Poets (and stories) for Peace

Anyone Interested in Physics

2009-08-29T00:02:00.002-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi6yPJvCFU0&NR=1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN9RyIa6jQE&feature=related

Wind On Willow

2009-08-28T23:07:00.000-06:00

or bambooor ear on fluteor nose on cherry blossomsWindow as in openingWillow as is in dancingin the wind by lakeWindow on bambooin rainDrops tumbling down windowlike cut crystalglazed by the sunmirroring greensear as in listeningflute as is in songof the reed from bambooNose as in tasteing the smellso absorbedand falling gracefullylike pink snow petalsWindow on willowLonging for fields of

Health Care and Other Toys

2009-08-18T10:03:00.001-06:00

Does anyone want to hear the stuff that they might be in agreement with? It seems not to me. What ever the plan is are people going to be able to afford health care who can not now or are the premiums just going to go up higher to cover no pre-existing conditions and less distinctions upon what we can or can not have as care.If we never got involved with the Middle East calamities, would there

My Grandmother

2009-08-17T20:20:00.001-06:00

Those who can not forgivestare at the candlestanding tall—well lit.Unhuman reflectionsof the fallen oneencase their heart.They can not care.My memory travelsto an old woman's handscarved as the barkon the branches of a tree,to her face that is like an oceanwith many pathways.Steamliners have coursedthese waters,some over and over,some ravaged by pirates,some were pirates.(Unnavigated before—fates

Leaving Behind Armageddon

2009-08-17T20:13:00.000-06:00

I do not want to plot my thoughts against another generations demise,hoard gold, buy stocks in silver mines.If I view it all like a body,where are the blood linesand what is the oxygen?Can you see it from that vieweach of us pumping our thoughtsinto to this giant organismand deciding what we willmake happen?Can you see itswelling and contractinglike a heartlike a heartbeatkicking out new

Saturday As The Library Closes

2009-08-15T16:41:00.006-06:00

I want to know: How you smell uncologned with sweat on your body when the time table of life dims to where the space is between the words

Stop this bill to outlaw organic farming!

2009-04-03T11:40:00.000-06:00

This bill silently being pushed will be voted on in one and a half weeks!!!! Stop it or you are not going to be able to get organic food anymore or grow it!!!http://thetruthwarblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/bill-to-outlaw-organic-farming-next.html?showComment=1238779380000#c9086312562551104423

Please forgive my typos

2009-04-03T09:31:00.003-06:00

Yes, I know there are typos in my posts. I try hard these days to get posts in here. Often, while typing I don't see the errors, and then read the post later with minutes to go left to get to the next things I need to do before I get to work. So, as I have told people in the writing groups I am involved with. Please forgive my errors for now and forever. Most of them I know are there, and I

NSF fees and others

2009-04-03T07:51:00.003-06:00

I have to say this. Perhaps, my last posts sound irritated or not peaceful. The thing of it is that, there is a difference between peaceful and just plain dumb. I am reminded of a book that I read as a child, 'Catcher In The Rye'. The kid had no real sense of boundaries and just went from one thing to another till, if I remember right, he ends up in a mental institute for a stint.It also gets

The Conversation These Days

2009-04-03T06:36:00.004-06:00

It seems that someone has actually hit the mark and wrote a book about, in the midst of hearing the wonderful line "you are a valued customer", how devalued customers have become and the rage that is growing from what I hear. The customer comes first is now pretty much a myth or urban legend in the eyes of many, but there was a day, not so long ago, when it was key to business.A few posts back,

Americans Traveling

2009-04-03T06:30:00.001-06:00

Why Americans Should Never Be Allowed To Travel The following are actual stories provided by travel agents: I had someone ask for an aisle seats so that his or her hair wouldn't get messed up by being near the window. A client called in inquiring about a package to Hawaii. After going over all the cost info,

