This Space Unintentionally Left Blank

Samhain

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:19:34 -0400

One of the four primary holidays in the Celtic calendar, celebrating the end of the harvest with bonfires and festivals.

Generally believed to be a time when the boundary between the world of the living and the world of the dead is thin; a time of migration between this world and the other.

After this, then winter.

Anybody want to guess what it was about this magazine spread...

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:26:00 -0400

Anybody want to guess what it was about this magazine spread from the October issue of Family Fun that inspired me to write a Letter To The Editor?

Anyone?

Here’s my letter:

To Whom It May Concern,

In the October issue of the “Family Fun” magazine there is a two page spread of Halloween costumes, featuring a male African American child with a “target” design on his chest. This costume and photograph is also featured on your website here: http://jas.familyfun.go.com/crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=12268

When I saw the photo spread in the issue my first response was one of amazement and disgust. The level of editorial insensitivity and stupidity represented in this photo is astounding.

The situation for many African American youth today is fraught with violence — both in stereotypical media cliche as well as in the reality many face due to poverty, inner city crime, and racial discrimination.

Given this, representing an African American young man as a human target is in supremely bad taste, to say the least.

In addition, this country elected an African American president last November, and he has received an unprecedented level of death threats due to his race and cultural background.

I cannot help but wonder if anyone involved in the production of your magazine even considered either of these issues when preparing, photographing, laying out, or proofing the feature. You certainly had ample opportunity to do so.

Regardless as to whether it was ignorance, insensitivity, or oversight, I remain amazed and disgusted.

The October issue came with a note reminding me that it was my last issue. You can be certain that I have no plans to renew.

T.M. Camp

"In solitude I used to wander about the garden, alternately collecting birds’ eggs and meditating on..."

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 11:14:33 -0400

““In solitude I used to wander about the garden, alternately collecting birds’ eggs and meditating on the flight of time. If I may judge by my own recollections, the important and formative impressions of childhood rise to consciousness only in fugitive moments in the midst of childish occupations, and are never mentioned to adults. I think periods of browsing during which no occupation is imposed from without are important in youth because they give time for the formation of these apparently fugitive but really vital impressions.””

- Bertrand Russell

randomblink: (via loveyourchaos) Oh how I wish…

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 16:14:45 -0400

randomblink:

(via loveyourchaos)

Oh how I wish…

"To have the management of the mind is a great art, and it may be attained in a considerable degree..."

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:53:08 -0400

“To have the management of the mind is a great art, and it may be attained in a considerable degree by experience and habitual exercise…Let him take a course of chymistry, or a course of rope-dance, or a course of any thing to which he is inclined at the time. Let him contrive to have as many retreats for his mind as he can, as many things to which it can fly from itself.”

- Samuel Johnson

"We enjoy warmth because we have been cold. We appreciate light because we have been in darkness. By..."

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 09:22:46 -0400

“We enjoy warmth because we have been cold.
We appreciate light because we have been in darkness.
By the same token, we can experience joy because we have known sorrow.”

- David L. Weatherford (via brokenmachine)

"Once you have established a belief, the phenomenon adjusts its manifestations to support that belief..."

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:57:57 -0400

“Once you have established a belief, the phenomenon adjusts its manifestations to support that belief and thereby escalate it.”

- John Keel

How Much Do I Owe?

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 08:33:50 -0400

About $430 buck, actually — which seems to be much lower than the average. I will say this, I did rack up at least one or two of the big ticket items. I’m not bragging, just saying.

What’s all this about, you ask? Check here for the rules.

Batman is cagey. (via The Daily Batman)

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:27:44 -0400

Batman is cagey.

(via The Daily Batman)

"When the Lord finished the world, he pronounced it good. That is what I said about my first work,..."

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:50:00 -0400

“When the Lord finished the world, he pronounced it good. That is what I said about my first work, too. But Time, I tell you, Time takes the confidence out of these incautious opinions. It is more than likely that He thinks about the world, now, pretty much as I think about the Innocents Abroad. The fact is, there is a trifle too much water in both.”

- Mark Twain

"Poetry is the one place where people can speak their original human mind. It is the outlet for..."

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:20:23 -0400

“Poetry is the one place where people can speak their original human mind. It is the outlet for people to say in public what is known in private.”

- Alan Ginsberg

FREEZE !!! (via roadhacker via powerpig)

Thu, 28 May 2009 09:05:48 -0400

FREEZE !!! (via roadhacker via powerpig)

"If a street is named for a tree, it is right that flowers bloom purple and feel like cats, that..."

Wed, 20 May 2009 10:01:56 -0400

“

If a street is named for a tree,
it is right that flowers
bloom purple and feel like cats,
that people are leaves drifting
downhill in morning fog.

Everyone came outside to see
the moon setting like a perfect
orange mouth tipped up to heaven.

Now the cars sleep against curbs.
If I write a letter,
how will I make it long enough?

There is a place to stand
where you can see so many lights
you forget you are one of them.

”

- Naomi Shihab Nye

"Death steals everything except our stories."

Wed, 06 May 2009 02:15:04 -0400

““Death steals everything except our stories.””

- Jim Harrison

"Art is our chief means of breaking bread with the dead"

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:20:45 -0400

““Art is our chief means of breaking bread with the dead””

- W.H. Auden

"I have bought this wonderful machine — a computer … it seems to me to be an Old..."

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:13:11 -0400

““I have bought this wonderful machine — a computer … it seems to me to be an Old Testament god, with a lot of rules and no mercy.””

- Joseph Campbell

"The war that raged for years will come to a close, And so will everything else, except for a..."

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 08:34:35 -0400

““The war that raged for years will come to a close,
And so will everything else, except for a presence
Hard to define, a trace, like the scent of grass
After a night of rain or the remains of a voice
That lets us know without spelling it out
Not to despair; if the end is come, it too will pass.””

- Mark Strand

"For the price of a poem The beloved is yours again."

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 10:41:00 -0400

“For the price of a poem
The beloved is yours again.”

- Gregory Orr

“Hey, Herc, can I call you Herc? Thanks for stopping...

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 10:36:10 -0400

“Hey, Herc, can I call you Herc? Thanks for stopping by.”

“Verily, thou didst till Deborah that it twas most urgent.”

“Deborah?”

“Mine personal assistant.”

“Ah, right. Anyway, Herc, the reason we called you down here today is your new catch-phrase. It’s just not working.”

“Mine catch-phrase?”

(Read the rest here, mortals.)

The haunted house on Pritchardsville Road…

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 09:13:00 -0400

The haunted house on Pritchardsville Road…