The World Is On Fire

in one of my last posts, i promised future details about exciting news soon to come concerning my books. this news is a bit delayed, but it will still be forthcoming. i’ve been so busy gardening and working overtime that i haven’t had much time or energy to invest in other projects lately. we live in a society where we have to spend more time and energy on the basics of food and shelter now than we did just half a century ago. and we all thought progress meant things getting better, right? i remember when i was still in college a decade ago, watching minimum wage rise by 50 cents or more, and looking forward to continued increases. i just assumed that things work that way, you know? and now i’m so cynical and resigned, and delighted about my recent 18 cent pay raise. an extra $25 a month is sadly exciting.

one of the things that i’ve been thinking about lately is the disposable consumer packed goods culture that america has become. a long long time ago, people really valued things that were made to last, and they really prided themselves on the relationships they built with physical items that they used everyday. that hasn’t gone away entirely, but it’s a nostalgic spectre of what it once was. people actually pride themselves now on how new and fresh and recently-replaced their things are. from furniture to clothes to hairbrushes and beyond, cheap plastic shit that continually needs replacing is touted as progress and material advancement.

awhile back i read an article about the oldest toaster in england. is there any good reason why it’s the only one? i really hope it’s just the only one in the spotlight. it consoles me to think of scores of other quinquagenarian toasters, quietly functioning and taken for granted, throughout households around the western world. isn’t that much more impressive than serial replacements, each one with a shorter lifespan than the last, never getting a chance to contribute to the long-term character of a kitchen?

i am offering below a selective overview of some items (artifacts?) that sustain a long-term relationship with me. some have been with me longer than others, but one of my goals in keeping them is to keep them as long as i can. it doesn’t matter what brand new things might pop up from one week to the next in one store or another – i have no interest in replacements, because these items have no need to be replaced. i hope that my beloved readers will be inspired to fall in love with their own material possessions just a little bit, recognise those that endure and appreciate them for it. hold on to them lovingly, cherish them and reject unnecessary flimsy replacements.

green velvet couch – sometime in the first part of 2001, during my freshman year in college, i rescued a green velvet couch from the dumpsters. one of the campus frat houses was getting new couches, so they put the old ones up in the attic, and removed the previous-old-ones from the attic, and put them by the dumpsters to throw them away. i dragged one pretty much across the whole campus, and gave it a home in my dorm room. it lived in 5 more dorm rooms, and then my three previous apartments, until residing now in my attic. one of the arms is crushed. trials and tribulations were involved in most of the moves because of stairwells. but i could easily repair the arm, and only haven’t done so because it’s not imperative. whether i repair the arm sooner or later, it’s still fully functional, and i couldn’t even begin to estimate the number of people who have enjoyed sweet sweet sleep on its cushions. i could write a really thick book of stories just from this couch.

boar bristle hair brush -i think i’ve had this hairbrush since i was 4 years old, but it could have had it even earlier and i just don’t remember. i use it regularly, and it is a bit worn, but still every bit as functional as it was when i was a tiny child. it has a wooden handle and a few bristles have broken off now and then over the years, but they’ve broken off at the base rather than coming out from the socket, and i expect to continue using it for decades.

disposable razor – my day job involves customer support for consumer packaged goods, isn’t that ironic? so, in august 2010 when i was hired and trained, i was given a 3pack of disposable razors from the company i work for as part of my product training, to be familiar with the things people will call me to ask about. granted, i shave much less than the average american, but i’m still on my first razor out of that 3pack. and they’re disposables, not premium, designed for just one use. and it still is just as sharp as ever. i used to shave my head regularly, and that made me go through razors much more quickly. i never imagined that i’d be able to keep a disposable razor alive for so long. the company i work for certainly didn’t “design” these disposables to live so long. but they actually do if you give them a chance instead of thoughtlessly tossing them because you’re “supposed to”. i actually get testimonials from consumers on a regular basis about disposable-razor-relationships just like mine.

clothing  – i don’t even know where to begin with clothing. i have things from my mother and father and grandmother that are much older than myself. i have stuff from thrift shoppes that’s genuinely vintage. it seems like the older a piece of clothing is, the longer it lasts, the more wear and tear it can handle. mending certainly helps to prolong the longevity of fabric. but another secret i have, is to avoid conventional washing and drying machines. hand-washing or using my wonderful asian-style washing machine keeps clothing from becoming prematurely threadbare. the biggest antagonist to fabric, in my empirical observation, is putting it in a heat-dryer. i don’t have one of those, and i’m confident that my clothesline is helping my clothes to stay in shape.

bake ware – a lot of the bake ware in my kitchen today is what i grew up with as a child. it went to china with us in the 1990, it came back with us, and it’s still fully functional to this day. a couple years ago, my cats knocked a big casserole bowl on the floor and broke it, and that made me very sad. i’d thought these things are immortal. it turns out they’re still susceptible to feline interference. to keep them alive, they must be kept safe. i use them regularly and they remain in perfect condition.

television – in the summer of 2001 i purchased a television. it has a built-in VCR. it’s the only television i’ve ever had. now in 2012 the red goes away sometimes and you have to hit it to get the picture colours balanced again. but 11 years of flawless performance is still impressive, and even though it’s become a bit needy, it’s still satisfyingly functional. i kept it decorated with aluminium tape for a long time and i’ve never used it for television channels, only for VHS and DVD. i removed the antenna right after i got it. i wonder if that “asceticism” helped to prolong its lifespan.

mattress & box spring – when a friend of mine was living with me in 2006, he needed a bed, so we got a bed from another friend of mine. it’s a mattress and box spring that she slept on as a child. it’s probably 20 years old. after my friend moved to a futon (because he was too tall for the bed) and eventually moved out, the bed has alternately served as bed and couch, and even both at once. it’s still just as functional and comfortable as it was in 2006. i have no idea how that compares to its condition when my friend was a little girl, but i’m sure it hasn’t changed much.

living room rug – i have a rug from china. we came back from china in 1996. enough said, right? it’s been rolled up and put away from time to time for its own protection, but it’s a very hardy rug and handles cleaning very well even though it’s hand-dyed and hand-woven. it gives the lawn a bit of red tint when we take it outside and hose it down and clean it, but it only needs such treatment every few years.

coffee table – i got this coffee table at the end of my freshman year when one friend of mine gifted it to me as she was leaving school. she’d gotten it from her boyfriend at the time when he graduated. he’d gotten it from another friend, whose parents had purchased it for her when she came to my college as a freshman. this coffee table weathered more than a decade of debauched college very well, and weathered a lot of post-college debauchery as well, and is still in prefect condition today.

book cases – when i went off to college in 2000, i got a couple of “sauder” assemble-able tall book cases. and i have them in my living room now today. the shelves are just a little bit bowed, but i really do have to say, the put-it-together-yourself furniture out of a box that they sell now can’t hold a match, let alone a candle, to what they used to make. i’m pretty sure these book cases have at least another decade or so of life in them. they’ve withstood all sorts of abuse and overuse. compare them to some of the same sort of thing i got in 2006, the newer ones are on their last legs and will need extensive repairs in order to remain members of the household. the two from 2000 have still never showed any signs of needing any sort of repair.

woks – we used woks in china, of course. and i still use a couple of them today. i remember when i was just seven years old, watching my mother make stir-fry. they looked so huge back then! i use them very regularly. one of them has developed a tendency to rust over the past few years, but the other one is so shiny it looks new.

