January 24, 2006

Concrete Flower

Somehow, concrete doesn't keep everything grey after all.

(Taken at the Miniwanca camp outside of Shelby, Michigan, May 2003)

Posted by Red Monkey at 10:29 AM | Comments (4) | Blog | TrackBack | Stumble

January 16, 2006

Inclusion / Separation

Sometimes what you do doesn't matter nearly as much as the one thing you neglected to do or that you forgot to do.

Sometimes what you see as a simple alternative becomes a threat to someone else. Or, it gets translated, somehow, into a veiled complaint even though no threat was intended and no complaint meant.

Sometimes ... sometimes exclusion hurts even more than a vicious comment.

But the problem is, how do you balance the very human desire to be who you are, to say what you mean ... and to also be in a place where you feel comfortable and not attacked? How do we build a place to relax and be ... and still let others be who they want to be?

Any time there's an us and them division, there's hurt and people begin lashing out.

Today, in the U.S. is Martin Luther King, Junior Day.

Its mere existence is enough to piss some people off.

Sometimes, in the attempt at non-violence, we simply attract more violence to us. It's easy ... it's human ... to become enraged when others don't react as we expect. Particularly when we lash out in anger and expect others to lash back out at us. After all, when we're both lashing out in anger, we're at the same level ... we're communicating on a common ground and wrestling. But when only one person lashes out, the division between us and them feels even greater. There's that back of the mind guilt that we might not even be able to admit to ourselves is there ... if this person can withhold that anger, why can't I? And then it becomes, "why should I withhold my anger? 'They' deserve it ... they're not better than me or anyone else." And then the anger intensifies.

Societies, passwords, restrictions ... openness, anarchy, freedom. Where's the balance between safety from the darker instincts of human nature and inclusion?

The civil rights workers congregated in safe places ... they congregated in their churches, in homes. But, as the movement became more well known, those places were no longer so safe. People lashed out against them, burned the churches, burned the homes, beat people, killed them. Despite being dedicated to non-violence, they tried to protect themselves by posting guards during meetings ... not to perpetuate violence, but to serve as a warning to those inside. They tried to create a safe zone. But in doing so, the feelings of "us" and "them" simply intensified. And yet, knowing that the divisions were still building, they still tried to work to break down those feelings of exclusion and violence, knowing that while it might help in the long term, in the short term ... the short term would probably be very painful in many, many ways. They met as safely as they could ... and then they left and went out to try to spread their message.

Sadly, those who truly try to challenge the prevailing system and ask us to try harder ... to try harder to work toward inclusion of all ... despite all of our faults and our failures ... are often destined to be hurt by the people they are trying to include. Where is the balance between shaking the dust from our feet where we are not wanted ... and working for change? When is working for change simple suicide ... and when is it for the greater good? And how do we ever learn to discern the difference?

The problem is not so much in creating a safe place with like-minded people. It's in never venturing out of the safe place into the larger world ... the more risky world. There's no shame in congregating in safety and bolstering each other ... so long as we then venture out into the buses, the diners and march for what we truly believe in.

Posted by Red Monkey at 7:30 AM | Comments (8) | Blog | TrackBack | Stumble

January 14, 2006

. .

Silence.

It's one of my favourite things in the world sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I like to have my music playing when I'm working ... and I can run on at the mouth if you get me talking about something I particularly enjoy or something I feel strongly about.

But.

There's also something to be said for being still and simply being. Listening.

One of my favourite authors, Chaim Potok, wrote of a father who raised his son in silence because he wanted to teach the boy compassion to balance out his great intelligence. It was, of course, a horrible way to raise a child ... to never speak to him except when they were studying their religion. But, the boy, Danny, did learn compassion. And he learned to reach deep within himself and listen carefully to what was going on around him.

So many of us are so plugged in all the time. The TV is on, or the iPod, or radio ... or we fill the silence with the babbling words we reach for in those instances.

It may seem odd to many bloggers ... or website readers ... to think about time without words ... without sound.

And yet, the one thing I look forward to every week is having my moments of silence on the weekend. Whether it's because I've gone down to the basement to work or it's the moments of silence in church some Sunday mornings, or a morning driving to work with the radio turned off ... it's nice to reflect and be still for a while. To recharge the batteries, not just of the iPod, the laptop and the cell phone, but of my own brain. It's easier to remember what's important and what's not after I spend some time in silence. Somehow everything seems a little less frantic and a little more balanced.

Peace.

Posted by Red Monkey at 7:35 PM | Comments (4) | Blog | TrackBack | Stumble

December 23, 2005

Scraps

Tuckered out small dog ... this is Scraps at about seven weeks ... that's a small cat carrier next to him. Given his dapple markings we almost called him Splats instead of Scraps ... but finally decided that most people might find that a bit mean. We meant like paint splats, but most people thought we meant seeing him splatted.

And here's a picture of his absolute favourite toy at that age -- the teeny beanie baby doberman ... which looked amazingly like our little black and tan guy. We kept talking about trying to splatter a bit of bleach on it to mimic his dapples.

He would take that li'l "pup" with him everywhere and treated it quite differently from the rest of his teeny beanies. He delighted in taking the black and white cat beanie across the house to his "brudder," Rio, a black and white kitty. He would then proceed to "kill" the kitty, viciously and if Rio left, he'd trot along happily behind to show Rio his prowess at killing kitties.

But one of my favourite pictures is this one ... Scrappy just being a cute little Scrappy boy:

If you celebrate something this time of year, hope you have a good celebration ... if you don't ... I hope you have a great end of the year.

Peace!

Posted by Red Monkey at 6:19 PM | Comments (4) | Blog | TrackBack | Stumble

December 22, 2005

ShoutBox Fun

So, if you're here from BlogExplosion's Shout Box, here's a little fun you can try. This was originally discovered by FuzzBuckFuzz! All kudos to him!!

Type any of these codes before a word and change your text:

::b test -- will change your word to test
likewise, ::i ... ::u ... ::o ... will all also change your text.

::red test -- will change the font color to red. What other colours work?

::small test -- will change the size to smaller ... what works for larger texts?
And when you find the large text trick ... don't use it or Rachel will BAN you from the SB! :) (But seriously, the large font is triggering migraines in some people, so don't use it. Seriously, don't!)

Combining effects:
::small test ::off some more ::red words -- will give you test in small print ... some more in regular print ... words in red print.

I'm sure there's more codes out there for other things ... but they've yet to be discovered ... have fun playing ... and don't forget the Frenzy game while you're at it!!

Posted by Red Monkey at 11:28 AM | Comments (7) | Blog | TrackBack | Stumble

December 20, 2005

Whoa ... check it

So, there's this blog called "Bloggy Award" which reviews various blogs that have been nominated (either by the author or someone else). So, I tossed my URL in the hat, so to speak, and sat back.

Well, they've done the review and it's a doozy! I have to admit I didn't quite know what to expect ... I'm always a little nervous when it comes to critiques, but I keep putting myself out there anyway.

As it turns out, this was, in my opinion, a beautiful review! I'm more than a little stunned at scoring as high as I did ... check them out ... and peruse the other reviews of other blogs ... it's a nice way to discover other great blogs.

Posted by Red Monkey at 5:23 PM | Comments (4) | Blog | TrackBack | Stumble