karen ashley

i'm coming back. i promise.

2013-09-25T17:20:00.001-04:00

Y'all, I haven't had a working computer for the past 4 months (I'm typing this from work). It's been rough (talk about understatements). So much has happened -- all of which I plan on telling y'all when I amend my no-computer situation. Don't give up on me. I know that's a lot to ask, but I'm cute and hilarious (right?), so don't do it.

xoxo,

This Karen

dear diary: my manifesto (of sorts)

2013-05-17T04:45:00.000-04:00

I cannot tell you how many times I have thought about writing this post, started to write this post, stopped writing this post, came back to write this post and stopped again... I just haven't known what to say -- "hey, I'm sorry I've been gone so long" or "long time, no write." Too trite. I've done this before. I know me all too well.

It's not that I don't enjoy blogging. Quite the contrary actually. It just scares me a little. The kind of blogging I want to engage in anyway. You see, I like to write. Which in and of itself is not the problem. The problem is that I like to write what I know strictly and unadorned. I suppose I could write fiction, but every time I do, my overly deprecating self tells me it's a little too far-fetched. This is not to say those who write fiction aren't writing what they know; they're just more imaginative with the telling of it. I don't have that knack. Or if I do, it is dulled from disuse.

The point is, the things I know these days don't lend themselves to easy writing. They're heavy and somber and generally lacking in that ubiquitous escapism feel of lifestyle blogs. And so I've stayed away.

I thought about apologizing for not having much "sugar and spice and all things nice," but I'm not really sorry about it. I'm not a generally morose sort. At least I don't think so. But at this time in my life, melancholy has a certain draw on me. I mostly hate that I'm largely gloomy these days, but if I'm being completely honest I should be a tad devastated without it too. We've been together for so long.

I think it's supposed to be romantic, you know, the whole tortured, long-suffering artist thing. Mostly, though, I feel like a huge cliche for it. But at the same time I don't want to reduce my very real anxieties just to escape being branded typical. You see my dilemma.

I went back and read this post I wrote a while back when this blog was just past newly minted. I think I needed the reminder. Here's the thing (and this is more for my benefit, so pray you don't take offense): this is my space. I carved it out consciously. I cannot get hung up on keeping up appearances. All that does is stay my hand, my mind from creating, because if it isn't there, I won't fabricate it. The good, the terrible, and everything in between gets represented here. If you're still following, that's great -- I cannot adequately express how much that means -- and if not, I'm sorry to see you go but I grow tired of editing myself just to please unknowns.

I've been typing and retyping this manifesto-of-sorts for several hours now, playing this song aggressively during that whole time, and playing virtual Sudoku intermittently throughout. I should get some sleep. Thanks for reading!

some of what i've been up to and other stories

2013-03-07T00:49:00.000-05:00

Some of what I've been up to:
Top left: this was taken during our farewell dinner for Selene, who is presently away at vet school in beautiful Grenada. I was experimenting with weird angles or something like that.
Top right: those roses were preening for attention outside of church one Sunday, so I obliged them by taking a photo.
Bottom left: I'm knitting my second pair of socks. I've completed half of this pair. I mean to begin the other half one of these days.
Bottom right: IHOP was giving away pancakes for free (how long ago was this?!). So I showed up. Naturally. With my 1500 page book.

And other stories:
I've been a barista at Barnes & Noble for the past 4 months (oh, did I forget to mention that? I'm so sorry), and a more genial one you've never met.
Although, that's about to end soon because just today I got offered a big-girl job working for a grown-up health corporation, which I have accepted. I have not the slightest clue what I'll be doing there, but I will soon have benefits so everything else might as well be moot. Oh my giddy goodness, BENEFITS!
I'm also toying with the idea of writing a book of essays about my fabulously mundane life. I don't know... But isn't it quite possible that there's a rare someone sincerely interested in the digressive internalization of a confused 22-year old, given to protracted fantasies and near misses with wit? It's possible, no?

yes, no, maybe?

2013-01-16T01:10:00.000-05:00

My sissy enlisted me to help with her Sadie Hawkins dance invitation, so that's what I did tonight. It was the most productive thing I had done all day. Anyway, working on it took me back to high school, and now I'm feeling all nostalgic and whatnot.

