Shoes.

AGO/Cemented,

Goodyear,

Blake,

Stitched-Out/Ideal,

Moccasin,

Sacchetto (Slip Lasting) Strobel,

Opanka --- http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20070062064.pdf

Vulcanized --- http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20030121179.pdf

Direct Injection -- http://www.freepatentsonline.com/EP1336347.pdf

the pump,
the derby,
the oxford,
the loafer,
the sandal and
the boot are examined in depth together with
cemented/AGO,
tubular moccasin,
SOL-california/sewn-in-sock,
Goodyear,
Blake,
strobel constructions etc.

College File

http://www.localherbs.org/about/index.html -- chinese medicinal herb farmers

Yo San university -- No Bachelors degree needed!

http://www.chiwellness.com/herb_farm_asheville.htm -- apprenticeship.

how about a Blog?

I haven't been a prime candidate for blog reader's choice this year,
and forgive my absence in participating in the e-world of your journals.

I am typing to you from one of my favorite haunts, a community called Ida
which is nestled within a Short Mountain hollow -- yes, I am back
in the world of radical faeriedom. I will be here through October.

I am not able to maintain a good blogging balance while I am out here --
computer access is just not a reality of living at the Sanctuary.
I would love to spend a luxurious day of chatting and blogging sometime,
but I also would like to take a break from all of that. I am enjoying the
heck out of living in this community -- this is just what I am needing.

I am studying the hex out of a card game by the name of Bridge.
I haven't ever taken the time to learn the dynamics of game play,
but I have found my niche in the weekly bridge club here.

I am surrounded on all sides (sometimes it seems) by the cutest energy.
yet, I can't seem to approach that energy with any gusto, it's Just Friendly Free.
I definitely was able to check some of what is going on within me --
I still am recovering from my heartbreak. it is no wonder to me now
that I see this. how can I expect to open up a heart that hasn't rested?

blessed be, the country life really readjusted my sleep schedule.
I WAKE UP IN THE MORNINGS!!! I love it. this week, I am going
to learn how to milk a goat. it's FUN learning how to integrate into COMMUNITY.

I will be housesitting at the Sanctuary, taking care of a kitty named Kimchee
and lots of plants. I hope that some folx I know will get a chance to come visit me.

while I am bowing out of blog for awhile, I will answer e-mails -- and would love them.
or even a snail mail might be nice. here's some info:

free.now(at)gmail.com
Free Now
247 Sanctuary Lane
Liberty, TN 37095

that's all for now :) Cheers.

dreams

my dreams are returning, slowly yet surely. I remembered two within the
same week -- before that it had been a month, almost two, since I remembered.

these two dreams have carried a similar theme, centering around Thievery.
while the first theft occurred by a shopkeep stealing my things, the second
theft was my pilfering from a small, locally-owned business.

what was stolen from me? a computer.

what did I steal? 10c sweet buns.

and yet those sweet buns left me with a genuine sense of regret, one which now
compels me to examine my life for those elements where I have simply taken or
taken simply, that is... when my hands assume that I may take of the most negligible
energies because no one is looking, no one would care, no one...

I have been taking a look at the book of Daniel again -- wouldn't you know it, the
first two chapters center around a king's dreams. I forgot how much I love reading
parts of the Bible.

I have a day to myself today, and I am blessed to be awake for it. sometimes waking
up is hard to do... though my resolve has been awfully steely in the past two days.

it feels so good to be an active part of dreaming again,
even though I have forgotten my manners.

Free

I am obsessed with numbers.

rocking back and forth in front of someone else's computer screen,
I sit in a sturdy burgundy office chair as two people make out in the
living space before they fall asleep. the spotlight of the screen blacks
out all other sights and I can only sense them through hearing.

now there is deep breathing. I take a sip of beer, yes, after tasting
the last smoke of the Green Goddess (whom I now release). agony,
that has been the state of the disunion for my blog-o-sphere. no,
I have yet touched the mounds of Livejournals, Xangan thoughts,
tribe sketches (not to mention the fast deteriorating infrastructure
surrounding Multiply and Blogspot) since I left for California.

the wedding was beautiful -- can I put it in any other uncertain terms?
to know that my sister's compliment was, "you made me cry, Bubba,"
made the weeks of fry cooking all worth it. standing before a crowd,
and without the hesitation that once failed me in the fourth grade, an F
because I could not get up and speak, so overwhelmed by fear... all
of that fear has now subsided. I stood before two families united and
found that all I could do was entertain them. was there a dry eye in the
house? I don't know because the only real moment (besides the pleasure
of ushering in my great-grandmother...) I paid a lick of attention to was
seeing her welled-up eyes as I thought, "Yes, Jenna, I am proud of you."
(for her choice in husband AS WELL AS her choice in wedding dress)

the first place beyond the Santa Ana airport that gave me pause was
the church in which she was to be wed. the statue of Mary carried
many necklaces and I only received blessings from the space. I must
have smiled so largely as she pointed out the installations of holy water
at the entrance, I must have raised my eyebrow in wonder as she touched
it, rose it to her forehead and made the sign of the cross. Catholicism
is truly beautiful to me.

beyond my disgust and distaste for the inflated consumer culture in
the state, it too had it's beauty. my botanical sense was appeased,
the hills were alive, and the second thing I did upon arrival was set
foot in the sands and damp of el pacifico.

I cannot say that it was an easy trip, and for that, I thank Los Angeles.
the angels (theirs be the truth) bring mercy to our lives, though the mercy
shown me was horrible to behold, if I may be so (word). I made choices
which are irrevocable, hard choices whose intent I now question. I spent
many hours deconstructing the walls I have made towards my family. now
I find myself constructing new ones.

what challenged me most were the words of so many of my family's
elders to me. often, I have found myself at the outskirts of their tribe
and cannot reasonably find a way to communicate with them. even so,
the level with which they reached out to me was one of compassion.
I became so focused on one of my relatives that it was difficult for me
to extend that compassion to others.

that was my mistake.

to be continued ?

untitled.

the levees broke my heart's walls
revealing gnarled re-bar
veins pulsing up to the sky --
they are now rusty, sharp nails
which drag the clouds above, tearing
rifts of black soot and brown grime.

a lone life on its own bright island,
one finds lime green sprouting on a tree;
thereupon lies the moss of decaying ages.
each branches tumble into my rising Desire
finding release from splintered seasons of the past.

the winter is come for my heart once again,
yet the flood waters remain a frozen lake

3 Questions

beliefnet.com's horoscopes once held me in a grip of affirmation,
but upon returning from New Orleans, I felt like they were trying
too hard to whitewash my astral self with a little Paternal advice.

so I switched to Rob Breszny. this week I was presented with a
challenge that left my Aries stumped:

So your next assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to
craft three essential questions that will guide your journey between now
and the end of 2007. These queries should excite your natural curiosity
about the life issues that matter most to you. They should be carefully
and precisely formulated. And they should motivate you to keep your
mind wide open and hungry as you hunt for more insight into your most
bafflingly interesting mysteries.

how to even approach this ??? I was baffled as I already said, be-
cause a) I hadn't been questioning my intentions since New Orleans,
b) I had spent most of my time questioning the intentions of others,
c) I couldn't cheat on these with some trifle-ass questions.

here's what I got, though:

1. Where is my home?

2. Why am I not writing a diary?

3. Whom do I serve?

you know, I only have the beginnings of an answer for number two, a
sketchy idea of whom I *used to* serve, and as for number one? ...

Free