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January 21st, 2009
 | 05:32 pm
Think good thoughts for a kitty. ( this time it's Simba )
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 | 02:17 pm
Confidential to Jan: Thank you so much for the mix CDs!
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 | 10:45 am - Good morning, America! How are you?
Sometimes (not often) the hometown paper is the way to go -- so (unless specified) these links are all from the Washington Post:
Interactive satellite image of the Mall yesterday at 11:19 a.m. -- yes, that's how many people there were.
video and transcription of the inaugural address.
Legal proceedings at Guantanamo have been stayed until May 20 so that Obama can "review the military commissions process, generally, and the cases currently pending before military commissions, specifically." [Oh, it's nice to have a professor of constitutional law as president.] ( more )
The Senate approved seven members of the new Cabinet, excluding Hillary Clinton because of Texas Republican John Cornyn's difficulties with financial details of Bill Clinton's charitable foundation. Those approved: Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Office of Management and Budget Director Peter R. Orszag, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Others whose appointments are pending: ( more )
Obama's chafing a bit at the bubble he will be living in now, where he can't go out for a walk when he feels like it -- but isn't it better for the country when the president wants to stretch a bit inside of cowering inside the shell of the White House as we have seen for eight years? (Also at this link are more personal details about his first day.)
And (possibly coincidentally with the new administration) US troops in Afghanistan are being given new routes for supplies from other countries than Pakistan. I'm wondering now if the tourism ad I saw for Kazakhstan that was run (on CBS? ABC?) during the early festivities yesterday was part of that deal. The supply route was previously through Pakistan, which is where the Taliban is running things more and more -- including banning women and girls from being educated. Schools have been blown up, and teachers have been killed. Do you remember the Bushes preening themselves over the bright future they were creating for women in Afghanistan and the region? Not so much. Not at all.
And (BBCNews) Islamist authorities in Kano, Nigeria, have told a group of divorced women to cancel a planned protest because it was un-Islamic and "an embarrassment". Instead they postponed it to Jan. 29. You need to know that these are women who were divorced by their polygamous husbands, who were thrown out of their homes, without custody of their children, and destitute -- who are not, in fact, being given the rights they are due within Islam.
But in Hampshire, England, author Robin McKinley is dancing in the street (accompanied by hellhounds) about the new president. And in London, an artist tests the Obama effect.
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January 20th, 2009
 | 12:59 pm
12:56 p.m., Jan. 20, 2009.
George W. Bush leaves Washington, D.C. as the ex-president.
Let the celebration begin!
[Note: neotoma says the crowd (as seen on TV from the Capitol) looked like the siege of Minas Tirith. I'll be interested to hear what the official count is.]
[Note 2: now I have to make new icons!]
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January 19th, 2009
 | 12:59 pm
I'm delighted to see my old Sentinel stories are being recced on Crack Van. Readers should realize that the website they're on is old (from the mid-90s) and has not been updated in some time, because I moved from pc to Mac and didn't have a program that would work for me; if there are comment links on any pages, they go to a mailbox that doesn't work any more. I'd like to update the site and reorganize it one of these days, if I can find a program that will not require me to learn more coding than I'm comfortable with.
Anyway, feel free to send comments on the stories to me at twistedchick at gmail dot com.
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 | 12:50 pm
A dream matures:
…I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day….
–Martin Luther King, Jr., speech delivered at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C., Aug. 28, 1963.
Although President-elect Obama included gay people in mentioning the groups that supported him, HBO blacked out Bishop Gene Robinson's invocation, didn't introduce the Washington DC Gay Men's Chorus when they performed or identify them onscreen. Here is the full text of Robinson's invocation. If you want to complain to HBO, here's the link for that. Pam's House Blend has video links of both speakers, and notes that Robinson's invocation was supposed to offset the insult of homophobe Rick Warren's invocation tomorrow.
More from USA Today, Dallas Voice, Washington Monthly and AfterEllen.
Update: Reruns of the concert will include the invocation footage, according to HBO.
NYTimes: Two churches, black and white, see inaugural hope.
CNN: Obama plans ambitious first week.
Paul Krugman writes a letter to Obama with a lot of suggestions.
*Now* Nancy Pelosi wants an investigation of Bush officials. Timing is everything, from the woman who put the impeachment off the table for two years.
This is where people lived in Gaza City. It's not there any more. Israel plans to control reconstruction of Gaza. Israel has destroyed 5,000 homes, 16 government buildings and 20 mosques, and damaged 20,000 houses (for some definition of "damaged" that doesn't quite include total destruction.) Saudi Arabia has offered a billion dollars to rebuild the Gaza Strip. And there's more going on behind the scenes.
Al Jazeera as the violence network, making people think differently about war. Does the media self-censorship considered in this Vanity Fair article happen there, too? Or, considering the VF is by Hitchins, is that something only in his mind?
Perhaps the true history of the Bush years can best be read in the titles of the Onion satirical articles during that time. [go to the site; the syndication link needs editingf or bad code]
Ozarque has recommended links in sf, fantasy and filk.
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 | 11:05 am - yes, there is a vague canine theme below the fold, why do you ask?
Lifehacker's guide to catching the inauguration from anywhere. Online. Twitter. Your phone. Your tv. And the full official schedule to all of it.
Saving the pups of war in Afghanistan. And nowzad dogs, rescuing stray and abandoned dogs anywhere in the world.
Bush's long, lame goodbye. ( from NYTimes )
Woofreport. A daily digest of dog-related links. Or bytes, or bites, you might say. Perhaps bones and biscuits?
(and this icon because Susan B. Anthony had a dog who went with her everywhere. If the Obamas had picked out their dog yet, I'd have its photo here, too.)
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January 18th, 2009
 | 09:58 pm
mac-stone on LJ is organizing a summer diversity festival in e-fiction. This is still in the organizing stages; if you are a zine editor (or writer, or other creative person) and want to participate, contact her at the above link on LiveJournal.
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January 17th, 2009
 | 06:48 pm - a few late notes of the Bushite era
Inaugural notes:
The Rev. Sharon Watkins will preach at the National Prayer Service at National Cathedral on Jan. 21, the first woman to do so.
You want Obama to hear your ideas? Put them here.
Worst. President. Ever. He continues to live deep in denial of everthing. And the target of shoe-throwers everywhere.
