Fuck War Freebies

Such a nice thing to do, Mike. And great idea to link the cover to the wikipedia descriptions of the show. Beautifully done. Thanks.

Mike, the Ace of ZonerAces!

number one thing inspiring me anymore is young folks

my kids are about to be .....18&21.....

that's hard to put in writing

oh, right, keeping it short!

it is so much not only the ones I grew, as much as almost everyone under 25 seems to be so organically real in a way that i have never known any other generation to be.

there is a particular honesty and no fuck taking that makes me believe that bullshittery such as what we are up against, even if it sticks around for a hot minute, that these *kids* will not tolerate it, and, the best part, is they'll probably take it all down thru tiktok or whatever social platform they use, with clever hilarious badassery, because, that's how they roll

what's the reason for this again?.....cool give away thanks, oh at least a few sentences.. up I'm for WORLD PEACE FOR FREE, got a problem with that?Ride on PEACE TRAIN. TRAIN FOR PEACE...SLOW TRAIN COMIN

ohhh and if it does happen Dp 47 lookin Tasty

I chuckled when I saw this. I just got done reading a book compiled by Rebecca Solnit and Thelma Young Lutunatabua called Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility. It's a collection of essays about climate change and the future written by a variety of people involved in the movement trying to help change things, coming from a variety of perspectives from all over the world. Good stuff. I read it due to my self-imposed pessimism about the future, thinking that says "I'm glad I won't be around in 30 years 'cause this place is gonna be a freakin' mess." The book instilled a bit of optimism. It's got a ton of positive messages about the future and surely would contain some passages that would definitely fit the bill for you, Mike. But alas, I borrowed it from the library and returned it already. So, maybe I won't hear that St Louis show. 

I'll drop in something I wrote in January of 2018. Not sure it "holds away despair," but, it's what I got for now. Maybe I'll make a trip back to the library. LOL

No Instructions Included

There’s a chasm in our country 

Getting deep, getting long

It’s being dug with the words 

I am right,  you are wrong

With the pride that we have in our country 

And hope in the land we live

There’s not a chasm in this world 

That we can’t bridge.

Choose hope

Choose love

Choose the chance

To rise above

Choose to be

The one to find

The path to peace

in our time.

only a few days left everyone

Slick that is sweet. it is so easy to be hopeless in light of what the entire world and all she (and we) is/are going through.

*************************************************************************************************************

my girly is going to be in the college play "Antigone" as the sister(!)

it's a 4 show run from the 16th-19th of this month

my son happens to turn 18 on the 18(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

so momma is pretty excited (:

i mean, it holds away my despair, so it counts?

I know a guy........ actually I know a woman who is doing good work. Her kindness deserves to be shared. She inspires through movement,words and deeds. 

https://joannarotkin.com/prison-arts

A couple of things to add, if I may. Hope there's some hope somewhere in there for someone. 

I ran into Amanda Gorman's poem for President Biden's inauguration the other day and thought of this thread after re-reading it. 

And I found some pages from  Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility I mentioned above. I guess they resonated with me 'cause I took pics of them before I brought it back to the library. It will give you a flavor for the book. It is hopeful.  

And of course, there's always the words of the late Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr. - "Keep the faith, baby!" 

Amanda Gorman - ‘The Hill We Climb’

