Castrovalva

So as the title of this post would indicate. I've either been watching a ton of Doctor Who episodes on youtube lately OR I've been looking at a lot of M.C. Escher lithographs. Well I've been doing both. That and watching lots and lots of movies this week and preparing to move to the city. I've seen "The Happening", "Mongol", "Collateral", "Babel", and "Adaptation" over the past week. All of which I thoroughly enjoyed and recommend to everyone. I've also been to two Phillies games this week, which is an odd occurrence for me. Anyway, the true meaning of this post is to share a poem that I'm working on and plan to read at an open mic down the street from my house in a few hours. It's definitely a work in progress. So any criticism or suggestions are welcome.

ReCastrovalving

Sometimes

I find myself

Other times

I lose myself

Lost, materializing

from moment to moment

traversing the balcony

and back down the stairs

into the town square.

The very square I was running

from.

Caught in a loop

Ascending

Descending

Ascending

Descending

Recursion

at shopping car speed.

Am I learning?

Are my surroundings altered?

Altered state

Altered mind

state of mind

mind your state.

To whom am

I speaking?

A vast lake, shimmering

in the afternoon sun.

This may be the source.

Source of gravity.

Source of sanity.

Source of clarity.

My mind jumps to a schooner

gently caressed by the ebb

and flow on the distant

body of water.

Tributaries appear

as quickly as they vanish

The lake is as hopeless as the city.

Trapped. I return.

Pillars

the foundation

of this

ancient place

replaced

by fireplaces

meant to burn

the volumes

the annals of time

A fake history of

a city folding in on itself

I glance port, aft,

starboard

but I'm no longer

sailing

there is no more a boat

than there is the

glistening shoreline.

It is now a dry

valley with an abundance

of vegetation

ferns, poppies, bamboo

This is where I shall

reside.

Remain with my

good man, Belvedere.

Let us discuss

relativity and not

concentrate on

anything other than

the wet, sumptuous

crunch of the

stalk of celery

in my mouth.

Day by Day

Today was the Martin Luther King Jr. in-service day @ Project Learn School where I teach my monthly Saturday Writing Workshops. They organized some great activities for the kids and their families like making meals and bagging them up for the needy; making a banner that will be shown to legislators in charge of low-income housing allocation; and building a peace path at the apartment complex across the street.

I brought my Dad with me because I didn't think I could handle being over there by myself today for various reasons, and he seemed to enjoy himself. If you're wondering how he was able to come, he works at a bank and therefore had off today. During the last segment of the celebration I had the three kids who showed up from my class read their poetry to the audience. We also read our collaborative piece, which I'll post once it's typed up. Right now it's handwritten on a huge roll of white paper. The them of all our poetry was either peace or dreams and our collaborative poem was entitled "How It Feels to Have a Dream."

On NPR today, I had the pleasure of hearing the second part of their "in-character" series where they talk about fictional characters. This one was about Eve of "All About Eve". Pretty freaky and schizophrenic if you ask me. I enjoyed the first installment on The Lone Ranger much more.

Recently, thanks to my friend Heather, I discovered a few comic sites that are quite hilarious, and I'd like to share them with everyone. They've been getting me through my recent rough times by making me laugh when I'm feeling down. I'll try and put a sample with each.

http://wherearethedogshumping.com/recent.php
almost a photo version of married to the sea, the captions are hilarious, but the photos are recent


http://toothpastefordinner.com/
more stick figure cartoons with humorous anecdotes, created by the other half of married to the sea


http://www.marriedtothesea.com/
The self-proclaimed "champagne of comics", 18th century fancy-looking illustrations or etchings with a new spin in the caption


http://icanhascheezburger.com/
LOLcatz - if you've heard of this before, its a popular application on facebook.
Pictures of cats with funny anecdotes about the situation


http://www.nataliedee.com/
Color, near stick figure comics with hilarious one liners



http://rollerchester.com/
"a short-format sketch comedy show", i haven't watched it myself since my computer lacks sound, but i'm sure its hilarious

If you're feeling down on yourself like I have the past week or so, please check these out. I hope they'll cheer you up like they did me.

