LOVE TAP MESSAGE:
What is your love tap message that you give to the world?
My Beautiful Vietnam 2020
Vietnam in this journey from January to March 2020 has been a revelation. Some parts are tragic, like the children we met at Friendship Village in Hanoi with birth-defects related to Agent Orange. We have met other people who have been injured by landmines. Yet, today, if you will I want to focus on the immense beauty of this extraordinary country of Vietnam. For my baby boomer generation the war that the Vietnamese called the American war we still have many real and vibrant memories. Though we should never forget the horrors of the war, in 2020 it is time to put on a new pair of lenses. We have been savoring the vivacious and vibrant life of Vietnam Vietnam is about children and youth. There are very few Vietnamese who are our age. My guess is that more than 60% of Vietnam is people less than 25 years of age who have no memory nor understanding of the war American kids who have no understanding nor real interest in knowing the truth of Vietnam. In our Instagram social media era if it did not appear on Facebook today it is irrelevant. I thoroughly enjoy the tremendously vibrant and friendly people here. Though I do not speak much more than 20 words of Vietnamese it is fairly easy to communicate. A smile and a wave hello and wishing people happy New Year’s Vietnam makes people. My camera and computer are filled with thousands of photos of children playing in the parks, the exquisitely beautiful women, and the scenery from the mountains of Ba Nang to the charming city of Hue. Children at War Museum in Dan Nang. It is a great joy playing and talking with the children here.
Salvador Dali and I in conversation
Dali appeared inside the reflection of the silver spoon I stepped out of the clock that was melting like cheese and then in my harlequin costume of lies and mirrors I confronted the jester with twirling moustache, who dropped his red cape, bent on one knee, and the bullish Picasso did a pas de deux. Impossible angles mirrored in the introspections. Van Gogh stuffed his pipe with a pinch of tobacco and a dram of opium from the west of Mandalay. In the cacophony of dream, church bells peeled, revelation sought from the whisper of a scarlet throated hummingbird who pierced my innocence with impossible melodies, spun like a spire of smoke, and then the yellow fog rubbed its nuzzle against the window pane. Old Tom in rolled trousers walked on the edge of the sea and heard the mermaids frolicking near the board walks of Brighton. “If memory were time and time was lusty as desire, we would count the seconds as they dissolved like tears in an hour.” “Pish Tosh!” said Mary with umbrella flying in the wind. “Step lively! March to the May mad march of June, tumbling backwards in the arch of reverie, a near impossible arc of time, that even Dr. Hoffman was peddling his bicycle of icicles through the streets of Basel, Lennon on the street corner Sgt Pepper band in the Gazebo by the roundabout,was playing carnival. The burlesque dancer was juggling fire. “Who cares if Paul is buried or that George is the grave digger?” It’s all about the money! Cling! Cling! Caching! Or is it the Benjamins, ain’t it? smiled the Arabesque goddess. Moon walking pedophiles, priests in drag as clerics, high wire suspended over the River Lethe, and innocents absolved in sin. Imagine if the beloved Profit was a woman with a lusty appetited for young sailors. “Raise your flag high, my young mates!” How did the indelicato coupling of Cain and Able sire a nation? “Ishkabibble!” chanted the blind Rabbi as he walked in the ruins of Tel Aviv and danced a merry jig in the brothel of the Profit Greed. “No higher god!” As he tapped with the white cane through the rubble of the Holy Land.. Inka Dinka Do Vincent sipping abysinth, emerald green dreams swirling in the cut crystal thimble, and found himself secure and loved in the house beneath the starry dreams. “Eat fire!” said the Mad march Queen. “If love is redemption, then laughter will dance like the violet fuscia incantation.” Georgia O’ Keefe from the Ranch of Ghosts appeared with a voluptuous flower irridescent in desire. Cunning linguist that I am, I devoured each pearl of memory, and allowed that seed to melt lusciously on my tongue. But will the mermaids sing to me? And if we had world and time enough to love, would your coyness merely be the memory of laughter, or the rapturous tingling tintinabultion toe sucking succulent lemon drops Dali dialed back the clock to One. Poured violet from the crucible and created a perfect circle Alpha to One. In the silvery introspection of time, the spoon dangling imperfectly ….
Art Rat Studio
Cop Named Joe
In a small Vermont town there was a cop there by the name of Joe and four years ago he became chief of police. He said, “About 80% of our cops are good, it is the 20% we have problems with, but as chief I am going to see if I can do something about that.” He went through the department and put together a list of the cops that had a long history of attitude problems and those cops he put on a short leash. One cop said at a staff meeting, “Joe, we’re the cops and we run this town. You know if there is a spic or one them colored boys that come around we know what to do.” Joe spoke up, “That attitude no longer works here. It’s a different day and I’m the chief. If you got an ax to grind, we can get you help, but only if you’re willing to change. From now one the word is – Respect; regardless, if the citizen is rich, poor, or whatever color.” A few cops left, a few of the big mouths become quieter. Every cop knew that something different was going on. This was made really clear when be hired a Dominican Sergeant from a neighboring city and an African American Lieutenant from Hartford. But all of that good work appeared as if it was going to go out the window. One night there was a guy in a church who was going to kill himself. Three cops burst in to the room. One cop realized that it was a scared and frightened guy and returned his gun to his holster. The other two were hot headed cops who had a long history of being abusive and at a distance of about 12 feet they shot this guy dead. The guy was only threatening to kill himself and yet they shot him dead. Joe had a couple of daughters and as a parent he imagined what it would be like if one of his girls who had been killed. Most chiefs would have dummied down, issued a statement that their men had acted correctly, and pretended that everything is fine. Joe went to that man’s funeral services. At the end of the service he stood up, “I know some of you would rather I wasn’t here, as the Chief of Police of my town I want you to know that I am sorry for this man’s death. I don’t know what had happened, but I will do everything in my power to find out the real story.” Everyone was astonished by his courage and honesty. In the following weeks he met with all the local citizens’ groups to talk about the shooting. Instead of denying it and pretending it was that fellow’s fault, he addressed the problem head on. When the town tried to stop the grand jury investigation Joe said, “I want the grand jury. If my men did something wrong they need to be held accountable. If they were innocent, then they will be exonerated. Otherwise, they’ll walk around with the shame of having killed a man for no reason.” The courts found the two cops guilt of involuntary manslaughter and they served time for this. Most towns would have fired the Chief of Police, but because Joe was open, honest, willing to listen to the citizens of his town, they came out and supported his continued tenure. Best of all, the town avoided a protracted and expensive lawsuit. In a neighboring town, they had a similar issue, and the Chief brazenly lied his way through the problem, and in doing so alienated everyone in town. Joe said, “If I wasn’t honest about this and the problems we have had in the Police Department no one would trust us. We’re not perfect, but we’re learning.” Joe even championed an Independent Civilian Police Review Board despite opposition from the Selectboard, “I know most of the police don’t like the idea, but if I want my department to be transparent and open to the public, then I need to put my action where my mouth is.” “There are a lot of things in policing I don’t know about, but there are people in the community who have terrific ideas how to improve service and policing. If I get the community to work with us on the issue of bias, drugs, good neighbor relations, and so forth it means my department doesn’t have to work so hard.” A Chief of Police and a cop named Joe. Just, imagine.
#StopHate #StopFacism #impeachTrump
It is long overdue to get rid of the Racists and KKK Supporters from Public Office. “Bannon out of the closet”
Drawings, writings for late July 2017
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