..operation gold, not straw...

i forget who came up with this idea.. or where i heard it. but i woke up with the very ringing, singing , quietlytuggingatyoursleeve and at the back spot of your brain...this prayer,this mantra today... arT BoMB .... remember back at the beginning of the whole iraq/afghanistan debacle when the media was still trying to put this great, g.i.joe, American Might&Right against the Bad Guys spin on the whole affair... (are they still doing that? at one point, i simply had to stop listening...) while we were bombing the shit out of homes, schools, hospitals, & the like... day after day, relentlessly pelletting a people with our gunfire, our fear, our obscure & jingoistic notions of Justice & Honor.. our wrath, our Entitlement... our billion-dollar video games dropping bombs like hell from the sky... obliterating entire families, towns...and what's more a people's sense of hope & joy.... in one fell-swoop... we called it Operation Shock & Awe......(remember with me if you will)... and we were told that if we could just keep on'em.... assault them with a daily, torrential dose of good ole American-style justice, then surely, and quickly, the Victory was ours'.. (and yet here we stand...) but i wonder, somewhere in that thinking, there lay a kernel of truth.. single droplet of gold, spun in reverse-Rumpelstiltskin style... taking something lovely & spinning it back into a meaningless lump of hay.. well, let's begin to spin it back, i say.... (oh, won't you walk this way with me for a spell??)....... beginning today.. our own little operation shock & awe... or better yet *gOLd, not sTrAW!!!* still with me? for while that which is ugly, small, & hateful has a way of in-toxic-ating everything in its' wake.. soo those random acts of truth & beauty.. well, you see where i'm headed here... 30 days. release your art (in dance, in song, in word, in rhyme, in catterwheeling stand-up comic-ry, in beautiful noise, in flowers, in prose, in spontaneous hugs donated at will to those who could use 'em...) upon the world... unhook your line from the stream of commerce and go dangle the bait of your brilliant, creative self in the waters of commune-

ity for a time... Random Acts of Beauty.. as many as you can.. or as you choose.... Art Bomb your little local world... make a poem or a drawing & staple it to a telephone pole for all to enjoy, do cartwheels in your local town square, set up a booth by your local post office & offer free face-painting for kids of all ages on any given Tuesday, JUST BECAUSE. lay down your yoga mat in the parking lot of the nearby liquor store and offer handstand lessons to anyone who wants 'em. ... get OUT of your comfort zone. bring your faithful kazoo & perform your 6-minute one-woman show about the beauty of daffodils right by where you buy your morning coffee. Smile at people for no other fucking reason than that shit is Catching... and we need it so right now. Leave a bouquet of daisies, perched happily upon a random parked car,, or better yet... plant a stealth vegetable garden in a public space. .... let's do it. cuz the bad shit is overwhelming i know.. but so is the good... once it takes hold. ... if the concentrated efforts of a few shortsighted men can dismantle a world as it existed, so the consistent, open-hearted efforts of the artfully-inspired many... can re-write it.... turning these base metals of human experience once more.. into GO-LD.... write and tell me what you do! send me a pic. remind me once again that there are amazing people out there in the world, enchanting the sphere, each day.. hoo-ray. 30 DAYS. Let's go..........