s n a p p e r h e a d

Mess of Pottage (meal of stew)

not a very august wind

Excerpts from Life Without Principle, 1863, by Henry David Thoreau:

"... Perhaps I am more than usually jealous with respect to my freedom. I feel that my connection with, and obligation to, society are still very slight and transient. ... If I should sell both my forenoons and afternoons to society—as most appear to do—I am sure that, for me, there would be nothing left worth living for. I trust that I shall never, thus, sell my birthright for a mess of pottage. I wish to suggest that a man may be very industrious, and yet not spend his time well. There is no more fatal blunderer than he who consumes the greater part of his life getting his living. ... The ways in which most men get their living, that is, live, are mere makeshifts and a shirking of the real business of life—chiefly because they do not know, but partly because they do not mean, any better. ... When (someday) we want culture more than potatoes and illumination more than sugar-plums then the great resources of a world ... (will be) drawn out, and the result ... (will be) those rare fruits called heroes, saints, poets, philosophers, and redeemers. ..."

The Watershed

Our ancestors, historians, and those of us who happen to still be alive, will refer to this moment—the year 2020—with an as-yet-to-be-coined term, the meaning of which will be similar to: the watershed.

The bubonic plague years in the 1300s were not called the Black Death until centuries later. It was the middle-ages. Religions were governments; they blamed any faction of "outside group" who they deemed deserving of death (the only thing they didn't do was blame the fleas or their deity).

The world war of over a century ago, was not called either the Great War nor the First World War until decades later (for obvious reasons) but it was referred to as the war to end war in its time, allegedly as a call-to-arms and a reason to be proud to fight the Germans (after the Second World War, it may have retained the label 'the war to end all wars' in a sarcastic manner).

The 1918 influenza pandemic, which—coincidentally—overlapped the first world war years, was mis-labelled the Spanish Flu because Spain was neutral during the first world war and, therefore, had no reason to prevent their press from reporting its serious death toll.

Today's Corona virus (covid19) happened to overlap an authoritarian US political administration led by a sociopath, almost solely focused on enriching corporations and wealthy individuals. Because sociopath's do not think about anyone but themselves, almost every governmental act appears to be the opposite of what would protect lives and serve the most vulnerable portions of the populace.

A few months ago, a large percentage of the world's population was correctly directed not to go outside, nor to work, nor to school—so as to slow the rate of infection of the virus, which would allow the health care systems of the world to keep up with the expected increase in the rate of infection. Many disregarded this guidance; especially the ignorant sociopaths who supported and continue to support the current federal administration's policies. Today, many health care systems are so over-burdened they are forced to choose who is too sick to receive their dwindling supplies. Death panels are a thing in the US today (so far, the press is too kind to label it that).

Two months ago, also coincidentally, another sociopath employed as a Minneapolis Police Officer, murdered a black man on camera.

I wonder. Are we all too deep in the weeds to step back and see the forest from the trees (I like mixing my metaphors)? I think we're actually standing on the top of the watershed, looking over the top of that weedy-forest.

Behind us are all the past horrible US political administrations which scorned its citizens; all the previous times a police officer murdered a black man; all the past memories of people who died during a plague when their governments blamed others; every historical government which bailed out a bunch of corporations and let their average citizens go bankrupt.

Ahead of us are . . . all up to you . . . (my crystal ball is for ornamentation purposes only).

Tens of millions of your neighbors are on unemployment and can't pay their rent / mortgage.

The government would rather point its finger at the protestors and demonstrators (who just want their governments to change their law enforcement officer's behavior and stop murdering citizens).

The administration has already provided hundreds of billions to corporations to keep the stock market from crashing; today it seems poised to allow banks / landlords to evict, and wants to drastically reduce you and your neighbors ability to collect enough unemployment to feed your/themselves.

Hurricane season has begun. Did wildfire season ever leave? Floods will be back soon (and never left in many places). Earthquakes and tsunamis could be just over the horizon. Terrible events will overlap this terrible pandemic; we all must do everything in our power to support each other and work together for all of our futures. Together. I say it this way, because . . .

Plagues of the past have always lasted years—not months—three to four years, on average. That's either the entire Biden presidency or the entire second Trump term. And you think things will be different in today's world? Why?

A 2021 vaccine will (likely) only be able to provide the same protection that the normal flu vaccine provided/provides. Look backwards to the past-side of this watershed moment, in your rear-view mirror; did you routinely get your flu vaccine? Every year? Did everyone you know? How many anti-vaccine people live in your community? How many people you know already refuse to wear a mask today? Do you actually think anything is going to change?

Pessimism 101 teaches that, statistically, Trump will be re-elected.

