:: Intertwine ::

:: Tuesday, March 25, 2003 ::

I am watching Fox News, and they are talking about peace protests with civil disobedience. The outraged commentator was complaining about protesters costing taxpayer money to cover the cost of police and firefighters. They apparently were keeping police too busy to look out for terrorists, which should be their priority. Protesters were called bad Americans.

Meanwhile, Bush has finally put a price tag on the war, and is asking for 75 Billion Dollars for paying for 5 monthes of occupation in Iraq, though it could go longer and be more costly. This is likely to easily slide through congress. He is also asking for a substantial tax cut at the same time. Our economy isn`t doing well, and homeland security needs money. Does charity not start at home?

The money for the police at the protest rallies is a tiny drop in the bucket. America is a place where we can show our freedom of expression, protected by the fifth amendment. Libertarians and others want to protect that freedom even for groups with predjudicial opinions. I don`t like Fox putting down people`s right to protest the government when they disagree. How can government be just if people can`t express their opinions?

I have been reading some war blogs. Raed Iraq seems to be one person`s account of life in Iraq right now. M.L. Lyke is a reporter aboard ship. She quotes some of the servicepeople as being opposed to war, and not quite sure why we are there. Others are in full support.


:: Yogishan 5:29 AM [+] ::
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I have been listening to Finding Your Passion, an audiotape set by Cheryl Richardson. She explains that in addition to recognizing goals, it is equally important to drop the non-priorities in life, and that is essential for success. If you are passionate about something, you have to make it a priority, and not try to follow every opportunity that comes your way. When doors open for what you are passionate about and wanting to accomplish, go through them. If they aren't precisely about what your goal is, then don't go.

In listening to her tape, I have been thinking about what I am passionate about. For the process of finding out about what you are passionate about, pay attention to favorite movies, which book sections you like, and which parts of the paper you like.

One movie I loved was Excalibur which is set in the middle ages, with beauty, costumes, escapism, and King Arthur, or an Arthurian-like story. The most memorable scene was the one with horses with riders riding under falling petals from trees. Springtime and nature put a smile on my face.
This reminds me of the snow in the Nutcracker Ballet, which I know is fake, but also beautiful.

Another movie which made a strong impression was Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Because it was intense, I liked the music, and it was anti-establishment it is forever embedded in my memory. There was a message of a person being oppressed and it somehow the film (as I remember) seemed to question war. There is current relevance. The word “embedded” now has a new, current meaning about journalists traveling with the military in war. There is an interesting choice of a word rising from the subconscious.

More recently, I was taken by Moulin Rouge. Fun music, set in the past in Paris, about creating art collectively, and underdogs following their dream despite money getting in the way. It is also about lovers truly loving one another. The tango to the modern song (well sort of modern) song Roxanne is most memorable. I love dancing and intensity, and that scene had complex emotions running through it.

My favorite musical of all time is Rent. Wouldn't it be a great movie? I hear Spike Lee wants to make it a movie. It is about artists, creativity, also a bohemian theme, with great music (singing). It portrayed a time in NYC history, of underdogs who were disenfranchised people. A theme was Aids and because of my experience living with Samantha, I have great sympathy for people with Aids.

What are my favorite books? I am trying to notice themes for this exercise about finding one’s passions. My favorites are Diana Gabaldon's novels, a series that is historical fiction, science fiction time-travel. The best (most recent one) is
The Fiery Cross . It is about a healer woman and her lifelong love who lives back in a previous century.

The question I ask (in thinking of this book) is would you want to travel back in time and why or why not? Feel free to comment on what you think.

I am tremendously curious about other times and places in history. Claire (heroine healer woman in these books) was alive in the 1960s, and time-traveled to just before and around the American Revolution. She starts off in Scotland, and the books progress to the Carribbean and then America. Yes, I would love to see these places in that time. Yet, it was a time when diseases were much more dangerous, though Claire carried back her physician's knowledge to the 1700s. She didn't have the modern tools and medicines to help people, though she did try to grow penicillin from moldy bread. I think I would not do well with the reduced life expectancy of the day, and illnesses, bad dental and optometric care that people just put up with. It also was a turbulent time, in respect to war. Yet, if the colonists traveled to modern U.S. A. and started listening to the news, they would be horrified. We have nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons in this world, and one has little abilty to prevent themselves being killed anymore. You can't stay away from terrorists necessarily, and your skill at fighting can't assure victory.


:: Yogishan 8:52 AM [+] ::
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