Quarantine Haiku

Since April is National Poetry Month, let’s start off with some haiku I wrote last year during quarantine.

04.08.20 – Day #21 of Quarantine, Isolation, Distancing.

  • Morning birds sing
  • & Harmonize
  • To celebrate & welcome the day

  • Day 21
  • Quarantined still
  • The sun still shines

  • Day 21…quarantined
  • Still the sun shines
  • Over my head

  • Day 21
  • Quarantined
  • I’m still here

  • Neighbour sneezes in their yard
  • Virus or just allergies?
  • What am I to think?

  • Neighbour sneezes in their yard
  • Virus or allergies?
  • Don’t know WHAT to think

  • Sitting here, grounded
  • While birds fly
  • I’m jealous

  • Devoid of human touch
  • The breeze is here
  • Holding me close

  • Sitting… thinking
  • The wind passes by
  • & Says, “Enough”.

  • In the absence
  • Of human touch
  • The sun greets me
  • Each morning
  • With a kiss

  • In the absence of human touch
  • The sun greets me each morning
  • With a kiss

  • Sitting on the porch
  • I hear the train
  • Moving down the tracks

To See or Not To See

Well, Punxsutawney Phil and his friends seem to be in a bit of a trifle dissensus concerning the prolonging of this years winter. While Phil may have awoke to see his shadow this morning, many of his friends across the North American continent, did not. From Staten Island Chuck to Nova Scotia’s Shubenacadie Sam and Ontario’s Wiarton Willie, the predictions are unanimous, “Hello, Spring!”

So, could Phil be wrong? Given the fact that it actually is a grey, obscure sort of day, yes, he may have been off his game today. But that’s okay. Meteorologists are wrong all the time. Skin or fur, nobody is perfect.

Perhaps the more important question is why there is an entire day devoted to these supposed rodent weather experts? The real reason the males emerge from their holes in February is not to predict the weather, but to find a mate, instead. See, mankind are not the only ones to celebrate love in the second month. *wink*

Music Monday:

Fresh off the release of her sixth album, The Weight of These Wings, Miranda Lambert crafts a two-disc collection of stories about picking up the pieces of our broken hearts & finding a way to somehow making them feel whole again. Tin Man resonates deep from experience. Broken hearts remind us, once again, just how human we are.

Check out the rest of Miranda's latest album, The Weight of These Wings.

Trick or Treat, Lovers!

Valentine’s Day is a cheap trick of a holiday or as comedian Jen Kirkman likes to refer to it as, “…kind of childish.” I couldn’t agree more. It’s just another holiday where everyone feels pressured by marketing executives into keeping up appearances with the status quo, most of which are really just a bunch of meaningless stupid shit, anyway. It’s like high school, but in the real world. Chocolate, flowers, greeting cards, dinner out at fancy restaurants, lingerie, yada-yada-yada. Most of these marketing ploys always end up either giving you a fat ass or being tossed in the garbage. Valentine’s Day is the one day out of the year when people try so ridiculously hard to be so incredibly over-the-top, unnecessarily romantic that more often than not it just looks and feels fake.

“The thing about Valentine’s day is that people discover who are single and who to feel jealous of.” – Faye Morgan

“Why buy flowers for Valentine’s Day? Just go to a cemetery and collect a dozen off a few graves.” – Jarod Kintz

“Then, Valentine’s Day came. There was a dance, and balloons and flowers and cheaply made rings and all sorts of lame teddy bears and stuffed animals, as if teenagers can be wooed with the same shit as five-year-olds. It was the Dietzes’ most hated holiday of the year, too, because it dealt with the consumerization of something sacred. Mom and Dad had agreed never to buy each other anything on the day. It was a false, Hallmark holiday. A sham. A moneymaking sideshow for insecure couples who didn’t have true love…” – A.S. King

Most people around this time of year tend to exaggerate their relationships in public as if they are on the set of some soap opera or reality television show. You know, the ones that consume most of our culture’s attention. The ones where everyone is trying too hard to be the picture perfect couple, but underneath the facade the relationship is, more often than not, shallow and fallacious.

