In light of all the discussion around Glenn Beck's rally at the Lincoln Memorial calling for a return to Christianity (umm, isn't Glenn Mormon?) and the timely articles cropping up surrounding the anniversary of Katrina and everything building towards elections in the fall, here's some Langston Hughes

Let America Be America Again
by Langston Hughes

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek--
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean--
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home--
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay--
Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, let America be America again--
The land that never has been yet--
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME--
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose--
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make America again!

For all my Minneapolis readers, Check out Works Progress tonight:

Give & Take // August
Wednesday, 8/25

Presentations by:

* Curt McNamara on biomimicry for everyone!
* Becky Lang on how the English language is changing on the internet, and why it's not a bad thing.
* Keith Pille on how to make a webcomic.

NOTE: Keith Pille's comic Nowhere Band is totally awesome. Tons of great MPLS love and fun characters. Please give it a look at: nowhereband.org

PLUS: Flash presentations from the audience, games, refreshments, and much, much more! Actually, no, that's a pretty good summary.

SECOND PLUS: They've got a video to show you! It's from a flash presentation given on sarcasm at a G&T earlier this year. http://vimeo.com/14344730

WHERE, WHEN: Intermedia Arts, Pre-Program Drink at 6:30, show starts at 7. More details on the event page and at give-take.org

I'm working on finding a regular schedule in order to write more. I think this will help it. I hope this will help it. I've been so productive and so consumed in the past couple of months and then bouts of nothingness. Here's the new update schedule. Also follow me on...

Tumblr: upyourarchitecture.tumblr.com

Twitter: @upyourarch

COMING TO MONDAYS:
Poetry Corner...umm, I need a new banner for this. Sorry for the lack of image... I will satiate the masses with a poem since it is indeed Monday today:

Vespers by Louise Gluck

In your extended absence, you permit me
use of earth, anticipating
some return on investment. I must report
failure in my assignment, principally
regarding the tomato plants.
I think I should not be encouraged to grow
tomatoes. Or, if I am, you should withhold
the heavy rains, the cold nights that come
so often here, while other regions get
twelve weeks of summer. All this
belongs to you: on the other hand,
I planted the seeds, I watched the first shoots
like wings tearing the soil, and it was my heart
broken by the blight, the black spot so quickly
multiplying in the rows. I doubt
you have a heart, in our understanding of
that term. You who do not discriminate
between the dead and the living, who are, in consequence,
immune to foreshadowing, you may not know
how much terror we bear, the spotted leaf,
the red leaves of the maple falling
even in August, in early darkness: I am responsible
for these vines.

COMING TO WEDNESDAYS:

RETURNING TO FRIDAY:

EVERY WEEKEND:

MONTHLY:

In a poetry mood lately as I go through old posts looking for inspiration and encouragement to get Up Your Architecture of life support. Here's something that's actually mine. It means something totally different than it did two years ago but it's still one of my favorite things I've written.

Poetry Corner for August 2nd, 2008:

i arrived there
late
but you weren't in, yet
i circled
empty laps of encouragement
it seemed like
hours
days
they said
you didn't feel a thing
i am still
circling

As promised we have the anniversary dinner recap!

Yeah... the picture that goes here is on Flickr (link below) since MT is still being a poop.

Location: Porter Avenue Bistro in Ocean Springs, MS

Ironically you may recognize this as an old restaurant that was for rent if you go far enough back in the blog archive. It used to look like this:

And now? Damn, what an improvement. We had such a lovely dinner with food that was some of the best food I've had on the Coast. Caitlin had a house salad with their house peppercorn ranch something dressing called "green goddess" and then rosemary chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans. I had a mixed green salad with apples, pecans, cucumbers, and goat cheese and then a 6 oz. filet mignon with asparagus which was cooked medium to perfection. We finished it up with a spumoni cheesecake that was to die for.

Damn. Fine. Dinner. (with a damn fine woman). We had a really wonderful time celebrating our anniversary and since Moveable Type is still being a pain in the ass, you can find the pictures here: Flickr Anniversary Picture Party!

For the last couple of weeks I've had the awesome luck to have my girlfriend down visiting me in Mississippi. We had a great time cooking, reading (many books a piece, also about the Coast), going to dinner, and hanging out with my Mississippi family. We also visited Lori and Cairo up at Pinetucky for some delicious homemade Mexican and porch sitting, saw Inception, and watched what was left of our Harry Potter Movie Marathon.

She had just finished up what appeared to be a very beneficial and exciting writing workshop in Minnesota immediately beforehand and aside from some travel troubles in Gulfport and Memphis she made it home in one piece.

Also, conveniently, her visit coincided with our 1 year anniversary which was an extra special treat to be able to spend it together since we spend so much time apart from one another. She got me a handful of excellent old books that she found at St. Olaf where she went for the workshop as well as a wonderful dinner at the Porter Avenue Bistro (pictures and drooling praise forthcoming). Anyhow, here's some of my favorite pics taken together.

(Okay, dear Moveable Type, you suck right now. Check out my Flickr instead!)

Keeping Things Whole
by Mark Strand-1964

In a field
I am the absence
of field.
This is
always the case.
Wherever I am
I am what is missing.

When I walk
I part the air
and always
the air moves in
to fill the spaces
where my body's been.

We all have reasons
for moving.
I move
to keep things whole.

My girlfriend Caitlin and I recently decided that we were going to watch all six Harry Potter movies. Although we went a bit out of order, I have to say that I enjoy so much about the movies and the visualization of our beloved characters to all the wizards and witches out in our great big Muggle world. Anyhow, my friend Della over at Lost Between the Letters has been on a major HP kick lately and although I have been slow in getting this up I like to use the Taco Bell/BPCW mantra of "Still Great, Even Late" and humbly submit my thoughts and ratings in order of my liking...

