Are You More Yankee......Or Dixie?

Yankee/Dixie Quiz

Here's a silly, fun little quiz to test your dialect, and see if you have a little more of the Yankee or the Dixie in how you speak.

I came in at:

70% (Dixie). A definitive Southern score!



I agree with the results. Even though I've lived in Colorado most of my life, which is a diverse state culturally, I grew up much of my early life and summers in southeast Missouri, southern Illinois and Tennessee. My parents and much of their families grew up in the south and in my childhood I had that southern diction in sounding syllables.

I remember ever so often as a little boy I'd always shout in victory looking for bugs saying, "Look, mommy, it's a roly-poly, roly-poly!" (giggles) And I do like to refer to the lobster-creatures in streams as crawdads, because my grandpa calls them that and it sounds cute, it's like when you say it there's a spright in your heels! I guess I just have that bright firefly whimsy in my heart always!



However, I do call carbonated beverages "pop" (I actually always say Pepsi generally, or by brand name, but when I speak of beverages in general that are carbonated, I do always say "pop".) and roads close to the highway "frontage roads", so I come from both backgrounds. :)

I never knew they had a name for the night before Halloween! (giggles) Cabbage Night is an interesting name though!

Just thinking about the cultural divide of carbonated beverage names got me thinking about which regions speak what, which ones say coke, which ones say pop, which ones say soda, which ones say caramel-colored tinny juice, etc. So I did some investigating and came across this groundbreaking site:



http://www.popvssoda.com/

Interesting that from where my parents and their families grew up (Missouri, southern Illinois) Soda seems to have a hold there geographically, yet they say Pop.

Looks like Pop and Coke are in a statistical dead heat, while Soda, though an underdog, has plenty of attention. Hey, what do you think they call these drinks in the Carolinas (Other has a wide scope there). Anyone know? Magnus is a fellow Carolina poet friend of mine, maybe he can help us out here. I've heard soda water and cold drink a lot from that region. I also saw a lot of pink in some of the Northeast states. They call it tonic in Massachusetts quite a lot! (giggles)

Care to share your results, y'all?

By the way, congratulations on KBOO for making history today by qualifying for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's matching-grant funds (approximately $60,000 each year over the next four years) promotion, by collecting over $90,000 in volunteer-contributed cash! :) This is a happy, beautiful day for community radio, and this truly will serve as the spiking horse that upgrades KBOO for the future, while also maintaining the classic essence of community.

How about a round of E-yerba mates on the house, my treat! :) That's what they call them here, right? ;)

Love,
Noah Eaton
(Mistletoe Angel)
(Emmanuel Endorphin)

The Sojourn Of The Sarus Crane

I just wanted to take a moment here to again speak lightly of the issues of war and peace, as I have started my new school year at Portland State University this week, and already have been most inspired by one of my professors, Tom H. Hastings, who teaches the class "Ecology of War and Peace". He is also the author of a wonderful, groundbreaking publication of the same title.

Indeed I have long felt that America is still a young nation, that America has always nurtured this "baby" of innocence, and as one who is guided by faith each and every day in my life, I've long believed we are all God's children, we're all siblings in spirit. Matthew 5, 3-9 has motivated me especially, which convinces me that the sword Christ spoke of was a sword of light, a sword that heals, a peaceful sword.

***

"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God."

***



I'm approximately 1/4 Native-American blood (mostly Cherokee, traces of Dakota). I have learned through my ancestors of Lakota blood and tradition that there are "four souls" that remain of universal value to their people. The number "four" has always been providential to the people (like the cardinal directions and the four eagles) and each of these souls together weave this very providence. They are Niya ("the breath of life") which is the body, health and substance,, Nagi ("ghost"), which helps connect us to the living mirror, Sicun, which is knowledge and wisdom, and Nagila ("little spirit") which is the beacon of all life and represents everything (like Wakan Tanka)

Kinship has always been what has made the Lakota tribe a unique, inspiring people, kinship through nature, family and spirituality. As one with Native American blood and pride, I am heartbroken and feel from the bottom of my heart indeed by how this kinship's resolve is being stricken on and on through these unfortunate ecological, political and social circumstances that truly do encompass us all.

In Tom's introduction, he couldn't have said it better: "We cannot prepare for war without preparing to attack the foundations of human existence" I’ve always believed you don’t have to be a physical victim of war to understand the tragedy war is. World War I was heralded before to be "the war to end all wars". We all know for a fact that couldn’t be further from the truth. In the past 55 years since World War II, nearly 200 wars have occurred worldwide. Two hundred, and the fact the world continues to war only sinews my reinforced notion that war only brings out the worst in us all and the world, only leaves more tension in its wake, more sadness, more grief.



