KINGKY PHOTOS!
I can only leave this up a day or two, but I created a slideshow from some photos I took last Sunday of a friend’s chamber opera performance preview. (I also took about an hour of video simultaneously, so an interesting bit of juggling was involved in switching back and forth between the two media.) There’s a lot of compression applied to the slideshow file, so it looks pretty blotchy in places, but you still can get a good idea of what’s there. The reference to Francis Bacon’s notorious series of paintings of the Pope is intentional, I’m sure, as this is a work about a brutal king who's crumbling to pieces from within. Silent, approx 20 sec., 338KB. http://mwp.jaycloidt.com/mpmov2006/PDTy.mp4 mwp
Re: [starting again with]
start in gaga in with the promise of then e-stone not infest eds peech moonlight for fuck'ss ake beings clothed chessboard pat tern a blear rangements dissed reprovals like int. e-guments do u bling back mom dialect i cali mage banks lips tiffed so i torch edit dominance be littler but it do e-sn't go dim i nth e-dim and again wit hag a in sot he rear e-other voice sin this jar never beg rasped in only known thus -- Bob Marcacci > From: John Lowther <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: "WRYTING-L : Writing and Theory across Disciplines" > > Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 21:55:05 -0500 > To: WRYTING-L@LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA > Subject: [starting again with] > > starting again with > the promise of the nest one > not infested speech > > moonlight for fuck's sake > beings clothed > chessboard pattern able > arrangements dissed reprovals > like integuments doubling back > mom dialectical image bank slip > stiffed so i torched it > dominance be littler but it doesn't go > > dim in the dim and again with again > so there are other voices in this jar > never be grasped in only known thus
F rying, N ates
F rying but t an b ent an b lew an t est the sca mmer you b ride in me a hunka throat ham listed listened gamely wiping half yr p lunder sawn n frying n aped the win d g rew so apy where you rinsed her gownly backwords ah slab crusty where you or gan leaked a mighty hu sh N ates top un g ash ah d rift an s mote oh sprad dle d h all the scam soaked rinser of the stun mast hoper of the f lame hung mop pustule dropped an k eyed yr g lowered n ates a rab bit foc used off the drip pod coughing m eal against the b lock d arker than yr ancient sm eared John M. Bennett __ Dr. John M. Bennett Curator, Avant Writing Collection Rare Books & Manuscripts Library The Ohio State University Libraries 1858 Neil Av Mall Columbus, OH 43210 USA (614) 292-3029 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.johnmbennett.net ___
Interview
Interview with Bjorn Magnhildoen, The "artist" within quotes Why don't you say something? Well, you have the cursive, so why should I? This is plain text so you are wrong. You got the full stops The problem with interviews is that First there's resistance to the form Then there's self-reference to the form Actually that might correspond to how things develop As a metaphor of the content of any interview Can you tell me more Speaking of something is speaking of everything Can you be more precise? That corresponds to - I was just pondering, how much of a sphere do we see from this or that distance, and you realize that it slides from 0 degrees if you're really close, or precise, to 180 at infinite distance. What I mean is that when you're precise you say something trivial Which is OK, so let's, and nothing new, oh these are problems Let's say we went into details See details And I was thinking - to know the culture of say a land you don't actually need to know anything about its general history, etc. It's not a zoom into details - you could know it directly You seem to propose a direct method, like fashionable zen and stuff This makes us sick, I know, the biggest generalizations might be the biggest illusions also But the concrete doesn't lie? Well, the thing itself might be the worst bluff, the abstractionist and concretist go very well in hand It moves with a double face, phase, so to say So what would be your method? I have no idea, well, I might have but it's not a position You might just be a coward I'm not afraid to die Well, that might be the biggest cowardize ever Anyway these therms doesn't really hold anything What holds anything then? First of all the holding idea isn't complete on its own Let's say out of transactions, or synapses Time seem to be steady, so let's propose time method Like entropy Or memory Over time things seem to naturally or artifically to develop Development might be mostly degeneration plus a novelty on the side Like some structure at expense of loss of information After some time there will be an emtpy structure A room temperature Which is time method, moderation of everything On the other hand there's a beak A peak Like the catastrophic And out of structure itself, bifurcation See also broken symmetrytipping pointphase transitiondomino effectsnowball effectbutterfly effectspontaneous symmetry breakingsingularity theory Thank you very much Of nothing
