from the French: Get Drunk!

Get Drunk!

One should always be drunk. That's all that matters: it is the only question. So as not to feel the horrid burden of Time which breaks your back and bows you down to the ground, you must get drunk without ceasing.
But with what? With wine, with poetry, or with virtue as you please. But get drunk.
And if at times, on the steps of a palace, or in the green grass of a ditch, or in the dismal solitude of your room, you are waking up, with drunkenness diminished and disappeared, ask of the wind, of the wave, of the star, of the bird, of the clock, of all that which flees, of all that which groans, of all that which rolls, of all that which sings, of all that which speaks, ask what time it is; and the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock will reply: "It is time to get drunk! So as not to be the martyred slaves of Time, get drunk; get drunk without ceasing! With wine, with poetry, or with virtue as you please."

original:

Enivrez-vous

Il faut etre toujours ivre. Tout est la: c'est l'unique question. Pour ne pas sentir l'horrible fardeau du Temps qui brise vos épaules et vous penche vers la terre, il faut vous enivrer sans treve.
Mais de quoi? De vin, de poésie ou de vertu, a votre guise. Mais enivrez-vous.
Et si quelquefois, sur les marches d'un palais, sur l'herbe verte d'un fossé, dans la solitude morne de votre chambre, vous vous réveillez, l'ivresse déja diminuée ou disparue, demandez au vent, a la vague, a l'étoile, a l'oiseau, a l'horloge, a tout ce qui fuit, a tout ce qui gémit, a tout ce qui roule, a tout ce qui chante, a tout ce qui parle, demandez quelle heure il est; et le vent, la vague, l'étoile, l'oiseau, l'horloge, vous répondront: "Il est l'heure de s'enivrer! Pour n'etre pas les esclaves martyrisés du Temps, enivrez-vous; enivrez-vous sans cesse! De vin, de poésie ou de vertu, a votre guise."

-- Charles Baudelaire Petits poemes en prose

Favorite bands

Damn! I completely forgot I had a blog. Well, I've decided to make a list of what I consider to be the best bands in the country. You must understand that I make no assumptions about bands that I have not seen. I haven't seen them so I can't rate them. So that being said, this list can more be seen as the bands that I would consider among the best no matter how good any other band I may see is. If that makes sense. So here goes.

Old Crow Medicine Show (how could I not include these guys?)
Belleville Outfit (based out of Austin)
No BS! Brass Band (how can anyone from Richmond leave them off a list of best bands?)
The Hot Seats (another Richmond band)
Carolina Chocolate Drops (I've only seen these guys in videos but the first time they're in Richmond I'm there)
Umphrey's McGee (no explanation necessary)
Popebear (I'll admit that I'm biased on this one, but that's not gonna change my opinion. They're the best.)
Meshiya Lake (she performs with the Loose Marbles and the Little Big Horns)

That's all I can think of right now. I'll possibly (though not likely) update the list at some point or other. But if you are reading this and see any bands mentioned that you haven't heard of you should check them out.

Changing History

If you could change one historical event, which event would you choose, and how would you change it? Why would that change be for the best?

