WoodMoor Village

Important Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Well, I've been making a slow transition to WordPress... which is why you have not heard much from me here. Right now the blogs are not up yet, but I expect that Exposure Latitudes will be up in a week's time or so.

WoodMoor Village on the other hand will prove more difficult. I anticipate the actual move time, when we will no longer be here in Typepad, will be in around two to three weeks. Here's the skinny:

WoodMoor Village has been around for almost five years. That is a lot of posts, images, links, comments, etc. Although I can import the blog posts, comments, etc. into the new WordPress home, I would have to fix every link or image that points to somewhere in the Typepad scheme of things. I really don't want to do that. I just don't have the time to devote to it. So, I am considering archiving WoodMoor Village and starting it fresh in its WordPress incarnation. I would leave this blog online and up as archive until June 2009 when the contract with Typepad expires.

That changeover also provides me an opportunity to remake WoodMoor Village a little bit. Like every village, the years take a toll on the buildings, kids grow up and leave, the village green needs repairs, and the village fool (definitely me) wanders off and sometimes has to be rescued. This move to WordPress might very well infuse WoodMoor Village with new energy and momentum. The village fool has changed, perhaps grown more foolish and/or foolhardy, and WoodMoor is in need of revamping its mission just a tad.

I will carry some of the content from this version of the blog to the new WordPress WoodMoor Village. The domain name will remain the same, and I expect no changes in the RSS feed subscription. I do want to give subscribers an opportunity to reassess their involvement. These kinds of moves are good moments to rethink our commitment of time and energy, so if you are a current subscriber and want to send me a note, or leave a post regarding the transition, and any questions, please feel free to do that.

The good news? I think WoodMoor Village will be much better for this move. This is serious O-Soji housecleaning, and I look forward to sprucing up the Village, and inviting new visitors. I have a great new theme picked out for the Village, and expect that the new momentum will carry us nicely with the eclectic combination of interests here.

Thanks! As they say, watch this space for more info!

Bye Bye Bush & Cheney

I've been thinking about Bush's farewell, and how to finally say sayonara to President Bush (and let us not forget Vice President Cheney, who leaves office, apparently, quite happy and content with the state of things in the U.S. and the world). At this point there is nothing in me that I really want to say. Various media outlets have said, and continue to say plenty.

But just the other day as I was preparing the syllabus for my Latin@ Voices class, I reread Sandra Cisneros's Las Girlfriends. My students like that poem, and for good reason. But it struck me: Cisneros has the perfect line to use for Bush's (if not Cheney's, after all he is from Wyoming) farewell. With a bit of license and imagination this is a great stanza for what I think this moment means to so many (emphasis mine):

Last week in this same bar,
kicked a cowboy in the butt
who made a grab for Terry's ass.
How do I explain, it was all
of Texas I was kicking,
and all our asses on the line.

Yes Siree Bob. Y'all have a good time now.

Homosexuals in the Military, all for Gay Sex!

Oh, this is not news but it is so frustrating that I had to come out of my self-imposed semi-exile to post about it. Chris Kelly, columnist and retired supervisory DEA agent, wrote a column titled:

Why Do Homosexuals Want to Serve in the Military? For Sex, Of Course (click on it for the original)

Do read it if you get a chance, and if you don't laugh out loud, either because of the sheer ridiculousness, the chutzpah, the poor reasoning, the reviving of such a trite rationale, or just to avoid crying, I will raise a toast to you (with Tea, or maybe an Italian Soda). Here are a few tidbits from that column: First bit:

’ll tell you why having openly homosexual military members in the military is an awful idea. Go to West Hollywood or San Francisco the last weekend in June during “Gay Pride” festivities and take a good look at what these people are doing. Then ask yourself if any of them should have anything to do with national security, and if they should serve with, or be in charge of you, your son or your daughter if they were in the military."

A classic judging of a whole group of people by looking at a few, and a few that might not be representative at that. Moreover, generalizing from an unrepresentative sample, at a festival type event that does not qualify as context for such a sweeping claim as he makes. Imagine us judging heterosexuals unfit for military service by their conduct in say... Mardi Gras. Uh? Yep. Besides, what does all that have to do with being able to point your weapon and shoot whomever your superiors tell you to shoot?

Quote of the Day

From The Cobra King of Kathmandu, in the Children of the Lamp series by P. B. Kerr: "Never make a wishbone where your backbone ought to be." Cool eh? Be well.

Thought for the Day

A quick thought for the day, from a line in a song, "Anyone Else But You," originally performed by The Moldy Peaches, and recently adapted for the Juno soundtrack (where it is performed by Michael Cera and Ellen Page):

"I kiss you on the brain in the shadow of a train."

If that doesn't make you stop and think a bit... go listen to the tune, it is a cute song, and I'm not a big fan of The Moldy Peaches anyway.

About Pages

The about pages, linked from the About section in the Navigation bar above, were not working properly so I have rerouted the links to regular post entries. I'll fix them soon. Oh, and if you have a chance, visit my other blog Exposure Latitude(s), and let me know what you think:   

It picks up on another passionate pursuit of mine, photography. Haven't had much time to update my Zenfolio gallery (still), and am still pondering setting up a separate server for my art photography endeavors, but for now the Zenfolio account will have to do. The semester starts in approximately twenty days and I have to get ready!

Re-Post: Walking the Holy Land, Thoreau & Sauntering

As I sit here and contemplate my ongoing O-Soji (mental and otherwise), I thought I'd repost an entry from three years ago, one that I find always speaks deeply to me. As I was engaged in my end of year clearing of the decks (O-Soji), this piece popped into my head. Not because it is so wonderful, but because such clearing and cleaning brought to mind the elegant simplicity that Thoreau recommended. A life full of grace (not in a religious sense), marvel, wonder, and peace. I find the end of the year a good moment for deep reflection, and on how I can nurture such things more in my life and in the life of those around me. Here it is. I hope you enjoy it:

Walking the Holy Land: Thoreau and Sauntering

While at the Colors of Compassion retreat in Deer Park last year, I heard Thay (Thich Nhat Hanh) deliver a dharma talk in which he spoke about homelessness. Thay noted that even though he was exiled from his country of origin, he had a home, and that it wasn’t until he found himself without a country that he found his true home. His words were inspiring for me and others who have bounced around from place to place, or for whom our experiences as members of various marginalized groups have taken the quality of, as Huston A. Baker has noted, an “always uprooted homelessness of now.” Perhaps because of that mobility, that sense of un-anchoredness that the idea homelessness provides, Thay’s words had a powerful resonance for me. Before graduating from high school I had already managed to attend nine different schools, and lived in about as many communities.