developing a personal relationship with the natural world

is it within our capacity or range of desires to truly live lightly on the land?

whether or not our planet's current population of humans could get it together enough to operate with compassionate, humanitarian, peaceful, helpful, sharing & generous actions & intentions towards each other- or to put our technologies to work creating more efficient lives with regard to environment, ecology, energy types/sources/uses, water, local food production, transportation, facilities & their uses, waste generation- without having to cow-tow to the monied old paradigm models-

-such improbable primate altruism-

-however, it's still within our capacity to contemplate, and try to operate with these goals in mind. for instance: zen buddhism- and the necessity of instant awakening and opening to reality- at least among certain populations- was born out of the massacres & rapes of ghengis khan & mongolian invasions.

despite a crumpling economy, climate change, peak oil, water hoarding, corporate plutocracy, misinformation, propaganda, & conspiracies global & tiny- we can operate from a place that accepts these impossible parameters because we are not clinging to what is foisted upon the world.

we are deciding for ourselves what is important, making it our own- even making it ourselves- and that is what we create our world with- in the midst of chaos even. this is also the wisdom we bring to the rest of the world.

-i mean of course, if you wanted to take charge of your life like that- this is what we would bring to the world.

it's up to you.

here's a good article about a prize winning urban planning idea in sweden:

A Rolling Masterplan

why not make an amazing 2011? start with your heart, your family & then your community. lead by example, don't follow the example of our leaders. peace to you & your peeps this coming year.

numbers are ruining everything

military suicides outpaced iraq battlefield deaths 2 to 1 in 2009.

it's like a kurt vonnegut novel.

American Military Death Rates

10/10/10 is -global work party day-

350.org Global Work Party

thousands of events will occur in almost 200 countries worldwide.
these people want to raise consciousness of our accelerating climate crisis.
they are pointing towards solutions and leading by example to get there.

today, real work is being done by regular people
-on a scale they can afford
-using technologies they understand or want to learn about.

Tricycle Gardens Urban Farm Work Party

here in Richmond VA, Tricycle Gardens will host a hoop house work party at their own urban farm- at the corner of 9th & Bainbridge just south of the Manchester Bridge.

there's work you can do elsewhere too of course. take a picture of your efforts & upload them to 350.org- it's definitely more fun than pessimism and you get to use your body. awesome.

oh yeah, it's totally an economic recovery..

..if your in banking, med-pharma, or defence/intelligence services- plus there's always the wealthy to cater to. the top 1% is worth more than the bottom 90% combined- and control 84% of the wealth here in the U.S.

that relationship hasn't been so out of whack since the 20's.

austerity protests in brussels.

mortgages upside down & failing in the U.S.

china just passes the U.S. as the world's biggest polluter

[since they make everything we use].

here's a similarly stilted report by Linh Dinh that would seem maybe a little over the top if he didn't back up his stories with up close & right there photography- very heavy duty:

Welcome to the Recovery

enjoy exploring your neighborhood.

practice expanding empathy as planetary survival skill

philosophically of course this only applies to survival of a human-friendly biosphere on this planet. all kinds of life will flourish on earth [as it is called now] long after humans may have made it untenable for themselves- so the survival i'm talking about concerns all of the life forms we currently recognize & haven't yet discovered- at this point in time here on this remote blue dot.

that's us in the big sense of the word. is there a chance that we [the collective global] will be able to recognize our extended family, take it to heart, and work for all of our best interests?

how do you relate to this to this premise? are you hopeful, skeptical, cynical? will bigger walls & indomitable war machines be the answer instead? are you somewhere inbetween?

is there a way forward for the united states as it consumes proportionally 5x the energy that the rest of the world uses- with dwindling resources like energy & food & water- with huge pollution issues growing larger still- with wealth disparity increasing, middle class evaporating, human rights slipping?

is there a way forward we're not really thinking about yet? in my opinion, the U.S.- with the best & the brightest & the plenty for the short term at least, does not lead from the heart nearly enough to call itself leader of the free world:

The Empathetic Civilization by Jeremy Rifkin

sure, i know, i've been called a crackpot before- but what would your utopia resemble? what kind of personal transformation would be required for you to really love your neighbor however distant?

