tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-111069232024-03-13T04:53:37.494-04:00Somewhere out there...Thomas Clarkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147413240088118519noreply@blogger.comBlogger128125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11106923.post-57166262254899221042020-11-03T11:10:00.001-05:002020-11-03T11:10:59.005-05:00November 3, 2020Yesterday's blog dealt with the elections and endorsements (the elections part of which is happening today). Today's blog deals with yesterday, the <a href="https://www.catholic.org/saints/allsouls/">feast of All Souls</a>. It is also known as the <a href="https://www.catholic.org/saints/day-of-the-dead/">Day Of The Dead</a> in certain Spanish cultures. I don't know if the souls actually return to earth on this day, but Catholic tradition observes this time as a way to honor all the souls, those who've lived in the past, ancestors, the forgotten, etc. <br>
<br>
I didn't have money on Sunday to honor all the departed I wanted to for the All Souls Day Mass, so I'll honor them here, in addition to my mother <a href="https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Faith-123">Patricia Faith Clarke (1942-91)</a>, who will have been passed 29 years as of this Thursday, November 5.<br><br>
<a href="https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Clarke-4508">Donald G. Clarke (1935-95)</a>. The upcoming December 27 will have marked 25 years since his passing. I don't have anywhere near enough time or space to detail my feelings on my father here. I wonder how he would react to me being a published <a href="https://www.wattpad.com/user/netscaper113">writer</a> and <a href="https://hearthis.at/4pklgqw2/">music producer,</a> although I can't make money off of either. <br><br>
<a href="https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/publicopiniononline/obituary.aspx?n=sally-g-bowling-faith&pid=186570570&fhid=8385">Sally Bowling (1943-2017)</a>. I didn't know until recently that she was my half-aunt, but she still is my full Godmother. She had health problems for most of the time I knew her, but she was always fun to be around. She even liked some of my music (even though she never knew that the "<a href="https://hearthis.at/4pklgqw2/memories-or-lack-thereof/">Memories</a>" song was about her and my Godfather, her husband).<br><br>
<a href="https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/publicopiniononline/obituary.aspx?n=larry-e-bowling&pid=171942804&fhid=8385">Larry Bowling (1941-2014)</a>. My Godfather never got to listen to my music. But he was one of 2 relatives who got me into coin collecting. When I lived in Pennsylvania at the end of 2003, I got him into attending Mass again. I didn't know until then that he was a huge fan of choir music, and it's hard to hear choir music now without thinking of him.<br><br>
<a href="https://memorials.geiselfuneralhome.com/Barnhart-Rodger/2866549/obituary.php">Rodger Barnhart (1938-2017)</a>. If it wasn't for Uncle Rodger, my parents would have never been introduced to each other. Uncle Rodger was stationed in the same unit as my father during Vietnam. My last memories of him were of the drive from Chambersburg to the Amtrak station in Harrisburg. I didn't know until then that he liked any type of electronic or chillout music. He never got to hear any of my music, but some of my recent music (especially the <a href="https://hearthis.at/4pklgqw2/thomas-clarke-therapy-mastered/">Therapy</a> song) was inspired by that trip, and I got the idea for the <a href="https://hearthis.at/4pklgqw2/tribulation-mastered/">Tribulation</a> song right after his passing. <br><br>
<a href="https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Stokes-1298">Hazel Stokes Clarke (1911-95)</a>. She was the only grandmother I remembered, as my other grandmother <a href="https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Fogal-11">(Grace Fogal Faith)</a> died shortly after my birth. Grandma Hazel was very eccentric. My 2015 trip to her hometown of Toronto filled in some blanks on her life (born at home, raised in an apartment above a fish and chips shop, her father's ruinous lawsuit against his brother that led to the loss of his business and emigration to Detroit). When I first got my DNA test, I wasn't sure if I was related to her. Now, a good chunk of my DNA matches (and nearly all the ones from the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) are from her branch of the family tree. Grandma Hazel also got me into coin collecting. If she were still alive, I don't know who she would be more disappointed in- me, my sister, or my estranged niece Allie.<br><br>
<a href="https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Clarke-4514">George F. Clarke (1908-81)</a>. As he died when I was elementary school, I didn't know much about him when he died. I know his health was why my family left Colorado Springs after my father's retirement from the Air Force. I didn't know until well after he died who his parents were, his sales career, his closeness to his mother (who died before my father was born), his military career during WW2, or that he actually was suffering from ALS at the time of his death. Probably the one thing I remember most about him is a song he always sang to my grandmother. I have no idea if he wrote it himself or appropriated it from Vaudeville or Tin Pan Alley.<br>
<i>
You'll take Grace with a bulldog face<br>
But I'll take Hazel<br>
You'll take Rose with a turned up nose<br>
But I'll take Hazel<br>
She's the kind of smarty<br>
Who breaks up every party<br>
Don't take Hazel, don't take Hazel<br>
I'll take her myself, by gosh!<br></i><br>
<a href="https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Faith-142">Richard J Faith (1915-95)</a>. The grandfather I remember most, and the soul on here most likely to still be in <a href="https://www.catholic.com/tract/purgatory">Purgatory</a> after 25 years. He was good at building stuff and electrical work. I didn't know until after he died that he was into boating. I found out years after he died that he should have been a Mateer instead of a Faith (as his parents never married, and his father was drafted into WW1 shortly after his birth). My DNA test results show relation to quite a few Mateers at 3rd Cousin level and above. He was not above taking advantage of family, including coercing me to drive him to drive from Chambersburg to the bus station in Louisville, KY, when I had plans to go from Chambersburg to NYC (the opposite direction). He left his tickets to head back in my car, and it took a lot of searching in Midtown to find a FedEx to send off the tickets. About 4 years later, I ended up moving to NYC on a permanent basis. Supposedly he cheated on my grandmother Grace, but DNA tests on one of my Godmother's daughters prove that my grandmother got back at him, and he was forced to raise a daughter that wasn't his. As I am Catholic, I don't believe in Karma. But my mother, Godmother, and other aunts and uncles managed to survive their time with him.
Thomas Clarkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147413240088118519noreply@blogger.com0Colorado Springs, CO, USA38.8338816 -104.8213634-6.9521777995206335 -175.1338634 84.619940999520622 -34.508863399999996tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11106923.post-1819523478080509292020-11-02T20:24:00.003-05:002020-11-03T11:06:36.905-05:00November 2, 2020Once again, an election presents itself as the "biggest election in our lifetime". And considering how divided this nation is getting, they may be right. Since I last blogged, the House became Democratic and the Senate got more Republican. An annoying virus swept the world, and killed 2-5% of its victims. Riots have gotten more commonplace. Antifa is getting bolder, and ideas that were considered crackpot when I attended Brooklyn College over 20 years ago are now the mainstream of the Democratic Party. And cancel culture is the norm.<br><BR>
I don't how likely any of these are to win, but here are my endorsements for tomorrow's election:<br><BR>
PRESIDENT<br>
Donald Trump. Yeah, I know, from a character perspective, he's the Republican version of Bill Clinton (and that is NOT a compliment). But he has caused the economy to grow far better than it did under my distant cousin Obama. Trump has actually governed as a conservative, and has gotten tough with our biggest economic and military adversary (<a href="https://www.newsweek.com/china-bigger-threat-us-russia-former-nato-commander-warns-1038016">China, not the rapidly declining Putinist Russia</a>). He has appointed 3 originalist Supreme Court Justices and hundreds of Federal judges to undo the activist judiciary promoted by his mostly Democrat predecessors. I don't know if it is because of his mainstream policies or his outrageous behavior, but the Democrats have gotten more radical in their opposition to him. Since 2016, the Democratic Party has embraced radical left ideas such as socialism, critical race theory/1619ism, higher taxes, Supreme Court packing, restrictions on religion, and bringing back the hated Obamacare Individual Mandate. Joe Biden may be the Democratic name on the ballot, but the real power if Biden is elected will be with <a href="https://www.catholicleague.org/kamala-harris-catholic-problem/">anti-Catholic VP Kamala Harris</a> and the radical left. Since Trump is the only thing standing between these leftist lunatics and control of the United States Government, I have no choice but to support Trump.<br><BR>
<br>
SENATE (Colorado)<br>
Cory Gardner. He is probably the only statewide elected official that I have any respect for. He is a common sense conservative, and the only member of the Colorado congressional delegation with any major accomplishments (The BLM and Space Force headquarters moving to Colorado). Hickenlooper has broken his previous rule against negative campaigning, has gotten even more left wing, and has an <a href="https://coloradosun.com/2020/06/12/john-hickenlooper-ethics-violation/">ethics problem</a> that mainfested during his last term as Colorado Governor.<br><BR>
