January 31, 2004

I Had Physical Therapy Yesterday and

Who Me, Stop Driving?



*

Well, I am walking on my ankle and using one of those walker contraptions. We’re renting it as opposed to buying it because it is going as soon as possible.

I WILL WALK UNAIDED AGAIN!

They put me through all kinds of exercises yesterday, and I am to do the exercises two times a day, morning and early evening. I still can’t drive because the range of motion is so poor, but I plan to be back to the old jalopy by the end of next week.

Ruth tells me that I shouldn’t go back to driving because I’m getting too old, and my reflexes are slowing down.

“The last time you drove with me in the car, I was scared to death,” she said.

Granted, I had gone through a red light. But, there were extenuating circumstances. We were driving through Ephrata, PA, a town I’m not familiar with. I had just seen a sign posting the speed limit (25 mph), and looked down to check my speed. I looked back up just in time to see the light turn from orange to red. I was already part way into the intersection and would have caused an accident had I stopped and backed up into the cars behind me. So, I kept going. And, (What luck!) a police car was parked on the other side of the street at the intersection. So, I just pulled over to my side of the street and waited for him to do a “U-ie” and park behind me. The ticket cost $128.00, and Ruth won’t let me forget it. I swear she’d be happiest If I’d just stop trying to do anything and give up!

Go South, Old Man, Go South!

Pun! Pun! Pun!




*2

Besides, after almost an entire month of the coldest arctic air masses on record I expect to look out my window and see dog sleds headed North on their way to Nome any day now. The Susquehanna River looks like an arctic ice flow. I know that people further North have it worse than we do. But, they too can move South, just as I would like to do.



* “Home Medical Equipment,” MaxCare, Maximum Health For Life, Acastadero, CA at “http://www.maxcareusa.com/equipment.html,” (January 31, 2004, 9:45 A.M. EST)

*2 The photograph above was taken from Arctic Scenes: Barrow, Top of the World, “http://northsun37.tripod.com/arctic.htm” (January 31, 2004, 9:31 A.M. EST)


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Arts and Letters Daily, ideas, criticism, and debate, a service of the Chronicle of Higher Education.

ArtsJournal.com, the Daily Digest of Arts, Culture, & Ideas.

January 29, 2004

Good Morning World!
Kerry Won New Hampshire with 39% of the Vote.

It looks like he’s on a roll. Now let’s see what happens in Missouri and Oklahoma.


”Opportunity Rover” is a Wonderful Distraction!

Perhaps that is why Mr. Bush wishes to go to Mars (I wish he would!). Here's the astronomical rout we would need to use to get him there.

*

Seriously!

The race to Mars would offer a wonderful distraction for the masses. Our attention would all be redirected from the Bush Gang's redesigning of the “American Democracy” to become the “Great American Oil Oligarchy.” Instead we will be pacified with 3-D images taken by Spirit and Rover of the Martian landscape, fascinated as the manned space vehicle is designed, intrigued by the prospect of men walking on Martian soil.

Mr. Bush also wants the first permanently manned Moon base sometime before 2015! Just think of all the wonderful press, live video coverage, and photographs such a base would generate in order to draw our attention away from Oil Oligarchy skullduggery. This is the real stuff of early 20th century science fiction. I say, “go for it America!”

We Must DeBush Before Going to Mars

However, the first priority must be to rid ourselves of this 2nd Bush Administration. In fact I have a list of political necessities in prioritized order that, if they are carried out, may allow us to pay for a manned Moon base and mission to Mars.



  1. Elect a new Democrat President

  2. Remove ourselves from the Iraq predicament

  3. Apologize to the world for the invasion of Iraq

  4. Concentrate on security against terrorist acts here at home

  5. Rescind the Bush tax cuts

  6. Pay off the debts incurred by our government because of the Bush tax cuts and the Iraqi invasion



If we do all this, we may be able to build the multi trillion dollar budget it will take to accomplish Mr. Bush’s proposed Moon and Mars missions.

*This is a copyrighted Image from Nick Stobel, Astronomy Notes, http://www.astronomynotes.com/index.html, June 26, 2003 (Thursday, January 29, 2004: 7:15 A.M. EST)


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January 27, 2004

Who's Going to Win New Hampshire?