The thesis Tom makes in Section 1 of his book is, "our economy (monetary relationships) is, in the end, utterly dependent upon the ecology (living organisms’ relationship to each other and the earth.") That in heart and mind alike ought to be a grand thesis of the merging ecological and peace movements in general. I am optimistic that there is a growing sense among the mainstream public of our own overlooked internal threats to weapon making and manufacturing, from the statewide Nevada debate on Yucca Mountain, to the popular Michigan and Wisconsin ELF and electromagnetic radiation protests he speaks of, to other missile defense programs worldwide. But indeed when the mainstream America perceives the peace movement now, their aesthetic reaction remains focused on security and the ideals of freedom, along with much of the recent peace movement (and understandably in my heart) being deeply rooted in criticism of our government at large. The ecological element hasn’t framed the movement yet, and though I am optimistic progress is being made, we need to customize this ecological framework around the peace movement, which I believe will inevitably make the message of the peace movement far more credible and invoke the consciousness of mainstream America.



The peace movement must also adopt another point Tom Hastings touches on as a central point: "The truth is that the Earth is simply regarded as a tool to be used for one army’s advantage over another." It may sound like a radical notion to many when you say this point alone, but I believe if we can braid this thesis with the understanding that our economy is dependent upon our ecology, and not the other way around, it can be a most persuasive case and immediately sound like quite a moderate claim, and, with this argument, though we cannot measure all the ecological damage of war since the beginning of time, this can indeed promote that "perspective leading society" that can consider the ultimate consequences of the concept of war.

I believe this thinking can embolden and strengthen the efforts to put into effect the long-overdue sort of Test Ban Treaty, the outlaw of further biological weaponry and research, and, most crucially, the end of nuclear proliferation and production, which I believe to be the single-most decisive issue in international studies and relations.



Let us feel the urgency of Bear Tooth’s truthful, pure words and let that urgency resonate in a positive manner to our children in teaching them to value all Mother Nature holds so dear. Let us hear many more wonderful stories of rejuvenation and hope like we have of the farmer and the sojourn of the sarus cranes! Finally, and most importantly, let us hold this banner up high, which reads, "Si pacem, para pacem."

Peace, love and harmony to you all!

Love,
Noah Eaton
(Mistletoe Angel)
(Emmanuel Endorphin)

Ohayou Gozaimasu, Wakamaru!

Wai! Konnichi wa, dachi! First, the nation was taken aback by the recondite mass success of Styx's 1983 smash, "Mr. Roboto", which has forever made pop culture potpourri of the term "Domo arigato" (it's a word that has both literal and cultural meanings, which is translated in English as "thank you very much", but its literal Japanese meaning actually derives from the words "ari", which means "to be" and gatai, which means "to be difficult", which then translates into "too difficult to be" or "too difficult to exist", and in case that strikes you as being a rather dark customary greeting, there's actually a great positive implication behind it by Japanese Buddhists that means, "It would be too difficult without you.", or, without your kindness, I couldn't be, and says exactly how much one values you and am lucky to have you.) That's quite a lecture for you alone right there, perhaps it got you more filled up than a bowl of Udon noodles! LOL!

Now...a new era dawns...enter Wakamaru!



She is a 3 foot 4 inch tall, 66 pound, obsidian-eyed, internet-linked, walking, talking robot who, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. believe, will prove the archetype ideal personal organizer, who speaks in a gentle, feminine tone and greets all family members whether it is getting home from school or leaving for a weekend fishing trip. She identifies where she is in a house by the ceiling, which her panoramic head camera comes in handy. She can remember to up as much as ten faces and communicate efficiently with them, remembering as many as 10,000 words. :)



Mr. Toshiyuki Kita is the genius behind this yellow missy. The name "wakamaru" derives from the childhood nickname of Minamoto Yoshitsune, a twelfth-century Japanese samurai who put together military victories that enabled his brother Yoritomo to gain control of Japan. The name is said to be associated with "growth" and "development".



Hey, you have a tendency to feel sluggish in the mornings? No problem, she will glide to your bedside armed with the New York Times and the weather forecast. Need to trim that waistline? Hey, she'll not only urge you to get jogging, but she may even keep you company along the way. Who knows, maybe she'll even develop a knack at tai-bo! Yada, holy ume-boshi, I better keep fit here! (giggles) Yare yare!

100 of these yellow robo-girl Fridays are on sale, and Miss Wakamaru can be yours for just $14,000! :)

Indeed we have seen a growing family of new household robots strike an electromagnetic pose on the market:



1) Tmsuk introduced their "Roborior" robots in Tokyo in September of 2003, which come equipped with digital camera, infrared sensor and video telephones, which help them sense break-ins and send video and phone messages to their owners. They are bering sold for approximately $2,600!



2) Fujitsu has introduced Enon, which will go on sale in Japan this November. It currently costs about $54,000, with 20-30 to be sold right away and more planned on the way. They have voice recognition capabilities, cameras and sensors, and can help customers find their way around stores, and soon is planned to be inducted into restaurants and stores to alleviate shortages in Japan's labor force amidst a declining birth rate and growing elderly population.



3) iRobot's Roomba, a robot the size of a hubcap, is the new robotic vacuum, which sweeps across floor services, making their days with the dust bunnies, whose infrared sensors can identify stair steps and other changes of surface levels and back away, and can indicate when their battery level is low to return to its docking station to get recharged. You may find these lil' critters at your local Sharper Image!



