Eden in Us in Avatar
Avatar takes us on an exciting ride that changes our sense of self, scale, and loyalty. We soar up into tree branches and down into the roots as if we’re insects in the forest. Who are we in the larger communities of life? We think of Pandora’s Box as releasing all the troubles of the world, but that’s a perversion of the original myth. In the pre-patriarchal version, Pandora’s Box contained the goods of a natural world. We were similarly tricked out of Eden. We…
Barely
Americans barely rescued our country and democracy in the mid-term election. Over $16 billion dollars was spent, much of it channeled through “dark money” organizations. The Supreme Court has blessed this secrecy, declaring corporations are “persons” and money is their “free speech.” About half of that was spent on federal elections, half on state and local. In some locales, the tv and social media were inundated with gobs of ads, none identifying who paid what for their annoying drone. Here are a couple of reports…
Rebels without a Cause
Remember the 1955 movie “Rebel Without a Cause”? James Dean, Natalie Wood, and Sal Mineo played three distraught teens, alienated from their families, caught up in teenage toughness, resulting in a tragic accident. Those were the days when a switchblade knife at school was considered dangerously wrong. “Blackboard Jungle” that year also showed the disturbing trend, amplified much later in 1972 by “Clockwork Orange,” which portended purposeless violence. The Rebel Without a Cause movie was titled after the psychiatrist Robert Lindner’s 1944 book of the…
The Storm is Coming: Disinformed is Worse than Misinformed
It was a totally nice day as I walked by a guy in a car with the engine running. After I shopped and came out of the store, it was still running. I wanted to grab him, take him to the tailpipe, and put his mouth on it. “Breathe that, you irresponsible dope!” Instant car karma, he gets first what he otherwise sends to everybody else! Unless his starter was broken, he was either misinformed and ignorant of our shared responsibility to not wreck our…
BBC Says in September of 2022
Here’s what I contributed to various forums, tweets, and emails in the order they were posted: political branding, ecological wishes, critiquing and complimenting media, electrified bikes and other vehicles, public ownership of personal and public power gathering, Israel’s shooting of a journalist, rising fascism, misnomers on the geography of cities, sections, and continents, mob-mind Republicans, support for my local State Senator, the foolishness of “believing in the Bible,” (including my own core biblical theology on how Genesis One can fix the eons of mayhem based…
Dashed by Bots, Then Ignored
I had to create an entire post to have even the slightest chance of having someone at the New York Times read what I had intended to add to the Comments on their report about Russian bots contributing to the shaming of a feminist participating in The Women's March of 2017. So, I'll paste in my commentary and some of thier report here: "I read the Comments here until my eyes glazed over and my scrolling finger cramped. "The vicious botters don't have to create…
Besides Chores, a Life of Love?
One of my favorite sermons was one I gave in St. Joseph, Michigan in 1971. I used the pulpit to preach what I truly thought was true and good: pot. I put a notice of the topic in the newspaper, and sure enough, some plain-clothes police showed up. I preached in favor of the legalization of pot, explaining it enhances moods and leads to creative thoughts. Because it was still illegal, the joint I appeared to roll while in the pulpit was just imaginary. But…
BBC Says in later August 2022
BBC says in later August 2022 I had stopped copying my online screeds until later August. The first is the most fun. I'll just drop them in here in chronological order for your perusal on topics from drugs to politics to the 2nd Amendment to appropriate technologies to human nature to Ukraine to Gorbachev. 8-21-22 to NYT on cannabis drinks I've enjoyed smoking cannabis since 1970 and have recommended its legalization from the pulpit. However, there is a difference between smoking in eating it. I…
Singing My Way
For a few years, I've been singing my heart out at karaoke. Cute blue-haired Carli hosts it. Participants get to sing one or up to three songs during the night. We also listen to other singers, some great, some bearable. I think I sing fairly well. I have a mini fan base who cheer me on. Carli and I in the Black Sheep (I'm actually taller than she is!) Thought I'd list the songs I've sung or want to (mostly the former). (If you've seen…