

 

Americans truly believe in the separation of church and state.

 

We believe in such a separation because the Republican Party has proven that they hate women so much as all that, that they’ll go so far as to pass illegal laws such as trans-vaginal ultrasound probing in certain states for those women choosing their legal Constitutional rights to abortion.

 

          If one were to give the Republican Party enough rope then they’ll hang themselves because what they seem to misunderstand is the point that Americans have had enough of war and economic inequality and political division and hatred speech.

 

Americans are sick and tired of hate groups.

 

We’ve witnessed many of our military family members come home in body bags or with physical injuries or deep wounds or Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome to last them a lifetime.

 

Isn’t it enough that our military families will take care of our wounded or badly injured soldiers for the rest of our soldiers’ lives while our dysfunctional congress sits on their hands and whines about everything except to pass healthy and viable laws that’ll raise the status of our nation’s wealth and consequence?

 

          The time is now over for the Republican Party’s daydreaming of a yesterday long gone and forgotten when we’re faced with today to straighten out this nation’s economical and infrastructural and educational problems with intelligent and inclusive and spirited solutions.

 

Instead of all the whining the Republican Party does why not put their heads together and come up with remarkable ideas in which they solve our nation’s problems with friendly policies and solutions and great and healthy laws for their People.

 

What I can’t seem to understand (tongue in cheek) is why the Republican Party hates so much?

 

What did the American People ever do to the Republican Party to become such a party of self-loathers, racists and bigots?

 

What will it take to get the Republican Party out of the slumps and back into the game because the world isn’t going to reverse backwards no matter how much Republicans may wish it like little snot-nosed kids who’ve learned to throw tantrums just to get their way?

 

Doesn’t the Republican Party understand that the greedy kids and bullies and tantrum throwing children are the ones that nobody wants to play with no matter how much money their ‘mommy’ and ‘daddy’ may earn?

 

The American People don’t want to play with the Republican Party when all they want to do is play a game of starvation and exclusiveness and mean-spirited bullying especially when it comes to wishing they could almost vaginally mutilate our Sisters because of their own personal reasons for aborting their fetuses.

 

Why can’t the Republican Party relax and pass the potatoes and gravy at our tables?

 

It’s so weird that the Republican Party are our guests at our congressional table yet they tell us what horrible people we are for working so hard and barely having enough to eat yet we’re willing to share our meager morsels of food with them because the American spirit has always been one of inclusiveness.

 

We take care of our own whether dressed in a three-piece-suit or in a potato sack.

 

We don’t discriminate because ours is a history of hardworking pioneers who carved out cabins with their bare hands and relied on their closest neighbors ten or twenty or fifty miles away to make sure that our nation survived and thrived and future generations became educated and savvy about agriculture and entrepreneurial business and education and medicine and science and mathematics.

 

          It’s indeed queer that the Republican Party doesn’t seem to understand that women are no longer “lady mayors.” Women are now mayors of major cities and rural communities.

 

Women fill almost half of the workforce in our country.

 

We pay steep taxes and carry a vast amount of our household’s incomes on our backs while our partners stay home and care for our children, which caring for children is the single most important job there is whether women take care of our children or our men do.

 

For the first time in history it’s women who earn their four year degrees more so than men.

 

It’s women’s earned incomes that households rely on to get on throughout the years.

 

This present administration 2012-2014 has brought more income equality to women than any other administration ever before.

 

          Back to one; (back to the beginning). And roll it.

 

          One of the major reasons as to why it’s such an insult to make a rebuttal an autobiographical one is because it comes across as a personal infomercial for beauty products or sanitary napkins.

 

When a female representative of the Republican Party makes their life story a policy rebuttal then We The People feel as though someone’s hawking knock offs right out of the trunk of their car at an intersection instead of making great and intelligent counterpoints to any speech or presentation. (Ha!)

 

The reason as to why it’s an insult to make autobiographical rebuttals is because We The People understand that members of congress are already successful and most likely on their way to become multi-millionaires with their insider trading secrets.

 

There’s no reason to have any congress members throw it in our faces that they’re more successful than the rest of our citizens when so many of our own starve and freeze in the winters to save on heating bills.

 

An autobiographical rebuttal says: I made it and you haven’t.

 

An autobiographical rebuttal says: I’ve worked harder than you.

 

An autobiographical rebuttal says: I’ve overcome my problems while you still haven’t overcome yours.

 

An autobiographical rebuttal says: Pity my life story.

 

An autobiographical rebuttal says: You’re stinky and I’m not.

 

An autobiographical rebuttal says: I’m a bragger and a boaster.

 

An autobiographical rebuttal says: I’ve no idea what the policies are about but if I just fill enough airtime talking inconsequentially about myself and tell stories that don’t pertain to the main speech in topic matter then I can only hope that the viewer won’t notice, too, much that I’ve no idea what an intelligent rebuttal’s supposed to be.

 

An autobiographical rebuttal says: I’m not well prepared to rebuttal.

 

An autobiographical rebuttal says: I’ve not once taken speech 101 or debate 101 and I hope the viewer won’t notice.

 

An autobiographical rebuttal says: Tonight, I’ll self-loathe because I know I’ve done wrong and I won’t be able to sleep a wink.

 

An autobiographical rebuttal says: Women aren’t smart enough to stand up on their own in a political world of men.

 

An autobiographical rebuttal says: I hate you because I don’t know my lines.

 

An autobiographical rebuttal says: I’m putting one over on you.

 

An autobiographical rebuttal says: I don’t understand what the hell’s going on in this debate.

 

An autobiographical rebuttal says: I don’t understand politics.

 

An autobiographical rebuttal says: I need to learn more about politics.

 

An autobiographical rebuttal says: I know I don’t deserve to be here but here I am!

 

An autobiographical rebuttal says: “Little misses” sure are stupid and I’m making a perfect example of just that to perpetuate further gender role stereotypes.

 

An autobiographical rebuttal says: I refuse to take my apron off when company comes over.

 

An autobiographical rebuttal says: I’m a dinosaur and on my way out.

 

An autobiographical rebuttal says: I’m disingenuous.

 

(I could go on but I won’t. I made my point.)

 

          It’s a new century and change is here.

 

          It’s a new century and the Republican Party has got to ‘get a hold of themselves’ and change with the times or they’ll become a party that one only gets to read about in flawed textbooks.

 

          It’s a new century and the Republican Party better get in the inclusive political game and not throw the Americans under the bus simply and only because they hate life.

 

          It’s a new century and we’re already “lagging behind.”

 

          Come on, catch up.

         

          We’re waiting for you because we’re sportsmen and sportswomen.

 

          As far as the State of the Union address is concerned, it was a positive and well put together piece of writing that was well executed (delivered) through verbal presentation and performance.

 

          I give the State of the Union address an A- only because I’m still curious to find out how government and congress and this present administration (White House) will indeed educate and prepare our citizens for an entirely new century of industry when assembly lines were outsourced and have become a thing of the past.

 

How?

 

          Don’t forget that a lot happens in one day.

 

The next three years of this present administration’s responsibilities will go down in the flawed history textbooks because it’s not about how one wins elections, it’s more so about how one closes out their administration’s duration and their duties and policies with the main mission to leave a term in office better than one found it.

 

Let’s go!

 

This present administration still holds great authority over this country. (This present administration has always been in the game and it will continue to be until the day they leave office.)

 

Whether Republicans like it or not our present President (he who shall not be named) is still our President and The American People don’t forget that he’s the single most powerful man on Earth.

 

Yet and nevertheless we neither forget that he started out as a politician and when his presidential term is over in the Oval Office hopefully he’ll leave a complete man instead of a car salesman. (Ha!)

 

We believe in he who shall not be named yet we don’t like that politics have to be played by dirty tricks and disingenuous ideals or lies and war mongering.

 

A politician will always be a politician until the very end, yet, what he must prove to others is his complete humanity.

 

He must not keep his humanity from himself or from others otherwise he retires as half a man and not a complete man and who wants that? No body.

         

          Yes, an “executive order” is quite democratic.

          Look it up.

 

Best Wishes;

Gabriel

 

Word Count: 2,064

 

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

 

“The man who habitually borrows is not fit to be a judge.”

 

(Leo Rosten’s Treasury of Jewish Quotations)

 

Protocol (ceremonial form, established courtesies)

 

The queen set aside protocol and spoke a toast in her honor.

 

[Corrections were made, again.]

 

---  ---  ---

 

Hello.

***

State of Cultural Affairs

 

          I’m not going to go on about politics however some aspects of American culture must be unveiled before this global audience.

 

          Let’s jump right in:

          Let’s take a Leap of Faith:

 

          One, most citizens can agree that our “economic class” doesn’t define our “culture class.”

 

Please, don’t call us “middle class.”

Welcome to a new century.

 

We’re “middle income earners.”

How much money we make doesn’t determine the class we are.

 

America isn’t India.

America isn’t a caste system.

 

To be honest, truthful, fair and just are neither only qualifications nor prerequisites of noblemen or the wealthy.

 

To be present and kind towards others surpasses economic distinction and “class warfare” therefore it’s best to judge another by the content of their character opposed to their promissory notes or networth.

 

To be middle income doesn’t mean that our class distinction is just that because for those of us who grew up upper middle class or upper class we’re the real historically proven descendants of WASP Pilgrim Immigrants and that can only mean that we understand the dire and complex implications of economic warfare vs. mean-spirited and hateful leaderless men and women who drive the masses to their demise for the sake of greed and power no differently than Puritans who burned innocent women at the stake because of fanciful ideals.

 

          Two, women voters don’t like it when politicians stick their hands down women’s frocks and wiggle their fingers around inside our vaginas, metaphorically or otherwise.

 

What don’t tell me that you’re afraid to talk ‘pussy’ when that’s all the G.O.P. does?

 

Come now. Let’s not tell lies to one another about anything especially when it comes to women’s vaginas.

 

To have harmful and uneducated politicians come up with sexually harassing policies or idiotic narratives of divine intervention is discriminatory and illegal and prejudiced and a clever way to hate and abuse women’s bodies while politicians stroke each other’s anuses and penises. Amen!

 

Every politician that moves to vote for trans-vaginal probing ultrasounds ought to have an anal probing of their own on the House and Senate floors before passing such bills.

 

Have you ever had such a medical procedure done?

A trans-vaginal ultrasound.

 

It’s painful as hell and invasive unless one has benign tumors on their uterine lining otherwise there ought to be hardly any reason for any type of trans-vaginal probing by doctors if a woman so chooses to abort a fetus then that’s a decision between her and her doctor and her Gods.

 

Yep, you read it correctly: I wrote: “to abort a fetus.”

 

Get over yourselves and welcome to the Twenty-First Century.

 

Women have been aborting fetuses ever since the beginning of human existence.

 

Women have decidedly on their own to abort fetuses for all sorts of medical and non-medical reasons and that’s not up to anyone else to judge her for doing so otherwise the ones who judge become guilty parties to persecution and we all know what the Bible says about those who persecute for sport; the persecutors go straight into a big pit of fire for eternity.

 

I mean really, why not have corrupt politicians walk around and stick their fingers inside women’s vaginas all day long? (Rhetorical question.)

 

Oh, wait they already do with outrageous policies made up in the name of devilish ideologies and unethical legalities which cause further pain to women’s suffering.

 

Why do Caucasian politicians fear women of color so much?

 

          Three, no, women who take birth control aren’t horny whores who can’t control their libidos.

 

Hypothetically; any modern politicians who believes such atrocious narratives about women ought to become impregnated just once in their lifetimes and lose that life which they’d carry inside of their wombs.

 

There’s no greater loss than that of forming life inside the womb whether Mother Nature forces a natural miscarriage (abortion) or whether women chose to abort for personal reasons.

 

As a matter of fact women take birth control for many reasons.

 

For those of us whom struggle with reoccurring benign tumors (fibroids) which can grow to the size of grapefruits on our uterine lining, we use birth control to manage our pituitary gland so that our hormones don’t produce pregnancy hormones and trick our bodies into believing we’re pregnant when we’re not.

 

When we take birth control then we don’t live with our dysfunctional hormones tricking our bodies to produce pregnancy hormones and hemorrhage for months on end as well as miscarry due to fibroid formations.

 

If and when (for those of us with fibroids) we do get pregnant then we tend to lose our fetuses because the benign tumors don’t allow for enough room inside our uteruses to carry to full term which causes us to continually miscarry our future babies that we only have hopes and dreams and desires to give them a life that we so wanted to.

 

Have you ever had to pull your unborn baby fetus tissue from your body through your vagina? No?

 

Then we have absolutely nothing to say to one another about this subject matter. Don’t even pretend like you know women’s bodies when you don’t.

 

What a bunch of political tyrants.

 

Don’t nobody call me no liar just because I’ve read the 1,990 pages to the amazing “Affordable Health Care for America Act” and don’t nobody call me no horny whore either just because I take birth control. (Ha!)

 

If one’s going to call me a ‘liar’ or ‘horny whore’ then they better do it straight to my face because I’m going after a literary bloody nose and by that I mean persuading women to vote “Independent.”

 

Get it right or go home.

 

How dare any bloody politicians call women voters horny whores who can’t control their libidos for taking birth control when politicians sleep around with Columbian prostitutes?

 

And they dare call themselves men?

Grow up.

 

Mother Nature does take away from women in ways that men will never understand the hurt and pain that those types of losses cause like natural miscarriages and abortions.

 

And some readers want me to spell everything out for them.

 

Well, that’s what the reader gets when male politicians make mass generalizations about some of the deepest suffering women voters go through -- the reader gets complete and total straight forward truth wrenching narratives that ought to feel more like gaping wounds than a slap across the face.

 

I’m nobody’s horny whore with or without birth control.

(You knew I’d get around to it, didn’t you? Yep.)

 

          Four, women voters don’t like it that our employers get to decide whether contraceptives ought to be distributed to us according to their religious affiliations.

 

Women voters believe that contraceptives are our private business between us and our doctors and our Gods.

 

Women voters would like contraceptives without male politicians sticking their penises into our private affairs.

 

          Five, women voters find it despicable that every eighteen minutes a woman is raped somewhere in America.

 

          Six, women voters find it despicable that every seventy minutes a woman is murdered due to violent crime in America.

 

          Seven, women voters would like for corporations and employers to provide childcare.

 

          Seven-point-five, women voters would like equal pay for equal work. It’s disrespectful to pay women seventy-seven cents to every dollar a male worker gets for the same work done.

 

          Eight, women voters would like for corporations and employers to provide a decent and livable minimum wage starting at current and modern inflation rates of $10.50 per hour. Thank you.

 

          Nine, women voters would like it if their employers didn’t cut their hours therefore women are forced to run out of childcare benefits and this leaves women in a crux.

 

          Ten, women voters would like it if Social Security could be expanded upon so that they don’t have to take care of their elderly on their meager wages.

 

          Eleven, women voters would like it if food stamps (food subsidies) could also be expanded upon so that they and their children won’t starve on their meager wages.

 

          Twelve, women voters would like it if Medicare was left alone hence they paid into it, out of their own pockets.

 

Please don’t cut Medicare because our people pay into it therefore it’s not free for the freeloaders to collect on. We’ve worked for it.

 

          Thirteen, women voters would like it if Unemployment insurance (benefits) were left alone hence they paid into it, out of their own pockets.

 

Please don’t cut Unemployment insurance (benefits) because our people pay into it therefore it’s not free for the freeloaders to collect on. We’ve worked for it.

 

          Fourteen, women voters look forward to Executive Orders to get this Congress back in order and in working condition since Congress barely works any days of the year, anymore.

 

          Fifteen, last but not least: what will it take for our government and corporate conglomerates and employers to add more qualified jobs to this new century’s workforce when it comes to “intellectual property” and ideas and innovation?

 

It’s been proven that one doesn’t need to hold an “advanced degree” to come up with original and creative ideas to solve some of the most difficult consumer product problems like replacing ancient toothbrushes or earphones that cause rapid hearing loss or combs that break off hair or new keyboards that’ll keep users from forming Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

 

Consumers require ideas that go beyond a design phase into a proverbial engineering multi-faceted friendly function.

 

Since, “blue collar” and “assembly line work” was outsourced more than a decade ago then what is it that Americans ought to produce now in order to keep our families from starvation and poverty?

 

If indeed “intellectual property” and a world of ideas and knowledge are the next big wave of commerce then how will government and corporate America bridge that divide to get our working citizens to commit to a new form of industry without standing in assembly lines?

 

How will government and corporate America and Wall Street finance and invest in our future as far as a digital and high tech driven workforce is concerned?

 

How?

 

What measures will be taken to get “working poor” and “blue collar” and “middle income earners” to evolve into an entirely new century of “intellectual property” and ideas?

 

Does anyone in Congress know?

 

The citizens have a few great ideas as to how to go about it especially when it comes to educating the next generation of workers who’d like to contribute to the workforce but possibly don’t desire to “jump hoops” through expensive academics but would like to sustain a lifestyle above minimum wage with healthcare benefits without having to stand eight hours a day and preferably to be respected for their ideas just the same as the next fellow in line when it comes to contributing to a better tomorrow for all.

 

 

***

          Jobs. Jobs. Jobs. That’s all I ever hear when it comes to topics of discussion presently concerning the United States of America.

 

If jobs are what this nation needs then when will corporate conglomerates stop getting all the tax breaks and incentives and loopholes?

 

If jobs are what this nation needs then when will small business owners get backed by their local banks, governments and communities?

 

If jobs are what this nation needs then when will there be more small business loans and grants specifically for women of color?

 

If jobs are what this nation needs then when will immigration reform get passed?

 

If jobs are what this nation needs then when will pure foods be grown instead of genetically modified garbage?

 

If jobs are what this nation needs then when will local food growers establish a stronghold in our communities instead of garbage genetically modified corporate seeds?

 

If jobs are what this nation needs then when will the small and independent mom ‘n’ pop shops make a comeback?

 

If jobs are what this nation needs then when will arrogant politicians admit that “global warming” is a proven scientific fact and that hot summers and bitter cold winters are a part of that equation? (A mini-ice age is coming and we must prepare for it.)

 

If jobs are what this nation needs then when will a sustainable and suitable farm bill get passed?

 

If jobs are what this nation needs then when will marijuana become legalized?

 

If jobs are what this nation needs then when will quality products, clothing and shoes be made in America again at decent purchasing prices?

 

If jobs are what this nation needs then when will public education (colleges and universities) become tuition free and paid by the taxpayers? (Instead of paying for corrupt football stadiums which in twenty years that violent game will become obsolete because parents don’t want their children to end up brain dead.)

 

If jobs are what this nation needs then when will war be over for the Americans?

 

If jobs are what this nation needs then when will there be equal voting rights?

 

If jobs are what this nation needs then when will our government invest in infrastructure?

 

If jobs are what this nation needs then when will Gerrymandering stop?

 

I could go on but I won’t.

 

 

***

          To our President (he whom shall not be mentioned by name for as long as this codex endures until he becomes a mare whisper and myth of time) break a leg. Good luck with your speech tonight.

 

We keep you and yours in our national prayers.

 

Hip! Hip! Hooray!

Hip! Hip! Hooray!

Long live the President!

 

(Ha! I could get poetic but I won’t.)

 

Go get ‘em (in your calm, cool and collected demeanor) because this nation’s People so desire the help of a Great Leader to get this country up and running and moving, again, sooner than later without discrimination against our citizens.

 

We’ve been left on hold by other congressional politicians for about fourteen years. It’s apparent that they hate our guts but all we look for are real spirited solutions to our vastly economical problems this nation faces.

 

Please, turn this ship around as safely and as confidently as possible without any drone strikes. (Just kidding.)

 

May Godspeed.

 

Sincerely,

Gabriel

 

Word Count: 2,357

 

Monday, January 27, 2014

 

“You can’t borrow money on the basis of ‘I would’ or ‘I should.’”

 

(Leo Rosten’s Treasury of Jewish Quotations)

 

Aborigines (earliest known inhabitants of a country)

 

The aborigines were driven from their country.

 

[Corrections were made.]

 

---  ---  ---

 

Hello.

 

***

Psychology 101

 

          Over a phone conversation on November 2013 my Father disclosed a few facts about the field of psychology which he recently retired from within the past three years.

 

My Father spent about thirty years of his life as a professional psychologist and dealt with just about any type of psychological behaviors and neurosis and conditions written about in textbooks.

 

          First, he told me that psychology is quite a brand new field of study and a baby religion.

 

Two, he disclosed that the field of psychology is one of the most unethical practices because it continually makes the top list for abuse of power when it comes to psychologists or psychiatrists sleeping with their patients and vice versa.

 

Three, the most exceptional liars are psychologists and psychiatrists because...

 

Four, he told me to always question everything that any psychologists or psychiatrists ever told me about myself because more often than not the types of people who enter into such a profession are some of the most “fucked up” and manipulative people one will ever encounter until they make peace with their parents’ injustices and neglect and lies and childhood traumas and their egos.

 

Five, he told me that no one can ever tell me what’s going on with me better than I can therefore to do my own self-research rather than having someone else guess what’s going on inside of myself.

 

Six, to be quite weary of any psychologists or psychiatrists whom desire to place me under the influence of any amphetamine based drugs because the field of psychiatry has become one in which they’re closely related and linked to the pharmaceutical companies even though it’s supposed to be one big huge secret.

 

Seven, to never forget that Freud snorted enough cocaine to do serious brain damage to himself therefore most of his research was done under the influence of a strong mind altering drug thus it’s difficult to predict what Freud perceived to be correct or what he made up and what he factually found out through his research.