4) Robby the Robot, star of "Forbidden Planet", is a master creator, who could produce just about anything for humans. Oh wait, his home planet is Altair IV, isn't it! Zannen! (pouty puppy moan)

***********



Who knows what kinship man and machine will develop from here, when man and machine will co-exist as one, physiologically conscious family! What I can say now is, "Domo arigato!", and I mean in every sense of the word here! ;)



Kakkoii!

Love,
Noah Eaton
(Mistletoe Angel)
(Emmanuel Endorphin)

The Ballad Of A Thin Man With Earphones

Hey, I've added some new friends to Noah's Friends on the sidebar, yay! (does happy dance) One of the new blogs is from a newcomer fellow KBOO volunteer named Steve Casburn, who has a great new blog titled "Taylor Street Purple" (Impressions of Life in the Rose City). You can find his fun lil' blog here! :)

Steve Casburn's Impressions of Life in the Rose City

I was just glancing through his fun lil' blog and came across his new postings on the new Martin Scorsese documentary "No Direction Home", which features real life footage of Bob Dylan in the early days, focusing primarily on 1961-1966, and how he evolves during those five years, which each appearance at the Newport Folk Festival details sooooooo very well, from when he first was seen as a folk hero and Woody Guthrie apostle, to later being seen as a traitor, or "Judas", when he decided to amp up for a more edgier rock and roll barstool blues sound. The film also features exclusive interview footage of him now, along with interview footage from Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Allen Ginsberg before his passing in the mid-90's, and others.



Martin Scorsese was interviewed after the three-and-a-half hour film by Charlie Rose, where he said he hoped young people would get out of the film the understanding of seeing history from another perspective, emotionally through others and their experiences, which is indeed most applicable today.



What especially enthralled me about the film was all the mischieviousness among press conference after press conference, reporter after reporter, Pete Seeger after Pete Seeger. In one scene, we see someone asking Bob how many other protest singers exist, and after pretending to ponder the question, he says, "About 136!", then, with nothing but dead air, the reporter asks, "You say about 136 -- or exactly 136?" and Bob replies, "Either 136 or 142," (giggles) What'd you know, maybe the answer to the universe, life and everything really is 42! Oh mercy!

In another piece of footage, a reporter asks Bob Dylan, "Suck on a corner of your glasses." Then he says, "You want me to suck on my glasses?" and his photographer advises, "Just suck your glasses!" and Dylan asks the photpgrapher, "Do you want to suck my glasses?", who does lick them, and Bob exlaims "Anyone else?" (giggles) If all monocles and glasses were sorghum molasses, we'd all have happy hour at the Cracker Barrel, eh? LOL!

In YET ANOTHER scene, a young woman goes crediting Dylan for a song he never wrote ("Eve of Destruction") and then Dylan asks him where he read it, and she responds, "In a movie magazine!" (does giggy-jiggy giggle)

And, inconceivably in yet another most amusing, hysterical scene, one reporter asks if he considers himself "the ultimate betanik", where Dylan ricochets what HE thought, and that same reporter said he couldn't comment because he never ever heard Dylan sing, with Dylan responding, "You've never heard me sing and yet you want to sit there and ask me these questions?" (giggles) Oh, right, THAT Dylan, Dylan Thomas! LOL!



I personally really enjoyed seeing Joan Baez in the film and honestly admitting how Dylan refusing to return the favor and allow her to sing with him on tour hurt her deep inside. Baez was who called him on her stage in the beginning when he was a unknown at the time and from touring with her gained great publicity. It was especially entertaining to hear, after Dylan chose to distance himself from the "civil rights movement anthem" label with songs like "Mr. Tambourine Man", how many were shouting their disappointment at Dylan and crying out, "Bob Dylan will come to perform at the peace rally, won't he?" and Baez screamed then, "When has Dylan ever performed at a rally of any sort, what makes you believe he will come?" (giggles) She still has the spirit and sass in her! :)



Bob Dylan deserves to and will always be legendary. I respect him most of all then for having his own feelings, but not wanting to have to feel he had to embody all the feelings of a generation. Indeed his protest songs are my favorite recordings of his, and it would have been nice to hear him continue to show that side of him today, rather than promoting "Love Sick" for Victoria's Secret's "Angels in Venice" ad campaign and selling songs to car commericals.



But Dylan's legacy will forever shine on, and his songs will forever be an inspiration in my heart. You don't really see that playful, quirky kid in his body in the recent interviews he's done, but the empathy can be felt so easily, and if you feel it well enough, you can indeed make out the smile reflecting in his eyes.

Hats off to the thin man who's not as thin now but will always stand spiritally thin! Kudos to Martin Scorsese too for yet another production to remember. You may not have won an Academy Award yet, but you have won my heart among millions and millions of others!



By the way, Mr. Dylan, my guess to the question regarding the number of protests singers worldwide is 4,289,744,653, but that's just an educated guess! (giggles) A vast majority of them certainly were influenced by you, my freewheelin' friend!

