Fireflies

A friend introduced me to a new (to me) poet. Here's a sample...

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

ARE THERE NOT STILL FIREFLIES

Are there not still fireflies
Are there not still four-leaf clovers
Is not our land still beautiful
Our fields not full of armed enemies
Our cities never bombed to oblivion
Never occupied by iron armies
speaking iron tongues
Are not our warriors still valiant
ready to defend us
Are not our senators still wearing fine togas
Are we not still a great people
Is this not still a free country
Are not our fields still ours
our gardens still full of flowers
our ships with full cargoes

Why then do some still fear
the barbarians are coming
coming coming
in their huddled masses
(What is that sound that fills the ear
drumming drumming?)

Is not Rome still Rome
Is not Los Angeles still Los Angeles
Are these really the last days of the Roman Empire

Is not beauty still beauty
And truth still truth
Are there not still poets
Are there not still lovers
Are there not still mothers
sisters and brothers
Is there not still a full moon
once a month

Are there not still fireflies
Are there not still stars at night
Can we not still see them
in bowl of night
signalling to us
our so-called manifest destinies?

Addendum

Apparently the voodoo pins work. I'm adding Brooklyn, NY to the list!

Where are we going? And why are we in this handbasket?

Well Time Magazine named me their person of the year. Well actually it was "you" in a collective sense, but I need every bit of inflated self-image I can muster to get me through the ego-battering internship application process. I've now heard from everyone except for two sites; one which I'm sure is a "no" and the other which could go either way. Both of them were supposed to notify me by the 15th, which makes the wait even more frustrating. So, with the exception of these two sites (and they know who they are thanks to my little fabric voodoo site dolls with pins in them), I might be moving to Honolulu, HI, Fort Meade, SD, Syracuse, NY, or Coatesville, PA. I'm very pleased with these options.

Some of you may have heard about the storm we had out here on the left coast. Apparently it was the worst one since the 1930s, although I missed most of the news information given that I was without electricity for a day (which meant the only thing I had was cold water). About the time the temperature got below 40 degrees in my house, it came back on, something for which I was very grateful. The hardest part was not being able to obsessively check my email to see if internships had contacted me. Fortunately my sister came through and did it for me from Arizona. I spent most of the day in bed under my down comforter with Simon and Garfunkel cuddled up to me for warmth. On the upside it wasn't bad timing as the applications were beginning to send me into the fetal position anyway (two days later and I've now finally started to uncurl).

I'm now done with school for the semester and have time to catch up on things I've pushed from consciousness for the last five months, such as finances and organization. My cousin from North Dakota is coming to visit over Christmas which means a lovely Saturday night of eating popcorn and apples and watching M*A*S*H reruns until we fall asleep. I can hardly wait!! Then we will make apple pie and head up to her parents for the holiday. Oh, I love this season!

Tannenbaum

I have a tree. It smells good.

Snow and other random thoughts.

I woke up this morning to about an inch of snow on the roof. I wasn't expecting it at all so it was a pleasant surprise. For those of you who know me I have a love/hate fascination with snow. Not having grown up with it, it makes very little sense to me. Sadly Oregonians don't know what to make of it either and apparently few of them have spent any of their life in snow country. I passed two wrecks on my way into work and the ground wasn't even freezing. Tonight we're supposed to have two inches by morning and I am planning on going to work. Hopefully if all goes well, the rest of the locals will stay in.
Also on another random tangent. I'm listening to Sufjan Stevens Christmas album. He included the song "Come Thou Fount." The only connection I can make to Christmas is the phrase "here I raise my ebenezer." Now I know this has absolutely nothing to do with Mr. Scrooge and is only connected because my brain is tired. Any thoughts out there? Is this historically connected to Christmas or is it just a friendly hymn that makes me go back to that comfy happy place that I wish Christmas was for everyone? This album was given to me as a birthday gift and I recommend it for anyone who likes gentle background music for Christmas. It's one of the best, unobtrusive, yet beautiful albums I've heard in a long time.

Ahhh, Christmas....

Beth and Anne and I went to the Christmas tree lighting in downtown Portland. It was quite lovely with lots of people singing and drinking coffee. There was a weird guy there promoting the Cricket telephone company. He was dressed like a green court jester and had some interesting dances for the Christmas carols. There were, of course (after all this IS Portland), the anti-Bush protesters bringing their own special brand of hate to the happy celebration with their signs about impeaching Bush. Even though I like Portland because of its activism, I didn't want it there last night. I had to agree with Beth that a Christmas celebration is no place for protesting. Even I don't want to think about the state of our nation during the holidays. Happiness is often about denial ;) After the tree was lit and the carols were sung, we walked around the city blocks enjoying the pretty window dressings in the stores, drinking hot drinks and eating a slice of pizza schmizza. Despite its lack of sunshine, I am going to miss this city. It really is beautiful and I like how community centered it feels. It's one of the best places to be if you're homeless, outdoorsy, an activist or a dog (I've seen surveys and studies done on all of those things). I'll miss Powell's (the wonderful bookstore), the food (Riyadh's, Papa Hayden's, Pastini), Wandering around and seeing all the street musicians and artists (wish I had a picture of the guy covered in silver paint standing in a silver box, I'm guessing it was performance art?), and most of all, the people.

I also had a realization when watching Santa at the mall, we teach our children to be afraid of strangers, then once a year we shove them on a strange man's lap, shake things at them so they pay attention to the camera and try to make them smile instead of cry in terror. Are we mad? Oh well, these children are my future clients and will help me pay back my student loans!

Hoo RAY!!

I’m done with internship applications, and it only took:


Over a ream of paper
5 ink cartridges
Nearly 3 packages of “exceptional” resume paper
Continuous rotation of my new John Legend CD
Two boxes of Cheezits
A box of hard candy
A bag of rice crackers
Innumerable bottles of water, diet soda, tea, etc
A relapse of mono
Two ear infections
2+ months of panicking
At least 24 hours of writing
Loss of at least 1,745,564 hairs from my head
Coordinating 15 stacks of material, including letters from four different people
Suddenly stopping to regroup my financial aid status so my transcripts could be printed
A large amount of money in postage
A loss of important time for doing just about anything else


SO, for next year hopefully I’ll be in one of the following places (in no particular order):

Honolulu, HI
Syracuse, NY
Columbia, MO
Fort Meade, SD
Minneapolis, MN
Napa, CA
Long Beach, CA
Albuquerque, NM
North Little Rock, AR
Atlanta, GA
Coatesville, PA
Salisbury, NC
Brooklyn, NY
Houston, TX


And on another note:

If I ever live in Western Oregon again, I will seriously consider investing in an amphibious car.