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30 November Pink -- Dear Mr. President Come take a walk with me (take a walk with me) Let's pretend we're just two people and You're not better than me I'd like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep What do you feel when you look in the mirror Are you proud How do you sleep while the rest of us cry How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye How do you walk with your head held high Can you even look me in the eye And tell me why Dear Mr. President Were you a lonely boy (were you a lonely boy) Are you a lonely boy (are you a lonely boy) How can you say No child is left behind
We're not dumb and we're not blind (we're not blind) They're all sitting in your cells While you pay the road to hell What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay I can only imagine what the first lady has to say You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine How do you sleep while the rest of us cry How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye How do you walk with your head held high Can you even look me in the eye Let me tell you bout hard work Minimum wage with a baby on the way Let me tell you bout hard work Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away Let me tell you bout hard work Building a bed out of a cardboard box Let me tell you bout hard work Hard work Hard work You don't know nothing bout hard work Hard work Hard work
Oh How do you sleep at night How do you walk with your head held high Dear Mr. President You'd never take a walk with me Would you ... --
Dear Mr. President, Talk a walk with me, jsut alongside me. No I don't have any money, but my adviced is praized by many, and it is free. I know why you sleep. Even worse perhaps I do remember the dreams you have. But that is not your fault. Only your future is your fault. I took you her, and perhaps you cannot see, but this is where I live. And if you cannot see the beauty that resides here, I will describe it for you:
There beneath your feet, is the old grass, which has turned slightly pale because of the fall, and even most trees have lost their leaves. No they won't stain your pants. Don't worry, when you walk with me, time doesn't pass. No will not explain, I'm just a physicist and now how long it would take to explain. Your education doesn't make who you are, that is not your fault. Look there over the grass, even as the wind slightly gusts, and makes your front hair tickle your eyebrows. The trees make a noise, you hear that? the sound of trees. How long has it been since you heared that? How long has it been, since you just stopped to notice the sound of the trees, that wander in the wind? That long ayé? You smell that? you don't know that smell? But my dear friend, that, that is the smell of rain. No, many don't know how it smells, but many sailors can. Cause yes I've sailed on the wind. And you can to, you don't need a limo or airplane to transport you. Yes, I know, I do not have the difficulty that people want to kill me. But how come do you think? No, I don't agree, I'll tell you why. You see, you see the grass as green now, you will find out more about physics in time, and you can hear the wind and smell the rain now. But you know, Soldiers in Iraq, they can't even find grass. And most children will never learn about time, or how it passes They will never become physicist. And many will not hear the sound of trees, because they have died due to polution. And people rather listen to women moaning, or coins falling in a box. And the rain, smell just as always, it smell like smog. As it does every day. And All I hear is gunfire, and yelling. The painfull thing is, You can change it. Don't look mad, look like you did before I started to summarize. When you smiled at nature. It is not impossible you know. Many, many have gone before you. Please don't hate yourself for doing it this way. You are still on this planet, so you can still change the world. And even terrorists will love you. Come on chap, I'll take you to your limo.
And so they walked out of the small park, surrounded by houses, and through a long tunnel beneath one of the houses. And as they approached the other end of the tunnel. George was getting more and more amazed. As he noticed we were not in some outback village. But in the middle Of Amsterdam.
Isn't it ironic, that even you, as a reader might see that last paragraph as a bit too fictional. But that is so funny, because it really exists. And I've been there. So how can you blame you president, If his own people can't even believe its possibility? 29 November
Vandaag zat ik tegenover mijzelf, op de terugweg. Letterlijk wel te verstaan. Hetzelfde uitzicht, maar dan van een net iets andere kant bekeken. Ik moet me scheren. Kan je even goed naar mezelf kijken. Voordat ik weer uit de trein moet stappen. Want ik tegenover mij, gaat dan net weg. Ookal heeft ie zich dan verslapen.
Er zit verf op het raam, gewoon slechts schoongemaakt door spuitende en platgespoten junkies. Of door mensen die helaas geen beter werk kunnen doen. En het misschien nog leuk vinden ook. Het nadeel van intelligentie, je bent veel minder snel tevreden... Nouja, misschien af en toe ook wel precies het tegenovergestelde, maar vandaag nu, even niet. Even gewoon zeuren over het leven.
Even bij de rest van de mensheid horen. 28 November Do you box against the world more often, somewhere either noon or dusk, when the sun hasn't rose yet?
20 November Soms, soms zou ik je allemaal dingen willen noemen die je niet bent of wilt zijn. Maar meestal kan ik dan alleen maar aan -*jou naamwoord eigennaam*- denken.
13 November I cannot speak of my talents, at least not in the writing business. Or maybe I simply like and meet up, with a very good writer too often. She has got talent, and that is all she would want me to speak about her.
Her words are sometimes magical, enchanting or inspiring. But mostly they are there for what they are supposed to be, together, on one sheet of paper.
As for my own, It is like a wedding pie, and all the bullshit is colored white and pink. But it isn't the way that looks that is important, it is the unexcpected taste, that cannot be read, at differs between people, and the feeling in holds inside itself. I write very little these days though. Very little indeed. For I have nothing to tell. No general message which can be usefull to all. I could, but I'd know it wouldn't be usefull in the way I'd like to. It is not personal enough. And on the personal level, I don't even know if I can be wize. So no, I can't make everyone happy, I cannot help everyone, and I cannot understand everyone. Since everyting is read by humans, I sometimes lose the sense of writing. So what do I have to tell, besides nothing special whatsoever? What does anyone, no matter how good you are, even have to say, when writing their stories and memories to paper?
It is like a picture, It tells more though, a thought or a memorie, sometimes an emotion, carefully and britally written down, to represent what it is reperesenting in the mind. A painstaking proces. And the results is not lasting, as the writer changes ever so often.
It is the conclusion, of monologue, that tells little about the world, a bit about me, and a bit about my opinion about others. But what does it really say? what is its ever so hidden truth? Appearently, even If I know no reason whatsoever, to write. No reason to compose poems, not reason to sit inside warm, instead outside int the cold, where I was supposed to be. Appearently, One does not need a reason to write at all. Or do I not need readers? how should I know? I'm just writing without purpose, because instinctively I'm crying for attention, that I don't need actually. But so despearatly need to give. I guess, I'm just A writer. 01 November
| (to wear sunscreen) |
Mary Schmich Chicago Tribune |
Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’97... wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be IT.
The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience.
I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.
You are NOT as fat as you imagine.
Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing every day that scares you.
Sing.
Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.
Remember compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch.
Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.
Get plenty of calcium.
Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.
Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself, either. Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s. Enjoy your body, use it every way you can. Don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.
Dance. Even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.
Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.
Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good.
Be nice to your siblings; they are your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography in lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.
Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen.
from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet music from the House of Iona, Something For Everybody |
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