RAINY DAY WOMEN #12 & 35

hi friends
its been a while
fireseed here at his early morning window seat
looking out as is his wont over the six-lane highway
commuter traffic streams by
the mists swirling furiously over inwangsan
the rain teaming down yet again
unfortunately there's no women here (not even a girl)
except for the ones i spy in the street below
heads down clutching their umbrellas:
'when the rain comes
they run and hide their heads
they might as well be dead'
lennon once sang somewhat uncharitably
(now there's a candidate for the best B-side ever)
as for the rainy day women
been reading some interesting speculations
on where that title came from
though it has always been one of my least favourite dylan songs)...
the mists shift again
pukhansan momentarily appears
just peeking its head above the ugly bank of fiveteen-story luxury apartment blocks
which ruin my view...
been meaning to head down to the riverside park
jogged down there a week or so back, friends
to find my usual route for jogging
and taking h for a cycle ride
totally submerged under two metres of flood water
dread to think what the riverbank looks like now!
spoiled by a rising tide of human waste
discarded plastic bottles
bits of dirty polystyrene
all manner of rubbish
washed up sadly
as a testament to human folly / folie
the jog i was talking about
ends up like a kind of weird dream sequence
the awforities close the eight-lane expressway
along the other side of the river
so there am i
running along a deserted seoulless highway
normally packed with little four-wheeled metal boxes
completely alone...
rain's getting heavier
acid rain
but its luvly to watch
therapeutic to hear the sound of na-cha
drumming on my windows
easing the incessant traffic roar
not much else to say for now, friends
ye olde fireseed's become a dull boy recently
all work and no play, you understand...
spare a thought for the lebanese
write a message on a banknote
write a letter to the prime minister
don't be silent
don't just accept it
hope in the dark
f
xxx

IGNORANT PROTECTIONISTS?

Extract from Alternatives to Economic Globalization - A Better World Is Possible

"The issue is governance. Will ordinary people have a democratic voice in deciding what rules are in the best interests of society? Or will a small ruling elite, meeting in secret and far from public view, be allowed to set the rules that shape the human future? If the concern of the decision makers is only for next quarter's corporate profits, who will care for the health and well-being of people and the planet?

These are increasingly serious questions for a great many people who live with the violence and insecurity that spreads through the world in tandem with growing inequality, unraveling social fabric, and the collapse of critical environmental systems. It is this reality of social and environmental disintegration that has brought millions of people together in a loose global alliance that spans national borders to forge what may be considered the most truly global and inclusive social movement in human history."

CORPORATOCRA$Y

money talks, money walks
blood spills, money kills
grasping hands, insane demands
power games, ill-gotten gains
blind faith, fail-safe
mesopotamia laid to waste
time bomb ticking on
in god’s name, what a crying shame!

hungry mouths, death shrouds
nuclear dread overhead
market forces, scarce resources
global warming, early warning
downsized, globalised
dislocated, terminated
biotech, genetic mess
GMO’s and fake logos

logging on, scrolling down
text a message, can't slow down
desktop breakfast, caffeine hit
skipping lunch, no time to quit
destress, detox
relationship is on the rocks
medication, pop a pill
wonder why it makes you ill

bulls and bears, stocks and shares
all your worst nightmares
M & A’s, FTA’s
hear-says and numbered days
focus groups, closed loops
ever feel like you’ve been duped?
legislate dissent as crime
permanent global summertime

death knell, rotten smell
whole damn planet gone to hell
the great machine on its knees
caught a terminal disease
empty spin, taken in
hair shirt dragged through the dirt
non-stop grid-lock
shareholders in the dock

carbon trading, power saving
unreality all pervading
monopoly, tautology
everything is greek to me
calamities, fatalities
hidden externalities
deunioni$ed, brutali$ed
brainwashed, airbrushed, neutrali$ed
corporatocra$y

everthing's for sale
everyone's available
every place the same
everywhere the corporation reign$

'MUMMY BUYED IT FOR ME'

...so said hannah today...
having read the theory
(skinner, chomsky, krashen, donaldson et al)
its fasinating to observe our own little one
taking her first linguistic steps
hannah has never heard anyone say 'buyed it' of course
but she's learnt that when we talk about the past
we often stick a 'd' sound on the end of a verb
like 'play' changes to 'played'
so the clever little thing's applying the same rule
another great example:
hannah talking about an empty glass of orange juice
on the kitchen table
'I had no all,' says hannah
she means 'I didn't drink it all, (daddy finished it off)'
but i much prefer hannah's version!

THE TIPPING POINT

lessons learnt from rereading The TP...

1) focus your resources on the connectors, mavens, and salesmen
2) focus on the stickiness of the message
3) consider your context carefully
4) test your intuitions
5) keep believing that real change is possible