Friday, February 25, 2011

Never forget ...

... how great it is to be alive!

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Good News Can Be Found !

1. The people of Libya are well on the way to driving their monster-dictator Gadaffi out of the country and at least some governments are condemning his call to massacre his opponents.
2. Obama has ordered the Justice Department to stop defending the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, calling it unconstitutional. He has finally come out in support of gay marriage!
3. The people of Tunis and Egypt are moving along towards freely elected governments and (re)institution of civil and human rights in their respective countries.
4. My friends and family are so near even if some are physically distant in providing me all the emotional support I need.
5. Our efforts have shifted my treatment train onto a new track and our physician is arranging everything to speed up cyt/typ results and get me into another hospital, the one we have chosen over the one that took me in Monday and sent me home Tuesday to wait until Wed., March 2, only to return to their out-patient clinic (!) to talk about how things would go on from there. I need to begin treatment as soon as possible once exact genetics are there!
6. Whatever, I have the opportunity and strength to sit here at home with Koko warbling on his swing at my desk as I write this and Edith buzzes around getting our apartment in order and watching out for me. I am taken care of.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Time to Consider ...

Unexpectedly at home to await final lab results, I have time to consider if that particular hospital is the one I need to return to next week or instead find an alternative...

-----

And a night's sleep in my own bed with my husband has reinforced me in my intention to clarify and alter the situation this morning (Wed.) at my own doctor's office.
I am in charge!

---> good results in talk at doctor's office this morning!

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Let's Not Get Too Personal About It ...

but what I have to go through beginning next week, after the reprieve between second test and therapy begin I demanded and won for the weekend, will be none to easy.
But what will help me are the following:
Detlef, my dear, dear, loving and beloved husband!
Love, wherever it exists in this world, whether or not it has me as its source or target!
Family, however far away they may be in their incredible proximity to me!
Books, real literature to nurture my mind and my spirit!
And my pen, my notebook, my own writing.

I hope and trust I will not have to leave many days without signs here, and will soon not remain so cryptic about what is going on, but for now, that's all I want to post.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Paper is less expensive than a kalashnikov ...

... so consider no longer falling asleep in front of a flat-screen tv and buying and reading a paper instead, such as Charlie Hebdo:


L'appel démocratique de Charlie Hebdo 15-02-11

(We who have democracy and freedom of expression should not let it slip through our fingers as others are struggling to attain these privileges. Decommercialize your life, if possible, by reading and watching NO advertisements, not even the one sadly not deletable at the beginning of this video -- switch to MUTE till it's over.)

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Repeat

repeat répéter wiederholen ripetere
and each time it's
different différent anders diverso
yet
always toujours immer sempre
the same le même dasselbe lo stesso

could be worth a try
expect no explanation
question demander fragen domandare

Sunday, February 13, 2011

A Privilege

Valentine's Day is tomorrow, and aside from all the cynical commercialism that day has become filled with, aside from all the maudlin romances film and tv and dime novels (even when dressed up as literature) inundate the world with, it is time to reiterate something all too often forgotten.

It is a privilege to know love, to share and live love, to love and be loved. And I am endlessly thankful that I enjoy that privilege, the privilege of real true love.

So, Happy Valentine's Day, my dear Detlef. You are my love as I am yours. Loving and being loved by you is my greatest privilege!

May all the rest of you have the luck to be so privileged as I am!

Friday, February 11, 2011

Good Riddance !

Now that Mubarak has finally gathered the courage to resign from the office he has usurped for so many years with fixed elections, the demonstrators have every right to celebrate and to continue to demand speedy transition to a democratic government with free elections admitting all parties and guaranteed civil and human rights.
The military has NO mandate to govern, but only to ensure security until a new democratically elected government is in place. The pressure dare not be reduced!


The Guardian:

Hosni Mubarak: Egyptian 'pharaoh' dethroned amid gunfire and blood.
Critics said the president would never leave voluntarily but few political rights and falling prosperity forced an end.

The New York Times:

Mubarak Steps Down, Ceding Power to Military.
President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt turned over all power to the military, and left Cairo for his resort home in Sharm el-Sheik, Vice President Omar Suleiman announced on Friday.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

May They Succeed!

May those in Tunesia who have driven out the country's dictator of so many decades succeed in moving peacefully to democracy and the institution of full human rights in their country while never forgetting that democracy is rule by the majority WITH protection of the rights of all minorities. May they be able to read this brief post online, as well as every other expression of opinion uttered anywhere by anyone in whatever media.

May those still struggling to have the longtime dictator of Egypt with his mask of fake democracy and disregard of human rights relinquish the reins of government there be successful in replacing Mubarak with a democratically elected president and government, truly democratic, with all parties permitted and given a chance.
May Egypt quickly be spared the violence which erupted there yesterday, which continues today, apparently under orders of an unrelenting Mubarak bent on using any means to hang onto power as long as possible. May he be brought to understand that freedom and true democracy are concepts which he stands in the way of.

May forces of tolerance and freedom emerge as the majority in the formation of new governments in the newly emerging democracies in Tunesia and hopefully soon in Egypt, as well as in Syria, Jordan, Yemen, and, I dare to add provocatively, in Saudia Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, The Emirates, Iraq, and Afghanistan. And I have not forgotten Iran, hope sincerely that what is happening in Tunesia, Egypt, and elsewhere in the Arab world serves as inspiration to those there yearning to be unyoked and provides a warning for the Iranian potentates before it is to late for them as well.

Hope and the support of free expression of opinions is what I have to offer all of those people struggling today.

The True Novel

The Duty of Scandalizing

In hommage to Pier Paolo Pasolini, his last televised interview, from October 31, 1975