Signs of Thirst in the Golden State

JOANNA de VOS
26th December | California Interstate 5 / Southbound

EDEN, THE HOME OF CLASSY GRASS! 


Local!  Fresh! Green!

Everything for the Traveler...

Juicy Peaches

Delicious Apricots

Our Mountains Are Almonds!

At least that's what the first sign says, 
passing by, tipping 80
on that 2-lane Valley highway 

The second sign says the road ends in 50 feet. 

Slow down and move over.
No parking, any time.





Bet the farm. 
Bet the ranch. 
The clearance sale is on.

Better eat your veggies while they last.
The rest stop is closed.

Credits: Hieronymus Bosch - The Garden of Earthly Delights; Mauro Pezzotta/Shutterstock; Reuters

Holiday Kindness: Am I Worth the Genetically-Modified Calories I Take In?

ADAM MICHAEL LUBEKE 

(originally posted at Dear Dirty America)

I really thought the day before Thanksgiving I was going to witness my first headline-worthy act of Southern California road rage, and not even twenty feet away from me. A front row seat, I thought, to more madness.

A man had stopped his racing-style motorcycle in the center median and hopped off. Abnormal movements on the freeways and streets of California’s major cities is reasonable cause for any nearby motorist’s stomach to tighten. You’re stuck, after all. Boxed in on all sides by cars. It’s not a desirable place to be if the man in front of you pulls a gun.

The man, wearing a helmet with a reflective face shield and a white and red riding suit, fiddled with his bike for a moment. He appeared to be securing it by turning a key and locking the bars.

When I glanced the signal was green. I was in my car, behind a black pickup truck. Why weren’t we moving? What was going on? You could feel the collective tension of the drivers.

The biker ran to the crosswalk. I lost sight of him from behind the truck.

Then I saw the problem.

A middle-aged man in a wheelchair. His skin permanently wrinkled and brown from the sun. Long greasy hair hung down his neck from under his cap. His bony hand gripped the wheels on his chair, and his thin arms pushed as fast as they could, but still he struggled.

It wasn’t his fault, really. Not like those miserable people who cross the street when there are only a couple of seconds left before the light turns red. They saunter in front of traffic like it don’t matter how many people or how much traffic they be holdin’ up. Well, screw those people.

But this man, possibly a war veteran, tried his damnedest to cross in time. The street was wide and at an incline, both of which worked against an already tired set of arms.

Until the biker’s outstretched hands latched onto the wheelchair’s handles and he scooted the ailing man to the other side in two seconds. The man in the chair did not turn his head. He lifted his legs, relieved. Once they were safely off the street, the man in the chair pointed right, and the biker turned the chair.

The lines of traffic roared, and we sprung forward again. Me with misty eyes. Which seems to happen more easily the older I get.

–<>–It’s my Barbie doll, you bitch!–<>–

Two days later, I read in the newspaper about two women from Norwalk who started shoving each other and throwing punches over a discounted Barbie doll in a Walmart store. Then I saw a photo out of the UK showing a man dragging a huge flat screen HD TV with a woman latched onto it, dragging her fluffy black boots on the slippery tiles in an attempt to stop him. Somebody sent me an email of a video taken by a man in a Walmart store where police officers had to break up a brawl over limited clearance-priced electronics.

And you wonder why elite people like David Rockefeller call for depopulation of the planet. Get rid of the humans. They’re sick. They’re out of control. The only higher purpose they have is to eat, screw, and indulge in simple entertainment. Cockroaches with the cognitive ability to follow a football game. They are products of a toxic environment. And they seem to love it.

And you might wonder why there is a growing popularity in the United States for the leader of the Hermit Kingdom, Kim Jong Un, who can make such accurate, but slightly awkward statements about America, like, “The US is bursting seams with pettiness and malfeasance. They think we have society problem here in Paradise? They do civil war over toaster ovens and televisions.”

As far as the exiled cultural philosopher, Hubert Humdinger [pronounced 'hum-din-jer'] is concerned, “All the good people have disappeared. They stay home. They retreat as far as they can from this mess. It would be easier to carve an X into your forehead, throw up your bloody hands, and say, ‘I’m done with the whole catastrophe’, and then post the photo on Facebook. But society cannot afford that we do this.”

