Meta: a prefix meaning between, with, after, behind, over, about, reversely; a philosophy prefix meaning one level of description higher.
I like the definition of meta as prefix because it captures the utility of the concept. It is between, with, after, behind, over, about… it’s all over the place and seems to be about everything.
Lately I’ve noticed an influx of new screen names and I’m wondering if it isn’t our meta that brings them here.
We are not a site about electing Democrats. But we are crazy for politics and progressive ideas. Although I’m not crazy using the word progressive to describe us. But that’s a meta for another day.
Don’t feed us mere news or facts and figures. We crave analysis.
We are so hip and so even beyond meta… that you’ll find the DD women live-blogging the Super Bowl (GO GIANTS) and when 73rd mentions hockey, you know an undercovercalico comment is not far behind.
We don’t espouse any specific doctrine. Yet we are fascinated by ideas of all kinds. Wait. I’ll get hammered for that… we do espouse the be excellent to each other doctrine.
Our flame wars are mythic. We storm each other’s gates with music videos, poetry, pootie pics, and fight fiercely over the status of cat vs. dog.
We may be Americans or residents here, but our collective interest in the planet has no borders or nationality. I like to think of all us, creatures and plants, as earthlings. I got that from Sesame Street, btw.
There are those of us who are troll huggers and those of us who are not. No matter. A wrong can’t hurt you here. You might even find yourself in the middle of a pie-throwing contest. hmmmm…. haven’t had one of thoze in a while…
We are existential, zenistential, and metaistential… ha! Even our meta is meta.
We believe in constructive chaos and the everything-is-possible kind of meta. Don’t get me wrong. We whine and whimper and get pissed. But, at the end of the proverbial day, we believe in faerie tales and getting our laughs on.
As a matter of fact, our meta is so intuitive that grannyhelen nails it with her very first DD essay in which she discusses health care as an issue and how it relates to the position of candidates. Actually, I’ve noticed quite a few first essays lately.
And because it’s about the stick… the stone… and the rest of the stump (it is life)::::
Here’s Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Waters of March” sung in Portuguese by Elis Regina and Tom Jobim… a lovely language indeed…
A stick, a stone, it’s the end of the road,
It’s the rest of a stump, it’s a little alone,
It’s a sliver of glass, it is life, it’s the sun,
It is night, it is death, it’s a trap, it’s a gun.
The oak when it blooms, a fox in the brush,
The nod of the wood, the song of a thrush,
The wood of the wing, a cliff, a fall,
A scratch, a lump, it is nothing at all.
It’s the wind blowing free, it’s the end of a slope,
It’s a bean, it’s a void, it’s a hunch, it’s a hope.
And the riverbank talks of the Waters of March,
It’s the end of the strain, it’s the joy in your heart.
The foot, the ground, the flesh and the bone,
The beat of the road, a sling-shot stone,
A truckload of bricks in the soft morning light,
The shot of a gun in the dead of the night.
A mile, a must, a thrust, a bump,
It’s a girl, it’s a rhyme, it’s a cold, it’s the mumps.
The plan of the house, the body in bed,
And the car that got stuck, it’s the mud, it’s the mud.
Afloat, adrift, a flight, a wing,
A cock, a quail, the promise of spring.
And the riverbank talks of the Waters of March,
It’s the promise of life, it’s the joy in your heart.
A point, a grain, a bee, a bite,
A blink, a buzzard, a sudden stroke of night,
A pin, a needle, a sting, a pain,
A snail, a riddle, a wasp, a stain.
A snake, a stick, it is John, it is Joe,
A fish, a flash, a silvery glow.
And the riverbank talks of the Waters of March,
It’s the promise of life in your heart, in your heart.
A stick, a stone, the end of the load,
The rest of a stump, a lonesome road.
A sliver of glass, a life, the sun,
A night, a death, the end of the run.
And the riverbank talks of the Waters of March,
It’s the end of all strain, it’s the joy in your heart.
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i even have an H2D original picture…
is this:
everything else is ice cream. @;-)
The NENA marathon was fun, and hopefully, we’ll do it again. I’m up for other marathons on other issues, especially veterans, homeless or children’s issues, where there is an identified, and doable, course of action to take. A journey begins with a single step, and all that good stuff.
In the meantime, cats rule, dogs drool (some with very cool tongues), fairy tales, songs and poems are the meat and potatoes of this place, for me. Thanks Boss, thanks everyone.
and yet no mention of sports!! no love from pf8.
mentioned hockey. Um you know you can’t step back behind the line now that it has been crossed.
No, that’s not self-meta (You can get hairy palms from that, you know.) It was, though, a great song to pick for the substance of this essay, and not just because I have it on two different CDs and an old vinyl. There’s a level of self-understood wholeness to this place. Wholeness that includes both human understanding and the pursuit of what’s still past our ken right now. And a genuine sense of welcome, both an openness and a truthfulness, that I think tends to pull people in. Both kj and Alma wrote very well about that in a diary the other day (wish I could find it, the lapsed historian in me twitches at not footnoting.) This place and its people know themselves, even when that knowledge is what medieval mystics called the “Cloud of Unknowing.” We keep it straight in ways that mean something, even when we’re freaky, and we chase after what lies beyond “huh ?” and “oh, crap” alike. It’s a solid place to stand and we are at least seeking the lever.
Diaries, oh yeah … well if this week will simmer down slightly expect to see stuff about Tommy Douglas, the Suez crisis of ’56, and a vampire’s view of the Republican primaries pretty soon. Oh and pf, since I still owe you for that pony-jam last Friday when’s your next slot ? I have some Scottishness issues that could use an airing. (No they are not under a kilt ….)
Hey Jimmy want to come to a swell party my friend Ralph is having????
Gee I have a doubles date… swings racquet…
Aw Jimmy you can play doubles any time.
where does mega and reality merge or stop. Meta a word which is so undefined yet so precise. I now encounter meta everyday before blogging I never knew it existed, yet it has always been right here defining reality. I once as a noobie asked what it meant. My favorite answers from a Budhy diary I stuck on the refrigerator long gone but somehow the only reasons to even be here.
Ya gotta love zen set to samba. Yes, anything is possible.