myself in jim's imaginary front yard after recent travel marathon. i felt worse than i looked.

watched that wills fellow on the sunday news parade. he pointed out that the "liberals" were engaged in a performative contridiction concerning the money that dean is raising, since they are against mixing money and politics.

this is so goofy i have to comment. people's money is different from corporation money when it comes to what is left of politics. just as an individual's right to free speech was not meant to include a corporation's right to pay the media to spread it's messages. advertising is not "free speech". my contribution to a political candidate is not the same as an institution's.

constitutional law has degraded to the point where an institution or corporation has all the rights guaranteed to a human by the counstitution. only they have massive amounts of cash and outlive us.

found this photo at my dad's house (along with a lot of other visual odds and ends). i took it at tilley creek early 80's, where i lived with my wife and children. tricked it up and printed it on cibachrome. darkroom stuff. ancient past.

i am slowly resetting. right now am looking for camera case, coffee maker, and about 300 pages i printed of ken wilber's latest online stuff.

as far as current events go, they are going going gone. politics is now beside the point. stumbling into iraq totally ignorant of who or what is there has unraveled more or less predictably. the arrogence of our republican leaders who i actually think believe thier pie charts, and the fear of the democrats of going out on a limb and actually saying something about it is self evident. the shennanigans of israel could be stopped cold by the cessation of denial that they are living on land that belongs to someone else, even if god did say it was thiers. assassinations by self-immolation and missles. i recently saw a kid's lunchbox with super ninjas on it. they looked exactly like everyone's idea of terrorists. last night on dateline the story of four middle class american families who were struggling with the loss of everything, homes, jobs, health insurance.

the common denominator in all this is in my humble opinion the fact that institutions as a way of organizing people, profit and fear of no profit as a motivator, no longer work. things change. compassion and altruism have to come into play, i don't care what ayn rand, o'reilly, rush and friends say.

i think i painted this before i left for travel extravaganza.

i've got so many things to say that i've got nothing much to say here.

but here is a taste: have you seen or heard of the woman who wrote "treason" something or another? as i understand it, she is rehabilitating mcarthy and declaring those against the iraq war traitors. the democrats - what's left of them (no pun intended) - are "against america".

talk radio is full of this stuff. to disagree is to be an outlaw.

good to be back home after 25 or so days on the road. i'm exhausted of course.

the picture above is first try at oil-based pastels. don't quite know what to do with them but they sure are portble, easy to schlepp around. i did it at my dad's house in prescott az. his AC was out, but with the judicious use of attic fan and the timely closing and unclosing of windows it was pretty comfortable.

unlike phoenix where i didn't stay too long with sister jane and fred. dropping in on phoenix is a shock, and i really can see no good reason for it's existence. hard to imagine that i was exiled there for ten years.

i'm aiming to move very slow for a week or two - "one thing at a time" - review options, priorities (what options?) and relax.

Vacation Ending
testing, testing.

i"m visiting with Jim c. tonite. last nite at doug & nicole's. NC is another hot place. seems like a summer full, talked a little about Lucius shephard with jim. the nation.

hope to see damien with ninian tomorrow. looking foward to own bed own head.

stick around, fool around, poke around.

i'll be back.

meanwhile a few vacation posts will be found below:

visited sister jane and husband fred a few days ago. took shuttle to phoenix with dad who had an appoinment with VA docs for tuning ear aids or whatever you call them. fred and jane had just returned from cape cod visit with fred's parents.

took shuttle back to prescott next day: air conditioning on shuttle went out, not good, but made it back.

then got call from jane, fred's father ralph who was in hospital unexpectedly passed away. he was a pleasant and good natured soul, may he rest in peace.

they managed to fly back to cape cod yesterday despite east coast blackout.

monday. enjoying stay with dad in prescott altho hotter than hell. semi-rescued one watercolor and am now trying oil pastels which i really like, very portable, just the thing for the road.

blood sugars have really been wacky, maybe from antibiotic i'm taking. split my head open leaving aville, 7 stitches. most ungraceful exit ever. will see fred and sister jane tommorow in phx. they fly in from cape cod. fred's father ralph is in the hospital having a tough time.

words of wisdom? don't have any except "the spirit is received in silence". oh, i experimented with cable tv last nite, spent a few minutes with each channel. (don't have or want this at home). it's all true, "57 channels and nothin's on" as mr. springsteen said awhile back. unbelievable circus of commerce, cliches, warmed over one-liners and fake jewels.

and i think - tho not sure - you are still regarded as an "egghead" in todays world if you don't watch this stuff. over and out.

sitting in the library in prescott az once again. been here (in town, not the library) for a week, seems like either a year or a day. across the street is the house my son eric and i lived in 100 years ago.

nothing much to report except the world is nuts and so am i. it has taken me a week to start very unsatisfactory watercolor - but the next one will be better of course. found some great photos of my grandparents, one of grandpa wyly 9 months old. i'll add these to some kind of cyber album when i get back to the smokies.

