AAARRRGHHHHHH!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PIRATA

summer day zero one-four (updated)

The Friars The Friars About Me Name:friars View my complete ...The Friars. About Me. Name:friars. View my complete profile. the Men in White Suits . . . return if lost; Love is beauty being born; MAY DAY ...
losfriars.blogspot.com/ <--what happens when you type the web address into google instead of the browser.

read the readings wrapped in the wool of summer and its breath--Pirata, you labor towards a restoration, a mighty peace. Thanks for your thinking, your observing. today opened in cool cotton and as the sun rose, descended into stale heavy corners; now, back in my place the breeze passes through, a gentle comfort. there is sawdust everywhere, only one corner has been vaccumed--i can't stop building. i've combed the alleys and carted up wonderfull pieces of wood; and with my tools am reshaping them. it began with the darkroom. i built a darkroom, not just making the bathroom light tight, but ventilating it, and building shelves that drop down, and another table with a drawer, and a light table for viewing negatives--then, I wired more electric (in the right places), and ran speakers inside. and woila, all me and brigid are waiting on are some trays. the enlarger came from the quickshot, as well as the safe light, and timer. also, had my first photography job the other day (digital though)--shooting a wedding reception--all candid photography, and an open bar (stella--yum, and amerato sours), and great dancing after we were off the clock (of course we kept shooting. only next time we wil charge a bit more, still, it was fun. nice to be in places with so many happy people. ah, photography. i want to do some projects; i am thinking of my barrio (Edgewater, Chicago--doing some spontaneous pictures of people (film) and set-up pictures of stuff with the tripod(digital)); also have been thinking of taking pictures of currency exchanges--cause, when you think of places unique to a city or country--those got to be to Chicago. There are so many of them. Also, starting painting on Friday with Brig. She gave me some pigments (primary colors) and I am going to mix them with something (supposed to be egg whites, but I am going to mix them in polyurathane). I am going to paint on some termite eaten boards, the image will be a picture projected from a photo, and traced. and i want to go it all in golds and yellows, as it's a street in Cartegena, narrow, cobled, and strung low with electric cables. People lazyily walk up the perspective. so, we'll see. i don't really paint. felt like playing music today while i was riding my bike back from brig's, riding up sheridan, to berwyn, and up kenmore.

went out to ravina the other evening, an outdoor concert place; you lay down blankets and listen to the music through speakers. you can't see the stage. i know it's music, but that wierds me out a bit. it's like listening to the radio next to some other peeople--why not just listen to the braodcast naked in bed, er driving around, er anywhere but people not trying to lay there blankets away from the trash. we watched people. the metra rail takes you out there. it's supposed to cost five bucks, but no one collected our fare. the music, i havne't mentioned that yet--sucked. the neville brothers are lazy. the got no attack left. and aaron sings early like he is in a hurry--go fill sandbags! it was all evavatored down. we left.

oh, been talking to Brig (she has to go a Thesis, quite a big paper, writing about art). And we were talking about it last night seated on the banks of Lake Michigan, Lake Shore Drive behind (my favorite road in the world--seriously), and we were talking about her thesis; and as always I comprehend things in a historical perspective. One idea: how has the viewing of art changed over time, and when was it that not only there was Public art on display, but when and how did childran begin to be introduced and enculturated in the veneratation of such displays? Idea two: How do we choose to represent motion in static images, like the Italian futurists, or cartoon... no, instead it appears that these are marginal representations of movement; more commonly movement is implied and the image is clear, quite unlike the way it appears to our eye, film is no exception--interesting no?

i am in a summer course--astronomy, or astro namy as I call it. I also like to call it astrology by mistake, I almost wish it wasn't an online class--as I would like to get the professor's goat with that in class; oh well, it's better this way. the subject is interesting, there is lots of physics; and i like physics. and the scientific method is kick-ass. one of humanities better accomplishments. the Bucket, the car I got from Mark is almost to the moon. 247,000 miles i think, something like that; and that means about 18,000 more to go. the nearest galaxy is 28,000,000 light years; i'd like to see detroit do that. anyway hopefully will be putting some miles on it in august, going down to west virginia to the cliff top festival, and play some old timey music with Brig.

