All work and no play…

J: Well that’s not entirely true. I suppose there’s some play here and there… but there always seems to be a lot of work! I hate that I’ve gone this long without writing something on this blog… That makes me sad and a little guilty. So let’s talk about just that in fact. Let’s talk about time management, and self-actualization. The word of the day is potential. A type of authenticity if you want to call it that. Why do so many people either coast through life and end up just dying at some point… the end… and others plug away their whole lives and seemingly get nowhere? Of course there are many people that make great changes, there are many who realize their potential, there are many who live happy fulfilling lives and you never hear a word about them, but there are also so many people who never quite “get it”. People who strive towards something, and just can’t ever quite attain it for some reason or another. I’ve been feeling a strain lately that I find interesting, but also a little unnerving. I consider myself blessed to be talented and capable. Sometimes though, it’s a curse and not always a blessing. I get jittery… anxious within my own potential. I have this strange sense that I’m doing well, and I love my job, but I could somehow be contributing more… Maybe in a small scale, perhaps a large one. It’s kind of an existential battle, but I think it’s something worth mentioning, because I think there are a lot of people that need to consider it!

What do we do? How do we, humans… creations of seemingly limitless potential… live up to that higher pull we feel? How do we realize our… you guessed it… “Potential”. I always used to hate that word “POTENTIAL”… it was like a verbal slap in the face. When I was growing up through my school years, I had so many well-meaning (and some notsomuch) teachers that would get frustrated with my inability to focus, sit still, not be bored to tears, etc… And come parent-teacher conference time, it was always “He’s got so much potential. If he could just _________.” I know so many people whom I’m sure have heard the same story in their youth, and perhaps are hearing it even now. But untapped potential is just devastating to me… It’s like some kind of prophecy that never gets fulfilled. “She could do great things!” But somehow she misses the mark and does nothing. I mean how sad is that? What if we don’t really know what our potential is? It’s like dropping a bomb on an enemy and never deploying the explosive mechanism… “Oh ya that bomb could easily wipe out that whole batallion! We just didn’t rig it to actually explode. It’s just a potential explosion…” I think our potentials, while stored in self, can be unlocked by others… I think that’s what needs to happen.

See! This isn’t all just me trying to vent or relive my youth… I have an actual point in this. I urge people to attempt to unlock the potential of others. I’ve found that when you help others realize their dreams, yours start to manifest as well. I guess what my question begs to know is how do we help one another realize ourselves. Not “how do we use other people to get what we want?”, but honestly… how can we encourage the realization of potential in others and simultaneously assist ourselves in realizing our own potential? I think the word that needs to be applied to potential, is DIRECTION.

I know a lot of talented people. I don’t know if it’s a result of seeking out those that remind me of myself (i realize my confidence is coming on pretty heavy right now), or if it can all be attributed to some cosmic draw. Some morphogenetic magnetism that draws “us” together. I always talk about finding ‘the others’, and I definitely think that has something to do with it. I have an encouragement though. A challenge. A desire. I want for people who find themselves in the same groups, people who find themselves tied by interests, desires, life-goals, etc. to sharpen each other. As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Proverbs something.

I think we need to start the friction that’s going to make something super-sharp. People need people. That’s a fact, but rather than butting heads or competing, I think we need to lay down our egos and work in conjunction to really make some undeniable change. Who’s with me? Who will sharpen me? Who can I sharpen? How can we move in a direction that will ultimately lead in the realization of our potentials? COME ON! Someone! Anyone? Bueller?

Fulfillment Through Philanthropy?

L: Give to others to get fulfillment. That’s what Nick Kristof suggests. In his recent column Our Basic Human Pleasures: Food, Sex and Giving, Kristof makes the argument that true happiness is found in volunteering to help others, committing yourself to bettering the world… leaving a legacy of philanthropy.

“The most selfish thing you can do is to help other people,” says Brian Mullaney, co-founder of Smile Train, which helps tens of thousands of children each year who are born with cleft lips and cleft palates. Mr. Mullaney was a successful advertising executive, driving a Porsche and taking dates to the Four Seasons, when he felt something was missing and began volunteering for good causes. He ended up leaving the business world to help kids smile again — and all that makes him smile, too.

I’ve come to the same conclusions myself. When I graduated college, the major goal I set for myself was to get back to Italy. I had studied abroad in Bergamo for one month after my sophomore year. Upon return to the States, I couldn’t get Italy (my first experience overseas) out of my head. I gave myself two years after graduating to achieve my goal and live in Italy. Two weeks after graduation day: I was on a plane headed for Rome. While working at a small television news agency, the true fairytale encounters of my life began. Visiting world-famous monuments and ruins. Cookouts and camping on the beach beneath an ancient castle for my 21st birthday. Dining with internationally-renowned singers. Working just outside of Vatican City five days a week. Weekend getaways to Tuscany and the Mediterranean. Italian romances… a truly enchanted life.

Yet, just three months into this fairytale and I started getting restless. What now?? So I upped the ante. Since my goal was achieved so quickly, I went for a major wager: travel to all 193+ countries of the world. In 2008, I visited 12 new countries and I have logged 22 countries to date. While I still have a long list of countries to visit, I’m already confident that I’ll achieve this goal just as easily as the last. Knowing this has simply made me thirsty for yet more. So, obviously, my deep-rooted passion for travel and cultural exploration still wasn’t cutting it… I was still just short of a truly fulfilling happiness. What was missing? Philanthropy.

