This morning I had an early meeting, too early. Afterwards I needed coffee so I decided to take a break and walk to Cup of Joe's. The doors were locked and a nasty notice was on the door from the Constables office. They might be closed for awhile, so I went for option two, I walked to the convenience store there on 4th and 3rd to grab an energy drink and as I walked, my mind wandered.
I recalled years back in the early 90's after moving here from Indiana that Mayor DeeDee decided to start an initiative to purge the Pioneer Park area of undesirables and make it a gateway community. One of her first initiatives beyond increasing law enforcement was rehabilitating properties. Much of the block between 3rd - 4th South and 2nd – 3rd West was leveled and the surrounding properties rehabilitated. A sizable section just south of Rose Park was also razed for new housing. The Gateway Mall was the culmination of that plan.
At the time though, most media attention went to the apartments for low income housing that were to be built on 3rd West between 3rd and 4th South. For many years construction would start only to be stopped again for financial woes. You would think that for being subsidized housing there should have been more urgency on the situation. For me though it came without much notice when they were eventually completed. I recall they were finished just in time for the 2002 Olympics, but really never paid attention to what became of them. On walking past the apartments I finally noticed that it was now a hotel, not apartments as initially planned, a fairly nice hotel too. On getting back to the office I looked it up online and yep, they are pretty much upper end business class. Some have a washer/dryer in the room, kind of like an apartment might.
As I walked past realizing this social failure with near slack jawed awe I noticed the homeless that still occupy the area, standing in the shadow of a broken promise; literally they were hanging out in the morning shade cast by the hotel. I stopped, we talked and I went on my way. Afterall, I was still on the company dime.
It is the lessons such as these for why I am grateful to be a part of this city, this area, this life. There are those moments when I feel my ego pushing its way out, sometimes manifesting in ugly ways: moments when I feel myself the center of the universe. For those that know; yesterday is a good example of that feeling.
Sometimes lessons in humility come hard. I am grateful that this morning's was instead a gentle bite. I am reminded that what I am is insignificant in the grand scheme and though gilded, my path is only a manifested offering. I still exist at the will of the Universe.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
Hemmingway and the IT Guy
This morning I had a minor technical issue at work and had to submit a request to the “I.T. Guy”. If you’ve ever tried getting something from one of these people, you might have an idea what I was looking forward to. Just like the receptionist, you need to build repartee with them as they are people who can get things done for you in the workplace.
This I.T. Guy is new, so I decided to take a creative approach with the following request.
Enjoy:
Once yesterday, then again this morning my laptop has chosen to simply turn off on being disconnected from its external DC power supply without first doing a hibernation or shut-down sequence. For reasons of mobility both in and out of the office, this is not a welcome development.
On it first happening I was suddenly reminded of what the F12 key in MS Word was for, as the sudden data loss turned my normally Pulitzer winning documentation into something far less. Example the recent issue: “It was a dark and stormy night as the Assistant Manager anguished over his not being able to print his Daily Sales by Item and Daily Sales by Department reports. The semi-rhythmic pattern of rain washed across the buildings roof with a sound reminisce of waking to find his father asleep in the living room chair, long after whatever television station he had been watching went off the air. “That was his favorite chair. Wow, I haven’t talked to dad in weeks,” he thought to himself. With blinding fury and crashing thunder a streak of lightening pierced the sky. A light flickered inside, “I wonder if I instead used the TMX_FRANCHISE role?”
Compelling stuff isn’t it? Suddenly though that became, “If the user does not have a TMX_FRANCHISE role, the Daily Sales by Item and Daily Sales by Department reports do not print correctly from franchise remote sites.”
Just figured I’d make my mundane whinings more entertaining for you. The issue can be worked around until a solution is found.
Well it’s all in how you say things and I’m keeping my fingers crossed for one of the new Dell’s.
This I.T. Guy is new, so I decided to take a creative approach with the following request.
Enjoy:
Once yesterday, then again this morning my laptop has chosen to simply turn off on being disconnected from its external DC power supply without first doing a hibernation or shut-down sequence. For reasons of mobility both in and out of the office, this is not a welcome development.