Very Cool Homes for Bats, Birds & Insects

Another Super-Cool Small Animal Habitat

how do we divest ourselves of corporate self-interest enough to see what's really important here? to see who we really are and what we could be doing?

new furniture commissions for redplumjam

i have just finished the designs for 2 law desks for a new firm that will be paperless- so the desks are actually large tables instead.

i'm using all beat-up, leftover & drop materials for these designs- including some paperstone, richlite and plyboo sourced from my new [super kick-ass] job at ECOsupply- along with some antique pine, mahogany & steel from my stash- the only things we're buying retail are a little bit of white oak, some hardware & finish supplies.

the client is a fan of green building, self effacing humor, has so far paid in cash, and given me a good deal of design freedom in fleshing out each of these pieces- they're even going to be fun to build. remember to celebrate the good ones when they come round.

subsequently, i wound up designing his letterhead & business cards too- even a webpage will be coming soon..

prototyping new redplumjam furniture design-

here's a pretty kick-ass [soothing, flatpack, not gigantic] king size bed design using green-certified sheetgoods, mixed recycled hardwoods, and even some laminated corrugated cardboard. the double sky trigrams [i ching heaven] define the footboard and two upsidedown L's of laminated cardboard make the headrests of the headboard. please dig the accordion zig-zag mattress support system- that's what drove this whole design from the beginning.

prototype photos [my bed] coming soon, alongside images of other of new, or at least so far undocumented redplumjam designs.

my new shop is functional & should be in really good shape by fall. the richmond east side energy has been great for me this year & i'm super lucky to be part of this little community.

holla church hill n accomac st!

pinching a little tight on those human civil liberties mr. judge sir, your honor sir.

man oh man- i'm shopping for a new pair of SK8 Hi Vans so i don't miss the next dinosaur skate session. some people don't know this: being a custom woodworker means you love your work and it doesn't bother you that even in good times you're really still too poor to buy $50 shoes very often. it's a very dusty artist's life with its own rewards [like a sweet early demise]. i switched to driving a forklift so i could skate more often. be there in a minute, guys.

better live it up while i can, right? well, as far as finding those Vans goes: the local skateshop is so financially wobbly from this economy that they're out of stock- other local stores don't cater to the hiTop Vans crowd, so there i am buying them cheap online anonymously instead. kicking the legs out from under my local economy. we're WalMarting each other as i write this. i just WalMarted you. you'll do it to me twice tomorrow.

that only works with cheap oil, like the million gallons/day leaking into the gulf. the US uses 20 times that in one normal day.

how long does that last, how does it resonate with you, & at what cost? how much energy should we be investing in sustainable living systems, food & energy production, transportation structures, cultural modification, etc?

we in the US, like some other freaked out northern european countries, are legally reaching toward socially regressive militaristic measures to 'solve' our problems- ones that truly require adopting new points of view instead- we are legalizing racial profiling, mercenary intelligence agencies/armies, indefinite detentions, murdering citizens, rendition, many aspects of torture & humiliation, flying armed remote control robots, etc. while at the same time we're giving corporations a more defined personhood & the right to outright legally buy our elections.

now the latest: our miranda rights- the right to remain silent, to a court appointed lawyer, etc- are automatically waived if we don't clearly state right off the bat that we'd like them please and thankyouverymuch.

so when in doubt, remember to yell: "i have the right to remain silent!".

Supreme Court Favors The Top 1%

now you see it now you see it-

here's another good article by chris hedges:

At Least the Greeks Are Rioting in the Streets

the brunt of the story is about why we should resist the World's Wealthiest Wedgie Wranglers- [also mentioned in my previous rant]- but in this and David Sirota's article [previous post] are couple facts about BP contributions to both Obama & Salaazar that i'd like to juxtapose with some quotes by these two that i lifted from Democracy Now.

you know. for kicks.

"BP and its employees handed more than $3.5 million to federal candidates over the past 20 years, with the largest chunk of their money going to Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics." [Hedges]

says the Prez: “If the laws on our books are inadequate to prevent such an oil spill, or if we didn’t enforce those laws, I want to know it. I want to know what worked and what didn’t work in our response to the disaster and where oversight of the oil and gas industry broke down. We know, for example, that a cozy relationship between oil and gas companies and the agencies that regulate them has long been a source of concern.” [D.N.]

and then:

"Somehow, there have been almost no calls for the resignation of Salazar, who oversaw this disaster and who, before that, took $323,000 in campaign contributions from energy interests and backed more offshore drilling as a U.S. senator."[Sirota's article]

working for us, here's Ken Salaazar:"I am angry and I am frustrated that BP has been unable to stop this well from leaking and to stop this pollution from spreading. We are thirty-three days into this effort, and deadline after deadline has been missed." [D.N.]

meanwhile over 700,000 gallons of Corexit Dispersant have been poured into the gulf- [don't get that on your skin, but do put it in the water] -against orders from the EPA and right past our noses. how much was the Corexit manufacturer paid? what kind of world do we expect to to inhabit considering these kinds of actions?