And what's up with that anyway?! It's not as if I was particularly fond of high school. I didn't have a terrible experience or anything, but those years weren't my glory days either.
I blame it on all the introspection I've been doing lately. Growing up does that to you apparently. It turns you into a brooding mess. But I have it on good authority that it passes; you brood, you're spurred into action; sometimes you triumph. It passes.
Cam better say yes 'cause I worked very hard on that shirt. For all of 15 minutes, but still. Very hard.

par avion: simone + priya

2013-01-11T01:36:00.000-05:00

Exciting things you guys -- I've been getting some mail lately that I didn't send myself. Okay, that made me sound a little pitiful. What I meant is that most of the mail I get is useless (boat insurance ads), or boring (bills), or standard (magazine subscriptions). The only time I get excited for mail is when I've ordered something online. But recently fantastic things have been turning up in my mailbox, namely postcards from friends, and I'm just so thrilled by them.

Two of them are from my fabulous, globetrotting friend Simone. The other one is from Priya, who is seriously the sweetest.

Priya's card (Priya, if you're reading this, you should know how happy I was to finally get this in the mail. It's very possible I squealed when I spotted it among the other stuff in my box).

This one was sent by Simone while she was sashaying her way across China. That's the Great Wall looking all golden and -- ugh! why am I here and not there. :-(

This too is from Simone. She was in South Africa this time, self-actualizing on the daily. I wish I could link you to her blog. But alas! it is set to private. I'll work on her to make it public, because she's seriously awesome, and the tales she tells of her travels are so captivating. I want to be her when I grow up. You hear that Simone?! You're awesome-sauce and I love you!

I've added all three to my burgeoning wall of mementos. I'm so about them, y'all!

happy new year!

2013-01-03T22:45:00.001-05:00

A little belated, but all the same -- Happy New Year! The last time I was on here I was a little mopish. But no longer!

There's no rhyme or reason to the collage above. It is simply random bits and bobs I threw together to commemorate a year that was infinitely revealing. A year in which I:

attended my first college football game (it needed to be done before I graduated). consumed massive amounts of chai (even more than usual). got coaxed into joining my church's worship team (one of the rare times succumbing to peer pressure worked out for me). played fast and loose with my heart (one of the many times peer pressure did NOT work out for me). tried my hands at documentary making. became acquainted with rejection. photographed people in their sleep. took the shortest cross-country trip of my life yet (a little over 24 hours in L.A. to see Ben Howard in concert). was consistently broke (not a good time. AT ALL). became a barista. learned to cry. graduated from college...

2012 was quite the year, but 2013 promises some pretty intense self-actualization. I'm excited. Cheers!

Now Playing: My Dear Acquaintance by Regina Spektor

dear diary: sorry about the doom

2012-12-04T23:07:00.000-05:00

On this day I was wearing my favorite red sweater and acquainting myself with this incredibly awesome-sauce vintage shop in my town. I was having the time of my life all by my lonesome (but really).

Anyway, can I be real with y'all for a bit: I graduate in exactly 10 days, and I am TERRIFIED. <-- That right there - that's putting it mildly. I'm happy about the part where I don't have to go to class or do homework or study for tests, and the fact that I've accomplished something a lot of people only dream about if at all, et cetera, et cetera.

Mostly though, I'm freaking out.

Because lately, all my best laid plans have been falling through at a rate that's just alarming. And I'm having the hardest time finding any direction at all.

Up until now, I haven't had to face rejection much. Everything huge and important that I've ever applied for or truly wanted has happened for me. I wanted to go to UGA - I got in; I needed a scholarship to fund my higher education - I got that as well and then some; I was even able to go to France for spring break all those eons ago, when by all intents and purposes I shouldn't have because it just wasn't fiscally feasible for my parents. What I'm getting at is that God has been gracious and things have mostly worked out for me.

That's not to say He isn't now. It's just been kind of bewildering and humbling lately with the amount of rejection I've been facing. I don't think I'm equipped to handle any of it as is evidenced by the fact that I've completely retreated from my own life. I'm in a perma-limbo state. I feel insulated and detached from my reality. Everything is so unreal and kind of awful. I feel like every fear I've ever harbored about my potential and capacity for succeeding at life is being realized.

