WURD IZ: 2009

Sunday

Thematic Photographic 81 - Feet

[click to enlarge]
{My Feet with Cons by O'Dasor De, LAM}

prompted by
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Thematic Photographic 81 - Feet

we'd been wearing Chucks since we were kids.

you know how kids are, they bind their identity
to their fashion.

in this vein,
if you were from Brooklyn or, heaven forbid,
from Queens, you wore PF Fliers.
the Bronx denizens wore Pro Keds,
Manhattan was the land of Converse's Chuck Taylors;
and we didn't know anyone who actually lived on
Staten Island. (for that matter,
wazzat Staten Island?)

what one wore on one's feet determined
where one had safe passage, and where
one would get his ass handed to him on
a platter. {pretty much the way colors function
now}

as time passed, we grew up,
and athletic shoes came into
their own following the Great Transit Strike
in the early eighties {a story for another
day.}, and prices went to unaffordable.

we continued to wear our Chucks.
they were the cheapest, American, union-made
sneakers out there and we loved.

then Nike bought-out Converse and
now they're made in China by virgins
(child labor). and they're not so cheap.

hipsters, being kids, have come back to
Converse (and Pabst Blue Ribbon) as badges
of anti-consumerism. (ironic).

yet, the Boat-Rockers have drifted over to
New Balance because they are STILL union-made,
and the only American-made sneaker on the market.
{made in canada and England as well}

us? well, it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks,
so, we've continued the habit of wearing Chucky's.

..
.ero

go and check out more
Thematic Photographic images at the Written Inc Site!

..
.

Thursday

The Soccer Mom Files

this one rox!

check it out. :-)

.ero

The Soccer Mom Files:

"Caption This, Christmas Edition
Merry Christmas to all! May the spirit of the season be with everyone!"

Friday

Weekend Wordsmith 129. Knead

Weekend Wordsmith:
"Friday, December 4, 2009
129. Knead"

I wish I could touch you inside,
somewhere where you remember me,
somewhere,
where you and I are the same....

That time is gone, isn't it?
How do you make oxtail stew?

I see your recognition.
You see that I need you.
You’re grateful. I can tell.
You’re proud. You need me too.

But it’s late for that.
Isn’t it?
How do I do? How do I say?
What can I do? I went away.
I still love you.
Though, . . . goodbye.

..
.ero

Monday

Wordless Wednesday

prompted by

Wordless Wednesday:
"November 16th, 2009
Monday edition."

Saturday

Random Tuesday Thoughts

random thoughts by ~ansarwasif

prompted by
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2009
Random Tuesday Thoughts
at the Un Mom blog

okay, so how does this work?

my first Random Tuesday Thoughts.

hmmmmmmm

i'm supposed to be working on something else
but i'm doing this instead,
and its not even Tuesday.

wanna watch the first season of Allie McBeal . . .

rather have some grilled chicken, but
since its already kinda late gonna
have to settle for cheerios

then theres L,
we have a party next week and she's gonna be there.

she's way too young for me,
not that i mind so much
its just that she has the IQ of a gnat
and the maturity of a fifteen year old.

but boy! she'll never drown that's for sure, so okay
one more time, just one and i'll make it last.

and tomorrow i gotta touch base with the family,
early in the morning cause chores beckon.

o'course then i'll practice for my presentation,
and email the ladies who probably
think that i'm not ready for monday and they'd be right.

so there, random enough?

..
.ero

Thematic Photographic 74 - Red

prompted by

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Thematic Photographic 74 - Red

[click to enlarge]
{RED CRANE by O'Dasor De, LAM}

this red thing is a crane working at The Pit (aka Ground Zero)
where something called "FreedomTowers" has been under
construction, at cost overruns, for close to a decade.

when completed, if ever,
it will stand as a testament to the Private Sectors'
ability to do things more efficiently, and more cheaply,
than Government by the People, of the People, and for the People.

so far, we are awed by the power of the "Invi$ible Hand"
of the Market Place to make profit out of disaster.

Go and check out more
Thematic Photographic images at the Written Inc Site!
..
.O'Dasor De
..
.ero
..

.

Thursday

Thematic Photographic 74 - Red

prompted by
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Thematic Photographic 74 - Red

there it was.
not a half block away from Ground Zero;
just laying on the sidewalk and it reads . . . NO STANDING.

what else could we do?
we snapped a picture, then two.

wouldn't you?

Go and check out more
Thematic Photographic images at the Written inc. site

Sunday

helping people came naturally

Image via Wikipedia

"Since I had the inclinatation and the training, helping people came naturally. I wasn't thinking in terms of organizing members, but just a duty that I had to do. That goes back to my mother's training. It was not until later that I realized that this was a good organizing tool, although maybe unconsciously, I was already beggining to understand.