i keep remembering gb shaws quote, "growing old is like a shipwreck."

but heard old friend ben jones on the radio this morning which was kind of fun. he sounds well and is still quick on the draw with a quip. gotta go now, trying to research air conditioning for dad whose system flaked out.

expect to see son eric next sunday for a few days, he's driving from sunnyvale ca to flagstaff straight through, spending the night with friends and then on to here.

prescott has changed just like anywhere, tibetan bookstore down the street, new age all the rage.

terrible day. started off great, nice long walk in cool air. when i got back i lost all my zip and it became a lost day, no energy, no focus, no foolin. one of those days when anything you try to do quickly goes haywire. did find the watercolor posted above floating around in a small notebook in my truck.

but a little weather news, tip of the hat to tharpa.

j.g. ballard in the 60's i believe wrote a number of novels about abrupt weather changes, the one i remember best is the wind from nowhere. good read, bad news.

email i got this morning. thanks russel and tucker;
--------------------

as we say in Woolof--"Danka Danka Japa Gaola"--Softly softly catch the monkey" --I didnt see
this weird visit to one of my favorite countries-just everyone saying how compassionate the
speech was!!
Go figure
T


A letter from a Senegalese following Bush's visit that was forwarded to me.

Russell Banks


> >
> > Dearest friends,
> >
> > As you probably know, this week George Bush is
> > visiting Africa.
> > Starting with Senegal, he arrived this morning at 7.20
> > PM and left at 1.30 PM. This visit has been such an
> > ordeal that a petition is being circulated for this
> > Tuesday July 8th be named Dependence Day.
> >
> > Let me share with you what we have been trough since
> > last week.
> >
> > 1- Arrestations: more than 1,500 persons have been
> > arrested and put in jail between Thursday and
> > Monday. Hopefully they will be released now that the
> > Big Man is gone
> > 2- The US Army's planes flying day and nigh over
> > Dakar. The noise they make is so loud that one hardly
> > sleeps at night
> > 3- About 700 security people from the US for Bush's
> > security in Senegal, with their dogs, and their cars.
> > Senegalese security forces were not allowed to come
> > near the US president
> > 4- All trees in places where Bush will pass have been
> > cut. Some of them have more than 100 years
> > 5- All roads going down town (were hospitals,
> > businesses, schools are located) were closed from
> > Monday night to Tuesday at 3 PM. This means that we
> > could not go to our offices or schools. Sick people
> > were also obliged to stay at home.
> > 6- National exams for high schools that started on
> > Monday are post-poned until Wednesday.
> > Bush's visit to the Goree Island is another story. As
> > you may know Goree is a small Island facing Dakar
> > where from the 15th to the 19th century, the African
> > slaves to be shipped to America were parked in special
> > houses called slave houses. One of these houses has
> > become a Museum to remind humanity about this dark
> > period and has been visited by kings, queens,
> > presidents. Bill,
> > Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, and before them, Nelson
> > Mandela, the Pope, and many other distinguished guests
> > or ordinary tourists visited it without bothering the
> > islanders. But for "security reasons" this time, the
> > local population was chased out of their houses from 5
> > to 12 AM. They were forced by the American security to
> > leave their houses and leave everything open,
> > including their wardrobes to be searched by special
> > dogs brought from the US. The ferry that links the
> > island to Dakar was stopped and offices and businesses
> > closed for the day.According to an economist who was
> > interviewed by a private radio, Senegal that is a very
> > poor country has lost huge amount of money in this
> > visit, because workers have been prevented from
> > walking out of their homes.In addition to us being
> > prevented to go out, other humiliating things happened
> > also. Not only Bush
> > brought did not want to be with Senegalese but he did
> > not want to use our things. He brought his own
> > arm-chairs, and of course his own cars, and meals and
> > drinks. He came with his own journalists and ours were
> > forbidden inside the airport and in place he was
> > visiting. Our president was not allowed to make a
> > speech. Only Bush spoke when he was in Goree. He
> > spoke about slavery. It seems that he needs the vote
> > of the African American to be elected in the next
> > elections, and wanted to please them. That's why he
> > visited Goree Several protest marches against American
> > politics have been organized yesterday and even when
> > Bush was here, but we think he does not care.
> >
> > We have the feeling that everything has been done to
> > convince us that we are nothing, and that America can
> > behave the way it wants, everywhere, even in our
> > country.
> > Believe me friends, it is a terrible feeling. But
> > according to a Ugandan friend of mine, I should not
> > complain because in Uganda one of the country he is
> > going to visit, Bush does not intend to go out of the
> > airport. He will receive the Ugandan President in the
> > airport lounge.
> > Nevertheless, I think I am lucky, because I have such
> > wonderful American friends. But there are now
> > thousands of Senegalese who believe that for all
> > Americans the world is their territory.
> >
> > ��������������������� Love to you all
> >
> > ��������������������� Codou
> >
> > ______________________________________________________
> > ___________
> > Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*.�
> > http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail
> >
> >
> > ------- End of forwarded message -------
> >
> >
> >
> Chase Twichell
> Editor, Ausable Press
> www.ausablepress.com

slowed down day. ninian spent the night last night. he played some pleasant hillbilly trance (that's "old timey") music on the banjo. doing watercolor on clayboard, very interesting possibilities. went to mark and sharri's for baba gathering, really interesting talk by sherri on sufi kawalli music. she got her doctorate in ethnomusicolgy. wish i had.

