Tag: Suffering

Convergence

Jane Doe Album Cover

I’ve always been aware of the rumblings on the band Converge, and specifically that of their 2001 release “Jane Doe.” But for whatever reason I’ve never been that motivated to check them out.

Then one day a vagrant showed up on my doorstep with their Epilaugh debut You Fail Me. And hearing it was cool–in a much as anything that Jared subjects upon me can be considered a good thing–I eventually bought into it. And given the fact that the recording is harsh–way too much high end–I learned to enjoy, most of it. My main complaint–besides the “equalization”–being the album doesn’t flow very effectively. So with their release of No Heros, I felt a somewhat obvious compulsion to check it out. And I did. Continue reading Convergence

Look What I Just Tripped Over

“As I have walked among the desperate, rejected, and angry young men, I have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems. I have tried to offer them my deepest compassion while maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully through nonviolent action. But they ask — and rightly so — what about Vietnam? They ask if our own nation wasn’t using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today — my own government. For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent.” Continue reading Look What I Just Tripped Over

Nothing More To Say

Today's Empires Album Cover

You know, I couldn’t possibly hope to successfully describe just how I’m feeling about life right now. Not my life, specifically, but that of life in general. Let me tell you, it feels pretty fucking shitty…

I had an opportunity to read the article, “People Are Still Scared Of Expressing Themselves,” which recently appeared in the Ottawa Citizen. It was regarding a woman from East Timor, named Bella Galhos. Yep, that’s right, the person who inspired the song “Mate Ka Moris Ukun Rasik An.”

What’s it been, nearly 7 years since Today’s Empires, Tomorrow’s Ashes was released? And, sadly, today I finally, fully understood what Chris is singing about. Continue reading Nothing More To Say

Understanding Acceptance

I once was an accepting animal industry user, sadly a staunch supporter for way too many a year. Fortunately I’ve since chosen an alternative lifestyle. Yes that’s correct, I’m a vegan. But ever more important is I’ve not, and will not ever forget what it’s like on “that” side of town. Foggy, dirty, stinky, a lot less healthy? It’s a bad scene…

But would it be better to deny myself the memories of how I acted, thought and felt? And yet an even better question being why should I allow the “practice” I once was a willing participant in to continue to “eat” at my conscience (emphasis added for, well emphasis)? Guilt? Shame? Sadness? Hypocrisy? While all valid and oddly relevant, one very important fact remains. Continue reading Understanding Acceptance