GET INFORMED

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Good to make your acquaintance. Hmm, it is difficult to force interesting discussion, but I shall try nonetheless. I was just reading a talk by this fella Hui-neng, founder of Chinese Zen, and feel his ideas about Zen are remarkably accessible and practical. On a side note, I was on a plane to Chicago where I am now, and when I fly I always get the idiotic notion of bringing a parachute as a carry-on. Seems worthwhile. Anyway, Hui-neng really knew his shit. He reduced the loftier concepts of Buddhism to a solid core which can be realized simply and directly, one of the basic motives behind Zen. The argument is superficially analagous to the staying within the cliched 'zone.' To do that we must be intimately familiar with our true 'essence' or mind, for to know oneself is to realize our Buddha-nature. I could go on, but I've probably already alienated most of you, so I will end this post abruptly. I look forward to more entertaining posts. [READ MORE]

"I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain."
-James Baldwin

Now, James Baldwin knew a thing or two about prejudice. Being a black gay man growing up in the 30s and 40s in America would do that to you. But, aside from the fact that he's an incendiary and insightful writer, the man was a close personal friend of Nina Simone, and he is therefore clearly very cool, and definitely isn't the worst guy to share a name with. [READ MORE]

Look. I know the world is fucked up. I myself have lived a charmed life, as have most of you, but few of us are so sheltered as to really believe humans aren't harming humans 24/7.

I mean, you know, on this very website, you had someone propose a "poll" asking Should Obama Be Killed?. Charming. [READ MORE]

So there's a common theme, I've realized, in a lot of my political/ethical/etc views, and that is that I tend to operate from the standpoint of doing what I believe is fair to the most people.

Everyone has a different definition of "fair" - feel free to offer yours below. [READ MORE]

This is hardly about Kanye, but I want to call your attention towards the comments below the video, so, click and read.

Here.
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Funny that I've been impatiently waiting for comments to get going, because this is partially about internet comments.

I posted this article on Facebook before I went to sleep, but take a look if you haven't. [READ MORE]

If you remember, there was a minor kerfuffle back in July over the two "black" robots in "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," who were basically buck-toothed, violent caricatures of those of us with a healthy dose of melanin. Some people cared, some people didn't. It had no negative effect on the movie's ginormous box office, though, and we'll be seeing Transformers 3 and 4 and 5 and 45, I'm sure. [READ MORE]

No, this isn't about Soulja Boy or Diddy, this is about a movement I've grown to love and support: Feminism.

Too often it gets a bad rap, and while you would expect that from people who disagree with all of its tenets, it's unfortunately dismissed far too frequently by those who are kinda on the same side. [READ MORE]

With posting having been resurrected - thanks, always, Sandy - you will now be seeing actual content on this here page.


Soon, of course, you will be notified of such things, by email (if you want to).


Then comments. [READ MORE]