 

Eight, that if I ever felt blue about my life then to dedicate forty-five minutes each day to exercise. It doesn’t have to be stressful. I simply have to get out and move my body and pump naturally made happy chemicals (endorphins) into my brains without taking any drugs.

 

Nine, he told me to remember that the passing of a close relative or friend isn’t a state of insanity. It’s a state of mourning and to mourn accordingly to my personal needs because people are different and each mourns differently than others. It’s natural and normal to mourn differently and at different rates depending on the close ties of the relationship to the deceased.

 

Ten, everybody’s crazy but not everyone’s insane.

 

Eleven, don’t allow for others to project their emotions on me.

 

Twelve, today’s nurses receive their certifications in eighteen months and many perceive nursing as a way out of poverty thus they lack every other qualification in their field towards a higher professional standard and drag down the field because mostly they hate what they do but since they perceive it as “their only way out” they stick it out and self-loath.

 

          If I ever feel uncomfortable with nurses or I sense that they’re abusive in their demeanor it’s most likely because they are primarily and mostly due to the fact that many are undereducated or uneducated in the Humanities and Liberal Arts which he believes they ought to be well rounded and educated in the Liberal Arts especially anyone entering any medical field because medicine is about humanity and not solely about collecting paychecks.

 

(Yes, my Father’s married to a retired school nurse with a B.A.)

 

Thirteen, no, the human species didn’t all originate from Africa.

 

Fourteen, arrogance is a form of insecurity.

 

My Father spoke about the importance of nature and animals. He told me not to lose a close connection to either one, thus I walk outdoors and adore our rescued dog.

 

          My Father disclosed the quite personal and traumatic events that persisted throughout the latter part of his professional career for about one decade in which he chose early retirement at the age of sixty-one because one of his colleagues had continually sexually harassed him for the entire of that span of time (as records indicate) and he could no longer continue under such dysfunction.

 

My Father disclosed specific events that occurred to him that I shan’t write about however and nevertheless it was devastating and astounding to listen to his personal accounts as to what had occurred personally to him for the latter ten years of his practice.

 

No matter how many official complaints and meetings and solo counseling he did on his own about this particular matter, he continued to get sexually harassed in the workplace.

 

He said that he stayed in his position because he loved his work at the university with students but his one colleague just about drove him crazy and he had to do everything in his power not to rise to that level of insanity just because his one co-worker barely had any impulse control.

 

Okay, one example that comes to mind: my Father disclosed how at one point his sexually harassing co-worker stepped into his private office with their shirt unbuttoned and they exposed themselves to him.

 

I know my Father quite well and he’s a respectful, loving, thoughtful and calm mannered man but he’s also sensitive to others’ malcontent and maladjustments thus he‘s kept a close knit of sailing friends and spiritually intelligent friends and business friends to help him carry on with the other more joyous aspects of life which at times he found his work environment almost unbearable.

 

          My Father spoke at length: He told me that if there’re a few wise lessons that I ought to know about then they are these: watch carefully over my health, be kind, don’t be judgmental of others and learn to manage stress because stress is the number one killer in Americans.

 

My Father implored me not to go after an “advanced degree” at all or at least until I’m in retirement age and out of my chosen profession which is writing and filmmaking.

 

He told me that the only people who need doctorates are doctors and veterinarians and those in fields of medicine and science and mathematics or those who teach at a doctoral level but other than that he told me that it’s a waste of time because after he’d worked for the university system for the latter part of his career he found that students are more or less simply perceived as ATM’s.

 

He doesn’t want me to contribute to a system that has forgotten their responsibilities and duties to our students.

 

He believes that universities and other establishments of higher learning have become enterprises no differently than corporate America thus the quality of education has declined primarily because the main purpose and goal of today’s higher learning isn’t to properly teach but to get students through their systems to collect from them.

 

It seems that the primary function of today’s learning is to teach for business and not so that students learn how to learn for life.

 

He believes that for as much as students pay for their education they barely learn how to learn as far as ethics and philosophy are concerned because it’s considered unimportant, however, he believes that’s one main reason as to why there’s so much corruption, cheating, embezzlement, sexual harassment and dishonesty and violence and manipulation in the workplace across America and without the basic principles to ethics he believes that America is no good to anyone much less itself.

 

Like most governmental employees, there’re barely any checks and balances when it comes to that line of employment as well as in the university system therefore employees can keep their jobs (almost for life) even if they’ve sexually harassed or coerced or mentally disturbed their colleagues and co-workers and the student body.

 

          My Father recently began to take courses to learn to think about how to die. He’s begun the process to think about how he’d like to die.

 

Mind you, my Father is almost sixty-five young years of age yet he’s not kidding himself about his life and where he wishes to go as he enters the third and final act of his life.

 

This is his grand finale.

He’s final act.

 

He’s dedicated to learn the skills in which he requires to die. What a man! It takes humility to ask for help to learn how to better oneself especially when it comes to the topic of death.

 

          My Father told me that he’d rather that I continue on my journey to be kind to others than to receive an “advanced degree” because he says that the work I’m doing is far more difficult and more honest and deeply profound than getting a doctoral degree and that comes from a man who would know.

 

It’s astonishing how much my Father loves me and recognizes me for the very person that I am. I’m a lucky bastard to be loved by so many and to love so many. I’m lucky because even though I’m not the smartest in the bunch I’ve been granted the gift of Kings and Queens; I’ve been granted kindnesses unbeknownst to most.

 

I thank my lucky stars each and every day.

 

As I get older I become more understanding of the vast complexities and difficulties that others go through.

 

I’m not a poser or a hack or a loser therefore for those whom I’ve encountered who’ve cheated, embezzled or purposely deceived others for their personal gains I can only and truly feel sorry for those poor souls who must feel constant self loathe. How terrible for them, indeed.

 

          My Father says that my greatest problem now that I’ve overcome and conquered my linguistic inferiority complex and insecurities and shame about being a woman of color in America is that I’m an idealist and that’s far more detrimental to my health than if I were a severe alcoholic or drug addict.

 

He’s told me to let it all go and “fuck America” because America is a violent and arrogant country that doesn’t always do well by others even though it sure does like to preach yet it can’t seem to walk the walk.

 

He’s told me to stay true to myself because what I’ve got inside of my soul is priceless and not something that anyone can teach me to be.

 

All I have to do is be and respectful platonic love will follow in my friendships in the years to come. He says I have so much to offer and lucky are those whom I discerningly decide to share my life with in this second act.

 

I’m now thirty-six, and my Father said that I’m most certainly crazy and full of idealism but not mentally insane because he’d be the first to know. (Ha!)

 

He understands why I test and challenge strange people or acquaintances in order to find out if they’re worthy more so of their humanity and humility than anything else and that’s okay because I’m really good at the “village idiot act” and anyone who’s smart enough to see right through it can decipher a challenge from a liar.

 

How well he knows me. He knows that I’ve been to hell and back again and it no longer needs to be discussed.

 

We’ve entered a new act in our lives.

 

As the lights go down on the house we stand in the wings staring at the other in slight darkness and we’re prepare to meet center stage and share with our audiences in the sheer delight of what it means to be alive.

 

Hip! Hip! Hooray!

Hip! Hip! Hooray!

Long live the Queen!

 

He tells me to live, breathe and be.

What a Father.

 

He said that he’ll love me no matter what happens.

He said that he’ll love me with or without an “advanced degree.” (Ha!)

 

Note: My Father told me that it was our rescued dog that would help me more so and precisely to find my deepest humanity because dogs love unconditionally and without judgment.

 

With love;

Gabriel

 

Word Count: 2,046

 

Friday, January 24, 2014

 

“He who need not barrow lives without worry.”

 

(Leo Rosten’s Treasury of Jewish Quotations)

 

Platonic (a spiritual comradeship of love, idealistic)

 

Theirs was a platonic love manifested by extreme kindness.

 

[Corrections were made.]

I was tired.

It was a long workweek.

 

---  ---  ---

 

Hello.

 

***

Death of the Educated Salesman

 

          Throughout history it’s been the absolute abuse of power from arrogant tyrants and misguided leaders and haters whom have made it their business to disengage the properly educated and the educationally elite from the masses even if it meant murdering them in cold blood and justifying their murders with a social movement.

 

Mao is a perfect example of a conceited tyrant who went out of his way to shame and ridicule and discriminate and incarcerate and execute (kill) the educated and the intellectual elite of China.

 

More so, one didn’t even have to get educated to be discriminated by Mao’s social movement.

 

All that one had to do was wear spectacles (eye-glasses) and Mao and his cronies took it upon themselves for it to mean a personal affront or an insult towards their social movement to illegally and unethically and immorally redistribute wealth throughout rural and agricultural regions while slaughtering the educated or those that so much as appeared educated.

 

It’s been proven that the educated and the educational elite have posed a great deal of threat to the less educated masses and the more dismissive haters of education.

 

          It’s conceivable that in a modern pop culture era the Death of the Educated Salesman has become a trending reality.

 

One main reason or purpose for this is because public education has become so damn expensive.

 

To get properly educated or to become educated elite doesn’t mean that one is rich or wealthy.

 

Any individual may become educated or educated elite by the strength of their own perseverance, abilities, smarts, application and discipline to study where all others have gone before.

 

To be educated is one of the most important decisions an individual will ever make towards the opportunity to bring greater cause to one’s families and communities and strength to other individuals without the know-how to critically analyze for themselves or how to seek out the truth among heaps of misinformation often not fact-checked or correct.

 

To receive a proper education is not only a humbling experience but also a great honor to say the least.

 

To receive a proper education is to learn not to get duped in a world of corrupt because one learns the intricacies of legalities, rules and regulations to ethical principles.

 

To receive a proper education isn’t about business but more so about learning invaluable lessons of the Humanities in the charting of ethical principles and humanitarian advancements for all.

 

          As this modern economical gap divide takes hold over America the only real hope Americans have in holding a steadfast and strong foothold on the Middle Income economies is to get educated and that doesn’t mean private education or hyper elite education like those of us whom studied from private elite tutors or masters to walk us through the classics and the ancient mythologies and the dead languages of old. No!

 

To get properly educated is to seek out certified teachers and professors  and masters who really do know what they’re talking about as well as those whom keep up with the times and the technology and realize and acknowledge that academia does indeed live inside a bubble of flawed misinformation just as well as social media does.

 

(Don’t even get me started about Egypt and their recently flawed misinformation within the past decade.)

 

          After careful consideration, I’ve arrived at the conclusion that there’re many different types of intelligences and smarts.

 

These many different types of intelligences and smarts all deserve their proper time and place, however, I’ve come to discover that for those whom haven’t been properly educated it’s easy to tell because they seem to be the types of people whom continually make rookie mistakes.

 

It’s not a big deal.

 

It’s just that they don’t seem to understand, that they don’t know the basics or that they don’t know any better while the rest do.

 

When one’s been properly educated with a strong foundation then one has many articulate abilities to go forth with their educated guesses and more or less correct perceptions of what is and what isn’t true while seeking evidence to back up facts. (Oops, I got it backwards.)

 

(With a proper education one can build rockets if they were so to desire yet again without a proper education one can also build rockets. So what gives? The know-how of articulation for something to properly work therefore to bring value to previously perceived inconsequential objects that didn’t even move in the first place.)

 

Now, this isn’t to say that people without high school diplomas aren’t smart because some of the smartest people I’ve ever met were and are high school dropouts however they lack the ability for refinement in the more subtle intricacies of complexities yet many are middle class and upper class and millionaires because of their hard work and the entrepreneurial spirit therefore in some ways they contribute far more to their communities than a deadbeat intellectual whose been at school for sixteen straight years with insurmountable debt because they’re, too, afraid to face the world in the eye.

 

These high school dropouts are also folks who aren’t going to bullshit you like possibly some advanced degree Ivy Leaguers will because the dropouts live in the real world of consequence and outcome and not in a world of rhetorical highfalutin hot air for the sake of sounding good to justify their egos.

 

          My Father told me not to go in search of an advanced degree because not only would it be expensive but also he told me that that type of further education would only lead me to learn how to better bullshit my way through life and he’d rather that I stay true to myself and on course with my work rather than become an exceptional liar.

 

He’s told me that I’m already an “overly educated fool” and that I need to further my life experience.

 

I think that he’s quite right, however, I dream about an advanced degree from Stanford University even if I have to drag my old bones of ninety-seven years of age across that campus. (Ha!)

 

Both of my parents hold either Ph.D.’s or M.D.’s from Ivy Leagues or other reputable universities therefore I’d like a Ph.D. of my own before I die but I’ve been far, too, ill for the past decade (or so) to make any academic advancements in my career plus I’ve been working hard to put food on our table so who has time for an advanced degree when real life occurs each and every single day?

 

I’ve come to learn that life takes precedence over acquiring an advanced degree.

 

Do you remember a scene from the film “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” in which Indie goes after the Holy Grail while Indie’s Father barely holds him up by the hand?

 

One meaningful line in the film goes something like this: “Indiana, Indiana, let it go.”

 

If Indie hadn’t let go of his infatuation with retrieving the Holy Grail then most likely he’d met his demise.

 

Well, I’m just like Indiana Jones after the Holy Grail while my Father holds me up by the hand and tells me “Gabriela, let it go” otherwise I’m going to die. (Ha!) Cute.

 

(How’s that for an analogy? I’ve got to go and pull out that film from the shelf once I’m done here.

 

I’ve got to let go of empty notions so that I don’t come to my demise and die a most gruesome and empty philosophical death because thus far I’ve more than survived.

 

I’ve begun to thrive and no amount of schooling will get you that. Only we can put food on our table and a roof over our heads not an advanced degree.)

 

I’ll let it go.

 

          I’ll speak to what I know best: classical poetry:

 

For example, classical poetry is one of those astounding and fundamental foundations that will carry one throughout life because it’s not only about and specifically that one learns everything there’s to know about classical poetry when one studies it but more precisely and importantly one gets a strong foundation for the history of language and writing, the intricacies of linguistics, models, methods, articulation and the psychology of communication plus much more.

 

When one studies the classics then one learns when others plagiarize or when others take credit for ideas not fully formed from their brains but copied and reused for their own gains and glorification.

 

When one studies the classics then one learns when others cheat audiences out of far more profound experiences and necessary thoughts and thought patterns towards positive change and cultural balance (harmony) rather than personal esteem.

 

          I think that carving out a living in the world is important but not at the expense of others.

 

I don’t think that it’s okay to mock the educated only because they took the time and made the effort and paid their dues to get educated than the rest through proper educational means.

 

          I also believe that if one’s properly educated then it’s not their place to judge others whom haven’t made the time or had the resources to do so.

 

To get properly educated means that one doesn’t go around judging others because everyone’s got to carve out a living no matter what.

 

I also believe that when one doesn’t know then they must own up to their ignorance otherwise it could be detrimental to the health of others.

 

It’s okay not to know and to admit that one doesn’t know.

 

          For example, I’ve been horrible at “street smarts” (up until about two years ago) because I lived a life full of literary ideals and intellectual constructs therefore I allowed for others less educated to con me and to do wrong by me, but I know better now.

 

It’s good to have “street smarts” along with “academic smarts” because that makes for a better and more well rounded human than just and simply one over the other.

 

Someday, I look forward to going back to school when I’m not under the influence of painkillers (which I only take painkillers a few weeks out of the year when I’m in dire duress and I can no longer think straight from hellish pain but then I sound like a complete idiot because I can’t speak straight on painkillers either).

 

As I’ve come to find out I only have about one-to-two years inside a slight window of opportunity and then the excruciating pain takes over and the benign tumors on my uterine lining begin to form and grow and the pain takes me out of this world and into a place of hell. (It’s been like this for about eight years.) Sigh.

 

Whatever you’re after, it doesn’t take an advanced degree to allow for your heart to open up to a more ethical and kinder epicenter in the middle of your chest guided by the light of the North Star or your inner moral compass.

 

Peace;

Gabriel

 

Word Count: 1,890

 

*) Yes, I listen to WCCO radio at 11:30a.m. to noon and at 7:00-7:30p.m. weekdays.

 

I really enjoy the intelligent topics of discussion with a human core. Thank you.

 

No, I don’t watch WCCO news.

 

If I were to watch news then it’s KSTP.

I read news to gather information.

 

Thursday, January 23, 2014

 

“Borrowing, like scratching, is only good for a while.”

 

(Leo Rosten’s Treasury of Jewish Quotations)

 

(Vocabulary Card #955)

 

Henchmen (followers, sometimes unscrupulous ones)

 

The leader of the gang assembled his henchmen for the uprising.

 

[Corrections were made.]

 

---  ---  ---

 

Hello.

***

Why

 

          For the longest time, I thought that the most valuable and astute question in the entire world was the question of “why”.

 

Nevertheless, it wasn’t until I began my research and film work with prostitutes that I learned a most valuable and difficult lesson that I wasn’t taught in academia.

 

          It wasn’t until the prostitutes laughed in my face and made me reconsider the preposterous and ignoramus aspects of why ask why.

 

I began to reevaluate the question of why anything was as it were.

 

They asked me not to ask them why.

 

They asked me not to ask them why they were in their line of work.

 

They asked me not to ask why some of their clients didn’t pay after they’d performed their services.

 

They asked me not to ask why they got beat up on their breasts by pimps.

 

They asked me not to ask why their children didn’t know what they did for money.

 

They asked me not to ask why they began to prostitute in the first place.

 

They asked me not to ask why they had such difficult lives.

 

They asked me not to ask why they couldn’t afford to get educated.

 

They asked me not to ask why they dressed as they did.

 

They asked me not to ask why they cheated, stole and lied.

 

They asked me not to ask why they were constantly high on hard drugs like cocaine and alcohol.

 

They asked me not to ask why they targeted certain clients.

 

They asked me not to ask why they’d been raped.

 

They asked me not to ask why they starved.

 

They asked me not to ask why they often moved flats.

 

They asked me not to ask why they self loathed.

 

They asked me not to ask why they were bitter.

 

They asked me not to ask why there was no hope for them.

 

          I asked them to tell me why I couldn’t ask why.

 

For a long time they quietly sat and stared into empty space.

 

I patiently waited for them to reply and they simply answered, “because we’ll lie to you.”

 

I was stunned at how naïve I was about almost anything in life.

 

I automatically assumed that just about anyone would earnestly answer my questions especially for research and for a documentary film.

 

I just about slapped myself on the forehead.

 

Of course, how stupid of me. What was I thinking? Nothing at all.

 

They told me that if I asked why then they would blatantly lie to me.

 

Fair enough.

I’d been warned.

 

          In my senior year at the university and in my first year of audited graduate study courses it had been drilled into me that the single most important question to ask was why.

 

For the most part I agree, however, not when it comes to certain populations in real time.

 

Especially, working with a niche population that prefers not to be asked the question as to why their lives are so difficult and sad and full of hardship with very little hope to aspire to anything better than their present situations.

 

With all due respect: to ask why something is what it is: is the same as asking what it is because the “why” turns into an X factor of bias realities and unrealistic probabilities that will lead the researcher astray in their information towards aiming at the Y-axis.

 

The probability that a human will really say as to why they are miserable or why they hate or love or want to die is not only unrealistic but also blindsides the researcher with misinformation concocted only inside their own minds in how they understand the world to be.

 

Who cares why someone feels as they do about anything especially if they’re going to lie about how they truly feel about anything?

 

          Seriously, beyond academia’s unrealistic satire: ultimately, the concrete questions are: Who is it? What is it? Where did it happen? When did it happen? How did it happen?

 

To ask who it was: is to establish individual authentication.

 

To ask what something was: is the premise of all foundation. (What is it?) (X-axis)

 

To ask where something was: is the precise location to what’s whereabouts. (Where did it take place?)

 

To ask when something was: is the sequence of time in which what became when. (When did it take place?)

 

To ask how something was: is the link between when and where what happened. (How did it happen?)

 

To ask why something was: is the reason for what happened when and where. (Why did it occur?) Who knows?

 

          Asking why is quite valuable and complex nevertheless it has to be asked with finesse and with the ability to chart through rivers of infinite answers for why anything was as it were.

 

Most people don’t like to give themselves away quite as easily as textbooks would lead us to believe that they do.

 

Most people like to safe guard and keep secret about why.

 

Why is the motive to people’s actions which can lead to their problems and difficulties and certain situations and layers of intricate life that they don’t want to have to repeat all over again for strangers much less have to explain the why something was and is.

 

Most people want to be left alone when it comes to why and rightly so because that’s their right and they don’t owe anyone any type of explanation for their motives unless they’re subpoenaed and under oath in a court of law.

 

          When it comes to intelligent and smart and clever logic and reason then one doesn’t even have to rudely ask another why.

 

          Why is the quite personal motive of others.

 

Why does he love her but not her?

 

Why does she love him but not him?

 

Why is the village destroyed?

 

Why is there a perpetual pattern of poverty?

 

Why is it what it is?

 

What establishes the root of why.

 

          Personally, I find the what on the X-axis is far more important and profound than the why on the Y-axis because it’s of vital consequence and importance to first and foremost establish what anything really is otherwise why may become insignificant and incoherent and lead us to make many unsound conclusions about anything at all and apply the wrong elucidation to the problem.

 

A strong foundation for what anything truly is can lead us to further consideration of the many explanations for why however it’s why which may trip us up and may lead us down a tunnel of inconsequential outcomes rather than real answers without having to start the equation all over again.