Oil Company Calls the Shots While Playing by Washington Rules

there so little charade left in our little charade- but enough of my mouth-

let's let Fred Hampton carry this one home from 1969:

"Now, let me show you how were gonna try to do it in the Black Panther Party here. We just got back from the south side. We went out there. We went out there and we got to arguing with the pigs or the pigs got to arguing-he said, "Well, Chairman Fred, you supposed to be so bad, why dont you go and shoot some of those policemen? You always talking about you got your guns and got this, why dont you go shoot some of them?"

And I've said, "you've just broken a rule. As a matter of fact, even though you have on a uniform it doesn't make me any difference. Because I dont care if you got on nine uniforms, and 100 badges. When you step outside the realm of legality and into the realm of illegality, then I feel that you should be arrested." And I told him, "You being what they call the law of entrapment, you tried to make me do something that was wrong, you encouraged me, you tried to incite me to shoot a pig. And that ain't cool, Brother, you know the law, dont you?"

I told that pig that, I told him "You got a gun, pig?" I told him, "You gotta get your hands up against the wall. We're gonna do what they call a citizens arrest." This fool dont know what this is. I said, "Now you be just as calm as you can and don't make too many quick moves, cause we don't wanna have to hit you."

And I told him like he always told us, I told him, "Well, I'm here to protect you. Don't worry about a thing, 'm here for your benefit." So I sent another Brother to call the pigs. You gotta do that in a citizen's arrest. He called the pigs. Here come the pigs with carbines and shotguns, walkin' out there. They came out there talking about how they're gonna arrest Chairman Fred. And I said, "No fool. This is the man you got to arrest. He's the one that broke the law." And what did they do? They bugged their eyes, and they couldn't stand it. You know what they did? They were so mad, they were so angry that they told me to leave.

And what happened? All those people were out there on 63rd Street. What did they do? They were around there laughing and talking with me while I was making the arrest. They looked at me while I was rapping and heard me while I was rapping. So the next time that the pig comes on 63rd Street, because of the thing that our Minister of Defense calls observation and participation, that pig might be arrested by anybody!

So what did we do? We were out there educating the people. How did we educate them? Basically, the way people learn, by observation and participation. And that's what were trying to do. That's what we got to do here in this community..

A lot of people get the word revolution mixed up and they think revolutions a bad word. Revolution is nothing but like having a sore on your body and then you put something on that sore to cure that infection. And Im telling you that were living in an infectious society right now. Im telling you that were living in a sick society. And anybody that endorses integrating into this sick society before its cleaned up is a man whos committing a crime against the people. "

right or left, we're hanging by our underwear

whether we want to believe we can 'return' to prosperity by reversing social progress & turning our backs on each other- or that we can move forward towards it by expecting our government to bootstrap a whole new healthcare, banking, infrastructure, education, foreign policy or energy paradigm with us: no matter what we want to believe, we're all in effect receiving a giant atomic wedgie from the powers that be.

Myths We Try So Hard to Believe

david sirota riffs on the recent gulf oilpocalypse-

"We know that before the disaster, President Barack Obama recklessly pushed to expand offshore drilling. We also know that his Interior Department gave British Petroleum’s rig a “categorical exclusion” from environmental scrutiny and, according to The New York Times, “gave permission to BP and dozens of other oil companies to drill in the Gulf without first getting required [environmental] permits.” Worse, we know that after the spill, the same Interior Department kept issuing “categorical exclusions” for new gulf oil operations, and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar still refuses “to rule out continued use of categorical exclusions,” as The Denver Post reported (heckuva job, Kenny!).

Undoubtedly, had this been the behavior of a Republican administration, “The Left’s” big environmental organizations would be scheduling D.C. protests and calling for firings, if not criminal charges. Yet, somehow, there are no protests. Somehow, there have been almost no calls for the resignation of Salazar, who oversaw this disaster and who, before that, took $323,000 in campaign contributions from energy interests and backed more offshore drilling as a U.S. senator. Somehow, facing environmental apocalypse, there has been mostly silence from “The Left.”"

redplumjam project garden sequence initiated

i made a tiny raised bed for my garden this year- with some scraps leftover from renovating my garage space into a workshop. my neighbors allow a common compost just on the other side of a waist high fence- which keeps my dogs out & the birds well fed-

another step toward a more sustainable self- that happens to also be part of a much larger unsustainable culture.

