"J.D. Salinger is dead."
Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:43:13 GMT

"J.D. Salinger is dead."
I said, glancing at the TV
"What's that, Dear?" said she.

"You know, the author, 'Franny
and Zooey', 'Catcher in the Rye'"
Said I.

"We had a strange teacher in tenth
He made us read 'Catcher'" she said,
But I thought Salinger was long dead"

"Nope," I replied, he just managed to go
from being famous to being obscure
And hasn't written a thing since 1964."

"Fans once peaked through his windows
and stole his underwear for souvenirs
then he quietly disappears."

"J.D. Salinger is dead." I said.

"If the world shrugs at the passing
Of one such as he..."
I returned to my book, she to her tea.

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Stop Procrastinating: Ten Steps To Overcome Fear
Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:12:51 GMT

Stop Procrastinating: Ten Steps To Overcome Fear

One of the big reasons we as human beings tend to procrastinate in our persuit of worthwhile goals is fear. We fear Failure, we fear success, and we fear ridicule - worrying that we will look stupid in the process of acheiving whatever it is that we wish to accomplish. Here are ten ways to overcome fear and push on to the goal.

1.Know what you want to accomplish. Focusing on the desired outcome takes the focus off of doubt. Doubt leads to fear. Keep your eye on the prize.

2. Make the decision to never quit. Once quitting is not an option, there is no room for fear.

3. Take Action. Action overcomes fear. Concentrate on your core skill set, the activity that gets you the greatest results. Lack of action creates idleness which opens the door to fear. If you’re in a sales profession, that means spending most of your time attracting new prospects and presenting to them.

4. Be committed in the face of setbacks. Commitment ignores fear and doubt long enough for action to overcome it. Stay with your plan and fight through adversity.

5. Become competent in your core skillset: Compitence leads to confidence which leads to commitment and action.

6. Guard your thoughts. Avoid distraction and negativity. Negativity feeds fear, distraction derails action. When a negative thought occurs listen to a positive CD or Audio book, spend less time with negative people, and curtail activities and people that sidetrack you.

7. Set intermediate goals and celebrate those milestones as you accomplish them. Practice delayed gratification - postpone personal pleasures and reserve them as rewards for accomplishment.

8. Visualize your success. Actively imagine yourself as having accomplished whatever it is you are trying to do.

9. Associate with like-minded individuals, positive people with vision whom you can emulate and who are also in persuit of worthy dreams, who will celebrate your success as you celebrate theirs.

10. Fill your mind with positive input. Visit web sites, read books, listen to CD’s, and attend seminars that build competence, confidence and self esteem. protect and feed your thoughts.

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Reunion with college friends
Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:49:08 GMT

Wow! I had a great time in NY getting back together with friends I haven't seen since we were all on the Student newspaper together at Dutchess Community College in Poughkeepsie NY. What a trip! I got to go at the last minute, and only because one of the classes I teach was canceled. I ended up driving all night, and passing by the city at sunrise. I reached Poughkeepsie at about 9 am and had breakfast at one of my old hangouts, the famous Palace Diner. The Portabello Benedict there is awe-inspiring! I think I drove the furthest, and probably have the worst punctuality record, but somehow I reached our alma-matter 2 hours before everyone else, and did a complete tour of the campus and had time to write down the beginning of a poem inspired by the morning's vision of the city. Here is what I have so far:

I saw the sunrise on the city
From atop the Palisades;
Saw the skyline of Manhattan
Bathed in gold.
Saw the mighty Hudson river
Like a silent silver ribbon,
And the beauty made me shiver
In the late September cold.

After writing this down, I managed to loose it and find it before everyone began to show up. Once everyone did get there we returned to the scene of the crime: the old publication office that is now a vending machine room.

We also got to meet a lovely young lady from the current student paper whom we tried to corrupt with stories of our abuses of the power of the press. It would please my heart to think that we could inspire (instigate/ incite) another generation of hooligans and deviants to tackle the hard issues and get free haircuts and beer. I don't think it worked though: the young goody-two-shoes kept reminding us that the drinking age was no longer eighteen as it had been in the ancient past when we attended there. To make matters worse, when we pointed out that she would be 21 in her 3rd year there, she had no intention of attending a community college beyond her second year! What are these young people thinking??!!

During the time we had been visiting with the young reporter, I managed to misplace the above poem more than once, and ultimately left it to get locked in the new publication office.

We played on the stage, took lots of pictures, met with our old faculty advisors, and carried on as if we had never left Dutchess twenty-something years ago. We then left to get a sneak preview of a famous Poughkeepsie landmark that will be in my travel blog next week after the grand opening. See: Torre-the-Tourist

That evening we all had a lovely dinner at the River Station, including a wacky teleconference with a friend who couldn't be there, and the night was over. I crashed at a friends house, and headed back to North Carolina the next morning. That was yesterday. I drove all day and woke up to discover a cluster of mushrooms had sprouted in my back yard. That inspired this little poem, that reminds me of Dickinson a bit:

In the one or two days I've been gone
Some toadstools cropped up in my lawn.
Like tables round where fairies dance,
Or a tiny stonehenge for the ants.
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Tashlikh
Sat, 19 Sep 2009 14:41:51 GMT

(casting off sins)

Lord:
You are the Ganges!
You are the fountain at Lourdes!
And I have bathed in You
Only to pick up my burdens again.
Put on the same old clothes
With the same old sorrows in the cuffs,
Same old cares in the creases,
And the same old sins in the pockets.

Beloved:
I cast my cares to You,
Make a barge of my burdens
That You may carry them.
This time I turn out my pockets,
And drown my sorrows in Your depths.
And this time I will drink You
And be full of living water,
Clothe myself in Your Word.
This time I will caste off my sins
So they may drift away in Your vastness.
This time I will open my mouth
And your Word will pour fourth
like silver water.


- Torre DeVito

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Uwharrie
Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:20:12 GMT

Latest version:

Uwharrie

Sunlit patterns on pine needles:
Filtered light shines on the trail
The air is warm, and full of birdsong,
A doe in the clearing flicks her tail.

Ants find a beetle in the leaf mold,
A warm breeze stirs the long-leaf pine.
I crouch in the shadows with my camera
To capture this moment and make it mine.

And there in the gravel at my feet
I spot an oddly leaf-shaped stone:
A spearhead, a perfect clovis-point
Some deft and ancient hand had honed.

What had this forest looked like then?
Northern trees? Jack pines, and spruce?
Yet much the same, I keenly feel:
Home to quail, grouse, and goose.

And along the ridge, as evening fell,
Was the mournful cry of a coyote pack
Muffled by snow, thick on the boughs?
Was the ground criss-crossed with animal track?

Were deer in the clearing then, as now?
Did the ancient hunter crouch here too?
Did he capture the moment with atlatl and spear
And know this land, as I now do?

Torre DeVito

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Original:

Uwharrie

Sunlit patterns on pine needles:
Filtered light shines on the trail
The air is warm, and full of birdsong,
A doe in the clearing flicks her tail.

Ants find a beetle in the leaf mold,
A warm breeze stirs the long-leaf pine.
I crouch in the shadows with my camera
To capture this moment and make it mine.

And there in the gravel at my feet
I spot an oddly leaf-shaped stone:
A spearhead, a perfect clovis-point
Some deft and ancient hand had honed.

What had this forest looked like then?
Northern trees? Jack pines, and spruce?
Yet much the same, I keenly feel:
Whispering trees, a call of a goose.
Did the ancient hunter crouch here too?
And know this land, as I now do?

Torre DeVito

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