Some Thoughts on an Approaching Anniversary

Bin Laden and his henchmen failed ... But our own fear won. Fear stopped us, overwhelmed us, as our ra-tion-al-ity deserted us. Yes, it was understandable, given what we endured that September morning. But we need to admit that our response was close to fatal. A bankrupted America that tortured innocents and disregarded its own Constitution is barely recognizable as America.

- Andrew Sullivan.

Birthplace

   by Michael Cirelli

Deep in the Boogie Down—
 the bassinet of the boom bap
 where the trinity is The Treacherous Three,

English is the third language
 behind Bronx and Puerto Rican,
  and I was nervous

because I only speak Catholic school
 and I'm a Red Sox fan.  

I'm just a student of KRS-1, not a son,

on a train fourteen stops beyond my comfort
 zone hiding behind headphones coughing
  bass, and a backpack full of lyrics:

Notorious B.I.G., Rakim, Perdomo,
Run DMC, Brooks, wanting to be real cool,

wanting to be their "dawg"—
 but feeling like a mailman,
  another Elvis

to the students I will lead 
 through a workshop in a language

  I itch to get my rusted cavities around.

from: Vacations on the Black Star Line. 

Copyright 2010. 

The Lake Isle of Innisfree

   by W. B. Yeats

 

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee;
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.

PHOTO: Copyright © Sean Mullery

Lake Isle of Innisfee

We Are All on the Narrow Road

all the more I wish to see
in those blossoms at dawn
the face of a god

- Basho

"Boketto"

Saunter on over to Mental Floss and acquaint yourself with some wonderful Words With No English Equivalent. 



 
Oh, the one in the heading is Japanese, and describes the act of gazing vacantly into the distance without thinking.

Sorry, I Was Hungry and Couldn't Resist

THIS is Why Education is important. Well, ONE Reason Anyway.

[T]he entire faith we put in democracy as a form of governance rests on the fragile assumption that, in the realm of free and open debate, conscientious thought will more often than not carry the day. And that assumption, as Thomas Jefferson saw more clearly than the other founding fathers, rests in turn on a viable system of public education. ...

Citizen education “was the central, defining moment of [Jefferson’s] political and moral philosophy,” wrote political theorist Benjamin Barber. “Everything else turned on it.” Throughout his correspondence, Jefferson maintained that only an educated citizenry can practice true self-governance. ...

The Schools We Need:
When public education fails, democracy fails with it

by Erik Reece

I Need a Nap