Author Archives: Kyle Kimberlin

Bright and Shiny

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It’s midnight and I just stepped out of the shower. I feel oh, so much better. I washed my hair, toned and moisturized my tired, middle-aged face. I’m ready to slip between the sheets and dream of a better world … Hmmm ….

  • A world in which Get Some is my motto, not the unofficial motto of the Marines.
  • A world in which dogs live as long as people, and people are as loyal as dogs.
  • A world in which we don’t forget what our grandparents have told us, or what our parents have done for us.
  • A world in which all the grave diseases are curable, because we decided that was more important in the budget than war.
  • A world in which nothing human is destructive to humans; in which no one is obsessed with anything they can’t have any of or get enough of.
  • A world in which every person and animal has a home, and peace therein.

Nighty night.

Bourdeaux’s Butt Paste

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OK, there’s a lot going on today, from a stolen scream in Norway to more BS about Kerry’s war wounds. (I would’ve tought Bob Dole was above this sort of raw sewage; apparently not.) But none of it is as fun or as newsworthy as Butt Paste.

“Retired Louisiana pharmacist George Boudreaux hasn’t needed Madison Avenue pitchmen to get the word out about his concoction to treat diaper rash. He just lets the name do it for him: Boudreaux’s Butt Paste. “Would you be talking to me if it was called George’s Diaper Cream?” Boudreaux recently asked a reporter.”

[Link]

Fleeting Gestures

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“In the late 1950s and early 1960s conservatives were widely dismissed

as “kooks” and “crackpots” with no hope of winning political power. In

1950 the literary critic Lionel Trilling spoke for a generation of

scholars and journalists when he wrote that “in the United States at

this time liberalism is not only the dominant but even the sole

intellectual tradition…. It is the plain fact [that] there are no

conservative or reactionary ideas in general circulation” but only

“irritable mental gestures which seem to resemble ideas.” The

historian Richard Hofstadter echoed Trilling’s assessment, arguing

that the right was not a serious, long-term political movement but

rather a transitory phenomenon led by irrational, paranoid people who

were angry at the changes taking place in America.”

— Matthew Dallek, “The Conservative 1960s” – book review,

Atlantic Monthly, Dec. 1995.

If only they’d been right, huh?

What can we learn from this? That we have gone from being a people who abhorred the reactionary paranoia of Iron Curtain autocracy to a people who embrace it, feed and pet it, and set it at the gates of our hearts and homeland, like a purblind mastiff in the hall. So long as that beast lays apost, we’re trapped by the fear we have bred.

Sen. Kennedy Flagged by No-Fly List

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“U.S. Sen. Edward M. “Ted” Kennedy said yesterday that he was stopped and questioned at airports on the East Coast five times in March because his name appeared on the government’s secret no-fly list.

Federal air security officials said the initial error that led to scrutiny of the Massachusetts Democrat should not have happened even though they recognize that the no-fly list is imperfect. But privately they acknowledged being embarrassed that it took the senator and his staff more than three weeks to get his name removed. “

The Bush administration has created a monster of fear and loathing in response to 9/11. It will continue to grow and feed on civil rights, unless and until we turn back and learn a new way to live as a nation in the world community. In this article, it’s reported that the Transportation Security Administration will issue citizens a letter showing they’ve been cleared for travel — that they’re not on the secret watch list. The next step, obviously, is an internal Federal passport, just like in Russia.

Just another good reason, among so many, to vote George W. Bush out of office in November.

Washington Post (Registration Required)

Smoothie Eye for the Real Guy

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Over at Buddha’s Den, Buddah explores the role of the Smoothie in the life of real men such as myself.

Here in Santa Barbara, where we men all paddle out into the pacific and play smack-down grab-ass with great white sharks for our manly amusement, we have a small chain of smoothie shops called Blenders in the Grass. My favorite is the Tropical Pineapple with Vitamin C and Ginseng … the latter gives me that extra zip of energy for the shark-smaking.

I hope this lays down the law on smoothies. When you’re swimming with sharks, it’s not good to act like bait.

"Together we can save a life"*

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My friend Cindy is a volunteer with the Red Cross. She lives in Tennessee, and has been sent to Florida to help the victims of hurricane Charley. She sent me these two missives yesterday, after arriving in Orlando, and said I could post them to this blog.

Be careful Cindy! We’re proud of you.