<br>
HOUSE
District 3<br>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauren_Boebert">Lauren Boebert</a>. She made her name as a vocal opponent to the state's COVID 19 restrictions on businesses, and parlayed that into an upset win in the Republican primary over incumbent Scott Tipton. Diane Mitsch Bush is an academic socialist masquerading as a compromising moderate.<br><BR>
District 5<br>
No endorsement. This district has never been represented by a Democrat. The palatable Libertarian candidate (<a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Doug_Lunde">Doug Lunde</a>) pulled out of the race days before the election. Democrat Jillian Freeland is too liberal for this district. And Doug Lamborn is the kind of Republican who gives the party a bad name. He muscled out any primary competition this year despite a <a href="https://patch.com/colorado/colorado-springs/congressman-lamborn-ousted-ballot-colo-supreme-court"> recent challenge to his ability to run for re-election</a>.<br><BR>
NY House District 11
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicole_Malliotakis">Nicole Malliotakis</a>. Historically this Staten Island based district has been the conservative beacon of the NYC Congressional delegation. It needs to return to that.<br><BR>
Colorado Amendments<br><BR>
Amendment B<br>
No. Tampering with the state Constitution to lower business property taxes inevitably results in higher taxes for homeowners.<br><BR>
Amendment C<br>
Yes. A common sense loosening of restrictions for charatable organizations that want to obtain charitable gaming licenses.<br><BR>
Amendment 76<br>
HELL YES. Passing this amendment means only US Citizens can vote in Colorado elections. The status quo is in violation of <a href="https://www.usa.gov/who-can-vote">federal law</a>, so this should be a no brainer.<br><BR>
Amendment 77<br>
Yes. Only 3 cities in this state allow legal gaming, so why shouldn't those cities' voters determine allowing more (or less) gaming types and regulations?<br><BR>
Propositions<br><BR>
Proposistion EE<br>
Yes. This allows vaping to be taxed- currently it is far cheaper to vape than to smoke cigarettes. Personally I think all forms of smokable tobacco should be outlawed and eradicated from the earth, but that is not up for vote this year.<br><BR>
Proposition 113<br>
HELL NO. Tampering with the spirit (if not letter) of the US Constitution in order to make it easier for popular vote winners (i.e. Democrats) to become President is a very bad idea.<br><BR>
Proposition 114<br>
No. Gray wolves don't need government intervention to return to the wildlands of Colorado.<br><BR>
Proposition 115<br>
HELL YES. Currently abortion in Colorado is <a href="https://www.elifenetwork.com/duedatetoolate/">legal up to childbirth</a>. While I would like to see this barbarous practice outlawed, this proposition lowers the age at which a fetus can be aborted to 22 weeks, which is line with most of the rest of country.<br><BR>
Proposition 116 <br>
HELL YES. This lowers the state income tax from 4.63% to 4.55%. Sadly, there is a very vocal opposition to lowering taxes in this state, mostly by the same idiots who want to overturn TABOR.<br><BR>
Proposition 117<br>
Yes. This strengthens <a href="https://leg.colorado.gov/agencies/legislative-council-staff/tabor">TABOR</a> by mandating voter approval of any government enterprise that is currently exempt from TABOR.<br><BR>
Proposition 118<br>
HELL NO. Paid Medical and Family leave is the reponsibilty of employers, not the government. If this becomes law, expect taxes to be raised considerably in order to pay for this.<br><BR>
The Judiciary<br>
Colorado allows for Judicial elections for state and county judges. In other words, if you don't like a corrupt judge in this state, you can fire them with your vote in this state. As nearly the entire state judiciary on this year's ballot was appointed by Democrats, I urge a no vote on all of them. Too bad this is not an option in my former home state of New York.
Thomas Clarkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147413240088118519noreply@blogger.com0Colorado Springs, CO, USA38.8338816 -104.821363411.942931383393507 -139.9776134 65.7248318166065 -69.6651134tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11106923.post-45165474957082655382018-12-31T05:00:00.000-05:002018-12-31T05:00:03.457-05:00December 31, 2018It's been a strange year for me. But the world (and America in particular) has also had a messed up 2018.<br>
<br>
I wrote 2 years ago that Donald Trump could be a great President or give in to his caustic personality. Obviously he has done more of the latter- a summit with North Korea's Kim the Insane and a good economy due to less regulation and the abolition of the Obamacare tax are overshadowed by his obsession with a border wall, his desire to end birthright citizenship, tariffs with China that are undoing the good Trump has done for the economy, and his stonewalling over the Muller investigation that is proving that Trump's personality quirks (i.e. <a href="https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2018/aug/23/donald-trump-and-hush-money-it-legal-it-worse-jayw/">paying off mistresses and lying about it</a>) are more criminal than the Russian contacts and meddling done by Trump associates and to a smaller extent by allies of the Hildabeest. Trump is rapidly becoming the Republican version of Bill Clinton (the most corrupt President of my lifetime), and that is not a compliment.<br>
<br>
While North Korea is less likely to nuke us than they were at the start of 2018, China is becoming more aggressive, and Mad Vlad Putin's Russia is becoming more confrontational.<br>
<br>
The environment is changing. Contrary to most radical environmentalist beliefs, climate is not static and is always changing. Some things man cannot influence or control (i.e. volcanism, tsunamis, the <a href="http://theconversation.com/africa-is-splitting-in-two-here-is-why-94056">East African Rift splitting the continent of Africa apart</a>, the fact that warming always comes after an ice age, <a href="https://www.whoi.edu/news-release/why-is-sea-level-rising-higher-in-some-places-along-u-s--east-coast-than-others">the slow crustal sinking on the East Coast that is changing that coast's sea level</a>), but pollution is affecting wind patterns, rain, and temperature variances. It used to be called Global Warming, but it's not causing warming everywhere. In some places, rainfall is increasing (<a href="https://phys.org/news/2017-05-heavier-precipitation-northeast-began.html">especially the Northeast</a>), <a href="https://science2017.globalchange.gov/downloads/CSSR_Ch7_Precipitation.pdf">while out West and in the Southeast, annual rainfall is decreasing</a>. Glaciers are melting, and there is unusual warming in the Arctic. Combine rising sea levels and the natural sinking of the east coast, and it spells disaster for Atlantic coastal communities, especially Florida, the NYC area, and the Gulf Coast.<br>
<br>
Trump's attitude led to the Democratic takeover for the House, which promises even more gridlock in 2019. Conversely, it also led to a more Republican Senate, which is good on the judicial front but bad for gridlock and getting anything legislative done. The judiciary has no business doing the legislative branch's work, but both sides seem to be content on letting the courts approve things that could never pass a legislative vote. This is why there was so much contention over the Kavanaugh vote earlier this year.<br>
<br>
I have problems with most of the media. Right wing talk show hosts are screaming more and trying to defend Trump actions that are indefensible. The left (espeially NBC/MSNBC) is anti-Trump all the time (even on the good things he's done), and supportive of things that are even more radical than anything Trump has done (i.e. open borders, excessive regulation, Medicare for all, pre-JFK Federal income tax rates, Socialism, and overt hostility towards Catholics and Evangelicals).<br>
<br>
Personally, I don't see how this country can unify or avoid a civil war. Hopefully I can afford to move out of the US if it ever gets to that.Thomas Clarkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147413240088118519noreply@blogger.com0Colorado Springs, CO, USA38.8338816 -104.821363438.4383081 -105.4668104 39.229455099999996 -104.17591639999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11106923.post-58000608078515366902018-12-30T21:57:00.000-05:002018-12-30T22:03:17.389-05:00December 30, 2018What a long strange year it's been. I started the year with a high paying job in a small town in Maine. I had an apartment, a cat named Misty, and a 17 year old Ford Taurus that had handled a cross country move from Texas to Maine with minimal difficulty.<br>
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<br>
Less than a month later, I was unemployed, the apartment was no longer in my name, Misty was in the <a href="https://www.gahumane.org/">Greater Androscoggin Humane Society shelter</a>, and the Taurus had barely survived a move from Maine to Brooklyn after a steering hose burst that wiped out my savings. My remaining possessions were in a storage unit in Long Island City. By the end of March, the Taurus was in the possession of a formerly car-less West Indian couple from Long Island, and I was in a psychosis inducing living environment in the New York City shelter system. By that time, I had resumed regular writing for the first time since March 2016 thanks to the <a href="https://holyapostlessoupkitchen.wordpress.com/">Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen Writers' Workshop</a>.<br>
