Witty Quotations by Others, and a few by me!

"Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb, we are bound to others. And by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future." Cloud Atlas

Quote of the day: "Your TALENT tells me what you can do. Your ARTISTRY tells me who you are." -Keith Urban on American Idol

"Robert cherishes those who give him even the most fleeting moments of happiness and loves them for it; he expects nothing more." -Robert Robinson

Ok, if you are Sandra Bullock in "While You Were Sleeping", alone on Christmas, wanting your dream man to take you on your Honeymoon, I'm the sweet, kind blonde man patiently standing by, making rocking chairs in the distance. Open your friggin' eyes, Sandra!  --Robert Robinson 12.26.14

Season 7, Episode 5

Quote of the Century:From "True Blood" LaFayette to Jessica:

LaFayette: And if you keep it 100 and honest, you know he is not the man for you...

Jessica: ...Because he is the man for you?

LaFayette: If he is, what is so f-ing unimaginable about that...Red! Huh? Everyone else in this f-ing town is falling in love, getting engaged and having babies. Has it ever occurred to you that Lafayette, that Queen, that make ALL you white heterosexuals laugh and feel good about yourselves, has it f-ing ever occurred to you that maybe I want a piece of happiness too? No....

http://rachelheldevans.com/blog/literalist-gluttony

"I assure you my personal tragedy will not interfere with my ability to do good hair." -Annelle in "Steel Magnolias"

Reference for Diversity Training and Trainers: Research on Intersex births (copyrighted). 

Quote of the Day, From Karen to Grace on "Will and Grace:" "Lord, you are just as simple as that blouse you are wearing!"

The sky is not red. It is blue. And sometimes God sends us a rainbow to remind us that Hope exists for a brighter day!

When I read the book, the biography famous,And is this then (said I) what the author calls a man's life?And so will some one when I am dead and gone write my life?(As if any man really knew aught of my life,Why even I myself I often think know little or nothing of my real life,Only a few hints, a few diffused faint clews and indirectionsI seek for my own use to trace out here.)"  When I Read the Book-Walt Whitman

‎"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown outyour own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition." - Steve Jobs

Character is how you treat those who can do nothing for you.  --RR

"I ain't nobody's side order!"

Some people have asked me why I would go back and teach Walker HS Band's Color Guard when I had "been there, done that" 35 years ago...here's my answer and I sincerely mean it: A person should give back to the community that helped him/her succeed. I was a country boy from Cordova, a coal mining town with a population of 3000.

BARACK KNOWS THE AMERICAN DREAM BECAUSE HE’S LIVED IT. AND HE WANTS EVERYONE IN THIS COUNTRY TO HAVE THAT SAME OPPORTUNITY, NO MATTER WHO WE ARE, OR WHERE WE’RE FROM, OR WHAT WE LOOK LIKE, OR WHO WE LOVE. AND HE BELIEVES THAT WHEN YOU’VE WORKED HARD, AND DONE WELL, AND WALKED THROUGH THAT DOORWAY OF OPPORTUNITY, YOU DO NOT SLAM IT SHUT BEHIND YOU. YOU REACH BACK, AND YOU GIVE OTHER FOLKS THE SAME CHANCES THAT HELPED YOU SUCCEED."--Michelle Obama

"I think that I shall never see, a poem as lovely as a tree," and "I think that I shall never smell so much pollen that sends my nose to HELL!" -Joyce Kilmer and Robert Robinson!

"We can pepper spray and arrest the Occupy people for wanting real change, but we let the Westboro Baptist Church people get away with vile and disgusting behavior {such as protesting at military soldiers' funerals}" A profound perspective.

"If you didn't hear it with your own ears, or see it with your own eyes, don't invent it with your own small mind, and share it with your big mouth!"

On becoming a WGI HSA National Finalist for the First time in 1993.

As historical commentary, I  founded a group from Lassiter High School in 1983 and 1984 called "Design." Design in its first year, placed as a class A finalist at the Pensacola WGI Regional. And in its two-years' existence, brought home 27 first-place trophies  only 3 second place trophies,  2 Sweepstakes awards,and one silver medal in 1983, and the SCGC gold in 1984. (Yes, I am bragging, mostly on the girls achievement in such a short period of time.) In its second year, Design hosted the first WGI Regional in Georgia at Lassiter HS in 1984. Participants included Pride of Cincinnati and Choctawhatchee, each winning their respective classes. Design earned the silver spot in A class, and after this qualification for WGI Nationals in 1984, two weeks prior to our departure to Dayton, Lassiter's principal, Doug Allen, contrived to pull us out of the competition under Georgia High School Athletic Association (GHSA) rules, and succeeded--deposits were lost, buses and hotel reservations were cancelled. This painful experience had left Lassiter girls emotionally wounded, so the parents of Lassiter Band took a strong stand to convince  GHSA to amend their rules to allow for winter guard to be included in the state of Georgia and to compete in WGI events in future years, but not soon enough for Design to make its debut at WGI Nationals.  It was a silly administrative decision, because now every school in Cobb County, Georgia has a winter guard, and many have become finalists and even champions, thanks to the Lassiter parents opening the door to this opportunity to compete at WGI.

