Rediscovering the Self

blogwell: Your stomach is the ultimate pokéball. Eat more...

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 16:27:17 -0400

Your stomach is the ultimate pokéball.

Eat more comics at Loldwell.com!

Unfortunately this is how the media generally treats a...

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 20:56:16 -0400

Unfortunately this is how the media generally treats a discussion that is supposed to help us decide the future of our nation. Pathetic? Definitely. But is it going to change? Not likely.

Photo

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 20:44:29 -0400

Halloween is coming and pumpkins are scary shit

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 08:23:18 -0400

Halloween is coming and pumpkins are scary shit

animalstalkinginallcaps: GREETINGS, DENIZENS OF THE DEEP! MY...

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 04:28:23 -0400

animalstalkinginallcaps:

GREETINGS, DENIZENS OF THE DEEP! MY NAME IS CHIP WIGGLESWORTH AND I AM A STRANGER IN THESE LANDS! OR IS IT WATERS? WATERS! I AM A STRANGER IN THESE WATERS! IT WOULD BE MY PLEASURE TO FROLIC BENEATH THE WAVES FOR A BRIEF TIME, BUT ONLY WITH YOUR KIND PERMISSION!

I’M GOING TO WARN YOU AHEAD OF TIME, I SHED LIKE A DANDELION AND MY BLADDER HASN’T BEEN THE SAME SINCE I CHEWED THROUGH THAT EXTENSION CORD LAST YEAR!

IT HAS JUST OCCURRED TO ME THAT YOU PROBABLY DON’T KNOW WHAT DANDELIONS OR EXTENSION CORDS ARE, AND ALSO THAT I DON’T REALLY KNOW HOW SOUND WAVES WORK UNDERWATER! I MIGHT NOT NEED TO BE YELLING! I APOLOGIZE! I CAN’T SEEM TO STOP MYSELF!

think-progress: Obamacare turns 2. Here are the facts about...

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 14:51:15 -0400

think-progress:

Obamacare turns 2. Here are the facts about what Americans have already gained.

motherjones: The Trayvon Martin Killing, Explained. (photo...

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 10:04:20 -0400

motherjones:

The Trayvon Martin Killing, Explained.

(photo via)

"Creativity is paradoxical. To create, a person must have knowledge but forget the knowledge, must..."

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 14:05:31 -0400

“Creativity is paradoxical. To create, a person must have knowledge but forget the knowledge, must see unexpected connections in things but not have a mental disorder, must work hard but spend time doing nothing as information incubates, must create many ideas yet most of them are useless, must look at the same thing as everyone else, yet see something different, must desire success but embrace failure, must be persistent but not stubborn, and must listen to experts but know how to disregard them.”

-
Michael Michalko

wearethe1in3: When I was 20 and in college, I got pregnant. My...

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 13:24:14 -0400

wearethe1in3:

When I was 20 and in college, I got pregnant. My boyfriend took me to the clinic. The abortion cost $190. I still have the receipt to remind me of how crucial the right to choose is. I felt only gratitude and relief after the procedure—not guilt or shame. It was 1980. Today, my daughter, born in 1990, is 21 and in college. I am standing up for her right to control her destiny. I am the 1 in 3.

Damn I love coffee

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 12:47:16 -0500

Damn I love coffee

Most hilarious web comic ever

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 12:42:00 -0500

Most hilarious web comic ever

richters: By Alfredo Cáceres

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 20:58:38 -0500

richters:

By Alfredo Cáceres

"An artist is a creature driven by demons. He doesn’t know why they choose him and he’s..."

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 20:47:28 -0500

“An artist is a creature driven by demons. He doesn’t know why they choose him and he’s usually too busy to wonder why.”

- William Faulkner

Memories Revisited

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 06:05:57 -0500

I lay in bed, replaying not only the days events but also the events of the last month, last year, last decade. The track is on slow motion and I pause at every second with a critical gaze. Again and again I go through scenarios, thinking about how I should have said those kind words here or stood my ground there. Sometimes I grit my teeth thinking about how I let them tread all over me and fooled myself into enjoying it. I grin just as often as I look back at how I defended my friends even when society demanded neutrality. I wonder if everyone is so quick to protect the dignity of those close to them only to be lax with the upkeep of their own…

The word regret is on the tip of my tongue, but I never let it enslave my mind. Why should I remorse the mistakes I’ve made? Why should I wish for a different past? Every faux pas, every misguided emotion, every morally bankrupt act; they are the parchment on which I write my view of the world. A beggar’s life may seem of little consequence, but he sees the world with a beauty only he can claim. He has his leaps for joy, his sudden laughter, his screams of anguish, his silent tears of dreams delayed…

So it is with me. I would not trade the most traumatic experiences of my childhood for your most heartfelt memories. But if you want to exchange tales of days long gone or tell me the troubles of yesterday than come on in, sit down, and cast off your burden, if only for a moment. I’m always ready to listen to those willing to do the same…

tastefullyoffensive: [via]

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:58:24 -0500

tastefullyoffensive:

[via]

A Game of Fetch

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:14:45 -0500

Why do I chase that ball? You stretch your arm back as my eyes gleam with anticipation. You swing your arm forward. I chase. But the ball rests safely in your arms. I return to you, downcast and empty handed. You smile at me and prepare to repeat the performance; my ears are now perked and my tongue wags as I hunger for that ball. We’ve played this game before and I already know the rules are stacked against me. I am the one expending MY energy, I am humiliated as you watch ME run, I am the beckoning to YOUR whims, and I NEVER get the ball. You only have to act.

