"Late Summer"

Random Poetry List LXXIII

I, dusty and bedraggled as I am,
Pestered with wasps and weeds and making jam,
Blowzy and stale, my welcome long outstayed,
Proved false in every promse that I made,
At my beginning I believed, like you,
Something would come of all my green and blue.
Mortals remember, looking on the thing
I am, that I, even I, was once a spring.

C. S. Lewis (British, 1898-1963)

Originally e-mailed on Wednesday, September 16, 1998 @ 7:40 PM.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sat. 09/16/06 09:59:00 PM
Categorized as Literary & Random Poetry List.

"Life Cycles"

By the blogger @ Sigmund, Carl and Alfred:

.... I wish to relate a story from my school days.

Andrew was a classmate, born with Down's Syndrome (no, this is not about a sappy, hugging and kissing, loving Andrew, so read on, you sanctimonious ass).

We were cruel to Andrew, as you can imagine. He was clumsy, oafish and uncoordinated. He was always the last to get picked for sports, and whichever team got saddled with him automatically claimed the advantage of sides, or points or whatever. Of course, in a close game, we knew Andrew would screw up and thus the chances of his team winning was nil. Andrew would be blamed unmercifully for his team's loss. He took it all good naturedly and poked fun at himself — and this infuriated us even more.

Whatever his shortcomings on the playing field were, they were magnified in the classroom. There was no way Andrew could keep up, try as he might. There were no special ed classes back then, and Andrew paid the price. He was the class dummy, the idiot — and we made sure to never let him forget it....

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sat. 09/16/06 08:52:03 PM
Categorized as More Than Blogworthy.

"Liberalism and Aggression"

By the blogger @ ShrinkWrapped:

.... For many years, the goal of liberalism has been to minimize the impact of aggression in the world. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this goal but when one's fear of one's own aggression is kept out of awareness, it exacts a terrible price in its drive for expression. Too many liberals have been willing to condemn youngsters to Math illiteracy in order to protect them from competition they might lose. Too many liberals have subverted sports in our schools to avoid having any child win or lose. Too many are willing to appease the violent in the hopes that they won't get mad at us. It all fits a pattern of discomfort with aggression and its overt expression, even in attenuated and sublimated ways (like normal competition) that has come dangerously close to disarming us as a people....

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sat. 09/16/06 08:34:20 PM
Categorized as More Than Blogworthy.

"A Mythology of Robbery"

By the blogger @ Assistant Village Idiot:

For those who were not of political age in the early 90’s, it is hard to conjure up for you the bright feeling that Democrats, especially Boomer Democrats, had at the election of Bill Clinton. Our Associate Pastor and a psychiatrist friend — both respectable citizens and fathers — drove down overnight and slept in the car, just to be present in Washington during the inauguration. People spread banners at workplaces reading “FINALLY!” Just before the election, an attorney friend had described to me (thinking I was still a Democrat) “We’ve been more popular for years. When people vote in their home districts, they vote for Democrats. It’s only been in the national elections that the Republicans have been able to mislead people. We’re finally getting over the last hurdle.” He then laughed and started singing We Shall Overcome....

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sat. 09/16/06 08:28:20 PM
Categorized as More Than Blogworthy.

"A Little Peace On The Side"

By Francis W. Porretto @ Eternity Road:

In its attacks on the Right, the Left frequently employs the notion of "code words:" phrases of innocent appearance that conceal sinister intentions.... This use of the "code word" notion as a sword is generally understood among persons of conservative and libertarian inclinations, but less attention goes to the Left's use of code words as a shield: a screen of attractive but irrelevant concepts deployed to prevent critical examination of something they favor....

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sat. 09/16/06 08:14:31 PM
Categorized as More Than Blogworthy.