I left Lassiter to organize a new group, Walton HS winter guard. It was first called "Fashion" because still, the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) would not allow us to officially compete using the school name; thus we were "Fashion of Walton HS". The first year, Walton was promoted to class A, having started in Novice class, and scored highest among the promoted groups.  These founding members paved the way for growth, excellence, and the building of traditions. In it's second year, Walton competed and placed as finalist at the Dayton, Ohio, and Pensacola Regionals. In 1991, Walton placed 11th in WGI prelims at  Springboro HS, but at the time, only the top 10 were accepted into finals. Walton earned the silver medal at the South Florida Regional in its 4th  year, in 1992. Only 4 girls remained to compete in 1993.

Walton made finals for the first time in its 5th year, in 1993. Comprised of fifteen rookies, and only 4 vets to color guard, Walton earned the 10th place spot in finals.  To walk in the tunnel as a finalist and as a rookie guard was incredible.  The young girls did not even know what they had achieved--until they saw Escapade perform in World Class, and saw their A Class competitors.Then, they were inspired and knew that that had accomplished something great for a rookie guard. These young ladies earned their place but also reaped the reward that the Lassiter girls and parents sacrificed in their winter guard program nine years before.  Of course, my personal pain and sense of loss with the Lassiter experience (caused by cruel administrators and dirty politics, in my opinion) was redeemed when walking in that tunnel for the first time.  Lassiter's hope and "Design" was filled by "Fashion" carrying on the stylistic traditions established at Lassiter.  I told the girls..."Now, you are among the best in the nation. You don't have to win, as far as I am concerned, because if you are among the best, you are honored to be in great company."

That since has become my personal motto in my personal life, in my professional life, and in winter guard. Winter guard gives us the strength to endure, to seize the moment, and to honor the  past in order to build a better future for participants yet to compete at WGI.

Each girl brought her own jewel tone to the guard and each girl sparkled in her own special way. The collective radiance of Design was breathtaking! 

 Lassiter HS Design 1984

Walton HS Fashion 1993, WGI SA Finalist 1993

Walton HS "Fashion" in the Tunnel 1994

Acceptance

A folk poem on the death of Velma DeFore Black, my maternal grandmother, 1989.

No more chicken and dumplings,

Mawmaw's gone to heaven.

No more patchwork quilts,

Mawmaw's gone to heaven.

No more sewing pillows,

No more arranging flowers for Homecoming Sunday 

at Mt. Philadelphia Baptist Church.

Mawmaw's gone to heaven.

No more calling Cousin Bethany "Miss Minerva,"

Mawmaw's gone to heaven.

No more walking slowly to steady her walk.

Mawmaw's gone to heaven.

No more endearing talks on growing up,

Mawmaw's gone to heaven.

No more comforting touches of that wrinkled, 

but ever-so-soft hand.

Mawmaw's gone to The Promised Land.

Blue Jay

written  July 17, 1992 11:05 am after reading Keats' Letters.

 (kind of a journal entry written in free verse)

This morning I awoke to see a Blue Jay,

regal in its cap, perched on my fence

facing away, looking over his shoulder,

resting peacefully.

He was framed by a circle of white morning glories

-the wild kind, of course.

And below his talons, more of white-

an arch of white impatiens billowing out of their box.

Yesterday he landed, looked both ways,

and took a dip in the pool of my pond,

dunking himself and bathing himself

-sloshing sideways-

and flew away.

Today, I wanted to take his picture

but he flew away.

So I snapped anyway--

And now I know the meaning of

Morning Glory.

To Terri: Motley Metaphors and Silly Similes on Friendship

--written after the throws (throes) of winter guard 7-17-1992 10:45-10:56 am, 
and after teaching a month-long poetry course at Kennesaw State University.


The lighthearted trickle
of the ballet dancer's
pas de Bourree
echos in your giggle.

But your laugh fans opens like a peacock's tail
-and your scream is heard as the peacock's is heard
when surprise and thrills overtake you.

