I am dumbfounded by those who so easily get bored with their lives with so much adventure, so much mystery in the world. They become so jaded, so emotionally dead, so cut off that they miss the real thrill and passion of being alive.
It is far too easy to become jaded and bored in southern California and to forget the stunning beauty -- the oceans, mountains, forests -- all around us.
There's a teeming, spontaneous existence, an energy in the places and people in the air that is also easy to miss
When there's too much to take for granted, too much to deal with people turn hard . . . probably same as with all big cities.
I wrote this following poem about some people in L.A. who have lost touch with the possibilities beyond the jaded, the mundane and predictable.
This affliction of ennui as the French call it or boredom as we call it . . . is something I never have the time or inclination to experience.
GP
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BORED WITH BOREDOM
You are bored with each breath you take.
Bored with strife, hype, time, light, fire, life, and boredom.
This boredom is boring a hole through your soul.
Even worse, your boredom is blinding you to what is really going on.
You remain oblivious to another side of life, wild and uncontrollable, burning and thriving beyond the cracking sidewalks, crumbling buildings, arching, pompous skyscrapers, crowded suffocating freeways, concrete tombs, apartment penitentiaries, sprawling suburbs, lusty, reeking bar rooms, throbbing concert stages, multiplex movie theaters showing the same loud empty bombastic film endlessly, crashing waves, dirty sand, challenging mountain peaks shrouded in smog and teeming sweltering valleys.
There's a wild existence marked by an eternity, impossible to fully understand. Universes unexplored, collapsing into each other like black holes right before our very eyes.
This hidden world can easily be dismissed with a bored stare and restless jaded yawn.
Your boredom is like an early death as you sigh and take another wasted breath.
Today is Easter Sunday. Not being deeply religious I've never been one to celebrate this holiday. That doesn't mean I haven't thought about its real meaning or lack of meaning depending on your perspective.
I wrote this following poem as I sat on the beach in Belmont Shore, Calif. on Easter Sunday last year....the day got me thinking about religion and all the abuses done in its name in the context of Easter..and the so called fable of resurrection
I wondered what would Jesus think if he was resurrected today...and faced with all the hypocrisy, intolerance and heartbreak in a world that uses holiness as an excuse to commit such brutal and unholy acts...
GP
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THE RESURRECTION? (EASTER 2009)
If Jesus was resurrected today what would he find?
A divided world killing itself over religion and holy scriptures.
Cruelty beyond comprehension.
Greed run rampant. Moneychangers who haven't only taken over the temple, but the world.
An utter disregard for the poor.
His name being used for all sorts of soul crushing endeavors.
Soon after his return, I have no doubt Jesus would want to remain dead for another 2,000 years.
In the past year, our economic system has faced the ultimate of margin calls after years of rampant and reckless greed and stupidity.
Now, we all know... to twist a phrase by Gordon Gekko from the great movie "Wall Street" that greed is "not" good. It carries with it horrible economic consequences that we are only beginning to understand. And this time not only in America, but all over the world, which is the major difference between this great economic calamity and the Great Depression.
I must say President Obama and his team have done a remarkable job dealing with an economic nightmare like none of us have seen in our lifetimes. Remember Obama has only been in office in a little over two months and look what he has tried to do -- stimulate the economy, create plans to save the banks and the housing market, and set up regulations so this doesn't happen again.
And he still is pushing his budget plan to wisely invest in healthcare reform, new energy initiatives and education for the future. I have to wonder when does this guy sleep?
This week the lame fools from the GOP -- the Party of No New Ideas -- presented their lame alternative budget plan. It was more of the same -- drastic tax cuts for the rich and no new spending on anything to help stimulate and save the economy from collapse and ruin. (I shudder to think where we would be if McCain and Palin had been elected. )
We've been down that dark and greedy road these last eight years and even before that in 1980s and early 1990s. The trickle down theory is dead. RIP.
Here's a poem about the failure of the religion of greed.
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A MARGIN CALL ON YOUR LIFE
This is a margin call on your life. Can’t pay it back. Can’t make it right. Failed by your religion of greed. Everything you touched has gone to seed.
