John Winthrop's City upon a Hill speech, 1630

Now the onely way to avoyde this shipwracke and to provide for our posterity is to followe the Counsell of Micah, to doe Justly, to love mercy, to walke humbly with our God, for this end, wee must be knitt together in this worke as one man, wee must entertaine each other in brotherly Affeccion, wee must be willing to abridge our selves of our superfluities, for the supply of others necessities, wee must uphold a familiar Commerce together in all meekenes, gentlenes, patience and liberallity, wee must delight in eache other, make others Condicions our owne rejoyce together, mourne together, labour, and suffer together, allwayes haveing before our eyes our Commission and Community in the worke, our Community as members of the same body, soe shall wee keepe the unitie of the spirit in the bond of peace, the Lord will be our God and delight to dwell among us, as his owne people and will commaund a blessing upon us in all our
wayes, soe that wee shall see much more of his wisdome power goodnes and truthe then formerly wee have beene acquainted with, wee shall finde that the God of Israell is among us, when tenn of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies, when hee shall make us a prayse and glory, that men shall say of succeeding plantacions: the lord make it like that of New England: for wee must Consider that wee shall be as a Citty upon a Hill, the eies of all people are uppon us; soe that if wee shall deale falsely with our god in this worke wee have undertaken and soe cause him to withdrawe his present help from us, wee shall be made a story and a byword through the world, wee shall open the mouthes of enemies to speake evill of the wayes of god and all professours for Gods sake; wee shall shame the faces of many of gods worthy servants, and cause theire prayers to be turned into Cursses upon us till wee be consumed out of the good land whether wee are going: And to shutt upp this discourse with that exhortacion of Moses that faithfull servant of the Lord in his last farewell to Israell Deut. 30. Beloved there is now sett before us life, and good, deathe and evill in that wee are Commaunded this day to love the Lord our God, and to love one another to walke in his wayes and to keepe his Commaundements and his Ordinance, and his lawes, and the Articles of our Covenant with him that wee may live and be multiplyed, and that the Lord our God may blesse us in the land whether wee goe to possesse it: But if our heartes shall turne away soe that wee will not obey, but shall be seduced and worshipp other Gods our pleasures, and proffitts, and serve them, it is propounded unto us this day, wee shall surely perishe out of the good Land whether wee passe over this vast Sea to possesse it;

Therefore lett us choose life,

that wee, and our Seede,

may live; by obeyeing his

voyce, and cleaveing to him,

for hee is our life, and

our prosperity.

Curriculum Vitae by Alissa Valles

I was born in mid-winter.
A bird obscured the sun.
It was a public holiday:
rubbish stood uncollected
in the streets of the capital.
Soldiers sat smoking
around mountain fires.
My mother wore red,
the doctors wore white,
my father came running.
My education proper
began when my uncle
fell into my room, nude
but for a tumbler of whiskey.
I kissed his knees and feet.
From then on, it was one
mad success after another:
the first of my sex allowed to
do rifle training, prizes
in ethnic understanding.
An artist I posed for said
a woman worth painting
looks clumsy in a dress.
At graduation, I recited
and I long and yearn
bringing tears to many eyes.
I believe I am suitable for
the position of his majesty’s
concubine for several reasons.
I rarely speak: since I left
school, I’ve spoken only
to decline marriage offers.
I rarely weep: once, when
my son was taken away.
It’s said the emperor likes
games of flight and pursuit.
If I may say so, without
being thought immodest,
I’m an accomplished prey.

Goodbye Shawn Kemp Carwash

Shawn Kemp Carwash began on 15 March 2011. Today is 21 March 2012. I took my car to the wash this afternoon but did not smoke pot (ala Shawn Kemp) while inside. As my final SKC post, here is a picture of that experience. Goodbye:

The Broken Gaze, by Paul J. Leslie, III

Every salesperson at least one point in their career has been asked about their competition by a customer. It never looks good to a customer when you talk bad about your competitors. When you use The Broken Gaze you will be able to say nice things about the competition that your customer will perceive as negatives without you ever saying or expressing it.

1. You must be in excellent rapport with good eye contact with your customer from the beginning.

2. When the customer asks about your competitor, break the eye contact and slightly lower your voice.

3. When you are done talking about them instantly re-establish eye contact and previous voice patterns.

For example:

You and Mrs. Smith are talking about the fine washer and dryers your store sells. You are in good rapport and have anchored `quality and dependability' to yourself. You have excellent eye contact. She then asks about Jones Washers, who are down the street. You immediately break your eye contact and slightly lower your voice and say, "I have heard that there are nice people down at Jones". You immediately reconnect your eye contact and bring back your voice pattern to normal to tell Mrs. Smith about your free delivery offer. If she asks later about Jones Washers you try the same approach. Her brain will link losing rapport to Jones Washers, so it doesn't matter what they offer she will feel disconnected to the competition.

You have succeeded in your sale without bashing anyone.

The Flasher

SKC's Jeff Alessandrelli discusses baths and flashing in a good review of Adam Peterson's new book over on HTMLGIANT.