Love,
Noah Eaton
(Mistletoe Angel)
(Emmanuel Endorphin)

Flashbacks From The "Athens Of The West"

Before I made my happy little stroll to the City of Roses, I used to enjoy my time in another cute town with its own fanciful nickname; Boulder, Colorado. I always loved walking around Boulder with my flash camera taking pictures of all the beautiful scenery along Boulder Creek and down to the Pearl Street Mall and west to Chautauqua Park. If you haven’t been to Boulder, I strongly recommend you visit sometime, as it is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve seen in the world so far in my life, along with Dingle in Ireland, Portland, and Eugene.



Did you know that Boulder is commonly called the "Athens of the West"? Boulder has a rich and colorful history that goes back well as early as 1858, when prospectors from the mountains put up tents at Red Rocks just out of Boulder Canyon and Arapahoe Indians were nearby and were invited to feast with them after they hunted an ox. In fact, one tribe member was told he had a dream a great flood washed away the Native Indians but avoided the prospectors, a harbinger that the prospectors would stay. They found gold flakes in the mouth of the canyon, but when a cold winter came and complicated their plan to gather all the gold in one piece, Alfred A. Brookfield decided to set up a town there and became the city’s first president. Prospectors started gathering, making farms and raising livestock, and before Colorado was no longer part of the Nebraska Territory, the first building of what is now the University of Colorado was founded, now called Old Main. Then when railroads were built, tourism became a massive industry in Boulder, and many people started coming out just to see the mountains and for health, and then Boulder (which is the health food capital of the U.S) built the Sanitarium, where they have a spa, health food market, and country club. Then shortly after, the famous Chautauqua Park was commenced, a beautiful natural park, dining hall and auditorium where you can either just enjoy a nice serene and peaceful stroll through the park, or see silent movies or magicians or bird-watch.



Do you drink Celestial Seasonings tea? Celestial Seasonings was founded in Boulder too! The moment Boulder became considered a beautiful city and not just a tourist hotspot anymore, Boulder was always called the "Athens of the West" and they decided to further the true quality of the title, Boulder would undergo a huge architectural project, with so many buildings built from marble, the Carnegie Library being built as a replica of a Greek temple, banning saloons, and planting trees and bushes and gardens everywhere to make the entire city feel pleasant. With the Boulder Creek running through the middle of the town, you can spend a whole day walking through the city enjoying the beauty of nature all around you!



http://www.boulderteahouse.com/

One place I especially enjoyed spending much time was at the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse. It was designed by over forty Tajik artists to mirror the cultural beauty of Dushanbe, Tajikistan. The mayor of Tajikistan came to Boulder in 1987 to announce the presentation of a tea house to the city in celebration of established sister city ties. In central Asia, teahouses have always served as gathering places where friends come to talk, play chess, etc, many of them designed with Persian art, with patterns and motifs from nature and color. And right in the middle of the teahouse is this large pool which features seven hammered copper sculptures, all based on the 12th century poem "The Seven Beauties" in which a princess from each of seven different nations narrates a fable that expresses important cultural values. That is my dream place to perform poetry and art live to the public. The Boulder Theatre and the Glen Huntington Bandshell would be gorgeous places too to recite. Wonder if there is someplace in the City of Roses you can get the Pleine Lune?



Whenever I wanted to unwind after a long day in Boulder, I always went down to Chautauqua Park or the Pearl Street Mall. The Pearl Street Mall is no ordinary mall at all, in fact it is one of a kind. Despite Gap, Banana Republic, and Abercrombie & Finch crawling their fingers into the market, overall the stores are all original and independent businesses. I loved having lunch many days at BD’s Mongolian Grill. Have you ever been to a Mongolian grill? If not (whether you eat meat or not) you must give into this experience! First, you select all the delicious veggies, meats, and pasta you want in a buffet style just like you do at Country Buffet or during your matutinal continental breakfast run, then you pick out of a selection of many different sauces and oils, from black bean to honey hoison to (my favorite) Mojo, a Caribbean sweet and tangy sauce. Finally, you hand your bowl to a chef and they put your cuisine on this giant griddle, using this giant metal sticks to cook the food to absolute perfection, soaking the flavor into all the food and making the meat (if you choose to have it) cooked just right. If you haven’t tried it, you don’t know what you’re missing! Being the happy vegetarian I am, you'd be surprised how filling mongolian broccoli tastes!



The Pearl Street Mall also has a lot of outdoor entertainment all along the alluring streets. I remember a few years ago visiting Boulder once a week and watching Kenneth Lightfoot, a friendly entertainer from South Africa with his trusty green lovebird on his shoulder, throwing playing cards from the sidewalk up onto the rooftop of a business on the corner of 14th and Pearl and making it every time, even on a windy day. They always have guitarists out there on the benches too, which I happily contribute a dollar to their guitar cases every time I hear beauty. Hey, maybe I should go out there and do that sometime, I could make money to contribute to more environmental groups!



Often I just loved heading down to the Crystal Dragon or the Indigo Rose to pick up incense and hear Arabian and Tibetan music, or just step into the art galleries, look at all the paintings, and get inspirations for new poems (a good number of my poems are inspired by art). If the world is my oyster shell, I think I found a pearl there!



