Day: May 2, 2018

I remain convinced that America has lost it’s collective mind. Consider the evidence: We’ve leaned so deeply into the turn of trusting symbols over substance that we elected a man who we all basically accept is a deeply flawed and egotistical liar who puts his personal interests over the rest of the known universe and insists still that the former president might not have been born American. He continually litigates past victories and relies on pithy one-liners and ill conceived attacks to get his way. He is, in essence, classic Flash Thompson without any of the athleticism and all of the bluster.

He isn’t even the biggest problem. No, the real problem is how we’ve ceded control to the corporations. America is corporate and the corporations that lead America are more often than not located outside of America (for financial reasons… supposedly). The largest educational supplier, Pearson, is located in the UK. Cengage, a rising force on the learning scene, is also located in the UK. Nobody cares, so long as books are cheap and speak to the facts that make them feel comfortable and safe.

That last point, safety, is a disturbing trend. More and more we are picking up guns and disguising fear of the other as fear of the criminal. In truth, it isn’t really disguised at all as the criminal is most likely to be portrayed as someone brown. It is as if the Obama victories were a wakeup call to a slice of Americans who got really tired of being blamed for things that weren’t in their control (slavery and historical racial politics) and sometimes were (like the high unemployment numbers among uneducated whites). So they grab their guns and say, “We got these and we got this.”

I’m worried about what is happening to my country. Most of all, I am starting to wonder if it is moving in a direction where our position in international standing is going to slip to a point where we are more likely to be the engine of finance than we are to be the engine of democracy. After all, if we are going to continue to see Trump as America’s Id, then perhaps we ought to also see that the begrudging attention he gets is more about how he can be used and manipulated than it is about how he is someone to be admired and perhaps revered.

Just Like Us.

Some Thoughts:

1. Contacted site5. Got the site back. Change happens when you force it.

“Give them time to get it right.” He said, imaging himself as Golum and this the fated conversation beside the pond.

“Why?” His other half was born of discontent, pride, and more than a little expectation of privilege. This side had no cause to wait and thus was likely the better looking version, with a fresh haircut, better tone, less belly, and actual credit with which to build a wardrobe and a life.

 

“Because it really isn’t going to do any good to pressure them. I’ll bet they don’t even know enough to tell you where they are in the process.”

 

“They know enough to know they aren’t done and we know enough to know that service has been interrupted for days. If this were a website that generated revenue—as it should be—we’d be losing money right now. I know you can’t stand to lose money, even if I’ve made enough good choices to do so on my end.” His end was a beautiful office that was the cornerstone of a beautiful house filled with a wife, 6 kids, and all of the color and style it could hold. He wanted to hold their talk here, beyond the mirror, but they held it somewhere inbetween in the nowhere space of metal and glass. He continued, “How long are you willing to wait?”

 

“I’m… I’m not sure. It’s only been three days.”

“Yes, but after six? Nine? When is enough enough? When will you be ready to act?”

“Act more like you?” He folded his arms.

“There isn’t anything wrong with acting a little more like me. We are best in the middle, where there is still enough push and pull for both sides to be happy and not dominant. Balance.”

“Ying and Yang.” His arms remained folded, his voice low.

“Yes, though there is far more of one than the other as of late. Perhaps as of twenty years ago. When I have my moments to creep out we do so well and then you take back over. We are supposed to be an us.”

“You know what we lose by me ceding ground to you.”

“No, I don’t. I know its hard. I know you see it in your head like chipping plaque off teeth, like breaking free from ice. I know you’re struggling with the pain involved, but I also know that it is the same way you still feel every time you’re at the edge of the water and hesitate before that first step in.”

“I don’t do that so much anymore.” His arms loosened to fall by his side.

“No, but once it hits your belly…” He shrugged. “First steps. Baby steps. Let’s try this thing together.”

“Together.”

 

 

 

 

I had an interesting philosophical conversation with my kids (interesting to me, and probably nobody else) about the nature of reality. It sprang from a conversation about Hadron colliders and the Higgs Boson particle (what the heck are they teaching in middle school?). We discussed the end of the universe and eventually wandered into conversations about reality and what constitutes one person’s reality vs. another. This, logically, led to a conversation about social reality and Youtube and Fortnite. All three discussed their own particular social realities and the values of those to them. Specifically, they were interested in talking about why what they care about matters in the larger scheme of things. What is most interesting is that they didn’t try to couch it in a discussion of how valuable their social reality is to my own. In other words, they were not trying to tell me why Fortnite matters in the real world, but instead describing the game and other aspects of their world in terms of what holds value to them and those around them.

 

It was an interesting moment for me, because I recognized that as a parent I am merely training them to perform in the ‘real world’ as I presently define it, and trying to teach them that games and all of that other stuff don’t necessarily matter that much. Why don’t they? Because they don’t necessarily translate to the things that matter in the ‘real world’.

 

This doesn’t mean that those things do not matter.

I am writing this blog while locked out of my blog. I’m having serious migration issues. You see, the other day it seems my host provider was sold to a company called site5. I did some basic web research on site5 and the reviews are not good. In addition to the blindside of suddenly discovering my site was in the process of migrating somewhere, I have no way of learning when this migration is going to be complete. There is no time frame, only the assurance that the site will be down until it isn’t.

 

Yeah, I’m pissed.

 

I’m not going to let this end the site. I am more determined than ever to solve this issue and get back online, because dang it I like writing this stuff. It has become a way of life for me that there is absolutely no reason to give up. Not now, not again, not ever.

 

Some Thoughts:

1. Mark my words, every pundit who is still praising Sam Darnold as the next great QB will be openly blaming the Jets when he sucks. Coaches will get fired. Reporters and pundits won’t. Next year there will be a new ‘can’t miss’ prospect and we will hear all about him. Once the media is significantly invested, they’ll definitely sell out to say he is the one. Then they’ll drool all over the possibilities of the team that took him. It is just how things work.
2. To be clear, I’m calling the dude a BUST.
3. Apparently stress can manifest as physical illness. I am that proof.