First of all, a big birthday shoutout to Ms. Margie. Many happy returns to the gal who, along with Ms. Tee, shares the title of World's Best Laugh! May all your troubles be small ones and your joys plentiful...

And speaking of anniversaries, The Times reminds us we're comin up on one in September and that someone's makin a buck off it. (A moment of silence, or should that be 'turn it up'?) for Jimi, SVP. All along the hippie end of Tucson's Fourth Avenue was dead quiet the day he died. No one could believe it. He can't be gone... And so, a shoutout to How, that most excellent Princeton artist, for taking me on my birthday to see him at Philharmonic Hall in NYC many moons ago. What a mellifluous show of stunning masculine artistry he was. Gorgeous silk scarves tied to and flowing around every joint in his body... a vision in music.

R I P

Carryin on...

What the Sam Hill is that?

Looks like suspended glass, doesn't it? But it's strips of recycled plastic tarps sewn and taped together to make a giant net three stories high at the Portland Museum of Art, in Portland, Maine by artist Anna Hepler. It's called The Great Haul (as in a fisherman's net catch of garbage). Watch the way cool video about it here. I went in to see the show of works on paper (American Moderns) currently at the Museum; one of the best art shows I've ever seen. No lie. check it out til Sept. 12. Free on Friday evenings.

So! What else is new, hanging around my desktop and slowing down the workings of Mr. Mac? (Speaking of Mr. Mac! I saw ol' John McEnroe play Andy Roddick the other night on the Tennis Channel and he nearly whupped Roddick! At 50! You go, girl!)

Here's a BBC story lingering about since early August, but it's so inspiring I had to pass it along. Seems that sisters in Namibia are doin it for themselves again – and leavin the boys at home in the bargain. (We'll want to keep an eye on this one.) Witness the story of Johanna Kwedhi, Namibia's first trawler captain. Nice little video too. I'd work for her in a heartbeat!

So while she's out fishin, and we're dumpin an easy $ 2 million large a week (remember, that's how much that Bridge Hawker Rumsfeld told us the entire escapade would cost – pulleese!) into nonessential makework wars in the middle east, parents of public school students all over the country are being asked to foot the bill for classroom supplies ('scuse me – aren't they already paying school taxes on their property tax bill, most of them?) and while they're at it, to come on in, bring a mop, and clean the place up! What is the custodian doing? [Custodian: A useful non PC term of old, implying far too much accountability for this blameless century.] Oh, he's laid off, downsized, along with the art teacher, music teacher, gym teacher, french teacher, and school nurse {that dinosaur of cool handed comfort most schools lost decades ago).

Say whut?

(Where is my f*&#in shoe?)

Please just tell me, people: Why are we not on national strike? Why have we not all just stopped the machine until something reasonable is done? Like outlawing donations to political campaigns; take back the airwaves and demand three month election cycles the networks have to cover fairly (a word the meaning of which is shamelessly obscured by political cant). The Rethugs love to rant about reining in spending. Yet their legislative history spells it "reign"; as they have indeed 'reigned in spending' for decades, while shamelessly hawking media cant to the contrary. So, great! Rein away!! Bring all the troops and equipment home, today, not just 'combat' troops – do i look that dumb? Cut Pentagon funding in half and spend it on Medicare for everybody and school nurses and custodians and art history and music classes, on math teachers who majored in calculus. Therein might be hope for the economy to crawl out of its morass. The one we are likely to be slogging through for decades barring major changes.

And if you think you know how Washington works (or doesn't work), check out the article in the latest Vanity Fair about the mess the Obama gang faced when they check into the Bates WhiteHouse No-Tell Motel. Everyone knows I'm no Obama fan, but I detest what the Bushies and their Raygunite predecessors (including some Dems) set in motion to deliberately dismantle our government, effectively paralyzing its ability to perform its duty to the American people, to protect us from corporate Shylocks raiding our pockets and the US Treasury, our treasury. Take the time to read Purdum's piece. Bad day if you don't learn something, and there's much to learn there.

Are you in the habit of posting pictures of your fascinating life hither and yon without regard to what information you thought was hidden they might reveal to nefarious characters you might not even know? Are you Twittering, Facebooking or sending pictures from your phone to friends? Do you know what a geotag is? You probably ought to find out before you send any more pics. At the very least learn to be more careful about how you send them. Creepy, this one. Sometimes I really wish Orwell was still alive.

Here's one I really love. How did the QWERTY (wasn't that just so easy to type? Just rolled off my hand like a Hanon piano exercise!) keyboard come to be? Think about it: it's weird, and it's been around forever. Who in the world came up with this fairly universal method of transcription we all use every day? BBC thought we needed to know the answer, bless them.

It would appear that Americans are catching on to a simple philosophy that made the rounds in the sixties – Less is More. From Tiny Houses to cars that run on air to just spending less, people – (but probably not the 24% who believe Obama was born in Kenya, or the additional 28% who suspect he was born in a foreign country. OK – question: IS Hawaii a foreign country in their book? The answer to that may have frightening implications for the midterm elections) – people are figuring out that – surprise! –money does not (yea, CAN not) buy happiness. High time.

And for the writers out there, here's a little gem from the same issue of Vanity Fair mentioned above. I don't know about you, but it really cheered me up to read it, and at bottom there was a link to a good site about finding agents, etc. I put that blog link to the right here as well. Also has very good info on writing the dreaded query letter...I thought Eat, Pray, Love was a lightweight, stupid book by a woman who was bold, but not brave enough to simply go out and 'get lost in the world somewhere' rather than predestine where she would find her eating, prayer and love thangs. Sheesh, I can do that. Plan a trip.... eat good food, meet cool people, even a hunk or two.. big deal... I found the Eat part enjoyable, but that was cuz of the fooood... I've known people who buy one of those round the world tickets and just, you know, GO. No plan... Now that takes cajones. And is worth reading about. I sometimes feel my own novel is a little 'spiritually preachy' ..... sometimes.... but even so... yuck! ....and as soon as i get some time I'm gonna fix that. Which will more than likely make it less marketable.

Oh well.... Like the Beach Boys say, You gotta be true to your school...

I'll be back before the week is out with plans for a trip overseas and a classroom experience there.

It's nice to be back. Thanks for reading. Please sign in as a follower. It's easy to do and makes me look good to agents.

later, taters.

The nine most terrifying words in the English language are:

"I'm a republican and I'm here to emasculate the government" by salmobytes