As I continue on my mission to explore this wonderful little blue planet we call home I now look for more ways I can help others along the way. I’ve already had some success: I’ve raised more than $1000 on a personal friends and family campaign to help a missionary couple in Honduras. The couple used the money toward providing special improved stoves to a Chortí Maya community near the Honduran-Guatemalan border. The money also helped pay for the transportation needed for a young Chortí baby, Edwin, to get to a hospital hours away for a surgery to sew up the hole in his heart. I’ve written heaps of articles that not only highlight needs worldwide, but offer ideas on how others can get involved in helping. I am logging ideas for socially-conscious documentaries. I am writing proposals for socially and environmentally-conscious business ideas. I am now not only obsessed with travel, but with incorporating philanthropy and aid into the journey.

And you know what I’ve found? I’m no longer asking the big ‘Now what??’ Though I still get stir-crazy if I spend an extended amount of time in one locale, I have found a deeper tranquility and peace. I no longer feel that undefinable restlessness. I’ve already defined my “ultimate goal,” the one that truly satisfies me: Help others. My own life experiences have shown that Kristof and Mullaney are right. There’s more than a lifetime of need in this world. So the mission is endless. That, I believe, is what is so calming. I will never solve all the world’s problems, but I will live trying. Essentially, it’s a goal you know you can’t fully accomplish, but one you know will have most meaningful results simply by putting forth the effort…

To put it simply: I agree, philanthropy leads to true happiness.

I urge you to take up this mission yourself. Listen to this TED talk from Katherine Fulton for inspiration.

J: Pluck pluck pluck pluck pluck… You know what that sound is? You plucking my heartstrings. I guess you knew that going into this one though didn’t you? There is no greater self-help than helping others. I am kind of a jackass. I’ll admit that. It’s a personality trait… But I find so often that I’m incredibly content. I’m bitter about the government. I’m unhappy with the lives people let themselves live. I’m appalled at the lives some are forced to live. I’m saddened by how bad the world is… But I’m a very happy person. I seldom get mad, though I’m more stressed than 90% of the people I know. I think part of it is this: I have a job where I’m not only doing what I love, but I’m helping other people through it. I work for a company called Class Act Photography (shameless plug) and I have one of the most compassionate bosses anyone could ask for. She may not always be the smartest, what with the endless self-sacrifice and whatnot… bleh (jk)… but she runs a company that thrives on helping others get what they need. I’ve striven towards that for a long time, and working here has helped me achieve that. Perhaps not in the vast global manner I’d like to, but it’s at least letting me save up money so I can get out a bit more and actually launch some of my plans (this summer… US tour to help out the small towns… long story. Maybe another post) But regardless, I get to take pictures every day (and put up with a lot of crap too), but that means I get to make, on average, 100-200 kids a day smile. I know that what we do is provide an affordable service to great people and give memories that will last… at least as long as the paper it’s printed on. That to me is amazing. Ya, it’s helping me get by… and eat, but the real reward is the smiles! It’s knowing that kids are being positively effected in their day… and trust me… some of these kids don’t get that but maybe once a month.

Anyway, my work is rewarding for me, because though I bust my ass every day, I know that it’s helping people enjoy their days a little more… Done with the job thing.

Rome. I hate you for mentioning that. I’m going to move back there someday Laura… You know that. And you’ll have to come hang out. I spent five months there learning the language, gradually blending into the culture until the point where Romans were asking me for directions in fluent Italian (that’s not to say I answered them correctly all the time… I think the dark hair and large nose were good camouflage there). I spent most of my time there photographing everything I could see and helping people from my school (AUR) assimilate and learn as much as possible. I was hungry! What a history Rome has. We all know that, but there was a specific moment when I leaned over a guardrail and put my hand on the Arch of Severus… and I felt thousands of years of history, and the sweat of the workers whose hands put the stones down. It was extremely surreal. I had like a flashback to a different life. I knew the moment I set foot in Rome that I was at home. I won’t bore you with details, but I almost didn’t get on my plane back to the states. And when I did, they managed to steal my computer, my dad’s camera from college that I used to take all my photographs, all my lenses, my 6000 or so slides that I shot. It’s a long story, but it was a mixture of panic and theft… with a sprinkle of stupidity. Anyway.

Honduras… again Laura. Cruel. I miss my boys in Honduras. You must go check out The Micah Project and donate if you can. I spent a few summers working with these boys, lovingly referred to as the Micah Boys. These kids were once street dwelling, glue sniffing, trouble-making youths. Now a few of them have graduated college in the states. All of them are getting a great education. They’re off the streets, off the drugs and reaching out to help the community and their peers. Mike Miller is truly an amazing guy, and when he went to Honduras 10 or so years ago, I don’t think he could have ever expected to have such an astonishing impact. This guy was my babysitter when I was like three. I named my stuffed gorilla after him. That’s huge. He went down to help with the street kids initially, and shortly thereafter, hurricane Mitch ravaged a good part of Honduras. He ended up heading a huge effort to rebuild and reboot the communities. I believe there’s even a PBS special about his work with the community post-Mitch. Ok. The end for now.

jm

The Birth of Mentally Retorted

Since our little experiment of dual blogging is off the ground and running with a nice handful of posts behind us already, I figure I better post the exchange that started it all. The idea for Mentally Retorted was first conceptualized on Facebook.com. I posted a Facebook note, Justin responded… and the rest is history!

National Park Portraits

by Teresa Barry

“We need wilderness,” claimed the America writer Edward Abbey, “whether or now we ever set foot in it. We need a refuge even though we may never need to go there.”

