short notes:<br> will brady's ruminations: 2005/12/25

short notes:
will brady's ruminations

2005-12-31

farewell 2005

an end to an innocent age
Milestones in my Year

january: started physical therapy for a torn rotator cuff; east haddam adopts new village district ordinance; I post an essay on making productive social change
february: An essay on life at the cemetery and one on capital punishment; we experience Christo's Gates in NYC
march: my boss retires; I win big time in buddy's easter egg design contest
april: my favorite books; stuff about drugs and pharmeceuticals
may: a woman falls off a cliff behind my house; my mother dies and I walk on Salvador Dali's face
june: a trip to montreal leads to the edwin holgate exhibit; what "no credible witnesses" means to me; questions I have about the Chicago Tribune and employing wage slaves: I go to an art opening
july: the annual MSC shad bake; blogger's format gets changed so I post lots of local pictures; I take my last trip to mckinley street; ct audubon goes into the real estate business
august: elizabeth richter guest blogs about the difficulties of visting at mental hospitals; a drowning on the river; timothy mellon chastized by state court
september: hurricane katrina rocks the nation while, at home, a drought makes us waterless
october: deer hunting season starts; I show off my watercolors and become a merchant; the fbi raids a camp in moodus; Bruce visits Louis Nicole; army corp of engineers funds a conceptual art project; drought continues
november: thoughts on madness and mental illness; Salvation Army throws old people out on the street; we get civil unioned
december: reviewing my blog stats; we buy a rockwell kent; celebrate the solstice and pay a solemn tribute to christmas

PIX CREDIT: My Dad or my birth mother presumably took this picture when I was two. I've been told it was taken at Washington's Crossing State Park but it could also have been at Tookany Park, which was close to my maternal grandmother's house | Finally, the posting time is more symbolic than actual. While I did write this on New Year's Eve, the time is the actual time I was birthed back years ago |

¶ 22:46 0 comments

2005-12-29

culture wars in washington d c

I don't know how I missed this. Congressional Representative lobbies to save candy canes!

Former real estate broker and horse enthusiast Congresswoman Jo Ann Davis from Virginia took the time this month from her busy schedule to craft this legislation so essential to this nation's core values.
     Ms. Davis' effort is not without it's critics. For example, U.S. Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, D-Newport News, VA, opposed Davis' resolution as a largely meaningless exercise. He said it masked what he suggested were immoral decisions by Congress to cut food stamps and Medicaid for the poor while cutting taxes for the wealthy.
     And the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said, "This is possibly the silliest bill ever presented to the United States Congress.
     But, frankly, I wonder. This legislative effort comes, after all, from someone who has been appointed to chair the House Intelligence Committee on Terrorism. Maybe that's what Bin Laden has been up to. Conspiring to rid our shores of sticky red & green peppermint candy. Evidently there is much that people in the know can't share with the rest of us.
     What else? Inquiring minds want to know.

THANKS TO: Pandagon and Facing South. BTW the provision [H Res 579] passed 410 Y to 22 N |

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2005-12-27

mental illness

worth noting: Joel Sax comments on some of the inconsistencies of the Mental Health System; clinicians citing "patient rights" so they'll release someone who is "gravely disabled" if they've got someone to vouch for them; and of advocates, who argue it is someone's stated preference, even when an action is certain to result in harm.
He makes note of how easy it is to get out of hospital during an initial court approval phase, but contrasts this with the state's aggressive desire to be draconian in forcing unwanted treatment.
Then Joel provides a link to a site that gives information on psychiatric advance directives, a little used "tool" that can help protect a person's wishes for what they see as proper forms of care. By the way, the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law also provides info on psychiatric advocance directives as well.

¶ 09:24 0 comments

meme of four

first seen at Pax Nortana

  •  Four jobs you've had in your life: Bricklayer apprentice in a steel mill; Typsetter/typographer; Front Desk Clerk; Human Rights Officer/Investigator.
  •  Four movies you could watch over and over: The Shameless Old Lady dir ~ Rene Allio; Baraka dir ~ Ron Fricke; City of Lost Children ~ dirs Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet; Pollock dir ~ Ed Harris.
  •  Four places you've lived: Germantown/Phildelphia, PA; Fort Green section of Brooklyn, NY; Adirondak Mountains, NY; East Haddam, CT.
  •  Four TV shows you love to watch: Farscape [regrettably no longer available where I live]; Inside the Actor's Studio; History Channel Modern Marvels; Commander in Chief.
  •  Four places you've been on vacation: Belize; Paris, FR; Montreal, P.Q.; Bisbee, AZ.
  •  Four websites you visit daily: Pax Nortana; John Strain Online Journal; Ron's Log; Wood's Lot.
  •  Four of your favorite foods: Venison Wellington; my own homemade spaghetti sauce [any type pasta]; Creme Bruleé; Seared Scallops in a spicy Thai sauce; Vanilla Creme filled from Dunkin' Donut's; Florentine Pizza.
  •  Four places you'd rather be: Wissahickon Creek Park, Philadelphia, PA; Bathtub Beach, Huntington, FL; Altun Ha, Belize; Montréal, P.Q. Canada.
  •  Four albums you can't live without: Jean Luc Ponty ~ Civilized Evil; Karl Jenkins' Adiemus; Les Ritas Mitsuko; Mr. Mister ~ Go On; Tangerine Dream ~ Mars Polaris; Depeche Mode ~ Songa of Faith and Devotion.