Of course, there's no pearl more sentimental to me than Denver Academy, a most special private school. I graduated from high school there as valedictorian (3.98 Grade Point Average) and mentioned how happy I was there in a more brief degree, with so many memories I cherish with all dear heart. But they all go far beyond my hero, Mr. Ernewein. Throughout the run of this blog, I’ll tell you about all my other friends, companions, amigos, camarillas, etc. Right now, I feel like talking about the mission statement there and all their creative teaching methods. This is their mission statement which I took pride in in all four years I was there, which I am quoting from their official web site you can find here!

http://www.denveracademy.org

Their goal is basically "to help students who are functioning below grade level in some or all of the basic skill areas and who have experienced some negative impact on their self-concept, which it is not unusual for students with such backgrounds to become easily discouraged and to be anxious about exerting effort in academic areas for fear of not doing well."

They also mention that "some of our students have identifiable sources of learning interference, such as dyslexia or attention deficits. Others have a history of generalized underachievement, usually because their learning style is not being considered in their current academic situation. After enrollment, the students show a significant increase in self-confidence and good study habits. The students flourish within the structured, closely supervised, and highly personal environment of Denver Academy."

So many of my most precious memories revolve around both the old and new campuses. I remember sitting in Mr. Wood’s class as a freshman in the Core Division on the original Denver Academy campus ground on Race and Mississippi and reading "Animal Farm", "1984", "Watership Down", "To Kill A Mockingbird" and "All’s Quiet On The Western Front", and making this huge colorful travel brochure to the rabbit warren out of neon cardboard paper and pasting with super glue pictures of rabbits and text for a project on "Watership Down" (I recommend that book to all of you) and creating this huge diarama with a group on the Maycomb County village in To Kill A Mockingbird, complete with Atticus Finch, the courthouse, Boo Radley’s tree, everything.

I remember being in Special Studies Week and doing all kinds of unique learning skills like creating kites, looking for themes in Stephan King horrors, identifying irony in The Simpsons, and learning how to make these exotic graphs with Texas Instruments 83 Model calculators, and my favorite: learning about the beat poetry movement with Mr. Ernewein.

I remember the golden age with Mr. Ernewein, from building a staircase out of Styrofoam, rainbow popsicle sticks and metal hinges for his Algebra II class in a project on measuring height and width in geometric shapes, to running cross-country with him and Charlie Campbell, Weston Wells, Kevin Beasley, Rob Buff, Billy Muniz (we loved emphasizing his stardom by his last name, LOL!) John Dreiling, and Andy Franz among others, who he was my coach for three years and we ran all over the middle of Colorado, from Bear Creek to Georgetown to Loveland to Sheridan, even during the heart of a blizzard in Colorado Springs with our small shorts on, to reading "Lord Of The Flies", "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings", "Night", "Into The Wild" and (my personal favorite) "Zen And the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" in his literature class during my sophomore year and writing musical comparison presentation essays on Counting Crows, Dave Matthews band and Indigo Girls, along with my first batch of poetry and some narrative and technical writing in my sophomore English class, to even spending time after-school helping him put together the school’s first-ever paperback publication of original submitted student and teacher literary works which Corey Sandoval creatively titled "Voice In DA Crowd". I will never forget those memories with him, along with a whole other batch of them.

I remember getting up on stage for the first time when I was a sophomore, playing Yussel in the Winter 2000 production "Fiddler On The Roof", experiencing all that pressure and stage fright from the great drama teacher Leigh-Ann Jensen but learning so much from her through the 2 1/2 years I was in drama about acting and respecting her so much, then with my newly-found confidence coming back with a vengeance to star in Dead Poets Society as one of the students (I stood up on the table at the end of the play upon default of another student not present that evening), then playing a French foreign-exchange boy in “Marcus Is Walking”, a clumsy witness to an attempted murder in some comedy compilation program, and finally (the role I’m most proud of), one of the leading roles, Leonato, in Shakespeare’s "Much Ado About Nothing". I remember having to powder my hair salt-and-pepper to play the role and then coming home to see the huge darkness in the shower water as I rinsed it out of my hair. (giggles)

I remember when everyone at Denver Academy bid farewell to the old campus on Race and Mississippi and moved to a new, even bigger campus, which was an abandoned hospital for curing patients of leukemia, just off of Iliff and Interstate 25. I remember being moved from Core to Prep and having two years of English and Literature with Ms. Jones, another teacher I have so much respect for and many memories, and two years of science courses with Mr. Petry. I remember how terribly petrified I was when I took Digital Electronics in my junior year with Mr. Petry, and how his usual teaching style is to discipline students into keeping them awake and motivated with the use of pressure and warning, and how the strictness was too much for me and made me tear up and then Mr. Petry and I got to know each other so much better ever since then and then he taught me in a different approach, and how we continued to develop a friendship and spent some lunchtimes at Tokyo Joes and talking about all sorts of things, from college thoughts to Denver Academy to personal life.

