bi_janus
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Posts posted by bi_janus
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Wish this were a more comprehensive picture of the movement. Having watched the episodes broadcast thusfar, it seems more a hstory of Cleve Jones's experience (one commentator described it as Milk 2). Then, the documentary is based on his writing. On a personal note, more than a few people who identified as bisexual were there, but you wouldn't know that from the story (Ken Jones's boyfriend might have been, yet the name for our identity isn't mentioned). But, that's pretty typical.
Carping aside, any treatment of the movement on a broadcast network over multiple nights is worth celebrating.
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Hallways and Doors
Bi Janus
Thinking of how I decide
Among many hallways
Either go or stay
What is this place between
My place is the same
Between two or among
Many, as when breath stopsSuppose anxiety or its lack
Puts me in a corridor
Open doors frighten
More than closed
Against which I may
Launch myself shoulder forward
Demanding entrance comforts
More than taking an offerYour offers bind me tighter
Than my demands
In as long as we have
We will come to rest
Between offer and demand -
Nice Danish video on YouTube:
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If you're looking for jolly, you'd best skip this one!
Two Thousand Plus Christyules
Bi Janus
Sorry for the mish-mash—
the political creation,
but we could not have sold
the notion to Norse pagans
without tacking on the berries.
Only birth and death were signal.
Your birth, heralded by massacre,
set the tone for centuries since.
I like the message a little bit—
love, charity, meekness, the new law.
I guess you couldn’t proscribe
what they did to you after the cross.
The product was weak without
ducking death, mythographers
sending you down for a day or three.
I thought better of you as a corpse
attending to the business of rot
and not attending to triumph.
But the Magi who set in train
the massacre were searching
for a King not a counselor.
I would rather find Joseph’s kid
working wood with his hands.
Then there’s the feeling
I have when looking at Carter
newly arrived and a smiling
behatted vessel for all our hopes.
At least the power-brokers
left you to your childhood
and normal confusing journey.
A million prayers an hour
reach to your mother
who seemingly knew
what she had prepared
for you and the centuries.
I wonder though of her grief,
The grief of a mother
seeing her child
surely dead in the straw,
every moment of life
tinged with man’s wish
to wield God’s power.
I know, I know—power
and redemption and glory
in which we all share,
unless we’re bent but unbowed.
I’ll hold powerless Carter when I may.
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Marion Pritchard, Righteous Among the Nations, who rescued Jewish children and adults in the Netherlands during the NAZI occupation, died on December 11 at 96. We have many who will do right when right is easy to do. In the days ahead, we could do with more people who will do right when doing right is difficult or dangerous.
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Upcoming on December 10 is the anniversary of Emily Dickinson's birth. The link below takes you to B. Breathed's stirring tribute to this wonderful poet written in 1990.
http://www.gocomics.com/bloom-county/2016/12/04#.WEQtdcGkSqs.email
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I think Buckley's version is remarkable. The greatness of the tune and the lyrics is shown by how many singers have covered the song. Among the unusual and wonderful covers is by Ari Hest. VWL and I had a discussion of this subject because I wrote in one of my stories that Antony Hegarty (now known as ANOHNI) had recorded it; this was a subtle suggestion, because although I wished that he (at the point I wrote, she used the pronoun, he) had; to this point she has not. Of all that he wrote, "Night Comes On" and "Bird on a Wire" are my favorites.
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Cohen died in Los Angeles.
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Existentially, he's not mine either. Realistically, by the rules of our elections he certainly is. Short of armed rebellion, that won't change. In Portland, OR, mostly young people have taken to the streets with the cry of your subject line. They have blocked interstate highways at rush hour and vandalized private property. Having marched in the 60s and 70s for civil rights and against the war in Viet Nam, these actions seem like temper tantrums with no possible outcome except self-gratification.
That said, I see Trump as Reagan minus the veneer of civility. I suspect his presidency will have the same results--increasing distribution of wealth to the top, increased national debt and deficit. I'm not sure that Trump has any better idea of the relationship between trees and forests than Reagan did. I survived Reagan (many friends dead of HIV-AIDS did not) and I will survive Trump. I hope we marshal our protest enrgy for what he may do, rather than what the country has done. ACTUP had the right idea.
