Soul Meets Blog

OK, the sharks have been circling, telling me that they've scented a "dead blog." So, now that school's out, I have no excuse. I'm starting with a fun, frisky song that reminds me of the days at Student Advantage. It's called "Code Monkey" by Jonathan Coulton. (If you click this link, you can preview or buy the song direct from the artist.)

I welcome my longtime friend, Web guru, and inspiration, Prophet, to my world of nifty links (in the lower right-hand column.) He's a quintessential Net-miner with ferociously eclectic and timeless taste.

I never thought I'd have common cause with members of the Gun Lobby, but what Congress is proposing to do to Internet regulation is a disaster. Congress is pushing a law that would abandon the Internet's First Amendment -- a principle called Network Neutrality that prevents companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast from deciding which Web sites we'll have access to based on what site pays them the most. We already pay AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast, so in effect, this law benefits no one other than those ISPs, who aren't exactly hurting.

Today's song is "How Soon Is Now" by the Smiths. Mock me all you want, but I fell in love with Love Spit Love's version which is the theme song for Charmed. Of course, it was only recently that I realized the lyrics aren't "I am the sun / and the air."

A review of Thomas Sayers Ellis reading from his latest collection of poetry, by S. Donovan Mullaney, 2006.

Thomas Sayers Ellis sits in the front corner of the conference room that UMass Boston has cleared out for this reading. He checks his face-down wristwatch repeatedly; he’s on in about two minutes. He reaches up absent-mindedly and twirls a stray coil of his short Afro.

Sayers Ellis wears a benevolent half-sneer and a nose-ring similar to rocker Lenny Kravitz. He’s dressed in a jacket that’s pure James Brown and glasses that are post-millennium Malcolm X. He saunters to the microphone, savors the moment a bit before promising his audience of “this will be a percussive, racial reading.”

Today, Orioles dominate the air. Bolder than swallows or catbirds, they fly at eye-level. Our Baltimore Orioles have neon-orange bellies. I mean Day-Glo. We also have Orchard Orioles, whose brown backs blend in with their surroundings until one of them spreads his wings, displaying underclothes of gold.

Yesterday, it was hummingbirds.