–<>–You love humanity, then go hug a homeless person–<>–

There’s no better time than now to ask yourself (myself included), “Am I worth the precious genetically-modified calories I take in? What am I doing with the energy I consume from this planet? Am I flushing it down the toilet, or am I replanting it for a bountiful harvest?”

As the Indian guru OSHO said more than once, It is easy to love humanity, but it is very difficult to love humans. Meaning, you can read a book about how to be a better person, you can feel fuzzy inside about an idea, and you can say, “Gee whiz, each human being is precious.” But then go try to hug a homeless man. Go feed a hundred down and out people in the park. See the difference?

And not all homeless men want to be hugged, so ask first. If you tried to wrap your arms around my friend, Lyle Shove-It, who sits on a bench near the intersection of two prominent streets in Hollywood, you will find you would have more luck squeezing a black bear’s genitals.

So, for the love of God, or for the love of each other, let us each expend a few of the superfluous calories we intake by doing something positive for someone else this holiday season. Big or small, we need a million kind acts every day to counteract the foul energy the Black Friday crowd puts into the collective consciousness day by day. You can begin with family and friends.

Pass around your goodwill.

photo attribution: "'Tis the Season" by Benson Kua
"Homless man in los angeles" by Terabass (via Wikimedia Commons)
"Produce Goodwill" (Rake the Light)

Season of Stress

Tis the season in full swing--and if we're not mindful, our nerves will be dashed as ever-mounting stress drives those jing-jing-jingling reins. The holidays gift a dizzying array of demands--parties, shopping, baking, cleaning, entertaining... we're distracted, worn down and perhaps, for some, the stress can reach very uncomfortable levels. In his book PANIC: One Man's Struggle with Anxiety, emerging author Harry Floyd candidly shares his own struggle with anxiety in an effort to guide others who suffer with this often debilitating condition. 

Earlier this year, Harry wrote an insightful article for Rake the Light on this topic. My hope is that it brightens your spirit and opens up a healthy a forum for discussion in the new year. 


Anxiety Impacts Everyone  by Harry Floyd


Male, female, young, or old, anxiety plays a role in all of our lives.



When I sat down to share my story with anxiety, it never occurred to me that my perspective (as a young adult male) might be particularly unique. My story doesn’t come from someone who is a medical professional, but rather just your average twenty something year old male.



Anxiety has been part of who I am since I can remember. As a child, I didn’t quite understand the feelings and reactions I was having. The nerves I felt overwhelmed me in social situations. I withdrew, attempting to deal with my situation on my own. It wasn’t until I grew older and opened up to others that my situation became clear.



Something I stress in my book, PANIC: One Man’s Struggle with Anxiety, is that you cannot cure yourself of who you are. Anxiety is not something to fear or let prevent you from doing the things you love. Rather, it is something to further understand because it is simply one aspect of you. Anxiety should not define you. It can be an isolating phenomenon, but if you approach it with greater understanding you will find a surprising amount of comfort in your own skin.



The topics of anxiety, stress, panic disorders, and more have been somewhat taboo in our culture’s history. Social and cultural stereotypes have a way of influencing how we deal with these stressors. Males are not always thought of as being ones to disclose their feelings openly. This wasn’t something that even crossed my mind at the time of writing my book though. In fact, it was something that I discovered later through the reactions of others to my willingness to share my story.



There is a huge takeaway here – society is moving in the right direction when it comes to being open-minded and understanding.



No matter who you are, you should feel comfortable sharing your story. The social stigmas surrounding anxiety and being candid are going away. I have felt tremendous relief from sharing my experiences and hearing from others.



Three concepts I emphasize in my book are reflection, openness, and active participation.



First, you should understand yourself further by reflecting on what you are feeling. Then, relate to others by opening up and sharing your experiences. It is amazing how much we grow when we take that initial step to connect with another individual. The final part of the process is remaining actively engaged in your journey through life and anxiety. Never stop seeking to learn more about yourself. I’ve tried numerous ways of dealing with my anxiety. Maturity, life experience, and learning from others have improved each and every positive habit I have incorporated into my life.