 

More often than not why leads us back to what is especially when why isn’t answered to the full extent in which it makes complete sense in the form of the equation.

 

          I’ve more or less stopped asking why because in real time it’s considered extremely rude by most private citizens nevertheless I’m smart enough to consider ulterior motives as to why people decide to follow through on some course of actions but not others.

 

Why has been ingrained into my psyche and muscle memory and I shall forever ask why as an intellectual however I’ll have to do it in private as a “process of illumination” towards the truth and real outcomes to solutions.

 

I learned a lot of difficult lessons in thirteen solid years of research specifically for documentary film work but more so I learned that it’s not like people don’t want to tell the truth about themselves it’s that they often don’t feel confident in their answers because they’re not experts in mostly any fields but their experiences and backgrounds give them reason enough to be able to answer questions pertaining to any one particular situation.

 

People don’t tend to want to answer why because they tend to want to learn the truth about situations more so precisely as to how people “got stuck” where they are and they wish that if only they had more understanding about the how then they could move forward with their lives and forget about their hardships, hatred, and duress and learn to trust and love and be patient.

 

People care, but they also fear, that no one else much cares about them or they worry that they’re completely and utterly alone in the Universes thus they don’t want to expose themselves or their lives because what if they’re the only ones going through what they’re going through alone? What if? What then? What will that say about them?

 

How embarrassing or stressful it would be for them to come to find out that they’re possibly the only ones when in reality they aren’t the only ones going through what they’re going through and feeling what they do no matter how ill willed or not.

 

People aren’t alone.

 

I also find the how to be more so and precisely incredibly complex to answer but most importantly difficult because if one can find the answers to how then they most likely one can answer why.

 

Why does anyone hate anyone?

Why does anyone love anyone?

 

Do they know how to love or hate?

 

Peace;

Gabriel

 

Word Count: 1,586

 

I’ll stop here.

 

I’ve got a terrible frontal lobe sinus headache coming on.

 

Also, I burned the tips of my fingers of my right hand when I took the bread out of the bread maker.

 

I’ll be okay, but it’s a little difficult to type.

 

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

 

“If you laugh when you borrow, you’ll cry when you pay.”

 

(Leo Rosten’s Treasury of Jewish Quotations)

 

Discrimination (bias, favoritism, prejudice, unfairness, inequity, bigotry, intolerance)

 

The discrimination against smokers in the workplace brought forth a sleuth of intolerance and arrogance about the disease of addiction.

 

(Correction: From “non-consequential” to “inconsequential”)

 

[Corrections were made.] Sigh.

---

 

Hello.

Americans, don’t be afraid

 

***

National Security Agency

NSA

(Hello, lovely men and women)

 

          How do I begin to formulate articulate thoughts and compose on paper about this substantial debate taking place when it comes to the vast topic of the NSA’s digital spying on the citizenry?

 

Disclaimer: I’m not an expert on the subject matter however I would like to write about it with gusto and some naiveté even though there are ten times better men and women than me who can and will shed light upon this topic of discussion significantly than I ever could.

 

Let’s take it from layman’s terms:

 

          I’m a huge believer of “checks and balances” when it comes to our American Constitutional Freedoms and Liberties and Civil Rights because I believe that our Republic’s democratic system and construct was set up in such a manner for the overall crucial reason and outcome to implement critical analyses in the fairness of judgment. (That made sense to me.)

 

I believe in all forms of privacy no matter how much terrorism threatens our Republic’s democracy and our way of life otherwise it’s not a Republic democratic system because it becomes a tyrannical regime of spying and automatically that flawed system criminalizes our body of citizens into prisoners and slaves without first proving their innocence.

 

          I also believe in context when it comes to connecting dots.

 

          Personally, as a professional documentary filmmaker and researcher I used to communicate with pimps and madam prostitutes and drug dealers in order to research the lives of these individuals so that I could film their accounts but by no means are we now in contact nor have we been for several years nor were we friends however I was in contact with them solely and mainly for the purpose of our work together and they knew and still know very well that I wouldn’t give up their names as my sources because it would be a professional breach in confidentiality.

 

They know that I’d stand on the fifth come hell or high water because they entrusted me with their stories.

 

As any documentarian or journalist or reporter (which I’m neither a journalist nor a reporter by trade) we guard our sources to the death as we must otherwise private citizens won’t entrust us with their information.

 

It’s humbling to have private citizens entrust us with their deepest and most profound dire needs and difficulties and situations and information.

 

Many years ago, I was also in contact with army snipers and murderers and rapists and addicts and child molesters and runaways and arsonists and prostitutes and hit-men but by no means did I ever participate in any of their activities nor am I included in their social groups yet at that time I found it my duty to tell a complete story of their accounts without judging them as I filmed the stories of others such as: single parenting Grandmothers and Grandfathers, organic and non-organic farmers, bread bakers, business owners, artists, artisans and transsexuals and transgendered and cross-dressing performers and diplomats and engineers and attorney and judges and architects and directors and philosophers and… the list goes on.

 

My profession is one which has lead me down many rabbit holes but by no means do I live in Alice’s Wonderland nor am I Alice nor do I make the practice to drink the tea and become mad as a hatter.

 

My profession is one of ethical discipline with a strong moral center because even though I haven’t personally felt ethically challenged by many interviewees I’ve been physically challenged by some.

 

Once, I had my breast felt up by a drunken madam prostitute. It scared the hell out of me so much that she took it upon herself to feel me up without my consent when I was sober and she was drunk as a skunk that immediately I had to back out of the project.

 

There were no two ways about it. I ran for the hills and out of that rabbit hole as fast as I could. I’m sure that my decision saved my life in the long run.

 

          If the NSA were to spy on me (which I’m sure they don’t because I’m not important to the overall security of our nation) but if they were to spy then that would come to mean that as a filmmaker I would potentially become incriminated by ignorant spying parties simply and solely due to the line of work that I’ve done in the past and the type of souls I’ve come across. I don’t think so.

 

Any judge in their right mind in any court of law would tell the NSA to get the hell out of their courtroom and stop wasting their time.

 

          Context is everything.

 

          Information for the sake of information doesn’t mean anything but it sure does represent its parts and not the whole sum because any mathematician will tell you that an equation without representation is an exercise in practice and the outcome is somewhat nonsensically theoretical. (It’s simply an exercise in practical theory.)

 

In order for anything to make sense or to add up to a total sum of its parts then one must know what X and Y represents otherwise it’s an empty theoretical equation or an exercise in gathering information without any weight or meaning to it and that can lead any spy down a dangerous path of error in judgment and incriminating innocent parties without concrete evidence only bits and pieces of a puzzle without solving the entire puzzle or putting all of the pieces together to more fully form a complete and cohesive picture.

 

          Now, I can only hope that the government and the NSA aren’t so desperate as to form a governmental spying program only because America needs to create new tech jobs and treat this nonsensical spying game like an enterprise or like the Industrial Revolution of the 21st century.

 

It’s common knowledge and we all know that government employees can do no wrong in the eyes of their bosses and other governmental agencies or secret courts.

 

Government employees get to keep their positions for life with outstanding health benefits, 401k and retirement and pensions but what if this new NSA spying program gets our citizens killed or incorrectly incarcerated, then what? (Oh, well. Oops. The government fucked up. Here’s a lollipop, don’t complain, too, hard about it.) I don’t think so.

 

The first time that the NSA incorrectly incarcerates or threatens the Constitutional Freedoms and Liberties of our citizens without a court order or a trial then I believe that the citizens ought to raise hell because we’ve agreed to live under a Republic democratic system and not a totalitarian tyrannical regime of Stalin or Mussolini.

 

 

***

Fantasy

 

          Human error is immense and vastly therefore I think that no matter how great the NSA’s tech spies may be that it’s nearly impossible to know what’s really going on unless one’s inside any particular situation.

 

Life’s complex enough as it is.

 

Hypothetically if the lives of our future offspring (children) were to become a scene from the film “Brazil” in which a swat team crashes through the ceiling of a man’s home and wrongfully kidnaps him because of a spelling error then I’d start an intellectual underground network to overrun such a corrupt system and if that didn’t work then I’d kick our country back into the Dark Ages and destroy all electronic connections with an EMP system. Why not?

 

Washington fought the British army and look what happened.

 

No, citizens don’t really know how to fight but we’d learn.

I’d become a General.

 

I know, I know, I’m an idealist but not a purist.

 

I’d personally shutdown the country (not that I’m that smart but I’m sure I could figure it out as I have many other things.)

 

I know all types of citizens and they can be far more rebellious than hackers when it comes to someone wrongfully infringing upon their Constitutional Freedoms and Liberties.

 

I’d quit animation film and writing and I’d throw my entire energy into organizing and overthrowing that type of a potentially corrupt spying system without any checks and balances because the American Constitution was set up for The People to overthrow any future corrupt systems of government that went mad as hatters with their abuse of power against The People and not for The People.

 

If a swat team were ever to crash through our ceiling and wrongfully kidnapped us because of a typo then may the Gods be with a corrupt system of invasive means and measures because our peeps would gather the globe to go up against our insane power hungry and controlling freaks of nature.

 

I promise you that I’d become a holy terror on wheels and if there were no checks and balances then everything’s fair in love and war.

 

Right? Right.

 

If there are no checks and balances then that means that chaos reigns supremely over the lives of all.

 

If there weren’t any checks and balances to our Republic’s democratic spying construct then why would citizens play by the rules of engagement? They wouldn’t.

 

If our loved ones, unlawfully got kidnapped or disappeared by the hands of NSA spies due to misinformation or typos then the citizens would flatten this country starting with Washington D.C. We’d burn down the motherfucking country and we’d start all over again without the NSA.

 

Fantasy is all fine and dandy inside the mind of the writer but the remarkable aspect about fantasy is that when unethical spying reality comes to shove then people will shove back because they don’t like it when anyone messes with our Constitutional Freedoms and Liberties.

 

We’re a feisty Republic democratic system of folks and would die for the Freedoms and Liberties of our own kin and ‘don’t nobody forget it neither’.

 

***

Reality

 

          Isn’t that the argument that the NSA is making?

 

Their argument is one that they can have cart blanche over our Freedoms and liberties while they spy on us without checks and balances therefore they can do whatever the hell they’d like with the privacy of our American citizenry?

 

Isn’t that the argument that the NSA is making on their behalf?

 

They think that they can make up the rules and everybody abide by those crooked rules then they’re content and happy so long as they get away with formulating a corrupt system of information gathering on our own body of citizens.

 

Isn’t that a little hypocritical?

 

I mean, ultimately the argument is this: if there’re no legal checks and balances for the NSA then they can also make arguments not only to spy on our citizens but to incriminate them and execute them at will?

 

Why not line up and shoot our citizens in the face? Please.

 

If the NSA can make the argument for cart blanche spying then what will keep them from making the argument to become a court of law to incriminate?

 

When will the debate draw a line in the sand?

 

Will this debate lead to the NSA making arguments for the execution of our citizens as well? I mean, really. North Korea here we come to join your uncle.

 

Isn’t that the argument? Yep. It is.

 

The argument is whether by law the NSA gets to cart blanche their way into our Constitutional legal system and to corrupt our way of life because they’d become the law of the land and they could incriminate us without anyone standing up for our rights or proving our innocence.

 

Checks and balances, please.

 

Ultimately, the argument seems to be about who gets to murder, kill and execute the Americans without anyone stopping such degradation and totalitarian regime from stripping us of our privacy and rights under God.

 

Ultimately, the argument is about who gets to kill us or our offspring if we don’t institute a system of checks and balances as our Founding Fathers did for our own protections. Amen!

 

          Furthermore and in conclusion for those of you in power and with a public voice please don’t negotiate a corrupt system of NSA spying for marijuana legalization because marijuana will get legalized in this country no matter what.

 

This is prohibition era (all over again) and it’s about to come to an end. Be patient. Breathe and relax. Practice baking cookies for your future bake sales. (Just kidding.)

 

The People want marijuana legalization therefore go without fear.

 

The populist inclination is ready for the legalization of marijuana because it’ll heal many ailments therefore there’s no reason to allow for the NSA to get cart blanche over our Constitutional Freedoms and Liberties in the negotiations and exchange for the legalization of marijuana.

 

There’ll be no trade deal here today or any other day.

There’ll be no negotiations here.

 

Stand up for our right to party and for checks and balances.

 

The People have got your backs.

We can read between the lines just fine.

 

There’ll be no negotiations in a crooked trade deal or exchange of one for the other when marijuana is on its way to becoming legalized by the democratic system and by The People’s vote.

 

Believe in our strong but quiet voices.

 

Do you know what marijuana can do for epilepsy?

Remarkable things.

 

Peace;

Gabriel

 

Word Count: 2,411

 

P.S. Okay, I’ve dedicated to watch one full hour of Charlie Rose and his PBS show because his guests are full of life, gusto, knowledge and information as well as wisdom. Thank you.

 

---  ---  ---

 

*) Yes, nepotism is illegal when it comes to public companies and businesses and such especially when there’s public funding of any type involved.

 

As far as private companies and businesses are concerned they may hire their relatives and friends (all they want) however they may neither fire their present employees to do so nor at the expense of other more qualified candidates waiting in line otherwise private companies and businesses leave themselves open to lawsuits.

 

Yes, nepotism involves friends as well.

 

It’s best to leave one’s adult children and friends to the open market and if they can’t make it like the rest of us then it means that they’re not as good as the competition therefore it’s best not to bring them into the game to begin.

 

Your adult children and friends have to prove themselves for life otherwise it’s considered cheating and no one will ever trust their intuition, judgment, comments, remarks, wisdom or knowledge, because why should we? We shouldn’t.

 

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

 

“It is a man’s duty to keep an eye on the honor of his books….

If you keep a box of books in your bedroom,

place it at the head,

not at the foot, of your bed…”

 

(Leo Rosten’s Treasury of Jewish Quotations)

 

Heinous (hateful, bad, outrageous)

 

He had been guilty of a heinous crime.

 

---

 

[Corrections were made.]

 

Hello.

 

***

White Privilege

 

I wasn’t able to bring myself to write about it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sincerely,

Gabriel

 

Word Count: 1,730

 

Retraction: No, Mr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wasn’t expelled from Boston University; however, he did plagiarize his dissertation from the works of another BU student which makes the offense worst than previously thought and no one caught such an offense.

 

According to a 1990’s factually proven study of King’s writings by Stanford University, Mr. Martin Luther King, Jr. did indeed and in fact plagiarize throughout his entire adult career and others let him get away with such lies right out in the open which goes to show how uneducated the masses were at that time and how leaderless that social movement was.

 

As a matter of fact “his” speech “I have a Dream” was also plagiarist as well as most of his other speeches. Mr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was indeed proven a serial plagiarist for the entire of his career.

 

Personal Note: Mr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has never been one of my heroes nor will he ever be considered a leader no matter what he may represent to others.

 

He’ll forever represent an academic and social fraud as well as a cheat and a conniving man who didn’t have the audacity or the courage to write his own thoughts down yet was willing to receive all of the acclaim that still to this day he didn’t deserve.

 

He made a mockery out of our American academic value system and an important social movement.

 

Let’s put it to bed.

 

T.S. Elliot was also a plagiarist and so was H.G. Wells.

 

Now, in my bonfire Maya prayers I shall have to burn Fareed Zakaria’s work and T.S. Elliot’s work and H.G. Wells’s work as well as the infamous Mr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s work to set the course of the future right.

 

I’ll say prayers to the Maya Gods to keep us safe from all harm and from further heinous intellectual humanitarian crimes that set us back decades upon decades when we allow for hacks to get away with such “crimes against humanity.”

 

It’s not proper to speak ill of the dead’ (since I’m writing) but what a bunch of cowards and propagandists and written word liars.

 

(Just once, I would’ve loved to have spanked them real hard across their bottoms with a wooden plank to bring them back to their senses from their narcissistic tendencies.) How ghastly of them.

 

No wonder we can’t get our history right much less improve upon our present situation as a band of Brothers and Sisters because our already historical shaky foundation is immersed in lies and we celebrate those lies.

 

Plagiarism is out of the question.

 

The moment one copies the works of another and doesn’t give credit or citation to others hard work then one is out of the professional running and goes home in disgrace forever never to return to the podium or pulpit or public arena without getting laughed at.

 

---

 

*) Yes, we’ve decided to personally boycott HGTV for one solid year (2014) due to blatant mother and (under age) son nepotism in one of the design shows.

 

We no longer trust the channel for that reason alone. It was too much of a professional breach on their part. It left a terrible taste in our mouths. We’ll miss the real Hilary and David. Moving on.

 

---

 

*) Yes, my personal boycott of downtown, Minneapolis Target store has been over as of November 15, 2013.

 

Yes, indeed I didn’t set foot inside that particular store for an entire year plus.

 

Once, I changed and modified my shopping behavior, I still haven’t returned and I don’t even miss it in my daily life even though it used to be so damn convenient to my lifestyle to shop at that particular location.

 

I still haven’t returned to the downtown, Minneapolis Target store yet I mean to, each and every single week ever since the end of my personal boycott on November 2013, but my experience left such a terrible taste in my mouth that my body refuses to even so much as set one single foot on the same block as to where that particular store is located.

 

It’s become more of a physical reaction than a psychological one.

 

On November 14, 2012, I was followed around that particular store by a Minneapolis Caucasian “butch” female cop who automatically treated me as though I was guilty of a crime before ever been proven innocent of shoplifting (which I haven’t ever done in my life. What. I haven’t, that’s what four years in a Roman Catholic orphanage will get you, real fear of going to hell therefore one follows the rules to the letter.)

 

I may not be able to go back to that particular store again for many years to come and now that I modified my shopping behavior to other locations, what’s the point? There isn’t one.

 

I might consider going back this summer when I won’t be carrying around a coat on my arm inside the store in cold weather.

 

---

 

*) Please, don’t be so daft: the “common” human (creative or not) speaks (not writes) on average 2.95 falsehoods every ten minutes.

 

It’s been psychologically and factually proven; look it up. That averages to about 18 told and spoken falsehoods per hour.

 

          Just about anything that one commits to writing can become a liability and that’s why the Fine Arts are obligated to tell the truth no matter how painful that process may become or stand on the fifth but then that means that one is willing as a conscientious objector to go to prison in the safe guard and safe keeping of others which most writers are willing to take that risk for their sources.

 

The reason why most people don’t commit anything to writing is because it can indeed become an incriminating record.

 

In other words, one has to be willing to be completely and totally truthful about events, circumstances and chronology especially when one writes otherwise anyone in any official capacity (or not) can punch holes into one’s credibility and destroy one’s literary sole function to tell the truth as we know it to be, and as we recall situations to the best of our abilities.

 

Granted, don’t forget about ‘creative license’ and imperfect memories under the influence of human error nevertheless aligned with the accounts as to what took place and what one witnessed at a particular time, setting and event otherwise write fantasy if one desires to tell lies.

 

Writing is indeed a dangerous profession for literary liars.

 

If one is to write the truth and be as factually correct as possible then one has nothing to fear not even the NSA.

 

Writing is for professionals who are willing to expose themselves down to the bare naked truth and raw bone in front of anyone and capable to walk a judge and a courtroom jury step-by-step through events that occurred as they happened as well as backed up by facts and evidence.

 

Now, I have absolutely nothing to fear up to this point about anything I’ve written thus far on this blog or said on the podcast because it all checks out and that’s a source of pride with me (plus our attorneys and family and community of professional colleagues all keep us in ethical line.)

 

Most likely there are many errors and mistakes of very little to no consequence but as any official record shows or indicates my whereabouts and my doings I’d admit to them under subpoena and in any court of law in this country. Would you? (Think about it because I don’t have to.)

 

No, writing isn’t for liars.

 

It’s easier to tell a lie through the spoken word but once one commits words to ink then it becomes material evidence and thus one must get it right otherwise it’s potential prison for those whom write non-fiction literary works.

 

By law I’m to write the truth to the best of my ability and knowledge or I could hypothetically and possibly and potentially go to jail if evidence were to indicate otherwise.

 

Therefore I must uphold to remarkable ethical and philosophical and legal literary lessons learned which help me navigate this vast sea of words each and every single day.

 

You see, writing isn’t for just anyone or everyone.

 

Writing is about justice, legal binding documents and seeking the truth in all matters and that’s why ethics and philosophy go hand-in-hand when it comes to writing.

 

I can write about any public figure in any whichever manner I desire and call them a “butthole” all day long but more so profoundly I have to show and make a damn good case and argument as to why I think that so-and-so is an asshole rather than rant for the sake of it and that’s what separates a hater from the writer.

 

It’s my literary prerogative to say whatever the hell I well please about public figures and celebrities and famous people because thus they are property of the state and not of themselves otherwise stay a private citizen because with the limelight and public speaking engagements comes riches beyond the “average” citizen’s ability.

 

Since, I’m a real writer and not an online troll or creep, I have to make valid and valuable arguments for my viewpoints or it’s considered “liable” in writing and “slander” through the spoken word.

 

If one were to tell a falsehood about another in public through the spoken word then it’s considered “slander” and that means that one is accountable for what they say. Careful, about gossiping because that can possibly and potentially land one in prison although it has to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

 

I was taught by masters to attach my name at the bottom of my writing because that meant that I took full responsibility for what I wrote and anyone could address any complaints or comments directly to me so that I would stand up for my writing or make corrections.

