From the same Canadian guitarist who recorded the video I posted on Canada Day, here's a tribute to his American friends:




One of the things I've noticed for a long time, now, is how the lyrics to so many national anthems have militaristic themes. Is it really necessary to perpetuate the cultural meme that MILITARISM = FREEDOM? Isn't there more to my country, or to anyone else's country, than the fact that they have gone to war? Do we really want to celebrate war and militarism, first and foremost? Can't my pride in my country have to do with appreciating its culture and people and landscapes and other good stuffs? As long as we continue to mythologize war and militarism as "the price of freedom," will we ever be motivated to conceptualize a NON-militaristic way to create freedom and the other good stuffs of life?

In short, I want to celebrate my country without celebrating militarism.

Yes, my country--probably all countries--was founded with militarism, but it was also founded with slavery and indentured servitude and the establishment of only land-owning white males as citizens. And I don't want to celebrate those things, either.

On the positive side, my national anthem started out as a drinking song. ;-) Maybe we could revive the old lyrics and sing those, instead, for our revelries. Certainly the conflation of modern July 4th celebrations with drinking isn't far from the mark.

(ETA: Here are the original lyrics to said drinking tune. They sound rather Midsummer-ish, if you ask me. ;-))

Meanwhile, the really important thing about today is: MY SON WILL BE HOME!!!

My Son, a.k.a. The One True Coconut, will be flying into Minneapolis this afternoon for a week's visit. I'm looking forward to spending the 4th with him, and to seeing him at least a time or two more during the week. Our plans, as of this writing, are to get together with my youngest sister and Spammy (and maybe a few others) and go hang out at Powderhorn Park for our picnic and then watch the fireworks as soon as the sun sets. At any rate, we'll be hanging out somewhere eating food and watching fireworks.

Happy Fourth of July to my fellow Americans, and happy weekend to all the rest of you!

Today is Canada Day. This was brought to my attention on a Susan Boyle discussion board. No, Susan Boyle is not Canadian, but the fan who posted Canada Day greetings on that board is. She posted a video, which led me to YouTube and lots of click-throughs on different versions of "O Canada," the Canadian national anthem. O YouTube, great waster of my time...

As I was listening to all of those renditions of "O Canada," it struck me: I've lived all my life within a day's drive of our neighboring country to the north, and I know next to nothing about that country. A few random factoids and pop cultural trivia bits, sure. I've even been to Canada a few times, briefly. But what do I really know about Canada? About its culture, its history, its people, about what it means to BE Canadian?

Oh, hell, I'm still working on what it means to be American.

Anyway, it got me to thinking what a damned shame it is that Americans are so insular that we can't be bothered to incorporate in-depth study of at least the two countries that share the same continent with us into our basic education. Am I seeking greater depth and wisdom and growth in International Understanding, or am I just looking for an excuse for an extended road trip?

Because, folks, whatever else Canada may be, it is definitely scenic.

So to any Canadians who happen upon this page, Happy Canada Day.



Eh. ;-)

O.K. 'Fess up. How many of us women who were teenagers in the mid-to-late 1970s had a version of the "Farrah flip" hairdo at some point during those years?

Yep.

I don't have a heck of a lot to say. I've never been particularly fangirlish about Farrah; in fact, one of the strongest memories I associate with her is a girl in my freshman gym class who used to make fun of me and call me "Farrah." For the life of me, I can't remember why; still less can I remember why the hell it bothered me so much. Probably because I thought she was making fun of my appearance, implying that I was anything but an icon of beauty.

Farrah was apparently this young woman's icon of beauty, because she had long blonde hair, done in layers of the classic "flip," and used to wear a lot of makeup. My late grandfather saw her picture in my freshman yearbook and said, "Oh, my, she's... precocious." Which was apparently euphemistic for saying her makeup was sorta kinda age-inappropriate. Looking back from the standpoint of being 45, I wonder if there were things in her life that weren't so awful good, as we'd say here in Minnesota, things that led to the "precociousness" and the petty bullying. But at the time, being all of 14, all I knew was that she was mean to me.

