NASA Image of the Day

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Love at Christmas

...do you remember the first Christmas you were in love?

Anything would have been the most romantic gift in the world - even a plastic basket filled with garlic bread with cheese - shared - two half bowls of french onion soup, and a large glass of dry, crisp white wine, split into two smaller glasses, because all you had to go out to dinner together was ten dollars.

As you trudged along the street, mittened hands clasped together, laughing as the impossibly huge snowflakes danced around the glow of dingy streetlights, the glow that seemed to soften the dinge reminded you of what was inside....in spite of it all.....and it was enough.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Saving the Auto Industry - Part II - "The Big Wigs"

In a rather telling indicator of the second part of the discussion on "salvaging" the auto industry's giant, a member of the U.S. government - "on the floor" - when faced with the request by industry officials for additional funding to bolster the operation, rather pointedly asked who, among them, had flown "commercial" to attend the meeting. No one responded.

"Let the record show", he said, "none of the officials in attendance has indicated that they have flown commercial."

To their credit, two or three of the officials smiled in response. However, under the circumstances, the smiles were completely inappropriate and, at that point in the equation between seeking recognition from the populace which supports it, and asking them for their money without buying anything to show for it, it became almost a mockery of the very procedure.

I like to think helpfully.

I like to think that those officials, faced with the daunting task of holding so many futures in their hands, were unaccustomed to both begging, and recognizing that that was what they were doing. As a result, they did what is socially acceptable of "in control officials" in an exceedingly awkward situation: they tried to look like they WERE in control. Often, we do this by exhibiting a lightheartedness in a desperately difficult situation. It then becomes almost unreal, rather than potentially devastating, if a mistake is made.

It was painfully obvious that those smiles were an indicator of extreme awkwardness - and yet not one person indicated that they recognized the serious of the request - and the situation - by having provided the leadership of a simple thing like "flying commercial" - something government officials MUST do, as an accountability factor, every single day.

It was an indicator, simply put, of instant expectation, in behaviour, outlook, and expected result, and it was an immediate, serious, and honourable one. I am not sure how successful, or sobering, it was, sans the smug superiority the ires of the irascible executive would intantly have read into it, in a moment of extreme personal discomfort, but it was a very gentle shock to the "system" which requires such examples, and quickly, if we are, as a group, to bring a group of people to the brink of personal ruin, and back again.

Consider the following, ensuing realities, in tandem with working with "the line", if you will:

1. The requirement for all company officials in management to pay for their cars, like those on the floor. Certainly, there will be drastic, and immediate incentives for these purchases, but there will be no more "freebies". They are ambassadors for a necessity - from the salesman's perspective which they will support - not a draw on a currently overstretched system. Nothing in this life is free, and especially not during the implosion of the industry from which it is drawing blood on a constant basis, without replenishment.

2. A recognition that administration feeds the "outgoing" business of making sales. At this point, all bonuses should be cut, and all percentages given to the people "on the sales floor" - in this case, dealerships - in order to "move out" old stock, and move in new stock. If they do not sell, you do not have a reason to produce. This is a reality everyone seems to have forgotten. Even more so than the "creators" of the commodity, if you do not have a market, then you had better make one for yourselves again, even if it means "brutal shock sales" for a brief period of time. If you break even, you are still not "under". The danger is not underselling, and, thus, devaluing your commodity, on a permanent basis. This is called "market glut" and "flooding", and farmers know about it well, in a market which does not have the same standards, the same expectations, or the same costs. They fight back with a marketing board, and the odd subsidy. Perhaps it's time we treated our auto industry with the same considerate eye to import/export relationships, if we are serious about maintaining it as an entity. At this point, on the long road back, this is a huge step over constant, steady loss. It only goes up from here....

3. Recognize that this equation, this input/outpout relationship, and this priority, in the chain of production and replenishment, must be an ongoing one. You cannot continue to suck upon the teat that has no output. Eventually, the sustenance dries up. Seasonal imbalances are one thing: constant draw with no "busy time" means L O S S. Customer brand loyalty, although true for a time, will not endure if there is no integrity during a tough period, in product, service, and considerate cost management during a period of slump. They are telling you that they want something different. You are not listening. It is time you did - and fast. The recognition of "help and continuance" must bring with it a different way of doing business. Period.

4. Also recognize that allowing even a partial "Chapter 11" bankruptcy to occur will do nothing to fix the problems which exist at the top. They will only punish the line workers who will only pledge to seriously examine the "group pain" required if it begins at the top, and includes them, and their input for saving the industry, at every step. If you are not on the same team, and continue a pattern of adversarial blame, and ultimate target, during a near bankruptcy, they will NOT be on the same team, and any attempts to begin the painful idea of salary, wage reductions, job sharing, cost cutting, job layoff, and renewed input for streamlining, employee stock options, rotating and voluntary "time offs", and other drastic measures, will simply not be on the very large round table which is still possible, and could begin a new, and exciting era in an industry which takes a long, hard look at itself, shakes off its doldrums and its arrogance, and, like Madonna, successfully reinvents itself with an exciting, bold, mercurial, and always gutsy renewed sense OF its own possibilities. Use the ingenuity within, without hesitation. Use the bold and unexpected approaches. Woo the unreached, and lull the already won.

Your audience, and our chariots, await. Only the horses know what happens next...wink.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Saving the Auto Industry - from the Inside out

Amidst worried governmental approaches to industry "bailouts", an inclusive, revolutionary change must occur within the auto industry which, essentially - at least for the time being - sets in place the means by which a kind of inclusive nationalization takes place.

Why? In the midst of near chapter status, involvement needs to be on ALL levels, and the seriousness, and the speed, with which these changes occur, need to be immediate, if we are to actually HAVE an industry at all. Thus far, despite the fact that the fallout will touch virtually every single community in both the United States and Canada, if it implodes, and in every place where there is a car dealership, a car service depot, a plant which feeds into the industry, and gas stations which depend upon vehicular appetite to sustain travel poosibility throughout the nation. Thus far, again, no one seems to be taking this seriously enough. If they go, the country will slide into immediate depression - in many, many ways.

Not one to dwell on the problem, but only the answers required for immediate action, I radically propose the following:

1. Immediate involvement of all employees, in the form of a REDIRECTED 20 percent pay cut, which immediately goes into available cash flow, and SHARES PURCHASE FOR EMPLOYEES. The Lee Iacocca model works, but it only does so if there is a recognized change in attitude, and a shared desire to keep both jobs and industry viable. "Cents an hour increase", for the next three years, at least (or as long as it takes to make immediate retool adjustments to assembly lilnes to restart all current products on the assembly lines. This must immediately reflect what has sold in the last six months to a year, with realistic, projected growth for brands that wil sell, are affordable for a populace whose income has shrunk, and whose fuel consumption will reflect the shift to alternative, and fossil-augmented fuel sources, in the coming years. This must be approved by all board member participants - which will include employee shareholder representatives, whose holdings will always be required, before the industry is shut down as a whole.

