Village People in the Twilight Zone

On the night of the Fall Equinox, in the hills of northern California, beneath an ancient oak tree, surrounded by leaves, herbs and Tribe: I slipped into madness.

I unlocked an old familiar riddle and chased the smirking moustached man through the mazes Between. I found countless paths through the madness, countless countless paths that all turned twisted and leapt through the fabric landing inevitably at the feet of the only Answer. I danced with the leaves and trees, invoked shooting stars and returned to the gathering around the hurricane lamp to show my Tribe what planets I had plucked from the whirlpools of light, sound, time and space.

At times, i reached out and grabbed a chair next to me, to bring the swirling time and space and sound back to a single point. I went from being me under the oak tree to playing dice games with figments of my imagination: the Sun, the Moon, my friends, the dice ...

I was too weak to conjure up the sun myself, and too scared to extinguish my self to bring back the sun. I am attached to me. In the dark night of my soul, the oak tree became a buxom woman and my man Big Scott and I wrapped ourselves up in each other, convinced that we were lost in the madness Between. We believed that the sun would never rise again.

When it did, I felt like a newborn. I wandered around the woods and saw God in the bone white deadwood, in the crimson leaves, in the damp green moss, in the flock of turkeys that descended down to the valley next to me, in the rays of the sun that warmed my fearful heart.

I was born again under the oak tree, in the hills, surrounded by leaves and Tribe, during the Equinox in Autumn. I have now spiritually returned to the this land where the old American gods, the demanding gods, still live on underneath these new American gods, who came to be just recently, in this last century.

Back in the US of A

The first thing i noticed was the sun. i got off the plane, gathered my stuff and waited for Sammy B to roll through and pick me up, its was 6pm. The sun in San Francisco was so bright and so strong i had to hide behind a pillar at first.

On the drive back to Oakland where we were to meet up with Big Scott and Co., the sun searched me out where ever we turned, wherever i looked. The sky was so blue and clean i didn't really know what to say for the first hour. Sammy was blabbin away anyway, so i just kept starin at the sky.

My first impression when i got to china was of countless people in action, selling, buying trading, interacting. My first impressions coming back to the US are of quiet expansive skies. political graffiti and good good food.

I been eating real good, hanging with my gemologist crew, learning about the inner workings and having visions of Portland.

Tomorrow my man Matt Rippey comes into San Fran ... the school he works for in Chengdu is putting together his working Z visa, and that requires Matt to leave China and re-apply here. usually we would go to Hong Kong or Thailand to do this, but in the wake of the Olympic Crackdown on Wayward Laowai, some schools are taking it very seriously. So Rippey will be here tomorrow then we head north to camp in the woods for a while

It feels really good to be back.

Obama's Acceptance Speech in Denver

"... this election has never been about me. Its about you."

Read it and tell me Who's the Man.

America the Ridiculous, America the Glorious

Today is Independence Day, and I suppose it is a good a chance as any to re-hash all of the things that i feel and believe about America. I am so eager to head back to the States. I miss so much about the place. But the things I miss are absent from the public discourse. Instead, I get this to look forward to:

Politics by the corrupt for the ignorant

Economics by the corrupt for the desperate

sigh.

But I have been to so many 'hoods and towns in America that are vibrant, dynamic and creative unlike any other place in the world. So many people have a misconstrued notion of the States. They see our monkey politicians and watch our cracker TV and wonder to themselves how in the hell did the US become Numero Uno?

Well. Its cuz DESPITE these crackers and their incessant grasping for control of the nation, the people -- unleashed -- have made the world a better place. Americans today are reacting to an image others have, but in reality, the naive headstrong adamant moral American has the uncanny ability to wipe ignorance off the face of the blissful. (For better or for worse, through righteous acts and blundering greed alike ...)

The Yang to this benevolent Ying is that this same American can claim "inside every gook, is an American waiting to get out" and storm into the ancient places of the world blindfolded, wielding a club.

When i was a kid I played the game Fortress America a lot and I loved the idea of an America bent into itself, loving itself, cherishing itself and channeling the collective brilliance of a thousand ethnicities into a vibrant attempt at Eden on Earth.

I brushed away the idea that Russians, Chinese and Mexicans would storm across oceans and deserts to savage such a country. Because in my dreams Fortress America was no fortress but a Garden

"heavy laden with fruit that I might gather and give unto my friends"

I guess thats why i want to come back. I have some foolish notion that me and my little tribe can DO SOMETHING about it. I refuse to give up my dreaming ways, so i expect to be wife-less and periodically broke for the rest of my life. Very well then.

(Plus ... although Obama is not the man i hoped he was, he is still the best choice for President we have had in a long time. I think he is basically a Black Clinton, raised in a global village. Haha.)