The Drones Delivered by Democracy

speaking of this culture, mine- sustained on massive weapons sales & brutal, hi-tech military action abroad- and domestically we've outsourced everything but exotic economic shell games, catering to the rich and entertainment-

so- speaking as a lover & connoisseur of conflicted self-cancelling sensational urges: i propose this reality television series:

Gangsta Rules Texas Shark Cage Death Match Over a Pit of Vipers Hidden by Mustard Gas.. MILITARY SHOWDOWN!!

superdicktacular right?

we could break it down to individual units- black ops death raids specialists for instance- we could pit them against 'some dudes' from blackwater in a control room with livefeed drones..

you see where i'm going here. get all the military branches & subunits involved as well as the contractors. there could be a big prize they're fighting for or not- really it doesn't matter too much. there will be interest & viewership & therefore good sponsorship- ensuring continued military funding, research & no-bid contractor royalties. super-kick-ass all around.

think of how peaceful the rest of the world might become.. shoot, we might even be able to get Israel or Iran on the show, maybe North Korea- aaww yeeeah. they could flex some muscle, be cheered on & paid all at the same time: in a 'controlled remote arena' of some sort- perhaps a space station to add to the potential risks. Virgin Mobile might sponsor that now- anyhow, still working out those bugs..

i'd much rather see that scenario play out than for those drones to become used by police forces domestically- yikes.

i'll leave you with a couple of viewpoints about our future as collections of much smaller and sharper-witted sustainable communities- which is probably more likely to come to bear than the Military Showdown Show:

A Mindset to Start Adopting About Local Relationships

Videos: Building a Small Sustainable House

the eichmannization of culture

'what?'

radio voice: as a citizen of the USA you have a lot of say in what happens in this world! but you know, there are some that feel overwhelmed, ineffective, or powerless with regard to what happens in our name. are you happy with or do you give much thought to the way we deliver democracy to ourselves? how about our military role in the middle east? do you think it will bring those countries a good democracy like ours? with the 2010 elections coming- these will be the first bonafide state sanctioned corporate owned elections- do you still feel empowered and in control of your country's destiny? of CIA operations, of rendition flights, of drone attacks, of guantanamo or baghram, or your own citizenship? do companies like Blackwater, Chevron, Coca Cola, or BP keep our best interests in mind when making operational decisions? does your authority over these matters give you comfort and a clear vision of an environmentally & economically stable future for your children?

'look: i'm tired after work, my kid's a diabetic, i've got heartburn from my dollar menu meal, i'm trying to enjoy this can of PBR before i make dinner, clean the kitchen, pay bills & fold laundry. get it, weird radio voice?'

radio voice: ha ha! so nihilism & schizoprenia have become the norm in the USA for anyone with enough time or energy to pay attention. instead of dealing with this directly, may of us seek continual distraction. these conditions, along with the accompanying low regard for 'society' have been fertile ground for [myopic, self serving, resource consuming, population exploiting, environmental hazard creating, & now with free speech-$] corporations to bloom and flourish.

radio voice: ..so perfectly seamless- see, there's no disconnect because we're all disconnected now!

BP Annointed Eichmann of the Moment

And Have a Great Day!

virtual living without cerebral interference

this article had a great point, but for the life of me i can't think of a single related anecdote. i will likely forget this completely by the end of the day.

"Simply put, our culture is hostile to thinking and talking. About the only American environment where discussions are encouraged, or just made possible, is the university, but these are conducted mostly by people without dirt under their fingernails, hence the gross disconnect between the academy and the rest of us.

In Italy, there's a quaint custom known as the passegiatta. For a couple hours before dinner, people actually hang out or walk around their local square. This bonding and soothing practice embraces even foreigners. This is not possible here because we don't have the proper spaces. Our few squares are landscaped, with paths dictating traffic, unlike an open piazza that encourages congregrating and loitering, that allows free movement and wide vistas. In most American localities, there are no squares at all, only shopping mall food courts."

Marketers Made Me Into a Meathead

gallup poll interested in my banking experiences?

my bank was concerned about whether or not my teller was obsequious enough: if she laughed hard enough at my jokes, if she made me feel like 'one of us'.

"can i talk about the goons they sent to strangle kittens in front of my children?"

"sir, while your concern does seem legitimate, that's not in the scope of this poll..

now can you tell me on a scale of 1 to 10..."

she did get frustrated with me and let me go eventually. i felt just barely vindicated somehow even though this poor woman had nothing to do with banks really. hell, she probably had to take that job for one monetarily hamstrung reason or another too.

the fact that a board meeting takes place in a room with paid executives & marketing directors- they decide on this plan to search for just a narrow band of customer feedback to see how they're doing in our eyes:

-did the teller kiss your ass?-

shows such an obvious disconnect between corporate self awareness and everyday experience. they don't know that it's bad to kill kittens in front of children, and then they think that a good nose in the butt from a stranger will fix things right again & even make me loyal.

