so i might as well share my photos from the glen workshop: http://picasaweb.google.com/the17pointscale/200907SantaFeGlen?authkey=Gv1sRgCNzihKbSheHmeA&feat=directlink.
sean says that if i only post once a week, i'd better make each post darn good, but as i watch these words tumble from my mind to blogger's posting page, the rust is palpable. it's been nearly a month since i updated this site regularly, and i fear that the blogging cortex of my brain has been attacked by some unseemly parasite.
in the context of the 17 point scale, i'm not sure what that means. it's not like i have a history of poetic profundity on this blog, but something is dying. i suddenly find myself at a loss for words. yes, this mysterious parasite has cast an odd spell on me. as it steals away the anecdotes and observations that (to me) define this blog, it leaves me feeling oddly happy. during the week i live a bright and sunny psychosis, glad that i don't have to ponder the days events looking for rare insight or colorful metaphors to anchor my midnight musings. i can be lazy again.
and consequently i go blind. i fill my world with baseball scores and second round NFL draft predictions. i rekindle my addiction to istockphoto.com. and i forget how to process the world for web content.
of course, this tug and pull is the way of life: i blog and thus i sleep less; i travel, and my piano fingers wither; i fall in love, get married, and have two dozen kids, and my closest friends fade into the forgettable periphery. gain and loss, x and y chromosomes that follow each other everywhere they go. it's odd, i just can't escape the nostalgia for that loss. i long for the days when my blog rocked (okay, long is a bit overdoing it there), i long for the days when i was great friends with this person and that person. i even long for what might have been.
okay, my sentences are beginning to seesaw--that's a clue that i'm becoming overly sentimental, so i'll close. here's the prayer of today's blog: Lord, hasten the day when the laws of nature implode and leave us lossless in your arms. amen.
andrew david. "17 points of light pass behind a dark cloud" belize.
ps. perhaps my blog is back to normal, because that is totally not what i intended to blog about!
does anyone reading this blog believe in purgatory? i was searching through my spu archives, looking for a 5 minute post, and i stumbled on something that i wrote for a faith and philosophy class, a paper that investigates the existence of purgatory. anyway, the primary source for the paper is an article by david brown titled "No Heaven Without Purgatory," and, as i recall, it makes a rather convincing argument for purgatorio. so if you happen to be interested in a proof for the refining fires of purgatory, dust of your 21st volume of religious studies and take a look (or check out my fawning 2001 summary of brown's position on the 17 point scale appendix). 
beth broccoli. "driving through a purgatory of bugs" saskatchewan, canada.
over the last year i've posted several mock heroic poems from the collection poems written in brady's UCORE notes at 3AMish ca 2001, but i haven't posted any serious attempts at poetry. i'm a bit surprised at this oversight. although i don't claim to be a poet, i'd hate for the world to remember me for three line lyrics about thumb bites and pizza boxes.
this poem, "going to a funeral", was previously published in the 2002-2003 edition of second essence:
GOING TO A FUNERAL
as they creep up his chest.
like a pair of crippled spiders
hunched over a stiffened moth.
the long fingers fumble about the button.
twisting and turning, they peek
behind thin polyester.
nibbling at a thin disc they reappear
and press it through an invisible slot.
the blue-veined monsters climb.
up and up, they mount each button.
reaching the throat,
they pull his necktie taut,
like a noose.
andrew david. "yet another picture of saskatchewan" saskatchewan, canada.
hey, does anyone have an opinion on the verb "show"?
alright, no more politics. for the next two years years i'll try to make this a politics-free zone. i may stray into the political realm if there's news about my beloved sonics, but otherwise, i'll clamp the lips and silence the keys until the exciting day when obama and mccain announce their presidential bids.
in other news, i was editing a grant recommendation letter today and it read "dr. raffinoogin is a well rounded clinician-scientist." so, like any good editor, i tossed a hyphen between well and rounded, but then i got a little confused. does well rounded mean well-rounded or, as i thought when i made the replacement, does it mean nicely fat? that is, does a hyphen really preclude us from thinking pretty and porky?
