Jase Does Oklahoma pt. 1

Last weekend Rick and I ventured north to the red soil of my boyhood, the beautiful state of Oklahoma, where yours truly was born & raised, thank you very much.



About 30 of my family members, many of whom I have not seen in years - including my grandma - were getting together in my little hometown for a lunch at a local buffet/steakhouse place. Needless to say, at first I was having some moderate anxiety about the whole thing, as again I hadn't seen many of these folks in a few years - mostly since mom passed away - and here I was showing up out of the blue with my 21 year old boyfriend in tow.

Friday we drove to Oklahoma City, arriving just in time to meet my oldest friend downtown for what turned out to be one of the most AMAZING meals I've had in a long time. We met at Trattoria il Centro inside The Montgomery building.



I had a Blood Orange - Skyy vodka, fresh squeezed blood oranges, and triple sec - AMAZING!!! Then a wedge Caesar salad w/ the best dressing, and some pica (read: spicy in Spanish - thank my Latino boyfriend for that influence) red sauce on penne pasta. They actually wrapped it to go in a foil swan similar to this one



After that we headed to Yukon, on the west side of OKC where Nikki lives.



Very shortly after we arrived at her house we got a taste of the infamous Oklahoma spring weather - thunder, lightning, and pouring rain with high winds. We decided to stay in that night for obvious reasons.

Day 2 coming soon...

Texas Monthly Editor's Letter on June 2009 Issue

I loved this, and wanted to share it.  To be certain, I am a born-and-bred Oklahoman, and always will be, but I have called Texas my home for the past 12 years, nearly half my life. 

--

Since tax day, when Governor Perry flirted with the idea of Texas seceding from the Union, we have been treated to a full-blown rampage of anti-Texan invective the likes of which have not been seen since George W. Bush decamped from Washington for brushier pastures. "This one state has done more than any other to retard progress in our recent history," frothed Michael Tomasky in his blog for the Guardian, calling us "a greasy white zit in the middle of America's nose." Some guy named David Faris took to the National Public Radio airwaves with a commentary titled "Don't Mess With Texas . . . Get Rid of It." Never, ever to be outdone, the Web site Wonkette let it rip, declaring the Lone Star State to be a "dipshit dismal swamp . . . that produces little more than incredible assholes."

Even if you are among the 61 percent of Texans who voted against Perry the last time you had a chance to and even if you maintain, as a poll found that three quarters of us do, that secession is a foolish idea, you still can't read this overheated, thin-skinned, humorless drivel without wondering what in the world is wrong with these people. Haven't they ever heard a politician pandering to his base in anticipation of a tough primary? Why the instant flood of Lone Star hate? By the time it died down, the episode had revealed far more about Perry's attackers than it had about the governor himself. (As Paul Burka notes in "The Secret of My Secession", it also exposed the ancient rift between Sam Houston's Texas and Mirabeau B. Lamar's.) Perry wasn't seriously advocating secession; he was exploring, for electoral benefit, the singularity of his state, and the velocity, vehemence, and vigor of the responses brought into fresh focus an age-old fact of life in Texas: Those who don't live here don't get it.

Thus it was especially sweet when two weeks later (on the seventy-sixth birthday of Willie Nelson, neither an incredible a-hole nor a progress retarder) the American Society of Magazine Editors announced that Texas Monthly had won the 2009 award for General Excellence. For a magazine, it doesn't get any bigger; it's the equivalent of the Oscar for best picture, the Super Bowl ring, or the man-size stuffed panda at the state fair.
We're thrilled about this. The other finalists in our circulation category (250,000 to 500,000) included some of the best magazines in the business—the Atlantic and New York magazine, to name a couple. It's not the first time Texas Monthly has taken the top prize—we snared General Excellence Ellies (winners are presented with a replica of an Alexander Calder sculpture of an elephant) in 2003, 1992, and 1990. But this year is a little bit different, as the award comes amid a historically tough time for print journalism. Ad revenues are down for almost every title across the country, and in some cases circulation is declining as well (not here, though, thanks to you!). Budgets are being slashed and reporters laid off; the past six months have seen the shuttering of several well-loved titles.

