Archive for the ‘Observances’ Category

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Happy Birthday Charlie Sheen !

Friday, September 3rd, 2010

You can say what you like about Charlie Sheen. Yes, he’s a “bad boy” from time to time … but a lot of us are “bad” periodically. I have enjoyed many of the characters he has portrayed on film and television.

I particularly enjoy his sitcom Two and a Half Men … and I am aware of his issues concerning conflicts in relationships and even his controversial 9/11 theory.

Being the type who can differentiate between a man’s attitude and politics and his work, just because I don’t agree with some of his notions doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy other aspects of his existence such as the performance arts on the large and small screens.

The bottom line is he is a good actor and it’s his birthday and I want to give him a shout because he’s there for me … both on a weekly basis and in syndication!

Carlos Irwin Estevez

aka Charlie Sheen
aka The Machine
aka Good Time Charlie
aka Chuckles

American Actor. Born September 3, 1965, in New York City.

His father is Martin Sheen and was just beginning his career on Broadway when Charlie was born. He was interested in acting from an early age and has played a broad range of characters over the years of his ensuing career.

His mother is Janet Sheen and was a New York art student who had met her husband right after he had moved to Manhattan. Martin and Janet had three other children — all of whom became actors.

Happy Birthday Charlie Sheen !

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Tender Years

Friday, September 3rd, 2010

There was a time when I saw my life taking a path far different than the one I eventually traversed. Like Robert Frost’s ‘Two roads diverged in a yellow wood’ I took the one less traveled and that has made all the difference. However, that difference is not the accolades educators love to bestow on themselves. It is not the pretentiousness of medicine or even the artsy end of the spectrum like illustration and musical performance. It is not getting the girl or becoming that magnificent physical specimen I had such hopes of becoming.

It’s that geeky world where people show up at your door with their computers in tow wanting to be fixed. The glamorous of Fergie was not to be. The pins and needles I used to experience writing poetry and scripts long past I have relegated myself to that arena called technology and now enjoy all the things that go with it …

and all the things that go without it.

It’s not really a problem that my social circle sometimes gets limited to those who become technically challenged at one level or another. It’s certainly not an issue to be apparently on call all the time — even though my ‘job’ isn’t the one placing me there.

Sometimes at night when I’m collecting my thoughts I think about that road I could have taken. The one with a bunch of kids and the little girls who wanted to ‘hook up’ and be all family oriented and relegated to that world of station wagons, public school rigamarole, church every Sunday, dinners together, and those other aspects of raising children, paying endless bills and that inevitable and eternal miscellaneous … being somebody’s daddy.

For whatever reason the Almighty — or merely fate — chose that other path for me. Perhaps it was me, myself who chose it. Perhaps it simply “chose me”.

However things resolved I know one thing: it’s been a wild ride and the end result was in and of it self both a blessing and a curse. The memories I’ve collected along the way and the years fall softly at my feet in this adventure. So I proceed toward that final outcome; which may or may not have turned out differently had I made other choices along the way.

Tender Years

When the moon hung soft and low,
Catchin’ stardust in the light
You held me closer and closer
There was magic in the night

A sweet love song, a melody
that I still can recall
Two young hearts filled with dreams
To walk away with it all

Whoa, whoa tender years
Won’t you wash away my tears
How I wish you were here
Please don’t go, tender years

A summer love, a beach romance
Sought her kisses in the sand
Two young hearts filled with fire
Lost in never-neverland.

Whoa, whoa tender years
Won’t you wash away my tears
How I wish you were here
Please don’t go, tender years

John Cafferty

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National Sewing Month

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

President Ronald Regan instituted National Sewing Month in a 1982 proclamation in which September is the month to recognize the importance of home sewing to our nation.

Many of the ladies I have known were skilled seamstresses. Both my mother and sister sewed … as well as some of my aunts and cousins. However, I have only known one man I thought had exceptional sewing skills. His name was Isadore Clemmons and I went to school with him — and lived right down the road from him in the Hollow Creek community of rural Aiken County … a suburb of Salley, South Carolina.

He was a good natured but largely misunderstood individual and withstood a lot of the guff and ridicule which goes along with that type situation, particularly in a rural environment where much of the pastimes involved under aged alcohol consumption and the typical hayseed debauchery one might expect from those characteristic of farming or country life.

I once thought myself to be included in that lot but my father’s brother quickly showed me my place in the scheme of the farm and I never looked back.

Apparently Isadore had taken Mrs. Nona Faye Walker’s sewing class at the Crescent Cities Vocational Center, which we knew simply as “trade school”. At our “senior auction” he whipped out this three piece suit looking every bit the Bill Blas creation on the stage of that ‘Class A’ high school. I left there feeling the only one truly impressed by his work — which was obviously substantial … was me. So much for the rest of the big red farmers and their appreciation of fine stitching.

The observance of National Sewing Month is pretty much an endeavor of the Sewing and Craft Alliance and the American Sewing Guild.

So if you hav a passion for sewing or have been looking for an opportunity to pursue the craft … this is YOUR month!

Happy National Sewing Month.

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Lesbians I have known …

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

Over the years I’ve known my fair share of lesbians.

Call it a function of that wide circle on which I once made the rounds through frequently. Nowadays my card is comparatively empty and exceedingly more straight laced … if you will.

