I'm a newly converted bus rider. Join me.

I now ride the bus to and from work because it became too ridiculous not to. The number five bus rolls up 100 feet from my house in the morning and 45 minutes later rolls in twenty feet from my office. I have no excuse.

I went on Capital Metro's website and found this commuting calculator that fully validated my desire to save money and the environment by riding the bus. Through a bunch of data I filled in, it calculated I spend $197 a month commuting to my job nine miles north of my house. That's $2373 a year I could be using for much more interesting things than a car. Like gaycations!! In the present too, the bus gives me more of an opportunity to draw, write, read, watch movies, listen to music, meditate, etc. because I'm not on Mopac navigating the highway like a zen surfer in a metal rocket on tires. 

I am also now predictably on time! My own car could wait for me indefinitely as I changed outfits three times, but the bus will leave me behind if I don't hustle. Now I arrive at work at 8:45 daily, as smoothly as a clock.

Riding the bus thusfar has produced: 2 poems, 3 small painting/drawings, the reading of two books, and the rediscovery of ancient gems in my iTunes including thought-provoking slam poems by the Suicide Kings and Saul Williams left over from my performance poet days. Too, my sense of connection to humanity and interest in learning about others has been effortlessly heightened as I sit next to blind teenagers and aging construction workers, professionals in ties and high heels bound by their laptop cases, young men headed to school or jobs who shout and laugh in Hindi while riding for only a few stops and then departing, and so on. 

The seclusion of our automobiles can feel like a cozy, moving shrine at times, or an extension of ourselves, but during other times, like 5:30 pm Mopac rush hour, cars can feel like boxy weights holding us back from the joy of home. I'm glad to be moving in a new direction. Try it out. I'll see you on the bus.

(This Friday, May 15th, is Bike to Work Day. Many local bike-loving businesses are providing breakfast for the cyclists: see a map of all the food stops here.) I'll be riding!

German Money Ad Doing it Raw

Wow Germany. Thanks for this compelling ad?

NOM and R.I.M., saving straight marriage one awkward acronym at a time.

First, do your research:
1. NOM ad about "the gathering storm" of gay marriage. And, the rainbow coalition of people gathering to "protect us from gay marriage:"

2. The audition videos for hilarious NOM video above:

And now, the main event:
3. Amazing. Thank you thank you gay actors, and straight actors. Thank you for your comedic literacy and perfect wit:

A Gaythering Storm from Jane Lynch

4. And finally, another little gem from Rachel Maddow:

Creepy blankets

Oh my god, the Snuggie. I am definitely barfing in my mouth, but more than that, it's the sur-reality (as in, less than reality) of American culture present in the Snuggie promotional video that amazes. With the vast array of real life dilemmas, interpersonal conflicts, religious warfare, hunger, homelessness, greed, that are prevalent in this world, one would think the focus would be on fixing those, rather than making sure mom's arms don't get briefly cold from reaching for the portable phone while watching TV on the couch under a blanket.

We should not be this comfortable!

Don't watch this parody until you've first watched the real thing (above), and barfed a little in your mouth too, but then watch this parody.

And then after watching that parody, watch this parody:



Cult robes aside, the Snuggie is cheap and supposedly you'll then turn your thermostat down and just wear your blanket around. Perhaps there is some spend-thriftyness with an eye towards the economic downturn and awareness of global climate change in this product and its marketing?

Nawwwww----
it's just a blanket, that's creepy.

Cornify it up

Just click it. And just keep on clicking it until you fall backwards from the bubbling glitterweight of the unicorns and rainbows.



For an explanation see: Cornify.com

Inauguration Poem for Obama, on Inauguration Day

As we watch the Inauguration with joy today, a re-post of my poem celebrating Obama's victory, the beauty of our collective connected humanity, and the conscious evolution we are undertaking.

Above the Streetlights Poem with an ASL Interpreter

Dave Pokorney was also filming my poem at the Vets for Peace Concert. Here's his video, from Vimeo. Diane Delange is the incredible ASL interpreter next to me. Thank you Diane.

Dark Friday: Wal-Mart Employee Trampled to Death

It's been time to re-think our brand of capitalism for a while, but this story is pretty pure evidence of our need to enhance empathy for others and tone down competitive consumerism.

New York Times Article: Wal-Mart Employee Trampled to Death by Customers

You may think that situation sounds absurd and you would never be a part of something so crazed, but really how often are we passive parts of this same system that creates behavior like the aforementioned? Let us stand up for something better in each small situation in which money and materials take precedence over cooperation and compassion so that larger, more obvious examples, like a Wal-Mart stampede, never occur.

A local example of this can be found at Blue Hanger (the Goodwill outlet on Springdale) when the employees are re-filling the bins and people wait like eager lions ready to elbow each other out of the way once they're allowed to start grabbing items. Just watch, and feel what it feels like instead to be a serene presence amongst that mayhem. See how it affects others and see how the feeling of competition even affects you when you're there. We are all connected! Let's start acknowledging it with our behavior!

Renewal Where Once Was Rust

This is a late re-post and a worthy one; the green revitalization of the American manufacture industry needs to be discussed and furthered at all possible junctures. When I lived outside of Detroit last fall it was apparent the cars there were dying breeds, weighty American dinosaurs. An innovative, ecologically-efficient vision was needed. That vision could save the auto economy and thousands of jobs. I'm grateful the bigger wigs finally got the idea as well. Here's to sustainable invention permeating our society, moving us all forward with its lift.

Link to the November 1st, 2008 New York Times article "A Splash of Green for the Rust Belt."

McCain at the Debates

Did anyone else feel like McCain was lobbing a pity softball at us by mentioning Senator Kennedy's hospitalization during his first response to Jim Lehrer last night at the debates? I think it's important and very kind to send good thoughts out to an ailing person and their loved ones but there was something manipulative about the mention that cheapened it. It was as if McCain was saying, "I know people. People in Washington. I am connected; I rub elbows with Kennedys." Then he muttered "Lion of the Senate" and moved on.

Similarly, the McCain camp's spin on postponing the Presidential Debates (and putting McCain's campaign on pause) was transparent in its manipulation. The McCain campaign clearly wanted props for McCain's purported earnest pragmatism and ability to serve his country in its time of need. He was "needed in Washington" to do important things. It is intriguing that a decade ago McCain heavily supported deregulation of the insurance and banking industries, deregulations that have caused much of the contemporary turmoil.

I am ready for the spin to cease. There's a lack of integrity to it all. Much lipstick, on many pigs.