Category: Uncategorized

Poetry Challenge: Day 5… The Note

On By WinstonIn NaPoWriMo, Personal, Self Awareness, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Today’s NaPoWriMo entry is a little different. Before you send me any hotline links, allow me to clarify. The inspiration for this comes from people I’ve known and films such as “The Aviator” wherein you observe the slow, inevitable disintegration of the person. That is what I set out to capture in this piece.

Enjoy.

The Note

There’s a shadow I see moving
From the corner of my eye.
I turn so quick I hurt my neck
Can’t see it if I try.

It isn’t there for very long
Just waits for me to see
Now all my friends think I’ve gone strange
They won’t be seen with me.

More often now it waits for me
Just where I cannot see.
I talk to it and beg sometimes
And people stare at me.

They cannot see don’t understand
I don’t care what they think.
They talk and laugh and place their bets
On just how far I’ll sink.

It’s talking now this shadow thing
From just behind my head.
It’s telling me to see it true
It seems I must be dead.

I know they’ll talk I know they’ll judge
But I no longer fear
The shadow talks much louder now
It’s all that I can hear.

They’ll say “How sad. He must be mad.”
He took his life in vain.
But they don’t see and they can’t hear
Can’t understand my pain.

They give me pills and talk to me
They think they broke the spell.
But it’s too late I see it now
My own and private hell.

So bring the rope and bring the blade
The pills are standing by.
I’ve written this so you can know
I’m free now do not cry.

Cheers, Winston

Poetry Challenge: Day 4 Lycanthrope

On By WinstonIn NaPoWriMo, Personal, Self Awareness, Uncategorized, ValuesLeave a comment

NaPoWriMo and the creative well has yet to run dry. Here is the fourth poem of the month. Only twenty six to go! Enjoy.

Lycanthrope

I feel the moon drag at my soul
Just like it pulls the tide.
And when it grows all round and full
It rips my soul aside.

The beast within now free to roam
No conscience or remorse.
I slaughter, rage and hunt and run
And howl myself hoarse.

This is my curse, this is my life
You cannot comprehend.
How truly like a God you feel
With every life you end.

But now the moon has set again
I am once more a man.
I rail against this curse I bear
Again my death I plan.

I try so hard yet cannot take
The one life that I should.
For though I know the beast within
There also is still good.

So hunt me down with silvered shot
Let slip the baying hounds.
If you can lift this curse from me
Lay me in hallowed grounds.

Cheers, Winston

Poetry Challenge: Day 3 “The Cardinal”

On By WinstonIn Loving Life, NaPoWriMo, Personal, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Here is entry number three for NaPoWriMo. Today’s is a little more pastoral. Don’t worry though, I’ve got something a little special cooking for tomorrow. In the meantime,… Enjoy.

The Cardinal

So brilliant in my dreary yard
Before the green of spring.
The Cardinal is back again
A dazzling, scarlet thing.

Here he grabs an old dead twig
There some dry, brown grass.
He tries a dozen different bits
To find one that will pass.

You see he’s building up his nest
To show his love so pure.
He must succeed to claim his prize
Brown, scarlet and demure.

So now he works to build the best
This bright spot in my day.
And as he works the world turns
To green from dullest grey.

Cheers, Winston

Poetry Challenge: Day 2

On By WinstonIn NaPoWriMo, Personal, Personal Responsibility, Uncategorized2 Comments

Here is my next offering for the National Poetry Writing Month challenge. It’s early yet so the well is still pumping creative juices. The challenge will emerge when I’ve picked all the low hanging fruit.

Enjoy.

Vampires Lament

A flash of teeth in dark of night
Between my wet, red lips.
You tilt your head, expose your throat
Begin to move your hips.

You say you want to end it now
But what you throw away.
Is something that was ripped from me
Mourned to this very day.

You wish that I should drink from you
Your life is yours to give.
Yet even as you lust for death
I wish only to live.

I beg you please turn from this path
Please turn around and run.
And savour every moment more
You spend beneath the sun.

Cheers, Winston

Poetry Challenge. Day: 1

On By WinstonIn NaPoWriMo, Personal, UncategorizedLeave a comment

It’s National Poetry Month. To celebrate the occasion, Word press is hosting “National Poetry Writing Month”. The idea is to post one poem each day in April. Below is day ones entry.

Enjoy.

The Haunted House

The house stands there beside the hill
Where blooms nod in the breeze.
The sky so bright, the scattered clouds
Make shadows on the trees.

