A Walk Through My Neighbourhood

Winter Wonderland by shatterabstracts,com.ru

4 comments

The other day, someone asked me if there's anything intelligent, witty, warm, brave, funny, or thought-provoking written on VOX. To that person, I offer the following to savour:

“I wear (Captain Walter R. Schmidt Jr.’s) MIA bracelet all day, everyday. He was a Marine pilot who went down 09Jun68 in South Vietnam. I wear this bracelet until the day he or his remains come home. Happy Veteran's Day Capt. Schmidt.”

http://jennifer0214.vox.com

 “…the U.S. - politicians and people - would do well to remember Jefferson's "wall of separation…” -

http://paikea066.vox.com 

“…If you legislate morality, moral choices lose their value…”

http://shushnow.vox.com

 “The College Opportunity and Affordability Act' is a pretty name, like a crack whore might be pretty after you’ve had 5 martini’s, but before your doctor diagnoses you with a dozen STD’s that won’t be so bad if you would just stop scratching….”

http://schoonerhelmvox.com 

 “America is Starsky & Hutch in the same way as OZ is Crocodile Dundee. Americans are not The Brady Bunch, and similarly, what we Aussies project into the world - what we strive to project - is just advertising. It is not who we are. In our art and advertising we encapsulate our aspirations. These are collective dreams reflected in a media looking-glass…..The real Australia is not a long stretch of golden beach, a tropical island paradise, or a dusty outback vista. In the main we are middle-class and suburban.”

“It just goes to show that no matter where you are, the naysayers will always have the loudest voice.”

“We are supposed to be a nation of tolerance. If you criticise someone for being gay, for being fat, for being black or being female you will (quite rightly) cop a severe tongue lashing for your lack of empathy. However apparently it's quite okay to criticise people for being thin. The phrase 'real women have curves' springs to mind. A lot of people have been saying it in response to Jennifer Love Hewitt's bikini photos. Initially it sounds great, after all real women are allowed to have curves and still be real women. Huzzah! What a great idea! But the problem is it doesn't say real women can have curves. It decrees that real women and curves are inextricably linked. Real women have curves. If you have no curves, sorry, no amount of menstruation, ovulation, lactation or possession of a vagina is going to make up for it and bring you back to Real Woman Status. Too bad.”

http://evilwombatqueen.vox.com

“I am completely fed up with everyone lumping Christians together in one big box and painting them all with the same broad brush…..whether you are praising them or criticizing them, although its usually the latter when I hear people taking about Christians. Its akin to racism to lump all Christians together. You wouldn’t say that all blonde people are the same, would you? Or that all Indians are the same? Or that all Africans are the same? Or all Americans are the same? Or all Canadians are the same…”

http://foxsydee.vox.com

“look. i write the way i speak. i am no grammar nazi, by any stretch of the imagination. but this stuff really bugs me. i don't know why. it just DOES.

1. supposebly [it's SUPPOSEDLY. that's a "D." not a "B."]
2. i could care less [if you COULD care less, then please. by all means, DO. it's i COULDN'T CARE LESS]
3. irregardless [what's with the ir- in the beginning? it's just REGARDLESS]
4. respectfully, instead of respectively.
5. when people confuse "leery" with "weary" or vice versa. what's that about? they're two very different words.
6. and in one of mia's books about a manta ray, they use the word "sleek." but they spelled it "sleak." and that is really annoying.

i know there are a LOT more. and i think i've written about this a few times (at least i did on my blogger blog) but it still bugs me. and it just surprises me to no end how someone who is relatively intelligent could use (or rather, MISuse) those words….”

“The weight of the responsibilities I had then...real and imagined....broke me down to the bare minimal existence...almost reduced me Literally to Ashes. And few know that it's really a miracle that I've made it on the other side Alive...and Kickin'….”

“I could do with a hug, and yet there's no one at law school I'd even dream of turning to for that. Perfect opportunity for them to whip out a knife and stab me in the back…”

“Self-judgement, sometimes, can be cruel but so real.”

“…In this case here was a girl I barely knew and perhaps would have never met again. But her blog today made her alive for me…”

“Were we all meant to go down this garden path together? A collective fate sealed by the inner workings of a very small minority of people?”

http://petitebelette.vox.com

“Today I forgive you.

You are my father that never knew me.

You are the drunk frat boy that raped me.

You are the husband that cheated on me.

You are the love that lied to me.

You are the friend that betrayed me.

You are the mother that turned her back on me.

You are the sister who critisizes me.

You are the boss that made my life hell for a year.

You are a gossiper.

You are the self-righteous.

You are me.

I forgive you.”

--------

“But just as a Buddhist monk is thankful to his poverty for reminding him of the true purpose of life, so must I be grateful for having had the opportunity to learn of life’s cruelly neutral nature at such a young age through strictly imposed violent sports…”

And after you spend some time strolling through these, remember that these neighbors are not even a tenth of my neighbourhood, nor even one percent of the whole of VOX. There are so many others whom you might meet, if you explore. So, do it. After all, as Peter (http://petermcc.vox.com) says:

“…These days I go on the rides rather than hold the bags and watch.”

Happy Holidays, Happy New Year 

and

Peace on Earth

to All