a new essay on Visual Poetry, by Karl Kempton
The minimalist concrete poetry site at: http://www.logolalia.com/minimalistconcretepoetry/ has been updated with a new essay by Karl Kempton, "VISUAL POETRY: A Brief History of Ancestral Roots and Modern Traditions". >From the Introduction, by Karl Young: "In surfing the web today, you have probably passed through at least a dozen examples of word and image working together. Stated another way, you have been observing the results of prophecies and examples from the earliest petroglyphs to the visual poets who distributed their work through the mail art network when other avenues of publication were closed to them. Given changes in communications technology, it seems unlikely that visual poets will ever again be shoved back into the position of the Haitian boat people of American poetry. At the present moment, the interaction of graphics and text is so pervasive in society that you can find it in everything from warehouse tracking systems to the most sophisticated medical diagnostic techniques. Given the now ubiquitous interrelation of word and image, it would be absurd to imagine that a new generation of poets could be kept from exploring this interface of media. And it would be tragic if their predecessors would continue to be excluded from serious consideration." Enjoy, Dan
_text placement instruction_
_text placement instruction_ "autotelic" on a junked car
69/365, Doug
Doug is friends with everyone in every bar in every town in every country around the world. If he isn't upon arrival, he will be within ten minutes. Could eat roach coach chili dogs for breakfast. A floor broom mustache. 40 words, 40 years 365 days, 365 people http://www.logolalia.com/40x365
some films of murnau
some films of murnau * scowling stage right to ennui at the fourth wall foot mascara attitudinal scream spins the woman by the stove as fists eyes eyes fists pinhole shrink waiting by the beach along she comes as plaid the whip of wind in comes the man with more mascara sees you. the mist of particles becomes other a screen, sheen do you remember her sneaking up those hats in boats pliers of feet and yes the man with more mascara hands like fish to the side line upper left thru screaming head clutching they eros strap and titanic into the wind thank you silence he falls to gnash ground fences leads door to fences of doors but do door leads houses to beach pickets ) night ( * nosferatu the last laugh sunrise nosferatu as 50s road movie nosferatu ass "dying" rimes w. ding * phantom murmur bldgs slump stiffer courtyard ghost chariot runs you down running arms outstretched i would forget it all for wrought iron railings and die on melodramatic elsewhere she floats in rumples demand appearance can't you see thru smile that i'm brinking madness and prone to head hugs maniacal hands * stairs wed whirls and alcoves stall the mob of the suited young boys that take your coats dancing to big face then face in a dim and splits on a carriage why not funerate the gown and wallish the fitting while heaping stalks box horse gallop for empty seconds drinking and drinking i smoke rising is my face doing this in a hole turned away and sinking a bicycle revolving above and dance floor whirl collapsing lead foot * a greased head turns a night we'll never forget iris to me stern turn and laugh when one shot (...) hops railings until one day turning falls these hardbound yellow pages make me sweat not so ha ha when you are it a hand to the gauze collapsing now in sepia wonder confession end
Re: a new essay on Visual Poetry, by Karl Kempton