I CANNOT become a deadbeat, and yet... I don't know, I feel myself becoming one. I'm moving back in with my parents. I'll be living in their basement (and I don't mean that figuratively; it's a fact). No one's offered me a job yet. I can't even find a sub-leaser for my apartment. It all seems a little too... Bleak. Or maybe I'm crying wolf and not all is as grim as I'm making it out to be. I honestly don't know.

But I'm sorry about the doom. This self-pity, it needed to come out somehow. And because of my little problem of being generally uncommunicative with the real people in my life, y'all are the unfortunate listeners to my sob story (assuming you've read all of this). I'll come back when I'm a little less woeful.

miss efficiency over here

2012-11-07T22:52:00.001-05:00

Y'all, efficiency has been my middle name this evening. I'm on a bender of productiveness -- like, if I met me right now, I wouldn't know me on account of how effective I'm being presently. I have written 3 pages of my 20-page paper on feminine agency in Shakespeare's The Tempest, which is due on the 19th. I get how this might not be such a feat for some of you. But for someone like me, whose bed-mate for the past 8+ years has been Procrastination (notice how it is personified with a capital "P"), this is grander than grand! I need some caffeine, though.

as they lay sleeping: fiona + 1

2012-11-05T09:46:00.001-05:00

I've been doing a conceptual piece on sleep for my photography class lately. Presently, it is titled as they lay sleeping, but that name might change yet. Fiona and her boyfriend were the first people I shot for it. Basically, I come over and set up in your bedroom then allow you to sleep with the lights on (that way when I come back to photograph later, I don't interrupt your sleep by flicking on the lights). I lounge about your place as I wait for said sleep to come over you. Then once I'm satisfied you're asleep enough, I creep back into your bedroom and take portraits of you in your perhaps most vulnerable state. It's creepy and it borders on voyeur, but so many exciting stories have come out of doing it. So for now I'm okay with it.

oh, hi there!

2012-10-23T02:04:00.001-04:00

I was in a photo shoot yesterday where -- for the first time in a long time -- I was not the photographer. It wasn't nearly as nerve-wracking as I had anticipated. Truth be told I kinda enjoyed being in front of the camera for a change. Kensie (the photographer) covered me in Holi red for the shoot. I wiped most of it off after, but I left just enough to cause a bit of a sensation on my drive home. It was fun!

Wanna know what's not as fun though? Flickr. Can you believe a week after I bought a pro account for near $25 I can no longer access my photos? What's more, the Flickr team has done nothing to help with this problem despite many emails I've sent their way! Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. I'm very upset.

two songs

2012-09-28T17:10:00.000-04:00

I'm just gonna ease back in here and pretend like I didn't disappear. Ok? Ok. But anyway, look what I made for my intermediate photo class.

It's my interpretation of Adrienne Rich's poem, "Two Songs". There are others, but I like this best.

Now Playing: Youth by Daughter

what i'm reading: anne of green gables

2012-08-04T22:59:00.000-04:00

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The first in the series will forever be my favorite. It characterizes my childhood not because I grew up in the same way or fancy myself to be just like Anne, but because of all the times I spent re-reading this series in all of my favorite crannies and dreamscapes. This is probably the 4th or 5th time I've re-read this book. It's different every time (I know that's a really trite thing to say, but it's the truth). And I suspect this is so because there is just so much scope for imagination in this book.

drop-stitch scarf

2012-07-06T17:44:00.000-04:00

Remember when I talked about fostering my creativity some more at the beginning of this year...? Yeah, me neither. In any case, I've been doing just that quite a lot recently, and I began with this scarf. It is so easy to make -- in fact, I've done four of them since spying one on a friends neck last winter and hounding her to give me the pattern, which she eventually gave me not so long ago. It takes all of about 4 hours to complete and looks positively luscious; the pictures don't do it justice, but you have to trust me on just how scrumptious it looks once completed. I seem to have misplaced the pattern, so I can't really link to it on here, but if you're really curious let me know, and I'll be motivated to find it.

Oh, and I haven't blocked the scarf here in these photos, but I will soon, which should make it look less sorry and assume more of its inherent yumminess.

i never met free food i didn't want to eat

2012-07-02T00:32:00.000-04:00

First things first -- I invested in a little Canon point-and-shoot recently, so the images you'll be seeing on here from now on will most likely be digital. Why? Because it costs TWICE (!!) as much now to develop a roll of film than it did in the good old days ("the good old days" being about a month ago -- gah! I miss those days). The quality is naturally not nearly as good but not quite subpar either. Well, at least I can update this bitty blog a lot more now. So all's well that ends well.