2. An immediate "huddle" with the petro chemical industry, to explore what fuel alternatives are being implemented over the next five years. The industry, itself, as well as oil sands refining and drilling efforts, needs to be the pioneer within its OWN INDUSTRY, to explore and develop alternative measures with which it will sustain itself, in generations to come. This is revolutionary, and will require what other businesses call "branch out activities." The time to do this is NOW. Shareholders within the petrochemical industries will begin to demand, and expect this, as part of shareholder securities. Simply put, what measures are being put in place to ensure that my investments are in an industry that is sustaining itself, by "diversifying"? In any other area, this would be considered "intelligent investment continuance", with as low a MER as possible. This is doable, ladies and gentlemen. You have been avoiding it.

3. In addition to guaranteed industry loans which will require, again, corporate decisionmaking inclusion at every level, as part of its guarantee (for when public moneys are uses, safeguards WILL BE IN PLACE), immediate action needs to occur by governments in the following areas:

a)tax cuts which encourage use of, location of, and CONTINUANCE of, operations in North America.

b)tax cuts to auto industry, and offshoot industry operations which seriously demonstrate a committed approach to saving themselves, with creative scheduling, job sharing, employee reinvestment, early retirements - but not necessarily, since this involves capital outlay, and a loss of some its most experienced, and "stick to it" coaching skills, for the teams that will need it, to get through this difficult period, "on call" stipends, for those who may be required for a shift on overtime, if needed, but will remain "on page" for three hour call in periods, rather than full shifts, as a minimum. This will only be for overtime, to begin with, and will hopefully not be required to augment regular shifts - but for those who can afford it, if it is noted that the line can be thinned, during an eveing, the ability to "volunteer an early night", to cut shift expenses, when the line is thin, may do so, without penalty or recrimination. We will all do more, with less - including living on our salary, with overtime a welcome, and carefully used, extra.

Where possible, overtime might be banked as time, or optioned as reinvestment in company shares, to boost the available liquid capital.

These measures should be investigated, and considered, by any governments considering investing public funds into a faltering company. Just how serious are these people about saving their industry, before the public bails them out? Remember: we all make far less than you, and have been doing so for quite some time, and yet, our purchases ensure your viability. This relationship needs to be recognized. How are you continuing to make it possible for us to support you, in terms of "purchasable vehicles for all?"

c)Small business loans which encourage, or support, diversification or improvement to upgrade technologies supporting the auto industry "shift":

i.e. "hydro outlet", alternative fuels, "car pool parking areas", CAR POOL PROGRAMS INHOUSE WHICH DO NOT PUNISH OR MARGINALIZE THOSE WHO LIVE AND WORK OUTSIDE CITY HUBS, AND OFTEN MAKE LESS, RATHER THAN CONTRIBUTING TO URBAN SPRAWL, WHILE SUPPORTING VIABLE INDUSTRIES, LIKE AGRICULTURE, WITH THEIR TAX BASES, SO THAT WE MAY ALL CONTINUE TO EAT.

4. The serious recognition by the public that if we do not support our own industry, we will not have one. The result of dependency is obvious, geopolitically. Can you imagine your transportation in the hands of someone who may wish you dead, as an entity? The next time you make a purchase, think long and hard about this. It is not xenophobia. It is reality. Charity begins at home. The reason international sales shifts occur is by lowballing local industry. We have seen this in other areas, and farmers have been dealilng with it for years, as part of GATT and other "low import" gluts, which effectively destroy domestic markets.

What measures has the government put into place, notwithstanding the speed with which they tried to implement NAFTA, to ensure that trade gluts are not designed to destroy the competition? Sun Tzu says one must examine these movements with considered thoughtfulness. Have you done this - with ultimate goals in perspective, erasing the sales naivite which suggests "friendly competition" against the backdrop of a heretofore "dying" industry? Who says its dying....you? If you had any brains, we would be sustaining ourselves by agricultural production which augments transportation - field crops grown to feed the engines, as well as the mouths who drive them. But then, you scoffed at LIVE OIL, as opposed to DEAD OIL, as a concept, when I brought it up ten years ago. Are you doing that, now? I think not.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the second of several parts of "internal rebirth." I have only just begun. Our transformation will be a shared and satisfying thing, methinks.

Miigwetch.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Misted Landing's Victory

The sleet spread like fingers across the blot of sky,

Tapering, like a skeleton trace, its oblong blob scratch of water, scarring the windshield, thusly -

More tears across a charcoal landscape of smoke wisps and huddling howling, its icy nearness

Of Season,

Sliding close.

The tap tap tapping of taps increased, as the temperature dropped, and the water's rhythm

became

A "dance macabre"against eagle sky time venture, a hesitant, dark brood messenger of apology betwixt intruded rage storm sky territory, signalling Death, nonetheless.

And yet! - amidst the shimmering vistas of exploding clouds - a blot of blue;

Only orbits of hope can seem, then, as these moments show themselves:

Sweet surety of scope, and flight, and hope intermingled,

As each and all winged prayers whoosh forward, hurtling

Towards themselves; a hopeful blot, annointed not as blight,

But Bird, life honored,

Again.





D. Nevills

Fur

This grey rain, which swirls and wails, beyond these walls, bemoaning the long darkness

Until its rebirth, short months away,

Is harbinger.

And what of? I will scoff at this darkness, only eye glow held against misery;

I shall be your spring, first, lit as I am, amidst the folds and comforts here,

And, drawn such, languid and longing,

Suggest honey upon honeyed, warmed and liquid, glass reflected as it is

in this resting time of winter's ice vista.

You shall be - and me,

Mellowing with the we, until (such-like and sometimes),

It is suddenly us,

Bloomed.

D. Nevills Nov. 15, 2008

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Helpful Tips in Answer to tough questions

Question: I went with an exorcist for a bit. I just want to know really practical things, like...how do you hold someone possessed by the devil?"

Answer: Tip 1.