The Pentagon and Dead Horses

2009-04-03T06:25:00.001-06:00

This came from a really funny site that has authorless entries. If anyone knows the authors, please speak up!Pentagon Solutions Dakota Tribal wisdom says that when you discover you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount. A recently declassified Pentagon document indicates that people in the Pentagon try other

Finding Agreement

2009-03-08T08:42:00.003-06:00

Someone made a comment as to my using 'We' on the list of questions a few posts back. I used the word we in reference to we, as the human race! This is a semantic disagreement. It was 'We' not leaving myself out. If I say, "How long is the human race going to", it is a bit cold, depersonalized and it is sounds like I am leaving myself out. I then could be accused of thinking myself superior

Have you heard of Magic Jack

2009-03-08T02:05:00.005-06:00

This is just a sample of the craziness that is out there today with companies outsourcing their customer service. This would be funny, if it were not so sad!!! It is my experience with considering to buy a Magic Jack from a company (which tries to hide their name, address and telephone numbers) that, tells their 24 chat reps not to give out any information about how to get to the company by

So My Thoughts and Questions Are These

2009-02-25T23:17:00.004-06:00

How long are we willing to keep looking at the differences between each other for the sake of disagreement, power and being right, whether it is easy to admit that we are doing that or not?How long are we willing to pretend that things around us are not happening, when they are, because we don't want to admit our fears, vulnerability and recognize that we are not sure what to do about things, so

Quotes By One of My Favorite People!

2009-02-22T22:22:00.001-06:00

[Note: This list of Einstein quotes was being forwarded around the Internet in e-mail, so I decided to put it on my web page. I'm afraid I can't vouch for its authenticity, tell you where it came from, who compiled the list, who Kevin Harris is, or anything like that. Still, the quotes are interesting and enlightening.]Collected Quotes from Albert Einstein * "Any intelligent fool can make

reading test

2009-02-21T19:13:00.001-06:00

(click on title and go to link.....you may have seen this before, but it says a lot about the human mind)

Up From Forgery

2009-02-21T18:43:00.005-06:00

Convicted forger A. Schiller was serving his time in SingSing prison in the late 1800s when guards found him dead inhis cell. On his body they found seven regular straight pinswhose heads measured the typical 47/1000ths of an inch or1.17 millimeters in diameter. Under 500 magnification it wasfound that the tiny etchings seen on the heads of the pinswere the words to The Lord's Prayer, which is 65

Harbin,China Snow and Ice Festival

2009-02-21T07:51:00.002-06:00

http://www.rtoddking.com/chinawin2003_hb_if.htmThe yearly snow and ice festivals of Harbin, China are spectacular and this site has some of the best shots and also photos from around the world. This guy does a marvelous job and goes every year. People come from Canada to Thailand to create sculptures there that are massive and cut from huge blocks of ice. Looking at this project constructed by

About This Valentine's Day

2009-02-19T23:07:00.002-06:00

Do you remember the song the age of Aquarius.....and the prediction was about when the moon is in the 7th house and Jupiter aligns with Mars. Well folks, that was this Valentine's Day, and here is my poem. BTW the question I pose, as promised a few posts back is forthcoming. If Tomorrow Never Comes If I knew it would be the last time that I'd see you fall asleep, I would tuck you in more tightly and pray the Lord, your soul to keep. If I knew it would be the last time that I see you walk out the door, I would give you a hug and kiss and call you back for more. If I knew it would be the last time I'd

Helpful Hints

2007-01-22T00:13:00.000-06:00

52 Proven Stress Reducers National Headache Foundation5252 N. Western Avenue ? Chicago, Illinois 60625(312) 878-7715 ? In Illinois 1-800-523-8858 ? Outside Illinois 1-800-843-2256 Get up fifteen minutes earlier in the morning. The inevitable morning mishaps will be less stressful. Prepare for the morning the evening before. Set the breakfast table, make lunches, put out the

