Just checking in. . .

Lots going on and I hope to do some more writing. . . in fact, besides the Mary Magdalene voice, I am looking at playing around with some "Vampire" haiku. . . .I may post some of those by the end of the week.

Of course, I am always ready to rant and rave about Congress and cutting costs to "entitlement" programs--well I have an answer for you "boys": start by looking in your damn mirrors and cutting YOUR "entitlements."  For example, cut YOUR salaries; PAY your share of healthcosts (which is a freebie for Senators and Representatives); PAY your share of social security. . . .think of the savings and gains with just looking at yourselves!

Another major "entitlement" that is easy to cut is the military budget. . . bottom line: you don't fight terrorists with nuclear bombs, aircraft carriers, and anti-ballistic missiles.  We are spending money for a "Cold War" that no longer exists. . . If the billions of dollars for weapons systems were spent in foreign aid, hell we wouldn't need to worry about military costs!!

Just a little rant before I head out for the day!! Luv ya and see you tomorrow!

The Other Mary Washes Jesus' Feet

I knew to be discrete, so when Mary went
to wash Jesus' feet,
I slipped to the door way.
I was not jealous since he would be in my arms
soon enough.

But I watched in awe of her passion for him
and wondered at his worldly, sensual self:

He smiled that singular Jesus way when she
released the waves of her dark hair from
the constraints of its pins.

His face flushed in that intimate flush
that only I am capable of knowing when she tenderly touched
his feet with her love and her desire.

His body responded, rising beneath his robe,
when she rubbed his legs and feet with the
cool water. . . .

His breathing caught as the water
she cupped spattered
'cross his dry and dusty self and trickled into the basin.

And when she had washed him, she looked at her work
and it was good.

Then she took her hair:
her thick, coarse hair we women in the Middle East have. .  .
her dark, sensuous, waved hair,
and she began to dry his legs with it:
reaching up above his knees and gently and slowly tugging and pulling
down then up
and down once more
to his ankles
and up, up again to
slowly slip and slide her hair
down, down, down
to his
feet and toes,
each toe carefully fondled and carressed by her
soft hands and her glorious hair. . . .

Jesus was more than ready to come to me when we got home that night!

I am Mary of the Margins

I am Mary of the Margins. . . .
At least, that is what the church would have us all to believe.

But Jesus was my lover:
Sweeter than the Canna wedding wine;
More bountiful that the miracle of loaves and fishes
Capable of arising while encircled in my arms
again and again and again.

I don't blame the church for putting me just outside the frame
instead of in the center of Jesus' life where I
lived and loved
dreamed and desired
healed and was healed. . . .

No, God has hated us women since Eve
and the church has simply followed Jehovah's party line.

If Eve Had Been Greek

If Eve had been Greek—

The serpent would have horsed himself into her hips

And she would have begat a monster. . . . 

If Eve had been Greek—

The serpent would have wiled his way between her thighs

And she would have begat twins. . . . .

If Eve had been Greek—

The serpent would have spat a shower into her womb

And she would have begat a hero. . . .

But Eve was not Greek and she has been

Denied and denigrated for centuries for being

“The” cause of it all!

Next time Yaweh, be Zeus so we women will

Better weather the passage of the centuries.

English Paper: Comparing Donne and Morrisette

OK--I know I am behind in my blogging, but I am a full time college student now and I do have a little social life, too. So I have been real busy. This paper that I am posting here (I am doing some editing as I post it) was my most recent one for the English class this semester. I am looking for you to read it, then I will post what my prof had to say about it, OK?

John Donne lived and wrote four centuries ago. Even tho' he eventually matriculated to being the major church official in London, his early writing career is marked by sensual poems that contributed to the often used theme of "Carpe Diem": seize the day. Alanis Morissette is a singer and composer of the 21st century. Her songs range from pithy comments such as "Ironic" to an anthem such as "You Oughta Know." It is the latter song, "You Oughta Know" that I believe resonates with the young and rakish John Donne's "The Apparition." Both pieces, tho' separated by four centuries, capture extremely similar emotions and images.

Consider Donne's "The Apparition." The conceit of the poem is simple: the male lover in the poem has been abandoned for one lesser than he perceives himself to be.  Since his female "lover" has left him, the voice in the poem plays with the notion that he has "died" after this abandonment and now that he is "dead" he can return, as a "ghost" (hence the title) and haunt his old lover.  Alanis Morissette's song essentially sets up the same conceit: she, too, is abandoned by her male lover, and she is "haunting" her ex-lover's dinner time with his new lover.  And the emotion that drives both Donne's personae and Morissette's is the same: rancor.

Look at how both works communicate the rancor both personae feel. Donne describes his ex-lover as a "feign'd vestal" when his "ghost" visits her.  She is, in modern vernacular, a "fake virgin" who is already lying in bed with someone far lesser than he was. Morissette makes a similar assertion about the falsehoods visited upon her that spun out her rancor; the personae in the song exclaims: "Did you forget about me Mr. Duplicity?" Then, just as Donne asserts, her replacement is far lesser than she: 

It was a slap in the face how quickly I was replaced
Are you thinking of me when you fuck her?

