Ending an Era

Obamaphoria - how
the American Dream
evolves

pockets of jubilant
people having placed their bet
on the President Elect
Barack Obama
pack for the inauguration
pilgrimage
millions have cashed in on this
dose of hope, this promise
of change, this lift from
the malaise of war, treachery,
manipulation and greed.

we'd been looking for a hero
some compassion - and a brain bigger
than the last man in charge
a shift in vibration -
away from the self defeating
nature of fear and manipulation
back to progressive
active participation
in the making of a respected
civilization.

All rights reserved by author. Linda Joy Burke

Haunted Ellicott City

Three years ago I added another hobby to my already full life. I've been giving ghost tours in Ellicott City. I started doing this on the suggestion of a close friend who thought I would be a good tour guide. I kept the information on my desk for months, until I decided what the heck why not do something that I really hadn't in my wildest dreams thought I would do।

Here's the thing, I never even knew that there was such a thing as ghost tours, and though I do have some familiarity with the paranormal and have even seen a few orbs, and witnessed a haunting, I never thought that people actually went on "ghost tours." Come to think of it when I imagined who would go on these tours, I saw a Black Sabbath type goth crowd, with a side of Wicca, and a sprinkle of druids.

Well obviously since the Blair Witch project, which really was a dud in my opinion, the interest in the spirit world is a booming business. There are ghost hunters, ghost whisperers, ghost cleansers, certified paranormal investigators, and all manor of folks who follow the wonderful world of the afterlife. Most of the folks who come on these tours are far from what I imagine. They are mom's, dad's, grandparents, friends from out of town, college kids, red hat ladies, girl and boy scouts, birthday parties, and numerous social groups with a sprinkling of druids, pagans, goths, Wiccans and paranormal groupies.

What we do in Ellicott City is a combination of history, and ghost stories, all first hand accounts from residents, business owners, tourists, and people who work in the town. I love history, and have always thought that I was born out of my time but that's another story. There's something telling about walking the streets in this historic town, (founded in 1771 by three Quaker brothers) with a different group of strangers and telling the stories. I get to learn about the nature of this small town the townies who like to try to scare us and the people who are willing to turn off their tv's and cell phones and black berries and all other forms of distraction and listen to our stories.

I say our stories because after a year and a half I had my own experience. I wasn't looking for anything to happen, it just did, and I had a witness, but that's another story. If you want to know more, come on one of my tours to find out. I had the privilege of being able to write Ghost Tour II which I will be giving on October 11th at 8:30pm and on October 31 at 6:30 and 8:30pm. and again in November. The season ends at the end of November right after Thanksgiving. For more information go to www.VisitHowardCounty.com.

It's all downhill from here

thoughts while waiting for the meek to inherit the earth

In the face of the fall out from the mismanagement of the American Dream by the oval office and it’s greedy cronies we are experiencing an elevated threat level. The evil doers have stuck it to the believers, whose destinies were snatched out of their hands. We’re told that we’re not in a “recession” we’re at a slow down, more like a pause. The gross national product isn’t producing, foreclosure is the new household word, and being downsized doesn’t mean going from a twelve to a size four.

I’m confused when they say there’s a credit crunch and the credit card companies, are pumping out these blank checks like water, offering temptation on the end of pen, made especially for those who’ve gotten themselves stretched too thin keeping up with their daily wants and needs.

One would think that credit card companies would want to help out the banks and back off of the ridiculously greedy policies of charging interest rates that would never allow debtors to repay their debt, and finance charges on late fees that further compound the crisis that American families are in. I’ve come to realize that they prefer a passive/aggressive approach.

I saw with the rising of gas prices and the disturbing preponderance of credit card offers, and cash advance checks, that it would only be a matter of time before undisciplined people would be seduced en mass to live way beyond their means. And even those who are doing the right thing, by not wasting resources, and not buying things that they can’t afford are struggling. It is immoral that a select few feel their sole purpose in life is to amass mass fortunes on the backs of the hard working multitudes.

Part of the dream it seems is to acquire. Without acquiring we don’t know who we are, don’t have anything to be compared with, or to compete with. Without acquiring, we don’t know what we look like, sometimes we think we’re in on our own worse dressed list. Without acquiring we haven’t a clue as to what to do with ourselves during a blizzard, or any other natural or unnatural disaster that crosses our paths. Without acquiring we can’t make up braggadocios stories about ourselves, to keep from being ostracized from the crews with the blinged out facades.

There is something to be said for the generations who came before who learned the value of putting away as much cash as they could, and wasting not a bit of anything. If they couldn’t afford something, furniture, Christmas presents, a prom dress, they put the things in lay- away, paid the store bit by bit every week, then when they’d given everything they owed, they got to take the things home. They kept stuff for generations, saw most things could be repaired, until the days of plastics and disposable electronics came to be.

In my part of the world, where the cost of mid level gas is pushing 3.50 a gallon, there are many SUV’s. Property taxes doubled or tripled when property values rose, and those whose incomes don’t meet the needs of the out of control increases of necessary expenses find themselves choosing between food and heat, gas and servicing the car. We’re told we’re not in a recession, more like a pause, while disposable income is evaporating into emissions that are thawing glaciers around the planet and the national debt is a number that burrows into infinity.

Elders who have already lived through one depression, might have the survival skills to weather a “recession”. They’ve got a year’s worth of toilet paper in the basement, bottle water and canned goods for months, powdered milk, and plenty of matches for the emergency lanterns, and batteries for the flashlights.

But these new people, the one’s who believe that the world turns just for them to get what they want, no matter the cost won’t find it so easy. In the scheme of things, those luxuries like, communication devices and 500 channels may fall by the wayside, in preference for real time activities like having conversations, and growing tomatoes, and corn in the neighborhoods where patches of green remain.