Getting past that initial hesitation to open up is a big challenge. But, once you take that leap, I promise it will be worth it.


No matter how overwhelmed you may be feeling, you are not alone. There are others out there, just like you, going through similar experiences and many of them are having tremendous success. They would love to help you do the same.



I will leave you with a line from my book – “Happiness and peace will come if you actively search for it.”

Learn more: HarryFloyd.com  

Photo Source: Worry, Masahiro Hayata, Tokyo, Japan; Happy Holidays, Marcus Quigmire, via Wikimedia Commons

fish Net

Googlepedia
Casting out "facts" as click-bait
Chumming the masses

Fishing with Net (1878) by Weidenbach via Wikimedia Commons

Peace Offering

She saw an ad on Craigslist:
24 HOURS OF PEACE (all caps)
Posted by "LovesHerGun85"
Right above Kardashian Keester Kreme.
"Loves" didn't list a price for the peace, which made her wonder
If she had enough.
Enough of lost and confused.
Enough of sick, sad, wretched.
24 hours is a long time, she reasoned.
Sleep 7 hours
Work another 8-10
TV and PC, another 4
Of course she'd need time to eat and drink something too.
Well, there's simply no time for peace! What kind of sick, deceptive ware is this Loves character hawking?

She lingered on the Internet several more hours, hoping to distract herself from this ridiculous ruse.
It was the same routine every night.
Maybe tomorrow she'd try Googling peace. Use her smart phone or the iPad.
'Like' some new content. 
Follow someone tweet-worthy. 
Just 24 hours to go.

Photo by Marcus Quigmire, via Wikimedia Commons

Luxury Tag

Tracing the scar on my chest

White lines, hemmed surface

Labor of the blade

Prying finger tips recollect 

The battle won 
In skin.

Living as proof

Redemption inscribed in flesh

Discovering the splendor of wound.

Flack Me

Check out her apps, doll. Anti-aging tricks fully exposed. 2 steps will take off 20 years. Keep calm and be fancy. Lean in with sexy summer hair. Let me check my new followers. Fresh new pins! 

Oprah was right. Or was it Miley? 

Glittering stones dazed and distracted. Rapt attention cancels wonder. Lay down your head, little Queenling. The trolls have made you a crown.

Fresco from Knossos Palace 

Source: cavorite [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Last Wishes

So my friend, the editor, the one living on South Street or Place, the quiet one with the ruddy skin and the cornsilk hair... he asked me to write his will over Skype, you know, because he prefers to keep his distance and the peace and the quiet. Says he's having a big birthday this year, whatever that means because those green drinks reverse the aging process.

Anyway, he says he needs to get his affairs in order.

And fast.

So I sat down in the black chair, high back, which still needs to be adjusted because carpal tunnel, ergonomics, procrastination, and started taking notes on Post-its again because I'm out of legal pads.

"What do you want it to say?"

"The usual. And I want to be cremated. Stuff me into pellets and shoot me out of one of their torture tech contraptions, some goddamn drone or something. I want my ashes to rain down so thickly on Los Angeles people have to turn on their windshield wipers to clear it."

Photo: Los Angeles Half Hour Before Sunset (Thomas Pintaric) 

Glorious Fill

Shards from beauty torn

What can I bring?

Grieving daughter and scarred flesh

Locusts and lost time

Scorched seed worn down

Nearly buried

And yet—

my Hurt, His blessing

tumor and violence cooled the blood but NOTHING is refused!

Every thirst and every need

Brimming full

The giver reaps bounty from her want

O, Generous Grace

(Source: Brot-und-Fische-Mosaik by Grauesel via Wikimedia Commons

Third Eye Blue-We Can Depend on Pantone 15-4020-TC

(A Millennial Laud)

Constant Cerulean

Coded, pixeled

Unpatterned, cool

Roving heaven, this Vertical Loom

Pin our gaze,

Still our glands,  

O Blue Shalom

 (Image source: vintageprintable.swivelchairmedia.com, Public Domain)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Color the Millennium Cerulean Blue

Pantone Pronounces this Sky Blue as the Hue of the Future

Carlstadt, NJ, April 26, 1999 -- The official color of the millennium is Cerulean Blue PANTONE 15-4020 TC, the color of the sky on a serene, crystal clear day, says Pantone, Inc., the world's leading authority on color and color trends.