I used to go to a little dyke bar called ‘The Fortress’ on Two Notch Road and play pool with a cigar smoking tee shirt and blue jeans wearing blonde butch bruiser named ‘Cooter’. She won every game, too.

I think it was because she intimidated me, being quite a bit more physically formidable in appearance than I. She was friendly and funny and I enjoyed her company immensely … plus I was one of only two dudes in the joint. Eldon and I laughed and carried on into the wee hours of the morning on each visit.

Then there was my good friend Shirley who was simply one of the nicest people you’ll ever know in your life. She was artistically talented, manufacturing her own inspection sticker (back when autos here had to have one) that was a ‘dead ringer’ at a distance. She was personable and regular to a tee.

There was the other end of the spectrum as well. The game playing Margaret who had two daughters and lived on Bagnal in a fantasy world where nothing was entirely as it seemed.

The performers are my favorites however. Today, the charming, beautiful, and quite gay Lily Tomlin is having a birthday. She has dominated that sphere of my existence known as entertainment from time to time because not only is she hilarious … but a master thespian who portrays dramatic roles with presence and projection … as though they aren’t going to make any more.

Lily Tomlin
September 1, 1939

aka Mary Jean Tomlin
aka Ernestine
aka Edith Ann
aka Tasteful Lady
aka Susie the Sorority Girl
aka Tommy Velour and Rick
aka Pervis Hawkins
aka Dr. Selma Dritz

American actress, comedian, writer and producer. To each of these roles she brings exceptional talent and has won multiple awards from many genres, including Tonys, Emmy, a Grammy — not to mention nomination for an Oscar.

She is one of my favorite actresses, comediennes, and of course lesbians I have known.

Happy Birthday to You !

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Another National Civility Month is Done

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

I’d like to take this moment and note the rapidly passing recurrence of National Civility Month and play true confessions with the fact that my civility has taken a trouncing this year.

Don’t get me wrong, I certainly claim to be ever-scrappy and oh so willing and able to go into confrontational mode at the drop of a hat … but do so at the expense of that kinder, gentler Dave I also try to cultivate.

So although that profane aspect I don’t share with many raises it’s ugly head in the midst of my formal or perfunctory politeness the sad fact is that my tolerance took a beating at the hands of the likes of Adobe, various idiot drivers I encounter, the lying, cheating, thief, crook, tyrant Fred … and of course that ever-present dullard in my disdain, Susan.

Hopefully, I will do better over the coming months and attain that lofty nirvana known as a “courteous manner” that respects accepted social usage and cease being that slug who has to mindlessly swear merely as a valve from which that excess hot air contained within his carcass may escape.

So excuse me whilst I loose that impending flatulence called frustration and endeavor to be better — something oh so much more superior in quality, condition, and effect … tomorrow.

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Diana Died this Day

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

Diana, Princess of Wales
July 1, 1961 – August 31, 1997

36 Years Young Forever
Rest In Peace

I remember where I was and what I was doing. I recall the initial shock and disbelief. I initially thought it was all dream when I awoke the next morning — to no avail. I remember the funeral procession and how strong the boys were to meet the public in their hour of grief. I remember the spray with the word ‘Mummy’ printed on the card accompanying it.

It seems like an eternity has passed since the death of Diana … but sometimes I still recollect many of the things she felt were important. People. Poverty. Land Mines. I can’t help but wonder what might have been … but there I go wandering into the “what ifs” and “if onlys” again …

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International Day of the Disappeared

Monday, August 30th, 2010

Today is the International Day of the Disappeared which is an annual observance marking the unknown fate of individuals who are incarcerated in various places under poor conditions without notification of relatives, significant others, and/or legal representatives. It is an injustice of anxiety and a matrix of suffering by those involved.

Impetus for this commemoration originally came from the Latin American Federation of Associations for Relatives of Detained-Disappeared (Federación Latinoamericana de Asociaciones de Familiares de Detenidos-Desaparecidos, or FEDEFAM).

It seems there is a lot of secret imprisonment in Latin America.

This outreach extends to the international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International, The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Clandestine imprisonment carries with it violation of human rights and humanitarian law and it is estimated that there are about 30 countries who practice this cowardly suppression and punishment of individuals.

We as the people of the world should oppose the immoral imposition of imprisonment upon those who are held for purely political and derelict reasons. The portends for survival are bleak in entirely too many of these circumstances. How many who are detained and imprisoned end up in graves anonymously never to be heard from again?

How we treat each other is an indication of the evolution of both mankind and our humanity.

Support the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

Matter of Time

There was a time
Had no need for rhythm or rhyme
The world seemed so wild and so free
Just wrap yourself up in a dream
All you had to do was believe
And nothing was out of your reach
So sure how it all falls in line
It’s just a matter of time
It’s just a matter of time

Then you wake up one day
All your dreams some how faded away
The road that you follow returns
Can’t find where the fire once burned
Can’t look yourself straight in the eyes
In the heart of our truth compromise
Baby one day we all cross that line
It’s just a matter of time
It’s just a matter of time

All alone in this middle of the night
You come face to face with your fight
And how much you wanted it all
Can’t believe how your taking the fall

Then you reach out one day
To the light of a new dawning day
You take just one small grain of sand
Right into the palm of your hand
And maybe you’ll find in the end
You’re able to dream once again
And baby you’ll fall back in line
It’s just a matter of time
It’s just a matter of time

It’s just a matter of time
It’s just a matter of time
Just a matter of time

John Cafferty

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