Start with plain black gym pants emblazoned with the adage, "Flake Off", in sparkles. on your ass. A little gentle flower-like snowflake beside it is also a nice fashion touch. A lot of the ministers really go for it. Be firm, and don't be afraid to protrude once in a while, like a real ass, instead of just a little dawnkey. Then begin, carefully, to do a passable fox trot by yourself in the living room. Hold your arms up - but not beside your ears, like a goof. People will mistake you for a flower, or a tree, if they are partially blind, when shooting. This could be helpful, in certain conditions, but not in others, so store that away for later. Sway gently, unless you have had a hip replacement. Don't undo some very fine work just because you have too much "petal pride" to try another dance move, but avoid the "full body twirl" if you've been known to hit your head a lot. You may fall down, and have to be a rock. This involves a lot of patience in a major production, but is kind of tiring - sort of like guarding a dumpster for three days, in the pouring rain: helpful work, but one involving real self discipline.

2. Question: How do you recover from a tricky moment of possible embarassment?

Tip 2. Learn the quip.

Example: During attendance at a knitting class, I once actually knit my one hand TO the needles, accidentally, for instance.
I almost had to go to special class for crafters, because all the ladies thought I might be retarded, or "challenged", to use the modern, kinder term, (in terms of pattern retention), when I held up my hand - which had suddenly become a webbed wonder with spikes sticking out of it, in a universal message of peace, rather like a very thin alien.
I told them, ( rather drolly, I thought ) that I was "practicing to be a spider", in my own self defence. They looked confused, but I raised my self esteem tremendously, without any prior training, or insulting anyone.
One lady said very quietly, afterwards, that she had peed a little bit when I said it, but had managed mightily not to laugh out loud, in case my feelings got hurt, and I left the class, and did I think that that was all right in mixed company, as long as no one else knew about it? She didn't want to tell her daughter, in case she was accidentally mistaken for a really old person, who couldn't hold their water...like maybe, their late nineties, or something. She had just turned eighty.

Later, considering my possible failure in this area of womanhood - and one which I value, too, along with a wellmade quilt, which can cost hundreds of dollars - I thought, in a moment of expansive inclusiveness, that hunting, too, could very well include stabbing the meat with knitting needles wound to your hand, if only a technique could be invented for it - while staying busy, God forbid - and wearing a glowing flack jacket in the pitch dark, in case a truck ran you over.

Irrelevancy wasn't my only talent. It was clear knowledge that I had baited both of my brother's hooks with crayfish, in the past. Then they invented gummie bears, and my shortlived career was over. Weird damned fish. Made you want to buy a quilt, and fall asleep, after a good meal of homemade pizza....with, well...maybe a few anchovies...as long as they hadn't been stabbed first.

More later! I'm tired.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Thought for the Day

Nothing is quite as effective at erasing the creative spirit - the gentle gardener, the quiet painter, the passionate sculptor, the contemplative builder of men's spirits and men' natural aptitudes and abilities, including the gentle dignity of the reliable workman's sensibility - than the innate and complete destructiveness of the arrogant, braying assumptions of a bully.

Having no sense of the possible in themselves, their only satisfaction comes from killing it in others, and when it is finally turned on them, as a methodology, their bewilderment is the sadness of kings.

Theirs is the victory of the death of all things which bring healing, and solace, and comfort, and joy: music, and song, the growing beauty of flowers and good food, the smell of fresh baked bread on a sunny afternoon, and the warmth of a glass of wine, on a crisp autumn day. They know only excess, and so see only its surety, in even the simplest of pleasures or gestures - even friendship. A gesture of friendship becomes, instead, a harbinger of unfaithfulness, an indicator of disloyalty, and a measure of marital infidelity. It is the essence of ignorance and gossip, and all that these two, in tandem, cause. It has nothing else to spur it, save conjectures on these same, and the ensuring necessity to kill this, too.

Knowing only ignorance, violence, jealousy, mockery, passivity and aggression, without any real sense of prior celebrative creativity, and a complete disdain for the efforts of others to bring a different quality to life, rather than simply trying to protect this gift, this is all they can cultivate - and their fruits are the death, even, of a moment of Kindness. Even this becomes suspect.

Life is one unending pattern of competition without any clear purpose, and instilling this constant sense of bullying in others - not to create a gentle comaraderie, or a sense of "becoming one's best self", but to crush the individuality, uniqueness, and personal sense of purpose specific to each human being. One can never, thereafter, know joy, or celebrate success, since its own sure result is envy, avarice, and the resentment of others, rather than the good wishes of one's friends and relations.

It is the bomber's removal of the joy of the working man's economy, and the stability, and the laughter, and the possibility for the next generation, that this gentle hum of day to day accomplishment ensures, at last.....

It is its own death, and the death, too, of all sense of belonging, in an often brutal and uncaring world.

It never cares beyond what it provokes - instead of what it might inspire, and, truly, that is its greatest Tragedy. Even grief allows for the possibility of acceptance: bullying cannot even allow for this momentary withdrawal.

Seeing itself, finally, its rage is selfincendiary.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

FOR CORKY

If these stars, held aloft in the ink of night by Divine Sweetness,
Like the mystery of wine, as it swirls and comforts,
Shed but a moment of light for you,
Then you are nearer to me, my darling,
and I hold back the cold Death again
In favour of
Eye Fire, and
Burn Gladly.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Queen of Butterscotch Cottage

Besides the bit of Beatrix, that still is here in me,
And the Almighty, Hand conducting all progress, therein,
My still respite, when day is done, is Butterscotch Cottage.

In summer, poured out upon the porch, like sweet smooth taffy mixed with summer sunshine,
Is the painted caramel from which it gets its name,
and, too, where a feeling lingers, of happy times, and Christmas chimes,
And Friendships, old and new.

It is my home, snug and warm, within whose bright pallette
Quiet memory, quiet laughter, thoughtful sorrow, and
constant striving
Have occurred.

In autumn, when the palm fronds at the porch posts wave amidst the drifting mist of rain
I could almost be at Ihilani, or somewhere far away - some exotic, thrilling place, perhaps -
far, far from
Farmers' fields, and workday journeys.

But oh! To come into view!...a sight for long hard days of work,
Beckoning like a childhood beacon;
Warmth, and comfort, and rest, amongst its splashes of
Floral and green.

And there, awaits a man, whose pride in my shy artists' hands
Last night, surveying finished toffee,
Proclaimed me His Queen,
Though rainbow searchlights, at stairway's foot,
proclaim

That still, a slightly tousled-looking,
Bespectacled, and smiling,
Washing Maker, I Bee.


Dawn M. Nevills
Sept. 13, 2008

Monday, August 25, 2008

Unexpected

You saw me in such a state!
Leather clad legs, and steaming;
The cracked rib was overlooked - but not the eyes.

Bemusedly, I note...you missed them entirely, darling.
I just smile now, when I think of it, despite the awkward healing.
Obsessionally speaking, its adroit adeptness is my forte -
having always been so....