The sped-up approval process for the vaccine will not work very well, and be given out in a much too-little and much too-late manner; consequently, the world-wide death toll in a few short years will be difficult to pin-point (many countries like China have already drastically under-reported) but a softball estimate is 100 million; the US death toll will be (slightly) more accurate: at a little over twenty million.

Because of massive homelessness, unemployment, systemic racism, a broken criminal justice system, unfettered militaristic police agencies, and very-poor recovery of several major sectors of industry and commerce the US will undergo a real constitutional crisis—some will call it a coup.

But. Optimism/realism 101 teaches that, intelligence prevails and Biden is elected.

The vaccine works ok, but needs to be booster-shot every 90 days. The new administration passes a law: every employer, school, hospital, and restaurant/store, is required to check every employee, student, patient, and customer's up-to-date shot record before they can be paid, get a report card, check-in, or buy anything. World deaths top 6 million; US deaths reach slightly more than 1 million.

The US congress and senate, with Biden's administration, begin to make changes in the legal system (Police unions are banned nation-wide). Many laws are thrown out; things which were once illegal are now legal. Police who murder are sent to prison; smaller, better-trained police departments actually protect all classes and races of their citizenry and are required to adhere to a new service oath (two-time violators of this oath are terminated). A series of massive WPA-level retraining- and work-programs boost the economy. The world begins (by 2023) to limp back to its feet.

This is a work in Philosopical progress
and these are the 'interesting times' RFK referred to in 1966. . .

Always. Constantly. Your entire life. Yesterday, today and especially tomorrow; you were, are, and will be talked about . . . after you walk out the door. Also, before you arrive. And, when you are not present. Does this come as a surprise? Maybe this is something you prefer not to think about? If so, you might be someone who chooses to think that only you talk about other people candidly, without fetter, when they're out of earshot.

You were raised by hypocrites, who were themselves reared by hypocrites. Generations of people who thrived on gossip but shamed those who talked about them "behind their backs." They, who filled long hours talking about those around them—but, invariably, denied (and will deny tomorrow) talking about you. The result is a classic dichotomy: you and your family hold two conflicting ideas in your head at the same time; you talk about everyone you know, but you don't think they talk about you the same way. They do. Especially if you attempt to manipulate how they should think about you when you talk to them. To them. Not with them. That shit gets you judged faster than any other behavior. Fake. Insincere. Shallow. Vapid. (Are never said to your face.)

Decades ago, social researchers posited that the majority of adults had between five and twenty-five other adults who were members of their circle of trust. That was before the internet; when people paid large amounts of money (relative to their income) for "long distance phone calls," and—almost exclusively—communicated by talking face-to-face and writing letters delivered by affixing inexpensive postage stamps to envelopes. Those hippy researchers labeled our 'inner circles' as circles of intimacy (containing between zero and five people) and the third ring as our circles of associates with a maximum of 150 acquaintances and friends-of-friends.

During these Trying Times of The Twenties™ (TToTT^®) although technology makes instant communication simple, our circles of trust have shrunk. [I wanted to edit out these cute correlation-causations, but I like them too much: the number of characters in your average text; the number of colors and filters in your latest insta; the number of likes; number of favs; of 🖒; of conversations (pay-to-talk helps, but doesn't count); of pills you take; of videos you watch; of ... ?] ... Do you even know how to have a conversation? A real one?

Today's hipster researchers have re-researched and, now, our circles of trust contain between zero and five people and our circle of intimacy now contains—on average—between zero and two people. This deserves repeating: your circles of intimacy and trust may be nonexistent. Are there any people with whom you can relax and tell anything to ... ... who feel likewise about you? Are you certain of that?

Now, of course, you have viewers, followers, and 'facebook friends'. Those screen-names might fit into our circles of associates, but more-than-likely they are a fourth circle: strangers hoping you Egostroke, Entertain, or Educate for Free™ (EEE 4 Free^®).

fuck you and the horse you rode in on IRONY HURTS

O. K. (you say) So . . . this is a blog post about Philosophy. Capital P. This is the point where you philosophize, bitch. Impart your art! Tell me (you demand) about some long-dead, heavily-read, thinker. Someone who lived during the time of leeches; thrived under the threat of being spiked to a crossbeam until they asphyxiated; for whom pedophilia was routine and customary (their entire lives: catcher-to-pitcher); who practiced a rape-is-legal level of misogyny; who proudly owned slaves (but wrote thoughtfully on how to get the most out of one's chattel-born); and who only thought murder was immoral when it was done to men of his wealth, class, race, and education . . . what knowledge did he have to impart regarding how to cope with my life's difficulties (you ask). Share the wisdom (you cajole) which might help me assuage these new hardships as I have difficulty coping with uncomfortable and unfamiliar mask-breathing and social-distancing as a modern socially distant person living without access to all the comforts and privileges I was accustomed to a couple of months ago (you say without awareness of the irony, except that I've rubbed your nose in it for a paragraph).

