Monthly Archives: October 2010

this week on the avant guardian | samhain

October 25, 2010
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this week on the avant guardian | samhain

“you’re going to reap just what you sow…” Samhain, from the old Irish meaning “summer’s end.” Its celebration marked the end of the harvest season and the coming of the cold winter months in which one hoped to whatever god or gods they believed ran the world that the food they brought in would be enough to sustain them and their own during the harsh months that followed. Back in the days where we had a relationship with the earth, a give and take where foods and other goods were “processed” by our own hands and where we understood that we had to reciprocate for that which we took, it was well nigh impossible to take for granted the fact that the earth was a living, breathing entity that held our destinies in its hands as much (maybe more so) as we held Hers.  There are things the earth could say and do that we have no control over, and there was a time when we respected that. The festival of Samhain ends the period of time in which we take from the earth and reminds us that she can just as easily take from us.

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breaking booze\/\/full moon and water

October 22, 2010
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breaking booze\/\/full moon and water

Oh shit. Water on the moon. Lots of water. You know how we know this? NASA started bombing the moon sometime last year with spent-fuel rockets.

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playing the dream job \/\/ the magical economy of the sims

October 20, 2010
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playing the dream job \/\/ the magical economy of the sims

Creative jobs can be dreamy.  They may offer or seem to offer dreamy things; things that can surface only as dreams in other jobs: engaging your curiosity and knowledge, materializing contents of your imagination, making something to love with love.  We have entire television shows that let us watch others pursue their creative dreams. In the United States, we’ve got American Idol, for example.  Or Project Runway, or America’s Next Top Model.  HGTV’s nearly erstwhile Design Star.  Participants on such reality shows tend to arrive with experience under their belt, the pursuit already began, but the dominant narrative theme of such shows, predictably enough, places the crux of the pursuit within the domain of the show.  The show is your ticket to Making It (if you Make It Work). Reality television participation becomes your job, and by law, only one person really survives, and even them, maybe only ephemerally. Despite the precariousness of success for entrepreneurs, artists and artisans, the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity reported a burst in business start-ups in 2009, and Etsy stores just keep opening, as the un- and under-employed do what they can to try to make ends meet. But dreams are easier to live [...]

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cultural tourist

October 13, 2010
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cultural tourist

I am less than a week away from embarking on a journey to India. I plan on being there anywhere from 6 months to a year (or more). I have bought my one-way ticket, lots of malaria pills, and begun to dream.

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allegory of mortality

October 12, 2010
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allegory of mortality

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this week on the avant guardian|exploration & discovery

October 11, 2010
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a sailors life for me!

I forgot about Mr. Colombo when I chose this week’s theme, but I guess there are no accidents. Since Columbus Day is this week I will begin with a little shout out to the souls of all those who were slaughtered, raped, or taken from their homeland in the name of discovery. That’s not the kind of exploration and discovery I’m looking to celebrate this week. As thinking, feeling people we have so much opportunity to go out and find new things, places, people. We can go out into the world and learn, learn about ourselves, learn about other cultures and beliefs. There is still so much left to discover on this little planet we call home. Just reading about far away, or for that matter near by places, is not enough. Go out into your own back yard, take road trips out West, get lost in the desert, or in the Northeast, see what it’s like to walk around Salem at night. If you can go farther, go! Down to Patagonia, over to Abu- Simbel and around the isles of Venice.  Explore as much as you can and share your discoveries with as many people as possible. People want [...]

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three little birds pitch by my doorstep

October 9, 2010
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WARNING!: this bird is beyond salvage, do not cook

Fall begins the migration of birds,  from both the mammalia and aves classes. The main difference between the two is: the prior creates obnoxious traffic and overcrowding in restaurants and the latter creates the annoyance of increased need for car washes.  But on the other hand it, can be what’s for  dinner. I work in an office with full length glass windows on three sides. Poor little birds haven’t evolved enough to recognize the difference between glass and open sky. Well, some mammals haven’t quite figured this out either. So, rather than let these little winged creatures die in vain I think the best plan is to collect the fallen creatures in the freezer until you have enough for a little feast. I think the best bet would be to remove all of the plumage and clean the bird before freezing. If you are the “think ahead” type you may even start early and collect enough for a thanksgiving feast! Everyone can carve their own bird, that would be so much fun! I was going to give a demonstration on how to clean a freshly fallen bird  but in the effort of keeping appetites intact I have decided otherwise. Instead, meet [...]

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falling witness // performing trauma

October 6, 2010
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falling_woman_eve

For the entire summer, and the beginning of fall, I worked at a place called UNC Horizons. It’s a substance abuse program for women who are either pregnant or have small children.

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this week on the avant guardian | fall

October 4, 2010
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this week on the avant guardian | fall

Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay. - Robert Frost Image Credit: JuliaY

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sub-entry 28> episode [10 x (end - 1)] \/\/ on what episodes must eventually do

October 3, 2010
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sub-entry 28> episode [10 x (end - 1)] \/\/ on what episodes must eventually do

My boots sunk into the centuries-old grime-covered stone floor of the corridor that lay far beneath the St. Louis Cathedral. In front of me: a river of warm light, its wind blowing back my hair and jacket. I looked down at my hands, which were covered in hardened black wax. I could feel the golden symbols simmering on the skin of my face and neck, reacting to the pull of the wonder. In front of me, the bits of wonder leaped out of the stream like fish now and again, slow-motion arcs of bursting yellow fireworks reaching into my vision and kissing the backs of my eyes, leaving their mark.

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