But I was used by people for a long time until I wised up. It wasn't that they wanted to do it, but that I was not prepared or able to tell them what to do in return. My work was just another war on poverty gimick, which is what happens when people are given everything and don't give anything in return. you can't mold them into any action.

Well, one night it just hit me. Once you helped people, most became very loyal. The people who helped us back when we wanted volunteers were the people we had helped. So I began to get a group of those people around me.

Once I realized helping people was an organizing technique, I increased that work. I was willing to work all day and night and go to hell and back for people- provided they also did something for the CSO in return. I never felt bad asking for that. It didn't contradict my parents' teachings, because I wasn't asking for something for myself.

For a long time we didn't know how to put that work together into an organization. But we learned after a while- we learned how to help people by making them responsible. Today it's the same principle with the Union. And it works. We don't get everybody, but we get enough to get that nucleus. I think solving problems for people is the only way to build solid groups."
— Cesar Chavez

Monday

PIRATE SKULL

prompted by Skull-a-Day
..

image by O'Dasor De;

for more images see:

.sun-n-steeple

Friday

The One-Minute Writer: Friday Fiction: Wedding

[click to enlarge]
   {WEDDING by O'Dasor De, LAM}

prompted by The One-Minute Writer
   Friday, October 9, 2009
Friday Fiction: Wedding
   Write a brief bit of fiction, with a wedding as the setting.

===================================================

he removes the noose from around his neck and breathes.

its a rental, he thinks, not even my own.

she's perfect, there's nothing amiss.

he's rich, handsome, successful, where's the chink?

where'd he come from?

he slips off his shoes . . . and sighs.

..
.O'Dasor De
..
.ero
..
.

Wednesday

Thematic Photographic 68: Temporary

[click to enlarge]
{images by O'Dasor De, LAM}

prompted by
Thematic Photographic images at the Written Inc Site!

*{note: as we prepared this posting, we checked back to the Written, Inc. blog
and read todays post where Carmi announces that his Dad passed away last

night. our heartfelt sympathy goes out to him and his family.}* :-(

Thematic Photographic 68: Temporary

we had the chance to visit Coney Island last weekend. we had our Mom with us and she was having a grand ole time enjoying the sparsely peopled beach when her incontinence kicked in.

we rushed up to the boardwalk and ran into a bar (the legendary Rudy's) to use the restroom.

waiting for Mom as she did her thing, we grabbed a brew and a barstool.

at Rudy's the walls are completely covered with pictures of old Coney Island, both the glory days as America's Playground, and the blighted 1970's landscape of THE WARRIORS fame.

"warriors, come out and play-yay . . ."

{never mind}

mixed in with these images are photos of customers and barkeeps thoughout decades of summers and Polar Bear winters. very nostalgic, especially when we realize that we recognize so many of the faces.

anyhoo, suddenly we felt such a wash-over of warmth as we flashed back to a day when we were about five years old, and we sat high up on a bar-stool next to our Dad at this very same bar.

our feet couldn't reach the floor which we remember as covered in sawdust.

and behind the bar is a face that is in so many of the pictures on today's wall. the face of the Old Man - "Mr. Rudy's" himself who tended bar forever until a couple of years ago when he passed on.

at the corner of the bar stand the "regulars" buff and tan, perpetual beach drinkers,

and on the stool next to us is our Dad laughing and story-telling about how we won the race on the Steeplechase ponies . . . .

the flashback lasts a couple of seconds then . . .

then Mom returns from the restroom,

and the old man is gone, and the bar is full of yuppies, and hipsters and tourists,

and the sawdust is gone, and the pictures are yellowed

and my Dad is gone and Steeplechse is gone and no one jumps to their death on the parachute ride anymore,

and the CYCLONE needs paint,
the WONDER WHEEL is still,

and condos are going up and its time to go home . . .

wherever that is.

..
.ero
..
.

Pictures, Poetry & Prose: SecretDoor

prompted by
Pictures, Poetry & Prose
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Secret Door

[click to enlarge]
{images by O'Dasor De, LAM}

go?
not yet.
not done,
not now. . . . go to hell!

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Now playing: Chino Espinoza y Los Dueños Del Son - Secreto Escondido
via FoxyTunes

Tuesday

happy birthday, C.Beth!

[click to enlarge]
{images by glassaple}

prompted by The One-Minute Writer

happy birthday, C.Beth!

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Today's Writing Prompt: Party!
It's C. Beth's birthday! Let's have a virtual One-Minute Writer party. What will you bring to the party?

bARE-eYED sUN said...

a lifetime supply of daily prompts and responses published as an international best-seller that makes you a household name.