Stay alert for opportunities to be able to say the sentences: "I was wrong"; "I don't know"; or "That is a new (word, idea, concept, etc) for me".

And, when the opportunity occurs, say those words to your viewers, screen-names, followers, and 'friends'. Then, keep talking to them. Ask them to explain their point of view, request they share their opinion, and maybe you could even apologize for being wrong. *shudder* Honest. Sincere. Thoughtful. Challenging. (Said in your presence ellipsis question-mark.)

This mind-set is transformative. If you are someone who never says these sentences, who never admits to any of these attributes of normal human behavior (or incessantly qualifies the rare admissions you're capable or willing to make) don't give up, you're more than half way there! It takes more effort to frown than to smile . . . which is just a metaphor I borrowed to point out the huge wall your ego must be constantly building around you. Justifying the biases which we all have (but which you are seemingly unaware)^🞹🞹.

It is only an inordinate strength of intellect which recognizes it is never the strongest nor the most intelligent, can easily admit if-and-when it has misspoken, and eagerly listens with the intent to learn; which always possesses a child's openness to absorb new information (with the seasoned reasoning of a philosopher only acting as custodial-staff: stepping-in to clean up afterwards); and actively hopes-for and wants—when listening/reading—to hear anything which might improve its out-of-date, biased, confused brain with new-to-you knowledge. Something, which another might have been carrying around in their head (and been willing to impart) for as long as you've known them. For free. All you had to do was ask. *gasp*

Normally, I'd attribute, here, which terrible human being(s) I gleaned the above advice from. The thing is, it came from all of them and none of them. It's not even possible to source to a single style, type, or area of philo-theosophical writing.

A bunch of eastern and western dudes (who probably supported the burning of witches for speaking heresy—if, in no other way, than by keeping silent when their next-door neighbors did it) wrote a bunch of random ideas in letters, books, diaries, and formal speeches. Probably a large amount of which they'd heard or read in books or libraries which were later sacked and burned, so—today—they appear to be the first to think these thoughts. Which, let me assure you, they were not; almost everything is paraphrased.

For years, I've put some of that shite which has been attributed to them in my head. Then, I typed this distillation. If this makes me a philosopher, please, know this: I reject almost everything ever written or said, by almost anyone I've ever listened to, or read. If pressed, I'll probably disagree with the majority of what I just wrote. *sigh*

^🞹🞹as to what is meant by half-way there and seemingly: Those who are already vigilantly hyper-attentive, in order to never admit their fallibility, are unaware this always makes them appear to be trying to be someone they're not, which is all it takes to be considered untrustworthy. Which is why their circles of intimacy and trust are small (or gone) and why they are spoken about, negatively, behind their back. The fix sounds simple: admit misspeaking, admit not knowing, admit learning something new.

more on 'how to relate' (to your-2020-self and others):

uncouple here

modicum of self awareness

Neither Over nor Underwhelmed

Can You Canoe?

Senator Robert F. "Bobby" Kennedy's full Day of Affirmation speech is linked here; I especially enjoy the following excerpts: ...The cruelties and the obstacles of this swiftly changing planet will not yield to obsolete dogmas and outworn slogans. ... "There is," said an Italian philosopher, "nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things." ... Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring: those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance. ... There is a Chinese curse which says "May he live in interesting times." Like it or not, we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also the most creative of any time in the history of mankind. And everyone here will ultimately be judged - will ultimately judge himself – on the effort he has contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which his ideals and goals have shaped that effort. ...

That RFK was unwilling to attribute the new-order-of-things quote to Machiavelli, by name, gives me a tickle. It was ballsy enough to give this speech in mid-apartheid South Africa, but to reference the guy who wrote the book on how to unseat a government by any and all means? Priceless.

image portions for fuck you and the horse you rode in on IRONY HURTS by:

KISSES

(click for 🔎)

This conglomeration of nine real image portions (one which was quasi-distorted) is intended to instigate a type of ambedo. One's eye is drawn to the center, into a storefront, to a poster on the wall above teller windows—what kind of business would KISSES be and who would be so comfortable, in today's society, to challenge their customers with such a necessary (albeit polarizing) question? The pleasantly warm bustle of a city and the genuine happiness of a mother—yet what city has simple-to-climb rungs on sidewalk electric poles? Multiple mirrors provide you, the driver, with ample all-around views—but what is happening around your bus? And, what thought(s) or emotion(s) was the artist trying to instigate in viewers . . . of the sticker they adhered to the electric pole?

