First Lines of Ali Smith's "Winter"

"God was dead: to begin with.
And romance was dead. Chivalry was dead. Poetry, the novel, painting, they were all dead, and art was dead. Theatre and cinema were both dead. Literature was dead. The book was dead."

- Ali Smith, Winter.

These lines don't do the poetry of Smith's stream of consciousness writing justice. Her way with words is mesmerizing: you can feel her characters thinking as you read. And read you will! Before I knew what was happening, I had read through 60 pages of this delightful novel. Can't wait to see where it goes.

On Unregulated Capitalism

"[The Gilets Jaunes] have refused to be mollified by what they perceive as crumbs tossed from the throne of power. Their war against the rich, in the age of climate change, is one driven by an understanding unique among protest movements in France: that the privilege to lord and the privilege to pollute are one and the same, and that confronting the climate crisis means a confrontation with unregulated capitalism. It is a call to arms that should resound around the world.”

 Christopher Ketcham, “A Play with no End” from the August 2019 issue of Harper’s Magazine

This quote really got me thinking about the problem of unregulated capitalism. There’s a case to be made that capitalism as a whole can’t get us out of the climate change spiral, but I don't know enough to go there yet. However, the damaging aspects of unrestrained deregulation seems obvious to me, especially with respect to the inequities such a system engenders. Instituting guardrails around capitalism to protect those without power and voices, and the environment in particular (trends like recognizing ecosystems as people are an interesting trend), should let us know if capitalism can be redeemed in an era of finite resources. (Those of you that would promote the "free" market, you'd need to explain to me how the overwhelming power of corporations in the new gilded age is indeed free.)

First lines of "Kwaidan"

"More than seven hundred years ago, at Dan-no-ura, in the Straights of Shimonoseki, was fought the last battle of the long context between the Heike, or Taira clan, and the Genji, or Minamoto clan."

- Lafcadio Hearn, Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things.

As a westerner, I find Japanese folklore culture mesmerizing, moving, and deeply weird. The stories in Kwaidan are timeless but so unique to the Japanese islands.

(I'm also reading the collected stories of Akutagawa Ryunosuke, which builds on this weirdness with modernistic stylistic touches. More later, but his "Hell Screen" is one of the best stories I've ever read.)

Yesterday's Drawing

Here's a fun picture I drew over ten years ago and inked last week. I love her angular face and the big black blob of a coat.

First Lines of "Dead Mountain"

"February 1959 Northern Ural Mountains, USSR

Two figures trudge across a snowy expanse. The peak of Oterten Mountain stands icy and grim in the distance, a lone witness to their miserable progress. It is afternoon, though difficult to say how late. Time of day tends to lose its meaning in this wilderness, where the sun is a mere smudge behind cloud cover, and the haze is so persuasive as to make earth and sky indistinguishable."

Dead Mountain, The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident by Donnie Eichar.

A comprehensive account of the classic "what the hell happened?" mystery. I was introduced to the odd account of the Dyatlov Pass hikers through the horror movie "The Devil's Pass" The movie was  entertaining enough, but reading up on the reality behind the "inspired by a true story" catchphrase was eye opening. You can find the details of the mystery on Wikipedia. Eichar really does a good job summarizing all of the known facts while bringing the story into vivid life. His obsession with the mystery leads down many dead ends until he hits on a plausible scientific explanation that is bizarre but very satisfying.

Julianne Moore

I've always enjoyed Julianne Moore's movies. I was inspired many years back to paint a scene from her work in The Hours. I wanted to capture the translucent curtain and her amazing hair, and didn't quite succeed.  The hand makes me cringe as well. Still, there's something about it I quite like, and am hoping by posting more of these old paintings I'll get inspired to try my hand at something new.

The End of Capitalism?

Paul Mason's fascinating article "The End of Capitalism" contains an interesting insight. When detailing the still terrifying details about the 2008 economic crash, the solution to which almost every major power broker thought was austerity, he writes:

Even now many people fail to grasp the true meaning of the word “austerity”. Austerity is not eight years of spending cuts, as in the UK, or even the social catastrophe inflicted on Greece. It means driving the wages, social wages and living standards in the west down for decades until they meet those of the middle class in China and India on the way up.

Mason's nuanced perspective is enlightening, and recommend you read the whole thing. For me, i've always wondered about people who promote austerity; those who essentially insist that we can't have nice things while turning a blind eye to the 1% who have almost all of the nice things. (Of course, those promoting austerity are usually members of the 1%.) Digging deeper, as Mason does, you see how the capitalistic system is not working as intended due to increasing technological capabilities and the lack of an organized resistance (i.e., organized labor). In fact, he points out that the roots of the 2008 crash have snapped back: "The shadow banking system has been reassembled, and is now bigger than it was in 2008. New rules demanding banks hold more reserves have been watered down or delayed."