On a wintry afternoon some years ago, I definitely needed to go there – or, more specifically, to get there. My family had driven hundreds of miles on unfamiliar highways, heading for a national park we’d long dreamed of visiting. On and on we pushed that final day, hour after hour, mountain after snowy mountain, looking for an open pass that would take us across the Sierra Nevada to Yosemite. After the third or fourth sign announcing yet another closed route, I began to doubt whether the park’s landscapes could possibly be so splendid as to make this trip worthwhile. Crossing the countless mountains just to reach a park with… more mountains? And then, in the warm light of the near-setting sun, we entered Yosemite Valley. I gasped at its matchless beauty. Each waterfall and pinnacle seemed more stunning thatn the las, and the snow, so worrisome on the journey, now enhanced the sparkle of this jewel of a park. Exquisite portraits form that day are forever imprinted in my mind.

Everyone lucky enough to have fallen in love with a national park can recall similar scenes. Whether caught on film or cherished in the “keep forever” recesses of memory…

“No temple made with hands can compare with Yosemite,” wrote John Muir, the naturalist whose crusading led to the creation of Yosemite National Park in 1890. Although the park is almost the size of Rhode Island, many visitors see only the valley with views of Bridalveil Fall and El Capitan. (Derek Von Briesen)

J: My aunt’s name is Teresa Barry. Seriously. Ok, that’s the end of that thought.

It’s interesting how so often we derive beauty from novelty. We can watch a beautiful scene in a movie, see a gorgeous painting, etc… but once we’ve seen that same thing a hundred or so times, there’s like a switch that flips on. Though we may continuously appreciate them, they lose some of that beauty. It’s the specific things that we can put a name on that fade somewhat over time.

But then there’s always things like peering out over a snow-encrusted valley for the first time… that’s novel. That’s beautiful because it totally challenges our sense of perception. It’s so new, and so different, that it has a heightened power. Not to say that everything new is beautiful, but i think that things we have no prior experience with always stand out a bit more than the run-of-the-mill stuff we encounter daily. I think we also gravitate toward vast things as being beautiful. It’s almost as though the smaller something makes us feel, the more respect we have for it, and that respect can be fed into the aesthetic beauty we derive from it. I know, for myself, when i look up at the stars, I don’t think ‘Wow… those actual individual stars are pretty.’ They’re just white dots on a black canvas. But there’s something much deeper than that that lies within their inherent overarching meaning. They are the heavens. They are the limitless bounds of our visual perception. You will never reach them. They are so much grander than you. That’s why parks are beautiful to me at least. They don’t have the rigid familiarity of a city street… and they’re so vast, that you can easily picture yourself getting lost in one. I remember standing in an evergreen forest once and thinking to myself: ‘Well we have these as our Christmas trees…. this shouldn’t be so beautiful.’ But the fact is, I’ve never had a million Christmas trees in my house at one point. The sheer volume was overwhelming. I was intrigued by how unfathomable the whole thing was. So, there is intrigue in just not knowing. Mystery is beautiful.

L: Beautiful Justin! And on most accounts I absolutely agree. The vast is mysterious and mystery is beautiful!

However, you wrote:

I think that things we have no prior experience with, always stand out a bit more than the run-of-the-mill stuff we encounter daily.

That is true for the most part, but, for us, the daily loses its luster not because it is daily and not “rare” so to speak. It’s simply the fact that we forget to really “look.” But I feel, that if we really do “look” we’ll always find that same sense of awe. No matter how many times we’ve seen it before or how many times it might appear in our “daily” life. There’s always more to discover, notice observe.

Example: I’ve seen ants I don’t know how many gazillion times in my life. But, one time, our house was having an ant problem. I didn’t want to kill them so I used organic dish soap to wreck their “scent trail” as a means of hopefully discouraging them from coming back. Some ants became encircled by the trail of soap though. And the next thing I knew… I saw them signaling too each other. I literally saw them wiggling their back torsos in a specific little wiggle. And they would use a front leg and raise it to their antennae, with a kind of wiping motion, over and over… i was fascinated! I watched them for a good half hour. These little ants! I have seen them all my life… but I had never really “looked!”

You also wrote:

I think we also gravitate toward vast things as being beautiful. it’s almost as though the smaller something makes us feel, the more respect we have for it, and that respect can be fed into the aesthetic beauty we derive from it.

I absolutely agree. But I gravitate just as much to the finite. My mom loves to tell me this story of when I was a toddler. We were at the beach and it was my first time. My mom kept trying to get me to look up and take in the vast beauty of the ocean. But I was too delighted and enthralled with a little insect making its away across what were, to it, mountains of sand. I kept pointing at it and laughing. Watching it and trailing it. I was totally enraptured with it even though the beauty of the vast ocean was before me. Now, I’ve had moments where I’ve been totally mesmerized by the ocean, the sky, a thick jungle that spreads beyond the horizon (just recently in Tikal!), volcanic giants fuming. Yet, I can still be as easily stopped in my tracks by the minuscule complexity and delicacy of the piston of a blooming flower, by the elegant curves and twirls in wood grain, by the fingernail thin veins of a leaf… by little tiny ants signaling with their legs and antennae.

J:Insect lover. You reminded me of an awesome Far Side cartoon that Gary Larson did. It’s just a guy lying on the floor with his legs and arms tucked in, and the caption is something along the lines of “Death of an entomologist.” I always thought that was brilliant. But I also have to add that even insects can be vast. They represent this network that is trillions of times bigger than the human network… and i love the philosophy of insects. To them, it’s probably just their nature, but the sacrifice evident in the insect world for the greater good of the community is enviable.