Now, on to business. My friends have been feeding and watering me quite a bit lately, which if you know me at all you would know just how perfectly this arrangement jibes with me -- I never met free food I didn't want to eat.

Exhibit A is an Amish casserole called Yumsetta (I'm assuming they call it such due to the yumminess inherent in the dish, but don't quote me on that). When done right (which I assure you Sarah's was) Yumsetta incorporates chiefly ground beef, egg noodles, cheese, and brown sugar into a fare that is savory yet delicately sweet. I had two heaping helpings of it last night and again for lunch this afternoon, and would probably have had it for dinner as well if Selene hadn't invited me over for dinner and a movie.

Enter in exhibit B...

... deconstructed homemade Heavy D tacos. Oh, but it was good! I meant to bring some back to my apartment with me, but between the three of us (one of Selene's roommates joined us) there was barely any left by the end of the night to allow for the requisite take-home leftovers.

We watched this movie (which was wonderfully funny). Played with these cats:

Sir Oliver

Lord Colin

And I played and sang this song my whole way home. Definitely a fantastic albeit intensely hot weekend. I would totally do it over again!

i'm a news writer nowadays!

2012-06-18T16:41:00.000-04:00

I've been away for so long. Gah!... Consistency has never been a strong suit of mine, but I'm working on it.
Anyway, I write for my school newspaper now (yay!), and I surprise myself daily with how much I love it and how good I am at it (hardly modest, but I don't much feel like sublimating my spirit right now). This was the first article I wrote for the Red & Black. It made the front page and the positive feedback was so massive it was almost embarrassing. I'm so pleased!

You best believe I have a clipping of it stored in my journal for posterity.

memorial day

2012-05-30T15:01:00.000-04:00

It was really lovely. I got to spend it with some of my most favorite people in the world. And the food was just yummy. I'm infinitely blessed!

Now Playing: Turn And Turn Again by All Thieves

pentax k1000 // kodak ultra max

that's what's up

2012-05-22T23:12:00.001-04:00

Wanna know what I was up to last night? Probably not, but I'll tell you anyway - I saw Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros in concert, and it was EPIC! They're so good live that even now, just thinking about it makes me excitedly giddy all over again. It was so worth the stressful hour and a half drive down to Atlanta (which really was a 2-hour drive thanks to the thunderstorm that kept us company the whole way there). We missed the opening band, but who cares -- the main act more than made up for that loss. Now I can't wait for their new album, which is coming out may 29th (I checked). All the songs they performed off of it were amazing (and all the adjectives I'm using sound so trite, but I don't have words to articulate the awesomeness that is an Edward Sharpe concert).

Oh, and that's my friend Stephen. He's such an awesome, reliable concert buddy.

Now Playing: That's What's Up by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros

pentax k1000 // kodak ultra max

dear diary: sensible black girls

2012-05-17T13:05:00.000-04:00

This photo has absolutely nothing to do with the post, but it was a pretty sunset that day. And even with the large, obnoxious crane in the foreground, I still enjoy it, so...

Anyway, school's out now (queue excited hand-clapping and body flailing), but before it was out I had to do this thing for one of my literature classes called a Capstone presentation. Basically, during Capstones, seniors (of which I am one) present to the class their aspirations, hopes, dreams, and (if you're one of the lucky ones) plans that are no longer mere objectives but concrete things happening for you presently. You also place those hopes etc. in concert with your idea of what you perceive literature to be and specifically how that particular class has guided or not guided those perceptions.

For my Capstone, I read an entry from my journal that I felt was representative of some of my feelings about myself, about my major, but ultimately about my race. I'm gonna share an excerpt here:

Up until I was about three my name was Catherine after my dad’s elder sister. But then my dad got into an argument with her, and whatever it was they disagreed on must have been very important and/or very intense, because my dad had my name legally changed to Karen. It wasn’t that much of a leap, since firstly I wasn’t too attached to the name Catherine considering my very young age, and secondly and more technically Karen and Catherine mean essentially the same thing – Pure.

