Long live the President
Posted by William F. DeVault | Filed under Journal, politics
In about 262 hours, Barack Obama becomes the President of the United States, inheriting an economy and a foreign policy in shambles and a military-industrial complex out of control.
He’s got his job cut out for him.
But, so far, he has looked deep into the pragmatic realms of his soul and decided to surround himself with individuals who have experience, grit and passion. He will need their counsel, their experience and their determination if he is to succeed.
But by what yardstick will we measure success?
He represents more than the usual person stepping into that role. He is our first "person of color" to be elected to that office, beating out a man who would have been the oldest person to have ever been elected, and only slightly edging she who would have been our first female President.. Demands placed upon him by this status will be mighty. The price of failure will not only resonate down the political canyons of this country, but also down the ethnic and sociological paths. If he fails, fifty years from now people will still be using his failure as an excuse to refuse to vote for individuals of all sorts of non-Northern European ethnicities.
It is to his credit as a person, as a politician and as a visionary that he was not dogged by many of the same problems in this campaign that the Rev. Jesse Jackson was dogged by when he ran in 1984 and 1988. I recall that the mantra of the media was to ask the question "What does Jesse Jackson really want?" as if wanting to be a black man elected President was so absurd as to confound reason. I have in my scrapbook a political cartoon of Jesse Jackson being sworn in as President while a reporter at the fringes of the crowd is asking a dignitary "What does Jesse Jackson really want?".
I hope, I pray, that Barack Obama will be a wise and just leader. A man who can reach for consensus, follow his own moral compass, and be honest with us when things go wrong. Bill Clinton accomplished a lot, including balancing a budget now decimated in just 8 short years of infantile insanity, but even he can not be the yardstick for President Obama. We are not looking for a Prophet or a King, we are looking for a Messiah as we face wars in diverse places and an economy that has already cost us nearly three million jobs in the last twelve months.
But, fortunately, as we are not a Monarchy, he does not have to do it alone. As long as people of good will keep their shoulders to the stone, we can work our way out of our crises. We will do so, we will accomplish yet great things.
Ani DiFranco said in one of her songs that "Don’t you think that kitten gets out of the tree whether or not you ever show up?"
I do, I’d just rather it not stay frightened too long or get hurt too bad when it jumps or falls out.
And that is going to be a major part of the necessity of Barack Obama as he takes his place at what Teddy Roosevelt called "the bully pulpit" He must help us feel good, feel strong, feel safe as we get out of that tree.
I supported Hillary Clinton, tooth and nail, for the nomination. I believe that John McCain is a noble American and would have made a good President. But I will be among the first, come the 20th of January, to say, with pride, "That’s my President" and I only hope and pray that four or eight years from now, he has done his best, it has been good enough and that we recognize the impact he has had on the Presidency, on the nation, on the American people, and the world.
TRUTH, the lyric
Posted by William F. DeVault | Filed under Journal, TRUTH
I am, as I write this, listening to the final MP3 mixdown of TRUTH, the titular piece from the new CD.
Not bad. The voice is a little strident. The music is evocative of a late-60’s hashish parlour (don’t ask me how I know what that should sound like). I like the presence of the piece.
Here’s the lyric:
It’s swell here in Hell
while we waterboard Jesus because
he doesn’t think a rich man can make it to Heaven
by killing everyone who is just looking for some truth.
We know better, don’t we?
The envelope under the door says so
and we put on our spray-tan glow and go
tripping down the yellow brick road of priests’ skulls.
Manson was also sincere. I fear
we are using a bent yardstick for good
when we polish the brass for a gallon of gas
so we can look for truth on that road of priests’ skulls.
It’s a bloodbath and we just laugh
and debate celebutante taunts for tired old men
who don’t have to put it on the line for the divine
right to be wrong with other people’s blood on the pavement.
Just looking for the truth
that we don’t want to face. We’re in disgrace
for everything we claim as anecdotal proof
of God favouring us in our endeavors.
Sonic boom doom and the groom won’t make it back
from the black-tarred fields that concealed
desperate men who see no sin in sacrificing truth.
And your sons and daughters, fathers and mothers and brothers.
If our leaders really believed in the God
they invoke in mad mantras as a smokescreen
they would quake in fear as their end draws near,
not shed crocodile tears over their three-martini lunch.
The road to Hell is paved with the lies
of people who cannot even face themselves in the mirror
without a wall of self-deception to shield their fates,
sealed with kisses that are not worthy of s streetwalker.
Speak truth. Live it. And give it as legacy to our children.