Another Ponzi scheme, another stolen dream on Main street. Left with another bail out of Wall Street
Everyone still reeling trying to figure out what all it means as we lose our financial means
This is a margin call on your life for a debt you can’t make right. Yet you demand bonuses for your failure all the same without a hint of shame.
Shallow goons pontificating about nothing offering nothing.
Each day reaching a new low never imagined holding on to ashes of a life of corruption and lies. Can’t dream anymore. All my dreams are bankrupt.
Tomorrow will mark a new remarkable beginning and renewal in the history of our country with the inauguration of Barack Obama, our first African American president.
Beyond the historical significance of Obama's rise, it will also mark an end to the divisiveness, political ideology and rhetoric that has taken this country to the brink of disaster. The Bush Years are over. Thank God. Now, we can all take a collective sigh of relief while realizing the tough road ahead as Obama indicated yesterday at his inauguration concert.
Obama faces a daunting job of reviving a collapsing economy (worst since the Great Depression), ending the war in Iraq, restoring our tattered reputation around the world and restoring dignity and respect to the office of the presidency. Yet Obama is the right man at the right time to help us overcome this bleak economy and bring this country together after so many years of partisanship and divisiveness.
He's already started to move past recent crippling ideology in his cabinet selections and with his willingness to reach out to Republicans in Congress as he readies his agenda to turn the country around.
Here's a poem I wrote a few years ago about what I think about the perils of ideology. I am very hopeful that Obama and his team will avoid the ideological dead ends and battles the Bush Administration so reveled in.
GP
******************************************* LIFE IS TOO BIG FOR IDEOLOGY
Life is too big for empty ideology.
Spirit robbing bureaucrats think they know what is in our hearts.
I've never known an ism, a breathing ideology or a racial slur.
Just human beings frail, broken, feisty, hoping, yearning and fighting for some space and peace of mind.
It is something no ideology ever conceived can seem to provide.
In several weeks, President Bush's horrible reign of incompetence will be over. However, the White House PR effort to spin history is in full effect.
Well, we know now that Bush can duck thrown shoes pretty well....but he can't duck responsibility for what he and his cronies have done...
He can't go away fast enough...his administration's PR effort to whitewash his eight horrible years...is pathetic. He is one of the the worst of lame ducks in history doing little or nothing as the economy continues to collapse. Bush is very reminiscent of another Republican -- Herbert Hoover -- in the midst of the Great Depression.
Historians will be brutal in detailing Bush's years of arrogance, hypocrisy, corruption, callousness, false piety, incompetence, deceitfulness....subversion of our democratic ideals...
here's a couple poems about that...Thank God...it is almost over.
GP
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IT'S YOUR PROBLEM
It's your problem. I am not responsible. I am only running the country.
Lost a city. So sorry.
Lost a son or daughter. My condolences.
Costly wars, hurricanes, terrorist attacks.
Oh well.
Just fodder so I have more fictions about freedom & Democracy to sell.
It's your problem. Isn't that clear.
The buck stops anywhere but here.
It's your problem. Got no safety net. Can't count on our help.
You're on your own
Your government is out on loan to line the pockets of everyone I know.
You're on your own.
*********************************
WHO'S THAT ON MY TELEPHONE LINE?
Who's that on my telephone line? A government spy?
Snooping in my records and files saying it's all justified using that tired terrorism line.
What you do in my name is already a crime before you tapped my telephone line.
A collect call.
This is Al Queda calling
We never imagined we'd have so much success turning America against itself.
With all this spying we don't have to do a thing.
Got you living scared and questioning and turning against your own values.
I greatly enjoy the Christmas season. I always have since childhood, and not for the presents, but for the chance to give to those around me.
That's why I so despise Christmas greed. Black Friday is a day that truly disgusts me. The idiots that line up in front of Best Buy and other retailers -- even sleeping in tents -- need to get a fucking life! Come on. Is it really worth it to sleep in the cold for a cheaper HD TV set?
Haven't we learned anything from the recent economic crisis? Less is more. It is time to cut back and reduce spending. Uncontrolled spending in Washington and around the country (and globally, too) is how we got into this mess.
But the worst news from this year's Black Friday is that a Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death in a stampede by overzealous and greedy shoppers.
