Lion's Den

Sometimes I see more clearly in the shadows. Not because of any special ability, but because human nature is nocturnal.

I work and live amongst beasts who hunt their own because they think it's a famine. Fang play, smart remarks and digs made within ear-shot of bosses. Words that wound, warning newbies to shun alliances with this one or that one. If you have some talent, they want you in their Pride.

There's an abandoned temple just outside the city. It's long been taken over by lions. I go there but don't stay long. I'm not exactly a member of a pack.

We hunt together, that's it.. and only antelopes. When they start in on the weak, infirm cats, I fade to the savanna. Tree shade is my heaven. Work is my only hell, but it's not like it lasts forever. No hell does.

Alpha males and females are strange characters. You need my vote to stay at the head of the alphabet. I defer, I don't endorse. Because I don't need you like that; just want to learn from you.

In this shadowy place, I see the piss-lines drawn, lionesses hunting together, lions lounging talking shit and me, a lion with no pride.

I've been here 10 years, but still feel like a visitor. Strange as it seems, that's my most comfortable space. A Bill Bigsy outro, five days a week.

Rrrrr.

photo: taken with iPhone 3Gs Hipstamatic app (John S, Alfred Infrared)

Tunnel Vision

Had this vision of the future. It was filled with a communities of people who spoke in twitterese. They viewed their blogs, open mics and photography as their life's work and their 9 to 5 as a necessary evil. Success is getting off the plantation. Everybody was counting down.

There was a these souls walking under a beautiful black sun, eyes a flame. Sharing tales of their escape and messages from the North star.

We huddle around the water cooler, warming our hands with stories of publishers returning calls and concert dates. Dreams are fire.

When one left the plantation. It was like we were all half way there. It made the electronic cotton lighter, backs ached less, vision got clearer.

I see the route for my escape. It's a five year plan, but should keep me and my family out of servitude for generations.

When I close my eyes, I see stars I need to follow out of here. There's joy in this journey and thorn scarred fingers make great fairytales.

photo: taken with iPhone 3Gs Hipstamatic app (John S, Pistil)

Seeya Bitches

Fear is the last companion you have when you leave Gotham. You've always seen her around, but the timing wasn't right.

House sold, bags packed, in a hotel with nothing in your name but a car and a celly. All your friends in this 'burg were situational, so when they heard you were leaving, pretense faded. Your ego was disappointed, but the essential-self never looked back, like "Seeya Bitches and God bless!"

In a bar and later at a theater, I saw her; it was electric eye contact. Seemed like fate so the small talk was bold. We ended up in my hotel room using each other as a divine distraction.

She left her number on the dresser. I woke to the knocking of the cleaning lady - alone. Any dreams I had for myself in this town were left in a condom and flushed.

Driving with the visor down, I live on the horizon... And I left that number on the dresser.

photo: taken w/ iPhone 3Gs Hipstamatic app (Salvador 84, DreamCanvas)

Zeitgeist Opinion

Total Drag
I was listening to a weekly address* by Peter Joseph, producer of the Zeitgeist films and he depressed the fuck out of me. Why? Because he regurgitated the same problem analysis from his films, but when it came to elucidating the solutions, that shit was thin and dispassionate.

The conspiracy theorists exhibit this same behavior. I was a fan of Alex Jones, then fell off because his shit got repetative. I watched all the films about the Boheimian Grove, the Bilderberg Group, FEMA camps and of course the classic interview with Aaron Russo (RIP).

Again, alot of critique of the system by Jones and then ads for canned meat that lasts fifty years, shower head water purifiers... Sooo, the solution is the new world order is your sponsers?!

Thats when it donned on me, preachers, conspiracy theorists may start out with a love for the game, wanting to educate the people, but as soon as some bills or profits becomes part of the equation, the message and thinking submits to that gravity.

Now, I'm not saying the Zeitgeist Movement is like that, Hell, I haven't been to my first meeting. It's just that without as much time being spent on the solution in Peter's lectures and easy answer is a home water purifier.

Then Again...
Perhaps the answers lie with the local chapters. Maybe the answers shouldn't come from Joseph at all... if they did, it would be too easy for this movement to become a cult of personality. Maybe the bridge between Peter Joseph and Jacques Fresco is the people in the Zeitgeist movement.