We left Sunday at 4:30am, took the shuttle to Atlanta, and waited 3 hours for the flight to Tampa. I ended up renting a car because a woman was there from GA, didn’t drive and there were 4 of us already – we couldn’t leave her. We had instructions to go to Orlando, so off we went in 2 cars.
Red Cross (RC) Headquarters was chaotic at best – too many people showing up and not enough assignments in place, because the areas are often w/o power or clear roads. But they “process” you first – paperwork, interviews, orientation. It all happens in a flurry.
All the people that came with me with left at 5am to go do mass feedings in Punta Gorda. They serve in Mass Care. I do Family Services, and was all alone. Luckily, you are never alone in the RC. I have been adopted by the Huntsville AL contingent, and assigned to them starting tomorrow. Today was more classes on how to use the new computer system, how to issue funds, etc. I hear the headquarters is moving to Breddington tomorrow but I’m staying here to help with the Orlando area victims,which is fine with me – I have a hotel room. I may be sleeping in a shelter myself once I go to the SW area of the state.
I found Walmart and bought a towel and washcloth – in case I am in a place with noshowers later on – as well as extra underwear and socks because they sure won’t have washers.
What is amazing here is the sense of community amongst the volunteers. No one is a stranger, everyone wants to welcome you, especially when they find you are”out for the first time.” Most of these people went to 9/11 and said it was the most worthwhile thing they ever did. Don’t get me wrong, the RC has it’s shareof prima donnas, but they are the exception. It’s mostly retirees, who do this because they have time, and love what they do. They really care and it shows in the way they

treat the clients. Some of them appear so frail, but this is tough work – long hours, and a lot of stress. They have strength you would never see on the surface.

Damage-wise, Orlando is very messy and still has pockets of outages. As I drove in this morning, I had to traverse an intersection of a 6 lane highway, with the lights out. At least they were working on the signals, I thought, as I drove under a bucket carrying a traffic worker. Then an 18″ piece of steel fell from the light, smashing right in front of my car. My Baptist passenger learned a new word, I am sure. She just said, sometimes you just have to do and ask forgiveness later J. I bet she thought something similar. Lots of trees are uprooted, billboards destroyed, roofs damaged, but nothing like Port Charlotte. I dread going there as much as I look forward to it – that’s where the real need is.
I wrote a lot because I don’t know what my schedule will be after tonight. I stayed in. I figure I’ll have more company than I’ll ever want soon enough so a night alone was in order. I brought up a sandwich, and will turn in early. There is somuch more I could say, so many nuances. But it’s turned dark and Disney just let off their evening fireworks, which I can see. Despite the destruction life goes on.

* * *

My new friend from AL worked a shelter yesterday and opened a case for a young

family. They were in their 20’s, w/ a young child. The father has had kidney stones and has been unable to work full time. Mom was 1 semester short of a 4 year degree so is waitressing. They finally got themselves a mobile home – which was destroyed Friday. They lost everything. She looked at my friend with total honesty and said “My faith in God will get us through”.

My friend burst into tears. After all they lost, that girl still had faith. People are

amazingly resilient.

*motto of the American Red Cross

Have a Cracker

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Rummaging around in the archives of All That Arises today, I found this post I wrote on August 30, 2003. In the spirit of summer television, I offer it as a timely re-run.

For lunch today I had soup, vegetable beef, left over from dinner last night. With a little crumbled feta and crackers. Just your basic flat soup crackers.

I ate the soup and sat there for a while, eating crackers and drinking water. And staring at the screen of my laptop, where a chapter of my book was curdling in the warm summer air.

Suddenly I found myself stuck in time, staring at a cracker frozen halfway between the table and my face. I looked at the unfocused thing in my hand and realized that somewhere, deep inside me, some lost and lonesome chamber of my soul was trying to cry.

Well what’s this then? What do I have to grieve about? We’re all alive here, though maybe we’re not getting out of here that way. What’s up?

It just occurred to me to wonder what in the hell we have done. I mean George W. Bush and mankind in general. I was thinking about the children in Iraq, in Jerusalem and Gaza, in Liberia and so many other places where there is no peace. Is that so much to ask for? Peace doesn’t cost anything, require postage, or go bad if you leave it in the open air. Peace can be had with the act of a clinched fist, deferred in favor of an open hand, and there is no reason in the world why the children of the world can’t have it.

Go get yourself a cracker or something, and see what I mean.