The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

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Where I Am Now (Mentally and Such)

By Elusive Trope on Thu, 08/13/2015 - 2:01pm |

In less than a month, I will celebrate my fifth anniversary as a member of the Dagblog community. If anyone has noticed (and maybe no one has), I haven't been around that much in the recent past. Let me start by saying this is not one of those "good-bye" blogs. Rather it is more of a "I be around, bopping in from time to time." There two main reasons for this.

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Representing the Psyche

By Elusive Trope on Sat, 07/11/2015 - 9:53am |

ever so often

sudden impulse tells the mind

change one's avatar

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Being the Problem and the Solution

By Elusive Trope on Sun, 07/05/2015 - 1:43pm |

One of Herbert Blau quotes of which I am fond:

If you're not part of the problem, you not part of the solution

For me, at least, this means in essence one has to work from within the corrupt system in order to make a significant change.

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The Times Being What They Are

By Elusive Trope on Sat, 06/20/2015 - 12:41pm |

I just shared these videos on my FaceBook page. They express better than I can how I feel.

 

 

 

 

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International Relations

By Elusive Trope on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 12:52am |

A person I "met" on Tumblr because I reblogged his photographs, Bouwe Brouwer, from the Netherlands [here is his Tumblr site Pjotr's pics ] got into a discussion now that we are friends on Facebook, he does a lot of creative writing, most of which hasn't been translated into English. But he shared with me some of his haiku poems,many of them translated into English.

Here is one:

oude stadsmuur

vervaagde namen

van tieners

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2008 Flame Wars Redux

By Elusive Trope on Sat, 06/13/2015 - 11:37pm |

Bernie Sanders seems to be gaining some traction for the Democratic nomination and pits himself against the front runner Hillary Clinton. I doubt her campaign staff will be caught flat footed as they were in 2008 when Obama seemed to come out of nowhere. Already we see Clinton steering her rhetoric to left to counter Sanders. How much of it is just smoke to get through to the nomination we may or may not find out. Sanders has been consistently in his positions and voting. He is after all an Independent Socialist.

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E-Expectations

By Elusive Trope on Thu, 06/11/2015 - 11:19pm |

I published today this post "E-Expectations" on my own website elusivetrope.com (yes now I have my own website) and repeat here. I just started the site so there isn't much content and since I try to write something every day, it does help me keep things short.

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I Heart Pandora

By Elusive Trope on Sun, 06/07/2015 - 12:04pm |

I have had a love/hate relationship with computers, internet and the recent wave of technology for some time now. It generally tilted towards more hate than love, but this had to do a lot with the fact that my job, like a lot of people, had me staring at a computer screen (when I wasn’t cursing out the copier) for most of the day. If I had a nickel  for every time I said “I wish computers were never invented,” I wouldn’t be able to retire, but I would have a lot of money.

Photo (c) 2015 Alma K. Papp

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How I Change the World

By Elusive Trope on Thu, 06/04/2015 - 10:56am |

“I walked into a nightmare. I have seen famine in Ethiopia and Bangladesh, but I have seen nothing like this – so much worse than I could possibly have imagined. I wasn’t prepared for this.” Audrey Hepburn, UNICEF photograph, Horn of Africa“I walked into a nightmare. I have seen famine in Ethiopia and Bangladesh, but I have seen nothing like this – so much worse than I could possibly have imagined. I wasn’t prepared for this.” Audrey Hepburn, UNICEF photograph, Horn of Africa

Most anybody who has delved into social justice and environmental issues has come across the quote by Margaret Mead:

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.

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Fight Flight Freeze

By Elusive Trope on Thu, 05/14/2015 - 11:58am |

Fight Flight Freeze sounds like some surreal schoolyard playground game, some weird mix of Red Rover and Simon Says.

Yet is another take on the Fight Flight Response. I think viewing our response to a (potential) threat as Fight Flight Freeze Response is a more accurate and provides some insight, I believe, into what many would call the political apathy in this country.

I think everyone is aware of the notion of Fight or Flight, and that it was a emergent feature of our evolution in an effort to survive and reproduce. One of our distant ancestors crosses a path with a tiger and his or her body goes into a response that among other things increases the heart rate and prepares the muscles. He or she is ready to either fight or flee as fast as his or her feet can manage. Freezing was rarely seen as third option in this response to a survival.

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