Plague Journal, Divine Retribution
I woke and read that the President and his wife have tested positive for coronavirus. She says that she feels fine. Of course the NY Times Morning report mentioned well wishes received from many world leaders.
I am not so sympathetic. Given the presidents attitude of disdain for social distancing, for wearing a mask, his scorn of scientists at the CDC, and most damning for his refusal to show federal leadership at the beginning of the pandemic– is this not poetic justice? The White House must be a petri dish for the internal spread of covid-19. Surely if the president is given doses of hydroxychloroquine recovery will be swift.
There is no forgiveness found within Nature. There’s only the procession of cause and effect. To be human as I understand the matter, is to rise above (a metaphor) Nature in order to exercise forgiveness, to show mercy. Is “forgiveness” always apropos?
Last night I had an extraordinary dream. I was in a design studio conference room, with a client and a team of professional designers. The client was struggling to form an idea of what she desired her space to be. Too many options; swatches of upholstery fabric, wall covering samples, a spectrum of paint chips, furniture styles, etc. I spoke up offering my own thoughts, the story of how I solved similar dilemmas. By what right did I contribute? I have no interior design license
No matter. I said, to begin one feels the emptiness of the space, without form or color, a blank emptiness, as empty as the moo of a cow. Then, one feels the stir of intrigue over a type of furniture shape, and a placement that would make the room sublimely comfortable, and interesting. Next the colors, — a primary and then a complementary color, or perhaps just a contrasting shade, light or dark. What surface tones make the furniture and floor covering belong to one another? Form and color, felt with the body prior to any thoughts of the mind, composes a unique visual and tactile space in the room. Allow a feeling of delight to rise, and by attending to that, the foundation of a concept forms.
As as for art to hang on the walls, or sculptured shapes for tabletops, there’s no need to press for a decision. Take some time, weeks, or months, or even years to encounter those objects as life’s journey continues. They must be linked to one’s life.
That was the dream as I remember it.
What about some music?! Thirty years ago radio stations played this song tirelessly. The tune is iconic of an era that has receded into the past. This tune relaunched the careers of the band Starship which saw it’s heyday in the 60’s as Jefferson Airplane. Grace Slick was 46 when We Built This City was launched in 1985. A oral history notes the tune was “written and recorded in stages by an assembly line of songwriters.” The song is a mashup of lyric lines, and still the tune rocks with rising synthesizer notes, and guitar rifts. It was a homage to a time which was but remembered, a song about how club life in LA was killed off and live acts had nowhere to go. Quest for profits overwhelming music. Corporate profits and hoopla…. “knee-deep in the hoopla” may be bad prose and still the truth. Never has the truth been more plainly written “..looking for America, crawling through your schools.”
This song made its creators wealthy.
