29 May 2008

Benjatod Battles - As of May 2008

Laser Guns

Pursuit of Ho-Chunk Nation

Hamster Wormhole


Ham + Time + Cheerleader

###

There will be many more to post eventually.


28 May 2008

Monkey Dreams


New portraits of me.  The top one didn't turn out quite like I wanted, but I like how frilly it is.

20 May 2008

Thelma Young: My Hero


Thelma Young is one of my heroes.   She leads, with two other tremendous individuals, the U.S. Campaign for Burma.  As many of you know, the Burmese people have undergone some horrific events recently, and the military regime has put up a wall to the majority of aid pledged by so many.

As a bystander, I myself have so many issues with not only the Burmese junta's actions but also the inaction of the world.  I value a woman like Thelma who can say what she thinks and fights for it, not for her own glory or recognition but for the peace and love that surely should spread through the righteous' influence across the earth.  Thelma possesses great courage and grace.  She is full of a fire that both burns like an engine but also as a balm to those around her.  The Holy Ghost is with her actions, thoughts, pleas, and prayers.

06 May 2008

02 May 2008

Unsubscribe Me



Will it go on?  We may not have direct control over this practice, but raise you voice with me in every opportunity that presents itself against such treatment of our enemies.  Can we turn the other cheek, or is Jesus Christ a 1st century maxim lost in the dust of a thousand conflicts wrought with paranoia?

23 April 2008

I Can Never Tell

Perhaps I need one of those web-counters to see whether people even visit my blog.  I know it may seem vain, but I would like to see a comment on at least one of my last several posts.  I share to then share in an experience with others.  This blog is utterly wasted if no one else takes something from it, whether is be a random chuckle or a thought that lingers.

I know that some of my friends check this blog and are thankful I do post, and for that I am grateful.  I hope there would be an increase in participation as blogs seem to be one way of holding on to conversation, an art that is slowly slipping from our societies.

Let me know if I need to can my trash.  The poems can be a bit heavy for everybody including myself.  This post is mainly whacked as I am fighting a week of 7 finals and having to move out by Wednesday afternoon from my house, in the midst of finishing said finals.  Woof.

Godspeed women and men.

19 April 2008

On the Nature of Dogs, the Right of Grace, Forgiveness and Hospitality: Derrida, Kant, and Lars Von Trier's Dogville


Wow.  Cosmopolitanism vs. communitarianism.  It is all so rich.  The film Dogville was a bit much for me because of all the sexual violence, but the concepts introduced are nonetheless worth analyzing.  Immanuel Kant's argument for "cosmopolitan right" to hospitality as a world citizen is very interesting.  Give the article a read and leave your response.

14 April 2008

Consecrate for Change

A new blog by Chris Nielsen (a recent acquaintance of mine) called Consecrate for Change is very enthralling.  

The opening post is a diary of sorts, dialoging Chris' experiment with "solo protesting" in Provo.  The various responses to his half-hour time consecrations to the Lord's admonition of "renounce war" are discussion inducing for our little hamlet of Provo.  

Check it out if you have some time.

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday – Part I


God so loved

I so loved
 
He so loved
 
She so loved Him
 
He so loved her
 
I so loved Him,

And God so loved me.

Great rings, rounding the bends of their own eternities, 

Replicated life in travail,

To soil,

To star,

To womb,

To the heart of a single beat, the drum organs' cadence.

Blossomed flowers overrode my nuclear sunset for God.


Easter Sunday – Part II


He gave His Only Begotten Son,

Not to condemn the world,

But that the world through Him might be saved.

Beauty instead of ashes, I opened up,

And poured forth a petal that planted itself on a rock.


[Written 23 March 2008]

13 April 2008

The Warm Day of April Solemnity


The warm day of April solemnity gathered on a plot of land,

in a framework of steel and fleshy tables and chairs

Books were opened and tongues stayed as bread broke,

and His heart burst from heaven weight

Bless and sanctified, God's finger ran its course over our dim crowns

My face, Ryan's eyes, and an anonymous girl enjoyed a ray here,
and a piece there


[Written 13 April 2008]

07 April 2008

Bastard: An Etymology

My brother's hilarious etymological analysis of the controversial word "bastard":

"1223, "illegitimate child," from O.Fr., "child of a nobleman by a woman other than his wife," probably from fils de bast "packsaddle son," meaning a child conceived on an improvised bed (saddles often doubled as beds while traveling), with pejorative ending -art. Alternate possibly is that the word is from P.Gmc. *banstiz "barn," equally suggestive of low origin. Not always regarded as a stigma; the Conqueror is referred to in state documents as "William the Bastard." Figurative sense is from 1552; use as a vulgar term of abuse for a man is attested from 1830. Bastardize "debase" is from 1587.Who wants to be considered low?"

The Church in Africa - 2008

Africa Day of Service



Africa Measles Vaccination Program

01 April 2008

Anonymous Saint

Anonymous Saint:


You partook and I saw you burst into flames


The Ghost rained down upon our congregation,


And I could not help but marvel at the snow gracing the passersby,


Those patrons of the white mana,


As they journeyed on their exodus


Your spirit will rejoin the dust made infinitely bright


Your breath will light darkness 


And slothfulness will bow to strengthened resolve


Not yet known by this row



[Written 28 March 2008]


THE NEW BACKGROUND

Scattered matter...


School is a strange force to reckon with in my mind.  I seem so capable of doing what is needed, laying out meticulous plans, and yet I reach the moment of action and bring forth little to nothing.  I am quite positive I have been lulled by something innocuous in my life, but whether I can comprehend it or not, I must still move forward.

I definitely need to sleep more and eat more often.  I would not be surprised if demons were at the gates of my very own heart and mind.  Critical paths are tied to my feet, though they will not wander too far into the forbidden fields with me.  

So now the question arises:  what is the most important thing I am neglecting that is causing my inaction?

13 March 2008

New Announcement


I will be performing at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City one of my new modern dance pieces titled "What's Love Got To Do With It?" @ 7:12 pm this Friday. Any and all are welcome. Please come and revel in life and rhythm.

Yes!

10 March 2008

"Some Hearts Are True"

Blind Blind Blind - Thee Silver Mount Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band