Category: poems

07/04/08 11:19 - 69ºF - ID#44856

America

I Hear America Singing- Walt Whitman

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand
singing on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,
The wood-cutter's song, the ploughboy's on his way in the morning, or
at noon intermission or at sundown,
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of
the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
The day what belongs to the day--at night the party of young fellows,
robust, friendly,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

(Happy 4th of July, (e:peeps)).

Permalink: America.html
Words: 165
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: buffalo

06/20/08 02:22 - 66ºF - ID#44730

ghost hunters in Buffalo

Has anyone ever been to the Iron Island Museum in Buffalo? I just read the other day that the television Ghost Hunters recently filmed the museum and some other sites around Buffalo.

I recently installed Firefox3 on my comp. Estrip looks great on it! I really like this version of firefox a lot better than the previous ones.

Permalink: ghost_hunters_in_Buffalo.html
Words: 58
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: religion

06/15/08 03:04 - 77ºF - ID#44656

father's day

I went with my dad to church today for father's day (he's a Lutheran). It was a really nice service. The sermon was by a visiting minister, who worked within the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960's. She was friends with Martin Luther King, and has continued to be an activist for social justice. In her sermon about the beloved community and our responsibility towards promoting equality, she tied in a passage from Exodus where Moses finds the burning bush. Moses doesn't believe that God could really want him to be the one to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses is a stutter, and doesn't have much confidence in his ability to lead people. What I got from the sermon was that we all have the ability to fight for justice and equality, that God wants each of us to take part in this struggle- even if we believe we don't have the ability to make a difference. Even if we aren't the most eloquent of leaders. I don't know if God has a purpose for people, but we can find a purpose within God and what it means to believe in God. I don't know how you can truly believe in God, and somehow not believe in human equality.

Not meaning to bore people with my religious thoughts on here. Happy Father's Day to the dad's on here! Also, a very happy birthday to (e:jason) and (e:joshua).

Permalink: father_s_day.html
Words: 241
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: news

06/13/08 12:25 - 69ºF - ID#44633

impeachment

I didn't know if anyone here has posted about Kucinich's call for an impeachment of President Bush.

While he obviously will not be impeached now, it does surprise me that there wasn't a greater movement to impeach him during his presidency. Maybe no one felt that they could substantiate the claims against him enough to make a concrete move for impeachment? It just seems that potentially lying about mass weapons seems like a worse offense than what Bill Clinton lied about. That's not to say that it was right what Clinton did. I just meant from a comparative perspective.

Permalink: impeachment.html
Words: 99
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: books

06/09/08 11:28 - 83ºF - ID#44593

mind-shifting realities

Aaron came up for a couple of hours yesterday, and we went yesterday to the beach. It's been a long time since I've been to the beach, I really enjoyed it. It was really good seeing him. Afterwards, we went to this cemetery in town and looked up war monuments and memorials. I know that probably sounds morbid, but it was interesting.

i just finished up a research project last week, so I'm looking for a job. I also want to get my license (it's kind of a long story why I don't have one). I'll let you guys know when I'm taking the test, so you won't be out on the road that day.

I just finished reading several good books. One book was A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, and the other was Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick. Dick's book was good, but it's hard to wrap your mind around it. A lot of it deals with transitive realities, mind-shifting drugs, and the corruptibility of organized religion and power. In the end, you have no idea what is real or what truly existed. I like some of his other books better, but I would recommend it. I definitely would recommend A Thousand Splendid Suns. It's amazing. I don't even have the words to describe how great of a book that truly is.

Permalink: mind_shifting_realities.html
Words: 229
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: life

06/08/08 12:12 - 72ºF - ID#44582

summer and babies

It's been a good weekend so far. Yesterday, I ended up dropping off some things at Buff State (long, long story). At any rate, I was able to get a ride up there with my parents. We ended up going to the Galleria, and we had dinner at this restaurant called Jack Astor's. It was a chain restaurant, but I liked it. Today, I went out with my friend and her daughter (she's about a year old) to the local Ribs festival out in Celeron. (I don't eat pork products, but I received confirmation from various sources for their rib excellence).

I really enjoy spending time with that particular friend and her daughter. I can talk to her about things that I normally wouldn't feel comfortable speaking about with other friends. I like being around her little girl a lot. It's fun watching her constantly learn new words and new ways of doing things. We take her daughter out shopping or to the park a lot.

I've been realizing more and more over the past year of how much I want to be a parent. Not now, but someday, I would love that. I don't know if I can have children. Women with lupus can definitely have children, but I have a relatively severe form of it.

It is kind of cool to be Aunt Jessi to all my friends kids, though! You get to have all the fun without doing very much of the work.

Permalink: summer_and_babies.html
Words: 246
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: movies

05/25/08 11:25 - 59ºF - ID#44452

i'm not exactly jeff simon

I finally saw Juno today. I enjoyed it, but it didn't quite live up to my expectations. I liked it, but I didn't love it. It was funny and it seemed to get better as it went along, but the first half of the movie didn't seem quite as good. Maybe I didn't give it a fair chance.

One movie that did exceed my expectations was August Rush. It surprised me how much I enjoyed watching it recently. I thought it might be kind of lame, but it really wasn't. I really found myself rooting for the characters and enjoying the way that their stories came together. I definitely enjoyed the music in the movie. Even if its not exactly treading new ground, it was worth renting.

I'd like to see "There Will be Blood," "Eastern Promises," and "No Country for Old Men" (Saw part of it recently, it's great so far).

Permalink: i_m_not_exactly_jeff_simon.html
Words: 152
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: life

05/21/08 12:37 - 48ºF - ID#44405

(just go ahead now)...

It's been a little awhile since I've updated.

So here's what's been going on:
1. The semester ended last week. I was able to get a 3.9 this time, which helped.

2.A few weeks ago, I went with some friends to the albany tulip festival. We listened to the Spin Doctors play. The music wasn't the greatest (except for two princes, lol) but the festival was really fun!
Here are some photos that I took:

Last Saturday, I packed up my stuff and headed out for Rochester. After I got there, A. and I went to the same amazing brewery that we did on New Years Eve. They have wonderful Irish beer. The next day, we stopped at Letchworth State Park on the way home. I'll have to post some of the waterfall photos soon. I love it there. It's definitely one of the gems of western new york. Then A. took me back to Jimmytown, and we ended up going to dinner with my dad and sister.

4. It's good being back with the family for awhile.