Electronic Writer

I am dredging up more pictures from my Paris trip. Part of this re-visit is plainly for nostalgia. The other component, however, is to surround myself with really energizing things.

The image is of the Georges Pompidou Centre–located in the Marais district–and, I love the lines of the building. It is architecturally interesting with all of the plumbing, heating/cooling, wiring, and exhaust pipes built on the OUTSIDE of the building rather than being nested within the walls.

The Marais, where the Pompidou Center is located, was a fashionable neighborhood where the French Bourgeoisie lived until the French Revolution–when they were beheaded by the peasants. The neighborhood was left alone, for the most part, until the 1970’s (about 200 years later) when it was rediscovered because of the low property prices and historic buildings. The properties were mostly undisturbed, and close to historic sites–Place de Nation, and the ruins of the Bastille Prison (which the peasants burned to the ground after their successful revolution).

The Georges Pompidou Center, the Picasso Museum of Modern Art, and The Museum of History and Science were all built in the Marais within the timespan of about 15 years.

This, apparently, is the new buzzword for a brand of new, non-corporate journalism that has blossomed over the last several years.

To quote Nicholas Lemann, in his recent article “AMATEUR HOUR: Journalism without journalists” (The New Yorker), “Citizen journalists are supposedly inspired amateurs who find out what’s going on in the places where they live and work, and who bring us a fuller, richer picture of the world than we get from familiar news organizations, while sparing us the pomposity and preening that journalists often display.”

ohmynews.com

What do you think?

In bold letters, the headlines read: Blair and Schwarzenegger Sign Global Warming Agreement. And, while I think this is a great story, I also feel a bit of sadness about it all. The largest state of the Union (economically, at least), is making their own agreements with foreign countries to try to save and repair the environment. In many books, including my own, this is an absolute victory.

The bitter part about this message is that the reason why individual states are negotiating with foreign countries about saving the environment–you know, the place where we live and the air that we breathe–is because our own Federal Government is NOT LISTENING to us. Or, perhaps a bit more sinister, is the scenario where they are listening and simply do not care . . . .

The leader of the free world wants us to burn oil. The leader of the free world removed Carbon Dioxide from the watched gasses list in a nice Orwellian piece of legislation called, “The Clean Air Act.” In this ostrich approach, we bury our heads in the sand and stop tracking carbon dioxide–the greatest cause of Global Warming. By not monitoring that gas, our country immediately *ON PAPER* vaulted to the position of being a non-polluter. In reality, however, we gave free license to industry to make money irresponsibly–with our Federal goverment’s blessings.

There is a really interesting Convergence/Divergence article about the Middle East at McSweeney’s today. It was written by Lawrence Weschler, and compares the situation in Beirut with the situation of Warsaw, Poland as portrayed in Roman Polanski’s “The Pianist.”

It is worth the time.

So, I was having a little bout with insomnia. And, rather than lay there in bed and try all of my usual tricks again, I decided to get up and work on some of the projects that are keeping me awake at night. For a brief reprieve, I found myself wandering through my images of Paris from last year, and in particular, this image of Samuel Beckett’s grave.

I loved how the old and the new co-mingle in French culture. This cememtary was in the middle of a well-to-do neighborhood, was a couple of hundred years old, housed a great number of famous artists (Cesar, Rodin, Simone de Beuvoir, Jean Paul Sartre, Samuel Beckett, Balzac, etc.), and was overshadowed by the tallest building in continental Europe. The old and the new.

Many of the graves had flowers, or some other tribute paid to the artist or the dead. And, because of the number of famous people, many of these tributes exceeded your typical flower arrangement. Out of all the graves, however, Samuel Beckett’s had the most attention. Perhaps it was not the most ostentatious, but it was definitely the most.

Scattered on the ground around his grave were hundreds of the little purple tickets. They were the very tickets that those hundreds of visitors purchased to ride the Metro across Paris to see the grave of the famous playwrite–Samuel Beckett.

Now, more than ever, our civilization is in dire need of a dialog about human values. We need to talk about what we are doing, and why we are doing it. If we continue down our current path without even talking about it, our doom is certain.

The Tanner Lectures on Human Values is a phenomenal collection of essays, presentations, and writings about (go ahead, take a guess) Human Values. The lectures have been delivered by some of the greatest minds to have existed.

Try it out: find something that interests you, and download a lecture or two . . . .

Here’s the link: Tanner Lectures on Human Values

Doesn’t that just warm your little heart? It certainly makes mine palpitate a bit . . . .

As a lifelong coffeeshop junky, this is an image that resonates for me.

Yesterday afternoon, the Deftones had a free concert in the park in Downtown Sacramento. The music was loud, the photo opportunities were frequent, and the place was packed. I think he was having a good time–don’t ya think?

I have been working quite a bit lately. Much of what I do is NOT interactive. It is getting things through the pipe with moments of interaction–so, basically, I work alone. During my solitude, I cogitate, stew, invent, roil, examine, comprehend, and deconstruct. In short, I think.

Over the past few weeks, I have made a few observations:

1. When I am sleep deprived and hungry, I am much more susceptible to emotions. This is a humorous way to describe it, but in part, is true. I am more wistful, and emotional matter weighs more heavily in my decision making process when certain basics are not being satisfied.

2. Music is terribly important to me. My productivity has dramatically increased with good music playing in the background. If I get to choose the music, my productivity increases even more. On a side-note, if you love GREAT music, go to Paradise Radio, listen, and give them a donation. They are the best radio station of all time.

3. Life is bigger than even the strongest of us.

4. Work is empty. Money is empty. Find other things to make you happy.

To be honest with you, I have never really even listened to her music before, but she is getting my money.

Her latest album has a single, “Dear, Mr. President.” The link below is to the video. Our country was founded upon dissent and dissonance, and quite frankly, everyone is frightened enough to let it pass. There is not enough in our country right now–especially with the disintegration of our values right before our very eyes.

Pink’s is setting a great example right now–and, I am going to reward her financially for it . . . .

See for yourself