Good Running Form

Free Writing Exercises

BERNADETTE MAYER'S WRITING EXPERIMENTS →

* Pick a word or phrase at random, let mind play freely around it until a
few ideas have come up, then seize on one and begin to write. Try this with
a non- connotative word, like "so" etc.
* Systematically eliminate the use of certain kinds of words or phrases from
a piece of writing: eliminate all adjectives from a poem of your own, or
take out all words beginning with 's' in Shakespeare's sonnets.
* Rewrite someone else's writing. Experiment with theft and plagiarism.
* Systematically derange the language: write a work consisting only of
prepositional phrases, or, add a gerund to every line of an already existing
work. 
* Get a group of words, either randomly selected or thought up, then form
these words (only) into a piece of writing-whatever the words allow. Let
them demand their own form, or, use some words in a predetermined way.
Design words. 
* Eliminate material systematically from a piece of your own writing until
it is "ultimately" reduced, or, read or write it backwards, line by line or
word by word. Read a novel backwards.
* Using phrases relating to one subject or idea, write about another,
pushing metaphor and simile as far as you can. For example, use science
terms to write about childhood or philosophic language to describe a shirt.
* Take an idea, anything that interests you, or an object, then spend a few
days looking and noticing, perhaps making notes on what comes up about that
idea, or, try to create a situation or surrounding where everything that
happens is in relation.
* Construct a poem as if the words were three-dimensional objects to be
handled in space. Print them on large cards or bricks if necessary.
* Write as you think, as close as you can come to this, that is, put pen to
paper and don't stop. Experiment writing fast and writing slow.
* Attempt tape recorder work, that is, recording without a text, perhaps at
specific times. 
* Make notes on what happens or occurs to you for a limited amount of time,
then make something of it in writing.
* Get someone to write for you, pretending they are you.
* Write in a strict form, or, transform prose into a poetic form.
* Write a poem that reflects another poem, as in a mirror.
* Read or write a story or myth, then put it aside and, trying to remember
it, write it five or ten times at intervals from memory. Or, make a work out
of continuously saying, in a column or list, one sentence or line, over and
over in different ways, until you get it "right."
* Make a pattern of repetitions.
* Take an already written work of your own and insert, at random or by
choice, a paragraph or section from, for example, a psychology book or a
seed catalogue. Then study the possibilities of rearranging this work or
rewriting the "source."
* Experiment with writing in every person and tense every day.
* Explore the possibilities of lists, puzzles, riddles, dictionaries,
almanacs, etc. Consult the thesaurus where categories for the word "word"
include: word as news, word as message, word as information, word as story,
word as order or command, word as vocable, word as instruction, promise,
vow, contract. 
* Write what cannot be written; for example, compose an index.
* The possibilities of synesthesia in relation to language and words: the
word and the letter as sensations, colors evoked by letters, sensations
caused by the sound of a word as apart from its meaning, etc. And the effect
of this phenomenon on you; for example, write in the water, on a moving
vehicle. 
* Attempt writing in a state of mind that seems least congenial.
* Consider word and letter as forms-the concretistic distortion of a text, a
mutiplicity of o's or ea's, or a pleasing visual arrangement: "the mill pond
of chill doubt." 
* Do experiments with sensory memory: record all sense images that remain
from breakfast, study which senses engage you, escape you.
* Write, taking off from visual projections, whether mental or mechanical,
without thought to the word in the ordinary sense, no craft.
* Make writing experiments over a long period of time. For example, plan how
much you will write for a particular work each day, perhaps one word or one
page. 
* Write on a piece of paper where something is already printed or written.
* Attempt to eliminate all connotation from a piece of writing and vice
versa. 
* Experiment with writing in a group, collaborative work: a group writing
individually off of each other's work over a long period of time in the same
room; a group contributing to the same work, sentence by sentence or line by
line; one writer being fed information and ideas while the other writes;
writing, leaving instructions for another writer to fill in what you can't
describe; compiling a book or work structured by your own language around
the writings of others; or a group working and writing off of each other's
dream writing. 
* Dream work: record dreams daily, experiment with translation or
transcription of dream thought, attempt to approach the tense and
incongruity appropriate to the dream, work with the dream until a poem or
song emerges from it, use the dream as an alert form of the mind's activity
or consciousness, consider the dream a problem-solving device, change dream
characters into fictional characters, accept dream's language as a gift.
* Structure a poem or prose writing according to city streets, miles, walks,
drives. For example: Take a fourteen-block walk, writing one line per block
to create a sonnet; choose a city street familiar to you, walk it, make
notes and use them to create a work; take a long walk with a group of
writers, observe, make notes and create works, then compare them; take a
long walk or drive-write one line or sentence per mile. Variations on this.
* The uses of journals. Keep a journal that is restricted to one set of
ideas, for instance, a food or dream journal, a journal that is only written
in when it is raining, a journal of ideas about writing, a weather journal.
Remember that journals do not have to involve "good" writing-they are to be
made use of. Simple one-line entries like "No snow today" can be inspiring
later. Have 3 or 4 journals going at once, each with a different purpose.
Create a journal that is meant to be shared and commented on by another
writer--leave half of each page blank for the comments of the other.
* Type out a Shakespeare sonnet or other poem you would like to learn
about/imitate double-spaced on a page. Rewrite it in between the lines.
* Find the poems you think are the worst poems ever written, either by your
own self or other poets. Study them, then write a bad poem.
* Choose a subject you would like to write "about." Then attempt to write a
piece that absolutely avoids any relationship to that subject. Get someone
to grade you. 
* Write a series of titles for as yet unwritten poems or proses.
* Work with a number of objects, moving them around on a field or
surface-describe their shifting relationships, resonances, associations. Or,
write a series of poems that have only to do with what you see in the place
where you most often write. Or, write a poem in each room of your house or
apartment. Experiment with doing this in the home you grew up in, if
possible. 
* Write a bestiary (a poem about real and mythical animals).
* Write five short expressions of the most adamant anger; make a work out of
them. 
* Write a work gazing into a mirror without using the pronoun I.
* A shocking experiment: Rip pages out of books at random (I guess you could
xerox them) and study them as if they were a collection of poetic/literary
material. Use this method on your old high school or college notebooks, if
possible, then create an epistemological work based on the randomly chosen
