This particular Sunday morning found me grooving (on repeat) to Ani DiFranco's album "Knuckledown". Some songs require a complete study, so today's surfing began with looking up lyrics to "Sunday Morning" and "Manhole." This, from "Manhole":

I'm holding here a book
Notable, but not the greatest
Stolen for me by the latest
In a long line of thieves
And I'm just about to drop it
Down that manhole of memories
When I realize it doesn't bother me
And heartache not so dire
Cuz I looked up to see integrity
Finally won over desire

posted at 2:32 PM | link

So distinct is the Christianity described in Gnostic texts from what we have traditionally been taught, that discussions they inspire may still be labelled heresy. Included there:

"Do not think that the resurrection is an illusion; it is more real than most of what you experience in the mortal realm. It would be more appropriate to say that the mortal realm itself is an illusion, than to say that the power of resurrection, which has been generated by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, is an illusion."
- Treatise on Resurrection
[Fourth Tractate of Nag Hammadi Codex I]

...and...

"Truly, do not consider those people to be human beings; rather, count them as domestic animals - for just as animals devour one another, so also human beings of this kind devour one another."
- The Gospel of Thomas

posted at 12:13 PM | link

The Original Cuppa Cocoa

—By Linda K. Fuller [as appearing in Utne magazine]
Chocosuisse, the Union of Swiss Chocolate Manufacturers, has researched and attempted to duplicate Xocoatl, the original Aztec chocolate drink. Here's the recipe:

2 1/2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
3 almonds, crushed
2 cups warm milk
2 tablespoons honey
grated rind of 1/2 lemon
3/4 oz. dark rum
3/8 oz. arrack (coconut palm liqueur)
dash allspice
dash ginger

Combine chocolate, almonds, and milk and heat over a low flame until chocolate melts. Chill in refrigerator. When well chilled, place in a blender or a shaker and add honey, lemon rind, dark rum, arrack, allspice, and ginger. Beat to a froth and serve.

posted at 8:16 PM | link

Online job search is a full-time occupation. Have taken to visiting three separate libraries on Saturdays to attend to everything I have pending... The Phx Library's patron monitoring system has just served up a dialog prompt extending my session by fifteen minutes. Seems that happens on Saturdays, as I had such fortune four or five times last week. E-chatting has brought me back to re-visit "Nestle Creek."

Bookmarks at amazon.com take the form of a wishlist.

Today's sufing caught the Tara Tide:

Midtown Messenger - News for Phoenix's Historic Neighborhoods

Art Amplified Fest - A Metro Arts Inst. event [with companion MySpace site]

Quantum Theology - a rendezvous of science and spirituality

posted at 12:22 PM | link

A niece is in Greece. And posts these pix.



OK, not Greece...Turkey...



...but that didn't rhyme. Will have to ask her about this spot:





posted at 4:58 PM | link

Have finished viewing a short film; and, a short look at the rules for submission to the "A3F" has improved my sense of it. Interesting festival and competition; particularly in the extent of participation.

posted at 5:43 PM | link

This appeared in Akeelah and the Bee, the feature film at the Phoenix Film Festival. The main character in the film is urged to read it aloud.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.

"There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

"As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

- from A Return To Love
by Marianne Williamson

posted at 4:52 PM | link

Caught a glimpse of this rising star



...at the Phoenix Film Festival. One could sense the audience appeal in her, even in the eighth grade.

posted at 7:03 PM | link