After Shocks Poetry

The Poetry of Recovery for Life-Shattering Events: Grief, Loss, Bigotry, Injury, Exile, Divorce, Illness, War, Addiction, Abuse
http://www.poetryofrecovery.com/

Okay, if you’re like me the full title of this book might make you cringe at first glance, but the thing is, my pal Rhett is published in this collection as are many other fine, well-known poets from across the country. The title does make the collection sound a bit like a collection of expository confessions. Nah, this is just good poetry that expresses in metaphor and simile — and all of those other great literary techniques — those things we sometimes can’t articulate straight out, or even at all: the ache we feel in our gut, the paper cut across our heart that just won’t heal, the fear we loathe to admit, the anger we dare not express. It’s simply about making a connection whether it be with some familiar situation or emotion, with something we’re trying to understand to help a friend, something completely foreign to us that will help us understand another culture, race or religion, or something we’re hearing for the first time and just trying to comprehend.

Read blurbs here: http://www.poetryofrecovery.com/about.html

Sub-Zero Fashion Mittens Prevent the Need to Curb your Nicotine Addiction

It’s a beautiful thing when fashion and functionality come together. You may already be set with your iPod jeans (even though you had a lapse of judgement and bought the Zune), or your fishing vest (even though you don’t own a fishing pole), or those carpenter pants (even though you don’t own a hammer), but are you prepared for that freezing cold winter smoke without the freezing cold hands? These styling mittens from Tobias Wong allow you to enjoy cigarettes even on the coldest day in Iceland. Or maybe you don’t smoke any more than you own a fishing lure, but why not invest in a pair just for that high fashion, sexy yet functional little element — the metal eyelet. Maybe you could get yourself a spot on Project Runway and design the ultimate goose down smoking jacket. Or start your own Tobias Wong Mitten Cigar Bar.

In fact — warning: tangent — an icey cigar bar is not so far out of your reach. In Minneapolis there is a seasonal hot spot called the Ice Chamber. It’s a bar constructed of ice, but it’s warm inside with the burning gas fire pit and abundance of quality booze to keep you warm. So why not light up a few cigars? Wait? Does that eyelet come in cigar size? And will it it hold a Pogo stylus in case you need to make a phone call or check how many calories a Hot Toddy has? Wong may have a little work to do with these mittens, but the potential — my god.

Express Yourself: A Mixed Media Journal of Ones Own

Everybody should have a cool journal in which to jot down their thoughts and ideas. Just walk into Barnes & Noble or the stationary section at Target and you’ll see. I had so many I donated a box full to newly arrived immigrants for their English classes. I’m sure a decorative notebook was the least of their worries, but hopefully somebody enjoyed the little extra touch.

If you have things to say, but nobody will listen so you have to write them down, why not push a few bucks directly toward an artist who is making some pretty cool journals.

Visit www.amanobooks.com

Rich, Chewy and Delicious. Mmm, Kookabura.

It’s like a new nectar of the gods, only it’s not nectar. And it’s chewy. It’s Kookaburra Licorice. http://www.kookaburralicorice.com/shop/

The mango flavor is tart and semi-sweet, an unusual burst of surprise no candy could match. A few pieces of the black Australian liquorice (or what we Americans like to call licorice) may find you saying “Mmm”, even if you’ve always proclaimed a yuck factor of black licorice. It’s not too sweet, not bitter, but gooey and natural. And they have strawberry and raspberry, green apple and chocolate covered. Get it by the tub.