Lifestyle movements suggest that consumers will be seeking inner peace and spiritual fulfillment in the new millennium. This is a paradoxical time in which we are heading toward an uncertain, yet exciting, future, and also looking back, trying to hold onto the security of the past. In this stressful, high-tech era, we will be searching for solace and Cerulean Blue produces the perfect calming effect.

"Psychologically, gazing at a blue sky brings a sense of peace and tranquility to the human spirit," says Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®. "Sky blue is imprinted in our psyches as a retiring, quiescent color. Surrounding yourself with Cerulean blue could bring on a certain peace because it reminds you of time spent outdoors, on a beach, near the water - associations with restful, peaceful, relaxing times. In addition, it makes the unknown a little less frightening because the sky, which is a presence in our lives every day, is a constant and is always there. That's the dependability factor of blue."

"Our studies show that blue is the leading favorite color for designers and consumers worldwide, regardless of culture, gender or geographic origin," says Lisa Herbert, vice president, corporate communications worldwide, Pantone, Inc. "Not only is it a favorite in the U.S., but it is the first color choice in Europe and Asia as well. We've chosen Cerulean Blue as the official color for the millennium because of its mass appeal. It is a universal, unisex color, applicable to just about every consumer product including women's, men's and children's fashions, interior design and home furnishings, cosmetics and even automobiles."

Physiologically, the viewing of blue reduces blood pressure, heartbeat and respiration rate and creates a calming effect. Socio-ecologically, as we enter the next century, water issues are emerging at the forefront of the public's consciousness. Exhausting our natural resources and polluting our environment, particularly our water supply, continues to be a concern, another reason for the popularity of blue for the future.

Getting 'Waisted' to Lose Weight

LADIES...start stalking those neighborhood estate sales for a fainting couch, the Victorian era is making a comeback. Forget the Spanx and shape-wear, the corset is on demand! Got bloaty pounds and ugly inches staring at you in the mirror just longing to be squeezed out of sight? Well you’re in luck--a recent CBS News segment reports that many women are squeezing the pounds off with the Corset Diet. “It (the corset) holds you really snugly, so you don’t get hungry as often,” one corset-er squeaked.

Touted as safe and effective by TheCorsetDiet.com, a United Kingdom company, the corset seems to mesh well with our 21st century culture of instant gratification.  Corset-ers swear by its power to erase the body you were born with instantly. So skip the nip (and the tuck). For $150 you can lace and tighten to a better you with a “non-surgical gastric bypass sleeve.”

Snacker or binge eater? Don’t sweat it (and you won’t have to because there’s no exercising with this girth crusher). The corset has you covered. Dr. Alexander Sinclair, a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, explains: “The patients have a feeling of being full, of being satiated, so they’re not constantly eating. What the corset does, is with progressive pressure, it will mold those ribs, and makes the waist more narrow.”

Calling all baby mamas! The Corset Diet will shed the baby weight and eradicate all evidence that your body was ever a sacred, life giving vessel. In fact, celebrity actress Jessica Alba revealed that she “wore a corset day and night for three months” to regain her body after each of her pregnancies.  

Get a Grip

All tongue and cheek (and muffin tops) aside, the health detriments of “corset training” are documented. Keri Peterson, M.D., a physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City and a medical advisor for Women's Health Magazine  calls them outrageous. “Corsets can only make you appear slightly thinner while you're wearing one–they can't physically change your size. And if anyone wearing a corset loses weight, it's not actually because of the corset—it's more likely because the contraption makes it so uncomfortable to eat that you automatically consume fewer calories,” says Peterson. What's more, wearing a corset could actually cause acid reflux (because of the pressure they put on your stomach) and trouble breathing deeply (because of the pressure they put on your diaphragm and lungs). It makes no sense whatsoever.”