When day comes we ask ourselves,
‘where can we find light in this never-ending shade,’
the loss we carry,
a sea we must wade?
We’ve braved the belly of the beast.
We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace,
and the norms and notions
of what just is
isn’t always just-ice.
And yet the dawn is ours
before we knew it,
somehow we do it.
Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed
a nation that isn’t broken
but simply unfinished.
We, the successors of a country and a time
where a skinny Black girl
descended from slaves and raised by a single mother
can dream of becoming president
only to find herself reciting for one.
And yes, we are far from polished,
far from pristine,
but that doesn’t mean we are
striving to form a union that is perfect.
We are striving to forge a union with purpose,
to compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters, and
conditions of man.
And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us
but what stands before us.
We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,
we must first put our differences aside.
We lay down our arms
so we can reach out our arms
to one another.
We seek harm to none and harmony for all.
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:
That even as we grieved, we grew;
that even as we hurt, we hoped;
that even as we tired, we tried;
that we’ll forever be tied together, victorious,
not because we will never again know defeat
but because we will never again sow division.
Scripture tells us to envision
that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree
and no one shall make them afraid.
If we’re to live up to our own time
then victory won’t lie in the blade
but in all the bridges we’ve made.
That is the promise to glade,
the hill we climb
if only we dare it,
because being American is more than a pride we inherit —
it’s the past we step into
and how we repair it.
We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation
rather than share it
would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy.
And this effort very nearly succeeded.
But while democracy can be periodically delayed,
it can never be permanently defeated.
In this truth,
in this faith we trust,
for while we have our eyes on the future,
history has its eyes on us.
This is the era of just redemption
we feared at its inception.
We did not feel prepared to be the heirs
of such a terrifying hour
but within it we found the power
to author a new chapter,
to offer hope and laughter to ourselves.
So while once we asked,
‘how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe,’
now we assert,
‘how could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?’
We will not march back to what was
but move to what shall be:
a country that is bruised but whole,
benevolent but bold,
fierce, and free.
We will not be turned around
or interrupted by intimidation
because we know our inaction and inertia
will be the inheritance of the next generation.
Our blunders become their burdens.
But one thing is certain:
If we merge mercy with might,
and might with right,
then love becomes our legacy
and change our children’s birthright.
So let us leave behind a country
better than the one we were left with.
Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest,
we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.
We will rise from the gold-limned hills of the west,
we will rise from the windswept northeast
where our forefathers first realized revolution,
we will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states,
we will rise from the sunbaked south.
We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover
in every known nook of our nation and
every corner called our country,
our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,
battered and beautiful.
When day comes we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid.
The new dawn blooms as we free it.
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it,
if only we’re brave enough to be it.

I like Rebecca's second paragraph.

>>>Mike, the Ace of ZonerAces!

Pretty big-hearted guy, if you ask me. 

Hope is a choice. We either choose to keep it in our hearts or we don't.  Easier said than done, but not any more difficult in todays craziness than the craziness that has surrounded people for all of time. There will always be something to worry about if you look for it. There will always be something to be hopeful about if you look for it. Our choice. Choose Hope.

going one step Furthur, instead of just choosing hope, if there is something near and dear to your heart, be the change. it doesn't require any money either. Give your hope to others by showing your love. Listen to a friend's  problems.  Everyone wants to be heard once in a while.  Give hugs. Smile when others are frowning. Smiles are contagious, just like frowns.  Instead of sending a scathing email to your representative political dipshits,  write them a letter based somewhere from your passion. Maybe an intern will see it and actually say, "Damn, he/she needs to read this one!".  When we cast our words and actions out into the ether, ripples travel everywhere.  Again, easier said than done, but just choose Hope. 

***I literally just read the last line of that last page, slickrock. YES!  Choice.

zoners give me hope

>>>>Writers write in the hope someone else will read, and understand, the things they've written

Made me think of this I read last week, Mike. 

One would think that playing songs based on hard times might be difficult, but Lewis says it's the opposite. "There's a songwriter named Mary Gauthier, who is a highly respected songwriter in Nashville, and she also does songwriting workshops throughout the state or the country, and she does say that once you write a song, no matter how dramatic it is, it doesn't become you anymore, it just becomes a story. It really is like releasing energy that doesn't have to be inside of me."

slick that is exactly the HOPE of writing

for any reason, i spose

catharsis

>>>Writers write in the hope someone else will read, and understand, the things they've written.

Bingo, Mike!  That's my hope with trying to decrribe the Bufo ceremonies. Maybe it will spark some curiosity in someone else who has shared  the pain that i suppressed and never dealt with.  It's highly unconventional, but there's nothing else I've ever found that sheds layer after layer of pain. And sheds them.  Full acceptance of the way the world is, life is,  and how it has always been.  Peace in the Valley.

No spot taken for me too. As sweet and genuine of an offer,  no need for someone else's attachments either. If any vote came my way, please just give mine to Jill. Thanks

I've been thinking what gives me hope, and what keeps away despair in my world. The first of a few things:

ART SAVES LIVES!
LOVE SAVES LIVES!
MUSIC GIVES BREATH!
LOVE GIVES BREATH!
COLOR IS HEART-FILLING!
LOVE IS HEART-FILLING!

LOVE! MUSIC! ART! COLOR! DANCING! (When in doubt, TWIRL!)

ohh and the BMFS stream fron Europe does give me hope https://www.youtube.com/live/vRlVJU5LCUI?si=Y0gE0jdtAidmZKcw

I'm helped by knowing that there are people who haven't lost their faith in other humans, that even though we know that there are shitty, thoughtless people who just don't care about others there are still so many who do. It's hard thinking that we haven't saved the world as I thought we might when I was young.

My grandkids, she’s 10 and he’s 8, come over after school 2 afternoons a week. No screens here (He’s obsessed with Mine Craft and others.) They are both readers with very active minds. They are good humans and will grow up to think of the planet as a place to care for with empathy and compassion for other people and animals. They don't know how horrifying it is out there.