notebook pages. 
* Meditate on a word, sound or list of ideas before beginning to write.
* Take a book of poetry you love and make a list, going through it poem by
poem, of the experiments, innovations, methods, intentions, etc. involved in
the creation of the works in the book.
* Write what is secret. Then write what is shared. Experiment with writing
each in two different ways: veiled language, direct language.
* Write a soothing novel in twelve short paragraphs.
* Write a work that attempts to include the names of all the physical
contents of the terrestrial world that you know.
* Take a piece of prose writing and turn it into poetic lines. Then, without
remembering that you were planning to do this, make a poem of the first and
last words of each line to see what happens. For instance, the lines (from
Einstein) 
* When at the reception
* Of sense-impressions, memory pictures
* Emerge this is not yet thinking
* And when. . . 
* Would become: 
* When reception 
* Of pictures 
* Emerge thinking 
* And when 
* And so on. Form the original prose, poetic lines, and first-and-last word
poem into three columns on a page. Study their relationships.
* If you have an answering machine, record all messages received for one
month, then turn them into a best-selling novella.
* Write a macaronic poem (making use of as many languages as you are
conversant with). 
* Attempt to speak for a day only in questions; write only in questions.
* Attempt to become in a state where the mind is flooded with ideas; attempt
to keep as many thoughts in mind simultaneously as possible. Then write
without looking at the page, typescript or computer screen (This is "called"
invisible writing).
* Choose a period of time, perhaps five or nine months. Every day, write a
letter that will never be sent to a person who does or does not exist, or to
a number of people who do or do not exist. Create a title for each letter
and don't send them. Pile them up as a book.
* Etymological work. Experiment with investigating the etymologies of all
words that interest you, including your own name(s). Approaches to
etymologies: Take a work you've already written, preferably something short,
look up the etymological meanings of every word in that work including words
like "the" and "a". Study the histories of the words used, then rewrite the
work on the basis of the etymological information found out. Another
approach: Build poems and writings form the etymological families based on
the Indo-European language constructs, for instance, the BHEL family: bulge,
bowl, belly, boulder, billow, ball, balloon; or the OINO family: one, alone,
lonely, unique, unite, unison, union; not to speak of one of the GEN
families: kin, king, kindergarten, genteel, gender, generous, genius,
genital, gingerly, pregnant, cognate, renaissance, and innate!
* Write a brief bibliography of the science and philosophy texts that
interest you. Create a file of newspaper articles that seem to relate to the
chances of writing poetry.
* Write the poem: Ways of Making Love. List them.
* Diagram a sentence in the old-fashioned way. If you don't know how, I'll
be happy to show you; if you do know how, try a really long sentence, for
instance from Melville.
* Turn a list of the objects that have something to do with a person who has
died into a poem or poem form, in homage to that person.
* Write the same poem over and over again, in different forms, until you are
weary. Another experiment: Set yourself the task of writing for four hours
at a time, perhaps once, twice or seven times a week. Don't stop until
hunger and/or fatigue take over. At the very least, always set aside a
four-hour period once a month in which to write. This is always possible and
will result in one book of poems or prose writing for each year. Then we
begin to know something.
* Attempt as a writer to win the Nobel Prize in Science by finding out how
thought becomes language, or does not.
* Take a traditional text like the pledge of allegiance to the flag. For
every noun, replace it with one that is seventh or ninth down from the
original one in the dictionary. For instance, the word "honesty" would be
replaced by "honey dew melon." Investigate what happens; different
dictionaries will produce different results.
* Attempt to write a poem or series of poems that will change the world.
Does everything written or dreamed of do this?
* Write occasional poems for weddings, for rivers, for birthdays, for other
poets' beauty, for movie stars maybe, for the anniversaries of all kinds of
loving meetings, for births, for moments of knowledge, for deaths. Writing
for the "occasion" is part of our purpose as poets in being-this is our work
in the community wherein we belong and work as speakers for others.
* Experiment with every traditional form, so as to know it.
* Write poems and proses in which you set yourself the task of using
particular words, chosen at random like the spelling exercises of children:
intelligence, amazing, weigh, weight, camel, camel's, foresight, through,
threw, never, now, snow, rein, rain. Make a story of that!
* Plan, structure, and write a long work. Consider what is the work now
needed by the culture to cure and exact even if by accident the great
exorcism of its 1998 sort-of- seeming-not-being. What do we need? What is
the poem of the future?
* What is communicable now? What more is communicable?
* Compose a list of familiar phrases, or phrases that have stayed in your
mind for a long time--from songs, from poems, from conversation:
* What's in a name? That which we call a rose
* By any other name would smell as sweet
* (Romeo and Juliet)
* A rose is a rose is a rose
* (Gertrude Stein) 
* A raisin in the sun
* (Langston Hughes)
* The king was in the counting house
* Counting out his money. . .
* (Nursery rhyme) 
* I sing the body electric. . .
* These United States. . .
* (Walt Whitman) 
* A thing of beauty is a joy forever
* (Keats) 
* (I summon up) remembrance of things past
* (WS) 
* Ask not for whom the bell tolls
* It tolls for thee
* (Donne) 
* Look homeward, Angel
* (Milton) 
* For fools rush in where angels fear to tread
* (Pope) 
* All's well that ends well
* (WS) 
* I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness
* (Allen Ginsberg) 
* I think therefore I am
* (Descartes) 
* It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,. . .
* (Dickens) 
* brave new world has such people in it
* (Shakespeare, The Tempest, later Huxley)
* Odi et amo (I hate and I love)
* (Catullus) 
* Water water everywhere
* Nor any drop to drink
* (Coleridge) 
* Curiouser and curiouser
* (Alice in Wonderland)
* Don't worry be happy. Here's a little song I wrote. . .
* Write the longest most beautiful sentence you can imagine-make it be a
whole page. 
* Set yourself the task of writing in a way you've never written before, no
matter who you are.
* What is the value of autobiography?
* Attempt to write in a way that's never been written before.
* Invent a new form.
* Write a perfect poem.
* Write a work that intersperses love with landlords.
* In a poem, list what you know.
* Address the poem to the reader.
* Write household poems-about cooking, shopping, eating and sleeping.
* Write dream collabortations in the lune form.
* Write poems that only make use of the words included in Basic English.
* Attempt to write about jobs and how they affect the writing of poetry.
* Write while being read to from science texts, or, write while being read
to by one's lover from any text.
* Trade poems with others and do not consider them your own.
* Exercises in style: Write twenty-five or more different versions of one
event. 
* Review the statement: "What is happening to me, allowing for lies and
exaggerations which I try to avoid, goes into my poems."