 

Anytime that someone doesn’t attach their names to a piece of writing then I was taught to find it inconsequential. Anonymous writing doesn’t make a difference because the author was, too, much of a coward to take any responsibility for their actions therefore the writing doesn’t exist.

 

Peace.

 

Monday, January 20, 2014

 

“Three processions should you prize;

a field, a friend, and a book.”

 

(Leo Rosten’s Treasury of Jewish Quotations)

 

Hedonism (belief that pleasure is chief good in life)

 

He adopted hedonism as his philosophy in life and got burned.

 

Ordinary (normal, commonplace, usual, regular, common, everyday, run of the mill, average, mundane)

 

---

 

[Corrections were made, again.]

 

Hello.

 

***

          Ethically speaking, nepotism is considered highly and remarkably one of the most uncouth and incorrect practices in most all professional working fields because it’s wrong anyway one looks at it.

 

(Make an argument for nepotism and other more intelligent people than myself will knock out your philosophical teeth into the nether space.)

 

          Nepotism is “preferential treatment” or special consideration towards one particular familial individual or group of people when one most likely and possibly hasn’t earned a spot on the team much less worked for it. (Ouch.)

 

The reason as to why nepotism is wrong is because it sets up a family member or friend(s) (yes, in general) in a position of power in which they most likely haven’t proven themselves in the professional working world of adult atmosphere and high ranked abilities.

 

To be granted a high level status without the intimate work or knowledge or practice or wisdom in any given field of expertise is to lie to others.

 

Others sense the lie and know it and dislike this cheating misconduct in the cheaters very much because it comes to represent that all that’s good intentioned is lost and the seed of doubt and distrust is planted in the mind of other professionals and the mass public.

 

Once this breach (violation) of trust is broken then it’s almost quite impossible to regain the trust and previous rank one so automatically took for granted entrusted by the mass public and professionals in any working field.

 

          Nepotism is a perfectly great and excellent way to set up a “cheater’s pet” for failure because in the eyes of the rest of the professional working world any poser who hasn’t proven themselves worthy will most likely be shunned by important and smart and intelligent people because they know the difference and won’t so much as care to give any type of credence or credit to a cheater’s pet who only knows the ugly and true realities of what it’s like to be petted on the head or to be fed cookies rather than true professional analytical acclaimed criticism or earned merit.

 

In other words to receive preferential treatment or special consideration automatically removes one from any professional standing and reduces one to nothing especially the cheater.

 

Special consideration takes one ‘out of the running’ especially when it’s been granted by an idiotic adult parental unit or friend (yes, in general) who didn’t stop to consider the long-term true value of the other.

 

To receive preferential treatment makes a joke out the pet and they’ll be considered lesser than those whom patiently await their turn in line and play by the rules.

 

Nepotism is the quickest way to make a mockery of one’s own.

Nepotism is to become a laughing stock in the eyes of others.

 

Nepotism is to have one’s professional credibility taken away because one has cheated others out of valuable positions and information and time and knowledge.

 

Nepotism is to play at business and to play with fire in any one given professional field.

 

****

          You pose a great question: why are Americans so quick to give credit where it’s not been earned?

 

          Americans pose a great threat to themselves because they value lies over truth even though they preach about the truth all of the time.

 

          Americans pose a great threat to themselves because they believe that if they pull a magic trick with one hand then you won’t notice the other hand’s mirage.

 

          Americans pose a great threat to themselves because they consider magic (entertainment) an art.

 

          Americans pose a great threat to themselves because they don’t understand how to differentiate the true value of refined arts as magical (creating something from nothing) oppose to magic tricks.

 

          Americans pose a great threat to themselves because they don’t understand that refined arts are about truth hence the magical attribute to humanity’s powerful imagination while magic is about conjuring up tricks to create an illusion or a façade (front wall).

 

          Americans pose a great threat to themselves because they haven’t been taught to differentiate true psychological value from nothing or nationalistic manipulation or made-up fantastical historical events invented from nothing but lies (Paul Revere comes to mind or Edison) by flawed textbooks but more importantly by flawed persons of interest and hence and therefore our history is one that stands upon a shaky foundation that holds absolutely no significance or relevance to anything of equal or greater value. (Poof!)

 

In other words we really don’t have any real and honest stories to trade because our history is a magic trick and a lie.

 

This is mainly and only because for the most part Americans deny mathematics and science and logic and reasoning and place a stronger emphasis on emotion and sentiment and opinion as facts and truth rather than emphasis on critical analytical processes.

 

          Americans pose a great threat to themselves because they conjure up illusions of grandeur without ever having to work or prove that they are, whom, they say, they are, to the greater world at large.

 

          Americans pose a great threat to themselves because even when the truth is staring at them blatantly straight in the face, they’re more apt to look away in another direction and face a lie.

 

          Americans pose a great threat to themselves because they like to ‘bend the rules’ for themselves but when a foreigner does it then all hell breaks loose.

 

          Americans pose a great threat to themselves because they want so badly to be liked even if it means to commit to a personal falsehood only to appear more important or smarter than they really are while they throw others under the bus.

 

          Americans pose a great threat to themselves because they hardly ever study or know or deeply understand our war history and modern culture of violence against our own.

 

          Americans pose a great threat to themselves because indeed money and cheating and lies and fame have become our pathos and ethos while we’ve been taught to detest education, proven facts and linear timelines.

 

          Americans pose a great threat to themselves because the Liberal Arts and Humanities are foreseen more so as dollar signs than real educational compassionate learning to empathy.

 

          Americans pose a great threat to themselves because kindness is considered weakness or more precisely an ulterior motive towards manipulations, however, it is cruelty that’s made our contemporary culture one that seizes to exit.

 

          Americans pose a great threat to themselves because they believe in historical leaderless men who were factually proven plagiarists such as Mr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

A plagiarist is one that steals valuable intellectual sources from other brighter and better and smarter men than he’ll ever be.

 

A plagiarist gets forgotten in the annals of history no matter how much mass media or pop culture may push to celebrate a plagiarist at large.

 

Wrong is wrong.

 

Personally, I don’t care that Mr. Martin Luther King, Jr. held extra-marital affairs because that’s none of my damn business but I do care that as an adult he was in fact a proven plagiarist because that means that he was the worst type of liar; a poser with a podium or a television channel at his disposal and whims to implement further lies.

 

[Somebody, somewhere gave him preferential treatment otherwise he’d soon be forgotten and it won’t take long to erase this poser from the annals of history because the truth will set us free.]

 

*****

         

          Karma sure is a bitch.

 

          I’ve walked (and tried to skateboard) many of the streets titled with the name of Mr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on them and they’re a disastrous disappointment to say the least.

 

If one were to walk or drive such streets with the name of Mr. Martin Luther King, Jr. then get the hell out of those neighborhoods because most likely it means that you got lost in some Godforsaken shantytown and violent American ghetto. (Most tourist guide books won’t tell you that but I will.)  

 

          I’m not really sure as to why American contemporary pop culture likes to be rebellious for the sake of rebelliousness, however, if anyone so much as places the truth on the table for negotiations then the more a lie becomes celebrated yet the financial reality is a heartbreaking threatening one.

 

I think that one of many reasons as to why black American neighborhoods are centered on neglect and financial dysfunction and ruin is because the lies that Mr. Martin Luther King, Jr. told haven’t held up to most expectations as most lies don’t.

 

I believe that if cultural constructs are centered on the basis of lies then that house of cards will soon fall down.

 

I also believe that it’s time for our beautiful and intelligent and kind and caring and educated and wise black Americans to wake up and tell the truth about Mr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his plagiarism because no matter how much he’s celebrated nothing much changes, does it? Nope.

 

When we begin with the truth then everything else falls into place and we prosper and advance and innovate and create and become educated and knowledgeable to be kind and trust each other without getting paranoid and we advance civilizations once more.

 

We need our black American Brothers and Sisters to lead this truth quest because what happens in the Universe(s) is that when our celebrations stem from a single water droplet of a lie then the ripple effect is one of necessity and inferiority and insecurity and neglect. (There’re many different types of philosophical water droplets.)

 

          Furthermore, I don’t seem to understand as to why black Americans won’t find other historical public figures that they can look up to because there are hundreds of other more prominent historical black American public figures that I’ve read about their historical accounts and they’ve changed my life completely and forever without having them be plagiarists which is considered an intellectual and spiritual death to become a plagiarist. (The End. There’s nothing more to be said about plagiarists.)

 

          I mean, I don’t celebrate Columbus because he was the biggest fraud, murderer, thief, cheat and insane man that ever lived.

 

Nevertheless, I celebrate other Spaniards and their contributions to humanity so why can’t black Americans celebrate their more brilliant and caring and honest and intelligent forebearers?

 

Just because everybody else is jumping off plagiarist bridges, are you going to? Nope.

 

Peace;

Gabriel

 

Word Count: 1,896

 

P.S. I think that Daniel Ellsberg is truly brilliant.

 

*) Yes, Meryl Streep’s research on Walt Disney is incorrect.

 

*) No, Walt Disney wasn’t a bigot, racist anti-Semite or male chauvinist.

 

*) Great-grandmother says that I’m not “cheap” when it comes to purchasing items.

 

She says that I know quality and have expensive taste.

 

I’m simply someone who buys “inexpensive” items.

 

She says I know value therefore I’m not cheap.

She also says that I’m not “obese.”

 

I purchased and paid for a pair of awesome “Keen” shoes but the right shoe squeaks and it drives me crazy. (Yes, I paid for them.)

 

I told Great-grandmother about my squeaky shoe and she said that there’s an old saying about how if one has squeaky shoes then it means that they haven’t been totally paid for. (Ha!) Cute.

 

I got to find another pair of Keen’s because what an awesome shoemaker however no more squeaking.

 

Friday, January 17, 2014

 

“How great some men would be, were they not arrogant.”

 

(Leo Rosten’s Treasury of Jewish Quotations)

 

Viscosity (thickness, quality of being sticky)

 

The engineers tested the viscosity of the oil.

 

---  ---  ---

 

[Corrections were made, again.]

 

Hello…

***

A Personal Story about Weight

Part III

 

CONT.

 

          Yes, one pound of muscle and fat do weigh 16 ounces.

 

          Muscle doesn’t weigh more than fat but it sure is denser and more productively effective for the body. Think of muscle in terms of a solid and fat in terms of a liquid, both weigh the same but hold different functions.

 

I know that muscle feels as though it weighs more than fat does because even though I’m considered “obese” by Western medical standards I’m made mostly of muscle and a little bit of fat. Muscle mass index is more important than body fat weight.

         

 

          Fifth, I learned that there were 150 calories in eight ounces of soda.

 

I also learned that diet soda is more fattening than regular sugar soda therefore when I drink soda around Christmas time or on a hot summer day or if I’m terribly craving it then I tend to only drink regular soda and not diet.

 

I came to find out that there’s formaldehyde in the aspartame added to soda therefore if diet soda drops below a certain temperature then the chemical effect in the soda causes one to drink a chemical placed inside the bodies of corpses to embalm them and to keep them preserved.

 

Careful, always add plenty of ice cubes to one’s soda.

 

 

          Sixth, I learned to slow down when I ate no matter how hungry I was. It takes time for the primary brain (stomach) to tell the secondary brain (head) that it’s full.

 

 

          Seventh, when I knew for a fact that I was indeed full but I found myself hungry I learned that it was a warning signal from the body to the brain that it was dehydrated therefore drink plenty of H2O.

 

If one finds that they have cravings or a desire to snack then first drink water.

 

 

          Eighth, I found that I liked to eat everything and anything in small portions and quantities.

 

I found that I loved bagels and cake and pastries and pie and muffins and donuts however in small portions and only at special times of the year or if I’ve craved them for one full complete week then I take care of that need and fulfill the craving sensation.

 

 

          Ninth, I found out that just the smallest amount of chocolate such as five to ten chocolate covered peanuts right after dinner sent out important signals to the brain and indicated to it that it was done eating thus I liked to have one cookie or the tiniest sugary or chocolate anything after dinner because the smallest quantity in taste will signify to the brain that it’s complete and totally full especially after a moderate and real nutritional meal.

 

 

          Tenth, I learned the practice and art of relaxation.

 

I learned to properly breathe.

 

No matter how ‘worked up’ I might’ve felt inside that it couldn’t touch me. I did breathing exercises and stretches as well as learned to sit for an hour once a day and do nothing.

 

I learned psychological and mental devices such as “protective visualizations” to shield the body from harm.

 

I learned other important psychological apparatuses in which others could not penetrate my safety or my space no matter how aggressive or annoying or malcontent they were in their own lives.

 

 

          Eleventh, almost last but not least.

 

More importantly I learned to exercise in short but quick intervals.

 

I used to walk two or four miles at a time.

 

I learned to walk fast (without getting winded or breaking much of a sweat) for fifteen minute intervals throughout my days.

 

Plus, it was difficult to set aside one full and complete hour to exercise but if I break it down to 2/20 minute walks not only do the walks go by extremely fast but I also don’t ever get bored with our walks.

 

[I’ve chosen a safe route. That in itself has minimized almost all of the stress I used to have about solo outdoor walking because it used to stress me out that the element would ask me for money or want to talk to me while I tried to exercise. They’d want to talk about nonsensical topics of discussion when I walked by myself. It was far too much to contend with but not anymore. I’m so happy about that!]

 

After my short walks are over my body wants to keep going yet I stop myself from walking any further or longer than that 20 minutes.

 

I walk five days a week but now I break it down to about twenty to thirty minutes at a time and more or less rapidly yet I refuse to speed walk.

 

I don’t walk any longer than those 20 or at most 30 minutes.

 

Afterwards, I go back to what I was previously doing.

 

I used to set aside one consecutive hour to an hour-and-a-half to walk per day but I rarely ever saw any real results in my waistline for years. All that hard work and barely any results.

 

I’ve dropped more body fat and gained more muscle than I’ve had in a long time and even though I’ve regained nine pounds since Thanksgiving 2013 my clothes hang off of me more so now than ever before.

 

It’s been a sweet ride. I have to clothes shop for smaller sizes.

 

 

          Twelve, stand up on the hour, each hour no matter what.

 

If you’re like me and work at a computer for hours-on-end then stand up on the hour each hour no matter what. Or more effectively purchase a laptop stand like a music stand and do your work while standing up.

 

          Thirteen, I learned not to diet ever again.

 

          “Diet” is a horrible and evil word but more so precisely it’s a horrible and evil prison.

 

          Diet isn’t living.

 

          Diet is a mental prison rod iron cage.

 

          I learned to live and eat and celebrate.

 

          I learned to live a fun and productive and informed lifestyle.

 

 

          In conclusion for today; I wish you luck and self-love and patience and a calm attitude.

 

Whatever you do, please learn to properly breathe from your abdomen and to calm your mind so that the fat hormones don’t attack your body and trick or manipulate your brains to believe that it’s under attack or in danger of death when it isn’t.

 

I wish you fun and informed disciplined choices and lots of laughter when it comes to creating a healthy lifestyle.

 

You can do it.

I did it.

 

It took me four years to take off fifty pounds and keep it off.

It took me four years to take off fifty pounds that only took about four months to put on from stress hormones.

 

I believe in you.

You’re not alone.

 

With love;

Gabriel

 

P.S. A better way to calculate body fat percentage is with calipers rather than with a scale.

 

Word Cunt: 2,386

 

 

 

*) Yes, when we studied classical poetry we were first taught to comprehend and to commit to memory and to recite for our peers the masterpieces of the ancient masters in Latin without a single mistake made while we carried out our lessons to maximum precision.

 

When one made a mistake of any type we were then asked to take our seats and to try it again the following week.

 

As we learned and studied how to incrementally memorize the masters’ works we did this with fifteen-minute blocks-of-time until we fulfilled one hour’s worth of memorization.

 

We were granted two chances to get it right in front of our peers.

 

After that, if we didn’t get it perfectly right, then it was mandatory that we fulfill our responsibilities and duties to our craft and to individually recite for our professors in their office hours until we got it otherwise we would not be given any type of passing mark.

 

(I was the only student who didn’t ever get it right in front of her peers because of terrible stage fright but I did get it right in front of my tutors and professors. I passed with flying colors.)

 

          Furthermore, each peer translated and memorized and presented a different body of ancient work in different languages.

 

Hence we learned to memorize literary pieces (in foreign languages) and from there on out it was only a matter of ability to continue to add fifteen minute increments to one’s repertoire after the first hour.

 

Hence one learns such an invaluable skill set then one can do it for life (although I rarely commit poetry to memory because I require the cerebral space for other important functions such as abstract philosophical constructs and to store engineering potential future models for concepts such as a fusion engine as well as continuous novel threads for hundreds of pages.)

 

We translated from the Latin into English and understood what we committed to memory and recited otherwise it would’ve only been empty rhetoric thus comprehension was key to learn how to recite in the ancient (“dead”) languages.

 

How did our peers know if we made mistakes in foreign languages?

 

Each peer received advanced original and translated copies.

 

          Next we studied the complexities of lyrical poetry and wrote original compositions in English.

 

We were taught how to read from the lyrical page as orchestral musicians do when they read from sheet music while they perform in front of an audience.

 

The key was to learn how to read with as much comprehension, pace, attention, presentation, rhythm, precision and harmony as one would from committing any work of art to memory.

 

          Finally, we studied impromptu spoken word.

 

Our original works of art had to be as clever and as astute as those that we’d taken the time to compose away from the classroom.

 

We were taught to look around a room and to create a thematic purpose centered on a subject matter that brought forth purpose, intent and meaning to the spoken word as any of our other compositions we’d studied, translated and written.

 

We created original bodies of impromptu spoken work right there-and-then in front of our peers without cheating them out of an inclined philosophically and substantially important experience pertaining to political and current events of the time.

 

          With the conclusion of each literary lesson we wrote 20 page papers articulating the importance of all three exercises.

 

The moral of our lesson was to arrive at the conclusion that neither was more or less important nor more or less valuable than the other practices because each fulfilled a different function of communications in the ability to convey something of greater value to an audience.

 

          After completing all three lessons, personally I learned that for me it was far more complex to read “sheet music” or “lyrical poetry” from the page and to sustain invaluable complex emotion through compassioned conveyance than to only commit to memory or impromptu spoken word because when one reads from “sheet music” per se one doesn’t have much of an excuse to make a single mistake but furthermore one must keep the tempo and pace and rhythm of the piece intact while reading and processing “musical notes” as well as derive controlled emotion as orchestral musicians do in any cohesive ensemble otherwise it’s raw and talented energy but not refined harmony.

 

To know is to know better because one was taught the difference between what is or not.

 

Hence, one’s learned to differentiate through classical comparative measures and realizes the value in the difference between refined arts or raw energy then no matter how much raw talent may come at one with a blunt instrument, one may draw more precisely and deeply from the humility of gruesome Olympiad practice and discipline and humanity’s hope not desperation or aggression or destruction to get ahead in the arts for the sake of art but more profoundly for the sake of the common good to continue in the tradition and footsteps of the masters whose spirits live inside our human condition to develop beyond raw talent only because practice defines... (Ouch.)

 

I had to learn that lesson the hard way. We all did.

 

Peace.

 

 

*) Take it away Mr. Maher. Break a leg. Good luck. Thank you.

 

 

*) I can’t get enough of Tavis Smiley and his show as well as his guests. It’s so much fun! On our lunch breaks, we make it a point to sit down and eat and do nothing but watch each week day. Thank you. (I don’t sit down alone to lunch.)

 

 

*) Once more I’ve begun to watch the first half hour of Charlie Rose and his PBS show and I like it. I thank you.

 

 

*) No, don’t worry I’m not looking to get famous even if I wanted to.

 

Last year I came to a fork in the road when I made the tremendous decision to go down a path of fortune and wealth and not fame. 

 

I chose fortune because a) money talks b) donate it to mathematical and scientific research and c) I greatly respect money and value it however not above the human condition, plight or suffering.

 

I made the easy decision to turn away from fame because I was asked to do so by investors.

 

As of last year (2012-2013) I’m not to grant a single radio or television or print media interview to anyone for the next ten years (not that anyone was asking) but just to make it perfectly clear I’ve signed a quite legal and binding contract to investors and others.

 

I’m neither to become famous nor to seek it out nor to seek out celebrities unless we happen to literally bump into each other serendipitously which it happens from time to time because we’re in the same industry but more often than not I’ve no idea who they are. Fun!

 

I’m to keep my head down for the next twenty years and to work on ideas and abstract concepts that which my brains fancy.

 

No, I’m neither jealous nor envious by others’ fame when that’s not even an option in my life at this time or anytime soon for that matter. (Ha!)

 

One may not become either jealous or envious of someone or something that’s already unattainable or that would be absurd and a waste of valuable time and energy.

 

Thursday, January 16, 2014

 

“Handle books with respect:

never put a book underneath paper

when you line the paper with writing.”

 

(Leo Rosten’s Treasury of Jewish Quotations)

 

Ruminate (to ponder over in the mind)

 

It is well to ruminate over a subject before beginning to write upon it.

 

---  ---  ---

 

Hello…

***

A Personal Story about Weight

Part II

 

[Disclaimer: To the general mass public: As far as weight loss is concerned please consult professional advice from M.D.’s or medically certified nutritionists otherwise others may either get the mass public gravely harmed or injured or killed.]

 

 

****

          In the efforts to lose the fifty pounds I’d gained in the year of 2006-2007 I started a personal food journal the following year of 2007-2008 (everyday) in the efforts to research and learn more intimately about nutrition which lead me ‘to shoot a full-length documentary feature film about food in general which the uncut reels will most likely sit in a dark vault for the next 100 years and collect dust.

