Egypt and Such

Quesadilla-Maker

Head-full of spinning importance
balanced by a handful of shredded cheese
Politics, philosophy, poetry:
peppers, picante
salsa, mild so as to not overwhelm
the senses.

Centuries of thought
dissolve in the crusty tortilla
lost in the maze of melting mozzarella,
distilled into simplicity
a poignant pique
of sundried tomato
poking through, then resigned
to the warm aura of sunflower nuts
and mushrooms.

Poem:
It's about how taking pleasure in doing some basic things well can outweigh the cerebral. Sometimes focusing on something smaller-picture can bring things into focus. This poem was a result of a request. Something as basic as "write a poem about a quesadilla." So if you're wondering what can be written about an everyday object or event, or just curious how I'd deal with a challenge, feel free to let me know. I think I'll probably come back and revise/add to this one later, but I think I'm off to a decent start. I sort of used it as a way to incorporate the sense of taste into my poetry, which is something I've never done and been wanting an excuse to try.

Observation:
My last entry had a poem about the riots in Egypt. I am not incredibly informed as to what is going on there, but I am afraid things aren't going to turn out as everyone hopes. This is not to say I think the riots won't accomplish their intended goal. I fully expect them to throw out the ruler that is (by all accounts) oppressing the citizens of the country. I even support this. However, this is a topic I have been discussing at length as it relates to some of my classes, and there is a very important distinction between political freedom and freedom from oppression. And I think we are conflating the two terms when we think that what is going on in Egypt is an amazing step forward for their country. Yes, they need to get rid of the dictator. That is only a small part of what it means to be free. They are primarily concerned with making things better for themselves in the immediate future. They see a problem, and the solution is to eliminate what is the most obvious aspect of that hindrance. But unless what they are striving for is a long-lasting political arena where people can interact as equals, this gap created by the absence of this dictator will simply be filled by another form of oppression. And unless they get their priorities together and stop acting as a mob only concerned with eliminating the immediate problem at hand, they will never achieve more than a temporary alleviation of their pain.

Exercise:
"Euphemisms"
For example:
~ garbage collector ---> "sanitation engineer"
~ tax collection ---> Internal Revenue Service
~ innocents killed / injured ---> "collateral damage"
Usually euphemisms are made up of latinate words; they tend to sound pompously obscure, as indeed, they are intended to obscure something unpleasant, low-status, or offensive. Have fun with this one! Try concocting euphemisms for the following:
~candy for breakfast-Temporary Energy Solution (or, Pessimistic Diet Plan, since when in doubt, eat dessert first)
~a defective tricycle-Aspiring Lawn Ornament (or, Bicycle)
~a gas guzzler-Oil Depletion Awareness Vehicle (or, A Saudi Conspiracy)
~a ridiculously big bouffant hairdo-Mobile Landmark Solution
~unemployed-Temporarily Transient
~painted the wrong color-A Good Base Layer (or, It Looks Fine, Honest, depending on who did it)
~a stolen election / ballot stuffing-Optimistic Interpretation of Public Will (or, Family Reunion, since we'd been wondering how our dead relatives would have voted)
~excessive redtape-Laziness Deterrent (or, Pure Motive Assurance)
~a cover-up of heinous corruption-Public Image Restructuring (or, Need To Know Basis)
~the dog peed on the carpet-Urine Trouble (get it, You're In Trouble, haha)
~civil war-Intra-country Dispute/Disagreement (or, We'll Handle Our Own Problems)
~a failing grade-Almost Passing (or, Lowering Expectations so When I Ace My Next Class Everyone is Impressed)
~tax evasion-Civil Disobedience (or, Gambling)
~a size too small-Self-Motivating Purchase (or, Ambitious Self-Image)
~this building could not withstand a minor tremor-Commentary on Transience of Human Architecture (or, Hoping This Isn't California)
~the living room is the size of a mop closet-Family Bonding (or, An Excuse to Reevaluate What's Important in Life)

Me:
I usually try and have my writing exercises be in story format, but this one looked too entertaining to pass up. Also, my apologies for not updating as regularly as usual. There are a number of contributing factors, but the truth is that I just didn't have a lot to say and didn't really feel like forcing the time into my day to come up with something. Which defeats the purpose of the whole "blog to force myself to write regularly thing." As far as excuses go, I actually did have some schoolwork to do, which was an interesting change of pace. I had a paper to write, and I have two tests tomorrow/today. And I got a Verizon iPhone. I'm not incredibly sure which of these was more to blame for my lack of posting. I'll probably go with the schoolwork, if only because I think I played with my phone mostly outside of my apartment, which is time I couldn't really be updating anyway. That might change with my new purchase though. I'm not sure how viable it will be to write whole posts on that small device, but I could probably save drafts of stuff and then finish/revise it later. Anyway, I've been keeping busy, but I'll try and keep things going here. Oh, and I'm trying to get the word out about my writing here, so there might be a post coming up in a different format from the usual, just to explain to any new readers what's going on.