Most of my friends last like potato chips at a party-
all that is left is the crumbs in an empty bowl.

Our friendship is my pond garden
and your front yard,
both nurtured and shared
and continuing to grow.

Drill Team Betty is alive and well
--living in your blackspandexbacklessstuff
and your Pepperell Dragon clothes.
--living in your splits that split my sides
--living in your complex plots
of attention and intrigue you create
to entertain me or to get to another.

--living in our bond of two lost souls searching
for our other halves.
--not for each other,
but searching for true love
in places that our parents would not want us to look.

Terri Gaines Moody Buckel is a high school teacher and dance coach living in metropolitan Atlanta.

The Essence of Frances

 upon your turning 60 years of age.

“You don’t know the essence of my being,” said Frances in 1983.

But now I do, say I

You are

A multifaceted Frannie. Fifi, Frances, Friend.

Frannie:

Coming to school with wet hair and dog-torn skirts

Carrying lesson plans in free hand on purple dittos

Walking across the hall with dripping dittos in a purple haze.

You (with purple fingers from writing awesome, creative lesson plans: Who else would compare Catcher in the Rye with Jim Morrison, James Taylor, and Bob Dylan, and make it work in Writer’s Workshop?)

Lover of  Rock and Roll, Leonard Cohen, and dancing in stilettos at Proms, Rock Concerts, and Wedding Receptions, sometimes off the beat.

Pointing thumbs up to Prom girls with big booties and bustiers

“Drama Queen?” asks Jean.  “Oh no, not me," says you with the devilish smile foretold in your 6th grade school pic.

Veggie sandwiches and the best Eggplant Parmesan that you hate to cook.

Cigarettes and Coffee.

FiFi:

Fabulous fun parties with Eastern Onion surprises

Magicians, video stories,
door prizes for best costumes,(really Candy C as a cat? leotard and cat ears wins?)
 and solo dances with Fred.

Beaded wigs and cantaloupes,

 “Stop it!”  “Does this shirt make my boobs look big?” you say as Greg grabs your bodacious tatas.

Trading big boxes delivered by beautiful boys to keep us alert.

Rolling in the grass with Juno, Artemis, Zoë

And Tug of War, of course.

Feather fans and exotic jewelry, “too old for you.”

Practical jokes and pranks gone awry.
toothpaste in a condom under the sink, Craven Wayne.

Is it a Rose?

Frances:

High School Reunions

Funerals for Friends, “Gone but not forgotten”

And for lost students, drugs, car wrecks and suicides

From a school built on the Trail of Tears.

Promises made and kept:

Photos in Coffin: “Friends til we die.”

Tolerant

Democrat

Caregiver

Unconditional Love

Unconditional Acceptance (except for Republicans).

“Remember this day!”

Friend.

Atlanta: creating and fulfilling dreams 4/15/96 :an essay.

I wrote the following essay for the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. Coca-Cola had a competition "to welcome the world to Atlanta."  I entered the contest by writing this essay on what Atlanta means to me.  The result would be to have my portrait included on the "Centennial Olympic Wall" to honor Atlantans and their diversity.

I was selected as a semi-finalist and was called in to Coca-Cola Corporation for an interview in front of a group panel.  The chair of the interview committee asked me a question. She asked, "Your writing is exactly what we are looking for....but you are White.  How can you be White and believe in Diversity?"

I was so taken aback by the question that I fumbled my answer. I replied that I had friends of all races, colors, ages, and genders. I began to tell  the committee of my beliefs, and about one third of the way through my answer, I noticed the man at the head of the table, closed his interview book, thanked me for coming, and said, "let's go to lunch." Needless-to-say, I did not advance past this interview. I received a letter of consolation in the mail along with an Olympic pin.  I have always wondered, "my writing is exactly what Coca-Cola was looking for, so why did my skin color matter?"  I did notice that the consolation letter did say that my "story was so impressive, we encourage you to enter phase 3 of the program."


At this juncture in my life, I was 33, and had just buried my best friend only 3 days before. What I could not tell the members of the interview team that I am gay, and that I had just lost 17 friends to the AIDs epidemic, and that the recent loss of my best friend from college left me drained. At that point in my life, I did not have the strength or courage to face another challenge. I could not speak the truth that I am gay.  In Georgia you could be fired for being gay with no just cause other than your sexual orientation. (This remains true today in Georgia, and in other states, too.)  I was afraid, afraid of being fired, afraid of being ostracized because so many people in my conservative Cobb County, gays were being shunned by the County Commissioners*, and so many people believed that "all gays have aids amd all fags should die."  These were my fears, possibly unwarranted, but warranted and reinforced by the media at that time.