Except I don’t and have never considered myself pure. And I don’t mean pure in the sense of faultlessness or sinlessness; I mean the kind of pure that connotes a freedom from discordant qualities, but isn't necessarily metaphysical. Like when people talk about pure gold or a pure tone in music without any kind of extraneous or inappropriate elements taking away from the experience of that tone. So then, a musical kind of pure, if you will.

I am not a musical kind of pure. I am electronic and unplugged all at once. I am amplified. I am muted. I harbor too many contradictions to really and truly qualify the meaning of my name. And I think that’s why I have such an affinity for literature – or at the very least literature, as I understand it: Literature as all encompassing and inclusive; Literature as rigid and specialized; Literature as open and transcendent; Literature as elusive and insular.

I have often considered what my future will look like; lately those considerations have tripled in occurrence, and are markedly more frantic now that graduation is nearly upon me and the prospect of the “real” world is made more tangible daily. These considerations consistently leave me feeling claustrophobic. I mean that they elicit a sort of strange, frenzied, oftentimes hysterical feeling that I am unable to articulate as yet. I wouldn’t call it terror although it does have the makings for that particular emotion. But more and more, I have come to think of it as the ultimate side effect of my gross indecision complex. Because I am grossly indecisive.

I want to live on an isolated sheep farm in the French Alps with a whole slew of my own barefoot, underfoot children; I want to be a very capable food critic living in a charming, little, Seattle apartment with a cherry red front door; I want to be the flamboyant, artistic wife of an impressively bearded fisherman and live on an island off of the coast of Maine; I want to be a much beloved primary schoolteacher in a quaint European village; I want to tour the world over as an accordion player in a band that I shall call The Beard and the Trapezoid; but mostly I just want to be an eccentric and brilliant professor of Literature at a university – and I won’t even mind on which continent it is.

I can’t imagine what some of these dreams seem like to people who aren’t me, because to me they make perfect sense. But I find that I have to defend my aspirations constantly to people who, during my entire explanation, maintain the same incredulous, almost pitying expression. Because sensible black girls aspire to sensible careers. Sensible black girls grow up to be doctors and lawyers and engineers and chief editors and computer programmers, and (if you absolutely must push the envelope) fashion designers.

They know better than to gamble their futures on the success of bands that play obscure instruments like the accordion. They certainly know to stay away from places where the chances of them being the only one of their kind are invariably guaranteed. And every sensible black girl is well aware that fishing is no kind of life to live regardless of how impressive your potential lobsterman’s beard is. So, what to do when you’re a sensible black girl who practically avoids all the sensible things you ought to be chasing…?

Now Playing: Late Bloomer by Allie Moss

athens indie craftstravaganza!

2012-04-28T23:11:00.000-04:00

Between studying for finals, putting together portfolios for my web and painting classes, writing papers, working, and worrying about all the things I'm juggling, it's no wonder I haven't used my Pentax in what seems like years. But I brought it out of retirement this morning for the Athens Indie Craftstravaganza Spring Market. It was so great! I had the hardest time holding on to my nonexistent money (being broke seriously sucks). I did, however, collect some business cards for when I come into some money later (my ingenuity astounds me too, haha!).

P.S. Check out Jesse's online shop. I met her briefly at the market, but I can say this with all confidence: she's lovely and her handmade pouches are just as lovely too.

Now Playing: Dirty Paws by Of Monsters and Men

pentax k1000 // fujifilm superia x-tra

breakfast at belville's

2012-04-15T16:58:00.000-04:00

We took a break from painting one morning and convened at my professor's house for a little look-see at his lovely home and studio. We got to meet his dog too, and her name is Slinky-Toe. I don't get it either...

Now Playing: Over The Hill (John Martyn cover)

(Is it bad that I like this cover better than the original?! It has all of my favorite people in it. Ben Lovett... *sigh* Ah! I can't get enough!!)

pentax k1000 // fujifilm superia x-tra

easter sunday shenanigans

2012-04-11T22:24:00.002-04:00

Caution: the post you are about to view is heavily riddled with photos. Proceed accordingly.

riding in pink cars. death by shadow play. Wham!. imaginary convos via decommissioned pay phones. trolling downtown Athens. stealing photos of street crooners. yummy Five Guys burgers. brilliant sunsets. taking photos for strangers. taking photos of cute strangers (the operative word being "cute"). not-so-secret secret gardens. studies in floral arrangement 101. awkward poses by fountains. more trolling: library edition. lessons in lens focusing. obligatory reflection photos. all in a day's work.

