just wanted to take the time to say thank you obi wan... you always have really encouraging positive things to say to me... good or bad day... this padawan is grateful to have you as a guiding force.

i should treasure my gift.

the absolute highlight of my afternoon started in the bowels of the union square mta station…after fighting my way downstairs and onto the crowded uptown 6 platform, a short man appears before me; his eyes twinkling.

he smells slightly of alcohol, but it’s that smell when someone drinks and then covers it up with a breath mint or something.  he isn’t full board blasting, and shows no signs of inebriation.  ”can you play me some classic rock?  anything, anything.  don’t tell me what you’re playing, i’ll try to guess.”  such exuberance, how could i turn him down?

so trains are roaring in and out of the station…i wait for a lull, and then break into my old chestnut, the wind cries mary.  i figure that qualifies as classic rock, no?  there’s a signature part of the song, the part that goes doo doo doo, it’s an ascending hammer-on, and as soon as my newly made acquaintance hears it he says, “and the wind, it HOWLS…”

i said yeah, you got it bro.  the word mescaline is the next thing out of his mouth, he kept saying it, along with are you experienced.  ”that’s the album that song’s from, isn’t it?”  i said yeah, you got it bro.  he proceeds to describe with great delight (and relish) his experience listening to the album, i’m assuming while tripping on mescaline, but at this point it’s pure conjecture on my part.

“i was listening to the album, and i saw jimi hendrix with a headband.”  hmmm, i say to myself, jimi hendrix often wore a headband.  ”no bro,” he said, reading my mind, “this was before i ever saw a picture of him.”

so on we went, by now we’re on the 6 train headed uptown.  i learn my friend is from brockton ma, and he has a hard core boston accent.  nothing to sneeze at, because i learn later in our conversation that he’s been in the ny to the c since 1983.  which now that i write it, is the year a merman i should turn to be.

mass?  i proceed to tell him about my travels to amherst college at age 16, my love encounter with psychedelics and a bootleg tape of fire on the mountain, an experience that changed my life forever.
so my stop’s coming up, and i just had to know why he was in ny and what drew him here.  we got to the heart of the matter quickly.  ”in ny, i’m like an ant.  in any other city, i stick out.  no one cares here.”

back to the high watt smile.  train pulls in the station.  what’s your name, bro?  ”i’m george.”  hi george, i’m hippie lou.

he looked me straight in the eye.  ”i’d give anything to be able to play the guitar.”

as i was stepping off the train, i shouted back, you should learn, bro, it’s never too late.  it’s my standard answer, my standard encouragement, my standard reprise..  he’s 53, i thought to myself, but so what?

“it *is* too late.”

as the train pulled off, this remark exploded in my brain, my psyche, my consciousness.  shrapnel, grapeshot, god knows what else flying everywhere.

it hit me hard.  guitar is a difficult instrument.  i have been playing for 42 years, and am just now starting to really feel it, really connect with myself and my instrument to the point where something magical happens when i play for people.

i shouldn’t be so polyannish about the skill, the experience i have acquired.  it is such a privilege to pick an instrument up and make it sing.

i should treasure my gift. i am so lucky to be able to work on it and share it with others, to make their day a little brighter.

thank you george.  i’ll never forget you, or my tears as i write this.

you made me cry, mary.


march 2012.

In some way, most of my research involves discovering untruths or processes that produce untruths.

dr. david schriger.

the teacher opens the door, but you must enter alone.

what you don't want is generalized comments.

what you do want is a teacher that works with you on all your specific problems, one after the other.

the teacher opens the door, but you must enter alone.

then the teacher opens another door, and again, you enter alone.

imagine a long hallway of open doors with a satisfied student at the end of it, all smiles and master of the subject.

see the teacher, exhausted but happy.



by newton meyers.

you drink too much and rely on others for their sweat.

for some reason I don't believe that you did what you said you did as an economist.

if doing what you said you could do was so hard Im surprised you made it through to get your PHD

I thought you had more personal character strength.

you drink too much and rely on others for their sweat.


have a great day and a great time and a great life


regretfully


your thinking was not fresh.. since it was in agreement with my own..
it was derivative.

you are a surprise to me . I thought you had more realness

it's like the manhattan real estate market.

For foreign drug makers looking to expand in the United States, the prospects could hardly look better.

The weak dollar is a boon to those seeking U.S. pharmaceutical assets, and it is particularly beneficial at a time when U.S. drug makers are mired in cost-cutting efforts and drug safety concerns.

"It's like the Manhattan real estate market," said David Webster, president of Webster Consulting Group, which advises pharmaceuticals companies. "What keeps it afloat are the Japanese and Europeans or whoever seems to be making money worldwide and whoever has a strong currency."

Whether or not big acquisitions make sense over the long term is a matter of debate - some argue that at the end of all the integration and cost-cutting, what is left is not worth the price. And even European companies have shied away from megamergers between large drug makers as management and investors question the wisdom of such giant tie-ups.

Even so, big acquisitions are still likely to occur, analysts say.

"What else are they going to do?" said Steve Brozak at WBB Securities. "Buy U.S. Treasuries that will be worth barely more than they are today?"

Webster, of Webster Consulting, agreed.

"I think that for foreign companies U.S. pharma is a more guaranteed income stream than T-bills," he said. "The government would more likely default on T-bills than let the pharmaceutical industry go down the tubes."

the time is right to buy U.S. drug companies

by toni clarke

april 15, 2008

a life worth living

to uncover it 
gosh 
u have 2 suspend urself 
for a while 
to remove 
the relentless pressure 
the relentless presence 
of those cultivated concerns 
paying the rent 
paying the health insurance 
paying the taxes 
doing the right thing 
doing things the way 
one always has 
thinking about things the way 
one always has 
hearty weeds 
you try to pull them up 
but they keep coming back 
like the old days 
in the garden 
you pull the top off 
but leave the root 
to stop your previous motion 
to stop kicking 
to stop the current 
to suspend yourself 
is to put yourself 
near death 
like a shark 
who must keep in motion 
my hunch is 
that in this state 
you may 
come up with 
or see 
or feel 
that new thing 
a life worth living :)