My thoughts about the Twilight series/phenomenon

Questions of the Week

• Why do I run?  I run because I can, I run so I feel alive, I run for the challenge of pushing myself to achieve something new but mostly I run for fun.
• Why don't we round up the well-to-do Americans who illegally employ the undocumented workers?  They are the real major criminals in our society.
• Why do I keep making promises that I can't keep?
• Why did I go to college at UCSC (University of California, Santa Cruz)?  At the time I had choices of UC San Diego, San Diego State University, UC Davis, UCLA, UC Berkeley, San Jose State... My five years at UC Santa Cruz really opened my eyes and got me to think for myself.  It changed my life.  
• Is it a small world?  In 1990, the year after I graduated from college, I got a job at Portland Stage Company in Maine as a sound technician/ assistant electrician. One day as I was crossing the street to go to work, I saw Cinnamon (yeah that's her real name, forgot her last name) coming towards me in the opposite direction. She and I had worked together on our senior project at UCSC where we just graduated a few months back. She directed one of the shows that I did all the sound designs for.  Santa Cruz was 3000 miles across the country on the other coast, the chance of seeing someone you know was phenomenal, I thought. OK, next summer, I got a gig at a Summer Theater Festival in Wisconsin.  Dennis, my former co-worker at Portland Stage was living in Madison, about 30 minutes from where I was working so I came to visit and picked up something from him.  As I walking down State Street going towards University of Wisconsin campus I saw another person I knew from Santa Cruz walking on the other side of the street.  I knew I wasn't mistaken because I've seen this guy many times previously at UCSC.  I've never actually talked to him or knew his name, I've seen him at some concerts on campus, around the dorms, coffeeshops, library, bus stops, downtown Pacific Garden Mall, etc. He was one of those characters that stands out in a crowd, he had this trademark long black unkempt hair, wearing Goth jewelry with a Hippie demeanor/swagger and black Doc Martens leather boots or something like that.  Wore black most of the time.  I knew that it was the same guy.  Just like I was sure that it was Cinnamon back in Portland.  Now I don't remember seeing anybody else I know in Baltimore, where I went to work afterwards, but the next job I was hired in Dallas, Texas where the Production Manager was Ben, one of my classmates in the technical theater department at UCSC.  He went on to Yale School of Drama to get his Masters. Ben is now the Technical Director at The Old Globe Theater in San Diego, California, which is my hometown.  I am now in the Atlanta area, where I've been for the last 15 years, and so far this is the longest I've lived in one place and I have yet to see another person from UC Santa Cruz.  May be one of these day when I'm least expecting it.  That's the way it always happened.

Hollywood Finish in the World Cup

Here's something you haven't heard in 80 years:  The United States wins their group play in the FIFA World Cup.
USA wins Group C with a goal by Landon Donovan in the 91st minute of a 90-minute game.  Man, what a game!  Greatest win ever for US Soccer!  USA was facing elimination with about 2 minutes left in the game, great determination and teamwork at the end won it.  I was about to give up on them and planning on writing in this blog about how unorganized, boring and inconsistent the team was playing.  In addition to having no real offensive threat or having no creativity in the midfield. The defense is still shaky with the exception of Demerit and the only consistency on offense was Jozy Altidore.  All right I take all that back because in the end, they delivered a victory. It was also a good game for the goalie Tim Howard who distributed a great long throw to start the 5 on 2 fast break and eventually the game-winner.
Uh oh, if they make it to the Quarterfinals next round I would have to run naked in the streets of Atlanta since I bet on it a few weeks back.  Free Willy, here I come.

• Watching paint taking itself seriously.  Referring to Glenn Beck by Stephen Colbert.
• I promise that I will not make any more promises.

Just Observing

• When in doubt just laugh, that's my new philosophy.
• Daily Observation:  The UPS stores are the new Starbucks, at least here in Smyrna, Georgia. 
• Beat the Heat by eating a piece of Meat.  As seen on the marquee of a pizza joint.  I'm going to have a slice of pizza now for lunch after my noontime run of 3 miles in 87 degree weather.
• Switzerland just defeated Spain 1-nil.  No team that lost the first game has gone on to win the World Cup.  Adios Espana!  
• What Up My Ninja!  Looks like Argentina is the first team to go through to the knockout round. They won all 3 of their games in the first round. 
• This blog used to be ReInventing Mojo.  It is now GROOVY FEET HAPPY TOES.
• One Day At a Time, One thing at a time. Smile, Breathe, and Go slowly.
• I don't care if you think it'll hurt small businesses (it won't), I'm still boycotting BP.