House Judiciary Committee chair John Conyers and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse say that if Obama won't investigate Bush-era crimes, they will. I hope they include the deliberate withholding of federal aid to New Orleans. And the NYTimes believes we should not let the previous administration get away with crimes, regardless of Obama's wish to look forward instead of backwards.
Shall we just call it disrespect for the law?
Economic disasters and stupid people -- the single clearest explanation of the situation that I have seen.
Guerilla tactics at the auction of oil leases on federal land.
It may take a year for Obama to close Guantanamo. One major matter is to find places for the people to go who are held there. And then there's the question of how far his foreign policy will stray from the current administration's policy. But Simon Schama says things are looking up.
24 lets the neoCons revisit their love of torture, still a major theme despite the season's start with a Senate investigation into Jack Bauer. More here. The NYTimes says both Bush and Bauer are running on empty. And Slate says the declaration by a judge that torture is torture needs to be regarded as definitive.
Let's be clear about this: wealth is not an indication that God loves you more than someone who's poor. That entirely contradicts Jesus' words about 'blessed are the poor' (not just the poor in spirit). And while we're at it, the calamitous economic situation is not God's punishment upon those who don't have money. It is, rather, the errors of wealthy men who just don't give a damn about anyone else's welfare.
How Israel is using the media to sell the idea of 'ethical warfare' while doing inethical things.
Daily Kos considers HHS and the Workers' Religious Freedom vs. Patients Rights regulations.
The Supreme Court has loosened the rules on evidence: ( more )
Being George Plimpton.
A Leader's Manifesto. If you have ever had a bad manager, read this.
The TED Talks. Everything you wanted to know about everything, with wit and enthusiasm.
The Mass Observation Archive. And Hate on a map, which shows you where *everyone* lives who donated money to support Proposition 8.
Farewell to the Year's Best Fantasy & Horror.
Where's your food from? Find out with The Food Map.
The book of wisdom.
WalletPop deals. Coupon.com.
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January 16th, 2009
 | 06:05 pm - inaugural notes and more
Inaugural notes:
From the "Commemorative Guide to Riding Metro during the Presidential Inauturation Weekend":
On Jan. 20, Inauguration Day:
-- Archives and Smithsonian Stations will be completely closed.
-- You will not be allowed to cross Pennsylvania Avenue, on foot or any other way.
-- Everyone coming to inaugural events will go through security screening. Prohibited are: bicycles, backpacks and large bags, laser pointers, large signs and posters, animals other than guide animals, and alcohol.
-- No large coolers, containers or bicycles will be allowed on trains all weekend.
-- No restrooms will be available. [ Note: Metro doesn't have restrooms for the public anyway.]
From The Washington Post, Wed. Jan. 14, 2009, p. B2:
Some Stations to be Entrance- or Exit-Only
Several Metro stations will have entrances that are entrance- or exit-only on Inauguration Day to move as many people as possile into and out of the system, officials said.
These five stations will ahve some entrances that are exit-only and some entrances that are entry-only: Stadium-Armory on the Blue/Orange line, Metro Center on the Red and Blue/Orange lines, Farragut North on the Red line, Gallery Place-Chinatown on the Red and Yellow/Green lines, L'Enfant Plaza on the Blue/Orange and Yellow/Green lines, and Union Station on the Red line.
These five stations, all on the Blue and Orange lines, are exit-only from 4-10:30 a.m.: Federal Triangle, Federal Center SW, FArragut West, Capitol South and McPherson Square.
In addition, Metro official sare urging riders not to transfer at Metro Center, Gallery Place or L'Enfant Plaza in anticipation of unprecedented crowds on that day. Reducing transfers at these key hubs will ease congestion, officials said. For a complete listing of stations designated as exit- or entrance-only on Jan. 20, go to www. wmata.com/about_metro/news/.
And they expect people to get somewhere downtown when they won't allow them to change trains?
One of the children who has been kept at Guantanamo for a third of his life is to be released.
Lead poisoning from recycling car batteries is killing children in Senegal.
Helen Thomas on the Bush presidency.
The Senate passes the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.
serenya_loreden provides links for the complete book of The Authoritarians, by Prof. Robert Altemeyer; this is his book on authoritarianism for the general reader. It's all here.
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January 15th, 2009
 | 10:57 am - moving images in the dark
Two things helped me survive the hell that was grad school: reading my way through the 50 oldest books in Irish literature, with the stories in Gaelic on the left page and English on the right, and going to the movies. Today I'm talking about four movies you should see, if for no other reason than the Hollywood we have now does not have the nerve, guts, or interest in making them because they don't have lots of special effects. These are movies that focus on people. ( roll 'em )
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January 13th, 2009
 | 09:03 pm
Mini-review of this season's 24, so far: ( spoiler )
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 | 08:22 pm - thought experiment
1. According to what I remember, the first time the name Wendy appeared was in Peter Pan.
2. In Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run, the narrator (singer) is asking Wendy to run away with him in his hotrod (well, he's also asking her for a lot more.)
How does it change your perception of that song if you consider that the singer is Peter Pan, now in his late teens or early 20s, asking Wendy to run away with him again?
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January 12th, 2009
 | 03:26 pm - Inaugural notes
I understand (from the Friends Meeting of Washington newsletter) that all the churches in DC have agreed to stay open during Inauguration Day to provide shelter from the cold and weather to anyone who needs a break from it. Friends Meeting of Washington, near Dupont Circle, is also going to provide a safe place for people who are coming downtown to leave their luggage or evening clothes for later; it's likely that other churches are going to do that also. If you are planning to come stand to watch the Inauguration parade from along the parade route, or to stand in the Mall for the swearing-in, and are also planning later on to go to a party or one of the balls, it may be worth your time to phone a church near where you will want to be, to see if it will be able to hold your evening clothes for you.
All of this is being done as a public service; I can't speak for other denominations, but as far as I know Friends aren't going to be doing anything other than making sure people are warm and have somewhere to sit down out of the cold. I doubt that most of the other churches are going to treat this as anything other than a public service, also.
It's always a good thing to know there's somewhere to go to get indoors, especially if there are huge crowds, and even more so if the weather turns rainy/snowy/sleety/ugly. Take care of yourselves, please.
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January 11th, 2009
 | 06:49 pm - a mixed bag of hope and despair, with some coyote in the corners
Congressman Conyers proposes a Truth Commission. More details here.
The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear two cases concerning laws providing special protection for minorities in the workplace and in the voting booth. More here and here.
Dalliance and double standards -- why is it that sexual misbehavior only seems to matter if it's not a Republican who's doing it?