It was the Blackest of Fridays for his family. What were the shoppers thinking? What was Wal-Mart thinking by allowing something like that to happen?
Is this the true Christmas Spirit in action?
However, it is not the first time for Wal-Mart, though.
A few years ago, I read a ridiculous story about how a woman in Florida was nearly trampled to death at another Wal-Mart as people fought to get an opportunity to buy a $29 DVD player. It happened during the Christmas season, too, which seemed fitting to me..The story struck me then as the epitome of stupidity and greed...
Later it was discovered the woman was faking and had done this a number of times in an attempt to sue for damages. It didn't change the story all that much for me. It was still about naked greed, which the recent more deadly Wal-Mart incident drove home for me.
Merry Christmas? Good will to all men? Apparently not.
The whole ugly incident inspired this following poem..
GP
****************** DVD NIGHTMARE
The other day a woman was trampled by a crowd of Christmas shoppers at a Wal-Mart.
They were making a mad dash to buy $29 DVD players.
Consumed by consumer lust no one stopped to help her.
So much for the Christmas spirit.
This was real life entertainment.
When the crowd cleared the woman was found laying unconscious on top of a DVD player.
A Wal-Mart spokesman said he hoped the trampled woman would continue to be a customer after she recovered from her injuries.
Maybe next time she'll lose her life over a TV.
All in the name of rabid consumerism.
File this under the horror section in your local reality store.
Later it was discovered the woman may have intended to fake the whole thing as she done previously, but this time things went horribly awry.
It has been quite an historic week with Barack Obama's amazing ascent to the U.S. Presidency. I think many of us are still stunned that it actually happened, but in one night the real possibility offered by America became so apparent for all to see. Barack's unlikely journey is more than inspirational. It is the great American success story. His rise from humble circumstances will inspire and galvanize countless future leaders in this country and around the world for years to come.
His impact on African Americans can't be measured. Watching Jesse Jackson with tears flowing down his face at Barack's acceptance speech was very moving. Jackson ran for the presidency in 1984 and now he was seeing his dream come true and also his mentor's dream -- Martin Luther King Jr. Jackson witnessed history when he saw King shot down in Memphis more than forty years ago. This week like the rest of us he witnessed history again, but this time it was the culmination of his dream and that of so many other African Americans. No longer would the presidency be locked out to people of color. Obama truly fulfilled King's wish and dream of a man being judged by the content of his character not by the color of his skin.
Living under eight years of misery brought about by the inept, callous, indifferent, greedy, ignorant, reckless Bush Administration is over. We will once again have a president who is thoughtful and who understands the problems we face. It won't easy to clean up the horrible mess the Bush legacy has left this country. But Obama seems the right man at the right time to pull it off. We need to all give him the support he needs regardless of our political views.
In celebration of his historic presidential victory, my songwriting friend Bruce Baert and I have created a YouTube video celebration "Oh! Obama! that had its debut today.
Video was directed by Los Angeles songwriter Bruce Baert, who wrote the lyrics. I produced the song and video and added some lyrics as did Bruce's mother Dorothy Baert. Storyteller Productions in Long Beach, Calif. helped us edit the video. Adding their talents to this project were Los Angeles guitarist and singer Emerson Kris and vocalist Ronna Jones. We recorded the song at Virlouise Studios in Anaheim, Calif.
This video and song truly captures the wonder of Obama's journey. It is story we can all take pride in and inspiration from in our own lives as we seek to regain America's place in the world as a force of true liberty, freedom, justice and opportunity.
Or as our song so aptly puts it..."As always we'll be victorious by Dawn's Early Light."
George Pappas
*** There is more information about this project below
“Oh Obama!” Tribute Song and YouTube Video Seek to Relieve Voters from Long Campaign & Help Americans Revel in Change, Unity and Bottle their American Spirit & Celebrate--From Election Day to Inauguration Day
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – November 8, 2008, – As a lifelong registered Non-Partisan Party member, Los Angeles area songwriter Bruce Baert was and is one of those “independent voters” both political parties court. But Baert, like millions of Americans, grew to admire Democratic nominee Barack Obama’s ideas, ideals, and leadership. Banking on Obama to win the Presidency and make history, Baert was so inspired he said he “had” to write this catchy tribute song about Obama’s rise. He says the “song lyrics combined with the YouTube video are classy, unique, smart, tempered, interesting and engaging--Just like Barack Obama.” The song debuts on Election Day, the video featuring the song launches this week.