To win in this environment, with these kinds of challenges, is a powerful vindication of the way we do things and a testament to the dedication, ingenuity, and brains of every person on our masthead, from our incredibly talented staff writers, copy editors, fact-checkers, and designers to our tireless ad sellers, marketing folks, circulation wizards, and everyone in between. It is due to the work of all these people—many of whom started out as interns and many of whom have worked at Texas Monthly for more than 25 years—that a great issue goes out the door every month.

It's also due to the fact that we have extraordinary material. Perry was right: Texas is a unique place. As the table of contents of this or any other issue will attest, more interesting things happen here in one month than happen in most states in a year. We have a culture all our own, a cuisine (or several) all our own, outsized villains all our own, and outsized heroes all our own. And this is what the knee-jerk rebuke of the governor's comments missed. Sure, we quit being a free republic in 1845, but Texas has never stopped being a place apart. We possess the qualities of a nation (including nationalism), not those of a state. That this gives rise every now and again to some claptrap about secession is not surprising, nor should it be all that upsetting. It's also what enables us to put out a generally excellent magazine.

--

If you don't live in Texas, we'll overlook that...you must not have visited yet.  Texas sure isn't perfect, but damnit, I love it here.  Sort of like the popular bumper sticker I often see on Dallas freeways..."I wasn't born in Texas, but I got here as soon as I could!"

Neglect

Okay, so my blog posting has fallen off lately.  For real.  BUT, I have legitimately been working on my MySpace - www.myspace.com/vayaaloeste.  Check me out.  I'm working on some projects - a new book of poetry, possible music collaboration...maybe a little spoken word over some beats a la Dustin Cavazos (check my MySpace playlist - 1st song).  The man is a genius.

 

You can also follow me on Twitter - www.twitter.com/westernwhere

 

And of course, check my books  (BIG changes coming to the inventory here) - www.lulu.com/westpoetry - you can buy in snazzy pocket size print edition or download in e-book format for a mere 5 BUCKS.  Suh-weet.  Hey recession, EFF YOU!

thanks for the support & patience...i'll return here soon enough, promise...but i'm always somewhere.

 

find me

 

Bea Arthur Dies at 86

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Beatrice Arthur, the tall, deep-voiced actress whose razor-sharp delivery of comedy lines made her a TV star in the hit shows "Maude" and "The Golden Girls" and who won a Tony Award for the musical "Mame," died Saturday. She was 86.
Arthur died peacefully at her Los Angeles home with her family at her side, family spokesman Dan Watt said. She had cancer, Watt said, declining to give further details.
"She was a brilliant and witty woman," said Watt, who was Arthur's personal assistant for six years. "Bea will always have a special place in my heart."

read more here...

Marilyn Breaks Silence on 5 Year Relationship with Gavin Rossdale

British singer Marilyn (aka Peter Robinson) says he and Gavin Rossdale had a 5 year relationship in the 80s.

 

Back in 1995, Boy George first publicly exposed Rossdale's alleged romantic relationship with androgynous male British rocker Marilyn in his book Take It Like a Man. Rossdale claimed, "I wasn't dating Marilyn. We were, and still are, good friends."

At the time, Gavin vehemently denied their romantic involvement. It wasn't until now, however, that Marilyn is confirming the existence of the relationship. "We were together five years. But it felt like 40," Marilyn told In Touch. He adds, "Gavin and Gwen are perfect for each other, but he was the love of my life"

Marilyn explains why he initially pretended they'd never been a couple, "[Gavin] was just becoming successful in America. I agreed to lie against every grain of my being." As for Rossdale, he maintains his denial of any romantic entanglement.

 

I remember reading about this in Boy George's book several years back.  And there is (what I found to be) an odd connection between these three:  Marilyn was born in Kingston, Jamaica.  Gwen & crew went all Jamaican-me-crazy with Rock Steady, and Gwen and Gavin's son is named Kingston.  Weird.

 

pics of Gavin & Marilyn here

20 Things You Didn't Know About Death

Soapy corpses, ecological burials, dead relatives on parade and more

By LeeAundra Temescu
Provided by Discover magazine

 

1. The practice of burying the dead may date back 350,000 years, as evidenced by a 45-foot-deep pit in Atapuerca, Spain, filled with the fossils of 27 hominids of the species Homo heidelbergensis, a possible ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans.

2. There are at least 200 euphemisms for death, including "to be in Abraham's bosom," "just add maggots" and "sleep with the Tribbles" (a "Star Trek" favorite).