From the collection of the New Hampshire Historical Society and New Hampshire Political Library*

It's 9:22 A.M. and...

Clark was ahead shortly after midnight this morning.

Kerry's ahead now.

Dean's closing.

It sounds like a horse race.

Kerry and Clark are the most presidential of the democrat candidates. Kerry is hated in the South. Clark seems to have the better chance of getting the votes if a presidential election were held today. However, since 57% of Americans still think the Bush Gang is doing a good job (FOOLS!), I'm happy that the election is a long way off.

*"http://www.nhhistory.org/museumexhibits/primary/firststop.html," NH Historical Society - First Stop: The New Hampshire Primary (Tuesday, January 27, 2004: 9:34 A.M. EST)


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January 26, 2004

It’s Gone!
It’s Gone!


The wicked cast is gone!



I’m happy as a twittering lark

Because the darn thing's gone!


Yeah, I know dear Journal, it’s a terrible poem!

But, I’m so happy!

The doctor said the x-ray showed the ankle to be in good shape. He also siad, “ It’s amazing how quickly you’ve mended, Isaac. You have remarkable regenerative powers for a man of 84 years.” I told him that 9 weeks was not short when you have to live it and he chuckled. I have physical therapy scheduled 3 times during the next week because my range of motion is terrible, and it hurts like “bleep” to put pressure on it, but...

It’s gone!
It’s Gone!


How About “Opportunity?”

It landed softly and began broadcasting images almost immediately. Opportunity Rover touched down on Mars at 9:05 PST this past Saturday. NASA said they also thought that they would be able to fix Spirit, Opportunity’s sister Mars lander, within the next several weeks.

For images taken by Spirit go to Spirit Mars Lander first stereo pairs. The image on this page was taken from Spirit’s Panoramic camera. I found it on the NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory site, “Spirit all Raw Images,” at “http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/spirit_p001.html,” last update, 25 January 2004 (January 25, 2004, 9:18 A.M. EST)

Mars, here we come!





It's amazing to think that these are not Earth pebbles, rocks, and sand. This is the actual stuff of the Martian surface, and it's at least 36 million miles away!



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January 24, 2004

Two U.S. Soldiers and 4 Iraqi Civilians Killed

CNN states that the killings took place in the Sunni Triangle near Fallujah and Samara.

The latest deaths bring the number of U.S. soldiers killed in the war to 508. Many of those were killed in the Sunni Triangle, which is northwest of Baghdad*


For a complete record of civilian deaths and injuries go to the “Iraq body Count,” a direct result of a U.N. innitiative, and run by the Commision on Human Security (CHS).

It just goes on, and on, and on...

The Professor Visits Again

It’s my fault. I asked Ruth to have him visit, but I am so overwrought after the visit. I could rip my hair out! No, actually I’d rather rip his out. I thought I’d sit down and write immediately to work some of the venom out of my system.

Part of the problem is that he’s talking about taking my things to the university in Pittsburgh. He says that they will be safer there. But, I’m still working. I’m not dead, damn-it (expletive not deleted)!

I told him that was unacceptable. I said that I don’t mind his going through "Sanctuary" and organizing things. After all, there was evidently some damage due to a leaking roof, and even a small fire. Goodness knows how that happened without burning the entire house at Orchard Hill Farm. In fact, I asked him, “how do you think it’s possible to have a localized fire in that attic without the entire roof going up and then burning down through that dry 200 year old interior structure.” He said that he had no idea, that he was not an expert in that area. At that point, I wondered... "Why not invite an expert in to look at the site of the fire.”

“Isaac,” he said, “I’m much more interested in your work, not the fire that almost destroyed the Varnastrama journals and photos of “The Silverman Performances. Thank God it did not!”


By the way, dear Journal, the professor named “The Silverman Performances,” I did not. I did them out of necessity. They were something I had to do, and at the time I did not know why I did them. Since coming out as a gay senior man I have come to some conclusions as to the psychology behind dressing up in silver foil as opposed to doing a transgendered dress-up performance, the stereotypical view of gay men dressing up. However, the professor has supplied some ideas of his own as to why I may have done them, and I don’t know whether or not I agree with him. I will have to do some thorough thinking about that because it sounds like an entire journal entry in itself. (See other journal entries about the "Silverman Performances;" 08/03/03, 08/05/03, 09/04/03.)