Only method changes. Honey is always sweet.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Best Birthdays - #46

A taste, a touch, a twinkle
Amidst a cheesecake sprinkle.
And as life adds another year
To simple country lives spent here,
A wish; but ...See!
A sparkle and a joy, as when you were a boy;
A grin, where none before;
Surprises from a special store -
And far away from all things tragic:
Today, love, I share Christmas magic.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Night's Sweet Glows

Oh, see, oh see, my heart,
Amidst night's velvet blanket's soft sweet murmurings! -
The quick trilled cricket's throb throated happy hopes;
The sob sob frogs alone upon the water's edge, now hopping happily;
The quickest gleam of white-winged butterfly, 'midst the garden's herbs -
The fair fine flash of flitting firefly, sure pathed.
Here, see? Only look, just there...ha ha! Swift sweeping...
Captured, in my eyes, just so!


D. Nevills
August 23, 2008

Monday, August 4, 2008

What We Do, and Why

Work, amidst the din and dust
Work, amidst the rain and rust
Work, amidst the trials and tears
Work, despite the passing years
Work, when absent,
Work, through fear
Work, when I just dream you're here
Working thus, despite ourselves
When images are thoughts on shelves,
And all that did, and said, and was
Was simply, "Darling..Just Because."

August 3, 2008

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Small silhouettes

Fragile little hands
Reaching, reaching, reaching
.....towards hurting iron.

Come, dear hearts, and run with me, for just a moment again,
Among the flower's petals,
Imagining ourselves whole.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Sexy Meets Sensitive: The New Conscience of the Affluent

Somewhat cynical about the showbiz industry, I have quietly observed, much to my joy, the kind of leadership in human kindness I have always hoped for in politicians. The source? The "Sexiest Men Alive" Club: specificallly, "Silver Fox" Harrison Ford, "Godfather" George Clooney, "Love Warrior" Brad Pitt - possibly the world's coolest Dad (except for mine, of course), and "Boss Cause" Matt Damon. Their work, together, has literally changed the fate of hundreds of thousands of the dispossessed, the forgotten, the abandoned, and the downtrodden in this life - and they use their own hardwon success as a tool to remind the elected, trusted leadership of all nations of instances where need requires action. They have made Sexy simply sensational.

John John Kennedy would be proud:they have done so with the kind of compassionate caring which sets a standard of "dash and flash" which also demands a sidewinder grin, a genuine heart, and a sense of Knightly which we have almost forgotten. God Bless them, everyone....makes you want to exercise. And I hate exercising. Dancing, yes: exercising...blech. I feel like I'm never really GOING anywhere, and constantly think about the mound of things waiting for me to do, while I'm mindlessly counting to whatever the hell I'm doing. Dancing just doesn't seem like such wasted effort. Maybe it's because I'm actually subconsciously trying to create a routine in my head, while doing it, or something...that manic sense of being organized, that you can never turn off, really, when you have any kind of conscience.....

I can't get at the headset and read the screen, at the same time as I'm doing counting "flingabouts", or whatever the hell that thing is called where I try to reduce what used to be attractive in Jane Russell...remember when a gentle rounded swelling below the belly button suggested an actual figure? Now it automatically means excessive carb intake - and I love carbs, dammit. Plus, too many angles mean you jab people when you bang into them. I kind of like the thought of them gently bouncing off, with a slightly sheepish grin, and no injuries. Who wants to sharpen their extremities as a form of self-defence?

Anyway, all this conscience with debonaire pinache makes me want to exercise - and usually I'm afraid of exercising myself. What happens if I get mixed up, and miss, or something?

Ah well: I suppose the layers of sensitivity built up by ingesting reactions to world situations, with all this realized actuality in hopefulness, shall just have to disappear, along with a sense of insurmountable impossibility in attitude and lack of progress, geopolitically speaking.

Led by Harrison Ford's understated response and support of a new movement to leave a legacy of "angel footsteps" which Bruce Cockburn dreams of, when he speaks of "no footprints when we go; only where we've been, a faint and fading glow", they have established a new pattern of "expectation" for successful men, in an industry where the surface - in all its forms - and the speed with which it, and its popularity, changes, in as quick an instant as the latest pop tart's fan. And, darn it - selfdeprecation aside - this moving hum in my heart appears to be responding, despite myself. Wink.

Cheeky lot.....and me such a tough, demanding, not-easily- impressed-by-cologne-or-swish steel bird. I feel my wings, again: strangely...suddenly - and they're rather disturbingly soft, again, somehow...

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Third World Debt Forgiveness, and Keansian Economics

I thought a fitting way to celebrate the official last day of school would be to discuss a light issue: third world debt. All the kids who don't have summer jobs, because they didn't start looking for them in February, or scanning the available grants for selfemployment opportunities, might find this one interesting, when they apply for their student loans next year.

A long time ago (eons, really, when you think of it) in a place far, far away there was an Associate College Professor who had a brilliant student. He always had an opinion. In fact, one of the things that made her classes in which he participated so interesting was the fact that she allowed - nay, ENCOURAGED - him, and others, to have opinions about things, and, in a structured, prepared way, and in an atmosphere of expectation, present those opinions, in order to develop a capacity for oral communication. Indeed, she hoped, secretly, that some of them would even come to love that activity which, officially, is feared more than death.

Way back in 1991-1992, when "Professor Nervills" (who was serenaded by a class of Social Services students once with the theme from Gilligan's Island, for instance - "If not for the courage of the fearless class, Ms. Nervills would be lost"...ahem), one such student introduced, discussed, and passionately railed about the idea of forgiveness of third world debt as a harbinger of social and economic stability in impoverished third world nations.

"Excellent", said Ms. Nervills. "Now research it as a viable possibility, complete with solid economic theory, and present it as your project."

The student, aghast at having to do research, normally, and suitably, and predictably annoyed with Ms. Nevills at expecting him to come up with an actual SOLUTION with something, instead of just representing the problem about which everyone had heard countless times, and who was usually at odds with Ms. Nervills, despite the fact that she constantly baited him in order to get him to speak in class, which he was loathe to do, unless he was really ticked about something, was shocked that she would actually let him discuss this idea in class. He set about preparing the most brilliant conceptual solution to third world debt, Ms. Nervills, let alone the other members of the class, (many of whom had no concept of either macro or micro economics, let alone balancing a chequebook), admitted ever hearing.

Complete with backing from the famous John Keane's theory of economic stability, in conjunction with the misunderstood, and relatively unknown concept of "creating money", in which current banking institutions currently engage - based not on Treasury funding, but on projected growth, primarily, in a nutshell, and used as an economic base for incoming loan payments, for instance, although it really amounted to nothing more than "inventing money from thin air" - this student outlined a program of "forgiveness of debt" which actually saw, as its primary goal, the possibility of complete global ecnomic stability.