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<br>
By the end of April, I had enough. <a href="https://www.nychealthandhospitals.org/elmhurst/">Elmhurst Hospital</a> diagnosed me with a severe case of depression. I had snuck my laptop into the shelter and composed a few songs- <a href="https://hearthis.at/4pklgqw2/spring-cleaning/">one of which mixed EDM and classical</a>. I used what little savings I had from my state tax refunds and public assistance to pay for a one way flight out of NYC and the shelter system to Denver.<br>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiYylrxk2m14AOjD-GgwcfECDxBoFZzHZVZtV1SWXJq0ZnD65SVX7JIR0EXNr969kG0dRWwWU7RVi0ztmaOWGEmGk6PEFV3k5xXlihXAfpFdSGt1Iz4f6cGlZA_j-IsFFVrJVk/s1600/IMG_20180709_141348997_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiYylrxk2m14AOjD-GgwcfECDxBoFZzHZVZtV1SWXJq0ZnD65SVX7JIR0EXNr969kG0dRWwWU7RVi0ztmaOWGEmGk6PEFV3k5xXlihXAfpFdSGt1Iz4f6cGlZA_j-IsFFVrJVk/s320/IMG_20180709_141348997_HDR.jpg" width="180" height="320" data-original-width="900" data-original-height="1600" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj13YP4Z-DaPkQgHTFHn-oiTe1jcZCv7vefsaUcbW_LgmGRywhPj6Y5cpN_Tb3ixgEyJyeBEaMYNwRddSRZH6wyQewOaXDUE2PZ0vv4SRvtYcZwYNQIzxpVv4-tzgvfrEki1edo/s1600/IMG_20180620_215746934.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj13YP4Z-DaPkQgHTFHn-oiTe1jcZCv7vefsaUcbW_LgmGRywhPj6Y5cpN_Tb3ixgEyJyeBEaMYNwRddSRZH6wyQewOaXDUE2PZ0vv4SRvtYcZwYNQIzxpVv4-tzgvfrEki1edo/s320/IMG_20180620_215746934.jpg" width="320" height="180" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="900" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAwc9w64xFuqjsUzFytCXrzU7O495cQV1qFSUmqlkETA5BQlu-Td3MlEt-3rEn1WJQsQ_fRQfSTRTFPEfoZUtHGywP-ZzG76Hpxi3uIPtPZUJ1qsfWo_l6wsEB6k3iG2Yd2bDg/s1600/IMG_20180617_124832064.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAwc9w64xFuqjsUzFytCXrzU7O495cQV1qFSUmqlkETA5BQlu-Td3MlEt-3rEn1WJQsQ_fRQfSTRTFPEfoZUtHGywP-ZzG76Hpxi3uIPtPZUJ1qsfWo_l6wsEB6k3iG2Yd2bDg/s320/IMG_20180617_124832064.jpg" width="320" height="180" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="900" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilOaWTLNyvJU1K8iT3kRReUB6XL_0IGx42COydhAOxg-GbJ-i3iZJl7XCGibHz4xDA-3xRCPKa7gcBIj6EyrQLV2WIgO86sd185X0iX4GBCAJS71YwVqAyYilrA-LZENvsqy51/s1600/IMG_20180501_151108210.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilOaWTLNyvJU1K8iT3kRReUB6XL_0IGx42COydhAOxg-GbJ-i3iZJl7XCGibHz4xDA-3xRCPKa7gcBIj6EyrQLV2WIgO86sd185X0iX4GBCAJS71YwVqAyYilrA-LZENvsqy51/s320/IMG_20180501_151108210.jpg" width="320" height="180" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="900" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMTIcrn7TXHTHzQYHLRv2j_bG6KqZEXipQEMNSMP1wQLza8kpiOQzwH1-xnqKJQPEaPUosSkK9bBISi5axiaIqDBFm31HBemBdqa_mRfRMbmzbAXIPKEgF3yeWPgo27fVp7K2a/s1600/IMG_20180501_073211.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMTIcrn7TXHTHzQYHLRv2j_bG6KqZEXipQEMNSMP1wQLza8kpiOQzwH1-xnqKJQPEaPUosSkK9bBISi5axiaIqDBFm31HBemBdqa_mRfRMbmzbAXIPKEgF3yeWPgo27fVp7K2a/s320/IMG_20180501_073211.jpg" width="320" height="192" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="960" /></a></div>
I spent a little over a week in Denver before ending up in one of their <a href="https://samhousedenver.org/">shelters</a>, which was run by Denver's Catholic Charities. That situation was a lot less chaotic than the CAMBA, Ward's Island, and SCO shelters in New York. I was able to find temp work rather quickly. But the temp assignments were not permanent, and the one permanent job I secured (which lasted 10 days) put me at odds with my body clock and the shelter's meal schedule. During my spare time, I joined a writer's group from Denver called <a href="http://www.writedenver.org/hard-times-workshops/">Hard Times</a>. But after 2 months in the shelter and nothing permanent on the horizon, I decided to move back to my hometown of Colorado Springs in mid-July.<br>
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I blew most of my savings on a month and a half of a house share rental in the Hillside neighborhood. After numerous job rejections (including one at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chidlaw_Building">Chidlaw Building</a> where my father worked in the 1970s), I was hired by Elwood Staffing (the successor to my former longtime employer of SOS Staffing), and sent to a warehouse on the south side of town. The work was unlike any previous warehouse or assembly work I had done before. My coworkers were very close-knit and social, a major departure in attitude from previous co-workers in Denver, NYC, and Texas. My medical records were transferred to Peak Vista and <a href="https://www.aspenpointe.org/">Aspen Pointe</a>. By the end of my first visit to Aspen Pointe, I found out I was misdiagnosed in NYC and Denver- I have been suffering from (previously undiagnosed) <a href="https://www.anxiety.org/ptsd-non-veteran-ptsd-post-traumatic-stress-disorder-civilians">PTSD</a> for years, dating back to when my father was still alive. Numerous events have triggered it, including my mother's sudden death in 1991, the events of 1995 (when I lost my grandparents and father within a 9 month span), my eviction and subsequent blacklisting by the Colorado Springs Salvation Army in January 2015 which led to a Catholic Charities assisted Greyhound ticket back east, and most recently, the violent DeLousio-mandated NYC shelter nightmare.<br>
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By late October, I had enough money to buy a car, a Buick Century. Due to an extended Thanksgiving break, I drove the Buick east towards Pennsylvania and NYC. I got to visit my relatives in PA for the first time in over a year. And the Buick was big enough to fit all of my belongings from the storage unit, which I emptied in the Buick's only (day) trip to NYC. The ride back was scary, after running out of money due to an unexpected insurance bill and snow-related road closures in Missouri.<br>
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Less than a week after my return from Pennsylvania, the warehouse laid me off. Apparently the decision was made high up in the company because my supervisor and co-workers had no idea until I returned to clean out my locker. Elwood sent me to a lumber company (which resulted in 2 hours of work and a finger injury) and to a moving company that handled events at the Broadmoor. About 10 days after I was laid off, I was called back to my former warehouse site, and I'm still there to this day.<br>
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I have been going to Mass at <a href="https://www.stmaryscathedral.org/">St. Mary's Cathedral</a> since I returned to the Springs. A few people there remember me from the previous times I attended Mass. One family even invited me to their Christmas luncheon, to which I am very thankful.<br>
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What a long strange year it's been. I'm not quite up to where I was in early January. But I've discovered a lot about myself. I'm probably more open to different kinds of friends and relationships. I'm probably more Catholic than I was at the start of the year, as various church-run institutions in Denver and Colorado Springs helped me recover from a traumatic and violent situation in New York. I'm a more prolific writer than I have been in years. I have written 2 short stories with characters I haven't written about since 2011. Thanks to Holy Apostles, Hard Times, and <a href="https://www.wattpad.com/user/netscaper113">Wattpad</a>, anyone can read and comment on these works. I haven't composed as much music as I normally do (although I'm working on a couple of tracks for my annual New Year's Day release on Tuesday). Hopefully in 2019 I can get more settled.Thomas Clarkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147413240088118519noreply@blogger.com0Colorado Springs, CO, USA38.8338816 -104.821363438.4383081 -105.4668104 39.229455099999996 -104.17591639999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11106923.post-90101469246564273842018-08-28T22:18:00.001-04:002018-08-28T22:18:29.402-04:00August 28, 2018At this point, I don't know what to think of life anymore. I moved back to my hometown of Colorado Springs 6 weeks ago and blew my entire savings into getting into a room rental that is cheaper than anything I've lived in since San Antonio. But the job market is nowhere near as great as it is presented in the local media and government websites. I don't know how much of this is due to my bad history (i.e. the Goodwill fiasco in 2007, my lack of transportation since March 2018, and being banned for life from anything to do with the local chapter of the Salvation Army in January 2015).<br>
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I finally did secure temp work this week, at the successor to my longtime former Springs employer of SOS Staffing (which was the only Springs employer to give me a positive reference). But I won't see any income that could cover my monthly rent before mid-September.<br>
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I don't know what happens next. I have no money to cover non-rent expenses. I don't expect the landlord to accept rent 2 weeks late, especially because that is longer than the unpaid rent time required for eviction. I've tried most of the charitable organizations and even GoFundMe, to no avail. <br>
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I don't expect to blog again anytime soon because I don't know if I can survive this after a combined 6 months of homelessness so far this year.<br>