Meme Thread: Beautiful Horizons and followed up by Marc Cooper |

¶ 01:42 0 comments

surveillance

MojoVilma sent me this link to SpyChips, a site about "...how major corporations and government will track your every move...". This is a site that you might read, glomming every detail about how we are already spied upon, curl up in the foetal position, hope to die soon or just say "What the f*ck; They know everything already" and go on with life as usual. With this perspective, you remain blase until the take you to the interrment camps.
This site, valuable in and of itself, is complimented with the musings of Lance Goehring, who reports from his cyberdesk ...and now for something completely different. Check out his comments on the film Syriana ["it's about oil"].

PCITURE CREDIT: SpyChips |

¶ 00:01 1 comments

2005-12-26

internet surfers

folks I've been looking at today

  •  John Strain offering Christmas Greeting, talking about Levee Bonfires + Papa Noel and reflecting on the ghosts who haunted Scrooge.
  •  Mike Power has a holiday comment and with it a link to Mind.org, Great Britain's "leading mental health charity" whose vision is:
"...of a society that promotes and protects good mental health for all, and that treats people with experience of mental distress fairly, positively, and with respect."
  •  Van Waffle at Eramosa River Journal provides us with updates on his Christmas plans and reviving the Green Man for Solstice.
  •  Nightmare Hall contrasts his thoughts on Christmas with the Bushanistas.
  •  Poet and short story writer Michael Gates shares his perspective at Twists and Turns. On occasion, he alerts us to other writers like David Moser who penned This is the title of this story.
  •  Ian Grey finally joins Blogger and talks about his pictures.

folks looking at me recently
  •  Myanrackey. I may visit his site more often. He sounds to be an enthusiastic traveller and quotes Mark Twain as his opening blog line:
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad

  •  Two women with "sustainable living" points of view: The first is Clare, from Washington State, writes in Farm Style Blog and does a meritable job of recognizing a range of holiday celebrations and looks with humor at life.
  •  The second is Laurie's Slowly She Turned. Laurie is from Greensboro, NC and occasionally thinks of herself as a Progressive Christian. We need more of them. I'll have to add them both to my list of periodic look-sees.
  •  Kid Rick who has a multi-part story, The Journey, about a kid kicked out of family home and what happened to him as he hitch-hiked from Maryland to Florida in winter.
  •  Yayu's European Christmas. Lots of entertaining pictures.
  •  Josh Rubin's Cool Hunting. An extensive and eye-opening site put together by "a small gaggle of hand picked writers who are out finding great things and looking at all the stuff readers are feeding us"
  •  Mrs. Pott's Cup of Tea
  •  Ning Bao's Secret Garden with a list of photo posts of Las Vegas.

I'll close these wanderings with an Apache Blessing, found at Clare's site:
"May the sun bring you new energy by day, may the moon softly restore you by night, may the rain wash away your worries, may the breeze blow new strength into your being, may you walk gently through the world and know its beauty all the days of your life"

IMAGE CREDITS: 1- Mind.org; 2- Clare's Farm Style Blog |

¶ 18:37 1 comments

photo art

For what it's worth, this is a set of thumbnails of images I've posted on this weblog at different times during the past couple of years

For more examples of my work, see the Image Gallery

¶ 18:22 0 comments

christmas day reflections / 3

more pictures from the Misquamicut trip

sunrise
The sun remained visible for about 10 minutes then a thick fog descended upon us

fence
This was flotsam from past storms but ends up looking intentionally sculptural

jetty
Granite blocks help provide some stability to the dunes

Will and Lorraine

¶ 16:16 0 comments

2005-12-25

christmas day reflections 2005 / 1

My day started last night when I went to East Haddam's UCC for candlelight services. The preacher, Reverend Paul Goodman, told the story

of battling regiments who, during World War I, began to sing carols back and forth on Christmas Eve. The Christmas Truce of 1914 continued through the night and into the next day with excanges of gifts between supposed enemy combatants, sharing of letters and momentoes and two impromptu soccer matches. This welcome respite from blood-letting continued for almost three days until the minitary command forbade this unacceptable behavior with threat of charging the soldiers with treason. It didn't come to that. Fighting resumed, albeit with an edge and hesitancy from troops who questioned firing upon others like themselves: rank-and-file, ordinary working men fighting battles for the privileged classes, as always. // A refreshing counterpoint to today's faux-news warmongers.

This morning I arose at 0330 hours to prepare for my annual pilgrimage to Misquamacut with Lorraine, to watch the sun rise. Making coffee, gathering extra layers of outerwear in case it's still too cold [this

year we needed only arctic hats] ensuring that the camera batteries were fresh. When we arrived the moon was still the most visible orb in the sky. It was still. No people at all this year, unlike the bagpiper and the surfers from previous visits.
We shared our stories, our triumphs and trials fromthe past year together. I paid silent tribute to the passing of my Mom, Lorraine of the coming birth of a new grandchild. We talked about the continued failings of the mental health system and power-grabbing bureaucrats, more interested in divorcing themselves from their clients, than in being there for anybody other than themselves. We didn't talk about Hurricane Katrina, Iraq, George Bush or the darkness in the world today. For today was about joy, hope, fresh starts, and the endurance of the Human Spirit. It felt good.

END PART ONE |

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christmas reflections 2005 / 2

PART TWO | Every year we bring decorations; in part to decorate the tree along the access road, in part to make our mark, however briefly, upon the beach itself, and to leave notice of our celebration.

We pay attention to the changes on the beach. This year, upon arrival, save a lone sea gull and a comorant, there were no birds to greet us. They came upon us later, after we covered the sands with sunflower seeds. But there were thousands of starfish that had been washed ashore, scattered amidst the kelp and rockweeds. One year we saw the effects of erosion from the ravages of winter storms. On other years we marveled at near balmy temperatures.
And, of course, we get to see the wildlife on the trip, though these characters were not by the shoreline.

END PART TWO |

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