Photo: Will2988 (CC)

My picks for #sundayread for August 18, 2019:

• I listened to “Dropping Ashes on the Buddha” by Stephen Mitchell. The path to enlightenment is neither straight nor rational — it just is.
  [aff. link] https://amzn.to/31K7SKk
• How to make millions selling passports to Africa
  By @DG_Lewis and @PhilEngels
  (via @kikiochieng)
• Whatever happened to Villanova basketball star Shelly Pennefather?
  By Elizabeth Merrill @MerrillLiz
  (via @sundaylongread)
• Flashback: 5 years ago, Wade’s 101: Haiku retrospective 32
• Interview with @TinaBrownLM
  By @EmmaBrockes
  (via @jules_margo)
• Banksy goes to Bethlehem
  By Jan Dalley
  (RT @Garigalicious)
• I listened to “Pride and Prejudice.” Taking in Jane Austen’s singular wit … enh.
  https://buff.ly/2KO0Qxg
• What we watched on TV in 1999
  From @TheAVClub
• How we stopped counting calories and learned to love Spindrift
  By Rachel Sugar @rtsugar
  (via @sundaylongread)
• Flashback: WordCamp Birmingham 2014: a look back
  #Bham
• The Incredible True Story “Titanic” the Movie
  By Sarah Marshall @Remember_Sarah
  (via @AGirlReporter)
• Big Alcohol is pouring billions into weed drinks, but does anybody want them?
  By @MsAmandaLewis
  (via @sundaylongread)
• The Strange Political Ascent of @Alyssa_Milano
  By Joan Summers @joaniesucks
• The @Esquire profile of Mr. Rogers
  By @TomJunod

More posts from Wade this week:

• The Birmingham channel: Miserably hot and humid

More #sundayread:

• All tweets for August 18 #sundayread
• The latest #sundayread tweets
• More #sundayread recommendations from me

A look at Birmingham in videos …

Kimy Kennedy previews an Inverness estate sale in July. From Birmingham Estate Sales.

More videos, after the jump …

Continued »

