literary love affair

The training of wizards is a very difficult thing. Wizards have to spend years standing in a chalk circle until they can manage without it. They push out their power bit by bit, first within their hearts, then within their bodies, then within their immediate circle. It is not possible to control the outside of yourself until you have mastered your breathing space. It is not possible to change anything until you understand the substance you wish to change. Of course people mutilate and modify, but these are fallen powers, and to change something you do not understand is the true nature of of evil.
-- Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson

the Jump

“We opened cold at the Morosco Theatre in New York. I had an entrance down a narrow stairway. It was about 20 steps and steep. I had a stag over my shoulder. A tight tunic made of metal links. Beautiful silver leather shin guards showing the leg to a good advantage, and a silver shield and a high silver helmet, and a cape. A great costume. And I was very surefooted. So the fact that the stairs were only about three and a half feet wide with a high narrow step and had no railings did not bother me.

And anyway, I did not mind risking my life for fame.

I leapt down the stairs, three or more steps at a time…rounded the corner…one jump for the last four steps…threw the stag on the ground and landed on one knee. The audience, of course, burst into applause. They could hardly do anything else. I had all but asked for it. But I was unaware. I was just full of the joy of life and opportunity and a wild desire to be absolutely fascinating. At that point in my progress, I was sailing through the air anyway – down a stair – up a stair – no guardrails. Hell, no stair whatsoever…no matter – life – joy – youth. “

-Katharine Hepburn, in her autobiography Me

a hundred buckets

Dheere dheere re mana, dheere sub kutch hoye
Mali seenche so ghara, ritu aaye phal hoye

Slowly slowly O mind, everything in own pace happens
The gardener may water with a hundred buckets, fruit arrives only in its season

latte

It's a mad mad world
All the things you make me feel
It's a mad mad world
Had a drink so I could forget
It's a mad mad world
All the noise inside of my head
It's a mad mad world
I would never change this moment
It's a mad mad world
All the things you make me feel
It's a mad mad world
Had a drink so I could forget
It's a mad mad world
All the noise inside of my head
It's a mad mad world
I would never change this moment

i hear church bells

im in a 500-600 year old home.
next to a stone, catholic church
next to the entrance to castle hill
the canon goes off every day at 12noon
the hours are orange, the shutters are blue

the stone paths are still.
its a curvry road up to our apartment.

my beach clothes from yesterday are hanging on the line outside our shutters, above the grape vines which drapes over our terrace and the stone zigzag path.

the street lamps make the town glow with a sepia hue in the night time.

distant hills, the sea and the sky- hard to distinguish between the two, and glowing lights, light yellow orbs and strings of pearls, are in the distant from our living room table.

the air is crisp. fresh.
the radio is soooo much better here than back at home.

off to the ville-franche

I guess. . .

. . . i'll die another day. It's not my time to go.

I guess I'll find another way. . . There's so much more to know.

Not only isn’t gender an either/or, it’s not even on a spectrum. The spectrum model, while allowing for more possibilities, still presents it as a zero-sum experience. It makes it seem as if, the more you have of one, the less you must have of the other. That approach reifies and reinforces the idea that there’s an opposition. In reality, any of us can have any of the characteristics that our culture defines as male or female. Each of us is a unique mixture of these traits and rather than being scared of that, we can embrace it, we can celebrate it, and we can enjoy it.

extraordinary

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/08/AR2010090807041.html

Tell the Truth, but tell it slant

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant-

Success in Circuit lies

Too bright for our infirm Delight

The Truth's superb surpriseAs Lightning to the Children eased

With explanation kind

The Truth must dazzle gradually

Or every man be blind-


From Google:
My interpretation of this poem is this:
To tell the outright truth is too much for people to handle. Surprising someone with the truth is like a child seeing lightning for the first time and trying to explain to them why it is the way it is. The truth has to be gradually told or the person or people that the truth is being told to will be shocked.
So to 'slant' the truth isn't to tell a lie but to tell the truth little by little.
-Anonymous

My Business, with the Cloud

I got so I could take his name—
Without—Tremendous gain—
That Stop-sensation—on my Soul—
And Thunder—in the Room—

I got so I could walk across
That Angle in the floor,
Where he turned so, and I turned—how—
And all our Sinew tore—

I got so I could stir the Box—
In which his letters grew
Without that forcing, in my breath—
As Staples—driven through—

Could dimly recollect a Grace—
I think, they call it "God"—
Renowned to ease Extremity—
When Formula, had failed—

And shape my Hands—
Petition's way,
Tho' ignorant of a word
That Ordination—utters—

My Business, with the Cloud,
If any Power behind it, be,
Not subject to Despair—
It care, in some remoter way,
For so minute affair
As Misery—
Itself, too vast, for interrupting—more—

Empower, Celebrate, Free Them All

Sometimes, Andrew, one of the most helpful things you can do for another is to let them learn stuff for themselves, at their own pace.

It's also one of the most helpful things you can do for yourself.

Empower, celebrate, and free them all -
The Universe

Man is my sweetheart. I want to belong to him. - KG

The Poet by Kahlil Gibran

He is a link between this and the coming world.
He is
A pure spring from which all thirsty souls may drink.


He is a tree watered by the River of Beauty, bearing
Fruit which the hungry heart craves;
He is a nightingale, soothing the depressed
Spirit with his beautiful melodies;
He is a white cloud appearing over the horizon,
Ascending and growing until it fills the face of the sky.
Then it falls on the flows in the field of Life,
Opening their petals to admit the light.
He is an angel, send by the goddess to
Preach the Deity's gospel;
He is a brilliant lamp, unconquered by darkness
And inextinguishable by the wind. It is filled with
Oil by Istar of Love, and lighted by Apollon of Music.