The privatization of water.
What you need to remember, whenever you see something like this talking about unemployment rates, is that the numbers are not comprehensive. The government tracks the number of people who are receiving unemployment insurance payments, and to some degree the ones who have been turned down for such payments because they were fired rather than laid off (or it used to, at least) or because they didn't work enough hours in the week for their jobs to qualify (all too common when jobs have been made part time and someone is working two or three part-time jobs to make ends meet.) But those who are not receiving unemployment, those who have been job-hunting for more than a year, or those who are trying to come back into the working world after time out are not included. The standard assumption is that the real unemployment rate is, at minimum, double what is calculated by the government. So, if it was 4.2 percent (6 million) when Bush took office and is now 7.2 percent and 11.1 million, that's only the official numbers. Double it to find reality.
In London, up to 200,000 protest Israeli aggression. Bill Moyers has measured, well-considered words to say about the Israel/Gaza situation; this link includes video and a link to transcript. The commentary is toward the end of the transcript: ( here ) Thoughts on what Obama should do to take action are here.
Italy privatized its retirement financing, the way Bush wanted to do here. How's that working? Not well.
Tattooed bikers, a dog's best friends. ( behind cut )
In China, waste recyclers are losing their jobs. That's going to affect us, too, when the market for recyclables collapses.
A manifesto on magical education.
Stephen Colbert debates copyright law with Lawrence Lessig.
Happy Birthday, Alice Paul.
What happens to the people who seek asylum in Australia whom Australia's government turns away because they're not "refugee enough"?
Patrick Swayze has pneumonia.
Google creates and releases blog converters for Blogger, LJ, Movable Type and WordPress formats.
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January 9th, 2009
 | 07:53 pm
Every time that ad for the new Underworld movie comes on Sci-Fi, I hear it as "Underworld: Rise of the Lichens." I doubt this is what they intended.
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 | 10:23 am - I'm so tired of stupidity today it isn't even funny
War is insanity, regardless of how one draws the rules.
The rules of war, as I have understood them, say that soldiers fire at each other, the armed against the armed. They do not fire on civilians. They do not keep the wounded from receiving aid. I seem to recall that the latter borders on a war crime; it is certainly a violation of international humanitarian law.
This is what is happening in Gaza. For four days the Israelis kept aid workers out of a residential area it had bombed to destruction; when they went in, they found 100 people who were still alive trapped in the rubble with the dead. Small children were sitting next to their mother's corpses. I think you can take it as read that those children are hungry and thirsty, and will not get over this with a fresh blankie and a cup of cocoa. And the insanity continues in return. Don't even think of commenting to this post in support of Israel's immoral and illegal tactics here. There is no excuse for this. None at all. I'm not excusing the stupid murderous idiot in the last link, either. There are no excuses anywhere. Take a good long look.
Someone has to be pretty venal and petty to make his money by skimming the food allowance for jail prisoners. Well, an Alabama sheriff did it to the tune of nearly three times his own salary, letting his prisoners border on starvation. He's going to jail now himself. By the way, the budget for food was $1.75 per day per prisoner. Just how much did he have to take from them to clear $212,000 over three years?
Virginia feels snubbed by the inaugural bridge closings: "First was the hysteria of announcing over 4 million people might be flooding the Mall. Later, they amend that number by half. Then they announce there will be no parking, few toilets and that everyone will be standing and waiting for hours. Then they tell people not to bring children and, finally, they close all the bridges," fumed Virginian Holly Kenney. "Do they think we're dense? Clearly, the public is no longer welcome." But to some business and political leaders in the region, the plan represents more than a snub. They are concerned that the unprecedented closings and restrictions will turn away visitors, hurt businesses and employees, and tip the balance too far toward security over access. ... ( more )
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January 8th, 2009
 | 08:57 pm
[Yes, the icon is appropriate.]
Supporters of the homophobic Proposition 8 in California want to change state law that requires name, address, and employer's name of anyone contributing to a political campaign.
Also in California, a database that will tell you who is laying off workers. And something on just what those laid-off workers feel about Gov. Ahnold.
Eyewitnesses speak of the slaughter of innocent civilians by the Israelis in Gaza.
The case for prosecuting war crimes in the Bush Administration (video.) And Congressman John Conyers wants to investigate the legitimacy of Bush policies. Perhaps that will include something of his abuse of military veterans.
How the US Army Field Manual still codifies torture -- what can be done and how acceptable it is. ( more )
The Army mistakenly sends out 7,000 condolence letters addressed to "Dear John Doe".
I have written before about the Family, the ultrafarright Dominionist group that has its talons deep into the Republican Party. What I did not have information on before was this: Hillary Clinton has been involved with The Family, aka The Fellowship, for some years now. Not just with them at the National Prayer Breakfast, but as a member of a "cell church". Read these links. You need to know this. I freely admit that I like Hillary, but I do not at all like The Family, what they do or what they stand for, and I'm extremely concerned at this connection. Each of the links in this section has many other links within it; please read at least some of them. It's best to be well informed when dealing with such an organized and methodical political antagonist -- and do not mistake this: the Family are homophobic, anti-union (or any other bottom-up organized group), triumphalist and intent on taking over the US government (among others) for their version of God.
10 movie endings spoiled by history. 11 movies saved by historical inaccuracy.
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| 08:41 am
So. You live in the DC area and you're not going to the Inaugural stuff downtown but you think you might want to get a bite to eat at that little place in Northwest, or maybe you want to just cross the Potomac into Georgetown to pick up that thing you had on order at that shop in Georgetown Park, and you want to do this on Jan. 20.
Think again. The bridges will be closed, many highways will be blocked off, and you ain't goin' nowhere. Well, you might be able to walk from Roslyn across the Key Bridge if you don't have acrophobia, and if they let you through on foot, maybe. ( details )
That was the Washington Post's version. In addition, a little more from ABC News: ( how many cops? )
Still think you want to come to the inaugural? If you do decide to walk across the Key Bridge, it's a good three miles to the Mall on foot. Better wear good walking shoes and leave the jackknife at home so you can get through security. It's farther from Chain Bridge, but if you cross Chain Bridge and don't mind acting like a mountain goat you could walk up to MacArthur Boulevard and get pizza at Listrani's, the pizzaria that serves the White House (and for good reason -- it's excellent). Now, if you happen to be going to one of the inaugural balls being held downtown, and you're walking across the bridge at 8 a.m. (or whatever time), are you bringing your dress on a coathanger? And where are you going to park it during the parade? It better be at your office downtown, because you know that coathanger isn't going to be allowed on the Mall.
