Loosely Speaking

By Ciel - About Me - E-mail this page - Add to My Favorites - Add to Blog List - See other blogs in Everything Else

Sunday, December 27, 2009

The meaning of silence

Silence. Sometimes, it is welcome relief from chaotic noise, from the press of too much stimulus, too many things happening at once. Sometimes it is the pregnant pause between a thought offered and a response conceived and conveyed. Sometimes, silence is the sound of absence, of solitude, whether that is welcome or not. Silence can be the period at the end of a statement. Sometimes, rats nest in a silence that goes on too long. To me, silence is a very large and awkward piece of baggage. Silence... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

a moment of poetics...

Wandering-- flickering quietly a fragment of my soul in peaceable night, eternal playground of gods and planets, stars and dust and dreams --hearkens-- to a thread of tone a music simple and profound and not entirely unknown... Wondering-- Shall I follow? Cast my curiosity upon the solar winds tack this way and that until I come to find the instrument, the player of this theme? Or-- wander on-- embracing solitude, and safe? Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

door, key, sewage

A client once used this metaphor to describe the place he was stuck: it's as if I am standing at the door to where I need to go... It's locked, but it's right in front of me, and the key is right at my feet. And I am standing in sewage up to my neck! Lately I have been revisiting this ever-so-apt metaphor. There are swamps and doors, they come and go... some we negotiate successfully, others we stand in up to our necks, staring at the door out, knowing where to find the key... for years, for... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

WTF--

Google you probably know has its little ways of determining which of the billions of ads it runs to send your way. Then based on its gleanings of your apparent interests, sends a selection of ads and ad links. Full Size Women Dresses » Women Girdles Nylon » Elf 'S » Bras Made for Men » This is the list that appended to a recent email exchange of mine... I repeat, WTF? It must be something the other guy said... Sign in to see full entry.

WARNING:Don't Go There!

DO NOT VISIT MY UNIVERSE BLOG TODAY No kidding--some sort of malware is triggering a warning and shutting down my internet connection when I go to write or read the latest post on that blog. I have emailed admins here and also copied 10 pages of prior posts, in case the matter calls for shutting down this oldest of my blogs. But not that last one. The post is of a poem I copy/pasted from my own files on my own home computer, and I have no idea how it may have gotten infected with anything. It... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Middle-earth links

I've mentioned before that I play one of those massive multiplayer games... Lord of the Rings Online... Here will give you a further idea about it... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZbA6nMqV1g http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sak6lycABKo&feature=related Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

The thing about chickens,,,

is that poultry has not forgotten when they were dinosaurs. In fact, they don't acknowledge that they are not today, strictly speaking, dinosaurs. I have not kept chickens, but I have kept turkeys, and have encountered geese and swans and can nod vigorously in agreement with the dino-theory. Birds are fierce, and hard-wired not to back down. Wise and wary cats give such creatures a wide berth. So do I, while they are wearing feathers and gazing out of angry little eyes. Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Playing It False

It's such a short, snapped out accusing word: lie! Nothing sets match to social or political tinder more dramatically than "You lie!" as we have seen in recent days. What if the guy had blustered out, "You utter falsehood!" What kind of reaction would that have provoked? Or, " What you say is completely untrue!" Which is going to get the audience on board, which is going to generate outright laughter and immediate mockery? Which is not even going to be heard? People lie... they fib... they... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Teaching kids about truth and lies

Between child and parent truth is extra-ordinarily important. Every lie is a wall that comes between them and becomes harder and harder to get around or take down. Every kid discovers that life is full of greys: rules and exceptions. Growing up takes us from the simple world of strict polarities--yes/no and right/wrong and all that stuff--into the more real world of complex relationships, of mitigating circumstances, and creative expressiveness. Even some really young kids can handle the idea... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Kids Lie

I just heard a promo for an upcoming NPR program about what makes kids lie, and how punishment 'makes kids lie better and more often.' It's part of a program called What Parents Get Wrong. In my growing-up family, lying was the only spanking offense. I got spanked a few times, and once when I had not lied, but the truth was not what my parents were prepared to believe. In fact, it went as far as the raised hand, but my adamant indignation and insistance on my truth finally convinced my dad I... Sign in to see full entry.

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