spice rack VHS cabinets – when i was home schooled before high school, my parents got some “sauder” style VHS cabinets that they put together out of a box. years later, a couple years after i’d graduated from college, they gave these things to me. and i’ve used them as “spice rack” cabinets in my kitchen ever since. they’re perfect for the size and shape of spice jars. i painted them a long time ago, and they’ll continue to be a highlight of my kitchen for years to come.

teapot – another thing from before i went to college. there was a little bluebird coming off the spout cover, but when it broke off, the cover still worked to make it whistle when the water is ready. it certainly doesn’t look new these days, but it purrs “age and character” rather than deterioration.

aloe plant – i wasn’t sure if i wanted to include this guy in this list, but the idiosyncrasy is irresistible. i’ve had this aloe plant since 2005. i don’t want to risk opening a can of worms and start something that needs its own post, but i do feel that people often regard house plants as disposable replaceable consumer goods as well, so i wanted to put some words in for my 7 year old faithful companion. s/he’s only been re-potted twice!

lamp – i have a lamp in my bedroom now that was in my bedroom when i was still in highschool. it also looks new.

trunks/footlockers – i got these when i was a freshman in college. i used to keep clothes in them back then. now i keep sewing fabric and scraps in them. they’ve been a consistent part of my entourage for years. i also have a cedar chest which is the exact same size and design of the footlockers, but decades older. one of the side handles is torn, other than that it’s in perfect condition. these are the sorts of things that never need to be replaced. they should be called “investments” rather than “purchases”. they’ll probably outlive me by at least one generation.

dressers – i have a number of dressers that belonged to my grandmother. they used to be red, but my grandmother was a cigarette smoker, so when she moved out of her condo in florida and my parents inherited many of her possessions, my mother painted the dressers to try to hide the cigarette smell, and she chose white. i kinda wish they were still red, but instead of stripping off the white, i’ve just continued to add more and more paint and pen drawings to them. they’re indestructible AND elegant, and they sure can hold a lot in their drawers. they’re heavy, but totally worth it.

chopsticks, knives & spoons – i have various flatware from my childhood. i’ve never purchased flatware. my mother bought me a set of knives, forks, and spoons when i went off to college, and i still have most of those too, although some of them fell apart from poor workmanship. but the chopsticks from china, and the knives and forks and spoons from china, are still in perfect condition. i’ve lost a few over the years but only due to other people not respecting my property as much as i do.

this is the sort of thing that grandmas and grandpas can relate to much more easily than most people my age. and that’s sad, because it means that their values and their wisdom were rejected by most of the next generation, and undiscovered after that.

there’s a romanticism in knowing something well and trusting its performance. there’s also a romanticism in the nostalgia and the memories evoked by things that have been your companion for more than a decade. beyond that, there’s a beauty in the continuity of maintaining possessions rather than replacing them as soon as something novel is available. what is teaching this to children these days? please, i beseech you, teach this to children today!!!!!

back on 7 march 2012, i attended a board of health meeting in the city of appleton very early in the morning. i pulled myself out of bed and dragged my visiting sister with me, because they were talking about potentially passing an ordinance to allow appleton residents to keep chickens in their backyards.

i made some comments, with the calm passion that is only possible at 7am over a delicious thermos of hot tea. naturally, the minute-taker captured none of my eloquence and didn’t describe my talking points very well, but nonetheless i am documented on the record in the following fashion: “Verud [...] stated one of the problems may be the way the Ordinances were created, introduced, implemented and enforced. There are a lot of problems other communities are having, but we are not the same type of community. If it is done right and we learn from other communities so we can succeed, but not to see those other communities as reasons why we shouldn’t be able to succeed at this ourselves. There will be people who will be responsible in caring for their chickens.” i want to state for the record that i find this summary grammatically disappointing.

there’s a group on facebook called appleton city peeps. they are working very hard to make chickens possible in appleton. it does entertain me however, how many of their “likes” on facebook are non-appletonian. i encourage all my readers to “like” them on facebook, no matter how far away you might be, just to spread the message that urban chickening is part of a healthy lifestyle and should be an option for anyone, no matter where they live.

i have adorned this entry with pictures of the ducks that wandered into my backyard in 2009 when the koi pond was new. they’re not chickens. but we were doing awesome things, so they came and surveyed the area, and they were very pleased.

let’s take a look at what’s been going on in the world of books lately. soon i’ll have an exciting announcement about my own book, “shapeshifting for profitable philanthropy“, but you’ll have to wait for a future post. for now let’s talk about other things.

back in february, i heard that paypal was no longer friends with erotica. i’m glad that i don’t have a shopfront or something set up with paypal for selling my writing. it makes me want to boycott paypal altogether, but that’s far too ambitious. does anyone want to share some paypal alternatives? i think that erotica is a very important part of literature in general, but that’s beside the point. whether a whole story is dubbed “erotica” or it just happens to have one or two intense beautiful scenes, the fact will always remain that there’s both supply and demand. for the money-handling middleman to say what type of content can be sold and purchased is beyond ridiculous. money is blind. and paypal won’t survive unless it’s equally blind.

meanwhile, if you prefer reading material of a more academic nature, library.nu was shut down after accusations of piracy. i find this very tragic. it’s just another version of book-burning, but in cyberspace instead of the town square. destruction, dispersal, or otherwise limiting access to texts is a predictable symptom of unstable power structures as they decline into chaos. i’d like to take this time to exhort everyone to keep their own library. digital and hard copies both is obviously the best method of collection, but even if you just have one or the other, nourish it and grow it and guard it and protect it. the seats of archives become the new seats of power, and the nature of the archives will go far in determining the flavour of whatever new power arises.

thanks to some wonderful people out there, some library.nu stuff can be found here and here. efforts like this maintain my love for the human race.

now, for a sign-of-our-times that’s technological instead of socio-political. after 244 years, the encyclopaedia britannica is discontinuing its print version. this should comes as no surprise to those who have been watching the accelerated rate at which touchscreens are taking over our world. i imagine post-it note sales are declining, both related and unrelated to the encyclopaedia’s pixelification. (i actually have a post-it note application that came with the desktop environment of my phone. i didn’t have any concept of applications or desktop environments when i first started reading the encyclopaedia britannica.)

it makes me sad, in a nostalgic way. but i think we’ll soon have a new breed of books in this world, that don’t have corners you can fold, whose words will never be highlighted or underlined indelibly, whose pages will never be dampened by tears; books that will have no spine to be broken or print to fade or cover to write your name in proudly. it makes these old books all the more precious and ghostly. like ivory piano keys and russian sable coats, these tree-corpse artifacts will eventually be regarded with pity and disgust, while collectors guiltily try to explain that their collection is a mausoleum, a respectful shrine…

so, how is all this accelerated change affecting americans today? let’s look at some disturbing trends, like a report that american high school students are only reading at 5th grade levels. i noticed back when i was still in college that each new class of freshman had, on average, read less and less than myself. i suppose that trend would have continued if i hadn’t left after the usual 4 years, but without the college context, the people i meet are much less easily organizable for statistical purposes. i get the impression though that the “younger people” that i meet each year are more and more academically anaemic and even emaciated. i can’t imagine what passes for a highschool english class in america today. when i try, i just think of ms bitters’ classroom in “invader zim“. the problem is very complicated of course, but i think the trend that highschools are becoming increasingly like correctional facilities is more than just a correlation.

the next time you have an occasion to give a highschool kid a present, think about giving them a copy of my book, or any other book. the world will keep turning no matter what you do. but what will keep the pages turning?