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January 7th, 2009
| 10:27 am
What does Obama owe Congressional Republicans? Not a damn thing.
Bob Barr, who wrote the Defense of Marriage Act, now thinks it should go. That doesn't mean his politics have changed. Don't read the wrong thing into this article; I very much doubt that he's waving a rainbow flag.
Roland Burris, appointed by the corrupt Illinois Gov. Blagojevich, was not seated as the junior Illinois senator yesterday because of that appointment. There are all sorts of technical and legal issues involved, especially considering that Blagojevich is under investigation for attempting to sell the Senate seat that was Obama's.
13,847 recommendations that Bush ignored.
Escaping from the Inaugural. If I had money and somewhere to go, I'd be very tempted.
Sales of hybrid cars were down 42% in December -- no surprise, considering the economy and the declining price of gas. But my guess is that it's mostly the economy. Interesting graph at this link.
In Michigan, is there something like Stonehenge under the lake? And is that a mastodon carved on that rock?
In Britain, not really used to negative numbers in terms of weather. Trafalgar Square fountains are icy. People are eating hot curry pasties. But the temperatures they're dealing with are the everyday ones I grew up with in the winter between Rochester and Buffalo, NY. When I went to college in the Adirondacks, it went to -40 for all of January each year. That's -40 F. (We spent a lot of time walking in steam tunnels, and I lived in long underwear under everything. But that was the 1970s; not all love beads and lace.) Also, there are photos here of the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival in China.
In Nigeria, pumpkins =/= bike helmets.
In Iran, a sexual revolution is taking place, and it may not be what you think.
Will fertilizing the ocean with iron help with global warming?
A new kind of batter improves MacBook Pro battery life by 60%, according to Treehugger.
Minimalist animation.
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January 6th, 2009
 | 08:26 pm
It took four hours to move my LJ to IJ: 6282 entries. I used LJ Migrate, for which the info is here: http://www.greatestjournal.com/users/alter_writes/53118.html. No comments appear to have made it, and no, I did not move the Free Speech Zone community, which is no longer mine anyway. I realize there are legal/technical/ethical/privacy/whatever issues about the comments, but I'm a little surprised that they weren't moved when LJ Migrate said it moved some 25,000 of them.
Actually, moving the LJ was not that big an issue for me for one reason: most of the entries I wrote were newsblogging, and the ephemeral nature of online news coverage means that many of the links either won't work now or aren't available for free. I'm glad to have the commentary, but anyone wanting to go back to chase the original stories more than a couple of years may have their work cut out for them.
We have more sleet and rain coming through right now, which is a good thing for the water table.
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 | 07:01 pm - further news coverage of the current LJ situation
These are all that I could find anywhere online, other than the one item from earlier.
Washington Post: LJ lays off SF staff, will operate from Moscow.
Mashable.com: LJ on life support. Linked because of graph.
Adotas: LJ layoffs.
c-net news: LJ deletes 'about a dozen' jobs.
Webpronews.com: LJ makes deep personnel cuts.
Custompc.co.uk: LJ announces mass layoffs. Note: when a company's staff changes so that the director of finance is in charge, this is not generally a good thing.
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| 12:47 pm
Rather than adding more posts, I'm continuing to update on my first post of the day, here. There are more links to ways to back up LJ, as well as commentary. Most of this is reflected (except for comments) at the IJ post today also.
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 | 11:44 am
I'm twistedchick here at IJ, and at several other places that I don't keep up with any more (GreatestJournal ::cough::, Vox, Journalfen, Blurty). When Dreamwidth is available, I hope to move there with all possible speed, or as my Latin teacher used to say, magna cum celeritate. (Which did not make me think of celery much after the first few times.)
Yes, it's possible to read everything in Google's newsreader, but I want a friendslist that I can use to follow what is happening with people, with news, and with rss feeds. I'm picky that way. I like the community aspects of a friendspage, and the ability to move conveniently around through chronology rather than tracking down one single feed and then another, and another... argh.
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| 09:50 am - I did wonder why they moved the servers away from the engineers
SUP, the Russian overlords of LiveJournal, laid off 20 of 28 employees with no notice and no severance this morning. [Correction: according to ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) foxfirefey on no_lj_ads, it's more like "13 let go, 17 kept in total, and 12 let go and 12 kept in SF."]
Ignore the fact that the person writing this article has neither an understanding of LJ or any true journalistic sense of inquiry, and look at the details: ( and they're not pretty )
The author of that article evidently did not take the time to talk to any LJ users about lack of service, bad management and extremely poor top-down public relations under SUP. It's true that LJ has been declining in total numbers, and that those of us who have stayed with it for more than five years are the narrow end of the long tail of a statistical distribution. [And I'm not even going to say what I think of LJ having had a "permanent account sale" last month.]
[ETA: I realize the news article above isn't very good, but it's the only one I've got right now. The only other things showing up on Google News this morning, even with a full search, are an article posted yesterday on how LJ is still blocked in Kazakhstan, and a December 19 C-net article, LJ users still passionate and shrinking.]
synecdochic, who used to work for LJ before the Russians came, provides a brief update on the Dreamwidth journaling project here -- and some reassurance to LJ users: Nothing's going to happen overnight.
In the meantime, if you have a journal on LJ, best start looking for somewhere to jump if it disappears without notice. It may not happen overnight, but I wouldn't doubt that somewhere along this economic downturn the Russian overlords are going to get tired of running a server farm and cut off the electricity. This is your notice: figure out what you're doing now, and start doing it. ( personal comments behind cut )
ETA: I did a search to find LJ Book, which I used to turn my LJ into a downloaded file. I have found two articles on it here and here, but http://www.ljbook.com/ljbook.html is not working for me. However, LJ Archive -- http://fawx.com/software/ljarchive/ -- is still working [but only for Windows?]. Check it out.
liz_marcs lists other options and links here.
Karma Apple's long list of links to archiving methods AND explanations of how to get them to work is here: http://karma-apple.insanejournal.com/8073.html
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| 09:48 am - I did wonder why they were moving the servers away from the engineers...
SUP, the Russian overlords of LiveJournal, laid off 20 of 28 employees with no notice and no severance this morning. [Correction: according to foxfirefey on no_lj_ads, it's more like "13 let go, 17 kept in total, and 12 let go and 12 kept in SF."]