On it first happening I was suddenly reminded of what the F12 key in MS Word was for, as the sudden data loss turned my normally Pulitzer winning documentation into something far less. Example the recent issue: “It was a dark and stormy night as the Assistant Manager anguished over his not being able to print his Daily Sales by Item and Daily Sales by Department reports. The semi-rhythmic pattern of rain washed across the buildings roof with a sound reminisce of waking to find his father asleep in the living room chair, long after whatever television station he had been watching went off the air. “That was his favorite chair. Wow, I haven’t talked to dad in weeks,” he thought to himself. With blinding fury and crashing thunder a streak of lightening pierced the sky. A light flickered inside, “I wonder if I instead used the TMX_FRANCHISE role?”
Compelling stuff isn’t it? Suddenly though that became, “If the user does not have a TMX_FRANCHISE role, the Daily Sales by Item and Daily Sales by Department reports do not print correctly from franchise remote sites.”
Just figured I’d make my mundane whinings more entertaining for you. The issue can be worked around until a solution is found.
Well it’s all in how you say things and I’m keeping my fingers crossed for one of the new Dell’s.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Playing with Persephone
NOTE: I should warn you that this is still an incomplete thought. I just felt like throwing it out here to see how it looks and will most likely get back to it within the next couple days.
...And all his Armour staind ere while so bright.
Forthwith on all sides to his aide was run
By Angels many and strong, who interpos'd
Defence, while others bore him on thir Shields
Back to his Chariot; where it stood retir'd
From off the files of warr; there they him laid
Gnashing for anguish and despite and shame
To find himself not matchless, and his pride
Humbl'd by such rebuke, so farr beneath
His confidence to equal God in power.
John Milton. Paradise Lost. Book VI, lines 333-342
OK children; quiz time. What just happened? Seriously.
Sometimes life occurs with such blinding speed and ferocity I only have time to follow the fight when it’s over. No matter though, I always win. The manner with which a person handles a situation, no matter how deep the cut shows you more about them than any conversation; actions do indeed speak louder than words. Unfortunately we are sometimes made to explain our actions to those who do not understand them.
“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”
-Carl Jung
By fight I reference the quote from Richard Rose, “All of life is a struggle,” and the first of the Four Noble Truths, “All life is suffering.” Every moment of everyday can be viewed as such, even when you’re having fun. No person, nay… no thinking human can be so micromanaged that they will take from it what you believe. Any cognitive, rational being will digest each experience as their own and come away with their own lesson. Making the lesson from your presence a positive one is the only influence you may ever have, and thus the most meaningful.
The lesson here comes to us not from the Buddha, Christianity or new age philosophy. Our lesson today comes to us primarily from Lao Tzu and the Tao Teh Ching: the Way of the Peaceful Warrior. To paraphrase the concept of Shui, “Life is best lived when viewed as a river and is more easily lived when we don’t struggle against the current,” i.e. go with the flow. Action through inaction and all that, but it’s far from passive. In your being swept towards the horizon you can still move laterally, sometimes the river forks even; just don’t try to return upstream.
Just as in the first passage, when attempting to wrest control of yourself, shit happens. What happened in that passage was Satan made a run for the throne of the Judeo-Christian god. From the battlefield he looked around and saw it as unguarded. On his approach the archangel Michael came from up on his right and laid him open with his sword. It was a baited, ambush. If you don’t know what happened from that there, I suggest you ask one of the friendly strangers who visit your home unannounced. One thing they’ll tell you is that he didn’t give up. Unfortunately it would seem his is a battle based more of reactive deceit than proactive planning.
One cannot become so blinded by the goal that they fail to see the pebbles, boulders, even islands in the stream: those obstacles between here and there: the Liers in Wait. Sometimes they just can’t be avoided though. When armed with the facts and your eyes open you sometimes have to walk right through them on your way to honor each of the Gatekeepers. All the while being mindful of their rules and remembering that rules can be arbitrary as enforcement is always left to the judgment of another. “After she had crouched down and had her clothes removed, they were carried away. Then she (Inanna) made her sister Erec-ki-gala rise from her throne, and instead she sat on her throne. The Anna, the seven judges, rendered their decision against her. They looked at her - it was the look of death. They spoke to her - it was the speech of anger. They shouted at her - it was the shout of heavy guilt. The afflicted woman was turned into a corpse. And the corpse was hung on a hook,” (from The Decent of Inanna).