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1. short play date
   The pit scampered in
   and made a beeline for the
   comfortable couch.
2. three kinds of memory
   Long-term fact storage.
   Planning future strategy.
   (I forgot the third.)
3. to swerve man
   It is not enough
   to feign disdain; let us dig
   deep and feign action.
4. aging eyeballs
   The letters became
   blurrier and blurrier
   till he switched contacts.
5. the asians you see on tv
   Nerd, tech guy, awkward
   loner, kung fu guy, but not
   the love interest.
6. you never know how you’ll be judged
   Height, weight, hairstyle, wealth,
   credit score, car, breath, teeth, shoe
   size, grammar, aura.
7. milky ways
   Many dimensions,
   but they’re all based on shades of
   white, eggshell, ecru …
8. true hunger
   Never being full
   on water, ketchup soup and
   ketchup sandwiches.
9. fair-feathered fiend
   I kept an owl
   to scare the mice and hoot hoot
   around the house house.
10. yellow snow
    Filing nails to a
    fine powder, keratin falls
    in a flesh blizzard.
11. murder none
    Shoot whoever you
    want, but be wealthy enough
    to purchase justice.
12. huddled around the phone
    The video plays.
    We’re unable to stifle
    ruptures of laughter.
13. disinterest rates
    So many movies
    to skip, so many people
    to fully avoid.
14. even thieves need to recharge
    The burglar stopped to
    pet the cats and hunt through the
    refrigerator.
15. colbert notion
    The scrap of paper
    spoke truth: “At every moment,
    we are volunteers.“
16. the worth of a woman
    A living, breathing
    birthing chamber who cannot
    be trusted at all.
17. a candidate for every whim
    Tall ones and short ones,
    loud ones and quiet ones, lots
    of ones in between.
18. looking at a bunch of objects in a museum
    Art is a fancy
    way of saying globs of paint
    or hunks of boulder.
19. the newness wears off
    Once the shine is gone,
    what’s left but a decaying
    mass of molecules?
20. a bargain at any price
    Instant access to
    all the world’s markets and yet
    still so hard to choose.
21. clickwait
    The newspaper found
    out that women exist and
    have strong opinions.
22. books on shiny platters
    The narrator droned
    on and on for another
    35 CDs.
23. foamy devices
    One of my hobbies
    is to replace dead leaky
    batteries too late.
24. a shell a day
    Troves and troves of beach
    treasures, piled in a bucket
    to make necklaces.
25. beyond the tombstones
    Their legacy is
    freedom. Freedom to challenge
    the powers that be.
26. the hottest on record
    Sunny skies, sizzling
    temps, a meltdown like no one
    can ever reckon.
27. what little we can do
    What little we can
    do is more than all the words
    that have been uttered.
28. an extra pair of glasses
    Tiny type defies
    bleary eyes, requires a
    modest adjustment.
29. sniffing around
    New territory,
    new things to smell for canine
    visitor off leash.
30. clear eyes
    To be aware is
    to go mad, to get mad, to
    see the world as is.
31. loon on nineteenth street
    He whipped his shirt off
    and juggled water bottles
    while spouting nonsense.
32. everything is history
    We are caught looking
    backwards as our lives spin out
    in dubious ways.
33. phantoms of the night
    On streets and sidewalks
    they roam invisibly to
    oncoming traffic.
34. my tenth grade english teacher’s rule
    The plot is the least
    important element in
    any good novel.
35. great acceptations
    To change the world, you
    must first accept that nothing
    is acceptable.
36. downpour on the rocks
    At long last, the rain
    soaks the parched earth badly
    in need of a stiff drink.
37. hole moods
    They stood in line a
    block deep for a free doughnut
    to brighten the day.
38. stupid smart
    We are curious
    creatures but also rigid
    unlearned morons.
39. the long lost viking
    Alone, he neither
    pillaged nor plundered, content
    to go reckoning.
40. life-or-death distinction
    This verse ends not in
    a graveyard but a field where
    bodies are buried.
41. steps to dictatorship
    Own the media.
    Consolidate all power.
    Don’t show force — use it.
42. equal under the skin
    I can manage my
    body. Why can’t women have
    that autonomy?
43. the beach is alive
    The ground undulates
    beneath my burnt feet, lapped by
    wave after sly wave.
44. the 5,000th haiku
    I stand, not at the
    summit, but at the small ridge
    of a long ascent.
45. the small of it all
    Baby dog? Puppy.
    Baby kangaroo? Joey.
    Baby man? Baby.
46. a mighty fall
    Chainsaws carve up the
    remains of a giant oak
    into stubby logs.
47. sandwiches of times past
    That perfect reuben
    haunts my foodie dreams as I
    starve with ham-on-why.
48. doorstep detente
    Zealous dog wants to
    meet the UPS driver
    so very badly.
49. not quiet quiet
    The chirping bugs, the
    hum of the AC, the soft
    rustle of the wind.
50. darkened windows, bad vibes
    She wouldn’t enter
    the strange cantina even
    though her boyfriend would.
51. the #metoo era
    Same old rapists, just