Ignore the fact that the person writing this article has neither an understanding of LJ or any true journalistic sense of inquiry, and look at the details: ( and they're not pretty )
The author of that article evidently did not take the time to talk to any LJ users about lack of service, bad management and extremely poor top-down public relations under SUP. It's true that LJ has been declining in total numbers, and that those of us who have stayed with it for more than five years are the narrow end of the long tail of a statistical distribution.
[ETA: I realize the news article above isn't very good, but it's the only one I've got right now. The only other things showing up on Google News this morning, even with a full search, are an article posted yesterday on how LJ is still blocked in Kazakhstan, and a December 19 C-net article, LJ users still passionate and shrinking.]
synecdochic, who used to work for LJ before the Russians came, provides a brief update on the Dreamwidth journaling project here -- and some reassurance to LJ users: Nothing's going to happen overnight.
In the meantime, if you have a journal on LJ, best start looking for somewhere to jump if it disappears without notice. It may not happen overnight, but I wouldn't doubt that somewhere along this economic downturn the Russian overlords are going to get tired of running a server farm and cut off the electricity. This is your notice: figure out what you're doing now, and start doing it. ( personal comments behind cut )
ETA: I did a search to find LJ Book, which I used to turn my LJ into a downloaded file. I have found two articles on it here and here, but http://www.ljbook.com/ljbook.html is not working for me. However, LJ Archive -- http://fawx.com/software/ljarchive/ -- is working [but only for Windows?]; check it out.
liz_marcs lists other options and links here.
Karma Apple's long list of links to archiving methods AND explanations of how to get them to work is here: http://karma-apple.insanejournal.com/8073.html
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January 4th, 2009
 | 10:44 pm - between the horizon and the sweet hereafter
Do not believe everything that's foisted on the tube as "history." It ain't.
Here's a legacy of the Bush years that we will be stuck with for decades to come. The neoCons wanted to kill centralized government of any size larger than what existed in the immediate post-colonial era, and as part of that they did their best to bankrupt states. Now, states are considering selling off their parks and roads -- and I have serious doubts that turning your highway into a toll road will put money into American hands. It's just as likely to leach funding for a foreign investor. I believe that infrastructure should belong -- in full title, forever -- to the municipality in which it exists and/or the people who paid for its construction, and no private entity should be involved in profitmaking that was not there from the first. The New York State Thruway was planned to be private from the start; the tolls pay for the repairs and the services and the snowplowing, and the money stays within the state. Not so with some newer privatizations.
In Illinois, silencing freedom of speech at the Waukegan City Council.
In Arizona, it's easier not to enforce the laws.
In Tennessee, the cost of coal is not clean.
In Pakistan, girls attending school after Jan. 15 will be killed.
In the Mideast, murdering civilians in Gaza.
In Britain, businesses at risk.
Best religion writing of 2008 -- a long list of good articles. And -- an excellent example -- The Sexual Threat to Fundamentalism.
Where child porn is concerned, what exactly is a 'written depiction of obscenity' and how does that affect fanfic and manga and similar concerns?
A focus on violence by soldiers returning from the war/occupation -- yes, there is a problem. (NYTimes)
De Re Coquinaria Pegasi, the Pegasus Galaxy cookbook.
Supporting Campbell's Soup as it sides with gay and lesbian couples.
Passively heated houses.
Looking for that unavailable small press or less-known science fiction novel? Check out Basement Full of Books.
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January 2nd, 2009
 | 03:51 pm - Yuletide story notes
Letter to America ( notes )
The Gift ( notes )
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January 1st, 2009
| 03:55 pm - the reveal!
Since it's now New Year's Day, I can tell you that I wrote one full-length story and one bonbon stocking stuffer for Yuletide this year. The assigned story was Letter to America,for dogwings, and the bonbon was The Gift, for Morgan37.
I've got some thoughts on writing these, but they'll have to be written on a day when I don't feel like someone is poking a marlin spike through my sinuses.
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December 31st, 2008
| 11:35 am - this was the year in which I took chances
This was the year in which I got taller, ( more )
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December 27th, 2008
 | 01:09 pm - on the third day of Christmas my newsblog said to me:
Bush has done it: crippled the health care industry by granting "religious" protections that keep people who refuse to do their jobs from being fired. Let's spell it out plainly: anyone who is a pharmacist who refuses to fill prescriptions should go into a different job. But this regulation cuts off federal funding for any state or local government, hospital, health plan, clinic or other entity that does not accommodate doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other employees who refuse to participate in care they find ethically, morally or religiously objectionable. It was sought by conservative groups, abortion opponents and others to safeguard workers from being fired, disciplined or penalized in other ways. What might it interfere with? Start with family planning, infertility treatment and end-of-life care, proceed to AIDS treatment and care, and move right on to scientific research. Way to screw over the country, Mr President Bush, and way to strew thornbushes in the path of your successor. More thoughts here.
In Illinois, pharmacists who don't want to dispense emergency contraception get another day in court, thanks to the Illinois Supreme Court giving them grounds for a hearing in lower courts that already dismissed their claim.
VP Cheney says he gets to determine which of his records go to the National Archives. That's not usual.
Vidders and artists take note: the Fourth Circuit Court in Virginia has ruled that anime can be considered child porn.
High school newspapers undergo censorship in South Carolina and Minnesota.
Also in Virginia, a Fairfax County court has allowed the breakaway Episcopal church congregations to retain title of their buildings and church property. The breakaway, homophobic and radical right congregations have put themselves under the headship of a conservative African bishop because they did not want to be associated with the ordination of a gay bishop.
This ruling is significant for two reasons: first, because in the United States the real property and buildings of the hierarchical churches (Roman Catholic and Episcopal, for example) are legally owned by the larger church organization -- the diocese, which is the regional authority. By saying that the breakaway groups can retain title to their churches, the court is challenging the legal authority of those churches throughout the country to keep title of their properties. If the ruling were to be applied to Roman Catholic properties, it could cause amazing amounts of difficulty -- consider when the Boston Archbishop decided to close several churches and schools to save money, and to sell the properties, and the local congregations who had built those churches objected to the point of occupying the buildings indefinitely.