i haven’t updated this in awhile. i really need to be better about this.

it’s only 56 degrees in my house right now. i’m really excited about springtime and my garden. the warm weather recently gave me the chance to do all kinds of important structural things that i didn’t have time to do last year. building and fixing fences, turning compost, etc. i spent most of the winter keeping a notebook in which i wrote down every random plan and thought for my garden, and drew various pictures and compiled divers lists of diverse things. now i’m going back to some of my pictures and diagrams and highlighting things that have become real. i intend to keep up with pictures and notes, and keep an account of my experiences this year.

i have a list of everyone from wisconsin who donated to scott walker since march 2011. i need someone to help me sort through it. i want to compile a “boycott these businesses” list, but the way this list is, people are affiliated with businesses even if they’re just a random employee who donated two bucks. so i need someone to look up all the names and cross-check them against the company, and pare the list down to companies whose CEO or other legitimate representative made a donation. please let me know if you’re interested! i have a zipped html file.

i started swimming again. that makes me happy.

i read so much. i spend eight hours a day, five days a week, at work in front of a computer screen. i answer phonecalls and emails and letters. i absorb words and occasionally regurgitate scripts to earn my wages. i never have the time anymore to create my own words, or even paint pictures… it feels mechanical. like i’m some sort of computer myself.

spring is a time for celebration and renewal. an upsurge of energy.

happy easter.

i’m feeling a lot of animosity towards “american culture” today. one thing that really disgusts me is how much people throw away. and people just take it for granted that to accomplish certain tasks, disposable items must be used.

but there are so many alternatives. there are always alternatives in any situation. most of the things we use every day didn’t exist two hundred years ago. and most of these things are unnecessary. it makes me really sad sometimes, when i think of how america could have evolved and how advanced and happy and healthy americans could be today if materialism and consumerism hadn’t hijacked everything in the first half of the 1900s. but, we can’t change history. and the future is in our hands. so instead of dwelling on how sad this country is, it’s better to think of things to do about it.

so, here’s a thought. i bring my own containers to the deli when i get stuff to take home. when going out to eat, it would be quite easy to bring one or two empty reusable containers with me. when you go out to eat and have leftovers, the restaraunt gives you a take-home container. i’m seeing more and more recyclable or compostable containers, but most of them are still the standard cheap plastic. and the others aren’t really that great. the compostable containers take an extremely long time to break down. and recycling things, while it does lessen the amount of trash that goes into a landfill or into the ocean, often causes a lot of pollution and uses a lot of resources, because of outdated technology used in a lot of old recycling plants. etc etc.

it’s very hard to avoid unnecessary disposable containers and packaging, and it’s certainly not easy to find ways to reuse most of it either. my faith in the human race is strengthened by news stories that many localities in america are banning plastic bags. but this is a somewhat difficult topic for me at the same time, because i don’t think laws solve problems and i don’t think laws should be necessary. my love for humanity would truly be nourished if stores would just stop using disposable grocery bags of their own accord. or if companies that make them would just stop making them.

i’m not naive, but i do daydream about fantasy worlds. imagine if everyone cared about the planet and everyone’s health and wellbeing. that would be a pretty trippy world, hunh?

well, here’s a picture of my sister’s cat Chun, wearing a beret. you can find more of her amazing photography at The Miao Chronicles.

making new year’s resolutions has been a tradition for a long time. for a long time now, many people have also tended to think new year’s resolutions are never kept. to make a new year’s resolution is to express wishful thinking, and resign oneself to accept failure. it doesn’t seem very healthy.

but making resolutions can be a healthy thing. it’s a ritualistic act that really can promote focus and raise energy. so, this year, i have decided to make a list of reasonable achievable sustainable resolutions. i love the word ‘sustainable’, don’t you? it makes you feel like you’re doing something good before you even put any effort into doing it.

i resolve to write more. this is open-ended enough to be easily done. i would really like to update this blog more regularly. i have a novel distributed through the hard drives of three or four computers that’s been a work in progress for 19 years. i started working on a memoir about growing up in china and never got very far with it. i have a whole number of unfinished short stories that i’d like to complete. i haven’t written nearly as much poetry in the past 5 years combined as i did in almost every year prior. i don’t want to be unrealistic and “resolve to get another book published”, but if i write more, then i will certainly get closer that goal. in general i think that the more i write, the more ‘alive’ i am, and all sorts of other good things will follow.

i resolve to restore my health. i haven’t really been taking care of my body properly, nutrition and exercise and all that, due to environmentally induced laziness. i sit in a cubicle for 40 hours a week and for half the year the sun has gone down by the time i get out of work. it’s very discouraging. last year i hardly went discing at all, and i really miss it. i also really miss having muscles instead of this (albeit very insulating) layer of fat. the first steps of my resolution involve a healthier diet and hopefully a return to swimming laps. i used to swim 40 – 60 laps a day and i miss that even more than discing.

i resolve to make my yard and garden even more extraordinary than they were last year. in fact, for this resolution, i have even decided to dedicate a notebook to the process, and spend the rest of the time before spring gets here drawing blueprints and making lists and plotting awesomeness.

i resolve to finish the paintings that i’ve started. i have a number of paintings in my art studio that have been in progress for a very long time. there are many other bits of creative inspiration inside me that i haven’t even begun to release. completing old projects to make room for new ones is something i’ve been working on slowly in a back-burner fashion for a long time. this year i resolve to prioritize these projects and finally get them out of the way.

i think this is a modest list, and each resolution is well-supported by enthusiasm and optimism. nothing extreme, nothing futile, but still things that can be epic. especially the garden. i resolve that my garden will be epic.

neither liberals nor conservatives can make america a better place. only those who are NEITHER liberal NOR conservative will find ways to address american problems. liberals and conservatives alike share the same flaws that prevent them from making progress. if you find that you don’t relate to any of the criticism below, then i’d like you to consider, my dear friend, that it might be appropriate for you to take a bold step and stop identifying yourself as one or the other.

some have a tendency to glorify the past nostalgically, and focus on how much better things used to be. others prefer to focus on how terrible things are right now. they all tend to regard the future with fear, and want to protect themselves from bad things or restore themselves to some land-before-time, rather than believing in and working towards a better tomorrow.

they both view the political stage as a pageant full of “good guys” and “bad guys”, in which the audience must figure out which is which and who to support, and anyone who supports or condemns the “wrong guy” is then a “bad guy” himself. divisions, antagonisms, american against american. they claim that the people are being manipulated, but really it’s not  government or politics that turns people against each other. it’s simply partisan mentality. they think the “good guys” love america and want to save it, and the “bad guys” hate america and want to destroy it. but really, regardless of whether an american is liberal or conservative, the vast majority of them love america with equal passion, yet they vilify each other so much that they’re all equally responsible for the fractured schizophrenia of american society.

liberals and conservatives alike are obsessed with religion. “muslims are anti-american terrorists”, some say. “christians hate homosexuals”, others say. accusing religions of hatred is a convenient way to avoid the human element. it’s an easy way to deny that hatred has a face, and it’s a great excuse to ignore the fact that hatred’s face is your own when you look in the mirror. returning to the tiny example i started with, many muslims happen to hate terrorists, and many christians happen to be homosexual. back when education was a pillar of america’s strength, little american children were taught that generalizations are more apt to cause problems than solve problems on a social level. but liberals and conservatives alike just generalize the hell out of each other and everything else under the sun – and the fact is that you really can’t BE a liberal OR a conservative without implicitly subscribing to a generalized worldview.

