Back

At least I saw a couple of DON’T FRACK MICHIGAN stickers on bumpers on this last visit back to the US.

But they were still attached to the same SUV and oversized pick-up truck bumpers. 

I only saw one wind turbine and one house with solar panels in a place that outdoes Northern Europe in sunny days by 4 to 1– and that was on the roof of a self-declared environmental community.  Most new houses just had one outstanding feature:  SIZE. 

Small here is XL.  And most new homes are 2XXL, just like the T-Shirts that say “ Lake Michigan Unsalted” written in fat print across the front.

As always, being back, really feels like being back.

In 1990.

Thanks, but no Sam !

Here is what's great about homeschooling: 

My job ends at the beginning of summer, I don't have to write reports because I know where my kids are at and I have a fairly good idea what we will have to cover when we get back. 

I don't have to clean up my classroom in addition to my house and I also won't have to come back in August to paint the walls (I will do that in November).  

Granted, I don't get baskets filled with crackers, chocolate and Thank You cards, but then, I don't have to put in my time&energy&idealism for $25,000/yr, find childcare, transportation AND worry whether the Earned Income Tax Credit will still be in place when I file in April !!!

PS Sunstruck

Years ago, our third child had just been born, I opened a gate to the outside world like a drowning person pushing open the door of a sinking car, and started a podcast with a friend. 

I did most of the editing at night, teaching myself Garageband and online publishing skills while frantically working away at my stories. 

I loved it – that sacred space of creativity and seemingly endless potential which I shared with my soul mate at the time, even though it meant adding to my already deadly fatigue and restlessness. 

We managed to publish four one hour-long episodes much in the format of This American Life by the irreverently funny Ira Glass.  

The domaine name has long since expired and so has the site that was hosting Sunstruck.  But the memory of the moments of crazed commitment working on a project with a friend and sharing the product with the world has stayed with me.  

What a great energy we had going!

Love you loads, Susan!!

no more sense

i am reading liane moriarty's "little lies" at the moment, making me think that modernity left us stranded in muddied dailies.

Stampsized

People habitually reduce others to small, manageable quantities with a certain amount of value attached to them.  

Instead of either trying to understand the many layers of experience, principles and sensitivities which among other facets make up a human being, they reduce them to a simpler format. 

XX is really caring but she tends to get very caught up in little things (meaning: she is nice but kind of annoying and best not to be taken too seriously).

XY is great fun to hang out with, but he tends to be a bit superficial (meaning: although good for a one off he is not somebody to invest much time and energy in).

Just like stereotyping, this kind of reductionist activity helps the one who is “stampsizing” to make decisions on future actions even if they are based on a minimum of information.  

Even if in the short term the plan of action might turn out to be favourable, in the long term, this kind of relationship is bound to fail because it is not built on curiosity but determinism.

The question is what do to do, when people around you have transferred the world into a neat grid pattern with an assigned spot for everyone, including you.  Is it time to revisit what one thinks, feels and communicates or is it maybe time to change the kind of people one hangs out with?

Thugs on Drugs

We all, who do not subscribe to shooting up beach vacationers, beheading civilians in front of running cameras and destroying cultural heritage sites, are clueless how to make them stop. 

Some governments retaliate by capturing and swiftly executing any potential subject.  But that seems to be only partially effective, since it predictably leads to martyrdom and further retaliation.

Others try to take the high road by steadfastly upholding principles of habeas corpus.

Generally speaking and in light of the centuries of struggles to formulate basic principles of human rights including a fair trial, that would be a good idea. 

The problem though is:  this does not get rid of the actual problem.

I.e., it does not get rid of a large, vastly dispersed, international cohort of young, violent males who have been radicalized to commit atrocities on behalf of one cause or another. 

We are not battling national armies or even militias any more.  There aren’t any clearly demarcated war or danger zones.  The enemy is safely among us, daring us.

The question is, can we accept him as what he is:  a male under stress.  Nothing more, but also nothing less.

A human in need of chemical relief.