tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59715067280124621122012-02-16T23:02:34.029-05:00Brian Stonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273065462144491316noreply@blogger.comBlogger111100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5971506728012462112.post-27387504835768678292011-12-29T10:18:00.000-05:002011-12-29T10:18:56.405-05:00

Things are getting a  little crazy around here. It seems like nobody knows whether we're going to heat up or slow down with our production.  A lot of folks are on leave and it's hard picking up the slack.  I feel like I'm not getting to be an MC lately, with all the work I've been doing involving supply. I wish I had time to pick up a camera and shoot. I'm sure they'll get me doing it, when I

Brian Stonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273065462144491316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5971506728012462112.post-88432898077398313022011-01-29T04:43:00.001-05:002011-01-29T04:46:30.180-05:00

Looking back is a funny thing, since the past sits in our minds.  We have conversations with it, from time to time, and we wonder.  The past only tells us how things were, while our imaginations tell us how they could be.  We don't regret the past; we regret the possibilities it presents us with: What would my life be like? What if I hadn't made that choice? What if I had said what I meant to

Brian Stonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273065462144491316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5971506728012462112.post-82743421434692391182010-11-14T05:30:00.002-05:002010-11-14T05:46:21.785-05:00

Usually, the daily news is incredibly depressing. Today was an unusual day.http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/15/world/asia/15myanmar.htmlThe military Junta leadership in Burma released Daw Aung Suu Kyi from her house. She has been confined to her home for the majority of the past two decades because of her popularity. They have released her before, only to arrest her again. Silently, she would

Brian Stonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273065462144491316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5971506728012462112.post-75339988546404580902009-03-28T19:57:00.004-04:002009-03-28T20:39:35.271-04:00

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.It is one of the inherent causes of life: suffering. When we are born, we suffer and cry for the first time. When we die, we suffer for the last time. Our consciousness, the part of us that honestly perceives the suffering, disappears like a fragment of light flashing off the side of a many-angled jewel. Everything we have touched - everything we have ever seen or heard falls

Brian Stonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273065462144491316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5971506728012462112.post-83108510174735558522008-07-25T14:55:00.009-04:002008-12-10T04:29:23.928-05:00

I was standing outside of the grociery store with my clipboard in hand, ready to register anyone passing by. I spotted a black woman in her early 70s walking up and I stood in her path. Her face was worn, her palms wrinkled and her fingers long. She had callouses on all the tips of her fingers and her eyes were dark, unfathomable. The whites of her eyes were veined a cloudy red. I asked her

Brian Stonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273065462144491316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5971506728012462112.post-75386043337068248352008-07-25T14:55:00.001-04:002008-07-25T14:55:53.180-04:00

Did you know that when a caterpiller makes its chrysalis it completely destroys itself in order to enter the next stage of its life? Every cell in its body is melted down, transformed and reshaped into a vision of delicate beauty. The green, corrosive slug-like insect then becomes the envy of artists, philosophers and mankind as a whole. Through its own destruction and reformation the

Brian Stonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273065462144491316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5971506728012462112.post-15911469389543770232008-07-25T14:53:00.003-04:002008-07-25T23:45:37.178-04:00

Today I had this sudden urge to pay my respects. Maybe it's because I've joined the military, or because it's the first memorial day I didn't spend on Michigan Avenue, watching the parade in Dearborn. Either way, I had this longing when I started work at seven am today, and by the end of my shift at three pm, I had a plan. I went down from shop to shop all across West Palm Beach, looking

Brian Stonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273065462144491316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5971506728012462112.post-42819476848102414762008-07-25T14:45:00.001-04:002008-07-25T14:50:58.324-04:00

I woke up today at 4:30 to get ready for work, and since I had pre-ordered Madonna's album, it was all ready to be synced on my iPod. As I was driving to work I was listening to it, and there was a song, "Miles Away" that made me want to cry and dance at the same time.The song is about my family. I'm always the black sheep in Michigan, always devalued, scorned and dismissed. Often times, my

Brian Stonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273065462144491316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5971506728012462112.post-30228180849784397762008-04-23T23:31:00.002-04:002008-04-23T23:31:50.248-04:00

I think it’s a natural for writers to stick to what they know, to what they can best describe with ease. Perhaps that’s why I don’t write about my mother, and unfortunately, right now I think I’m about to attempt a "no-no" in the writing community.I think, on some level, she’s always been there for me. She’s always been the person I came to for hugs in hard times, the person whose voice can

Brian Stonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273065462144491316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5971506728012462112.post-66608449941204152972008-04-23T23:29:00.001-04:002008-04-23T23:31:01.917-04:00

I stopped for a moment after I finished reading two books today, looking for something to re-read. A memory slipped into my mind like a sliver of consciousness through the folds of my skin. With that memory a shiver burst into my spine. Inside one book was a note, written by a person I love dearly but who is now only in my memory. I read it, and my thoughts began to wander.My grandmother, in

Brian Stonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273065462144491316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5971506728012462112.post-74102325626371035582008-04-23T23:28:00.002-04:002008-04-23T23:29:45.956-04:00

I’ve gone through a lot lately; I think that goes without saying. The events of the past 3 months surprise even me when I think about it, but it’s put me on a good path in life. I’m working towards financial stability and moving out of paycheck-by-paycheck living, slowly but surely. And yet, I haven’t quite accepted reality, and that’s a difficult decision to make.I probably can’t afford to go

Brian Stonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273065462144491316noreply@blogger.com