Holding Forth

Things are in motion. Living in Madison, WI, as of this coming Monday. Working for a senior citizen summer school program, as of this coming Tuesday. Plans for art shows are in the works. Routine and INCOME on the horizon. It feels good to be grooving ahead. A little accelerated living is order. LushProduction is almost complete as well.

This past weekend was one of natural wonder. I made sauerkraut and apple cider, harvested raspberries and tomatoes, and spent a lot of time outside. Such things feel intrinsically healthy, and the benevolent effects of such activities are not to be underestimated.

Too bad so many of us underestimate them…me included.

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White words whizzing across the printed page, lo-fi audio blaring conceptual delusion, anointed art dripping in the baptismal waters of “cultural center” springs. Record, write, code, speak, do whatever, just do it NOW!! The records must be made for it is your personal trail of triumph that is marketable, and only that. The time for rigor has sunken into the depths of the infocean. “Infocean” needs to be blogged about, recorded for posterity…done (LINK). The game is to produce with enough accuracy so the real world reflects some of the proposal while maintaining enough vagueness allowing for the necessary shape-shifting in the face of the next cultural shift—to stay relevant. Passé equals no airtime, and that is the proverbial media death. One might as well go back to the woods for that is not the way these witches play. Relevance is the only measure…but what is relevant, and to whom? Please, tell me.

I am guessing that if you made it here, you have noticed the name change. Maybe I should have given some warning, but you know, it happens.

LushWiki is my newest little foray into Web 2.0 software, and by its intrinsic nature, you too can participate. Ahh, yes. The wonders of digital age!

There is nothing of importance at the link yet, but it is a tool waiting in the wings to be applying in loving ways. Should you, a Lush reader find instance to blather into the cybersphere, please feel free to use this soap box. I do reserve the right to edit/delete inappropriate content (Sammy).

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If I were a betting man, I would say this sort of mentality will come into fashion within the next 10-20 years, and with it will come creative and academic thought. It won’t be the only thought, but there are opportunities here.

Theory of the hands–a beautiful thought.

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The Case for Working With Your Hands

By MATTHEW B. CRAWFORD
The television show “Deadliest Catch” depicts commercial crab fishermen in the Bering Sea. Another, “Dirty Jobs,” shows all kinds of grueling work; one episode featured a guy who inseminates turkeys for a living. The weird fascination of these shows must lie partly in the fact that such confrontations with material reality have become exotically unfamiliar. Many of us do work that feels more surreal than real. Working in an office, you often find it difficult to see any tangible result from your efforts. What exactly have you accomplished at the end of any given day? Where the chain of cause and effect is opaque and responsibility diffuse, the experience of individual agency can be elusive. “Dilbert,” “The Office” and similar portrayals of cubicle life attest to the dark absurdism with which many Americans have come to view their white-collar jobs.

Is there a more “real” alternative (short of inseminating turkeys)?

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Full article here.

If this blog is to survive (there are doubts), I need to get an more formal online agenda. Let me enumerate what I see as my options:

1) Let it rot slowly like now. Post randomly and infrequently. This would require little work and actually fits the statistics: most blogs are highly active for 30-16 months…that is about how long I was into writing here.

2) Formally lay the blog to rest. This offers closure and space to move on. Maybe it is time to break up for good, to take some time alone, and see what else the world has to offer. I will always have the memories.

3) Revitalize “Rants”. This would require me to rediscover an interest, reason, or rational as to why I want to share my life with you people in the first place. I mean really, why blog? (Disclaimer: I have been reading about blog theory–I have some unanswered concerning with blogging.) There are other, less publisizing, modes of comunication that I currently make use of. Is the blog a good personal investment of time? Is it a release? It is self-affirming act? Is it a waste of time? Who are you people?!!!

5) Revamp/reformat “Rants.” In this scenario, “Rants” as an avenue of thought would likely be rendered an archive in my blogging history and another blog would be born. This has benefits because I have some things I would like to spout off about concerning technology, society, philosophy, etc, but if that is the case, I think placing a period at the end of the chapter called “Rants” before writing the next one would be useful. It is nice to change clothes once and awhile. A perceived clean slate can be inspiring.

So yeah. That is what comes to mind at the moment. Considering the audience (you) here as severely decreased in my lackadaisical blogging efforts, this entire entry is basically a bullhorning to the ether. Until a decision is reached, “Rants” will follow item number 1) on the list that being: it will rot. :-)

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