Opening a door to what we've forgotten

I've been reading a book over the past couple of weeks called "How to be a Gentleman: a contemporary guide to common courtesy." It's an interesting guide to the most affective way of being polite and well-recieved in company. Little things like "a gentleman never carries his cell phone into a movie theater. If he has no choice but to take it in than he certainly does not allow it disrupt the show;" "a gentleman says excuse me if he must inconvience someone by stepping over them;" "if a gentleman is walking his dog, he takes responsibility for his dog's poop."

Yes the little things seem trivial. And it would obviously be easier on us if we simply over-looked them. But it is that little extra effort that seperates the good men from the assholes. We all get annoyed by the person in the theater who talks on their cell phone. We all get annoyed by the person who turns suddenly without using their blinker. So why be that person? These are not rules, they are not required nor should they be. Because a gentleman would want to make sure that he does not put anyone off because doing so would be putting himself off as well.

Chivalry is not dead, it is simply forgotten. It is part of an ancient language comprimised for express lanes, cell phones, personal data machine and drive-through coffee. Yes, chivalry takes more time. Yes, doing what is right can sometimes be an inconvience or even difficult. I am not a saint, I have made a right-hand turn without signaling. I have carried on a conversation on a cell phone while in a checkout line. No one is perfect, but I would optimistically think that we all have some common sense (at leas to some degree) and when you think about it, that's all chivalry requires. Being nice to someone else. Going out of your way to help someone. Restraining yourself from saying something rude, that you know would hurt them. Why would we want to do this--what do we gain? Nothing, whereas a gentleman may have nothing. But he still has respect.

My Mother's Kitchen

It always begins with boiling water.
Add a little margarine, three quarters cup of mother’s milk,
and a dash of Sundays-after-church.
Mix together children playing football
in the back yard in a large bowl,
add in the men sitting on the back porch
slowly.
“Don’t forget the rosemary!”
little Rosemary always says.
Poppa always makes sure to toss in his
Louis-Armstrong from his jar of
sun-dried-music-records
(when he’s upset he always orders a side of
Beethoven).
Every time he tries to pick out the Gramma-singing-along
but mom always smiles at him and said it tastes
better that way.

When the foamy white cream began to bubble,
then momma hands me the spoon--
I get to stir, it’s my favorite.
Watching everything blend together
into a sea of white with tiny flecks
like little singing green fish.
I stirred until our family couldn’t get any closer,
then Mother would pour us over fleshy yellow noodles
and we would eat in silent reveries on the warm sunny table.

Poppa’s died, and Miss Rose-Marie
has moved to California.
My sauce isn’t as creamy as Mother’s was,
it normally comes out kind of gray.
I try to make it likes she does,
but it just doesn’t taste the same.

feeling much?

I miss this...

25x'25

It is true that our country has found itself in an unfortunate addiction to oil. The addiction oozes to the very core of our society, so that it is improbably to function without it. Oil has been a growing problem for several decades, evidently to hot to deal with immediatly and thus put off for the next administratioin or generation to deal with. Yet in the midst of pointing fingers and procrastination, a small voice sings out an answer.

The idea is that home-grown U.S. energy from corn and soybean byproducts can offset the nation's growing dependence on oil imports and relieve consumers and businesses suffering from escalating energy costs. -Washington Post

In addition to the ethenol power is the use of solar and wind power, giant power farms stationed in places like the dakotas that reportedly have enough wind to power the entire nation. These ideas are not necessarily new ones, alternative feuls have been preached by their advocates for a long time, possibly as long as we've been in this oily crisis, it seems that no one was quite ready to listen.

They're listening now. The "25x'25" movement (the idea that by the year 2025, 25% of our feul should come from ethenol or other alternative feul sources shources) has been growing it's grass-roots numbers with wild-fire tenacity. This legislation has tremendous support from both sides of the hill, from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and republican governor Jeb Bush, to the former Clinton cheif of staff John Pedosta and the democratic party from Iowa and Indiana (the two biggest corn producing states of the U.S.). Support has also come from the big-three auto industries of the U.S--General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. With support like this it makes you wonder, why isn't it a done deal yet?

25x'25 is a bold step, one that has been blocked by partisanship and personal agendas. Wouldn't it be nice to see politicians do a little governing instead of placating to the popular interest? We shall see...


The article

the 25x'25 official website

complacency

If there's one thing I've noticed in my endevour to become a better artist in any sense of the word, it is that the process of becoming better never ends--there is always more room to become better. As such, the one thing that has the ability to end art is complacency. How do we create when the burning desire of inspiration dwindles to an ember of self satisfaction?
It is the insatiable hunger to better one's self that creates new and better art, and is why the painter continues to paint, or the writer continutes to write or the singer continues to sing. So what do you make of a singer that ceased to struggle for better music? When a group of singers get up and sing the notes on the page instead of the music that was intended, how do you combat that without being accused of being to tough or "mean?" What do you say to people want to sing but don't want to listen?

click me

If you click the title, it'll take you to of a kid beatboxing into a harmonica. It's cool.

The art of creation

So I'm starting an art project. For those who don't know, I'm building a coffee table. I know to most a coffee table would hardly seem like art, but it's something I've been thinking about for a very long time. I see most of the design in my head, and I have most of the skills I need to complete the task, so really, why shouldn't I?

I'm not building this table for anyone but myself, so that it will look good sitting in my apartment. But mostly, so that someone sees it, and appreciates it I can say "yeah, I built that." That's the thing about artwork, while it has been given countless purposes throughout history, utlimately it's primary purpose it be aesthetically pleasing. We like art because it looks good (with the rare exception of some post modern art that is intentionally "bad"), and we like creating art because it's nice to be recognized for doing something good.

I'm not one to say that all art is good depending on who you're asking, but I will say that all art is appreciated at least by someone. I believe there is generally a limit to "beauty" and that we, as a society, can put parameters around it. But this still isn't the point of creation, I believe we create because the artwork is an extension of ourselves. And when we do really well on something it is a reflection on ourselves. We can look at the artwork we've created and we can see ourselves looking back--proud.

So I'm going to create a coffee table, not just any coffee table, a special coffee table. My coffee table. Once it's done I'll post pictures and you can tell me what you think, and then if you really want one, maybe we'll talk ;-)