WHO?
Our grandparents live
only in our memories. When we go,
they go.
When you go, I go.
Why care if we’re forgot?
As if we never were?
I speak of myself, now.
Why do I care if I am forgot?
As if I never was, never
strove to overcome my limitations,
only partly successsful,
yearning yet afraid.
If truth be told, my heart is shriveled
from underuse.
My children and grandchildren
know this. Perhaps
being forgot is not
so bad after all.
(About 2009)
There once was an owl who howled
“Who’s there? Who’s there?”
“It’s your mother, you feather head!” came the reply.
“Catch us if you can,” came others, “we’re your supper,”
and everyone ran off in different directions at once,
for this was an owl who needed glasses, and whose
mother was still feeding him.
Photo by Bethanyk, obtained during my re-blog of her Wise Being of the Night
Love it. Close to the bone. Reblogging.
Victor Pickard, associate professor of communication at the University Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School, talked with Jacobin’s Meagan Day recently about the threat to the internet posed by the Federal Communication Commission’s looming decision to do away with net neutrality and the open internet. It’s a great interview in full, but it’s this part that is perhaps most frightening and most dangerous as the authoritarian bent of popular vote loser Donald Trump continues to be almost completely unchecked by Congress.
If we were to lose net neutrality protections, which by all appearances we will, that would suddenly create all kinds of vulnerabilities for independent media. There are clear dangers associated with vertical integration, where the company that owns the pipes is able to control the dissemination of information, and able to set the terms by which we access that information. When we think about, for instance, dissenting political news sources that don’t have the resources to compete in a pay-to-play media environment, we see that there are obvious political hazards.And more than that, we could start to see scenarios where ISPs don’t like the political views that are being disseminated from a particular news outlet. Without net neutrality they would be free to block or slow down content from those sites. There have been cases like this already. In 2005, the company Telus, which is the second largest telecommunications company in Canada, began blocking access to a server that hosted a website that supported a labor strike against Telus. Anyone involved in journalism or activism should be concerned about this kind of retaliation and censorship.
It’s likely not going to be just independent media that becomes vulnerable. Consider Trump’s jihad against CNN, and how he appears to be using his Department of Justiceto block AT&T from acquiring Time Warner in retribution for CNN’s coverage of him. We don’t know how this particular story is going to play out yet (and yes, there are reasons to cheer this merger not going through) but it’s clear that Trump and his administration will retaliate against the media.
The open internet has been essential for the resistance and for new civil rights movements. It has “decentralized the media and allowed black activists in a modern movement against police and state violence to bypass discriminatory media gatekeepers and reveal the extent of the state’s abuse.” The ability to record police abuses in real time and to disseminate that footage quickly—or even in real time—and cheaply makes the open internet the primary tool for fighting for social justice.
It makes its potential loss at the point in time, with the Trump administration in power, so much more dangerous for this nation’s future.
Re-blogged from Daily Kos/Joan McCarter/Alternet 11/28/2017
https://nanmykel.com/2017/01/19/repeating-line/
(Now see, that’s my computer talking back to me. I DID NOT TYPE THAT LINE!)
I’m going to start over with MY CURRENT WORDS! — 11/27/2017
I’ve been told I have a warped [unkind?] sense of humor. Because my daughters didn’t report on how my ex’s memorial service went, I decided it was so horrible they didn’t want me to know, to “protect” me. So I sat down and to prove I COULD take any kind of bad news, I gave an example of what might have happened and that I wasn’t wiped out by it. I wrote an e-mail that said,
“Let’s see what happened: Seven Quakers showed up. Bob came and stood up and told his father off for everything bad and then walked out. Ann left in tears. Jill and Alice stayed. The widow Beth and two of her relatives attended. You never told Polly Evarts about the service but she found out and was there. She tried to be supportive to Jill but Jill was too shy and crying too much to talk to her. Bob snarled when he spoke to you and his plane came and returned to Cinn. 8 hours later. He stayed in a motel. He would not allow my name to be mentioned, or if one tried he said “La la l a la.” There was a “wake” consisting of iced tea and brownies. Beth brought my ex’s favorite pet and tried to get someone to adopt him. My daughters went home and decided it would upset me too much to know the truth so they put off reporting on the service, trying to distract me with thoughts of Molly’s birthday. End of story except when I had two weekends of “intestinal upset” I am still working on cleaning up.