On The Brink

Hello All,

I haven't posted in here in a while. And that's due to many things, most of all lack of motivation and screwed up priorities. But I'm getting back into the writing groove. I'm in my last week of freedom before I begin the ever wondrous adventure of STUDENT TEACHING and beyond. I'm still not sure that I'm ready to begin my career, but when is a good time really. I suppose it's best to just jump into it and see what happens. I'm teaching at Wissahickon Charter School in Germantown for two 7th grade and two 8th grade language arts classes. My supervising teacher seems really cool. She's only a few years older than me and from the same home town, so I expect her to be able to give me plenty of applicable advice.

In other news, as relates to the title of this post. I've had a recent semi-traumatic event happen that has occurred nevertheless for the best. At least for the time being. I won't go into what it is because anyone who knows me well enough knows. It's allowing me to reprioritize my lack of creative output as of late and at least I didn't lose anything permanently from my life.

Anyway, enough hogwash. Soon I will be posting some much anticipated poetry that I wrote during my graduate assistantship, which I should've done long ago. I'm getting more and more into experimental writing, realizing that that's the one thing I seem to have the capacity to stick with. I've also been working on a Young Adult novel entitled Bad Penny about a young boy who goes through a series of traumatic events leading up to his acceptance into a Performing Arts school for Blues Guitar. It is titled after a song by my favorite blues artist: Rory Gallagher. All the chapters are also named after his songs. It's a concept book, we'll see how far I get in it.

The other thing I've been doing lately is trying to rediscover things that make me laugh, make me happy, or otherwise inspire me. This is no doubt related to my recovery from this so-called semi-traumatic event. So here are a few things I've been into lately (I'll list them and then explain): Craig Ferguson, Lost, Listening to NPR (specifically series pieces on All Things Considered), reading and writing as much as I can, and as of last night- comedian Demetri Young (thank you Maris and Heather).

As I type this, I'm already feeling better, or at least normalized, whatever that means. So in the following days this week, I think I'm going to make a post about each of these things, why they make me happy, and how they've been inspiring me.

Until next time Chaps...

Feminists Are Funny

Tonight I attended what could be categorized as the second ever feminist event of my life(the other being a Le Tigre show at the Trocadero). My wonderful girlfriend Maris got word that the Guerrilla Girls were going to be at the Rotunda, 40th and Walnut for those of you who don't know. I had no idea who or what they were other than the fact that they tried to add me on myspace, an obvious mass-friending, but a few months earlier. So I figured what the hey-ho. I'll go down and see what they're all about since I'm always up for a little horizon-broadening. So I ignored the fact that I had tons of work to do for school, which I had already neglected for the entirety of the weekend thanks to my new found obsession with Mahjong and my good old friend Mr. Procrastination. Turns out, I loved it and couldn't have benefited more from going. And here's why.

The Guerrilla Girls on Tour, as it turns out for those of you who don't know because obviously I didn't AND if you're reading this I'm assuming you didn't either, are a traveling theater troupe of feminists who raise awareness about issues of inequality for women and people of color. They stem from the original feminist group of the same name that was formed in 1985 in New York mainly as a guerrilla art group. The theater troupe travels around the country to Universities and performs random street performances in and around political events that they deem pertinent. They also produce provocative posters and publish them randomly to raise awareness on certain issues. During the performances, they always wear gorilla masks, the origin of which is "a story that involves the misspelling of the word guerrilla", and assume the names of deceased female artists or success stories. The three fine ladies I had the pleasure of watching perform were Aphra Behn, the 19th century English writer, Gracie Allen, the 20th century comedienne, and Dorothy Parker, the very first female theater critic. Their performance of the night was entitled "Feminists are Funny" and was a vaudevilliian take on the "herstory" of their group, an update on their recent political dealings, and their take on the inequality for woman in the performing arts, specifically Broadway.

I found the entire demonstration intriguing and quite inviting. In fact, they opened the performance by asking us all to close ours eyes and raise our hands if we identified ourselves as feminists. A clever tool, I thought. This way people wouldn't be embarrassed. I still did not raise my hand though because I didn't really see any way that I could be related to a feminist. But when we opened our eyes they told us that they took a picture of us and popped up a slide of an old '50s classroom filled with kids with their hands raised. And then they explained how they thought anyone who recognizes inequality and fights for equality as a feminists. So in that sense, I thought, I am a feminist. All of this brought thoughts of my current Cultural Foundations of Education class rushing back into my head. We have been discussing Gender, Class, and Race issues, working towards an understanding first of our own identity, and then toward the identities of others. What a great way to expand my understanding, by listening to these intelligent and articulate women discuss political issues, some of which I was unaware, that are appalling to me and make me want to take action. I don't have the time in here to discuss them all, but here's an example. Did you know that in some states it is legal for pharmacies to deny you contraceptives if they don't think you necessarily need them or agree with you on moral grounds. To me that is just absolutely ridiculous.

