Thursday I enjoyed a day of walking, as I often like to do on my days off. I went for a nice stroll along the waterfront; I took in the touristy sights and enjoyed the salt breeze. I’ve been trying to think of places and events that Susana might enjoy when she visits and that’s one place we’ll likely go. It’s so typical of Nova Scotia’s tourist draws, though. This province is marketed (perhaps rightly so) as a sea-going land, but it’s definitely richer culturally and geographically (though I’ll admit my favourite place in all of Canada is the fossil and stone-rich coast near Parrsboro).
I next visited the library for some bookwormish delight and was not let down. I’m thrilled that libraries here are now stocking the shelves with some great graphic novels; I found Locus: A Love & Rockets Book and am looking forward to finally reading those stories after years of wanting to. I also borrowed Charles de Lint‘s A Handful of Coppers, a collection of his early work that I was likewise glad to find. Love libraries; they’re one of the finest universal social structures we have.
It seems that evening was prom night for some high school students. They were filling the public gardens in their finery and taking photos so I detoured to the adjacent cemetery rather than walk through that. I don’t know if I could choose one over the other; The gardens are beautiful, but the cemetery is incredibly peaceful and beautiful in its own right. I often notice interesting tokens left by people to honor their loved ones. In May I noticed that someone had left a jar of candies by one marker and I imagined it was left by a child for his or her kindly grandfather, who, when in health, had always kept candies of that type for the child when he or she visited. Those very personal touches are always heartwarming to me.
That evening I had two delicious new goods. I tried out popsicles made with real strawberries (it was warm out and I needed to cool down) and now I fear I’m hooked on those. Damn my sweet tooth for being my greatest weakness. I also made some vegetable samosas and liked them quite a lot. My switch to being a vegetarian (I’m now in my third month) has at the very least pushed me to try some wonderful new foods.
I’ve been a Linux fan for a couple years now, but my new laptop was having some trouble running the distros that I had used before (hardware recognition was the issue). I was quite pleased when I tried out Ubuntu, a version of Linux “for human beings,” and had everything work immediately.
So far I’m liking the setup very much, with only a few minor complaints. I certainly appreciate the approach used to make the OS and the strong community of support it has. If you’re looking to give Linux a try I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this one. It’s a great transitionary OS for those of us who’d like to be rid of Windows.
Thunder and lightning are crashing in the sky above me so I suppose it would be wise to post this wandering mess.
10 comments on “Crackle and Fork”
“Ubuntu” is an ancient African word, meaning “humanity to others”. Ubuntu also means “I am what I am because of who we all are”.
Yaa, that. When I bring it up I usually try to shorten it … “I am because we are” is the nearest I’ve come to something elegant.
It’d be interested to do an anthropological study that treated alternative social psychologies … we’ve been technocatic for so long that attitude effectively exhausts our imagination.
I really like the word. The second meaning is as nice an expression of human holism as I’ve encountered. I was thinking of “I am I because of We,” but your shortening is less obtuse sounding.
I’ve enjoyed learning of a lot of the African social structures. Have you read anything about the !Kung of the Kalahari? They’re a really facinating study of egalitarianism. I read in one book I found that for them social status is determined by who shares best and who is most jovial. I’d take a smile over a suit anyday to determine status.
“I am I because of We,” … nice try. Sure beats “inter-penetration” or “co-origination”! (Ain’t that symptomatic though? I wish I’d had the time to do a history of semiotics.)
“ Have you read anything about the !Kung of the Kalahari?“
Ohhhhhh yaa … folk-fest ummmm ’78 or so we had a workshop with a woman (who later became my clown tutor) who had learned their songs … talk about a treat!
I did ummmm social-anthro ummmm 2220? Anyhow, at Dal, about the Yanomame … hunter-gatherer nobility of a different sort.
One of the books I left behind in Hali was about an MD from the states who accepted a speaking engagement in Australia and ended up spending months on a walkabout with the aborigines. She went on to start a fabulous program for urban youth.
Dang … another book … basic anthro … dang.
*sigh* It’s 3AM … lemme see if I can shorten this anecdote.
Ok, so the anthro-type is sitting with an elder and some other villagers when “the big hunter” returns and he’s got 3 of those little antelope type thingies. Greetings are exchanged, it’s established that there’ll be a little feast, but not much more is said. (Gawd my neck is killing me.)
After the big hunter leaves the group, anthro-type queries the elder, “How come there was no todo about the meat? We’ve all been hungry for a while … why nothing more demonstrative?” “Well”, says the elder, “he really is great, and strong and able. But if we treated him that way it’d go to his head and he’d likely hold it over us.”
