Friday, March 16, 2012

Cycles of Forgetting

A   L   O   H   A  !
I See My Light Come Shining (w by Bob Dylan on Grooveshark


"Click and Prosper"

 “ He judged the instant
 and let go; 
he flung himself loose 
into the stars. ”

  Annie Dillard














"The release date is just one day, 
but the record is forever.  "

Bruce Springsteen













"Flowers help us release,
 renew and rejoice.
They remind us
 of who we really are
 and let us
return
 to our state of beauty
 and freedom. "

 Darina Stoyanova




 







" It is not fitting,
 when one is in God's service, 
to have a gloomy face 
or a chilling look. "



                                                                 Francis of Assisi




  >< } } ( ° >





Knowing
is not
'doing it.'

Understanding
is not something
to be filed
away,
or displayed,
yellowing,
on a trophy wall.

Use it-
-or lose it. 

We all circle
through forgetting
and remembering
the things
that life has
taught us.

Cycles of Renewal
Seasons among which
we dance.

Take a moment.

What deep truth
of Your Own
have You filed away?

"Yeah, I know that."

Re-remember
now
your original insight.


Use the good silverware!


Another swirl
around the ballroom.

I love it when
You come here
and dance
with me.

                               Warmly, cloudia




Thursday, March 15, 2012

A Woman's Voice

Recent Events 
Here in the US
have reminded us all
 of the importance of:


Bloggers Dream

A L O H A !
Everybody Is A Star by Sly & The Famile Stone on Grooveshark

aw go ahead! Click on the Cloud


" Our doubts are traitors
and make us lose the good
we often might win,
by fearing to attempt. "

Jane Addams













"You are made
in the image
of what you
desire. "

Thomas Merton













" A great Truth
is a truth
whose opposite
is also
a Truth. "

Thomas Mann



















" You will not become a saint
through other people's sins. "

Anton Chekhov











 >< } } ( ° >


She dreamed her whole life
but it was not to be.

From girlhood
she had longed for recognition
as a Serious Writer.
At 14 years old
she began a diary;
Four line entries
-five years of them-
without a day
missed.
"That's nice, Dear.
Run along now."

She edited the literary magazine
at Hunter College,
got her Masters in English Literature
at Columbia in 1936.

 Eventually she wrote articles
for ladies magazines,
 inviting friends
for conversation at
 her Salon
(her parents' living room)
attracting a couple
of literary lights,
Poet John Berryman
among them.

But she never broke out of
the Ladies Pages herself.

In 2003
a steamer trunk
was placed in a dumpster
on a New York City street.

The red leather diary
caught the eye of a worker
who passed it on
to Lilly Koppel.

Mz Koppel
wrote an article about the diarist
in the New York Times,
2008 saw the publication of her book
" The Red Leather Diary:
Reclaiming a Life
Through the Pages
of a Lost Journal. "

The two women became friends.

Profiles of the diarist
ran in publications
around the circuit.

Tuesday before last,
Florence Wolfson Howitt

the diarist

died at age 96
at her Florida home.


So keep blogging.
One day
there may be an email
in YOUR in-box
from Ariana Huffington,
or the Pulitzer people.

Just keep blogging.
Chronicle your Times,
your Places,
Your Unique Life.

Lives?

I firmly believe
that decades from now
Sociologists
will devote themselves
to studying these unique documents
that You & I
create.

Perhaps someone will write an article
in the Times
about You too!
And You still around
to be feted.

THAT
would be SWEET!


Sweet like your dear visit,
that touches me
with human warmth
& connection.

Thank YOU
Thanks for looking in today !

Warmly, cloudia 





Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Why We Have Elections

A  L  O  H  A !

" An election is coming. 
 Universal peace is declared,
 and the foxes have a sincere interest
 in prolonging the lives
 of the poultry.  "

George Eliot













" Democracy is the only system
 that persists in asking 
the powers that be 
whether they are the powers
 that ought to be.  "

Sydney J. Harris













" Hell, I never vote for anybody,
 I always vote
 against. "

W.C. Fields












"The (State)Capitol's
 video surveillance system
 to detect mischief in public areas
is dysfunctional only six years 
after it was installed
 and must be replaced.
  Why bother? 
 Most mischief in the square building
 occurs behind
 closed doors."

David   Shapiro
Columnist & Hawaii Public Treasure,
quoted here by permission
 of the
Mahalo!












" [Linda] Lingle practices the rhythm method
 of political safe sex.
  she rocks with conservatives
 when she's in Washington
and rolls with moderates 
at home. "

David Shapiro,
( of  the former Hawaii Gov
 now running for Senate )













" I want to be Senate majority leader
 in order to make
 Obama a one-term President."

Mitch McConnell
 Republican  US Senator











" We are in an election season,
and the test for any CANDIDATE 
 (emphasis mine)
is whether they can produce
 results. "

Republican Eric Cantor (VA) 
US House Majority Leader


<>

So the avowed work
 of a sitting US Senator
in a leadership position
at a time of crisis,
is to obstruct the President
of the Other Party;

BUT

The work of a Candidate
is to get things
DONE
(While the voters are looking
 and deciding their votes.)