Hey Barry

Dear Mr. President:

God bless EVERYONE, No exceptions.  What do you mean when you say God Bless America anyway?  God will bless whoever he or she wants to.  It's not up to you to decide.  It's a meaningless phrase.  God Bless America, how condescending, xenophobic and patronizing. Not to mention nonsensical.  Oh, excuse me, I forgot, you were a lawyer.

Sincerely,
A secular humanist

USA vs England Highlights

Gone Swimmin'

I'm relearning how to swim efficiently at Bally Total Fitness.

• I am embracing the Heat and Humidity of Georgia. Ran 3 miles at Silver Comet trails/ Heritage Park trails. 93 degrees heat, high noon, Heat index 105. Humid as heck. Sweated like a pig.
• Tip for dealing with the Georgia heat: RUN NEKKID.
• Tony Awards: a complete bore. Italy: absolutely dreadful. Me: a British wanna be.
• Did you know: Women are legally allowed to be topless in Hawaii, Texas, Maine, New York & Ohio.
• Fact: Alaska and Hawaii are the only 2 states that I haven't visited.

Flakers are done

• Kobe who?  Pierce was fierce tonight.  Somebody tell the Lakers that basketball is a team sport.  You can score 50 points by yourself but if your team don't play defense or you make too many turnovers, by yourself, you and your team will lose.  I guarantee it. The Celtics had a balance offense: Rondo, Garnett, Allen, and Pierce. Most importantly, they play together as a team. Doc Rivers is gonna win the 2nd championship in three years on Tuesday night.
• Re: USC football program and the sanction:  Apparently you CAN change the past.
• World Cup Soccer:  so far I was impressed with Ghana and South Korea.  But it's only the first round and day 3.  There are still over three weeks left.
• Hey, don't blame me, I didn't vote for Sonny. Have never, ever voted for a Republican.
• The Tony Awards finally had Sound Design categories?  I did not know that. Apparently they added them 2 years ago. Looking over this year's nominees for the Tonys, I saw about 6 names of designers that I either know, met or have worked with. (Don Holder, Dan Schreier, Paul Tazawell, Kenny Leon, Catherine Zuber and Constanza Romero-who went to UC Santa Cruz and graduated from the theater arts dept. when I was a sophomore there.  Of course she's also the widow of August Wilson.)  
• Actually I am still using these Sony headphones that sound designer Dan Moses Schreier gave me when I worked with him on a show at Portland Stage in Maine. I can't believe that it's been 19 years?  The pair of Doc Marten shoes from the costume shop at Center Stage in Baltimore-I'm still wearing them, 16 years later, and they're the most comfortable shoes ever.  I'm thinking of getting another pair of those. The cafe table from Dallas Theater Center is outside in the porch, we use it every day. It's kinda humorous really to see little pieces of souvenirs that I've collected over the years from theaters I've worked at all over the country. I don't think I have anything from Shakespeare Santa Cruz or American Players Theatre in Wisconsin. Nada from Georgia Shakespeare or the Alliance in Atlanta either.  One day I'm going to compile a list of theaters and mementos from those places in an upcoming blog. Stay tuned.

Thoughtful Thursday

• Beautiful Pencil Drawings by 

         Paul Lung http://www.beautifullife.info/art-works/unbelievable-pencil-art/

        Unbelievable, it's a drawing in pencil.  Nice work, Paul.

Current Events

Helen Thomas has been one of my heroines for many years.  She still is.  This is from yesterday's blog by Marc Perkel-the most dangerous mind on the Internet.

Helen Thomas is Right about Israel

THIS POST WAS WRITTEN BY MARC ON JUNE 7, 2010
POSTED UNDER: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Letter to the Editor

It is unfortunate the Helen Thomas was forced to retire after speaking her mind about Israel. I happen to agree with her although I wouldn’t have worded it the way she did.

No religion should have a homeland. Whenever there is a religious homeland it creates a caste system where one group of people are superior to all other religious groups. If the Jews get one then it justifies the Muslims getting one, then the Christians will want one, and eventually the Church of Scientology will want their homeland. In contrast, America is a secular nation where all religions and non-religions are equal.

I also don’t like censorship. It seems that you can’t say anything the criticizes Israel or draw cartoons of Muhammad without losing your job or your life. Helen is a role model for me.  Like Helen, I don’t accept this form of oppression and I will say whatever I want about anyone I want. I encourage others to do the same.

Marc Perkel @ http://marc.perkel.com

• "Shrew: The Musical" still lame after 10 years. Mindless Self-indulgent awkwardness.
• So far this year I ran 151 out of 159 days. One of my New Year's Resolutions was to run at least a mile a day for 365 days in a row.  My streak was stopped on the  82nd day because of the stomach flu. Then after that it was a couple of snow days, rest days, rainy days and a few days where I just couldn't find the time. Lately though I have started a new streak of at least 2 miles a day. My longest run ever was 7 miles.  I am going to try to run at least 7 this Saturday morning, may be I should get up early and go to the group run at West Stride.
• I'm watching Game 3 of the NBA Finals.  Note to Kobe Bryant: It's a team sport, that means you win or lose together as a team, you gotta play both offense and defense. Same goes for the Boston Celtics, they're playing terrible team defense right now and nobody is shooting the basketball well in the 1st half.  Kevin Garnett is the only consisent offensive force, which is surprising because he has been quite mediocre recently. They deserve to lose this game tonight.  Looks like this might go to 7 games after all.  I still root for any team but the Lakers.  My team is the San Antonio Spurs.
• Ouch! Celtics defense didn't show up until the last quarter and by then it was too late.  Offense didn't show up at all, with the exception of Garnett.  Ray Allen was 0 for 13. Where was Pierce?

The 2010 FIFA World Cup

begins in 4 days.

