August
10
You can control people by language, but you cannot control the world--only how the world is perceived by people, until the world in its ineluctable reality comes visiting. To deny the visitation of reality is to suffer the fate that only Philemon and Baucis avoided by welcoming the disguised gods. Everyone else perished.
From The Guardian:
USDA staff reportedly told to avoid term 'climate change'
Department of Agriculture staffers have been told to "avoid" using the term "climate change" in written correspondence, The Guardian reported Monday. In instructions on how to discuss climate change-related work, "climate change" is listed as a term to avoid and replace with "weather extremes." Another blacklisted phrase is "reduce greenhouse gases." The instructions were included in an email sent in February by Bianca Moebius-Clune, the USDA's director of soil health. President Trump has repeatedly expressed doubts about the science of climate change, and his top pick for the USDA's chief scientist, Sam Clovis, has called climate research "junk science."
Watch to see what the President orders of the Congressionally mandated Climate Report by scientists at 13 agencies. The report is grim by any measure. The NYT has a draft copy so even if the President suppresses it, it will be available for all to see.
August
3
On My Morning Walk
Doctor's orders: fast-walk every day for an hour
to improve balance through brain-ear-body synchrony.
Four months now, most every day at 7:00 AM.
So, I watch the ground to avoid banana slugs, snails,
unidentifiable splotches of this and that, odd levels of sidewalk,
tree-root's revenge against man's cementings.
I just manage to avoid stepping on a black plastic fork
bird-like thoughts flitter through
wondering if fork is lonely for knife and spoon.
Is this like Kandinsky's white trouser button
glittering in the puddle...everything, he says,
has a secret soul, silent more often than speaking.
So, fork, I'm listening.
"Craziness," the Inquisitor bellows.
Used to that bluster, I listen harder.
Fork reminds me of an observation:
Providence Hospital cafeteria is half-way point
on my daily route. I stop for coffee and rest.
I've watched hundreds pick up napkins and utensils.
Here's the thing:
men take one or two napkins,
women, three or four.
Men keep everything separate, women wrap their utensils
in their napkins, swaddling-like.
What do you make of that, Inquisitor?
July
26
Ursula Le Guin Words Are My Matter (2016)
Rüdiger Safranski Goethe: Life As a Work of Art (2015)
Laura Raicovich At the Lightning Field (2017)
Wallace Shawn Night Thoughts (2017)
Walter Hopps The Dream Colony: A Life in Art (2017)
Each month I'll post a notice of the books I have found that were
important to me, that have the power to make a difference in
one's life --- ral
July
25
Breakfast for the Soul
An old man with cane stands
facing the curb intently looking
down as if to step but does not
“Sometimes a small curb is
Mount Everest,” whimsy taking
hold. “Need a hand?”
“No, sir, I need a foot that works,
That does what I want it to. You
got one of those handy?” He smiles.
“You vote for Mr. Trump?” I ask
not intending to, but out it came.
“Yes, I did.
“And what do you think of him now?”
“I think he needs a brain that works.
I’ll be long gone before that happens.”
These unintended interactions on
the street on my early morning
walks are breakfast for the soul
July
25
Whenever there is an unexpected disparity, whether in the short term or long term, whether in small matters or large, the human brain is "hardwired" to "normalize." Normalization has been a function of the human brain since the earliest humans and it has been a major source of evolutionary adaptation. When we look back in history, particularly at horrendous periods, we wonder how it is that so many people just "went along" bit by bit until totally engulfed in the "new" normal. Although there are many factors, most are built on top of the brain's attempt to normalize. This is obviously a function that is prior to any conscious functions such as social affiliations of any kind, any conscious beliefs, any conscious values.
We are entering a time created by an unexpected disparity, disjunction, and disturbance of the "normal." There is nothing about normalization that tells us whether what we come to do and how we come to function will be good or bad, neutral or indifferent. In spite of the degree of distress, disbelief, and urgent calls to action we see on all sides at present, what will tend to undermine and dissolve all this resolve is normalization. You can already see it working. It will take great effort and courage and commitment to counteract the automaticity of normalization.
The Federal Reserve instituted the ZIRP policy (zero interest rate policy) nine years ago. It wasn't long before Mohamed A. El-Erian coined the term, "New Normal." This has now become ubiquitous (with even a TV series by that name). Now the "new" part of this has disappeared and everyone functions in relation to ZIRP as simply normal. It does not take long.
It may not seem like it now when passions are running high, when fear and panic are at a pitch, that what we see coming could ever be experienced as normal. Do not underestimate the power of normalization. One place of natural resistance to normalization is in one's dreams. You probably won't hear this on the news or any other place, but dreams will be your survivor's guide to the power of normalization.
July
25
CROW STREET
Out for the morning fast walk
I head for Crow Street as I call it
My name for the tree-lined block
On the eastern edge of the hospital
It's home for a "murder" of crows
[An absurd name for a flock!]
When I arrive and head north
They begin their raucous chorus
I watch one move from tree to tree
I'm used to this now and soon
He'll fly ahead and land facing me
And waits for me to catch up
As I do, he turns and hops
Alongside, looking at me
At the corner, I turn west
He takes off to the trees
I feel blessed. Blessed by a crow.
