Year: 2002
American Fear
Posted on September 27, 2002 in IRC/Chat
I asked a progressive friend why she wouldn’t sign the Not in Our Name statement. She said:
I don’t want to spend my last years in a camp….People are just disapearing. A cube worker where I used to work just disappeared. She was Iranian, but naturalized citizen. She went to Iran Aug 2001, came back right before the attack in Sept, then just disappered in Oct.
I asked her, only half-jokingly, to contact Amnesty International if I should ever disappear. “I may not be much of a threat, though,” I bantered. “I’m one of those harmless pansies who preaches freedom.”
“thats what they fear most,” said the friend.
“No,” I said, paraphrasing a remark by Archibald McLeish. “They fear drunken poets who make a crack that sticks.”
“they fear Americans”, said the friend.
And for a moment, I felt like Clevinger sitting on the latrine next to his friend Yossarian:
“You haven’t got a chance, kid,” [said Yossarian] “They hate Jews.” “But I’m not Jewish!” protested Clevinger. “It doesn’t matter. They’re after everyone.”
The Unknown American Mind
Posted on September 27, 2002 in The Home Front
The only sound I hear is the crack and snap of the pages as they flip from the front page to the continuations and then on to the sports page.
Aortal Link – Techfluid
Posted on September 26, 2002 in Aortal
Like myself, Chari treats her blog as an ongoing letter to the world. Though she codes well and possesses a fine eye, her first concern is to give her readers something readable and truthful.
I signed this
Posted on September 25, 2002 in Peace
From Not in Our Name: We believe that questioning, criticism, and dissent must be valued and protected. We understand that such rights and values are always contested and must be fought for.
Post-Equinox
Posted on September 25, 2002 in Weather
Today the clouds looked like the fluff that the cats pull from the rug or off their scratching post. Some great sky tiger scattered the stuff over the entire seaboard between the Peninsular Range and the sea.
“Where are the Bush Supporters?”
Posted on September 25, 2002 in Conservatives The Home Front
They live all around me, with “God Bless America” signs skewering the turf next to their doorways.
The Latest #politics tragi-comedy
Posted on September 25, 2002 in IRC/Chat
I honestly don’t know, but if you’re going to claim to follow Jesus when you go off gunning for Bin Laden or Sadam Hussein, I am going to remind you about turning the other cheek.
The Future of Money
Posted on September 25, 2002 in IRC/Chat
Look! I can be flippant when I’m paranoid!:
[18:47] * EmeraldPunk has to remember–most ppl seemingly worship money
[18:48] * EmperorNorton puts a penny on the desk before him and bows to it.
[18:48] <fleep> Abraham Lincoln luvs u back
[18:49] <EmperorNorton> fleep, he never looks at me. It must mean that he doesn’t like me.
[18:50] <fleep> EmperorNorton the people on the coins don’t look at you because they are embarrassed to be small change. The people on the paper money can look you in the eye
[18:51] <EmperorNorton> Washington always seems to be looking over my right shoulder. Makes me paranoid, to tell the truth, fleep. Like George Bush is back there, ready to grab it [from me] and then singing about the great tax cut he just gave the rich.
[18:52] <fleep> EmperorNorton, paper money is one of the final frontiers for brand promotion, and a great revenue stream for the bureau of engraving. imagine getting bills with ronald mcdonald and captain crunch on them. fun to spend, fun to collect!
[18:55] * EmperorNorton throws up a Happy Meal at fleep’s suggestion.
A Personality Disorder Explicated
Posted on September 25, 2002 in Avoidance Mental Illness
I’m all too aware that I fall into an invisible class, a dirty class that makes some people take an instant disliking to me. I sometimes wonder if it is my clothes. I resolve to dress better, but new days come and I find the same wardrobe in the closet and no money to pick up new pieces. Or I think it is my back. I’ve got an ungainly back, a excessively long cambered spine that measures out almost as long as my legs. This is not normal. Else it could be my beard. Or an unfortunate accident over a meal like spitting out the tiniest piece of salad green at a punctuated consonant. I blame it on my mind — being too smart or too dumb for a crowd is dangerous, I gather. Yes, I worry. I worry that I drive people away with my very presence.
My trouble is that a whole room full of people could love me but one and the opinions of the one are what matters. It doesn’t matter what problems they have — they could be snobs or drink like a fish or egotistical — I worry more about my failings. And to save this one person future grief, I avoid the whole crowd. I see their signals and I feel like I got to leave.
This is my sickness, the disease on top of my other diseases; one that is different from the others because I have developed not from chemical imbalances or breakdown of aging organs, but through extensive practice. It has been good for me to see that others suffer, too. How I was rehearsed to be like this — to feel shame about “my place” is complicated and I am able to explain it only in pieces which often don’t make much sense to any rational mind but, nevertheless impell. What can for now except to pretend that I don’t feel the pain when I am in public, to pick at my fingers when no one observes, and cry in private because I don’t want to hurt another person with a possibly false accusation about their coldness towards me.
New Site Logo
Posted on September 25, 2002 in Site News
Here’s the link code:
<A HREF=”http://paxnortona.notfrisco2.com/” TARGET=”_new”><IMG SRC=”http://www.notfrisco2.com/webzine/Joel/paxnortona.gif” WIDTH=143 HEIGHT=125 BORDER=1></A>
Here’s where you can buy t-shirts, mugs, and mousepads.