Ive only got as far as the intro here. He also says >Karl Kempton published Kaldron magazine on paper between the years 1976 and 1990. This was the world's first regularly published magazine that strove to include all modes of visual poetry. Now the operative word here is *regularly because I immediately think of Stereo Headphones and Kroklok - and grOnk was fairly wide in its range L - Original Message - From: "Dan Waber" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2006 12:50 PM Subject: a new essay on Visual Poetry, by Karl Kempton > The minimalist concrete poetry site at: > > http://www.logolalia.com/minimalistconcretepoetry/ > > has been updated with a new essay by Karl Kempton, "VISUAL POETRY: A > Brief History of Ancestral Roots and Modern Traditions". > > From the Introduction, by Karl Young: > > "In surfing the web today, you have probably passed through at least a > dozen examples of word and image working together. Stated another way, > you have been observing the results of prophecies and examples from > the earliest petroglyphs to the visual poets who distributed their > work through the mail art network when other avenues of publication > were closed to them. Given changes in communications technology, it > seems unlikely that visual poets will ever again be shoved back into > the position of the Haitian boat people of American poetry. At the > present moment, the interaction of graphics and text is so pervasive > in society that you can find it in everything from warehouse tracking > systems to the most sophisticated medical diagnostic techniques. Given > the now ubiquitous interrelation of word and image, it would be absurd > to imagine that a new generation of poets could be kept from exploring > this interface of media. And it would be tragic if their predecessors > would continue to be excluded from serious consideration." > > Enjoy, > Dan >
Re: a new essay on Visual Poetry, by Karl Kempton
Julian Blaine's Doc(k)s started in 1976 as well & is still going tho not as strong as the 80s... On Mar 21, 2006, at 10:43 AM, Lawrence Upton wrote: Ive only got as far as the intro here. He also says Karl Kempton published Kaldron magazine on paper between the years 1976 and 1990. This was the world's first regularly published magazine that strove to include all modes of visual poetry. Now the operative word here is *regularly because I immediately think of Stereo Headphones and Kroklok - and grOnk was fairly wide in its range L - Original Message - From: "Dan Waber" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2006 12:50 PM Subject: a new essay on Visual Poetry, by Karl Kempton The minimalist concrete poetry site at: http://www.logolalia.com/minimalistconcretepoetry/ has been updated with a new essay by Karl Kempton, "VISUAL POETRY: A Brief History of Ancestral Roots and Modern Traditions". From the Introduction, by Karl Young: "In surfing the web today, you have probably passed through at least a dozen examples of word and image working together. Stated another way, you have been observing the results of prophecies and examples from the earliest petroglyphs to the visual poets who distributed their work through the mail art network when other avenues of publication were closed to them. Given changes in communications technology, it seems unlikely that visual poets will ever again be shoved back into the position of the Haitian boat people of American poetry. At the present moment, the interaction of graphics and text is so pervasive in society that you can find it in everything from warehouse tracking systems to the most sophisticated medical diagnostic techniques. Given the now ubiquitous interrelation of word and image, it would be absurd to imagine that a new generation of poets could be kept from exploring this interface of media. And it would be tragic if their predecessors would continue to be excluded from serious consideration." Enjoy, Dan
ars, artis
reception to follow --
[omur itsl]
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D ug, D rip
D ug bag him mort him dug him dung col lapses lig a ture yr s mote sight c hattered s top a dang le cree ping hits a chapp tered my li ps c rusty din t o flail ure a s poon dun k a c rap b one g ragging inna neck b ung p lod c hopping sc owler fog in sides the ho le D rip b rake h am b oat rust led in the ga rage wee ds a taken scrot am b linking see ds or corner holes yr oughtless floating me at gus ted damper do me be neath the sq uat drip chew yr fun ne l icked the s tool loo se shooting s cud a t hunk be low the f rot h John M. Bennett __ Dr. John M. Bennett Curator, Avant Writing Collection Rare Books & Manuscripts Library The Ohio State University Libraries 1858 Neil Av Mall Columbus, OH 43210 USA (614) 292-3029 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.johnmbennett.net ___
Re: D ug, D rip
