Letting me be ... random wondering and philosophy

ME Strauss writes at Letting me be ... random wondering and philosophy.  Today she writes:

When I was a child, even today, I could wish for a castle door. Open it and on the other side would be a whole new life. Castle doors paved the way to places where everything changed. I could make the world rearrange easily walking through such a door. The problem was that always the person who walked through was always me.

Read the full posting on The Castle Door.

In her about page she says:

I walk. I talk. I trip every now and then. Occasionally I fall down. I dance in elevators when no one is looking, but I will not run for a bus.

I can relate to that. As a commuter, I don't like to run through the train station to catch the train. Folks that do just look so odd.

 

She writes:

When a powerful, wonderful, engaging idea grabs a hold of my mind, my thinking alters. I start seeing colors and possibilities that are "this close" tangible. The conceptual chemistry is magical. Cell upon cell ignites, passing charges across my synapses. I don't see myself. I don't feel time passing. I am inside the idea. I am train of thought speeding to a destination.

Energy dispels any self-consciousness, as my eyes turn inward to visuals of what the idea is, how it works, watching it tick and move. It's not that different from a mother imagining a baby a few weeks into pregnancy. Yet it's different completely because my imagining becomes true.

Read the full posting on Setting My Feet to Run

 

 

Since you have read this far, ME Strauss must be appealing to you. Go ahead and add this site to your RSS Reader of choice. You'll be glad you did.

 

Then come back to the Hitchhiker Team and see what else we may have for you to read and explore.

 

 

Technorati Tags : castle+doors, philosophy, hitchhikers, hike, trail

 

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The Generator Blog

The trail takes us to the Generator Blog today. A cool place where one can find out about all kinds of things to generate.

 

Like your own tree.

 

A neon sign

 

A woman with a sign

 

A pretzel font generator

 

and just in time for the upcoming election, a campaign button generator

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For many more cool things to generate, this is the place to go. Add this site to your RSS Reader of choice.

 

 

Technorati Tags : generator, cool+things, hitchhiker, hike, trail

 

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Daily Vodcasts

Video podcasts are growing in number daily. Here is one site that lists and links to video podcasts.

On the front page, you can click to see podcasts on punk music, heart and solar plexus chakras, world news, Confidence from the SuicideGirls, and so much more.

Clearly a variety.
Clearly eclectic.
Clearly not all safe for work.

So if you are into video casts, this is one place to find out what is being published in this arena.


Technorati Tags : hitchhikers, hike, trail, social+media, video+casts

B L Ochman's whatsnextblog

Interested in social media? Then this site should be part of your RSS Reader listing.

Blogger, social media strategy consultant to Fortune 500 companies, and sought-after corporate speaker B.L. Ochman heads the creative team of whatsnextonline.com. She also publishes the Ethics Crisis blog for SRF Global Translations

She has two recent posts on Second Life, here and here.

She has her say on the Edelman Wal-Mart fake blog or flog situation.

One cautionary note, I find her blog layout too busy and confusing especially with the ads interrupting the flow of the posting text, so I prefer to stay within the reader. This may not affect you.

The content is well worth reading!


Technorati Tags : hitchhikers, hike, trail, social+media

More Second Life Stuff

Had enough of Second Life yet?

 

Good, there is more to come.

 

How about a blog on how to navigate Second Life?

 

Yes, check out In the Grid

 

How about the offical Second Life Blog?

 

Yes, check out The Official Linden Blog

 

How about a challenge to organize a CaseCamp in SecondLife?

 

Yes, Bryan Person put the challenge forth and the gauntlet has been picked up by Joseph Jaffe. See Bryan's post and the first comment.

 

 

Technorati Tags : Second+Life, marketing, blog, new+marketing, crayon, linden

 

 

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Poetry Evolution - Hari Bhajan

Still on the poetry trail, I find Hari Bhajan writing at Poetry Evolution.

Stafford rose every morning of his life at 4 AM to write. He knew that if he showed up for writing, if he sat there with pen in hand and began where he was at that moment that it was possible he would be led somewhere interesting. He believed in writing as a practice, not as a product. He says in his essay A Way of Writing: “A writer is not so much someone who has something to say as he is someone who has found a process that will bring about new things he would not have thought of if he had not started to say them. That is, he does not draw on a reservoir; instead, he engages in an activity that brings to him a whole succession of unforeseen stories, poems, essays, plays, laws, philosophies, religions.”

Read the full posting here.