Body Snatchings and Such

2007-01-21T18:29:00.000-06:00

The other day I came home from a long day and turned on the you know what. You know the two letter word. I started watching this old Donald Sutherland movie with Leonard Nimoy--the master of logic--and Jeff something or other and got pulled in by the languaging. What I noticed right away is that no one talks that way anymore. The impact of it hit me, before I had any recognition of what they

ARE WE FROG SOUP

2007-01-17T11:01:00.000-06:00

Frogs were not my favorite critters, because I could always remember the Frog on the Buster Brown show--before your time you say! Well, Buster Browns were children's shoes, and they had their own TV show with a Frog that used to go in this deep gruff voice, " Hiya Hiya Hiya kids." He kind of scared me.Later in life, while living up in the country--not all of New York is Manhattan Island, though

Deja Vu

2007-01-17T10:35:00.000-06:00

Yesterday after work a few of us stopped in the cheapo movies to see Denzel Washington in Deja Vu. I really enjoyed the movie, because it had some unexpected twists and turns to it, although there were a few scenes when the acting was not quite believable. If you have not seen it, I suggest you stop reading now and come back to this after you have.Denzel plays a government agent who is

Fuse

2007-01-17T10:29:00.000-06:00

Fuse By Roseroberta Pauling As in something that controls the current, As in a substance connecting two things together like God and man. Fuse as in integration and fuse as in blowing one’s fuse, as in a stick of dynamite-- Busy at work with the former to stop the latter. Morning As in the beginning of a new day. Mourning As in the loss or ending of

First Snow

2007-01-16T12:40:00.000-06:00

(image came from svenfoo.geekheim.de/)Tricking us into thinking we just might possibly go a whole winter without her face, the snow leisurely drifted in, as I was driving forty blocks down Lyndale to a nature reserve for a friend's fiftieth birthday party. It was such a long wait and temperatures had been so near early spring that, I could hardly believe my eyes and kept thinking to myself that

Reconstruction

2007-01-16T11:30:00.000-06:00

* This came out of an exercise in which we gave each other a topic and a first sentence, at the writer's group that I have in St. Paul. Anyone who wants to know more about it can contact me at the email address in my profile on this blog.The houses I like best are decrepit with holes that need filling, drips that keep dripping and wind gusts like whispers from ghosts still astir in the walls.

Where is winter?

2007-01-10T12:35:00.000-06:00

Each day I look out the window expecting to see the world blanketed in whiteness and regret that I have not brought the deicer and snow scraper upstairs, while I grab the myriad of things I need to bring into my home. And yet, the quintessential winter blizzard is still not here.One fears global warming, but I can remember one winter, as a child on the east coast, when the snow came pouring down

Ancient Sufi Prayer For The New Year

2006-12-31T16:31:00.000-06:00

Ancient Sufi PrayerI offer you peace. I offer you joy. I offer you friendship. I hear your needs. I see your beauty. Our wisdom comes from a Higher Source. Our wisdom comes from a deeper source. I honor that Source in you.

The Trolley Car Problem and Related Moral Problems

2006-12-24T23:47:00.000-06:00

The following are some things to think about over the holidays. I find it interesting that on the news today there were the new style hippies. They have given up on all material things, are avid tattoo flaunters, go to concerts, skate board, don't want to work, don't go to churche (but think that through out the day, as they do, is equarl to church. The only difference is that this young

Its A Wonderful Life

2006-12-23T15:13:00.001-06:00

'Its A Wonderful Life' is one of the most loved Holiday Stories. No matter what your spiritual persuasions are, the story has everlasting timeliness. It is the story of a dark night of the soul of the hero, who thinks his life has no value. Below is a link to a comic 30 second version that was sent to me that is really cute, but it made me pull out my old copy of the movie to show at my season

Timely Dinosaur Bones and Ice

2006-12-21T22:35:00.000-06:00

These snow dinosaurs were made in Japan at the Snow Festival that happens every year. It is definitely one of the sites in Japan I regret not seeing. Since it is the first day of snow here in Minnesota and they just found the hugest dinosaur bones ever in Spain, I thought it was a good photo to put up.