He is a solitary figure, robed in simplicity and
Kindness; He sits upon the lap of Nature to draw his
Inspiration, and stays up in the silence of the night,
Awaiting the descending of the spirit.


He is a sower who sows the seeds of his heart in the
Prairies of affection, and humanity reaps the
Harvest for her nourishment.


This is the poet -- whom the people ignore in this life,
And who is recognized only when he bids the earthly
World farewell and returns to his arbor in heaven.


This is the poet -- who asks naught of
Humanity but a smile.
This is the poet -- whose spirit ascends and
Fills the firmament with beautiful sayings;
Yet the people deny themselves his radiance.


Until when shall the people remain asleep?
Until when shall they continue to glorify those
Who attain greatness by moments of advantage?
How long shall they ignore those who enable
Them to see the beauty of their spirit,
Symbol of peace and love?
Until when shall human beings honor the dead
And forget the living, who spend their lives
Encircled in misery, and who consume themselves
Like burning candles to illuminate the way
For the ignorant and lead them into the path of light?


Poet, you are the life of this life, and you have
Triumphed over the ages of despite their severity.


Poet, you will one day rule the hearts, and
Therefore, your kingdom has no ending.


Poet, examine your crown of thorns; you will
Find concealed in it a budding wreath of laurel.

Who was W. Somerset Maugham?

Although William Somerset Maugham rarely spoke publicly about his sexuality, he has been embraced as one of the most renowned gay or bisexual authors of all time. "I was a quarter normal and three-quarters queer, but I tried to persuade myself it was the other way round," he once said. "That was my greatest mistake."

Maugham was born in Paris on January 25, 1874, the youngest son of a British embassy official. His mother died when he was eight, followed by his father two years later. The young boy was then sent to live with his uncle, a vicar in Kent, England. Afflicted with a severe stutter, Maugham was taunted by his schoolmates and withdrew into the world of books.

After studying briefly at Heidelberg University – where he had his first homosexual experience – Maugham completed medical school and did an internship as an assistant obstetrician in London's East End slums, an experience that provided the material for his first novel, Liza of Lambeth (1897). The success of that work convinced him to abandon medicine and pursue his longtime dream of becoming a professional writer.

Maugham embarked on what would become a lifetime of travel, first around Europe and later to the Pacific islands and the Far East. After struggling for several years writing books and plays that failed to garner much interest, he finally achieved success with his 1907 stage comedy, Lady Frederick. By the following year, four of his works were being performed simultaneously on London stages.

In 1914, at the dawn of World War I, Maugham – then age 40 – volunteered as an ambulance corpsman. While working in Flanders, he began a relationship with a colleague, Gerald Haxton, a handsome American nearly 20 years his junior. Around the same time, Maugham commenced an affair with Syrie Barnardo Wellcome, a well-known interior designer and wife of pharmaceutical magnate Sir Henry Wellcome. Syrie gave birth to Maugham's daughter in 1915, and soon thereafter her husband divorced her and she married Maugham. Not long after that - despite his lack of familiarity with the country and his minimal fluency with its language - Maugham was recruited to work as an espionage agent for the British intelligence service, posing as a reporter. He was dispatched to Russia to try to keep the country engaged in the war against Germany and to help stave off the Bolshevik revolution.

Maugham's marriage – which biographer Jeffrey Meyers contends was an attempt to combat his homosexual desires – was a stormy one, and he spent much of his time traveling the world and living in the United States with Haxton, who had been deported from England in 1919 as an undesirable alien and a security risk, in part due to his indiscreet homosexual liaisons. By the late 1920s, Syrie could no longer tolerate Maugham's trysts with men, and the couple divorced. Maugham left England under a cloud of scandal, and bought a villa on the French Riviera where he and Haxton could live together. During World War II, however, the Nazi invasion forced the men to flee France; Maugham spent the war years first in South Carolina and then in Hollywood.

Maintaining the habit of writing for several hours each morning, Maugham produced some 30 plays, nearly two dozen novels, and more than 100 magazine articles. With his cynical wit and straightforward style, he was more popular among the middle-brow masses than the intelligentsia, and he always felt like an outsider to the literary establishment. Although Maugham's highly acclaimed works – including Of Human Bondage (1915), The Constant Wife (1927), and The Razor's Edge (1944) – made him the most famous and wealthiest author of his day, he never received the honor of knighthood.

After World War II, Maugham returned to his lavish life in the south of France, but without Haxton, who had died of alcoholism in New York in 1944. Along with his writing, Maugham spent his time traveling, collecting art, and holding court for celebrities and royalty. Among his guests were queer literary lights such as Noel Coward, T.S. Eliot, Christopher Isherwood, Virginia Woolf, and Edna St. Vincent Millay (who once reportedly praised the opulent surroundings with the exclamation, "Oh Mr. Maugham, it's fairy land here!"). At age 72, Maugham acquired a new secretary-boyfriend, 41-year-old Alan Searle, but this did not put a damper on his varied sexual liaisons, which included sailors from nearby port towns. Maugham's "happiest sexual encounters," he once confided to a friend, had been with "anonymous boys in far-off lands."

Maugham did not feature prominent gay or lesbian characters in his works, although he did occasionally include ambiguously queer minor figures. He remained publicly circumspect about his sexuality throughout his life, no doubt having felt the chilling influence of the trial and imprisonment of Oscar Wilde for "gross indecency" in 1895. Maugham believed that "the homosexual has a narrower outlook on the world than the normal man," and maintained that, "the homosexual can never reach the supreme heights of genius." Although he lived openly with male companions – a lifestyle that could hardly go unnoticed due to his fame – he burned his unpublished manuscripts before his death in 1965, and asked friends to destroy any correspondence he had sent them.