    more visible, defiant
    and traumatizing.
52. beepless for a while
    The unmoored feeling
    of discovering your phone
    is nowhere nearby.
53. southern state of mind
    Can’t be captured in
    lame sweet tea homilies and
    down home duncery.
54. invisible harmony
    We see the pattern,
    and it cannot be unseen.
    From chaos, order.
55. a domestic dispute
    Nothing to see here.
    No frightened children, no wife
    in overwrought tears.
56. the bills
    The bills brought nothing
    but continued frustration
    at the bleeding purse.
57. summers past
    Days unbound by mere
    routine, freedom to explore,
    to suck the marrow.
58. dystopian blues
    No hope, no justice,
    but at least our matching rags
    look somewhat snazzy.
59. ebola offensive
    Thousands infected
    but only half survive the
    pernicious outbreak.
60. our darkest thoughts
    Running off the road.
    Leaving a family behind.
    Drinking to blackout.
61. christmas through the year
    The wreath hangs on to
    the door, greeting guests with an
    unseasonal cheer.
62. low property taxes, unfriendly neighbors
    We’ll build the house of
    our dreams in Minecraft land, a
    pixel paradise.
63. america the pitiful
    Stop bombing countries.
    Stop mass incarceration.
    Stop blaming others.
64. fahrenheit 452
    They took away our
    books, not with a flamethrower
    but with a click. Poof!
65. two old guys at the coffee shop
    A busy morning
    of arguing politics,
    belief and football.
66. canine conundrum
    It would be nice to
    own a dog, but what if he’s
    cleverer than me?
67. pizza design
    A careful placement
    of pepperoni, a dash
    of sauce, piles of cheese.
68. cake obsession
    I dream of cool eggs,
    precise flour, some unstiff
    butter, set to mix.
69. almost time for vacation
    Look out the window.
    Picture yourself on the beach.
    Watch the clock not move.
70. smog snog
    Nothing scares city
    folk more than the prospect of
    abundant fresh air.
71. ask the guru
    How much life is the
    right amount of life to be
    lived and encountered?
72. songwriter’s rule
    A perfect rhyme can
    make you a liar in the
    lyrics. Scrawl for truth.
73. the forced smile
    An unnatural
    raising of the mouth’s heavy
    corners on demand.
74. refuge for the refugees
    Lady Liberty
    shoos away the tired, the
    poor for worthy souls.
75. persistent advertising
    The billboard chased me
    down the street, blocking out the
    sun, hawking its wares.
76. the divide
    His psyche vs.
    my psyche. Her truths vs.
    their truths. Disconnect.
77. the balladeer
    He strummed the guitar
    with precision on even
    the most minor chords.
78. out the windshield into the world
    Gazing upon the
    wondrous breadth of creation
    from the driver’s seat.
79. we are the aliens
    Two explorers land
    on the desolate moonscape
    to plant footprints, flag.
80. book exchange
    She grabbed a paper-
    back from the outdoor box and
    left worn hardcovers.
81. half-staff
    A salute to the
    fallen, a brief reminder
    of a sacrifice.
82. the verdant blanket
    A soft carpet of
    green teeming with cities of
    ants marching to work.
83. smoke break
    A seven-minute
    grasp at the outside world while
    the work continues.
84. a bar of your own
    Cooler with the right
    brews, TV with the ball game,
    jukebox with the hits.
85. the merger
    His couch, her bookshelves,
    the rest to be stored in this
    corporate takeover.
86. here we go gathering nuts in july
    The skittering on
    the roof by grey trespassers
    sounds like a stampede.
87. the new girl
    Old hands eyed the new
    girl with a mixture of dulled
    lust and mild disdain.
88. another skipped dinner
    Home so late and straight
    to bed, the belly rumbling,
    the psyche sleepy.
89. dead on her feet
    Her strangled tootsies
    supported (barely) a tired
    aching falling frame.
90. ambient symphony
    Conversations and
    cross talk blend into soothing
    flowing melodies.
91. shhhhhhhh
    The library is
    especially noisy with
    loud kids and adults.
92. if we just breathe
    We do it without
    thinking, yet we think we can
    do it mindfully.
93. the stream
    Everyone wants to
    know what to watch next from the
    tsunami of shows.
94. a consumerist plot
    The budget goes out
    the window when it comes to
    impulsive buying.
95. there goes hair
    The photo revealed
    a balding head atop a
    denying body.
96. the last days of summer
    Back to school soon, but
    still time to run free, goof off
    and catch fireflies.
97. the modern traveler
    Always connected,
    always needing a charge and
    sick of airport food.
98. millennial morass
    Can’t catch a damn break.
    Mired in debt. Stuck renting.
    So misunderstood.
99. a beautiful day in the subway car
    They serenaded
    dear Mr. Rogers on the
    line running uptown.
100. mature subject matter
     You were once a child,
     how easily you forget
     your smaller stature.
101. improv lines
     A robber hides out.
     Yes, and he loses his loot.
     Yes, and he finds love.

