Oh Beauregard … or was it Belvedere either way come hither folks …

I should learn to keep my damn fool mouth shut but I haven’t got the good sense god gave a squirrel. Well that is not entirely true but we won’t quibble over my sense or lack of it for the moment. I live in the South but not the Deep South. However, I would be remiss if I did not add that I am in fact not a southern. If I were to make such a claim there would be hell to pay. To whom I would have to pay said hell or receive it from, which is more likely the case is not known to me. I have inquired. I am, in point of fact, a Yankee, and more specifically a Damn Yankee. The difference is that Yankees are people from the North who some times come to the South and Damn Yankees are Northerners who move to the South and take up residence. Many southern folk would further make the comparison that Damn Yankees are a kin to a tick burrowed into the skin of some beloved animal’s hind quarters, but only some… others would find it unrefined and boorish to speak in such a manner. There is a lot of stir about the South these days mainly about the Confederacy’s Rebel Battle Flag, referred to incorrectly but most commonly as the Flag of the Confederacy, which it is not, but common reference and popular culture have made the, “Stars and Bars” as the most recognizable symbol of the South in the US Civil War. Which, shall be for purposes of this opinion will be referred to hence as the Rebel Flag for simplicity sake. Pardon if I offend with the use of this but typing out anything longer each time it is mentioned just tries my patience. Regrettably, no nation is without times it would rather not speak of and for the United States our Civil War is but one of those eras. For many in the US and for the rest of the world the Rebel Flag is a historical marker of bloodshed, human atrocities, hatred, bigotry, intimidation of a whole people and a far less civilized time in our history as a nation. Sadly, all the inhumanity, hate, and death are a part of our history and can not be changed. For many reasons beyond the historical placement others look on the Rebel Flag and see pride in being from a part of the US that is a little different than the rest of the nation. Now the many in the rest of the US and world and even some in the South associate being from the South with many negative themes, ideals and stereotypes; such as hate, bigotry, racism, stupidity, etc. Many imply them in a manner as if to suggest that this is the last place these retched things happen. As if the last bastion of hate and racism is in the South and if we can finally reign in the South all of the problems of hate, intimidation, and racism will go away. It won’t. Racism, hate, and intimidation are alive and well in every corner of the world. Not everyone is outspoken about their dislike or hated of others but it still exist and it exist outside of the South. So stop pretending that it doesn’t. There are those in the South who believe that the Rebel Flag is an icon of a simpler way of living, enjoying life and taking in the beauty of the world at a much slower pace than other places. The South, to some is a place of warm weather and warmer hospitality; A summer evening on the front porch sipping lemonade or a fine bourbon. The South is a place of open spaces and fresh air and fields miles wide ripe with harvest. The South has been and is a place of culture and learning, despite the reputation of being backward and dullards. Mark Twain, William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams and many other southern writers have influenced our language and culture. Many fine Colleges and Universities began in the antebellum years and others still founded during the reconstruction to foster education and progress for not just the South but the Nation and the world beyond our own political borders. The South is also a place of strong traditions of family and church. There is ugly in the world no matter where you look and if you look for it you will find it. Without much effort either I suspect. I say, all of this, not to defend the Rebel flag, only to say that is does mean more to some than just a reminder of a terrible time of horrific and heinous crimes and the unspeakable treatment of other human beings. To condemn the South as the only place where racism and bigotry show there face is to be foolhardy and ignorant. It lives in every corner of our country and the world. And it lives without banners and it lives without flags. As to the Rebel Flag and those in the South who see it as more I can truly understand what you are saying. However the modern connection to the Rebel Flag to the traditions of the south is not because the Rebel Flag was made to be a marker for all things Southern it is because politicians, marketing agents and entertainers that have wrapped up anything the want to sell in the South in the Rebel Flag. It has been used by people with no real regard for the meaning of the Rebel Flag other than it will votes, support and or generate money for their pockets because they believe people in the South will identify with the Rebel Flag regardless if what they are selling is good or not. For the most part the South has been sold this bill of tainted goods and come to see the Rebel Flag as an emblem of Southern Pride. You’ve been tricked into this idea to be a true Southerner means you have to embrace the Rebel Flag. The Rebel Flag means no more to Southern Culture than a June bug and the South needs to recognize that while the Rebel Flag has been popularized by everything from political candidates, special interest groups, the History Channel, the Dukes of Hazard, musical groups in every genre from County to Rock, clothing, towels and any other thing that can be sold. All in the name of trying to make a quick connection to the population in the South to benefit them and or to increase the bottom line on a financial spread sheet. The real bottom line is that the Rebel Flag is still a symbol of hate. The South used to have a name for these type of tactics of dishonesty … I believe it was carpet bagger. I do believe that no government building and no public place should fly the Rebel flag. It is a banner of open war against the United States, it is a symbol of hate, intimidation and oppression to many, and it is a symbol of the disenfranchisement of whole groups of people. To raise the Rebel Flag on a government building or in a public place it to tell whole groups of people they do not matter in the eyes of the law, the government and to the citizens who embrace the Rebel Flag. For all the positive things the Rebel Flag might mean to some; intended or not the Rebel Flag is a symbol of oppression and intimidation, it is a symbol of racism, and it is a symbol of bigotry and intolerance. It is a symbol the South should let fade away into history because its meaning is so negative to so many others. The South is a place to take pride in being from and supporting. Let the brighter parts of southern history rise to have time in the sun and let go of those things which hold you down in the eyes of the rest of the world. What do we do when the hate groups replace the Rebel Flag and adopt the cross as their emblem, abolish Christianity? Oh wait they did that already and we have learned to ignore that as an abuse of the symbol. So if someone wants a Rebel Flag on their shirt or truck or belt or bikini that’s on them and if you do decide to wear or use the Rebel Flag don’t be surprised when people think you might just be a racist. Abolishing the flag outright isn’t going to solve the problem either because hate exists with or without a banner or flag but it should not be displayed with the consent of any government in any public place. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Send me post cards … I love post cards. Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015

