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Publish | Buy | Services           The Gloaming - poetry & prose by jw tarin 2010 WesternWhere Media, published by Lulu, Inc. Purchase The Gloaming with 15% off with coupon code FALLREAD305 Disclaimer: Use coupon code FALLREAD305 at checkout and receive 15% off The Gloaming. Maximum savings with this promotion is $10. You can only use the code once per account, and you can't use this coupon in combination with other coupon codes. Sorry, self-purchases (buying books that you've published) aren't eligible. This great offer ends on October 15, 2010 at 11:59 PM so try not to procrastinate! While very unlikely we do reserve the right to change or revoke this offer at anytime, and of course we cannot offer this coupon where it is against the law to do so. Finally, Lulu incurs the cost of this discount, so it does not impact the Author's proceeds of the book. Copyright © 2002-2010 Lulu, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Lulu.com | 3101 Hillsborough St. | Raleigh | NC | 27607-5436

I Have Moved

Please follow, if you like...

Okay, so I really wanted to have a daily blog about my opinions, rants, raves, stuff I find cool, etc. Just like I used to when Xanga was popular - old school. BUT, after putting much work into this blog, I just don't think I'm in a place right now where I can do that. I feel the pressure to have something fresh and current all the time, lest people stop reading (as may be the case already). HOWEVER, since I have a natural rabid thirst for knowledge of endless topics, I have set up a new blog over at Wordpress - called Beasts of Ephesus.

http://beastsofephesus.wordpress.com/

Check it out. It's not going to be a daily blah blah blog. It's ONLY reserved for random stuff that I find intriguing. God, the cosmos, the Bible as literature, really good books people should read, whatever - it's all fair game. I only have a few posts right now, but trust me there will be MUCH more coming!

Thanks for reading this, and I hope you'll read that...

-jase
June 2009

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