"Monde de Beatchick" BeatChick's Profile

~Seeking to edify~
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AND
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~Indulging in Interior Monologue~

I'm quoted in the 2008 Fodor's Paris Gold Guide - I'm so excited!!!

Here's a poem written by my daughter, which she won 2nd place for in a local contest about the Holocaust; it's another in the "I Am From" series:

I am from being a sibling of seven
Weekly visits to the library
From a small town but dreams of a big city

I am from nicknames to insults
From anti-Semitism
From waking up every day in fear for my life

I am from knowledge of these ghettos
Waiting for freedom
From cringing at the voices coming from the radio

I am from racism
From a stereotype based on my religion
God please end this persecution

I am from propoganda
From being seen as scapegoats
From witnessing lies to oppress my people

I am from war
From an order of chaos
A failure to breathe

I am from rattling
Listening to the endless rattle of a cage
From thinking of the past, as I see my future ahead of me

I am from death
Smelling it, hearing it, and seeing it
With no belief that my mother and sister could possibly be dead

I am from marching to my own death
From fleeing for freedom
A chance at a real life

I am from the Holocaust
From recognizing my path
Feeling the need to make sure the future doesn't duplicate it
~ ~ ~

I Am From

I am absence in church but strong in faith.
I'm from aggravation to forgiveness.
From gossip and rumors to not really worrying.
An obsession with expression.
I am from smells of perfume to cat.
From, "I killed you, and you had me weak."
I'm from laughs and sorrows.
From recovery of a broken past.

I am from loud, hyper music.
And yet from sweet, soft rhythms.
Listening to rhymes to ease the pain.
I am from running then falling.
From a catastrophe that brought so many together.
I am from the clean, the messy, and the just plain rude.
From shouts and yells of "Go away, I'm not in the mood!"

I am from understanding wrong from right.
Sleeping in to miss the bus.
From hating to wake up.
I am from daydreaming of another life.

I am from learning to be me.

This is a poem from my extremely talented daughter, written when she was 14, who has been making up songs since she was 2, complete with rhyming couplets. I don't know where she gets this talent from as I know both her father & I have always wanted to write songs but neither of us could. She's been writing down her songs since she was 8. I'm blown away by her talent.

This poem has been entered into an anthology called A Celebration of Young Poets which also includes a writing contest; final winners will be announced here:
www.poeticpower.com

the Beats:
Jack Kerouac (On the Road, The Dharma Bums, Subterraneans)
Hey Jack Kerouac, I think of your mother
And the tears she cried, they were cried for none other
He is probably one of my favorite writers on the planet; when you read On the Road you'll understand ("The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing but burn, burn, burn like fabulous roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars...") Jim Morrison considered On the Road to be his bible. Natalie Merchant (during her 10,000 Maniac days) crooned out songs of him & his cronies. He chronicled the jazz era of the 1940s & the mad desire to travel from NYC to San Fran (via "bop at the loop" in Chicago) along Route 66.
You chose your words from mouths of
Babes got lost in the woods
The hip-flask slinging madmen
Steaming café flirts
They all spoke thru you

Allen Ginsberg (Howl, Kaddish)
Allen, baby, why so jaded?
Have the boys all grown up & their beauty faded?
This is the mad poet, friend to William Carlos William, admirer of Proust & Pound. One of my fave Kerouac moments is when he describes Allen reading Howl ("I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness") for the 1st time at a San Francisco reading. This was definitely the immediate precursor to the North Beach Poets.
I would've liked him more but when I met him at a poetry reading in Louisville October 1, 1992 (U of L) he hit on my then-husband. :D

William S. Burroughs (Naked Lunch, Junkie)
Billy - what a saint they've made you
Just like Mary down in Mexico on All Soul's Day
What can I say about Burroughs except that he was Burroughs? Crazy junkie. Influencer of Kurt Cobain ("The Priest they Called Him"). His book Naked Lunch was so surreal that it took 30 years and David Cronenberg to finally make the movie.

Photos: Taken April 2003 at the Hôtel du Vieux Paris formerly known as the Hôtel Rachou (Beat Hotel in the '50s). I am forever indebted to my friend, Mimi (CigaleChanta on Fodor's) for informing me about this place AND sending me the book for Christmas - what a great, supportive, indulgent friend!

My main goal in traveling to Paris is to seek out literary & artistic haunts: Oscar Wilde, F. Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald, Ernest & Hadley (& Pauline) Hemingway, e.e. cummings, Sara & Gerald Murphy, Thornton Wilder, Gertrude Stein, Natalie Barney, Henry Miller, Anaïs Nin, Modigliani, Van Gogh. Please see my Off-the-beaten-path Paris tips to read more about these peoples and see the places they lived.

All photos are MINE unless otherwise credited (and I always credit people's work). Any that are not mine, I've been granted permission to use them per VT guidelines.

I am very slowly getting my pages up and running. I do hope you like your visit with me and that you feel I've offered something of value to you.

Please leave a comment if you like what you see. I once promised to answer all e-mails and I will continue to try. However, I have returned to school studying for the RHIT (Registered Health Information Technologist) program, work full-time as a Medical Coder/Abstractor I at University Hospital (a Level I Trauma Center, research facility, & the 1st teaching hospital in the nation - this is where Albert Sabin developed the polio vaccine now in use - although he tested it at neighboring Children's Hospital) in Cincinnati, AND I'm finishing writing my first book (3.5 yrs in the works now - geez).

On July 31, 2008, I passed AHIMA's CCA certification exam and recently completed the RHIT program (June 2010). I plan to sit for the RHIT certification exam in 3 weeks. Hoping to score a job as coder consultant. Eventually I plan to pursue a Master's in Health Information Management, most likely at University of Cincinnati.

Needless to say I AM SWAMPED with nary a spare moment so forgive my frequent long absences on VT. I love this place but it's just not a priority right now. :D

NYC for NYE '10-'11 - New York with Meagan
September '10 - Cousin Mischa's Wedding - Louisville, KY
August '10 - LOLLAPALOOZA (Green Day, Lady Gaga)!! - Chicago
April '10 - Ireland & France with Ian

June '09 - Chicago to see Dane Cook
May '09 (Memorial Day W/E) - Chicago with Ian
May '09 (2nd weekend) - Lake Cumberland to see the famous MOONBOW!
May '09 (1st weekend) - Louisville to visit my cuz (& see the Derby!)
April '09 - Athens, OH for David Sedaris reading
Valentine's Day '09 - B&B in Oxford, OH

November '08 - Chicago with Mr. Connolly for a long weekend!
Labor Day weekend '08 - NYC with the kids for 4 glorious days!
August 3, 2008 - Radiohead concert in Indianapolis, IN with my daughter!
May 14, 2008 - Radiohead concert in St. Louis (with a stop in Chicago)
March 6, 2008 - The Pogues concert in Chicago (Robby Keathley's bday)

November 2007 - Paris (9 faboo days)
September 16, 2007 - Chicago - 40th Birthday Bash!

February 2006 - Paris/Chartres/St-Denis (16 glorious days)

April 2003 - Paris/Chatou (9 fun-filled days)

April 2002 - Paris for 4 days with Kristin, one of my best friends

March 2001 - London/Paris for 3 days

October 2000 - Chicago (took a wild hair & drove to Chicago to hang out @ The Art Institute)

NYC for NYE '11-'12
December '11 - Roma??? with Girlfriends??
September '11 - NYC for BDAY
June 16-18 '11 - Chicago VT Meet
May-June '11 - South Dakota to see the fams, visit the rez, genealogy trip

April 2012 - Prague