It’s windows blank and staring now
Like eye holes in a skull.
Its empty look belies the truth
Of mem’ries it is full.

They walk about and slam the doors
When all about do sleep.
Now standing here beneath the sun
Their silences they keep.

But do not think they are not there
Because the sun shines bright.
And do not tempt those who there dwell
On dark and moonless night.

Cheers, Winston

You Just Got A Little More Equal. Enjoy.

On By WinstonIn Global Issues, Politics, Society, Uncategorized, Values, WarfareLeave a comment

In a recent story by the Atlantic Wire, Adam Clark Estes raises the alarm over a clause in the drone war policy that allows the U.S. government to kill Americans too. It seems Predator attacks are only fun to watch on CNN when the person on the other end is a foreign national. So now that it’s not just for random others, concerned groups like ACLU are up in arms over it.

The short version, the government has given itself authority to murder anyone

who “presents an imminent threat to the United States.

” They also don’t have to possess evidence that a specific attack against U.S. persons or interests is going to happen in the near future. Basically, if they think you or someone you are associated might at some point take an action which the government feels may pose a threat to the U.S. or its interests, they can send in a drone and blow Uranus halfway to Pluto. Oh yeah… They can also take out anyone near you just for good measure.

Again the irony lies in the fact that the outrage is over the inclusion of American citizens. It’s fine so long as it’s the people of Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, Afghanistan, or somewhere in Central America. Once it hits home however, it’s a different story. Then the narrative changes from “Yeah, whatever.”, to “You can’t do that to Americans!”. As though they are somehow special and should be immune to their own peculiar brand of justice.

Well, as my mother was fond of saying when we were kids, “What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.”. It means if it’s okay to do it to one person, it’s okay to do it to everyone. America tends to talk to other countries about “equality under the law”. Well congrats people. You just got a little more equal. Enjoy.

Cheers, Winston

Psychological Torture For Fun & Profit

On By WinstonIn Bullying, Media, Personal Responsibility, Pop Culture, Psychology, Society, Uncategorized, Values3 Comments

There is a program on A&E called “Beyond Scared Straight”. The premise is as simple as it is ridiculous. Troubled teens are forced to spend a night in an adult prison where it is the job of staff and inmates to abuse and terrify them. This is intended to deter them from their current lifestyle and steer them onto the “straight and narrow”. As part of this “process”, they are hand-cuffed, locked in cells with actual inmates, threatened and verbally abused.

All of this is based on “tough love”. This of course is a misnomer. There is nothing about this which is loving. It is a purely punitive act based not on love, but on fear. The larger issue has to with results. More to the point, the stunning lack of them. “In fact, a Cochrane review — the gold standard for evidence-based medicine — concluded that kids sent to Scared Straight were 68-71% more likely to commit crimes than those randomized to receive no intervention at all.” That quote comes from a recent Time article on the subject.

The truth is, there has not been a single clinical trial that indicated any positive results from any of the tough love style treatments for anything. None. Ever. Never.

Now I’m going out on a limb here and assuming the executives at A&E and the staff behind “Beyond Scared Straight” are not collectively stupid as oak posts. I know it’s a stretch, but I’m going to run with it. Based on that I’m guessing that someone looked at the results of Scared Straight and similar “tough love” programs and saw the massive failure rate. Why then did they go ahead and promote something so clearly delusional, damaging, degrading and downright stupid?

The word you’re looking for is Profit. That’s the motivator for anything that shows up on advertising funded TV. Not that I have anything against A&E making a profit. That is after all what they’re in business for. What I object to is teenagers being abused and exploited just to drive those profits. If there was any indication that such brutality has any beneficial effect it might be slightly justifiable. The opposite is true. This program of abuse, humiliation and cruelty has no measurable benefit and as such is nothing but reprehensible.

The other part of this equation is the fan base. Those who tune in week after week to watch these “terrible” people get a taste of what they can expect if they don’t get their acts together. They don’t know it doesn’t work. They don’t care. All they want is to watch brutal, Old Testament, frontier justice at work. They’re tired of the liberal wimps mollycoddling young offenders. They believe these kids need just this kind of wake up call. Unfortunately, they’re wrong. What these kids need isn’t more abuse, it’s less. They need years of counseling, therapy, training and all that boring, non-telegenic stuff.

Of course, there’s nothing in that to build a sensationalist TV show off of. Then again that’s probably not a bad thing. Not unless you’re the sort of person who enjoys watching psychological torture for fun & profit.

