the healing powers of poetry

Yesterday at the bookstore:

A shabby man was just here. He was unbathed but smiling. I showed him where the poetry section is. When he was ready to check out, he had stuck the book in his bag. He said, "I'm sorry, I'm handicapped and I sometimes have trouble doing things in the right order," he smiled and showed me the contents of the bag without my asking him so I could be sure he hadn't taken any other books. "That's what I need this poetry book for, to reverse these symptoms."

I love that idea. What if every ailment could be cured by reading just the right thing? Any heart problems would be relieved by reading poetry. Problems with your bowels? Read a kids book. Stomach problems? Take two literary novels and call me in the morning. And if that were true, would bad writing be like bad drugs?

Or maybe I'm approaching this all wrong... Perhaps poetry is the only prescription writing and all other writings are the shamanic and recreational drugs. In a society like that, poets would be as revered as doctors.

Terremotita

As a kid, I never understood boundaries. I didn't have many myself, so I didn't quite understand why other people had times they didn't want to be touched or were embarrassed when I'd squeal at the top of my lungs about something that delighted me.

I was a child without subtext.

Of course everyone wants a hyperactive child tackling them with a hug. And everyone understands when I'm just being silly. Right? And who would care if I playfully "tap" them? But sometimes the playful taps weren't really taps, they were more like hits, and people would become annoyed or mad at me. "Keep your hands to yourself," was something my mom was always saying to me. "Hitchy-pitchy," she'd say whenever my voice became too high pitched. My nicknames were Terremotita (that's Spanish for little earthquake), Herd of Elephants, Clutzilla and that doesn't even include the names my older sister made up for me. I was always way too eager, hyper, emotional, anxious... I was clumsy because my attention was on something more exciting whenever I was doing mundane things like clearing the table, washing the dishes, walking... My mom called me, and she still does sometimes, her "all or nothing girl." If I wanted something, I wanted it passionately. If I did something, I did it with every fiber of my being. The biggest problem with that was, there was very little nothing. I wanted everything. I wanted to do, to be everything. When I found out about something that caught my interest, I had to know all there was to know about it.

When we moved back to the states after our five year stint in Venezuela, I was in sixth grade and almost fully under control. I say "almost" because I did still have little outbursts every once in a while when I got too excited or upset about something... I DO still have little outbursts.

By nature, I am a creature who is overwrought with emotions. But that doesn't mean I have to be controlled by my emotions. I've learned how to control them. I've learned to not let these impulses run my life. When I'm teaching or directing, my calm and soothing energy is often commented on. They have no idea how hard it was for me to attain a place of inner peace. I never had a sense of order in my life, (and that lack of disorder often shows itself in my personal life and through my finances) yet I learned through perserverance and good old fashioned pig headedness, how to be a good stage manager, event organizer and editor. Three things that require a lot of organization.

But sometimes, I can feel the earthquake just beneath the surface of my skin.

IDAHO

Did you know that today is the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO)? I sure didn't. I didn't even have a clue that May 17th had any significance, until now! So here's what I've learned about today:
1536 - Anne Boleyns 4 "lovers" were executed.
1620 - The first merry-go-round seen at a fair (Philippapolis, Turkey)
1804 - Lewis and Clark begin exploration of Louisiana Purchase
1954 - Brown vs. Board of Education is decided
1990 - the General Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) removed homosexuality from their list of mental disorders.
2004 - First legal same-sex marriage performed in Massachusetts

I know, it's not all related, but what the hell.

So let's all celebrate the queer side of life! Woo-hoo for the GBLTS!!! (Oh come on, I know it's not the "official" order the letters are suppose to go in, but I just get a giggle with the BLT in the middle. And I always include the straight queers... My darling heterosexual lifemate is one of the coolest you'll ever meet!) This bi-chic is going to celebrate the fact that her boyfriend has agreed to her dating women while he's all the way in Idaho. Hence the reason I came across this very interesting information. (The fact that he's in Idaho, not that he's okay with me dating women.... though I suppose it could have been the other way around. )

*phbbbbbbblat!* --- that's me blowing an imaginary spittle filled noise maker. ;p