Thomas Clarkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147413240088118519noreply@blogger.com0427 Prospect Lake Dr, Colorado Springs, CO 80906, USA38.827138521422768 -104.8033821215123638.825592021422764 -104.80590362151236 38.828685021422771 -104.80086062151236tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11106923.post-51846158473002358562018-08-25T23:24:00.001-04:002018-08-25T23:24:49.410-04:00August 25, 2018I don't have respect for most politicians these days. Our current President is scandal-prone, uncouth, and a walking disaster. And yet he won because his opponent was even worse- contemptuous of the law, promoting a political philosophy at odds with most Americans, and dismissive of her detractors to the point of calling them deplorables. And the current governor of my former state got away with saying 4 years ago that pro-life Catholics and gun rights supporters have no business living there. Where I live now, a crony corporate socialist almost in the mold of Bill De(mon)Blasio is leading the conservative outgoing state treasurer to be the next governor.<br>
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There is one fewer Senator tonight. Not too long after deciding to stop treatment for brain cancer, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/john-mccain-dead-81-arizona-maverick-senator-death-after-stopped-brain-cancer-treatment-live-updates/">he passed this evening in Arizona</a>. John McCain straddled the line between conservatism and moderation, and was called a "Maverick" as a result. In a sense, he was the last grownup left in Congress.<br>
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I got to meet John McCain in late 1999 at a political rally in Staten Island that I was covering for Brooklyn College's Journalism program. He was a bit blunt as far as his political speeches went, but after the rally, he was very nice to the press and to the people who came to the VFW to hear him speak.<br>
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McCain was very cordial to his political opponents. The Democrats liked working with him until he won the Republican nomination for President in 2008. Then they threw everything and the kitchen sink at him to make sure that Obama got elected. He regained their favor over the last 2 years as he became a target of now-President Trump.<br>
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Over the last 26 years, politics has gotten more extreme and less unifying. Socialism used to be a dirty word in American politics, now it has taken hold of a large segment of the Democratic Party. What was considered mainstream when I was a child is now considered right-wing, oppressive, and something to be overturned. Progressivism used to mean supporting progress, now it's a code name for the radical left. Congress seems to be split between a few people with common sense, a few Trump sycophants, and a growing number of "progressives" who want to bring down Trump, conservatism, and the whole capitalist system.<br>
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With McCain gone, there are few politicians left who could reach across the aisle and be respected by both parties. And the parties are drifting further and further apart with nativist Trumpism on the Republican side and radical left wing socialist antifa racist redistribution on the Democrat side. Trump and his opponents have made it an us versus them battleground. With McCain gone, there is no prominent voice left to attempt to bridge the widening political gulf.<br>Thomas Clarkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147413240088118519noreply@blogger.com0427 Lake Trail 1.25 Mile Loop, Colorado Springs, CO 80910, USA38.827419935515735 -104.8022726434081238.815050935515735 -104.82244264340811 38.839788935515735 -104.78210264340812tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11106923.post-55442759550014575312018-04-24T17:28:00.000-04:002018-04-24T17:28:46.351-04:00April 24, 2018As if my life can't get any worse...<br>
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I got a rejection e-mail earlier today from the last outstanding job offer I had left in NYC. And to add insult to injury, I got a call this afternoon from the New York City ID program- an ID I applied for in March got sent to the shelter I'm staying at. The shelter refused the mail with the new ID in it (in blatant violation of their own policy), and it got sent back to the city. I was told to pick it up in person no earlier than May 4, but at this point, I have no intention in staying in NYC that long.<br>
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Right now the only thing keeping me here is a psychiatric appointment for tomorrow morning (which I probably need to attend now more than ever, even if it is more of a diagnostic appointment for wherever I do move to). I am exploring bus options (supposedly the city provides one way bus tickets out of town), but it looks like any move will probably not change my homeless status.<br>
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So much for getting a job that pays $13 and hour or getting the chance to vote Andrew "No Homo" Cuomo out of office this November...<br>Thomas Clarkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147413240088118519noreply@blogger.com089-11 Merrick Blvd., Queens, NY 11432, USA40.7078838 -73.79471530000000715.185849299999997 -115.1033093 66.2299183 -32.486121300000008tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11106923.post-15862069158188929632018-04-22T13:38:00.000-04:002018-04-24T17:29:39.597-04:00April 22, 2018Supposedly today is Earth Day. I understand the recycling and trying to protect the environment thing, but I don't understand the extremists who worship the earth as a god and are willing to save the planet at the expense of their own species.<br>
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I've been stuck for the last 3 months in the NYC homeless system. My first 3 weeks were at a "Drop-in" center in Brownsville, Brooklyn. Unlike city shelters, drop-in centers refuse to provide beds for their clients. They use chairs. 3 weeks of attempting to sleep in chairs and the back problems as a result of sleeping in chairs led to me entering the city's shelter system. I've spent over 10 weeks in that nightmare, with dozens of rejected job applications, the forced sale of my car, and the HRA/Public Assistance nightmare driving me to the brink of insanity.<br>
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I'm supposed to hear from my last outstanding job application tomorrow. The pay is minimum wage (although NYC's new minimum wage of $13 an hour is higher than anything I've ever earned before). But I see no point of staying in NYC and wasting away in the shelter system if I can't find work. I'd argue that unemployment has gone up here precisely because of the new minimum wage. And even that's not enough to keep up with the rents, with SROs now renting for far more than my last apartment in Maine.<br>
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I don't know if those fancy resumes, those sessions at the writer's workshop where I managed to start on a decent short story, or all that free medical care that proved that I still have asthma (and managed to prove and disprove that I had serious liver problems), I don't know if any of it was worth it.<br>Thomas Clarkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147413240088118519noreply@blogger.com089-11 Merrick Blvd., Queens, NY 11432, USA40.7078838 -73.79471530000000716.650300799999997 -115.1033093 64.7654668 -32.486121300000008tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11106923.post-9014972277383336352018-01-08T18:00:00.000-05:002018-01-08T18:00:47.648-05:00January 8, 2018Amazing how one event can send your whole life crashing down. In my case, it was a major car repair. What started off as an oil change appointment led to a burst steering hose and a check-busting $400 repair that due to the scarcity of replacement parts is still not completed yet, 3 days after I took the car in. Without a running car, I have no way of getting to work. Because of my lack of transportation, I no longer have a job. I have at most 10 days to find a job walking distance from my apartment before rent is due again. If I don't have the rent money, then I lose my apartment (and the $610 deposit), and will probably end up homeless again. So far this period since March 2015 has been my longest period of not being in a homeless shelter in the last 10 years. But I guess I can't escape the inevitable again.Thomas Clarkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147413240088118519noreply@blogger.com0Lewiston, ME, USA44.100351 -70.214776443.9178645 -70.5374999 44.282837500000007 -69.89205290000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11106923.post-86923048819936902762018-01-04T15:59:00.000-05:002018-01-04T15:59:17.722-05:00January 4, 2018It has been a busy few months since I last posted here. Since October, I've had my first apartment since May of 2011. About 2 months after I got the apartment, a new landlord bought out the building and changed the rent payment dates. I got to spend about a month alone before a nosy neighbor moved in.
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That nosy neighbor, known as Misty the Cat, has proven difficult to evict, even after she misbehaved and disfigured my face with her claws.
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For the first few weeks, she was a indoor/outdoor cat, due to the fact that she had been living outdoors for several days to several weeks before she barged into my apartment. She now spends her days indoors, using my tv stand as a lookout post and using the crawl space underneath the kitchen sink as a hideout whenever she hears a plastic bag crackle or hears boots stomping on the floor.
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I've been wearing my boots a lot due to the weather- snowstorm after snowstorm since early December, and 2 weeks plus of sub-zero mornings. The snowstorm today qualifies as a blizzard (probably more so than last week's Christmas storm that dumped a foot plus of snow on my neighborhood).