Books Without Words: The Visual Poetry of Elisabetta Gut
September 10, 2010 - January 16, 2011

Julian Schnabel's Miral ( Trailer ) starring Frieda Pinto

Cairo Time

M: Here we believe in fate.
W: What is your fate?

Male orgasms are not interesting, of course. Because women’s orgasms are like intricate flowers blown in fierce waves under a sky of fireworks, and men’s orgasms are like “splurt.” Sigh. It’s tough being a flower, but at least my sexuality isn’t comic relief.

Cherie who? On way to top, Tony Blair's closest companion was Gordon Brown.

i love this shit to pieces!

By Manuel Roig-Franzia
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 2, 2010; C01



Once, there was the oddest of couples.

Then they broke up.

Tony and Gordon. Blair and Brown. The bubbly one and the gruff one.

Much happened, and is still happening, in the life of Tony Blair -- he transformed Britain's Labor Party, befriended and went to war alongside two American presidents, massaged peace plans in the Middle East, graduated to political-afterlife rock star status. But one constant in Blair's extraordinary political adventure -- a source of inspiration and irritation, harmony and discord -- remained his high-stakes dancing and dueling with Brown, eventually his successor at No. 10 Downing Street.

Blair titled his memoirs, a sprawling 700-page tome released Wednesday in the United Kingdom and Thursday in the United States, "A Journey: My Political Life." But at times the work, which he clearly wrote himself, feels more like it should have been called "Gordon and Me: A Story of Political Love and Betrayal."

As young members of Parliament, Tony and Gordon became close friends and harbored big dreams. Their conversations animated Blair, making dialogue with others seem lacking.

"When others were present, we felt the pace and power diminish, until, a bit like lovers desperate to get to lovemaking but disturbed by old friends dropping round, we would try to bustle them out, steering them doorwards with a hearty slap on the back," Blair writes.

In an interview at his sumptuous suite in the St. Regis Hotel, a spread large enough to swallow a Dupont Circle apartment, Blair says he remains friends with Brown and speaks with him occasionally. He did not show Brown a copy of the book, which has set London atwitter over Blair describing Brown as "strange" and as having "zero" emotional intelligence.

"It was difficult because you wanted to be true to what you thought and true to what happened, but also fair to him," Blair says. Three years removed from his resignation as prime minister, Blair is a bit grayer, but looks trim and fit in a blue suit with a white shirt and no tie. He laughs easily, poking fun of himself as a "touchy-feely" politician, making small talk about my Panama hat -- "That's an English hat, isn't it? The kind Graham Greene wore" -- and pouring out coffee and cream for me.

Blair is in town for the Middle East peace talks, but out of office he's relaxed and breezy even about that sobering subject. "I am optimistic," says Blair, the special envoy for the Quartet of peacekeeping entities: the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union. "But whether this is my character or there is any objective reality that justifies this optimism, I couldn't say." Turning more serious, he says he wouldn't rule out military intervention if Iran develops a nuclear weapons program.

Political twins

Blair rose to prominence in British politics alongside Brown, who he says was once his "political twin." The two became central figures in British politics of the past decade and a half; their alliance and eventual split erupted in headlines, gossip and angst in the years before Blair's historic 1997 victory. When they met and became the closest of political allies in the 1980s, they were just young members of Parliament, slogging along in the opposition for a Labor Party mired in also-ran status. Blair, the buoyant, optimistic neophyte; Brown, the brooding, but brilliant, party stalwart.

Brown would become the heir apparent to lead the Labor Party and someday make a run for prime minister. He could dazzle Blair with his intellect. They used to travel to New York together and stayed at the swanky Carlyle Hotel, just "to get away and think," Blair writes. It was on one of those jaunts in late 1992 that Blair tried to articulate his vision for a New Labor Party, stressing the need to improve social conditions, but also taking a tough stance on crime. Brown, in a "streak of genius," crystallized his friend's thinking into a single sentence that became Blair's catchphrase: "You mean: 'Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime,' " Blair recalls Brown telling him.

" 'Yes,' I said, stunned by the brilliance of it," Blair writes. Later, "when things became difficult, then fraught, and finally dangerous, the wrench was all the harder because the intimacy had been so real."

Blair crafted his own lines for the memoirs, writing longhand, he says, without the help of a ghostwriter. Sorry, movie conspiracists, no easy parallel here with Roman Polanski's potboiler "The Ghostwriter," in which a Tony Blair-ish Pierce Brosnan enlists a ghostwriter to finish his memoirs. One wonders if a pro might have steered Blair away from TMI moments, such as his musings about stomach upsets on the road: "I am very typically British," Blair writes. "I like to have time and comfort in the loo."

In the interview, Blair says he hasn't seen "The Ghostwriter," which is based on a Robert Harris novel, nor -- surprisingly enough -- the three films in which he is portrayed so memorably by Michael Sheen: "The Queen," "The Deal" and "The Special Relationship." In the interview, Blair says he once told Harris to "find someone else to write your stuff about." On trips to America, he experiences a kind of life mistaken for art, or Blair mistaken for Sheen, dynamic. "Constantly, when I'm in the States, people say, 'Oh, I did like you in that movie.' "

In real life, the made-for-the-big-screen Blair-Brown friendship came undone in cinematic fashion. In 1994, the Labor Party's leader, John Smith, died of a heart attack. It could have been Brown's moment -- Blair had often assured him that he was the chosen one. But in his memoirs, Blair acknowledges he had been "disingenuous" with his pal.