Anyway, one day in gym class I finally had enough. I wanted to use a weight bench that she was sitting on, idly chit-chatting with a friend of hers. I asked several times, she rebuffed me in a snotty way, and the next thing I knew I was hauling off and slapping her across the face. Hard.

Now we see the violence inherent in the system.

Of course it wasn't the right way to handle the situation. Yet, mixed messages: The teacher separated us, pulling me aside, and muttered in my ear, "Good for you." I don't think she was advocating hitting people, just reinforcing that it was O.K. to stand up for myself, and that maybe I ought to try it more often. I'm still working on it, thirty years later, sans the slapping. ;-)

So, about Farrah.

Here's what I posted as a comment on a post in another LJ, re: wanting to hear something besides nonstop coverage about Michael Jackson's death:

Yes. I myself was more stricken by the death of Farrah Fawcett. Odd, considering her initial image was that of the Pretty Blonde Airhead, but she went on to do some pretty respectable work, much of it drawing attention to issues about the abuse of women; and she seems to have been a very good and caring person, according to those who knew her personally. Mainly, I was just deeply saddened that she lost her life so soon to the cancer she was struggling to heal from.

And I'm also saddened that Ryan O'Neal has to live with the grief of losing her, especially before they could go through with the marriage ceremony they decided they wanted to do before she died. But you know what? When two people have been together that long, I think their lives and spirits are entwined in a way that is, itself, the very definition of what it means to make a marriage. Better to have successfully married their lives, with or without the formal ceremony, than to have had the ceremony without the marriage.

Oh... and has anybody taken the time to note the passing of Ed McMahon? Yeah, it seemed like so much of the guy's life was sitting by Johnny Carson's side and chuckling, "Huh, huh, huh," heartily and resonantly, but he did it so well. ;-) Another icon, of a different sort. Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon were definitely from an Older School of humor, but they were part of my childhood. And with all due respect to the memory of Michael Jackson, Ed McMahon deserves to have his passing noted, as well.

Woohoo! I made it onto the list of 30 people who get to be Brief Fics Showcase authors for severus_shorts, a short-fic festival celebrating Severus Snape's 50th birthday in January 2010. I probably shouldn't be so excited, because I also signed up to write three fics for severusbigbang, another 50th-birthday celebration for Severus Snape, but all of the above fics are already in progress, so as long as everyone I know and love manages to stay alive till the fic submission deadlines *crosses fingers* I should have them all written by the end of this summer.

The Severus' Shorts festival asks that we use a beta reader. I don't usually use a beta reader, and I think I could get by with listing myself ;-), but I thought I'd see if anyone on my f-list is willing to do the honors. Since I'm used to editing my own work, all you'd really have to do is read it, alert me to any typos or obvious gaffes, and say, yep, I read it. (Of course any more detailed critique you wish to provide is welcome, as your schedule permits.) The bonus is that you, the beta, will get an exclusive preview of my story for the fest! Wooooo... how can you refuse? :-D But you also have to keep your squeeing (or OMG barfing) to yourself, because what I'm writing, right down to genre and any pairing(s), if applicable, is to be kept secret till the author-reveal after the fest.

I don't think the Big Bang Birthday Bash is being quite so super-sekrit, but it's still not going to reveal authors till after the fest, so I probably won't be talking about those fics, either, except to say I'm writing them. I don't need betas for those, but hey, if anyone wants a sneak peek, feel free to volunteer and I'll credit you as my beta. ;-)

Since I have to keep it all secret, I can't tell you any details about what you will be reading, but anyone who knows me and my fiction knows I lead a PG-13 kind of life, pretty much squick-free. Nothing yucky, but there may be angst, and most likely humor.

Interested? Reply in the comments, via PM, or send me an e-mail at bohemianspiritmn AT yahoo DOT com (or at my "other" address if you have it already).

