The Ringlebens

These are two of the people who are responsible for me being here, John and Rosie Ringleben. Rosie's full name is reported to be Katrina (or Kathrina) Rosina Magdalena Von Hohenstein. They immigrated from Germany in the 1840's and they are my great-great-great-grandparents on my maternal grandmother's side of the family.

My brother views genealogy as a pastime for people who are stuck in the past. I think that the more you know about your past, the better you will understand your present. It is just a tool to gain insight. The past fascinates me, but I don't choose to live there.

We believed that we could change ourselves
The past could be undone
But we carry on our backs the burden
Time always reveals
The lonely light of morning
The wound that would not heal

Sarah McLachlan

I like the analogy of our bodies as clothes we shed from one life to the next. I think we know more about our past "wardrobe" when we are children, but as we age/mature, we lose or suppress the memory. Sometimes it's difficult to articulate the feeling of it all for fear of sounding like a nut. I have been working on the family genealogy for many years (off and on), so I have been feeling very "connected" to the past while living in the present and raising the future (so to speak). I feel there is a life thread that connects all souls. I guess my analogy would be that souls are energy (like electricity), and they run like current through a universal grid. Instead of being strictly linear, the grid is dimensional with time and form dimensions. The forms would be dead, alive, human, not human, ghost. I don't know any of this to be true, but it is how I sense that the universe works. It is the personal lens I choose to see through.

Stick 'Em Up Sneak Peek

Alex Luster and Tony Reyes photo by Hector Luna

I went to the Sneak Peek of Stick 'Em Up! at the River Oaks tonight with Marilyn, Connor, and Kusa. It was GREAT! Alex 'Pr!mo' Luster and Tony Reyes did Houston street artists proud, while also showing the opposition (city government and law enforcement officials) in a fair light. Anyone who knows me is aware that I have been documenting Houston's street art for years now, but this documentary goes beyond the images and introduces Houston to some of the artists (Give Up, Eyesore, and Dual, to name a few). It is a surprising (and surprisingly funny) introduction. The artists are very aware that what they are doing is illegal, but it is fascinating to hear their reasons for being compelled to continue to share their art in this manner. Stick 'Em Up! is heading to the film festival circuit now and I am hoping to see it play at the new Sundance Theater in downtown Houston when it opens. This "sneak peek," as Alex and Tony call it, was the testing of the waters for the film. After the overwhelming positive response in the theater, I can't help but believe that this film will be opening some doors for both Alex and Tony in the very near future. When you get the chance, see this film. Then take a good look around Houston and know that there are some very hard working artists trying to leave their mark (albeit temporary) on Houston.

Randomness

Black and White by Finijo

I am in that strange place that I find myself occupying on quiet weekend mornings when Connor and Marilyn are still asleep. I have the back door open (gates up for the cats) and I'm listening to Sirius Coffee House, so the mood is mellow. I hung mosquito netting to prevent the squirrels from getting my tomatoes this year, but I haven't secured it yet and the breeze is blowing it in the most beautifully fluid way. I turned to my blog for the first time in weeks and realized that I have many entries started, but not finished. I posted a few of them and will likely post some others, but think I need to start fresh and just start entering things as they happen. I have been hung up on the order of things lately, but that OCD behavior is stopping my flow altogether. I am in a pensive place and thinking about my mortality and my future. I know they are mutually exclusive right up to the point of their intersection. I wonder if my ducks are in a row, if my papers are in one place, my passwords accessible. I wonder a lot of things this morning as I drift in and out of hopeful and borderline morose thoughts. I am neither happy, nor sad, but somehow both. Nothing is linear for me today, so I will bring out some of the posts I never finished and get them off the shelf without actually working on them. In spite of errors in my posts, I try to be a perfectionist when I post and that takes time I don't feel like I have this morning. This is my ode to randomness - enjoy.

Patience (2007) by Finijo

11/28/07 - "The last time I was really productive artistically, was about 13 years ago. At that time I gave up my creative space for a good cause, Connor and Marilyn. I finally settled on a space in the house where I can paint, although it has taken me over a year to figure it out. To be honest, I didn't put much thought into it until recently, but I'm glad now that I have a spot. Not that I am expecting a huge amount of production, but at least it is a place that I can keep set up for when the mood strikes. I have been slowly easing back into the idea of painting again and to be honest, it's a little daunting to go back to it after all this time. Still, I am glad I have a place to work again."

Vibrant Exuberance (2005) by Finijo

2005 - One of the saddest sights you will ever see is an aging stoner chic that passed her prime in the late 70's/early 80's. You can usually spot them, because they have a tendency to cause a stir wherever they go. They have an Anna Nichole Smith quality to their behavior, a vapid coquettism that is strangely surreal. It's like they are simultaneously experiencing a hang over, a head rush and the Rapture. They exude the scent of patchouli and cigarettes and they have raspy voices from the smoking and hard partying they have done for the last 20+ years. They are long past getting by on "cute," but they persist in flirting their way through life, because it worked so well on the security guard at the Stones concert in 1978. With toothless grins, they flash their weathered chests expecting an ovation. It is uncomfortable to watch, but like a living train wreck, you can't look away.

This thought came to me after seeing a woman in the building where I worked at the time. She was making a comi-tragic scene that reminded me of my older sister, Linda. Beautiful Victim (1974) by Gottfried Helwein

No Child Left Behind is a load of horse shit. It's a Texas-sized lie started in Houston by Dr. Rod Paige and perpetuated by George W. Bush, because he apparently never met a lie he could pass up.

This random rage came to me after listening to George W. Bush spout off about the improvements he planned to make to our educational system. It doesn't matter if it was term one or term two - both were nightmares we havenot quite awakened from.

Leadbelly

Huddie Leadbetter was the given name of the blues icon, Leadbelly. He had a voice like gravel and pain...

Please, Governor Neff, Be good 'n' kind
Have mercy on my great long time...
I don't see to save my soul
If I don't get a pardon, try me on a parole...
If I had you, Governor Neff, like you got me
I'd wake up in the mornin' and I'd set you free

This post had to have been started in 1995 around the time of my Napster addiction. I reveled in music I could not hear any other way. I don't care what anyone says, mp3's and Napster was the best thing that could have happened to music at that time. It allowed so many of us to indulge ourselves in out of print and obscure music of the past and new music that otherwise would not have had an avenue for release.

QUOTES FROM THE DEAD

ca. 1995 - At lunch today, I was scrolling through other blogs and I came across one in which the author posted a favorite quote from his grandmother. This is it: Man was given imagination to compensate for what he is not,And a sense of humor to console him for what he is.-Neil Stockman's Letter. It made me laugh out loud, so I stole it for my blog. It did make me think of some of the favorite quotes and sayings from my family.

You'd have had a rosewood casket, if you'd just kept your mouth shut. - Grandma

It's the government, Stupid. - Linda

Damn Communist government. - Linda

Our sister was a wonderfully eccentric woman with some definite, albeit odd (and sometimes humorous) ideas that vacillated between paranoia and reality. I miss her and Grandma so much, still. Grandma's quote has a story that goes along with it, but I will leave it to your imagination.

I still have about 20 more posts that I may throw out here randomly the next time I feel like cleaning house.