Unlike the earlier hero (or anti-hero depending on how you take your Jesus) Inanna had foresight. She knew whom she could count on and for what. She knew the gatekeepers would disarm her. She knew her sister would entrap her. She went before her peers and laid herself bare knowing no immediate good would come of it. Inanna planned ahead. Three days later, she was free.
Just as Inanna, Persephone was also able to escape. Persephone though couldn’t stay away and returns time and again; never being able to fully remove herself from that life, as it is the only place she is able to realize her power. In Greek Mythology Persephone’s name was the one that was not spoken. She was the Dread Queen of the Underworld; called by Homer, the “Iron Queen” and though a goddess, she is powerless when away from it. On the Earth she dances with nymphs and plays amongst the flowers; she is a symbol of love and fertility. In the Underworld; yeah… um… not so much. There, she is very much feared.
The power Persephone wields in the Underworld is without mercy; hers is not the attention you seek. When Orpheus traveled to the Underworld to plead for the return of his wife, Eurydice following her death from a snakes bite he made his argument through song using a golden lyre given to him by Apollo. Persephone’s demeanor cracked and she granted a pardon, with the caveat that Eurydice may leave so long as Orpheus does not cast his gaze upon her before they reach the surface. As they neared the entrance, for whatever reason Orpheus turned to look at her. It was too soon. His last vision of his wife was of her fading into oblivion.
That story as it appears in the Georgics by Virgil and similarly in Metamorphosis by Ovid is the only one showing anything resembling compassion from Persephone. In Plato’s Symposium, Phaedrus argues Orpheus failed because his love was not strong enough. On that cue, many have opened up on Orpheus with and understandable measure of Feminist and Jungian Criticism. Both agree his love was only physical and his not being able to wait to look at her is a reference to his objectification of her.
An interesting aside is what became of Orpheus; after losing Eurydice a second time, he foreswore love only to later be torn to pieces by the Maenads in a Bacchic orgy. The pieces were cast to the sea where they later washed ashore at the island of Lesbos and were enshrined by the inhabitants. His wife Eurydice in pre-Homeric Greece was known as Eurudike, meaning, “she whose justice extends widely.” Chances are you pronounced that name correctly.
From Gilgamesh up through the ages to Dante (though later works can be argued) classic literature is replete with prose of persons traveling through the Underworld in an effort to gain wisdom. That path is laid so one might find themselves; after all, a virtue untested is really nothing at all. How that Underworld manifests is different for everyone, but realize it has a purpose and those lessons are better learned when you flow with rather than fight against them.
“A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs - jolted by every pebble in the road.”
-Henry Ward Beecher
...And all his Armour staind ere while so bright.
Forthwith on all sides to his aide was run
By Angels many and strong, who interpos'd
Defence, while others bore him on thir Shields
Back to his Chariot; where it stood retir'd
From off the files of warr; there they him laid
Gnashing for anguish and despite and shame
To find himself not matchless, and his pride
Humbl'd by such rebuke, so farr beneath
His confidence to equal God in power.
John Milton. Paradise Lost. Book VI, lines 333-342
OK children; quiz time. What just happened? Seriously.
Sometimes life occurs with such blinding speed and ferocity I only have time to follow the fight when it’s over. No matter though, I always win. The manner with which a person handles a situation, no matter how deep the cut shows you more about them than any conversation; actions do indeed speak louder than words. Unfortunately we are sometimes made to explain our actions to those who do not understand them.
“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”
-Carl Jung
By fight I reference the quote from Richard Rose, “All of life is a struggle,” and the first of the Four Noble Truths, “All life is suffering.” Every moment of everyday can be viewed as such, even when you’re having fun. No person, nay… no thinking human can be so micromanaged that they will take from it what you believe. Any cognitive, rational being will digest each experience as their own and come away with their own lesson. Making the lesson from your presence a positive one is the only influence you may ever have, and thus the most meaningful.