 

The food journal was the best educational health research gift I’d ever personally given myself.

 

Mind you; in the past I’d taken complex health courses that I hardly ever understood but it wasn’t until I began to apply my own personal research to my lifestyle, that I truly began to comprehend and understood more intimately the subject matter about nutrition, nutritional chemistry and nutritional production and nutritional distribution and nutritional mathematics and nutritional high and low function.

 

I learned that not all calories were created equal. I learned that not all calories held the same function or nutritional value.

 

 

*****

                    First, I learned that stress creates hormones called cortisol and epinephrine which the body naturally creates either when it’s under stress or it believes that it’s in a dangerous situation whether it is or not, the body can’t decipher the difference between created or real danger therefore the body will automatically create these stress hormones and that’s when weight gain begins.

 

 

                    Second, I learned to throw away the scale.

 

Seriously and simply it was the best thing I’ve ever done for my mental and physical health and I shan’t ever look back again unless I want to turn into salt. (Ha!)

 

I’ve been happiest in my life ever since I got rid of my scale plus the lack of stress in having to “weigh-in” once a week has helped me calm down and it’s one less thing to consider with everything else going on.

 

The professional ballerinas taught me to get rid of my scale and they’re “drop dead gorgeous.”

 

The only time the ballerinas weigh-in is when they go for physical checkups otherwise they don’t ever bother to get on a scale because it wreaks havoc on the pathology of their art and athleticism thus I’ve learned to carry-on with the mental strength and endurance of a ballerina to trust that my daily lifestyle and discipline does pay off.

 

 

                    Third, I had to learn that 3,500 calories equals one pound and that it really does mean that. Sometime, with a kitchen scale weigh one pound and you’ll come to realize how heavy it is.

 

One pound is 16 ounces anyway whichever one may look at it.

 

          Most importantly, I learned to only lose 1-2 pounds per week (no more) because that’s the most effective and healthiest way to lose weight (according to experts) and not to mention that I kept the weight off for good instead of regaining it.

 

From 2007-2009, whenever I’d lose a pound per day, I regained the weight twice that or more. It was a ridiculous and painful way to live.

 

The key to losing weight is moderation and patience and time. There’s no easy way to do it other than gracefully and balanced.

 

If I lost weight, too, fast then by the end of each winter that weight would all be back on my body.

 

I’d have to start the process all over again and that was the most frustrating aspect for me because I wanted to lose the weight quickly but I also didn’t have the wisdom and the grace and peace of mind to be patient and grateful to be alive as I was.

 

 

                    Fourth, I learned to identify foods and place them in categories from high nutritional function to low then I made an index of the lowest calories to the highest calories in any given sub-group of foods as well as organized and categorized nutritional value by food groups according to calories.

 

For example, I learned that there were 100 calories in large bananas but the potassium was worth the calories therefore I learned to eat one banana especially within one hour of a walk.

 

I also learned that in any given apple it also contained about 100 calories and that it kept me “regular” therefore, that, too, was good and tasty so I got into the habit of eating an apple within an hour after a walk.

 

I learned that a cake donut without any icing or sprinkles is about 200 calories but it’s empty of any nutritional value therefore I learned to eat half a donut or one donut every six months.

 

I learned to eat donuts earlier in the day thus I could burn it off by the time lunch came around.

 

I learned that most cans of soup hold about 2/cups of content and about 200 calories so if we do the math, one cup of soup equals about 100 calories.

 

I learned that one slice of grocery bought bread is about 120 calories and high in sugar content (16 grams of sugar?) thus I’ve made my own homemade bread for about seven straight years.

 

My bread recipe calls for 2/tablespoons of brown sugar and I stick to that.

 

I learned that butter is high in fat and calories so I completely cut it out from my nutritional intake plus if you have ovarian cysts then butter seems to cause terrible acne in adult women.

 

          Muscle doesn’t weigh more than fat but it sure is denser and more productively effective for the body. Think of muscle in terms of a solid and fat in terms of a liquid, both weigh the same but hold different functions.

 

I know that muscle feels as though it weighs more than fat does because even though I’m considered “obese” by Western medical standards I’m made mostly of muscle and a little bit of fat. Muscle mass index is more important than body fat weight.

 

More later…

I ran out of time.

 

With love;

Gabriel

 

Word Count: 1,381

 

*) Today, I spotted a youth of about fourteen. He wore a thin jacket and he looked ever so cold. He wore absolutely no hat or mittens.

 

As a motherly woman, I wanted to wrap him around my arms and bring warmth back to his skinny teenage body.

 

Freeway and I continued on our afternoon walk as though we didn’t notice his discomfort however we did.

 

I’m asking Minnesotans to open up their pocket books and invest in real down coats for children and youth and adults in need. I almost believe that each and every Minnesotan ought to own a down coat in this climate.

 

Don’t do it for me. Do it for our citizens in dire need of warmth and security. This is the type of weather in which one could die if one were to encounter a difficult situation.

 

I know what it’s like to only wear a jacket and not a proper coat because one isn’t able to afford one. I’m only one human but I know where the need is. Won’t you help me towards that endeavor? We’ve donated thousands of dollars in the calendar year of 2013 but it doesn’t seem to be enough.

 

Peace.

 

*) I’m sure grammatical corrections will need to be made. You’ll let me know as always. Thank you. Believe it or not; I’m grateful that you have a better grasp of the English language than I do.

 

I know that many of you think that I’m almost near to impossible when it comes to my viewpoints but when I begin to write positive cultural criticisms I can only hope to prove you wrong about the human that I am.

 

*) No, online personalities don’t distinct humans from whom they are in real life. In real life one has to have the courage to face another and tell them what one respectfully thinks therefore one has to be more open minded and kind and willing to hear out the other side.

 

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

 

“When a man travels and finds books

which are not known in his hometown,

it is his duty to buy them,

rather than anything else,

and bring the books back home with him.”

 

(Leo Rosten’s Treasury of Jewish Quotations)

 

Rustic (pertaining to the country, rural)

 

He spent much time painting rustic scenes.

 

---  ---  ---

 

Happy Wednesday!

 

[Yes, corrections were made. It’s like a mental puzzle to figure out where I tightened up the language. It’s subtle but most important. My edits will help to strengthen mental and memory function.]

 

I’m having trouble with: upon and on, amongst and among, sight and site and of course but not least comma placement.

 

I’m constantly looking up grammatical rules and well I’ll continue to make corrections because practice makes perfect. I find that I can either write or edit but not do both at the same time. It’s the subtle language that gets me each and every time like: on, of, for, with, about. Ha!

 

***

A Personal Story about Weight

Part I

 

          In the year 2006-2007, I gained fifty pounds from corporate stress as I’ve already written about before.

 

          It wasn’t so much the stress of corporate America that made me gain the fifty pounds.

 

It was the fact that the accountant (yes, the accountant was also Human Resources) who’d hired me as a “Broadcast Engineer” made it quite clear on my first week that I was there for the main and sole purpose to service her and to do her bidding as her personal “toady” by corporate spying on our coworkers.

 

Immediately, I became stressed out because I thought that I was hired upon the basis of my own merits to fulfill the particular duties and responsibilities of a broadcast engineer.

 

Instead the entire situation turned out to be something quite completely different that which we had neither discussed nor agreed upon in the interview process.

 

If I’d known that particular information at an earlier stage in the interview process then I would’ve thanked her for her time and respectfully walked out without quitting my previous position as an Audio / Visual Specialist for a social club (non-sexual) which I made fifteen bucks per hour in those days, spring and summer of 2006.

 

She’d left me open for a deep financial wound and between a hard place and a rock. She’d left me very little alternative but I didn’t deter from my ethical epicenter, per se, (more so poetically than anything else when I use the word “epicenter”).

 

          I’ll not forget the day when we stood in that hallway of the 40th floor of the I.D.S. Center as she demanded that I spy for her. I’d just completed my first full week of work and she was ready to hang me by a noose if I didn’t comply by her demands.

 

I told her that if she needed to know anything about our coworkers then she’d have to go and find out on her own. I told her that if she needed to communicate with workers then she’d better do it directly with them.

 

Immediately the look on her face told me that I was going to be sabotaged at every turn and hence began my year in another corporate hell even though my direct work made the company millions. Yes, with an “m” and that’s no hyperbole (exaggeration).

 

          I’d taken business ethics and ethics in general. I’d even so much as studied for an entire two semesters on the subject matter of whistleblowers.

 

I already knew very well what the answer and outcome of my choices would be. There’s an unspoken code of honor amongst engineers as there’s with sailors.

 

We don’t throw anyone into the fire much less under the bus even if it means sabotaging ourselves for the greater good of others whom we respect.

 

It was most unfair of her yet she was defunct to begin with and as it turned out she was also factually proven an embezzler. Not only did she worm her way into having the owner of the company allow for her to “cut” checks but also signed checks and that’s a basic business no-no 101.

 

[Corrections were made: I’m terrible at vocabulary even though I know what I mean to say. Thank goodness that Eric understands that when I say, “the bazoom” he understands that I mean a motorized machine.]

 

          I hadn’t signed up to corporate spy on any of our coworkers therefore I was completely bewildered by her rude and contemptible misbehavior. I couldn’t believe that she was in her late sixties and that vulgar.

 

I was twenty-eight years old. I needed the work and the pay badly however I wasn’t about to sabotage others for my own personal unethical gains and it’s paid off tremendously ever since because I made the right decision to stand up to that crooked bully.

 

Incredible and remarkable aspects of business life have occurred to me ever since. Never mind filmmaking because people abused me and took advantage of me (and I let them because I didn’t know any better but now I do.)

 

I’m talking about true business in which our interviewees weren’t ever a part of our business meetings and outings and investor deals over meals and conversations and handshakes.

 

People from all over the world trust me because of that one decision I made to go up against a crook even though I ruined my professional standing and my figure for a while.

 

I got both my career and my figure back eight years later because the truth will set you free.

 

          Mid mornings I’d walk the two miles to downtown, Minneapolis and at night the two miles home every single week day for one complete year (2006-2007).

 

          For the past decade on a consistent daily basis I’ve kept my calorie intake to about 1,200-1,500 calories. (Eric tells me that I really don’t eat all that much so when I do, he becomes surprised.)

 

No, I don’t ever feel starved on that amount of calories unless I work out strenuously (which my bones don’t like to do) nevertheless whatever I burn, I make up by the time I go to bed so that there isn’t a deficit and my body can go to bed feeling secure and happy and not hungry and scared of starvation.

 

I make sure that I average that 1,200-1,500 calories on a daily basis especially if I burn it off then I have to make it up and refuel my body so that it’s not starved and eating itself especially the brain.

 

I abhor feeling starved.

 

I can’t stand that hallow feeling inside my gut so I don’t abuse my body in that manner. It’s too painful. I get really grouchy hence my blood sugar drops, too, low then good luck. I keep myself in check and well maintained.

 

It’s my responsibility to take care of my needs as a mature adult therefore I do.

 

          For eight years we’ve sat down to early-late Nordic dinner at around nine at night. That’s our schedule and we love it, plus on weekday mornings we don’t have to be downtown until eleven-thirty therefore it works out perfectly. (Real Nordic dinner is at around twelve at night or early morning depending on how you look at it.)

 

          No matter how many miles I clocked in my weight went completely out of control. Within four months I couldn’t fit into the same clothes I’d owned for several years.

 

(I’m talking about favorites. The ones people keep around for years only because they’re soft and well worn to fit one’s contour lines. Plus, I take impeccable care of my clothes. I just do. I like to because as an Indigenous we’re taught that the sanctity of spirits rest and live inside each object so one is to take care of the objects around us or don’t have them at all if one can’t respect them. I’m hard on clothes but I also respect them and take great care of them.)

 

No matter how much I walked and kept my calorie intake to about 1,200-1,500 I still continued to put on the pounds from stress. (I know how many calories I took in the year 2007-2008 because I kept a food journal and it was the best thing I’ve ever done in my life.) 

 

I was afraid to lose my job which it seems silly to me now when I think back on it because deep down inside I knew that I would but it was only a matter of when.

 

It was a relief to get fired under the pretense that I wrote a blog, which I did just not with office equipment or on the clock. I brought my own laptop and blogged at lunch.

 

          It was a relief to get fired but it took three years to take off the fifty pounds.

 

I continued to walk in the years followed (to this day) as well as began to battle the worst health problem of my life from fibroids however doctors kept telling me that I was imagining my health issues (psychosomatic) while each and every passing day the pain grew worse and more intense until I began to scream and yell and holler from dire pain and I didn’t care who the hell heard me scream especially not the damn mean-spirited upstairs neighbors who stomped around all day and night long.

 

I was a wounded greasily mama bear and dangerous because most wounded animals are. (Ha! I’ve come a long way from those physically painful years of 2006-2011, 2012-2013.)

 

(Hardly, no screaming in the year 2013 except for three times when the pain was too surreal. Once, this fall a week before my second fibroid surgery and the week following surgery due to excruciating pain that not even painkillers could numb out.)

 

          No matter how many miles I walked and controlled my food intake I still had a tummy that stuck out like a pregnant belly and it was because of grapefruit size benign tumors growing on the lining of my uterus.

 

Plus with fibroids the body gets tricked into believing that it’s continuously pregnant and thus in some strange way I spent (2006-2011) / (2012-2013) quasi pregnant without any fruits to my labor.

 

I imagine all of the children we could’ve had by now. I’m exhausted from feeling hormonally pregnant. It’s hard work to say the least.

 

Ever since September 2013 I’ve been clear from fibroids and I feel great!

 

          So, not only was I around fifty pounds overweight (2006-2009) but I could not seem to shed the tumor fat (ha! just kidding!) inside my uterus lining which I thought was body fat all along but it wasn’t.

 

In other words I thought I had unruly and rebellious belly fat the entire time but it wasn’t all together belly fat that completely made my stomach stick out like a pregnant woman’s belly, it was, what it was.

 

Not only had corrupt aspects of corporate stress wreaked havoc upon my spirit and soul and body and hormones but also I began to get more and more exponentially ill and began to live with severe abdominal pain each passing day without relief even when I went to doctors. It went on like this for about five years.

 

For sure, what doesn’t kill you does indeed make you stronger.

 

Ultimately, the moral of this tale is not to judge so harshly the plight of others because you never know what hell other people are going through. Empathy.

 

More later…

 

Peace;

Gabriel

 

Word Count: 2,211

 

Note: The single most important source of information in anyone’s life is about the weather. If the mass public isn’t informed about the weather then we can possibly come to either grave harm or injury or death.

 

---  ---  ---

 

Correction: Yes, the new down coat I just bought is indeed and in fact made from real bird feathers.

 

No wonder it’s so warm. Yes, I rechecked and asked an expert to help me identify the coat and it is indeed feathers rather than synthetic. (I had already cut the label off so I wasn’t totally sure.)

 

The only attire I can wear underneath the coat is a T-shirt otherwise I begin to sweat profusely. It was about one degree when I took Freeway out for our first walk earlier this morning and I sweat like no other. 

 

It’s highly improper to talk about money but since I’m writing then I’ll tell you this about the coat I just purchased.

 

It was originally marked at eighty dollars.

I bought it on sale for seventeen sweet dollars.

 

It’s a remarkable coat made in Indonesia, however, the zipper is cheap and it gets stuck each and every time I zip it up or down thus I’ll have to find a keen tailor who can replace this zipper with a great zipper because the coat is absolutely wonderfully made except for the fact that it lowers my quality of life in that I have to pull the coat over my head when I put it on or take it off and that leaves me with a terrible hairdo and having to take my glasses off. I don’t like it one bit.

 

I’ll be on the lookout for another down coat that is supremely made because it’ll be worth the money. I never knew how wonderful down was. I knew but I was afraid to look like a marshmallow. I grew up with down pillows and sleeping bags and mitten chops made from feathers so I had an idea.

 

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

 

“If you have a son who does not like to lend his books;

and another son who does,

leave your library to the second,

even if he is the younger.”

 

(Leo Rosten’s Treasury of Jewish Quotations)

 

Hiatus (gap, break with a part missing)

 

He was able to fill in the hiatus in the manuscript.

 

---  ---  ---

 

[Corrections were made, again.]

 

***

A Personal Story about Weight

 

           In the year 2006-2007, I gained fifty pounds from corporate stress, as I’ve already written about before.

 

Oh, my day is done.

I’ve got to move on.

         

 

 

 

 

Peace;

Gabriel

 

Word Count: 1,445

 

Notes:

 

*) Our Great-nephews live in the Elk River, Minnesota school district.

 

Our Great-nephews are twelve and fifteen years of age and are considered very good hockey players and athletes in general.

 

As of 2013 both boys made the grave decision to quit hockey because the other kids’ parents were too extreme and crazy for their taste.

 

After about seven continuous years of playing hockey they’ve decided that they could no longer endure hockey because it wasn’t the stress of the sport that they couldn’t handle, it was the overall misconduct of the parents out in the field that they decided to no longer put up with.

 

Now, that our Great-nephews aren’t participating in hockey they will lean on Physical Education to fulfill what they’ll be missing out on the rink.

 

It’s a terrible idea to cut physical education and music education and art in schools. It’s a fool’s errand. It’s not only devastating and wrong but also an unhealthy legacy for the up and coming generations.

 

I won’t go so far as to call such a policy abusive but it is.

 

---

 

*) No, there ought not to be children in three star restaurants.

 

When we’ve dined out, we’ve encountered Minnesota children running around tables and they’ve almost taken the table cloths and water glasses and silverware and our food right down to the floor.

 

We’ve had to hang on to the objects on the table for fear that the unruly children might cause property damage to the restaurant.

 

We’ve watched as the parents looked on at their children and not said a single damn word to them. The looks on the parents’ faces were the looks of pride and joy for their little brats in Indian restaurants.

 

We didn’t say a word to anyone because in America one is apt to get sued for saying anything even if it’s the right thing to say.

 

We were appalled. We paid our bill, got up and left and we haven’t returned ever since early summer 2013.

 

The little children of about eight and ten years old were impeccably dressed. One would be lead to believe that they came from privilege however it was obvious that they came from the gutter because children from privilege have tutors and parents and villages to teach them what’s proper etiquette and what isn’t in all circumstances.

 

If one is to have newborns and infants and they begin to cry then the proper thing to do is to take them out of any public situation as quickly as possible; whether it’s church, court, malls, restaurants or any other public space or establishment.

 

One is to take care of their responsibilities as quickly as possible otherwise it is just and right for the other patrons to complain to the establishment or directly and respectfully address the parents to please calm their children or leave.

 

There’s no grey matter about this; it just is.

 

People pay good money and spend energy and time in any particular endeavor towards that which they enjoy and a screaming babe in arms or a toddler flinging food or a bratty child running circles around a restaurant while others dine-out is simply out of style, terrible taste in public etiquette and mindless and borderline mean and abusive towards the well being of others.

 

---

 

*) Why is the Star Tribune so against raising the minimum wage?

 

Don’t they know that the research is in and that all types of small, medium and large size business owners agree that an increase in minimum wage is actually beneficial to businesses?

 

Please, don’t listen to uninformed sources of any type without the facts or to bias hurtful opinions when it comes to breaking the working poor.

 

What are the risks involved in an increase in minimum wage? None.

 

Raise the minimum wage because this isn’t China.

 

*) Yes, without a referendum vote the building of a new football stadium is unconstitutional, no matter how much a judge or judges may be bought by corporate America (supposition).

 

*) What’s everybody so afraid of?

The democratic system?

Why not put it to a vote?

What are ya chicken?

 

What a bunch of hypocrites not to put it to a vote.

 

Why are Minnesotans so hypocritically corrupt?

All lip service when it comes to freedom but won’t walk the walk to democratic liberty.

 

*) It’s not up to the Minnesotans to wage in their opinions about the building of a new football stadium.

 

It’s up to the constituents of Minneapolis to vote upon the basis of their rights and if they want their taxes to go towards the building of a new football stadium or not.

 

Minneapolis constituents get to vote if they’d prefer to do something different with their 400 million dollars like education and free tuition to attend public Minneapolis colleges and universities.

 

400 million dollars which belongs to the constituents of Minneapolis and not to corrupt politicians or judges or corporate scum and don’t you ever forget it.

 

*) This (memorandum vote) ship hasn’t sailed.

 

To do the right thing, the constitutional thing by The People is to give The People a referendum vote otherwise it’s either corrupt or corrupt.

 

*) No, this possible stadium isn’t “their” stadium.

 

It’s “our” stadium and more precisely it belongs to the constituents of Minneapolis and don’t you forget it, neither. (Ha!)

 

Remember; those 5,000 jobs (or so) are mainly minimum wage work and we all know that minimum wage labor doesn’t get America very far, much less to the grocery store.

 

---

 

*) Yes, I’ve decided to boycott bead soap to help out the environment even if it means going without it but if I find out that it’s another hyped-up stupid campaign then I’ll lick someone so hard that they’ll soon not forget it. (Ha!) (Poetically speaking, of course.)

 

---

 

*) I finally purchased a down coat (real feathers) for the first time in my life and it’s remarkable. I shan’t look back. What was I thinking?

 

I was afraid I’d look like a marshmallow but I soon found out how wonderfully warm a down coat really feels, that I don’t care what I look like in it. It’s like wearing a sleeping bag and even more so comfortable than that.

