flashing silhouettes of trees swaying; press
a fallen leaf between pages of an unopened book
cloak your words so they won’t have to listen
begin the dance and if they follow twirl and twirl again
till dizziness overtakes and posy-ashes all fall
mitigate
perform penance
claim visions in this empty space
dissonant moments on fogged mornings
can’t hide the sound of surf breaching the sand
butterflies aren't the only casualties on the beach
pick a seashell up and you'll hear the radio
an old-time opera for the discriminating listener
wounded
mortal sin
bleeding fingers from pruning limbs
flip through the diary to find that leaf
pressed to a heart so many decades ago
comfort us in heavens milky with mystery
protect the candle from the breeze with bandaged hands
lest darkness overwhelm glow of radio waves
revive
tattered pages
walled in upon tree-lined canopies
© Joseph E. Arechavala 7/26/07
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Conservatives Invoke Reagan, But…
One thing I’ve noticed about conservatives, especially ultra-conservatives, is they like to invoke Ronald Reagan. Oh, they love to invoke him, as though he is their long lost messiah.
The problem is that the conservative movement, especially on the far right, is absolutely nothing like Reagan’s conservatism.
The first major difference between Reagan and today’s conservatives was he was a pragmatic over an idealist. Modern conservatives are exactly the opposite. They will die before conceding, believing even 80% is no conservative victory – it’s all or nothing. Look at last year’s election and the vilification of John McCain – a Senator who voted their way over 80% of the time.
Ron knew better. Reagan thought it necessary to defeat the Soviet Union and had no problem running up big deficits in order to do so, despite proclaiming himself a fiscal conservative.
The next thing about him was he carefully honed a public persona of likeability. Whether it was an act or not, I can only relate what I’ve read from others who met him; they invariably say what a great guy he was. I don’t know of anyone, even those opposed to all of his policies, who hated him as a person.
Nowadays conservatives go out of their way to not only be as unpleasant as possible, but literally revel in their opponents hating their guts.
Were he alive, I’m not sure if he’d approve. In fact, I can almost see him shaking his head and saying, “There you go again…”
The problem is that the conservative movement, especially on the far right, is absolutely nothing like Reagan’s conservatism.
The first major difference between Reagan and today’s conservatives was he was a pragmatic over an idealist. Modern conservatives are exactly the opposite. They will die before conceding, believing even 80% is no conservative victory – it’s all or nothing. Look at last year’s election and the vilification of John McCain – a Senator who voted their way over 80% of the time.
Ron knew better. Reagan thought it necessary to defeat the Soviet Union and had no problem running up big deficits in order to do so, despite proclaiming himself a fiscal conservative.
The next thing about him was he carefully honed a public persona of likeability. Whether it was an act or not, I can only relate what I’ve read from others who met him; they invariably say what a great guy he was. I don’t know of anyone, even those opposed to all of his policies, who hated him as a person.
Nowadays conservatives go out of their way to not only be as unpleasant as possible, but literally revel in their opponents hating their guts.
Were he alive, I’m not sure if he’d approve. In fact, I can almost see him shaking his head and saying, “There you go again…”
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
I Got No Strings To Hold Me Down--Oh, Wait...
Well, it seems the conservative nutjob crowd hasn’t been able to kill Obama’s hate-spewing, social-engineering, homosexuality-accepting, conservative-value-hating speech to school kids.
Good.
For the first time, school kids won’t be listening to some old white guy as President standing before them making a speech.
But conservative remain unhappy, because they know Obama is a closet socialist/communist/terrorist/racist/whatever, who they think will somehow use his super mesmerizing powers to entrance school children into performing little socialist/communist/terrorist/racist/whatever puppets.
Actually, they are the puppets. It’s an interesting phenomenon.
Ultra-liberal Democrats do it too, by the way.
Whenever their party wants a good protest, all they have to do is get some party loyalist to incite it with some outlandish remark, and good little marionettes that they are, the trained puppets of the Republicans or the trained puppets of the Democrats, perform flawlessly.
Both parties can count on their well-trained lapdogs. Whenever they blow their whistles, these folks dance like the sad marionettes they are.
Good.
For the first time, school kids won’t be listening to some old white guy as President standing before them making a speech.
But conservative remain unhappy, because they know Obama is a closet socialist/communist/terrorist/racist/whatever, who they think will somehow use his super mesmerizing powers to entrance school children into performing little socialist/communist/terrorist/racist/whatever puppets.
