care bears on fire -

you're probably thinking, 'wha?' yes, that's right, they are a band called care bears on fire - all three members are in grade 7 and they kick major rockn'roll backside. least i think so. i think they are testament to a new generation of parents; the other day i saw a young dad fly by on his bike after his kid, they were both in helmets but no shirts busy blazing down the sidewalk and i thought to myself, 'this is a dad who is going to give his son tips on how to graffiti without getting caught."

the three members of care bears on fire must have pretty cool parents to have started a band in early elementary, re-grouped (lost a member & changed the name,) and set out to forge a path in never-done-before-land, writing and composing original music and gaining rockn'roll notoriety before their teens. i am well impressed with their first single, "everybody else," check it out -

love beware

i dreamed
my love's death
love beware

love, watch out!
no, no, no
it's too late
i hear the shots
together we drop

i want to live
in love
with you
but i fear
for you love

for i have seen
you die
in my arms

in my dream
you lay lifeless
as i scream

love beware
your death
woke me up
this morning

international dance craze,

during a quick jaunt to NYC in april, my cool french friend raved about a new dance the kids be killin' all over france called tectonik. i nabbed the video below from this blog - it's a short doc on the origins of the dance, as well as a quick how-to. but as i see it, just flail, swing and propell your arms to the beat and you've got the electro down pat. below that is a clip all the way from korea. dance puppet dance...

omar ahmed khadr - canadian in custody

the footage shows omar khadr at 16 years old in an interrogation room with some (cold) canadian inquisitors and the clip has had notable airtime in the past three days. filmed in Feb 2003, the film has sparked some outrage in the Canadian public but PM Harper is not interested in taking up the case.

one moment keeps running over and over in my mind: at one point omar sputters, "I have lost my eyes. I have lost my feet. everything." immediately the callous voice of his interrogator points out what appears obvious to him, "no, you still have your eyes and your feet are there at the end of your legs" his tone is flat and blasé - i find him most horrid and disgusting but perhaps it is merely a 'sign of the times'?

no, it is not so.

two nights ago I watched the battle of algiers, 1966 and a few nights prior i watched la haine, 1995. both films portray the captor-captive dynamic in war (on different scales) that exists always in all power struggles. both films show the inhumanity that breeds in interrogation rooms. both films explore the hatred that lives between detained and free agents (often it is born long before their time, but they carry, nurture, grow it and make sure to pass the hate on.) still, after seeing this specific real life clip so many times, i continue to hear a few voices battling out the idea in my mind... it seems i have yet to come to terms... while omar sits in his cell, i am still trying to come to terms - how absurd.

(voice 1 earnest and frantic) "he's Canadian!"
(voice 2 cool and aloof) "Canadian and brown in the wrong place at the wrong time boils down to brown and suspicious - brown and suspicious equals terrorist these days kiddo"
(voice 3 tentative and fearful) "so if i'm a canadian caught in a firefight and accused of throwing something, that's it, i'm detained indefinitely, tortured and ignored?"
(voice 1 aghast) "no, impossible, that's can't be!"
(voice 2 unforgiving) "well, would you like to deny reality, deny the footage you see"
(voice 1 alarmed) "but he's obviously distressed and severely traumatized! why don't they do something"
(voice 2 sensible and calm) "do what my dear? do what? you heard them - they obviously don't care - that video was shot over five years ago, got leaked and now we're concerned - the man is now 21 years old and still in custody."
(voice 3 quiet and sad) "...i couldn't figure out if he said 'help me' or 'kill me'"
(voice 1 full of sorrow and sympathy) "oh that clip is just awful... his poor mother"
(voice 2 exasperated) "whatever man, at least his family knows where he is; there are blackhole detention centers worldwide with guys whose families believe they're dead or worse yet their mothers fear them "missing" when in actual fact these guys are completely off our radar, these guys are being submitted to god knows what - i mean seriously, only god knows..."

i have lost my eyes
i have lost my feet
everything

i lost my right eye
in the firefight
i lost my feet
once they detained me
since my 'capture'
they have taken
my freedom, my hope, my sanity
i
lost
everything

the war is not canada's
this was is america's
a war against my father, brothers, uncles,
a war against my family
i
lost
everything

these unjust authorities
take us from our land
americans have since
forgotten afghanistan
i
lost
everything

first they accused my father
now they torture me
the war still goes on
we die, they die, we die, but i
i
lost
everything

soldiers attacked my home
soldiers killed my family
soldiers shot me in the chest
soldiers now detain me
i
lost
everything

"help me"
"kill me"
"mother"
i
lost
everything

hot n' bothered

over this fella - Leon Jean-Marie - debut album 'bring it on' out now; imma cop that.

fulljoy

so full
brimming
overflowing
love for you
and you
and you
and you

it's easier

it's easier to see others than to look at yourself
well, that goes both ways *sshole, don't it?
turns out jailers are prisoners too (listen)
so why end by telling me what to do?

it's easier to tell a lost soul what to do
because they look up and down, left and right
in the end they end up checking you too

but it is not easier to take a look at yourself
a good hard look - bet it's not so easy
but i would not presume to tell you what to do
too easy, dearie, much too easy to do.

tell your heart

"Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity." Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist.

Yet Fatima feels complete fulfilment upon finding her treasure, Santiago. She does not leave the oasis in pursuit of her Personal Legend, in search of her dreams. Instead she bids a teary goodbye and patiently awaits her love's return, sending kisses on the wind to travel through the Soul of the World and find his lips. Is it so? Why? Why not?

Fatima ought to read "Women who Run with Wolves" by Clarissa Pinkola Estes PhD. I am.

write me

write me
a long letter
a love song
a long love letter song

start slow
soft sweet salty
falsetto

feel so high
so good i want to die
butterflies riff

guilty crescendo
breakup breakdown
crashbangkaboom
drum
solo

sincerely
good bye
yours
truly