Widening gyre…

So I’m sitting in the office, having just got through class.

Kinda stunned.

Before the election I and many friends joked that Canada was looking mighty good now. But today over morning coffee, hunched in bed I realized that I could never go that route. I refuse to cede this country to charlatans.

I talk a lot here about being a freak. And I am. An American freak, one who believes that history is not the inexorable progress of fate, or divinity, or market, or class, but rather that history is the record of brilliant improvisations within circumstances, something that is within the capacity of any of us to make or unmake. This America’s naivete’ and wisdom and it has helped me make my way through the world.

I can’t provide the counter example from the sidelines, and I won’t give them the satisfaction of chasing me out.

So today I read the phrase “the center cannot hold” as one of hope, and I think it’s time for me to slouch off to Bethlehem

And be reborn.

0 Comments +

  1. An American freak, one who believes that history is not the inexorable progress of fate, or divinity, or market, or class, but rather that history is the record of brilliant improvisations within circumstances, something that is within the capacity of any of us to make or unmake.

    That was pretty much the theme of Assassins. Remember?

    But how else can we make and unmake? Shouting and marching in protest? Giving money to organizations? I think you (I, we) do it best by being/remaining the freak that you are. Daily, unabashedly.

    BTW, did you know ‘Bethlehem’ means “house of bread”? Keep it spicy, ya big freak….

  2. An American freak, one who believes that history is not the inexorable progress of fate, or divinity, or market, or class, but rather that history is the record of brilliant improvisations within circumstances, something that is within the capacity of any of us to make or unmake.

    That was pretty much the theme of Assassins. Remember?

    But how else can we make and unmake? Shouting and marching in protest? Giving money to organizations? I think you (I, we) do it best by being/remaining the freak that you are. Daily, unabashedly.

    BTW, did you know ‘Bethlehem’ means “house of bread”? Keep it spicy, ya big freak….

  3. Beautiful. Thank you, sincerely. I am not sure I will come to the same conclusions. I need time to quit reeling. And time to think, eventually.

    Right now, I would leave if I had the finances. And I have my reasons.

    But it is also amazingly good for me to see folks’ whose faiths lie in differently shaded but similar directions can express their position so inspiringly.

    There is hope … .

  4. Beautiful. Thank you, sincerely. I am not sure I will come to the same conclusions. I need time to quit reeling. And time to think, eventually.

    Right now, I would leave if I had the finances. And I have my reasons.

    But it is also amazingly good for me to see folks’ whose faiths lie in differently shaded but similar directions can express their position so inspiringly.

    There is hope … .

  5. I like you!

    You’ve nothing to cede and have no need to accept any mainstream notion of “normal”. You make a significant contribution to your community, nation and world–on your own terms, to no one’s detriment. And I too must attribute some the character traits that have served me so well in life to my “Americanism”.

    So yay!

  6. I like you!

    You’ve nothing to cede and have no need to accept any mainstream notion of “normal”. You make a significant contribution to your community, nation and world–on your own terms, to no one’s detriment. And I too must attribute some the character traits that have served me so well in life to my “Americanism”.

    So yay!

  7. Thank you Naylandblake for this bit of calm in an otherwise ugly and rediculous day.
    My brain felt as if it would boil dry all day.
    Now I sit in my college library having finally sorted out a bit of writing that has haunted me all day.
    It is quiet. Just keys clacking.
    I am feeling a bit better.
    *freak1 makes freak2 feel better*
    Maybe I’ll cancel my escape plan to Barcelona after all.

  8. Thank you Naylandblake for this bit of calm in an otherwise ugly and rediculous day.
    My brain felt as if it would boil dry all day.
    Now I sit in my college library having finally sorted out a bit of writing that has haunted me all day.
    It is quiet. Just keys clacking.
    I am feeling a bit better.
    *freak1 makes freak2 feel better*
    Maybe I’ll cancel my escape plan to Barcelona after all.

  9. Sic Semper Tyrannus?

    Probably the reason why it’s one of my favorite Sondhiem shows. It makes me deeply uncomfortable.

    How do we make? Resist the flow, the easy answer, the accelleration and simplification of political discourse. And as you say, being emphatically ourselves. I’ll keep it spicy if you will – I love having a cohort!

  10. Sic Semper Tyrannus?

    Probably the reason why it’s one of my favorite Sondhiem shows. It makes me deeply uncomfortable.

    How do we make? Resist the flow, the easy answer, the accelleration and simplification of political discourse. And as you say, being emphatically ourselves. I’ll keep it spicy if you will – I love having a cohort!

  11. Sic Semper Tyrannus?

    Probably the reason why it’s one of my favorite Sondhiem shows. It makes me deeply uncomfortable.

    How do we make? Resist the flow, the easy answer, the accelleration and simplification of political discourse. And as you say, being emphatically ourselves. I’ll keep it spicy if you will – I love having a cohort!

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