* * *

Other stuff I'm working on: Ned, of course, slowly but surely. I'm thinking of bringing this to Writercon as my workshop material. And still trying to make time to give the final spit-and-polish to the long-overdue next chapter of Severus Evans, Year One. And one of these days soon I'll be writing a first post for my Inward Focus blog over on Dreamwidth.

Speaking of Dreamwidth: I HAVE DREAMWIDTH CODES, if anybody wants one or more.

Finally... Just to make sure nobody missed this awesome video, I'm posting it again. It's called "The Gift of Metta: Loving Kindness." Beautiful and relaxing music and visuals, based on the Buddhist Metta chant:




Have a good weekend, everyone. ;-)

I realized it's been a while since I posted--been too busy working on fanfic and original writing, I am up to my ears in projects for Severus Snape Birthday Fests, of which it appears there shall be many. So, rather than force myself to generate content that just isn't generating, I'll post a link to an awesome, mellow, inspiring video. I keep replaying this one while I'm surfing and writing. ;-)



Hope you all enjoy it.

I spent the whole day hanging out with fellow Susan Boyle fans on the fan site and on chat, watching the final round of Britain's Got Talent. Here are the comments I posted on the blog on the fan site after the votes were all in:

Susan gave a beautiful, nuanced, professional performance tonight. Very heartfelt, especially on the "tigers come at night" bridge and on "so different from this hell I'm living." I was worried because she looked very nervous and drained, like she was just trying to get through the event without collapsing--and yet she gave a brilliant performance, anyway.



When the time came to announce the winner, I honestly thought Susan was going to throw up from the tension. But as soon as Diversity was announced the winner, suddenly the strain fell away, and she was our old radiant Susan once again. And it struck me that, for all that some would count second place as "losing," Susan looked RELIEVED. I think she was hoping, not to take first place, but to be relieved of the obligations to BGT that being a first-place winner would place upon her.

Make no mistake: She loves to sing, even now. It's not singing she's rejecting. Rather, she's realized, in these short seven weeks, that her true dream is not to be a "celebrity" for Britain's Got Talent but to be a professional singer. She doesn't belong in that circus sideshow; she belongs on the stage, doing serious singing--with a little kick of fun, now and then. Did you note how she broke into a wild and energetic dance at the end of the show? SHE LOOKED HAPPY. And I really think that her gracious words about the better act winning first place could be translated, not as a gracious cover for disappointment, but as a gracious cover for relief. She looked as if she were thinking: OH THANK GOD.

So maybe our prayers worked, after all, for the highest good as far as Susan is concerned.

Susan's talent has been made known. She has a substantial following waiting to buy her albums and see her in concert. Let us pray, now, that she can develop and pursue her singing career ON HER OWN TERMS.

More pictures of my niece, Spammy! These were taken by her mother, my youngest sister, with a proper digital camera, so they are of a much better quality than the ones I took with my cell phone.

( Spammy spampics behind the cut... )

There are more Spammy spampics in the gallery, which I will post separately sometime in the next week.

Meanwhile, I've been spending a lot of time hanging out on the Susan Boyle fan site and hoping like hell she wins the competition on Saturday. Win or lose, she's got a beautiful voice and a hell of a lot of people who will be waiting to buy her first CD. And while it's probably not true that she told the reporters to "fuck off," I rather wish it were. ;-) It would only increase my admiration of her.

O.K. She's on to the finals, now...




Considering the ridiculously high expectations leading up to tonight's semi-final performance, I thought the slight pinch of nerves in the first few notes was nothing. Some people have suggested it was part of her interpretation of the song and character, but I know vocal nerves when I see and hear them. ;-) Anyway, she quickly relaxed and got into stride, leading to a magnificent finale.

I think the lyrics, especially, so perfectly and poignantly fit where she is as of this singing.