both liberals and conservatives cling to the false hope or delusion that legislation solves problems. bullying, abortion, corruption, pollution, jobs, etc – all of these issues really require education and cooperation on an individual and community level in order to be addressed successfully. yet liberals and conservatives alike waste their energy arguing about what laws to pass and what laws to repeal. instead of educating and understanding, they seek to persuade and seduce, and they both fall prey to persuasion and seduction. a friend of mine recently wrote, “If I took the right speech and logic classes, what would keep me from being the wisest liar?” and liberals and conservatives, instead of striving to inform each other and educate each other and think critically about issues together, strive instead to “be the wisest liar” to each other. rather than trying to find ways to work together, they want  laws (magic spells?) with which to bind and manipulate each other. legislation merely controls the population – it doesn’t change the nature of people. how can any legislation be a panacea, if it’s just a rug thrown over a pile of broken porcelain? neither liberals nor conservatives consider the option of sitting down together, and with sweat and blood, shouldering the trial of gluing the broken pieces of society back together.

liberals and conservatives alike ascribe to a blame mentality. everything has to be someone else’s fault, and the guilty must pay for their sins or crimes, and that takes priority over rectifying whatever is wrong. for example, the economy sucks – do we blame obama? do we blame republicans? do we blame the iraq war? do we blame wall street? do we blame the EPA? do we blame mexicans? but it really doesn’t matter who we blame, the world is too complex, there is no single entity accountable for any problem. so much energy is lost pointing fingers, and at the end of the day regardless of whose fault it may be, nothing has gotten any better.

so, do you want to make america a better place? do you believe that a beautiful world is possible? do you think that a society in which everyone is happy is a reasonable goal rather than a pipe dream? if you do, then please, my friend, turn your back on what is archaic and brittle and stagnant. take this battleground we live in now, of liberals and conservatives, and work on turning america into a land of individuals with divergent viewpoints and conflicting opinions and bold dreams of cooperating to build a great future.

Rest in Peace, Hathor, and Best Wishes On Your Continued Adventures Through the Universe.

When the Gods assume flesh and blood, we never know their agenda, or how long they will stay. But Hathor walked among us, loved us, and we love him. His time with us was a small adventure in a greater context that we will never understand. We were the lucky ones Hathor chose to grace with his presence, and we will remember him and miss him always. When the Gods walk on Earth, they are like shooting stars, lighting up the whole sky briefly and brilliantly.

Hathor, 10 March 2011 – 24 December 2011

in the beginning, the planet was an ocean of fire. the ocean cooled, continents emerged from brine, and plants and animals built themselves up from single cells into complex topographies and communities. presently, one animal, the human, became the most highly evolved, the most successful. humans changed their landscape and enslaved the plants and animals. areas where there were no humans, were colonized by humans, and then the plants and animals were steadily driven out. humans changed the environment and pillaged the resources, but from time to time the plants and other animals would retake some ground.

then, a new animal evolved. the automobile. it enslaved the humans and made them build huge breeding facilities, and then it reproduced rapidly. this life form was made of steel. it quickly traveled around the planet and continued to reproduce. it made the enslaved humans cut huge channels and tunnels into the planet, huge bridges, highways and skyways, to give it easy transport as it sped and swarmed over the continents. enormous flying automobiles and floating automobiles carried regular automobiles across oceans and over deserts. in areas where there were no automobiles, armored automobiles and flying automobiles arrived and detonated human structures and enslaved humans, then cleared away plants and animals and forced the humans to carve channels and tunnels, and build breeding facilities. automobiles feasted on a dark planet-blood called oil that the enslaved humans had to destroy the surface of the earth in order to access. this animal not only despoiled the earth of its natural resources, it also produced massive amounts of waste that polluted the air and water.

and so automobiles became the dominant species of the planet, the pinnacle of evolution, and as they flourished, the planet slowly died.

the thanksgiving tradition, for me, is to gather with loved ones. and feed each other. and cuddle each other. a time to get together and revel in how glad we are to have each other in our lives, even though we don’t get to see each other as frequently as we’d like. it really has nothing to do with the historicity of the holiday, other than feasting being involved. it’s the harvest festival, to me. one of the landmarks as the seasons turn.

my garden was most productive with carrots this year. i learned a lot. next year’s garden should be very epic as a result of this year’s education.

one of the things i’m thankful for this year, is how awesome appleton actually is. there are some resources here, both community and material, that make life really beautiful, that continually remind me why the future is worth fighting for and that the world is worth loving.

i am celebrating black friday today by buying nothing and posting reviews online for all my favourite local businesses.

Green Gecko Grocer & Deli - this is my favourite place in appleton to get food. the owner is a dear friend. the quality of the ingredients is amazing, and they serve alcohol too. even though i’m pescatarian, i appreciate that they always have lots of vegetarian options, so i’m not stuck with having to get the same things all the time. and the owner and staff are so friendly. makes you feel like you’re in europe, even though you’re right in the middle of downtown appleton.

Fuji Sushi - delicious and inexpensive. the owner is chinese, she studied sushi making at a chef school in california. they’ve been open for awhile and keep improving. the ambiance and interior decor is really amazing now. they serve alcohol too so it’s a great place to take someone on a date and feel like it’s exotic and special, even though it’s completely affordable. they’ve got really high standards for their quality of ingredients and the owner is always experimenting to come up with fun new unique recipes. she’s got a variety of spicy mexican-inspired rolls, as well as a lot of vegetarian options. (not that i’m vegetarian – i want to make that clear. but vegetarian options are good for vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike, and the greater their presence on a menu, the more it reflects a balanced sustainable approach to food.)

Just Act Natural – i love this store. they’ve been open for almost 3 years now. i get toothpaste here, and various gardening supplies, and other household items. it’s a convenient downtown location, walking distance from my house. they also have clothing and a variety of other things. the owners are very sweet and friendly. they host a free film night once a month and show an educational film after which they encourage discussion, which is really awesome. they’re very committed to community building and focused on green ideals.

Mai’s Deli - this place is amazing. very clean and simple inside. they primarily expect take-out orders i think, but i like to take the time to sit down to eat. they serve beer. the food is served really hot, in huge portions. i was extremely impressed by how many vegetarian options they have. until Mai’s Deli opened up, i used to go to Taste of Thai a lot, and really loved their food. Taste of Thai is an extremely upscale award-winning restaraunt right next to Lawrence University. but i tell my friends, “Mai’s Deli is Taste of Thai quality at working-man’s prices”. it’s sooooooo delicious. and it’s family owned/run, and the owners are sooooooo friendly. they’re gonna be celebrating their one year anniversary in january.

The Kangaroostaraunt – the concept alone is delicious. food on wheels. a kitchen in a bus. it’s getting really popular in bigger cities apparently. and it reminds me of the people who used to sell food on the streets in china, carrying ovens and steamers etc on poles over their shoulders. the kitchen-bus is like the modern version of that. the kangaroostaraunt is relatively new – this will be their first winter – and i hope everything goes well for them. they use local ingredients, their menu changes every day, and their blog is really awesome.

The Stone Cellar – a very upscale place, but an awesome treat. they have their own microbrew with great beer and a lot of live folk and bluegrass music in the summertime on a lovely outdoor patio. they are literally situated in a the cellar of a big stone building that’s more than 150 years old. they won’t use anything that’s not locally produced, and i think they’ve been really significant pioneers in getting the wisconsin buy local movement going in appleton. the food they serve is absolutely delicious.

