The fact that someone can approach a locked door and, eventually, open it.
All posts in society & beliefs
Someone asked, “If you could end all suffering, would you?”
i once watched someone i hold dear suffer and break
i watched her break
listen! i watched her break, and
it hurt like hell
for the both of us
and when she asked me to please
to just please hold her, i did
one of the hardest things i’ve ever done
and told her no
i watched her break, and heard her break, and
she asked me to hold her, for just a little bit
and i told her no
(if i could describe the look she gave me i would)
when she asked me why, why the fuck! i wouldn’t
hold her, i told her, “your suffering’s a growing”
and i left it at that
but, i wanted to tell her that suffering is
a growing pain, that the last thing i wanted was for my
compassion to cause the growth of her smile to wane, that
at nineteen i’d finally grown big enough to hold a pen, that
now i couldn’t see myself doing anything else again, that
people say those with the biggest hearts suffer the most, that
it’s actually the other way around the pole, and that i secretly think
nature has already answered every single question we pose
listen, i wanted to tell her about childbirth
about it being worth it, about how pain teaches us what to do
and what not, about the death of the blissful neanderthal, and about
how people with congenital analgesia can’t tell when they’re in danger
but i didn’t, have the words then
and now that i do, i’m telling you too
please, listen
i once watched someone i hold dear suffer and break
i watched her break, and heard her break, and
it hurt like hell
her smile’s pretty big these days, and
though i don’t know if it’s, if i’m, absolutely right
i have a hard time calling it wrong
and these days, she bites my lips, and i bite hers
and she talks about the pain being worth it
go figure
Someone asked, “What’s your favorite word and why?”
Selah (Hebrew: סֶלָה)
Selah comes from the Hebrew Bible; it succeeded psalms (in most cases verses), and as a concept is very difficult to translate (mainly because its etymology is unknown):
- Selah might come from the Hebrew word calah which means ‘to hang,’ and by implication to measure (weigh). Seeing as how in Biblical history valuables were weighed (measured) by hanging or suspending them on a type of balance to determine their value, this implies the possible meaning is as an instruction to measure carefully and reflect upon the preceding statements.
- Greeks treated selah as to mean something similar to the Greek term diapsalma (διάψαλμα: interlude – “apart from psalm”), which signified a change in rhythm or melody at the places marked by the term, or a change in thought and theme.
- Others say that it means “forever,” or comes from two Hebrew words - s_lah (to praise) and s_lal (to lift up, exalt); or is derived from shelah, which as a verb in many contexts (shala, shalu, sheli, shalew, shalwa), means “to rest, be quiet, and/or prosper.”
- But yet others believe it to be a variant of salah (to pause). And from this comes the belief that selah is/was a musical direction (as paralleled by the Greeks) to the singers and/or instrumentalists who performed the Psalms to pause each time it appeared (either to take a breath, or to sing a cappella, or to let the instruments play alone).
Selah is a very difficult concept to translate and grasp, but that’s half the reason why I like it so much. If one takes all interpretations of selah to be somewhat true, as I somewhat do, then it means “to pause, be quiet, and rest, in order to reflect, and to change rhythm and prosper forever.” As a definition, that’s right up there with the best of them.
Next time, when you find yourself faced with a fork in the road of life, selah.
vitamin C
her daddy got a big, bad, cane
her mommy, says she’s, the family’s trash
a family blows, i stay at the corner
she is living in and out of tune
hey you!
you’re losing, you’re losing, you’re losing, you’re losing,
you’re vitamin C!
hey you!
you’re boozing, you’re roofing, you’re shooting, you’re bruising
your legs! you fell!
and at christmas abiding by her testimony
or he’s upsetting her bed instead
a family blows, i stay at the corner
she is living in and out of tune
hey you!
you’re losing, you’re losing, you’re losing, you’re losing
your blood and teeth!
hey you!
you’re using, you’re fooling, you’re looting, you’re eluding
yourself! so well!
Someone asked, “What are some ways to keep your spirit alive?”
Dance; just because. Because you can.