Changing history is not something to be undertaken lightly. There is no real way to know what might result from even the most seemingly insignificant change. Consider if merely the wall color had been different during the Cuban Missile Crisis. What if the walls of the White House had been an aggressive color such as yellow, orange, or red. Would the outcome have been the same, or would we all be bits of radioactive waste right now. If even such a small change has the potential to make such a drastic effect on the course of history, then how can we even consider large changes?
But of course it is always possible that even the most glaring changes could result in very little noticeable effects. If Columbus had never found the Americas, for instance, what would the world be like now. I would be inclined to think that it would be very much the same. Some European was bound to find America around that point in history. That time period was one of great exploration by European powers, and it is highly unlikely that Columbus, even if he failed, would have been the only one to venture far enough west to find the continents that we now call America. With that being said there seems little point in trying to make a change in order to create a specific course of events.
Take for instance the Holocaust. How would one go about trying to prevent the Holocaust? Is there a single event that could possibly prevent such a horrible tragedy? Perhaps if Hitler had never existed things would have been different. But there are no guarantees. Much of Europe was extremely anti-semitic at the time. It is entirely possible that even without Hitler some other ruler would have implemented much the same policy. Another question that is raised by eliminating Hitler is World War II. Would it have even happened. Would it have been worse, better, much the same? Without German participation in the war, it is quite possible that it would have been a showdown between the United States and Russia. If so would there have been a Cold War afterwards? And without a Cold War would there have been a space race, or the development of the atom bomb?
Since there is no real way to know what the outcome would be, the only real purpose in changing an historical event can be for experimental purposes: to find out what would happen. For this reason I would choose to eliminate Hitler's existence. This would be a very interesting change for many of the reasons listed above. It also brings up the question of individual impact on the world. Hitler could be considered one of the most influential men of the twentieth century, but would his non-existence really change anything significantly? It is possible that all of the major events that we are familiar with would have occurred with some other maniacal dictator leading Germany. But it is also possible that the scenario described above in which the Cold War never happens could be the outcome.
These are only two of the infinite possible outcomes of changing this one aspect of history. Each on is equally as likely as the other despite how drastically different modern life would be based on the different paths. So the real lesson here is that there is no real point in changing an historical event. There is no way to ensure that the desired outcome will result, and even if it does there is no way to know how that might change the rest of history up until this point. That is why I would chose not to change history even in the most minor way, but if I had to make a choice I would make one that I thought would have the most experimentally interesting possible outcomes.

boring

I have decided to save all of my college essays to this blog. Since it was originally intended as a way for me to keep a portfolio of my work, I might as well keep my more directed work as well. So if you don't want to read college essays you should probably ignore the posts labeled VCU.

Poem for the Night People

I sit here in my bed, waiting for the sleep
That does not come to take me to the land
Of dreams, and so I write
A poem about the butterflies
I sometimes see as I walk down the street.

They're many colors.
Not a single one that I can
Easily recall. I know
That brown is not the color.
If that was the case they would be moths,
But these are butterflies,
Vibrant in their majesty
Creatures of the day.

If they were moths,
I'd recognize them.
I know my kin.
I see them all the time
As I lie awake at night
Thinking about their cousins,
Vibrant in their majesty
Creatures of the day.

Words, Words, Words

Words are meaningless
If meaning is a less
Than worthy word.
Its heart is full
Of idle tricks and turns.
Nothing is certain.
No word has the power
To stay the same.
No word can hold its meaning
When it feels the test of time.

ultrahightechsupermultiuniversal

Bits in space and time.
Are we finite?
Are we on or off?
Or are we as we are?
We are surely something.
That we are is sure.
But is our being,
Being who we are,
Part of a greater being?
Or being as we are,
Merely our own being.

I wrote a book

It's done. I just finished the process of publishing a book. Its a compilation of many of the poems on this blog and can be found for purchase on lulu.com. http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/death-and-life/8561375 You can also download a pdf version for free from Lulu.

why?

writing words here now is wrong
jobs told stories of hard lives and short breaths
as the fumes lift you away
and falling the world seems so real
but not the short things
change as the wind varies with caterpillars

that seem to go on forever and
the sentence never ends
the song never ends
the lyric never ends
the word never ends
the sound never ends
the noise never ends
it all goes on before it
stops

the trees are not green
why do they say it
brown water don't drink and eat
the seafood covered in ice cream and a cigar
the whole thing is just fucked up

why
why
why

don't think just think
eating small birds doesn't make sense
so what's the point of it all
is the end near or far in the pink
gummy bears with green ears just eat it

it won't hurt you
there is nothing to fear
ignore the man behind the curtain
ignore the curtain
without a curtain there can be no man behind it

but don't forget the painting
it must have cost at least fifty cents
maybe even a dollar
why didn't you just buy the lighter
you can't torch a bowl with a dumb painting
and it doesn't even look good

but if we put the apple sticker on it
maybe it will look better
no

faces carved in stone change with the weather
radiant smiles turn to blank stares
it all just fades away into nothing
but it never ends
nothing never ends

Weather

It seems as though your plans
to sit outside all day
have washed away.

The drip and drizzle wouldn't be
so bad but wind and cold
have taken hold.

Weather is a fickle thing.

Rain and snow and sleet and sunny days
that hold you in their fist and squeeze.
Until you scream out.
Too cold! Too hot!
Too dry! Too wet!

We cannot end this strife.
It must be won,
else losing we shall lose our life.