Tuesday, June 17, 2008

You think you got it bad?

Just walked down Jasper ave on my lunch break to get some air and try to warm up from my cold office. Came across a guy. Maybe 21-23 at the most. Kind of grungy looking but not necessarily homeless. Spiky blond hair, jeans and an old black T-shirt. Staggering and definitely drunk but more likely stoned. Grinning, a kind of "wow I am in shock" grin. From a distance I can tell he is talking loud to everyone he passes, so I brace myself for the usual "hey man can you spare some change?" request. I get closer and I can see that I will be the next person he passes as there is no one around me. OK then here it comes, I don'thave any change so that is all I can say.

Kid to me "He man, you know a lot of people think they got it bad hey,but they ain't got it so fuckin' bad. But I just found out I gotfuckin' AIDS, I'm gonna Fuckin' die hey, I'm gonna Fuckin' die. Nowwhat the fuck I am supposed to do. I got it Fuckin' bad"

He didn't stop, he kept walking east while I walked west. I heard himrepeat a similar statement to the next people he came across. He justkept walking, and grinning, that's all he knew to do.

I don't got it so Fuckin' bad.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Tell Me

Tell me…

Tell me. Tell me oh holy dogmatic exalted one, self appointed leader of the uninspired masses.
Tell me of the quid pro quo conditions that lay between the lines of the book that you twist and stretch to suit your self serving sermons.
Tell me all that I can not seem to read for myself in the pages of the doctrine you claim to live to serve above all.
Above man, above self, above is where you look for answers yet from within are the words you spew upon the ignorant and uninformed too scared to question, to afraid to seek the light for themselves.
They buy your packaged carbon copy peace of mind because it is so much easier than the search.
Unwrapping the package of forgiveness and acceptance not seeing that it comes wrapped in the foil of your judgment and disapproval.
Tell me how you got so tall, standing tip toe on your pulpit there is non higher. No other who can look down on us, look down on me now.
Tell me again that I must beg forgiveness for the sin of personal choice, forgiveness for the unforgivable act of stepping out of line.
And tell me who you think you are to condemn my eternity. Blessing above all the ants who march head down to your alter overfilling your plate with their payment an offering to you and to your brick and mortar suburban holy ground.
Tell me why it is that I will beg when the shit comes down from above, Halleluiah to the followers and believers as they leave behind the free thinkers and set out for the most holy kingdom that awaits.

Are you so blinded by faith that you can not see that heaven itself is all around us? Reflected in the paradise that surrounds us here on earth.
No you can not see past your own arrogant judgment. You can not lower you blinders long enough to see that it is us; all of us reflections of the divine. All holy. All pure at heart.
You can’t see there is no devil set on the destruction of man kind. But there is a devil at work without doubt; alive and well in the blame and in the judgment. The devil himself feeds with in the walls you hold so dear. But you’ll never see him past yourself.

So if you are through with explaining why I do not qualify for your exclusive offer of forgiveness acceptance and conditional holy love. I will leave you to wallow in your own self righteous pity.

I will go forth, I will embrace the heavens on earth around me, and I will embrace the divine reflected in my fellow man. And I will embrace the inevitable change that is coming. And it is I that will survive to drink from the water of life. It is I that will inherit the kingdom of god that surrounds us all. It is here that I will find the peace you are selling and it is here that I will wait to accept you.

JDKornel
Copyright 2008

Thursday, April 10, 2008

1.2 Billion Elephants

The video attached is a presentation given by Al Gore to Ted.com in February of this year. It contains current facts and startling information. What is most noticeable is Mr.Gore's deep sense of frustration. This is not a new problem and it is not without solutions, what it lacks is a sense of urgency.

In the closing of the presentation Mr.Gore quotes Buckminster Fuller...

"If the future of all human civilization depended on me, what would I do?"


What would YOU do?
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/243

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Record Store Day

Ok...in follow up to yesterday's blog ... check this out.


http://www.recordstoreday.com/Home

On Saturday, April 19, 2008, hundreds of independently owned music stores
across the country will celebrate “Record Store Day.”

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

“April 3, 2008 - Apple today announced that the iTunes Store surpassed Wal-Mart to become the
number one music retailer in the US, based on the latest data from the NPD Group. With over 50
million customers, iTunes has sold over four billion songs and features
the world’s largest music catalog of over six million songs.”

Not sure what is worse, the fact that itunes is the #1 retailer for music or the fact that the title was taken from Wal-Mart.

I have posted before regarding my fear of digital media and how easy it makes censorship and 1984 type of control. So it is no surprise that this announcement is nothing that I will be celebrating. And before anyone gets on my case…yes I have downloaded a ton of digital music and have even used itunes. And I do love the convenience of my ipod. So I am fully aware of my semi-hypocritical criticism of the digital age.

What it comes down to is awareness and caution. In this new age we need to be aware of how easily ideas can be changed and the meaning lost with the click of a mouse. And unlike paper or vinyl once it is changed that is the new history. While I support and love that fact that the digital age provides opportunities to many artists that previously did not exist. I believe that the preservation of our history and arts depends on maintaining the pressing of records and even CD’s, and the printing of books on paper.

So in closing I encourage everyone to find the balance between the old and new. Use your ipod and download new music. At the same time make the effort to collect support and preserve the truly great works by purchasing CD’s, books, even vinyl albums.

JDK

p.s. Yes I shop at Wal-mart too…but I don’t like it!