The whole thing is scary, but he does point out rays of hope for what he terms a "post-capitalistic" system. The need for an evolved system of some form feels right to me, as capitalism hasn't felt healthy for a while - too many "fingers on the scale" influencing what is supposed to be a free market. But I'll let those much more qualified than I continue: read the article at the Guardian here. What do you think?

Peter Garrett

"I know that the sunset empire shudders and shakes
I know there's a floodgate and a raging river...
Sometimes you're beaten to the call
Sometimes you're taken to the wall
But you don't give in"
Sometimes, by Midnight Oil, as sung by Peter Garrett, shown above

Happy Anniversary!

A few days late for celebrating their 10th anniversary, but here's my brother and his lovely wife. To many years more!

First Lines of "Shadow Country"

"Sea birds are aloft again, a tattered few. The white terns look dirtied in the somber light and they fly stiffly, feeling out an element they no longer trust. Unable to locate the storm-lost minnows, they wander the thick waters with sad muted cries, hunting seamarks that might return them to the order of the world."

- Peter Matthiessen, Shadow Country. I'm only about a 100 pages into this book but it's already impressed me with its gravitas, its artistic impression that's creative without being unduly "arty", and its depiction of the natural state of southern Florida on its last legs.

It Simply Stops

"A painting is never finished. It simply stops in interesting places."

- Paul Gardner

First Lines of Kim Stanley Robinson's "Green Mars"

"The point is not to make another Earth. Not another Alaska or Tibet, not a Vermont nor a Venice, not even an Antarctica. The point is to make something new and strange, something Martian."

- Kim Stanley Robinson, Green Mars

I'm re-reading Green Mars, and while it doesn't have the same dynamic excitement of the political and cultural revolution in Red Mars, it takes deep detours into some really fascinating subjects while continuing to ask the deep questions relevant to the transformation of any environment. Like a lot of KSR's work, I don't love all of it - there are a few too many LONG rover trips around Mars for my taste - but I love how he examines how people would react and what they would become when living in a truly alien place.

First Lines of Madeline Miller's "Circe"

"When I was born, the name for what I was did not exist. They called me nymph, assuming I would be like my mother and aunts and thousands of cousins. Least of the lesser goddesses, our powers were so modest they could scarcely ensure our eternities."

 - Madeline Miller, Circe 

Enjoying this tale told from the POV of the goddess best known for turning Odysseus's crew into pigs in the Odyssey. I've always been a sucker for humanizing famous figures in this way, and from what i've read so far Miller has a knack for imagining what life must be like in the world of the Greek gods and goddesses. Hint: a lot of politics, gossip, and backstabbing. Looking forward to seeing where this goes.

First Lines of "How to Talk so Kids Will Listen & Listen so Kids will Talk"

"I was a wonderful parent before I had children. I was an expert on why everyone else was having problems with theirs. Then I had three of my own."

- Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish, How to Talk to Kids will Listen & Listen so Kids will Talk.

This book changed how I approached being a father. A practical approach for healthy communication with your kids. I strive for the ideal detailed in this book and fall short as much as I succeed, but having tactics for success helps me along the journey.

First Lines of Edward Abbey's "Desert Solitaire"

"This is the most beautiful place on earth.

There are many such places. Every man, every woman, carries in heart and mind the image of the ideal place, the right place, the one true home, known or unknown, actual or visionary."

- Edward Abbey from Desert Solitaire. A stark, powerful book. I'm reading in slowly, in digestible chunks, mainly because I like it how it strips away the bullshit in favor of a clean view of how the world works.

First Lines of Joanna Russ' "The Zanzibar Cat"

Katy drives like a maniac; we must have been doing over 120 km/hr on those turns. She's good, though, extremely good, and I've seen her take the whole car apart and put it together again in a day."

- Joanna Russ, from "When it Changed", the first story in the collection The Zanzibar Cat.

I fell in love with Russ when I encountered her amazing story "The Dirty Little Girl" in The Hidden Side of the Moon. It's a mesmerizing story, compelling and deeply weird at the same time, and I can't stop going back to it. A few stories in, The Zanzibar Cat is not of that quality (yet?) but is still entertaining.

First Lines of Kim Stanley Robinson's "Red Moon"

"Someone had told him not to look while landing on the moon, but he was strapped in his seat right next to a window and could not help himself; he looked. Quickly he saw why he had been told not to -- the moon was doubling in size with every beat of his heart, they were headed for it at cosmic speed and would certainly vaporize on impact."

- Kim Stanley Robinson, "Red Moon". Entertaining read that starts and ends well but with a bit of a lull in the middle. Love his outlook on life.