Sorry, I would have liked to write more, and write something very deeply meaningful, but I can't right now. I'm occupied helping other people get through their days, take breaks from their sorrows, find ways through the dramas we all live with. Take care, love one another, feed your friends.

Also knowing that there are young people working to save the planet, working to create peace and the future.

(This is not an eligible entry, being too late.)

I'll bow out. Just participating in the discussion was good enough for me. 

I don't need to compete, I'll bow out, too.

Even though I didn't post much, nor anything groundbreaking, I appreciate the challenge to think. I spent a lot of time letting ideas flow through my brain; too bad nothing that will save us or make things easier came of it.

Love to you all.

Without music, life would be a mistake. (Friedrich Nietzsche)
The Dance (detail) - Marc Chagall
 

hmm yeah ok I vote for me but adore the others posts too

Judit love Marc Chagal, there are random churches here that have his signature bleu glass works..also some big ass cathédrale s like um Reims..

I love Marc Chagall, too, Tommy. I love the Chagall museum in Nice. If you haven't been there, it's a very moving and beautiful collection of glass and paintings. The glass in the chapel brought me to tears.

Hey Mike:  Should Tom win, he has to fly here for Phil 12.15,17 at Philmore and meet you to collect.  OK.  Bon voyage Tom. ABT (a bien tot)!

Something else that gives me hope is a very large gathering of Native American peoples just outside of Laredo, Texas this November 22 - 26. The intent of the 4 day gathering is to collectively come together to find lands in the southwest that can be directly devoted to Peyote lands so that this ancient medicine will always be available on US - tribal lands for many, many generations to come. There's more good than evil in the world by far, but the bad shit is so bad because it just cuts so deep into our ability to understand how any of these sick injustices can happen. But it does, and always has, and always will. We can ether drow in it (  Big Pharma would highly encourage us to ) and be  informed ( by second hand, at BEST, and highly edited info ), unhealthy, unhappy humans,  or we can shut that shit off and give hope to ourselves and those around us. 

Can't change the world, but i can change myself.   

could be a fun early birthday present mmm andy let me look at my work schedule.... and flights...

sf? Hamburger Mary's lol haven't seen that upsidown Christmas tree in decades!

So sorry Tom:  Hamburger Mary's closed years ago.  One of my favorite places.  Now it's "Chex Maman" 401 Gough St at Hayes · (415) 355-9067 Opens11a ⋅ Closes 10 PM

Wait, 4 people? If Slickrock and I have left the contest, aren't there just 3?

Mike, Greg used to say that you don't herd cats, you offer them food and they'll come. You offered, people came. It wasn't the prizes, it was a heartfelt invitation to think, reflect, and share. I appreciated it, and you.

What judit said.....and..........Mike, you've been a good friend to me for over 10 years now.  Ther's a reason I'v held onto your friendship for this long too.  You're a great guy who gives of himself freely, and behavior like that gives me hope.

when i was 7, i was beaten so badly that i was sure i was going to die, and i fully surrendered in the worst way possible.  I clearly remember that i gave up on attachments to anything and everything right then and there beause i felt internally that anything i loved would be taken away, so the logical thing in my 7 yr old mind was to simply not "want" anything anymore.  That scene came out full force in ceremony recently and. I've never thrown up so much in my life.  I could not deal with my memories on my own. BUT, as a child, until ii discovered cannabis, every day that passed, if a friend smiled or made me laugh, that's all it took to keep me hanging on....hope...when i  had completely given up, a simple act of kindness is all it took to keep me hanging on.  

I love these giveaway threads that you start out of the kindness of your heart , your natural generosity.  Simple acts like this give me hope. We can't stop the haters in power, but we sure as shit can show Love every time they show hate.   All my Love, Brother.  You're definitely one of the good one's, Mike.  Thank you for that!!!

Thank you Mike; and thanks to Judit for the black screen think tank. This was a great exercise for gratitude and seeing what's right in the world. Just writing this reminded me of Dewitt Jones. I highly recommend his video but it costs money to watch. Here's a Ted Talk for free. Love to all.

https://youtu.be/gD_1Eh6rqf8?si=ZGMRgQVS_doPOuZ8

Great thread!   Positive Vibrations! 

Gravy......each day is a gift. I try to be mindful of this.

I found one of Dewitt Jones' videos.

https://vimeo.com/178235521

(((((Joe)))))

you are both a couple of the best ones

Hey now Mike, Mom got the discs Thanks...fuck War indeed Ride on The PEACE Train