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If I didn't have an apartment, a needy cat, and a high paying job 23 miles from home, I'd consider moving to the warmer climates of New Jersey or Pennsylvania. But all this may come crashing down if my 16 year old Taurus (with 220000 miles that has never experienced these kind of weather conditions before) stops running.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcBHKqSV9f8TyBSueaOcV6-0RnsIEqiYraco7S7n7mwdlUejfj0rbYTK7lkBop-ZwTa9QEQTUS4geIuGmTX-3461DpC-sH_R8s1xSQJo01CNXTRCaBqnrPHec8L7EIuw49Pdtb/s1600/IMG_20180104_153817100.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcBHKqSV9f8TyBSueaOcV6-0RnsIEqiYraco7S7n7mwdlUejfj0rbYTK7lkBop-ZwTa9QEQTUS4geIuGmTX-3461DpC-sH_R8s1xSQJo01CNXTRCaBqnrPHec8L7EIuw49Pdtb/s320/IMG_20180104_153817100.jpg" width="320" height="180" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="900" /></a></div>Thomas Clarkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147413240088118519noreply@blogger.com0Lewiston, ME, USA44.100351 -70.214776443.9178645 -70.5374999 44.282837500000007 -69.89205290000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11106923.post-21851152147731320242017-08-15T15:24:00.000-04:002017-08-15T15:24:20.472-04:00August 15, 2017Today is the feast of the <a href="http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/the-history-of-the-assumption-and-why-its-a-holy-day-of-obligation-30528/">Assumption</a>, a Catholic religious holiday that honors Mary and her life (and after-life). I managed to attend the Assumption Mass at the Basilica on my first weekday off work in a while, while also signing up for uninsured health care at the local Catholic hospital, <a href="https://www.stmarysmaine.com/">St. Mary's</a>. I also removed my last vestige of Texas residency by finally switching the Taurus's license plates over to Maine for about $150.<br>
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Most Catholic holy days that honor Mary are supposed to be days of peace, but peace is in short supply in this world right now. The white nationalists and nazis are at it again, protesting and causing havoc, most recently with a white nationalist rally turned <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Unite_the_Right_rally#Vehicular_attack_on_counterprotesters">terrorist attack</a> in Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 12. Their main protests right now are over the removal of monuments that honor a 150+ year old defeated secessionist movement. Normal countries that survive civil wars would never allow widespread worship and remembrance of the defeated enemy, but this country allowed it. For 152 years. Now that the overwhelming majority of Americans (including most Republicans, despite what the leftists say) want these monuments to the proprietors of enslavement and the end of American unity gone.<br>
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The irony is that America is waking up to these mistakes at the same time it is splitting apart again. The battle lines this time aren't over enslavement of Africans (thankfully the Confederate defeat in 1865 ended that), but over the role of government, the value of life of the unborn, and cultural insanity (i.e. the left's political correctness) versus cultural common sense.
While the US is at war with itself, one of its most annoying adversaries is threatening nuclear war against it. North Korea has made similar threats before, but President Trump has figured out the status quo isn't working and is threatening to nuke North Korea if they attack the US. Kim the Insane already has the capability to wipe out South Korea, Guam, Hawaii, Southern Alaska, and California. Kim the Insane has already pissed off his Communist Chinese allies (who seem to be more afraid of Trump's actions than Kim the Insane is). I'd guess there probably will be war between Kim the Insane and the US in the near future. Millions of Koreans and Americans could die in such a war, which could easily dwarf the American casualties of the Civil War and World War 2. North Korea would lose, but what happens after Kim the Insane is nuked to Hell is what would could turn this war into global Armageddon. China could attack the US if what's left of Korea unifies into a pro-American government. Russia could get involved. Al Qaeda and Daesh could end up with black market North Korean nukes and start using them on the West. It's a scary new world.Thomas Clarkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147413240088118519noreply@blogger.com0200 Lisbon St, Lewiston, ME 04240, USA44.0954589 -70.21619799999996320.832997399999996 -111.52479199999996 67.3579204 -28.907603999999964tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11106923.post-73173049307106838572017-07-26T12:44:00.000-04:002017-07-26T12:44:17.839-04:00July 26, 2017Life is supposedly a long journey. If so, my journey in the last 6 months has been longer, bumpier, and more painful than most journeys have been. Since I last blogged, I spent a disastrous 3 months in Austin, Texas, working for my old warehouse, getting my old job back- and getting paid less and getting run out of the job after 3 months. I was planning on moving from Texas to either Pennsylvania or New Jersey when the warehouse job ended. Instead, I ended up in Maine with 2 job offers. I ended up working in a warehouse for a well-known Maine company, commuting from my current residence in Lewiston to Freeport.<br>
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I also got to visit family I haven't seen in years. I got to see my sister and nephew in Western Tennessee (the first time I've been in that state in over 20 years). I got to see my father's eccentric cousin in Franklin. The only relative in Tennessee I didn't get to see was my niece, who was finishing up her final month teaching in Cheatham County and who will be joining other family in Franklin next month while teaching at a better school. As far as I know, my niece has not experienced the horrors in her profession that most of my teacher friends in New York have (i.e. death threats, abusive students, flying metal trash cans, etc).<br>
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I next went to Chambersburg. After my uncle Rodger Barnhart's passing in March and my Godmother/Aunt Sally Bowling's recovery from a life threatening infection in April, I had to visit my surviving relatives. Most of them still remembered who I was. But as I've gotten older, they've gotten much older. It's scary thinking of Aunts and Uncles under the age of 80 needing to be in a retirement community. It's disturbing knowing that several of my relatives are battling dementia. I probably could have gotten a warehouse job in Chambersburg, but I had to at least go to the interviews I had waiting for me in Maine on June 12.<br>
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The first interview was a bit of a disaster. The second interview went well. And after spending $200 for 3 nights lodging, I was exploring my only affordable non-shelter option in Lewiston on June 13 when both called me and told me I was hired. One wanted me to start that week, the other started on the 26th. I ended up working for both until the 26th and staying with the warehouse job that was closer to Lewiston. Both paid $12 an hour, a record as far as hourly salary for me.<br>
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Now I'm getting used to long rural drives, cheaper car insurance, and wondering how much longer a 2001 Ford Taurus approaching 214000 miles can continue to hold on. It managed to get me from San Antonio to Austin to Tennessee to Chambersburg to New York to Maine over the last 7 months. Now I need the car to get to everywhere except Mass (my current residence is a block from Maine's only Catholic Basilica) and the library.<br>
Thomas Clarkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147413240088118519noreply@blogger.com0200 Lisbon St, Lewiston, ME 04240, USA44.0954589 -70.21619799999996320.834507399999996 -111.52479199999996 67.3564104 -28.907603999999964tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11106923.post-87187159700190731772016-11-13T16:16:00.000-05:002016-11-13T16:16:02.269-05:00November 13, 2016What a difference a week makes. Last Sunday, I was updating my laptop computer at the McCreless Library for what I thought would be the last time as an American. Now, I'm debating on what to do with all that money I saved for an international move that thanks to Trump's victory won't happen this year.<br>
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I spent most of the last few hours updating my laptop at the library again. I updated and remastered 4 tracks from previous years on Soundcloud. It helps my still minuscule music career if I have professionally mastered tracks on my <a href="https://soundcloud.com/netscaper113">Soundcloud</a> page. It would be great if there were a terrestrial radio station in San Antonio that actually played EDM or Dubstep or Trance. And I still don't know how to contribute to Channel 5's "Breakfast Tracks", bumper music they play during their morning newscast.<br>
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San Antonio seems to be politically divided, although not as violently divided as many other major US cities. Yesterday, the city's downtown was full of life, with the normal tourist hordes, a Veteran's Parade, the city's official car show, a Notre Dame/Army college football game at the Alamodome, and an anti-Trump rally that compared to most of the others disgracing this land was rather peaceful. Most of these other rallies are at the very least <a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2016/11/anti-trump_protests_held_for_f.html">destructive</a>, hateful and at worse, bystanders have been <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/anti-trump-protests-continue-3rd-night-portland-experiences/story?id=43479936">shot</a> and police have gotten <a href="http://wane.com/2016/11/13/2-officers-injured-7-arrests-made-during-indianapolis-anti-trump-rally/">attacked</a>. The DNC and liberal media have been unable to tell these protestors that the election is over, they lost, and they need to go home (or better yet, to Canada). Most of the protestors are leftist millennials. If these unruly youths are truly the future of this country and they want the same leftist anti-Catholic, anti-life, anti-economic-common-sense crap that the Democrats thrust upon the populace before this months election, then I may have to leave if they ever do take power again.<br>
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Between this broken country, my still messed up personal life, and my seriously ill uncle, maybe I need to pray more.<br>
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I did go to the evening Mass at the Cathedral last night. San Fernando Cathedral is one of the most welcoming Catholic churches I've ever been to. If a 300 year old church with a predominately Hispanic congregation can be so welcome to international and English speaking tourists, then maybe there is hope for this society.<br>Thomas Clarkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147413240088118519noreply@blogger.com01043 Ada St, San Antonio, TX 78223, USA29.382706 -98.4585359999999811.8383104999999986 -139.76712999999998 56.9271015 -57.149941999999982tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11106923.post-35946268229505464862016-11-09T15:53:00.000-05:002016-11-09T15:55:58.890-05:00November 9, 2016Up until about 2:30AM this moring, I was expecting to have to contact the US embassy in either Toronto, Dublin, or Belfast this afternoon to make an appointment in early December to renounce my citizenship. I was expecting to fire up a GoFundMe page to come up with the thousands of dollars necessary to rid me of ties to a pending government that would be openly hostile to my existence. I was expecting to hear the media elites gloat about how the intelligentsia defeated the deplorables. I was expecting to hear how lower class whites, pro lifers, and conservatives in general would never have power or influence in America ever again.<br>