a rainbow, a storm, and some bright sunshine
andrew david. "a storm (R) or a rainbow (D), it's all a matter of perspective" saskatchewan, canada.
the election results are in. i-91 won an easy victory. i guess that we sports fans stayed home. i'd say that my least favorite person in washington is currently chris van dyk. his post-victory quotes make me want to pelt him with fish sticks.
what does this mean for sonics fans? well, if we're lucky, some rich investors and wise politicians will lure clay bennet and the sonics to the eastside. and if we're unlucky, the sonics will head south.
and what does this mean for the city of seattle? we can look forward to paying for an empty key arena. if we're particularly unlucky, nick licata will get his improvement project passed and we'll pay millions of dollars to have the sports-free seattle center area renovated. lots and lots of pretty trees and foot friendly promenades. i realllllly hope the sonics go to kirkland, kent, or somewhere on the eastside. it will be painfully delicious when the city gets burned by this. i'll smile darkly when businesses in lower queen anne shut down and kent becomes the new concert scene.
andrew david. "election night" saskatchewan, canada.
this week image update published my sophomore attempt at a book recommendation. it's the one that begins "photographer james walker perry spent six years snapping necks on the mississippi delta preaching circuit...." also, while you're there, check out beth's review of carole graye's poems by denise levertov.
sssssshhhh
andrew david. "a tornado is sleeping in my shirt & an oreo is living in my yurt" blackfeet nation bison reserve, mt.
A Study in All the Other Stuff (e.g. not water & not light)
check out photos from the enchantments 1 and photos from the enchantments 2
i usually try and avoid picturing two days straight of pictures, but i have to find at least one printing candidate beforethese pictures are from my latest annual backpacking trip with steve. you know the drill. i'm lookin' for photography advice. that is, let me know how i could have improved these fotoes AND whether any of them appear print-worthy (an * means that i'm considering them) AND any other thoughts regarding the pictures or my time in the enchantments.
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1. Andrew David 'Land Encroaches on Sky' somewhere in the enchantments -- way too dark.
*2. Andrew David 'Fire Trees' somewhere in the enchantments -- i love these trees, especially in contrast to the dark mtn
3. Andrew David 'Lone Puff I' somewhere in the enchantments -- which of these is best? are any worthy of printing?
4. Andrew David 'Lone Puff II' somewhere in the enchantments -- which of these is best? are any worthy of printing?
5. Andrew David 'Lone Puff III' somewhere in the enchantments -- which of these is best? are any worthy of printing?
6. Andrew David 'Icy Crick' Aasgard Pass --
7. Andrew David 'Guardian of the Enchantments' somewhere in the enchantments -- imagine this after photoshopped and then react.
8. Andrew David 'When You're Thirsty or Bored' Lake Stuart--
9. Andrew David 'Brustled Clearing' Lake Stuartish --
10. Andrew David 'Cotton Lake Stuartish --
hey, instead of using a really clever segue to the second installment of secrets, i am posting this picture. i bet you already dismissed it as yet another picture of a sunset. after all, its simple and a bit lacking in photographic prowess. yet after a moments reflection, i find something striking in the silhouettes, some pictoral essence that demands a defense. but how would i begin such a defense? 'you should like this picture because...' hardly.
once a picture has survived the purifying flames of photoshop, it is in the public domain and my powers of influence are nil. still, i may have one last resort: the title. But where do you stand - could an engaging title impact viewer perceptions? better yet, should an engaging title influence critism or should the art speak for itself? as an english major rather than a photography buff, i'm all for titles. so here are my initial title ideas: 'yet another sunset,' 'yet another sunset in mordor,' 'golgotha,' or 'roman polanski.'
more later; the wind is blowing and i should go to bed...