So, really, “egalitarianism” is entirely pragmatic. Dig? We tend to romanticise all of that, of course, because at a cognitive level those bourgeois values have given form to our schema … like having coloured contact lenses. /We/ tend to lumber those transactions with values while celebrating /them/ for not lumbering those transactions with those values huh huh huh …
You can see why I bring most everything back to the big question of consciousness.
thanks for this nice ending to a rather painful evening
BTW I wrote “Dang … another book … basic anthro … dang.” cuz I can almost remember the title. Yet another book I left behind. *sigh*
I remember reading that account before, perhaps in the same book I first discovered the !Kung in, Robert Allen’s Natural Man; it was a rather concise look at aboriginal peoples. One thing I find interesting is that some groups work as little as 3-5 hours a day on average while eating better and having a greater sense of contentment than most folks in wealthy parts. That ties into An Idler’s Life (which I’m sure you saw in) and the notion that most of us work in wasteful ways or for false aims while not being engaged in the mindset that makes work enjoyable.
That account could easily have made its way into the literature; it really was from an anthropologist’s field work. (I’ve been trying to recall the title … it might be “Return to Laughter” or something like that.)
Sure … 3-5 hours for uncertain subsistence. I take your point, and fully: I’m one of those who’ve been arguing (for decades) that we would be healthier as individuals and as communities if we acquired less. Parenthetically I wrote in the Edmonton LJ about new legistlation that allows the empoyment of even 12 year olds without special requirements … folk think that’s just fine. Doom is upon us.
I actually have not been visiting much lately … I’ve been finding the tenor of the discourse disheartening. I think my “mettle” is losing its “temper” … prolly exhaustion … after all these years as a communalist I find myself becoming resigned to a rather splendid isolation. (The phrase “fuck ’em” comes to mind, which doesn’t bode well.)
(I have always opted for “voluntary simplicity” and found myself a party of one, i.e. without community that posture lands one in abject poverty.)
Thanks for the link … a bit of synchronicity there, given the item I just posted there.
I remember reading about kids as young as 12 being able to work without requirements. I think that’ll only end up making it seem necessary for a lot of kids in poorer families to give up their childhood and start working too early. I think there’s a real benefit for young people to learn a strong work ethic early on (this coming from someone who raked blueberries every year from the time he turned 5) but there need to be guidelines to prevent exploitation.
Yeah, I’ve found a lot of the discussion in that community rather weak. I keep an eye out for interesting topics and links but I can certainly understand it being especially tiresome to someone more seasoned (I’m fairly new to Buddhism so there’s plenty I’m still picking up).
I’d have to agree with the bit you added at the end of your post over there; confusing idleness with simplicity and generally being outside the rat race is quite harmful. There’s some good stuff in the magazine but too much of it comes across as slackers’ apathy rather than methods for positively altering how we live.
“I remember reading about kids as young as 12 being able to work without requirements.“
*shrug* I dunno. The legislation here was front-page news.
If I’m disappointed by politics in Alberta (nothing new to that … thick-headed conservatism has actually been a blessing in disuguise; it hasn’t been brilliantly malevolent … incompetent rather than wicked) my blood has been curdled by how ineffective dharma has been. When I discovered the Vidyadhara’s writings (just over 25 years ago now) I thought there’d an upwelling of intelligent self-interest. All I’ve seen is wussie yuppyism and aristocratic elitism (two different currents).
Anyone who has surrendered their autonomy in the name of group membership is very quick to pick up on vibes … I can see a sort of puritanism becoming increasingly dominant, something like the “Protestant” dharma that was so successful in Sri Lanka.
This afternoon I let my mind float and saw a sangha that included a whole series of co-housing units, so that a person living a dharmic house-holder’s life could be communal, environtmentally intelligent, economical, and geographically flexible. The only thing missing is the slightest will. (It took barely more than a dozen of us to sustain a Zen priory.)
I don’t get it.
Just look at Glassman Roshi’s project … I wouldn’t call it a failure, but it has hardly become a commonplace in our communities.
I don’t get it.
But I see the same thing with drumming and RainbowFamily, soooooo …
the lightning was awesome last night….greg and I watched it from behind te apartment as it went around the Beford Basin. Pretty sweet.
It really was quite spectacular. I watched it over the lake and could see when it was striking things on the other side. It was certainly one of the more exciting storms I’ve been out in. Of course nothing beats the insanity of walking around in Juan with Nathan.