My first thought is how in the world will this system that works so well in Paris and Montreal survive the NY I know. Things get stole or broke pretty easily up in here. I mean there is a post 911 "new" New York for sure... Dumbo, The High Line, 42nd St., bike lanes everywhere... but this? Will this survive?
I hope so.
A lot has changed in the last 25 years. Whoa! Bam! We are in a new era.
On the left: 1GB circa 1980. On the right: 1GB in 2005.
What's good about having lived on the cusp of era changes? Are you grateful? What's been lost?
I often feel like most people are just plain bat shit crazy... but can hide it well. Except, of course, for Gary Busey.
Do you know people who are crazy but present well?
The Squid rockin The Bu y'all.
The first skateboards had just come out. Roller skate wheels attached to a surboard-shaped piece of wood. Thrilled, I rode the Grant Park hill like there was no tomorrow. My Dad tried it and broke his ankle on the first try.
I also played Little League here. A few "nobody can stop me" or as Maslow put it "peak experiences" of my childhood happened on this field.To be able to satellite-view Google map this spot on earth puts me in memories I haven't recalled since I was a boy.
Unified theory, singularity, the oneness of world mythology are all finally here and concurrently, the power of human folly to destroy it all. One solution to change the world in the present is recalling the positive personal past. This morning I go where the light is. Today, for me I went on a trip within - to Grant Park.
As Rilke so beautifully put it:
"And even if you were in some prison the walls of which let none of the sounds of the world come to your senses—would you not then still have your childhood, that precious, kingly possession, that treasure house of memories? Turn your attention to it. Try to raise the submerged sensations of that ample past; your personality will grow more firm, your solitude will widen and will become a dusky dwelling past which the noise of others goes by far away."
Every moment contains the potential for the death of the present self followed by a transition and rebirth.
What precious memories do you have?
Not one to fear monger but can't help the fact that I feel like a Rhesus monkey these days. Living in a gangster state, one shock after another. Read this clear and concise report from Mike Taibbi... and weep. The Great American Bubble Machine.
How are you doing?
I have resided in lower Manhattan since 1973 (with a few short stints in Boston, Great Barrington and most recently a longer stay in LA). As a kid, I watched the Twin Towers go up. I have a memory on every block... many different chapters of my life have played out on these streets.
Symbols are still the most direct route to the subconscious. Easily portable in music. Straight shot to the heart and soul.
How have your attention habits changed?