been looking for money, haven't found bunches around. did a comsmer survey (for an AOL focus group). this guy from denver showed me the product, some internet voice mail thing. he asked what i thought of it. i told him it depended on what it costs. he told me not to think about cost, but wondered just if i was interested. i told him that depended on what it costs. he told me we would talk about cost later. i told him i might be interested if it was free. either way, i got paid. took an hour, got a hundred bucks--not bad. and that was the first time i've worked, besides going to school in a long time. i thought i had another one of those this afternoon but it got cancelled. i searched on criagslist for odd jobs, sent out some emails, haven't heard anything back yet. some more money would be nice. i sought information for a sleep study, but it is more like being under house arrest; and you got to wear a collar and some wrist band, and later they make you recline in a chair in dim light and stay awake for 24 hours--sounds like the study is hosted by the defense department. no thanks.

longest day of the year today--wish i was in helsinki er raykavic, somewhere up there where it didn't get dark. but this is cool. that also means its the first day of summer. and its sticky and humid down on the street below. fortunatly the lake breeze tempers things.

Vik sent me an updated version of the braidios poetry--nice to read through it all. it's amazing how it is a thread through so much of our lives, recent lives at least.

eating a sandwich now. it's a bit dry. my apartment it a wreck. the sink is full of dishes. there is lumber everywhere. the closet is stuffed full of dirty clothes. i do have over a dozen bottles of wine from Bomaridos on Mack though. Vik, heard you got a play opening and Chivo might come in. We'll see on this end. And Hawk is leaving too. Hmmm. Pirata, King Tut opens here on Friday. Which reminds me...of the past, your post, fathersday.

there is something about the past, as if it is a burden. yesturday, i was thinking about it; and i thought that how we learn to deal with the past is one of the characteristics which define us; and perhaps the most important. for me, what i love about the past are its contradictions, and how these contradictions are always rooted in perspective; and how the objectifing of the past leads us to an impersonal history, like a survey may say 2.5 children, in other words, an imaginary image--Plato and his universals strike again; the scientific method employed in moral thinking. ah, I wax and wane. ciao fer now. I've been thinking about economics lately as a place where the universal might be found, but based on work, specificaly time as a value propotional to one's desire to accumlate resourses--in this case more of a universal variable as in a ratio. that's that

locational report number two (after a ride through dusk along the lake and into the shortest night) we stopped at a skate park near foster, near montrose harbor--some amazing skaters. the sounds of so many rolling wheels are amazing, and when they slide on metal rails is cool too. rode on with Brig to the beach as the sky turned pink and purple with twilight haze, the silouttes of buildings and burning white lit windows far off. we stopped by the dog beach. later some girls were using thier cell phones to comb the sand for a pair of sandles. there was a pair not far from us. i called out, are you looking for sandles? it turns out they were. but those wern't theirs. what are the chances? i ay sked if they were sand colored. and it turns out the were--woo is there search. Brig taught me how to ask, how do you say (insert word) in german: vi hiest german auf deutch? how do you say german in german. i thought it was funny. but i can't start to learn german till i get my work bench built; in fact i can't do anything till i get my work bench built. but i am all out of glue, seriously. so i am thinking of ways to build it without these things tonight. my neighboors have moved out so i can run the saw as late as i want. there is a 24 hour home depot, but that place sucks the life out of me.

auf gaits (let's go) in german... my spelling is worse in german than english, and that's pretty bad.

oh, on the world scale: Bolivia, interesting things happening there right now. what else... trends: single speed bicycles, sign language for children, bubble tea, and all things german.


goodbye for now noble friars
from the city of big shoulders
pace
l-a'ro

locational report number three (tree).