_________________
That earned me a phone call reaming me out (what I had left in me) and telling me what a disgusting, destructive, horrible, inappropriate e-mail that was, why did I do it, and not to go writing letters to ANYONE (assuming my mind had suddenly either failed or been posessed by the devil). I was chastened but then the more I thought about it the less ashamed I felt. By now I’m into thinking it’s funny again. (Names were fictitious only in this posting).
_________________
Some time ago I re-published someone’s dark joke on my RELIEF/REFRESHING page:
After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a Zimbabwean bus driver found that the 20 mental patients he was supposed to be transporting from Harare to Bulawayo had escaped. Not wanting to admit his incompetence, the driver went to a nearby bus stop and offered everyone waiting there a free ride. He then delivered the passengers to the mental hospital, telling the staff that the patients were very excitable and prone to bizarre fantasies. The deception wasn’t discovered for 3 days. (From the 2004 Darwin Awards?)
________________
Making fun of OLD AGE is something many of us don’t approve of but do it anyway (at times). Last week I got a “Happy Thanksgiving” e-mail and I thought sorrowfully that my friend’s mind was going, that she didn’t know Thanksgiving was a week away? Then I took my garbage out and saw the entire parking lot for my condo was empty, and there was no traffic on the roads. (Really, I had gone out to also put a letter in the mail box). Since I didn’t have anything to eat in my condo but out of date cans, I called Bob Evans to order a take-out of their beef vegetable soup. No deal, only Thanksgiving specials. So I grabbed my purse and a book to read and headed out to Wendy’s. As son as I clicked he door behind me I realized I had left my keys inside. I had no cell phone with me, I had not dressed warmly enough, there was no one in the building, even my car key was inside the condo. Boy did I feel cold and sorry for myself. Then it occurred to me that I had never used my small 4×8 patio’s door and it was worth a try so voila, I gave thanks to my guardian angel. Then Wendy’s was closed, as was McDonald’s (can you believe it? I couldn’t). So I ended up savoring what Speedway had to offer for Thanksgiving dinner. But I couldn’t read my book, so I brought my bag of holiday cheer home and finished my book at home. Home for the holiday.
_________________
Speaking of death (I know we weren’t), there’s the old story that goes like this:
A hoot!
Written for: Poetics Aside November 2017 Chapbook Challenge – Day 23
Write a preface poem. “A preface is a super literary term as the term typically relates to books–usually as the opening statement or introductory remarks of a book. So I’m mildly surprised I haven’t used this prompt previously. However, I think it’s perfect for the chapbook challenge, because poets who are writing to a theme have an opportunity to write a poetic preface. Of course, stand alone preface poems are just as interesting.”
A Parody of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow”
Somewhere out in a meadow
all birds speak.
If you look in the hedgerow
you’ll see beaks.
Somewhere out in a meadow
pigs read books,
and they write manifestos–
cannot go by looks.
FROM my page “Relief–Refreshing”
P E T S
Research has shown that not only are endorphins released in those owning a pet they’re close to, but are also triggered IN the pet (mutual love). This is on my page about Relief and relaxation.
My page Dear Downs is one of my better pages,
Please visit!
After I posted on d’Verse this week and responded to a couple of poems, I had to momentarily leave the site and when I returned I couldn’t figure out how to get back on the site just to read others’ work, and comment. The “orange” tab up top didn’t exist any more, to enable me to return. Any help? I’d love to read more of your submissions! Pixabay
Life’s too short
Tooth’s too long
Horses snort
Answer’s wrong
Eyes too bright
Pool’s too deep
Bra’s too tight
He’s too cheap
Sky’s too high
Feet too smelly
Words can lie
Too tight belly
Stream beds trickle
Chewing gum sticks
I’m in a pickle
Up to old tricks
Lost my keys
This won’t do
Down on my knees
Should get two
Don’t say pome
Only a verse
Come on home
Could be worse.
A new way to think! Thanks.
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