And THAT is why
we need
elections !


Thank you for visiting Friends!
May Providence protect YOU
from your 'leaders"

                               Warmly, cloudia

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Face

 A  L  O  H  A !
Best Friends by Amy Winehouse on Grooveshark

" To see a world 
in a grain of sand 
and heaven in a wild flower 

Hold infinity
 in the palms of your hand
and eternity
 in an hour. "
 
William Blake












It is always our own self 
that we find
 at the end of the journey.

 The sooner we face that self,
 the better.  "

Ella Maillart












" He had a face like a blessing.  "
 

Miguel de Cervantes












“You are my Companion; 

You are my Best Friend. 

You are my Beloved;

 I am in love with You. 

 

 

You are my honor; 

 You are my decoration.

 


 Without You, I cannot survive,

 even for an instant.”

 

 Sri Guru Granth Sahib 














Thank YOU

for showing
 YOUr face
here !


Warmly, cloudia 

Race you to comments!

Monday, March 12, 2012

Landing in Honolulu-

- Buckle UP!


Wealth and Theft

A L O H A !

Dock Of The Bay by Otis Redding on Grooveshark

Clicking on the Photos is Encouraged
Sittin` by the dock of the Bay



"The rich exist for the sake of the poor,
 but the poor exist 
for the salvation of the rich"
  " -poverty serves us better than wealth, 
especially since wealth becomes 
an obstacle
 even for those who do not devote themselves to it. 
Yet, when we must put aside our wrath, 
quench our envy, 
soften our anger, 
offer our prayers,
 and show a disposition
 which is reasonable, 
mild, kindly, and loving,
 how could poverty stand in our way?
"It is a better thing to feed the hungry 
than to raise the dead"
 St. John Chrysostom











 Magic Island shows her magic in this shot by Ted Trimmer

"Unless we look at a person 
and see the beauty
 there is in this person,
 we can contribute nothing to him. 

One does not help a person
 by discerning what is wrong, 
what is ugly, 
what is distorted. 
Christ looked at everyone he met,
 at the prostitute,
 at the thief,
 and saw the beauty hidden there. 

Perhaps it was distorted, 
perhaps damaged,
 but it was beauty none the less, 
and what he did 
was to call out this beauty.

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh







Back in the day, Saturday Night may have meant a gig on my flute

" For most people, 
when they see someone in hunger, 
chronic illness, 
and the extremes of misfortune, 
do not even allow him a good reputation 
but judge his life by his troubles,
 and think that he is surely in such misery 
because of wickedness." 

St. John Chrysostom 
(+ 407 A.D) On Wealth and Poverty



 

I like to listen to the music in my head.  You?




“The bread which you do not use
 is the bread of the hungry; 
the garment hanging in your wardrobe
 is the garment of him who is naked;
 the shoes that you do not wear 
are the shoes of the one who is barefoot;
 the money that you keep locked away
 is the money of the poor;
 the acts of charity
 that you do not perform
 are so many injustices
 that you commit.”
 St. Basil the Great


 “- actually, it’s the upper-class people
 that are less likely to see
 that people around them need help —
 and therefore act unethically.”

 Scott Wiltermuth, 
 Social Status  Researcher,
USC. Marshall School of Business










" Human beings have accumulated
 in their coffers gold and silver,
 clothes more sumptuous than useful,
 diamonds and other objects
 that are evidence of war and tyranny;
 then a foolish arrogance hardens their hearts; 
for their brothers in distress, no pity. 

What utter blindness! . . . 
Attend not to the law of the strong 
but to the law of the Creator. 
Help nature
 to the best of your ability,
 honor the freedom of creation, 
protect your species from dishonor,
 come to its aids in sickness,
 rescue it from poverty .... 
Seek to distinguish yourself from others 
only in your generosity. 
Be like gods to the poor,
 imitating God's mercy.
 Humanity has nothing so much in common 
with God 
as the ability to do good. "

 St. Gregory Nazianzen 
(On Love of the Poor, cited on pp 295-6 of Clement's book)




>< } } ( ° >



A recent study at the University of Minnesota
found that wealthy individuals
are more likely to 
behave unethically, take candy intended
for children,
steal.

In one of the experiments
drivers of more expensive cars
were more likely
to cut off other cars.
and refuse to wait
for pedestrians.


"The wealthy break rules,
not because they are desperate,
but because the feel
entitled
and want to get ahead."

Said Vladas Griskevicius, PhD

Such individuals were found
to have less empathy,
and are less likely
to perceive the impact
of their behavior
on others.


Study Author Paul Piff, PhD
discovered that when low-income individuals
were asked to imagine themselves
rich,
they subsequently behaved
as badly as
real rich people. 

This explains a lot
to me
about our politics.


<<<>>>



Thank YOU
for the gift of your visit.
Join us in the treasure-house
of comments!
                             Warmly, cloudia


“Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, 

and the life of the candle

 will not be shortened. 

Happiness never decreases 

by being shared.”


 Buddha