 

She writes on taming dragons:

I don't know if you can ever really tame your dragons. More likely you can come to peace within yourself and learn to accept a certain amount of turmoil when you stir up their nest. What am I talking about? Well, coming thousands of miles across the country and ending up in a cabin in the woods, a rustic cabin, without phone or internet, and me without a car, well, that got my dragons out and roaring.

Read the full posting here.

 

She writes on Bukowski:

When I was studying in school a couple of years ago I spent quite a bit of time reading Bukowski’s poetry, went to the movie “Born Into This” about his life and wrote a couple of papers, one of which I've reprinted below and the other, which was about how I saw him and Rumi as some kind of poetry Odd Couple, I'll save for some other time. I even had a very powerful dream about him when I was at the Idylwild Poetry workshop where I felt his spirit daring me to crack open the “nice” me and let out the lion. Of course I wrote a poem about the experience, which is still waiting to be revised (which of course Bukowski would hate).

Read the full posting here.

 

Consider adding Poetry Evolution to your RSS Reader of choice.

 

 

Technorati Tags : poetry, poems, writing, William+Stafford, Bukowski

 

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Beth's Blog

Beth's Blog place to capture and share ideas and links about nptech, educational technology, information design, visual thinking, creativity, ICT in the developing world, and much more.

Beth is a nonprofit technology consultant working in the US. She works on the human side of technology, focusing on evaluation, planning, assessment, training, and curriculum development.

She also blogs about Cambodia. Her connection to Cambodia is from her Khmer children, Harry and Sara. She is working hard to learn Khmer on her Typing to Learn Khmer Blog. She also writes about the Cambodian Blogosphere for Global Voices Online.

Click here for Beth's complete bio.

Dolly Mama + The Fish Bowl + Voice in the Desert + Lex Libertas

In NO particular order…

Dolly Mama - She’s 35, married for 14 years, a homemaker, a small business owner, a home educator, a writer, an artist, a mother of 6… a Christian… writing about it all.

The Fish Bowl - Jonty Fisher is a 29 year old Marketing Strategist living in Cape Town South Africa… writing about South Africa, International Politics, and Culture.

Voice in the Desert - Stephen Davies, originally from England, lives and works in Burkina Faso, West Africa, as a Christian missionary among the semi-nomadic Fulani.

Lex Libertas - Owen is a graduate of the University of California. He is currently studying Russian and teaching debate in St. Petersburg, Russia, trying to survive the freezing temperatures, long periods of darkness, and smoke-filled bars.

Orbit Now!

Maggie's Farm Revisited

This poetry trail has been interesting, finding new blogs and poets writing, don't know how I had not found this trail previously. Today we stop at Maggie's Farm Revisited.

 

Maggie writes:

I was going to strip the paper off the ceilings and walls.
Repair the plaster cracks. Replace any rotted wood
around the windows. Prime and sand and wash
the walls. Then paint them a lovely eggplant or some
such variation on a purple theme. Then I was going
to accessorize with reds, golds, and sage green.

I could start it now but I have no enthusiasm for it.

I just sit here, sipping my cold coffee and not believing
this has happened to me.

Read the full post here.

 

She drove to the Dodge Poetry Festival and wrote:

Billy Collins alone was worth the price of admission,
the hotel cost for 4 nights, the cost of all the food I ate
and wine I drank. All the tanks of gas I burned and the tornado
I barely missed(had to get off the road and didn't
make it to Jersey until Friday morning).

More about it later. So much I want to write.
So much I don't want to forget.

Read her brief posting here.

 

Add Maggie's Farm Revisited to your RSS Reader of choice.

 

 

Technorati Tags : Dodge+Poetry, poetry, poems, writing, Bob+Dylan

 

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Joel Dias-Porter's Weblog

Continuing along the poetry trail, I found Joel Dias-Porter's Weblog writing about his time at the Dodge Poetry Festival. He says on his blog header:

From the verses of Shakespeare to the violence of Football, a soft hand on the nape of my neck to the rim's hard rattle after a dunk, the mute of Miles to the rhymes of Rakim, the simplicity of Hershey's chocolate to the complexity of garlic pepper seasoned, cedar-planked salmon drizzled with lemon-dill butter, my thoughts scatter like grains of black sand on a wind-blown beach.

He goes on to say about his visit to the Border's Book tent:

I got there around 9:30 am on Friday and went straight to the Border's tent. I was browsing the books and came across Ross Gay's "Against Which". I had never me the brother, never heard him read and had only read one or two of his pieces before. I gave his book my personal litmus test, which is to read the first and last poems in the book. The first poem was so good I decided to buy the book right away, $120 later i wobbled out of the tent looking for something to eat.

