I was already uneasy when i read refernces to mentally ill people talking to parking signs in the first paragraph, but Mambo

is way out of line-whats the problem, Garrison?

As i was walking my dog through the woodsy campus near our house on a still wintry evening with thick snowflakes falling we came towards a lamppost and suddenly expected Mr. Tumnus to step out from behind it. Hadn't thought of him in 40 years. I think he really was lurking there.

Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–89). Poems. 1918.

7. God’s Grandeur

THE WORLD is charged with the grandeur of God.

It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;

It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil

Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?

Generations have trod, have trod, have trod; 5

And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;

And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil

Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;

There lives the dearest freshness deep down things; 10

And though the last lights off the black West went

Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs—

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent

World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

from Bartleby.com

Seeing as the religious impulse seems to be part of our primal nature( the impulse to make meaning and connect with what is larger than our lone existence), I think there is room for talking about the evolution of the concept and experience of "God". That is why it can be so meaningful for us to engage in religious ritual at times of life passages that may not "logically" make sense. We are taking what has been given to us from our past as human beings and remaking and experiencing it in a new way. We are evolving past a traditional religious experience into a worldview of connection, and seeing this as sacred may contribute towards our survival as creatures on this planet.

"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do"-while he was being crucified. At least Margaret Atwood is in good company. Forgiveness might not prevent violent acts, but it doesn't add to them.

16,000 + people came to see Obama speak to us in Michigan- the "canary in a coalmine" state measuring the health of the economy. But when he promised to end the war in Iraq he got the loudest and longest cheers of his speech. I hope he realizes we don't want the troops just transferred over to Afghanistan either.

McCain came off like an old wart hog. The Republicans have given us a wart hog/ pit bull ticket.

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United For Peace and Justice is joining True Majority, USAction, and scores of others to take the debate into the streets.

I'm starting to feel like Obama's "change" is too scary of a position for most people-when the economy is unpredictable and foreign affairs even more complicated than ever, people don't want to try something new-they want to stick with the known. Especially if they want the president to take care of them. McCain looks alot more like what we've known. Even if we are at the precipice. I hope I'm wrong.

The media didn't much cover the hundreds of protesters outside the "Town Hall Meeting" who had plenty of insightful questions and comments.

"Jesus is on the pipeline, tell Him what you want"

nd those schoolmarm glasses. I think I'm in love. She's probably got antlers on her living room wall and a gun rack in her pickup truck. Do you think she does the two-step? Yee-hah!

Then the first impression begins to solidify: Here's someone who's demanding, most of all of herself. I've got this instinctive impulse to stand up straight, salute, and shout: Yes, ma'am! Wilco!

Always reserving the right to tear the lady apart in snarky columns to come, my first reaction: a masterstroke. Congratulations, John McCain. Sir.

Sreet protesting, writing letters to the editor, writing letters and calling congress,sending money, canvassing, registering voters, poll working, all of it in 2004. Raking leaves the day after the "election" with tears streaming down after hearing Kerry conceded so early in the process with Ohio being such an electoral mess. Pretty sure they stole it last time as well as the time before. How do we keep this from happening again?

Loved it! Prokofiev's music is timeless romantic/dramatic. Then to be able to evoke that Russian rural peasant scene with animated figures was amazing. I loved the wolf and the duck and the bird and the grandfather. So interesting to see the behind the scenes of how the writer and artists and crew produced it. Hope it's scheduled to run again. And I will get the DVD from PBS.

I hope they invited Greenspan to come so they could grill him for his role in screwing up the economy and the housing fallout in particular.

Poetry is what gets alot of us through here in Michigan-the Writers Almanac emailed to me each morning is my daily bread.

Thanks Garrison.