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Taboo Monkey Blue Blog: Writing on Writing
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Sometimes you get to a place in your life where all those assumptions--what is right, what is wrong--must be called into question.

You leave your parents. You leave your home town. You learn something about a loved one that you didn't want to hear. The foundations of your life move farther and farther away, and now YOU must make your way forward, or not. You must find a way to do what is right. Or not. In your isolation, you are Untouchable. No one else shares responsibility with you. ...

Why do we believe in innocence? Why do we believe in corruption?

We talk about the innocence of childhood. We long for the simplicity of a sand castle, we believe in soap bubbles and fireflies and the purity of our youth. And when we deal with the adult complexities of taking responsibility for our actions and for the hurts and "crimes" of other people, we imagine the old times of our lives when we were removed from the tireless pain of "reality."

The biblical account of the Fall from Eden...

A shallow breeze whispers through the night air along the foothills of the Serra de Sintra. John and I drink from a two-Euro bottle of full-blooded Ramisco wine, share a supper of cigarettes and pickles, and, under the raucous scrutiny of a small crowd, begin a second game of chess on the sidewalk outside of the train station. Meanwhile, João attempts to recruit a gathering of young squatters to break us in to the tunnels beneath the Monastery dos Capuchos.

John and I eat with the shameless...

In Breckenridge, Colorado, while splashing in a hot tub with new college friends, I raised a spaghetti jar of Miller Genuine Draft and drank to my own health; meanwhile, my girlfriend was dying at a hospital in London. On Friday, April 8, 1994, some drunk smashed into Janna Sugar’s spine with his car (a car painted the dull black of shadows, a two-door, a Mercedes with those long blank license plates, a convertible—all details invented and perfected during the long years since the “accident”). O...

I'm enjoying a five minute break from late semester work, and I thought I would bring this article to Joeuser's attention for my own enjoyment--the way I enjoy smash-up derbies and World's Strongest Man contests. I mean, there's nothing better than watching one weirdo confront another weirdo, is there? Or even better, how can you not enjoy the commentary--a weirdo doing his best to rationalize how one weirdo is confronting another?

Here's a little article I found: one reactionary "axis of e...

Per posting strategy of certain JoeUser ultra-right authors, I thought it might be educational to re-post a response I made to a specific form of Postmodern racism.

I believe the original article in this series was posted by ModerateMan, with point and counterpoint provided by Little Whip and CityGuy, respectively, here: Link.

Little Whip subsequently provided the enlightening article, "What It's like to Be White" here:
Link.

Before I quote my response, I find it necessary to clarify ...

Good morning, everyone! I thought I might offer a brief history of the origins for the left-wing manual so graciously provided by ModerateMan (provided in his article "How to be a Good Liberal"--Link), as I noticed that there were no cited references. I hope MM will permit me to tack this on, in the spirit of textual authenticity.

Before we get to the specific references, I should say that the entire book was actually a memo from KRove to GB.2. and was lifted from GB.2's desk before he got...

Inspired by an artice by Mr. Frog:

A lottery ticket costs $1 . . . though I don't know much about the multiplier thingie . . . do you need to go multiplier to win the big jackpot?

All right, going with the $1 figure, :et's say that your odds are 1:187,000,000 and the jackpot is $300,000,000:

1) Without any other factors, you're getting about 1.6 to 1 pot odds for every ticket you buy;

2) However, if you take the cash option, how much do you get? A little over half, say $187,000,000 ...

I do not condone attacks on civilians. I do not support any work of terror.

I grew up in a Jewish family in the last throws of assimilation. I have experienced mild suggestions of anti-semetism all my life, but never truly suffered for my religion.

There. That's my background. With that said, no one--especially other pro-Israel sympathizers like myself--should ever forget that Israel was created and defended by Jewish terrorists--the Irgun, for example (shorthand for Irgun Tsvai Leumi,...

What is peaceful rebellion? Like Gandhi? Things do change that way, no question, but the system doesn't change. The perspective passed down from Hammurabi and an educated handful of drunken greeks remains in place.

This system, it runs based on its own rules, not on some metaphysical conception of morality. It is an organism trying to survive. Go ahead and think that it is getting worse, more invasive, more corrupted, more inaccessible, more big brother. It doesn't matter. It's just a s...

People keep saying that the system has grown out of control. That's a lot of crappy-crap. I'll tell you why, too.

The reason that the system hasn't grown out of control is because it was always out of control. Systems are action patterns that function on their own, with only exterior stimuli necessary to charge the process.

The only reason a system fades gently into a goodnight is because it becomes outdated. If a system doesn't jive with a majority of people, then a new system replaces it...

Culture slithers forth, tastes the air, tests it, before ascending the throne. Haughty, sinister, the word sounds like vulture, stinks of well-powdered carrion in my nostrils. In the name of the concept, I smile, I bow; meanwhile, the gorge collects itself, preparing to mount an assault.

The seeds of my life are stories. This journey has bloody, vital roots but ends in banality.

My grandparents gathered secretly along a cod-stinking wharf, in a basement Fado bar in Porto with other plott...

In 1894, a Hungarian "Rabbi", Leopold Cohn, firmly established the roots of Jews for Jesus in an unaffiliated but intimately related movement in America. He founded the American Board of Missions to the Jews, a title later streamlined into the more attractive-sounding "Chosen People's Ministries". Sounds like the "A" League baseball team at a parochial school, does it not? His method was simple: he set up shop in Brooklyn around the turn of the century, and provided "English and citizen class...

Ghostwriting is a terrible way to live, but there's all sorts of crap people do to pay the bills. First of all, some of us have what's called a "faulty decision-maker". We believe we have greatness inside, and we don't want to spoil the deal. The theory then goes on to describe how sinking into a couch, while holding a soggy beer cozy that sports the logo, '"Welcome to Moronville, population: YOU" in your hand leads to greatness more readily than seeking gainful employment.

Some of us, on ...