And yet, women are hooked by the idea of losing weight just by putting on a piece of clothing. It certainly fits with our 2014 lifestyle. Often women find themselves too busy being taxi driver, cook, housekeeper, counselor, medic, and about a thousand other things (not including the job that comes with a paycheck) to take the time and effort to think about what it means to be healthy.  The exponential speed of cyber-time leaves little real time to stop and reflect on the standards of beauty we are measuring ourselves against. The promise of instant results comes with a price we're willing pay. Considering just last year an Iowa woman swallowed a tapeworm to lose weight, “beauty is pain” might still be the 21st century woman’s siren song.

Image credit:  Fig. 100. — Fine taille. . . d'après Gil Baër. Doctcur O'Followell (page 124.) [c. 1905 Public domain], Wikimedia Commons

Best Laid Plans, a Probate Lawyer’s Hope

Clients speak in future tense and contingency plans. No one weeps. 

Papers rustle over imagined grave sites. Tension swallowed down. 

They shirk instructions, afraid of losing control.

How quickly living breath turns dying death and the body corpses cold. 
They nod and focus.We craft provisions to teach others how we wish to be treated. Words inked on every page, hung to dry. 

Lives prepared, memorialized.

Death with dignity.

/s/____________________________

Image: Sketch for 'The Reading of a Will, (1820) David Wilkie 

(Public domain) 

via Wikimedia Commons

Screen Reaper

flick'ring pixels, mouse in vein

craning our necks down
texting epitaphs

Is Technology Pushing Your Buttons?

According to a report released Thursday by the Pew Research Center, 59% of Americans think tech developments will make life in the next half-century better, while only 30% said they will make life worse.

With Google’s wearable glass revolution, Amazon’s package-delivering drones edging closer to reality, and Facebook’s "Nearby Friends," a tool that lets you track your friends in real-time by merging your digital footprint with your actual one, science fiction is fast becoming reality.

"In the long run, Americans are optimistic about the impact that scientific developments will have on their lives and the lives of their children -- but they definitely expect to encounter some bumps along the way," said Aaron Smith, a senior researcher at Pew and the author of the report. "They are especially concerned about developments that have the potential to upend long-standing social norms around things like personal privacy, surveillance, and the nature of social relationships." (source)

Los Angeles-based author Adam Michael Luebke (@adamluebke) writes satirical news at Dear Dirty America and posts regularly on hot button technology trends. Prodding and provoking our attention to wider issues in society, Adam inspires us to think critically about subjects that impact our lives. I encourage you to read one of his more recent articles (below) and think critically about your own position.

How do you view the consequences that are part of technological change? What do our attitudes about technology say about us as a culture? Are there ways to ensure that we use technology responsibly? Or will our glowing rectangles inevitably cause us to flat-line?

{photo from MorgueFile - Millennials texting}

FREE SERVICES & SMART DEVICES IN EXCHANGE FOR YOUR DATA

BY DDA MARCH 14, 2014

It’s not difficult to imagine that in the near future even the remotest regions of our planet will be Internet-capable and connected. What is disturbing is that the same ubiquitous online connectivity will be happening in your home. Every last appliance and device will, in the coming years, be instilled with ‘smart’ technology.

It’s like your toaster oven and refrigerator and even your toothbrush would have been given souls. They will be alive, active, and collecting all your data. Your refrigerator will remind you that if you keep buying frozen pizzas and stacking them in the freezer, inevitably you’re going to eat them and continue feeling like shit.

Your toothbrush, which will have Bluetooth connection, will inform you that you’re brushing your teeth too hard, or too lightly, or you forgot to brush them the night before. “Why didn’t you brush last night?” it might ask. “You didn’t come home last night, did you.”

And your toilet might kindly remind you that you’re awfully low on fiber. “I’m swallowing a lot of poorly processed dairy and enriched white flour. This is not good for your health in the long run. Your doctor will not be happy when she looks over the results in your file.” A file that would be updated automatically, over and over again, every minute of your connected, modern fucking life.

I’m not making this up. Financial Times takes a speculative glance at what happens when Silicon Valley gets through with updating our lives to all ‘smart’ devices, which seems ineluctable at this point, and they’ll tout the blessings and benefits of this sort of data-collection lifestyle. How convenient and happy our lives will be!