And Suddenly Snow

2006-12-21T14:18:00.000-06:00

(To the left is a frost photo by Lida--see more below)(This graphic to the left is public domain, and I thought appropriate to winter's long awaited face this year.)I was looking learily out the window at the falling rain which promised a frozen sheet of glass to come. Nudged to go to the window seats and have a look, I found that frozen puddles already lined the sidewalk and the trees were

We Are All Santa Claus

2006-12-21T13:35:00.000-06:00

Santa Is Alive & Well - And We Are On His Team I remember my first Christmas party with Grandma. I was just a kid. I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," she jeered. "Even dummies know that!" My grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight

A Christmas Experience of My Own

2006-12-21T12:46:00.000-06:00

Christmas 1968 by Rose-Roberta Pauling It was the holiday season 1968. Over thirty years ago, but it seems like a hop, skip and a jump away or maybe a huge leap into a space, so long gone that no one really remembers what we were all about then, unless one lived it. I was going to the New School for Social Research—registered in a Human Awareness

Kwanzaa and the Holidays

2006-12-19T09:13:00.000-06:00

I took the below description of Kwanzaa from this site: http://www.tike.com/celeb-kw.htm I hope they don't mind, but I could not find a way to contact them. I was thinking about diversity and the different holidays that are represented during this season. I was interested in seeing what Kawanza was. It is really a impressive holiday with each day having a different value, which has real

Lone Welf's Cry

2006-12-18T09:26:00.000-06:00

Did you know that wolves mate for life? (public domain Photo) The Lone Wolf’s Cry by Rose-Roberta Pauling Was it a narcissistic enterprise that was my endeavor to find the you in me? I look at you now— your face strained from too much others Softened And, I know I know that feeling you have half closed inside of you longing yet, standing in its

Who is Og Mandino?

2006-12-18T00:53:00.000-06:00

I found the below quotes online and went to see who this person is. It seems he was an interesting fellow who followed the principles of having a positive mental attitude. His site is selling a lot of stuff in his name, but there is some interesting information there. He was very influenced by W. Clement Stone's book Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude, which from what I have come up

Timely Poem

2006-12-17T14:52:00.000-06:00

Einstein and Rabindranath TagorePoem by Tagore (Tagore was born in 1861 in Calcutta)Where the mind is without fear ... Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high, Where knowledge is free, Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls, Where words

New Eyes

2006-12-17T14:18:00.000-06:00

I am happy to have found Jasmin Cori's poems on the Internet. She reminds me so much of the Poetry of Rumi.New EyesRunning through the villageembracing everyone she meets,she laughs in ecstasy.People call her mad."New eyes!" she cries."I have been given new eyes!"And it is true.For the scales which had previously blinded herare gone now, erasedrevealing such utter glorythat her mind took flight,

Gifts For The Holiday Season

2006-12-16T00:03:00.002-06:00

Someone from my writer's group sent me this link, which really made me smile. http://www.thecompassgroup.biz/merryxmas.swfI hope you enjoy it too, even if Christmas is not your holiday of choice. If you are looking for a place to find beautiful ecards free no less, go here:www.dailyzen.comThe prints came off of their site, and I hope that you also like the story in the one below!

More Monkeys and Synchronicity

2006-12-15T10:02:00.000-06:00

Well, it has been more than busy the last few days, but amidst a car that broke down, extra things for the end of season at my job, etc., I sat down for breakfast with a friend at a coffee shop that has a garden out back and a book library to boot. One side of the coffee shop is all full length windows, so, even sitting on bookside, we could look out at the garden which was now decorated with

100th MONKEY THOUGHTS CONTINUED

2006-12-02T08:10:00.000-06:00

I have never figured out whether the 100th monkey story was really true or if it is just an urban legend. But, if you look at everything from hula hoops to ipods, there has to be some meat and potatos to the story.Right now, what are our brains getting filled with when we see the movies that we do and when we watch the things on TV that we do. I wonder how many Americans, myself included, would