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Tracy Chapman once wrote in a song ("Talkin' Bout a Revolution"), "Poor people gonna rise up and get their share." After eight years with an African-American president, white, largely racist, sexist, xenophobic, and homophobic white men were the ones who rose up. Make America great again as it was when all the groups they disdain knew their places.
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Second chapter posted.
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This is a remarkable achievement and well worth a fresh read. Palouse is complex journey that I revisit often. As much as I enjoy reading it, I also learn about writing from reading it.
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I'm gobsmacked. Bob Dylan wins the Nobel Prize for literature.
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This is a comic strip drawn by a couple of gay men about an 8-year-old boy, his dog, and his gay fathers--sweet and full of good humor.
ajandmagnus.com
The strip is available on Go Comics
gocomics.com/aj-and-magnus
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Ah, memories, dreams, and reflections. Des, this is truly wonderful. Thanks.
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Here's the NYT article on the address:
I've had a very few reader comments over the years that since I'm not really gay or married to a man, I shouldn't write characters that are. I have some empathy for minority authors, sexual or otherwise, who see themselves as disadvantaged in the marketplace, but I'm uncertain that preventing people from thinking or writing particular characters addresses that issue.
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Welcome! I regard editors as belonging to a mystic order that can always stand new members.
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A perfect story as Summer ends.
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A warm reminder that we all need a little help from our friends and lovers--excellent writing of a compelling story.
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This short memoir by a best-selling author relates his growing up gay and Jewish in Brooklyn in the 50s and 60s. He is a few years older than I am but roughly contemporaneous. He attempted suicide at 15 and ended up in a celebrity psychiatric clinic in New York. Most of the book is about his experiences at the clinic, which he relates with a wry sense of humor. His pain is clear, but so is his determination. It's a marvelous read.
Part of what spoke to me in his look back was the remarkable differences between his experiences and mine. In the end and after he is out, he describes his sexuality as a complication, a word Ann and I often use in reference to mine. You can knock this one off in a few hours.
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Cole and Colin,
So, is it permissible to use 'between' when placing someone or something in a physical relationship with more than two objects or people? I can only imagine myself between two people or objects. Walking in the forest, how can I be between four trees? As Mr. Orwell reminded us, precision in language can be protective.
Rich
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Never paste from MS Word. Let's try again.
Pronoun Imprecision
with apologies to Colinian
Ann and Richard were awake earlier than usual.
"I'll get ready for work and go in early," they said.
"Not me. I'm going to do some reading," they said.
"Wasted time," it said.
" Look, not everythem is as dedicated as they are," they said.
"At least, do the breakfast dishes before they leave," themselves suggested.
"Way to spoil a little leisure time," they said.
They with longer hair said, "We're not feeling particularly feminine today."
"Who cares?" they asked.
"Which car are they taking?"
"They'll take the Prius . They have to drive to Salem."
"It guess It'll take the other one."
With everythem in agreement, the morning started.
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Pronoun Imprecision
with apologies to Colinian
Ann and Richard were awake earlier than usual.
Ill get ready for work and go in early, they said.
Not, me. Im going to do some reading, they said.
Wasted time, it said.
Look, not everythem is as dedicated as they are, they said.
At least, do the breakfast dishes before they leave, themselves suggested.
Way to spoil a little stolen leisure time, they said.
They with longer hair said, Were not feeling particularly feminine today.
Who cares? they asked.
Which car are they taking?
Theyll take the Prius. They have to drive to Salem.
It guesses, itll take the other one
With everythem in agreement, the morning started.
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I quite agree, R. Thanks to Mike for pointing to this jewel. James is quiet, but when he speaks, I listen.
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Such Small Differences
in Video Views
Posted
Jax and Reddy are my kind of people!
http://www.today.com/parents/boy-wants-haircut-look-his-friend-trick-teacher-t108795