Josef’s Gyros – they’ve changed locations a lot, but the menu doesn’t change. delicious, simple, quick gyros. and baklava. fast food that’s actually healthy. and they even have some vegatarian options, salads and falafel etc.

Jacob’s Meat Market – for a long time, this was the only grocery store in walking distance from my house. and when i was still in college, it was the only grocery store in walking distance from my college. they’ve got a traditional butcher with meat and cheese. they have milk and orange juice in glass bottles that you can return for them to reuse. and they have a daily selection of local produce. it’s a tiny place. i love it.

Habitat For Humanity ReStore – i like to call this place “my favourite thrift shoppe”. they keep stuff out of landfills, they help build and rebuild houses, and they have great deals. they always have the same set of supplies, but you never know what random rare thing you might find from one day to the next, because everything is donated from people in the community.

Oriental Food Market – they don’t have a website, but they’re at 343 West Wisconsin Avenue, Appleton, WI 54911-4302, (920) 997-8250. they have a huge selection of produce, frozen stuff, and nonperishables. if i didn’t go anywhere else for groceries, i’d be able to stay happy and healthy. they also have a deli counter where they make fresh food daily.

Bangkok Oriental Foods - they don’t have a website, but they’re at 706 East Wisconsin Avenue, Appleton, WI 54911-4830, (920) 733-7899. much smaller selection than oriental food market, but they’re only a few blocks from my house. they opened very recently, hopefully they will grow.

Fox Valley Thrift Shoppe – it’s nice and big. the prices don’t always make sense, but there are specials every day on different colors of pricetag, so that makes up for it. it’s located right by telulah park. i go here when i need things like candles or shoes, furniture or fabric etc. a lot of the stuff is really really old. it’s fun just to wander through and look at things without buying them.

i daydream these days about cottage industry as part of the solution to america’s economic woes. but i’ve always daydreamed about cottage industry just because when i first learned the term as a child, there was something really free and independant about the concept. and there was an inevitable degree of architectural romance as i tried to envision different mini-factories-at-home for different sorts of production. printing and textiles and pottery and carpentry were the most often contemplated.

the only reason why people ever preferred mass-produced items over batch-made, home-made items was because the advertisers and the marketers brainwashed the people and paid people so little for mass-production labour that the prices of mass-produced items were able to out-compete the prices of quality items. also, once upon a time long long long ago, in order to get people hooked, mass-produced items actually WERE made for quality rather than planned obsolesence.

if i didn’t have to spend so many hours in a call center every day in order to make the money i need in order to pay my rent… then i’d be able to get my esty.com storefront set up. and i would have also been able to get a better yield from my garden if i’d been able to spend more time working on it. the system of wage-slavery is very good at keeping you too busy and exhausted to escape even when you can formulate viable alternatives. this is such a vicious catch-22, and it makes me both depressed and angry.

the Occupy Together movement has spread all over the globe. it’s even in appleton and stevens point (among other places) here in wisconsin. more and more awareness is raised every day on the topic of corporate collusion and political corruption. the media accuses protesters of having no coherent demands. but our demand is very clear: LISTEN TO US! we don’t have an organized list to present for a summary mass media sound clip because our grievances are diverse and involve every level of the socio-political-economic-status-quo. LISTEN TO US and each individual can expound upon a different talking point. you can’t make a general summary of what’s wrong with corporate collusion and political corruption, you can’t demand specific solutions. 99% of the population are stuck in a farce and we want out. if there were any easy solutions we could demand, then we wouldn’t have had so much trouble for the past decades trying to get “elected representatives” to care about our opinions, would we?

some cities are responding to the Occupy movement with police brutality. others are permitting citizens to exercise their first amendment rights. in some cities, Occupiers are making encampments and sleeping in parks and squares. in other cities, Occupiers are meeting and staging demonstrations without camping out. slowly the momentum continues to build across the country and around the world.

each local instance of the Occupation movement has its own flavour, so to speak, and its own unique goals and challenges. likewise, each individual who gets involved brings their own skills and strengths, and faces their own personal obstacles and issues. in order for the Occupy movement to have a positive impact, it’s very important to maintain focus and unity. the higher the numbers of participants are, the more difficult it is to stay focused and united.

one issue i see for the movement is nostalgia. many individuals participating today have romanticized the 1960s and idealize activism and have a reverence for the heroes of past activist movements that really borders on worship. in my opinion, this is a distraction. learning from the past is very important, appreciating the wisdom of those who successfully set the precedent for nonviolent action is essential. but this movement isn’t a role-playing game in which you can play out your fantasies. nor is it a sequel to someone else’s story. in order to give the movement everything you have, think about the present and the future, be yourself, understand that the issues we face today and the type of activism we perform now is technology-era-novelty, there really is no precedent, we need to write the stories ourselves and be each other’s examples instead of hearkening back to a bygone world where everything operated in a very different way.

another issue i see for the movement, and a much bigger issue, is a nonparticipatory mentality. society has been groomed and trained to respond to authority, to defer decision-making to leadership, and to expect instructions. this is a leaderless movement, there are no how-to-guides-for-your-town’s-unique-occupation, the responsibility to take initiative rests equally on the shoulders of every single person in the whole world. this is a significant culture-shock (you could even call it future-shock) that the corporate wage-slavery institutions of our daily lives have pointedly raised us to be unprepared for. people want to “join” the movement once it “gets going” but they don’t realize they have to “be” the movement in order for it to GET going.

and as always, there are the ever present problems of people who would otherwise participate who are too busy with their jobs, and others who just don’t have faith that “activism” will accomplish anything, who feel that it’s a futile waste of time and energy. exhaustion and cynicism are more of a concern to this movement than to any civil rights or humanitarian or political or social movement that history has seen before. adapting and evolving our psychology to meet this challenge and overcome it is crucial in order to raise the numbers that any movement needs in order to increase momentum and make a real impact.

if you’re in a smaller town, where quality of nutrition affects more people than homelessness, and loss of jobs affects neighbors rather than whole neighborhoods – if you’re in a smaller town where local budget cuts have more of an immediate relevance than national policymaking – etc etc – then the models of Occupation movements in other cities won’t help you to start a movement appropriate to your own community. in smaller towns we need to figure out HOW TO best join the movement, and how to GET ENOUGH PEOPLE INVOLVED so that real change can be accomplished.

start with small gatherings and coordinated marches and standing with signs on street corners. start with getting to know each other and attending city council meetings. start with spreading the word and opening dialogue with every member of the community. but this is just the beginning. there are no examples to follow. there are no guidelines or scripts. until a large enough number of people join together to work together, an Occupation movement in a small town is just a symbol of solidarity with the global movement, and symbols can’t change the world until they’re followed up by meaningful action.

what can YOU do to spread the word and open more dialogue?

it’s good to stay informed.

the media isn’t covering much of what’s going on with the wall street occupation or the growing “occupy together” movement. find your information at occupywallst.org and nycga.cc and occupytogether.org. cnn’s website today shares with you an editorial on how divided the country is, especially in regards to political party affiliation. meanwhile, growing numbers of the 99% around the country are sharing a sense of solidarity and seeing past ideological differences to address the immediate problems we face. surprise, cnn, our problems aren’t who’s going to run in the next election, and our concerns have nothing to do with how to find terrorists 300 feet underwater. the media wants you to remember that even though you’re getting frustrated, “you’re not alone” and it’s okay to be unemployed and hungry so just sit back and send out some more resumes and vote for the right guy so that someone else can solve all your really-not-as-bad-as-you-think problems.

