Planetarium
by Adrienne Rich


Thinking of Caroline Herschel (1750-1848),
astronomer, sister of William; and others.


A woman in the shape of a monster
a monster in the shape of a woman
the skies are full of them

a woman 'in the snow
among the Clocks and instruments
or measuring the ground with poles'

in her 98 years to discover
8 comets

She whom the moon ruled
like us
levitating into the night sky
riding the polished lenses

Galaxies of women, there
doing penance for impetuousness
ribs chilled

in those spaces of the mind

An eye,
'virile, precise and absolutely certain'
from the mad webs of Uranusborg
encountering the NOVA
every impulse of light exploding
from the core
as life flies out of us

Tycho whispering at last
'Let me not seem to have lived in vain'

What we see, we see
and seeing is changing

the light that shrivels a mountain
and leaves a man alive

Heartbeat of the pulsar
heart sweating through my body

The radio impulse
pouring in from Taurus

I am bombarded yet I stand
I have been standing all my life in the
direct path of a battery of signals
the most accurately transmitted most
untranslatable language in the universe
I am a galactic cloud so deep so invo-
luted that a light wave could take 15
years to travel through me And has
taken I am an instrument in the shape
of a woman trying to translate pulsations
into images for the relief of the body
and the reconstruction of the mind.

rest in peace mr. scruggs...
 

RIP Caballo Blanco. You were an incredible inspiration to so many of us. Your legacy will live on in the hearts and feet of runners everywhere. I wish you were still with us, but I take comfort knowing that your death came while you were doing what you loved the most. May we all be so blessed. Have fun running on those soft, fluffy clouds. <3

http://www.theweek.co.uk/world-news/...o-blanco-found

http://www.dailycamera.com/boulder-c...w-mexico%20%20

Yes, RIP, Adrienne Rich. Mentor, teacher of long, long, ago. Her works are among the very few I have kept over the years- all dog-eared, covers worn.

Bob Bergeron...
 

RIP Bob

http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_N...mmits_Suicide/

I was wishing this was a April Fool's day joke...


(w)

The Painter of Light
 

Thomas Kindade has died at age 54. Known as the Painter of Light, the family says he died of natural causes. RIP Thomas
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...,6353513.story

This is so very sad. This man was trying SO hard to convince others that it is ok to "get older", but he couldn't convince himself (it seems to me).

I would wager that the gay men's community's obsession with looking young and beautiful (i.e. young and in shape), fueled any inherent negative thinking about getting older Bergeron may have already had.

So sad.

Mike Wallace, '60 Minutes' star interviewer, dies
 

NEW YORK — A spokesman says CBS newsman Mike Wallace, famed for his tough interviews on "60 Minutes," has died. He was 93.

Wallace was on the staff of "60 Minutes" when it began in 1968, and was one of its mainstays from then on.

He retired as a regular correspondent in 2006 but continued contributing occasional reports.

Wallace was known for spending hours preparing for interviews and for his skeptical follow-up questioning.

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Growing up, I thought this guy was the best investigative thorn in peoples sides. I loved the way he used to question the absurdity of the things he was told or uncovered. Miss this type of journalistic integrity.

Cant believe he was 93. Geez time is flying. Thanks for finding this clay.

Easter....a good time to reflect on the time I had with my Grandmother (03), my Mom (78), my Sister (90), and my Dad (06). They seem to have been taken before their times - leaving me alone except a niece, nephew and cousins...and I miss them dearly... there is a reason and one day I will understand...
(w)

Dick Clark
 

:(
 

RIP Mr Clark.....


:musicnote:

Jonathan Frid - played Barnabas Collins on Dark Shadows
 

Jonathan Frid, the man known to fans around the world as Barnabas Collins, the suave vampire from the cult hit soap opera "Dark Shadows" has died at age 87.

The Hamilton Spectator, of Hamilton, Ontario, reports the Canadian actor died in his hometown of Hamilton at the Juravinski Hospital on Friday, April 13.

Frid's final screen role was a cameo in "Dark Shadows," the soap opera's upcoming big-screen revamp directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp as Barnabas.