Painted, worked different than i thought--of course. i picked 12 negatives and mounted them in slide sleeves. then brig and i put them in her slide projector--the image appeared on the canvas--in this case a thin primed board. i took my easel over to her house; rode with it--one handed. it was fun. almost whiped out at first. a tightening screw did not do its job, eased open; then my foot struck it, which sent the wooden contraption forward into my handlebars, causing me to swerve. as i was just starting out, my speed was low, and the bike went into a wobble across the opposite side of the road. part of the easel hit a parked car. i pulled out and increased my speed. brig live about a mile away. the rest of the ride was smooth. my primed boards were in my messenger bag. so... today was painting. i projected a picture of a rice pakaging factory from korea onto my board and traced in the outlines of an enormous bag of rice suspended from a forklift--amoung other machine things. and its turning out pretty cool. I painted all the machines and bag in black and white, and made the background bright blue. the floor will be bronze. and next. i am thinking of painting a broken tractor next from peru. that said i find painting difficult and time consuming. it takes along time to see results. for people of short attention span--this can become tedious. but at first i didn't put enough paint on my brush. acrlyics dry quick too. i didn't paint with the pigments. maybe for the tractor. but i wasn't happy with the experiments mixing it with polyurethane--but now i think i want to try it. the poly gives everything a yellow hue, which is cool, kind of antique looking. also, the workbench was built through the shortest night of the year. i closed the windows to run the circular saw, as my dense street was uncommonly quite at that hour. and i kept sanding to a minumum. the darkroom is about ready to be employed. brig worked out the details on some trays today. i think in about a week to ten days we will be doing our first prints.

and yes i will be in detroit for chivo's arrival in route to his westward progression, joel's play, and maybe a farwell to hawk. don't worry mark, the sawdust will be cleaned up by the time you get here.

locational report number 4

finished my first painting, will enclose image later. thinking about the next one now. i asked brig how much she thought i could sell it for; she suggested 10 to 40 dollars. i asked if she thought i should insure it.




bye again
lAhH roOow

Was on travelocity, just taking a look, and came across this gem:

Detroit Vicinity, MI: Inspiration for Innovation
There must be something in the Detroit River water, because the towns around Detroit have long been home to groundbreaking art and invention.

Flight, Hotel, Taxes & Fees

from $193
per person

Playing it Harry Zimm

Well, this is much later than I expected - Direct from Mark's New Yorkpalooza, I was thrust into a nightmarish world of strange clubs and their VIP lounges, working through the Scene, such as it is, with Sarah. Then the inevitable toll of the Rockn'Roll lifestyle put me another week behind! !
Well, the Pirate thing is becoming a full blown trend -maybe that'll replace goths!
Before we begin, I want to point out [to paraphrase V ] that Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash, are not just pretty words -they are perspectives!


The western dream -
out - Bill Gates . . . . . . In -Sheik Mo
Ian the Buddhist returned from China. There are alot of amazing things to it - Strangely, there doesn't seem to be that much difference between a communist shopping mall and a capitolist one. The distribution of wealth is even more disproportionate than it is here. I'm not sure What to Make of All That - does it mean we could sell communism HERE, if we could reassure everyone they could keep their malls? Or does it mean that the PRC is doomed to a revolt of the have nots - a proletarian turn to . . .capitolism ? ? ?

It's become a cliche already to say 'The dream of the west is coming true - in the East!' - and yes, they seem to have caught the wave of our post WWII civilization. That's not to say that the USA couldn't build it's OWN Dubai, say, in Kansas. Imagine if we spent 34% of OUR budget on education!

Maybe the only thing in the way, is that Americans have no meaningful, inclusive, sense of themselves as a people. Around the globe, all sorts of persons are against Americans. Bernard Henri Levy referred to 'Anti-americanism' as the last religion left. Coming to America, you see americans sub-divided and against each other. The rest of the world bonds over disliking america, yet america has no paralell unifying force. In many ways, it's safer for the rest of the world, but you have to wonder . . . how long can it last.

Confront your inner Dwarf!

