Brett Dennen - The Holidays Are Here & We're Still At War

i've posted this before in 2008, but as you may know, the holidays are back again and we're still at war.

Pilgrims in the parking lot

Arteries clogged with blood clots

Pushing through the aisles of department stores

Neon crosses and Christmas lights

Credit card debts and brand new bikes

The holidays are here and we're still at war

The rabbi reads from the testament

The banker gazes at the year's investments

Salvation santa's solicit for the poor

Deception of democracy

The philanderings of faux foreign policy

The holidays are here and we're still at war

Smoggy skies and fixed elections

Injustice strikes from all directions

People with their backs against the floor

Looking for someone to set us free

A king with fists like Mohammad Ali

The holidays are here and we're still at war

A mother knows what is best for you

Even though it's hard to listen

Your father knows he can count on you

Though you couldn't count on him

Christopher Columbus knew

Vasco De Gama and Magellan too

The profits of oppression grow like never before

All hail to the captalist thief

And mourn your lost ones and covet our grief

The holidays are here and we're still at war

Hurricane waters ravage southern towns

And black and brown people are left to drown

While the White House and the emergency management agency ignores

Victims seek shelter in the Astrodome

And the National Guard says 'Don't go home'

The holidays are here and we're still at war

Police officers hassle the homeless

Domestic disputes, alcohol and violence

The jailhouse opens wide its door

A corporation cuts a million employees

And the factory is moving overseas

The holidays are here and we're still at war

A mother knows what is best for you

Even though it's hard to listen

Your father knows he can count on you

Though you couldn't count on him

Jesus sheds another tear

Into a sea of two thousand years

Into the eve of a new year once more

Tears of joy, resolutions of sorrow

Toast to health and wealth tomorrow

The holidays are here and we're still at war

Religious wars and domination

World trade and globalization

The prices of petroleum soar

Lonesome churches are packed with sinners

Non-believers and new beginners

The holidays are here and we're still at war

Say a prayer for the less fortunate

Prisoners and soldiers you never have met

Understand what it is they're fighting for

Say a prayer for your enemies

Say a prayer for the victims and their families

The holidays are here and we're still at war

Yes, the holidays are here and we're still at war

Sesame Street: Paul Simon Sings Me & Julio

you can dance dance!

this little girl is too cute.

the long and winding road

that leads to your door
will never disappear

alive alert awake enthusiastic

alive alert awake

awake alert alive

alive alert awake enthusiastic

(CLAP CLAP!)

5 Nut peanut! 5 Nut peanut!

in the world of roasted peanuts, there are many 2 and 3 nut peanuts. the vast majority have 2 or 3 nuts inside.

then there are way too many 1 nut peanuts. so much work for so little reward.

very rarely will i find a good 4 nut peanut. i am always grateful when i do.

i have heard of the mystical 5 nut peanut, but until last night never really believed they existed. kevin swore he had one a couple months ago, but then squirrelled the nuts into his mouth too fast before i could do a proper accounting.

but last night it all came together and i reached in the bowl and pulled out a real live 5 NUT PEANUT!

5 NUT PEANUT! 5 NUT PEANUT!

i feel like meryl streep in adaptation hunting the white ghost orchid. or ahab in moby dick hunting humps like snowhills.

it's a great feeling!


*****


EDIT: just checked wikipedia ("peanut") and now i believe this peanut really was a wonder of nature! they don't even acknowledge the fact that 5 seed pods EXIST!

The fruits have wrinkled shells that are constricted between pairs of the one to four (usually two) seeds per pod.

noble deeds perform

“Nor grain, nor wealth, nor store of gold and silver,
Not one amongst his women-folk and children,
Nor slave, domestic, hired man,
Nor any one that eats his bread,
Can follow him who leaves this life,
But all things must be left behind.

“But every deed a man performs,
With body, or with voice, or mind,
’Tis this that he can call his own,
This with him take as he goes hence.
This is what follows after him,
And like a shadow ne’er departs.