I remember meeting Spanish teacher Ms. Doyle for the first time, and learning basic Spanish skills from her, and then becoming a best friend to her and sharing poetry with her and listening to her strum her guitar (I took her to the Shakira concert in 2003) I remember taking art courses with Ms. Dunlap, who is also one of my best friends, and making acrylic still-frames, painting, and using the potters wheel and making and glazing ceramic bowls and cups. She and Ms. Doyle even attempted to help get me on the Oprah Show because they believed my poetry was incredible and had to be shared to the world (I didn’t get on the show, but I got an autographed picture of Oprah and a friendly letter from her telling it is possible she’d put the thought up for consideration in the future and even if that didn’t happen, she found my poetry to be beautiful!) She is also a very special friend to me, along with the original art teacher Ms. Twarogowski, who just had the cutest smile and one of the most uplifting and happy spirits I’ve ever seen in anyone my whole life. She is that kind of person who could contagiously bring a smile to your face even during the coldest, darkest January morning. Ms. Erlandson is another teacher there that also had that wonderful uplifting spirit!

Finally, I remember standing up on that podium on graduation day, in my blue graduation outfit with the yellow rope over my shoulders, approaching the microphone where headmaster Jim Loan was to invite me up to say my valedictorian speech, literally feeling like I was going to burst into tears every second through, but bravely speaking my lungs out, watching some people in the audience below crying themselves, until finally reaching a catharsis of emotion in the end and crying silently in joy as I returned to my seat. Then after getting my high school diploma and getting off the stage, I remember Jim Loan saying my speech deeply got to his heart and he found himself feeling weak in a beautiful state, and my other teachers all giving me their hands.

These are my most prized memories of Denver Academy, which I consider so far to be my golden age of my life. I miss Denver Academy with all my heart and wish I could spend more time visiting there. I guess I miss Denver Academy too much, but I am happy I am, for I want every student and teacher there who’s reading this to know that!



Yep, Boulder and Denver will always feel like home to me, and is the indisputable childhood paradise to me, the former being the "Gateway to the Glaciers", the "Athens of the West". It is my everyday holiday, it is my whistle stop, it is my hamlet, it is my locus, it is my goldmine, it is my élan vital. I’d take a Fair Winds hot air balloon ride over the city everyday if I could. But, I have a journey to complete, a dream to fulfill, and the world is my neighborhood so I gave many more neighbors in many more blocks to visit and have chamomile tea with! And here in the City of Roses, I already am most blessed to feel this similar warmth like I did in Colorado, from all the wonderful friends who keep KBOO singing, to wonderful professors like Darcene and Jesse who made "Speech in Communication" such an exciting lecture to attend, to my next door neighbor Ferguson! :)



Some Japanese proverb I value dearly says, "Time spent laughing is time spent with the gods" So go out there and find your laughing place!

"Everybody's got a laughing place
A laughing place to go
Take a frown, turn it upside down
And you'll find yours we know"

If honey fun is what we bring, boy are we in luck! (does happy dance down the primrose path)

Love,
Noah Eaton

Charlietown: Next Exit

I gave the new widely-talked about station Charlie 97.1 FM a first listen last night after listening to "Tiki Cha Cha Club" on KBOO, the new station that claims "we play everything" and that "random is good". It's actually quite a cute station, as I enjoy that they play lots of upbeat, dance-friendly material that you seldom hear on most corporate radio nowadays, and believe I'll keep tuning back just so I can hear a happy song after a chain of downbeat numbers that mark up much of the Top 40 nowadays. You can find the site here:

http://www.charliefm.com/



As for the "we play everything" thesis, well, I'll keep tuning in and be the judge of that, but I'm already quite skeptical about that. When listening to a parade of single-length tracks on the station, I was thinking of that "circle of trust" from the Meet The Parents movie saga, and thought, "Hey, I'd love to call Mr. Charlie the Boss and hold him to that circle of trust, hold him to the word "everything", which is technically already false in that there is just too much music in the world that a single radio station can play throughout the entire plane of time and space!" LOL!



I imagine my discussion with Mr. Charlie would go something like this!