the mainstream media is full of shit. “general assemblies” are forming around the country. turn off the news. raise your voice. spread the word. this is the “journalism 2.0″ that gerald celente predicted. the mainstream media has literally become entirely irrelevant, and all the “news reporting” is being done by uncensored individuals real-time through social media and blogs. and even word of mouth and text messages are more useful sources of information now than news broadcasters.

go to occupytogether.org to find out what’s going on near you, or contact them if you want to start something so that they can get the word out. my own appleton is involved, i even joined a facebook group for it. finally something to justify not deleting my facebook account! we think of facebook as an institutional pump-ads-in-our-face malice, but we can actually use it to our own ends to protest the corporate kleptocracy. pretty neat!

back to the journalism 2.0 thing. there’s a difference between journalism and propaganda. anyone who preaches “beware! beware” without proposing a solution to the problem, anyone who encourages fear and paranoia but implies that there’s no escape, is not practising journalism. they are practising… terrorism, basically. and they’re distracting people from the real issues and diverting attention from current-events to abstract-emotional-drama. christianpost.com is a really good example of what i’m talking about. read christianpost.com in order to find out what’s keeping a lot of people from knowing that the revolution is underway or even understanding what needs to and can be done to change our lives.

now, while i am obviously in support of the ‘occupy together’ movement, and i obviously encourage participation, i want to make something clear: if you have a stable job and you don’t have to worry about rent and you can be a resource-provider and give your support from the sidelines, then by all means stay put. if everyone took to the streets, there would be no one left to provide such support, and that would be a wasteful misallocation of energy and resources. however, if you do not have a job, or if you have a job that you hate and a lease you can barely afford, then i feel you absolutely should drop everything and take to the streets. fuck your job, fuck your lease, fuck your tiny apartment that you hate anyway. the hours you’d be spending slaving away to keep that lousy roof over your head will be better spent joining the movement so that you can have a better life once things change.

the newest exhortation of the movement is to burn your credit card statements and stop paying your loans. i wrote about that in my last book. without the burning part, necessarily. anyone who still feels that they should honor these bonds of slavery in spite of the economic situation we face every day and the truths and realities that are paraded more and more clearly before us, will hopefully finally take action. you don’t owe these institutions anything!!!

another thing they’re talking about is putting your money in a credit union. now, in my opinion the u.s. dollar is not going to be worth putting anywhere soon enough, but in the meantime while we’re still using it to pay our rent and our cellphone bills etc it’s probably really worthwhile to get a credit union account instead of a bank account. in 1846 when the state of wisconsin drafted its first constitution, it actually included an article banning banks. thomas jefferson said, after all, that “banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.”

now, all this is very exciting. but don’t forget about preparing for winter! it’s getting colder outside and a revolution is no fun if you get pneumonia.

for your entertainment, here’s a screen-cap from christianpost.com. i found it hilarious that the ad below was randomly generated next to this particular chunk of text:

i’d like to end today’s message with a quote from martin luther king jr: “the question is not whether we will be extremist but what kind of extremist will we be.”

the ‘occupy wall street’ protest continues in new york.

i was just looking at some articles about peta. even though they have a mixed reputation, they’ve been amazingly successful at getting publicity for their messages. while their tactics have caused many not to take their message seriously, any group of protesters can still learn a lot from them by looking at the history of their campaigns and the methods of demonstration that they use. for example, peta.xxx will be launched in december. i’m pretty sure if my blog was a porn site, many more people would be visiting. what peta people do for demonstrations these days is basically just get naked and cover themselves with fake blood and lay in a pile. or wear really skimpy sexy themed outfits. it’s a great way to get attention and i think it’s a silly WASTE of energy and attention over the issue of how humans treat other animals when humans still don’t treat other HUMANS properly.

so i was thinking, if the people doing the occupy wall street protest were to have a row of attractive naked females in between the cops and all the other protesters, the media would probably give them much more publicity, and the cops would probably be much less violent. but we’re moving into the cold part of the year. damn.

the picture above really gets your attention, doesn’t it?

i’m sure people could come up with some nudity-related slogans pertinent to the wall street occupation. “your tax breaks cost me the shirt off my back”, stuff like that. choosing between rent and food and clothing. maybe something about if money were blood 99% of us would be bleeding to death and the 1% would be drinking it. etc etc.

here are some pictures people have taken to spread the message about occupying wall street: wearethe99percent.tumblr.com. my thoughts on nudity aside, i think we should all submit pictures to this site.

the world is on fire, as i like to say. you can see the flames around you and smell the smoke in the air. the news is full of meteorological, geological, biological, and socio-political horror stories. and the stories that you know the news isn’t covering are even more apocalyptic. i’d like to take the time to remind you not to panic or be depressed. you’re living in a time of great excitement and opportunity. the worse things get, the more able we are to make things better than they ever were before.

go ahead and mourn the tragedies unfolding around you. but don’t let them be an excuse to feel hopeless or sink into apathy.

as the global oil supply runs out and the global corporate empire struggles to maintain control through wage-slavery, the materialist take-everything-for-granted way of life will go from being unsustainable to impossible. very big changes in the fundamental ways that people live their lives shouldn’t be seen as threatening or nightmarish. the united states of america is the starting point of this global transformation. this is where the dominoes will start to fall. and the “comfort” and “stability” and “prosperity” that will be lost was never really granting anyone HAPPINESS. let’s return to the REAL american dream, the pursuit of HAPPINESS rather than the pursuit of cheap oil and cheap toys and cheap thrills and cheap snacks.

the federal government is a distraction. it’s a puppet on corporate strings and it dances so crazily right now because those who impose the wage-slavery want to keep us worried about war, scared of terrorism, looking to someone else to improve the economy, maintaining a childlike mentality and an acceptance of authority. if you really care about change, if you really want to invest yourself in making a difference, then focus on local politics. vote in local elections. your alderman or your mayor is part of your life. forget about the white house, forget about the senate and congress. the only thing they’ve really gotten done for a long time now is to use your tax money to pay for foreign wars that have nothing to do with your personal safety or security.

the way to forget about the federal government isn’t to close your eyes or turn your back or close the curtains and play video games. forgetting about the federal government can happen on a state level through seceding from the union. when one spouse is taking advantage of the other while also inflicting harm on the family unit, divorce is the proper answer. the american dream is the dream of a continent, not the dream of a dysfunctional political entity that doesn’t serve the people it claims to represent. if any state separates itself from the USA, it will have a clean slate as far as national debt is concerned, it will be able to develop its own relationships with other countries without the baggage of the responsibility for unjust wars and other injustices of the CIA, FBI, etc etc. within a political entity as small as a state, each person’s voice and power will be a greater percentage of the total population and the leaders will only have to answer to their own people, rather than to a tangled web of nationwide corporate interests and federal officials and one abstraction after another each one more and more removed from the populace. the white house is too far away. severing from it will bring government close to our own back yards.

the usa as a political entity has done great things and has been vital in achieving necessary positive things that couldn’t have happened without it. but for everything there is a season, and the change we need as human beings to continually evolve and improve society involves changing the fundamental structure that so many of us take for granted. it was arguably a great system once upon a time, but now the system can’t be fixed within its own context, so it must be replaced with something new and better. this isn’t to say the american dream has failed – but rather that it’s STILL DEVELOPING, what we know now as america is not yet the fulfillment of the american dream.

just like the ancient roman empire became the many countries of europe, for example. or just like a huge estate will be divided by children once they’re adults and the parents have passed away. or how an amoeba, once it reaches a large enough size, will reproduce asexually and become many smaller amoebas.

