13: Signs of the Time
1. Reading Country Dew’s Valentine post title, “I heart my readers” made me wonder how many “secret admirers” readers I have.
2. I’m jealous of Carrie Bradshaw of Sex in the City, not because she dated John Corbett, has an exciting life in New York City and is a stylish dresser, but because she reportedly makes 14 cents a word for her column.
3. Meanwhile, my Love Birds post got a couple of tweets.
4. I don’t like rap or Chris Brown’s violent past, but I saw him perform on Saturday Night Live and he sure is one hell of a dancer (I also like the fact that his pants aren’t falling down). See HERE.
5. Notable Quotable seen on Facebook: While aging is inevitable, maturity is optional (and from what I hear…very overrated!)
6. Why I don’t get mammograms: Americans are already exposed to seven times more radiation from diagnostic scans than they were in 1980. It is well known that ionizing radiation increases the cellular mutations that lead to cancer. Mammograms expose your body to radiation that can be 1,000 times greater than a chest x-ray, which we know poses a cancer risk. More HERE.
7. Seventy-six year old writer, poet and farmer Wendell Berry has been sleeping on the floor of the Kentucky Governor’s office with 13 others to protest the continued blasting of mountaintops by the coal companies and the attempted suing by the government of the EPA for trying to enforce the clean air act.
8. Strange meat love valentine video sent to me via Facebook HERE.
9. Speaking of valentines, the photo above is my valentine to the world. More HERE.
10. Sign of the Times: Put a “Do Not Disturb” sign over the forest/ Hang an “Out of Order” sign on the White House door/ Proceed with caution/Yield to your conscience/ Handle the whole world with care. ~ Written in 2004 and featured as a “Poem of the Day” on Poet’s Against the War site and the NRV Free Press newspaper.
11. I first met the Free Press community of activists in 1986 when I was new to Virginia and when the Klu Kux Klan came to Floyd. I stumbled upon the march while downtown and was shocked to realize that the Klan still existed, still recruited, and held marches in broad daylight. Uncomfortable and trying to explain the event to my young sons, I was relieved to see a group passing out protest signs and flyers denouncing what the Klan stands for. They were faces from a neighboring town that I would come to know over the years. More here:
12. “Imagine ladders borrowed from individuals, families, businesses, and organizations from all over the Roanoke area forming a 50 foot tall star in the atrium lobby of the Taubman Museum. It’s made of hundreds of ladders – various colors, sizes and types, all tied together. Could this represent the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of the Roanoke community, supporting each other, rising up together?” ~ Rise up Roanoke Floyd artist Charlie Brower (whose sculpture I posted HERE) interviewed on this fascinating public art project HERE.
13. And now we pause for a message from our sponsor. What the world needs more of HERE.
More playing Thirteen Thursday HERE.
February 17th, 2011 7:40 am
6 I always refused putting all that iodine in my system with scans– sure enough now they find it is bad for you .All you Drs who yelled at me take note..
February 17th, 2011 10:37 am
When I clicked on your link for number 13, I saw what resembles the beaches where I live and it made me think about all of the times that I have sat in the sand and just listened to the ocean. Another favorite sound I never get to hear in Charleston, though, is that of the forest. Water and trees are the best musicians in the world!
February 17th, 2011 10:46 am
13….aaahhh. 🙂
Happy TT,
~Xakara
13 Quotes from the Coda Series
February 17th, 2011 1:12 pm
I love #10. So true!
Happy TT.
February 17th, 2011 1:43 pm
Hey, thanks for the links back to my blog. I love that you were oblivious to the K K K so long ago; wish I had had a time like that in my life.
Great list.
February 17th, 2011 2:11 pm
Hi Colleen,
I only have a few moments before leaving for a class but I just caught this story and thought of you.
here’s the link –
http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2011/02/17/sex-and-the-mountain/
It’s about mining in Virginia and what’s been taking place in Congress while the media has been focused on Egypt.
have a beautiful day Colleen!
February 17th, 2011 3:02 pm
Looking into that link on breast cancer, as I am one of many who gets annual mammograms…
February 17th, 2011 3:03 pm
I think we need one of those “Out of Order” signs for our Governor’s Mansion.
February 17th, 2011 5:20 pm
Thanks for the link, Becky. As if mountain top removal for coal isn’t bad enough, now they want to mine for uranium here in VA.
February 17th, 2011 5:34 pm
I just had a mammogram on Monday…they saw something they want to examine…but I think it’s the scar from the chemo port. Gonna ask, so I don’t have to have another unnecessary one.
February 17th, 2011 8:21 pm
Read them all, clicked about half, floated away at 13. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
February 17th, 2011 10:11 pm
I love the “do nothing” site. That is awesome.
I appreciate it when people’s pants don’t fall down. Seriously.
How nice, to make 14 cents a word. wow.
February 17th, 2011 10:17 pm
So much to think about here. Chris Brown with his pants up. Mountain top mining. The White House out of order, that sculpture made from ladders…..We can reach the stars. It’s all in the reaching…..
Thank you.
February 17th, 2011 10:38 pm
Yeah, I always thought Carrie Bradshaw was absurdly overpaid and had an unrealistic apartment and lifestyle, given her job.
And hey, you had 13 comments, but I left the 14th. Sorry to ruin the perfect number!!!
February 18th, 2011 9:34 pm
I love 13!!!!
February 20th, 2011 1:07 am
Very interesting list. I think I like 13 the best.
February 20th, 2011 8:37 am
if you are refusing mammograms, i hope you are requesting ultra sounds for diagnositic purposes. they are not dangerous on any level. it is a huge risk, in my opinion, to not be checked at all. i have lost several friends to breast cancer that was diagnosed very late. 🙁