Cheers, Winston

Salon’s Anonymous Love-In

On By WinstonIn Global Issues, Media, Occupy Movement, Personal Responsibility, Pop Culture, Society, Uncategorized, ValuesLeave a comment

Salon.com ran an article entitled “Anonymous Big Year”. It is essentially a celebration of the self-styled hacker collective. But let’s try for some actual balanced coverage here.

Sure they made a big fuss about SOPA/PIPA and they help organize protests when it’s something like the horribly useless Occupy movement. On the other hand, they cost hundreds of millions of dollars and deny ordinary citizens access to services. They also endanger lives by releasing names and addresses of at risk targets.

When they took Sony’s Playstation Network of line for months, that company’s alleged “crime” was its refusal to release the tools to hack their new PS3 console. To punish them, they hacked Sony’s database and stole the personal information of millions of members. This forced Sony offline until the Japanese government was convinced the security issue was solved. It cost the company millions in lost revenue and millions more in legal costs.

In 2011, Anonymous posted the names and addresses of members of the Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Force. This was in response to what they viewed as the wrongful shooting of a homeless man. One officer (cleared of any wrongdoing) made a judgement call so every officer on that force, and their families were put at risk of reprisals.

This is the group that Andrew Leonards article lavished such praise on. It is they who he is so happy his son supports. So let’s take a moment to realize this. These people aren’t selfless heroes keeping the digital frontier save for you and I. They are no better, and in some cases worse than those they claim to be protecting us from.

I’m not saying every member of Anonymous is a villain, but that’s the chance you take. If you want to bask in the glory of the best, you will also be tarred with the same brush as the worst. That’s the chance you take when you hide, shouting from the darkness. If you lack the confidence to publicly stand up for what you believe in, maybe you need to look at how strong that belief is.

Anonymous rails against faceless, unaccountable corporations and governments, yet they are the epitome of faceless unaccountability. It’s a little disingenuous claiming the moral high ground when you’re in the same mud as those you are looking to vilify.

These are just some of the many reasons I was so annoyed by Salon’s Anonymous love-in.

Cheers, Winston

Merry Christmas To All!

On By WinstonIn Loving Life, Personal, Uncategorized, ValuesLeave a comment

I know it’s early yet (at least where I am) but I probably won’t have a chance to post later. I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

I know that there are many, many people out there who don’t celebrate Christmas. That’s fine. I don’t need you to believe the same things I do. Heck most days I don’t believe the same thing from one day to the next.

There are a few things I believe… It’s never a bad thing to be nice to a random stranger… It’s even better to be nice to someone you know… Small children and dogs love absolutely… They are guideposts God put here to show us the way… Christmas is the Super bowl of nice… Get it right, and you’re a hero… Fumble, and you’ll never hear the end of it.

Having said all that, here’s what I believe more than anything else this time of year. Get together with your family, friends and loved ones. Forget the petty wrong and feuds that drive us apart.

Remember how lucky you are to have these people in your life. That love and friendship is the true treasure of Christmas. It’s the one that’s going to bring you the most joy for years to come.

Have a Merry Christmas To All!

Cheers, Winston

Viva La Gun!

On By WinstonIn Global Issues, Politics, Pop Culture, Rants, Society, Uncategorized, ValuesLeave a comment

Dear Crazy NRA Spokesperson. Rather than placing armed guards in every school in the country, I’ve come up with an even better plan. At first glance, it might seem “a little out there”, but once you think it over in sure you’ll like it.

Why don’t we just arm the students. Paying police, or hiring and training armed security for all those schools would be cost prohibitive. Let’s cut out the middleman and put the guns where they belong.

There’s no reason these kids shouldn’t be learning how to defend themselves. Judging by some of the youth-oriented shooting competitions, it’s never too early to start training them.

I realize that some bleeding-heart liberal types are going to whine and complain… let ’em. It’s their ultra-violent video games and movies that have laid the foundation for this.

Violent media have already turned them into killers in waiting, why let all that potential go to waste? I mean really small caliber handguns are tailor made for young hands. Let the junior killers sort out the senior ones.

We save a ton of money on security. We get more guns into schools, and we make a boatload of cash for gun manufacturers and retailers. Seems like a sweet deal to me.

So Wayne… Let me know what you think. I figure this plan may just be psychotically delusional enough to appeal to you. It may be a tad whimsical and cheery for you, but we can work out the details.

Viva La Gun!

Cheers, Winston