  Ideally,  I'd like to have something to say most every time I post here.  However,  I'm of the opinion that most everything wonderful &  worth reading has been said previously,  &
 I may be pulling from others' words most of the time.  About me:  1.  Politically,  I'm a democratic socialist who is pro- life on three fronts:
 abortion,  war,  &  capital punishment.  I support economic reforms that ultimately are life- saving.
 I support the protection of the environment.  I am especially interested in animal rights campaigning.  I'm not quite politically- minded enough to see past the human equation in terms of policy & c.  but I try to be well-
informed &  consistent.  I tend to find that my interests coincide more with human rights organizations &  pacifist religious organizations than with any particular political party.  I am indeed an independent in this respect.  2.
 Artistically,  I have many interests.  I study poetry writing in graduate school.  I have studied music &  feel perhaps more proficient in that art form because of the intense pragmatic approach to its formal training.  My academic interests (
which are necessarily artistic ones,  according to my definition of academic)  lie in the congruity between art forms.  In this respect I am holistic.  I am a bit dismayed by the specialization in our universities that precludes experimentation.  3.
 As a poet,  I'm always trying to find writing that both soothes and enervates.  Perhaps what moves me most about a piece of writing is its energy.  Energy +  language +  risk =
 ,  to me,  the beginnings of a solid voice,  a voice I want to believe &  turn to again.  However,
 it's hard to codify poetry!  ( Thank God for this!  If I had to come up with a word for what I love,  I'd call myself an imagistic transcendentalist /  subtitled:
 lango- pacifist.  ( What an ugly series of sounds!  I do tend to write by ear,  so perhaps it's best just to refer to oneself as a callista or callistos ,
 one of the most aurally pleasing words ( with a fabulous meaning)  I take great pleasure in poetry's connection to music &  speech,  &  also to philosophy.
 I'm not quite visually oriented enough,  though certain visual- word- images resonate with me:  i. e.
 " blue,  the title ( partial)  of this blog,  becomes a particular sound &
 sense also attached to a visual.  I could continue,  but think I'm becoming didactic &  pedantic here.  I leave with a section of Ginsberg's Howl ,  one of my favorites in the above respects:
 I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness,  starving hysterical naked,  dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,  angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night,  who poverty and tatters and hollow- eyed and high sat up smoking in the supernatural darkness of cold-
water flats floating across the tops of cities contemplating jazz,  who bared their brains to Heaven.