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Not being able to sleep (due to having to leave for work in about 2 hours), I turned on Channel 5, San Antonio's local CBS station. The graphics were pretty damn clear, Donald J Trump elected 45th President. Apparently Trump won my current home state of Texas (so much for this being a swing state), battleground states Ohio, Pennsylvania, Iowa, and North Carolina, and shockingly, he won Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. At last count, he has 278 electoral votes and a popular vote advatage over the Hildabeest. I guess my prayers were answered.<br>
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From what I saw of his acceptance speech, Trump seemed pretty generous towards the Hildabeest. Hillary, for her part, didn't attend her own election party at the Javits Center. She had her anti-Catholic lackey John Podesta tell the crowd at Javits to go home after the networks called it for Trump.<br>
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Depite the crushing victory of Trump and the Republicans over the liberal establishment, the changes necessary for this country will not happen overnight, or even within a week of Trump's inauguration. The dreaded Obamacare will be gone by January, but there will still need to be an overhaul of what is left of the healthcare system. Trade deals will need to be renegotiated. A new Supreme Court justice will need to be appointed and voted upon. Planned Parenthood and other left wing leeches on the Federal Treasury will need to be de-funded. And a broken nation where half of America thinks the new power will destroy them needs to be healed. Too many have bought into the liberal lies about minority disenfranchisement when the only ones who have been deliberately disenfranchised over the last 24 years have been the idealogical opponents of the elites.<br>
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Will Trump be able to create much needed change for this country? Will his odious aspects surface and cause a national crisis? Who knows? But the imperfect candidate who campaigned on the right issues won last night, and the worst possible candidate who represented everything I loathe about America lost. And because everything I hated about American politics and government will be out of commission come late January, I no longer have a reason to renounce my US citizenship. But if I ever get a decent job offer or win the lottery, I'd still move to Ireland. I just now don't have to move there next month to save my physical and mental well-being.<br>
Thomas Clarkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147413240088118519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11106923.post-84791388394347735492016-11-05T13:00:00.000-04:002016-11-05T13:58:38.918-04:00November 5, 2016This might be my last blog for a long while. 25 years ago today, my mother died. She had been suffering from lymphoma for about 3 years by that point. She was at the (since-shuttered) Baptist Downtown Hospital in Memphis, TN, for an (at-the-time) experimental stem-cell treatment. She died about 12 hours before she was scheduled to get out of the hospital. My mother's death destroyed what was left of my family. My father and grandmother died 4 years later, and my mother's family in Chambersburg rarely communicated with my father after that.<br>
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For about the next 80 hours, the country I currently call home faces the most divisive Presidential campaign in the last 156 years. The votes should be counted by late evening of Tuesday the 8th. By the following morning, the world should know if the next so-called leader of the free world is a billionaire idiot with some good ideas on fixing corruption and replacing Obamacare- or a corrupt leftist female canine who is <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/02/12/planned-parenthood-and-hillary-clinton-the-fewer-men-the-better/">anti-male</a>, anti-Catholic, and under <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/fbi-investigation-clinton-foundation-hillary-indictment-likely">FBI investigation</a>. Regardless of who wins, I see a lot more civil unrest in America's future. This election has caused deep rifts in America. Democrats blame it on Trump's caustic personality. Conservatives blame it on the corruption of the establishment. Some people believe in and advocate <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/8590/state-university-now-offers-stop-white-people-pardes-seleh#modal"> racial divisions (i.e. minorities against "Whitey")</a>. Many believe in affirmative action, a deliberate form of racism. Some believe <a href="http://www.copblock.org/1504/policebad/">law enforcement</a> is evil. Many believe <a href="http://www.lifenews.com/2016/09/30/hillary-clinton-vows-to-repeal-hyde-amendment-and-force-americans-to-fund-abortions/">infanticide should remain legal and be expanded</a>. Most Democrats support government funding of Planned Parenthood, the nation's biggest infanticide provider and an <a href="http://www.blackgenocide.org/sanger05.html">organization created to prevent inferior</a> (i.e. minority or disabled) people from reproducing. Some people believe racial diversity is a bad thing. Some think thoughts should be controlled. Some think the government should control everything and punish those who defy or oppose government regulations. Some think male nature has to be changed. Some think women are too uppity for their own good. Some think women should be beaten or killed for defying a man. Some people think guns should be banned. Many disagree, and the vast majority of those aren't criminals. Many of both parties think people of my faith (Catholicism) don't belong in the public sphere. Indeed, some of Hillary Clinton's allies (including John Podesta) advocated "<a href="https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/6293">infiltrating</a>" the Church to make it more left-wing American, while others (including <a href="http://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2014/gov-cuomo-says-new-york-has-no-room-for-extreme-conservatives.cfm">Andrew Cuomo</a>) have advocated their relocation outside their political jurisdictions.<br>
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The last time such differing and incompatible ideologies competed in the national sphere, the result was the Civil War from 1861-65. For obvious reasons, unless the elements of American politics that are openly hostile to my beliefs and existence are dealt with defeat and permanent obsolescence, I don't see a future for myself in this country. I don't believe in government over-regulation. I don't believe in legalized infanticide. I don't believe in discrimination against people of different races, and I don't believe in government sponsored discrimination in legal or hiring or immigration or educational practices. I don't believe in the government telling me I have to pay more for health care than what I presently pay in rent, and that I have to pay a huge percentage of my income in government fines if I don't get their mandated insurance. I don't believe in stifling competition. I don't believe in throwing people out on to the street and denying them shelter (partially because that has happened to me before, most recently in January 2015). I don't believe in being branded a traitor or worse because I can't support or defend a country that is at best hypocritical and at worse a growing threat to the world and trying to become as much a part of the Axis of Evil as the mad mullahs of Iran, North Korea, Putin's Russia, the Chinese Communists, and Daesh/ISIS already are.<br>
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For probably the last time, here are my election endorsements for this Tuesday:<br>
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President:<br>
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I ended up voting for Trump, not because I agree with his stands on Immigration or trade or celebrity treatment of women, but because unlike McMullin or Gary Johnson, he actually stands a chance of defeating the one candidate who will make me defect somewhere else (Hillary Hildabeest Clinton). Anyone idiotic and stupid enough to vote for Clinton should contribute to the GoFundMe page I plan on activating November 9 (if Clinton wins) to pay for my international relocation, Obamacare fee, and <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/what-giving-up-u-s-citizenship-really-costs-1450780200">renunciation of American citizenship fees</a> (approximately $2-10K, $1-2K, and $2-4K, respectively).<br>
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Congress:<br>
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District 35: Susan Narvaiz over liberal Lloyd Doggett. What idiots in Austin thought it was a good idea to put SE Austin and the east side of San Antonio in the same district?<br>
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District 23: Will Hurd over Pete Gallego. At least Hurd has campaigned against both Trump and Clinton, while Gallego spews the DNC anti-Trump line.<br>
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And I would recommend Canada, Ireland, and the UK for potential expatriates regardless of ideology. Ireland and the UK are a bit more conservative than the US, while the current Canadian government is more liberal. But all 3 are far less likely to explode into civil war than the US is right now, and all 3 are <a href="http://www.heritage.org/index/">freer than America.<br>
<br>Thomas Clarkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147413240088118519noreply@blogger.com01043 Ada St, San Antonio, TX 78223, USA29.382706 -98.45853599999998129.375788 -98.468620999999985 29.389623999999998 -98.448450999999977tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11106923.post-57928292210771975812016-10-09T14:57:00.000-04:002016-10-09T14:57:19.569-04:00October 9, 20162016 has been a hectic year so far. But as the year draws to a close, things seem to be getting a lot worse. I got laid off from my high paying warehouse job in Austin and ended up with a lower paying paratransit driver job in San Antonio. I've released more music, and gotten more writings published in this year's <a href="https://holyapostlessoupkitchen.wordpress.com/">Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen Writers' Workshop Anthology</a> (all submitted before I moved to Texas). A hurricane recently killed over 1000 people in Haiti and damaged my late father's final resting place (the rebuilt <a href="http://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/jacksonville-beach-pier-damaged-by-hurricane-matthew/454730662">Jacksonville Beach pier</a>). Rent is significantly lower in San Antonio than in Austin or NYC, but my future in Texas (and the US in general) is in jeopardy due to the election next month.<br>