 

---

 

*) No matter what anyone says, I have a tremendous amount of respect for Kevin Love.

 

*) Kevin Love’s coat drive was a remarkable contribution to our Twin Cities community which we’re all grateful for, and we respect him for putting himself out there for the benefit of the greater good.

 

Thank you for helping to save the lives of our people while temperatures dipped well below zero. I thank you.

 

*) I’ve been meaning to get to a Timberwolves’ games for almost a decade. (One of these days.) I’d love to see Kevin Love play in real life instead of on the Tele.

 

One of my aunties loves and supports Minnesota women’s basketball with season’s tickets as well as the Timberwolves.

 

She’s been into that for well over a decade and it’s worth her investment even when both teams lose. She’s so committed to the teams that she supports them through good and bad times.

 

My auntie just retired from Hennepin County as a social worker and it was pro basketball that carried her through some of her most intense and difficult moments in her career.

 

It was basketball which brought her great joy while she fulfilled her ut-most serious duties and responsibilities to north, Minneapolis in helping every type of junkie straighten out their lives.

 

She went through terrible situations ever imaginable. In her daily working life she was put at risk as she travelled in-and-out of north, Minneapolis. I commend her for being such a relentless hero. She’s one of my heroes. I love her like a mother.

 

My hat goes off to her and her remarkable contributions for over twenty years to the worst parts in the city of Minneapolis.

 

I only know about Kevin Love because my auntie follows basketball so closely. I’ve always loved the game of basketball even though I haven’t ever learned so much as to dribble a ball and I studied that unit in physical education classes.

 

---

 

*) Yes, of course, it’s fine to compliment women especially when they’re beautifully put together, however, one may not criticize women’s attire or describe their body parts because that’s entering a borderline gray area of sexual harassment.

 

Monday, January 13, 2014

 

“Cover your bookscases with rugs or linens of fine quality;

preserve them from dampness and nice and injury;

for it is your books that are your true treasure.”

 

(Leo Rosten’s Treasury of Jewish Quotations)

 

Sacerdotal (pertaining to priests or priesthood)

 

He performed his sacerdotal functions with the greatest care.

 

---  ---  ---

 

Happy Monday!

 

[Corrections were made.]

 

          I’m at a loss for words when it comes to clothing in general and fashion and material and design and cut and fabrics and print design.

 

          What would you like me to say?

 

          No, the mass public isn’t ‘ordinary.’

          We’re the mass public and don’t you forget it.

 

          Let’s begin.

 

          First, I think that 2013 was an awful year for clothes on the racks.

 

All I want to do is shop for new clothes but the clothes out there are ugly and barely without any shape.

 

The fabrics feel cheap and scratchy and there’s barely any line or shape to the clothes and they’re way over priced for how ugly they are.

 

For the past four weeks, I’ve walked through aisles of women’s clothing in several department stores and it takes me back to the ugly 1980’s and 1990’s. It makes me want to run for the hills and start wearing sack dresses with rope around my waist.

 

It’s a walk down memory lane that I’d rather soon forget for the worst part of the 1990’s when clothes seemed to be made only for “teeny boppers” with gum stuck to their hair or old women from WWII era and barely anything in between.

 

One might think that with all of the new technological advancements in fabrics and materials and designs that we’d be caught up to at least the year 2013 but it seems as though hardly anyone’s got a pulse on the present much less the future when it comes to clothing apparel and wearable design and fashion.

 

          Two, when did ‘everyone and their grandmother’ become “brand designers” who can’t design for real women much less for the cat walk?

 

It’s not fair to do that to the mass public or to the fashion industry.

 

It’s not fair to pose as “fashion designers” without ever putting in the time to learn ‘the craft’ and to acquire the skill set it takes to design for the human anatomy.

 

It’s a science to design a construct.

 

If one hasn’t ever so much as sewn something with their bare hands much less designed architectural blueprints or patterns then we’ve got nothing to say to one another, and by that I mean, the mass public and quasi brand designers.

 

Just because everyone and their Grandmother have a brand, it doesn’t mean that they can make quality clothing much less good looking clothes.

 

I personally flunk all of those “brand designers” who never went to design school to learn the craft of articulate design.

 

How dare thee call themselves “fashion designers” and run a cheap brand with terrible so called designs?

 

          Three, what went wrong with women’s print design in the years 2012-2013?

 

Look, just because women want something dressier than a T-shirt but not as fancy as a New Year’s outfit it doesn’t mean that chiffon shirts have to be made to look like my Great-aunt Hanny’s WWII clothes style of clothes that she wore well into her 70’s.

 

I don’t get it.

 

The print design was atrocious.

 

Why print designs were made in jumbo size I’m sure I’ll never understand?

 

Large pineapples and bananas and palm trees and huge lines and squares and this and that. Women aren’t Charlie Brown much less Florida retirees without much fashion sense.

 

Here in the urban modern world we don’t like to walk around in moo-moo dresses with ugly prints.

 

When did women become blobs to designers?

 

Are the large prints supposed to cover up fat because when I see larger women in large prints then I think that it accentuates what they so much desire to hide?

 

When large print drapes over a large body part then that large body part looks larger to my naked eye, which it can only mean, that it looks large to others because I can’t be the only one who notices it.

 

Look: my New Jersey German-Jew Great-aunt was a courageous woman but when it came to prints she missed the mark.

 

She wore ‘larger than life’ print patterns. I think that it was to hide some parts of her body but instead the large prints accentuated what she tried to hide.

 

My Great-aunt wore some of the ugliest and most expensive clothes I’ve ever come across in my entire life. To this day, I try to imagine away her ugly and expensive clothes but it’s not possible for me to do so.

 

          Four, I love semi-dressy, light-weight, long sleeved, high tech fabric shirts or chiffon shirts without print (unless, it’s magnificent print) a clean cut and modern twist to them.

 

I like these types of shirts because then I look business casual without having to get all dressed up.

 

I can throw on a chiffon dress shirt over a T-shirt like a man would with a suit jacket for dinner or business. When I throw on a chiffon shirt then I’m ready for business instead of looking all grungy and unprofessional in jeans and a T-shirt.

 

No, I don’t want to look like my Great-aunt did in the 1990’s.

 

          I love WWII era clothing with a modern and tasteful look.

 

I love pencil skirts that really are pencil skirts but please don’t make the hips like hippo ears and the cinched-in waist tighter than an 1880’s corset. It’s terrible construction. If I want to wear riding pants then I will or britches for that matter.

 

When did design mean going backwards and getting stuck in an ugly phase and terrible construction for about two decades?

 

What happened to the classical modern look of mixing the old beautiful lines with new sophisticate cuts?

 

I think we better get some fashion design school graduates out into the world to help out the industry which appears to be full of brand designers who don’t know much about...

 

          Five, whatever happened to Liz Claiborne?

 

Oh, my!

 

She can truly design for petite women without putting us into ugly designs. Just because women are petite, it doesn’t mean we’re old and without taste.

 

          Six, I refuse to purchase new jeans because they have this weird cut in which the front of the jeans dip below the waist line and when I sit down my little bit of belly fat falls out.

 

Will you please not do that to women wanting to hide as much as possible when it comes to our lovely imperfections?

 

I refuse to fit into clothes just because they’re made to look a particular way or because they’re cut in some old fashioned mold.

 

Okay, let’s get it out of the way: weird colors for pants are just weird. We didn’t like bright yellow or poop brown or purple or turquoise when we were in the fourth grade in 1987 and we don’t like it now.

 

Please, women’s anatomies are actually something astonishing.

We’re not some manikins stiffly standing all day long.

We, actually have to move in these suckers.

 

I flunk most of the fashion industry.

(No, I’m not talking haute couture.)

They’ve got a lot of work ahead of them in the year 2014-2015.

 

I don’t want to come across as a bitch. I just want to spend some money and look good in what I purchase. I want clothes to actually fit beautifully so that I don’t have to force myself into them.

 

I’m this close to giving out my measurements but that’s where I draw the line in the sand. You already know my age and my blood pressure and my weight. I can’t get any more personal than that because it wouldn’t be proper.

 

Sincerely,

Gabriel

 

P.S. for those of you on Television, if your shirts have a ripple across the chest then it means that the shirts are too tight and it looks terrible especially in front of the camera which adds five pound, plus.

 

*) If the average American woman is size 14 then why do women size 6, 8, 10 have to suffer at the hands of brand designers who either design for waifs or makes tents?

 

Have you no idea how beautifully healthy, petite and muscular and tone and strong women size 6, 8, 10 are? Please.

 

Word Count: 1,363

 

Friday, January 10, 2014

 

“Make books your companions;

let your bookshelves be your gardens:

bask in their beauty, gather their fruit,

pluck their roses, take their spices and myrrh.

And when your soul be weary,

change from garden to garden,

and from prospect to prospect.”

 

(Leo Rosten’s Treasury of Jewish Quotations)

 

Sacrilege (desecrating that which is sacred, profaning something)

 

It is sacrilege to misuse any of the sacred vessels use in Divine Worship.

 

---  ---  ---

 

[Corrections were made.]

 

***

Hollywood Women

of 2014

 

          To our dearest famous and important and intelligent Sisters;

 

I may and can publically address you as another contemporary professional in her field. I’ve earned that right. I’ve worked for it.

 

Hello, I’m someone of no great consequence to you.

 

I’m simply another contemporary woman like any other.

 

A professional, living her life each and every day to form modern contributions because it’s the right and just thing to do.

 

          I dreamed of you as of early this morning.

 

It’s my duty as any Indigenous scribe to share the right lessons I’ve learned in my sleeping dreams. (To the Indigenous our dreams are a reality far more real and of greater consequence than this one here on Earth. I don’t expect you to understand that nevertheless I only ask that you respect our differences.)

 

          No, I didn’t come here to either swear at you or scorn you or to change your minds about anything. I’m present as I address you directly because something greater than myself calls me to the act of duty.

 

          No, I shan’t pretend that we’re best friends. No, I neither live in a fantasy world nor am I delusional about living worlds apart as we do.

 

As a matter of fact, I neither will get in contact with you nor seek you out in life. To be wise is to know ‘your place’ in the universe and I don’t pretend to be anything that I’m not.

 

I shan’t put on airs, otherwise that would bring about strong winds of bad health to each of us and we neither can afford ill winds nor bad health heading into this long head wind of the year 2014.

 

***

Heads up!

 

Ladies, let’s tackle this vessel together

without anyone getting hurt

 

Careful of the boom that it doesn’t

come back and hit you on the head

 

There’s a pair of leather gloves for everyone

Please place your hands inside them

 

Please stay seated inside the cockpit at all times,

unless the Captain directs you to go forward

towards the bow of the boat and winch down the sails

 

When the Captain tells you

Please take grab of a rope, along the sides, behind you

and pull as fast and as hard as you can

with all your might

as we stir this vessel through rough waters

 

At times it might seem as though the sailboat will capsize

But I assure you that it won’t

 

We’ll ride it out

These winds and water are bitterly cold

Let’s harness in for this bronco ride

 

We’ll be smiling at you from afar

because we believe in your might

 

***

 

          I seek your attention if only for a brief moment to bring awareness to you.

 

          It appears to be that women ‘on the ground’ require your leadership and assistance and voice because our very rights are taken away from us every sixty minutes that a woman is raped and every seventy minutes that a woman is murdered due to violent crime in America.

 

We understand that we’re not in any position to ask anything of you, however, we must because you hold great positions of power that which if you were to create any little bit of change to our world then we’d be most grateful to receive it.

 

          It’s come to my attention that American women suffer greatly from rape and sexual molestation and sexual harassment and violent crime. According to the facts every eighteen minutes a woman is brutally attacked and raped in America.

 

I can no longer sit by and write nothing.

 

In my humblest of opinions, there appears to be a link between the scantly attire worn by some of Hollywood’s leading women and men ‘on the ground’ who fantasize the brutality and rape and murder of their women because sexuality and sensuality begins in the brain with images.

 

How can this be proven?

Please defer to the statistics on violence against women.

 

          No, not for one single moment do I place personal blame upon the beautiful women of Hollywood.

 

If anything I place the responsibility more so upon the men of Hollywood who dress women to look as though classy has gone out of style and trashy is in.

 

No, I don’t want to anger anyone otherwise ugly attitudes will ‘rear their heads’ and nothing will get accomplished for the American women who suffer so.

 

No, I’m not here to push any buttons otherwise the rebellious nature of Hollywood will cause women to further suffer at the hands of their attackers and abusers.

 

[I’m treading literary waters over here. I can only hope that you’ll throw a lifesaver not out of courtesy but more so out of complete respect for life and as a nautical duty to save another’s life when you’re placed under such a humble and supreme position to do so.]

 

No, I ask nothing for myself.

 

I come forth as a poetess to ask for equality and thoughtful representation for our modern women’s freedoms.

 

I only ask that classy attire be brought back to Hollywood. With all due respect I can only imagine that the men and women of Hollywood can afford classy attire to portray their significance and importance to the world.

 

          What I’d like you to understand is that the portrayal of your very work can break or build culture yet ‘art imitates life.’

 

If you so chose to break the modern woman then you can, but not without first realizing the brutality.

 

When uneducated men believe that it’s okay to oppress and dehumanize and demean women simply because such men become delusional about characters as their whores then women ‘on the ground’ also become disregarded as character-whores because that type of man can’t decipher reality from images and this cerebral dysfunction leaves women to approach real places as dangerous situations for us to fend for ourselves.

 

We don’t live in palaces or mansions with special staff to take care of our every need or body guards to watch over us.

 

Sexual brutality is about power and men will take it from us.

 

Ours is a world in which sometimes going to the supermarket or hanging out amongst male friends can become real trouble.

 

Sometimes, the very men in our lives come to think and treat us as property and objects.

 

Won’t you have a heart and a little imagination?

Have you no mercy for our plight?

Won’t you consider our point of view?

 

Actually, as a matter of fact, most women here ‘on the ground’ cover up because the war on women is a prevailing wind.

 

We’ve found many ways to be sensual and sexual without wearing plunging neck lines down to our bellybuttons otherwise we’d probably get raped getting off a bus stop. It shouldn’t have to be that way but it is.

 

We’re working women whose adoration and admiration support your careers and we can only hope that you may come to think of us as Sisters and support our safety.

 

Please consider and think about what one wears in front of the camera because that can become the difference between life and death for women who want to support you in all your endeavors.

 

We think that you’re beautiful and intelligent and hard working.

 

Believe it or not; we don’t wish to be you. We’re grateful that you carry the boulder of fame up that steep incline while we carry ourselves on meager salaries and resources.

 

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

I thank you.

I don’t have much but what I do, I give freely and willingly to you.

 

I come to you as an East Coast, New England blue blooded descendant without any pretenses only real history and courage and wisdom.

 

I come to you as a Minnesota Finn-Jewish descendant.

 

I come to you as a modern Maya scribe descendant without any fantasies about who I am only with vast ancient knowledge of the stars and the written word. I come from a line of Ancestors whose images rest upon the walls of cave paintings of the Maya.

 

I come to you because I know exactly who I am and what I’ve lived through.

 

At times, it’s difficult to understand the remarkable in such ordinary times.

 

We wish you everything good that you wish for.

We look forward to your success.

You’re absolutely beautiful the way you are.

 

May Godspeed.

 

Sincerely,

Gabriela

 

Words Count: 1,388

 

Thursday, January 9, 2014

 

“A man’s wisdom extends only as far as his books,

and a man should sell all he may possess to buy books.

For as our sages said:

‘He who increases books, increases wisdom.’”

 

(Leo Rosten’s Treasury of Jewish Quotations)

 

Hirsute (hairy, having lots of hair, shaggy)

 

The bear can rightly be called a hirsute animal.

 

---  ---  ---

 

[Corrections were made.]

 

----------------------

 

*) I’ll try to write for as long as it’s possible.

 

-----

 

*) The middle finger on my right hand is extremely sore. When I fully stretch it out then the soreness turns into pain so we’ll see how long I can type for today. (Oh, injuries.)

 

This morning a magnificent doctor-specialist placed one cortisone shot into the palm of my right hand.

 

It’s always best to get a second opinion.

 

My incredible lady-doctor, a specialist at Twin Cities Orthopedics in Edina found a cyst in the palm of my right hand.

 

She made the analogy as that of “The Princes and the Pea.” Cute.

 

She also told me that it wasn’t my fault. Nothing I did brought on the cyst. I’m ever so grateful for her intelligent kindness otherwise I would’ve worried about it long after our appointment.

 

I’ve been in severe and crucial pain for about three months without taking any painkillers since the end of Sept 2013 when I went through surgery but it was for something else and not my hand.

 

At the end of December 2013, when I saw another specialist he looked me over for about exactly seven minutes after being forty-five minutes tardy to our appointment and told me to sign up for six weeks of therapy but this morning’s appointment was different and the specialist quickly realized how real and severe the pain was in my right palm and she jumped into action without treating me like a child or an idiot.

 

La Doctora era una true and real rock star.

 

I really have a lot of compassion and great esteem and respect for her. She’s one of my favorite doctors I’ve ever encountered as a patient, not socially. I love her classy wardrobe.

 

I get nervous when I translate for doctors because English is tough at the best of times and describing symptoms to them is like describing my heart’s poetic inclination, very difficult to say how to describe any type of ailment to a doctor but she immediately understood as she gently took hold of my hand and felt around my palm.

 

I described to her that I felt like a bone was protruding from my palm and it was actually a cyst that was protruding from my hand, instead.

 

I knew something was pushing on my skin even if others didn’t have a clue as to what I was describing. All I knew was that the pain was excruciating because it was. How can something so little bring about so much pain?

 

One of my favorite aspects about my doctor’s visit this morning was how beautifully modern Twin Cities Orthopedics’ facilities are as well as clean and quiet.

 

I’ll most likely have to return in three weeks for another shot and I look forward to it.

 

I was ever so relieved to come to find out that their Television monitors were kept on mute. Thank you.

 

When one is in pain, it’s tough to sit in a dysfunctional loud lobby and listen to complete “ear pollution.” Noise pollution is like getting held hostage to mediocre cultural practices.

 

          I like my dentist and his office staff quite a bit but with the Television blaring in the front lobby, sometimes all I want to do is run and not go back ever again.

 

The more stressful an ailment then the less I want to be forced to listen to whatever the hell mediocrity is on Television and if it’s soap operas then I daydream of ripping the cord from the wall and smashing the body to bits. (Ha!) Thank goodness for those daydreams!

 

One of the main complaints I received in 2013 was about noise pollution but I haven’t really written about the subject because I don’t feel smart enough to do so.

 

I only know how I feel about noise and sound pollution but it’s not enough. I’ll have look into it, do more research and read about it before I can really write about it.

 

This morning was one of the best doctor’s visits I’ve ever had in my life from parking to leaving. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

 

I can’t gush enough about our experience as patrons this morning.

 

Finely, somebody got an A on customer service.

 

Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to go around town and give everyone an A all of the time but most medical facilities flunk before one ever even enters the front lobby or gets to visit with their doctor. (I won’t go into mean-spirited or rough front desk personnel or rude nurses.) People send in complaints all the time. I get to hear their stories of woe, anger and sadness about the miscommunication that happens between medical staff and patients.

 

I’ve listened to my Father speak about these grave and serious matters about noise pollution for over twenty years and finally some real and professional medical facilities are taking on the care and needs of their patients’ social psychology and pathology not to blare them out of their wits with senseless noise, especially when they’re in pain.

 

-----

 

*) No, I haven’t written out my two apology notes for 2013.

 

I haven’t been able to hold a pen in my hand much less almost a fork or spoon without wanting to cry out in pain thus I haven’t written much by my own hand but I will, mark my words.

 

I’m expecting to sit down and write out my two apology notes within the week now that I’ve finally received one cortisone shot into the palm of my hand today. (I don’t forget anything and don’t you forget it either.) Just being a little cheeky.

 

I keep my promises. Better late than never.

 

-----

 

*) Thank you to our city’s mayor for donating his salary of $10,000 to have a new pavilion built. How heroic of him.

 

No, I don’t go out of my way to make his acquaintance but I do listen to what the locals have to say about his progress.

 

-----

 

*) Yes, we’ve made our 2013 donations to several different local villages. We kept our donations local this year because that’s where it seemed most needed. We more than did our duty for King and Country.

 

-----

 

Peace;

Gabriel

 

That’s as much as I can type for today.

 

Thanks for your patience as I work through serious Carpal Tunnel Syndrome pain in my fingers, hands and wrists and ‘Tennis Elbow.’

 

Word Count: 1,076

 

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

 

“You must not refuse to lend a book even to an enemy,

for the cause of learning will suffer.”

 

“Never refuse to lend books to anyone

who cannot afford to purchase them,

but lend books only to those

who can be trusted to return them.”

 

(Leo Rosten’s Treasury of Jewish Quotations)

 

Descried (spied a distant object, discovered, saw)

 

He descried a horseman approaching the group at full gallop.

 

---  ---  ---

 

[Corrections were made.]

 

***

Chris Kluwe’s Writings

 

“I Was An NFL Player Until I Was Fired

By Two Cowards And A Bigot”

 

          What a remarkable man, indeed.

 

          I’m proud to call Chris Kluwe one of Minnesota’s Sons any day of the week especially when quasi coaching leaders turned their backs against one of their own due to ideological differences. (What a damn shame.)

 

          From what I’ve been informed is that Chris Kluwe is an average to good punter in the league and a great punter especially when it comes to the losing Vikings. End of discussion. Need I say more? Nope.