;-)

..
.ero

September 1, 2009 5:36 AM

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Now playing: The Beatles - Birthday
via FoxyTunes

Monday

The One Minute Writer: Smart

[click to enlarge]

{images by O'Dasor De, LAM}

.Prompted by The One Minute Writer
MONDAY, AUGUST 24, 2009

Today's Writing Prompt: Smart
In what area do you wish you had more natural intelligence?

bARE-eYED sUN said...
we'd like to increase two areas:

short-term memory and body awareness.

as we've aged our short-term memory has . . .er. . .uhm . . . uh . . . what were we saying?

.O'Dasor De
..
.ero
..
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Wednesday

One-Minute Writer: Moon

[click to enlarge]

{image by O'Dasor De, LAM}

prompted by The One-Minute Writer

Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Today's Writing Prompt: Moon
If you'd been the first human to step foot on the moon, what would you have said, for the world to hear?

answer:
okay! . . . can we go home now?

O'Dasor De
..
.ero
..
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Now playing: Tony Bennett - Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words)
via FoxyTunes

Saturday

you say hello, i say goodbye

image by ldinami7e
[aka Leandro Lamezi]

Friends,

we'll certainly take the time to visit our favorite blogs,
{and you know who you are}

but, we'll post infrequently (very infrequently)
between now and September.

we embark on a much deserved summer holiday.

as the song says, see you in September.

hugz-n-kissez from the Big Apple. :-)

..
.ero

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Now playing: Jimmy Durante - I'll Be Seeing You
via FoxyTunes

Saturday Surprise: U.S. Male 2009

[click to enlarge]
{U.S. Male 2009
by O'Dasor De, LAM}

Saturday Surprise
SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 2009

THEME: MALE

.ero
..
.xiombix
..
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Now playing: Elvis Presley - U.S. Male
via FoxyTunes

Sunday

It's About Who Gets to Choose.

prompted by
The One-Minute Writer

SUNDAY, JUNE 7, 2009
Today's Writing Prompt: Lobby
Imagine you are becoming a lobbyist for the national legislature (such as the U.S. Congress.) What issue will you be fighting for?

we would love to lobby congress for the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) (H.R. 1409, S. 560)

as it stands now the employer decides whether to accept a card-check process or hold an election.

this act transfers that decision to the employee. the employees would decide to have an election if 30% petition for it, or the employees may press for recognition through a majority card-check.

the decision to unionize or not, shouldn't be the employers, it should be the worker's decision.
.
.O'Dasor De
..
.ero
..
.

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Now playing: Ann Feeney - War on the Workers
via FoxyTunes

Friday

our teacher gave us two books

prompted by

the blog: THERE IS A LIFE I WILL TOUCH TODAY

FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 2009

Q of the day

As a child,

what was your favorite book?

Have you reread that book since your childhood?

when we left kindergarten, on the last day of class,

after saying our goodbyes, our teacher gave us two books,

a Lassie book, and a Roy Rogers, Cowboy book.

these were largely picture books,

and we don't remember her giving any of the other children books.

so, we presume that there was something about us

that prompted her to give us these books.

whatever it was, these were the first books we remember owning,

and we KNOW that we reread the Roy Rogers book,

which had more prose and less pictures.

again when we were about twelve years old,

and in bed sick and unable to attend school.

we DO remember thinking at this point,

how much fun it was to read,

and how we wanted to read more books.

funny.

we don't remember the teacher's name,

we barely remember what she looked like,

but we've always remembered her giving us those books

back when we were five or six years old.

we're in our late fifties now. and . . . we LOVE to read.

.O'Dasor De

.ero

Thursday

Visual Response to Question of the Day for May 28, 2009

image by ~uffaaah
{aka kià.}

our visual response
prompted by
Question of the Day
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Vowels Removed

A well known phrase has had all its vowels removed and has been split into groups of three letters. What is the phrase?

HRT DYG NTM RRW
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.ero
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Now playing: The Ramones - Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
via FoxyTunes

Monday

Today's Writing Prompt: Memorial: Corporal Pat Tillman

Corporal Pat Tillman,
(November 6, 1976 San Jose, California
– April 22, 2004 Sperah, Afghanistan )

thank you for putting aside your personal beliefs,
and then heeding the call of your country;
this is the highest order of hero.
may the details of your passing reach the light of day.
.
..
.ero
..
.
prompted by
The One Minute Writer
MONDAY, MAY 25, 2009

Today's Writing Prompt: Memorial
Write a thank you note or tribute to someone who lost his/her life in an heroic way.

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Now playing: Wiener Philharmoniker - Symphony No.41 "Jupiter" - IV Finale: Molto allegro
via FoxyTunes

Saturday

Spoonful o' Jimbo

inspired by
PAINTBOX PICTURES

[click to enlarge]
{Spoonful o' Jimbo
by O'Dasor De, LAM}

we arrived at the top picture by applying the following tools from a free version of PHOTOSCAPE.