"does this office ever get cleaned? my wastecan is almost full."

you're changing the subject.

everything you can think about yourself is not you at all

when we get down to it, we are the experiencers of many thoughts or activities or feelings. many of these are disconnected little pavlovian circuits that we perform at given intervals or circumstances or stimuli- yet some are connected in intelligent, cultural or maybe spiritual ways. and in some of these matters we are given enough positive feedback to start to identify with these external things or concepts- and before you know it, we start to think we know what we're doing in this little personal, fictional, conditional, insular world.

it's a good thing to get back in touch with this experiencer, this detached witness- that will still suffer & hunger like the rest, but with less whining & self-absorption. these will be good traits to adopt because soon you're going into the first grade, and your little world is getting bigger & weirder. i made you these cliff's notes to get you up to speed:

No One Cares We Are At Perpetual War or that Our Government is a Corporation

emergency rations for wars that go nowhere in 2010: 33 billion. any rations for infrastructure, transportation, social services, green jobs, real public education: none sorry.

Cover Up What We Do in Afghanistan, etc-

dead bystanders & innocents are always much cooler in video games. remember to dehumanize your enemy. keep your military milestones vague & far enough out that they never materialize.

Seems Obama Doesn't Want to Mess Up a Good Thing

citizen wiretaps & indefinite detention become totally necessary once one becomes the president evidently.

Did Good ol'No Bid Haliburton Blow up the Deepwater Horizon?

the posterchild of F squad performances. let the market take care of the world. outsource intelligence. let us finally become a nation of boobs.

and yet i digress again, but see i told you first grade was going to be a shocker.

please remember that even though all of this happens in our name {USA}- whether by choice, apathy, or squirming regret- even though we are the richest and we use the most- even though our democracy has 30% voter turn out when it's lucky- nobody knows what a dollar is worth or what is really in our food or recognizes our institutional racism or classism- we don't even notice our growing wealth disparity. [is it not polite to mention?]

but as we were saying earlier, even though all of this is a caricature of you [of us]- none of this is you or even comes close. this happens to be the scene you find yourself observing on the first day of first grade: and here you have some ethics choices to make- the easy path is least rewarding. remember about the whining & self-absorption. i'll be back to pick you up after-

'drill baby, oh you've gotta be kidding me'

an oil rig exploded in the gulf of mexico last tuesday killing eleven. a serious leak on the gulf floor 5000 feet below currently spills 42000 gallons of oil per day. rough seas above have curtailed repair efforts.

"The explosion came almost three weeks after President Barack Obama unveiled plans for a limited expansion of U.S. offshore oil and gas drilling. The explosion did not affect U.S. oil markets."

The Old Paradigm Works Just Fine for Now

.. howevermuch it could benefit the whole world to make some drastic changes. a funny parable i heard in a recorded dharma talk: a scientist's eminence is directly related to the amount & extent of obstruction he &/or his idea exerts on all other research in that field..

people believed in their hearts that the earth was flat at one point.

don't we have somebody checking on that kind of stuff? too bad we hate ralph nader now. too bad van jones questioned the intent of his government. too bad brainwashing populations has become so easy and commonplace.

maybe they'll find some more oil, but then what? less expensive flat screen tv's?

'what do we want? CLIMATE CHANGE! when do we want.. wait'

those little sissy countries that can't take a few degrees of net temperature gains or a few more feet of ocean can just have their little climate accord if they want. we'll stop sending aid to their poor little a**** & watch them cry about melting glaciers they depend on. yeah! USA! USA!

"the United States made clear that it didn't need small countries like Bolivia to be part of a climate solution. It would negotiate a deal with other heavy emitters behind closed doors, and the rest of the world would be informed of the results and invited to sign on, which is precisely what happened with the Copenhagen Accord."

Good Article by Naomi Klein on Climate Summit in Bolivia

'ah, forget about the people: you'll see, we'll just scare 'em silly'

nice 3 card monte game going on in national politics- and the rapt media is there to gloss over all the discontinuity- oh that's their job- alright then, these guys do it great:

Two Cheers for Obama's Nuclear Summit

'um well see, we're about to need another 34 billion in emergency military supplemental for the perpetual wars, so we wanna get you good & freaked out to make you forget you're too poor to keep spending like this..

on things that go nowhere. by the way, are the bankers good on pillows? oh- and watch out that bridge is falling on you.'

drill baby, oh crap- nothing to see here!

dang- there's a tanker grounded & leaking fuel oil near the great barrier reef- at least this sort of thing won't happen with Clean Coal- just click your heels three times if you don't know what that is.

Chinese Tanker Takes Unguided Shortcut

will musical chairs [with oil reserves serving as the chairs] be the primary energy policy of all sovereign [now rogue energy starved] nations? are we surrounding iran with military bases & arsenals with borrowed funds because they've got the second largest oil field in the world? who will profit from that conflict? will there be any clean air or fresh water for them?

who's taking the long view on this stuff?

community activism will knock you out!

of your fatalistic-chic neg-jadedness & challenge you to make something of your actual self and your community. what a gas, right?

right here in richmond, part of a lecure series titled World Changing on april 7 the lovely & talented Lisa Taranto will be presenting at Tricycle Gardens HQ- the topic of the lecture & discussion is Permaculture. for info & pricing call 804 231 7767 or visit

Tricycle Gardens presents World Changing Forum

then in the beginning of the summer, there's 2 big events being held in detroit:

june 18-20: Allied Media Conference has hands on lectures and workshops about how to start & even build your own radio station, wireless network, etc. from a budget-challenged community activist point of view.