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Donald Trump has managed to keep things close against the unacceptable alternative of Hillary Rodham Clinton. But he is his own worse enemy when it comes to speaking or preparing. He focused too much time after the first debate attacking on of his former beauty pageant winners instead of debating Hillary's failed policies. Trump knew more than a decade ago about his recorded conversation that went into Clintonian vulgarity on how to pick up women. And yet, he was unprepared for the fallout when it was released, and now most of the Republican establishment wants him to quit.<br>
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But nothing Trump has done or said is anywhere near as bad as the actions of Hillary "Hildabeest" Rodham Clinton- Benghazi, Lewinsky, her rapist husband, her left wing politics, her mishandling of ISIS/Daesh that allowed them to grow into the cancer that now terrorizes the Middle East and Europe, her support of the expansion and taxpayer funding of legalized infanticide, her dismissal of her opponents as <a href="http://nypost.com/2016/09/10/clinton-half-of-trumps-supporters-are-a-basket-of-deplorables/?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=NYPGooglePlus&utm_medium=SocialFlow">deplorables</a>, and her hatred of men in general.<br>
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If this female canine becomes President (and most of the media and political establishment wants this to happen), then I can no longer consider myself a loyal or willing citizen of this country. Things have gotten so bad here that both sides are encouraging self-deportation of their opponents. It will be governmentally-sanctioned open season on conservatives if Hillary wins. There will be a lot of violence and civil unrest if Trump wins. Indeed, China is using this election as an <a href="http://en.people.cn/n3/2016/1008/c90000-9123978.html">excuse to explain to its people why democracy doesn't work</a>.<br>
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I'll try posting another blog post around the election, but after November, I don't know where I'll be living or working. If Hillary wins, I'll probably start a gofundme page for an international work/residence visa and tell all the people who threatened me online about my political views to put their money where their mouth is....<br>Thomas Clarkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147413240088118519noreply@blogger.com0Highland Hills, San Antonio, TX, USA29.381445870170694 -98.4579706192016629.379716370170694 -98.46049211920166 29.383175370170694 -98.45544911920166tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11106923.post-28645738752141255352016-04-30T22:13:00.001-04:002016-04-30T22:59:21.387-04:00April 30, 2016Another year, another job, another residence. For at least the next 7 months, I'm still in Texas. I don't know yet how permanent my new job is. I'm not sure what country I'm going to be living in by December, since this country is hopelessly divided. <br>
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Most Americans want the election to be over with, but right now it seems to be a race between a madman, evil incarnate, a socialist, and a Canadian Texan. In a normal election year, someone with the criminal baggage of Hillary Rodham Clinton would not be a factor. Her allies in New York are ruining that state and city on their way to jail- see Sheldon Silver, Alan Hevesi, Malcolm Smith, Larry Seabrook, and (hopefully soon) <a href="http://nypost.com/2016/04/29/de-blasio-dodges-questions-amid-corruption-probe-again/">Bill DeBlasio</a>. But the media seem hellbent on propping her up to President, even though her opponent has far fewer ethical lapses.<br>
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The Republicans have a unity problem. Sure, none of them want Hillary to be President, but they seem to think their best shots to face Hillary are character assassinations of their primary rivals in a level not seen since the 19th Century. The mainstream and electable candidates don't have a shot, leaving a radical Cuban-Canadian who happens to be my current Senator, and a billionaire flip-flopper who's almost as unacceptable as the Hildabeest. And there's the strong possibility that the Republican Convention could be contested.<br>
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I'm sure my ancestors who fought for this country (and in at least 1 case, actually died for it) are turning over in their graves to see how badly this land has devolved. Riots are now commonplace at Trump rallies, and the most dangerous candidate out there is portrayed as honest and trustworthy while she bashes anyone to the right of her in a way that should prompt riots.<br>
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No offense to my ancestors, but this country is not worth fighting for anymore. 40+ years ago, it gave up on respecting life. 7-8 years ago, it gave up on fairness and liberty. And for the last decade, what was the world's freest democracy and economy is now behind Canada, Ireland, the UK, and parts of Scandinavia.<br>
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I have enough to pray for, between an uncle with stage 4 cancer, a nephew who turns 18 in 6 weeks who will soon be on his own with no preparation, and asking God for a bigger miracle in getting settled outside the US in 7-8 months than what happened when I relocated back to Austin 2 months ago.Thomas Clarkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147413240088118519noreply@blogger.com0Austin, TX, USA30.216355152668523 -97.7316284179687530.106622152668525 -97.892989917968748 30.326088152668522 -97.570266917968752tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11106923.post-43883247609325414362016-03-12T11:57:00.003-05:002016-03-12T11:57:57.364-05:00March 12, 2016So far, this year has had a lot of unexpected surprises. The first would have been my one day of jury duty in Brooklyn last month. The second would have been letting a few complaints against my supervisor result in the end of my courier job on February 16. Another surprise was being able to attend 2 writer's workshops at Holy Apostles (and having one of my recently submitted works make their live <a href="https://holyapostlessoupkitchen.wordpress.com/2016/02/19/red-wagon/">blog</a>). The most recent surprise was not that I had to move out of Rockaway (and New York) after losing my job, but that I was able to relocate back to Austin, Texas, and get a job and a non-shelter residence within 5 days of relocating here. The job and residence are about 2 miles from each other in SE Austin. So for 3 of the last 4 months of March, I am back in Texas. Unlike the previous times, I never had to stay at Shelter Alley, or worry about storage back in New York (all my stuff got shipped to storage here by UPS for less than what it cost me to move stuff from Denver to New York in 2011). I got to go to the Texas Independence Day Parade last Saturday (after schlepping from the drug testing to my new job in North Austin by bus). And now I get to go to South by Southwest- and not have to worry about curfews. Thomas Clarkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147413240088118519noreply@blogger.com0800 Guadalupe St, Austin, TX 78701, USA30.2713021 -97.746016830.270873599999998 -97.7466473 30.2717306 -97.7453863tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11106923.post-46864876341972640702015-09-25T23:14:00.001-04:002015-09-25T23:16:12.336-04:00September 25, 201520 years ago, I got to see Pope John Paul in his Popemobile when he visited my then-home of Baltimore, MD. I didn't have a camera to document this. A lot has changed since his US visit in October 1995. Less than 10 years later, Pope John Paul II died. About 2 months after that visit, my father (who by that time was my last living ancestor) died. Less than a year later, I nearly got killed by my neighbors in Baltimore and had to move- and ended up in New York.<BR>
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In 2015, I had to move back to the New York area after a disastrous 7 months in my hometown of Colorado Springs. I spent 2 months at a Catholic shelter in Jersey City before moving back to Rockaway. Since then, I got hired for what is probably the highest paying job of my life. I finally got to visit Ireland 27 years after I found out I had ancestry there (although I never got to meet any Clarke relatives). And earlier this evening (while at work), I finally got to see the current Pope.
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I was in the middle of deliveries on the Upper East Side of Manhattan when I got to the intersection of Madison and E 66th and was prevented from going further by the NYPD. I managed to get a prime viewing spot for the Papal motorcade just as Pope Francis was passing from his school visit in East Harlem to Central Park.<BR>
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Pope Francis has had a lot to say on the environment, the poor, sin, forgiveness, and prayer. Indeed, numerous times today, he asked people (many of whom aren't Catholic) to pray for him. A lot of people seem to have forgotten that one of the key missions of the Church is to help the poor. Here in New York, the Church is at the forefront of helping the needy. In other dioceses, the Church doesn't have enough resources to help the poor. In my hometown, Catholic Charities runs Marian House which feeds the poor and homeless and provides health services and many other resources except shelter. There is not enough shelter services in that town (especially for women, families, and men who are not substance abusers or veterans), and the so-called religious institution that runs the only all-purpose (200 bed) shelter in town is at best using the shelter as a way to extort money from the taxpayers of Colorado Springs. Austin is in even more dire shape, with about 500 shelter beds between 2 shelters and a homeless population between 3000-5000. And in Syria, the homeless population is in the millions and migrating towards Turkey and Europe due to a civil war primarily between the Baath Butchers of the Assad regime and the barbaric terrorists of the so-called Islamic State.<br>
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If Pope Francis and the Church can actually come up with concrete solutions to the environmental, social, and homeless/refugee problems that plague this planet, then they need all the prayers they can get. But I do trust the Church a lot more than I trust the Syrian, Russian, Turkish, or American governments at this point. Besides, if the Hildabeest, the Socialist, or Trump win the Presidency next year, I don't see any point of staying in the United States. Too many on the American left and the right fail to see how their policies hurt the poor and harm society.Thomas Clarkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147413240088118519noreply@blogger.com0Rockaway Park, Queens, NY, USA40.578816424317054 -73.83645057678228340.578062424317054 -73.837711076782284 40.579570424317055 -73.835190076782283tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11106923.post-162853143196365652015-09-13T18:57:00.001-04:002015-09-13T19:33:25.380-04:00September 13, 2015As far as the residence and job, nothing has changed since April. But almost everything else has changed. I now am making enough money to afford such niceties as DNA testing and vacations. The fact that I am getting paid vacations helps too. I found out I probably am a nicer person when I'm not in New York and not around this culture. And after my vacation which ended 10 days ago, I could survive outside the United States (and probably thrive, if not for international immigration requirements).