The principle, regardless of what scaremongerer you talk to, is a simple one: with the forgiveness of third world debt - not current market or loan payments in conjunction with commodity exchange or resource trade - would come an immediate restoration of fiscal independence, a need for internal responsibility for funds gleaned from resources - including tourism, for those Caribbean and other nations whose main commodity is tourism, rather than fossil fuels or "actual objectual" resources - and an inability to blame larger world powers for misuse of those funds, lack of development of social and infrastructure programs, intrusion in governmental affairs within that nation, an inability to expect outside nations to restore order when chaos ensured from mismanagement and poverty, and the insistence upon exclusion of violence as a means of internal control, rather than responsible, intelligent governmental administration of programs and services for its nations. Internal implosion due to simple greed and mismanagement - avoidable with the actuality, and institutionalization of democratic, or sociodemocratic governmental structures whose immediate focus was the responsible development and use of these resources, as well as the insistence of freedom and individual development of natural talents and abilities - and the rewarding of those same, within it - primarily, and immediately, and involvement of global industry leadership whose corporate ethic was inherent on development, rather than exploitation, on a consultancy basis, would mean an end to "blame of greater powers" for internal failure, on these fronts.

With no "enslaving debt" which meant a continuing lack of progress, despite the presence of resources in these countries, a lack of development would place blame squarely on those governments whose main concern was the abuse, exploitation and lack of ethics towards its own populace, not the lack of funds caused by escalating, and crushing debt.

The war machine would no longer be the primary profit maker.

"Non-THC Hemp hefty" industry introduction into mainly agrarian based, starving third world nations, for example, might very well eradicate starvation and a lack of "offshoot industries - like textile, building material, and simple flour production from hemp seeds, for instance - in a matter of years, not decades, establishing an immediate source of activity, sustenance, and creative impetus for its people not based on control of limited resources, but empowering its natural tendency towards the development of its normal creative, industrious, and healthy impulses towards its own welfare and success, and the inclusion of programs to support and bolster those needing a little help. Dignity would be a renewed concept not discussed enough, these days.

In Ontario, introduction of license-based growth of Non-THC Hemp, along with the development of hemp-related industries, to impoverished tobacco farmers is a nobrainer. They already have all the necessary equipment, and the skills. All they need is the development of a Marketing Board, and couple of farmers' wives to reestablish the textile, food products, and creative arts products directly related to the growth of this healthy, not damaging, agricultural commodity. The result? Instant cottage industry, tourist destination (read Sparta candles, Stratford, Ontario, and other places, for examples of "build it they will come".) We have done this before. Where do you think Madonna learned how to reinvent herself? The government, having issued licenses, needs to establish fair taxation of the commodity for payback into the healthcare, and other taxbased programs, and brothers and sisters, we have a recipe for success in the making. Better recycle all those garbage bags you used to throw out the tobacco on the curb: you'll need them. Besides, the newly-hired agricultural standards inspectors will want to know that there are no bugs inside of them, too....

Ms. Nevills gave him an "A." She agrees that it would not destabilize the economy, but, in actual fact, make it MORE stable, with the involvement of the United Nations in a role which truly uses its original agenda for sustainable development, not simply the "World Bank" issue with which so many have grown angry and ill-informed, regarding.

Once again, the artists and "creative impulse minds" among us - along with the reemergence of the entrpreneurial spirit which has created so many possibilities in this life, and in business, in conjunction with a kind of "green generation" which sees, for instance, garbage as an endless, free commodity, rather than an ongoing problem, - would soothe those damaged by war, even as it gave them a new hope to live, and work, and succeed, in years to come. The recycling plant would naturally be the natural next employer, one would think.....

Now all we need is the concept of the desire to reinvest a simple one percent of profits back into the restrengthening of a grid system, for instance, by the computer industry which has exploded, even as it has forgotten that the original grid system was designed for the needs of, and the demands of, the population of 1957, not 2008. This is not communism; it is good business, along with a plan in place to use parts from "old models", as part of the "reclamation of materials", to alleviate at least fifty percent of concerns that with every new gaming device comes three billion pounds of landfill contribution. This is but one example of the idea that industry, expansion, and responsibility for output, as well as a need to rely on a grid as the result of the idea that public utilities should be privatized, and nothing else, when CEO's are getting million dollar bonuses and ratepayers are still incurring "charges for incurred and unpaid debt in the system" on their bills. We don't reward these things with bonuses, in the public sector, Mister. You get audited.

We can do it. Gilligan would be proud. Then we'd all be part of an "A" team that has nothing to do with the Antichrist, and everything to do with the Sacred idea of responsibility with which Our Creator has endowed each of us, and which will ensure that that spark of idea in each young mind, and each older mind, not yet ready to settle into either decrepitude or inactivity, is not a fire of destruction, but a glimmer of tomorrow's gentle, enduring heart's glow.

Happy Summer, Academia! ...Have fun, kids. We'll see you in September. There'll be lots of work to do!!!! Wink. Class dismissed....Early.

.....and congratulations, Greg. You made my blog, if not the news. Smile. Well done.Sorry I didn't get around to it until fourteen years later. I've had a few little projects on my plate, since then......


Ms. Dawn M. Nevills
June 24, 2008oa

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Watering Down Myself

This life shimmying,
This sweet sweat from inside out
That melts the years of loss from me
With its wish wash of movement,
This dance of swaying trees, this subtle swish of hip,
As breath and age bemoans the passage of time,
Leads sweetly
To the less of me
That is,
I suppose,
Strangely
Most,
Or More,
Or Sadly, Slimly Slighter Site Sights(remembering smoky suppressing moments)
of
Me Before.
Gently,
The Tears are Exorcised,
But not the
Clean.
I bow, refreshed,
Surprised by a
Downsized Version of
Songs of Myself's Self.

Monday, June 9, 2008

The Over-40 Wardrobe conundrum: Shorts

Well, it's finally here: eighty degrees in the shade, you have laundry to hang out to dry, you've soaked another t-shirt cleaning the house, and as you step out of the shower, you realize one thing: it's time to consider if you'll wear shorts again.

Harkening back to the days you visited Venice in your twenties - mostly by looking out the window, as various famous sites flashed by the speeding bus, as you clutched your stomach cautiously, whilst hurtling at breakneck speed into the next tunnel - you recall watching young American tourist girls getting kicked out of churches, by dour-faced security guards who peered suspiciously at their knee-length walking shorts. Your postcard collection attests to this phenomenon. They are much better than the various views of your thumb, blocking the whir of buildings flying past......