but just because secession will solve structural problems, don’t mistake it for a panacea that will solve all of YOUR problems. to actually make YOUR life better, you need to look to YOURSELF and YOUR OWN COMMUNITY. it doesn’t matter what the size of a nation is; to guarantee the happiness of the people, to have freedom and a secure future to look forward to, sustainable survival must be achieved. the most fundamental foundation of freedom is an independent reliable food supply. life, liberty, and happiness don’t come from government programs or gross domestic product. to begin with, one must be able to feed oneself and one’s community without having to rely on resources that aren’t in one’s immediate control. local community farming is absolutely essential in order to have a balanced sustainable society.

but not everyone is a farmer. not everyone can be a farmer. and not everyone should be a farmer. after all, part of the pursuit of happiness involves division of labor and each individual being able to contribute their own talents and enjoy their own creativity. so, to bring ‘solving problems’ to its most basic question – what makes YOU happy, that intrinsically gives you VALUE to those around you? in other words, what is it about YOU that would make it worthwhile to the neighbours to bring you soup when you’re sick or help you fix a hole in your roof?

‘value’ is an interesting question. i will define value here in the context of social connectivity and community resources. there are five fundamental elements that make an individual “valuable” in this context. i will call them fuel, ideas, craftsmanship, leadership, and labor. i probably could have chosen different words that might be more self-explanatory, but i like the acronym FICLL. just a personal aesthetic choice. each of these elements build upon each other sequentially. so to explain each element –

FUEL – basically, the necessary consumable items that sustain life. food in the general sense like fruits and grains and meats and vegetables, but also things like medicine. additionally, while it technically isn’t “eaten” by “people”, other items that must be “consumed” for food and shelter, such as firewood and lumber, electricity, metals, non-edible useful plants, etc etc. gasoline, wind, water, minerals, domesticated animals, etc. a lump category for all the resources that are typically considered “material”, “physical”, “tangible”, etc.

IDEAS – basically, “things to do with fuel”. for example, a cow is fuel, while leather is an idea. wind is fuel, while a windmill is an idea, and wood is another fuel that is needed to complete the windmill idea. cotton is fuel, clothing is an idea. fruits and vegetables are fuels, preserved food items in a storehouse is an idea. while FUEL is the category of necessary resources, IDEAS is the category of how to make them useful and useable. innovation and inspiration.

CRAFTSMANSHIP – the ability to apply IDEAS to FUELS successfully. if medicinal herbs are grown, and the community wants a pharmacy, CRAFTSMANSHIP is the next step necessary to categorize the herbs as to what they’re each good for and know how much is needed for what ailment and how to store them effectively and organize them in a coherent accessible manner. CRAFTSMANSHIP is the category of skill, specialty, knowledge, expertise. for example, being able to grow beesbalm is the FUEL part of the matrix, a pharmacy is the IDEAS part of the matrix, and CRAFTSMANSHIP is knowing how to treat a bee sting with it, how much to use etc. another example, wood is a FUEL, a newspaper is an IDEA, a paper mill and a printing press are CRAFTSMANSHIP. lumber is FUEL, houses are IDEAS, and carpentry is CRAFTSMANSHIP.

LEADERSHIP – this is a self-explanatory element. there were probably other words i could have used for the previous elements, but for this one and the next, there was an obvious best choice. this element involves organizational and motivational skills. taking IDEAS and allocating FUEL and determining what sort of CRAFTSMANSHIP is necessary. also, leading into the final element, having the skill and energy to mobilize action to make things actually happen.

LABOR – perhaps event more self-explanatory than the last element. this is work, plain and simple. whether it’s skilled or not. if something needs to be done, whether a person has FUEL or IDEAS or CRAFTSMANSHIP or LEADERSHIP, one thing that every individual can provide is labor. obviously, some will be able to perform different labor than others. someone with a strong back can break ground, someone with less strength can sow seeds. an IDEA of a mural using the FUEL of pigments and the CRAFTSMANSHIP of outlines on a wall can then under LEADERSHIP use diverse forms of LABOR to hold the ladders, carry buckets of pigment, and use brushes to fill in the outlines. another example, a river with fish is the FUEL, using the fish for both food and medicine is IDEAS, processing the fish appropriately for edible portions and medicinal portions is CRAFTSMANSHIP, mobilizing and organizing the right people for the task is LEADERSHIP, and finally catching those fish and processing them is LABOR.

these elements are all interconnected. when you ask yourself your own value, you are not asking which category you would fall into. every individual in a community in the pursuit of individual happiness will be able to evaluate themselves in terms of all five elements. that’s why i call it a matrix, rather than a hierarchy. these elements build on each other in some hierarchical ways, but ultimately it is a nonlinear frame of reference. so when you ask the question, what is your VALUE, i ask you to consider what it is about you that fits into EACH element.

for example, LEADERSHIP doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to be an outgoing person. if there’s the FUEL of a pond with fish, LEADERSHIP could simply be letting the community know that a project of making fishing poles would enable access to the fish and making a smokehouse to dry the fish would enable extra fish to be preserved. if there’s already a pond and fishing poles and a smokehouse happening, and someone has the IDEA of trading these fish with another community that has certain herbs not available in your area, then LEADERSHIP would be finding who has the ability to transport the fish (LABOR) and getting everyone together to decide what amount fish you’d all like to trade for what amount of herb. CRAFTSMANSHIP could then be brought in with how to package the fish for transport and appropriate processing methods of the herb once received.

i’ve used very basic examples here that don’t involve the consumerist lifestyle, because i believe that a movement away from that structure is going to characterize the future development of our society. walmarts and strip-malls are going to die like the dinosaurs. future prosperity and happiness is going to be local, do-it-yourself, hands on and un-branded. the corporate world that lets us get anything we want in a big concrete house full of shelves is enslaving us and killing us, and when we LIBERATE ourselves from wage-slavery, the distribution and access of goods is going to become cooperative and internally developed rather than externally imposed. life will finally be about pursuing happiness, rather than consuming products.

of course, all that i’ve written here is just a train of ideas. this is a suggestion, not a prophecy. i have opinions and insights based on historical empiric observation. i’m sure you have your own opinions and insights too. please share them! let this be a sounding board, a spring board, that will open up discussion and further these questions! what is your concept of “value”? what do you think we can consider and do right now and invest in sustainably? we have a lot of problems and a restructuring of the system is necessary but it won’t actually address the problems. what real solutions are there? how can they be implemented?

please let me know.

and in the meantime, where do you see yourself in the FICLL matrix?

as for me, i have a few FUELS. i have a walnut tree, tomatoes and carrots, a lot of gardenable space and a very small artificial pond and a lot of art supplies. i have IDEAS about a community co-op and community education and divers ways to reuse resources that we’d otherwise throw away or ‘recycle’. i have some CRAFTSMANSHIP, in the areas of herbalism and poetry and artistic rendering and manipulation of materials to meet needs. i have precise digital skills that i can teach to others. i have LEADERSHIP abilities to the effect of how many people are needed for projects and motivation and morale exercises, as well as an overview of what-can-be-done with a perception of prioritization. and under the LEADERSHIP category, i can be a motivational cheerleader with very perceptive methods of achieving community participation. finally, for LABOR, i have all my limbs intact and while my muscles may be moderate-to-below-average, i can still inflict a good day’s work on them and i happen to be able to guarantee that the more i use them the more they’ll grow and become more useful.

