Twilight Seattle is one daily occurrence that goes down fast here in maritime autumn (faster once the winter arrives).
Sunset is 4:20 this evening.
Twilight begins.
It will last most of forty nine minutes.
By 5:10pm darkness falls.
Welcome to the fallout
Welcome to resistance
The tension is here
The tension is here
Between who you are and who you could be
Between how it is and how it should be
-Dare You to Move
Three weeks have disappeared since the election that “shocked the world.”
At times it has felt like a waking dream just after a nightmare (for many).
(Donald Trump shocks world, wins presidential election in biggest upset in political history)
http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-wins-election-results-2016-11
It has been 48 years since I felt this odd.
It was the morning of my sixteenth birthday. I was awake to see the announcement of the death of Senator Robert Francis Kennedy (Note 1). It is embedded in my forever memory – the frailty of a cause and its leader. I was already in shock since the murder of Dr. King at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. That was only sixty-three days before.
Assassinations and an election bound together inside us like a hideous knotted rope. These far flung events are tied by time and space because so very much has gone unchanged in most of the last half of an entire century.
An unchanged melody can be heard – that plays out sadly and awkward – across the American landscape. Yet it is one that appears more as a dystopian dreamscape – from a Young Adult Trilogy – than the clear strong strains of a Patriotic Hymn. The tune reeks of fear and loss and hopelessness. It tastes of failing promises to ourselves and to our children.
A Drumbeat of War ..
Across time an horizon is strewn with the bodies of justice-warriors and partners of good faith initiatives. The sun is setting. No song is being sung for the grandchildren. But if you listen closely there is the faint drumbeat of war.
Before we search the horizon for some army of darkness approaching at twilight we need to be very still. Look to the fading light and see in that half-darkness that the drums are beating within our own hearts. We are a nation at war with ourselves, a people who have forgotten who we are.
There are no leaders coming through the twilight to lead a revolution. Remember the twilight lasts just short of one hour before darkness falls. Waiting for the twilight just before sunrise will be too late. Without movement before the dawn hope will be lost to the shadows.
Where is the legion of my generation
Where is the legion of my generation (the baby boomers). We were born into the very foundational fire of our heroes passion that blazed a way forward. Our failure with the subsequent Generation X and then Y has left our grandchildren on their own. Yet, many of these orphaned Millennials burn to make a sustainable future free of bias and despair.
These are the ones who must move with haste into the dark night to bring light where now there is none.
And they must be able to count on our willingness to hear their voice ..
Orphaned Millennials burn to make a sustainable future free of bias and despair.
And in our ability to create for them the place of honor at the head of the table ..
And in the assurance we will fight like tomorrow is today so as to grant them full access to running this revolution ..
And then have them experience our presence at their back and in their flank and in virtually surrounding them with our overwhelming numbers ..
And claim them before the odds are stacked so high against them that blood will be the only way out..
Twilight
The Golden Hour ..when all things remain suspended just long enough to regroup, replenish, and be restored.
Twilight
The Blue Hour .. moments before dusk when the heart slows to take in the strength needed to declared war on the forces of the night.
We can do this.
We can’t see the wind, but we know what happens to the trees.
Look not for the wind, but for the effect of the wind.
Dare you to Move
Words from Millennials
“I’d like to make my shame count for something ..”
Just What I Needed / Not Just What I Needed
Artist: Car Seat Headrest Album: Teens of Denial
I have nothing but questions
I need answers, those would fill me up
I KNOW WHEN I’M BEING CATERED TO!
I KNOW WHEN I’M BEING CATERED TO!
I will not settle for the lowest common denominator!
Will I find out
That I am people too?
Hello my friend, we’ve been waiting for you for a long time
We have reason to believe that your soul is just like ours
Did you ever get the feeling you were just a little different?
Well, here’s our web page, you’ve finally found a home
Good people give good advice
Get a job, eat an apple, it’ll work itself out
It’s a phase
It’s chemistry
It’s your own fault
Well don’t listen to us
We’re just people too
I will not settle for the lowest common denominator!
I’ve been waiting all my life
I’ve been waiting for some real good porn
Something with meaning, something fulfilling
I’d like to make my shame count for something
I feel so empty trying to explain this
His name is William Onyeabor, he’s from the 70s
And when I wake up in the morning, there are people sleeping on my couch
Well, I’ll have something to say about that one
Free people give free advice
Let go of the pain, let go of the fear
But if I let go of that
What will still be here
Will I find out
That I am people too?
NOTE 1
After receiving word of Senator Kennedy’s death, his spokesman Frank Mankiewicz left the hospital and walked to the gymnasium where the press and news media were set up for continuous updates on the situation. At 2:00 AM PDT on June 6, Mankiewicz approached the podium, took a few moments to compose himself and made the official announcement:
“I have, uh, a short….. I have a short announcement to read, which I will read, uh….. at this time. Senator Robert Francis Kennedy died at 1:44 AM today, June 6, 1968. With Senator Kennedy at the time of his death were his wife Ethel, his sisters Mrs. Stephen Smith, Mrs. Patricia Lawford, his brother-in-law Mr. Stephen Smith, and his sister-in-law Mrs. John F. Kennedy. He was 42 years old. Thank you.”
NOTE 2
Twilight (4:20pm – lasts 49 minites)
The golden hour (sometimes known as magic hour) is a period shortly before sunset during which daylight is redder and softer than when the Sun is high in the sky.
The blue hour is the period of twilight early in the late dusk each evening when the sun is at a significant distance below the horizon and the residual, indirect sunlight takes on a predominantly blue hue.
Dusk occurs at the darkest stage of twilight, or at the very end of astronomical twilight just before night.
EPILOGUE
In Christian practice, “vigil” observances often occur during twilight on the evening before major feast days or holidays.
The Maghrib prayer (Arabic: صلاة المغرب ṣalāt al-maġrib, ‘”West [sun] prayer“), prayed just after sunset, is the fourth of five formal daily prayers (salat) performed by practicing Muslims.
According to Hindu scriptures, a daemonic king, Hiranakashipa, performed penance and obtained a boon from Brahma that he could not be killed during day or night and neither by human nor animal. Lord Vishnu appeared in a half-man half-lion form (neither human nor animal), ended the life of Hiranakashipa during twilight (neither day nor night). Hiranyakashipu (Sanskrit: हिरण्यकशिपु, “clothed in gold”; the name is said to depict one who is very much fond of wealth and sex life: hiranya “gold,” kashipu “soft cushion”) is an Asura from the Puranic scriptures of Hinduism.
In Judaism, twilight is considered neither day nor night; consequently it is treated as a safeguard against encroachment upon either. For example, the twilight of Friday is reckoned as Sabbath eve, and that of Saturday as Sabbath day; and the same rule applies to festival days.
Great piece; thanks for posting. Actually the “blue hour” or
“golden hour” can both occur around sunrise or sunset. Let us try to think of this time as “sunrise time” for a better future, rather than just the “sunset time” of all that we believe in and have fought for.