A resource-based economy, which is the ultimate goal far as I can tell, of the the Zeitgeist movement seems alien. I mean like really, like little green men type alien. I'd be willing to bet my Loose Change DVD that visitors from other planets needed to get to that kind of social organization just to allow the creativity and innovation to evolve enough to develop interplanetary travel.

I'm so frustrated with the beligerent problem ananlysis that it drives me to find the answers on my own. I hope I make it to a Zeitgeist meeting soon, but if most of the time is spent fundraising and not finding solutions... well, God Bless, meet you at the circular city or the Rally to Restore Sanity, which ever comes first.

*http://www.blogtalkradio.com/peter-joseph/2010/10/13/101310--peter-joseph-8-lectures-3-a-profile-of-col

Photo: ZipCar I rent sometimes. Taken with onboard photo app in my iPhone 3Gs, edited with PS Express app.

Elevator Conversations

There is a meditation I use from time to time; after centering myself with slow deliberate breathes, I imagine an elevator.

In this elevator I press the sub-basement button, then I feel the downward sensation of the car. At each floor, the doors open and a wise man or prophet gets on and we chat; Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, my Grandmother and so on.

On a good night, before I get to the bottom, I become so captivated by the conversations I lose track of time and my body.

During one meditation session, once I reached bottom, there was no elevator. I looked "down" and saw stars. I decided to go to one of the stars. I would move toward them and they seemed to move away from me. It was beautiful and frustrating. I had little awareness of my body, but felt the need to escape from it through one of these shiny portals.

I did escape eventually, but not this time. For now, I'm just moving through space chasing stars.

Photo: taken with iPhone 3Gs & Hipstamatic app (Lens: John S, Film: Pistil, no Flash)

Remember

Waiting.. Waiting is like being stuck in someone else's dream until they wake up. I've been waiting for myself to wake up for years now.

Sure, I go through the motions: work, fatherhood, friendships, but I don't really feel awake - only when I write. Only when I make love with words do I feel... really feel conscious.

There are moments though, like the one I'm waiting for right now, when I get epiphanies like Pop Rocks: when my children whisper secrets from a past life, when I help someone who can't repay me or when someone reminds me that I am sleeping.

photo: street corner in Alexandria, Va. iPhone 3GS w/ Hipstamatic app: John S/Ina's 1935

Red States, Blue States, Jaded States

In management you learn that alot of decisions are made before any jobs are posted, any meetings held, before any memos go out. I'm a manager and at times changing the system is antithetical to career advancement, so pick my battles. Enter the Politicians.

Before s/he is elected, most of the policy decisions have already been made. You can predict how much "change" the candidate will bring by looking at their major donors. Change is antithetical to funding next campaign, so they pick their battles; usually small ones that make good press, but don't challenge the system.

Winds of change many times comes from CEO's asses: more surveillance, more austerity, class warfare. When it rains it pours and every four years we vote for a new Weather Man. Dig?!

Thats why I like the Zeitgeist Movement; individuals free of religion, embracing technology and see class labels for what they are, a means to divide and conquer. With a mentality like that, voting is not looking sexy right about now.

All the angst and anger I had toward the Right; all the disappointment I have with the Left; leaves me with the notion of walking away from them both. That energy is better spent focusing on my business interests, family & friends. What makes me happy is election-proof.

There are some political activities that do appeal to me, one is total boycott and divestment in Israel. The Jewish State is this generation's Apartheid South Africa.

Going Green is something I'll work towards, not because of human induced global warming (don't agree with Gore), but going green because we can. There were electric cars in Henry Ford's time, guess oil had a stronger lobby.

"Net Neutrality is the First Amendment issue of our time" to quote Senator Al Franken, I agree. If the ISPs get their way, independent media and other non-establishment content providers will become the UHF of the Internet.

I enjoyed being apart of history by helping to elect the first African American President. Just didn't know the Powers That Be were integrated long before the Whitehouse. They will fund a Martian if he pledges to keep the status quo. Mr. Barak Hussein Obama may be the last President I vote for, but if my political action is multiplied by others, this won't be the last time I make history.

photo caption - taken w/ iPhone 3GS and Hipstamatic app