I overhear phrases all the damn time such as: “I’ve got to…” or “I have to…” or “…I don’t want to show up empty handed.“ And every time, I pause and think to myself, ”If it’s really a holiday about celebrating the love we feel for someone, then why would we have to get them anything? If we truly love someone, then wouldn’t we want to show them how much we love them? Do we even know why we are doing all of this shit? Do we really want to waste our money on trivial crap that marketers shove in our faces and say that we need? Are we all just floatin’ downstream with the rest of the perch and bass because it’s a national holiday and it’s the thing we’re supposed to do? Are we even really in love? Or are we all just pretending because everyone else is doing it and we don’t want to feel left out? Peer pressure is not just a high school problem, after all.”

“This is the story of America. Everybody’s doing what they think they’re supposed to do.“ – Jack Kerouac

Every year in my observations, I try and spot the authentic lovers. Think of it kind of like a game of "Where’s Waldo,” but with lovers. Each year, the game increases to another level of difficulty. Valentine’s Day has become a lot like Halloween in a fallacious, deceitful kind of way. It’s scary out there. Everybody wears their costume of love all throughout the day, but by the end of the night most end up shedding their costume and by the next morning nothing is left except their naked soul; the real them feeling empty and alone. Underneath the cloak of love lies emptiness, loneliness, betrayal, and heartache. Valentine’s Day should more aptly be called One-Night-Stands Day because it’s not really a day about love anymore. It’s about lust and everyone wanting to feel loved, even if just for one day.

Truthfully, in accordance with its origin story, Valentine’s Day was a lot like Halloween. It was violent and graphic and gory. There was a massacre. Hearts literally torn and pierced. Blood shed. Secret affairs and marriages. A hero who defied a tyrannical government. So in all actuality, we should celebrate in secret and remembrance.  

NEWSFLASH. We don’t need a holiday to be sexy or romantic. We don’t need a nationally-declared day written on the calendar to give permission to or remind us to express our feelings for someone. If the feelings are truly there, they will already be expressed. They can not be hidden or forgotten. Love can’t be hidden or forgotten. Everyday is, can be and should be Valentine’s day, but in a more individualistic sense. The calendar day is different for each pair of lovers. It’s whatever day(s) is special between you and the one you love.

My challenge for everyone is that we evaluate our relationships this year by asking ourselves these questions. Do I want to get this person a present? Do I want to show them how much I care about them? If the desire to give and show isn’t genuinely there, then maybe we don’t really care about them as much as we thought. Maybe we shouldn’t waste our time, or their’s, in a relationship that has maybe already run it’s course.

“Let’s forgive someone for Valentines day, it’s a great way to show love, and forgive yourself too for the hurt you held onto.” – Jay Woodman

Boycott the trite and conventional Valentine’s Day. Celebrate genuinely. Love authentically.

Favourite Songs of 2015

#59: Multi-Love – Unknown Mortal Orchestra [Multi-Love]

#58: Puzzles – Unknown Mortal Orchestra [Multi-Love]

#57: Borders – M.I.A. [Borders - Single]

#56: The Woods (Ghosts Remix) – Hollow Coves [The Woods (Ghosts Remix - Single]

#55: Let Me Down Easy – Sheppard [Bombs Away]

#54: 6PM In New York – Drake [If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late]

#53: Can’t Keep Checking My Phone – Unknown Mortal Orchestra [Multi-Love]

#52: Them Changes – Thundercat [The Beyond/Where the Giants Roam]

#51: Return To The Moon (Political Song for Didi Bloome to Sing, with Crescendo) – EL VY

#50: Yes I’m Changing – Tame Impala [Currents]

#49: Can’t Get Enough of Myself (feat. B.C) – Santigold [Can’t Get Enough of Myself - Single]

#48: Outta My Mind – The Arcs [Yours, Dreamily,]

#47: Summer Breaking (feat. Kevin Parker) – Mark Ronson [Uptown Special]

#46: Breathe In. Breathe Out – Hilary Duff [Breathe In. Breathe Out.]

