Please Vote Blue

Even though Trebuchet and Times are similar fonts, I opted to write this post in Trebuchet for its actual meaning. Those who don't know may look it up.  This is to launch ideas.  I'm adding this image by Jayme Odgers because I love it. Click on the image. 

Get about a foot from your monitor, then cross your eyes to make the images come together. It should become 3D! Cool...

I was amazed to be called 'demented' by one dear old pal and then there was another high school classmate asking (rhetorically?) if I was 'f***ing nuts' when I sent a "reply all" response to an email addressed to all of the participating members of my old high school class. I asked for whom they'd vote for president. I said I was voting blue. On looking up synonyms for 'demented'.. I found 'deranged' and have to admit that I'll cop to being an element to 'derange' or move around or change things now and then. 

On Facebook I sometimes post observations regarding the coming election. Some of my FB pals are so upset by what the current president has done to divide our country that they might weigh in with epithets that match the vitriol of my old high school republicans.  I just delete those comments because I think that this president is doing enough already to reveal himself. To me, chiming in with 'tit for tat' is a waste of energy.

Do I want Biden / Harris to lead our country back to compassion, some form of civil discourse and maybe even find a way to health in this time of crisis?  Yes.

Do I want for these old high school classmates... some of them are loyal and thoughtful.. for them to lose? To be losers? Absolutely not!

And, here's why.  The country has been deliberately divided .. I think.. all to boost the ego of one person.  How intelligent and educated people got pulled into this maelstrom is not hard to figure out.  It has to do with a phenomenon called 'Cognitive Dissonance'. Caps mine.. That's when we fall into a behavior that seems okay at the time: not harmful?  then, things change and that behavior may still seem like the right way to behave, but because of the change, it's not healthy or good for us. Republicans used to be conservative and for strong business practices (and for rich folks..).. Now.. the tenor of the times is not the same as before.

Some folks compare our current social scene to the Germany that bubbled up in the 1930s.  Germans had a strong and charismatic leader who wanted to cleanse the land of folks he did not like. A blustery presence.  He told half truths and lies that charmed the thoughtful upstanding Germans to turn on the Germans who were Jews and gay folks and thus began a reign of terror.   I'm not enough of a scholar to cite all of the steps that Hitler trod as he climbed to power. But.. the 'feeling' that may have permeated Germany is beginning to feel similar, at least in my imagination.. to what those good people fell for.  

Power.  

Power over those whose self defenses were overwhelmed because the charm of the leader made the majority want to expand power. 

Power is a rush! Ask me about "Private Life of the Master Race" Brecht has a way with words!

When I asked my former classmates whom they'd vote for in the election.. initially, I just wanted to see if the conservatism that I was aware of in the demeanor of many of these people was as conservative as they appeared to be several years ago.  Epithets and derision bloomed like anything!  I was just asking for Pete's Sake.

The really wonderful thing was that some of the classmates I polled contacted me privately to let me know that they see the issues that liberals are raising about the lack of empathy and the deliberate derision and division that's been going on for three years and pledged to Vote Blue.  Some of them are  even former supporters of 45 and were adamant  that it was time for change.  The business of sticking with a bad idea had fled!  To me, that is a good thing.

What about calling out these critics who opted to call me names and for some of them to demand that politics not be part of the communication that we all share as classmates? Truthfully, I'd totally forgotten how old we all are.  I'd forgotten that this cognitive dissonance of being firm in one's beliefs sticks strongest when you get older.  I still see the women as dewy cheerleaders and prom queens. The guys are football heroes and great wrestlers. We are all in Levi's and live surrounded by alfalfa and cows and sugar beets. In our high school hints of politics ran only to school elections.  One classmate (the president of our senior class!)  responded with research listing all the 'good' that 45 has done. He failed to mention thousands of children separated from their parents and the millions of dollars of tax payer monies for one golfing trip to Palm Beach.  Of course, Stormy Daniels and the grabbing issue is long swept under the table.

The scary part of what's been happening over three years' time is that the reputation of our formerly United States has taken a nose dive.  Braggadocio and hubris substitute for articulate speech. It's the inarticulate speech and seeing video of this president exiting Air Force One alone while his wife stands well behind on the steps leading out of the plane. This behavior shows a lack of courtesy that permeates his responses to even mild  questions in a press briefing. He insults reporters and in dismissing them, seldom gives a straight answer to a legitmate question. The man is constantly on the defensive. It's a shame.

Admittedly, I'm really not all that well informed. Sort of on purpose. I have learned a valuable lesson from a well informed conservative pal over the years.  With almost every supporter of 45 whom I've encountered and tried to have a discussion with, the old '"What about You?" retort is on the table.  Is that a 'strawman' response? It's endemic in many of the conservatives I know who are masters at changing the subject.  This is NOT to fault them for this technique.  This goes back to Cognitive Dissonance.. They just can't answer a direct question. They have trained themselves or been trained or are deeply ingrained with that response as a survival technique.  I tease an old pal of mine by saying that getting a straight answer from him is like nailing a Jello mold to the wall! He's good humored about it and that's probably the reason that we've been pals for so long.