Lego Album Covers

 While I’m waiting for trick-or-treaters I’m cruising the web for nonsense and not really finding what I’m after. Fortunately, I have this gem on hand that was forwarded from an employee earlier in the week: Lego Album Art:

http://www.thetoyzone.com/20-album-covers-recreated-in-lego/

A quick poll of a couple of friends reveals some favorites:

The Artist / The Album / About The Friend
The Beatles / “Abbey Road” / For this friend, a Beatles song serves as a reference for every point in history, or as a handy example of how history repeats itself

Nirvana’s / “Nevermind” / This pal is trying to become pregnant…always with the babies

Aphex Twin / “Windowlicker” / What can I say? He’s a guy…possibly a guy who would like a set of his own boobs attached to his own body (I’m not judging)

My favorite? Since you asked.  Ahem:  
Morrissey / “You are the Quarry”

I’ve never been a Morrissey or a Smiths fan, but this is one bad-ass looking lego dude.  Check out that plastic hairdo.  It is second to none in the world of plastic sh*t that will occupy landfills long past our death.  And he has a plastic hook hand — an imposing hook that reeks of super strength.  Don’t mess with this lego man, he’ll go ballistic all over your ass, while Morrissey might just slip up and drop the weapon.  His focus seems to lean more toward the perfectly pressed suit, and getting the tilt of the head just right.  You’ll be all right.

One last thing. I have to say, Springteen’s archetypal working class buttocks really lose a whole lotta something in lego form. (See Bruce Springsteen / “Born in the U.S.A.”) Some things are best left untouched.  Actually, bad choice of words.  Just leave the original alone. Achk! You know what I mean.

Red Hoods, Floating Skulls, and Silk

I love fairy tales, folk tales, legends. I especially love it when someone exposes the creepiness of it all in fashion, film or any other form of expression. Littleredridinghood.de bleeds beautiful silk scarf designs that beg the questions: Why is she wearing red? What’s with the hood? What’s really in that basket? A dozen tiny red riding hoods settled under the flight of a giant black bird ooze a stunning tale or darkness and beauty – and it looks good with a plain white shirt and jeans.

Another design offers floating skulls – or alien heads, I can’t tell – that give off a quirky vibe up close, but from a distance the colorful blend simply adds up to a charming sense of style. But why spend 69 Euros on a scarf if you don’t wear them? Well, here’s one excuse: weave a textile tale. Buy a half dozen and line them up as a tapestry behind your bed and you’re sure to have freaky dreams to tell your friends about every day; dreams Dalí might still find boring, but screw him, he’s a whole different kind of creepy — a calculated, geometric distortion of reality.

Hip, Earthy, and Delicious

A couple of weeks ago I made a trip to Seattle for work.  A great tip from one of my hip employees led me to a boutique hotel in Belltown called Hotel Andra. Even though I was there for business, I felt comfortably at home.  The room was more like an studio apartment (apparently it was once upon a time) with it’s king size bed with crisp yet smooth sheets, decorative lighting, calming wall colors, and huge windows that I opened each night to let in the cool Seattle air.  Right next door was a restaurant called Lola where we had an amazingly delicious breakfast of eggs, bacon that I swear was a quarter inch thick and “hash browns” that were made by smushing a whole potato into a round, pancake-like form.  Delicious, but yeah, we all moaned about the fat and calories as we wiped our greasy lips. The location was convenient – - a block this way, a small grocery store/deli; a few blocks this way, a mall; a few stops on the monorail, a museum – you get the picture.  And Jimi Hendrix is like the Elvis of the North East. His image is all over buses and buildings.

In spite of the passing traffic and frequent cabs swinging by the Andra, the busy Lola restaurant and bar guest gatherings, Hotel Andra has a calming effect.  Maybe it’s the earthiness of the natural Scandinvian-influenced designs of wood and stone mixed with the hip furnishings or the studio loft-like feel of the rooms (did I mentioned the large walk-in closet?) or the polite, Seattle hospitality, or just the medicine of being away from your day to day responsibility, even if it’s only for a few hours of the evening.

One evening I sit in my hotel room with the window open, the cool, crisp air such an escape from the humid-drenched southern air, and chat with with my friend Ellen 3,000 miles away, back in the humid south.  I tell her about the air and Scandinavian influence, which she knows and appreciates well. She tells me about friends from her native Denmark who left the country for Seattle and enjoyed the cool, crisp air and never returned.  I consider never returning.