Actually, they are the puppets. It’s an interesting phenomenon.
Ultra-liberal Democrats do it too, by the way.
Whenever their party wants a good protest, all they have to do is get some party loyalist to incite it with some outlandish remark, and good little marionettes that they are, the trained puppets of the Republicans or the trained puppets of the Democrats, perform flawlessly.
Both parties can count on their well-trained lapdogs. Whenever they blow their whistles, these folks dance like the sad marionettes they are.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Celina
Tuesday will be the 2nd anniversay of my niece's death. This poem is for her:
Spherical
For Celina
A
baby
is born
In 9 seconds,
Or 3 or 7, another
Male
female
Into spheres of life
Dotted with distasteful stars
And periodic comets to doom
Life on this bubble
A
baby
dies
In 9 seconds—or 4, or 2—another
Male
female
Replaces her
Usurper lent a ladder
Like Jacob’s
To fall and give way
To another baby
© Joseph E. Arechavala 11/5/07
Spherical
For Celina
A
baby
is born
In 9 seconds,
Or 3 or 7, another
Male
female
Into spheres of life
Dotted with distasteful stars
And periodic comets to doom
Life on this bubble
A
baby
dies
In 9 seconds—or 4, or 2—another
Male
female
Replaces her
Usurper lent a ladder
Like Jacob’s
To fall and give way
To another baby
© Joseph E. Arechavala 11/5/07
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Sports Builds Character – I Mean, Characters
Michael Vick is now a member of my beloved Philadelphia Eagles. I’m still trying to digest this. Yeah, yeah, second chances and all. Still, I really wish he’d gone somewhere else.
Sports – successful programs and teams, anyway – seems to build young men – and coaches – who think they can do whatever the hell they want and get away with it. Events seem to bear that out.
Here are a few names:
Rick Pitino
Alex Rodriguez
Kobe Bryant
David Ortiz
Ray Lewis
Allen Iverson
Michael Phelps
Steve McNair
Rape, adultery, theft, drugs, steroids, homicide.
We tell our children sports builds character. What we really mean is losing builds character.
The real message seems to be “Screw ethics – just win, baby!”
Now, can anybody tell me what I should tell my eight-year-old son?
Sports – successful programs and teams, anyway – seems to build young men – and coaches – who think they can do whatever the hell they want and get away with it. Events seem to bear that out.
Here are a few names:
Rick Pitino
Alex Rodriguez
Kobe Bryant
David Ortiz
Ray Lewis
Allen Iverson
Michael Phelps
Steve McNair
Rape, adultery, theft, drugs, steroids, homicide.
We tell our children sports builds character. What we really mean is losing builds character.
The real message seems to be “Screw ethics – just win, baby!”
Now, can anybody tell me what I should tell my eight-year-old son?
Thursday, August 13, 2009
It’s About Time for Obama to Put Up or Shut Up
We’ve been hearing it for months now, this health care debate. And what I’ve yet to see is our President offering anything other than vague generalities which amount to “trust us”, “we’ll take care of you”, and “we need to fix health care now”.
People are unnerved when you go and change something so fundamental in their lives. That is one reason why 9/11 was such a trauma to the country. The American mainland had not been directly attacked in centuries, and here we were suddenly facing the deaths of thousands in our largest city. It shook our fundamental sense of security to the core.
Health care something we also regard as an integral component of our society. We get sick, we go to the doctor. We get hurt, we go to the hospital. Our child becomes ill, we take them to the pediatrician. If something really bad happens, like cancer, we have reasonable assurances our health insurance will cover treatment. If you're going to change that, you’d better be prepared to offer specifics.
Now along come the Democrats, who want to not only change that, but radically change it. The radical nature of this change is scaring the hell out of everyone. And what is Obama doing to reassure us? To outline what the changes actually are? Not much. Innuendo, rumor and outright lies have been flying all over the internet and networks.
It’s time, Mr. President, for the vague generalities to be replaced by concrete proposals. For fuzzy assertions this really won’t bankrupt the country to be replaced by hard numbers. For ultra-right falsehoods to be repudiated with specific truths.
Stop telling us everything’s going to be all right, Mr. President, and start showing us. You're supposed to be our leader.
Lead.
People are unnerved when you go and change something so fundamental in their lives. That is one reason why 9/11 was such a trauma to the country. The American mainland had not been directly attacked in centuries, and here we were suddenly facing the deaths of thousands in our largest city. It shook our fundamental sense of security to the core.