Book Review: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

I just finished reading a book by Jesse Andrews, “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” The book is about Greg not Earl and not really about the Dying Girl, although they are both featured heavily in the book. There is a film for this book too, which is out now in the world and I have not seen said film at this time but I plan too. The Girl has Leukemia Greg and Earl do not Now you may be thinking isn’t this John Green’s “A Fault in Our Stars” No but also yes. Certainly with a lot less crying; I wept reading “AFIOS” Not so much with the “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” Not so much because there isn’t touching stuff in Mr. Andrews book because there is and you might actually cry at parts in the book I didn’t but I’m a soulless monster but that is another story. The story is a coming of age dealing with all the things that life throws at you; stuff you like, stuff you hate and stuff you would rather not happen at all but does anyway. I like “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” as much as like “A Fault in Our Stars”. The only reason I’m comparing the two books is they both have a dying girl and they are coming of age stories and they are both movies and there are a lot of comparisons you can make except one. In “Fault” it was harder for me to see myself as Hazel Grace than it is for me to see myself as Greg Gaines. Greg is the Me in the Story. That could be because Greg is a guy and Hazel is not a guy but it is more than that. The stories are told in very different styles. While “Fault” is a story unfolding as it happens and you find out stuff as it happens in the lives of the characters. “Dying Girl” is a story retold after it has already happened. It is an exploration of how we live when life isn’t what we want it too be and how we handle those times. Sometimes we do well and some times we fail. Both stories are good but it was easier for me to relate to the emotions in “Me and Greg and the Dying Girl” than it was for me to with “Fault”. I won’t spoil the book for you and if you want to see the film it is out now and I think you can even rent it on Youtube and perhaps other places. If you are on the fence about it look for the movie trailer. You might want to see it or you may just say nah, not for me. The book is really good, the style apart from being an after the fact story is also uses bullet points, script style dialogue, and some other styles in telling this story about a person dealing with something they would rather not be dealing with. Andrews turns the story in and much as he does out to the world around Greg in an honest telling of things we all feel but rarely give light because they are not how you are supposed to feel. This is a book worth reading, can’t say if the movie is worth watching but it is probably better then the Gaines/Jackson production, “Earl the Wrath of God II”. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Send me post cards … I love post cards. Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015