LOVE has won!

2012-04-07T18:44:00.000-04:00

Last night was incredible!! It was totally worth turning my paper in late and risking a lower grade as opposed to if I had stayed put and finished it before time. I went to the Good Friday concert/service at the Passion City Church in Atlanta with my friends, Erin and Seth (they're married and so cute!), and I came away so blessed and rejuvenated in my faith. I had been struggling with feelings of such extreme guilt were my relationship with my Savior was concerned. But last night all of that just melted away. In retrospect I can't believe that I ever even considered I could possibly be an embarrassment to Jesus. I mean, nothing I do surprises Him so how could I discomfit Him with any of it. I needed reminding that Jesus paid it all for me, that there was nothing I could do to save myself -- I was spiritually decayed until He came along and raised this life out of death. His Love has won and I'm done fighting it.

P.S. In case you wondered, the next to last photo is me. Erin was adamant about getting at least one picture of me, and I'm glad I relented because I actually really like this photo. That rarely happens.

P.P.S. Check out this cause that's all about stopping human trafficking all over the world.

Now Playing: White Flag by Chris Tomlin

(If you've never listened to any of the songs I include at the end of each post, make an exception and listen to this one -- it's truly great!)

Happy Easter, everyone!!

22

2012-03-24T12:09:00.003-04:00

Literally, I've been celebrating my birthday for the past 3 weeks! My actual birthday was on March 10, but the weekend before, my out-of-town friends surprised me with a sweet birthday celebration. I took pictures from that night, but the only decent shot is the one above (sorry, guys -- the pains of shooting film).

I spent my actual birthday at home with my family. My dad cooked (I love it when my dad cooks; he has a rare talent for it). We rented a bunch of movies, and stayed put on the couch watching them. Overall, an unusually sedentary birthday, but a lovely one nonetheless. (Psst: Super 8 is an engrossing watch; I recommend it).

The week following my birthday was Spring Break, which I spent in Athens because I'm newly a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for children in foster care, and part of my training requires me to sit in on 10 hours of juvenile court proceedings.

This past week, though, I celebrated with my in-town friends. We made plans to get together and watch the finale of Walking Dead (zombie flicks are second only to my obsession with bearded and mustachioed men -- chai lattes are a close third). We had pasta for dinner. And as is our MO, (surprise) cupcakes and wine put in an appearance as well. 22 is shaping up to be a good year!

Now Playing: Get It Daddy by Sleeper Agent

pentax k1000 // fujifilm superia x-tra

what i'm reading: a feast for crows

2012-03-17T11:55:00.000-04:00

A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book took me forever to read, my goodness. I just wasn't as invested in these characters as I've been with the regulars (Bran, Jon, Dany, Tyrion, et al.). But towards the end it starts to redeem itself. What I'm about to say next is probably going to make me sound petty and vindictive. But truthfully, I don't much care because I gained such immense pleasure from observing the beginnings of Cersei's downfall that there's absolutely no way I'm not owning up to it. I suppose this is where I go into how lyrical the narrative is, and the author's artful use of literary devices, etc. (it's all of these things if you're concerned with such). But I'd rather gloat: you're done Cersei! you hear that -- DONE!!

make kony famous!

2012-03-14T21:14:00.000-04:00

For over 20 years this man (if you can even call him that) has been perpetuating acts of such barbarity and getting away with it because he is virtually invisible to the world. He needs to be stopped, but in order for that to happen we must first make him famous. So let's make him famous!

Educate yourself on the matter. Visit Invisible Children (click please), and figure what the best way for you to get involved is. I know there's some controversy with Invisible Children, but honestly it's all just trite and peripheral in my humble opinion because regardless of what percentage of funds IC reserves to propagate their agenda, the fact still remains that Joseph Kony needs to be caught and the only way to do so is to be relentless in our spotlighting of him. So don't donate money if it makes you uneasy, but put up flyers, tell a friend, blog about it, whatever it takes really. There are so many ways you can get involved and stop that beast in his tracks. No more excuses, y'all -- let's fight war!