Critical thinking and asking questions is vital in our current state of affairs: the dangers facing the USA.. Becoming the laughing stock of the world is pretty embarrassing.  Is our entire country running with the lemmings? 

Of course, we're all caught up in this dampanic.. er.. pandemic. Sometimes I forget that this depressing time, no matter whether it could have been dealt with sooner or not, we are in it.. and it's depressing and working in a really negative way on all of us. Senior citizens are frightened to go out for fear of contracting the virus. This means no visits with loved ones and family.. no social activities.. theatre, movies.. museums: gatherings with others. We missed a really wonderful Pina Bausch dance concert that was cancelled just before the major shutdown.

Yes!  It's a strain on everyone. And, because I think I'm so smart, I forget that not being able to attend theatre and see movies on a  regular basis and am required to shop with others all masked with vacant eyes.. it's an insidious burden. So maybe I need to excuse my old republican classmates? It isn't easy living in the world today.  

Which brings me.. to.. 

being compassionate and kind 

and realizing that some of us have drunk one flavor of Kool-Aid and some of us another and even though our lives literally hang in the balance,  I firmly believe that finding a way back to civility and caring for one another instead of name calling and bullying others into submission, that taking a look at the picture of our situation right now and deciding if it's working or not will guide us back to civility and empathy and respect for one another.

Please.  Vote Blue. 

Michael Sheehan

August 29, 2020

Glendale, California

Wit's End?

How the mind works when under stress and doubt.. it goes wonky.

A friend had to get 'official' fingerprints  made for a visa situation in New Zealand. This put me on the trail of what fingerprint documents look like and a Google search came up with all kinds of forms. As a Boy Scout I earned a fingerprinting merit badge.. and, so the conceptual artist living at my house got busy and came up with some limited edition 'mail art.' 

There are six pieces in all.  One original and an edition of five signed and numbered copies.  Making money from my artwork has never been a big deal. In fact, I've invested a lot of dough in my own work because I wanted to see it up.  How an artist gets sent to "The Show" is a mystery.  I know artists who are world famous and whose work is actually collected! and, they make a living from the work they crank out.  It's fun to see the artwork of acquaintances in big time art museums.. and in local galleries. I'm pretty much local!

My goal with this project is to see if I can send fives pieces of original art work through the now questionable mail to someone who wants to collect it or to just play.  There are five pieces. Each is made up of an official FBI fingerprint page and page of somewhat ambiguous 'official' personal information. 

My main way of turning folks on to ideas and to read my writing has been .. and shall be.. via Face Book. If you are reading this, you have probably clicked through from FB.  If you would like one of the edition of five pieces, please go back to FB, message me your email address and I'll contact you via email for your snail mail address and send the first five participants one of these conceptual pieces.

There's no charge for this, but if you wanted to make a contribution via paypal, I'll include a receipt for your contribution with the snail mail to your mailing address.

I want the post office to succeed and keep up the good work its been doing for all the time that this 'service' has been cooking.  Recent hue and cry regarding locked up and missing mailboxes, along with the Postmaster General eliminating sorting machines points up that there's smething creeping up on our country and keeping the mail active is a way to call that creeping out and ... hopefully we'll restore some semblance of democracy soon. 

Vote blue and let me know if you'd like to participate.. send me  your email address on FB.. 

Sincerely, michael sheehan

THINNING THE HERD?

 It's a bit unkind and not very generous to make fun of people from other cultures. A dust up last night on Facebook.. (Imagine that!??) ... and today a trail of complaints about a Glendale, California ordinance that requires folks in public to protect themselves and others by wearing a face mask. The FB post by the City included a list of fines for offenders!  Pretty steep!  As though they can ever collect..but it's to scare the scoff laws.. and speaking of scoff laws, a guy with a very long foreign name complained about this 'rule' and wrote this in his ire:

"It’s not enough arresting people of Glendale for speeding and labeling them reckless driving and destroying their lives." 

Not withstanding the incomplete sentence.. it may be that Engilsh is a second language for him..but it made me laugh so hard..  Glad I wasn't drinking milk at the time.

I posted a short retort to the guy and then published his remark in public, sans his name as I did not remember it..  It really doesn't matter if wearing a mask helps. the "powers that be" think that it's a good idea and it seems to me that just to not make waves..and just in case.. it's a good idea. I still favor stocks and pillory for offenders. The fines? Where does the money go? Maybe to build stocks and pillories?

 I have volunteered to the City of Glendale to be responsible for building one or two nice stocks and a couple of pillories to be placed in what is essentially the town square.. though Central Park or The Americana would be okay.. City offices have a big open space with a raised area where the miscreants could be shackled.  I'd even assemble a crew of volunteers who would make sure the bad boys were given water..lots of water, but not allowed time outs. Lots of water.

 

We live in a city being slowly dominated by a culture that seems to think that having a lot of money and a fancy car entitles you to endanger the lives of others and get away with it.  This transfers to the mask business in a way.. The "Entitled" get to have their own rules.. 

