The river doesn't care . . .
Celebrating Satyr's day this 25th of 2023 March . . .
Since there is nothing but this moment, the time-being is all the time there is. – Dogen
Recently a well-informed friend whose opinion I sincerely value, suggested to me that this blog needed more controversy. Synchronistically, the following items from Grady Means and Mark Hyman showed up in the mailbox this morning, making it easy for me to take him at his word.
Since World War II, America has created gigantic industries in industrial farming to efficiently grow unhealthy, pesticide-laced food; processed food manufacturers and restaurant chains to create, market and sell unhealthy food; a health care industry that grows based upon disease from unhealthy food; a pharmaceutical industry that profits from creating drugs to treat the symptoms from unhealthy food; and a financial services industry that profits enormously from the growth and profitability of all these industries.” – Grady Means
There is a solution: Regenerative agriculture and real, unprocessed food. We need to eliminate subsidies for harmful, ultra-processed food and remove these products from public financing like SNAP and school lunches. Not only could this help us reverse the health crisis in America, it could save trillions of dollars in health care costs, too. – Mark Hyman, M.D.
While I agree whole-heartedly with both Means and Hyman, the solution politically, socially, culturally is, I think, a long way off. It's still “all about the Benjamins.” In the short term, the only recourse is to take on the responsibility for one's own health as completely as possible … which means finding the time and informative resources consistent with Hyman's functional/integrative medicine approach. If your family (and other) physician gives you resistance, find another one. I'm not talking about rejecting the allopathic (symptom/pill focused) approach. This is about taking personal responsibility within a broadened set of logically and critically applied parameters. It also means voting for candidates who support logic, reason, capitalist regulation, women and children, and who reject greed and fear mongering. Remember reading? Get back to it.
Speaking of reading, today marks birthday celebrations for several folks who’ve known and shared controversy on their way of building a better world:
Its the 89th anniversary of Gloria Steinem's birth. The writer and activist was born on this day in 1934 Toledo, Ohio.
The great Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, and teacher Béla Bartók was born 142 years ago today in 1881 Sânnicolau Mare, Romania. His Concerto for Orchestra (Chicago Symphony/Reiner, RCA) was the first classical music record album I purchased as a teenager. It changed my ears and my life for the better. I'm listening to it now as I write.
And 98 years ago today Flannery O’Connor was born in 1925 Savannah, Georgia. The short-story writer and novelist turned 20th Century literature on its patriarchal head.
About writing, Ms. O’Connor has been quoted as have said: “Writing a novel is a terrible experience, during which the hair often falls out and the teeth decay. I’m always irritated by people who imply that writing. . .is an escape from reality. It is a plunge into reality and it’s very shocking to the system.” Also reflecting on writing, Ms. Steinman reportedly said: “Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don’t feel I should be doing something else.” Gloria also penned “The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.”
If you find yourself embarrassed at being accused of being “woke,” it might be a clue that you missed critical reasoning in school.
Take that into our corporate patriarchal world. Out the door, keep in mind: The river doesn't care. It's raining somewhere. Happy, joy, free, peace.
Drum beats . . .
In Freya's mailbox this rainy 24th 2023 March morning . . .
The worst oil spill in U.S. history — until the Deepwater Horizon incident in 2010 — occurred 34 years ago today in 1989. The Exxon Valdez oil slick covered 1,300 miles of coastline and killed hundreds of thousands marine life. Nearly 30 years later, pockets of crude oil remain in some locations.
Today is the 104th anniversary of the birth of Lawrence Ferlinghetti. The poet and painter was born on this day in 1919 Bronxville, New York. He created “City Lights” bookstore in San Francisco and was a champion of the “beat” generation. He became a pacifist after touring Nagasaki following its destruction by the atomic bomb.
Yesterday in 1942 the U.S. government began moving Japanese-Americans from their West Coast homes to internment camps. Between 110,000 and 120,000 people were forcibly relocated. The camps remained open until 1945. Some Japanese-American men were drafted into the War even as their families remained incarcerated. Another chapter in the “Greatest Generation” story usually not even footnoted.
Also, yesterday, in 1959, Chinese military killed thousands in Lhasa. Following The Dalai Lama's departure one week earlier, thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of Tibetans — men, women, and children — were killed on-site by Chinese military. Monasteries were destroyed, and the Dalai Lama’s remaining guards were executed. Many who remained followed the Dalai Lama to India, where he has since established a government-in-exile in the Himalayan mountains.
“I discovered that it is necessary, absolutely necessary, to believe in nothing. That is, we have to believe in something which has no form and no color--something which exists before all forms and colors appear... No matter what god or doctrine you believe in, if you become attached to it, your belief will be based more or less on a self-centered idea. . . .Whereever you are, you are one with the clouds and one with the sun and the stars you see. You are one with everything. That is more true than I can say, and more true than you can hear. . . .In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few. — Shunryu Suzuki
Eddies in the stream . . .
Overflowing into Thor's mailbox today . . .
Yesterday, in addition to Steven Bechloss' post, two other successful negotiators of The Way, celebrated birthdays: American Stephen Sondheim would have been 93. The composer and lyricist was born in 1930 New York. In his time, he was responsible for, among many, West Side Story (1957), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), Sunday in the Park with George, and Into the Woods (1987). I had the pleasure and delight to perform as the “narrator” in “the Woods” in the woods of South Texas. Sondheim won eight Tony Awards.
Poet Billy Collins celebrated his 92nd birthday, a day after my own, in 1941 Queens, NY. If you don't know Billy's work, IMO, you should. Alternativly and simultaneously funny, insightful, provocative and easily digested. Support his retirement fund by buying one of his books … and later this year one of mine.
Yesterday, I noted that our thinking directs our future … to paraphrase myself, how does one negotiate the current flow of The Way? For example: When the world goes electric . . . what then?
Eco-anxiety is an ailment that is distinct from more generalized forms of anxiety. It is a constellation of fear, worry, grief, despair, and other difficult emotions around climate change. . . people do experience complex, often less conscious emotions in relation to our ecological system. — Renee Lertzman.
What happens when you try to swim against the flow of The Way . . .