• • •

Read more Wade’s 101.

Read more poetry at Wade’s Daily Haiku.

Subscribe via RSS to Wade’s Daily Haiku.

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Photo: Norm Wright (CC)

My picks for #sundayread for August 11, 2019:

• Wade’s 101: #Haiku retrospective 50
• Lord, give me the confidence (and job prospects) of a mediocre white guy.
  By Laura Wagner @laurawags
• America’s New Religion: Fox Evangelicalism
  By @SullivanAmy
• I listened to “We Should All Be Feminists” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a nice direct tract on the virtues of feminism.
  [aff. link] https://amzn.to/31t5APA
• Learn From the Mistakes of One Entrepreneur’s Journey
  By @JohnRampton
  (via @neoteryx)
• The Death of American Universities
  By Noam Chomsky
  (via @LeftDemocrat)
• Flashback: WordCamp Birmingham presentation: The Super Easy Guide to Video for Content Marketing
• The Final Flight of Martin McNally
  By Danny Wicentowski @D_Towski
  (via @nelson_aj)
• The Video Game Industry Can’t Go on Like This
  By Joshua Rivera @jmrivera02
• Flashback: 10 years ago today, Ludacris called the Birmingham Heritage Festival “bogus.” Then, it shut down.
• RomCon: Our Failure to See Black Romantic Comedies
  By @SorayaRoberts
• Psychologists Want in on Social Media’s Big Data Trove
  By Adam Rogers @jetjocko
  (via @b3msinc)
• 76 billion opioid pills: Newly released federal data unmasks the epidemic
  By @ScottHigham1
• Can Reading Make You Happier?
  By Ceridwen Dovey

More posts from Wade this week:

• The Birmingham channel: The unseen buck

More #sundayread:

• All tweets for August 11 #sundayread
• The latest #sundayread tweets
• More #sundayread recommendations from me

A look at Birmingham in videos …

Kansas City rock band the Get Up Kids performs in July at Saturn in Avondale (our vertical video of the week). From Danny Hammons.

More videos, after the jump …

Continued »

Photo: Vicente (CC)

My picks for #sundayread for August 4, 2019:

• Flashback: 10 years ago, my popular monthlong series Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks
  http://itswa.de/BMdHl #Bham #alpolitics
• How a reporting mistake nearly derailed the Watergate investigation — and how journalists recovered
  By Jon Marshall @marshallreport
  (via @bvar)
• The compassion deficit
  By @ErinAnderssen
• I listened to “The Effective Executive” by Peter Drucker, a great help for beginning leaders and executives, and good stuff for us old timers.
  [aff. link] https://amzn.to/2KbUfO7
• The Cost of Reading
  By Ayşegül Savaş
  (via @mariskreizman)
• 15 Famous Books That Were Initially Rejected
  By @JessicaAFerri
  (via @nadaparatuitear)
• Flashback: Brands and Twitter: The limits of following
• The Story Behind Your Email Marketing Metrics
  By @THAT_Agency
  (via @FitSmallBiz)
• After the Tsunami
  By @Matthew_Komatsu
• Flashback: Adding video easily into WordPress posts (and pages)
• Book review of “I Like to Watch: Arguing My Way Through the TV Revolution” by @EmilyNussbaum
  By @Annalisa_Quinn
• Out of Toon: Political cartoonists in an age of hyper media
  By @SorayaRoberts
  (via @MarsiasMarsias)
• The Hustlers at Scores: The Ex-Strippers Who Stole From (Mostly) Rich Men and Gave to, Well, Themselves
  By Jessica Pressler @jpressler
• Profile of my fellow Alabama 5,000+ poem writer, Charles Ghigna @FatherGooze
  By Michelle Matthews @Michelle_Mobile

More posts from Wade this week:

• The Birmingham channel: Up in the Ham

More #sundayread:

• All tweets for August 4 #sundayread
• The latest #sundayread tweets
• More #sundayread recommendations from me

A look at Birmingham in videos …

Activist and speaker Lilly Ledbetter on local TV show “Our Issues Birmingham.” From Our Issues Birmingham.