“Let all, then, noble deeds perform,
A treasure-store for future weal;
For merit gained this life within,
Will yield a blessing in the next.”

- Good and Bad Karma, II. The Doctrine, Translated from the Samyutta-Nikya, Buddhist Writings.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.

kelsey in a chair

it is with sad fingers i report last week's passing of mappycamper's sweet, smart, calm, submissive, beautiful, faithful companion kelsey dog of goleta.

she lived a FULL 15.5 years and gave much joy and peace to all those who met her. she was a princess but not fussy. she sat in chairs and observed while the riff raff sniffed butts.

2010 was a tough year for furry friends. i believe kelsey is now running through a heavenly field with holden and yoshi. according to the very wise trevor garrod of tea leaf green, if that's what makes you happy, it doesn't matter if it's true.

at the same time, i have to welcome to the world SO MANY new babies! there have been 6 new arrivals in the past 2 months, and all the babies are healthy and thriving and adorable. and all the moms are healthy and thriving and adorable too.

i love the sweet unusual girls' names my friends have used - there's twins keira and marla leen, leila sacks, and selah raleigh. aren't they just lyrical wonders?

then there's the boys - emmitt glidewell and yesterday's addition jack radey. maybe not as lyrical, but definitely catchy. and catchy names correspond to success in life.

cocoa dregs

coffee + cocoa powder + honey = something almost worth getting out of bed for

i need a lot sleep. at least 9 hours. NEED it. always have. i could sleep 12 hours a night no problem.

i am at my meanest and nastiest if i feel like i am being woken up too early for no good reason. i was always the last one to get up at slumber parties. kids would be running around at sunrise and i'd put my pillow over my head and silently curse them all. luckily i am a very heavy sleeper.

i am not hungry in the morning and don't care about missing breakfast.

now that it's dark so early, i feel like going to bed at 7PM, and i am so grateful that i can do that sometimes.

maybe i'm just a chronically depressed brat, but really i feel a million times better when i've slept half the day.

happy national peanut butter month!

gonna have to face it - you're addicted to peanut butter

the forest glen inn

the forest glen inn was my house.

i was 9 years old and had been living in new york - huntington, long island, for about 2 years and we had many many visitors friends and family from rhode island stay in the guest room during that time.

it was mainly my grandparents - flops & drez - and the revens. 

i painted a wooden sign and put it in the driveway when guests were coming. i made that flyer on print shop and colored it in. i made comment sheets and did turndown service. this was the first comment sheet that i typed on my dad's old real typewriter.

drezza easter weekend 1986:

after this, i typed one and my dad brought it to work and made copies for me.

revens 1987:

at this point i seem to have charged my grandma for some lavender crap someone gave me: 

i never worked in a real hotel

nun on a giant bike

i took the lazoom purple bus tour of asheville for the third time this weekend and it's always a great time.

you learn a lot of asheville trivia, this time they gave out prizes for people who could answer questions.

i answered this one:

asheville has more art deco buildings downtown than any US city other than ____.

(miami)

i won a can of powdered mountain gorilla for answering this correctly. i haven't opened the can but it sounds like soup.

the most enjoyable part for me is probably waving to strangers on the street and seeing them wave back. it was a gorgeous afternoon and everybody on the street (and on the bus) was smiling.

we also saw a guy get hit by a frisbee in montford.

the tour starts in front of the french broad food co-op, and you are allowed to bring drinks on the bus. the FBFC sells serving-size bottles of screw-top prosecco (italian champagne) for $2, and i thought it was a great combination.

what would cause your carpal tunnel?

i do not have carpal tunnel. and for that i am grateful. my MOM had tendinitis in her thumbs that required surgery from playing so much bridge and shuffling cards. if i did develop carpal tunnel, it would most likely come from opening roasted peanuts. i can't get enough of these things- it must be part of my squirrel heritage.

another possible cause of my nonexistent carpal tunnel would be the game minesweeper. i have gone through phases where i played that game 8 hours a day. usually while procrastinating from studying.