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ben_pierce
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Name: Ben
Country: United States
State: Alabama
Gender: Male
Interests: Thinking, teaching, leading, following, inspiring, loving, changing, communicating, learning.
Expertise: Getting there.
Occupation: Thinker, learner, tea drinker.
Message: message me
Member Since:
4/7/2005
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| Ben's blogging life has left this shell, and has moved on in terms of its corporeal existence. I am now blogging over at WordPress, a blogging service I have found to be more suited to my needs in terms of flexibility and features. But be not dismayed, this is neither defeat nor death. Rather, this new blog is the real blog that has been lurking behind the feeble attempts of my Xanga all this time, sort of like a cross between the Platonic Ideal and Lewis's Real World that the Narnians discover "inside" the stable in The Last Battle. My Xanga will continue to eke out its existence here, so I can still read and comment your Xangas, but my bloggings are in a better place now.
So send your browser to http://www.expensivecoffee.wordpress.com, or click on the link, and enjoy. Feel free to leave comments over there if you like; you aren't required to be a WordPress member to do so. Thanks for reading!
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| Today Alabama's new Secretary of State, Beth Chapman, made clear her views on the crucial issue of civil rights for deceased people. "As of today, January 15, 2007, let this message resonate across our
state loudly and clearly: dead people are no longer allowed to vote in
Alabama," she said in a speech to the Alabama Legislature.
I am disappointed in Ms. Chapman's explicit disrespect for such a marginalized group of people. It is darkly ironic that, on the day that Americans celebrate the life of one of the foremost figures of the American civil rights movement, Ms. Chapman should trample on the most precious of civil rights by denying the deceased their right to vote. I should have hoped that Ms. Chapman would recognize that it is not the corporeal nature of a being that makes him or her worthy of respect as a human, but the shared experience of the human condition. Those who have passed on, like other minority groups, clearly have much to offer to the rest of us, and we should respect their viewpoint as being just as valid as anyone else's--especially on election day. I hope each of you will join me in upholding the validity and dignity of deceased people in the area of civil rights. If you don't, well, I can't guarantee that you won't be visited by any spooky "protesters" around the stroke of midnight.
This post has been a work of satire. It is not intended to offend or criticize any ethnic or other minority group, but rather the mindset that sees every issue in terms of minority-majority conflict. If you experience frustration or offense at anything said in this post, please contact the author.
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| I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
Because such things I've never known...
Christmas Extravaganza #1:
Mel Gibson movie marathon with my brother in the back seat of the van. There's no better way to get carsick than by watching The Patriot and Braveheart back-to-back at 70 mph. Bleh...
Christmas Extravaganza #2:
Five hours of opening presents Christmas morning. All 21 of us--ages 1 to 75--got together at 9:30 AM at my dad's parents' house and, with an hour-long brunch break, ripped and screamed and oohed and ahhed until the last gift was opened at 3:30 PM. Wow.
Christmas Extravaganza #3:
Snow. For the first time in my life, it snowed where I was on Christmas
morning. That is, if you count brief flurries at 3:00 AM. Bah! Humbug!
How was your Christmas?
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| They're over, and I'm begun.
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| Dear Auburn University Library,
I visited you today, my friend, and you were filled with people. So many people, and I did not like it. Don't get me wrong, I was glad they were there. All those people, studying their hearts out...it's why you were made. I'm happy for you. But there was something unsettling about it. I almost would say that something was missing, but don't you agree it was the opposite? Don't you agree that there was something added, something that isn't usually there? But I suppose I'm saying that the flowers are less beautiful when they're all filled with bees looking for nectar. Ridiculous! You weren't less of yourself because everyone was making use of you, you were more. I know you look forward to this time of year for that very reason. But I must confess that it wasn't the same. That's why I left, you see. There's something about being immersed in the rows and rows of books...it's almost like bathing in every idea that's ever been thought. But you know what I mean. That's why we get along, you and I: we are after the same thing. That's why I'll always come back to you, once the crowds leave. I'm sorry that they only come inside when they need to make use of you. You know I don't think that way about it. I just don't want to get in their way. This is their time. I know you enjoy it, and I'm happy for you, really I am. But I'm still counting down the days until once again it's just you, me, and Dostoevsky.
I'm the one for you, my friend. I'll miss you over the break.
Yours,
Ben
P.S. Thank you very much for the book you lent me. I like it so far.
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