See the essay below this letter.

Living in Atlanta brings to mind an image of the New South where hope over bigotry and freedom from oppression are intertwined
with the magnolia memories of the Old South, of my heritage of generations of southerners branching across the states, but with roots here in Georgia.

Living in Atlanta has provided me an opportunity to learn in its major universities and colleges, an opportunity to fulfill my American dream to become a teacher, and an opportunity to create my own personal garden where new traditions flourish.

Atlanta provides me a spirit of oneness, the peach of friendship, and the Stone Mountain of acceptance.  I see the freedom flags flying during dogwood days of Spring--in parades as celebrations of dreams, of life, of victories, of holidays, and of art and music.

And now, I see Atlanta as a city of international fellowship, of unity among nations in the games of strength of the human physique, but more-so in the strength of the human spirit.

Atlanta is the Mecca beckoning dreamers. Atlanta is a city where we lay the wreath of dreams--the city where all residents "have a dream."

Robert Robinson
4-15-1996

*http://articles.philly.com/1994-08-28/sports/25840464_1_gay-rights-gay-demonstrators-cobb-county

La Dolce Vita (Nov. 15, 1993)

La Dolce Vita

Amore, Amore
finding love in Rome
along the mist-paved morning streets--
before the day's 'getting and spending'
finding time to contemplate my journey's end
the completion of my quest
in the quiet dawn of Rome.

Ah, amore!
The quest to search my soul
and know the current of my river
and where the current leads--

The river leads to a stillness with me,
Rid of Despair.
Gentle tears sprinkle my river
and make my current steady-
tears that say adieu;
-addio to my beloved Gabriella.

Tears of truth-
telling me of destiny,
of the purpose of my compelling quest-
to travel across the globe-
only for chance?

Ha! Say no,
Destiny remain supreme!
I have fulfilled my purpose.
Does life end
or now begin?

Flow, river flow-
lead me now on the current back to Rome,
back to Gabriell,
or lead my beloved to me-
and forever onward to la dolce vita!

by Robert Robinson
Nov. 15, 1993

Or Not

One day
When you are 'old,'
'gray,'
'and nodding by the fire'
And I am dead,
You may think of me,

Realize
that you
turned me down,
blocked me,
rejected me.

Not because
you didn't love me-
(You told me you did, at least)
But because
our "friends" told you

that I was fat
that I was old
that I was jealous
that I was perverted
that I was bat-shit crazy.

You may realize
one day
that I was kind,
gentle, thoughtful,
loving.

I only wanted,
Wanted
to give
what was best for you,
what you said you wanted

A quiet dinner for two
A trip on a plane
A pair of sunglasses
A vacation in Italy.
Someone to protect you.

But our "friends"
told you otherwise.
But  you were not wise.
And you heard,
but did not see

That one was fat
That one  was old
That one was jealous
That one was perverted
That one was bat-shit crazy.

That they each hate 
in themselves
what the they project 
onto others, 
onto me.

One day
When you are old,
'gray,'
'and nodding by the fire'
And I am dead,
You may think of me,
Or not.

To L.M.
November 9, 2014
2:15 to 2:25.

This writing is cheesy, no doubt. Yet, it's honest and true.

William Butler Yeats. b. 1865

When You are Old

WHEN you are old and gray and full of sleep
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,	5
And loved your beauty with love false or true;
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face.
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how love fled	10
And paced upon the mountains overhead,
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

In Fog

I held my coffee cup-

looked out the window.

A fog had blanketed the farm 

and covered the frozen grass.

I could not tell where the land ended

and the river began.

I looked out the window, in the distance

saw a doe and her two fawn.

They knew not of my glance.

But yet they arched and listened.

Mother Nature told them

I was there. 

Here.

In the present. Now.

The fawn ran through the fog

toward their mother.

They leaped in arches and passes.

in arches and passes.

Like dolphins leaping

out of the ocean.

Toward the sun.

Toward the light.

I told you this,

as you lay dying.

Of the cancer

that killed your husband.

And your eyes glinted

And you smiled.

For a moment you smiled.

And forgot the cancer.

The same cancer

That killed your husband.

And you moved

Toward the sun.

Toward the light.

(I wrote this in a fit of nostalgia, for 15 minutes on November 9, 2014, from 12:00 - 12:15, for Margaret Miller, my Marietta mom, who took me under her wing when I began my life in Georgia as a teacher.) The Spirits are moving me today.