Imagine something brilliant

I like to read, I read rather a lot or at least I think I do. More than some and not nearly as much as others, but I read. It is something that I admire about people and we don’t even need to read the same things. One of the best pieces of advice I’ve heard is, “never trust anyone who does not own books.” A favorite poem is “a girl who reads” by Mark Grist … there is a spoken word film of it on youtube if you are so inclined to view, but it sums up how I feel about reading…stories, poems, novels, articles, all of it, any of it, I like to read. I read every day; I write everyday … just not the things I want to read and write as you may have noticed if you are a follower of my ramblings … which have been woefully absent as of late but not because of the absinthe. There are more than several reasons for the non writing one of them is that I choose not to subtract from the mind-numbing time suck things I do and put word to page as it were. I have continued to find the time to read and re read things Being that I am such the fan of the printed word list of books you should read always catches my eye as something I should explore. List which are titled things like, “The Best 100 Books Ever Written” or “50 Books YOU should have READ by 25.” Then every single time without fail once I dive into the list of books I have barely read even a quarter of the books on the list. Which results in my demons chiming in with their chorus of hateful things, Trust me if you heard my internal dialogue you would wonder why I even look in a mirror ever. I try to avoid it, unless absolutely necessary. Not the point. I read, a good bit. Books without pictures even, but you wouldn’t know it by the ticks on the lists I go through. Sure I’ve read my fair share of lesser read novels, Iceberg Slim’s biographical novels, some Anton Lavey and even a few things in the Anarchists Cookbook just to see what was all the fuss. But I’ve also read a lot of the classics like the Iliad and the Odyssey, a lot of Shakespeare, Dickens, et al the English Lit requirements and American Lit classics as well. There should be more ticks on these lists. The more I look at these lists the more I see they are just a whomever’s list of favorites or a completely arbitrary collection of books which may be popular for now. I mean while the, “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” may be a fantastic read, I don’t know that it should be required reading for everyone. Sorry if you love it. The important thing is that you open a book, read a story and enjoy the journey doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks about the book. Make your own list of favorites. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015 Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards

It all depends on where you are standing

A story largely depends on where you are standing if it is a comedy or a horror story. Once upon a time my brother, the other one, and I were ski instructors. It isn’t really all the fun the movies make it out to be. We are required to tell anyone it is not fun because if we didn’t, the world would be full of ski instructors, and then nothing would get done. However, whether being a ski instructor is the best job in the world it not the story. One of the many things that ski instructors do is hang out together, laugh, and tell stories, generally in bars. Once ski instructors start having kids they start bringing them to hang out too. Well on one particular afternoon, the other one and I were hanging out with a lot of other instructors and one them brought their child with them. This child was like most little kids and saw hanging out with grown-ups as dull as a bowling ball, or as much fun as poison ivy. Kids get bored when they have nothing to do. When kids get bored they begin to be pain in the butt. It isn’t really their fault though but fact is fact and this kid was nearing the, “I’m about to be a pain in the ass threshold” for this outing. Well as luck would have it at the time, while the other one and I were adults as far as the law was concerned we weren’t really grown-ups. So we came up with a way to keep this kid occupied. Which to his delight was tossing him across the bar as in a game of hot potato or egg toss. The other one and I were standing maybe four feet apart at first the kid was in mid-air all of a second, if that long. Unfortunately that was boring to us after a few tosses. So we, the other one and I, decide to take a step back after every few tosses. Further and further away from one another. Tossing this kid between us like he is training for the circus or something. The distance between us kept getting larger and was now maybe somewhere close to ten feet, the kid is airborne still only for like two seconds. He is happier than he probably had been ever at that point in his three year old life. Each trip across the span the kid’s arms were spinning in the air, a smile on his face that couldn’t be pried off, and a contagious laugh erupted that had a dozen or so other so called grown-ups including the kid’s dad entertained. So entertained that we did not see the kid’s mother come into the room. Now as a mother, the last thing you expect to see when you walk into a room is your three year old being thrown in the air between two ski instructors and a crowd of adults laughing as loud as the kid at the scene. The kid was midway between the other one and me when his mother walked in. She walked in behind me so I never saw her face, but I saw the other ones face, and I knew it wasn’t good. To say she freaked out would be an understatement. To the kid’s credit he tried to defend me, he tried to defend the other one and he even tried to defend his dad. He even begged his mom to go again. Of course mom was having none of that, and the kid makes it worse by saying something a kin to mom not being any fun. Which prompted a lot of suppressed laughter from the “grown-ups” in the room and a lot more trouble for the dad. I’m willing to bet that was the most fun that kid had for at least another year or so. Just as I’m equally sure the mom’s version of this story is not a comedy but a horror story. It all depends on where you’re standing or flying. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015 Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards

If you live it up, you won't live it down.

The end of another calendar year has spun around. It has always seemed a strange time of year to celebrate the changing of the year. It could happen on any old day of the year on our trip around the sun. If you think about it much, the winter solstice would be a better day as the days begin to get longer and the end of cycle of growing night ends. The celebration happens close enough to the solstice that it doesn’t really matter that it isn’t really on the exact day. How it came to be a night of drinking until your eyeballs fall out is a mystery and it has been a good long time since I’ve rung in the new year with a resounding hangover. Nothing like the thumping of the twelve beats hammering on your noggin all the next day. On weakened knees, you promise to Bacchus that you won’t pay homage as fervently the next time or forsaking the god of wine all together in that moment of defeat. However, the next year, there you are raising a cup to the lord of the grape… Feel free to insert your beverage of choice and appropriate god of your drink. Hopefully the repeat of the cup raising doesn’t repeat in screaming at your footwear and why would you name your shoes Ralph anyway. Fortunately I learned that drinking doesn’t actually kill brain cells. Well it does if you die of alcohol poisoning but otherwise you are safe, because, we all know a person who has drank enough booze to kill the brains of several people. Unfortunately, I’m not sure I’ve learned much more than that during the year and I remain as unevolved as I have been. I did learn one other thing but, I’m not sure how useful the information is at this point or if it is at all. Then my favorite part of the new year calendar flip ritual are the promises to be better people and not the worthless meat sacks we have been the previous year. Mostly thought we end up being the same old people we were when we started the whole ring in the new calendar celebration. Those promises were just noise to fill in space and there was no intention of making good on them anyway. As of late I’ve flipped the calendar in a rather uneventful fashion, which I’m not sure I prefer apart from the obvious lack of a hangover. Living January one, sans the headache has been nice, even if it is a little boring. Boring is probably a bit too harsh a critique but it certainly has a lot more solitude. The solitude has added to my cynicism which may or may not be a good thing. Looking back over the year past, it has been harder to keep looking back and not be tempted to look forward and wonder how many more of these calendar flop overs remain which has more to do with a certain day that happened a while back. The changing of the calendar hasn’t woken in me a resolve to do anything differently but perhaps do to it with a little more purpose than I have and perhaps that information I learned will be useful. Perhaps it won’t be useful. So with a cup of Sir Arthur’s brew, I raise it up, tip it back and swallow the frothy bitter sweet ale and savor the taste and remember that you have to follow your dreams or they will die and kill you in the process. Happy New Year, follow the path you want and ignore those that would stand in your way or make you doubt your heart. Thank you to those who sent me post cards in 2014, you know who you are. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Today’s title: Lyrics from Tom Waits, “Hold On” – Mule Variations Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015 Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards

How did I survive my childhood?