More videos, after the jump …

Continued »

Photo: Sigma Ser (CC)

My picks for #sundayread for July 28, 2019:

• I listened to “Practicing the Power of Now” by @EckhartTolle, a short helpful refresher in mindfulness.
  [aff. link] https://amzn.to/2K1EtUD
• Generation Screwed: Why Millennials face the scariest financial future since the Great Depression
  By Michael Hobbes @RottenInDenmark
  (via @kaybigs)
• The Case of @AlFranken
  By @JaneMayerNYer
• Flashback: RIP Jefferson County, 1819-2009
  #Bham #alpolitics
• Why You Procrastinate (It Has Nothing to Do With Self-Control)
  By Charlotte Lieberman @clieberwoman
• Ta-Nehisi Coates Is an Optimist Now
  By @EricLevitz
  (via @KarinDianeRyan)
• Flashback: Y’all Connect — Bloggers share lessons from 2014 conference
• How a memo from @GirlScouts on hugging opened a debate on consent for families
  By @ZosiaBielski
• The Lazy River
  By Zadie Smith
  (via @CDWP_UCalgary)
• Flashback: Slides for “Market the Right Way with Facebook and Twitter”
• Q&A with @EmilyNussbaum, TV critic and author of the new book, “I Like to Watch: Arguing My Way Through the TV Revolution”
  By @MattZollerSeitz
• .@TilmanJFertitta, the Two-Billion-Dollar Buyer in the Most Expensive Deal in US Sports History
  By Michael Hardy @mkerrhardy
• On coming out as trans in Donald Trump’s America
  By Emily VanDerWerff @tvoti
• These Are Your Memories: A letter to author @KieseLaymon from his mama

More posts from Wade this week:

• The Birmingham channel: Out and about

More #sundayread:

• All tweets for July 28 #sundayread
• The latest #sundayread tweets
• More #sundayread recommendations from me

A look at Birmingham in videos …

Talking civil rights history in Kelly Ingram Park downtown. From Corey Drumz.

More videos, after the jump …

Continued »

Photo: Bennilover (CC)

My picks for #sundayread for July 21, 2019:

• I listened to “Cry the Beloved Country” by Alan Paton, a lovely clear-eyed look at 20th-century South Africa just before apartheid.
  [aff. link] https://amzn.to/2XQDvo9
• Your Professional Decline Is Coming (Much) Sooner Than You Think
  By @ArthurBrooks
• Will Hunter Biden Jeopardize His Father’s Presidential Campaign?
  By @AdamEntous
• Flashback: Brands and Twitter: Follow for life
• Blank Place: Punk Rock’s Richard Hell after Lexington
  By @AmandaPetrusich
• The South’s Greatest Jewish Poet Strikes Zen Gold: A visit with @HankLazer in Tuscaloosa
  By @JakeMarmer
• Flashback: 10 things you didn’t know about surgeon general Dr. Regina Benjamin
• .@JJWatt intended to raise $200K for Hurricane Harvey relief in Houston. He got over $37 million.
  By @RobertKlemko
• .@JoseAltuve27, a small baseball player with a big record and big heart
  By Tom Verducci
• Flashback: Y’all Connect — Slides from Y’all Connect 2013
• 25 episodes that changed television
  By Emily VanDerWerff @tvoti
• Social Engineering: @OxfordAmerican visits Birmingham’s Atomic Bar and Lounge
  By @JohnTEdge
  #Bham
• The legend of @TerryMcAuliffe
  By @RubyCramer
• “The world may … take the Seattle music phenomenon seriously, but Seattle musicians are still struggling to do the same.”
  By @AlanSiegelDC

More posts from Wade this week:

• The Birmingham channel: It’s still soccer season

More #sundayread:

• All tweets for July 21 #sundayread
• The latest #sundayread tweets
• More #sundayread recommendations from me

A look at Birmingham in videos …

The plan for Launch Global, a Vestavia Hills nonprofit ministry. From James Minor.

