We all make mistakes – and the biggest one is assuming you know what something is without taking a good look at it. As a well-known fictional character said: “I’ll play the odds on occasion; but I like to pick the occasion.” Trusting to luck; is trust misplaced – so take a good look at what people hand you before you take ownership — it just might be the murder weapon.
“Uh-oh, that doesn’t sound good!” You know how you can just hear something and know without looking – and not want to look? That grinding, stuttering sound isn’t the wheels of progress: it’s the wheels of our ride – pulling off to the side of the road. Are you going to wait for repairs? Or walk? What if it’s too long a walk — what if it can’t be repaired?
I wanted to put “Tompkins County and Tammany Hall” on consignment in a College Town bookstore. I sent in the online form – twice; with no response. When I emailed the Inventory Manager; she contradicted the instructions, and said I should have dropped it off so they could “read through to make sure we think it will do well here and be worth your time” – so I did. Five weeks later; I inquired if they had reviewed it yet?She gave me the brush off: “I did give it a once over, and I’m not sure that we’d be the best place to host your book . . . and I’m just not sure it’ll be worth your commitment to our terms.”Pushing the envelope – I assured her that I was committed; and still wanted to place the book on consignment. A few days later; I got the response: “your book reads more like a first draft than a finished manuscript. If you ever reprint your book – edited for grammar, punctuation, and clarity, with a list of works cited at the end – then I would encourage you to bring us that version to check out.”My book was not worthy.The Doctrine in College Town is just one step away from book burning: and maybe this year or the next — they’ll take that step.Tompkins County: Higher education at the lowest level.
We’re on a moving platform: a raft of excuses – riding on a deteriorating society – in a deteriorating world. When everything is going down the shitter at the same time – do you have a sense of movement? Is it really worthwhile to enumerate all the areas where profit, power, and politics have placed a glowing billboard of the future to block our vision of reality?
In “Aguirre, the Wrath of God”; soldiers are trapped on a raft – circling a whirlpool – and beyond any means of saving – and without hope. Our government’s “socialist” policies aren’t about people – they’re about authority – the madness of Aguirre – and it they can’t have the world — no on can.
It’s not like any of our problems are being solved – they’re just being regularized. Remember the “Dead Zone” in the Gulf of Mexico? It’s still there. The government’s 2001 Action Plan to “reduce, mitigate, and control hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico and improve water quality in the Mississippi River Basin” – was followed [after 4 years of reassessment] by the 2008 revised Action Plan – that called for a reassessment every 5 years – and the 2013 reassessment led to the 2015 Goal Framework that updated the time of attainment for the original goal – establishing an “interim target” for 2025.
When does the unconscionable become the conventional?
Like in the “Princess and the Pea” – some thoughts are good for proving who you are — no matter how an uncomfortable process it may be. Or maybe not.
Tompkins County planners don’t counsel – they conspire.
We no longer create our communities by living in them – we just inhabit the communities our government creates.
They do all the planning. They have all the planners. They have all the power. They have all the cards.
Being alone with your Self can be an uncomfortable experience — so can thinking.
Humor is a wellspring of humanity – I refuse to be around those who are afraid to be splashed.
Authorities follow doctrine; and their doctrine gives them authority – manipulating symbols of symbols – and deciding which end of the egg to break open. Luckily; their decisions don’t require debate – lucky for them.