Regime Change Begins At Home

Delivering food to the 11th floor of a Westwood office building yesterday, I noticed the in-elevator tv Health blurb. The elevator, sans muzak, disclosed that major drug companies and the FDA have long known that anti-ADHD drugs given to teenagers and tweens were causing stress-inducing hallucinations of snakes, demons, etc.

Today I saw a t-shirt that read, George Bush Shot Old Yeller. I proceeded to laugh like Pee-Wee Herrmann.

I also recently discovered Tim Wise, who reminds me that Americans, Obama or no Obama, are still very much in denial-- on all sides.

I've also been re-internalizing, largely through conversations with many close friends, that life is simply and essentially about the pursuit of personal passion, happiness, expression, and growth. All of these things are difficult. All of these activities are painful. I now understand that I have been asking to remove the mystery while the trick is still in effect. And that is not bad-- it is, in fact, asking a bit too much. And how would lifting the mystery actually serve me?

And everyone is watching the First 100 Days. Myself included. Obama, Obama, Obama. What a weird time for all of us-- to be out from under the Bush-Cheney thumb. And what did that even mean? KBR, Blackwater, Diebold, Enron, FEMA, Pfizer, lobbyists, Fanny and Freddie, KPMG, the Office of Global Communications Awareness... shudder.

What if the Middle East is just a sideshow? What if securing American global dominance does mean destabilizing Russia, China, and reducing populations across the 3rd world? What am I supposed to be doing with myself if the name of the game is Bankruptcy By Numbers?

I already know the answer to that last question. I am going to pursue my own personal passions and happinesses. I am going to actively push my hands into the dirt at my feet on regular intervals. I am going to participate in my small little world as much as my body and spirit will allow. I am going to bake bread when I can make time. I am going to feed my friends.

I have been ruminating on the transition of power, and have found myself unable to blog. Luckily, many others have been writing plenty of words in my absence.

Now I am preparing to travel to Santa Cruz Island, California for 4 days of outdoor plant work. I will be combining passions. Writing, climbing, hiking, oceans, islands, food, strangers, plants, animals, hard work in the soil...

And I am thankful that I realized, perhaps only 2 days ago, that for the last 3 years of my life I have started each year by travelling out to the Channel Islands to conduct myself in volunteer native-plant restoration work. The only difference is that this time I am actually being paid. I sense a trend growing and it is looking like it's been doing me some good. Deep good.

I feel like a lucky fool. I can't wait to hear the sound of no-traffic. The sounds of not noise. I can't wait to miss humanity and civilization, anew.

Best of wishes and love to all. Talk with ya'll soon. Stay warm.