* "4 Iraquis, Two U.S. Soldiers killed in Sunni Triangle," CNN.com, World: War in Iraq, Saturday, January 24, 2004 Posted: 8:23 AM EST (1323 GMT), (my visit 1/24/04, 9:13 A. M.)


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January 22, 2004

Mr. Bush’s State of the Union

*

I don’t think I live on the same planet as Mr. Bush! For instance, in the State of the Union speech this past Tuesday evening, Mr. Bush said to both houses "...and the Iraqi people will live in freedom."*2

The rest of the world does not see us as the liberators of Iraq, but as the invaders of Iraq.

Mr. Bush also said, “The American economy is growing stronger. The tax relief you passed is working.”*2

Instead, we have lost over 2 million jobs while Mr. Bush has been in office and our government’s budget - It had been balanced during the last administration - is now deep in the red. Mr. Bush, stop spending money!

For an interesting and in depth alternative viewpoint to the President’s view of our world, read ”State of Who’s Union" by David Corn, from AlterNet.Org.

My Doctor’s Appointment and Ruth’s Visit

On Monday, January 26 the doctor will take a look to see if the cast can come off my ankle. I’m on pins and needles because the darn thing itches like mad. I’m ready to rock and roll, man. I want out of here. I’ve been stuck for 2 months, except when Ruth comes to THE BIG NEEDLE to take me shopping, and we know, dear journal, there’s always a price to pay when Ruth is helpful. Last Saturday morning, around 9:30 I guess, the door bell rang and then I heard her key in the lock. The door opened and there she was, all smiles. “What’s up, Ruthie,” I said. I use that diminutive on her because she hates it.

“Just thought I’d come in and help you out a bit, Dad. I know you have difficulty getting everything done because of the ankle.” She came in and rushed around the apartment, putting things away, vacuumed the floor, making me move 2 x’s from my chair, to the couch, and back again. Then she emptied the hamper and started sorting the laundry.

“You know, Dad, that the professor’s been working really hard up in your studio.”

“Yes,” I said, “ and it gives me the creeps knowing he’s going through all my things.”

“Daddy, we’ve been over this so-o-o-o-o many times. He is just doing his job. Besides, you should be happy that someone cares about that weird stuff anyway.”

“And, as I’ve told you s-o-o-o-o-o-o many times,” I said mocking her, “you just don’t understand what I’ve tried to do in my work and with the silver man performances.”

“What’s to understand about a grown man dressing up in foil and playing outer space alien. And, this Barnastrema thing.”

“Varnastrama.”

“OK, Varnastrama. You told him that you actually go there. Daddy, that’s really strange!”

“Why?”

“Because it’s in your imagination.”

“No, it...”

“It’s pure fantasy!”

“So, why is the professor so interested in it if it’s just weird fantasy?”

“Oh my,” she said, changing the subject. “This underwear is filthy. What do you do with it, scrub the floor?”

“The last time the kitchen and bathroom floors were scrubbed, you did them.”

“Daddy, she said in shock. “That was back in June.”

“How am I supposed to scrub floors with this ankle, Ruthie?”

“You broke the ankle before Thanksgiving, Dad. What about July through October?”

“Enough,” I said. “If you came to help with the wash, then do it.”

“But, I started to tell you about the professor. He’s taking some of your stuff back to Pittsburgh with him.”

“Why?”

“I really don’t know. I don’t ask. I just thought you ought to know.”

“Please ask him to come see me.”

“He’s a busy man, Daddy.”

“I don’t care if he’s the busiest man in all Pennsylvania,” I said, my voice rising. “ He’s messing with my stuff, and I want to see him.”

“Please, Daddy. You’re shouting at me.”

I forced myself to say calmly. “Yes I am. Because I’m upset. Please inform the man that I must see him.”

“Here, she said, “I’ll give you his phone number, and you can call his office at the university.” She handed me a beat-up business card.