My picks for the finals are the hosts South Africa and Netherlands.
I always pick the Netherlands/Holland to win every World Cup as long as I can remember.  For about some 36 years, ever since I watched them played in the 1970's where I grew up playing soccer barefoot in the dirt and asphalt parking lots. Their concept of Total Football just appealed to me greatly.  I played defense mostly, but I do appreciate the well-rounded approach and mentality of the Dutch teams of the past.
Some potential finalists would be Spain, Brazil, Italy, and Germany. There will be some suprises but I don't think the U.S. have a chance this year.  Why they still have that lousy coach/manager Bob Bradley is beyond me, the man is a proven loser, time and time again.  I bet that if the U.S. make it through to the Quarterfinal round of 8, I will run naked through downtown Atlanta.  Any takers?

Yahoo! Sports'  2010 World Cup power rankings

1. Brazil – Dunga's squad is packed with quality but, thanks to a tough draw, faces a rocky road to the final.

2. Spain – The Spanish are hungrily chasing another tournament title after a magnificent Euro 2008 victory.

3. Argentina – A sketchy qualifying campaign is now long forgotten with Lionel Messi and other stars in superb form.

4. England – Fabio Capello's hard-line regime has reaped rewards. Wayne Rooney's health is a huge plus too, but captain Rio Ferdinand is out injured.

5. Netherlands – The Dutch head into another big tournament with an awesome squad, but will they lose their nerve again?

6. Germany – The Germans have the experience and organization to cope with the loss of Michael Ballack.

7. Italy – The Azzurri probably won't repeat as champions, yet a favorable draw could take them far.

8. Cameroon – Boosted by plenty of discipline and a determination to become the first African semifinalist.

9. Portugal – It's a squad beset by problems, but the brilliance of Cristiano Ronaldo can't be discounted.

10. France – Coach Raymond Domenech is a dead man walking, and the team might not last long either.

11. Denmark – The Danes enjoyed an excellent qualifying campaign, but can they deliver on the big stage?

12. Serbia – Interesting team that divides opinion … the Serbs could crash early or go deep.

13. United States – With no megastars but lots of courage, the Americans are focused on getting out of Group C.

14. Australia – Fiery and determined, the Socceroos could spring some shocks in Group D.

15. Ivory Coast – Didier Drogba's broken arm is a devastating blow to the side's chances of emerging from the Group of Death.

16. Chile – A welcome return to the World Cup after 12 years, thanks to some outstanding qualifying performances.

17. Paraguay – Took a worrying dip toward the end of qualifying but still well-drilled and heavy-scoring.

18. South Africa – The most derided host team in history might not be as bad as everyone expects. Bafana Bafana must maximize their home advantage.

19. Ghana – Would have been ranked far higher if its talisman, Michael Essien, hadn't been ruled out with a knee injury.

20. Mexico – El Tri got their act together under Javier Aguirre, but serious questions about their consistency remain.

21. Greece – No longer just a defensive wall, the Greeks scored 20 goals in 10 games during European qualifiers.

22. Slovakia – This rugged side, lit up by Marek Hamsik's style and craft, could spring some shocks.

23. Switzerland – The Swiss possess a strong backline and a competent midfield, but their weak mentality could be exposed.

24. Slovenia – Banking on a rock-solid defense that has let in just six goals in its past 12 competitive games.

25. Uruguay – Did well to reach the finals but is some ways behind South America's other World Cup representatives.

26. Nigeria – Decent and competitive but lacking the explosiveness of other African nations.

27. Japan – Their speedy strikers could make life interesting. The defense, though, is lightweight and leaky.

28. South Korea – Lacks the firepower to mount any kind of realistic challenge.

29. Honduras – Enterprising and entertaining side will find its Group H opponents too hot to handle.

30. New Zealand – Fast-improving side should avoid embarrassment but not much more.

31. Algeria – Survived an emotional playoff against Egypt but not really of World Cup standard.

32. North Korea – The weakest team + the toughest group = an early exit.

The World's most offensive story

Apparently Being Brown in Arizona is still a Big Crime: (Via Wonkette)
Wonkette : Arizona School Demands Black & Latino Students’ Faces On Mural Be Changed To White

The Zonies are at it again.

New Running Shoes

Received a package from RunningWarehouse today.
  These are my new favorite running shoes:

Brooks Mach 11 Spikeless Cross Country

           Mike Luckovich's latest editorial cartoon (Friday's AJC)

• Jimmy Carter tried to warn us about oil dependency in the 70's, and he is still right today.  Nobody listened then, hopefully more people will now.  Only 33 years too late.

Happy National Running Day

• Klimchak is playing the Marimba Lumina at Gordon White Park this Saturday, June 5th at 4 o'clock on the West Side of the Atlanta Beltline.
• http://beltline.org/ the official website for the Atlanta Beltline project. "Percussion Discussion" duets under the bridges the following Saturdays as part of Art on the Beltline.  Link for Map of the opening events:  http://tinyurl.com/2dskn3v

Captain BS

• Don't blame me, I voted for Kucinich. 
• Drill, Baby, Drill.... Oh, shut up you MORONS!!!!!!
• Make up your mind, do you want the government to get involved, or do you still want less government?  Yeah, that's what I thought.  Y'all love Big Brother after all.   Bunch of socialists. 
• I got some ideas to plug that leak by the BP oil rig in the Gulf:  shoot some enormous amount of Kaopectate or Preparation-H into that hole. I'd call it Bottom Kill.  
• Great, another state I'm boycotting: Alaska.  Arizona, Texas, and Kentucky are the others.  I have lived in 8 different states including Puerto Rico, and so far I would like to live in these states:  Oregon, Colorado, Wisconsin, Minnesota or Vermont.  
• Portland, Oregon would be my first preference.  I've been there a couple of times, once I stayed for a week during a children's theatre tour and got to walk around and checked out the city on foot. I felt in love with that city the first time I saw it.  Oh, man, it's been 15 years! My wife and I are planning on going there for our next vacation.