For instance, drone bees, to continue the colony, have to mate with the queen. It’s an airborne mating, and it requires the male bees genitalia to detach and rip out vital organs. So they mate, to continue the hive. Then while airborne, they commit sexual kamikaze and die. That’s serious sacrifice. I’m not saying we should follow that specific line of logic, but you know what I mean.

It’s also interesting how the very very minuscule can also make us feel small. I look at the quantum world, and it makes me realize that this interconnectedness renders any one individual tiny. That’s not to say that we can’t have great impact, but it’s completely dependent upon the other individuals. I dunno. Just thinking out loud now…

L: I think we should follow that logic… I nominate myself Queen Bee!!

heheheheheehehehehehehe

Thanks for sharing though… super interesting stuff!

Hey! We should start a blog together! We seem to rebound off each other so well. It could be a new trend. Not just blogging… but dual blogging!!

And, I’m not THAT into bugs!!!

J: Hey… this was good times… now can we move on? Haha. I jest. I do feel this conversation has ended however, and would love to see what else you have in store. You’ve got me worked up into thinking it’s going to be something good, so I’d love to hear it. In the meantime, I figured I’d post that poem I wrote here… that way I can be lazy in responding to this post, and give people some food for thought. From my mouth… into their food for thought… Regurgitated like a loving mother bird to her young… right…

and when the clock can tock no more,
then shall we enter through that door
into the land of severed time,
where tick and tock forever rhyme.
for tick shall circle through the cracks
and tock be found behind his back,
when both behind and yet ahead,
the fifth dimension, four will shed.

And feather light, but golden dense,
henceforth we march from march fourth hence.
And anthem play we, deaf and dumb,
of static-ripping silver hums.
When lame we falter, strong we walk.
for tick has died and with him, tock.
Though blind we stumble, clear we see
for now is now eternity.

So deftly now let’s claim this land
where time is measured not in sand,
but in the memories and dreams
that stitch together living seams.
in fabrics woven, worn but new.
and you are me and i am you.
a masterpiece of symmetry
for i am you and you are me.

a landscape now devoid of face,
with peace and love its native race.
we find ourselves, yet ‘self’ is ‘we’
no drop alone, but of the sea.
the waves and ripples allied shift,
and mountains form, and heavens lift.
and from our dreams, ideas bloom,
a consciousness inside a womb.

divinity shall course through veins,
and undertake its labor pains,
as children now, we all emerge
enlightenment our primal urge.
and as the lightning strikes below,
so shall our dreams and lyrics glow.
and as the thunder grows in strength
so does the pulse of our wavelength.

together now we synchronize,
while souls replace our blinded eyes.
and love replaces want and need,
as wiser beings’ words we heed.
so cast your worries, brave the fires,
and welcome in the funeral pyres,
that burn for tick, and burn for tock,
the door is open… now we walk.

JM

L: Beautiful poem J. I’m glad you shared it here. If you hadn’t… I would have. It is a very provoking poem. I think my favorite is the call to action at the end: “…now we walk.” March on my friend!

I also love:

enlightenment our primal urge.
and as the lightning strikes below,
so shall our dreams and lyrics glow

Update: I would like to add an interesting quote from Nick Kristof’s column published Jan 24th, since we did mention bees and all…

“Human beings are in some ways like bees,” Professor Haidt said. “We evolved to live in intensely social groups, and we don’t do as well when freed from hives.”

J: Not to mention… we’re also alike in that we’re dying off in freak ways because of people… I would just like to say a quick ode to honey. I have been asked before what I would take as my single food item onto an island… Honey. I think it’s the most brilliant thing ever. It’s regurgitated bee reserves, but I don’t care. We eat things that come out of chickens… you know what… Anyway. Honey is so beautiful. It’s colored perfectly. It has a sultry, sensual, and original consistency. It has that taste that makes your jaws tingle just a bit, but you can feel all the way down into your stomach. I actually like people less that dislike honey. I put honey on my pizza. Honey was found in tombs with Pharaohs… and it was still edible. It has no expiration date. The stuff comes in its own packaging… that is made of a hardened, slightly less tasty version of… honey! That’s like getting a bowl of ice cream in an ice cream bowl that doesn’t melt, but you can still eat. Whatever. Honey’s the greatest. Ok. I’m done.

The US/UN Killed the Haitians?

L: Is there Haitian blood on the hands of America? The hands of the UN? There are reports suggesting the 7.0 earthquake that rocked Haiti from just five miles below the Earth’s crust was caused by US/UN mining and oil digging. Ezili Danto has dug up some supporting info on the website Open Salon. And before you balk at the idea, please note that Danto is quite the credible source:

Ezili Dantò is an award winning playwright, a performance poet, political and social commentator, author and human rights attorney. She was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and raised in the USA. She holds a BA from Boston College, a JD from the University of Connecticut School of law. She is a human rights lawyer, cultural and political activist and the founder and president of the Ezili’s Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network (HLLN).

So, check out what she has to say. Eyebrow-raising to say the least:

Did the mining of Haiti’s riches since 2004 GW Bush regime change cause the earthquake? Listen to Ezili Dantò on mining Haiti’s riches and concern for environmental degradation by the foreign companies. (Read the transcript with reference links.)

The idea that human activity can cause seismic activity is widely accepted in the scientific community …the connection between oil production and earthquakes dates back to at least the 1920s, when geologists in South Texas noted faulting near the Goose Creek oil field…A 1967 human-triggered earthquake in western India linked to the Koyna Dam registered a 7.0 earthquake.

Danto goes on with her theory and provides an impressive amount of additional resources – enough to make one seriously wonder. Continue reading her thoughts by clicking here.