I'd like to put in a plug here for a book that has revealed ALOT to me. It is 'In the Little World: A True Story of Dwarfs, Love, and Trouble' - It is another one of those 'says it all' -but opens up just how universal ' it all ' is. Not a peek into a subculture - it blasts you into the metaculture. Here's a review note I agree with, so it must be good:
'In the Little World is one of the most honest books I have ever read, and through its honesty it arrives at a true and nearly radical compassion. It is honest about dwarfs, It is honest about journalisn, and it is honest, in particular about that which is most central to us : love, and its limits' -Tom Junod
Did you know that there is a term for the great anxiety, giddiness, or dislocation brought on by the sight of a dwarf, known as dwarf shock? [one of my best friends has such an unreasoning fear, she can't even abide the IDEA OF reading A BOOK ABOUT dwarfs. ] Did you know that dwarfs Themselves are most susceptible? ? ?

[ Word to you trainspotters out there - 'Dwarf' and 'Dwarfs' are the correct term today - not "there's 'midgets' and 'Dwarves' " like I was brought up on. -Actually, there are over 200 different syndromes that make up the little world. ]

There's more- this is a book about confronting YOURSELF, and your relationship to beauty. HOw holy your body really is to you. It's about looking under the rock in your soul and finding there are creepy-crawly things there. It's about realizing how riduculously attached we all are to our presumtions about our bodies. How destructive the idea that 'there is some kind of justice in the world' really can be. If you labor under the misapprehension that 'Deserve' has anything to do with it, just remember that issue when we talk about father's day in a bit!

And more. There are so many issues that are really universal - for example, Many Dwarf women feel that there are dwarf men who only go after the prettiest girls - and are angry and hurt by it.
Oppression and politics share a common root, growing out of our social interactions. I never realized how common the themes of compression, confrontation, fear of exposure, and anger are SOOOO prevalent. How much of the world revolves around people wanting to just be somewhere where people won't be looking at them weird - because they are white, or black, or short, or however we want to exclude or subdivide ourselves - And JUST HOW MUCH INSANE ANGER IS GENERATED BY THIS!
When the Astavakra Ghita says that all your unhappiness is caused by the existence of the other, [now you know! Wasn't that simple! ] it seems vague. Here it comes to life.

I was in a doctors waiting room this week, and an old couple walked in, and the man barked at her, saying 'does everyone have to know about your problems?!?!' -fear of exposure, expressed as anger
However- there is another side - ' the fascination is the form a certain repulsion assumes to conceal its fear'

Y'know, I'm taken by that word 'Your'
just now Y / our -interesting.

Anyway,
whoever, whatever you are, if you are different,
- and that choice is never up to you , - others will decide this for you:

" When you're my size and not being tormented by elevator buttons, drinking fountains and ATMs, you spend your life accomodating the sensibilities of 'Normal' people. You learn to bury your own feelings and honor theirs in the hope they'll meet you halfway. It becomes your job, and yours alone, to explain, to ignore, to forgive - over and over again. There's no way you can get around this. You do it if you want to have a life and not be corroded by your own anger. You do it if you want to belong to the human race. "
-Armistead Maupin, Maybe the Moon

which brings me to . . .

The Father's Day spectacular!
Father's day always sucked at my house. My dad never celebrated -he would always brood over his feelings of abandonment by HIS father, and the tribulations thereof. This is the first year in a while I haven't held an anti-fathers day - So I wanted to address a couple of things. When dealing with parent child relationships, there is a tendency towards AMPLIFICATION. And that can make things sticky. One thing I'm learning from my nephew is that there isn't really a way to have a childhood without frustration and trauma.

Neitzsche said 'All children begin by loving their parents, and end by judging them. Seldom, if ever, do they forgive them. ' [which, by the way, I'm waiting for someone to take to it's logical religous conclusion as children of God. Just who will judge who? We condone god by his inhumanity, yet expect parents to be more than human or be condemed. ]

I would like to give everyone who still has a father some advice, in the hopes you may avoid years of expensive therapy and poor life choices. [my own father, for example, joined the marines in order to out-soldier HIS father. ]

90% of our emotional activity here is either performing for our fathers ( - either looking for approval, or showing our ass ) - or wanting them to be someone else. And one day that show is over, and the theater is empty. You can keep performing, but there's no way to communicate how terrible, and REAL that finality is to you, when there just isn't a reason for it anymore.
It's something you can't know from the other side.
Here is my advice:
1] realize that the past is no longer. There isn't anything you can get now that applies there.
2]Ask what you want from this NOW. That's what you CAN have. There really isn't much in life that doesn't come down to emotions in the end.
3] Remember - these are emotional fruits - neither of you gets a prize for being 'Right".
You heard me.
The idea that you deserve one now is as destructive to the present as the idea 'you deserved what you got' was in the past.

