So, so extremely sorry, dear reader. I missed the whole first week of April. But I've a few very good excuses:
1. April is National Poetry Month and I've decided to honor it and all poets this month by writing one poem each day until the end of April.
2. And it is not only April my writing vows are given to. My birthday is in May and I have -since the age 55- written a birthday poem to myself. When I finish this year's B-day poem, it will mark 16 years of me writing a "celebration to ME"
3. Plus, guys, it's been so nice outside during the first week of April. Today it reached a high of 81 degrees and tomorrow? 85 degrees! After the cold, windy winter we've had in Oklahoma this year, 80 degree weather is a wonderful thing. Oh, and the really big thing: RACISM in NORMAN!
4. This is just a small taste of what we woke up to Wednesday, April o3, 2o19. Somebody decided to spray paint Norman's Democratic headquarters and one of our local elementary schools with swastikas and racial slurs. They left there best work on a giant plaster bust of a young girl. And people in Norman-town were pissed and jumped into action. With buckets, scrub brushes and cleansing solutions they attacked the vandalism with enthusiasm wiping out most of it before any of the rest of us were even aware of what had happened. I think one really knew how to handle the vandalized art work . . . someone grabbed some plastic bags and covered it up. And that night there was a rally at the park next to the vandalized art work . . . and it was glorious. Way wonderful to see over two hundred Normanites and citizens from other towns big and small come together and fight hate with:
Yeah, there were a few speakers who threw a lot of anger out for ALL white people because ALL people are guilty of racism . . . which makes me think that some of the main speakers were a bit too like minded about race hating, like the people or person responsible for this act of racist vandalism. I can understand being angry about this, but we need to be better than the bad guys, we don't use the same tactics as the bad guys. Fortunately, There was a preacher man there that spoke to the crowd about using love as our weapon of choice and not the weapon of hate. He really got the rally on the right track. It was a beautiful night.
Tuesday, April o9, 2o19
. . . and there was Medieval Fair last weekend. A very important Medieval Fair it seems because OU was thinking about pulling the plug on the fair because . . . well they were just not making enough money. To be fair (ha!) last couple of years the revenues were down because of low attendance due to lots of rain . . . Medieval Fair is an outdoor event. But accept for a bit of a scare on Friday, the weather held and the fair made money and we got the news that the Medieval Fair will be on for next year!
Okay, David Slemmons is my friend. A good friend. Actually, a best friend. But damn can he be annoying! He does all the driving which I
appreciate, and we use his car all the time because I don't have one or a driver's license . . . yes, I am beholding to him for not only being my friend but for chauffeuring me around. BUT he has this bad habit of honking at other drivers if they are going to slow, or if they are trying to make a left hand turn and we get stuck waiting on them to find a hole in the traffic and sometimes . . . sometimes he's honking and yelling at the car in front of him and he drives me (ha!) not only crazy but freaks me the hell out. I mean, he doesn't seem to understand the concept of "road rage." He's just honking away and yelling like an idiot . . . okay, the driver he's berating can't hear what he's saying . . . but the honking is annoying as hell . . . and some day some asshole is gonna stop his car in the middle of the street and drag David (or ME!) out of the car and beat the crap out of him . . . or again . . . beat the crap out of ME! He gets mad at me when I get mad at him for yelling at other cars, honking his horn at them. I wish he's stop doing it! And then, again, being a friend to David Slemmons has always been one sort of adventure after another adventure. As "mad" as we may get with each other's "ways," we are still the best of friends. {smiles}
Wednesday, April 1o, 2o19
Well, the warmer days are slowly getting warmer, which is very good for my bones and flesh because the older all my parts get the more winter becomes their enemy. Only bad news about the warmer days is . . . my air-conditioner doesn't seem to be cooling me off. The high 70s and 80s are making my apartment almost unbearable. At the least, too warm is my apartment for me to get a good nights sleep. Sigh. Need to talk to the landlord about it pretty soon.
Thursday, April 11, 2o19
The Driver's Aid Massacre
David: I don't like you backseat driving.
Woodie: I don't sit in the backseat. I'm sitting right next to you.
David: Okay . . . I don't like you shotgun driving.
We drove over to Moore to see Shazam! today. I loved it, thought it really captured the idea of a misuse of power because you don't know how to use said power. Lots of fun. DC is starting to get the hang of this moviemaking thing.
10:51pm
So, I'm reading a book, yes, a real book. I try to finish it fast so I can eat the pages. HA! Anyway, the book title: Simulacra and Simulation. It's a 2oth century look at man and his "artificial" environment written by Jean Baudrillard. Quite a mind blower. Makes me look at life a lot different. The Matrix mentions ideas from it . . . a lot. How much of the book is actually in the movie . . .? probably quite a bit.
Saturday, April 13, 2019
So, last night was Art Walk. A new wrinkle to the walk. They blocked off Main St., no cars allowed, foot traffic only. They say it's to make the usually full sidewalks less cramp for the "patrons," cut down on sidewalk accidents. Hmm, been going to the Art Walk for 7 years and I have never witnessed a sidewalk fatality. I know, some say, well if there are no cars driving down Main St., then there won't be any pedestrians run over! Uh-huh. But I haven't seen that either. More than likely it's about quality of life. We have a rail system that runs through Norman from the south to the north. Been there forever. I got here back in '75 and the trains and their lovely ghost horns where there too. I loved the horns. When I got back after teaching in New Mexico for 12 years, I was so happy to get an apartment only a 1/2 a block from the railroad tracks. So, lovely to hear the trains passing through Norman town late at night, howling like moon dogs. I wrote many a poem inspired by the Norman trains. But last year, some "person" decided that the train horns were ruining his and his family's "quality of life." And so, Norman became a "train horn free" town. No longer could I hear that wonderfully mournful sound of the midnight trains passing through Norm-town.
Sunday, April 14, 2o19
About 8 minutes before it's the next day. Just enough time to finish up this weeks blog entry with a few profound statements. Ha! Change. A very difficult thing to execute when it comes to human behavior. But I'll never stop trying. Yesterday it rained all day and all night . . . not sure when it actually stopped. I stayed indoors, worked on the computer. Game of Thrones started season 8 tonight, it's last season in the series. So HBO showed all of the seasons before tonight's premiere. I watched most of the episodes. And the funny thing is that all the old seasons seemed brand new to me, like I was seeing them for the first time. Our country's politics is getting even more, making me even more depressed than I have been. But I'm working on NOT allowing politics of America to upset me too much. That's it from me for this week. Hope you enjoy the read, dear reader. {smiles}
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