so, please, respond with your ideas and suggestions.

the world is on fire! are you having fun yet?

where do we go from here?!

the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 is an important federal law. it prohibits the american military from doing the jobs of state and local law enforcement. this is to limit the powers of the federal government and protect the people. only the constitution and congress can authorize the military to step in and perform law enforcement activities. this way the president can’t, for example, send the military in to stop a riot. the governor or mayor would send in the police. civilians shouldn’t have to face armored tanks, you know.

martial law is unconstitutional in the united states of america. but last year, president obama signed an executive order called the Establishment of the Council of Governors. this is a selection of ten governors who meet with military-related government officials and the secretaries of defense and homeland security. what could they meet about? what do you think? by what criteria are the ten selected? isn’t it informative that the media didn’t cover this Establishment of the Council of Governors at all?

it’s always informative when the media doesn’t tell you about something. in paterson, new jersey, even though crime had gone down, in 2009 when mayor torres was running for re-election, he tried to set up an adult curfew to “reduce crime”. thankfully, this measure didn’t pass, and he wasn’t re-elected. but what if a curfew of that sort were imposed? suddenly any adult leaving their home for any reason between certain hours, would be a criminal. there wouldn’t be enough members of the police force to enforce the curfew. and if they asked the president for help, in the form of sending in the military, do you think the president would take it to congress for months of debate, or do you think he’d just mobilize the troops? and do you think torres would have tried to pass such a career-killing measure when he was up for re-election, if he hadn’t been under the influence of some sort of coercion or persuasion? seems to me that some sort of federal experiment was going on for the feasibility of martial law. to gauge the public response. like someone sticking their toes into the water to see if it’s temperate enough to go for a swim.

speaking of going for a swim, president obama visited paterson new jersey after the recent hurricane irene related flooding. draw your own conclusions.

while fighting crime is one excuse to experiment with martial law, it is also a very flimsy excuse and it makes everyone experimenting look bad, and look like they’re too weak to do their jobs. another excuse to experiment with martial law is natural disaster. and this is a very acceptable excuse. who doesn’t want “federal aid” when their town has been destroyed by storm and flood? officials never look bad for procuring federal money – they’re seen as saving their people.

but do people really know what “federal aid” is? FEMA paid a company in Alabama to make $800 billion worth of mobile homes to to shelter hurricane katrina victims, and those mobile homes were never used, and rotted in alabama. that’s just one example. the federal emergency management agency is much better at wasting money and mismanaging itself than it has ever been at helping during a crisis. of course, FEMA does help, a little, here and there. otherwise people would do something about it.

federal aid is the sheep’s clothing that the wolf of martial law will don before he hunts you down to eat you for dinner.

it’s a matter of fact that nothing in the constitution justifies agencies like FEMA, just like there’s nothing to justify the federal reserve. the institutions that the american people turn to for help in the midst of crisis are actually doing destroying society economically, socially and politically. if an institution (rather than an individual) offers you any kind of help, you should never trust them. accept the help if you need it, but don’t let that make you feel any sense of obligation or nationalism or trust. always question motives if motives aren’t plainly visible. people can have relationships with each other and help each other out of the goodness of their human nature. institutions are not people and have no human nature.

on a happier note, i want to remind you all that while much of what the federal government does today is unconstitutional, the federal constitution does not govern the actions of the states. it is legal to secede from the union, and secession is perhaps the only thing left that states can do to protect their sovereignty as the federal government faces bankruptcy and steadily encroaches upon the liberty and wellbeing of its own citizens.

america wants foreigners in foreign countries to have free and open elections. but apparently wisconsin does not want its residents to participate in free and open elections. voter supression used to be a thing we associated with the southern states and primarily racist motivations. now there’s a northern flavour, seeming to target those who can’t afford to pay for a state issued ID.

i found an article about a state department employee being fired after encouraging his co-workers to inform their friends that free state id’s are available. department of transportation employees have been instructed not to offer the free ids – they are only available by request.

however, lest you lose faith in wisconsin entirely, appleton yesterday did approve in a 10 to 6 vote the extention of health benefits to same-sex partners of non-union employees.

remember, always stay informed. and if you don’t have a state ID, go request a free one.

there’s a world that lives on just your silly whims. did you not know that?

and there’s a world that’s gasping, drowning, dying, that just needs the oxygen you’d bring.

i am tired, reader, and i am cold. but you are reading, darling, and you are full of flesh and blood instead of mere pixels on a screen. you can reach out with your own hands, and touch injustice, and deliver balm. you can touch inequity, and tip the scale. you can put the heel of your boot deep into something that you think needs to die, and some closer to stamping it out than my silly pixel-words will ever come.

i don’t even know the nature of the inequities that need redress.

you live in your world. i live in no world. i am a flag you fly above your ship. do not confuse me with the captain, or even the first mate. i am symbols. you are action.

what has your action consisted of lately?

have you made anyone smile lately? have you lent a shoulder to any tears lately? have you reminded the strong to be strong, and told the weak that you have faith in them anyways? gardens require constant watering. daily water and love, daily music and intention. the wise shepherd won’t abandon the flock to save one lamb, so the wise shepherd must guard well and nurture well all the lambs that he won’t abandon. what’s the point of guarding if the serpents will get in beneath your nose? the wise shepherd is always wary, always alert and ready.

what if everything fell apart right now? how firmly are your feet planted in the ground?

there’s a whole world that subsists on your thoughts and impulses. never forget that!

dramatic things are happening in america right now.

first of all, my publisher has pretty much cut the prices of all their books in half. this is already reflected on the publish america website, but in four to six weeks, you’ll be able to get my first two books for $9.95 anywhere, and my “shapeshifting for profitable philanthropy” will be $15.95 anywhere. this is really really exciting. i’ve felt all along that my publisher’s high prices are the main reasons why my books aren’t selling very well, so hopefully i’ll see a jump in sales. i’m also considering having my publisher promote my book to 1500 bookstores in america and canada, but there would be a bit of a fee for this publicity, so i’m not sure if i can afford this move at this time.

secondly and more importantly, there’s a hurricane approaching the entire east coast. the earthquake the other day was related to this. all the forces of nature have their own chaotic agenda. this planet isn’t a static thing. the future shape of america will be determined by events like this as they continue to become fiercer and more frequent. i’ve been intending to drawn my own map, but i’ve been too busy. in the meantime, here’s a map that allegedly comes from a projection done by the american navy. the blue portions are areas that will become submerged by water.

there are a lot of other maps out there that are prettier and more detailed, but this gives a rough general suggestion of things to come. certain american cities will eventually be underwater, including new york city, chicago, and los angeles. the floor of the gulf of mexico is unstable. when it caves, the great lakes will join the gulf of mexico and tear open the mississippi river. the future earth will be more oceanous, like it was no too long ago, geologically speaking. cycles, patterns, perpetual and dynamic.

remember, even the land under your feet is transient. the whole material world is a gossamer dream that can dissolve in the slightest breeze. consciousness isn’t merely as powerful as a hurricane, it’s the origin of every hurricane. consciousness creates the universe, and modern american collective consciousness is schizophrenic and hyperpsychotic.

the fates had previously decreed that Hathor would live with robby in west virginia with his father Number 5 and his brother 23. there was a reunion visit celebrating the birthdays of 23 and Ron Jon and Corexit on 20 August. then, this morning, Hathor embarked on a road trip to his new home.

here he is in the car cuddling with his daddy:

Hathor and Number 5 en route to West Virginia, 21 August 2011