“Thanks,” I said. “You certainly had that ready for easy access.” Would you believe, dear Journal - Ruth’s face flushed red? H-m-m-m-m!

* Phil Holt, “Terminators,” Holty’s Blog, http://www.satlink.com.au/%7Eholty/index.htm (1/22/04: 4:53 P. M. EST)

*2 The White House, “Text of President Bush’s State of the Union speech,” The Christian Science Monitor, csmonitor,com, http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0122/p25s02-uspo.html, posted January 22, 2004 (1/22/04: 4:18 P. M. EST)

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January 20, 2004

Over 20,000 Civilians Injured and Killed in Iraq War

Over 1500 Civilians Dead Since April



Those are figures we don’t look at often - and the U. S. A. is directly responsible for all those deaths. That means me! I am responsible, dear Journal. And, so is every American citizen for allowing this president and his administration to turn the USA into an aggressive war waging colonial Empire.

O’Neil Controversy Continued



The Treasury Department is insisting on having a full fledged investigation into the possibility that Ron Suskind had classified documents given to him by Paul O’Neil. Let’s be objective. The 19,000 documents were given to Paul O’Neil by the Treasury Department. In an article placed on the CNN Web Site “http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/01/14/oneill.author/index.html” dated Wednesday, January 14, 2004 (9:42 P.M.), Mr. Suskind is quoted.

"What's interesting about it is that the Treasury Department created the discs and gave them to Paul O'Neill to give to me. I mean essentially these are documents given to us by the U.S. government. If they want to do an investigation, they might well do one within -- I suppose -- the Treasury Department."


Mr. O’Neil has since stated that his portrayal of President Bush as intent on war was overplayed. However, the damage is done. I hope the Democrat Party doesn’t let this one die. I for one would like to thank Paul O’Neil for his statements, and Ron Suskind, especially, for his book, The Price of Loyalty.

Buy the book at Amzaon.com. and save 30 percent off the price. Yes, dear Journal, I am plugging the book!

*Ron Suskind, The Price of Loyalty, Amazon: Books, http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0743255453/103-0530358-6761460?v=glance (1/20/04: 7:35 A. M.)


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January 18, 2004

O’Neil Took Secret Classified Documents!

*

I don’t think so.

Several persons to whom I have spoken here at “THE MANOR,” and my daughter, Ruth, were under the impression that Mr. O’Neil had written a book. They couldn’t tell me the title. So, a bit annoyed, I wish to set some things straight. First, Ron Suskind wrote the book, The Price of Loyalty for which the documents were gathered. Second, the paper shown on CBS, Sixty Minutes this past week that was stamped secret was a cover sheet! Everyone involved, CBS Sixty Minutes staff, Suskind, and O’Neil all deny that the document for which the cover sheet was intended exists. Third, Paul O’Neil had gone through proper channels, requesting the documents from the Treasury Department. If he obtained classified and/or secret documents he should not have had, it was because Treasury Department employees gave them to him. Forth, O’Neil says that he wishes he could take back some of his comments made to Suskind during conversations with the author. In an article titled, “O'Neill Says He Didn't Use Secret Documents: Treasury Department Launches Probe Amid Furor Over Book,” Martin Crutsinger of the Associated Press says the following.

O'Neill in the book contends the administration's decision-making process was often chaotic and Bush Cabinet meetings made the president look ''like a blind man in a room full of deaf people.''*2


O’Neil also says that he supports the Bush administration and that he will probably vote for the president in the next election.

I find this last very strange indeed. I think we have an expert tactician here, one who does not say directly that the Bush administration wanted to invade Iraq from day one of the administration. Instead, he lets Ron Suskind implicate the Bush Gang's fangs. At the same time, if the Democrat Party does not seize this opportunity and pound the stake provided by Suskind's book into the Bush Administration’s heart, they do not deserve to win the 2005 election.


And, based on this new knowledge about the president and his cabinet, there’s this possibility. Did the Bush gang know that 9/11 was coming and not disclose information? Was 9/11 actually preventable?


Are you a green, yellow, or

RED

American?