I urge everyone to check out their main website at www.guerrillagirls.com
Anyone who is open-minded, good-natured, and wants to make a difference can at least benefit from their information about particular inequalities in our society because whether you want to admit it or not THEY DO EXIST. I don't want to preach politics, even though this is my blog. I just think this is an excellent source of information about some very important issues that matter.

Until Next time, keep traveling where you don't need roads...

KD

Adventures in Roommate Searching

As many of you know, I have not venture into the realm of blogging since my days on livejournal and xanga came to an unceremonious end more than a year and a half ago. Although I enjoyed those sites, my developing graduate student brain yearned for a more serious take on the fastest growing internet activity of the past five years. I finally discovered blogger thanks to research I've been conducting for my advisor, Dr. Leif Gustavson on "unschooling" and to my wonderful illustrator girlfriend who has a blog of her own on here.

I've decided its time to "blog" only when I have something interesting to comment on and not to bore people with the mundane details of my everyday life.

I have been scouring the internet, mainly via craigslist, for a third and final roommate to fill the house that my parents and I own. No longer are they days when I lived with three or four of my closest male counterparts. They have all moved to either Doylestown or Phoenixville for valid transportation and living cost reasons. At first, I was opposed to this, but two new female roommates(plus a failed two month calamity that was another male roommate) and 3 months later I have finally welcomed this change. My house is cleaner than ever and energy costs are way down. I don't want to speculate on the possible reasons for this, but the ensuing search for a third roommate has been interesting so far.

I posted an ad on craigslist about a week ago and since then have received responses mostly consisting of overseas scams involving wiring money, sponsered trip, paying in full, less than a year stay components. I have grown very weary of these and even the domestic scams that usually involve a much older male searching for room and board due to unemployment or extenuating circumstances where said pursuer of housing needs such for his entire family. Why I would allow an entire family to be housed in one of the four bedrooms in my house, I don't know.

I was completely fed up with these ridiculous far-fetched responses, UNTIL last night. I received an email narrative in the third-person describing the eviction of his family due to change in ownership of the property from a last-will and testament. It is hilarious and I don't know how to react to it, or if I should react at all. Here it is in full:

A gnawing nefarious nemesis plagues, rakes and rankles (like red hot coals) across the collective sanity per this family of four members!

They constitute the writer of this missive, his wife and our two school age girls. The eldest (Eden) will celebrate her eleventh birthday December twenty second (2007) while the youngest daughter (Shana) will witness nine journeys around the sun come February fourth two thousand and eight.

Now (more than ever before in my two score plus eight years on this terrestrial firmament), I beg, hope and plead to become keeper of my own castle and master of residential domain, which realization seems merely like a mirage!

In addition to the introductory above paragraph, this forlorn history to acquire and remain steadfast with establish job longevity arose (as I look back thru the convenient mirror of hindsight) on account of some inherent psychological weakness.

Matter of fact, the attempt to establish a robust and reputation in the workforce reflected a parallel personal classroom history. In other words, this aging fellow also attests to struggling with learning and willingly confesses to a horrendous academic difficulty!

Unbeknownst to me (a rather articulate and intelligent gentleman) why arduous struggle existed from the earliest grade until that anticlimactic high school graduation day. Nonetheless, a severe trial (by fire and brimstone) beats me to the punch around every figurative corner and saw most concerted current efforts to acquire reasonable satisfactory income doomed as if by some invisible right wing conspiracy!

At this stage, a series of unfortunate events compound the ordeal as if by some invisible sword of Damocles hanging over our heads! This single-family dwelling house at blank address situated in Narberth, a manifestation of one long and protracted daily living nightmare, which the following synopsis will hope to convey!