Quote of the day

 “All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.”  Mark Twain
Being Brown is NOT a crime, unless you're in the state of Arizona.


An Ode to War and Peace 
by Joe Frank 
ALEX CHADWICK, host:

We end our Memorial Day program now with a poem, "An Ode to War and Peace," written and performed by independent radio producer Joe Frank.

JOE FRANK:

So here's to the snappy salute, to spit and polish, the clicking of booted heels, the singing of martial odes. Here's to the officers' club and the swaggering commandant, to the loving but abusive drill sergeant, to the constant flow of insult that is the philosopher's stone of survival. Here's to the young lieutenant fresh from the academy, to the troop ship, soldiers with their duffel bags slung over their shoulders, their cloth caps slouched and angled on their brows. And here's to weeping parents, sweethearts and children clutching at the skirts of their mothers, to final tearful embraces and brass bands playing.

Here's to the night before the battle, to the assault, the coursing landing craft, to going over the top, to the airborne troopers plunging from their droning seed pods, to the rubber dinghy landing at night. Here's to where the farm boy and the city dweller meet and are made equal. Here's to the arcing shell and magnesium dawn, to the clanking treads of armored personnel carriers, to bullets and howitzers, carbines and recoilless rifles, to mortars and anti-personnel bombs, to fragmentation grenades and tear gas canisters, to machine-gun emplacements and flamethrowers, to fasgene(ph) and mustard gas, to the serrated bayonet and the deadly rain of shrapnel.

Here's to minefields fraught with sudden fragmentation, to screaming sergeant death, commanding the rag-tag remnants of his courageous platoon. And here's to raising the flag on the shattered field of victory, to the prisoner of war camp, to the medevac chopper, the hospital ship, sacrosanct, yet sunk, to chaplains, to burial detail and body bags, to "Taps" and other songs. And here's to the brave pilots who in their cavalier ready rooms prepare to become the airborne messengers of death, to the dog-faced infantry who dedicate themselves to the earth as much as their own cause. Here's to words like courage, sacrifice, discipline, glory, maimed, dead.

Here's to war. I raise my glass to you and gaze into the roiling liquid of death's own intoxication. O, war, you have made the low elevated. You have created heroes, and history will be written by your winner. Peace is pallid next to you. Peace can skulk and shrink, a weakling, a coward's paradise. Peace, you lukewarm bowl of grandmother's mush, you washed-out stand-in for manly behavior. Peace walks through the marketplace offering second-hand bargains, peace, the shaver of points, the cut-rate merchant. Peace, you miserable converter of men into swine, you destroyer of valor, quicksand in which nations founder, the bleeding wound in the side of the great avenging angel. Peace, the apologist, the compromiser, the appeaser, the rust upon the edge of courage's great sword.

What is peace but an excuse, a reason for cowardice, a refusal to accept one's responsibilities? I spit on peace. I lift my leg on peace. I have my dog despoil the miserable garden of peace. There are no medals to peace, no honors, no marching bands, no great monuments to peace, no hymns sung, no great odes, no martial melodies, no parades to peace. There are no gigantic fireworks displays, no champagne corks popped to peace, no last cigarette smoked in its honor. There is no night before peace, no declaration of peace. The very absurdity of a nation declaring peace on another shocks the imagination. And who among us can say that he has heard of the spoils of peace? Is there such a thing as a peace hero? Who among us have gathered with his old cronies late at night, hoisted a glass and told peace stories? What valiant young man has been welcomed back from peace? What young boy has gazed longingly at his father, saying that he would willingly go to peace to save his country?
Copyright © 2005 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

Greatest Songs

Pixies  "Where is my mind"  
lyrics (condensed version):

Oh - stop
With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Your head will collapse
But there's nothing in it
And you'll ask yourself
Where is my mind [3x]
Way out in the water
See it swimmin'
I was swimmin' in the Caribbean
Animals were hiding behind the rocks
Except the little fish
But they told me, he swears
Tryin' to talk to me, coy koi.
Where is my mind [3x]
With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Oh
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Oh    Oh 

End of year staff Superlatives

• The Gentleman of the Century
• Quiet as a mouse award
• Best Artist
• 
  

Things to do

Tomorrow:

• Play with the kitties
• Take a midday nap
• Eat ice cream
• Relax and not do a dang thing

 TV shows I don't watch or do not plan to watch any time soon:

• Lost
• American Idol
• 24
• Glee

Riverbend Music Festival 2010

Riverbend Line up includes:
Alison Krauss, Arturo Sanduval, George Clinton, Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk, Uriah Heep, Kenny Neal, Drivin' N' Cryin', Joan Osborne, Sheryl Crow and some 90+ more performers. This 9 day music festival will take place around the Tennessee River in downtown Chattanooga June 11-19.  I'll be running the Riverbend Run 5K on Saturday morning the 19th.  We'll staying in downtown and hang out for a couple of days that weekend.

Summer Races

Upcoming races:

• ATC All-comers track meets Tuesday nights at Emory University. 
• Saturday, June 19, Riverbend Run 5K, Chattanooga, Tennessee
• Tuesday, June 22, ATC Track & Field Classic at Emory (3K Grand Prix?)
• Saturday, June 26, Beltline 5K Run, Rose Circle Park, Atlanta
• Sunday, July 4, Peachtree Road Race 10K, Buckhead, Atlanta
• July 17, ATC Decatur-Dekalk YMCA  4 Mile run
• August 7, Atlanta's Finest 5K, Centennial Olympic Park.
• August 14, ATC Grand Finale 5K, Ansley Mall, Midtown Atlanta

Glad I don't live in Texas anymore

Welcome to Texas!  Brains?  We don't need no stinking brains.
Here's a special tribute to the Texas Bored of Education from the late great George Carlin:

1. I would never want to be a member of a group whose symbol was a guy nailed to two pieces of wood. [George Carlin, from the album "A Place For My Stuff"]
2. We created god in our own image and likeness! [George Carlin]
3. I credit that eight years of grammar school with nourishing me in a direction where I could trust myself and trust my instincts. They gave me the tools to reject my faith. They taught me to question and think for myself and to believe in my instincts to such an extent that I just said, 'This is a wonderful fairy tale they have going here, but it's not for me.' [George Carlin, in the _New York Times_ 20 August 1995, pg. 17. He attended Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, but left during his sophomore year in 1952 and never went back to school. Before that he attended a Catholic grammar school, Corpus Christi, which he called an experimental school.]
   