And I do hope she will release a performance of the full song, free of the pressures of a competition performance. Compared to what she's been hit with these past few weeks, if she can overcome that pressure and level of expectation, she's got nowhere to go but up. GO, SUSAN!

O.K. Here they are, a selection of pictures of my niece who was born at the beginning of January. All of them taken with my rather old cell phone, so image quality varies. Lots of pictures behind the cut; if you're on a slow connection, you might prefer to go to my LJ gallery for my niece and view them one at a time. Everyone else, just have a look behind the cut...

( Introducing Fernanda, the Queen of Spam! )

In other news, I still have some Dreamwidth codes available, if anyone wants or needs one or two.

I also registered for Writercon 2009. Since I wasn't able to afford Azkatraz in San Francisco, as I'd originally hoped before all hell broke loose last fall, Writercon proved to be a nice consolation prize. It's a multifandom convention oriented specifically towards writing, both fanfic and original, so it may actually prove to be a better fit for me, since my main interest in HP/Snape fandom is writing and character analysis, not so much in other fannishness like dressing up in costumes and stuff. Which is no guarantee, of course, that there won't be people in fannish costumes at Writercon... especially with the new Star Trek movie out.

Speaking of which, I'm not a Trekkie by any means, but I do have a childhood nostalgia for Star Trek: TOS and may end up going to see the current movie just because of the nostalgia factor. That, and everyone's saying it's pretty good, though probably not "good" in the way that Milk or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (I keep wanting to say "Benjamin Britten") are considered "good." ;-)

Speaking of which, I highly, highly recommend Milk. Sean Penn really excels in this one. Also (geek alert) for some reason the way his appearance was done up in this film made me think he'd make an excellent book-canon Severus Snape, if he is capable of getting the accent right.

Seems I can't post anything without Severus Snape walking into it at some point. :-D

If anybody needs an invite code to open a free account at Dreamwidth (whether to mirror your LJ or IJ or to create something altogether new) I have six invite codes available. Just comment on this post and let me know, and I'll e-mail you or PM you with a code.

By the way, that's my niece Spammy in the icon. She was almost three months old when that picture was taken. One of these days soon I will post some Spammy spampics, so you can all behold her cuteness. ;-) Squishy baby cheeks are... squishy!

I love Grocery Store Magazines. Yes, indeedy, I do.

So. I'm at work last night, and a headline on one of those cheesy, tabloid-like "women's" magazines catches my eye: A Cure for JIGGLY FAT!

Jiggly Fat.

I never even knew it existed, still less was a disease in need of a cure.

Then again, this is one of those magazines in which every issue features both a Radical New Diet Guaranteed to Drop Tons of Pounds in Hardly Any Time At All AND a Make This Triple-Bypass Chocolate Cake! type of recipe.

I am woman. I am not stupid.

I can't even ROAR about this one, it's so stupid.

Meh.

Best part, though, was the woman who came through my line near the end of my shift and said, "Jiggly Fat?" I laughed and told her Great Minds Think Alike. We must've spent five minutes riffing on the stupidity of Jiggly Fat, the Next Great Threat To Public Health. Move on over, swine flu!

I got a chance to obtain an invite code to create a journal at Dreamwidth, so I decided to check it out. For some months, now, I've been toying with the idea of creating a blog called "Inward Focus," in which I would write about introversion, solitude, the inner life, as it relates to life, work, and spirituality. I get tired of reminding people that introversion is not a social disease, personal defect, or a sign that I must be autistic.

(Yes, that last one was once lobbed at me for real. Enjoying extended blocks of solitude + getting really wrapped up in my thoughts when thinking deeply about something + not always picking up on cultural-social cues = autism and/or being on the autistic spectrum. These traits apparently have nothing to do with contemplation, concentration, or the fact that we tend to excel at where we place our primary attention, and vice versa. If certain traits identified with autism resemble traits identified with introversion, then introversion must be a form of autism, Q.E.D. :-P I swear that if you ask some people what their concept of healthy introversion is, they would answer that there's no such thing.)

