Pax Nortona – A Blog by Joel Sax
From the Land of the Lost Blunderbuss
Month: October 2004
A Prayer for 2004
Posted on October 18, 2004 in Campaign 2004 Morals & Ethics
The source of this has asked me not to reveal the author’s name.
Mission Bay
Posted on October 17, 2004 in Travels - So Cal
You can smell what the city has eaten when you round or swim in the waters of San Diego’s Mission Bay. They present it as a triumph of Nature, but everywhere you see concrete, imported grass, and the tracks of earth-moving equipment. Near the waterside, white pieces of clam mix with the mud to form striated mosaics fixed in a grout of the leavings of human bowels. Tumbleweeds grow on the knotted dunes. On Fiesta Island, you can follow the tracks of dogs for miles through the alien thistles. By day, people sit in bleachers to watch unconscious supporters of Osama Bin Laden waste gasoline in jet ski and motorboat races. By night, they gather driftwood and burn bonfires until 10 pm when the park closes.
San Diego’s poor and homeless approach the estuary like black specks approach the wick in the wax of a burning candle. They go through the garbage; they cast their lines for halibut, kingfish, or shark; or use the waterless porta-potties. Many have white hair flowing down their necks, off their chins, and out of their bared chests.When no one is looking and the moon is new, they strip off their clothes and bathe in the water, adding their filth to the purge of the city.
San Diego was and continues to be a Republican city where the Chamber of Commerce says Pretty-pretty over its garbage and its sewage. No where can you better see and smell our future if we continue our current politics of denial.
Christopher Reeve as Superman
Posted on October 17, 2004 in Courage & Activism Culture Milestones
Alas, we have lost a hero and we are left with bullies who cannot measure up to him on the screen or in the mortal arena.
Dangerous Expressions
Posted on October 15, 2004 in Poetry The Orange
“Poetry,” he snarled, waving his head to the far side of the cafe.
Rift Zone
Posted on October 14, 2004 in Anxiety Mixed States Moods Poems
I wouldn’t call it depression.
The Truth of Sysiphus
Posted on October 13, 2004 in Human Rights Myths & Mysticism
Free Sysiphus now.
Liberal Resurgence
Posted on October 12, 2004 in Campaign 2004 Liberals & Progressives
That the word is getting out fast, faster than the pundits can spin it out of consciousness, can be credited to the Internet.
Dana Point
Posted on October 11, 2004 in The Orange
It’s a matter of political correctness to gush over Dana Point. I’ve never been politically correct when it comes to Orange County community standards and I will say that if you want to know what is wrong with Orange County, go to Dana Point.
Oh, but you say, the Harbor!
Yes, let’s talk about the Harbor. Or rather, let’s talk about the precious natural and historic landmark that was lost when they dammed the cove with a a spiny back breakwater no self-respecting reptile would wear. I am one who remembers how wonderful Dana Point was before the yacht harbor: the tidepools, the broad open meadows, the cliffs which rose unimpeded, and the waves which brought surfers from all over the world. Dana Point was isolated, apart from the Los Angeles/Anaheim sprawl that slopped into the northwest corner of the Orange and across to San Bernardino. It was silent, free of strip malls. A small town that could have been a second Laguna Beach as Laguna Beach was before the yuppies drove the artists into the hinterlands, the deep canyons around the Saddleback.
You have probably seen the bumper stickers which say KILLER DANA. That is a reference to what was and what the Orange County Supervisors and the developers killed, largely without oversight from the state or the people who loved her beaches. Killer Dana refers to the legendary surfing waves that the breakwater slices. It stands for the memory and the revolution that followed. After the Dana Point Marina fiasco, people across the state stood up and voted the Coastal Commission into existence so that no one would seize a thing of beauty and destroy it ever again.
That is Dana Point’s one good legacy.
Tuttle
Posted on October 10, 2004 in Geocaching Neighborhood
“Let me guess,” said the man opening the gate to Black Star Canyon Road. “You’re Tuttle’s brother.”
The Peaceable Rhino
Posted on October 9, 2004 in Geocaching
I am about to send an artifact that I call The Peaceable Rhino on his way to visit the rhinos of Africa, India, and Indonesia. Enroute, I hope friends and other geocachers will take him to zoos to see other rhinos and show him some of the local scenery. You can follow his travels at http://www.geocaching.com by searching for TBH9JZ. If he comes to you, by all means, let me know! I want to see the pictures!
He departs from my Seven Yuccas cache later today! You can pick up your own picture of him here.
What Criticism of Amnesty International Reveals About the Critic
Posted on October 8, 2004 in Human Rights
Criticize Amnesty and you tell me that you are not to be trusted.
Too Damn Healthy
Posted on October 8, 2004 in Coronary
My visit with my cardiologist went unusually well.