#45: Leaving LA – Tobias Jesso Jr. [Goon]

#44: Breathing Underwater – Hiatus Kaiyote [Choose Your Weapon]

#43: Sunshine on My Back – The National [Sunshine on My Back - Single]

#42: Hot Scary Summer – Villagers [Darling Arithmetic]

#41: Hollywood – Tobias Jesso Jr. [Goon]

#40: Bored In The USA – Father John Misty [I Love You, Honeybear]

#39: Put a Flower in Your Pocket – The Arcs [Yours, Dreamily,]

#38: Moony Eyed Walrus – Cayucas [Dancing at the Blue Lagoon]

#37: Philomena – The Decemberists [What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World]

#36: Lick My Lips – Katharine McPhee [Hysteria]

#35: High By The Beach – Lana Del Rey [Honeymoon]

#34: Northern Highway – Martin Courtney [Many Moons]

#33: Makeshift Love – Good Charlotte [Makeshift Love - Single]

#32: Definition of Love – Shay-Jean [Definition of Love - Single]

#31: Huarache Lights – Hot Chip [Why Make Sense?]

#30: The Things I Regret – Brandi Carlile [The Firewatcher’s Daughter]

#29: Lisa Sawyer – Leon Bridges [Coming Home]

#28: Leaving Los Feliz (feat. Kevin Parker) – Mark Ronson [Uptown Special]

#27: Beatnik Walking – Richard Thompson [Still]

#26: Mystery – Boxed In [Boxed In]

#25: Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins) – Father John Misty [I Love You, Honeybear]

#24: Make Up Your Mind – Florence + The Machine [How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful]

#23: Only One – Katharine McPhee [Hysteria]

#22: Blackstar – David Bowie [Blackstar - Single]

#21: Black Sun – Death Cab for Cutie [Kintsugi]

#20: Orca – Until The Ribbon Breaks [A Lesson Unlearnt]

#19: Cold Stares (feat.Chance The Rapper) – Nosaj Thing [Fated]

#18: The Party Line – Belle & Sebastian [Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance]

#17: Bad Place For A Good Time – Kate Tempest [Bad Place For A Good Time - Single]

#16: Scarecrows – Luke Bryan [Kill the Lights]

#15: Big Decisions – My Morning Jacket [The Waterfall]

#14: Pedestrian At Best – Courtney Barnett [Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit]

#13: Little Ballerina (feat. Rufus Wainwright) – Emile Haynie [We Fall]

#12: Energy – Drake [If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late]

#11: Don’t Wanna Fight – Alabama Shakes [Sound & Color]

#10: Dark Night – Hot Chip [Why Make Sense?]

#9: Shadow on the Wall – Ruby Amanfu [Standing Still]

#8: Stranger Than Fiction – Katharine McPhee [Hysteria]

#7: What Kind Of Man – Florence + The Machine [How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful]

#6: What You Don’t Do – Lianne La Havas [Blood]

#5: Hard Time – Seinabo Sey [For Madeleine - EP]

#4: California Nights – Best Coast [California Nights]

#3: Let It Go – James Bay [Chaos And The Calm]

#2: Fool for a Pretty Face – Genya Ravan [Fool for a Pretty Face - Single]

#1: Loud Places – Jamie XX (feat. Romy) [In Colour]

Listen here: Favourites of 2015

Word Of The Year:

Okay, The Oxford English Dictionary has officially selected its ‘Word of the Year’ for 2015 & guess what? It’s not even a word. It is the emoji symbol described as “The face with tears of joy.” There is just one problem. I don’t know how I’m going to play that in Scrabble.

A few other words that made the OED’s shortlist this year were: Ad Blocker, Dark Web, On fleek & Lumbersexual.

Additionally, The Collins Dictionary has declared their ‘Word of the Year’ to be Binge-watch. Thank you, Netflix. Also, Dictionary.com has named Identity as their ‘Word of the Year’.

My ‘Word of the Year’ would be: Snafu as well as the words: Ubiquitious, Guffaw & Self-Preservation being amongst the top five.