After a week of working in a hotel conference room the four of us were content if for no other reason than the constant tending to our needs — the steady stream of sodas, water, Starbucks coffee and tea.  The creamy, bitter Greek yogurt and fresh berries for breakfast, served just on time, right after our caterer changed out of her biking clothes.  Lunch right on queue: will it be a healthy sandwich with veggies or an outrageously meaty burger and generous cut fries?

Soon it was friday, our work week together was coming to an end and the red eye was in my near future.  We wondered:  Who will be bringing our breakfast on Monday?  Laughter.  Goodbye.

Just Me and Princess Anne

At this point in my life, you think I’d understand how two months can fly in what seems like a matter of minutes – in afterthought, at least; not necessarily while it’s happening.

But I don’t.  It’s been two months since my last post and I’ve had a lot of journeys and made a lot of discoveries, but mostly I’ve missed the release of the blog. 

Around mid August I fled to the Great Smokey Mountains for a short getaway in Asheville, NC. I stayed at Princess Anne Hotel in the Chestnut Hill National Historic District. It was built in the 1920s and over the years it’s been a hospital, retirement home, and apartment building.  That always kind of creeps me out a little.  Wondering who may have died in the space where I’ve come to rejuvenate myself, or how they might have suffered in the same space where I laugh and call friends and family to tell them what  magical land of relaxation I have found.

But, each morning, as I rose early to make the 8 a.m. breakfasts where I was served such delight as blueberry blintzes with orange butter sauce, French stuffed toast with apple-smoked bacon, blueberries and strawberries so fresh you’d swear there were heavenly fruit vines swirling around the kitchen – during this aromatic beginning to my morning I also thought of the life that may have once lingered here.

Each morning as I began my spiral decent down the spiral staircase, my sleepy self was greeted by the sweet sounds of jazz from the ’20s, ’30s, and ’40s – Louie Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Cab Calloway.  Those moody songs with a sense of humor and punch of pathos and all kinds of lovin’ took me back to a time I could only imagine. The Great Gatbsy, old movie posters, Vanity Fair and Vogue covers — it was all as real as fiction to me and I reveled in it. 

By the second day, I was calling my hotel room my “apartment” and found myself wanting to return to it rather than browse Malaprops, the local independent bookstore, or belabor truffle and bon bons selections at Chocolate Fetish, or marvel the furnishing designs at Mobilia.

By the third day, I had forgotten what it was I had come to escape.

Click here for more photos from my Asheville visit.

Unity Hoodie

This snuggly little unit from Apparel of the Earth is made from 90%  cotton and, well, 10% spandex.  It’s unclear to me if spandex is organic; I “googled” it, and found a molecular formula and a random post from user name Bob that stated “They are organic in the sense that the molecules of Spandex are mostly composed of carbon.”

\:-0

To read more about organic cotton, visit SustainableCotton.org.

Do You Hulu?

My husband now occupies only about a six foot by six foot space of our home, where he sits in front of his computer tuned in to hulu.com.  He comes downstairs for drinks and to heat lean pockets and mix up some mac ‘n cheese, but mostly, he lives in that chair in front of the computer watching episode aftern episode of t.v. shows he’s never seen, movies he’s seen two a three times already, and more episodes of t.v. shows. It’s free and they have entire seasons.  Shows from network television, the Discovery  and History channels, and movies a handful of movies.  Have you seen “Raised in Arizona” lately?  How about “Eternal Sunshine on a Spotless Mind?” If you missed “24″ from the very beginning, here’s your chance to catch up.  If “Lost” was lost on you, here’s your chance to find yourself.  You may be a few years behind the times, or maybe you don’t want to tune in at the “same time, same bat channel” every week because you have a social life and people like you and besides you’re in really great shape because you bike twenty miles every night instead of plant your a$$ in front of the t.v. all night.

Phfew. Okay, okay. I’m okay. 

Well, it’s time to give your skinny butt a new kind of workout.  Plant it in front of your computer and catch up with pop culture.  You can do ten-count butt squeezes while you watch.