drove to the west virginia mountains with my father.
unpacked the car. and look at that, you read my mind.
rented a cabin.
didn't anticipate the altitude weather difference.
communed with nature.
found an arcade room in the lodge..
..with other relics too.
now know what the locals do for fun.
watched waterfalls.
enjoyed scenic overlooks.
ate american breakfasts..
..and desserts.
headed out..
..to luray caverns.
walked the tour..
which included a stalactite organ
..and yes, they do weddings.
wonder what percent goes to coinstar.
..and apparently am not the only one.
attended the smithsonian's feature on bioluminescence..
complete with deep sea mimicry goggles
draw-your-own ocean monsters
..and wicked witch of the west impersonation opportunities.
am still of the age where everything feels good. even hurt, it all feels good. pray that never changes.
reminded myself what a.m. and p.m. stand for: ante meridiem and post meridiem, latin for before and after mid-day.
kicked around the feasibility of some sort of nafta-expansion that would give all united states, canadian, and mexican citizens the right to live, work, and travel freely in each others' countries. with the current state of the euro, it's hard to imagine currency unification makes any sense and this idea doesn't necessitate open borders, either - everyone still has to pass through inspection, so other non-citizens legally in one of these three countries couldn't simply hop into another. why are we constricting ourselves?
downloaded colonization ©1994. slower than i remember. this, civilization, and starcraft - my three favorite games.
walked to the new mlk memorial with emma. prime real estate.
read a bit..
(1) manhattan's park in the sky
historic preservation, adaptive reuse of obsolete infrastructure, green
urbanism, and private-sector funding and stewardship of civic amenities
(2) the case for transparency in war powers
(3) american post-secondary education
no one knows how long families will be able and willing to pay for four
years of largely symbolic training that steadily becomes more expensive
and loses impact
americans..now owe almost a
trillion dollars in student loans, more than they owe in credit card
debt
(4) russian propaganda
'life in russia,' the journalist told me in the democratic bar, 'has got better but leaves a shitty aftertaste.'
(5) the arizona crossing
arizona, he said, 'has to come back into civilization'
for every illegal migrant apprehended, border patrol estimates that three get across
water stations in dozens of locations in the middle of nowhere
arizona is for immigration what mississippi was for civil rights
(6) in the protests
that goldman sachs built its new headquarters without putting the words 'goldman' or 'sachs' on the exterior of 200 west street is, at least, a little telling.
(7) the electorate
johnson in 1964 was the last democrat to win a majority of the white vote.
women vote ever more clearly on class lines; men don't.
like tightrope walking in the dark with a gorilla on one's back.
(8) somalia now
fragments of a pulled tooth still wedged deep in the bleeding gum
'where is the un, where's the money, where are all those experts? there are all sitting in nairobi, spending the aid money on supporting their own lives. they should be here, working.'
he tried to insert the tube for a drip into a child's skull. i asked him: why not his hand? he looked at me, lifted the child's tiny hand and said: 'find me a vein here and you can have my lunch today.'
back in the hospital a man sat on a piece of soiled cardboard, holding his son's head high, a tube inserted into the child's nose. a visiting delegation from an arab charity passed by. they went up to the father and his child, and a man in a white jacket with the charity's logo kneeled next to the child. the father looked at him respectfully while he held the child's head and turned to face one of his colleagues, who was holding a camera. the man grinned, and the other man took his picture. 'ok, muhammad, it's your turn,' the kneeling man said, and they switched places.
(9) ows
"mike check!" one of the women cried, and with a unison roar the crowd repeated her words. this was "the people's mike," used in lieu of bullhorns, megaphones, or other amplification devices that were prohibited because the protesters had no permit..the crowd has to repeat every word
mohamed bouazizis of the united states
not a single criminal charge has been filed against anyone at a major bank
the failure to bring strong criminal cases also makes it difficult for most americans to understand how these crises occurred.
12/8