Robert Stone said, "I think [as a writer] you have to take your work from your life, but people live intense lives in all sorts of unlikely places ... You can write a perfectly powerful novel about working in a shoe store. You don't have to shoot lions in Africa ... Desperation is universal."

Few cross over the river.
Most are stranded on this side.
On the riverbank they run up and down.

But the wise person, following the way,
Crosses over, beyond the reach of death.
Free from desire,
Free from possessions,
Free from attachment and appetite,
Following the seven lights of awakening,
And rejoicing greatly in his freedom,
In this world the wise person
Becomes themselves a light,
Pure, shining, free.

-from the Dhammapada

From "Teachings of the Buddha," edited by Jack Kornfield, 1993.
Reprinted by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Boston

http://www.shambhala.com

Keep this philosophy in mind the next time you either hear or are about to repeat a rumor.

In ancient Greece (469 - 399 BC), Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom. One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance who ran up to him excitedly and said,
" Socrates , do you know what I just heard about one of your students?"

"Wait a moment," Socrates replied. "Before you tell me I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."

"Triple filter?"

"That's right," Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my student let's take a moment to filter what you're going to say. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"

"No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it."

"All right," said Socrates . "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?"

"No, on the contrary ."

"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, even though you're not certain it's true?"

The man shrugged, a little embarrassed.

Socrates continued. "You may still pass the test, though, because there is a third filter - the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?"

"No, not really ."

"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all?"

The man was defeated and ashamed. This is the reason Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.

It also explains why he never found out that Plato was sleeping with his wife.

Bush Twins' Gay Wedding
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: August 18, 2004 5:02 pm ET

(Washington) In what is likely to be a major embarrassment for President Bush, his twin daughters have reportedly agreed to attend a gay wedding in nearby Laytonsville, Maryland.
The wedding is that of their beautician Erwin Gomez and his partner James Packard. Although not recognized by law, the two, who also wed in San Francisco when it was legal there, will exchange vows and rings and hold a reception for friends at their Laytonsville home.
Gomez works at the Elizabeth Arden shop in Chevy Chase.

The New York Daily News reports that Gomez gave the First Daughters invitations to next month's affair when the girls came in for their weekly eyebrow waxing and they accepted.
"I gave them the party invitation, and they said, 'That sounds great, we'd love to come - it sounds like a lot of fun,'" Gomez told the News.

"The way they reacted, they were very open-minded."

Jenna and Barbara Bush may be looking forward to the nuptials but Dad may have something to say. The President has been one of the main opponents of same-sex marriage. (story)
Despite his admiration for the twins, Gomez has little time for the President or his views on gay marriage.

"I think it's wrong - he has no right to touch that," he told the News. "He's trying to change the freedom of America. ... History is repeating itself, just like blacks and Jews were discriminated against."

A White House spokesperson for the twins, Susan Whitson, told the paper: "At this point I cannot confirm that the twins are attending. I only comment on official campaign activities."

©365Gay.com 2004

Today's Word: Flatulent (Adjective)

Pronunciation: ['flæ-chê-lênt]

Definition: (1) (Rare) Of a windy nature, full of air or wind (and, by extension, pompous), as spring and autumn are the most flatulent of the seasons; (2) containing a great deal of those very smelly gases (nitrogen, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, methane) created by bacteria in the intestines that occasionally slip out of the behinds of careless humans and animals.

Usage: Today's word works well when you have to talk about this unpleasant subject without using the equally smelly colloquial expressions for it. A flatulent person is rife with flatulence but they do not flatulate since no dictionary recognizes this word (yet). The gases which cause an eruction, another gaseous Word of the Day published recently, are completely different from those involved in flatulence.

Suggested usage: Unfortunately, when a lovely word like this one picks up a meaning related to a bodily function, all its other meanings quickly pale and evaporate. However, if you are clever, you can put the two meanings of today's word to useful effect: "Greta said that the senator's speech was flatulent; I am not sure if she was referring to his pomposity or bad breath."

Etymology: Today's word blew our way, via French, from Latin flatus "wind, a blowing (out)." The original Indo-European root was *bhlo/bhle "blow," which came directly to English (avoiding French) as "blow," "bladder," "blast," and blather "to prattle," from Old Norse bladhra "to talk like air blowing out a bladder." "Isinglass" is the output of the folk etymology (influenced by glass) of obsolete Dutch "huizenblas" from hus "sturgeon" + blase "bladder," a material somehow remindful of today's word. (We hope Ray Johnson's mess hall at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas didn't bring today's word to mind—or nostril; I guess we should be grateful that he thinks of us when words like today's occur to him.)

—Dr. Language, yourDictionary.com

http://www.yourDictionary.com

(I recommend signing up for this website's "Word of the Day" feature. - Don)

"Misery Loves Company" and "The Benefits of Ignorance" by Hal Sirowitz

from Father Said © Soft Skull Press

Misery Loves Company

Sometimes I feel miserable, Father said,
but unlike you I don't make a big deal of it.
I just see it as the price you pay for being human—
getting my share of the unhappiness.
Whereas, you go to a doctor
to talk about your problems,
blowing them up until they're out of proportion.
I don't blame your doctor
for having a keen eye for business—
the longer you see him the more money he gets.
I just hope he's not planning on
making you his permanent customer.


The Benefits of Ignorance

If ignorance is bliss, Father said,
shouldn't you be looking blissful?
You should check to see if you have
the right kind of ignorance.
If you're not getting the benefits
that most people get from acting stupid,
then you should go back to what you always were—
being too smart for your own good.

When I was in Vancouver last month I bought a CD called "Neo Japan Series: Neo Soul" on Tofu Records. How's that for a great record label name?

http://www.tofurecords.com

I'm very stiff and tired today from helping my friends Larry and Brenda Buddecke move yesterday.

August 13 is believed to be the birthday of the first man ever to print a book in English, William Caxton, born in Kent, England (1422). He was a wealthy trader and merchant, and also a part time linguist and translator. He was living in Cologne, Germany, when he translated a book about the history of Troy. The printing press had been invented about twenty-five years earlier, but it had only recently started to spread beyond Germany. Caxton realized that the new technology of printing would make the job of distributing his books a lot easier. So instead of copying the book by hand, he printed the book he had translated about Troy in 1475. He eventually went back to England, where he established the first English printing press. He printed all the available English literature, including Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (c. 1478). For a long time, people in England called printed books "Caxtons."