Order of the Phoenix: YUSS/10

With books always serving fans as the meat and potatoes of any franchise, the movies are most obviously the dessert. They are tiny two and a half hour delicacies of fluff and fan service to enhance the visualization of the characters for the book. This one stands out as fluff supreme for me. Lots of things to love here between the flight of the Order picking Harry up from Number 4 Privet drive (as well as sporting one of my favorite themes of the same name as they fly through London), various duels with the Death Eaters in the Ministry (oh the Citizen Fudge banner!), and most of all the epic Dumbledore and Tom Riddle battle culminating with the outing of Voldemort's return in front of the Minister of Magic himself. Add that to sumptuous morsels of Sirius and Harry, Harry and Ginny, the DA, and wonderful cuts with the Daily Prophet, a character you love to hate in Dolores Umbridge being played to a "T" and you have a film that I saw not once, not twice, but five times in theaters (it was an admittedly slow and boring summer but I regret not one viewing).

Also: Read my initial review of the movie which I discovered after writing this one HERE.

Prisoner of Azkaban: Siriusly/10

People often say that this is their favorite book and I can see why. The thing I love about this movie is how well the emotions brought forth in the book of loss and rediscovery are envisioned by Alfonso Cuarón in the third film. A major break stylistically from the first two films, PoA is much darker but still manages the type of light heartedness that I love about the book. Lupin is fantastic and Gary Oldman as Sirius is so magnificent. Add in the tales of the Marauders and their glorious map and the whole story of the HP franchise begins to (heh hem... pun alert) magically unfold. Aside from the ending blur (I blame this on a hangover from Chamber of Secret's piss poor ending) I love almost everything about this film.

Goblet of Fire: Dragons!/10

The big knock on this movie is features very little character development in favor of a lot of special effects and a focus that lies far from what has been established in the previous three books and I agree. The thing is, there's this tidbit of information about all the books being paired. In my estimation it is Sorcerer's Stone + Deathly Hallows, Chamber of Secrets and Half Blood Prince, Prisoner of Azkaban and Order of the Phoenix, leaving Goblet of Fire as the odd man out. I think this movie embraces that in a way that is beneficial to changing the tone of the last three (and now four) movies. It shows what happens when the wizarding world ignores the growing threat of Dark Magic in favor of traditions. It preaches tolerance and community in times of darkness (summed up fantastically in a speech by Dumbledore at the end). It features the return of Voldemort in a graphic and up until this movie unforeseen amount of violence befitting the Dark Lord and shows what happens to even the most innocent of people being in the wrong place at the wrong time (see: Cedric Diggory, deceased). It's a fantastic dichotomy of ignorant bliss and sudden, horrific realization and I like that very much indeed.

Half Blood Prince: Ron?/10

Dear David Yates,
This is the order of things:
Sorcerer's Stone: Establish the trio
Chamber of Secrets: Establish Harry
Prizoner of Azkaban: Establish Hermoine
Chamber of Secrets: Establish the stakes
Order of the Phoenix: Raise the stakes
Half-Blood Prince: Establish Ron
Deathly Hallows: Buddy trio meets horror movie, cements Neville as Harry's bad-ass brother from another mother, wrap things up.

You missed the boat on this one by putting Harry and Hermoine together all the time, making Ron out to be a buffoon, and generally disappointing me by not highlighting the essential nature of the trio together until the last scene and even then Ron was just a window dressing hanging out in the background. It ends on a downer, it's transitional, it's not all your fault, but you dropped the ball with Ron and for that I can't put this film higher even though I love the style, the work of Tom Felton stealing the show as Draco as well as tons of Snape (of which no one can complain). So close to being number three, yet so far. Maybe if you had concentrated reaaaaaaaaaally hard on the number three you would have made it.

Sorcerer's Stone: Disney/10

We start off pretty fluffy, no pun intended. The sets seem more stage like, the characters very much cardboard cutouts of the books, and the acting very vanilla. I love the nostalgia of it all, but like reading the first book, there are many things that are so ingrained after so many readings or viewings that I tend to write this off as too bubbly for me. It's a great direct translation of the book that serves its purpose well but not much more at this point.

Chambers of Secrets: Everybody Loves Hagrid/10

The ending, oh sweet mother of god, the ending. I love me some fluff just as much as the next guy but the overwhelming, saccharin sweet, bloated return of Hagrid to slap a feel good ending on this movie when so many good things were passed over or misconstrued makes me gag every time. I don't mind most of the things that many people dislike about the movie. I like the diary/pensieve-esque scenes, love young Riddle, I even dig the anti-climatic scene in the Chamber (minus the bizarre cheap laugh of Ron bludgeoning Professor Lockhart), Dobby establishes himself as a close number second to Jar Jar Binks in hateablity, but my god that ending. It makes me want to barf; especially because of the excellent interaction with Daniel Radcliffe and Jason Isaacs immediately prior (aside from the attempted unforgiveable curse). B-A-R-F, emphasis on the F.

This week in GCCDS we had a community meeting Monday night in Soria City and discussions with three folks from NC State University regarding a really interesting rating system for the Resilient Home Building program through one of the partners (CARRI) for the Expo we helped run back in March. Here's a video from the meeting that was featured on the local news with Jody and Britton doing their thing.

As for the rest of the week, a camel back addition, some server work reorganizing all my houses, and then Saturday, Caitlin comes to town for two whole weeks. August is shaping up to be pretty excellent.