* Image ‘http://www.inthesetimes.com/issue/25/06/baker2506a.jpg,” Mark Wilson/Newsmakers in Dean Baker, “Bush II: The Return,” In These Times.com: Independent News and Views, http://www.inthesetimes.com/issue/25/06/baker2506a.html, February 19,2001 (6:14 A.M. : 1/13/04 )

*2 AOL News, http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20040110125909990001 (viewed 1/13/04: 6:11 A. M.)


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January 16, 2004

Michael Goes to Court Today

*1

His trial is already being compared to that of O. J. Simpson 10 years ago. What a comparison! Michael is accused of performing lewd and lascivious acts on a minor. Even the wording is creepy -as though the minor is an object- why “on,” instead of “with?” O. J., as the entire universe knows was accused of butchering his wife and her friend to death. It became one of the major media events during the last decade of the Twentieth Century. The comparison portends bad things for Michael. Me thinks his life is pretty much ruined whether or not he wins this trial.

FLU



It is expected that 36,000 people will die of flue this winter, but so far Health and Human Services has not declared this an epidemic.

I got my flue shot back in early October when the vaccine first became available. Thank goodness! It takes 5 weeks for the immune system to build up an immunity based on the presence of the dead virus parts. So, those inoculated the first week in January with the first new batch of vaccine since October will not have sufficient immunity to ward off the virus until the second week in February 2004.

“O-u-o-o-ch!” To quote a certain Extra Terrestrial.

It seems as though we’ve taken lousy aim at this huge target and the shots are landing helter-skelter.

*2


*1 Marty Thau, Manchild Revisited: Race Crusader or Falling Star, in Pop Matters: Music,July 12, 2002, http://www.popmatters.com/music/features/020712-michael-jackson.shtml (1/16/04: 8:11 A.M.)

*2 The image of needles above was taken from Harvard Magazine, March / April, 2002, “http://www.harvard-magazine.com/on-line/030221.html,” (12/13/03: 10:03 A.M.)


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January 14, 2004

The Three Positions for Interacting with Art Work: Continued

*1

“Toggle Switch Panel”

Two days ago, I had discussed the three positions; artist, viewer, culture, and discused them in relation to Michael Anne Holly’s book Past Looking: Historical Imagination and the Rhetoric of the Image (1997). Holly is a proponent of reception theory and she compares and contrasts the various forms of reception theory in her book. Today I continue with the comparison of these theories.

First, Jauss’ reception history, in which an “explicit reader” reads the historic text through the author’s use of jargon, conditions, and concepts from within his/her culture as signifiers to cue the reader’s perceptions of the art object. Is it a purposeful technique used by the author? Holly carefully avoided such an implication. Secondly, she described Iser’s “implicit reader”, a “fabrication of the text” itself (Holly 201). The implicit reader allows the recipient of the text, “me”, the first person singular, to give up my anchor to my present cultural conditioning, a possibility that many a cultural theoretician would claim is difficult if not impossible. Holly stated that the expurgation of the reader’s current cultural anchor can be accomplished because of, “The looming presence of the work of art, with its own controlling expectations of its implicit reader’s role, cast[ing] a long shadow across the receiver’s horizon of expectations” (Holly 200). She had previously defined “horizon of expectations” as “a stage set” constructed by each reader that transmogrifies as it migrates through time. She enlarged upon the visual properties of the horizon of expectations by emphasizing Iser’s philosophical antecedents in phenomenology, specifically, Gadamer, and opposed it to the more thoroughly developed notion of mis en byme of Foucault. Thus, this mechanism of intercepting entities, explicit or implicit, whether constructed by the reader, the art object, or the time and place in which the “looming presence” of the art object was located provided for the restoration of the creative act to fundamental importance.