4. If churches want to play the game of politics, let them pay admission like everyone else[George Carlin, from the album "What Am I Doing In New Jersey?"]
5. This is a lttle prayer dedicated to the separation of church and state. I guess if they are going to force those kids to pray in schools they might as well have a nice prayer like this:  Our Father who art in heaven, and to the republic for which it stands, thy kingdom come, one nation indivisible as in heaven, give us this day as we forgive those who so proudly we hail. Crown thy good into temptation but deliver us from the twilight's last gleaming. Amen and Awomen. [George Carlin, on Saturday Night Live]
6. I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death.[George Carlin]
   
7. Religion convinced the world that there's an invisible man in the sky who watches everything you do. And there's 10 things he doesn't want you to do or else you'll to to a burning place with a lake of fire until the end of eternity. But he loves you! ...And he needs money! He's all powerful, but he can't handle money! [George Carlin, fromalbum "You Are All Diseased"
   
8. The only good thing ever to come out of religion was the music. [George Carlin, Brain Droppings]
   
9. I've begun worshipping the sun for a number of reasons. First of all, unlike some other gods I could mention, I can see the sun. It's there for me every day. And the things it brings me are quite apparent all the time: heat, light, food, a lovely day. There's no mystery, no one asks for money, I don't have to dress up, and there's no boring pageantry. And interestingly enough, I have found that the prayers I offer to the sun and the prayers I formerly offered to God are all answered at about the same 50-percent rate. [George Carlin, from "You Are All Diseased".]
   
10. A man came up to me on the street and said I used to be messed up out of my mind on drugs but now I'm messed up out of my mind on Jeeesus Chriiist. [George Carlin]
    
11. I have as much authority as the pope, I just don't have as many people who believe it.[George Carlin, Brain Droppings]
    
12. Jesus was a cross dresser [George Carlin, Brain Droppings]
    
13. I finally accepted Jesus. not as my personal savior, but as a man I intend to borrow money from. [George Carlin, Brain Droppings]
    
14. Instead of school busing and prayer in schools, which are both controversial, why not a joint solution? Prayer in buses. Just drive these kids around all day and let them pray their fuckn' empty little heads off. [George Carlin, Brain Droppings]
    
15. When it comes to BULLSHIT...BIG-TIME, MAJOR LEAGUE BULLSHIT... you have to stand IN AWE, IN AWE of the all time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims, religion.[George Carlin, from "You Are All Diseased".]
    
16. Religion easily has the greatest bullshit story ever told. Think about it, religion has actually convinced people that there's an INVISIBLE MAN...LIVING IN THE SKY...who watches every thing you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a list of ten special things that he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish where he will send to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry for ever and ever 'til the end of time...but he loves you. [George Carlin, from "You Are All Diseased"]
    
17. I want you to know, when it comes to believing in god- I really tried. I really really tried. I tried to believe that there is a god who created each one of us in his own image and likeness, loves us very much and keeps a close eye on things. I really tried to believe that, but I gotta tell you, the longer you live, the more you look around, the more you realize...something is FUCKED-UP. Something is WRONG here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is NOT good work. If this is the best god can do, I am NOT impressed. Results like these do not belong on the resume of a supreme being. This is the kind of shit you'd expect from an office temp with a bad attitude. And just between you and me, in any decently run universe, this guy would have been out on his all-powerful-ass a long time ago. [George Carlin, from "You Are All Diseased".]
    
18. Trillions and trillions of prayers every day asking and begging and pleading for favors. 'Do this' 'Gimme that' 'I want a new car' 'I want a better job'. And most of this praying takes place on Sunday. And I say fine, pray for anything you want. Pray for anything. But...what about the divine plan? Remember that? The divine plan. Long time ago god made a divine plan. Gave it a lot of thought. Decided it was a good plan. Put it into practice. And for billion and billions of years the divine plan has been doing just fine. Now you come along and pray for something. Well, suppose the thing you want isn't in god's divine plan. What do you want him to do? Change his plan? Just for you? Doesn't it seem a little arrogant? It's a divine plan. What's the use of being god if every run-down schmuck with a two dollar prayer book can come along and fuck up your plan? And here's something else, another problem you might have; suppose your prayers aren't answered. What do you say? 'Well it's god's will. God's will be done.' Fine, but if it gods will and he's going to do whatever he wants to anyway; why the fuck bother praying in the first place? Seems like a big waste of time to me. Couldn't you just skip the praying part and get right to his will? [George Carlin, from "You Are All Diseased".]
    
19. You know who I pray to? Joe Pesci. Joe Pesci. Two reasons; first of all, I think he's a good actor. Ok. To me, that counts. Second; he looks like a guy who can get things done. Joe Pesci doesn't fuck around. Doesn't fuck around. In fact, Joe Pesci came through on a couple of things that god was having trouble with. For years I asked god to do something about my noisy neighbor with the barking dog. Joe Pesci straightened that cock-sucker out with one visit. [George Carlin, from "You Are All Diseased".]
    