"True Blood" quotes

Season 7, Episode 5
Quote of the Century:From "True Blood" LaFayette to Jessica:
LaFayette: And if you keep it 100 and honest, you know he is not the man for you...

Jessica: ...Because he is the man for you?

LaFayette: If he is, what is so f-ing unimaginable about that...Red! Huh? Everyone else in this f-ing town is falling in love, getting engaged and having babies. Has it ever occurred to you that Lafayette, that Queen, that make ALL you white heterosexuals laugh and feel good about yourselves, has it f-ing ever occurred to you that maybe I want a piece of happiness too? No....

When I Read the Book-Walt Whitman

"
When I Read the Book-Walt Whitman

When I read the book, the biography famous,And is this then (said I) what the author calls a man's life?And so will some one when I am dead and gone write my life?(As if any man really knew aught of my life,Why even I myself I often think know little or nothing of my real life,Only a few hints, a few diffused faint clews and indirectionsI seek for my own use to trace out here.)"

Wigs and other 'distractions' September 7, 2013

Wigs and other 'distractions'. September 7, 2013

I just thought of something ironic: When I was working at the Alternative School, a Campbell MS African American boy was sent there because he was "a distraction and was disrupting class with his appearance."  He was wearing a wig. It was a short wig, even, kind of a "bob" and it wasn't even feminine. I thought then, "Well, don't the girls wear wigs, and are they determined as a distraction?" , and are they determined as a distraction?" "What about kids with cancer who wear wigs? Are they a distraction, too?  Today, I thought of this:  All of our Founding Fathers wore wigs and they were not seen as a distraction. It's ironic how social norms dictate appropriate behavior and appearance. If we were to take people's clothes from many different cultures and eras, and were to analyze their appearance, they would look pretty odd by today's standards, huh?  In Literature, we call this "Theater of the Absurd."    (Robert's deep thoughts for today).

Jessica Lange quotations from American Horror Story: Coven. 2013

Jessica Lange quotations from American Horror Story: Coven. 2013

"What I need is an infusion of vitality."  (S3 E1)

"We, even the weakest among us, are better than the best of them."  (S3 E2)

The point is, in this whole, wide wicked world, the only thing you have to be afraid of....is me."  (S3 E2)

"You know, I have never understood you Bible thumpers and your hypocricy towards sex; I know, behind closed doors that you are the biggest perverts of all."  (S3 E3)

"Yes, she needs to work on her aim." (S3 E3)

"I do...I do think I am clever, I am, after all,  the Supreme."  (S3 E4)

"Don't make me drop a house on you!" (S3 E?)

"You're one step up from the men who stand in front of Home Depot." (S3 E5)

"And you....will disappear. You can go on your own, or my way.  I don't care which. Although, I prefer the latter."  (S3 E5)

Souls Adrift 6.24.14

6.24.14 "Souls Adrift"

June 24, 2014 at 3:01pm

PublicFriendsFriends except AcquaintancesOnly MeCustomClose FriendsCobb County School DistrictSee all lists...ROTC gayJax State/Spirit of AtlantaFormer Students 2CordovaFormer StudentsTwilight Zonecobb 1Close FriendsWGIWalker County ALCobb County School DistrictCobb County School DistrictKennesaw State University College of Humanities and Social SciencesInnovations InternationalCordova HighCordova High SchoolMarietta, Georgia AreaJacksonville State UniversityFamilyAcquaintancesGo Back

6.24.14
SOULS ADRIFT

Souls
cascading aimlessly
throughout space and time
Infinite molecules of lost hearts
gyre
throughout fleeting time
having said good-bye to those
Souls
gone before
to never be kissed again.

Souls
searching endlessly
for that long lost love
that never was
in this lifetime
But linger from past
Souls
passing by thousands of other
Souls
Feeling nothing
among those other singular
Souls.

Until our
Souls
for a moment
Light-
Rest upon the gaze of each other's
Soul
A second of arms wrapped together
Summoning a memory
My Soul
is lifted and sent soaring
full of joy and laughter
warmed by the glimpse
and smile of that
Soul

A stranger now
but  so familiar
to my Old
Soul
(Within)
Aristophanes speaks of this
Soul
Full of longing
Full of knowing
that Soul
could be the one
Soul
that has the Heart
and Spirit
to win my love.

Warm
Soul
the radiant breath
of lovers ages gone
glinting infinitely
in the sparkle of your eyes.

Soul
that sends me into rapture
by the momentary passing
of your
Soul
touching mine.

*Soul,
You show me
Even the happiest of hearts
can become
Elated
Joyous
Inspired
Hopeful
when your
Soul
Drifts into my life
and warms my
Soul.