 

The debate has been won on behalf of Chris Kluwe and his family and beloved ones and community and country. Go in Peace. May Godspeed.

 

          If I were Zygi Wilf, I’d have Chris Kluwe back on the team so fast it would make the coaches’ noses bleed and have them like it.

 

As a matter of fact; if, I were an owner to any NFL team and came to learn that my lead coaching staff spewed vile hatred against people they didn’t know such as gay people in general then I’d send them packing so fast… The world’s changed and we’ve moved on because the general public is so tired of hatred especially from quasi leaders who preach what they cannot follow.

 

If one is hateful about anything, then at least have the brass to ‘come out of the closet’ and let the general public know about it because we can then make up our minds about season’s tickets.

 

Here in Minnesota, no matter how much of a ‘hick’ one might be considered, we don’t wish for the genocide of any people’s.

 

Our Native American Indigenous, German immigrants and German-Jew immigrants and Somali Immigrants and Ethiopian immigrants and all our Minnesota Refugees who’ve witnessed genocide in their homelands don’t ever wish for the mass murder of any people’s because that’s how classy we are.

 

We’re a God fearing, peace-loving people especially when we’re most envious and hateful and jealous of others.

 

[Disclaimer: Writers hold a ‘creative license’ to make serious anecdotes about genocide to challenge the general public to think about their ethical values, however, in all other professions one may not wish for the mass killing or murder of any human group because automatically that’s grounds for dismissal.] Don’t you know anything about anything? Did you not take ethics and philosophy?

 

That’s two-down for the Minnesotans and zero for the Vikings.

 

The Minnesotans have voted; we believe in “marriage-equality” and we voted for the strength of our communities unlike our stolen referendum vote for a new Viking’s stadium.

 

The Minnesotans have spoken: the Catholic diocese had to deliver the goods and make good on public notices with the names of each and every priest who’s ever raped, sexually molested or hurt Minnesota’s children going back a few decades.

 

Allow for me to spell it out for you: Culture trumps mega corporations, bigots, cowards and haters.

 

No, the United States of America doesn’t uphold to the bible.

 

Our just and fair Nation upholds to the Constitution of the United States of America.

 

Culture dictates the future of innovation, open-minded inclusiveness and equal opportunity for all as well as the Pursuit of Happiness.

 

          Yes, I’ve read the writings of Chris Kluwe several times and from reading his writings I sense that this is a man of great character and integrity and intelligence and ethics.

 

          No, Chris Kluwe has nothing to fear in any court of law.

 

          Yes, Chris Kluwe can write anything he’d like.

 

          Yes, Chris Kluwe’s allegations are valid and it’ll be up to the NFL attorneys to prove otherwise. The NFL attorneys have a tough road ahead of them.

 

Chris Kluwe seems like the type of man that any other man would be proud to know and to serve alongside such a courageous and honest soul.

 

          Yes, Chris Kluwe acted as a “private citizen” when he stood up for “marriage-equality” and that’s where not a single attorney can touch him and if they do then may the Gods be kind to such fools.

 

          Now, what most angers me about this entire NFL Viking’s debacle is the hypocrisy.

 

Oh, the hypocrisy makes my head spin.

 

No, don’t make the weak argument that Chris Kluwe was a distraction to the team or the game because that’s “bull-pokey” and we all know it. (We can read perfectly well between the lines.)

 

          The general public is sick and tired of professional players in all types of sports hawking their goods at us. We’re so used to it that we don’t even listen anymore.

 

Thus when a man of character and stature comes along and stands up for something as valuable and as real as “marriage-equality” then we’re ready to listen due to the mere fact that for decades the people have fought a tiresome battle in which our beloved ones have been killed and murdered because they were born wired loving their same sex.

 

The Matriarch of our family, Great-grandmother is better informed than most people today are, and from the sounds of it she’s even better informed than the Viking’s leading coaching staff about the subject of homosexuality.

 

It was she, who, taught me about the research she’s done and it’s been factually proven that our gay and lesbian Brothers and Sisters are born wired and predisposed to their particular sexual preferences.

 

Biologically when you think about it, everyone is born predisposed with a bit of dual biology in us; simply consider X and Y chromosomes and who’s to say that the human species won’t evolve and mutate into something else to better meet our future needs, hypothetically.

 

Homosexuality has been around since the beginning of times so let’s get over it and move on. (My generation is yawning over here.)

 

          Furthermore, if Chris Kluwe can’t stand up for his cultural “conscientious objections” as a “private citizen” in the way in which Muhammad Ali did then that implies that no professional man of their stature can stand up against wrong even when coaches call for the murder of a people.

 

I believe that “all men are created equal.”

 

In that equality, men are made for the purpose to create a better world for all even if at times it means sacrificing their good name, fortunes, professions and reputations because when the people are behind such a kind and justified individual then the hero of our story has absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain.

 

We The People stand by the courageous acts of Mr. Kluwe. We thank him for his dedication to justice, liberty and freedom.

 

Any city in this nation under God ought to be honored to have a man such as this man for our own after he’s shown such bravery.

 

This is a man who deserves not only a key to the city of Minneapolis for saving the lives of thousands of people but also entrance to the Kingdom of ‘his’ God’s heaven for choosing to do the right thing by his Brothers and Sisters instead of the cowardly and bitterly mean act to have them burn at the heterosexual matrimonial stake.

 

          In conclusion; Give Mr. Kluwe his job back, not out of pity but out of respect for a man of his stature, although he’s the first one to admit that he’s getting on in years.

 

Someone put Chris Kluwe back into action because he’s one of our favorite and beloved players. The people consider him a Son and no one can take that away from him, not even a bunch of hungry wolf lawyers. If anyone ever so much as tries to destroy this incredible man then they have the public to answer for that and we’ll raise hell.

 

Oh, this is grave business, don’t get me wrong. If the Minnesotans want to destroy the Viking’s then we would because that’s how powerful public opinion is. It’s never too late to do the right thing by anyone.

 

May the Gods be with us.

We leave it up to the Gods.

 

Peace;

Gabriel

 

Word Count: 1,379

 

P.S. Since Mr. Kluwe made it his business to enter our literary professional realm allow for me to enter his professional realm in criticism and adoration. Chin up.

 

Disclaimer: No, Mr. Kluwe and I’ve never met before nor do either one of us goes out of our way to do so. We live worlds apart and we don’t pretend otherwise. Cheers!

 

January 7, 2014

 

“My pen is my harp and my lyre;

my library is my garden and my orchard.”

 

(Leo Rosten’s Treasury of Jewish Quotations)

 

Disseminated (scattered, broadcast, spread)

 

The information was disseminated over the radio.

 

***

“WordGirl”

I love that animation

 

You know how Frodo has to bear the burden to carry the ring as well as fulfill man’s destiny all by his lonesome self, ultimately?

 

Do you know what I’m referring to?

 

Indubitably, you do.

 

Well, writing is like that.

 

Writing isn’t only about storytelling.

 

Writing is really about emotional intelligent cognition.

 

Writing is about making use of both sides of one’s brains, equally.

 

Writing is about the subtle combination of intelligence and emotion without boring the reader to death or stabbing them in the eye-ball with a fork. Writing is empathy without faking true feeling. Writing is about compassion without becoming melodramatic and over the top crazy weirdo.

 

Writing is about truth.

 

Writing is about telling the truth.

 

If one isn’t capable to tell the truth especially with ink then this isn’t a place for you. Go find another place that will better suit your needs.

 

Writing is fact checking so anytime a writer writes anything down then they leave themselves open for the entire world to scrutinize their facts and words.

 

Although, writing does come with a ‘creative license’ yet one must know the strict rules that apply towards that particular endeavor or one can be sued for life.

 

Writing is about consistency.

 

Writing is about contribution.

 

Writing is about showing up and working really hard.

 

Writing is about legalities.

 

Writing can lead to liabilities.

 

At any point a writer can lose everything they’ve worked so hard to achieve because they were either stupid or dumb or envious or jealous and forgot the rules to high achievement and excellence.

 

Writing can be about losing everything especially one’s best friends or home or name.

 

Writing is about gaining everything especially when one tells the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me God.

 

If one doesn’t write the truth then horrible things happen to the writer and their family and community and country.

 

A writer is one who decides to carry the ring of destiny in their pocket even though the dark forces are stronger than he is yet he must overcome the darkness of ego and hatred and vengeance and vendettas.

 

A writer must be smart enough to ask for help and to lend help and to know when to spare a life.

 

Writing can lead to loneliness.

 

Writing can be a lonesome journey.

 

One must step out of one’s comfort zone and muster up enough courageous imagination to understand the plight of others.

 

One must undertake the difficult journey to do well by others without becoming a brown-noser or a teacher’s pet.

 

A writer doesn’t care to ever become a hero, yet when he succeeds his triumphs are of his own making and they belong to him and his beloved ones and community and country.

 

****

                    A short story: At the age of 20, I read to a ‘mean’ and ‘tough’ crowd of judges in the East Coast.

 

Mind you, I’ve always had terrible stage fright.

 

My palms sweat, my throat went dry and I froze before I ever got started.

 

That night, that I read, I had a semi-shaved head because a ridiculous ex-boyfriend of mine had chopped off all of my long curly hair before I went off to college.

 

I had a tongue and nose piercing and a lip piercing, too.

 

I wore dark forest green corduroy pants and a grey T-shirt.

 

I’d recently published a poem I’d written. I was more frightened than I’d been one short year prior when I’d performed at the Walker Arts.

 

          My judges were all blue collar, rough, angry-as-hell and rowdy drinking town’s people who hated the rich private college kids up on the hill.

 

I was one of those rich private college kids up on the hill and they knew it. They hated my guts long before I ever set foot on that stage.

 

My judges were real hardened sailors and people who knew the Merrimack River and the Atlantic Ocean like the back of their hands. They weren’t going to let me get away with anything no matter how alternative I looked.

 

I’d remembered my Grandmother telling me that whenever her family’s Sea Captains dealt with rough sailors, her ancestors had been honest and direct and straightforward and didn’t lie. It was the only way to be real and a great way not to get killed.

 

          I took the stage and trembled at their menacing looks.

 

A sea of white faces with pink noses looked up at me ready to fling thick beer mugs at the stage. In brute and sheer deep quiet polite silence they stared holes into the back of my head.

 

The room was ever so still and silent.

My heart’s beats could be heard by all.

They knew how scared I was.

 

          I stood for a long time as I faced them. I trembled so hard I could barely hold my paper as sweat smudged away the ink on the page.

 

          I stared at them in complete dread.

          They stared hard at me.

 

          No one spoke.

          No one so much as moved.

          No one made a sound.

 

          At first I began to read ever so softly.

 

          I looked up and immediately realized that no one understood what the hell I’d just read. I took one step forward and got right up to the microphone. I deeply breathed in and out again and swallowed hard.

 

The room froze as I had.

I’d wished they’d do something but no one dared move.

They challenged me to my core humanity.

 

          I started again and with more gusto that time.

 

          I had nothing to lose but my dignity and pride.

 

          By the time I started the second line in the first stanza I believed in what I’d published. I read with my heart and soul and spirit as though I stood judgment before the Ancestors.

 

          I gave the performance of my life.

 

          At the end, I looked up into the crowd and silence.

 

          I was mortified.

 

All were silent for what seemed like an eternity.

 

And, just as suddenly, roaring thunder, the crowd broke out into a hissy fit and every single human was up on their feet clapping and screaming. The clapping went on for a long time as the crowd stood, whistled, hollered and yelled.

 

I was amazed and couldn’t believe that they were clapping for me.

 

I ran off the stage and didn’t go back.

 

As I ran through the crowd, people shook my hand and said, “Long Live the Poet!” I held back hot tears of joy and gratitude.

 

The weeks following, everywhere, I went, the town’s people smiled and congratulated me. They were so happy to have me there and welcomed me as one of their own. I’d become the people’s poet and it was written all over their faces.

 

          If you were in that room that night then you know what I’m talking about.

 

Sparks of electricity seemed to enter through our bodies and we became connected by the very words of poetry. We became one. It wasn’t because of me, that’s for sure. It was because of the string of pearls I’d strung.

 

          Every sailor understands what it means to deep dive for oysters and clams and mussels therefore they understand poetry and prize it above all the other arts because in long crossing voyages of the oceans, it’s poetry, the veiled lady, that keeps them from losing their minds.

 

*****

          That winter, I lost my four best college friends on the hill to a severe and serious argument because they’d picked up scabies hanging out with punks.

 

I’d brought it up to the head of the college and we all got quarantined and sent home in disgrace. (Ha! It’s hilarious now, but it wasn’t then.) (I’ve only privately written about it one other time to three hundred peers.)

 

Even when my closest friendships turned against me for doing the right thing, it was still the town’s folks who continued to smile at me and held me as one of their own.

 

It was the rich college kids on the hill who became frightened of me, and decided to leave me to my own devices therefore, for one entire year I ate every single meal, alone, and in front of everyone, and to this day, the last thing I’m afraid of is to dine alone in public because I did it in front of my peers, and like I care what strangers think of me.

 

If strangers are sending out know-it-all and ‘better than’ vibes then I become annoying as hell and boastful just to poke fun at them but aside from that I keep to myself, and don’t give a hoot about anybody or their nervous body sweat or their boasting ways.

 

Live and let live.

 

I learned what real loneliness meant in a sea of peers who ignored my gifts, talents and abilities simply because we’d been quarantined.

 

In the eyes of the rest of the school somehow we’d become dirty and no one would befriend us except the incoming freshmen.

 

The other four cowards had each other. I had no one to lean on because the leader of the group, the ashamed and poor hot dog maker’s ‘queen bee’ daughter, kicked me out of our social group.

 

I had no one to turn to. She knew exactly what she’d done after she’d played Nightingale to punks and placed the entire school at risk for scabies.

 

To this day, I’d do it the same way.

I have no regrets about what I did.

I believe in the greater good of all instead of a few.

 

Out of sheer pride, I wasn’t going to go and latch on to just anyone. I’m a proud animal, and I rather make authentic friendships or be alone than hang on to others out of loneliness.

 

I didn’t have a single soul for a friend in a college of 400 people.

 

I learned to fend on my own.

 

I learned what real peer-pressure meant.

 

I learned what fake friendships were.

 

I learned what it meant to become a complete social pariah.

 

I learned what it meant to be completely and utterly ignored.

 

I learned what it meant to be completely avoided at all cost.

 

I learned the true meaning of loneliness.

 

Thus, that’s why writing isn’t a lonely journey for me.

I’ve known raw deep bone marrow loneliness.

 

Now, my best friends as of the past twenty years laugh so hard when I tell them what had happened to me in 1997, and they’re the heirs of some of the largest fortunes in the country, thus if they don’t mind then others can’t mind, too, much either because my friends think that it’s the funniest thing they’ve ever heard.

 

Oh, how they laugh so hard, and I love to hear them laugh that hard. I don’t mind them knowing now.

 

Now, they tell me that I should’ve gone to school with them right in Boston and not gone off to school alone on my own among strangers. How right they are.

 

They still love me and give me their loyalty even more fervently today than when we were children. I’m like ‘Anne of Green Gables,’ constantly getting myself into silly scrapes. Less so as an adult. Thank goodness.

 

          Back to the town’s people; it was the town’s people of the Merrimack River who taught me real kindness, especially when it came to real and true and young talent.

 

It’s not up to the writer to force their wisdom and knowledge and ability upon the audience or spectator or reader because they’ll let you know loud and clear if they love your work or if they personally hate your guts, which, a real audience won’t hate the artist because they’re smart enough to know that the writer isn’t God only flesh and bone, mere mortal, dust-to-dust just as the writer knows all, too, well.

 

Writing is a dangerous profession because sometimes ‘crazy’ people will let you know that they personally love and hate you more so than the work. Sometimes, you’ll end up with stalkers, for real.

 

It’s not about the writer.

It’s all about the writing.

It’s about learning the right lessons.

 

If a writer’s audience is ‘indifferent’ to the writer’s work then the audience personally hates the writer even if they love the work, they’ll demean the writer by showing absolutely no emotion towards neither the work nor the writer to punish the writer out of envy and jealousy and spite, and that’s an audience of absolutely no consequence.

 

I’ve read in rooms of only five people or in rooms of hundreds. I’ve received standing ovations in all circumstances. I’ve been very lucky in my life to have people like my work, especially, my poetry.

 

It’s only been one place in which no one showed up, primarily to teach me the ultimate lesson, that an entire quasi artistic town of drunken clowns hated my guts therefore they weren’t going to support my efforts after I’d financed theirs for years.

 

I quickly realized that night as I read to an empty room except for the bartenders that I had to get out of that miserable Midwest town as soon as possible before I got lynched by some crazy un-artistic mob.

 

Fine, I hope your children never learn to read. (Ha!) (I’m reading lyrics as quickly as possible.)

 

Even sailors have a code of honor.

 

The more, one, hates the guts of the other, at least, one has to show up to see if the other will triumph or fail miserably (to their own accord) because the arts is a common experience that we shan’t pass up simply because we’re jealous or envious or spiteful.

 

It’s a queer community to give praise to talentless hacks and ignore real talent because they’re jealous or envious of Gods’ gifts.

 

Nevertheless, know this about audience; any community that doesn’t support real talent is a ‘lost cause’ without any real prospects or any hope of progress.

 

A community that doesn’t support real talent out of spite for the talented is a community of untouchables who only supports whomever they deem popular and not who’s actually talented, that’s a community who’s asking for trouble and something wicked this way comes.

 

It’s been the “blue color” and “working class” that have been able to overlook my skin color and sex and have supported my literary endeavors more so than the rich, the angry, the envious, the jealous and the un-artistically hateful. Thank you.

 

We know we’re not like the other yet we respect each other, therefore “we don’t pretend nothin’." (Ha!)

 

Peace,

Gabriel

 

Word count: 2,491

 

I support Chris Kluwe in his literary endeavors. The truth will set you free. Yes, I read what Mr. Kluwe had to write and I support it. (Thanks for bringing it to my attention. I just found out last night that North Koreas’ leader had his uncle killed.)

 

I mean to write an entire blog entry about Mr. Kluwe’s literary freedoms tomorrow. I can’t stand NFL hypocrisy. I’ll spell it out for you tomorrow.

 

January 6, 2014

 

Boasters:

 

“He who has a wide mouth has a narrow heart.”

 

“Like wind-blown clouds that bring no rain

is he who boasts of gifts he does not give.”

 

“More smoke than roast.”

 

“Our ancestors, Jew and non-Jew alike, were fearful

that man’s boastings, his very success might offend some god

--and boomerang into disaster. An envious or jealous

mortal could cast an evil spell on another’s luck or health.

 

                    Among Jews, keyn eyn-oreh (“no evil eye”) is a

magical phrase uttered to: a) ward off the evil eye; b) protect a child or loved one; c) show that one’s praises

are not contaminated by envy.

Jews have a long tradition of scorn for the vainglorious.”

 

(Leo Rosten’s Treasury of Jewish Quotations)

 

Ignorance: (lack of knowledge, unawareness)

 

Racism: (racial discrimination, discrimination, prejudice, bigotry, intolerance)

 

---  ---  ---

 

***

Intellectually Spiritual

2014

 

In about one year I shall begin to prove myself.

Can you?

 

I’ll write positively.

Will you be able to?

 

          Allow me to be a true Maya scribe and spiritually scorn those whom are ‘envious’ and ‘jealous’: How dare one be so spiteful at the human race, condition and plight. Don’t you know anything about anything?

 

          Number one: no, the word “ignorant” doesn’t mean “racism.”

         

          If one doesn’t understand or fully know how to use words in any whichever manner in that in which the wordsmiths do to cast out evil and bring about ‘the burning bush’ of wisdom then step aside. “You shall not pass here!” (Ha!) (I love that quote.)

 

We live in ‘dark times’ (surrounded by light) in which much of our population is illiterate and confused about words without humbling themselves to make corrections and that’s why there’re people like me (modern scribes, who, must answer to a Council of Elders) and editors and critics to set things right even if the rest of the population only wants to write excrement-blogs to be noticed or to avenge their bruised egos.

 

          I don’t have to tell you again but I will because I’m like that: writing is a gift from the Gods and whatever one writes then it comes back to them tenfold, therefore, one better have their facts correct, their corrections made and scornful humility along with prayer before one sits down to breathe ink across the page.

 

The Gods guide this quest: my literary journey is guided by the light and not darkness.

 

I’m held accountable for every word I write by the Gods, my Ancestors and Council Elders.

 

Thus far, neither has the Gods struck me down by lightening nor have my Ancestors abandoned me nor have my Elders scorned me.

 

All trust that what I have to write is valid, informative, modern and truly opinioned. If they don’t understand then I’m placed on trial.

 

I stay away from offending these modern times as much as possible because to stand trial before a Council of Elders and to have them scorn me would be difficult at best yet they know that I comply by the laws, rules and ethics of scribes.

 

          Sometimes, I simply push the boundaries of controversy to nudge the reader to really think beyond their egos even if it means angering them to think about moral issues especially those of their deepest ethical values.

 

If one wouldn’t burn a woman at the stake then no one ought to burn any woman at the stake.

 

If morals and ethics apply to one then morals and ethics apply to all so that the human race may continue and prosper and we shall stop the murder and killing of wars.

