Saturday, March 12, 2011, 10:30 PM - Poetry and Writing
They Stole Munch’s Scream. Two carried the mouth and two the burnt horizon. Later, it was taken again with the Madonna. The Scream had moisture damage and Madonna suffered several tears on the right side. At first, I read tears and imagined a second soaked canvas. When she gave up her child her voice rebelled for the sounds she didn’t use to cry, no. Words fell out stunned. They flew over the walls and statues into the eyes of lost ships. Spread out on the sea floor, got caught in the coral. The cumulative colour of scream. My birth mother found me decades later, only to lose her own mom. This was a sign, she was sure of it. The gods made her a trade for silence. Gave her a piece of horizon. Carried away her mouth.
Earlier version published in FreeFall Magazine (October, 2010)
Monday, March 7, 2011, 08:08 PM - Inspiring
Two miles of solar panels to power Antwerp station and Belgian train system. Will we ever catch on to Europe's green transportation systems?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2 ... lgium-rail
Wednesday, March 2, 2011, 01:51 AM - Poetry and Writing
After Liu Xiaobo, in memory
Avoid the words
tyranny
Tiananmen
Tibet Taiwan
torture particularly
Falun Gong avoid
truth compassion
tiger dragon
but especially
people pig code for
democracy avoid
military gambling
brainwashing sex
how to make
bombs make
counterfeit harvest
kidneys quakes avoid
poor rights floods
one party freedom
of expression avoid
any potential
embarrassments
Xiaobo wrote
from prison:
none who have
interrogated me
are my enemies
none are my enemies
for hatred is
corrosive of a
person's conscience
corrosive
Liu Xiaobo
born 1955
offline 2008
offline
banned
Wednesday, January 12, 2011, 02:44 AM - Outdoor adventure
Gorgeous trip to the Chic Chocs, Gaspesie park Quebec.
Thursday, August 19, 2010, 04:31 PM - The Solidarity Economy & Microfinance
I work with informal unregistered savings groups. They use their own money (no loans or donations from outside), pool it, put aside some for an emergency fund, lend out to each other or invest. Each group makes its own constitution and policies for membership, attendance, fines, interest rates. I have seen fines for: gossiping, your cell phone going off during a meeting, being late, not knowing the groups' balances, coming to a meeting drunk. Each meeting begins with each member reciting one policy as they get their passbooks. As you can see here, passbooks use stamps so those with limited literacy can understand how much savings they have. If it is all their money and their rules, what do they need others for then? Support in weighing their options, governance issues, financial management, linking to other forms of support. Even then, the support is only for a time. In India, over 3 million groups are linked to financial institutions including banks, coops and rural banks.
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