Commonplace Book
Edited and Translated
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Blog to be renamed: Things I Read on Wikipedia
In 1863 William Banting, an obese English undertaker and coffin maker, published "Letter on Corpulence Addressed to the Public" in which he described a diet for weight control giving up bread, butter, milk, sugar, beer and potatoes. His booklet was widely read, so much so that some people used the term "Banting" for the activity usually called "dieting."
Monday, April 4, 2011
Prelinger and Macauley and now this:
"Will it make a beautiful ruin?" That was the question Basil Spence asked about the nuclear power station he was designing in Trawsfynydd, Wales. This was back in the 1960s, but it was forward looking. Spence, an architect (he designed the famous Coventry Cathedral in England), was aware of one simple fact: Nuclear power plants are functional for a relatively short period of time before they are put out of commission and replaced by newer, safer designs and technology. The abandoned plant is filled with radioactivity that makes it unusable for anything for a long time. A cathedral is designed with the idea that it should stand, and function, for a very long time — perhaps beyond time. A nuclear power plant is designed with the knowledge that it must become a ruin, and rather quickly. It is born to die, and then to sit as a corpse, a testimony to the strange and unsettling function it once had. -The Power of Ruins
Monday, March 7, 2011
green in judgement/cold in blood
What with all my journals, notebooks, books, and dictionaries in a storage locker in Texas, it was with great delight that I stumbled onto an old, forgotten writing blog online. My voice speaks from distant years! With no editing:
A hard breeze comes off the lake, fooling my hair into imagining that it is not in a ponytail, until up is down and more is down than up. Tension plays with my back, tightening the muscles under the skin of my upper arm which has gone lavender and yellow. Bruising has brought a new spring to my body; new colors showing every day until presumably the floral riot will fade away.
I have crushed my water bottle between two rocks where it is anchoring my book bag to prevent me from knocking it off. I am still silent for the passers by, three boys in sports jerseys which hang low, exposing their beautiful brown young shoulders and backs. They are not talking, just walking, and we are all silent as they pass me by. It is then that I am sure that I am leaving.
or
i say those stars are beautiful and i mean you are beautiful.
i say the trees! the trees! all i mean is you.
A hard breeze comes off the lake, fooling my hair into imagining that it is not in a ponytail, until up is down and more is down than up. Tension plays with my back, tightening the muscles under the skin of my upper arm which has gone lavender and yellow. Bruising has brought a new spring to my body; new colors showing every day until presumably the floral riot will fade away.
I have crushed my water bottle between two rocks where it is anchoring my book bag to prevent me from knocking it off. I am still silent for the passers by, three boys in sports jerseys which hang low, exposing their beautiful brown young shoulders and backs. They are not talking, just walking, and we are all silent as they pass me by. It is then that I am sure that I am leaving.
or
i say those stars are beautiful and i mean you are beautiful.
i say the trees! the trees! all i mean is you.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Effie's A Box of Sun
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Eccentric Collection
I met this fellow yesterday who looks like a member of the cramps and is a professional rollerblader. Companies pay to sponsor him even though he participates in no competitions. When I asked him if it was his full time job, he was bashful and told me that he'd love to be in a band, but it won't pay the bills. The mind reels! The universe is HUGE and crammed with things I've never imagined!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Oscillating electric fan set on medium:
High School Creative Writing
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
On the Thaw
When on the lake yesterday, we went under a bridge where the ice was clear but for fault lines showing depth. Bubbles rose frozen white, tender voids, and underneath particulates drifted.
And years past, the thaw then on the shores of a greater lake, unfrozen and waves crashing fiercely. Iceburgs became lucid, full of holes and a greater clarity, and they exploded on the rocks at our feet with the sound of chimes.
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