The second reason for the significance of this ruling is that one of the congregations is The Falls Church, in Falls Church, VA. This is a colonial-era building and property, located next to the small creek that was much larger and deeper before 20th Century "flood control" made it shallow and stupid looking. That creek was, in colonial times, the inland waterway for oceangoing ships coming to Virginia. But the church itself has other associations. If you will go there and look under the tall trees, you will find a stone with some lichen on it, that notes that the tree planted there was done so to honor the long and faithful service of a member of the vestry named George Washington. Yes. That George Washington.
I realize that this is not something of the same level of seriousness (in theme, at least) as the legal argument in the final episode of Boston Legal, in which Shirley Schmidt spoke of the problems that could occur because of US law firms being bought up by Chinese companies without respect for US law. And I do understand that church congregations want to both hold onto their physical property and their old ways, even in the face of the changes brought by science, education and research that challenge their understanding of theology and sexuality.
However, I believe that George Washington himself, despite his slave ownership, who tried to treat everyone well regardless of their class in society, would not at all appreciate the idea of the church where he used to worship being transferred to the control of people who follow an archbishop who has endorsed anti-homosexual laws worse than those of the Third Reich. I believe, in fact, that he would have thought that persecution to be unAmerican. And they are unAmerican; they are Nigerian law that forbid gay men and lesbians to form organizations, read gay literature or even eat together in restaurants.
Anyone who endorses hate laws -- laws that single out or persecute a group based on sexual orientation, color, or any similar reason -- has no business being in authority in a religious capacity. Hate is not a religious value. Hatred of gays and lesbians is not a Christian value. I disavow Archbishop Akinola as a Christian; by his actions he is not.
Note that Akinola has been endorsed by Rick Warren, whom Obama has chosen to lead the invocation at the inaugural.
The US State Department has challenged these laws on civil and political rights grounds. The Archdiocese of Washington, which includes Falls Church and several of the other churches, is challenging the Fairfax ruling.
Consortium News: Some thoughts on the deceptive language of current Washington, and how warspeak must change. And during the past eight years -- well, let's be honest and say 20 years plus, since Reagan and Bush I, though the worst has been since the Clinton era -- the quality of news coverage coming out of DC has sunk like a rock in a dark pond. What are the chances this might change now?
There has been a coal ash spill in Eastern Tennessee, much larger than anticipated, as a result of open mountaintop mining. Why should you care? Because it released into the ecosphere and the atmosphere mercury, arsenic, heavy metals and carcinogens.
I'd be very interested to know how much of the black budget (as in we are not allowed to see the numbers, never have been) is going to support marital rape of Afghan women? Buying the "goodwill" of Afghan chiefs with Viagra? In a culture where women are property, rape victims are stoned to death for adultery and girls are murdered for trying to go to school? I'd put coal in the Christmas stocking of whoever came up with this viciously stupid idea, but it'd probably come from a murdered mountaintop.
Why is Cheney suddenly admitting all sorts of things in public? To get a presidential pardon from Bush. If you want to oppose it, go here. And write a letter to the editor of your local paper. Feel free to range back through the entries here and at twistedchick.livejournal.com for examples of why he shouldn't be treated differently from any other lawbreaker.
Do we need a new New Deal? Can we get one? We certainly need infrastructure repair, highway renovation, health care , education, a social safety net that doesn't have holes big enough to drop New Orleans through. And, while we're at it, better reduction of pollution in the waters from which we take the fish and shellfish we eat. And when you consider how states are cutting back on Medicare part E coverage, I'm not sure that's the way to go to fix health care.
Can we have a cabinet-level Office of Women?
William Shatner has a year-end message for you. No, it's not from Denny Crane or William T. Kirk. It's from Shatner, and it's thoughtful and considered and worth listening to.
I wish you all the happiest of New Years and the most peaceful, productive and pleasant of days during 2009. Until then, I'll be ranging through the Yuletide archive, watching Buffy, Xena and John Adams on vid, and continuing to get over the worst head cold in a decade. Be well, everyone.
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December 26th, 2008
| 09:58 am
If anyone guesses which full-length or which shorter Yuletide stories I wrote, and names one of them in comments on this post, I will write a poem for that person's prompt. Or a drabble.
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December 25th, 2008
 | 11:39 am - a small request
Dear friends, while you are celebrating (or ignoring) the holidays, please spare a kind thought for my friend Gretchen, who is traveling to Maine today because her son died in surgery early this morning.
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| 11:34 am - notable Yuletide stories
A few of the many wonderful stories posted today:
Con Fuoco -- (Amadeus) Mozart and Salieri, unexpectedly lively after death.
Three Part Harmony -- (Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City) Coming home to meet the parents is always interesting
Number Thirteen -- (Arsenic and Old Lace) Jonathan Brewster and Dr. Einstein on a road trip, with a whole lot of in-jokes for the movie.
And I was given Dreams and Visions, a wonderful Damar story that I love both for its glimpses of my favorite characters and for the clear, lovely writing.
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December 24th, 2008
| 12:14 pm
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| 11:00 am
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December 22nd, 2008
 | 10:11 pm - last newsblogging before Christmas
The Bush crowd wants to take their secrets with them, especially the electronic mail. Which leads me to question whether the recent "accidental" death of Michael Connell, the Bush IT expert who was directly implicated in rigging the 2000 and 2004 elections, was entirely accidental when his very small plane crashed three miles outside an airport.
And let's not forget Bush's final fuck you to us all.
New York City's traditional Operation Santa Claus is shut down because of fears that child molester(s) are using it to get potential victims.
How DC's pharmacies fail women. And, from the American Prospect, the truth about abortion reduction, and how that affects both Obama's position and Roe.
The Scrooges who sponsored Proposition 8 now seek to nullify the 18,000 legal marriages that took place before it. Meanwhile, California attorney general (and former governor) Jerry Brown seeks to overturn Proposition 8 in the courts.
Why was Cheney so fast to admit that he's a war criminal? To get a presidential pardon.
Now the music industry is going after ISPs.
Forvo: how everything's pronounced in 198 languages.
Photos of the Denishawn early modern dance troupe.
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| 02:40 pm - What, will this cold go on till the crack o' doom? (But there are consolations.)
Ye heade colde continueth, and like the words crammed with unnecessary letters at the start of this sentence my head is crammed with unspeakable gunk. But at least it's up out of my chest, for which I'm very grateful.
But while the wind chill dips into Adirondack-worthy low numbers, and I can only wish to be outdoors walking (yes, people, when I am well this is the kind of weather I do like to go walking in -- I am also one of the people who dislikes the DC summer heat intensely) I can revel in the dozens of SGA, SG-1 and other holiday stories being posted now.