Composite collage art comprised of photos by:

Rob Fracisco (biosfear.com), Passionfoto, Lorie Shaull,

David Morris, Kriystina Stimakovits, bswise,

steckandose.gallery, and Larry Myhre

Saint Labrador the Retriever (et al)

In Waterbury, Vermont, you can: touristy-tour the Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory and the Cold Hollow Cider Mill; view sculpture-art on the train-trestle and Saint Labrador the Retriever; hike, bike, or cross-country ski the portion of the Cross-Vermont Trail which loops around the old state hospital and asylum grounds and parallels the Winooski River; or you can meander the obstacle course of the three-year (2019-2021) construction project to explore the tiny downtown area where there is one art gallery, a thrift shop, a bookstore, two bric-a-brac stores, a nice toy store, and a hand-full of bars with a double hand-full of restaurants/diners.

other Vermont to-see's:

St Albans City, Town, Bay

Lyndon Center

Haiku どこにでも兆候兆候 5-7-5 俳句 Signs signs, everywhere there

NO . . . ONE WAY . . . only

FUCK YOUR POLICE LOYALTY

go YELL OW! Mother...

Haiku ほ 5-7-5 俳句 HO

Haiku 小道 5-7-5 俳句 Path

Haiku 装飾舗装 5-7-5 俳句 Asfault Ernate

Haiku 検疫 5-7-5 俳句 Quarantine

Haiku ライトニング 5-7-5 俳句 Lightning

image excerpts by Austin Granger (austingranger.com), Alex Bamford,

pigolincolorado, and Ansel Olson

Essential Apostrophe

Whacha been doing since we last talked?

A decision tree bloomed in my head.

I considered, for approximately .07 of a second, replying with a brief explanation of the various philosophy books, video-synopses, websites, and—subsequently formed—logical insights I'd come up with on aesthetics, fallacies and personal politics... and how all that related to the ongoing pandemic from my point-of-cloister; which caused me to focus/trip over how pretentious that-all might sound if it were dumped into my unprepared ear-brain.

So I shifted to considering (for an additional .14 of a second) a nutshell-sketch of my recent art collages: how I'd created them after perusing thousands of images—over scores of hours—for just the right fit to tell just the right story, to engage my viewers for an extended moment of their lives and (hopefully) cause them to think about what that specific image is asking them to feel, which is the same as what I, the composer, am hoping to communicate. Which, unfortunately, caused me to realize; a conversation of this magnitude would require visuals, and a friendly talk was not the place for a PowerPoint presentation.

For the next full second I thought about the things I'd done since we'd last talked: I'd gone to a drive-in theater with four screens to choose from (two films at each) and each screen had it's own audio over a different FM radio station. But. It was just a drive-in. It was just Empire Strikes Back... Also, I'd: hiked with my cats a few times, gone picnicking, had a campfire, gone to a museum filled with hundreds of hand carved birds, and explored parts of the Green Mountains as well as the islands in Lake Champlain with my wife. But those were just special things to us. It was just sightseeing.

Same-old same-old. Tryin' not to catch it again. Or spread it if I'm still contagious. Keepin' busy. You?

Not much different. Can't wait for this to be over so I can go back to work. Back to normal.

I wondered about asking: what if that's never possible - if wearing masks and staying separate was forever - if the education paradigm was going to become 90% online/virtual and the 10% hands-on requirements were going to be held in sterile environments with 14-day quarantines whenever someone entered - if full-body spacesuits were going to be a thing - if . . . nah . . . too pessimistic.

I thought you were an essential worker.

Who're es..essential workers.

The preferred term's sex worker; I'm pretty sure they aren't.

Hunh? Now I'm confused.

Asked if you were essential and it sounded like you said whores are essential.

Oh. The apostrophe in who-are is essential. I'm not.

comprised of photos titled apostrophe by:

Nicola Tramirin, Andie Lewis, Marilyn Cvtanic (marilynpaints.com),

Bart Heird, miko59, and Namrata Goyal

use yer werds ews-yur-wurdz
aka: floating heads and already deads

US Federal personnel wearing military uniforms without insignia (except a POLICE patch), driving unmarked rental vans, have begun arresting/detaining people in Portland, Oregon. In one video, the protester-camerawoman repeats the phrase: use your words towards the mute authoritarian federal law enforcement officers who are in the act of snatching-and-disappearing an alleged protester.

collage-art in the same vein:

Laundromat Pantograph

CHASMS

shun the fleck in my roar

image excerpts by Paul McFarland at playinginthevoid