Because Holly chose the word “looming” she implied a predetermining presence of the art work. Among the possible synonyms for looming are the words; impending, approach, and make up. “Impending,” from the Latin pendere means to hang, weigh, or pay. According to such a definition, a strange reversal of the idea of consumption, the viewer receives payment, cash, from the object produced rather than paying for it. The noun “pendant,” also derived from the Latin pendere implies an image of the artist’s intent dangling from a chain that hangs about the viewer’s neck. The pendant conjures still another image in which the viewer is forced to look at himself / herself in a mirror wearing the art object in order to see the art object. In this image, the art object becomes the vehicle through which the viewer is able to gain some understanding of himself / herslef. “Approach,” also by way of Latin, through French, and middle English means to draw near, or, almost the same as.
Any and/or all of these meanings and images are possibilities, though they all point toward the importance of the act of origination. Holly herself unwittingly points toward the originator of the art object as the creative force behind it, and therefor, the most important of the trio of determining positions; artist, viewer/reader, and culture.

However, I would also posit that all of these meanings and images demonstrate the importance of the art object itself. It is the switch through which the artist’s intent is conveyed to the viewer who interprets that intent based on his/her position in time and place (culture). Thus, the art work is the toggle through which all three currents must flow.

To Be Continued at a Future Date


*2 The image above was found at www.moslerauto.com/mt900web/images/ (01/14/04:6:42 A.M .)


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Gay Artist’s Galleries

John Giuffre’s blog Thoughts From A Collapsed Brain

January 12, 2004

Three Positions for Interacting With an Art Work

*1

*2
Rene Magritte, The Human Condition

the artist
the viewer
the culture


I will be dwelling on this topic for the next two entries at least. It is important to understand how these positions work because Postmodern reception theory has granted agency to the viewer/reader of the art work. However, as an artist, I am the one who manipulates matter and energy to create the art object. My position is that the act of creation constructs meaning based on my ideas and intentions. But, what of the art object itself? How does it relate to the three positions of interaction with the art work?

Michael Anne Holly is a proponent of reception theory and she compares and contrasts the various forms of reception theory in her book Past Looking: Historical Imagination and the Rhetoric of the Image (1997). Interestingly, I found the final chapter of her book, to be an abstruse and subliminal attempt to restore both the historical art object and the act of creation to primacy, whether or not Holly recognized that fact. This attempt was hidden within a complicated explication of the related work of Hans Robert Jauss and Wolfgang Iser in which Holly’s stated objective (the opposite of the hidden agenda) was to describe the importance of the “reception” of the art object in the present. The hidden metatheoretical game attempted to circumvent the postmodern reliance upon the reader of the text, though Holly appeared to be perfectly comfortable with that reliance. Holly had also described the act of signing the art work as the act of giving up all privilege and ownership to the receiver of that object. But, ironically, she provided a comparative analysis of reception aesthetics that returned the power of the work to its production in history through its interception by a fictitious reader, that is anchored in the art object’s historical inception.

To Be Continued


*1 The image, “toggle”, is located at Dynatich/ dyna performance electonics web site, “http://www.dynaonline.com/english/accessories.htm,” (1/11/04: 11:41 A.M.)

*2 The image above, an oil painting by Rene Magritte titled The Human Condition was located on Mark Harden’s Artchive, “http://www.artchive.com/ftp_site.htm,” It is not viewable because of copyright. ©2000, Charly Herscovici, Brussles /ARS, Artist Rights Society, Reproduction, including downloading of Magritte works is prohibited by copyright laws and international conventions without the express written permission of Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York


E-mail me! My e-mail address is ZacSfuts@aol.com.

Visit my homepage
AOL Hometown


Take a look at:

Holty’s blog for great political commentary and much more from an Australian point of view.

Mark Harden’s Artchive. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s the best place to find excellent images of artist’s works on the WWW.

Gay Artist’s Galleries

John Giuffre’s blog Thoughts From A Collapsed Brain

January 10, 2004

Bush Goes to Mars!

*

Now that’s something I can live with!

President Bush will announce plans next week to send Americans to Mars and establish a permanent human presence on the moon, senior administration officials said Thursday night.


Seriously. That’s the first thing the man has said that I can agree with. The quote above is from the AP article by Scott Lindlaw titled “Bush will Announce New Space Missions.” It appeared in AOL News yesterday. If I were 24 instead of 84, I’d be training to be an astronaut right now. Wouldn’t that be cool, the first openly gay astronaut.

A-w-w-w-e-some!

As my great grandchildren would say.