In a message dated 3/21/06 2:02:23 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: << D ug bag him mort him dug him dung col lapses lig a ture yr s mote sight c hattered s top a dang le cree ping hits a chapp tered my li ps c rusty din t o flail ure a s poon dun k a c rap b one g ragging inna neck b ung p lod c hopping sc owler fog in sides the ho le >> Hi John, Been a while since I acknowledged your many contributions to the world of email. Just want you to know I never miss reading, and enjoying, one of your pieces. Thanks for sharing. Best, Bill WilliamJamesAustin.com KojaPress.com Amazon.com BarnesandNoble.com
Fwd: Important message from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
I don't normally forward these, but auctioning off wilderness to pay for Iraq is dispicable... Begin forwarded message: From: "Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., NRDC BioGems" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: March 21, 2006 1:22:56 PM CST To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Important message from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Dear NRDC BioGems Defender, The Bush administration wants to sell off an astonishing 300,000 acres of our national forest lands across 35 different states -- to pay for its mismanagement of America's finances. We need your immediate action to stop this raid on our natural heritage, which would sacrifice some of our nation's most treasured wildlands, including irreplaceable expanses of several NRDC BioGems. Go to http://www.savebiogems.org/takeaction.asp and tell the U.S. Forest Service to withdraw this proposal to sell off any part of our national forests for the sake of funding budget shortfalls. The Bush administration has cynically put forward this national forest sell-off as a fast way to raise millions to pay for a rural schools program that has run out of funding. America's rural schools deserve financial support -- but destroying our legacy of national forests to pay the bills is unconscionable. The Bush administration's lengthy list of "Forests For Sale" includes prime habitat in Montana for bears, elk and wolves; popular recreation spots in Alaska's Tongass National Forest; old-growth forests in northern California; wildlife-rich ecosystems in the Appalachians and hundreds of other natural treasures. Logging companies, real estate developers and other commercial interests are already lining up to start the bidding. Go to http://www.savebiogems.org/takeaction.asp and tell the Forest Service to protect these priceless wildlands for all Americans, present and future. Thank you for helping to protect the legacy of America's national forests. Sincerely, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. NRDC Senior Attorney . . . Note: We appreciate the opportunity to communicate with you and other NRDC BioGems Defenders, but if you would prefer not to receive BioGems updates or hear from BioGems activists in the field, you can send an email message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "Please remove my name" in the subject line.
Re: a new essay on Visual Poetry, by Karl Kempton
Yes, indeed. I should have thought of that. There is also the eclectic Ou I am now in the article itself and am puzzling over: "I should point out that after the 1970's Cobbing moved out of Concrete Poetry into visual poetry and beyond to wordless compositions." I have no idea what is meant and no helpful definition of _concrete_ and _visual_ to the explain the distinction being made has been offered This proposed trajectory [from words] into wordlessness was proposed by Bury Art Gallery last year and there is no evidence for it... Not that any is offered, just the assertion, as with B A G. I'll just point out that Cobbing continued using letters / words up to the last and that his earliest - as far as I know - surviving work dates from 1942 and it is wordless - Original Message - From: "mIEKAL aND" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2006 4:55 PM Subject: Re: a new essay on Visual Poetry, by Karl Kempton > Julian Blaine's Doc(k)s started in 1976 as well & is still going tho > not as strong as the 80s... > > On Mar 21, 2006, at 10:43 AM, Lawrence Upton wrote: > > > Ive only got as far as the intro here. He also says > > > >> Karl Kempton published Kaldron magazine on paper between the years > >> 1976 and > > 1990. This was the world's first regularly published magazine that > > strove to > > include all modes of visual poetry. > > > > Now the operative word here is *regularly because I immediately > > think of > > Stereo Headphones and Kroklok - and grOnk was fairly wide in its range > > > > L > > > > - Original Message - > > From: "Dan Waber" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To: > > Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2006 12:50 PM > > Subject: a new essay on Visual Poetry, by Karl Kempton > > > > > >> The minimalist concrete poetry site at: > >> > >> http://www.logolalia.com/minimalistconcretepoetry/ > >> > >> has been updated with a new essay by Karl Kempton, "VISUAL POETRY: A > >> Brief History of Ancestral Roots and Modern Traditions". > >> > >> From the Introduction, by Karl Young: > >> > >> "In surfing the web today, you have probably passed through at > >> least a > >> dozen examples of word and image working together. Stated another > >> way, > >> you have been observing the results of prophecies and examples from > >> the earliest petroglyphs to the visual poets who distributed their > >> work through the mail art network when other avenues of publication > >> were closed to them. Given changes in communications technology, it > >> seems unlikely that visual poets will ever again be shoved back into > >> the position of the Haitian boat people of American poetry. At the > >> present moment, the interaction of graphics and text is so pervasive > >> in society that you can find it in everything from warehouse tracking > >> systems to the most sophisticated medical diagnostic techniques. > >> Given > >> the now ubiquitous interrelation of word and image, it would be > >> absurd > >> to imagine that a new generation of poets could be kept from > >> exploring > >> this interface of media. And it would be tragic if their predecessors > >> would continue to be excluded from serious consideration." > >> > >> Enjoy, > >> Dan > >> > > >
a pneumatic message
The shit gets escalatedpvkqi it ain't just words no more is itkxgaoq
Lee Maracle: On the AFN visit to Palestine
http://bc.indymedia.org/newswire/index.php Lee Maracle: On the AFN visit to Palestine I have been a consistent and clear supporter of the rights of the Palestinian people to their homeland free of Israeli occupation and annihilation since 1972, so it was with much shame and chagrin that I read that the AFN sent a delegation to Israel, to commune with the Israelis and to share culture, language, religion, tradition and values. ... Just exactly what values is the AFN sharing with the Israeli’s?...Canada was a gift from Britain to the white male settlers of Canada who cleared the land, killed the Indians and Buffalo in exactly the same way that Israel [was a gift from US and Britain to the European Jews] has cleared the land of Palestinians, expropriated their villages, farms and murdered all those who resist. ... Dear Friends Following is a letter sent to the AFN by a long time friend, Lee Maracle. Lee is an indigenous activist who supported the Palestinian struggle since the 1970's. She shared the same platform with Mahmoud Darwish and Shafiq Al-Hout at a meeting we organized in 1976 during the UN Habitat Conference in Vancouver. Lee is of Salish and Cree ancestry and a member of the Sto:loh Nation, and is the author of critically acclaimed "Ravensong", "I am Woman", "Bobbi Lee-Indian Rebel", "Daughters are Forever" and the poetry collection "Bentbox". - On the AFN visit to Palestine By: Lee Maracle I have been a consistent and clear supporter of the rights of the Palestinian people to their homeland free of Israeli occupation and annihilation since 1972, so it was with much shame and chagrin that I read that the AFN sent a delegation to Israel, to commune with the Israelis and to share culture, language, religion, tradition and values. What a shock! First, this is tantamount to laying a wreath at Vorster’s grave in the interest of [honoring apartheid] or traveling to the U.S. to share the values of the Custer Committee celebrating the massacre at Wounded Knee. Just exactly what values is the AFN sharing with the Israeli’s? It does not take too much historical digging to find out that Israel is the newest colonizing settler state in the world, that it displaced several million Palestinians, corralled them into refugee camps and denied them the basest of human rights. Hunger, displacement from their homelands and lack of medical care all dog the Palestinian people: the original citizens of Palestine. Canada was a gift from Britain to the white male settlers of Canada who cleared the land, killed the Indians and Buffalo in exactly the same way that Israel [was a gift from US and Britain to the European Jews] has cleared the land of Palestinians, expropriated their villages, farms and murdered all those who resist. Both settler populations had an obligation to dispossess and oppress the Indigenous people to maintain