The 100th Monkey (not the thousandth)

2006-12-02T00:38:00.000-06:00

*seems I was remembering it as the 1,000th monkeyA story about social change.by Ken Keyes, Jr.The Japanese monkey, Macaca fuscata, had been observed in the wild for a period of over 30years. In 1952, on the island of Koshima, scientists were providing monkeys with sweet potatoesdropped in the sand. The monkey liked the taste of the raw sweet potatoes, but they found the dirtunpleasant. An 18-

The Real Deal

2006-12-01T23:03:00.000-06:00

There were several things that happened today and the last few days that led to a culmination of what I wanted to write about. I thought about why we don't talk to each other more about our fears, sorrows and joys. Why we hide so much of each other and what we put on others when they try? It sometimes becomes like a sparring match to see who's left standing. I thought about how different this

AIRLINES & LOVE

2006-11-30T12:56:00.000-06:00

Here are two things that people sent me today. I thought that I would put them up since, I have had so much to do the last few days. The first one below is humorous, but, unfortunately, I have a friend who has a close relative working for the airlines, and told me the following. There are not always enough mechanics at all of the airlines, especially smaller ones. There is not so much concern

Grey Skies and Rain

2006-11-28T14:21:00.000-06:00

I am in the middle of writing something. I thought that on this rainy day it would be a good time to post the fall pictures by Lida that I found (see below).

Harvest Moon

2006-11-27T00:39:00.000-06:00

by Roseroberta PaulingHarvest Moon Japan. A time for moon gazing ceremonies in the teahouses of Kyoto. Golden and full, as I drive home last night, the moon is calling out to me. Did you know that in Japan they say there is a rabbit in the moon? I could not see it last night? I looked, trying to make sure I did not go off the road, while the man in the moon gloated and towered over the city.I

Silence

2006-11-26T22:23:00.000-06:00

Today, I have been thinking about silence in relationship to peace. There is a tendency to think that silence, since it reminds us of the quiet of nature, is always a good thing, but is it? I tend to think of silence that way myself--the quiet space inside oneself. It is very much a part of the next thing that I wish to post to this website.But, silence has its limitations. There is also the

The Strongest Warrior

2006-11-25T21:07:00.000-06:00

THE STRONGEST WARRIORBy Rose-Roberta Pauling Realize you're going to find the entrance into the most wonderful house you've ever been in. Not yet, but at the end of your day, you're going to go into the bedroom of this house and stretch out in bed and you're going toremember this bedtime story. It's the kind of bedtime story that clears the way for us to new adventure--just like a children's

Thousand Petaled Synchronicities

2006-11-25T20:39:00.000-06:00

*I am still having uplloading dilemma. Changes in formatting are aplenty, so these stanza are not set exactly as they were written.A Thousand Petaled SyncronicitiesBy Rose-Roberta Pauling6/7/05 This year's rain seems to last forever. It is thundering outside.InsideThere is a well that is full and brimming asking to be spent,but with ease.Silence circles round in wider and wider spiralslike an

Yah Know

2006-11-25T16:39:00.000-06:00

Leaving the house to go for coffee with a friend, there was frost everywhere--on my car windows, the grass now yellow--and it seemed to leave a coating on me also, as I entered my car with not enough clothing on me. I drove to the coffee shop in the Pavillion overlooking the lake. On the way there, I passed the golf course. The small ponds were glazed over like broken sheets of glass floating on

First Day

2006-11-24T21:54:00.000-06:00

It is Thanksgiving Weekend. I have had so little family in this life. I have had to make the world and the people that I meet in it my family. This world full of boundaries, daily events, busy people and distractions, often does not show its true face. This is a place for people to show the true face of their struggles and victories to create peace in their hearts and their world. There is