I also wonder: if the reported $8.4 billion the US gave Haiti in aid since 1980 somehow got tied up in all that oil business…

J: Man… That’s a tough one. I’m sure it did have something to do with oil. I don’t have much to say on it though, because of late, I’ve just been really sick of talking government. If I think of something more poignant, I’ll certainly chime in, but the way the DSA (i’m referring to the USA but i feel the D for divided is much more fitting) has handled… oh… everything… just makes me sad. I heard a comedian today joking today (as they’re wont to do) and he said some joke that ended “… because in America, we don’t learn about other countries in school…” Hit a little too close to home. They say if you know three languages, you’re trilingual… if you know two, you’re bilingual… if you know just one, you’re American. So ya. We’re probably responsible. That sucks. Just another country who’s way of living we’ve eradicated in one fell swoop. Who knew we’d bypass nuclear weaponry and go straight for influence on “natural” disasters. Oh wait… I did. Now look out for the Acid Rain disaster in China. It’s gonna kill millions.

Stag-nation.

J: It’s been a week. Here’s my launching topic… Why do people insist on being so stupid? I’ll be more specific… In ten years time, will anyone of the newer generations still have the ability to read, write, or spell? Go!

L: Okay, J. So what prompted this question? Not that I disagree on the rampant ignorance present in our country and world, but a specific something must have triggered this topic. I want to know what it is…

As far as my “retort,” I’m afraid someone has already beaten us to the punch. Since extensive research has already been compiled about the ignorance of the average American, I direct you to the blog AmeriCAN-DO Attitude. Here’s an excerpt from the post The Sheer Depth of Most Individuals’ Ignorance is Shocking:

According to polls taken this year, nearly 65 percent of the public doesn’t know that Congress has banned partial-birth abortion. Seventy percent is unaware that a massive drug benefit has been added to Medicare. At least 58 percent say they have heard “nothing” or “not much” about the Patriot Act, notwithstanding the enormous amount of coverage the controversial law has drawn.

This is not a new problem. As Cold War tensions bristled in 1964, only 38 percent of the public knew that the Soviet Union was not a member of NATO. In 1970, only 24 percent could identify the secretary of state. In 1996, The Washington Post reported that 67 percent of Americans couldn’t name their congressman and 94 percent had no idea that William Rehnquist was the chief justice of the United States. Only 26 percent knew that senators serve six-year terms, and 73 percent didn’t know that Medicare costs more than foreign aid.

Gallup found in January 2000 that while 66 percent of the public could name the host of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” only 6 percent knew the name of the speaker of the House. Last year, a Polling Company survey found that 58 percent of Americans could not name a single federal Cabinet department.

The ignorant can be found in the highest reaches of academe. Of more than 3,100 Ivy League students polled for a University of Pennsylvania study in 1993, 11 percent couldn’t identify the author of the Declaration of Independence, half didn’t know the names of their US senators, and 75 percent were unaware that the classic description of democracy — “government of the people, by the people, and for the people” — is from the Gettysburg Address.

Continue reading the post by clicking here.

I will say though, J, that while some people refuse to acknowledge the power of Twitter, I have been fully converted into a Twitter believer. I get bite size tidbits of a constantly updated wealth of info. And, with just the click of the tweeted link, I can begin my journey into an endless rabbit hole. I don’t worry about the reading, writing and spelling capabilities of future generations. But, I do worry about the chosen ignorance. I fear many people are much more worried about Lady Gaga instead of informing themselves about the alarming rate at which today’s politicians are undermining the very foundations of what the United States was originally established for by our founding forefathers.

I leave you with one of my favorite quotes – from the film Boondock Saints:

And I am reminded, on this holy day, of the sad story of Kitty Genovese. As you all may remember, a long time ago, almost thirty years ago, this poor soul cried out for help time and time again, but no person answered her calls. Though many saw, no one so much as called the police. They all just watched as Kitty was being stabbed to death in broad daylight. They watched as her assailant walked away. Now, we must all fear evil men. But there is another kind of evil which we must fear most, and that is the indifference of good men. —Monsignor, Boondock Saints (1999)

J: I’m just so constantly appalled by everyday stupidity. That’s what sparked that for me. You talked at length about everyday ignorance. Fact blindness I’ll call it. Simply not knowing things that one should know. I’d be surprised if most Americans could even get the population of the United States within 100 million. That’s fact blindness though. I’m talking more about just stupidity. The inability to relate to people in conversation. The inability to even have a conversation without the catalyst of alcohol. The inability to differentiate between “your” mom… and “you’re” a mom. They’re over there with their friends… I have two more items that need to go with you too.

I think it’s speech really. I think that’s what gets my goat. Writing, speaking, vocabulary, all that jazz. That’s what I’m really raw about now that I think about it. Speech can be such and unbelievably powerful tool and it can really change the world. It’s one of the few things that we as people can use to get our points across eloquently and thoroughly in a very concise manner. Grunts do some good… body language is a huge one as well… but really, speech is what allows us as people to connect in such an unbelievably powerful manner. I consider speech to be the spark that jumps between neuron and axion in the brain.

The neuron is the speaker, the axion is the listener, the electric spark is the speech, and the brain is the collective consciousness of our world.

That spark that leaps between the two transfers so much information in such a little time; it  happens very frequently throughout the brain. It also allows that information to then be sent anywhere else in the brain. But we have so many annoying speech retardations, of late. The LOLz and the omgz… The unbelievable grammar dysfunction. I don’t know. I’m all for shortening “I don’t know” into “dunno”… I don’t care if YOUR becomes UR in a text message. It’s just the fact that no one seems to be able to speak anymore. Let me give you a case in my point here (though i prefer to mix the colloquialism and refer to it as a point in a much larger case i’m trying to make…).