A "tortuous series of parlays" were set in motion as the men jockeyed for power and Blair "consciously exerted every last impulse of charm and affection, not just persuading but wooing."

They met secretly in friends' houses, hashing out their political futures. "We were like a couple who loved each other, arguing whose career should come first," Blair writes. In the interview, Blair laughs out loud about his choice of metaphor. "There's not some great story in that one, no!" he says, thoroughly enjoying himself. Now, he's playing along: "That's why it was a problem!" he says, laughing again.

Blair, who chides himself in the book for digressions, goes off on a doozy about a former girlfriend, whose family home provided refuge for one of the dealmaking talks. "You know the first person you ever fall in love with; you know that incredible outpouring of desire, the overwhelming sense of something unique, inexpressible, inexplicable and even at points incomprehensible, but so thrilling, uplifting, your heart pumping and soaring?"

At another meeting, Brown excused himself to use the bathroom, only to get stuck inside for 15 minutes, which he spent trying to call someone to rescue him. When he finally reached Blair, he got a tongue-in-cheek ultimatum: "Withdraw from the contest or I'm leaving you in there," Blair says.

Even after ascending to No. 10 Downing Street, Blair ignored the advice of his closest aides and kept Brown close -- "consciously and deliberately" allowing him to be "out there as a big beast" -- naming him to the second-ranking government post, chancellor of the exchequer.

He was a different kind of leader, one who would admit his predominant post-election emotion was "fear," affecting informality by asking people to call him Tony and his wife Cherie. Once, Cherie tried that with Princess Anne, who responded that she preferred to address her as "Mrs. Blair."

"At one level, it was stunningly rude and discordant in our democratic age," Blair writes, but he quickly pivots and adds, "at another, it shows an admirable determination not to be concordant with our democratic age but to tell that to clear off as well." Yet Blair, who praises his wife for her work on behalf of England, writes, "Cherie didn't always help herself . . . she had this incredible instinct for offending the powerful." It's a trait she maintains, Blair says, "still as she always is -- which is a very plain-spoken Liverpool girl, which is one of the reasons I love her."

There's not a great deal about Cherie in the memoirs, though; their matrimonial match gets an infinitesimal fraction of the space given to Blair's professional match with Brown. Asked about this, Blair -- quick and sure-footed on most subjects -- pauses, searching for the right words. "Well, it's a political book, I guess, about politics. . . . Should there be more of her?"

The Clinton connection

Four months after Blair took office, Princess Diana was killed in a car accident. He felt an affinity for her -- "We were both in our ways manipulative," but he perceived "a wildness in her emotions." He writes that "of course, I was as big a sucker for a beautiful princess as the next man; but I was wary too." And he thought her relationship with Dodi Fayed "was a problem."

Blair snipes at the queen's slow response to the death, saying her reticence "was all very by the book, but it took no account of the fact that the people couldn't give a damn about 'the book,' actually disliked 'the book,' in fact, thought 'the book' had in part produced the chain of events that led to Diana's death."

As he settled into office, Blair found other kindred spirits besides Brown. He bonded with President Bill Clinton, a political doppelganger who embodied the same "Third Way" progressive politics. Blair happened to be at the White House when the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke. Before a joint press appearance, Rahm Emanuel -- President Obama's chief of staff who was then a top Clinton adviser -- told Blair, " 'Don't [expletive] it up,' " Blair writes.

Later that day, Blair was bustled into a small office to talk with Clinton and his wife, Hillary. "I didn't quite know what to say as the three of us sat there together," Blair writes. "Hillary just explained calmly and forcefully: This wasn't going to drive him out. . . . She was angry and hurt in equal amounts and large amounts -- that was clear -- but no way was she going to allow it to destroy what she, as well as he, had built."

Blair and Clinton went to war in Kosovo together, toppling the Milosevic regime, but it was not the war or the alliance with an American president that would come to define and ultimately undo Blair's hold on power.

Blair first visited with George W. Bush at Camp David in February 2001. He and Clinton had agreed on so much, while he and Bush agreed on so little.

On his last visit, he and Clinton had sat in the sunshine debating how the center-left could stay in power, "exactly the kind of stimulating, intellectual, conceptual conversation that Bill loved, and as ever I would learn constantly, adding my own analysis and always surprised and encouraged by how our thinking converged.

"This was not George at all. . . . George had immense simplicity in how he saw the world. Right or wrong, it led to decisive leadership." The two men came to like each other, so comfortable in each other's presence that, years later at a G-8 summit, Bush turned to Blair during a statement by one of the leaders in attendance and said, "Who is that guy?"

"He is the prime minister of Belgium," Blair replied.

When Bush grumbled that Belgium is not part of the G-8, Blair explained that the man was the president of Europe. " 'You got the Belgians running Europe?' He shook his head, now aghast at our stupidity," Blair writes. (Summits provide all sorts of hilarity for Blair, who recalls some guests trying to get "matey" with the Queen of England. "Now let me tell you something: you don't get matey with the Queen." He recalls a dinner with the queen when Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi mercilessly teased French President Jacques Chirac for dissing English and Finnish cooking. Blair took no offense, but the Finnish prime minister later told Blair "solemnly" that it was a big deal in Finland. "I thought, blimey, get a life," Blair writes.)

In the invasion of Iraq, Blair was Bush's staunchest ally, a stance that was deeply unpopular in Britain. Blair "sounded almost messianic" about going to war," says George Foulkes, a war supporter and former second-ranking official in Britain's Department for International Development. The oft-repeated yarn about Blair praying with Bush about the Iraq war decision is simply not true, Blair says in the interview; in fact, he says, he's never prayed one-on-one with another world leader. But once, before becoming prime minister, a woman from the Salvation Army came to his office and, "to the absolute horror and consternation" of his staff ("not a very God-fearing" group), insisted that they all drop to their knees and pray together, Blair says. "They were horrified and I loved it."