The trendies will love it and embrace it and never take off their Google Glasses, even while they are giving their ‘smart’ toilets another mouthful.

So it’s imagined:

A fridge that not only knows that you are running out of milk but can do something about it sounds empowering. Yet in the longer term there is a more consequential side: sensors and internet connectivity are also turning “dumb” gadgets into powerful vehicles of prediction and speculation. The data they capture can be integrated with data from other gadgets and databases to create new information commodities whose value might eclipse the value of the gadgets used to generate the underlying data. Soon, the devices might even be given away for free.

Consider your toothbrush. Armed with a sensor that knows when you are using it, it can detect behavior patterns – how often you use it (or not use, as the case might be) – that help determine when you should see the dentist. That prediction would be more accurate if some other sensor-equipped gadget – say, a smart fork – knew how much sugar you consumed. The more data-tracking devices are hooked to the network, the more accurate the predictions (source)

We’ve been exchanging our data and online activity for free apps and web browser service, but the great financiers and entrepreneurs of our age will see the treasure trove of information that can be snatched when every human in the industrialized world switches to all ‘smart’ devices in their homes.

Every daily activity will produce results for savvy online marketplaces to pinpoint exactly what you need, what you are desiring, and when you will order it.

If that sounds like a Utopian reality for many Americans, it is a disaster for others. Imagine every appliance and device you use at home connected to the same network. You really have to trust in your government, the corporate sphere that dominates our buying and selling and money flow, and that those with power over this supremely centralized system will look after you and the best interests of the collective.

Who will be in charge of this network? What happens when you challenge the system? What happens when a politician with truly good intentions to change Draconian laws and mass surveillance or unlawful killing of American citizens overseas gains strength in the polls? How easy will it be to hang out his dirty laundry? How easy it will be to clamp down on any true resistance or leaders of popular protests against the system.

Shut down their existence and their ability to live in a world that is completely connected and under surveillance. The more we rely on a lifestyle of interconnected ‘smart’ devices, the easier it is going to be for our global elite to control every last facet of our lives, and dictate how they should be lived.

Think of how Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, was shut out by the major global banks after he exposed brutal American war crimes in Iraq. Amazon kicked WikiLeaks off their servers, and Senator Joe Lieberman praised the move. It is becoming possible to simply flip a switch and erase any person from a modern society that is so tightly controlled and organized there is no room to live outside it.

We’re heading toward a dazzling nightmare. There’s good reason to be in awe at the shiny new devices that advanced science and technology will bring us, and possibly even give to us for free in the future. But what are we giving in return? We’d better have the conversation as a people, a society, a nation, as a world, because it’s happening extremely fast.

What Are We Searching For?

Last week Google released its annual “Zeitgeist List” for 2013-- a snapshot of what Americans searched for over the last 12 months in our gadget lust for more information. You can discover what our inquiring minds were eagerly slouching toward here:

After a year of feeding our collective mind a diet of death, devices, and celebrity, I’m afraid we are headed for the equivalent of a body plagued by heart attacks, weight gain, and erectile dysfunction. Google’s Zeitgeist List may very well be one of the clearest insights into the American 21st century mind—driven, drawn, and dulled into a vacuum of fantasy, escape, entertainment.

What we need, dear reader, is not simply more information, but real knowledge that comes from hard thinking applied to the real issues of the day. Few of us lead lives that allow such reflection and learning-- where we seek common ground through uncommon debate. Historically a public square was one such space that fostered the exchange of ideas and conversation within a public context and helped raise the level of public discourse in society. But despite our increasing connectivity through social media, form did not follow function. We are scarce able today to find a public square in which to dialogue for reflection and growth.

It is my hope that we can start here, start now, and resurrect a virtual public square of hard thinkers. And while our itchy trigger fingers continue to Google for meaning, let us answer the high call to develop a collective intellectual life by speaking out loud into the cultural wasteland. Why not strive to forge a vibrant community, to gain knowledge, not mere information, and help our world regain her beautiful mind? Happy New Year, everyone—let’s celebrate in the public square.