However, with the manned Mars mission a decade away, we have to worry about the real possibility that Bush will bankrupt us first.

Good Grief, It’s Cold!!!

Two degrees above zero last night. It’s four degrees Fahrenheit now, at 10:18 A.M. The high today, perhaps 15 degrees F. And, it’s going to get colder by next Friday with lows of zero! Of course, I realize we can’t touch places like Burlington, Maine where it’s predicted to go to 20 degrees below zero tonight. If my ankle were healed, I’d consider walking to Miami Beach right now. Yes, even at 84, dear journal.


*The image above is from an article titled, “NASA Announces Contract for Next-Generation Space Telescope Named After Space Pioneer,” in Top Story, Goddard Space Center, September 10, 2002, http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20020806ngst.html (January 9, 2004: 6:34 A.M.)

E-mail me! My e-mail address is ZacSfuts@aol.com.

Visit my homepage
AOL Hometown


Take a look at:

Holty’s blog for great political comentary and much more from an Australian point of view.

Mark Harden’s Artchive. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s the best place to find excellent images of artist’s works on the WWW.

Gay Artist’s Galleries

John Giuffre’s blog Thoughts From A Collapsed Brain

January 08, 2004

The Professor Visits

I wish he wouldn’t. I don’t like the man. I can’t help it. He is going through all my things at Sanctuary. I know he’s cataloging them. I know he’s saving some things from being destroyed. I know he’s the first person to take me seriously. I should be happy that someone cares about my work. Besides, he hasn’t been by to bother me for over a month. So, I can’t say he’s harassing me. But, I just don’t trust him. Yesterday, he had questions about some of the dates on my drawings. He couldn’t read them. Well, in 3 of the works, there was water damage from that old leaky roof at Orchard Hill Farm, and I can’t remember exact dates from thirty or forty years ago. I did try to be as helpful as possible. I’m a nice man, dear journal.

See related entries about the professor onn 12/29/03, 10/05/03, 10/03/03, 08/07/03, and 07/22/03.

Saddam’s capture will help get Bush reelected.

*

So will Gadhafi giving up WMD.

So will Tax Cut For Heterosexual Families.

The average tax return for this year is projected to be $2500.00. Of course that’s for straight families with children. Can two gay dads or moms apply as a family? I don’t think so! I know that there isn’t much of a tax cut for singles without children, and of course that category includes many gay and lesbian persons even if they do have children and a partner. H-m-m-m-m!

I’m sure the big returns for straight families will convince many to vote the way the money falls, and not their conscience. And, conscience is a plastic thing. Give most of us some money, and we can change our opinion and our belief system very quickly. I’ve watched people morph before my very eyes (metamorphically speeking) when money was involved.

Mr. Bush’s approval rating is above 60% and rising, damn it!




*The image above was copied from armball.net, http://www.satlink.com.au/~holty/politoons.htm (11/15/03, 11:30 A.M. EST)

See the related article and poll on AOL.

E-mail me! My e-mail address is ZacSfuts@aol.com.

Visit my homepage
AOL Hometown


Take a look at:

Holty’s blog for great political comentary and much more from an Australian point of view.

Mark Harden’s Artchive. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s the best place to find excellent images of artist’s works on the WWW.

Gay Artist’s Galleries

John Giuffre’s blog Thoughts From A Collapsed Brain

January 06, 2004

My Special New Year’s Eve!

Who knew this past holiday would be so busy. My grandson, Samuel Jr., his wife, Nicole and two children, Amy, and Terrance visited. I have no idea where Nichol’s and the children’s names come from. Nichol’s maiden name is, Herr, as Pennsylvania Dutch a name as exists in Lancaster County. However, her given name and the children’s names have nothing to do with our Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry. They do have everything to do with a contemporary flair for catchy names derived from popular culture and / or television soaps.

However, I was extremely happy to see Sam and his family because I haven’t seen the children since 1999 when they were one and two years old. Not that I haven’t missed Sam. He’s quiet, but strong, much like my Dad whom I have not seen since I left the Amish order in 1919 (He'd be 120 now.). They stayed at Orchard Hill Farm with Ruth.