the settler regime. Both sets of people have done so. Does Mr. Fontaine imagine that he is essentially a Euro-settler, one of Custer’s boys or is he fulfilling a puppet role for Canada in the same way that Israel serves the oil interests of the United States? The traditional values we hold dear are freedom, the end of oppression and justice for all. We have demonstrated these values as Indigenous people [the Leonard Peltier Defence Committee, the Native Study Group, Red Power advocates and Native Youth Movement in the past have all engaged in anti-colonial activism] supporting Mandela in his struggle against apartheid, the Palestinians in their struggle for liberation and Native people in our struggle for Self-determination. We want to assure the “Indians of the middle east” that we will continue this support despite the bizarre behavior of the AFN puppets. see also: We were heartened by the response of our indigenous brothers and sisters and their organizations, who identified with the plight of the Palestinian indigenous people. We were also gratified by the support of our Jewish brothers and sisters and some of their organizations, who opposed the war crimes and atrocities Israel is committing in their name against the people of Palestine. -- "Open letter to the Assembly of First Nations" http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2006/03/49783.php or http://bc.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/13604 and We are sorry that we do not have the means to take you on similar tours to show you what is really happening in Palestine. Perhaps you should ask the hundreds of international volunteers, including Canadians, who paid their own way to go there and bear witness to the continuous Israeli brutality against the indigenous people of Palestine -- "Final Text of letter sent to Assembly of First Nations re trip to Israel" http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2006/03/49590.php See also: http://bc.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/13604 Stay Strong \ "
Re: master slave dialectic ~
micheline? don't know
Jack Smith soap opera...
Flaming Intrigue What’s happening to the legacy of an avant-garde legend? by C. Carr March 10 - 16, 2004 On January 30, Surrogate Court Judge Eve Preminger ruled that the archive of Jack Smith belongs, in effect, to the artist's younger sister, a 70-year-old Texas housewife named Mary Sue Slater. Auteur of the notorious Flaming Creatures, performance artist before such a term existed, photographer of unlikely incandescences, "the Alfred Jarry of the East Village," Smith died without a will in 1989. http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0410,carr,51681,1.html
Re: Jack Smith soap opera...
I forgot to mention the new documenary about Smith... fun websitehttp://www.jacksmithandthedestructionofatlantis.com/On Mar 21, 2006, at 8:48 PM, mIEKAL aND wrote:Flaming IntrigueWhat’s happening to the legacy of an avant-garde legend?by C. CarrMarch 10 - 16, 2004On January 30, Surrogate Court Judge Eve Preminger ruled that the archive of Jack Smith belongs, in effect, to the artist's younger sister, a 70-year-old Texas housewife named Mary Sue Slater.Auteur of the notorious Flaming Creatures, performance artist before such a term existed, photographer of unlikely incandescences, "the Alfred Jarry of the East Village," Smith died without a will in 1989.http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0410,carr,51681,1.html
Re: Jack Smith soap opera...
I remember seeing him years ago, was what performance should be, improvisation, edgy, debris, intense, On Tue, 21 Mar 2006, mIEKAL aND wrote: I forgot to mention the new documenary about Smith... fun website http://www.jacksmithandthedestructionofatlantis.com/ On Mar 21, 2006, at 8:48 PM, mIEKAL aND wrote: Flaming Intrigue What?s happening to the legacy of an avant-garde legend? by C. Carr March 10 - 16, 2004 On January 30, Surrogate Court Judge Eve Preminger ruled that the archive of Jack Smith belongs, in effect, to the artist's younger sister, a 70-year-old Texas housewife named Mary Sue Slater. Auteur of the notorious Flaming Creatures, performance artist before such a term existed, photographer of unlikely incandescences, "the Alfred Jarry of the East Village," Smith died without a will in 1989. http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0410,carr,51681,1.html For URLs, DVDs, CDs, books/etc. see http://www.asondheim.org/advert.txt . Contact: Alan Sondheim, [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] General directory of work: http://www.asondheim.org .