The taboo word used to characterize sex in these lines reinforces the rancor the singer feels as well her disgust of both her ex-lover and his new one.

The duplicity of the ex-lovers' behaviors is reinforced even more in both works. For example, Morissette's voice growls when she says:

And every time you speak her name
Does she know how you told me you'd hold me
Until you died, til you died
But you're still alive [emphasis added]

This irony is a reiteration of what Donne proclaims when he says that he longs to see his ex, "Bathed in a cold quicksilver sweat." The rancor is a little more subtle here, in contrast to Morissette's song, but it is just as biting.  First, the "sweat" clearly references her vigorous, yet failed, attempt to roust her lover for more sex.  But Donne used "quicksilver" as the modifier and he does for dual purpose.  This dual purpose can only be teased how by understanding "quicksilver."  In Donne's day, "quicksilver" was the term used for the element mercury.  Thus, the silvery, shiny look of sweat covering his ex-lover as she lies quaking in the moonlight upon seeing his "ghost" makes perfect, visual sense.  However, Donne's double dig comes when readers know that "quicksilver" was the "cure" in Donne's day for STD's such as syphilis. Thus he is able to pack a great deal of rancor and frustration and anger within the balance of one word!

Lastly, readers need to consider how the images reflect one another over a span of four centuries. Donne's personae speaks at the end of the poem about "my love is spent." Typical of Donne and his generation of poets, the double entendre suggests both his post-coital period as well as his love's "used up" now that he has had a chance to exact his revenge through the ghostly apparition. Morissette's angry woman suggests a similar image when she underscores that she has moved on to someone else and is not exhausting her emotional or sexual energies on her ex anymore:

And every time I scratch my nails down someone else's back
I hope you feel it...well can you feel it!

And just one more example: Donne asserts at the end that he is not going to reveal all at this one haunting; that would make things far too easy for his "feign'd vestal."  He is going to withhold all at this point to assure the maximum revenge.  Morissette's lyric captures a similar vein when she hisses: "And I'm not gonna fade/As soon as you close your eyes."  No, she is not going to fade like a ghost with the coming of the light, she and Donne both echo the same emotions and exploit the same core imagery to underscore the rancor their experiencing after being used by former lovers.

The poems are not juxtaposed with any idea that Morissette's lyricist may have had John Donne's poem in mind.  Nor are the two pieces juxtaposed because they are wonderful examples of precise use of images or language.  These lyrics are juxtaposed to uncover a truism: there is nothing new under the sun.  Certainly this concept has become so cliched that few heed it any longer.  However, the raw and obvious emotion that is identical in these pieces underscores the truth of the cliche: In four hundred plus years, human nature has changed little.  And that consistency across time about our human nature is a solace, as well as a critical reason, for the study and appreciation of art.

Note: Tho' I have included a hyperlink above, here is the attribution for an article on mercury as a standard cure in Donne's day for syphilis:

O'Shea, J.C. "'Two Minutes with Venus, Two Years with Mercury' -
            Mercury as an Antisyphilitic Chemotherapeutic Agent." Journal for                    the Royal Society of Medicine. Vol 88 June 1990. Online. Accessed 21               November 2010.         

Note: In case anyone doesn't know the song: here is Morissette's video of "You Oughta Know" (click the link to go to the video):


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPcyTyilmYY

My disppointment about the election results

OK: I have to concede that I am politically liberal which I know will stop many people from reading any further once they see this sentence.  As a woman (OK--I am 18, but I am still an adult woman), I cannot figure why ANY woman would not be politically liberal!  All one needs to do is look at the constant battle women have--even today--for equal access and equal opportunity to understand the need to remain diligent concerning our rights.

Regardless of this preface, the one thing I wanted to blog about today was the idiocy of this guy in KY, Rand Paul.  Now I know that at this point, some readers may be saying: "She is some raving women's lib, bra burning bitch who is venting her sour grapes."  But let me illustrate why I refer to the idiocy of Mr. Paul.

Here is a man who has been campaigning and is now moving to the US Senate.  In his acceptance speech last night, he referred to the framers of our government and how the commerce clause of the Constitution is an establishment of their vision concerning capitalism; here is the video:

A couple of observations: First, capitalism as an economic concept did not even exist in the time of the frames of the Constitution.  Capitalism was a 19th construct emerging from the work of many economists, such as Adam Smith.  The framers would never have even thought in those economic terms and there is nothing in the Constitution that supports "capitalism." 

A second observation: Mr. Paul mentions several times in his speech about the American value of "freedom" and that we are some of the "freest" people in the history of the world.  Yet, Mr. Paul's social policies contradict this assertion.  For example, the Tea Party does not support the decision of Roe vs. Wade and would roll back that decision. The Tea Party does not support the free gathering of workers to petition employers for better pay and better working conditions.  The Tea Party does not support the free movement of people from around the world into our country--which, in Mr. Paul's own terms, is a beacon for many.