3. No American has died of old age since 1951.

4. That was the year the government eliminated that classification on death certificates.

5. The trigger of death, in all cases, is lack of oxygen. Its decline may prompt muscle spasms, or the "agonal phase," from the Greek word "agon," meaning "contest."

6. Within three days of death, the enzymes that once digested your dinner begin to eat you. Ruptured cells become food for living bacteria in the gut, which release enough noxious gas to bloat the body and force the eyes to bulge outward.

7. So much for recycling: Burials in America deposit 827,060 gallons of embalming fluid -- formaldehyde, methanol and ethanol -- into the soil each year. Cremation pumps dioxins, hydrochloric acid, sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide into the air.

8. Alternatively, a Swedish company, Promessa, will freeze-dry your body in liquid nitrogen, pulverize it with high-frequency vibrations and seal the resulting powder in a cornstarch coffin. They claim this "ecological burial" will decompose in six to 12 months.

9. Zoroastrians in India leave out the bodies of the dead to be consumed by vultures.

10. The vultures are now dying off after eating cattle carcasses dosed with diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory used to relieve fever in livestock.

11. Queen Victoria insisted on being buried with the bathrobe of her long-dead husband, Prince Albert, and a plaster cast of his hand.

12. If this doesn't work, we're trying in vitro! In Madagascar, families dig up the bones of dead relatives and parade them around the village in a ceremony called "famadihana." The remains are then wrapped in a new shroud and reburied. The old shroud is given to a newly married, childless couple to cover the connubial bed.

13. Sometimes, under the right conditions of temperature and humidity, fatty tissue of a buried body will turn to a soap-like substance called adipocere, or grave wax. Adipocere formation relies on a cold, damp environment and an absence of oxygen; once begun, this saponification can continue for centuries.

14. Well, yeah, there's a slight chance this could backfire: English philosopher Francis Bacon, a founder of the scientific method, died in 1626 of pneumonia after stuffing a chicken with snow to see if cold would preserve it.

15. For organs to form during embryonic development, some cells must commit suicide. Without such programmed cell death, we would all be born with webbed feet, like ducks.

16. In 1907, a Massachusetts doctor conducted an experiment with a specially designed deathbed and reported that the human body lost 21 grams upon dying. This has been widely held as fact ever since. It's not.

17. Buried alive: In 19th-century Europe there was so much anecdotal evidence that living people were mistakenly declared dead that cadavers were laid out in "hospitals for the dead" while attendants awaited signs of putrefaction.

18. Eighty percent of people in the United States die in a hospital.

19. More people commit suicide in New York City than are murdered.

20. It is estimated that 100 billion people have died since humans began.

Happy Earth Day - Repower America!

I got the following email from Repoweramerica.org today, and I wanted to share.

 

Please do with it as you wish, but please consider signing the petition.

 

In order to solve the climate crisis, we can't just change light bulbs -- we need to change laws.

 

We're closer today than ever before. Right now, Congress is debating clean energy legislation that will jumpstart our economy and help solve the climate crisis.

On this Earth Day, can I depend on you to support this crucial legislation?

Yes. I'll get 10 people to sign the petition in support of clean energy legislation within the next week.

 

This is the historic comprehensive energy legislation that we've been waiting for. It will create millions of jobs and help solve the climate crisis by closing the carbon pollution loophole.

After so many years of inaction and obstruction, it's incredible that we have finally reached this point. But the legislative process is never easy. With powerful forces fighting hard to maintain the status quo, it will take all of us working together to seize this moment.

Today, you are one of more than two million Repower America members, and tens of millions of Americans, who want to take positive action for our planet. This is it -- a chance to demonstrate nationwide support for clean energy to our leaders in Congress, and help to bring about a new economic era based on clean energy.

 

So please, talk to your friends. Talk to your parents or grandparents. Start a conversation with a co-worker. And ask them to join with you and the millions of other Americans who want Congress to support clean energy jobs by closing the carbon pollution loophole.

Yes. I'll get 10 people to support this historic clean energy legislation in Congress.

I support clean energy but I'd like to help in other ways.

 

Your efforts have brought us this far. I hope you take this opportunity to make this a historic Earth Day.

 

Thank you,

 

Al Gore

www.repoweramerica.org