French Fry Fellowship

I just reinstalled Hello so here's a test photo. It's from the recent French Fry party I threw in Seattle. Bill Gates, eat your heart out.

New territory

I applied for a Nevada Arts Council Fellowship this year. The council awards $5000 to six individual artists – two in literary arts, two in performing arts and two in visual arts including media arts (film, video). The deadline was Friday. I hand-delivered my 5 sets of 10 poems about 3 hours before the cut-off but I wasn't the only last minute entry. Tim Rhodes, another Ash Canyon poet, passed his envelope through the door at 5pm, just as they were closing. Ah, the drama! Cowee tells me the winners are selected in June at a day long, public event. Until I went through my files looking for material, I hadn't really appreciated the work I've done in the past year. I must say it's mostly due to Ash Canyon and especially Bill Cowee. He kicks everybody's ass into gear.

Bill Cowee, one of poetry's true honky-tonk angels.

PETA and PETCO agreement

Rat Woman, Hagwar and Buug
Invisible Theatre

Good news. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and PETCO Animal Supplies, Inc. announced an agreement today that will advance animal welfare across the country. PETA will end its campaign against the national pet food and supply retailer and PETCO will end the sale of large birds in its stores. As there really is no such thing as a "cage bird", this is encouraging. PETCO also agreed to make some changes to benefit rats and mice, including separating the animals by gender to prevent breeding. A lot of these mice end up as live food for pet snakes. Ugh. I don't respect people who do that. Anyway, now the mice will have a bit better life along the way. That counts for something.

Empath

Another point of view

Perhaps I'm an empath. I've always had the ability to feel and see from opposing points of view at the same time. Grab a few, current hot topics out of the hat... abortion vs. choice, whether or not it's okay to perform medical experiments on animals, the death penalty, environment issues, gay marriage...I appreciate, even have strong feelings for both sides. I wonder how many people are like this. Hard to say. I don't think we make the news. People become famous basing their careers on being one-sided, the more inflexible, the more confrontational, the better. The public loves 'em. In fact, Big Media operates like a brothel madame for the media whores ever busy pandering all the sound and fury the world is willing to pay for.


Big Media Madame


Guess which one is the empath.

But don't assume that because I have a live and let live attitude, I don't have my own point of view. I have a very strong point of view. And I act on it. My bias? Compassionate Progressive. Are you surprised? Why am I telling you this? I don't know. I woke up with these thoughts on my mind and just had a very strong cup of coffee. By the way, did you write your senator yet about blocking the Rethuglican one party rule? See below.

Body screen TV protest

Bound to a wheelchair and repeatedly crossing the road in front of a local KFC, a protester in a giant chicken costume led a protest today against KFC suppliers’ abusive treatment of chickens. People passed out leaflets and held signs that proclaimed, "KFC Tortures Chickens." One man wore a body screen TV showing shocking undercover video footage of chickens in factory farms and slaughterhouses.

What is done to chickens would be illegal if it were done to dogs, cats, cows, or pigs. However, chickens are excluded from the only federal law that protects farmed animals, the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. An undercover investigation at a Moorefield, W.Va., slaughterhouse that supplies chickens to KFC revealed that workers were kicking, throwing, and stomping on live birds. Recently, PETA released the findings of an undercover investigation of a slaughterhouse operated by KFC'’s number one supplier, Tyson Foods, and found that workers were ripping conscious chicken's heads off, slaughter machinery was systematically mutilating chickens, and thousands of birds were being scalded to death after entering the defeathering tank while they were still conscious.

For more information, please visit KentuckyFriedCruelty.com.

Oppose one party rule

Dickhead Republicans

 

Radical Republicans plan to hijack the nomination process of Supreme Court Judges in their ongoing grab for absolute power. To accomplish this, Dick Cheney says he'll deploy what he proudly calls his "nuclear option". His "bomb" is a parliamentary maneuver to overturn the 200-year-old right to filibuster judicial nominations. Its purpose is to silence all dissenting opinion. Right-wing extremists are passionately committed to crushing all opposition and without a minority voice, democracy is replaced by tyranny. To do so, they must disable the system of checks and balances upon which our democracy is founded and by which it is protected. If they succeed, this will be the first time since America was founded that there is no check on the ruling party.

As a senior adviser to President Bush told Ron Suskind, former senior national-affairs reporter for the Wall Street Journal, "We're an empire now". We are history's actors . . . and you, all of you (people he called members of the "reality-based community", will be left to just study what we do.'"

We can't let neoconservative bullies pad the Supreme Court with "yes men". If they do, they will suppress dissenting opinion for generations. Write or call your Senator and complain. Sign the petition at the MoveOn website and while you're at it, email a letter the newspapers in your area. Silence is compliance so speak up.

Chillin wita Giz

If you have tried gizoogle yet, and you're over 13, you ought to give em a try. It scrambles the link descriptions into a kind of rap-lite. It's a cheap thrill. Here's what I got when I gizoogled my website.

"skyrivizzle poetry chillin' poems, underground wanna be gangsta indie publish'n...

Ashabot Night Crew ... Ashabot tech C-R-to-tha-izzew. Ladybug Ladybug Collaborizzle Deconstructizzle Cairo The lovely Cairo as a cunn'n pup . Throw yo guns in the motherfuckin air. ... "

Casino talk

The Pope died today. I heard about it at the casino where I went for lunch. The bathroom attendant was discussing it with a customer who was crapping in one of the stalls. I think the poor woman had eaten bad shrimp. Anyway, they were shouting back and forth, comparing Nevada time with Vatican City time, trying to zero in on exactly where they each were when it happened. They were very excited to be in on such a big event. I had to tap the attendant on the shoulder and squeeze past her mop bucket to get to a toilet. They were still talking when the customer finally came out of the stall. She ran her oxygen tank right over my foot but didn't seem to notice. She must run over stuff all the time because when the wheels hit my boot she gunned the tank without even looking down. She had some dribble on her velour jogging suit and was scrubbing at it furiously and still talking about the Pope when I left. I came away proud. No matter what people say about Americans living in a bubble, it obviously just isn't true.

Bush names trophy hunter to direct US Fish and Wildlilfe Service

Bush recently named Matthew J. Hogan, a big game trophy hunter and Safari Club lobbyist, to protect our nation's fish and wildlife. Lovely. The fox is guarding the hen house. No surprise, of course. Bush is all about maximum exploitation. What a fuck.

Seattle seagull and bride's party

I was in Seattle last week for the Wonder Women All-Girl (except for my brother) Welcome Party to welcome the lovely Anita into our family. She is my youngest son John's bride. They had a hasty wedding last spring when his company was called up for Iraq. As of yet, he hasn't gone. So that I don't get heady, I keep in mind that things could change in a second but so far, so good. The "real" wedding is planned for this July. It's all very exciting.

I arrived a day early so I went straight from the airport to my brother's office on Puget Sound. That's him showing me his latest project. He's a bio-mathematician and oceanographer. The next day, before the humans arrived, I threw a seagull French fry and photo party on the waterfront. I bought an order of fries at Ivar's, set my camera on continuous shoot, went out on the pier and waited. Seagulls hang out there all day waiting for handouts. One bird in particular set her sites on me and settled right in. I fed her fries with one hand while photographing her with the other. When Lee saw the photos, he thought I should make her my avatar. He said she exactly resembles me. Perhaps he has a point.





That's my daughter Asia on the left and my "new" daughter Anita on the right. I'm a lucky and very grateful person.