William F. DeVault. all rights reserved.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll post the piece at the listening room at williamfdevault.com
Maybe. I’m going to go work on the cover…
(right now cleansing my musical palette by listening to…wait for it…wait for it…"Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed" by David Bowie. Admit it, you would have NEVER guessed that selection.)
TRUTH will out
Posted by William F. DeVault | Filed under Journal, TRUTH
A month or two ago I started laying up tracks from the new CD, TRUTH, on www.williamfdevault.com. I’ve received some excellent feedback, but many have noticed that the actual CD and most of the tracks still seem in limbo.
Good catch, there.
After a bad cold mid-Autumn, followed by a brutal case of RSV that still has compromised my voice, I have not been able to finish the tracks. It is painful and aggravating to be blocked when I want to get this thing done and out the door, but maybe this is nature’s way of telling me to slow down. I should be able to go back in the studio soon and I go back in with a new confidence and a thermonuclear passion (I never did have the good sense to stay down when knocked down).
Maybe my upcoming trip to San Diego and Los Angeles is a Godsend (of course, the last time I went to LA…well, you all know the story…)
In any case, I haven’t forgotten or given up, and I think you’ll agree that perhaps my stepping back and tweaking a few of the tracks improved them (or not, you know what happens when I start second-guessing myself). Besides, thanks to the delay, I have a much better selection of cover models besides myself. Maybe someone Ukrainian?
I am just saying: Be patient. TRUTH will out.
Sensible Horizon
Posted by William F. DeVault | Filed under Journal, Mariya Andriychuk, Poetry
My friend and occasional muse, Mariya, posted a self-portrait on a site we both frequent and it inspired the following poem. I’d post the picture here, but I am trying to keep to a PG-13 rating. She loved the poem, I am grateful for the inspiration.
Sensible Horizon
I want to see beyond the edge of the world
leaving behind the sensible horizon
to reach for all I ever wanted, all that haunted me
when a child, dreaming of where I would be
one day, when grown and owning my destiny.
The sun touches me and I feel it warm me.
The light like a lover’s hands, never tired
of touching me to tell me of desire constant.
The heat, like earnest words and thoughts
given to me to bear me to the edge of the world,
to the sensible horizon, where there you wait.
William F. DeVault. all rights reserved.
On the Twelfth Day of Christmas
Posted by William F. DeVault | Filed under Journal
…my true love gave to me…
…Twelve Eloquent Gestures…
(this one was tough, as I had several people close to me pulling me in various directions. But, in the end, my puckish sense of humour and irony reeled me in to a photo by Russian photographer and model Jule, entitled "Lovely" that sums up what many of my "true loves" have invoked. I have a sense of humour about it, though, and that’s what won the day over the works of several others whom I hope do not hold it against me (one in particular)). By the way, Jule does sell prints of this shot, which might make a good gift…for the right person.
As the twelfth day nears I make some promises
Posted by William F. DeVault | Filed under Affirmation, Journal
Later tonight or early tomorrow, Eastern Standard Time, I will post the "Twelfth Day" entry on my little mini-project. Barring an act of a bemusedly puckish God, it will feature a lovely lady who has never before appeared or been mentioned, even obliquely, in my blogs. Neither lover nor close friend, I found this one picture of her quite amusing and felt it would set off my usually earnest-to-the-point-of-imploding-from-his-own-gravitas image.
Also, as I overload my senses with music designed to spin me up a few more levels of hyperactive ("All She Wants to Do is Dance" by Don Henley. "Cradle of Love’ by Billy Idol. "Take Me Home Tonight" by Eddie Money. To name three examples…) I also wish to give my New Year’s Resolutions, but in an unusual manner.
I present to you five mantras, five quotes, that I promise to try and take more into myself to make myself a better person and a better Evangelist for the faith of the poets.
- "Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." - Wolfgang von Goethe
- "Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid." - Basil King
- "Character is what you are in the dark." - Dwight Moody
- "The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong." - Mahatma Gandhi
- "All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring." - Chuck Palahniuk
So, I guess, in distillation, I am saying this year I will try to be bolder, more forgiving, less boring and show more character. I won’t promise perfection. That would be neurotic. But I promise a few miracles on this road, well past Damascus and on track for Rome.
On the 11th Day of Christmas
Posted by William F. DeVault | Filed under Journal
….my true love gave to me…
…11 hints of heaven…
Many, many thanks to the lovely Hilary Keller, and to the photographer, Alexia Nervosa (I am not kidding). Now, I wonder what I have in store for January 5th, the 12th day of Christmas. No, really, I am wondering.
~so while hanging out in your corner...