More videos, after the jump …

Continued »

Photo: Pedro Ribeiro Simões (CC)

My picks for #sundayread for July 14, 2019:

• I listened to “The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present” by @DavidTreuer, an excellent account of modern American Indian history and why it matters.
  [aff. link] https://amzn.to/30nYRWG
• Her book recommendations drive sales and word of mouth. It’s @TodayShow’s @JennaBushHager.
  By @DavidCanfield97
• God’s Plan for @Mike_Pence
  By @McKayCoppins
• Flashback: 10 years ago, Birmingham dome deal a done deal
  #Bham #alpolitics
• I’m Wade, and I’m addicted to dissections of the implosion of the AAF.
  By @SethWickersham and @MikeRothstein
• When Fandom Is the Problem
  By Katharine Trendacosta @k_trendacosta
• Flashback: Y’all Connect — As diverse a lineup as you deserve
• An Architect’s Guide to Stairs
  By @Architizer
  (via @spacestation_hq)
• The Rise and Fall of the English Sentence
  By Julie Sedivy @soldonlanguage
  (via @smartergerman)
• Flashback: Five ways to jump-start your job search with social networking
• Screen time is rising, reading is falling, thanks to seniors 65+ watching more TV.
  By Christopher Ingraham @_cingraham
• A Different World: Why We Owe the Cosby Accusers an Apology
  By @MaxGordon19
• Violence in Blue: Police Homicides in the United States
  By Patrick Ball @vm_wylbur
• How the Index Card Cataloged the World
  By Daniela Blei @tothelastpage

More posts from Wade this week:

• The Birmingham channel: Two wheels, no problem

More #sundayread:

• All tweets for July 14 #sundayread
• The latest #sundayread tweets
• More #sundayread recommendations from me

A look at Birmingham in videos …

How to plant bulbs. From AlphaGraphics Hoover.

More videos, after the jump …

Continued »

Photo: Philippe Put (CC)

My picks for #sundayread for July 7, 2019:

• Listened to “Heavy,” Kiese Laymon’s memoir: Raw and compelling, all about growing up black and poor in the South.
  [aff. link] https://amzn.to/2XO5Dr2
• The Great Unravelling: The Disintegration of the Nigerian State
  By @ChrisNgwodo
  (via @AfricaResearch)
• She’s worth $400 million. She reaches almost 10 million viewers daily. All rise for @JudgeJudy Sheindlin.
  By Jazmine Hughes @jazzedloon
  //Plus, a brief counterpoint by Sarah Jaffe @Sarahwinifred
• Flashback: From 2018, Wade’s 101: #Haiku retrospective 46
  #poetry
• Maria Sebregondi, Moleskine founder, takes note of the digital age
  By Hannah Roberts @hanrobs
  (RT @kikiochieng)
• From 2011: Stephon Marbury’s Career Makeover in China
  By Wells Tower
  (via @natashakhanhk @suilee)
• Flashback: 10 years ago, John Katopodis guilty of mail, wire fraud
  #Bham #alpolitics
• Eight Women Accuse Max Landis of Emotional and Sexual Abuse
  By Amy Zimmerman @ahzimm
  #MeToo
• On Truth and Lying in the Extra German Sense
  By Rebecca Schuman @pankisseskafka
• Flashback: Developing a retail content strategy
• Oral history of “In Living Color” on its 25th anniversary
  Compiled by @MaraReinstein
• Black Mothers Keep Dying After Giving Birth
  By @ByNinaMartin and Renee Montagne @nprmontagne
  (via @nprnicole)
• A Campaign to Crack Down on Massage Businesses May Harm the Women It Wants to Help
  By @MelissaGira Grant and @Emma_A_Whitford
• The Man Who’s Putting More Sex Toys on Walmart’s Shelves
  By @KatieVanSyckle
  (via @petershankman)

More posts from Wade this week:

• Happy Independence Day!
• The Birmingham channel: Door busters

More #sundayread:

• All tweets for July 7 #sundayread
• The latest #sundayread tweets
• More #sundayread recommendations from me

Video: Drone footage of fireworks on Red Mountain

•

Happy birthday, America!