I do not know what the spirit of a philosopher could more wish to be than a good dancer. For the dance is his ideal, also his fine art, finally also the only kind of piety he knows, his “divine service.” // Friedrich Nietzsche
I would believe only in a God that knows how to dance. // Zarathustra (character in Friedrich Nietzsche‘s Thus Spoke Zarathustra)
As George Allen Morgan wrote in What Nietzsche Means, when Nietzsche talked about dancing, he talked about having ‘lightness in what is most difficult’.
Someone asked, “How does one learn to appreciate krump?”
To truly appreciate krump, you’ve got to understand a few things:
- Krumpers are not ‘spazzing.’ Think of krump as “a gritty rock version of hip-hop dance mixed with the contemporary dance feel of self-expression mixed with fighting.” It has the same roots as break dancing, as it did come from the streets, was used as an alternate to violence, and incorporates many of the same moves. And it also has roots in old (old) school native american/african tribal dance.
- Krumping emerged from South Central Los Angeles circa 2000 as a way for dancers to express emotions and different aspects of their personalities as well as a way to cope with the stresses and pressures of everyday life in a constructive manner.
- In krumping, a dancer tells a story through the voice of his or her “character” while attempting to advance through three levels of intensity (Krump, Buck, Amp). A dancer may express themselves in any way, just as long as it’s authentic and organic; there is no right or wrong way to express one’s self truthfully. It is an art form owned by feelings, not words or rules.
- Krump is not based on ‘pretty moves’. There will be stunts, and the general amazing body control you get through constant practice, but at the end of the day it’s more about the emotion you bring than anything else.
- Krump is easy to pick up (if you’re not intimidated and really want to learn), hard to perfect. The basics are simple. Chest pumps, arm swings, arm jabs, travels, buck hops, army moves, &c. can all be taught in one day (well, except for crowd control). However, learning how to properly arm swing, arm jab, and buck hop while timing it all with the music, telling a story, being original and true to yourself in style, and entertaining the audience is extremely hard, complicated, and is an art in its self.
- Krump is in general aggressive and dominating (think alpha-male), and always freestyle if not stated otherwise. (Personally, I’m always at my best when I’m dancing to a song I’ve never heard before.)
To appreciate krump, just watch it; if you don’t like it you don’t like it, if you do you do. Some of my favorite krumpers from around the world are: Continue Reading →
Someone asked, “Which is the greatest album ever and why?”
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band – Trout Mask Replica (1969)
Trout Mask Replica is the definition of sound as art. It combines free jazz, delta blues, african chant rhymes, avant-garde, and Ginsberg like maniacal (raving hobo) beat-poetry that anticipates rap into this experimental thing called genius. I’m not kidding, Trout Mask Replica is the definition of sound as art.
It’s the definition of hard listening, passively listening to all the intentional off-notes, abrupt stops, collisions, screams, and howls won’t do them justice. And when you’ve completed the strenuous process of paying attention to everything (because you have to), listening to any other album feels like getting off the highway. It’s a very self-aware deconstruction and reconstruction of sound as art. (I dare any musician to try and cover/ replicate any part of the album.)
Amazon reviews for this album are polarized, and hilarious; one review titled ‘Can’t listen to it enough’ says it all for me:
Yes yes yes. It’s cacophonous, it’s gritty, it’s unpleasant. Put it on at a party and watch people Continue Reading →
Someone asked, “What are the best protest songs ever?”
Aesop Rock – Coffee & Pigs
Personally, I think this is one of the best and most accurate protest songs of my (North American) generation. I’m part of a generation that found Bob Dylan talking of conflicts past, and a generation that found that Gil Scott-Heron’s advice on staying away from the hard drugs and hard streets that came out of the 80s was already street knowledge because we saw what they both did to idols like Huey P. Newton and Tupac (no Depression, no Vietman War, no Civil War, no ‘War on Drugs’, Continue Reading →
loonstone blues
how i wish i could write you a therapy so plain
that could hold you dear, maybe, from going insane
that could seize you and school you and ease the pain
of your ruthless and pointless knowledge
destined for greatness
the moment of your death will catch someone, by surprise
you will cause a heartbeat to skip
and i know that’s enough
think of it this way
your very existence is foreordained palpitation
your birth, you winning the race
so breath, catch your breath