World Autism Awareness Day- Go Blue!

today is World Autism Awareness Day, April 2, 2012.

Great monuments of the world will be lit up blue tonight, and you may see people wearing blue all day, or their Autism puzzle t-shirts. You can learn more at www.lightitupblue.org

The pictures alone are worth a check out. the Christ statue in Brazil looks incredible all in blue.

Autism is still very much a mystery with few answers, but there is no question that autism is on the rise, some say to epidemic proportions. We all need to care enough to be "aware" on this issue. These kinds of campaigns have changed the way we see and approach subjects like AIDS and breast cancer. Can you remember when
women who had had mastectomies were ashamed, told no one, or felt less than human and feminine?

Many parents of children with autism don't have the kind of support that friends and community should be giving them...and it only takes one thing- a small effort to educate oneself so that you can empathize. Almost nothing is more helpful than being understood. Even money cannot replace understanding.

Thanks for taking time to think about this, and pay attention if you see World Autism Awareness on the TV, news or web today.  Awareness never happens overnight, and sometimes it takes a long time. Colored ribbons and car decals may seem trivial, but it's never about the small battles- it's about winning the awareness war. Awareness creates significance, and significance creates support for research and brings true progress.

My mom graduated from University of Michigan, so it's always easy for me to say, especially today...GO BLUE!!!!!

Asclepius' Raised Eyebrow

Wisdom may not belong to one man, one person...
although it seems to spring whole from their head like Athena,
seems to be a gift, a long-spun collection of thread snippets
twisted together over years into a skein, on into a sleeve or a cowl
until they coalesce into a garment of benign protection.
It grows but does no harm.

What we may have thought was stunted and scorched,
beyond regeneration, plucked into submission and
so acutely colored as to be beyond camouflage,
that there is no way we might have missed the reemergence
for it would stand out like a goose among swans,
reasserts its life nevertheless,
never can we say what is gone, what is dead...
we have no power over the destruction of energy, or matter,
only a responsibility,
to weed, to hoe, to cherish.
After that it is out of our hands.


With the wisdom I have knitted in these years, I can say
welcome April Fools, you always have a home here,
gather on my porch and share my coat.

Year of the Cat

this was a day she changed things, you know...
"on a morning from a Bogart movie,"
side streets pop up like tickets to other dimensions
minutes there just seconds here,
one can slide in and out of this life
either clean or wistful,
She said to herself-
even if I lose I will not cheat,
the roulette is round, God damn it, it comes back around every time,
even if I lose something significant,
I will mark this side trek with strands from my head and broken twigs
like in Last of the Mohicans,
and someone will say to me, "I will find you."
It is inevitable, so I'm taking the paths that smell delicious,
not the ones that look safe.

Just Watch

things come back
when you open your mind to them,
even when you're sure you searched there before.
things come back
that you didn't even know were real things,
like self-assurance, and safety,
knowing you are loved even when you are so confused
and freedom that is real, not a word you have to steal.
things come back
when you let it be okay
that someone knows you,
"I give you peace, My Peace I give you..."
because what is there worth hiding if you
can't sleep for the secrets under the pillow.
things come back
you never even had to start with,
like security, and things come back you can't ignore...
your intuition, that is is well, that things are Breit
and Time is now your friend.

for Arthur :-)   Ash Wednesday, 2012

It's Taxing

I'm fairly pathetic.
Yesterday's little foray into wonderland and the world of what might be should I smoke the magic hookah, or drink the tiny bottle of elixir with the tag on it...
Yeah, whatever.
If I were a man I think I might say I have no...yeah those.

I say...oooh, I could be bad. Then I spend the next day...
having an awesome conversation with my former financial adviser and friend,
having dinner and great elucidative conversation with my son, Reid,
spending hours doing taxes,
balancing three checkbooks,
dealing with Reid's social security,
then studying and making drug cards....on a Friday night.

What a rebel. Look at her go, folks!
I remember when I moved back to Georgia...I said...I'm going to start a new life as a Dominatrix.
I think I've mentioned this before.
My friends died laughing.
Pathetic.


I'm already thinking about my DragonCon costumes for next year...
one is  Kermit the Frog.
Hope I pull that off! I found a kelly green dress for five dollars yesterday to work with and cut up.
Do they make Kermit green fishnet hose?  I think they make everything...
I really need to get out more.
There's a Salsa Dancing Mardi Gras party tomorrow night.

There is nothing like doing taxes to make you feel ANYTHING but "bad girl."
I'm feeling both pathetic and whiney. Lucky you.

with Brian the dog...ette!

Here's my take on Little Red Riding Hood from last year's DragonCon. Possibly "sweet" is just inescapable for me. Can't wait to hear what Ali has to say...she is saddled with the sweet curse, too. Maybe if I dye my hair black?? SIGH....

Neither Was Alice

Do we all reach a point where it seems that being "good" isn't getting us anywhere?
I'm feeling that way right now.
Now, it will never be part of my agenda to be impolite or cruel. It will never be my plan to cheat someone, or cheat at school, or steal.
I don't really think I will become unfriendly, or unhelpful...

But that leaves a lot.

If the ones who are bad, even horrible...
get the preferential treatment...
if they get chosen time and time again,
if their unending demands and needs get met...
maybe they know something I don't. Seems like it.

I have no interest in becoming as they are.
Wouldn't happen anyway. If I were capable of being as they are, maybe I would be already...
I don't know how that works.
I'm just thinking maybe I don't understand how a lot of things work.

But I could figure out how to be bad. I'm sure I could.
I've stuck my toe in the water a few times.. It's an option.
Anyone want to hop on the bad girl bus with me?

nardack.deviantart.com

I'm not even sure where it goes...but neither was Alice.
Look what a wild adventure she had.

Could it really be that much more painful?
You know...being bad looks painful. It looks
like it sucks. But if it sucks, why are so many people
doing it?

Like I said....just a thought.
And I suspect no one would even care.

Readiness

Life's mysteries reveal themselves in the morning.
revelatory hush and fog prepare a sacrifice,
uneaten, left on the ground for the gods
and for those who whisper with their feet
as the sun arises. Decadent is the luxury of
being loved, when nothing else is sure, anywhere.
Would the blades of grass that will surely grow above you
accept you any less readily should you die tomorrow
or age until your hundreds.
when you know that all you want is one thing, finally...
a reverence stains the glass, how you see things lit through the pane...
and if it does not want you,
you can let it go.