Allied Media Conference 2010

june 22-26: U.S. Social Forum is a grassroots community grown vision of what globalism with a lower case 'g' can be about- using Detroit as an example of how it's being done.

U.S. Social Forum 2010

here's a good question: will Richmond [or the United States even] be able to create more 'good old days' for generations to remember, or was that it for us?

a whole lotta people holding their breath for a long long time

is not exactly a solution to our economic problems. will big gov just tell us to become austere & eat upholstery after the banks & health insurance bailouts? [at taxpayer expense]

Here's Hoping for a Magic Bullet

i'm not holding my breath.

new redplumjam website is squeezably soft now with 3X more portfolio!

from the trompe l'ouile main photo to the variety & quality of the content to the super-tight registrations & presentation of material- al schaub proves that too far is sometimes way the f- over there and damn if it don't look good still. come and get it.

Redplumjam Redesign March 2010

honest to goodness art made by hardworking [sometimes very dirty] hands.

now even more exquisite redplumjam propaganda

new rehash from the minister of unusual services:

so do we have too many nukes to fail?

as a unit- us- our country flails with a corporate owned government making ridiculous foreign policy decisions for myopic short term gain for certain businesses- with bloated military/contractor appropriations & increased arms deals, normalizing obvious human rights violations & leaving irradiated battlefields- while at home wealth disparity is on the rise- we have failing banking/infrastructure/education/social services/viability- eating very ill sterioded animal flesh and other pesticide laden factory farm foods so that every third kid born [in the U.S.] after 2000 is slated to be a diabetic- all of this amidst a climate crisis that we had a large hand in creating.

is it a wonder that the rest of the world might see a chink in the armor?

Pushing Our Buttons

do we want war and its accoutrements to be our main export? what can we sustain & why?

U.S. Weapons at War

while i agree that the absurd level of citizen-apathy and dearth of resolve that one encounters standing in line or sitting in traffic can be a real buzz kill for any citizen-activist: i do assert that a strong citizen driven grassroots movement propelled easily/inexpensively/democratically/transnationally online- could be the thing that saves more than just the world's richest 1%.

remember: wake up america! means go to sleep

liberty means buy stuff, and more than you can afford. become mesmerized [or better yet be glazed over] by the dramatic presentation of a democracy-like process that governs us. when you're done with your nuk-nuk we've got an iphone for you.

why aren't the democrats any different?
a cool blog about becoming our government

maybe it doesn't seem that crazy yet. but to live sustainably in the next 50-100 years, life will sure be looking a whole lot different very quickly. the successful people will have a strong grassroots foundation, right?

the few, the scarred, the old-timey vert skaters

jay henry [jim shezlick] is in town from DC this weekend- last night larry glover, bubba martin, the two of us & some friends went to see SUZUKITON at gallery 5 last night-

sure there were other bands playing, but we there to soak up some bill rose. afterward we sauntered over to cous cous for their skate nostalgia bingo nite- where the MC even bought us drinks & introduced us as great heroes from another era. it was not difficult to pick up inertia or entourage from that point on. i even got a checkerboard vans velcro wallet.

so then some poor fella had a grand mal seizure right there in cous cous- [larry & bubba took charge & the paramedics came fast], but our mood could not be shaken. so perhaps before the rest of the room was ready- larry made a wisecrack that didn't go over well with some- & then [holy crap] jay got thrown out for defending his right to be a smart ass. awesome- we were getting warmed up.

we took that show over to patrick henry pub for night caps & actually had a good [behaviorally socially acceptable] time in that crowded little place too.

these guys are my heart & soul. to whatever degree i possess any useful or desirable traits, all of them had their beginnings in that unlikely crucible of Quality we created together riding skateboards. that community is my generous heart, creativity, perseverance & wisdom. learning the little wheel saved me from the mediocre. it made all other lessons easier to learn & manage-

what are you doing & why? just staying on the line & falling off of it. paying attention to physics lessons. what's important? being in the flow of the universe.


it's about coming of age-
it's about learning how to experience things
the way they ought to be experienced.
it's about learning how to do it.
it's about picking your shit up off the floor.
it's about being a butthole surfer-
it's about doing promotional work.
it's about what we are- all these things.
it's about loving yourself
loving your mum
going to the go cart track.
your kitty
the catfood
the little bits of crayon
the melted pieces
the loving friends
all the things you wish you had-


yep- thanks for the memories guys.

fearless americans herded & united by fear of wind up toys

sorta like factory farming with people's wills instead of livestock's flesh- with this built in irony: as we stand behind a certain line, empty our pockets, get our belongings searched, scanned, some of it discarded or thrown out, pee in cups, go without healthcare for lack of funding, etc- we're told that we're #1, and most of us believe it at face value. how much do you sacrifice for fear? do we fear shedding light on the topic? could we consciously fight against our 'culture' as it is marketed to us?