 On FB..I did a terrible thing.. I called those who were openly critical of the ordinance and the fines 'republicans'.. (sic).  Maybe they all aren't but the political lines that seem to be drawn and the pissing and moaning seems to be coming from the right side of the country.  

I titled this post "Thinning The Herd" for a reason.  Well, it's not nice, actually..but it seems that in the areas where the scoff laws reside, that the opportunity to prove that masks might work..but folks opt out.. if they die? They die.  

 

I got in  hot water last night with a woman whom I have met only a couple of times.. but we have been in touch for more than twenty years.  This was because of a misunderstanding and the fact is that a typo can change the meaning of lots of things. I've been asking former school mates if they voted for 45 and if they planned to do it again.  These are nice senior citizens who grew up in a conservative little town with a church on virtually every street corner and even a synagogue!  The responses that I got were a bit alarming.  Not only did my old school chums vote Red, they cranked out complaint after complaint about how former administrations have practically ruined our USA.. They cling to God and Jesus and one woman admitted that 45 may have a questionable record morally, but that Jesus would forgive him.  We can only hope and pray.

The missed understanding turned on my insistence that responses to the stuff I post on FB be free from rants and name calling.   I don't want to piss off "The Others" and hope to bring some of them to Blue.. but..this angry woman declared that my Christian friends were NOT Christian and gave reasons. She called the prez a "scicopath"... and I thought she had coined a new word that was an amalgam of 'sick' and pathetic or something..To me: a pejorative.

I asked her to edit the comment per my 'rule' and that set her off.  Sorta hurt my feelings.. but I'll get over it.  There's more, but the end result ..I tried to explain in an email to her what I'd meant.. and she declared that I was supposed to field anything that anyone wanted to say on my FB feed.  She suggested videos of kitties or something might be less controversial..  Of course, she's right.

Eventually, she unfriended me thinking that I'd ruined her reputation or something.  I'd given her my phone number and asked her to call me..  She never did..

E communication is a bitch!  

 I may try again to discuss the 45 issue on FB, but the few classmates who responded were really amazingly upset that I'd even ask! One did declar that they had voted Red in 2019, but not this time! A victory, not for me. but maybe for the USA?  The vitriol on both sides of our country right now is exacerbated by  limited critical thinking and guys like the fellow with the long name equating this mask thing with kids' lives ruined for speeding and being caught.. doesn't exactly give a lot of hope.  

I remain hopeful, though.. and the exercise of getting some of my own frightened angst out by telling  you my story is healing to a degree.

I hope the unhappy FB friend comes back. In my memory, she is a very lovely person. She may have been so unhappy that I didn't know that scicopath was supposed to be sociopath.. that it's unlikely she'll want anything to do with mean old me.  If I was to coin a word and be into name calling? Scicopath is a pretty good one. 

Ask questions. Question authority.  Take a deep breath.. and be well.  

The Times

 Of course, Dylan's song comes to mind, considering The Times.. they are a changin'..  

Someone posted a photo today of Jack Kerouac's book "On The Road".. sitting on another copy of "On The Road" sitting on a road.. It reminded me of reading the book "On The Road" years ago and hoping that I can find my copy. Ah.. here it is.. underneath "Tristessa" another novella by the author.. under books by friends and others. A growing stack .. my bedside reading. Tim Hallinan, Lisa Segal, Lafcadio Hearn, Tom Hanks, Thomas Savage...

Kerouac was the voice of a generation that I missed. Capote criticized his freeform style.. but  stream of consciousness is a style, that .. if we are lucky.. comes to us when we are putting words to paper... hah.. who puts words to paper these days? Well.. in fact.. I still do.. and I find that even though this form.. the ease of simple corrections and  a nice keyboard that doesn't make you smack the keys.. is nice.. when committing to an actual sheet of paper and in Kerouac's case, a roll of paper for a teletype.. another long gone device.. just let his story unfold.  I did that one time for an art installation and wonder what I did with the long roll of that hole punched dot matrix recounting of the art we had at The Brand Galleries in 1997? 

Reading Kerouac is a smorgasbord of images and sounds and even the smells of an old Chevy revving across the country, streamline moderne gas stations, tired guys who washed your windshield and pumped the gas; twilight...  headed west to California to the edge of the continent.  

My intention right now.. to share Kerouac's last paragraph that I looked up on line when I saw the silly photo of the books on the road.. and.. that'll be it. for now.. 

"So in America when the sun goes down and I sit on the old broken-down river pier watching the long, long skies over New Jersey and sense all that raw land that rolls in one unbelievable huge bulge over to the West Coast, and all that road going, all the people dreaming in the immensity of it, and in Iowa I know by now the children must be crying in the land where they let the children cry, and tonight the stars’ll be out, and don’t you know that God is Pooh Bear? the evening star must be drooping and shedding her sparkler dims on the prairie, which is just before the coming of complete night that blesses the earth, darkens all rivers, cups the peaks and folds the final shore in, and nobody, nobody knows what’s going to happen to anybody besides the forlorn rags of growing old, I think of Dean Moriarty, I even think of Old Dean Moriarty the father we never found, I think of Dean Moriarty."

 

write what moves you.. for you.. for goodness sakes. 

michaelsheehan