You have three pairs lined up on the counter in front of you:

One pair you bought twenty five years ago, from Tabi International, and they look as good as the day you bought them off the rack, moaning about paying twenty dollars for a piece of clothing which was really only "half of something." The sales woman kept saying things like: "timeless", "crisp", "chic with flats", and "very Jackie O, with the right classic sleeveless blouse". You saw pleats, high waist, and pockets, grabbed the things - in your usual daring colour combinations of black, navy, khaki, and white, and bolted for the door, without trying them on, waving away the blouses rushing towards you, even as they leered menacingly towards the budget holder called a wallet, which you had already busted wide open, purchasing the shorts. They, however, fit perfectly, when you got them home, (like most things you could count on fitting, according to size, in those days,) and actually made you look like you had both a waist, and normally-shaped hips - and neither belonged to a ten-year old boy. Again; this was a good thing, in days past....

The second pair were one hundred percent cotton, and their most endearing quality was their ability to scrunch completely into a ball with your Tilley hat, and dry completely - while you were wearing them, usually - with the single back pocket holding something, without falling out, even after almost drowning, falling into a pit, or getting trapped in an elevator for three days, until you got the trap door up top open, like they do in the movies.

The draw string waist only added to their attractiveness, really, from an Army perspective, anyway - especially after a full steak dinner, a sunburn, (during monthly bloating), or that special feeling you get, after three beers and staining a deck, while you try not to fall over, while wearing kneepads. The drawstring gives, inch by inch, ever so gently, as the kneepads bite into the back of your legs, and the sun scorches the rest of you: real comfort for those "join the construction guys" days. But....ah! At least you're not cinched in by the next best thing to a corset! Yes, these babies are your midriff abdominal best friend, even as they suck up all that perspiration dripping down between your legs, and down the back of your underwear. You won't even look like you've peed yourself! Now THAT'S attractive. You've been decidedly daring, having succumbed to pastel shades of both "lilac" and "light leaf" - whatever the hell that is. You had no idea they made shorts that looked like a pot leaf, but you were proud, darn it, that you knew that handy-dandy little bit of colour knowledge, by cracky.....Yves St. Laurent, God Rest his soul, would be proud of you, you feel certain.

It still didn't particularly make you feel "light and fresh as a flower" - unless it was a plastic one, at the moment - but at least you didn't absorb the heat like a tar roof, anyway. That was ten years ago, and they were still scrunching strong.


...But the creme-de-la-creme is the most recent shorts purchase, in two "I'm over forty and I don't care anymore, mister" shades of fuschia and turquoise, reminding you of all those pictures of people looking really cool and happy, underneath umbrellas, where everything around them - including the water - sort of looked like those two colours. The turquoise one involved vacations, and the fuscia one involved your activist activities with Green Peace, Love Canal memories, and huge banners with "Toxic Poisoning Sucks, you Bastages", although you don't believe in damaging anything, or anyone, for any reason, unless it's revising a painting you've screwed up, and have to repaint.

With that in mind, you buy both, imagining yourself as something more than "Bwana Dawn" whilst encased in them, and experience the freedom, after forty-four years, of having your Australian-shaped birthmark located just slightly below your belly button, exposed, finally, to the open air. You feel naked like never before, humming "I come from a Land Down Under" with wild abandon, even as you realize you will never be tanned enough to completely erase the thing from sight. The shorts, complete with draw string, and hanging off your butt like a pair of abandoned pyjamas, sit around your hips in a truly alien way, even as the bottom of the shorts legs skim your knees, making you suddenly want to race out to the nearest summer festival to purchase a pair of "buffalo sandals", and paint your bra to look like a bathing suit top, reviving Madge's conebra look, for all full figured women determined to keep gravity at bay. (There is a limit to looking relaxed, and abandoning your underwire isn't one of them....)

For just a second, you close your eyes and think about men, who get the built-in underwear in their shorts, for winky breathing safety, and sigh: lucky bastards. Wind, netting, breeze: some things just aren't fair at all.

Maturity might just be okay, though - so long as they don't fall off....especially with the pocket on the inside!

Wink.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Clinton and Obama: America's Ticket back to Prosperity

As we near the close of the US Primaries, "coaching" of a particular sort rears its ugly head, and along with it, the worst aspects of behaviour deemed to achieve this, through a combination of character assassination and/or bullying, showing us, once again, the worst of the Democratic Process.

Were it not so!

America has the best potential Presidential/Vice Presidential combination for the Democratic ticket, arguably, in history, and what is the country subjected to, by those who should know better? A combination of Gloria Steinem and memories of Martin Luther King Jr? Pray, no.

Railing from the pulpit with such delicate sideline comments as "God sent Hitler", and "Hillary thinks she deserves the Presidency because she is white", it's a wonder the two candidates for the Democratic ticket for the Presidency of the most powerful nation in the world, understandably, are not taking a quick quaff of Wiser's before Bible study - just to prepare themselves for the latest "supportive" outbursts.

And these two gems came from what touts itself as "spiritual leadership!" Both candidates must be, understandably, somewhat mildly disturbed, and at the very least, somewhat bewildered, while continuing to slog on, with what they hope will still be the "believable dream" of a true team effort.

Observers, like me - Canadian, (and, therefore, in a world forum (incorrectly) normally deemed "benign" - as a compliment - in an age when "character cancer" seems more prevalent than its physical counterpart, - rather like the "almost compliment" of telling someone they're "not really ugly; just past their prime") watch with growing concern, hoping they find champions before the process implodes in on itself. It's a grudging acknowledgement that you remember, that "oh, there you are", as the quiet hand on the arm of the World Power nearest, smoothing waters and opening doors. It's a reputation hard-earned, at the very least. We know about earned reputation, all right. We are still the UGG company's secret dream market, and Renee Zegweller doesn't want to visit us anymore, because it's too damned cold. The fire is all inside....

And so, this week, we are treated to a pastor wildly throwing about the spectre of Hitler as God's atonement on all non-Christians, and a Catholic priest lambasting, of all people, one who should be benefiting most from what - to most people - is deemed to be the most determined relationship preservationist boxer ever to hit the floorboards. One is perplexed.

