100 Words.com post # 4

Have some fun with the Descendents!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBNNEd3_SnA

Why so heavy? Seems like whenever I sit down to write, I end up with something dark and heavy. People have always said that I'm funny, that I'm a good story teller. They have also always said that I "think too much", that I'm too serious, too heavy. I need to try my hand at writing lighter, having fun, sharing something that makes people laugh. Somehow when I write what naturally comes out - usually heavy and dark - I feel like I'm telling the truth, bearing witness, but I'm also creating a reality. What you say matters. Be aware.

Vic Chesnutt - "Everything I Say"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rPyQFmGmb4

Steven Jesse Bernstein

Worth a Listen

The Lion Hunts At Night

Shuttling between jobs tonight through this darkened neighborhood where something more is always going on, I came upon a man standing still and quiet, his head bowed low. A Puerto Rican church woman was standing in front of him in her long skirt and modest braid with one hand raised in the air and the other firmly on his shoulder. She was praying for him. He was receiving it. He seemed to need it. Half a block further I turned the corner into darkness, and the dealers were there on their corner trying to flag me down. I knew the humble man would have to walk this way. I imagined that somehow she had given him some protection, some resolve, some spiritual armour that would shield him from these men and this corner and this darkness above, below and beyond.

It's frightening to know that as you walk through this dark place, a lion matches your steps. When she wants you, she will take you. When she doesn't, I try to think of it as grace.

100 Words post # 3.

Consider the role of anxiety in one's life: the cautionary leash that prevents, the set of oft repeated rules that prohibit, the antidote to sleep, rest and recovery, the fuel that fires compulsive behavior and self destruction, the edge necessary to do your best.

It's a squirrel's indecison in the middle of the road, "run left, no right, no left, no." THUMP.

It's not wise to let anxiety make your choices or drive your car. But how much will it cost you to abate? Each time a little more, you, more and more at risk.

100 Words.com post #2

Shuttling between jobs tonight, the streets were dark in this neighborhood where something is always going on. A man stood on the sidewalk, straight and still with head bowed. A Puerto Rican woman - a church woman - wearing a long skirt, hair tied in a modest braid, laid a hand on him and was praying. He seemed to be receiving it. Needing it. Just a half a block away I turned the corner into darkness, and the dealers were right there trying to flag me down. The man would have to walk this way. I wished him strength and protection

100 Words.com post # 1

March. Enter the lion. My daughter turns 12 this month. I seem to remember being 12 very well. I was full of sex and murder. I was just out of my own control - always rage, always anxiety, sometimes dreaming. I liked Black Sabbath. I bought that t-shirt at the beach with the skulls, lightning bolts and "666" across the front. I think that was the year I saw "Taxi Driver" for the first time and thought it was my future. So much darkness, really?

I look at her, still a little girl. So much happens in a year.