Today's Horoscope

Here is your horoscope
for Saturday, March 31:

They say you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. But you very sensibly ask, 'Who wants to catch a bunch of flies?' You manage to ask the no-nonsense questions with just the right amount of charm.

sounds in darkness

the sounds i remember most are the sounds i remember in the dark
whether the soft whisper of my love
the rustle of tree branches in the wind
or the loud crass sounds of the city
they all mean more when they are in the dark

in the light of day the sounds all blend
with one another they meld into an ambiance
that is representative of the spectrum
and brilliance not found in the absence of light
and it is in the absence of light sounds, thoughts, dreams, and fears become clear

a snapping twig, a cricket's chirp, the whine of a mosquito
would be lost in the sheer ambiance of daylight
but in the darkness, each sound retains its unique
vibrancy and gives to the night its full and undivided resonance
eliminating the need for light and replacing it with a crystalline comprehension from darkness

for darkness does not deceive, it is not darkness that distorts
shapes and colors--it is light
it is not darkness that lends itself to illusion--it is light
it was not the darkness of the cave that held captive plato's prisoners
the firelight cast the shadows--it is light

in the darkness it is possible to know without being blinded by sight
hearing sound which is not muffled by seeing
experiencing feelings which are pure and uninhibited by the confines of the spectrum
and the laconic pace of light

Today's Horoscope

Here is your horoscope
for Sunday, March 18:

Whoever said it's impossible to have it all clearly didn't know you. As one of the zodiac's most can-do signs, you set your sights on a goal and get there. Your trick is that you take it one step and one day at a time.

Thank you

Thank you for the conversation
for quiet thoughts and words
spoken over bold dark coffee
while fleeting minutes blurred.

So carefully they were chosen
with care and measured pace
painting pictures of the person
hid safe behind your face.

Will they gift me understanding
of who I've only met
and help me unlock the secret
and draw a crude vingette?

And bring me appreciation
of your mind, heart and dreams
and that you begin to know me
for nothings as it seems.

The Train

My thoughts drift back tonight to years ago
When I stood in night's cool air and gazed out
into the dark and silent Napa night.

The only sound that cut the velvet night
was the clacking of the train as it crept
along the valley floor among the vines.

From the platform on the tail I cast my
thoughts into the darkness where they fell and
came to lay scattered lifeless on the tracks.

Like terrace high on palace grand I watched
the kingdom of my thoughts made barren with
each passing railroad tie supporting rail.

And like the moments passing with my life
rail-bound ties pass into the darkness
with clacking-echo fading to the night.

Man of La Mancha

"...he conceives the strangest project ever imagined. To become a night errant and to sally forth into the world righting all wrongs. His name, Don Quixote de La Mancha!"

The U.C. Davis Performing Arts department produced a live-action/puppet production of Dale Wasserman's Man of La Mancha, a musical version of Miguel Cervantes' Don Quixote.

This particular version of Man of La Mancha was unique because of the use of puppets to convey Cervantes' imaginary world. Wasserman's version of the Quixote story places Cervantes in a Spanish prison awaiting trial before the infamous inquisition. Cervantes tells the prisoners the story of his fictitious Don Quixote to prevent them from destroying his belongings. In a typical version of La Mancha, the use of costumes and make-up on the principal actors conveys the story while making the audience aware of the cruel reality of the prison and the inquisition during the 1600's in Spain. By using puppets to convey Cervantes' imaginary world, the director contrasts reality with fiction against the backdrop of a dungeon-like prison.

The production was phenomenal. While the vocal and acting talents were decidedly college-level, the puppetry, scenery, and staging was incredible, clearly professional quality.

Don Quixote has always represented admirable idealism. His impossible dream is one that everyone should have. The ideal of the knight-errant riding with his trusty squire, fighting evil, living to his ideal, honoring a code of ethics that is beyond reproach. In La Mancha, Cervantes, when accused of being an idealist, says, "I never had the courage to believe in nothing." Does it take courage to believe in nothing? If It takes courage to believe in nothing, then how much courage does it take to believe in something. Do you have the courage to fight in your Dulcenea's name, tilting windmills and fighting dragons that no one sees but you? Do you have the courage to stand vigil in the courtyard of an inn, dreaming of how history will remember your legacy?

Perhaps God will grant me this courage. Perhaps he will help me to find, in the depths of my being, the courage to be all that I can, regardless of cost. "And the world will be better for this. That one man, scorned and covered with scars, still strove with his last ounce of courage, to reach the unreachable star!"