The Democrats definitely need some coaches who will not blow the efforts of the combatants, or my nickname isn't "Wild Thing"...and although, at 44, I am a somewhat rounder version of my former self, without symbols to replace either my middle initial or my middle finger, I have assigned myself the task. I hope both of them will not be embarassed at my efforts to defend them both, too. I am, after all, an alien.....er....a foreigner. Oh, you know; one of those people across the steadfastly guarded gun border whose own border officers can't point flowers at you anymore, while asking you three times what citizenship you are, just to try and trip you up. (And that's just as you enter.....we took that John Lennon/Yoko Ono weekend in Montreal seriously, Mister, and we're not going to let you forget about it, either. We may even ask you to spell your street name, so you had better do it grammatically correctly, or ELSE. Twice, even. )

America has the perfect political ticket with these two: First Woman President and First Black Vice President. I have placed them in that order, not because I do not want to see America's First Black President, but because, enamored as I am, like many Canadians still mesmerized by the ideal of cultural mosaic, with the romance of the idea, in the same "Camelot friendly" way that most America would love to regard its electoral process again, I have actually given serious, and lasting, consideration to the idea of Who would be Best at the Job. More than any time in history, it would be tempting to ignore this, in favour of an election which concentrates not on the depth of experience IN OFFICE, during a time of acknowledged success, peace and progress in American History, but about the undeveloped characteristics of leadership in office of yet another of America's Possible Firsts: A black man in the oval office.

The thing is, like the astoundingly idiotic accusation incorrectly thrown out by what, one hopes, is NOT a priest charged with family counselling as a natural forte, no one expects to get in because they are either black, or white. They expect to get in because they can do the job - and no one is more qualified, experienced, learned, better prepared and mentally capable, or better able to handle the pressure of The Job, than Hillary Clinton.

When the worst a Catholic priest can accuse her of, is (ridiculously incorrectly) being concerned with the "race" issue - or any minority issue, for that matter, having survived in a vicious and souldestroying arena like politics, with both a sterling reputation, and a decidedly inclusive attitude about who belongs, and why - he had better bring back the accusations of " pantsuit fashion folly": this Woman would be King. The "flawed process" had better reflect the intelligent, considerate, rock solid possibility of bringing back the best of itself, with both of them standing side by side on deck. I sincerely believe she should hold both the wheel, and the pen.

Alongside one of the toughest administrative minds - in a time when America truly needs the kind of concentration on its economic health, its peace policy, and its place in the world's peacekeeping hotspots - should be a man whose natural grace, thoughtful demeanor, and genuine concern for the welfare of a Nation will be fine tuned by the Veteran who will have earned the Veto, and proven why, many, many times.

It has always been so for a woman. Ask the ones who should be voting for Her, now, and aren't, because they are, simply, jealous of the progress. Grow up. Make history. Be empowered.
Your children will thank you.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Desperately Seeking ...Blessing?

In the midst of the painful and deeply sensitive issue of the blessing of same sex marriages within the Anglican Faith, (voted on recently in London, Ontario, but still pending the go ahead from the Primate), I heard an interesting and thoughtprovoking program on the car radio.

Its primary speaker - an obviously gifted, educated, and intelligent man, whose name escapes me at the moment - spoke passionately of the nature of marriage, and the endless debate in which the true definition of the word was discussed, analyzed, and scrutinized for guidance and help in determining the nature of "union between two like minded persons", and how this affected the Church's notion of "marriage", versus the legally recognized "union of two likeminded persons." After a lengthy, intelligent and clearly articulated explanation, he slowly and methodically covered several different definitions of the word "marriage", as discussed in some noteworthy, and respected, dictionaries. Now, dictionaries are extremely helpful books, particularly when one is seeking clarification on the meaning of a word, verbally, and literally. In fact, with no religious, moral, or ethical considerations in mind, particularly, a dictionary clearly and lucidly explains literary terminology with succinct and adroit adeptness.

However, there was one thing my learned Friend forgot: no one is seeking clarification on the definition, or even the idea, of what the word "marriage" might mean, to those outside of the secular world. Indeed, it is clear that Church and State have defined and accepted different ideas of the concept and nature of that word, legally. No one - in the Church, or out - has a problem with those accepted definitions, or, to my knowledge, on the acceptance of the right of individuals to live their lives as they see fit, in a free society, within the ethical boundaries of the right to safety, security, and the pursuit of happiness.

However, we are NOT discussing the legal definition; we are discussing the religious definition, and not once, within the confines of that discussion, did that sensitive, compassionate, and learned gentleman seek guidance from that other, more appropriate, and, indeed, directly related source: the Bible. Additionally, at least within the confines of the Anglican Faith which is so torn by this debate, presently, there are two phrases, which make up the body and soul of the Church, in my mind, which should make the debate, regarding same sex legal marriage blessings, clear:

1. "I believe in one holy catholic and Apostolic Church."

You either do, or you don't - even if you don't necessarly fit into that melee anymore. You can, for instance, believe in the principles and ideals of something, without being able to attain that ideal within the confines of your own life. Therefore, if you do, and you wish to try and live within those concepts, then the direction, and the acceptance of the blessing of these legally accepted, SAME sex unions, within the Church, is quite, quite clear. They are not accepted, religiously, and THAT is the blessing which is sought - not a legal clarification of the term marriage - by those seeking the blessing. In short, what is sought is a total overhaul of an entire denomination, and its adherents, when there is already a forum in which a religious blessing may be sought, and acquired, for that union of persons, within a committed relationship.

I have to ask myself, then, very quietly: what, exactly, is the agenda? It cannot possibly be the honest and real quest for blessing and harmony. Surely, so much quandary and pain, for so many others, when the simplicity of a different lifestyle - admittedly - also involves a movement to another from of expression of Faith, cannot be too much to ask, can it?

But perhaps it is Fear: fear of the Church. With loss of parishioners, comes loss of income, too, and, with this issue, at least, potential loss of "being on the cutting edge". Anglicans have always prided themselves on being modern, in all respects, harkening back to the days of the Roman split: wanting to retain all the quiet respect and dignity that is usually a hallmark of the more pageantry-inspired aspect of the Faith, but being pretty darned daring, at the same time. And darn it! This is one we just couldn't make fit, no matter how much we loved them.

Why would we, when we can visit each other as Friends, instead?

We do that already; this is not rocket science. They have just flown to their own nest, having come of age, and understanding, in their own way. That is not necessarily failure; it is simply an acknowledgement that others must lead different lives - lives which do not necessarily seek, or acquire the approval of, those of a previous generation - and not necessarily under the same roof as all of their other extended family members. What they have not lost is a reverence and respect for Christ, hopefully, and for God, in general. And that, Gracie, is a very good thing.... that is what keeps us all together, sharing a common, undivided vision, at day's end. It is the deep contemplation - not bullying - required of One who guides it.

In the Church of England, the curious combination of "homosexual" and "bishop", notwithstanding the usual requirements of the upper echelon layity, have resulted in the consecration of same, within that same diocesan infrastructure, with freely acknowledged acceptance of the sexuality of a member of a church who is normally required to sacrifice certain aspects of his or her life, for this most serious, and Higher, calling.