Baert, (pronounced “Bear-t”), said: “Americans may wake up after this 21-month election marathon with a 2008 Election Hangover...I want my song to alleviate that and bottle the enthusiasm into an American celebration that begins now and ends on Inauguration Day: Tuesday, Jan., 20, 2009, the day after MLK Day is observed honoring MLK’s would-be 80th Birthday, and the day before so much official hard work begins.” Baert, a former Hillary Clinton supporter, adds: “There will be some serious work ahead to tackle…Barack’s acceptance line should be: ‘We can only get better from here!’”
Some lyrics include: Oh he came from Hawaii with his heart upon his sleeve, He’s goin’ to the White House, the top job in D.C. The man with the funny name, they said he shouldn’t try, “Fear” so taught, eight Bush Years bad, Obama’s Battle Cry. Oh! Obama! Our Nation turns to thee Already making history, along with Hillary. Oh! Obama! You’ll be the first to be, Only in the USA; In the Land of Liberty!
“When someone just gives our song a listen, they will love the words, the tune, the musicianship and singing. It doesn’t get overly political or at all negative, and only mentions Obama, not others. We try to stay above the fray, but enjoy this new time,” Baert said. “Oh! Obama!” is like nothing else out there. It is to the 1848 folksy old standard “Oh! Susanna!” Perhaps ironically, “Oh! Susanna!” was originally sometimes performed by minstrels, a racist tradition, but a product of its time. Baert is a resident of the nearby Los Angeles suburb Whittier, which is former President Richard Nixon’s hometown.
Millions of Americans are weary of the almost two-year U.S. Presidential campaign, yet are excited about the change and fresh start of an Obama Administration. “Doesn’t that sound good? An Obama Administration,” Baert added. This song/video is free online, and it is a non-profit production.
“Who knows? Maybe the Obama-Biden Campaign will play our anthem-like song or maybe Jay Leno or David Letterman,” Baert said.
Baert has a rare hat-trick of election process experience: He has worked as a clerk at and for his local L.A. County precincts as a poll worker, or “paid volunteer” ---for many general elections. He worked as a newspaper reporter writing about some local elections. Finally, he has covered for that newspaper immediate results released at and from the County Registrar’s Office. His mother, Dorothy Baert, passed on to him that tradition, working as a Judge and Inspector at her local voting precinct for tiny, medium and large turnout elections, being cited by the Registrar’s Office for 40 years of service. Dorothy, along with Bruce’s Journalism and college friend George Pappas, wrote additional lyrics for “Oh! Obama!”
“This election is the most polarized we’ve all seen in our lives, man have I argued with people, and they with me,” Baert said, adding: “But Republican or Democrat or another party, they all care, and that’s good and what’s important. This election isn’t just history, it’s Uber-history.”
Please note: • MP3 and/or CD available upon request, and are online. Video on YouTube and DVDs available upon request • Baert and/or others are available for interviews. • Please see attached tribute song lyrics, and also attached original “Oh! Susanna!” song lyrics (for comparison.)
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For more information: Publicist: George Pappas Office: (562) 439-2575 Mobile: (562) 857-5680, Email: gmpwrite@gmail.com
Passion drives me. Life to me is a journey full of discoveries and intriguing journeys. Some good, some bad, but you can learn from everything in the end.
My real passion is writing and exploring life as a
novelist, poet and lyricist.
Please check out my recent novel "Monogamy Sucks." It is kind of an edgy male version of "Sex in the City." It makes some interesting comments about monogamy, relationships, casual sex and world of swinging. I launched the first chapter on this blog on May 1. I will then launch a chapter or two each month toward the goal of eventually bringing out the entire book.
My first novel, "Letters from Cyberspace," detailed a twentysomething Mormon woman's Internet sex journey. It is featured on Amazon.com among other sites.
I have also completed the first draft of my third book which has an interesting celebrity twist to it.
Anyway...suffice to say creativity is a huge part of my life...