I Know What I’m Doing (& Other Lies I Tell Myself) – Jen Kirkman

jenkirkman: Hey everyone! My second book comes out April 2016 BUT it’s available for pre-order now! If you pre-order it, it usually doesn’t charge you until it ships but you’ll be sending a message to the little elves that make books that they b…

So You Think You Want To Be President?

Author: Abigail Biddinger

Genre: Reality/Competition Show/Presidential Election Campaign

Title: So You Think You Want To Be President?

Logline: It’s kind of like So You Think You Can Dance? meets Shark Tank meets NCAA March Madness meets CNN Politics. Watch as 25 candidates travel to 13 cities throughout the United States, making speeches and challenging each other in debates as they vie for our support and ultimately our votes on Election Day, November 8, 2016. It’s an in-your-face political banter type show.

Synopsis: Since today’s society and generations seem to be obsessed with instant popularity, the secret lives of those who are more popular than they are, the consistent documentation of daily, mundane activities and the entertainment programming that caters to all of that, I present to you the 2016 Presidential Election Campaign…Show. In this age of Reality Television, Game & Competition Shows, I fear that these obsessions with instant popularity and faux-reality might soon transude into our politics (if they haven’t already).

From exclusive, behind-the-scenes footage and gaffe reels to live on-stage moments, watch as these twenty-five candidates ride the emotional and bumpy road of life on the campaign trail.

The show only has 18 televised episodes on broadcasted networks for live debates. The rest of the show is more interactive through social media and journalistic news commentary.

Each broadcasted episode will focus on 3 main segments.
  • Progression: Commentary on how well each candidates’ campaign is going, where they currently stand in the polls and what they need to do to raise their support and polling numbers.

  • Debate: Introduction of the Moderator and Candidates. Moderator presents each topic of discussion and the Candidates give their responses & rebuttals.

  • Review: Commentary on how effectively each candidate responded to the discussion topics.

Social media interactive content is ongoing.
  • Following your favourite candidates on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram for live updates.
  • Live-tweeting during debates using trending hashtags.
  • Watching exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, gaffe reels, official campaign ads, etc.
  • Journalistic commentary on news broadcasts.
  • Interactive polls and brackets to fill-in.

25 candidates. 18 Debates. 13 Cities.

Republican - Primary

12 Debates. 11 Cities. 17 Candidates.

Candidates:
  1. Ted Cruz
  2. Rand Paul
  3. Marco Rubio
  4. Ben Carson
  5. Carly Florina
  6. Mike Huckabee
  7. Rick Santorum
  8. George Pataki
  9. Lindsey Graham
  10. Rick Perry
  11. Jeb Bush
  12. Donald Trump
  13. Bobby Jindal
  14. Chris Christie
  15. Scott Walker
  16. John Kasich
  17. Jim Gilmore
Scheduled Debates:

August 3, 2015 – Manchester, NH
August 6, 2015 – Cleveland, OH
September 16, 2015 – Simi Valley, CA
October 28, 2015 – Boulder, CO
November 2015 – WI
December 15, 2015 – Las Vegas, NV
January 16, 2016 – IA
February 6, 2016 – Manchester, NH
February 13, 2016 – Greenville, SC
February 26, 2016 – TX
March 2016 – TBD
March 10, 2016 – FL

Democrat - Primary
6 Debates. 6 Cities. 8 Candidates.

Candidates:
  1. Hillary Clinton
  2. Bernie Sanders
  3. Martin O'Malley
  4. Lincoln Chafee
  5. Jim Webb
  6. Joe Biden [possible candidate]
  7. Elizabeth Warren [possible candidate]
  8. Andrew Cuomo [possible candidate]
Scheduled Debates:

October 13, 2015 – NV
November 14, 2015 – Des Moines, IA
December 19, 2015 – Manchester, NH
January 17, 2016 – Charleston, SC
February or March 2016 – Miami, FL
February or March 2016 – WI

Presidential Election Day is Tuesday, November 8, 2016.

Start filling out your brackets!