good news! check out my astro-gnostic probability-wave for this week:

yesterday was a little strange; worked all day on various things. i think i finished one oil and almost a second. if i'm right i will have finished 3 in this lifetime. decided to wait until end of august to continue upgrade on g3, mostly zif cpu upgrade and cd burner. also got pretty good electronic-trance mix done, now to add vocals (sigh).

also caught the last half of something on pbs about music and musicians in pakistan today. Peshawar, the northwest "wild west" of that country, has outlawed music. playing, listening etc. a la taliban. an articulate member of eclectic pakastani rock group traveled there to check out the feelings of the folks who live there and the students of a moderate madras.

Peshawar and the territories in the northwest are historically an aberration. after WW1 a line was drawn by some general in london or paris - or versailles - dividing afghanistan and pakistan and split this region down the middle. there was actually a short-lived movement to establish the area as a nation-state with a name something like "peshwaristan". i say something like because i can't remember what it was actually meant to be named.

pakistani law does not prohibit music, but the influence of the mullahs and madrasi means that it cannot be performed (or even hummed) in that part of the world.

anyway the conversations were most interesting. if you accept even in a tiny way the position of the fundamentalist muslims who wield power there that the modern mediated culture is exploding with destructive images and sound you can see the problem they are dealing with.

on the other hand, looking at islamic history and especially the sufi thread, one can argue that music has always been an integral part of that tradition - kawali, rumi, etc.

so it is (to fall into ken wilber's world) a clash of the modern market driven world-centric world view and an ethnocentric regressive world view.

the answer of course is to transcend but include the ethnic values. that is acknowledge the downside of the current cultural juggernaut and play good music that reflects the higher states of mind and culture and dismisses the cheap thrill. or to put it another way, the answer is blowin in the wind.

an interesting comparison is with the iconaclastic controversy of the 8th and 9th centuries, when both the islamic and byzantine cultures decleared man made images to be a distraction from the true, the good, and the beautiful. which they can be, if the observer worships the image and not the reality behind it.

so it's all in the eye - or ear - of the beholder.

but which beholder? here again i go along with wilber: the same beholder who is beholding us.

i changed the picture above and below. they were just not right. something off about both of them. hope they are a little more...interesting now.

i'm in countdown mode for trip to raleigh and on to arizona. the older i get the earlier i have to start organizing and packing. if this trend continues, there will come a time when i don't have the time left to pack and go anywhere.

i'm racing to finish 2 projects before the long hiatus. (no, not that), i mean the coming trip. want to complete a pdf file that will contain old parsons family photos so my scattered extended family can take a look and tell me who is in the photos, where they were taken and so forth.

second is another pdf file, the new life, a book i am typesetting for mr. jeff in south carolina. incorporate changes i have got, insert many picture frames and captions.

the first will be done by today, the second by tomorrow.

yesterday i was planning to drive up to mr. b.'s camping spot in yancey county, but the hot weather stopped me cold so to speak. instead i totally screwed up a water color but came close to finishing 2nd oil painting. ninian arrives sat. for an overnight stay. now i'm going to take a walk.

2 links to good newspaper series on voting machine, procedures story (hugely under reported).

story

more

not a whole lot to say this AM. ran out of insulin in pump woke up with blood sugar reading of 530. this essentially blows my day and means taking it easy while i bring it down.

interesting discussion last nite at ken wilber group. one of the many things i like about wilber is that he dismisses the solitary holy man up on the mountain as not the way to go today, or not the way to spend one's life. or better yet, not the way to go exclusively.

when i was younger i pondered this question; i usually felt more than a twinge of guilt at any glimpses of the spirit i might have from time to time, because i couldn't relate them to the world. i believe martin luther dealt with this knotty problem when talking about the "quietists".

if i have any "faith" it is that beyond the visible world there is something attributeless without which the visible and manifest would not be. but this is the result of experiences i have had and what memory has left me, not "faith".

any faith i have is faith that for reasons far beyond my understanding i am in the world. like all of us my life seems to necessary, as it unfolds, to capital-R Reality. my existence and experience matter.

now that i've got that settled, what do i do with it?

just to be on the safe-side i checked out the white-house list of suspicious reading. so should you. thanks, tuck.

A PICTURE

A DAY

KEEPS