In the past, it meant that the word "homosexual" - as a result of solem vows, kept, ideally, was no longer relevant, simply put. And yet, this is not the case.

Why, pray? At what point did this requirement change, and by whose assent was it reached?

Surely this has absolutely nothing to do with the idea of "Royal Peculiar?" That term presents an entirely DIFFERENT relationship within the structure of the Anglican Faith, and requires an old - and honoured - acceptance, permission, and inclusion from the Head of its Body - like it or not - one which might be more readily acceptable, to boot, to the rest of those within its parish considerations: surely a thought to ponder with sensivity!

2. "By whom, and with whom, in the unity of the Holy Spirit."

Within the Anglican faith, there is much room, literally and figuratively, for consideration, flexibility - including modernity, experimentation, flexibility in a marriage, and birth control - for sensivity, deep care and concern for one another, as in the Roman Catholic Faith, and the acceptance of the idea that sometimes, people make mistakes in making those choices. (I.E. divorce.) These basic precepts, even taken so far as the highest measure of faith, involving rhythym, abstention, and a kind of secular companionship within that marriage, also makes clear, and perfectly acceptable, the idea that priests within that Faith, and bishops, even, can quite easily, and without rancor or conscience, feel blessed, enabled, and supported, by being married.

Nowhere, however, does it offer acceptance for secular leadership in which one's homosexual sexual life is placed before the life of the church, or the commitment to the parishes one's calling serves, is placed behind one's need for sexual gratification - which is, itself, outside the bounds of the accepted religious definition of marriage, within the framework of that denomination. Again; within the Anglican faith, at least, there is no debate or lack of acceptance, socially and legally, for what society has deemed legal.

However, this is not a court of law, and what is being sought is the blessing, religiously of that legal union - in which there are two people of the SAME SEX, not the OPPOSITE SEX, within the confines of a religion whose basic precepts discuss a decided nonacceptance of that state, morally and religiously - at least in Canada. I might add that homosexuals who are Not engaging in sexual activity have placed religious life before physical gratification. They have chosen different paths, RELIGIOUSLY AND MORALLY. Their leadership has taken on a different quality, as well.

Other denominations have allowed for the expansion of marriage blessing to include those of the same sex: namely, the United Church of Canada, for one.

One is faced, then, with a conundrum: to gently and passionately urge one's sexually active homosexual friends, who do not abstain, willingly, from sexual acitivity, seeking religious and moral blessing of their legal unions, to join a likeminded religious community whose moral precepts allow for that, or to tear apart a denomination whose structure clearly does NOT?

To me, the answer seems gentle, and clear; with the change in ideals and ethical considerations - much as the Anglican faith did, when it broke from the Holy Roman Church - comes the need for a move; perhaps, to the United Church, who was, itself, almost torn asunder by this same debate. Or, more simply, to the two churches - or others - which are designated "Royal Peculiars", (there are two in Canada, at present), and, therefore, outside the juridisction of the local diocese, although still Anglican. This, as the Archbishop of Canterbury would gently encourage, "keeps the doors open", and for those wishing to remain within the greater denomination which calls itself "Anglicanism", this would seem an immediate, and viable, solution, as well as one which addresses the immediate needs of those wishing to be married.

As far as voting on behalf of parishes, by those lay delegates assigned this duty, I must add a clear, and quiet warning: if you have not canvassed your parish for clear direction in this area - which may well involve a vote, as a clear signal of your respect for their wishes on the matter - then you are not representing the majority of parishioners in this instance, or the precepts of the Anglican faith whose guidelines you say you serve. Unless there is a quorum on the matter, there should be no further debate on the matter, as well, once this vote has taken place -if the laity is brave enough to attempt such a feat, or involve the congregations involved, to achieve a clear concensus on the matter.

Blessing of opposite sex legal unions is simply seeking further acceptance, and moral and religious blessing on a union of two which is already accepted within this Faith; same sex unions, after deep, compassionate, and sensitive consideration, are NOT. The movement, and the shift, and from whence it should come, therefore, with gentle compassion, and heartfelt desire to include within the greater Family of Christian denominations, is clear - without causing selfish schism, or harm to a denomination which has shaken its very roots, in order to reexamine what it says, it Believes.

I wake with a renewed sense of possible Friendship, and compassionate understanding, between Denominations.

Sincere regards!

Monday, May 26, 2008

Preponderance of Pedagogy

Best foot forward...towards?
Pedometre.
Pedophile?
Peddle. No...
Pedal.....No
Petal. Sigh.
Pederasity?
Pedicab?
Pedicure?
Pediment?'
Pedantic.
Pedagogy....
Pediatrics.

Ponder it.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Sweet stolen Sleep of Sheep like Us

Sweet, if this sleep -

This final sleep of which we see only soft glimpses, when

Those we love slip away from Pain into its Comfort

- be a rest beyond all known,

Then thy arms about me must be as silent and soft

As the wind,

Yet strong and solid as a pine standing guard upon the High Mountain,

Lest it Steal me away from Thee,

As our eyes - covered by soft petals,

Drooping, finally -

Dim, together.


D. Nevills, May 10, 2008

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Vinca Rosa, where last we met....

....greetings, again! If you have travelled from my last blog, "A Moment of Your Time"...WELCOME!!! I am glad you thought to spend a few moments with my thoughts - and me, however much "in absentia." This being a "voice in space" stuff is a bit overwhelming! Smile.

---------------------------

Those not familiar with "Vinca Rosa" might wish to know that it is a plant from which various chemotherapy drugs are made. Its more widely known derivative plant name is the "Madagascar Periwinkle", and truly, it is a miracle gift in Nature. Note the following:

"Several vinca alkaloids are commercially utilized to treat certain cancers. Vinblastine, for example, is an alkaloid isolated from Vinca Rosa. Vinblastine sulfate is utilized clinically to treat Hodgkin's disease, lymphocytic lymphoma, histiocytic lymphoma,and breast cancer. Vincritine is another antitumor alkaloid isolated from Vinca rosa. Vindesine is a sythetic derivative of vinblastine. These and other vinca alkaloids are known to have a variety of antneoplastic activities."

.....reference "Patent Storm" article, re: U.S. Patent 5767110.

Although once again having to part with a loved one affected by cancer, I am hopeful that sharing information on Vinca Rosa will make its availability, worldwide, a thing of beauty and healing.

Hope you will enjoy some of my poetry and prose, in the weeks and months to come. I thought perhaps I would begin, anew, with this shared "thinking introduction." Enjoy!