There are so many thoughts rambling around in my head that I don’t even know where to start with trying to unpack them all and get them out of my head. Most of the problems I have in my life are first world problems and really in the whole scheme of things do not matter even a little bit. The world will spin on even if I don’t do a thing. It just takes up too much space in my head and I don’t relax. However, the other day I was watching some kid do something that a kid will do and the helicopter parent was right nearby muttering something or other I couldn’t hear. Most likely it was some warning about not doing this or that or some such noise. The kid kept right on doing whatever it was he was doing over the objections of the parent. I could tell by the annoyed look on the parent’s face. That is the look of ignored authority. However whatever the kid was doing did not seem particularly dangerous. My childhood was a bit different, parental units did not helicopter around us. We didn’t wear helmets or knee pads or other safety equipment. I could say I came out the other side unscarred but that would be a blatant lie. I had my share of cuts sewn shut and scars from less than well thought out plans. We hunted each other in the woods with BB guns, rode bikes down hills with no brakes, my youngest brother rode a big wheel down a quarter of a mile hill on a main road around blind turns and the list could go on and on to the horror of those who were unaware of our hi-jinx. Yet somehow we lived. Every one of my friends stepped on a nail, cut themselves with a knife or some tool, ended up with some pretty deep cut, scrape or other injury and mostly we just kept playing. We just rubbed dirt on it and went on. I remember one time I wrecked my bike trying to impress a girl with a daredevil bike trick. At the high point of the trick I would zoom by the girl’s house at the bottom of the hill. The high point was me standing both feet on the left pedal holding the handle bar with my right hand, leaning the bike out to almost a 45 degree angle, going top speed, which may have only been 15 or 20 mph. It seems faster when you are in middle school. Well that incident ended with me hitting something which caused the front wheel to wobble and me over correcting the handlebar and leaning the bike too far out to the side which caused the bike to slide completely under me launching me forward no longer a passenger on the bike but an airborne thing above it. I landed on the bike and it and me skidded by the girl’s house in a twisted heap of metal, boy, and tires. The girl was not even home, I found out later, and therefore not impressed but several of her neighbors were impressed that I did not die as they saw me flipping down the road and came running from their houses. Fortunately I was able to ride the bike or more to the point it was not damaged to point of not working. It hurt a lot and I was bleeding from a lot of places but at the moment I was more embarrassed by not doing the trick well than being hurt. I wasn’t the only mental midget either, one friend deciding it would be a rather good idea to run across the field were are bull was fenced. The bull did not like his company much and chased him around a bit. Everything we did was legal, …well we will assume it was legal but to be sure most of it… well maybe none of it was not very smart. Like the time I jumped off the roof of my grandmother’s house to impress a girl and ended up with me in a leg cast and the girl not being very impressed. I’m not sure that there is a moral to all of this, maybe don’t do stupid things to impress girls or at least make sure they are home first. Maybe it is that boys are dangerous and shouldn’t be left alone for long periods of time. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015 Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards

I could tell you but I probably won't

Stuff and stuff We all have things. Stuff, even, thing that are ours and no one else’s. Even if our thing, is just like their thing, it is our thing. The stuff we have is ours and it makes us…happy? We all have stuff, stuff we don’t use, and for that matter stuff we do not even need. Hell maybe even stuff we don’t actually want. But we have it none the less and it is our stuff. Some of us have more stuff than we have places to keep stuff. I’m trying to get rid of stuff On one hand it is really easy to get rid of stuff. You find the nearest trash can and you toss that shit in. Go ahead, do it… if you can. Some stuff goes pretty easy other stuff doesn’t want to go. Trigger stuff. Stuff that makes you remember. Remember something that you haven’t thought about in ever so long. Like that kiss under the stars, leaning against the damp stone of the building not caring if anyone saw. The horrible trip, The broken bones, The funny story you and your best friend laugh about with only a single word, because of some ugly little trinket. A child’s first homework, The piece of art which is a tree? No, it’s a shark…what the hell is it? It doesn’t matter what it is now you remember the child that needed you more than anything else… the child who is now an adult. All time gone away. Saved in the bits and bobbles all in boxes, up on shelves, tucked into corners. All the stories, travels, memories of a hundred yesterdays all begin to pile up and accumulate. Then you look at things and struggle to remember, why did you keep the placemat from the Chinese place, which time was it that you went. What is my animal sign? The memories are there but the reason for the touchstone is lost but many times it is not. Cleaning up can be a bigger adventure than you supposed. Perhaps more than you bargained It can seem like each little thing you touch comes with a flood of memories and you find yourself sitting in a room that isn’t really cleaned up any more that it was two hours ago but you are mentally worn out from all the emotions you’ve just experienced. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don http://invisibledon.diaryland.com/images/burningname.gif PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015 Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards