Lately it's been...

...hotter than the inside of a live chicken!© And for those of you who didn't believe that this fantabulous saying would ever make it's way into the jargon of pop culture, here is verifiable proof that not only has this saying become ever-so-popular, but that it has spread out of the chicken mecca of Tucson, AZ all the way across the state line to California. That's right, if this trend was a crime, it would now be federal. My friend and co-worker from Los Angeles, California sent me this picture just this morning, as she witnessed temperatures in Pasadena at 6pm on Saturday rise exactly two degrees hotter than the inside of a live chicken!© Thanks to all those committed Chicken Diction aficionados out in the world.

So say my chickens too...

"Anarchism is not a romantic fable but the hardheaded realization, based on five thousand years of experience, that we cannot entrust the management of our lives to kings, priests, politicians, generals, and county commissioners."
- Ed Abbey

(For more Abbey quotes you can go to this nifty webpage.)

Looking for someone to support?

Me and my chickens heart Cynthia McKinney... (the interviewer, not so much).

For the record.

Occasionally I find the need to stray from the not-so-subtle object of this blog and address matters of near equal importance to the goings-on of my backyard brood of hens. So for all you folks out there who are caught up in the fantasy world of dynasty-love, regurgitated go-get-'em politics, or the cult of personality, here you go. Being better than Bush does not mean they are better than each other.

Tragedy continued.

Well they identified the young man who was shot and killed near my house. Manuel Fimbres-Moreno was 26. He will always be 26. I did not know Manuel - at least that I know of. But I am terribly saddened by his murder and cannot begin to imagine the pain of his family.

They arrested someone on suspicion of killing him. The kid they arrested is 21. Certainly it is not proven that he is responsible, but undoubtedly prison is in his future given the broken beyond repair system of injustice. For me it is simply a furtherance of a terrible tragedy. But this time, more than ever we will be complicate in what takes place as the tax payer funded "justice" system will do everything possible to ensure that no rehabilitation will ever take place.

Are we now safer that a young man will spend years in prison learning how to be more violent, less feeling, possibly drug addicted, and completely removed from his family? And when he returns to our community (96 percent of all Arizona prisoners do) will he have any better idea how to positively impact the people around him? Or will he be hardened, broken, and lacking any real understanding of what responsibility would actually mean in a situation like this? Will he ever have a chance at anything different than just that? These are questions I ask myself, but are never asked when laws are passed and people punished. Whatever happens to this young man, will we as a community be better for the judgment that is made on his life? I am positive we will not. This makes the tragedy of last Wednesday evening even that more horrendous.

Tucson police identify man who was fatally shot last week...

Tragedy.

Last night an unidentified young man was was shot and killed on the street about four houses down from mine. It happened right after Riley and I left for ultimate frisbee practice. Mari heard at least five shots. No one knows who this person is, nor who shot him, other than he drove away in a white truck. I'm not sure what to say about this other than it is a tragedy. This morning I walked down the street and lit a candle by the blood stains in the road. That is all I can think to do right now. But somewhere, a young man didn't come home last night, and another has blood on his hands. I guess we all do in some way. So please, take a moment, and do something thoughtful, something kind.

"Rage. Rage against the dying of the light." - Dylan Thomas

If you're not absolutely-totally-demoralized- and-angry, then you're certianly not paying attention.

Why we are doomed as a species.

So today there is an article in the New York Times about rich New Yorkers that have bought houses in the woods in Connecticut for weekend getaways, but they are scared out there when it gets dark - seriously! So they spend thousands of dollars to put in security systems, extensive outdoor motion lighting, and god knows what other foolish toys that was originally designed by the military and have now been normalized for its paranoid citizenry.

SO first of all, don't complain about the dark and coyotes and moose when you have spent a million dollars on some luxury cabin in the woods. It's the woods damnit. And the minute you take away any of those beautiful wild unregulated things, it stops being the woods. And secondly, if that is what you want, please for your sake and ours, stay at home on the 50th floor of whatever high-rise you live in, shut your silver spoon choked mouths, and buy some designer purse to put your small decorative dog and taser in while you shop for black turtlenecks and trendy glasses. Leave the wild places for the rest of us, who aren't permanently plugged into an ipod or blow dryer and relish the chaos of nature and the sounds of a world that has never been ours. Nor by the evidence of our treatment of this world, should it ever be.

Beware Tucson bicyclists!!

As of early this morning, there is a gang of motorcycle cops pulling over bicycle riders mostly along University Boulevard between Sixth Ave and Park Ave. SO BEWARE!! There have been heaps of bogus tickets given out by overly ambitious, blowhard cops who have decided to target bike riders. Spread the word and be more mindful of stopping and signaling and everything else. If you or someone else gets pulled over, there is a good bike lawyer, Erik Ryberg. He has an informational blog www.tucsonbikelawyer.com and his number is 520.622.3333. Personally, from my completely non-lawyerly position I would tell everyone to plead not-guilty and challenge all these tickets.

AND everyone should show up tonight, Tuesday, 8pm at Old Main for the community bike ride. The last few weeks there have been over 200 folks from all over Tucson riding together on a different route every Tuesday. ALSO, there will be a Tucson Critical Mass bike ride this Friday eve, at 6pm leaving from El Presidio Park, and then every last Friday of each month.