I complain to a friend. He tells me I must enjoy the game, why else would I play? Perhaps I do enjoy it. Or maybe I play because my behavior has become habitual; a well trained mutt doesn’t question his master. I shy away from writing the third, more probable reason that I NEED to chase, to be let down, and to come again for that elusive ball. What about you? Does it empower you? Do you do it by force of habit… do you need the game as I do?

Even as I write I laugh at myself, partly in sardonic humor, mostly in shame. I’m caught in another game of fetch. After the long, arduous, and fruitless match of yesteryear, I promised myself I’ve retired. Where I thought I’ve constructed a castle I’ve built a shabby shack, and you easily tear down the walls . By putting my conviction to paper maybe it will withstand the assault of your smile. Maybe I’ll finally learn to stand up tall, on my own two feet, needing no one, a true individual. Next time you reach your arm back, I’ll sit on my rump and blithely watch as you play your game. Maybe then you’ll simply hand the ball over? Or maybe you’ll stow it away? But next time I won’t give chase. Next time…

Neuroscience meets the Armed Forces

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:51:55 -0500

Neuroscience meets the Armed Forces:

Science is a dangerous women. She’s always copulating with every aspect of life imaginable and she doesn’t use birth control. An abortion can be a last resort, that’s how we got rid of Eugenics. But the Military? He is always willing to raise more problem children. Just ask the Nuke.

Soldiers could have their minds plugged directly into weapons systems, undergo brain scans during recruitment and take courses of neural stimulation to boost their learning, if the armed forces embrace the latest developments in neuroscience to hone the performance of their troops.

These scenarios are described in a report into the military and law enforcement uses of neuroscience, published on Tuesday, which also highlights a raft of legal and ethical concerns that innovations in the field may bring. The report by the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of science, says that while the rapid advance of neuroscience is expected to benefit society and improve treatments for brain disease and mental illness, it also has substantial security applications that should be carefully analyzed. The report’s authors also anticipate new designer drugs that boost performance, make captives more talkative and make enemy troops fall asleep.

A phenomenal psychedelic rock band, Comets on Fire is no longer...

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:36:00 -0500

A phenomenal psychedelic rock band, Comets on Fire is no longer around anymore. Great music though. The song is Lucifer’s Memory from the album Avatar.

The Bucket

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:43:00 -0500

Whenever I visited my grandmother’s home as a child I dreaded taking showers. More specifically, I dreaded the bucket. I say the bucket because out of all the horrors from my childhood, it is the only one that haunts me still. In the Dominican Republic, the careless use of water was a luxury my abuela couldn’t afford to indulge in. When showering, she would fill a bucket using a faucet and she would then dump it over her head to save money. Unfortunately, there was an apparent lack of water heating, resulting in a bone-chilling shower. I remember standing in front of the bucket for what seemed like hours, desperately delaying the frigid fate that awaited me. Even the 100° Caribbean summers couldn’t make that bucket appealing. I like my showers scolding hot and if I couldn’t have my showers that way than I was not going have them at all. That is until my abuela Agueda found me standing in front of the bucket and threatened me until I finally got the ordeal over with. And after the first bucket, there was the act of filling it again, slowly watching the water rise, all the while knowing that I would have to dump an icy hell over my head again. And I would engage this bucket of water in a second round of our unwinnable staring contest, until my grandmother again forced my hand.

If my grandmother hadn’t shown up all those times, I probably wouldn’t have taken a single shower. Even now, I dread having to repeat the nightmare of my childhood. When I visited my grandmother two years ago, I was relieved to find that the bucket had finally been hung up for good, and that a fully functional water heating system had taken that bastard out of business. Never again would I be found waiting in front of the bucket, seeing which of us would back down first.

And yet, my life has been is full of buckets. And after all these years of “character development” that are supposed to accompany my growth into a man, I’m still avoiding those showers. Avoiding showers that I notice others around taking with enviable ease. I watch them do the things I want to but don’t because I can’t lift that bucket. This is why I decided to study abroad. This is why I decided to start writing. I want to learn how to snatch that bucket, say “fuck you, you chilly son of a bitch”, and dump that frigid water over my head. No hesitation. No grandmother nudging me forward. Just me.

I know how to dream. Time to lean how to accomplish.