And I am watching the most amazing movie I've seen in years. "The Fall." It came and went last year, but it deserved much better. On the surface, it's simple: in the 1920s, an injured stunt man is in a hospital, and telling stories to a little girl with a broken arm. But in her mind the stories are not the same as what he means -- and her mind turns them into technicolor fantasies that are gorgeous and unlike anything else. You need to watch every second -- incuding the introductory moments -- because nothing is wasted and all is story. Roger Ebert gave it four stars, and said this: ( more )
This movie should have fanfic -- slash, gen, wildly inventive stuff that hasn't been done before. It should be in vids. It should be part of the mental vocabulary of fandom. Why is it not? If there is a fandom, it is minuscule. It is so beautiful, so gorgeous, so ... mind expanding. It took four years to make, it was filmed in 28 countries, and it has no special effects. Deep saturated colors. The liberation of slaves. Rescue from an island by a swimming elephant. Charles Darwin's talking monkey. This is the dreamscape you never expected. Go. Watch. Dream.
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December 20th, 2008
| 01:16 pm - remembrance of things past
My first job out of high school was working on the assembly line for a local General Motors plant. I've been thinking about that a lot lately because of Bush thinking it's okay to force the major automakers into bankruptcy, thereby further wrecking the already wrecked economy. It doesn't help that Toyota, Nissan, VW and the other foreign automakers in the South are doing unionbusting against the UAW, either, with the advice and consent of Senate Republicans. (More here.) Or now maybe there'll be a rescue, depending on your definition of government oversight. (Which, when I look at the various examples of government takeover of private business, reminds me a lot of things like fascism and totalitarianism.)
But I don't want to talk about politics today. I want to talk about what it was like to work in an auto factory in the summer of 1971. ( cue the wayback machine )
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December 19th, 2008
| 10:09 am - um. what?
( ahchoo )
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December 18th, 2008
| 12:38 pm - forecast: continued sneezing, with a chance of decreased sniffles toward weekend
I realize that Obama wants to be inclusive of everyone in the country in his cabinet and his inaugural celebration, and this is a good thing. But he could come up with far better choices to offer the invocation than anti-gay Dominionist author and minister Rick Warren. Inaugurations are symbolic; you start as you mean to continue. Also, in a liturgical and -- to be literal -- magical sense, I would be wary of giving Warren the invocation because an invocation is the ceremonial statement that calls forth unseen powers and brings them into a time and place: which god, precisely, would he be calling forth? What deity, symbolically, would be set in charge of the Obama administration? And what would that say to the people of America? The deity in which Warren believes, who doesn't thing gay people are equal or deserve equal rights? The deity that says the US should only be a Christian nation, with "Christian" defined as only those groups under the Dominionist banner?
The Rev. Chuck Currie has much to say about Warren, with a summary of Warren's record on the issues. He notes that the Rev. Joseph Lowry is to say the benediction (the blessing), and that Lowry is an excellent choice as he's known for speaking truth to power.
Lest anyone think I'm going overboard on this, consider that the US is modeled in some ways on ancient Rome, which made what was called the "civil religion" obligatory (burn incense to the Emperor as God and you get to live, don't do it and you meet some lions in an arena.) In the US, the civil religion isn't just lip service to applehood and mother pie, the honor of serving one's country, and the conventional civic virtues; it includes following *all* of the precepts in the Bill of Rights. (By which standard the current administration is filled with heretics, but you knew that.) But it also includes paying attention to the symbolic details of civil ceremonies such as the inauguration.
Since the US is officially a country with freedom of religion (work with me on this), I would be fine with a group of ministers/priests/preachers/high priestesses/imams/etc. all offering an invocation of their deities -- pretty much any deities -- as long as those ministers/etc. don't advocate the limitation of civil liberties or favor second-class citizenship for anyone. My dream team, so to speak, would include Chuck Currie, Selena Fox, P.E.I. Bonewits, the sensei(s) of major Buddhist organizations, a representative of the Native American Church, one or another Quaker who is in a leadership position (we have a flat hierarchical structure) and is a good speaker, one or more rabbis and one or more imams. I could probably come up with more actual names if given a while to think about it. That's not going to happen, I realize.
Obama's in a peculiar position in this. He's a friend of Warren's, and does admire some of his work while not agreeing with his ideas. Obama's own (former) pastor can't be invited because of some of the things that happened during the campaign. Since he's a Protestant, he's not likely to invite the Catholic Archbishop of Washington; the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church is not likely to be chosen either, since he's not involved in high-church Episcopalianism, and then there's the whole church-is-splitting-now business also to cloud things. So his choice of Warren makes emotional sense; it just doesn't make political sense. I would love to know which other names, if any, were put forward for the invocation.
An analysis of the Republic Windows & Doors settlement.
Chrysler shuts its doors for a month.
Doesn't this sound like destroying the village in order to save it? Or am I in the wrong reference?
The Senate Armed Services Committee report directly links Bush and his high officials to the deaths of detainees -- and the media is ignoring it.
The Second US Circuit Court of Appeals has put some limits on the Patriot Act, but I suspect not enough.
Biodiesel from coffee grounds. This could be interesting.
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December 16th, 2008
| 09:32 pm - what things I find
Are the Republicans still a national party -- when they didn't even field candidates in 40 of 436 Congressional races? And this author considers what he calls the cancer of conservatism.
The economic stimulus package is going to pick up the cost of a lot of routine repairs that simply need doing, like bridges damaged by storms and roads that need serious repaving. Not glamorous, but useful.
I think it'd be great if the federal web were more searchable -- considering the enormous efforts the Bushites made to take formerly public information offline and foul up what remained -- if there were also a way to check its reliability.
Bush does not give a damn about wildlife. You knew this, right? He had to get in his little bit of vengeance to keep Obama's people busy and screw things up. Here's more of it. I'd call him a poisonous duck, not a lame one. He's also admitted that Al Qaeda wasn't in Iraq before the invation -- "so what?"
The NY Times says the man who threw a shoe at Bush is being considered a hero in Arab countries. What you may not realize is the significance of the act. In a culture where it's a severe insult to turn the bottom of your foot toward another person, throwing a shoe could be seen as the equivalent of kicking Bush or stepping on him; it's more insult than attack.
