Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Off the beaten path at Goddard

Goddard has some sick trees, and nobody seems to be tending them, until they drop large, dead limbs across a sidewalk or trail.

I see this because sometimes I need to get outside and away from the internets for a quick sanity break. Sometimes that pull is hard to discern. Weaker than the LOLz over at www.cracked.com. Less compelling than GMail.

Smokers get away from their desks - there's a draw you don't ignore. I suppose that's a good side effect of anti-smoking regulations.

At Goddard, there are now signs posted at every door - the new policy does not allow smoking with 25 feet.

What does that have to do with me? I don't relish the idea of picking up a habit to get myself outside.

I'm still managing the transition from roving reporter to desk-jockey managing a web CMS, and inventing ways to get away from my desk once or twice a day (besides lunch). You need to rest your eyes from the screen glare, and what better way to do that than take a stroll.

What I see is dead and dying trees. One day, I pushed over a dozen or so zombie trees - just standing their, decaying, hosting no doubt an army of pathogens ready to take down the next hopeful young oak.

Not saying someone didn't stop and stare and wonder why this weirdo in a striped shirt was attacking trees.

Today I sat at an isolated picnic table, saw the Marlboro cigarette butt squashed amid the leaf litter, twigs and acorns, then saw a big ugly dead branch on the healthy oak a few feet away. This led to a few minutes of snapping dead branches off otherwise healthy trees, imagining the removal of a disease vector; not sure if the trees appreciated it.

This center needs a quarterly bonfire tradition, i think, to clear this deadwood and create healthier wooded areas. It could be held in different areas each time, and with time, would create a safer center - think of all that accumulated tinder waiting for a random lightning strike or un-snuffed cigarette.

Not that I think center security would be warm to the idea.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

My favorite photo-journalist from across the world



The Mongols left us more then bones and ramparts. They left us parts of their language. Not a best part, I am afraid. Those words mostly profanities.

The minor part of abuse words in a Russian/Ukrainian languages respond from the names of a pagan gods, but most part of our profanities and abuse words are from Mongols.

Originally, many were nice words the Mongols said to seduce women. For most women they were a hateful words and the meanings changed over centuries.

If Genghis Khan could rise from the grave and join us for a drinking party, we would sound to him like a bunch of friendly Mongols who telling nice words and compliments to each other. If my literature teacher would join us for the same event, she would probably faint.

Filatova Elena Vladimirovna has stared down some of the most brutal history any people have known and digs up gems the world should never forget. Her photojournal Pluto's Realm is like a slow dance into hades - you have no idea how far down you've gotten until you're staring at a picture of a doll and crying.
thinker? he's procrastinatingThe best cure I've found for either writer's block or procrastination is to begin writing everything down in whatever order it comes to you.

It's kind of like building the marble block before you get out your carving tools - very inefficient, but at least it gives you something to hack away at.

Back when I was writing all the time, I built what I needed as I went. Perceiving the next piece as I wrote, and pulling only the solid nuggets from my pad. Now I'm resorting to plan B: Spew, spew, spew.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

American Gothic

When did American Gothic get so ... Gothic?

My Favoritist Chanteuse is coming to Washington DC this weekend and I'm trying not to go all fanboy on her ...






Fri, Sept. 10

Washington, DC - Russian Cultural Center

1825 Phelps Place NW Washington, DC

8pm, all ages, free admission!

You can even RSVP on Facebook

The event organized and sponsored by Russian DC (www.RussianDC.com). Free admission. Wine and light appetizers served.





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I Found her on www.amiestreet.com where I am, curiously, also going by BmoreKarl, and have seriously fallen for that pure voice. She could sing a string of personalized maledictions to me in Russian and I'd still grin like an idiot.

The Tick

"Gravity is a harsh mistress!"