20. I noticed that of all the prayers I used to offer to god, and all the prayers that I now offer to Joe Pesci, are being answer at about the same 50% rate. Half the time I get what I want. Half the time I don't. Same as god 50/50. Same as the four leaf clover, the horse shoe, the rabbit's foot, and the wishing well. Same as the mojo man. Same as the voodoo lady who tells your fortune by squeezing the goat's testicles. It's all the same; 50/50. So just pick your superstitions, sit back, make a wish and enjoy yourself. And for those of you that look to the Bible for its literary qualities and moral lessons; I got a couple other stories I might like to recommend for you. You might enjoy The Three Little Pigs. That's a good one. It has a nice happy ending. Then there's Little Red Riding Hood. Although it does have that one x-rated part where the Big-Bad-Wolf actually eats the grandmother. Which I didn't care for, by the way. And finally, I've always drawn a great deal of moral comfort from Humpty Dumpty. The part I liked best: ...and all the king's horses, and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again. That's because there is no Humpty Dumpty, and there is no god. None. Not one. Never was. No god. [George Carlin, from "You Are All Diseased".]
21. Religion is sort of like a lift in your shoes. If it makes you feel better, fine. Just don't ask me to wear your shoes. [George Carlin]     

Finally Friday

• Awards Day.  Count me in as "who cares".
• Last day of school is here already, glad to be sad.  Have you ever seen so many "Shinning Stars"?  SpellCheck anyone? Those stars were shinning with glitter everywhere on the wall in the cafeteria. Yeah, I'll be the one singing: Nah nah nah,Nah!  Nah nah nah Nah! Hey, hey, Good bye! to those 5th graders.
• Philanthropist, not "full-on rapist".  Yeah, I laugh easily.
• Finally finished packing those boxes in the storage closet of my classroom, it was never-ending these last few weeks. Took things off the wall, threw out about 20 bags of trash.  Now the fun part is unpacking when we come back in a couple of months.  It will be like Christmas in July. Literally.
• Ran 4 miles today in the 82 degree heat.  It was actually pleasant, not too humid.  Cramped up a bit at the end, that reminds me to bring some GU Gel or some energy gel for runs longer than 3 miles and drink more liquid before and during.  I'm in what's called the base-building phase, just run about 20-25 miles weekly at an easy pace. I was up to 21 miles at one point last month.

Almost Summertime...

• It must be "Harass A Teacher Week" with all those teachers in the news lately.
• 3 places I'm boycotting: Arizona, Starbucks and BP.
• Betty White for the Supreme Court.
• "The Art of Being Wise is knowing what to overlook."  William James
• I'm actually learning to love the heat and humidity of Georgia, after 15 years of living here. I've always dreaded the summer months and its intense mugginess but recently I found that the heat actually warms up your muscles more thoroughly and makes you run efficiently. I'm still dealing with the sweating profusely issues. If I just keep on running, the wind will dry it all off eventually. One of these days I'm gonna try to run shirtless. Ran 3 miles today.  86 degrees. Hot.
• I teach in my spare time.  Between the duties, paperwork, chores, meetings, grades, setting up, cleaning and now packing. Just like all the other teachers at my school.

Mad World

• "You're Fired! And Have a Good Day!"  Talk about insensitivity and heartlessness.
• People in charge. Fail. Clueless. What else is new?
• Plumbers get paid much more than teachers, but in all honesty they have to deal with a lot more S**T than we do.  Bet they have more than 20 minutes for lunch though and they can go to the john whenever they feel like it.
• On a completely different note, Sarah Palin AKA "The Toast of America's Back-up Sump-Pump" is the Worst Person in the World in tonight's Countdown with Keith Olbermann.
• "Glenn Beck has Nazi Tourette", Lewis Black is on fire on MSNBC.

Biggest Race

New Flash:  Bret Michaels wins the Amazing Race.  Or is it the Celebrity Apprentice.  Maybe both.

One day, I hope someone will say to Donald Trump:
 "Donnie, you're cheesy dude, just quit while you're ahead."

* I'm boycotting Arizona and the Zonies, as we used to call them when I lived in San Diego.  And although I love the city of Austin, I will never, ever again live in the state of Texas.  Not for any amount of money in the world. Years ago, I lived in Houston for one summer and a long year in Dallas in 1994-95. You live and learn is all I can say.

What does an illegal immigrant look like?

Thoughtful Thursday

• Announcement heard today: "Students and staff, we're going down slowly. It's not your computer, it's the county." Sounds about right, and there's nothing you can do about it.
• Kindergartner asked: "Where did everything come from?" Heck if I know.
• We learned that we had the world's most boring speaker at the school assemblies today. 
• Women love gossips. Hearing, talking and spreading them. I'd rather daydream.
• We survived 8 years of Bush, you too will survive Obama.
• I started running again exactly a year ago.  The key for me is to maintain a balance and keeping it fun while motivating myself every day.  I also try not to take it too seriously like a lot of runners tend to do. If it ain't fun, make it so.  Or else, what's the point, right?
• If it's not fun-change it.  If it's not funny-mock it.  If it's not working-make it.
• Prayer=Glorified Begging.  50% is still your best chance when you pray.
• Have a happy National Day of Reason:          

      Tom Flynn, executive director of the Council for Secular Humanism declared:
“A secular democracy should have no place for a National Day of Prayer proclaimed and conducted by government. The federal government is supposed to show no favor among religions, or between religion and irreligion, and surely a National Day of Prayer is contrary to that fundamental principle. The National Day of Reason is important for two reasons. First, it is a private grassroots initiative, not a government program. Second, the National Day of Reason is important because unlike prayer, reason works. Most of the great cultural and technological advances that make modern life what it is exist because human beings employed reason. Prayer has had a far less enviable track record.”    

Ronald A. Lindsay, CFI’s president and CEO, added “Reason can unite both the religious and nonreligious. Indeed, it is only through the use of reason that we can find common ground and solve the problems that confront all of us. Prayer divides, not only the religious from the nonreligious, but as history has demonstrated, one religion from another.”