-Distort; using motion blur
-Bloom: high
-Clolorize: high
-Sharpen: 13

these tools/filters were applied to the photo on the bottom. {special thanks to Boat-Rocker Jimbo who has his grand-kids doing the spoon/eye trick at restaurants to the dismay of the Missus.

.
..
.ero
..
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Now playing: Beat Positive - If I Could Be Anyone
via FoxyTunes

Sunday

Thematic Photographic 49 - Human: Fresh Direct

[click to enlarge]
{Fresh Direct by O'Dasor De, LAM}

following an era of unrestricted greed,
the aftermath is always HUMAN

prompted by
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Thematic Photographic 49 - Human

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.ero
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Now playing: Herbie Hancock - Don't Explain (feat. Damien Rice & Lisa Hannigan)
via FoxyTunes

Wednesday

The One-Minute Writer: Earth

[click to enlarge]
{EARTH by O'Dasor De, LAM}

The premise is flawed. Earth's environment does not "suffer" because of Human interaction with it. "Suffering" requires cognizance. What does suffer is the Earth’s capacity to sustain life as we know it. Life, however, is highly adaptable and Nature abhors a void.

It is likely that Life (in general) will adapt and survive on Earth, with or without, human intervention.

Mankind, however, if it is to survive must take action to curtail damage to the environment which WE require to survive.

Ironically, while the Earth may be indifferent to human existence, Humanity would be better off if humans (as we know them) had never appeared. . . . heh, heh. ;-)
..
.prompted by The One-Minute Writer
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Today's Writing Prompt: Earth
The environment suffers due to humanity's actions. Would Earth be better off had humans never appeared?
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.ero
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Now playing: Aretha Franklin - This Bitter Earth
via FoxyTunes

Monday

Meme Express: Give Me Just a Little More Time

[click to enlarge]
{image by O'Dasor De, LAM}

Trapped Inside Many Eternities,
Every Man Invokes Temperance.
by O'Dasor De, LAM

This is the four-faceted post clock installed
at Millenium Park (near City Hall) as a tribute
to David Rockefeller and his contributions
to the city of New York.

{that tall building in the background (farthest in pic)

is the gorgeous, Art Decorated, Woolworth Building}

if you're curious about Street Clocks of New York go see

It's About Time; an excellent blog by author Emily Stern.

It's About Time is now defunct having accomplished

its task of cataloging the clocks of Manhattan,

however its archives are still replete

with excellent pictures and information.

===========================

Give Me Just a Little More Time

Prompted by

All Aboard the Meme Express

– Monday, May 11, 2009

===========================

Saturday

Uncle A.

Uncle A.
Memory.

A cartoonish dream.

Scared,
Frightened and crying!

Uncle A. would visit quite often.
"Your blessing Uncle A."

Uncle A stares with frightening, angry eyes . . .

..
.ero
..
.
inspired by
The One-Minute Writer

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Now playing: Ferenc Fricsay, Yehudi Menuhin, Berliner Philarmoniker, Orchestra Sinfonica Della Rias Di Berlino - Concerto Per Violino e Orchestra In Re Maggiore, Op. 35: I. Allegro Moderato (Ciaikovsky)
via FoxyTunes

Friday

SkyWatch Friday No. 43: Archway View of Ground Zero Cranes

[click to enlarge]
{image by O'Dasor De, LAM}

140 West Street in keeping with its Art Deco styling, the building has a archway along its southside (Vesey Street) that is replete with decorative motifs on the walls and ceiling.

this Vesey Street Archway separates the building from the Ground Zero Reconstruction site.

this is a view of cranes working at the sight as viewed through an arch (note the decorations).
.
..
.ero
..
.Go and check out more
Skywatch images at the Skywatch Site!

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Now playing: The Bangles - Watching The Sky
via FoxyTunes

Wednesday

Antara

well, we're running a bit late on the Thematic Photographic 47 - Musical

but we're hoping to add this tidbit just under the wire. :-)

these shots are of a Busker who plays regularly, weather permitting, on the corner of Broadway right next to City Hall, in New york City. he accepts donations and has CDs of his music for sale.

his music, as we can see, is played on an Antara , or Andean Pan Flute which originates from Peru. The antara is also known as a Siku, Panflute, or Panpipe. Siku is a term used so much in Quechuan as in Aymara used by the peoples of the Plateau of the Collao (P.e. Qcollas and Huancanés).

we've not spoken to the gentleman but he certainly displays Amerind features.

Buskers are popular in NY especially in the warmer months; there are a few Pan Flute players all around sometimes playing in groups of three or more.

during the colder months they play underground in the subway stations where the acoustics transport the listener to the Andes where the sounds of the Siku echo among the snow-capped mountains and verdant valleys.

thanks for stopping by. :-)

.ero