The torture trail -- following the buck up to where it stops -- ends at Bush's desk. He's responsible for Guantanamo, for the hidden torture, for the torment of hundreds of people. Doesn't that make him a war criminal, at least potentially? (Potentially in the legal innocent-till-proven-guilty sense.) And now Cheney says he helped, too. (No, this isn't the Shake-n-Bake commercial.)
Crooks and Liars looks at what's going on in Afghanistan, and along the Pakistani border.
Pam's House Blend notes that cuts at NPR have taken away much of the voice of black communities on radio.
US workers get less vacation time than those in any other wealthy industrial nation in the world. This petition aims to change that.
One of the new laws that's coming into effect requires contractors to detect and prevent improper conduct -- in other words, it makes the contractors into whistle-blowers about their own behavior. If they don't do it? They lose the contract and may be barred from further ones.
The whistleblower who told the NY Times about the illegal spying on Americans has come forward. More on him here, from Newsweek. Darthfox suggests ways you can contribute to his legal fund.
It's 20 years now since The Satanic Verses were published. Have publishers internalized the fatwa now, so that "objectionable" or challenging books are less likely to reach publication?
Only one person has ever escaped from a prison camp in North Korea. This is his story.
Is the study of literature leaving literature behind?
The Frontline program 'From Jesus to Christ -- The First Christians' is available online; I've been watching it over the last two days (it's four hours). It's excellent. It does not talk down. It explains, it theorizes, and when you're hearing someone talk about a location, most of the time you're also looking at that exact location. If you'd like to know more about what today's leading scholars think about what happened back then, put a little time aside and watch even part of it.
The Center for Nonviolent Communication has suggestions on how to talk with people you don't get along with. Some of this might come in handy.
Shot-by-shot analysis of the trailer for the new Star Trek movie.
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December 15th, 2008
 | 11:56 am - state of the chick
Assortedly, not in order of anything:
( relativity? what's that? )
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December 10th, 2008
| 11:24 am - and it's raining outside today
PBS: Reserved to Fight, Fox Company of Marine Reserve Unit 2/23 comes home.
Bush's federal appeals court appointees are going to be roadblocks to reform for a while.
Your First Amendment right to privacy online is the issue in the Maryland Court of Appeals.
Bill Moyers Journal: Russ Feingold on the rule of law. Vid and transcript.
I am bereft of words to tell you just exactly how angry this makes me.
Still want your sushi but you want to keep fishing sustainable for the future? Here's what to order.
America's poet as brother -- Walt Whitman in the Civil War.
I think I've seen these books around, and these too.
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December 9th, 2008
| 10:11 am - iCal problem?
Does anyone have words of wisdom on how to deal with a problem in iCal on MacBook? It will not let me add anything to the calendar, although the disk has plenty of space (and it's not like four or five words will take up that much space.) When I look at the drop-down menus, everything is grayed out except backup and restore. (I did back it up.) It won't even let me quit without force-quitting. I have rebooted, and this does not seem to make a difference. And no, it won't let me access iCal Help either.
ETA: Now it's working. I have no idea which bit of tweaking worked, but thank you for all of it.
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| 10:10 am - iCal problem?
Does anyone have words of wisdom on how to deal with a problem in iCal on MacBook? It will not let me add anything to the calendar, although the disk has plenty of space (and it's not like four or five words will take up that much space.) When I look at the drop-down menus, everything is grayed out except backup and restore. (I did back it up.) It won't even let me quit without force-quitting. I have rebooted, and this does not seem to make a difference. And no, it won't let me access iCal Help either.
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December 8th, 2008
| 11:43 am
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December 3rd, 2008
 | 09:54 pm - here and there...
US troops quartered on US soil -- where they may be called to respond on active duty against Americans, in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act. Is that something we want?
Whither goest the stock market? A comparison over the past years back to 1826.
The Texas indictments against Cheney and Gonzales have been dismissed.
A former Guantanamo prosecutor, who has resigned as an act of conscience, is telling the truth about what he saw there, and it is making a difference.
I have no idea what the Somali pirates would do with 130,000 inflatable breasts that were apparently 'lost at sea'. I'm sure someone can come up with an idea or two.
Roger Ebert is a lot smarter than Ben Stein, and proves it.
Note to the Vatican: Jesus would like to speak to you concerning "love your neighbor as yourself".
Bush wants to destroy full and free access to health care, even as we have it now, under the guise of religious liberty.
A little ignorance goes a long way in policy and politics.
Interesting pictures of endangered species -- including a salamander I don't want to meet in a dark alley and a transparent frog.
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November 30th, 2008
 | 06:45 pm
Simba is watching The Two Towers. He appears particularly interested both in the storming of Helm's Deep and the swooping of the Nazgul outside the gates of Gondor and the low destroyed city beside it. At least with him, I can hope he's considering them from an action and entertainment perspective, and not planning on figuring out how to fly. I'd have to worry about that with Pirate Jenny. Fortunately, Jenny's taste in movies runs to British films, or at least British accents. Put Hugh Grant on screen and she's *there*.
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 | 03:40 pm - a dream of the times we know
I dreamed last night of the city I knew
gone unwieldy and gray, hostile police
arresting everyone "on suspicion"
and taking them away in shuttered trucks
for long hours of questions. My dream self grew
tired of explaining in hope of release
and waiting for official permission
to go. When I was let out, I found bricks
instead of limestone, asphalt not cobble,
and no single thing I knew from before;
I searched without knowing my way, without
finding a friend, or my parked car, or signs
I could read. I walked so far, saw no one
to speak to, till I felt my legs wobble
and I leaned, caught my breath, stared at a door
painted in a wall, as if I could doubt
that it would open if I wished. The lines
of shadow grew; the green door creaked open
but I only watched as more police came out
and walked past me in ever-larger crowds
talking to each other, ignoring me.
The buildings around me grew misshapen,
as the darkness grew; I rose without
hope to move away, find some kindly shroud
to hide me from pursuit. I could not see
my way back to where I had been; I ran
on the asphalt barefoot until my feet
bled, until I no longer knew a reason
except to go somewhere safer, until
I fell, and struggled to start again,
hearing pursuit -- and awoke to hear sleet
above me on the glass, in the season
of bare trees and ice-slicked windowsills.
This is the last poem of November: iambic pentameter, rhyme scheme abcdabcd efghefgh etc., which (lacking other name for it) I think of as stairstep rhyme, or in a longer sequence, escalator rhyme. There is probably an official name for it somewhere. According to The Book of Forms, it might also be a modernized version of a medieval dream allegory or dream vision.
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