Designer Jeans

They were like two strutting roosters amidst the comfy chairs and the high traffic carpeting. He was meant to entertain them, charm them and secure their money. Something went wrong. (Testosterone) “What are you looking at?” he asked with a mouthful of vinegar. “Nothing, just your designer jeans,” smirked the intended victim. “I’m not wearing ‘designer jeans‘,” he protested. They weren’t Levi’s, nor were they Wrangler, but he believed they made him look rugged. They sure looked to be designer to me.

Mainstream Kid- Brandi Carlile

via Mainstream Kid- Brandi Carlile

The Donald says Thanks!

Every tyrant needs 3 particular things in order to attain and maintain power:
1) An adoring,unquestioning audience
2) A scapegoat
3) A cadre of thugs willing to do the dirty work
It also helps if there’s a propaganda machine in place to help spread the message. In this case, our Miscreant-In-Chief can thank Facebook and Fox News.

Popping In, Disappearing

People pop into existence with all the freshness of growing grass, and the vibrancy of the wind. A lifetime, however long or short, is an avenue to the gods only know where. That last breath, that last look… I’d like to think it is like seeing, all anew, the last dip of the sun below the horizon, inviting the stars to shine more brightly. I’d like to hold on to all of my loved ones for as long as I can. To the one who has just passed: I hope that I brought you something of value during our time together. To the ones still here: Hold on tight. Let’s not waste a single minute. Love is all that matters.

Signs of life and musical adventures begin again

Phil Shiell is back with some new music. Tasty stuff!

Philip Shiell with Bantaba X on Desert Suite, Teile 2+3. Awesome.

January

The Sun hides and crystals that have piled up remain. Hidden or not, the mere presence

of his shy face sends the squirrels hurling down tree trunks and skittering

across the crusty surface of the snow. I have the window open and I hear them

scratching around in fallen leaves and scolding each other. My fingers are chilled

nearly to the bone but I leave the window open. It is a handshake between January

and me, making good on our agreement that as Time marches I roll

along with it, and together we will stump along towards Spring.

© Tina Zabielski 2011-2019

Coda

He’s got a green guitar, Emerald Isle green, and his hair is snow
white now, but his voice still rings like a Tibetan bell. I don’t care
that the decades have given him
more wisdom than he had when he made us giggle and wander. He is whole
now like an oak tree. He is bent in all the right places. He has us
all waiting for a miracle. And when it comes
if it ever comes
we’ll weep and add our voices, echoing
through the coda of humanity’s tragic history, boldly declaring
the moment we are no longer
pacing this battered cage.

© Tina Zabielski 2011-2019

the long adventure

Stones are rounded by the caress of water, three hundred thousand years without me.

I am so small. I am so big. I am just a speck on the page of this long adventure.

To breathe in the dust of the ages and know

Everything is so sacred. Everything is…and yet is nothing. Only what we define

with our hearts, our longing, our ascent and our skittish minds.

© Tina Zabielski 2011-2019

Environmental Justice

I want to explain what “environmental justice” means to me. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency of the United States) defines it thusly:

“Environmental Justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. EPA has this goal for all communities and persons across this Nation. It will be achieved when everyone enjoys the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards and equal access to the decision-making process to have a healthy environment in which to live, learn, and work.”
Sounds great.
In practice, it is the corporations (typically multinational conglomerates) that set the laws, exploit the regulations governing their business practices, and inflict their toxic means to an end upon the world we’re forced to share with them.

Too often the communities that suffer the greatest environmental hazards are those too poor to protest effectively, don’t have a tax base big enough for anybody to pay attention to, and are too stressed to worry about their environment. They have things like food and school supplies and heating bills to worry about. The quality of their air, ground water or food is pretty low on the list.
So far I’ve been talking like an American. The concept of Environmental Justice doesn’t stop at our shores. People in China are witnessing the polluting of their major cities at a level we couldn’t conceive of here in America because at least we have laws that protect us and our natural environment to a certain degree.

India is witnessing a complete erosion of a local, rural economic system that has been in place for centuries, while their government rushes to become an economic superpower on the same par as China and the US.

This race for global economic supremacy destroys communities, ravages the land, depletes natural resources at an astonishing rate, and annihilates any hope we have for maintaining balance on the planet.

Don’t take my word for it. Read. Learn.

Participate in solutions and movements and new visions for the future. What else have you got to do?