 

I live in a village. Don’t you? My Elders believe and trust and give me enough credit that I can and will make the right literary decisions because…

 

I follow my Elders’ guidance to wherever that may lead me even if the average bloke hates my writings and only wishes to receive recognition possibly because their parents didn’t grant them any as children. (Ouch!)

 

          Number two:          If one doesn’t have anything kind to say then don’t say anything at all.

 

          All that “ignorance” really means is that one lacks knowledge or awareness and that doesn’t cost you anything to go and seek it out for yourselves.

 

“Ignorance” isn’t a murderous tyrant and set in one’s stubborn ways never to change one’s wrongful practices out of spite for Our Brothers or Sisters.

 

          The lovely aspect about seeking knowledge and wisdom is that once one does find them then one has more options and choices to become a better man or woman.

 

Hence one’s learned: If one doesn’t choose to be more than they already are then they squander away the very intellectual and kind gifts of the Gods: to know more.

 

          Ever since the first time I saw one of those wonderful PSA’s on NBC I was deeply moved as a twelve year old because I realized that there was still hope for the Americans.

 

Someone had taken the time and made the effort to inform the American Public about knowledge, no matter how small or insignificant it appeared, it was still a big deal because a world of difference was made and lives were changed and fulfilled and someone, somewhere knew more than they had previously and that was a fantastic maneuver towards the light and away from darkness.

 

Simply and utterly; beauty was created in those lovely and basic PSA’s that didn’t make fun of anyone or didn’t speak down to people or make them feel bad just because they didn’t know. To know more is to touch the divine inclusiveness of the Gods.

 

          Number Three: For New Year’s Eve 2015, our family has decided to boycott the ball drop in Times Square.

 

Watching the ball drop on Television has been a deeply felt tradition of ours, in our family.

 

Our other family New Year’s Eve past time is that we sit down and watch the “Nutcracker.” One of our family members produces this production and it’s a tremendous joy to watch on video.

 

We wait to watch the Nutcracker until New Year’s Eve when we’re all home to rejoice in the success of our amazing ballerinas and producers. They don’t have to boast, we simply gush over them because they’re truly remarkably kind people.

 

Have you noticed that the more successful people become then the kinder they are. They’re grateful that the Gods have watched out for them and that Lady luck is on their side.

 

We drink champagne and rejoice in the fact that we love each other very much, that everyone made it safely and in one piece to Great-grandma’s home while traveling from all over the country and possibly the world (Haiti, Turkey, Costa Rica) and we’re inclusive of all religions, ages, races and heritages.

 

On New Year’s eve we sit amongst our nephews and nieces who are anywhere from the ages of 18-29 and were inclusive of Great-grandma who is 87 and hosts all of us.

 

We’re extremely protective and inclusive and ever so loving of Great-grandma.

 

When a Television show appears age-hateful or inappropriate then we change the channel as fast as lightning bolts because we want our lovely Great-grandma to feel as much a part of the celebrations as possible because she’s indeed the Matriarch and we don’t want to bring any grief to her life when she gives so much of herself to us.

 

The reason as to why Great-grandma is the Matriarch is because she’s honest and respectful and kind and inclusive.

 

She’s won our trust with her true and fair approach. Great-grandma doesn’t have power-struggle issues. She neither boasts nor brags about her tremendous accomplishments nor those of her Great-grandchildren and for that reason alone she’s someone we trust. She’s neither bossy nor pretends to be a know-it-all.

 

Trust is something that’s earned not taken.

 

We adore Great-grandma.

 

We take our cues from her due to her kindness, justice and fairness. She’s shown us what a true and real modern lady is and for that we’re willing to lay down our lives for hers.

 

We’re extremely territorial of Great-grandma.

 

We shan’t watch the ball drop next New Year’s Eve 2015 simply because the commentary was absurd, mean-spirited of Pearl Harbor survivors and plain stupidly rude in general.

 

Although, Great-grandma has real respect for Carson Daly on the Today Show but aside from that we had to turn off the ball drop early this year and move on because it wasn’t family friendly.

 

          If you haven’t learned anything about the difficulties of 2013 then it is this: no boasting, more inclusiveness and less age-hateful commentary about those who’ve served this country for over 85 years.

 

For those family members who witnessed and lived through the devastation of Pearl Harbor and who are gracious enough to tell us those tales of woe, please keep in mind, that Pearl Harbor was just as heart breaking to our Great-grandparents generation and to their parents as 9/11 is to us and our parents.

 

If one doesn’t have respect for Pearl Harbor and its survivors then one doesn’t have respect for 9/11 and its survivors.

 

The wound of Pearl Harbor is just as deep as the wound of 9/11 and don’t you ever forget it. We lost Fathers, Brothers, Sons, Cousins and Neighbors in that battle, that day. We haven’t forgotten those who laid down their lives so that we can be here today.

 

          Furthermore and in conclusion: we’ve decided to boycott next year’s New Year’s Eve 2015’s ball drop in Time Square (we’re deeply sad about it) because we find that songs about New York City only is exclusive to the rest of the Nation when so many have suffered so much loss throughout the past decade.

 

It’s off putting and boastful to have a song that only represents New York City when rats come up and out of the toilets and their infrastructure is as old, as old and fragile bones.

 

Our family has been a main staple of New York City’s entertainment industry since the 1930’s when we took off Broadway by storm and held the finest and happiest and greatest Finn parties of the last century.

 

If your Grandparents were invited to party with our hardy Finns then your people were somebody because when we party we’re inclusive of our guests and we make sure that they have a lovely time.

 

We’ll sing other’s National Anthems in Finn just to make sure they feel welcomed, that’s how important it is to us to be inclusive of others who might miss their homelands, go without throughout the year and if for only a few fleeting moments we can make them feel incredible then we will by singing and putting on plays or playing board games.

 

We’ll offer all the coffee cake, Christmas homemade breads and cookies and dark coffee along with bubbly that we can muster up.

 

We don’t exclude anyone. The more the merrier, just mind your P’s and Q’s and don’t be boastful about nothing and don’t be bossy.

 

          The reason why it’s best to keep in tradition with “Auld Lang Syne” for a New Year’s song is because it’s inclusive of all those who remember and forgive.

 

“Auld Lang Syne” is an ode to friendship and friendship lost across time and continents and barriers.

 

The song causes people to reflect on the fact that friendships were made and friendships were lost and friendships were forgiven and moved on. It’s a reflection on the mere fact that we’ve been loved and that means more than the hardship of our loss.

 

That message of love is as universal as it gets without a boastful city screaming “Tourist Tours Here!”

 

Let’s all mature and be inclusive of our future because this mini ice age coming our way will either test us to be more inclusive or we’ll seize to exist.

 

This weather is the difference between life and death and we can’t afford to think ourselves any better than any other American because then that’s not in the true spirit of humanity, Americanism, Christmas, New Year’s Eve or poetry.

 

With love;

Gabriel

 

Word Count: 1,919

 

P.S. Don’t learn the wrong lesson like the Jedi in “Star Wars” who became arrogant enough to believe that all attachments were wrong. What a bunch of dorks. The lesson they were supposed to learn is to trust their friends.

 

Auld Lang Syne

1788

Type: Poem

 

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And never brought to mind?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And auld lang syne!

 

Chorus.-For auld lang syne, my dear,

For auld lang syne.

We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,

For auld lang syne.

 

And surely ye'll be your pint stowp!

And surely I'll be mine!

And we'll tak a cup o'kindness yet,

For auld lang syne.

For auld, &c.

 

We twa hae run about the braes,

And pou'd the gowans fine;

But we've wander'd mony a weary fit,

Sin' auld lang syne.

For auld, &c.

 

We twa hae paidl'd in the burn,

Frae morning sun till dine;

But seas between us braid hae roar'd

Sin' auld lang syne.

For auld, &c.

 

And there's a hand, my trusty fere!

And gie's a hand o' thine!

And we'll tak a right gude-willie waught,

For auld lang syne.

For auld, &c.

---  ---  ---

Auld Lang Syne

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne?

CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
And surely you’ll buy your pint cup
and surely I’ll buy mine!
And we’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

CHORUS
We two have run about the slopes,
and picked the daisies fine ;
But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,
since auld lang syne.

CHORUS
We two have paddled in the stream,
from morning sun till dine;
But seas between us broad have roared
since auld lang syne.

CHORUS
And there’s a hand my trusty friend !
And give us a hand o’ thine !
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.

CHORUS

January 3, 2014

 

“If you drop gold and books,

pick up the books first,

then the gold.”

 

(Leo Rosten’s Treasury of Jewish Quotations)

 

Mollify (soften, allay someone’s anger)

 

Your excuses don’t mollify the teacher’s anger they only ignite it further.

 

---  ---  ---

 

[Corrections were made.]

 

[Hello. I took care of other business instead of getting this blog out earlier.]

 

          I look forward to making a few sturdy and highly classy fashionable purchases within the next month primarily for my own benefit because it’s time to move on to better clothing pastures.

 

I think I’d like to purchase Italian made without breaking the bank.

 

I adore Benetton clothes because they’re well made and all of their clothes have always lasted me about a decade without ‘going out of fashion’ because the clothes are ever so lovely and well cut and sophisticate.

 

Most of Benetton’s clothes are considered timeless.

 

A decade after a purchase, one can pick up a Benetton sweater and if it still fits then most likely their classic cuts and styles will look amazing especially if there’re no patterns then it can’t really be dated, too, quickly especially if the sweater is in ‘mint condition.’

 

In my little 1952’s closet my favorite articles of clothing are considered timeless classics.

 

          In the year 2013, I came across many women who had trouble with their jean zippers.

 

Women who paid a lot or a little bit of money for their clothes yet there they were making pre-apologies about the fact that the zipper on their pants may just fall down over dinner or at any moment’s notice, however, it was their favorite pair of jeans and thus they wore them to Thanksgiving dinner, anyway.

 

I smiled and understood and didn’t judge anyone’s fashion plights because I’ve had plenty in my lifetime and it’s been a horrendous ordeal in which I blush just thinking about losing my ‘tube’ tops twice in my life. Never again shall I wear a tube top for as long as I live. (Ha!)

 

          I could empathize with the successful and beautiful and intelligent ladies who told me about their zippers and brought them to my attention and made apologies in advance.

 

Intrinsically, I laughed and imagined in my mind’s eye the little cartoon film in which Minnie Mouse continues to lose her bloomers. Poor thing. Every woman understands what that’s like.

 

It’s any woman’s worst nightmare to lose her undergarments through bad luck or terrible construction.

 

The sheer thought of it alone overcomes us with tremendous dread.

 

I’ve lost my swimsuit before and I won’t live to let that day down.

 

It was one of my worst moments, for sure. There I was completely topless and to my bewilderment I didn’t realize it until I saw the smirks on the boys’ faces. I could just die thinking about it but at the same time I’m laughing my arse off. Oh, to be little and insecure and dumb. Fun.

 

          For the past decade, I’ve tried every type of belt under the sun and unfortunately I’ve been, too, much of a ‘cheapskate’ when it comes to belts thus when I’ve looked down, there they’ve been, come undone and portraying me like a complete drunkard which I’m not but the more embarrassed I’ve become then the more idiotic I’ve acted thus it probably did lead others to believe that I was drunk when I wasn’t. I can’t help it I’m human and I, too, get shy about wardrobe malfunctions. (Ha! Ha! Ha!)

 

          I’m sober most of the days of my life and I ought to get drunk from time to time but getting over a hangover is way too much work so I’d rather eat chocolate in small quantities than get drunk, however, my cheapskate belts make me look like a drunkard and I get embarrassed each and every time that it happens to me.

 

          I’ve almost considered wrapping rope around my waistline and call it a day because I’m annoyed with fashion as of late. Is nothing made inexpensively and durably and well constructed any longer?

 

          Back to belts; I love belts and thus I purchase men’s belts at Menards (home improvement store) because I gave up on women’s crappy fashion belts about seven years ago.

 

Except that with men’s belts, the rugged belts leave these three tiny little holes on my favorite T-shirts right around my bellybutton area and then I look like I can’t afford T-shirts.

 

What a conundrum.

 

I can afford hundreds if not then thousands of T-shirts I just don’t happen to make the time to go purchase them, which I should, but I don’t.

 

No, I neither have a personal assistant, a personal Chef, a personal trainer, help, life coach nor do I travel with an entourage. I’m as special as anybody else and I like to do things for myself although that may change with time because as I get older I have less of it.

 

          When I wash dishes my belt buckles rub up against my T-shirts and that’s that.

 

I end up looking like a ‘bum’ and instead of replacing my favorite T-shirts, that I only seem to find every three years, I’d rather just live with it because the rest of the cut in the T-shirts are close to perfect except that I’m going on three years of wearing the same looking style of T-shirts.

 

I can’t seem to find them anywhere else and I’ll wear them until they disintegrate if I have to. (Not literally, but close.)

 

No, believe it or not; there’re no pit stains or stains or lose threads or holes for that matter on the last two grey T-shirts left because I take off my belt before I wash dishes.

 

Three years ago I bought ten of the same exact T-shirts and now I’m down to my last two T-shirts and then I’m at a loss for what to do because it means that I’ll have to think about what to buy next when so much out there looks like it’s made for hookers.

 

If I’m lucky then I can get the rest of the winter out of my last two favorite T-shirts. The material on the T-shirts is ever so soft and beautiful to the touch yet durable in that they’ve lasted me all these years without a single hole in them. These T-shirts are a dream but I haven’t seen them again at ___ ____ in three years and well, what the hell?

 

I’ve spoken with many women over the years and they seem to abhor V-cut T-shirts as much as I do because the V-cut is way too low on those of us who are petite and smaller women. I’ve tried on V-cut T-shirts in which the cut reaches as far as my third rib and that’s just absurd.

 

I don’t care what anybody thinks. I’m so comfortable in my favorite T-shirts and it’s not just the cut, it’s also the softness and the durability of the material.

 

I’m down to the last two grey T-shirts. The next time I find the same make of these T-shirts, I swear to God I’ll purchase fifty of them so that they may last the next decade.

 

          Three summers ago I attended one of many weddings of a good friend in a holey T-shirt because it was my favorite T-shirt and I really had nothing else to wear for a warm weather wedding and thus there I went by the grace of God. Thank God people love me and don’t judge me according to what I wear.

 

The belt buckle holes were barely noticeable on the T-shirt and they were the tiniest little holes around the bellybutton area.

 

I’d only bought the T-shirt a month earlier and already it had belt buckle holes from rubbing up against the sink when I washed dishes. The T-shirt was in mint condition other than for these tiny little holes that devalued the T-shirt.

 

I was so comfortable with the exception that I felt self conscious about my stupid holey T-shirt and what’s a girl to do but to wear it well and whether one is wearing rags or riches it’s not so much about the garment as it is about the lovely woman or man.

 

It was hilarious to wear a rock as big as my eyeball and three tiny little holes on my favorite T-shirt to a summer wedding.

 

I shouldn’t have done so but I did it and I shan’t do that again because all I could think about was my holey T-shirt and just the thought that anybody else might’ve been able to catch a glimpse of the holes took away from the comfortable fit of the T-shirt.

 

More later…

Peace;

Gabriel

 

P.S. We watched Sherlock Holmes last night and Eric says that it’s okay. He thinks that they’re going more for a look than for the detective storyline. He wants to figure out mysteries instead of watching stylistic Television.

 

Oh, my God Cliff Richard can actually sing in front of a live audience, that’s unheard of nowadays.

 

Congratulations to Betsy Hodges as the new Minneapolis Mayor.

 

Word count: 1,426

 

January 2, 2014

 

“He who advertises his name loses it.”

 

(Leo Rosten’s Treasury of Jewish Quotations)

 

Verbose (using too many words)

 

A speaker can be verbose.

 

---  --- 

 

[Corrections were made.]

 

Rude is rude.

Bossy is bossy.

Cruel is cruel.

Abusive is abusive.

Crass is crass.

 

I told my Father about a difficult encounter

I had with a rude woman.

 

He responded by telling me that no matter how many doilies

a woman may have on her table

that “rude is rude” and “bossy is bossy.”

 

He told me not to give my time, energy and resources

to such an individual

no matter whom they might think they are.

 

My Dada told me that that is a person of no consequence

and not to ever take them seriously again

under any circumstance.

 

My Father told me that I neither have to amuse nor entertain

such a rude person especially when I’m a guest

in the same home in which they, too, are guests as well.

It’s any hosts job to entertain them not mine.

 

          Happy New Year!

 

          What a year it was!

 

          2013 was a strange year to say the least.

 

          Personally, I had one of the best adult years ever in my life but I was also held captive as a dinner guest by many mediocre and ordinary talentless Baby-boomers who bragged ‘up a storm’ and boasted about their mediocrity especially their Grandchildren’s mediocrity and talentless abilities.

 

It was most aggravating to be held as a captive audience against my will and other dinner guests and their will. The other guests could see right through the transparent ordinariness of the braggers for terrible hosts.

 

Afterwards I was told, “Don’t pay any attention to them. They’ve got a reputation as ‘blowhards.’”

 

          At the best of times its considered simply rude misbehavior to brag about everything mediocre one does-and-sees throughout the year as if one were more special than all the rest but to brag about nothing at all is uncouth and classless and spiritually out of alignment especially face-to-face to a captive dinner audience whom neither desires nor wishes for the bragging to go on for hours yet it does.

 

When a ‘blowhard’ goes on year-after-year then one can see clearly that deep down inside they know that they’re ‘nobody special’ to anyone and that’s why a blowhard works so hard at selling it to anyone who’ll listen even if it means monopolizing conversations for long lengths of time.

 

It’s such a turn off to sit as a guest around an adorned table dressed like a bitter old woman whose life passed her by and she knows it to be true.

 

To sit amongst some rude and brash Minnesotans and be forced to listen to them boast about everything they do-and-hear-and-see without them ever asking their conversational dinner guests a single question about their lives is the most extraordinarily boring fashion to pass the time.

 

It’s as if the hosts so desperately want to be known but they don’t want to know anyone else so they don’t make the effort to get to know others yet they expect for other people to have to listen to their excessive boastful conversations about their mediocre lives.

 

To despair is to forsake God.

 

          It’s definitely a morbid psychosis with these narcissistic types. Personally, when I come across people like this I often think of them as having psychopathic tendencies.

 

People who can barely hold any sympathy or empathy for others are not only daft but also made self important by their own egos.

 

They seem to walk through life as though the entire world revolves only around them and their unimportant ‘life of quiet desperation.’

 

I find people like this quite creepy to say the least.

 

          I’m not sure why ‘working class’ and ‘lower middle class’ Minnesotans are such blowhards.

 

I’m sure it has much do with feeling inadequate about their existences. Every time that a Minnesotan brags to me about how talented and rich and better they are than everybody else all I can think is that they feel insecure and small and insignificant about themselves.

 

The Baby-boomers like to brag about their horribly mannered Grandchildren who can barely sing on key much less belt out an operetta from start to end.

 

[Corrections were made.]

I’ve met seven year olds who can sing like angels on key. I’ve met nine year olds who can recite the Constitution of the United States of America. I’ve met ten year olds who can almost paint with the skill of Picasso. I’ve met remarkable children so when talentless Baby-boomers sell their mediocre Grandchildren I just want to laugh in their faces but out of respect for their fragile egos I don’t.

 

          I think that public school Minnesotans feel so inadequate about their offspring being mediocre and ungifted and talentless that they think that the more they ‘talk up’ their Grandkids then they can only hope that no one will notice that there’s nothing significant or important about their rude offspring who don’t even know basic proper table manners.

 

I’ve almost laughed my arse off at their mediocrity, loudness, abrasive and rude bragging Minnesota Grandparents while their Grandchildren barely had any people skills, social skills, manners or the ability to eat properly without food flying out their mouths in mid-flight while they, too, bragged about how wonderful they were. Disgusting.

 

          I’m puzzled at the Minnesotans: they keep telling me that ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ yet when children are obtuse and closed-minded and blowhards and the adults allow for them to be so rude as to brag about themselves while in the company of other adults who can see right through the transparency then there’s nothing to do but to distance oneself from such low class individuals because they’re not anybody one cares to socialize with.

 

It seems that the more ‘lower middle class’ Minnesota families have opportunities to participate in average experiences then the more they brag about how remarkable they are without proving themselves for the long haul.

 

I’m amazed at this rude misbehavior coming from a proper East Coast New England and Minnesota Finn-Jewish background in which one doesn’t brag or doesn’t say anything about one’s accomplishments especially not face-to-face unless an Elder asks or others speak about one’s true gifts and talents but one has to prove that one is as talented as one is portrayed not just hot air.

 

If Grandparents want to build up the self esteem of their Grandchildren then do it behind closed doors but don’t brag about the mediocrity of any child’s talentless abilities at the dinner table for guests to be forced to swallow it down whole because then that child becomes ‘a laughing stock’ for others to make fun of and that’s a tragedy. The child becomes of joke because their Grandparents are considered crude by their dinner guests.

 

I think that what people lose sight of is that everyone has something that they do and are possibly good at but not everyone is ‘great’ at what they do no matter how much Grandma may repeatedly shove it down her dinner guests’ throats.

 

The reason why I think it’s so dangerous to set up children on pedestals without proving themselves is because it sets them up for failure.

 

The more an adult brags about mediocre and ordinary children then the more that child will get their hearts broken because out in the mean bad wolf world there are indeed other children who can actually blow away mediocre children and leave them ashamed at their blowhard ways without uttering a single word.

 

Sincerely,

Gabriel

 

Word Count: 1,233

 

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