The lesson here comes to us not from the Buddha, Christianity or new age philosophy. Our lesson today comes to us primarily from Lao Tzu and the Tao Teh Ching: the Way of the Peaceful Warrior. To paraphrase the concept of Shui, “Life is best lived when viewed as a river and is more easily lived when we don’t struggle against the current,” i.e. go with the flow. Action through inaction and all that, but it’s far from passive. In your being swept towards the horizon you can still move laterally, sometimes the river forks even; just don’t try to return upstream.
Just as in the first passage, when attempting to wrest control of yourself, shit happens. What happened in that passage was Satan made a run for the throne of the Judeo-Christian god. From the battlefield he looked around and saw it as unguarded. On his approach the archangel Michael came from up on his right and laid him open with his sword. It was a baited, ambush. If you don’t know what happened from that there, I suggest you ask one of the friendly strangers who visit your home unannounced. One thing they’ll tell you is that he didn’t give up. Unfortunately it would seem his is a battle based more of reactive deceit than proactive planning.
One cannot become so blinded by the goal that they fail to see the pebbles, boulders, even islands in the stream: those obstacles between here and there: the Liers in Wait. Sometimes they just can’t be avoided though. When armed with the facts and your eyes open you sometimes have to walk right through them on your way to honor each of the Gatekeepers. All the while being mindful of their rules and remembering that rules can be arbitrary as enforcement is always left to the judgment of another. “After she had crouched down and had her clothes removed, they were carried away. Then she (Inanna) made her sister Erec-ki-gala rise from her throne, and instead she sat on her throne. The Anna, the seven judges, rendered their decision against her. They looked at her - it was the look of death. They spoke to her - it was the speech of anger. They shouted at her - it was the shout of heavy guilt. The afflicted woman was turned into a corpse. And the corpse was hung on a hook,” (from The Decent of Inanna).
Unlike the earlier hero (or anti-hero depending on how you take your Jesus) Inanna had foresight. She knew whom she could count on and for what. She knew the gatekeepers would disarm her. She knew her sister would entrap her. She went before her peers and laid herself bare knowing no immediate good would come of it. Inanna planned ahead. Three days later, she was free.
Just as Inanna, Persephone was also able to escape. Persephone though couldn’t stay away and returns time and again; never being able to fully remove herself from that life, as it is the only place she is able to realize her power. In Greek Mythology Persephone’s name was the one that was not spoken. She was the Dread Queen of the Underworld; called by Homer, the “Iron Queen” and though a goddess, she is powerless when away from it. On the Earth she dances with nymphs and plays amongst the flowers; she is a symbol of love and fertility. In the Underworld; yeah… um… not so much. There, she is very much feared.
The power Persephone wields in the Underworld is without mercy; hers is not the attention you seek. When Orpheus traveled to the Underworld to plead for the return of his wife, Eurydice following her death from a snakes bite he made his argument through song using a golden lyre given to him by Apollo. Persephone’s demeanor cracked and she granted a pardon, with the caveat that Eurydice may leave so long as Orpheus does not cast his gaze upon her before they reach the surface. As they neared the entrance, for whatever reason Orpheus turned to look at her. It was too soon. His last vision of his wife was of her fading into oblivion.
That story as it appears in the Georgics by Virgil and similarly in Metamorphosis by Ovid is the only one showing anything resembling compassion from Persephone. In Plato’s Symposium, Phaedrus argues Orpheus failed because his love was not strong enough. On that cue, many have opened up on Orpheus with and understandable measure of Feminist and Jungian Criticism. Both agree his love was only physical and his not being able to wait to look at her is a reference to his objectification of her.
An interesting aside is what became of Orpheus; after losing Eurydice a second time, he foreswore love only to later be torn to pieces by the Maenads in a Bacchic orgy. The pieces were cast to the sea where they later washed ashore at the island of Lesbos and were enshrined by the inhabitants. His wife Eurydice in pre-Homeric Greece was known as Eurudike, meaning, “she whose justice extends widely.” Chances are you pronounced that name correctly.
From Gilgamesh up through the ages to Dante (though later works can be argued) classic literature is replete with prose of persons traveling through the Underworld in an effort to gain wisdom. That path is laid so one might find themselves; after all, a virtue untested is really nothing at all. How that Underworld manifests is different for everyone, but realize it has a purpose and those lessons are better learned when you flow with rather than fight against them.
“A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs - jolted by every pebble in the road.”
-Henry Ward Beecher
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)