Health care something we also regard as an integral component of our society. We get sick, we go to the doctor. We get hurt, we go to the hospital. Our child becomes ill, we take them to the pediatrician. If something really bad happens, like cancer, we have reasonable assurances our health insurance will cover treatment. If you're going to change that, you’d better be prepared to offer specifics.
Now along come the Democrats, who want to not only change that, but radically change it. The radical nature of this change is scaring the hell out of everyone. And what is Obama doing to reassure us? To outline what the changes actually are? Not much. Innuendo, rumor and outright lies have been flying all over the internet and networks.
It’s time, Mr. President, for the vague generalities to be replaced by concrete proposals. For fuzzy assertions this really won’t bankrupt the country to be replaced by hard numbers. For ultra-right falsehoods to be repudiated with specific truths.
Stop telling us everything’s going to be all right, Mr. President, and start showing us. You're supposed to be our leader.
Lead.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
File This Under "Why I Don't Watch A Lot of College Sports"
I just read a column on Grio about the racism of college athletics. No, not for using young black men. No, not for not getting them that fat NBA contract or NFL signing bonus. For using their images in a video game without compensating them. This is what is advocated as advancement for blacks?
How about getting the NCAA to graduate a few more of its players rather than tossing them aside after their eligibility expires?
The last I checked, these are supposed to be educational institutions. What are these universities doing to help these young men (almost always from impoverished backgrounds) graduate with degrees and succeed in society? Graduation rates are well below even 30% in many major schools – they should be ashamed of such pathetic figures. Yet, they're not, and nobody calls them on it.
The happy few will go on to NFL and NBA careers (and most of those won’t make the ‘star’ level money), but what about the rest?
These men are tossed away like useless rags once their eligibility is over, while universities rake in millions. Even the best sports careers last but a few precious years, and for many of these men, they don’t happen at all. Injury and the next rookie in line will end their livelihood, and then what? For many of these young men, the answer to that question is a sorry one indeed.
And where does all that money go?
It seems few of the high visibility schools give a damn about these young men and do nothing to help them, and the NCAA, for all its hollow preaching, is even worse. I love sports as much as the next guy does, but is the cost in young lives worth it? Maurice Clarett (or fill in the name of the latest former NCAA star you’ve recently read about being arrested) could be the poster boy for this failed system; what are schools doing to prevent more like him? Sadly, not a whole hell of a lot.
I realize there is some degree of personal responsibility on their part, but how can we expect much when so many of these boys are coddled through a system that now ranks even high-school teams on a national basis, and players are allowed to slide through with no emphasis on education?
School should be about learning, not sports. Sport has its place and its value, but not at the price these young men pay in the long term.
How about getting the NCAA to graduate a few more of its players rather than tossing them aside after their eligibility expires? And how about the NAACP ceasing to tacitly support such a disgrace?
How about getting the NCAA to graduate a few more of its players rather than tossing them aside after their eligibility expires?
The last I checked, these are supposed to be educational institutions. What are these universities doing to help these young men (almost always from impoverished backgrounds) graduate with degrees and succeed in society? Graduation rates are well below even 30% in many major schools – they should be ashamed of such pathetic figures. Yet, they're not, and nobody calls them on it.
The happy few will go on to NFL and NBA careers (and most of those won’t make the ‘star’ level money), but what about the rest?
These men are tossed away like useless rags once their eligibility is over, while universities rake in millions. Even the best sports careers last but a few precious years, and for many of these men, they don’t happen at all. Injury and the next rookie in line will end their livelihood, and then what? For many of these young men, the answer to that question is a sorry one indeed.
And where does all that money go?
It seems few of the high visibility schools give a damn about these young men and do nothing to help them, and the NCAA, for all its hollow preaching, is even worse. I love sports as much as the next guy does, but is the cost in young lives worth it? Maurice Clarett (or fill in the name of the latest former NCAA star you’ve recently read about being arrested) could be the poster boy for this failed system; what are schools doing to prevent more like him? Sadly, not a whole hell of a lot.
I realize there is some degree of personal responsibility on their part, but how can we expect much when so many of these boys are coddled through a system that now ranks even high-school teams on a national basis, and players are allowed to slide through with no emphasis on education?
School should be about learning, not sports. Sport has its place and its value, but not at the price these young men pay in the long term.
How about getting the NCAA to graduate a few more of its players rather than tossing them aside after their eligibility expires? And how about the NAACP ceasing to tacitly support such a disgrace?
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