Look at the black dot in the middle. Don't look away, and watch the colors disappear.
Found here.
Well, I'm sure he would have-
-if he had gotten the letter.
See, I had some important things to tell Mr. Clinton back in '94 or '95 (I'm not sure - I just know it has to be some time between the 29-cent stamp and my handwriting). I snuck a stamp out of someone's purse, put it on my envelope with my very important letter, went down the hill to the mailbox, stuck it in, and raised the flag. Thirteen or fourteen years later, my grandmother finds it while cleaning the house.
This was my very important message:
It's fascinating to me now to look back and see how my little mind grasped the world. I knew the president had money, and I knew, if he really wanted to and I could show him that we weren't completely without (the penny taped to the page), he could help us out, even a little.
Bill Clinton was a bad word in my house, and I never really understood why. I had an inkling it was because he was a Democrat (though Arkansas has elected all of seven Republican governors in its history, and four were during Reconstruction). The hatred of Bill mostly came from my grandfather, who could hold grudges for very small things. Maybe Bill made one too many jokes about watermelons, or perhaps he gave the cold shoulder to one of our cousins ten times removed. For the life of me, I don't know. But it was a cornerstone in the politics of our house that, whatever you did, you didn't say, "Well, I like Bill."
I believe I was in the second grade when we held mock elections for the next president. In a combination of peer pressure and rebellious determination, I voted for Bill Clinton. I remember my face growing hot and my heart racing as I marked his name. When I went home, I told my family that I had voted for Bob Dole. Lies. All lies. Even though I had enjoyed voting for Bill, I knew I couldn't hide my dark secret forever.
One day I went up to my grandfather, my head hung low. Papa asked me what was the matter, and I finally blurted it out.
"Papa, I didn't vote for Bob Dole!"
"Why, who'd you vote for?"
"Bill Clinton! I'm sorry!"
And I remember the look on Papa's face as he sighed so deeply that his chest rose and nearly touched his chin.
"It's alright, Honey. That's what we died for."
I felt my heart sink really low, but he patted his lap, and I dutifully crawled up and laid my head on his shoulder.
I don't know why my grandfather, war veteran and farmer, hated politicians so vehemently. But that day, I realized that he had put all of that aside for me, at least for a little while.
Looking back, I'm sure beyond a doubt that my grandfather took the letter out of the mailbox. I really don't know why, but I don't think it matters anymore. It's now an artifact and a conduit that makes the memories easier to recall. I'm almost positive that's not what he had in mind when he took out of the mailbox (and read it, no less). Whatever reason he had, I'm glad he did so.
Besides, it's not like Bill would have come down for supper anyway.
Okay. So I actually volunteered myself to be tagged. Ehhh, what's done is done. Thanks Amanda!
Here are the rules:
1) Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2) Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3) Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4) Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
Amanda upped the ante, so I'm going to use pictures for all of mine.
1.) I live on 40 acres. My great grandfather bought the land for $800 ($20/acre) in the early 1900s. You can imagine how much it's worth now. These two pictures are of part of my backyard. Most of the land extends beyond the trees and in the "front yard", which is not shown.
2.) I'm a Capricorn. Goat-fish!
3.) I own a typewriter that is quite possibly older than Methuselah. It works as you might expect.
4.) I invented my own hamburger dish. It involves butter, garlic, pepperjack cheese, and ranch dressing mix. But that's all I'll tell you. (You should tell me to make it for you sometime.)
5.) Contrary to what you might think, I really don't like sweets. I'd rather have warm tasty food than tooth-rotting candy, cookies, or cake 95% of the time. I do have a soft spot for warm chocolate chip cookies and Hershey's Hugs, but they are definitely not personal food groups.
6.) I am obsessed with symbolism and influential relationships. I bought tarot cards recently so I could study their meanings. When I went to Italy, I was on constant overload, absorbing as much religious and cultural symbolism as possible. I don't believe in any conspiracy theories, but I enjoy reading about old secretive organizations with odd customs. I love reading about Native American tribes and their cultures and folklore. I also love reading about ancient civilizations.
I believe that all of these relationships affect how we live - whether it has affected our ideals of freedom and soul, or the language we use everyday. I've chosen a picture of Jesus being baptized by John in the Jordan River. Of course, the dove of the Holy Spirit is descending upon Jesus, and John the Baptist can be seen pouring the water. The man in the background is not God, but a personification of the Jordan River, who is depicted in Poseidon fashion. This mosaic was done in the fifth century by Eastern craftsmen - which shows the influence that the Roman empire had in the east.
Are you still there? I wasn't kidding and I warned you, so meh.
Last one!
7.) My favorite time of day is dusk. See evidence below.
So who are the next victims? I tag Donna, Tim, Jeremy, Monda, and Nathan. I'll leave the next two up to volunteers.
Note: All pictures were taken by me and are from my various trips to different places. If you want/need more information about any photograph, I'd be glad to help.
6-8-07
CT 2:55
IT 9:55
I am completely worthless.
Honestly, I haven’t done a damn thing today. Rachel rustled around this morning around 6 or 7. I got up about three hours later, did a journal entry, fixed a few days worth of pasta, and went back to bed around 12:30 for a nap. Until 4:30.
I went out and about around six. I’d eaten, but I was still starving for some reason (probably in association with my sleeping). I went to a Mesopotamian restaurant, got a wrap that was extremely spicy but very good, and went to the internet shop for an hour, just to mess around and catch up.
I was going back up the street when I saw Teri, one of my roommates. I turned the corner and Katie was there too. I asked what was going on and they said that Katie was pretty sick. She had slept all day today, getting up before I went out. She had mentioned her throat was sore then, but I didn’t think it was serious. Apparently it was serious enough for them to head out to the ER.
Since I saw them then, I’ve talked to Danielle twice and sat around by myself, catching up on readings, thinking about tomorrow, and being generally worthless.
Because this entry is so devoid of content, I’m going to post “Best of” pictures from the last two weeks. I’ll give you faithful fans one picture per day (since I’ve finally figured out how to get the size of the photos down). That’ll actually come out to about 12 or 13 pictures, since there have been two days that I haven’t taken any (including today).
NOTE: After revisiting all of my photographs, I figured I should throw caution to the wind and post the very best of both weeks. There are more than 12 photographs, but not some from every day. Enjoy.
See below for captions.
NOTE: This is a place holder until Monday when I can format the pictures and insert them. Sorry.