"A patriot must always be ready to defend his [sic] country from his [sic] government." - Edward Abbey

H2O.

Didn't someone recently say that the next world war would be over water? I sure hope it doesn't get confused with this current war over oil...

Drought-Stricken South Facing Tough Choices (NY Times)...

"The left column."

I would like to draw your attention to the not-so-famous "left column" in this blog. There are three reasons really. The first is that my brother (among others) has told me that he has never clicked on a single link in the "left column." My own brother! It's hard out there for a blogger. The second reason is that I have recently re-worked some of the categories and added some interesting links. The last, and I am sure most crowd-pleasing-Chicken-Diction- enthusiast-exciting, is that I have finally gotten not only up to date with the egg laying exploits, but I have made a more standardized system for some of the naysayers and critics out there in the Tucson community...So damnit - take a look at the left column and learn yourselves a thing or two. Or just hear some random shit that I happen to chuckle at late at night when I am writing for this blog. Whatever, just look at the left column, it's worth it I promise.

A Guatemalan wooden chicken for your enjoyment.

My "go outside" rant.

Hello Chicken Diction aficionados!

In response to a self-diagnosis of CEAD (current events affective disorder) I, along with some good friends, will be out in the wilds backpacking and breathing fresh air from mountain tops and beside ponderosa pine trees this weekend.

I tell you this for several reasons: 1. I don't want you to fret that I am not catching up on blogging as I often do over the weekends, 2. I am sure you will miss me, and 3. If you are sitting in front of a computer reading this, then you should do at least one of many things, none of which are continue sitting in front of a computer checking blogs. (Well perhaps you should read a bit farther in case you need some creative ideas...Here goes.)

Most importantly, GO OUTSIDE. I don't really care where you are. Though I personally have an extreme aversion to cold, I still am a firm believer that it is crucial for everyone to see without the aid of florescent lighting and breath non-filtered, bona-fide a-i-r. So go outside and breath. Play. Go for a run or just sit on your ass. Watch the birds fly south and imagine where they are going. Find a sidewalk and dig up a piece of it. Then plant something that has roots and water it in. Find a stream and throw rocks at the log on the other side. Wake up early and listen to the sounds that you only hear through your dreams as the light slowly warms the world. Walk somewhere instead of driving. Tell yourself that the extra time is the key to sanity. It is. Or ride a bike and take the long route, one you have never been on before, and see what you see. If you have to drive, drive OUT of the city, town, or boro in which you live and keep going until the skyline is not made by people. Go to the park, the square, or even your backyard. Get dusty for no reason, and muddy for fun. But whatever you do, please go outside. Stop reading this. For your sanity. For mine. Come back a better person, more calm, impassioned, less crabby, but less comfortable in a routine that keeps us forgetting to go outside and get dirty.

Now go goddammit, before it's too late.

So it won't go to hell so fast.

(I know, I thought it was called Myanmar too.)

This about sums it up.

Sometimes I think the world is going to hell.

Make a difference...

As everyone (but me it seems) is getting ready to go back to school soon, I wanted to give props to all the amazing teachers out there who work day after day to create opportunities for learning for all of us. This is Taylor Mali, renown slam poet and teacher with some of his own powerful thoughts...

Just another day on the US/Mexico border.

With a phone call everything can change so quickly. One minute you are chuckling to yourself over some private joke that you remembered from the evening before, and then the next minute your friend’s voice is over the phone from somewhere south of Tucson in the middle of the desert telling you they found the body of the woman they were looking for. She had been crossing the border and then the desert like so many thousands of others, looking for work. The body had already begun to decompose he tells me, and the hair on my arms stands up – I don’t know if it is from the air conditioning that just kicked back on or the gravity of his words that kicked me in the gut. There was a strain in his voice that was palpable and it wasn’t the static that from poor cell phone coverage. There are times when phones have this unnerving quality, like a massive car wreck between juxtaposition of events and interconnectedness of us all. Sitting in the shaded confines of my office, the picture of a woman’s body, decomposed and lonely, was never clearer, never more distinct, and yet miles if not worlds away from me. The very border that killed her made my reality possible. The insufferable heat she succumbed to was my privilege and my enjoyment. The car wreck of our circumstances is not easily cleaned up.

Somewhere, only an hour’s drive from where I write, more phone calls are being made to the necessary authorities, and surely prayers are being whispered on the dry burning wind of the desert. Water is touching the lips of those who endeavored to find this unnamed person, and sweat is being wiped from brows with the knowledge that the cars are not far off. A woman who died with nothing but courage, is now with companions she never knew. The family she was walking towards is certainly weeping at the news of her confirmed death, and yet sighing with the relief that she will not be one of the hundreds who simply evaporate into the oblivion of the desert. Close by, I am sure there are those who are sidestepping such an ending, walking a tightrope to survival and the possibility of work in the North. Meanwhile we jump from air conditioned cars to offices and back, our agendas tightly under our arms, and our destinations “legally” sanctioned by convenience of laws made on our behalf. As long as there are jobs here and US sponsored poverty elsewhere, women like this will die alone in the desert. As we are responsible for the policies of this country, we are then responsible for this woman's death.