General Things.

I just finished reading a journal written by Paul Gauguin and published by his son, Emile. Mostly it's a declaration that "this is not a book”, but he says some things I did not know, and others I did.

Gauguin said,” Nothing just happens" and "don't give away your paintings, except to your cook of course", and told several stories about the evilness of "colonial police", or gendarmes as they were

called in the Marquesas Islands. Their rule was one of totality and without morals, to which Gauguin objected. He spoke, eloquently, about fencing and stated he "had a delicate hand (as evidenced in his paintings) and a sloppy shoulder" causing him to be a defensive, rather than an offensive fencer. He thought, indeed, that defensive fencing was the superior attitude, for in knowing how to respond you had to think, and in the thinking, you knew how to attack.

He also claims to "have hated the Danes”, mostly for their false sense of friendship.

I loved that "this is not a book" and that his son, Emile, published the work.

Alex Matthews said "I teach people what I know so that they'll know it too, and know the right way to do things 'cause I taught 'em" which is the best reason I ever heard for teaching.

This poem is for Alex Matthews who taught me. Thank you, my friend.

Be, be your best, be your best all the time.

Teach, teach others what you know and help,

help each other, all the time to try and understand.

Try and understand everything, everybody, and believe.

Believe in your self and believe in others,

knowing teaching, being, and be alive.

I'm struggling to understand why the world seems to have lost it's principles, at least where I'm at now. I wonder why these words come at me, with me obliged to write 'em down.

It's hard to live as pure as Alex Matthews.

Ode to Rugby, and the painting of the same name.

The reason to publish all this stuff is to show that everyone's life is important enough to write down.

Thank you God, for that thought.

hb

5.17.98