Prayers for Election Day

I feel like we need to have a mass prayer vigil today, to send good karma and positive vibes and all that yumminess out into the universe, visualizing the best candidate pulling off this amazing feat. I've never given a rat's ass about politics, really. But this election has made me believe in my country again. I've seen all kinds of people joining together and showing a spirit of camaraderie that I've only seen once before, in the horrible days following 9-11.

This time we're celebrating something positive, what we could have, what might be. We are all joined in a kind of universal hope that we can pull our country back together and make it the great land it's supposed to be. I don't mean to get all We Are the World-y or anything, but this has been a very emotional time for us all, and it's because of the incredible candidate we've got out there. As Sarah Silverman says in The Great Schlep, "Barack Obama is the goodest person we've ever had as a presidential choice! He's honest and he's kind, and quite frankly he's probably our last hope of ending this country's reputation as the assholes of the universe." She's silly, but she's right.

I also want to pray for Obama's safety, whether he wins or ... otherwise (can't say it.) The man is really putting himself out there, into a world where there are many, many haters. So let's say a prayer that he is watched over and protected and shielded from anything bad happening to him. Prayer works, so DO IT!

On NPR last week there was a show during which the interviewer asked several people "Have you imagined what it will be like...how will it feel to wake up Wednesday morning and hear that Obama won?" They could hardly answer for the emotion they were feeling.

I'm so there. Please, just let it be...

Berenice Abbott

Forgetfulness is like a song
That, freed from beat and measure, wanders.
Forgetfulness is like a bird whose wings are reconciled,
Outspread and motionless, --
A bird that coasts the wind unwearyingly.

Forgetfulness is rain at night,
Or an old house in a forest, -- or a child.
Forgetfulness is white, -- white as a blasted tree,
And it may stun the sybil into prophecy,
Or bury the Gods.

I can remember much forgetfulness.

Hart Crane

Halloween in the Blue Bubble!

Also known as my street, a haven of Obama signs in a sea of McCain supporters.



You can hear Jazz barking in the background!

Here we are wrapping it up and about to head out for trick or treating.



I love my neighborhood.

Happy Halloween!

I love these really clever pumpkins that some people are talented enough to carve. Ours are always cute as hell, but never SUPER clever like some are. For example, this kitty:

A skeleton:

This one has little windows with images:

Then some get kind of spooky, like this one:

Or this one, kind of:

And this one is really spooky:
But you must agree, this one is the scariest of all!
EEEK! Okay, it doesn't REALLY look like a pumpkin, though it's supposed to. Regardless, get out and vote on Tuesday, and keep this face nothing more than a Halloween phenomenon!

Happy trick or treating!

It's called karma, baby

I've heard the most DELICIOUS scoop, but I hesitate to go into too much detail because I've been sworn to secrecy. Um, yeah, right...

Basically karma has come around to bite Ugh in her gawky, flat ass. Pardon me for sounding so vicious, but as my faithful readers know, I went though an amazing amount of shit last year thanks to two very nasty people. Today the tables are turned, and I feel fabulously vindicated. I SO knew this would happen, and it feels wonderful.

Perhaps these same faithful readers will remember that when Paul and I hooked up four years ago, it was because his wife and he had "drifted apart" and she didn't support him and his music. She was cruel to him and he was aching for a woman he could really love. I was there for him to cry on my shoulder and I soon became that woman. When he took up with Ugh, I was the cruel woman he was suffering a relationship with, and she was the understanding shoulder who soon became the beloved one. He told her terrible things about me, and led her to believe that he was trying to break it off with me and I just "couldn't let go."

WELL! Guess what?? An old friend of mine in Athens and I were gabbing the other night and she told me "Oh! News! Guess who Paul's gotten involved with now?" My chin hit the floor. I'm not about to say who it is, cause Ugh is gonna have to find out the same way I did, but I couldn't stop myself from simply writing and saying HA! What goes around comes around.

Ain't life grand?

"If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger"

I've discovered a wonderful new blog called If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger, There'd Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats. It's not new, really, just new to me. The byline says "An Ongoing Series of Cultural and Personal Observations; by Tom Sutpen, Stephen Cooke, Richard Gibson and Kimberly Lindbergs." I have no idea who these people are but they've put together a pop culture skip through time that's well worth a gander.

Each entry is nothing more than a photograph from a different era presented within the context of a series, some with their original journalistic caption. With series entitled The Art of the Panel (on comic strips,) An Illustrated History of American Labor, This Week's Sargent (a John Singer Sargent painting, but not weekly by any means,) Broadcasters, Sex Education, Newspapermen, G Is for Gedney (photos by William Gedney) and Annals of Crime (my favorite. Surprise!) there's something for everyone. Here's an example, from the Gedney series:

It's entitled Nude model sitting on stool while photographer adjusts view camera (1972)

Here's one from the Annals of Crime series:

Youths Confess Murder of Druggist

Brooklyn -- This youthful quartet from the notorious Navy Yard gang confessed yesterday that they took part in the attempted robbery in which Paul J. Gillman, druggist, was slain in his store at Court and Amity Streets. Yesterday the youthful gunmen re-enacted the crime in detail, under heavy police guard, for Assistant District Attorney Wilson. They are left to right: Stephen Collins, John Keogh, William J. Evans and Frank Evans. (1922)

And another...love the umbrellas:

Police Suspect Murder and Suicide in Central Park.

New York -- General views of death scene in Central Park at 106th Street East early this evening. Bodies are those of Juanita Rivera and Luis Rizarry. Police suspect the man murdered the woman and then committed suicide. Time of death set at 4 p.m. A forty-five caliber pistol was the death weapon and can be seen in some of the pix near the man's right foot. (1952)

And one from the Old New York series:

Check it out.

Obama for America

We recorded this song that Molly wrote a few weeks ago. That's me in the Obama shirt at the beginning (I make another brief appearance later) and Nick on drums and on guitar at the very end. Also participating are Molly (natch), her son, Max (on guitar), her brother, Charlie, with a family friend whose name I've forgotten, and her dog, Petey. Sing along, and vote!