I trust all you good people understand how much this sucks for librarians, and for all of you, too. USA Patriot Act: Librarians Keep Quiet. Think we roused too much rabble for Michael Moore? Did we help too many people find answers to questions? Do people still think we shush patrons?

"THE USA PATRIOT ACT allows the FBI broad new powers to check borrower records, Internet use and any other materials that could help track client reading histories (it also applies to booksellers and could be used to obtain medical records). The law contains a gag order threatening librarians with criminal prosecution if they tell anyone of the FBI visits. (Celia notes: this includes your boss, the legal counsel for your library, and your personal lawyer.) The FBI must get a warrant from a judge, but the standard is lower than probable cause. And the evidence, too, is secret."

A silly joke for the season...

Q: Why can't witches get pregnant?
A: Because their husbands have halloweenies.

Tis the season of the true warm wine. I made the winecorkboard I have been dreaming of.

Tis the season of the thinnest veil, a time for the truths of the bones, a time to acknowledge and then release what is dead. It is very sad. It is very freeing.

Here's my costume from a few years ago: a dead beat poet.

Pictures to follow of this year's....

Pre-Halloween weekend, but we are already begining...

I swear the trees are singing.

I carved my pumpkin last night.

I went to Dia De Los Muertos on Allen Street.

I met a hottie. I think he said his name was Harlan Sza-something.

What is your tarot significator?

Quiz
created by Polly Snodgrass.

WATER OF EARTH. Mommy! Well, you could be. You are good with plants and small creatures such as children. You're very generous and basically great hearted. You probably make mad whack cookies and are good at managing the household; also businesses. You'd make a good tax person, book keeper, gardener, massage therapist, etc. The ever domestic and practical one, you can stretch a penny and make ramen noodles go a long way.

In the morning of the world

In the morning of the world,
there is the dawning of the sun
dancing across the silent earth
to begin the slow awakening
of each and every thing.

In the morning of the world,
there is the singing
of birds and peaceful women.
the day itself birthing.

In the morning of the world,
while I am still dreaming,
there is already so much happiness
I’ll wake up grateful for it,
even if I missed it
one more time.

Shadow Culture

In my search for a plan (protesting globalization is not enough, individual action & demonstration are not enough) I came across this piece of sanity:

The act of asking for less, not more, is a radical act – far more radical than it's ever given credit for.

If you don't believe me, ask yourself why, after modern history's most appalling act of terrorism, the President of the united States of America would tell his people to keep on shopping or the terrorists win.

Here's why: consumption keeps the system standing. Take away consumption, and you need to come up with a radically different system.

Hallelujiah! Jubilee!

I really appreciate Alex Massie's take on life after thirty. Also it is reassuring to realize that my sense of caring less about certain things is not freakish by-product of a rough year. (Not this year, the last one, which is why I was starting to be alarmed by it.) It's not that I feel good about caring less. But the girl I was at 15 couldn't live in the world she saw. It's the same world now, folks, and worse in many ways I could not envision even in my lurid adolescent despair, but I do live in it and my life is often very excellent. Hallelujiah! Jubilee! It is extremely heartening to realize it is not simply circumstance or attitude which makes happiness.

I also gain strength from an adage I keep bumping into: Adversity does not build character. It reveals it.

Too bad they didn't archive all the information we used to have access to before 9/11.

"The University of North Texas Libraries and the U.S. Government Printing Office, as part of the Federal Depository Library Program, created a partnership to provide permanent public access to the electronic Web sites and publications of defunct U.S. government agencies and commissions. This collection was named the "CyberCemetery" by early users of the site."

The fabulous Mary Prankster are coming tomorrow to Nietzsche's! Don't miss it!

"Fuck me fuck me fuck me fuck me
I am Ernie's rubber duckie
kiss me kiss me kiss me kiss me
let's break out the tits and whiskey!"

New entry, full of big beautiful autumnal pictures, can be found here.

A must-have: The James Brown Rubber Ducky. "I feel good!"

The President's real goal in Iraq. [via addonizio]. What are we to do?

"This war, should it come, is intended to mark the official emergence of the United States as a full-fledged global empire, seizing sole responsibility and authority as planetary policeman. It would be the culmination of a plan 10 years or more in the making, carried out by those who believe the United States must seize the opportunity for global domination, even if it means becoming the "American imperialists" that our enemies always claimed we were."

Learn to be in darkness, said the poet. It was nearly all she knew. Even so, true, true, true.

a lil haiku up at jillenium

What I did today (the unexpergated version)


Listened to car talk,
had coffee,
made granola from scratch,
washed dishes,
wrote in journal,
walked dog,
checked email,
made oatmeal, ate oatmeal while watching america's test kitchen,
dressed & got stuff ready for workwent to peace vigil,
went to work,
checked email, defragmented work hard drive,
worked reference desk,
answered maybe 25 reference questions,
ate tiger's milk bar,
checked email multiple times & blogged,
read OLJs,
3WA,
played GNE, chatted with Jill,
ate noodles, chatted with colleagues, talked to Joe,
went home,
talked to Kteela,
walked dog,
checked email, downloaded songs,
alphabetized CDs,
bathed dog,
did dishes,
cleaned out closet & got rid of 2 bags worth of clothes (frankly, I am 33 and the jeans I wore ten years ago aint makin a comeback),
made dinner,
watched The Big Chill
,
took a bath,
checked email,
blogged....

There will be corn also: Smoove B archives.

This is the best thing I've seen on why the US should not proceed in war against Iraq. Stark has it right.

Free at last!

Hotmail can bite me. Oh yeah, they already did--only allowing me to block a few of the millions of spammers in the world, bombarding mw with pop-up ads, servers frequently down (no upgrade has ever improved my emailing experience), and failing to deliver a great deal of my incoming messages last week. They are still trickling in, 6, 7 days after they were sent...

So tonight I spent nearly 4 hours transferring my address book by hand (beacuse Hotmail sucks & has no export option). It was interesting to ponder each person & each name as it went past. Some of these addresses I've never used; at least ten, I'm sure, will bounce back. Still, I'm hoping to get some updates out of my friends, who are as near as 4 blocks away & as far away as the UK.

I keep telling you...

...Mercury is in retrograde.

Game Neverending...

Am already an addicted alphatester. Wow, what a game. Here's some tips & stuff I found whilst trolling:

Natalie's Tips for Game Neverending [pixelkitty]

Um...yum. [nws]

Okay, I promised an update.

I am wearing silver fingernail polish and purple toenail polish. I didn't sleep till 4 AM last night because I had coffee at 4 pm, stupid after days off coffee. Days with no coffee occur only when I am sick--in this case, feverish & feeling overrun with germs.

I am better now.

I got the Sims Unleashed & like it lots. I am happy Mark Driver updated after, what, a year? I've been meeting people (by which I mean men) and having interesting conversations. Then I go home & hang out with my dog.

I signed up for Game Neverending. I cancelled my extraneous phone services because I hate Verizon & even more hate paying them a crazy-making $90 per month. I am rockin' out angel style at my job & get thank yous, wine and marriage proposals along with my job satisfaction.

Really not much to report but this: the leaves are beginning to turn, beginning to fall. I go about in sandals and barefeet whenever possible. I like my life.