I was at a bar the other day… It was around 3 in the afternoon. I had gone to pick up some music equipment I’d left there the night before. It was literally 12 degrees outside. I was in a sweater, scarf, gloves, peacoat, pants, wool socks, the whole get-up. The bartender was a good looking frat-type guy in a Hollister polo and tattered looking white jean-type shorts… and flip-flops. It was 12 degrees outside. That was exhibit A. He proceeded to talk with his friends at the bar, some of whom I will assume were co-workers currently off duty. I did not hear a single stimulating thing come from the whole lot of them. They spent the hour I was sitting there eating my chicken sandwich and drinking my sprite, rambling on about how wasted they were. The bartender braggadociosly vomited stories about his drinking habits, the shakes he had because of them, the fact that he woke up that morning and got drunk by 10 oclock, napped and sobered up enough to be there for work… Meanwhile his friends laughed and chimed in about how drunk they were last night, and where they were going to go get drunk tonight… etcetera etcetera etcetera…  I was just flabbergasted, because I know how common those conversations are. I have no problem with anyone going out and getting a little drunk and having a good time. I do it! You do it… Again, most of us have an innate desire to alter our consciousness. But… if that’s the only sensible topic of conversation (i say sensible sarcastically of course) you can come up with to talk to your friends about… My God! What is this world coming to? If you wanna trip acid and sit around a bar and talk about how your trip helped you discover the double-helix formation of DNA, helped you write a brilliant sociological expose that changed lives, write a novel that changes the way we think about certain people groups, write… uh… any music that changes the world. Whatever. I’m all for that… But if you’re substituting mind paralysis for mind expansion, please stay at home and facebook message your friends all this banal crap. I don’t want to hear about it. It ruins my chicken sandwich.

L: I’m not going to lie. I had to “Google” the U.S. population in order to know that as of July there are a recorded 304,059,724 citizens of the U.S. and an unofficial estimate of 308,593,767 from the U.S. Census Bureau at the time of my search (Sunday, January 31, 2010 21:50 pm). A simple check on “Google” did not make it clear, however, whether the term ‘population’ includes only official citizens or if it includes anyone living in the defined territory – citizen, immigrant or alien. Until now, I haven’t even thought about what exactly constitutes population. So, first of all, thanks for prompting me to know – once and for all – a 100,000 ballpark figure of the U.S. population. It’s a question I’ve been embarrassed about not knowing several times before… yet never remembered to remedy that ignorance until just now.

Since we’re talking population, I’ll throw the world figure out there too: just under 6.8 billion.

As far as stupidity vs. ignorance… sigh… I feel your frustration. Just today I was recounting my incredulity at an exchange I had a few months ago while living in Guatemala. In La Antigua I met a U.S. citizen (I am no longer comfortable saying American because all Latin Americans claim they too are Americans) who believed that he was currently exploring a “department or city” of Mexico. Even while the young man was in Guatemala, he was not aware that Guatemala was a country in Central America and not a region or city of Mexico. My young paisano (fellow countryman) was proudly a part of our very own U.S. military. He and his soldier buddies were enjoying a night off duty, having just reached a Guatemalan port a few hours away from LAG. Incredible.

I understand your frustration about “your” vs. “you’re,” “two” vs. “to” vs. “too,” “their” vs. “they’re” and more. But, this doesn’t necessarily mean stupidity. I, myself, am familiar with these simple rules of grammar. Yet, admittedly, I occasionally let a typo slip through here and there including a your/you’re or their/they’re mixup. In fact, you – my dear Justin – have a typo in your post above.

I am as alarmed as you, though, about drunks aspiring to be nothing more than getting drunk again as soon as possible. These are the minds that make up the future of our country? Heartening. Really.

Blatant stupidity, sadly, does exist. I would suggest education is key. But then, your story would force me to shove my out foot in my mouth.

Do you have any thoughts on how to remedy this issue of stupidity in America?

J: What’s the typo? I must know! Haha. I think you get my point though. Typos are acceptable every once in awhile. Not knowing the basic rules of your own language… Sickening. And what’s the remedy? Eugenics. Just kidding. The remedy to stupidity is sadly unattainable. What could help though is getting together lots of really smart people and just breeding them… Genetic superiority. Again. Kidding… Kind of. I won’t go all Hitler on you. I’ll be the one who says this though… Our world could really use another leader as effective as Hitler. I mean that honestly… Now everyone that hates me immediately, please bear with me. We need someone who is as creative, put together as well, as powerful a speaker, as effective a leader, as brilliant a thinker, and as commanding an officer to make some changes in this sick world. Now here’s where I redeem myself. Hitler was the vilest, basest form of evil imaginable. I would have him resurrected just to strap him down in front of any of the major forms of entertainment until the credits roll with the names of 10 or 20 of the most successful Jewish businessmen, artists, etc. Then I’d take him to Wall Street and let the Jewish community there buy and trade him for devious reasons. Then I would kill him by repeatedly giving him papercuts all over his body until he bled out of the… ok I’ll stop here for the sake of sanity. As horrific as he was though, he truly was one of the most powerful people to ever exist, and he affected the lives of millions upon millions of people. We could benefit greatly from an Anti-Hitler. Someone who has all the same charisma, can rally the people of this world, etc… But has flip-flopped ideals… No, not “kill all the Christians, or Muslims” this time… But rather than eliminating people, incorporating them. We would be so lucky to have someone who could truly change this world for the better by the millions. Another suggestion? Maybe stop putting warning labels on items that could potentially kill or cause infertility. But I guess people would have to be able to read for those to be effective anyway, so there goes that idea. I don’t know. I’m not preaching intellectual superiority here… It might sound like that. I just want people to be more open and to constantly seek wisdom and harmony. I think that’s the first step to anything really even remotely resembling utopia. People just need to wake up. Bleh. I’m sick of myself. It’s you’re turn two speak about whatever your wanting too say too our people, and you can make it long to, or short. Some wear their thinking about there little bloggers plugging away over they’re in the cyber world. Haha. Do you know how difficult it was to actually type that stuff? I don’t just mean how difficult it was to get over the awful grammar and spelling, but literally it was hard for me to think the wrong way. Conditioning. We should talk about that. And no… Not pantene vs. treseme, but how people get conditioned and what we can do to become unconditioned… Or deconditioned rather.