Read the full posting on Dodge 2006. He includes a couple of group poems composed while there and waiting in the food line for example.

Joel did a series of pieces responding to Wallace Stevens' works, in particular, this one in response to "The Man with the Blue Guitar"

............

The blues guitar and I are one.
My gutbucket blues guitar

Fills the juke-joint with dancing women
in thrall with the moon. The yellow men

Of the women are now blue, and coming
For my head that lies alone at night.

I pick a soul-churning dilemna.
How do I start to finish? And how,

As I conjure the colors, do I deal
With that which momentarily declares

Itself to be I and yet must be,
Might be, may be something more.

..................

Read his full posting to get all of this poem.

Add Joel to your RSS Reader of choice and cruise along with his joyful word ride.

 

Technorati Tags : Dodge+Poetry, poetry, Cave+Canem, Wallace+Stevens

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Hauled up notebooks - Jennifer Diskin

Continuing the trail amongst blogs on poetry that were found (and continue to pop up) with my Technorati search for Dodge Poetry, we find Jennifer Diskin writing at Hauled Up Notebooks.

 

Jennifer says about herself:

Lover of breath, the heartbeat, first spring days, all the usual clichés about poets fit me pretty damn well....

Jennifer writes:

I might adopt the title of this as a personal adage. I bought a pair of pointed heels at a vintage store today. They are black alligator and are not me. I am more than contemplating the tattoo. I believe I am going to chop my hair very short. These could all be reactions to John and I pretty much being finished.

Read the full posting on "Are Pointed Heels A Cure for Sorrow?"

She writes:

I had the song Fast Car by Tracy Chapman on my mind today. That song talks about getting out of a difficult situation. "I thought I belonged...." I listen to traveling stories. A few friends went to P-town for the Norman Mailer conference.
I spoke to a good friend in California who doesn't think twice about traveling. He tells me if I don't go soon I probably never will. I'm almost 35 and I haven't really seen the world at all.

Read the full posting on "Thinking About Fast Car, Traveling and Being Almost 35"

 

Click on over to read more of Jennifer at Hauled up Notebooks. Add her site to your RSS Reader of choice.

 

I am going to send her a virtual hug!

 

 

Technorati Tags : Dodge+Poetry, poetry, writing, 35, traveling, spike+heels

 

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Red Inked

Continuing along the trail of blogs I found when looking for poetry before going to the Dodge Poetry Festival, we have Red Inked, a group blog. As they say on their Manifesto page:

Words matter to us. We love them, we work with them every day, and we get paid to analyze and create them. They're our livelihood and our passion. While our intent is to focus on the web, our red ink covers all the many layers of content that come from words. The web, yes — but also conversations, books, magazines, film, and more. Red Inked is a critique and a celebration. And its a community. We want your input and your feedback — your words.

Not just any words, your words! Read the full Manifesto here.

Did you know October 21st is Sweetest Day?

October 21st is Sweetest Day, and I am outraged by the entire idea. I found out about this disgraceful attempt at a holiday while searching for a gift basket online. Most of the sites I visited had Sweetest Day listed right in there with Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine's Day. Really! What a completely redundant holiday! It should be ashamed of itself, the way it blatantly plagiarizes Valentine's Day with the candy and cards to loved ones and copying the legend of St. Nicholas with a kindly man giving something to cheer the hearts of the dispossessed.

Read the full posting here.

Do you know when to say "frak"?

I once knew this guy who was getting his PhD by studying the intertextuality of film. He was a really interesting person with whom to watch movies, as he could spot allusions, references, stolen lines, and plot swipes as fast as I could plug my mouth with pieces of popcorn. Ultimately, he was a really annoying person with whom to watch movies, not only because there never seemed to be any point to the endless loops of verbal and visual sampling going on in every scene ever filmed, but it was also just plain disgusting that this guy was on his way to having a Doctorate in Excessive Movie-Watching. Talk about your easy As.

I was reminded of this guy last week when watching the second episode of the new season of Veronica Mars - and Veronica said, at one point, “Frak!”

Read the full posting on frak here.

 

If any of these words appeal to you, you would do well to add this site to your RSS Reader of choice. Oh and drop them a word or two. They could use the positive feedback. Words are great for that!