[stuff-it] this is worth reading (fwd)
-- Forwarded message -- Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2006 20:18:29 -0800 From: Craig McKie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [stuff-it] this is worth reading Shame by georgia10 Tue Mar 21, 2006 at 03:51:32 PM PDT I am ashamed. I am ashamed of this President. Aren't you? After watching his press conference today, a sense of shame overtook me. I'm ashamed that he took to the podium today as if he emptied out a container of laughing gas. I'm ashamed of a President who has the temerity to laugh when asked a question about war. I'm ashamed of the whores of the fourth estate who care more about having the honor of being the butt of one of the President's jokes than about exposing the truth to the American people. I'm ashamed that millions of my fellow Americans are so scared and so desperate for leadership that they believe the President's bullshit. I am ashamed. I'm ashamed of this President, this megalomaniac hellbent on leaving his assprint on the map of the Middle East, no matter how much destruction is wrought and no matter how much blood flows in the streets of lands that never threatened us. I'm ashamed that when I see the American flag waiving, images of flag-draped coffins flash in my mind. I'm ashamed of Freedom's MarchTM. Ashamed when I see villages reduced to rubble. Ashamed when I see the tiny little corpses. God, they're so painfully tiny--lined up in a row, little angels wrapped in colorful blankets that starkly contrast against their gray-tinged faces. Ashamed when I see wailing Iraqis slam their hands against plain, unvarnished coffins, over and over, asking "Why? Is this democracy? Why?" When I see those image of funerals, of broken families, I want to crawl into my TV, I want to go to them and grab their slumped shoulders and scream "I'm sorry, good god, I'm so sorry. I want to leave, I want us to leave, believe me. But they won't listen...No one listens anymore." I'm ashamed that the word "massacre" is even uttered in connection with our actions in Iraq. I'm ashamed it's not just one massacre that is alleged, but two. I'm ashamed it's gotten to the point that I can't even tell this little voice inside of me to shut up, that little voice that says maybe, just maybe it could be true. That the impossible may be plausible. Before this war, I would have rejected such claims outright. But that voice of plausibility is the consequence of those black hoods. It's the consequence of those leashes, those snarling dogs. It's the consequence of those detainees chained to bedframes. Of naked pyramids. Of forced sex acts. Of beatings and blood-streaked floors. I am ashamed. Ashamed that Justice is no longer blindfolded, but gagged. Ashamed that in America, in AMERICA, I can only protest in "free speech zones" the size of postage stamps. Ashamed that by the time I'll take my oath as an officer of the court to support the Constitution, I'll be swearing to uphold a tattered document that has managed to survive over 200 years only to be shredded by this President in less than eight. I am ashamed. Ashamed that in America, I see bearded men panhandling in the street, holding cardboard signs that read "U.S. Vet, can't work, need food. God bless." Ashamed that somewhere, in our America, a grandmother is sitting alone at her kitchen table, crumpled bills clutched in her thin hands, agonizing over the choice before her: medicine for her pain, or food to keep on living. Ashamed that there is a child who will go to sleep tonight on a cot in an orphanage, with no one to read him a story, no one to stroke his hair and kiss him goodnight, because the American Taliban thinks gay Americans can't love, can't parent, can't provide. I am ashamed of my fellow Americans. Ashamed that they haven't flooded the streets. Ashamed they care more about Brangelina than the Bill of Rights. Ashamed that they're seemingly ok with the subtle but steady transformation from democracy to dictatorship. Ashamed that they are so gullible. I am ashamed of myself. For not having the courage or the strength to do anything else but sit here and blog. I write. I protest. I vote. And yet, I'm impotent. Stuck in a unrelenting cycle of hope and despair and hope and despair. What a curse it is to be 23 and want to change the world. What a curse to be so disillusioned so early in life. What a curse to want to change a world that will not change...that cannot change? That cannot change as long as we sit and wait for others to change it. That cannot change as long as our elected Democrats refuse to take a principled stand. That cannot change until they--until we--appreciate the gravity of the situation before us: we are losing America. This is not America. I refuse to accept it. America doesn't torture. America doesn't jail people incommunicado for years. America doesn't sit idly by as an entire people are exterminated in Darfur. America doesn't stifle science. America doesn't conduct
