Wonderoom

What if the Earth were a cube? When I first ran across this question, it was in the context of a science fair “experiment.” I must admit a certain initial failure of the imagination. I was looking for variables and controls. This was more like a Platonic thought experiment. A completely different animal than the effects of salt on the boiling point of water. I originally pictured the question being posed after multiple bong hits. “What if the Earth were a cube?” “Or a cone?” “Dude! Or like a tree!” Read more »

One summer, when I was nineteen, I stayed at an organic farm. Theoretically, you could say that I was working on the farm, but I was, alas, a lazy farmer. If I had been a fairytale character, something awful would have happened to me as a result of my sloth. The farm was owned by a woman who had dreams of creating a farm collective of like-minded women. Staunch female organic farmers, carving out their place in the wilderness of modern life. It was a nice idea that just didn’t work out, ultimately. Anyway, I was there for a summer.

During the course of the summer, I discovered certain things about myself. For one thing, not only do I love fried okra (always have), but I love the okra plant. Read more »

About ten years ago, I could fit everything I owned into my Volkswagen micro bus. Everything. I had no boxes stored at anyone’s house. No furniture. Anything that survived that purging period of my life was guaranteed to either be very practical, or have some meaning, perhaps not clearly defined, but arresting. Meaning enough to stop me on my way to the garbage bin. Read more »

In a previous post I mentioned the fact that I don’t have nightmares anymore. What I do have, however, are these dreams that could have been nightmares in another part of my life. Last night I dreamt I was lying in the floor of a place I used to live, and I started floating off to some dark place. In the dream I said to myself-”is this the part that’s supposed to scare me?” Read more »

July 16, 1945

“It’s a terrible thing that we made.” -Robert Wilson

“Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” -Oppenheimer

“We’re all sons of bitches now.” -Kenneth Bainbridge

I used to have nuclear war dreams all the time. During one six month spread, I woke up every night from nightmares, usually nuclear war dreams. Sometimes I’d be walking around with friends or family members during or after a nuclear strike. In one dream, I was directly in the blast-the fiery shockwave washed over me. I used to fear a nuclear holocaust a lot more than I do now. I think it’s because there’s not a lot that does truly scare me now except the fear of doing something really stupid. Or that I am slowly going insane. I’m pretty sure that I am slowly going insane. Read more »

I was thinking about this whole Claude is Peter’s Yoda thing. I get that he has been acting as a mentor, and I see that Peter has learned some control from him. Claude is no Yoda, however. Yoda was wise, albeit in a science fantasy sort of way. Yoda had this vision of the way the universe worked, and an inherent goodness. Claude is disillusioned, paranoid (although rightly so), and has a very negative view of the whole human race. Don’t get me wrong, I love Claude’s character. Christopher Eccelston rocks the part. But Claude is no Yoda. Read more »

I was just promoted to sandan in Aikido. Third degree black belt. It was a bit of a surprise and, I think, a little premature. I was just getting used to being nidan, to maybe settling into my center more and getting a better sense of timing and distance. My relationship to Aikido has definitely altered in the last few years. I used to be so hungry to get better, to take the most ukemi (throws) from Sensei. I wanted to be one of the “big dogs” out there kicking ass. Now, not so much. Read more »