 

 

Technorati Tags : hitchhiker, hikes, trail, poetry, words, frak

 

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Bud Bloom Poetry

From Bud Bloom Poetry, he writes of a Donald Hall reading:

With the first poems Hall read, the chant of the song within the poem could be heard, the soul of each stressed syllable revealing the meter of his freest verse poems. It was during these first minutes that he read the poem "White Apple" which contains the line, "white apples and the taste of stone", the title of his latest book. That line came to him years after he first had the dream of the poem, and brought the poem together and to completion. In this and other senses, he is also a mystic poet, and thus the chant of his song-poems. But then, shouldn't a poet who writes at once in a word about love, death, and his home, be naturally rooted in the mystic?

Good info on poets and poetry. Long detailed posts.

 

Add Bud Bloom Poetry to you RSS Reader of choice.

 

 

Technorati Tags : poetry, poems

 

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Billy Blog - William Cohen

The trail continues to wander amongst some blogs found once I set up a Technorati search for "Dodge Poetry". This one, Billy Blog, by William Cohen covered the Poetry Bus Tour stop in NYC instead of going to the Dodge Festival.

 

He writes today of the quake in Hawaii where he has family.

Nonetheless, all is well with the BillyBlogMom on the Big Island. The quake was close. The epicenter as you can see was between Kona and Waimea. Between Waimea and Hilo, but closer to Waimea, near Honoka'a, is the small town of Pa'auilo, location of Pihanakalani Ranch, home to Mom, "Poppa" John Ferriera, and the "AFoJaS" (Animal Friends of Jolee and Shayna). Everyone is all right. No significant damage to the house, just some busted dishes, glasses, tchotchkes, and spoiled food. Maybe some minor repair needed on the fireplace.

They must be close to Rosa Say's home. She was also close to the epicenter. (I need to compare notes on the maps later).

 

Bill is a Tigers fan:

In happier news, the Tigers are going to the World Series! They swept the Oakland A's, finishing them off Saturday night in dramatic fashion, when Magglio Ordonez crushed a walk-off, three-run homer, in the bottom of the 9th inning.

And because we are all so much more alike than not, he also recently got a BlackBerry (just like mine).

I have one of these now. It's the new Verizon BlackBerry 8703e. I received it Monday from work and I've already been told by the young 'uns that I use it too much.

Pray for me.

I will. I like the convenience but will not be a crackberry!

 

So if the mix of poetry, baseball and life in general appeals, you might consider adding BillyBlog to your RSS Reader of choice.

 

 

Technorati Tags : poetry, baseball, hitchhikers, hike, trail, blog, Dodge+Poetry, BlackBerry

 

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Bemsha Swing

The trail will turn a bit to wander amongst some blogs found once I set up a Technorati search for "Dodge Poetry". This one, Bemsha Swing, by Jonathan Mayhew who writes that this blog is

Home of the "David Shapiro Fan Club." The "International Ron Padgett Society." The "Church of Clark Coolidge." The "Friends of Jess Mynes." Your source for warm positive feelings about Antonio Gamoneda, Morton Feldman, Thelonious Monk, Nada Gordon, Gary Sullivan, Joseph Ceravolo, Barbara Guest, and Minor Poetry of the Kansas School.

Jonathan writes:

There are a small number of people who not only have the insight but can actually express it in meaningful ways to those on the other side. You know when you are in the zone of insight; it's unmistakable.

Of course, once I put this model in writing it no longer seems valid to me. That's what blogging is all about.

Jonathan asks:

If you took away one poet, would poetry be the same?

How would you answer Jonathan? Click on over to Bemsha Swing and answer the question.

If poetry and music are your thing, you'll consider adding Bemsha Swing to your RSS Reader of choice.

 

Technorati Tags : music, poetry, hitchhikers, hike, trail, Dodge+Poetry

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The Creativity Exchange

From the book, The Flight of the Creative Class, comes this blog - The Creativity Exchange.

It is an active blog. Unlike some book blogs that exist solely to tout the book and have no life outside of the book promotion.

Richard Florida is behind Creative Class.

A blog that is well worth adding to your RSS Reader of choice.


Technorati Tags : Creative+Class, Richard+Florida, hitchhikers, hiker, trail

gurubbq - Tom Asacker

Tom Asacker has a new gig going on at gurubbq. A weekly video blog stylishly done.

 

Check it out!

 

 

Technorati Tags : Asacker, video+Blog, branding

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A Clearing Space - Karen Wallace

Karen writes in her about page:

The Clearing Space, launched in 2003, has grown out of my passion to help women find out how wonderful it can be when they have a career that they absolutely love; how empowering it is to redesign their professional and personal lives to fit like a glove; and how creating space in their lives is like a welcome mat for new and exciting possibilities.

