My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.
Most of us try to live exemplary lives; we really do try to do our best. But there”s no need for us to try to do better than our very best.
Consider the simple act of washing a coffee cup, for example. When you wash the coffee cup, you do not need to do a perfect job. You do not need to try to make the cup perfect or worry about whether you yourself are prefect. You don”t measure the temperature of the water or agonize over the pH balance of the soap. You just wash the cup.
If you handle the cup with care, there will be nothing separating you from the cup. There will be no daydreams or distractions, no recriminations, no ideas of self and other, no barriers between you and what you are doing. There will just be washing the cup, and your whole life will be in it. p. 126
To improve my vocabulary (and my reading) I always keep a dictionary close at hand because I aspire to a Shakespearian vocabulary. Inspired by the new PBS Kids show WordGirl, I’ve decided to add My Words as an occasional feature here at Have Coffee Will Write. The word I’ve chosen for today is Eidetic.
I still have in my files the carefully photocopied (and redacted, he covered up the cartoons) copy of Playboy’sOctober 1967 interview with New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison. It was my introduction, long before Oliver Stone, to the idea of conspiracy and cover-up as a way of doing business in America. My dad calls these scary.
I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is 24 Freelancing tips (or the alphabet of a freelancer).
Part of being a good citizen of the blogosphere is visiting, reading and, most importantly, taking the time to leave a comment on other’s blogs. It’s all about the conversation. In the interest of setting an example I’ve decided to link to those blog posts that have compelled me to leave a comment.
He seemed almost broken to me. His voice raspy, his eyes watery, his affect exhausted, his facial expression almost bewildered. I thought I would feel angry; but I found myself verging toward pity. The case was so weak, the argument so thin, the evidence for optimism so obviously strained that one wondered whom he thought he was persuading.
And the way he framed his case was still divorced from the reality we see in front of our nose: that Iraq is not, as he still seems to believe, full of ordinary people longing for democracy and somehow stymied solely by “extremists” or al Qaeda or Iran, but a country full of groups of people who cannot trust one another, who are still living in the wake of unimaginable totalitarian trauma, who have murdered and tortured and butchered each other in pursuit of religious and ethnic pride and honor for centuries.
This is what Bush cannot recognize: there is no Iraq. There are no Iraqis Andrew Sullivan
I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog chuckle I present: From My Dad.
WOMAN’S POEM
Before I lay me down to sleep,
I pray for a man, who’s not a creep,
One who’s handsome, smart and strong.
One who loves to listen long,
One who thinks before he speaks,
One who’ll call, not wait for weeks.
I pray he’s gainfully employed,
When I spend his cash, won’t be annoyed.
Pulls out my chair and opens my door,
Massages my back and begs to do more.
Oh! Send me a man who’ll make love to my mind,
Knows what to answer to ‘how big is my behind?’
I pray that this man will love me to no end,
And always be my very best friend.
MAN’S POEM
I pray for a deaf-mute nymphomaniac, with huge boobs, who owns a liquor
store, and a Harley dealership. This doesn’t rhyme and I don’t give a shit.
My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.
Some Zen teachers describe the past as ash, the future as fuel and the present as fire. But the great masters such as Dogen Zenji were quick to point out that there is no separation among the three. Each thing is complete this very moment. p. 80
I still have in my files the carefully photocopied (and redacted, he covered up the cartoons) copy of Playboy’sOctober 1967 interview with New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison. It was my introduction, long before Oliver Stone, to the idea of conspiracy and cover-up as a way of doing business in America. My dad calls these scary.
I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is 22 Habits of Successful Freelancers.
RN Clara Hart:I walked two miles today. Walked alongside a warrior injured in service to our country. I walked the September 11th Freedom Walk and I remembered. I remembered the day people ran down streets, terror on their faces and fear coursing through their bodies. I remembered the day the thick black smoke and the rolling dark clouds of…
Part of being a good citizen of the blogosphere is visiting, reading and, most importantly, taking the time to leave a comment on other’s blogs. It’s all about the conversation. In the interest of setting an example I’ve decided to link to those blog posts that have compelled me to leave a comment.
the Republicans are being rapidly rebranded as a party of men who exemplify the least attractive, most pathetic aspects of the gender-they are the stubborn, arrogant, lazy, incompetent (Iraq, Katrina), hypocritical, crude, nasty fathers, Homer Simpson crossed with Tony Soprano, the kind of men who snarl and posture as old-fashioned patresfamilias but don”t come through when and where it counts. The GOP is becoming the deadbeat-daddy party.ATTRIBUTION
The real writer is one who really writes. Talent is an invention like phlogiston after the fact of fire. Work is its own cure. You have to like it better than being loved. —Marge Piercy, For the young who want to in The Moon Is Always Female
* * * *
At day’s first light, have in readiness, against disinclination to leave your bed, the thought that “I am rising for the work of man.” Must I grumble at setting out to do what I was born for and for the sake of which I have been brought into the world? Is this the purpose of my creation, to lie here under my blankets and keep myself warm? “Ah, but it is a great deal more pleasant!” Was it for pleasure, then, that you were born and not for work? —Marcus Aurelius
Let me respectfully remind you, life and death are of supreme importance. Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost. Each of us should strive to awaken-- Awaken! This night your days will be diminished by one. Take heed. Do not squander your life. —Zen Evening Gatha
Take an ax to the prison wall. Escape. Walk out like someone suddenly born into color. Do it now. —Rumi, Quietness
My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.
To improve my vocabulary (and my reading) I always keep a dictionary close at hand because I aspire to a 
I still have in my files the carefully photocopied (and redacted, he covered up the cartoons) copy of Playboy’s 
I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is 
