Gay Pride, Buffer Zones, and New Music!

I'm quite frankly unsure where to go with this blog right now.  I am headed towards the "I wanna write tons of crap and it not be crap and have lots of people read it!" direction. LOL 

Any requests out there?  I've not got any specific stuff to write, other than something that I've not gotten to finish due to fear (long story, will let you know when that blog comes out!), and a meandering contemplation on the contrasts/comparisons of horns and antlers.  Yes, I am a devotee of Pan, but one of my main totem animals is Reindeer (Caribou), so there you go.

I am listening to the new single by Bjork right now, "Crystalline".  Here's the vid I found:

Pretty spiffy, though it's been awhile since I've listened to her stuff.  I still gravitate towards her early work, like "Human Behavior", and from the two albums after that.  Allowed myself to slip into the poverty mentality for many years, however, and stopped listening to/buying new music that wasn't on the radio.  Thank the gods I listen to public radio:  my favorite station is WNCW, a college station out of Spindale, NC.  Good stuff!!

Also, have discovered a kick-ass band called Other Lives.  Here is an incredible song, "For 12".  They also do a magnificent Tiny Desk concert on NPR's All Songs Considered. 

Apparently, they are going to be at the Visulite Theatre in Charlotte, NC, on October 5!! Woot!!  Now, if I can just get there... :P

In other news, Charlotte Pride is happening this Saturday, August 27th.  This is, for those not in the know, a gay pride festival to celebrate our queerness and diversity, and acceptance.  I have volunteered with Partners in Peace, to be a part of the "buffer zone" around the edges of the festival, to keep any conflict from protestors from bothering people.  This year, which will be my first attending, there are supposed to be a couple of groups of evangelical christians surrounding the event.  This bothers me, as their sole purpose is to surround gay pride, evangelize and "resist the gay agenda with love".  Uh, okay.  Here's a LGBTQ Nation report, with pertinent links to the "God has a better Way" folks, including a petition to get them to stop, which they have NOT decided to do.  They are still planning on showing up Saturday, according to their website.  I noticed on their facebook, that the only comments they allow with any difference of opinion are very few, and none from anyone who apparently had differing statistics. 

This whole thing irks me, but what better way to meet ignorance than with love?  They, according to their website, are planning to either march *through* the Pride festivities, or surround it.  Damn.  It's insane.  They are going to need all the level heads they can get!!!!  I'll be there with a couple of friends, so it should be interesting!!  OH, and I'm so gonna be taking pictures!! LOL 

Again, Charlotte Pride is this coming Saturday, August 27th, from 12 noon until 8 p.m. in downtown Charlotte, NC.  Come on out and play! ;)

Can't think of much else to say.  I've got to go out and get about, so until I return, here is a spiffy video (though not newer music) to enjoy!!

^_^

Many Blessings, Lovies!!

Shedding (a poem)

bleed me
bleed me raw
rip me
strip me wide
open my heart
scrape out the inside
starting from scratch
building a foundation
building a foundation that will last
firm footings to hold me in the worst possible storm.

after the rain, some flowers lift their heads,
asking the clouds, why me? why now? why today?
alternately cursing and praising that which
nourishes and strips away,
casting the dead leaves off so that others may grow.

I wish to be like that. 
Beauty stripped bare.
Pain stripped bare.
Skin exposed, heart exposed, mind open to infinite possibilities.

Great Mother Serpent, She whose coils enfold this very Earth in Her embrace,
Take me and shape me
If need, break me: please do not let me lose my mind, merely the pain inside.
It is rotten and sore, full of pus and gore, accumulated debris--30+ years of hurt.

Lancing draining healing flaking gently scraping the scab away at last

I must surrender
I must surrender
I must.  And so I shall.

Thank you: when my tears fall, they cleanse me. 
When the pain washes me o'er, it cleanses me.
When the sadness of what has been long forgotten is purged, it cleanses me.
When my heart has bled until it is bone-dry, it cleanses me.
When I can start over, each second of each day, always being reborn and constantly made anew, it will cleanse me.

Shed this skin. 
Take this pain.
Take this thing inside.
Take it away! I do not want it anymore.
I am tired, so very, very tired. 
I am tired of carrying around a weight that burdens me, numbs me, cripples me every second of every day.
I am tired. 

I do not wish to be tired anymore, Mother.
I do not wish to hurt anymore, any more than is necessary.  *This* is not necessary.
Please, take this pain:  I offer it to you, freely. 
It is my choice, and though I know I must be proactive, I cannot do this all alone. 

The gentlest whisper, the gentlest sigh,
"My child, you are never alone:
Even when the candle flickers, the flames die down, and the coals grow cold,
I am still there.  In the darkness, I am still there.
Sometimes even more so:
All things grow cold.  All things fade away. 
All things must die, and come to an end, before they can be reborn again.
So it is with us, with gods and humans, humans and gods.
We are alike, you and I. 
In fact, we are very much the same.  We ARE the same.
You need never look farther away for me than your own mirror.
When you see yourself, look deep into your eyes;
You will see the Goddess, and know she is inside.
Wrap my arms around you, bath in my love,
For I am yours and you are mine--as it is below, so it is above."

Thank you, Mother.
For showing me the way,
Where I can strip away all pretentions and merely, simply Be:
The doorway lies inside, and only I hold the key.

~~Me