The Underwear Bomber's Amazing Superpowers

is it the stress of living in a shell game of a physical & ideological existence that makes us crazy enough to hold all of this up & call it continuity? commentator? hold for commercial.

time for work anyway.

consumers, detainees & refugees agree: coke is it!

the amazingly huge disconnect between what we say we stand for as a country- what we think of as our moral fiber- the things we vote for and argue about in the square [square?]- and the actuality of our existence is at an all time high. all the smart people are tuning out, keeping their heads down, concentrating on family and community- some of them have jobs.

The Indispensable Public

the impetus for all of our wars- the very holy and high point from which we stand- while judging all other countries or patriots or despots in word or action- that high moral standard is nowhere to be seen in our official domestic policy, foreign policy, unregulated financial piracy, untouchable corporate swagger, illusion of two party politics, or treatment of humans or animals or even the planet.

Ladies and Gentlemen: This is Your President!

the resulting very large causual nebula [VLCN] that we all contend with in trying to construct meaningful lives around this madness intellectually- add the fact that we are ingesting this same exact madness in factory food--- which gives rise to all kinds of illnesses and and insanities and mania-.-.- even this rant. [the poor fellow that writes this is pretty bad off]

so what i'm suggesting is this: there's 300 million americans- duped and foolish though we are- [that's a lot of fools fool!] let's roll them out of town in wheelbarrows. throw the bums out!

money, borders, property, laws- these are all popular constructs- social fiction. we all believe in them so they're real. we believe in them so they govern our behaviors. now if banks, corporations and the body politic used the same 'personal' barometers we'd be fine, but they don't. we've gotten too used to this part of our disconnect. you see the rules apply to your behaviors but not to your oppressor-hypnotist lender buddy [OHLB].

the good part is our old friends in the last american revolution [not the chevy revolution] gave us a constitution and a bill of rights that still exists in real life as well as our collective memory. we don't have to build a whole new ideology- we don't have to reinvent the wheel.

you want shock and awe? how about 300 million americans in the streets with torches? i think we can still all afford that- maybe that will scare the windmills enough to give us a fighting chance.

"Ho, there, foul monster! Cease the knocking at thy craven knees and prepare to do battle!" - Don Quixote

thug rules shark cage death match sunday!!!

ok pal, you're next!

great seats for the wealthiest apocalyptically-inclined .07%- plus some lawmakers & legislators: once just a narrow band on the population charts, this brand of homo sapien is ready to leave a mark on this planet. either through biblical certitude, myopic greed, or psychotic fear of failure- now that all of the chips are in the fewest hands-+- they're ready to watch the rest of us be shredded as quickly as possible:

RoboLobbyist Lays Down the Law

did you remember to floss?
and did you bring your list with you?

the ocean is no man's land-
the earth is a dumping ground-
monsanto makes all of the seeds-
animals are food product-
life is a carnival-
people want to be fooled-

ha ha-
yes everyone seemed to like the last one best.
now put this on & adjust the chinstrap- good.
alright- here's your spear and your flippers-
it's going to be just like what we talked about- have fun!
-i've gotta leave before the chamber's full of water,
but i'll be right outside the door if you need anything, k?

old school's rude tools made crude jewels for you fools

ahem- i apologize for calling you the name up there right off the bat- it just rhymed so well i have to stick with it no matter what the outcome. nothing personal, right? it's for art.

.._from the redplumjam archive_..

here's 3 i tidied up for you to see- as redplumjam is of an age that will require two digits to record- these and other older shots are now admissible as 'fresh old material'. these first three i actually like looking at:



this simple sconce is clearly a clamp lamp on a rebar outrigger. pretty darn cool right? that's redplumjam 1999 y'all. all my stuff was MDF, zipties & rebar then. photo: John Langford Photography



here's a coffee table in walnut & red oak- designed in austin for an architect with a toddler circa 2001. six legs: can't knock it over. cammi & i are still friends on LinkedIn even. photo: John Langford Photography



and a detail shot of some casework & carpentry, again in austin all to WoodEye Construction & Design's specs. from 2004-2005. Garland Turner's got so much soul woodworkers be like yo'.
photo: John Taylor

lil' bonus: here's my squirts- [also geting old now, still easy on the eye] a shot taken by my good friend and artist ed gross a little over a year ago. we were neighbors at the time & set up the shot on my [also old] truck. i held treats while he clicked the photos. of course you notice the mezmerizing dust collector in the background- it belongs on an album cover somewhere. lynn crounse will agree.