The mother in law (Sylvia) seems to be in league to wreak emotional havoc like some arch nemesis! Thankfully, she lives some distance removed. Said windowed matriarch (an octogenarian in rather poor mental and physical health - still mourns her husband's death, which passing slipped by well nigh over eight years.

She gets cared for by her next oldest daughter (Bonnie who prefers to be called Octavia) and pays prohibitive costs to occupy a small number of rooms within an assisted living facility (nestled among the rolling hills of Lancaster, Pennsylvania), yet also pays the property and school taxes, trash removal, and sewer bill here.

Both Octavia and Gayle - older than Abby by ten and fifteen years respectively rank as true executors of the will and sorely want to sell off this residence and the countless valuable antiques (worth some money) and this small property (maybe a quarter acre) to allow, enable and provide financial succor to Sylvia.

Time and again, the surviving Zison kin lash out and tell us to move! Why in the name of tarnation must we be threatened with eviction? We lack a home to call some sweet abode - hence the reason for such a lengthy and rather convoluted communiqué. With jaws clenched tight, they allow tacit permission for us to remain here.

Both of us (meaning this husband and his wife) concur that some rare and priceless heirlooms could be fairly and quickly liquidated. This action could purportedly ease any cry of the blues, yes? I (as well as Abby) broached what seems like a logical and reasonable suggestions (best left omitted) only to be tossed expletive brickbats as if something sacrilegious got uttered! We find ourselves in a sinister catch 22 with exit except a swift kick out the door and exposed to the elements!

No empathy nor sympathy accepted no matter our explanations at expression agitation, frustration and humiliation. Nothing but anger and rage gets bluntly and overtly that I (in so many words) bleed Sylvia dry.

The brunt of these painful and sinister bards purportedly hurled at me only serve to precipitate increased inner turmoil! They decry what appears as lack of ambition and motivation to get off (my f!@#$%g ass - an inaccurate judgment) and act more responsible.

A most miserable, reprehensible and strained relationship exists, although a slight reprieve took place after my mother won out to the grim reaper. Ovarian/uterine cancer (or rather a disease treated as such) claimed another statistic May third, two thousand and five.

We dread that once Sylvia (Zison) gives up the ghost and expires, the guillotine will quickly drop. Heads will roll - ours! Damn scary fate awaits us! We strongly believe and suspect (that at least four hands will rub in glee) evicting and ordering us OUT AT ONCE! No safe, secure and sound place available with such minimal income and costly facilities to rent LET ALONE BUY!

Abby keeps fretting, fuming and reminding myself of this inescapable dire and doom filled eventuality! After asking me for the umpteenth time what will happen when Sylvia finally rejoins (supposedly in her mind) the man (William) who spent about sixty married years together, I merely shrug these slightly bony shoulders with apprehension!

As evidenced per the enclosed investment portfolio documentation, I admit that a fiduciary nest egg does exist! This investment fund NOT MINE nor MEANT FOR JOINT USE! Anyway, this would get spent in a figurative blink of the eye!

Lack of a bona fide real source of income (social security disability just barely allows, enables and provides the means to stay monetarily afloat) sought out the above mentioned not for profit entity to prepare and process tax papers for free!

This humble human mortal would offer his pair of hands to perform various and sundry tasks as a way to defray (in lieu) per associative rental costs.

matthew -- *PHONE NUMBER EXCLUDED FOR PRIVACY ISSUES*

Oh Matthew. Poor Matthew. I was so taken by this email in that, although chock-full of literary cliche phrases, was filled with the most imaginative prose. My heart went out to(not really) as he expressed his goal to become "Master of Residential Domain" and described his "severe trial(fire and brimstone)". I was right there with him through his belief of a "invisible right wing conspiracy" and somehow made it through his "lengthy and rather convoluted communique".

So this is what I decided to do. First off, I replied to his email with a simple "WHAT?!". Second, I'm somewhat considering calling the number, not to tell him that he can live here without paying rent and simply do odd jobs, but just to tell him that I thought his email was well-written and ask him what the hell ever possessed him to send it in the first place? Third, I'm seriously considering reporting him to craigslist just to illustrate to them the lengths people will go to infuse their scams with elements of validity. This was a truly bizarre experience, reading this email that is, what do you think I should do?

Salutations,
Kurt