Many Britons have clamored for a Blair apology or some expression of regret, but they get none in the book, which contains an exhaustive recounting of the same essential points he's been making for years to justify his decision -- on legal grounds because of Saddam Hussein's violation of U.N. sanctions and on moral grounds because of human rights abuses.

Blair, who writes of his pain at the loss of human life, acknowledges a host of mistakes, though. He "misunderstood the depth of the challenge"; the "costs, implications and challenges were greater than any of us could have grasped"; "we had not counted on the deep grip this extremism could exercise on the imagination"; and "we failed to foresee the nature of what would follow once Saddam was gone. . . . We did not anticipate the role of al-Qaeda or Iran."

"So: could we have had more troops sooner? Done more to build Iraqi forces faster? Make more effort to reach out to Sunni groups earlier? No doubt there were failings in all these areas."

The fallout from the Iraq war created an opening for Blair's old friend, Gordon Brown, and left an indelible mark on Blair's legacy. Stop the War Coalition, a group headed by Labor Party stalwart Tony Benn, recently urged Britons to boycott a Blair book signing because he is "a war criminal" and has "no right to be treated like a celebrity." Many students complained when Blair signed on to teach a course on faith and globalization at Yale University, said his co-teacher, Miroslav Volf, a professor in the divinity school. "I had a student come to me -- she was appalled," said Volf, who is teaching a course with Blair for the third year in a row and is authoring a book with him about faith and globalization. " 'What's next?' she said. 'Are you going to teach a class with Milosevic?' "

After the 2005 British elections, when Labor lost seats in Parliament, pressure began to grow on Blair to resign. Blair accuses Brown and his supporters of engineering "a coup." A flurry of officials resigned and "round robin" letters were issued by prominent party members calling for his resignation.

Blair tried to stay on, even pressing new policy initiatives. But he irked Brown. "He would say, 'You're doing this for your legacy, but not my interests.' "

Brown, Blair concluded, "is a strange guy . . . analytical intelligence, absolutely. Emotional intelligence, zero."

Again, the old friends found themselves negotiating their political futures. They sat on the terrace of No. 10 Downing Street for what Blair describes as a conversation filled with threats and played out on two levels: spoken and unspoken.

Brown, Blair says, denied involvement in the letters calling for resignation. "Spoken (him): I know nothing of the details and have had no part in them. Unspoken: You have left me with no choice, I just don't trust you to go."

Blair wanted to stay in office until the next party conference. "Spoken (me): I will make it clear that this conference will be my last. Unspoken: Push me too hard and I will finger you for the coup."

Faring well

In those days, Blair could find some solace in a glass. "Stiff whiskey or G&T before dinner, couple of glasses of wine or even half a bottle with it," he writes of his daily routine. "So not excessively excessive . . . but I was aware it had become a prop." (He was simply trying to make a point about the dangers of overindulgence, Blair says in the interview, not confessing a drinking problem. This Lent, though, he gave up drinking at Cherie's urging, he confides. "It was interesting.")

In a memo Blair cites in his memoir, a Blair aide predicted that Brown would be "a weak -- if extended -- interlude between" Blair and Conservative Party leader David Cameron. Indeed, Brown became prime minister in June 2007 and was gone by May 2010 when Cameron ascended after a disastrous election for the Labor Party. Blair blames the loss on Brown's failure to embrace New Labor concepts.

By then, Blair was already well established as a jet-setting peacemaker, a religious foundation founder (working in an arena he says he's always had more passion for than politics), a highly paid speaker and international celebrity with a post-premiership mix of personal wealth and philanthropy not unlike the post-presidency mojo of his old friend, Bill Clinton. Critics pooh-pooh all the money Blair makes, but it's a jab that Blair tried to address in his memoirs by writing that "stories of me being dazzled by the wealthy are always ludicrously exaggerated." He also donated his book proceeds, reportedly in excess of $7 million, to the British Legion. In the interview, Blair declines to say how much he earns, but adds that "I'm very well paid for what I do."

His other old friend, Gordon Brown, retreated to Scotland to write about the economy -- presumably for much, much less money. Brown's last book, "The Change We Choose: Speeches 2007-2009," wallowed this week at 230,000 or so on Amazon U.K.'s bestseller list. Blair's memoir was No. 1.

i knew magic was coming, i could feel thaaat shiiiiit

Scorpio Horoscope for September 2010


By Susan Miller



You have a simply beautiful chart in September. It's remarkable how many planets will be working together to support you, especially when it comes to finding love and having fun. You've not had a month this special all year, and it's only the beginning. September, October, and November will be pivotal and positive ones for you. Of the three, November will be your best, so as you go along, keep that thought in mind. How wonderful it would be that November, birthday month, is the most glorious month of 2010!


All year, Pluto has held the other planets ransom in a kind of steel grip. Last year when I began studying 2010, I have never seen a year like the one we are in now. I was astonished to see how much tension filled so many months, from February through October, due to the way Pluto was interacting with other planets.


Each year, in order to write my calendar that I sell on this site, I print out a full moon and new moon chart for each of the 12 signs - 24 charts - for all 13 lunar months, a total of 312 charts. Each year this gives me a Polaroid snapshot of the sky for all the months. As I paged through each sign for each month, I noticed November 2010 would break the chain of discord that each of us would feel during most of the year.