Because Mr. Paul is so ill-informed about a document that he is going to be taking an oath to support and defend and because Mr. Paul dissembles so much concerning the word "freedom" which his own positions gut, I have no choice but to refer to him as an idiot!

 

Now with Tea Party representatives such as Mr. Paul in the Congress, I am fearful that we women will need to be even more diligent and, therefore,  we must stand up to sell-outs like Sarah Palin and like the governor-elect  of SC, Nikki Haley, and assert what the Constitution DOES really say: All of us are guaranteed rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and that government's role is to assure that these rights are protected.  All of us are guaranteed protection from the intrusion of religious positions into our civil life.  All of us are guaranteed free speech, free practice of our faith--what ever that faith or belief system might be, and free exchange of ideas! Yet these very freedoms would be given away by the ilk of Paul, Palin, and Haley to business and industry who guarantees us NOTHING and is only motivated to deliver profits to shareholders.  That is why government has had to intervene!  It has nothing to do with expanding the power of government; government is working hard to protect our rights against those who care less about rights of speech, gathering, press and ONLY care about profits. . . . .

So women, be prepared for the 2012 campaign and attend carefully to those Tea Party candidates and those right leaning Republicans.  If we are seduced by the smoke and mirrors of economic debate and if we are seduced about the big lie of government intrusion into our lives, we are--liking Esau--giving away our basic birthright for a bowl of porridge!

Voting next week

OK: I've already posted somewhere (I can't remember if it was in my blog or on Facebook) that I am all excited about my first chance to vote in this off-year election.  I've been reading and listening a lot about the issues: health reform, social security, debt, housing crisis, banking crisis, double-dip reception. . . the list is endless (I want to thank mom for listening to the local NPR station in the morning while we are getting ready and in the drive to campus!)

But with all of this stuff going one, I don't understand one thing: if there is any significant change in the Congress, how are we going to deal with these issues?

I understand the frustration that some of the "Tea Party" people feel.  Lots of us felt the same way during the Bush years. . . but regardless of our approach to solutions, we all agree that these issues I mentioned need to be addressed.  How can they be addressed when Congress is going to be intentionally deadlocked with this off year election!

OK: let's look at a couple of these issues.  Let's go to health care reform.  Sorry, free market does NOT make for good health care.  Insurance companies are the only ones who come out on the long end of that stick.  Professionals are frustrated by quotas set by insurance companies and we Americans are not getting the quality of care that the "free market" touts that we have.  I have an aunt who is struggling with diabetes. She was diagnosed when she was 12 and she is just now 24.  Thanks to the reform passed this past year, she can get insurance, even with here pre-existing disease now.  But if that reform had NOT passed--or worse--this plan is repealed with a different Congress, she will die before she is 30!  Why can other countries in industrialized Europe and in Asia make universal health care work, but we can't?  By changing the faces in Congress in November, we are not going to make ANY headway in this matter.

OK: Social security.  I know that I will never see anything that I pay into social security and I know I will have to work longer than my mom & dad, and their parents.  So I am not worried about myself.  I am worried about my parents and my grand parents who DID contribute to the system and DID plan on it to take care of them in their old age.  I know we are in a different world than where FDR was at the end of the Great Depression.  But he had the right idea that collectively we can work to make all Americans have some sense of security as they age or in cases where they can no longer work as they have previously.  I think it is really ironic that many who argue about changes in health care and supporting social security express their fundamental Christian faith.  Didn't Jesus challenge us to take care of one another.  Didn't Jesus inform the disciples to take care of those in need--widows and orphans and the sick?  Didn't Jesus as that we tithe?  

Tho' I don't necessarily invoke Jesus as my personal savior, I certainly respect this part of his teachings and do what I can.  I see my deductions in my paycheck and my taxes as a sort of "tithing."  So why would Christians be against this idea?  I don't understand!

To be honest--this whole debt thing is beyond my capability of understanding.  But I believe that is we had not been in the ruinous war in Iraq. . . and if there had not been tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans, that we might be in a different place now.  I understand from reading my history books and from some reading on my own and from what my mom and dad reported: President Clinton created a budget SURPLUS during his years and balanced the federal budget.  If President Obama were given the time and the Congress, I think he could do the same thing!  So don't whine to me about debt when you are going to intentionally elect an obstructionist Congress that will prevent ANYTHING from being done over the next three years!

Bottom line: I am voting next week, as I have a chance, to vote for those men and women who will work WITH President Obama, instead of against him.  We are supposed to be the UNITED States, yet the political speeches, the adds on TV, and news all seem to underscore how were are divided! Wasn't in Lincoln who talked about "a house divided on itself"?  Wasn't it FDR who cautioned us about fear? Wasn't it Kennedy who challenged us to look as see what WE can do for our country?  What's happened to this spirit of our working together toward a common good?  What's happened to the heart of both American ingenuity and generosity?  

When I hear "Tea Party" folks and when I listen to Palin, I become afraid, very afraid.  But I am stealing myself against this fear by voting and by talking and by writing to encourage everyone. . . let's give Mr. Obama the help he needs to really move our country forward into the 21st Century instead of lapsing back to 20th Century pettiness!