A few nights ago, I slept in a room with two giant Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls made by a woman who had undergone a lobotomy in the 60s and now has dementia which takes the form of feeling as if Santa Claus is trying to force her to have his child, a strange variation on Rosemary's Baby. The dolls gave me the creeps before I knew their history, staring at my with their vacant eyes, a reminder of the inherent strangeness of childhood and oddly reminiscent of blow-up dolls. My hostess for the night is a deeply kind woman who spoke of the difficulties of being a stepmom and how she always felt she couldn't say anything in her situation for fear of making it worse. She smiled after this revelation and said, I call my girlfriend who always tells me to pump the love. She takes care of her mother despite the fact that her mother was unable to take care of her much of her young life in addition to her heroic efforts with her husband's ex and her great love for his children.
I got to thinking about her friend's advice, to pump the love. I'm great at this so long as I like the person. Where it gets tricky is the whole loving your enemy stuff. Enemy, such a formal and formidable word when in fact it's usually someone who hardly seems glamorous enough to be an enemy -- your beloved's ex who wears a thong leotard so revealing that you can tell if a bikini wax might be in order, the person who always gets into the magazine that you have been trying to break into for years, the person in line with twenty items when the sign clearly says Ten Items Only. I think of my friend who has been through so much and still pumps the love and packs snacks for me with a big smiley face that says Thanks for staying with me! In honor of her, I'm going to try to pump the love and failing that at least shut my mouth when I can't.
Michelle's Spell of the Day
"It is, I believe, a new and significant invention of drama or the novel, a new way in which people can learn to look at life, by seeing the real life of others interpreted by the camera." Margaret Meade
Cocktail Hour
DVD suggestion: You Don't Know Jack
Benedictions and Maledictions
Happy Saturday! Rest in peace, Jack Kevorkian, Michigan's own. And a note to everyone -- I have had very limited internet access and will return all emails as soon as I can.
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Today's triple-header "Quote of the Day": #1: But it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God, and I was not ready.--Martha T. Heynman;#2: All religions speak about death during this life on earth. Death must come before rebirth. But what must die? False confidence in one'e own knowledge, self-love and egoism must be broken. We must realize that we are complicated machines, and so this process of breaking is bound to be a long and difficult task. Before real growth becomes possible, our personality must die.--G.I.Gurdjieff;#3; Break on through. Break on through. Break on through to the other side.--J. Morrison.
"Not being hit where it doesn't show" can only mean one thing: fighting back. I know all too well about fighting back, having seen so many male inmates locked up for spousal abuse, nonpayment of child support,or worse: murder.
--Jim
Today's 2nd "Quote of the Day": One toke over the line, sweet Jesus, one toke over the line."--Brewer and Shipley.
Mel Gibson makes the cover of "People"--again! What a star!
Dear Michelle,
To delicious champagne and star power, a salute. A lovely post and photo, as always. Bravo, superstar!
O Mighty Isis, I'm starstruck. Once I wished upon a star now I see how Foxy you are Rock on Cajun Queenie! R2 Cass2 not too blue cause of You!
The photo doesn't look like you, M, but maybe it's the stripes, not used to seeing you in stripes! lol Love the poem; it reminds me of my ex--I won't ever hold you down and choke the shit out of you again! Please forgive me, I'm sorry. Yeah, Riiiggghhht! --R
Three years ago this month we had the blackout, one of the worst things to happen (financially) yet one of the most amazing. In high school I took astronomy and I was lucky enough to have one of those rooms where we could actually SEE stars, via a special machine. Our teacher, Mr. Toll, would always show us what Roseville's stars would look like if the power ever went out. Well, it did, one year later, and so drastic was that power outage that I saw more stars in the sky than I'd ever seen in my lifetime.
Champagne does make you feel like you're drinking the stars. I have a bottle of it on my desk, from France, a gift from my best friend.
But what does that "peace" message on the right of the photo say?
Agreed. Pump it or shut it.
We have enough love around us, let's celebrate that, roll in its verdant luxury.
The past is a disjointed prologue begging to be buried. Here's mud in its eye, 2 scoops even.
The Tenth Item (tripartite): The Death card of the Tarot can instill dread, yet it actually signifies hope of Life to Come; Within the star the soul enters new territory, the real journey to genuine consciousness and liberation; Some Tarot historians trace the world image to pictures of the resurrected Christ--Rachel Pollack
I like that, "pump the love." Don't know if I can do it. Lana tells me I'm a good person. I try to believe her. :)
Any year in which both OBL and Dr. Death die is a great one. Thank you, Jesus. Now, where are all the jobs?--Native Detroiter
A nice post. Power to the people with the strength to pump the love.
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