The soap opera ran on ABC from 1966 to 1971. Originally conceived as a straightforward gothic soap opera by creator Dan Curtis, it languished in the ratings until Curtis began adding supernatural elements, first a ghost, and then Barnabas Collins. Frid joined the show in 1967 and it began to take off as a cult hit, especially with younger children, who rushed home from school to watch the show.

Outside of the Barnabas role, Frid had an extensive stage career, including a Broadway and national tour of "Arsenic and Old Lace" in the mid-1980s.



I remember running home from school to watch this show....until it got to be totally bizarre.

Watergate figure, ministry founder Charles Colson dies
 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Charles Colson, a Richard Nixon White House operative during the Watergate scandal who had a reputation for ruthlessness before going to jail and starting a prison ministry, died on Saturday at age 80, the ministry said.

Colson served as counsel to the president from 1969 to 1973 and a major part of his job was playing hardball politics to assure Nixon's re-election in 1972.

In 1973, Time magazine said Colson "was probably more disliked, as well as feared, than any other White House aide ... If Colson actually performed half the various acts of which he has been accused, he was easily the least principled of all Nixon's associates."

It was in that atmosphere that Colson and others at the top of the White House staff engaged in a series of misadventures and illegal acts that resulted in Nixon resigning the presidency in 1974 in the face of impeachment over the Watergate scandal, which grew out of a 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington.

Colson ended up with a sentence of one to three years in prison but it did not come from a Watergate crime. He had pleaded no contest to obstruction of justice in the break-in of the offices of the psychiatrist to Daniel Ellsberg, the man who leaked the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times.

ENEMIES' LIST

In 1971, Colson had been the chief author of a memo listing Nixon's major political critics and opponents, including businessmen, members of Congress, journalists and entertainers. When the "enemies list" became public, those included on it - among them actor Paul Newman - wore the mention like a badge of honor and cited the list as a prime example of Nixon's paranoia.

The same year, the president's re-election committee set aside $250,000 to do "intelligence gathering" on Democrats. To lead the program, Colson choose one of his assistants, former CIA agent E. Howard Hunt.

Hunt's group came to be known as "the plumbers" and they participated in a number of questionable and outright illegal events, including the Ellsberg break-in.

Colson had other capers in mind, including starting a fire at the Brookings Institution think tank and breaking into the apartment of the man who tried to assassinate Alabama Governor George Wallace. Such ideas were never carried out.

Then came the break-in that failed when "plumbers" were caught inside the Democratic headquarters in the Watergate complex.

http://news.yahoo.com/watergate-figu...210520742.html

RIP Sheila....woke up to learn that a HS friend - very talented young lady, passed away after battling cancer for a year or month...either way...I am totally shocked and speechless! Life is so short....

Junior Seau, Famed N.F.L. Linebacker, Dies at 43
 

OCEANSIDE, Calif. — Junior Seau, regarded as one of the N.F.L.’s best linebackers over a 20-year career with the San Diego Chargers, the Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots, died of a gunshot wound to the chest Wednesday at his home in Oceanside, Calif. He was 43.

The Oceanside police said Seau’s death was being investigated as a suicide. He was found by his girlfriend in a bedroom of his beachfront house Wednesday morning, and a handgun was found near the body, the police said, adding that Seau did not appear to leave a note.

A native of Oceanside, Seau starred at the University of Southern California before being drafted fifth over all in the 1990 N.F.L. draft by the Chargers, who played 40 miles south of his hometown. A 12-time Pro Bowler, Seau played 13 seasons with the Chargers and was one of the team’s most popular players. In the 1994 season, he led the team to the Super Bowl, where they lost to the San Francisco 49ers, 49-26. The Pro Football Hall of Fame selected him for the 1990s All-Decade Team.

Seau was traded to the Dolphins in 2003, and after three injury-plagued seasons he was released. He signed a one-day contract with the Chargers in August 2006 to announce his retirement. But four days later, he signed with the New England Patriots and was a member of the 2007 team that went undefeated in the regular season, losing to the Giants in the Super Bowl.

His last season in the N.F.L was 2009. He finished his career with 1,524 tackles, 56 ½ sacks and 18 interceptions.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/03/sp...icide.html?amp

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This man was one heck of a football player. Loved when he played for us. Didnt like it much when he was playing against us. Thanks for the memories Junior.