After we get through October, the planets begin to migrate into better places, and Pluto will gradually let go of his grip and no longer be able to taunt the other planets as harshly as he has during the bulk of 2010. At long last, I thought, November is that big month that changes everything! Fortunately, November is YOUR month so you will be right at home once you get to birthday time. You need not wait until November to feel relief, however - that's coming NOW, in the second half of September, and I will show you why.


As you begin September, it may seem eerily quiet. Not much will happen, so you are safe to take a vacation in September's first or second week if you like, because Mercury, planet of intelligent thinking, contractual negotiations, shipping, transportation, and commerce, will be in retrograde until September 12. This is a holdover from August 20, so you might as well go with the flow, because you won't miss anything at the office or socially while Mercury retrogrades.


When Mercury turns direct September 12, you will see the pace of life begin to move very quickly. If you don't rest in early September you will risk being tired when everyone else is returning from their vacations recharged, putting you at a competitive disadvantage. As a Scorpio, you understand this idea, for you know that you have to have the energy to be present and engaged with all that you do if you are ever to stand out.


There are many reasons why the second half of September will be important to you. Pluto, your ruler, will turn direct on September 14 for the first time since April 6, giving you much more power and force in your interactions and communications than you've had in those intervening months.


If you couldn't quite get your act together to take action in any particular phase of your life, it looks as though your timing was right. When your ruling planet is out of phase, it's often best to go back to look over past actions and study the results - re-think strategy and former assumptions. You were doing the research necessary to lay the groundwork for a major initiative that will begin later.


The time to act is now drawing near, and will begin when Pluto goes direct on September 14. Confusion will lift and suddenly you will know what you need to do. You will become energized and more confident in your abilities, and once you begin there will be no stopping you.


Remarkably, your OTHER ruler, Mars, will move into Scorpio for the first time since October 2008. This is incredibly fortunate, and when combined with Pluto's strong speed forward, this is headline news.


Mars is considered the energy planet that helps us focus our attention and helps display leadership, determination, courage, and drive. When Mars enters Scorpio on September 14, you will start a new two-year cycle - and the endeavors you start and the people you align with could easily be in your life at least two years, possibly forever.


Most of the time, astrologers look to the house that Mars happens to be visiting for clues to the area of life you should be focusing on. That does NOT apply when Mars tours your own birth sign, because in that instance, you are free to direct Mars' energy into ANY area of life you choose. That's a huge advantage!


While not everything will work out perfectly, most of your plans will, mainly because with Mars behind you, you won't take "no" for an answer. You will have until October 28 to make a big start toward accomplishing what you set out to do. You won't have to actually finish your goal, but you will have to plan your big initiative and get started on it. Chose a goal or opportunity that you feel excites you the most and has big potential, and then, forward ho! Wagon wheels will be rolling, dear Scorpio!


You really do have the deck stacked, for there is more! Venus will enter Scorpio on September 8 and remain in your sign until January 7. That's a long time, for Venus typically stays in a sign for about four weeks, not four months. The reason you get to keep Venus to yourself for a long time is that Venus will retrograde from October 8 to November 18, so she will spend time shuffling forward, back, and forward again.


Venus will be weak during her retrograde (October 8-November 18), but will remain in Scorpio nonetheless. With all this Venus movement, you get to have Venus in your sign much longer than most people do. Over the long run, that's a plus. Venus is known to bring beauty, fun, luxury, AND profits, mainly when she's moving direct.


Still, even if you subtract the retrograde period, you will still have Venus in your sign much longer than most people do. Just be sure NOT take any risks with your looks during Venus retrograde - no new radical changes in your hair, and no plastic surgery. Who wants a weak, out of phase Venus when a doctor is working on your FACE? Also, no big expensive parties or charity drives - wait until AFTER November 18.


When Venus and Mars travel together, as you will have in September and very early October, they will work to make you super-attractive and hauntingly memorable. You will sparkle with charisma, and honestly, you will be able to wrap others around your little finger. Who could possibly resist you?


If you are single, your love life should begin to get very active. It is hard to imagine how it could not! Venus and Mars form a very special bond in the heavens, for when they are found together, their main job is to spark the flames of new love. Venus and Mars will meet precisely in conjunction in Scorpio on October 3 (a date to circle on your calendar), but as you get to the second half of September, these two planets will be traveling close enough to cause things to happen! Were you born within four days of November 4 or 5? You will be given double the benefits and double the fun!


On top of Pluto turning direct, and Venus and Mars touring Scorpio, you ALSO have Jupiter, giver of gifts and luck, back to Pisces as of September 9, joining Uranus, planet of surprise, already in your house of true love. Both will fill this true love sector for months. Jupiter will remain in your house of true love until January 22, 2011, so the coming four months may well work out to be one of your best phases for romance that you've ever experienced! At the year-end holiday parties both planets will be at their best - and strongest. Everything is conspiring to bring excitement and love to your life, dear Scorpio.


As if all this were not enough, the majestic new moon of September 8 will light your eleventh house of friendships and social groups and give a boost to help you achieve a desire deeply important to you. The new moon's job is to package the energy that is circulating in the air and make it all accessible to you, all at once! The moon does this so well!


After this new moon appears, you will certainly have reasons to go out more to lunches, dinners, museum openings, concerts, ballets, parties, professional mixers, friend's weddings and birthdays - the works! At first, during September 8-12, you may link up with old friends that you have not seen in a long time. Soon you will start to meet new people too, and one or two could easily become fast friends of yours. This is exciting for you, for new friends will make introductions to even more new people and your circle will widen even further.


If your birthday falls on November 8, plus or minus four days, you will benefit very strongly from this glorious new moon, but every Scorpio of every birthday should notice a lilt to their social life.


