+ green lava lamp
+ box of trash bags
+ can of mace
+ these things
My boss is always finding random things around his house and then he gives them to me. These are speakers. They light up, make noise and change color.
At last. The boots I’ve always wanted. A love story really. These boots are vegan. The rest is made of meat and blood.
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People often ask me what bands I listen to. It seems like a simple enough question. Really it is and I do enjoy talking about music, especially metal. However being the shy socially awkward metalhead that I have trouble answering that question… in fact I dread it. There I am at a show or a party or something and someone tries to attempt a conversation with me by asking what bands I like. I try my best to answer but I can’t name name a single band I like. Not one. My mind is a vast empty space. Umm I don’t know….I think real hard. Fuck. I don’t know. I listen to music every day. I have hundreds of tapes and cds. I collect records. I go to shows and festivals every chance I get… but no… I can’t think of single band I like. Eventually a band jumps into my mind, it falls right from my lips and it’s always a band that sux. A band I don’t like. Then I’m stuck taking about some band I don’t even like to someone who at this point thinks I listen to bands that suck. I think I need to take along some neatly written notes on little index cards next time I’m out.
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I have this old red suitcase filled with vintage vinyl <3
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This is an art project I did for The Sketchbook Project. Secret Codes was my awesomely fabulous theme. These are a few of the pages from my sketchbook. I waited until the very last minute to start this so I didn’t get to put as much time as I wanted into it. Most of the pages are unfinished to me at least. I wish I could have done more with them. These are my most favorite pages.
This sketchbook, as well as many others, will be going on tour around the country. It will be visiting the following place during spring 2011
Austin, TX ~ San Francisco, CA ~ Portland, ME ~ Atlanta, GA
Chicago, IL ~ Washington, DC ~ Winter Park FL ~ Brooklyn, NY
Visit The Sketchbook Project for more information
Secret Codes
The first time I went to Maudslay was about ten years ago when I was living in Bradford. When I lived there I would try and go as often as I could. Since moving back to the area I still try and go as often as I can. It is one of the best places to wander about. I always stumble across the most beautiful and interesting things… gardens, fields, woods and a strange little pet cemetery. I find someplace new every time, and every time I go, I go looking for this most beautiful garden that is hidden away in the park.
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It has all these amazing spaces. Every time I am there I find the most fabulous flowers and things. I imagine it was much like this when it was an enormous estate and I can’t help but wonder what it must have been like to live there.
The garden is surrounded by a big open space with a rows of tall trees all around it. Between them are little doorways.
I can’t help but wonder how many folks have suffered needlessly or even died in this country due to lack of good health care. All the illnesses that are never caught early enough or at all. All the people who suffer with chronic pain because they have no insurance or their insurance, that they pay dearly for, will NOT cover treatment. Then there are the mentally ill folks out there who are living under a cloud of depression or in a manic haze of madness unable to function without proper psychiatric care and do not get it because they can not afford it.
Why can’t this nation realize that health care is a BASIC HUMAN RIGHT not a privilege for those who work hard enough for it or are lucky enough to have it handed to them.
What really gets me is the amount of people I’ve talked to that are against socialized medicine. Some of them are even uninsured themselves and still against it.
One of the most unconvincing arguments I’ve heard is I don’t want my taxes to go to all those lazy people on welfare. Well many of those lazy people are single WORKING mothers and their children as well as people who are disabled. In many states you have to work in order to receive welfare and you can only get it for a few years anyways. I don’t see them as lazy, but then again I receive foods stamps so I guess that makes me one of them. Regardless of their situation they still deserve health care. Everyone does.
Where I live if you are poor enough you can get health insurance though the state, although I doubt many places have it as good as it is here, in one of the most liberal states in the county. There are still many who are not poor enough to qualify for aid from the government, but not wealthy enough to afford insurance. What about them? The 46 million uninsured people? They are caught in the middle. What happens when they need a doctor?
Another awesome argument I’ve heard is I don’t want the government to make health care decisions for me. Well right now the insurance companys makes those decisions. Almost everything needs to be approved by an insurance company. They want to make a profit. That is just wrong. They shouldn’t even exist in any health care system.
Then there is this one. There won’t be enough doctors to go around and we’ll have have to wait forever to see a doctor. Yes, I imagine there will be a bit of a longer wait for things less urgent, but I imagine emergency rooms will run just the same. If anything it will create more jobs for nurses, medical assistants, ect… Personally I would rather wait a bit longer to see a doctor then be shut out completely.
Right now the president is pushing to reform the health care system. It will be interesting to see how this turns out. I’m trying to remain optimistic, but I lost my faith in the way things run around here a long time ago.
I could go on and on, but for now I leave you with this…
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
-Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Meg brought sparklers. We lit them in the back yard.
Lara is a fire dancer. We all gathered to watch her eat fire.
It was beautiful.
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Throughout the night I offered Meg several different good beers to drink. She refused them all and insisted on drinking PBR.
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I made five dozen cupcakes.
They were eaten every one.
Every act of creation is first
of all an act of destruction.
-Pablo Picasso