We all went out to dinner the night before New Years Eve at the Harmony Inn, an excellent restaurant and watering hole frequented by local professionals and yuppies. I had a roasted Caesar salad, a specialty of the house, it tasted as though it had been brushed with the drippings of char-broiled steak and was quite good. For my entree, I had a Filet Mignon. The presentation involved a mass of thoroughly mashed sweet potatoes piped in a window pain pattern on an over sized white dinner plate into which the filet had been dropped, and smothered in mushrooms sautéed in garlic, sherry, and butter. A sheaf of whole string beans steamed, tied together with seaweed, and garnished with almonds was placed to one side of the filet. I had coffee and Grand Mariner for dessert. My sufficiency was most certainly fulfilled. In other words, yum!

To Ruth’s chagrin Sam and Nicole insisted on spending New Year’s Eve at my apartment. So, Ruth, Sam Sr., Sam Jr., Nicole and the children watched the Times Square crystal ball descend on my television. Well, Amy didn’t, she had fallen asleep, though Terrance was up and raising (bleep!). You know how young children get when they are sleep deprived, dear journal. To everyone’s surprise, I had a bar setup in my kitchen with bourbon, scotch, gin, rum, vodka, mixers, lemon, lime, and a silver ice bucket I had rescued from Orchard Hill Farm before Ruth and Sam Sr. moved in. I saw Ruth eyeing it suspiciously. Sam Jr. talked about several of my silver man performances at Rehoboth Beach, when he was a little boy. Everyone laughed hysterically as he recounted the reaction of one woman who had told her curious children to “stop bothering the nice man,” packed her beach paraphernalia and toted it and the complaining children off the beach(entries about the Silver Man Performances; 07/31/03, 08/03/03, 08/05/03, 08/07/03, 09/04/03, 12/10/03).

Yes, I had a wonderful New Year’s holiday! If every day of the coming year is only half as good it will be a fantastic year. I wish that everyone might have just such a fantastic new year, dear Journal.


E-mail me! My e-mail address is ZacSfuts@aol.com.

Visit my homepage
AOL Hometown


Take a look at:

Holty’s blog for great political comentary and much more from an Australian point of view.

Mark Harden’s Artchive. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s the best place to find excellent images of artist’s works on the WWW.

Gay Artist’s Galleries

John Giuffre’s blog Thoughts From A Collapsed Brain

January 04, 2004

My Cast



and

*

I wrote this January 29th, but just finished it today. I guess I’m just sick of wearing the damned cast and can’t wait to get it off, hopefully in 2 weeks. The limitations caused by wearing it do feel like a little death.

Waiting for 2004

Old man sitting here
Vegetating in my chair
With cast encrusted
busted
foot and leg
Propped upon
The ottoman
Waiting for the new year.

I wish the cast would disappear.
Or that this mangled
Flesh and bone
Would heal
And reappear
From beneath
The snowy plasterscape
Of white frozen cream.

Oh! Would ice cream be a dream.
So, silently asleep in my chair,
I dream of iced cream
Huge mounds mounded.
And in my dream
There’s a slurp sound
As I lick it round
From bottom to top
And top to bottom
Sucking up every dripping drop.

What me despair?
Why I could be dead.
The wispy lose hair
Combed tightly in place
Upon the shiny pate,
No more early or late.
No date.
No time.
No thing.

Ding! Ding! Ding!
Baked to a crisp
Ding! Ding! Ding!
The corps’ the thing.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Listen to the oven sing.

Now sprinkle me
Over Mother Earth’s hips,
And pour me upon her lips

Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!

*The above image was located by a google search. However, when I tried to go to “www.sdp2ma-sdacs.com/Legislators,htm” I was unable to find the image, “http://www.sdp2ma-sdacs.com/happy%20new%20year.gif”


E-mail me! My e-mail address is ZacSfuts@aol.com.

Visit my homepage
AOL Hometown


Take a look at:

Holty’s blog for great political comentary and much more from an Australian point of view.

Mark Harden’s Artchive. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s the best place to find excellent images of artist’s works on the WWW.

Gay Artist’s Galleries

John Giuffre’s blog Thoughts From A Collapsed Brain