This month you might want to join a new club or charity, or start to get active in social media. Doing things that will bring you in contact with groups and communities would be the right idea now. If you are a veteran member of Facebook or Twitter or have a blog, you may decide to redo your pages. You will be on an all-time creative high all month, thanks to the position of Jupiter in water sign Pisces. Make an effort to reach out and mix more with others, either professionally or for purely social reasons, because that is where your most impressive personal growth lies.


As special as this all sounds, I have been holding back - there is MORE!


Your most spectacular day, and one I have been bursting to tell you, is due Saturday, September 18, when Jupiter, the giver of gifts and luck, will conjoin Uranus, planet of surprise, also in Pisces. This is a VERY rare aspect, for Jupiter and Uranus hardly ever meet. They will have one more meeting on January 4, 2011, but after that they will not meet again in conjunction until 2024. In that year, the conjunction will be in Taurus, not a water sign like this month's conjunction, so it will be a little less spectacular for you. This month's vibrations are, quite simply, pure perfection for you.


It is evident that your angels are working hard for you! Jupiter and Uranus don't conjoin very often.


If your birthday falls on November 20, or within four days of this date, you will win the cosmic romantic lottery, for the mathematical degrees of the conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus will beam directly to your Sun.


Still, every Scorpio will have something to cheer about, because this aspect is a big, important one - certainly not subtle! It is an aspect of hope, happiness, and sudden, out of the blue good news. Be sure to look your best, and be sure to be out and about!


Your most romantic dates this month include September 4, 8, 9, 11, 12, and 16-19.


I should add here that this same linking of Jupiter and Uranus on September 18 will amp up your artistic abilities, too. You are about to surprise yourself and your colleagues with the originality and creativity. All month be determined to take creative risks and as you get closer to September 18, present your ideas to VIPs, for they will be too good to keep hidden.


The full moon September 23 will fall in your sixth house of work projects, so you may finish up an entrepreneurial project. It seems to be a pioneering assignment that had you traveling down a completely new path, and that is dearly important to you. This one seems to have allowed you plenty of room to display your individuality and you'll be thrilled to hear the applause you get.


I will admit getting this project will require lots of very hard work, due to Saturn's position to the Sun. This project may have been going on for days, weeks, or months, so it probably required a strenuous effort. No one ever sees what goes into a project behind the scenes. No one will know how many hours you put in, the people you consulted, the research you did, or how much you were paid (if you were paid at all) - all will be hidden from view. Others will simply judge your work on what they can see. It appears you've concentrated on every detail so financial rewards should be forthcoming, if not immediately, then in time.


If you were born late in your sign, near November 17-22, you may also see a romantic episode come to culmination over this full moon, September 23. This seems to be an important juncture in your timeline, so watch to see what happens. If you are already attached, this full moon may bring news of a pregnancy. Things could go either way, but let's think good thoughts - I will always bet on a tender, happy outcome.


There is one other way the full moon of September 23 may materialize things, and that is to bring about a personal best from a long-term fitness effort or from athletic training for competition. Sometimes we work for months to see progress, and just when we are ready to give up, a breakthrough occurs. That is what may happen now, near September 23.


Still, not all of September will be a bed of roses. September 21 brings the opposition of the moon to Uranus, and you could have problems either with your landlord or a housing / real estate situation that would come out of the blue. Because the Sun rules your solar tenth house of profession, it could be your work that brings tensions. In the latter case, a VIP may be erratic or unpredictable. Love could be rocky too, as well as a friendship. There are many areas lit up at this time, and you will have to watch them all, for there are blinking lights in all areas.


Two days later, on the full moon, September 23, the moon will be close to Uranus, also indicative of the domestic, family condition, so again, that's another sign that certain news may jangle your nerves. However, Jupiter will be standing near your moon too, and he will help you find a solution, should you need one. That's no small support - you have an ace up your sleeve!


Another wild card day will show up Thursday, September 30. It is likely to be a somber day, when Saturn conjoins the Sun. This is a meeting of fire (the Sun) and ice (Saturn), so many people find this aspect depressing. You may feel a bit tired on this day, or you may find that a co-worker will try to steal credit for your work. Be sure to do something fun on this day, such as to book a massage or see friends at night for dinner to keep your spirits high.


Actually, Saturn rules teeth and bones, so you can use this day to consult an orthopedic doctor or dentist, have a bone density test, and set up an exercise and nutrition program to strengthen your bones. You might buy a few sessions with a trainer to get better results at the gym. If you or a beloved relative has a chronic problem, say, like arthritis, the doctor may suggest supplements that can reduce pain and inflammation.


September 30 is also a good day to commit to a new course of action, for anything you agree to at this time would be in place a very long time. (Make sure you do like the deal, because it would be hard to leave later.)


The Sun rules your solar tenth house of career, so be careful with the work you turn in at the office from September 21 to 30, for you could be criticized by a VIP for an error or get some sort of news you were not expecting. Still, how things go will depend on what has been going on in your career in the days and weeks leading up September 30. If you've done all the right things, working in earnest, smartly, and with a creative flair, as I see you have, you should be in fine form when Saturn and the Sun come knocking.


Always remember, now you have Jupiter, the planet of good fortune, behind you in water sign Pisces. Jupiter will get even stronger when he goes direct (after retrograding since end of May) on November 18, the same day that Venus in Scorpio will go direct. You have Pluto in a VERY helpful position (particularly if you were born near October 25-27), helping you revitalize your health and lifestyle, as well as your ability to communicate. You have Uranus in helpful position too, until March 2011, so most of the surprises in your life will be positive ones. Wow! Scorpio, you have cornered the market in positive cosmic support!