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In May, I took an autosomal DNA test sponsored by Ancestry.com. It showed I was primarily of Western European (i.e. German, Dutch, French) and Irish origin. I had so little British/English DNA in my sample that it made me question whether the woman I knew as my grandmother Hazel (who was born 104 years ago in Toronto to Worcestershire native parents) actually was my biological grandmother. I later found a Worcestershire DNA match on Ancestry that could only have been related to me through my grandmother's family. For most of the matches that showed up on there (and GEDMatch and the free version of FamilyTreeDNA), I have no idea how I'm related to these people. And the autosomal DNA test never showed me where exactly my Clarke ancestors originated. I have since ordered a more expensive Y-DNA test that should reveal where the Clarke family came from and hopefully find other Clarkes. As far as I know, I'm the last one. My parents are long gone, and my estranged sister is technically a Johnson (of the Tennessee Springer-esque branch). In June, after she threatened to have me arrested over calling a welfare check on her (which resulted in her institutionalization for being suicidal), I cut her off completely.
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I figured out how to get vacation time from my job, and used the money I was saving for a car towards my first extended international vacation. To Ireland. In a lot of ways, Ireland is similar to the US. They speak English (with accents just as hard to follow as Americans from the rural South or Northern Appalachia). They listen to the same music that Americans do. They have HD and satellite television, internet, wi-fi, malls, buskers, nice cars, western style housing, and a more advanced bus and railway network. But cars are driven on the left side of the road. The currency is in euros, with anything smaller than 5 euros ($5.50 US) in coins instead of paper money. And the locals are super nice and polite- to the point that they would be easy pickings for con artists and evil-doers if they ever stepped foot in New York. I probably felt more at home in 5 days in Ireland (where I had never been before August 29) than I did in the last 10 years in America, even with the bilingual signs and instructions in Irish (a language I am far less familiar with than Spanish, or French, or Creole). But it would take a high paying job offer, a Mega Millions jackpot, or a marriage offer (from an Irish woman who could still tolerate me after several weeks) before I could ever think of renouncing my American citizenship and move there.
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And wherever I end up, I can now claim to be a published writer. Not for my musings on the obscene state of New York and Washington politics, but for my songwriting and poetry abilities. Two of the lyrics to my songs (<a href="https://www.indabamusic.com/opportunities/indaba-sync-featured-artist-series-november/submissions/57e9e234-7358-11e4-ad6e-22000b2c03b9">Ask</a> and <a href="https://soundcloud.com/netscaper113/piping-plovers">Piping Plovers</a>) and 8 other original works were added to the <a href="http://holyapostlessoupkitchen.org/food-for-the-soul/writers-workshop/">Holy Apostles writers' workshop</a> anthology that was published in June. I got to read some of my works at a public reading on June 25.
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The workshop is starting up again on the 17th. However, I don't know if I can attend any of the workshops with my current work schedule.
Thomas Clarkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147413240088118519noreply@blogger.com0Rockaway Park, Queens, NY, USA40.578857167695872 -73.83647203445434640.57734966769587 -73.838993534454346 40.580364667695875 -73.833950534454345tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11106923.post-3972114195160036332015-04-19T13:49:00.000-04:002015-04-19T13:49:00.346-04:00April 19, 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsVPnANQzUtwiZ-mnBLbOpFpdKcBjQGaH9y9KjuRSdVtyHsx-xX2eIdGxZLhM20iZj0Dy3hGxfphy9LURM29vVJU-4tXBW18Qhh9CUmMOgCLAba1btElCdp13uuHyFSfYCtBM0/s1600/20150326_180316.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsVPnANQzUtwiZ-mnBLbOpFpdKcBjQGaH9y9KjuRSdVtyHsx-xX2eIdGxZLhM20iZj0Dy3hGxfphy9LURM29vVJU-4tXBW18Qhh9CUmMOgCLAba1btElCdp13uuHyFSfYCtBM0/s320/20150326_180316.jpg" /></a></div>
Nearly a month has passed since I returned to Rockaway. I am still getting used to not having a kitchen or cooking devices, and paying more than half my income in rent (with the lower rent option in Jersey City negated by the more than doubling of non-car-owning transportation expenses).
Somehow this part of Rockaway is still safe. There aren't any large scale shooting incidents or breakdowns here like what is happening in the Bronx and Brooklyn under De Blasio's rule.
I have been working on writings for the workshop (which I have to submit via e-mail due to my new job) and for potential musical projects. After all, Rockaway is where my electronic music career began.
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And in atypical blog discussion, I am trying to determine which bird flew into Rockaway last week (pictured above). I have seen the various seagulls and related sea birds that are normally found in this area as well as this weird bird that looks somewhat like a seagull but with a longer and more pointed colored beak. I have yet to see any piping plovers since I moved back. Supposedly it will be next year before work starts on the section of the boardwalk that connects Beach 115th Street to Shore Front Parkway due to research on the plovers. But there is the chance that the plovers are still pissed about that song I wrote about them last year...
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So now, it's back to the beach and back to delivering on the streets of Manhattan. And (in a somewhat repeat of Lent 2013 and 2014) back to creative artistic pursuits- namely a writers' workshop run by the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen. Hopefully some of the pre-work stuff I submitted can get published.Thomas Clarkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147413240088118519noreply@blogger.com0Queens Library at Seaside, 116-15 Rockaway Beach Boulevard, Belle Harbor, NY 11694, USA40.5793817 -73.837740515.057347199999999 -115.1463345 66.1014162 -32.529146499999996tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11106923.post-62869528214022168432014-12-13T12:33:00.000-05:002014-12-13T14:35:25.415-05:00December 13, 2014What a difference a few weeks makes. Right before Thanksgiving, I was told there would be hours reductions but no layoffs at my job, and as of the afternoon of December 9, I am unemployed again. I don't know how long it will take to find another job- since December is the absolute worst time for job searching in Colorado Springs. So for now I am waiting for my unemployment paperwork and pouring my free time into promoting a song submission I made to Indaba Music at <a href="https://www.indabamusic.com/opportunities/indaba-sync-featured-artist-series-november/submissions/57e9e234-7358-11e4-ad6e-22000b2c03b9">this link</a>.
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For now, Colorado Springs is warm for this time of year and looks something like this:
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But thanks to an impending storm that brought flooding to California, tomorrow might resemble mid-November when the streets of Colorado Springs looked like this:
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Thomas Clarkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147413240088118519noreply@blogger.com0Pikes Peak Library District - Ruth Holley Library, 685 North Murray Boulevard, Colorado Springs, CO 80915, USA38.8429082 -104.7459628000000313.320873699999996 -146.05455680000003 64.3649427 -63.43736880000003tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11106923.post-12456420509935842332014-11-23T15:59:00.000-05:002014-11-23T18:02:46.874-05:00November 23, 20144 months ago, I had no idea what to expect or if I would even stay in the Springs. By the end of July I was stuck in the local shelter. And in the beginning of August, I found out my uncle and Godfather Larry Bowling had died. But I managed to find work with a local temp agency that picked up many of the contracts of the now-departed SOS Staffing (my previous Springs employer from 2007-08 and 2010-11). Now I have spent nearly 3 months in a transitional housing program that is nicer than my previous residences in Texas and New York. That housing is in Knob Hill, just west of my home neighborhood of Rustic Hills, where I have worked at a metals warehouse since early October. <br>
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Now I get to enjoy Colorado winter weather- including half a foot of snow and a 55 hour stretch below 10 degrees, and a 35 minute walk to work in those conditions.<br>
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I released a few original songs in September on Soundcloud <a href="https://soundcloud.com/netscaper113"></a> and Bandcamp<a href="http://thomasclarke.bandcamp.com"></a>. I also submitted alternate versions of "Down" and "<a href="https://www.indabamusic.com/opportunities/indaba-sync-featured-artist-series-november/submissions/57e9e234-7358-11e4-ad6e-22000b2c03b9">Ask</a>" to Indaba Music.<br>
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Now on to Thanksgiving, December, and the commercial nightmare known as the Holiday Season in the United States.<br>Thomas Clarkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147413240088118519noreply@blogger.com0Penrose Library, 20 North Cascade Avenue, Colorado Springs, CO 80903, USA38.8352405 -104.8260298000000113.838650999999999 -146.1346238 63.83183 -63.517435800000015tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11106923.post-16218113054896191402014-07-29T17:03:00.000-04:002014-07-29T19:02:46.636-04:00July 29, 2014I have been back in Colorado Springs about a month. So far, I am not employed, and I have to move out of where I was staying on Thursday. But I still have one more interview scheduled tomorrow in Briargate before I have to move, and another offer for local employment that requires 3 weeks of training in Utah. I also have more songs recorded and <a href="http://thomasclarke.bandcamp.com">for sale</a>. I probably will update this blog again whenever the employment and housing situation settles, because this is really starting to resemble my last stay in the Springs (2012-13) and that resulted in the longest period of unemployment I ever had since I entered the workforce and the longest period of homelessness I ever suffered (although I didn't actually stay in a shelter until after I left the Springs).Thomas Clarkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147413240088118519noreply@blogger.com0Southeast Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, CO, USA38.778768718060213 -104.8138999153442838.77838171806021 -104.81453041534428 38.779155718060217 -104.81326941534428