Lonely Crowds

Mossbrae Falls by Stephen Oaches.

L: Since Linds was so spot on I begin with her words:

All the goods selected by the spectacular system are also its weapons for a constant reinforcement of the conditions of isolation of ‘lonely crowds.’

In her comment to Techsmologies, she continued with a quote from Guy-Ernest Debord:

The spectacle reunites the separate, but reunites it as separate.
Source: The Society of the Spectacle

Most eloquent Mr. Debord. And if you should question his insight, a recent news article from CNN should help you see it the way he does. Audiences Experience ‘Avatar‘ Blues the media-giant reports:

James Cameron‘s completely immersive spectacle “Avatar” may have been a little too real for some fans who say they have experienced depression and suicidal thoughts after seeing the film because they long to enjoy the beauty of the alien world Pandora.

On the fan forum site “Avatar Forums,” a topic thread entitled “Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible,” has received more than 1,000 posts from people experiencing depression and fans trying to help them cope. The topic became so popular last month that forum administrator Philippe Baghdassarian had to create a second thread so people could continue to post their confused feelings about the movie.

Now, this is precisely what I was talking about before… there is an alarming amount of people who are looking to virtual reality to fulfill what they’re not getting from the real world. Well here’s a newsflash for you folks: What you can’t find here. You ain’t going to find playing virtual make-believe.

It’s like the little parable my mom used to tell me:

A real estate agent was showing a quaint little cottage to a couple interested in purchasing the home. The couple asked the agent: ‘What is the local community like? How is the quality of life here?’ The agent replied with a question of her own: ‘What is it like where you live now?’ The couple retorted: ‘Oh, the people are rude and the community is an eye-sore. We don’t like it all.’ The agent replied: ‘Well, that’s pretty much what you’re going to find here.’ The next day the agent was showing the same house to another couple. And, the new couple asked the same question: ‘What is the local community like? How is the quality of life here?’ The agent gave the same response: ‘What is it like where you live now?’ The couple replied: ‘Oh we love it! The people are great and the community is welcoming. It’s really rather ideal.’ The agent replied: ‘Well, that’s pretty much what you’re going to find here.’

I illustrate my point. But that being said, I’m now compelled to argue against myself. On most accounts, I believe exactly that. If you’re looking for a life fulfillment or a true paradise – which I feel all these moody blue Avatar worshipers are seeking – then my prognosis above is dead on: If you can’t find it here. You won’t find it in anywhere.

BUT, I have heard testimony about a confused trans-gender man finding the community support and help he couldn’t find in the ‘real world’ through Second Life. All those years of suppression, of wondering about his “strange” feelings could finally be explored and faced in a healthy, anonymous way through Second Life. Eye-opening.

So I regress full circle. The paradox of it all truly is what Linds pointed out with Debord’s quote:

The spectacle reunites the separate, but reunites it as separate.

Not to mention, everything you can find on Pandora you CAN find her on this wondrous, little blue planet we call Earth. Do you long to witness the magic and mystery of islands floating not in sea, but in sky?

Photograph by Joe Decker, Glacier/Waterton National Park

Mountaintops by Keith White

A couple landscapes of my own: I encountered these places… gasp… right here on planet Earth. And… they still do make me gasp.

Mui Ne, Vietman

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

Of course, the opening photograph by Oachs is certainly another great example showing ‘Pandora’ does exist.

Want yet more proof? Click here.

J: First off, you’re not allowed to argue against yourself Laura… It makes me feel small… Gary Coleman small. Ok, to be fair, that whole quote was Guy-Ernest Debord… Credit where credit’s due. But I think it’s great that she alluded to that, and had intelligent things to add. Sometimes it’s not even about who said it, but where it’s said. Yelling “Fire!” has very different effects at a military firing squad than it does at a theatre. Unless that theatre is Ford Theatre, circa 1865. Anyone who gets that… I commend you. Regardless, wherever Guy initially said that poignant quote, no way did it fit in any better than it does here. Right. So here’s my take on all of this. We have to get to the roots.

What causes this dystopian yearning for utopian living? Not just, “why do virtual reality nuts get trapped in Pandora?” but rather… why do we need a virtual Pandora to get us away from this very physical Earth? Because we’re that screwed up! Notice the most enticing parts of Avatar… It wasn’t the extremely fit, tall scantily clad, blue people that enticed the viewers. It was the lifestyle. There’s this strange dissonance if you will… between the reality this movie was representing, and the presentation of the movie itself. This movie was filmed in 3D… It used primarily CG… It has spawned VGs (video games), and MBs (message boards), and VDs (i’m sure you’re thinking Virtual Dialogues… but no actually…Venereal Diseases. i told him painting his girlfriend blue and trying to “halo” with her was a bad idea). Avatar is digital! It was the most digitally manipulated and computer-assisted pioneering movie ever made… But Avatar has taken digital and pushed it further. Now there are communities, multiplayer games, forums, etc… But they, much like the movie, are digital. The problem is we’ve turned our people into pixels. Our friends into firewire. Our interests into internet. Our families into forums. We have lost connection. It’s gonna come back to this a lot. Connection. Personal, face-to-face, contact.