Rather than ram my head into a brick wall, I have joined the herd of sheep and flocked over to Dreamwidth as user inwardfocus. The blog/journal/whatever is likewise entitled Inward Focus. Thus far all I've posted is a set of three dreamsheep icons adorned with spiritual symbols and captioned with really bad puns. Real, substantive content is in development; ideally, I hope to post about once a week or so, with something constructive and inspiring and thought-provoking and insightful and all that good stuff.

Meanwhile, my bohemianspirit LJ will continue to be what it always has been: a random rambling through whatever the heck is drifting through my mind on a given day. And I suppose that hodgepodgey nature is a theme unto itself. ;-) I wouldn't change a thing.

As Mr. Rogers always said: I like me just the way I am. ;-)

Put down your drink before you click "play."



This is so utterly ridiculous. I can't stop laughing. Any concerned cat lovers in the audience should rest assured that Susan Boyle undoubtedly continues to take very good care of her cat, and leave it in good hands when she's away from home.

Yes, it's a Susan Boyle macro.



I just loved this picture when it was released a few days ago. Idiots notwithstanding, a haircut and color and a bit of tweezing of the eyebrows does not constitute a Radical Makeover. But I must say Susan is looking mighty confident, here, like she knows damn well what she's doing so back the hell off and don't mess with her.

Right on, Susan. :-D

So of course I had to turn it into a macro.

Whatever happens with the competition on Britain's Got Talent, I think she's gonna do just fine.

ETA: From Piers Morgan's blog on the official BGT site, April 26:

The Boyle phenomenon has got so insane, I’ve got a horrible feeling that when I die, the headlines are now going to read: 'JUDGE IN SUSAN BOYLE VIDEO DIES.'

LMAO.

Written for the Snapedom April 2009 challenge, "Severus as a Squib." This essay plays a bit fast and loose with the topic, but it also features a classic Elton John song, so dive right in...

My Inner Mushball really digs this.



Sort of fits the whole Susan Boyle theme going this week. Hell, it fits all of us, at some time or another. Sit back, breathe deeply, and be at peace.

Hahaha! I wasn't sure how well this quiz would work, given that some people on my f-lists (here and on IJ) were saying their results didn't seem to fit them, but in my case, at least, it nailed it to a T:

Your Word is "Why"

You see life as complicated and intriguing. The only thing you know for sure is that you haven't figured it all out yet. You question everything and believe very little. And whatever you believe is likely to change. You are interested in theories, philosophies, and religions... even if you don't buy into any of them. You are also fascinated by how things work. You'd like to understand as much in the world as possible.

Which reminds me, I still need to make a "Question Everything" icon. ;-)

Hi, I have the day off work today, so guess what I did? I created a playlist on my YouTube channel:

Susan Boyle Brought Me Here!

-- a collection of different performances and interpretations of "I Dreamed a Dream," a song brought recently into renaissance by Scotland's Susan Boyle. Check out my playlist, and check out my channel; the wallpaper is awesome. ;-)

I'm also working on some other playlists, because at some point you might want to listen to something besides "I Dreamed a Dream." Have fun.

See icon.

Seriously. Go to YouTube, do a search on "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables, and start viewing different singers' renditions of it, and behold chain upon chain of "Susan Boyle brought me here from Mytown, Mycountry" in the comments. So stupid, but it made me laugh. And I just had to make an icon in testimony to the newfound Power of Susan Boyle.

I figure it also makes a good tribute to the woman, herself. ;-)

P.S. - As always with my icons, feel free to copy and use it yourself if you so desire. Crediting me in the icon comments is always appreciated!

So, is there anybody reading my journal who hasn't yet viewed and heard Susan Boyle's triumphant performance on Britain's Got Talent?

Grab a few tissues, or a hankie, or the hem of your shirt, and click on the link:

Susan Boyle sings I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables.

Here's to dreams that refuse to die. Brava, Susan. Brava.