At Home Vegan - a rant, of sorts

Don't roll your eyes thinking, "Damn, another bleeding heart lecture about eating meat." or "I need my meat, my cheese, my eggs!!!" or "Vegetables are for pussies." or "Friggin' freak!" Okay, thinking the last one is fine.
Honestly, what you do or don't eat is none of my concern.
Though I do believe carnivors should have to hunt and kill their own prey with their bare hands... and, AND it should be televised! The Romans had the right idea... not that they had televisions, but if they did, you better believe that they'd have a few programs like "Lion's Lunch" and "Chaos at the Coliseum". Ooooooo, that could be fun! That would be a sporting event worth sinking your teeth into! ; >

No, seriously, I am a hater of ANYONE telling me how to live my life, so why would I do that to anyone else? I don't pitch a fit or send the food back to the kitchen. I've even been known to pick a big ole hunk of bacon right off my vegetable medley and just kept right on eating. It's not worth it, you know? I ate meat for the majority of my life, so who am I to judge? One of my favorite meals was fried chicken, fried okra, mashed potatoes and gravy with a big ole glass of milk. (I know, my southern roots are showin'.) And it wasn't until recently that I started cutting animal by-products out of my diet... and I still haven't done it completely, but I'm getting closer.

Now, if cannibalism weren't such a fo-pah (how the hell is that spelled?) in this society, I'd be all about eating human's who volunteer their bodies for consumption. And none of that Soylent Green shit where you don't know it's people. I want human fried hand (finger food!), leg o' human, human brains... ohhhhhhhh yeah... I should stop, I'm drooling. A side benefit is that it would free up land. We could just get rid of graveyards entirely... though I am conflicted about graveyards 'cause I like them, A LOT. (But that's another rant entirely.)

Oh and human by-products!!! Why not human milk or human cheese? Why does that idea gross so many people out? (And believe me, I've made many folks green at the gills with just the slightest hint at the various things we could use human by-products for.) Why is that gross while suckling at the udder of a cow is completely acceptable? And fertilizer? Human fertilizer! Think about it, you could literally sell your own shit. We produce it, why not sell it? How about tears? Why not make that horrible first day at work at the Human By-Product Factory pay for itself by collecting your own tears? We already sell blood, sperm, eggs, plasma... Yet we donate organs... You know, I bet a lot more people would be willing to sign over their organs if they knew their family would be compensated. (Though I do believe the world is WAAAAAAAAY overpopulated with humans and... wait, hold that rant.)

So where was I going with this?

Oh yeah... at home vegan.

It's actually easier than I ever thought it would be. It begins with clearing out. We didn't throw food away as that would be wasteful and disrespectful. So as we cleared out, we replaced. This leads to: Shopping. I kind of hate shopping. But if I must, my preference is Trader Joe's. They have MANY affordable Vegan items and, at least in the four I've been to in Chicago and it's Western Suburbs, the employees are all really nice and seem to be above average happy. Why this is, I have no idea. But other people have commented on this phenomenon as well. I should investigate further... perhaps it's something in the food.
Places like Jewel and Dominicks (can you tell I live in the Mid-West?) are also catching on and providing Vegan foods, but they are a bit more expensive. Though in a pinch, they'll do.
I also like Whole Foods. The drawback with them is they're definitely more expensive. The bonus is they tend to have a wider variety of items to choose from and they have a great deal more in the way of non-food Vegan items.
Once you know where to shop, the next step is to know how to shop. Granted, there are things you have to be extra careful to get in your diet like calcium, iron, protein, vitamin B12... Most soymilks are now fortified with B12 - a bacteria byproduct most people get through eating meat - and the rest can be found in vegetables, nuts, fruits, abd seeds. (Though I should note that Americans are OBSESSED with protein and protein tends to be a lot easier to obtain in Vegetables than most meat eaters believe. Beans and nuts are just two examples.)

I hadn't meant to go into all this, but that's what happens when I rant.... So since there are many things I didn't even get to, I'm going to recommend the Vegetarian Resource Group as a great website to check out. There are also some great books like: Becoming Vegan and How it All Vegan --- Sarah Kramer who wrote HIAV is super cool and you should definitely check out her website.