Save Our VA Tucson Protest 6/5/26

Two of us anchored the picket line at the Ajo gate of the Tucson VA from 6:30-8:15am for the morning shift-change.

Responses were a little less than in previous weeks... Perhaps we're all becoming resigned to the chaos of our daily incomprehensible information flow...

There were a couple of definite negatives... from a bouncing thumb down to a 'no' head shake and an older guy in a newer white pickup truck, yelling at us as he turned down Ajo away from us, 'It's all your fault, you communist m.....f.....s'.  Probably NOT a real cowboy or farmer... the truck looked 'pristine'... not used for any kind of real work... IMHO...; -)

Yes, we still had plenty of positive responses, and many pretended not to see us, too tired to respond, or just plain resigned...

New Photo - Sunset From One Of Tucson's Southern Barrios

Sunset From The Barrio In Southern Tucson

Sunset From The Barrio In Southern Tucson

Sunset From The Barrio In Southern Tucson

Dusk From The Barrio In Southern Tucson

Remember, Remember, The Fifth of November...

 A Tribute to the graphic novel and movie, V for Vendetta...

Opening lines: Remember, remember, the Fifth of November, the Gunpowder Treason and Plot. I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason should ever be forgot... But what of the man? I know his name was Guy Fawkes and I know, in 1605, he attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament. But who was he really? What was he like? We are told to remember the idea, not the man, because a man can fail. He can be caught, he can be killed and forgotten, but 400 years later, an idea can still change the world. I've witnessed first hand the power of ideas, I've seen people kill in the name of them, and die defending them... but you cannot kiss an idea, cannot touch it, or hold it... ideas do not bleed, they do not feel pain, they do not love... And it is not an idea that I miss, it is a man... A man that made me remember the Fifth of November. A man that I will never forget.

V: People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.

Evey Hammond: My father was a writer. You would've liked him. He used to say that artists use lies to tell the truth, while politicians use them to cover the truth up.

V: Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy. And ideas are bulletproof.

Oh Drat ! WP post 10/16/25

 

Oh Drat !

went to make
my signature
sloppy Joses today
only to find
I didn’t have
most of my
usual ingredients

no problem
inprov is my forte
no tomatoes
and green chilies
what to do
what to do

ah …

roasted tomatoes
tomato paste
more chili powder
salt and black pepper

the result was
less than edifying
really not very good
usually better
the second day
but no second-day
reprieve was granted

that’ll teach me…
my improv hubris
took me down

next time
no tomatoes and
green chilies
make something else

without tomatoes
and green chilies
there’s just no way
to make my signature
sloppy Joses

oh drat ! …

–LE – 10/16/25

CynOp WP post for 10/20/25

 Artifice Our Disguise

Artifices We All Hide Behind…

Yes, Our Truths Hidden Behind Masks

We all wear them, morning to night,

cradle to grave –

Inspired by societies, primitive and new,

to fool us, the gods, and especially the demons –

the demons within, and out in the world.

Welcome to the future, where masks

create and hide the fear and deceit, promoted

by the opportunists in charge, for their own

eternal perpetuation of power, wealth, control –

behooves them to keep us scared –

as Enlightenment principles are turned

up-side-down – as civilization devolves –

the future is here… full of primitive fear

all over again.

–LE

I Had A Friend And Muse

 I Had A Friend

in our journey from birth to death

we cross paths with multitudes 

some walk with us for a ways

then leave for different by-ways

sometimes our paths cross again

but the rivers we tread

and the persons we became

keep changing, not the same

even deep emotional connections

diverge, thinning to nothing or

splitting by social pressures 

conditioning and misunderstanding

the result is the same … 

my only friend, the end …

fervently hoping for a friend's contentment 

along and to the chosen road's end

–LE - 10/8/25 

PS: I lost a friend and muse today... No, not by death, just an unwanted parting of ways  (at least for me)... This poem is for and inspired by you; I'll miss you...

 It's been awhile since I've posted here. This meditation was inspired by my recent birthday. I always take the ocation to reflect on as much of my life as I can remember up  to that point, and to speculate a bit about my future... not to dwell on, but to briefly consider.

Mortality Meditation

The older I get, the more I seem to consider the end of my journeys around old Sol, especially when I go to bed. I sometimes wonder if I'll wake in the morning. This is not every night, but seems more frequent as I continue to age. It's not that I have a fear of not waking, it's morbid(?)-curiosity. I wonder if I'll know which morning I won't wake up, that is, if my brain quits in my sleep.

It's been said that sleeping is practice for dying. In deep sleep, I'm aware of nothing. When I wake, it seems that little or no time has passed since I lay down. I truly expect that if the end comes in my sleep, the experience of my deep sleep will be the same as death. Though I might awaken for that experience, my ending… I wonder.

Of course, the situation would be different if I came to my end due to an accident or intentional termination ... however it's brought about. Perhaps brief and/or extreme pain ending in my deep sleep-like conscious-lessness.

I'm very healthy, no physical or terminal illnesses that I'm aware of short of 'life' itself. Sure, there could be something going on that will catch up with me when I least expect it, but nothing that looks imminent. So, why do I periodically wonder if I'm going to wake up in the morning? Statistics, mortuary tables, watching and/or hearing about the decline of so many others of my age?

–LE 

Common Sense

What is ‘common sense’ but what benefits the majority, the planet, and all its inhabitabts.

Common Sense

We’re always advised to use it
but not to abuse it
what’s ‘common’ for one of us
not necessarily so for the rest

like everything else in existence
common sense evolves, changes
from one generation to the next,
often unrecognizable decades hence

but for the ruling classes, the
economic elite, the status quo
IS common sense for their
vested interests against the rest of us

everything in the universe is subject
to entropy, all systems mineral, organic
political, economic, including
‘common sense’

since everything is in flux, we
can devise a more nuanced
a more beneficial sense of what
it means to be common sensible

something that uses logic and
intuition and creative thinking
to resolve our mutal personal,
social, and ecological problems

build a healthy, sustainable environment
for all of Mother Earth’s inhabitants
not prioritizing the vested interests
of the demagogues, ‘elites’ in their own minds

–LE