****************************************

MR. CHARLIE: Charlie FM, hi!
NOAH: Hey hey, Mr. Charlie, I just wanted to say congratulations for starting up this new station and kudos for your great work!
MR. CHARLIE: Yeah, my curator of the Museum of Has-Beens, Sir Edmund Peel, has certainly been doing his homework, hasn't he?
NOAH: Um, yes, yes, rrrigghhttt...anyway, um, I understand that your slogan here at Charlie FM is "We play everything", correct?
MR. CHARLIE: Indeed.
NOAH: Yeah, hehe, that word "everything" is sure something, isn't it. In fact, if one were to look up that word in a grammar book, one would discover it considered a superlative. You know how often on television and in the movies, you always hear a desperate lover or someone in an absurdist comedy always telling another to make up for ones own follies say, "I'll do anything!" when often it's just an exaggerated expression? (giggles) That's something, isn't it!
MR. CHARLIE: Yeah, hehe, what's your point?
NOAH: Well, as a listener to your fun lil' station, I'd like to take your word for it that you truly do play "everything". Therefore, I'd like to make some requests!
MR. CHARLIE: Sure, what would you like us to play for you?
NOAH: Could you play "November Rain" by Guns N' Roses?
MR. CHARLIE: Sure, I'll see what I can do!
NOAH: Hey, that's great! "November Rain", wow, quite the nine-minute epic, isn't it? While we're on the subject of epics, you think you can play "Xanadu" by Rush? Perhaps Iron Butterfly's "In A Gadda Da Vida"?
MR. CHARLIE: Ummmmmm, well, I can thumb through the CD library here and...
NOAH: Hey, great, no need to rush, I'm a patient person! But when you do have the time, I'm also interested in hearing "Supper's Ready" by Genesis from the "Foxtrot" release! My, each time I hear that sixth part "Apocalypse in 9/8" it always brings out te catharsis in me! (sniff sniff)
MR. CHARLIE: Yeah, we always accept CDs here, so you are always free to come on down and contribute CDs and we'd love to play them for you!
NOAH: Hey, that's super! So you're saying if I come on down with the 42 minute-long Dream Theater's "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence", you'll play it from beginning to end in its entirety?
MR. CHARLIE: Welllll...
NOAH: ...or Jethro Tull's "Thick Like A Brick"?
MR. CHARLIE: Look...
NOAH: Hold that thought! You know what a great tradition would be? Maybe 52 hours and 24 minutes before each and every New Years Eve, your station could play Mark Mallman's "Marathon Two"! :) That Mark Mallman, he's quite the character, isn't he? Last September 4th, at the Turf Club in the Clown Lounge in St. Paul, he began recording that 52 hour-long masterpiece at 6 P.M, and kept performing all the way until around 10 P.M that Monday! He even said on his official web-site that he spent months writing 568 pages of lyrics and music for the song! Man, going for hours and hours straight can truly turn you into a Mallwolf, but when you compare it to the barbaric insanity that many poor citizens struggling to get by during the Great Depression had to go through by dancing countless weeks in the hopes to win much needed money to survive the hard times as depicted in "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?", it's a relief what Mark Mallman did was just good, clean, fun entertainment.
MR. CHARLIE: Look, it's not what you think...
NOAH: Hey, I've also been meaning to ask if you play album tracks too!
MR. CHARLIE: Um, well, that is to say...
NOAH: You know how KBOO plays Grateful Dead rarities, jazz prodigies, Dharma Wheel, all that good stuff? You should consider playing some material like that, I'd absolutely love to hear it!
MR. CHARLIE: Would we all!
NOAH: Hey, I recorded a song myself from my high school days, with a music class, titled "Weather Girl". Hey, maybe I can walk on down and you can play it, cowbell seems to be back in season!
MR. CHARLIE: So much good music, so little time, what can I say?
NOAH: Yeah, so very true. But I know in one way or another, eventually you'll get to everything like you say, right, my friend?
MR. CHARLIE: Yeah, I guessssss...
NOAH: Awwwwwwww, that's swell, hehehe, hey, it was really great talking with you, and Charlie!
MR. CHARLIE: Yes?
NOAH: I was just giving you a hard time, you know that, right, buddy?
MR. CHARLIE: Yeah, sure.
NOAH: Splendid! Well, I'll let you get back to your work, keep up the good work, random is good! Byebyes!

**************************************



(giggles) But yeah, Charlie and Co. are alright! Whenever you need an upbeat song to clear your head, you can count on them to give it to you! Otherwise, KBOO still very much feels like home to me!



:) Feel like dissolving now to "Three Minute Warning" by the Liquid Tension Experiment! Maybe they'll take my request?

Love,
Noah Eaton
(Mistletoe Angel)
(Emmanuel Endorphin)

Keep Lookin' Up, Cuz Mars Is Onto You!

Greetings, greetings, fellow stargazers! "Does the Red Planet seem bigger to you than last night?" may very well have been the question you have been asking these past few days, and you keep insisting it is, you are absolutely right.



You may remember just over two years ago, on August 27, 2003, when Mars came closer to our Earth than it had been in 59,619 years. It was this very day that Mars was a mere 34,646,418 miles from Earth. This phenomenon was due to what is termed as a perihelic opposition, which the perihelion is the point where Mars is closest to the sun, and, of course, the Earth. In a perihelic opposition, the Sun, Earth and Mars form a straight line, something which only happens for Mars every 15 to 17 years.



It was that day that astronomy flourished, with telescopes glistening brighter than ever before with reflections of the Red Planet's lustrous south polar cap and romantic dust clouds, all radiating from the constellation Aquarius in our southeastern horizon.

Now, with elliptical orbits of planets around the sun having a recent tendency to bring planets closer to the sun than ever in recent memory, this recent trend continues as Mars will make another exciting soiree to Earth on October 29th. (it will not be a record breaker but still most exciting) And Halloween night will be the evening for the best view of all, where it will rise at sunset and hang overhead through most of the night. It's expected to be only 43 million miles from Earth, and the brightest in 13 years.



And just to sweeten Sirius, an additional gift is being bestowed upon all of Earth's stargazers this Halloween! It so happens that the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters, will again make their hallowing appearance this All-Hallows-Eve. Many ancient cultures and civilizations have always believed that whenever the Seven Sisters reach their highest point at midnight, it was a cosmic signal that this was the time of the year to honor the dead, and eeriely enough, it always happens at this time of year and on many days honoring the dead.