Celebrate September, dear Scorpio. With each passing week, life will only get better and better. By November you'll be in the best position of all. You've long deserved this kind of cosmic support, so now that it will soon arrive, use it for all it's worth!



Summary


This has been a gratifying year for your career, but a strenuous one, too. Now that you've achieved quite a bit of professional momentum, you can safely turn your attention away from work for a few weeks. Relax, kick back, and plan to connect with friends, dear Scorpio. The new moon of September 8 will help you expand your circle of friends and you may be surprised how inspired you become by one or two you meet this month.


Clearly things are looking up. Mercury, the planet that has delayed your plans since mid-August, will now move ahead September 12. Also this month, Mars, your ruling planet, will enter Scorpio, allowing you to begin a critical new cycle. From now on, you are the leader of the parade, and others will march to your tune. You've not had this advantage since October 2008, so you will notice the difference! Mars in Scorpio will make you more vibrant and energetic too, and in love, more alluring.


The signs are everywhere that you are coming into your own and this has to be so exciting! Pluto, your ruler, will turn direct speed too, on September 14, after months of being retrograde. In weeks ahead, you may be gratified to see others will be more willing to support your causes. Rather than spend so much time looking back, you can pioneer forward. For months, you've had to use all your powers of persuasion to get critics on your side. Now they will admit you were right all along.


It will be funny to see former critics rush to your side. They will profess that they always supported you and never doubted you'd become the rock star that others are saying you are about to be. The old axiom, "Defeat is an orphan, but success has 100 fathers," comes to mind. Just smile and say thank you - you finally rallied others to your side.


Jupiter will be back in Pisces as of September 9, giving you an enormous boost both creatively and romantically. In fact, the fall should be your best period that you've enjoyed in a very long time!


Jupiter in his new position will also boost your health and vitality (as will Pluto and Mars) and also protect you by giving you a margin of error other signs won't have. If you make a mistake, you will be able to dust yourself off and keep going as if nothing happened, but other signs won't be so fortunate!


One of your very favorite days of the month - possibly of the year - will arrive on September 18 when benefic Jupiter and sparking Uranus will link in your house of true love. If you do meet someone special, you may feel hit by lightning - it could be THAT powerful! In the days leading to this day, September 16 and 17, present a creative idea.


Admittedly, September 21 could bring an upset in love or friendship, and the resulting hurt could run deep. It's not a day to take a risk but to sit back and find out what is to be revealed. Alternatively, a friend or lover may need your help. In that case, you'll be right there.


September 21 may also be stressful at work, too. An authority figure may make a shocking comment or criticism that sends you reeling. Stay on guard, but don't read things into this incident. Take what is helpful and discard the rest.


On September 30, you may find yourself in a political situation at the office that requires you to defend yourself. Someone may try to steal credit for your work or may work at cross-purposes to you. It can be a day that leaves you frustrated or deflated but only temporarily. Like the phoenix that is your symbol, soon you will rise again.



Dates to Note:


Mercury will retrograde in your friendship sector, a holdover from August 20, until September 12. You may run into several old pals in the first half of the month.


The new moon in Virgo on September 8 will help you make new friends and acquaintances - delicious! Consider joining a club or getting involved in social media.


The full moon will bring a work project or new job to fruition, September 23 plus or minus four days.


If you were born at the end of the sign, near November 19 or 20, you may see a romantic episode reach fullness, too.


Mars will enter Scorpio September 14, the time you will move to the head of the class. Mars in your sign will give you quite an advantage!


Venus will conjoin Mars - the most alluring aspect possible - as you get closer to month's end (to meet in early October). Your charm is on the rise, dear Scorpio!


Now that Pluto, your other ruler, is turning direct September 14 after five months of being retrograde, you'll see your life move at fast forward. If you were born October 25 or 26, or near these dates, you will have exceptional rejuvenation powers.


The conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus could bring all sorts of cosmic gifts on September 18: new love, a baby, a very fun memorable time with someone you love, greater creativity, or even news of a pregnancy. It's all so good for you and none of these are mutually exclusive! Spectacular!


You may see a sports or fitness breakthrough at the full moon, September 23, plus or minus four days. This full moon will be perfect for competitive athletics.


Stay strong on September 30 when you may feel a bit tired. A political situation at work could prove troubling. However, this day would be perfect for making a long-term promise that will last nearly forever. In health, see about bones and teeth.


Your most romantic dates: September 4, 8, 9, 11, 12, and 16-19.

Drinking tea,

desires diminish and I come to see the ancient secret of happiness: wanting what I already have.

a reminder

This is hard. This is one of the most painful reconcilliations to make in a creative life. But maybe it doesn't have to be quite so full of anguish if you never happened to believe, in the first place, that the most extraordinary aspects of your being came from you. But maybe if you believed that they were on loan to you from some unimaginable source for some exquistite portion of your life to be passed along when you're finished, with somebody else. And you know, if we think about it this way it starts to change everything.

And what I have to, sort of keep telling myself when I get really psyched out about that, is, don't be afraid. Don't be daunted. Just do your job. Continue to show up for your piece of it, whatever that might be. If your job is to dance, do your dance. If the divine, cockeyed genius assigned to your case decides to let some sort of wonderment be glimpsed, for just one moment through your efforts, then "Ole!" And if not, do your dance anyhow. And "Ole!" to you, nonetheless. I believe this and I feel that we must teach it. "Ole!" to you, nonetheless, just for having the sheer human love and stubbornness to keep showing up.

Thank you. (Applause) Thank you. (Applause)