funny that all this stuff is old school for me historically, and early in my design education as well, but design-wise all of it is very modern-looking, challenging or even outlandish [retail-relegated anyway] through a richmond, va lens.

what is old school? simple, temporary, improvised, imaginative, sometimes engrossing-
people making tools to improve their lives. sometimes planned sometimes stream of consciousness.
usually having nothing to do with how anything looks. incidental. now THAT's old school i can identify with. the dust collector in my dogs photo is a perfect example of this. my dogs are a perfect example of this!

ok- one last nod to days past, i'll leave you with a quote by Lily Tomlin:

"i always wanted to be somebody, but now i realize i should have been more specific."

no- yeah- just like that!

my coddled identity and why reality sucks

them. the ones whose words you use when you think you're having an original thought:

'this observation is a cleverly placed advertisement.' or 'i am fundamentally absorbed in my own entitlement.'

look for all the product placement in this self-directed movie of your mediated life. how has consumerism shaped your 'self' and what you identify with?

to what degree do you think your rejection of this blatant system- to whatever degree you have rejected it- is actually in line with another group whose values or brand is more like 'you'?

experimentally, can you successfully separate yourself from all brands?

too much thinking too many words?
right, tell me about it.

you need to buy this movie more every day don't you?

there there. i've got some good news for you: the good folks at History is a Weapon have printed Edward Bernay's PROPAGANDA from 1928. bernays was one of the original titans and champions of public relations- this material is the pitch and the playbook used to make us into the flesh eating zombies [i mean good-hearted americans] that we have become today. i read this book and gave it away a few years ago:

Propaganda 1928, Bernays

History is a Weapon

my roomate saw me drinking a coke today & since i write about crap like this- in his mind- it just didn't compute.

see, i'm a flesh eating zombie like you.

brahman [everpresent, conceptually exotic] also means exhale in english

often, an obtuse or abstract concept is put into familiar language enough for ordinary people to recognize and respond.

marketers & political strategists do most of this type of work these days-

back when mainstream investigative journalism was in vogue, quite a bit of it was done there-

in europe and america there was a time when churches were the main repositories of information and literacy. you see where i'm headed: all these people have historically shaped our official collective social and political landscape. and some of them will continue to. the movers with the clout.

here i shouldn't forget the musician, the poet, the artist, the athlete, the scholar or the ascetic-
-the blogger too-

we can generously ascribe a 6 or 7% cultural influence factor on these folks.

-given their often compelling and brilliant contributions- and lack of persuasive capital- you'll probably agree this group generally doesn't gain much widespread popular traction.

you'd pay to know what you really think! - J.R. Bob Dobbs

- so, back to brahman- the ground upon which all phenomena arises & returns- is an exhale. a let go. an unguarded submission. very natural. cellularly instinctual. already a part of our everyday experience.

and yet for us in the U.S. there are few more esoteric pursuits than making this connection.

the brahman experience- the subsequent ethical growth, and recognition of causual connection & culpability- not to mention the good character & light heart you build from selflessly helping all those people in your new big family [trans blood-race-nation]: these are all lost on us.

these concepts and subsequent empathy remain large and unattainable still-

for the most part we ascribe them to Jesus and the godliness that resided in him- this way our connection stays vicarious and through the recitation of these amazing ancient stories only. this holy but remote location gives us no direct contact with this intelligence-

that could also live in us- when we're ready to reach? are we not ready to reach?

-the bonus is we are allowed to retain our more indulgent primate characteristics- as long as we're adequately ashamed of them and renounce them with repetition.

"ah yeah- i'd like just one Jesus please, and hold the personal trip."

[sorry- speaking of indulgences i pick on USA brand christians too often]

so then the point to my diatribe [finally]: this extra perspective we have culturally opted out of is exactly what we happen to be longing for- and hoping to find- in catalogs and drugs and extra marital affairs- and hoarding natural resources. this missing perspective is the horn that marketers lead us around by, that advertisers hone & sharpen, and that we gore each other with when our leaders tell us to.

using a prescribed combination of words can make us hate a stranger, an ethnic group, a religion, a world leader, a homosexual, a social movement, etc. actual content is not as important as language used in the delivery. this is how we are manipulated like children.

it is difficult but rewarding to make the effort to separate oneself from these systemic prejudices.
our earnest struggle will make it easier for the person next to us, as well as the next person on this path.
there will be more.

perspective changes everything.
apply some consciousness to that ignorance.
go get 'em tiger!