Doug Kershaw, Johhny Cash's Cajun Protege, wrote a letter to his father, who'd commited suicide when he was seven.

" A peace to Mr Jack Kershaw
In care of God in heaven

From his son Mr. Doug Kershaw
in care of here.
Jack, today I've earned the right to say to you that I have PRIDE in your name, SHAMED your name, WORN your name, GIVEN your name to four, TAKEN your name from one but JACK, today JANUARY FOURTH, 1970, twentyseven years after you left me with only your name, your wife my mother, your sons my brothers, your fears, your courage, your weakness, and mind, three memories and one picture.
Your wife has said, not to me but to others, that I'm your image both in body and mind AH; but i'm taller than you Jack, by 3 and one half inches to be exact. But I'll never be as big a man as you are, only because you have been weighted by my scale and measured by my ruler and not by my sons . . .my offspring cannot possibly know your size cos it's only known through my eyes but your face they will know cos I carry it well and your name they will wear and wear without shame MR. KERSHAW, for today I claim I've earned you the right to be proud of your name, MR. KERSHAW.

Your son, MR. KERSHAW. "

And now -

EL Pirata excercises the Tercet -
This is from Marks Graduation weekend:
Awright Wok -I don't like you, and you don't like me,
- but one of us is getting a wershing!
LEAVE MT BLOODY MARY ALONE, BITCH ! !
Forgetaboutit
do I want another one
Forgetaboutit
They don't give me enough
Did you put ice to turn into water in the freezer?
How much do you have?
How much do you still want a girlfriend?
- Smells like caramelization in here!
I haven't thought of my neice as a bitch
-sounds like somebody's got a case of the s'posetas!
This is mentally . . . excellent
You are making my plan just crumble - just crumble! I just want some eggs!
Sorry about the Jews, but I gotta spit outside!

And that's all for today!
-Love,
-Jon

LAKE MICHIGAN

le lac

Charlevoix was but a dream now
As the breakers crashed
Over the bow
Fingers spreading
Like an enormous hand
On the deck
The Big Lake
Was just a-toyin' with us
Hollis, the old man, said
Seeming confident
Silver hair
Waves in the gale
80 years to my 8
He would tell me about the Chippewa
The Ojibwe
That prodigious tribe of nomadic warriors
And how they named her
Great Water
The red-wooden-hulled vessel
Stedfast and stalwart
Mainsail stretched tight
This is the hardest part, he shouted
Until we clear
The channel
Narrowing
Path
The
Berth
Our noble craft
Worked
From all sides
The maiden crown
South Pierhead astern
We're right in her now
Mishigami


Les Lac

I've never seen you desperate or speak to anyone.
You wouldn't know your name-- are fluid without it:
Empty gate, sloppy balloon, teaching steps
To diving, floating, and to the many dead you hold;
Deep recluse-- a cloud who couldn't choose
Between earth and what? Fish swim through your hair.
Drunken maniac-- who said, you said, but not to me:
Your bubbling milk counts stones on shifting shores
O lighthouse fads, leaves lost in your palm,
The moon bobbing bewildered among thirsty stars
In the surges of your footprint, the June,
the woven wool, and the obstinate chill,
claiming the flats-- roiling, roiling.


the lake

a single smooth stone
slick with your weather
knows you better than
all the bearded captains
and though
jealous of salt seas
i can taste your fight
deep down in my belly
when the sun cools
into your depths
and the only sense is
sound
all the whispered moments
on and under you
for even now miles away
i hear your waves inside me

*%*-- a little give and take with a Hawk, L'a-ro, & Vikingo