Whenever the Seven Sisters reach the highest point in the heavens, it is called their culmination. Throughout history, whenever they culminated at midnight, some ancient cultures held great ceremonies in honor of the occurance.



According to a somewhat popular myth, there was a widespread belief that some great cataclysm occurred in ancient times when the Seven Sisters culminated at midnight. Some of the most superstitious of spirits have speculated that this great cataclysm might have been anything from the great flood of the Bible to the ten plagues of Egypt. The ancient Aztec and Maya cultures even conducted spectacular ceremonies to celebrate the sisters culmination. And every 52 years when their two great calendars coincided, a midnight culmination sacrifice was commenced because they believed that the world would actually come to an end on one of these "Seven Sisters overhead at midnight" nights. In addition, they believed that the world had already been destroyed and recreated four times and always when the sisters were overhead at midnight.



So sit back, switch on Jack Stargazer, and brace yourselves for the grand show this Halloween. for never will Mars be brighter at least until 2018! Holy Hadar! (does Mars sandbar sloopy) Keep lookin' up...and away.

Love,
Noah Eaton
(Mistletoe Angel)
(Emmanuel Endorphin)

Sweep The Streets With Love

I just wanted to take a moment here to thank everyone who came out this weekend to protest the war in Iraq. I have nothing but the utmost respect for all those who came out to have their voices heard, for dissent is what completes the fabric of democracy. Bless you all!

I only seldomly want to talk politics on this blog, and when I do want to be as diplomatic as I can be about it, because, after all, politics is Latin for blood-sucking ticks, and politics truly are the ugliest thing ever made in the world, which does nothing but the total opposite of harmony and peace; it only encourages division and chaos, and instead of endorphins you'll always get cortisol if your heart and mind gets too deep in it. That is why I am making an effort to keep politics to an absolute minimum as possible, just because I believe it brings out the worst in us all, and I hope my friends and readers here who share my views aren't disappointed that I'm not talking about these issues more here. And that's also why I have the pro-peace and anti-war icons on my sidebar, just so everyone knows what I generally believe and where I generally stand.

What I will say about the wide issue of peace vs. war is this.

Regardless if you're a Democrat, Republican, Green or independent, whether you're red, blue or unclassified in color, regardless of your religious affiliation, sexual orientation, gender, background or color of your skin, we all believe in a dream for the greater good, we all believe in seeking peace and freedom. It is simply how we go about achieving peace, how we go about finding freedom, that separates us in the world. I believe non-violence and peace go hand in hand by true definition. It can be achieved not through arms, nor through retaliation, but through unconditional love for mankind and understanding.



Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would be 77 this January if he were still with us. He Martin Luther King Jr. was a man of conviction, destiny, and wisdom, who offered us a vision we all nurture and carry forward today. A vision of non-violence, a vision of the complete liberation of mankind, a vision of civil equality.

Martin Luther King Jr. said December 11th, 1964, "Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love."

In 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. opposed and protested against the war in Vietnam, for he believed, as he said, "love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.". He recognized that understanding and hearing out the other side's point of view is essential in resolving the deepest conflicts in our world, and through his deepest spiritual awareness, he believed "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."



Today, we have witnessed the philosophy of this most honored man being challenged. Muslim-Americans especially have fallen victim to this all too familiar suspicion, silence, and oppression, all because a small group of troublemakers from Muslim cultures exploited their faith and culture for violence.

It was Dr. King who said, "Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will." It is not until we grab the lamp and let it lead us through this deep misunderstanding that we can begin to make amends, find where in history we lost course and what went wrong, so we can work to see to it this void doesn't deepen itself.

In our experiences, as diverse as they are, we believe ourselves that "war is a poor chisel in carving out tomorrow", for, "in the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

Dr. King also once said, "If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well."



And that is why I wholeheartedly support those who take to the streets to promote the message of peace. I do believe among each protest group there are a few so-called troublemakers, but the absolute overwhelming desire among these many hearts and minds, youth and elderly, tall and small, is a message to America for peace, a message to America for reconciliation, a message to America for rejuvenation.

We ARE ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom. Let us go about it the right way, with a sword that heals, a sword of non-violence, and take that first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.

May we continue to protest this war and continue to pray that our young men and women in uniform will come home as soon as possible, but moreover, let this protest make a positive impact and edify each community in how they can make a difference. Let us put our emotions forth in a positive light and should those who are more cynical about making peace possible in the world without arms, let us not raise our voices in angst, but rather blow them kisses, for when we say we're anti-war, we shouldn't only mean a material war, but all war in general. Let us not fight fighting words with fighting words and continue to encourage the cultural war on the streets, and rather try and make this experience inclusive, comforting and welcoming.



Peace is possible. The time is always right to do what is right, and I encourage everyone to go out there and make quality of this time and promote the message of peace and justice in a positive light, as hundreds of thousands have so honorably done this weekend! Bless you all, and may peace always begin with you!

Love,
Noah Eaton
(Mistletoe Angel)
(Emmanuel Endorphin)