She writes about her passion for books:

Well, my body parts may no longer be perky or nearly as firm as they were 20 years ago, but I have a heck of a library! I spend my 'spare' cash on books. (Though, with the discovery of Slim Ink about 12 months ago, I have managed to save a heap of cash by borrowing/trying before I buy instead!) And so, when Chris wrote about A Bookshop Experience, it had me going 'uh-huh, uh-huh'.

She writes about three inspirations:

One of the inspirations I got from it was that there are some terrific writers, who also happen to be business people, out there - who are eager to share their knowledge with us all, and who really have something to say.

The second is that the type of information these people impart to us through their writing is so genuine, so very authentic - that even if their message is not relevant to us personally right now - the passion and belief and generosity they demonstrate is always relevant.

The third lesson is that everyone needs to hear something different, and that what one person finds irrelevant can be totally life-changing for another.

If what you read you find relevant, then you should add Karen's site to your RSS Reader of choice.


Technorati Tags : Clearing+Space;, Karen+Wallace, hitchhikers, hike, trail

Business Performance Coaching - Greg Balanko-Dickson

Greg is one of the key folks behind the Joyful Jubilant Learning Network just starting this month. He posted as part of the September learning activity on Talking Story and was covered here but that posting did not do justice to his work.

He blogs on Business Performance Coaching.

He also prepares a Daily Thoughts for Business Podcast.

He has his personal blog March to Impact 1,000,000

He has his joint venture with Phil Gerbyshak NOBullshitleadership.com

He is real and full of good stuff to learn from. Add one or more of these links to your RSS Reader of choice. It will be a good thing to do.


Technorati Tags : Joyful+Jubilant+Learning, hitchhikers, hike, trail

Creating and Managing Ideas - A course blog

Scott Berkun, whose blog and writing I picked up on after GEL2006, is teaching this semester at the Univ of Washington. The course is "How to create and manage ideas?"

The course has a blog.
The syllabus is posted.
You can follow along.

I think I will.

Add this site to your RSS Reader of choice and follow along!


Technorati Tags : Berkun, GEL2006, blog, creating, managing, ideas

Learning Circuits Blog

Learning is not new. Some methods of learning are not new. So having just participated in the launch of the Joyful Jubilant Learning Network, I was pleased to find this Learning Circuits Blog

ASTD launched Learning Circuits in January 2000. Its goal was to promote and aid the use of e-learning, creating a body of knowledge about how to use technology efficiently and effectively for learning. It delivers a fully interactive Website with discussions, demos and resources, and articles on a weekly basis. A bi-weekly opt-in email newsletter, LC Express, sends news, teasers, and links to subscribers. There are nearly 500 articles currently on the Website.

With over 500 articles on the Learning Circuits website and blog archives dating back to 2002, there is plenty of stuff to go learning with here.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Technorati Tags : Joyful+Jubilant+Learning, learning, group+learning, e-learning, coaching

 

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Once in a Blue Muse - LJ Cohen

Serendipity. Luck. Destiny. Happenstance.

 

What did happen was I set up a Technorati watch list for Dodge Poetry and checked out who was writing about going there. I did not do this early enough to really do some worthwhile research and set up to meet. But sitting at one of the picnic tables, a women walks over to share some space. We talk about the festival, how we found it, where we are from, and it turns out we are both from MA. It also turns out she writes one of the blogs I found with the Technorati watchlist. Our paths crossed several more times during the festival, always a good conversation.

 

Check out Once in a Blue Muse!

 

She was one of the contributors to Poets Gone Wild published by Lulu Press which was the product of much good writing done on the Wild Poetry Forum.

 

She has written a novel and is working on another. Does anyone know a good agent to publish a novel? If you do, she would be interested.

 

 

Technorati Tags : poet, writer, hitchhiker, trail, hike, Dodge+Poetry

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Email Overloaded

Email Overloaded is a blog dedicated to Email Productivity, written by Itzy Sabo.

Email programs have not changed much in the past decade, but the amount of email we get has grown by a tremendous amount, significantly impacting our email productivity. The average information worker gets far more mail than s/he can cope with, and an increasing number of people suffer from "email overload". In this blog, Itzy Sabo analyzes the causes of email overload, discusses strategies to cope with the constant bombardment, and provides practical tips for getting the most out of our email programs. More...