So what is it about Avatar or any of these Second Life, WOW, Ubu (obscure Myst V reference) communities that pulls us in so deftly? I have an answer, and as far as my research is concerned, it’s THE answer. We want life to be easy, and we want more than just one. We really want excitement! We want a guilt/responsibilities/repercussion-free way of taking on a new persona. The human psyche is being digitally split into multiple parts. We’re being turned into dissociative identities, but it seems to be ok, because one of our alter egos lives on the internet… We live in an age where dissociation is sought after. Our peers are out getting drunk or high so they can strip away enough of their natural selves to become something different. There are more “Reality Shows” on TV, than there are sitcoms (that’s not a fact, just a feeling). All these things point to one core idea… we want to be someone else. We want to live someone else’s life. We want to fantasize about blue people living in a world where everyone gets along and appreciates the beauty and power of nature and the spiritual world… But we are constantly reminded that none of this is possible and the commercial/material world is the only thing that matters. But the digital world is a scapegoat… A release from our very real, very physical responsibilities.

In World of Warcraft, we may be screwing things up by having the wrong weapon. Using the wrong spell. Killing the wrong Orc. In our actual world, we don’t have the privilege of screwing up. You miss a day of work, you could get fired. You buy the wrong phone or purse, you could be chastised. We yearn for a world of easily earned dollars, or manna points, or life bars… and the digital world provides that. The intense level at which we sink ourselves into these fantasy utopias can be unparalleled. And when we find ourselves groping for their real-world counterparts, it can be not only disillusioning, but devastating! The rapidness of development in the digital world has far surpassed that of the physical Earth.

We can combat this however. It’s as simple as connection, and always will be. That doesn’t mean that D&D (dungeons and dragons) is our outlet. Get rid of the fantasy… God please! It’s vital at this juncture in our evolution that we actually deal with the real Earth. The real “world” (this crazy conglomeration of people, and plants, and animals, and architecture, and electronics, and whatever the hell else we introduce) needs to be continued and cared for responsibly by the human populace. If we allow science to dictate our thoughts, government to dictate our actions, and fantasy to dictate our desires… we will never be satisfied. We, as a human species, must utilize the digital pathways and the utopian ideals of this fantasy-digital-realm to actually begin shaping the splints for this broken world.

While I could go into explicit detail on the pale blue woman with an elephant trunk, I’m not going to… just yet. But she told me a few things that really made me reconsider who I am. She showed me a network of energy, much like a fungal network that spans for miles underground and contains millions of individual organisms that link together to form one giant collective (study some mycology if you have no clue what i’m talking about), and related this not only to modern technology, but also the power that is evident in groups vs. that which can be obtained by an individual. But she also showed me how most things have their roots in beauty. Research the swastika symbol for evidence of this. The point is, most bad things, started off with some very good qualities. The digital/online world was initially utilized to share vast amounts of information instantly. It still does this, but so much of that information is now dis or misinformation, that it’s become perverse. Building a false perfect world, will never fix the real broken world. It is only a distraction. If I may be Freudian for just a moment, your penis will never be as big as your MMO sword, your face will never be as perfect as the anime that represents you, your prowess will never be as high as your upgrade level, the world will never be as manageable as your WOW account, and every time you save a damsel or rescue a city from aliens, there’s a real woman being raped, and a real village under the throes of genocide.

According to Feedothers.org, it would cost $13 billion dollars to ensure everyone in the world had proper food and sanitation. The gaming industry rakes in $22 billion dollars a year. That means that if every other or so time someone wanted to buy a new game he/she donated the money to feeding the world instead, the problem would be solved. Think about that.

L: J, the utter truth to your prose in this latest entry gives me the chills. The human populace is facing a scary and imminent risk of completely ostracizing itself from one another. You illustrated that most eloquently, J:

The problem is we’ve turned our people into pixels. Our friends into firewire. Our interests into internet. Our families into forums. We have lost connection.

That being said, I have some ideas that would actually help inject “avatars” with the more human traits of their… “human conduits” shall I call them? Not ready to give those ideas up yet… perhaps I can develop them and make a buck or two (oops… guess I’m just as greedy as the best of them!). One could probably guess my idea from what I wrote though and we’ll probably see it as a new Second Life feature next month. I, in the meantime, will be left empty-handed.

J, you bring up the ego. I’m afraid to go any further into that aspect right now, fearing an hour’s worth of prose. So I go so far as to say excellent observation:

The human psyche is being digitally split into multiple parts. We’re being turned into dissociative identities, but it seems to be ok, because one of our alter egos lives on the internet…

Next, you recall that we, the human race, are meant to be “stewards of the Earth”:

It’s vital at this juncture in our evolution that we actually deal with the real Earth. The real “world” (this crazy conglomeration of people, and plants, and animals, and architecture, and electronics, and whatever the hell else we introduce) needs to be continued and cared for responsibly by the human populace… We, as a human species, must utilize the digital pathways and the Utopian ideals of this fantasy-digital-realm to actually begin shaping the splints for this broken world.

So, before we get to your elephant woman, I must suggest that the discussion about environmental care for our planet has been the big Elephant in the room since dear old Teddy Roosevelt left office. No U.S. politician at least, has shown nearly as much interest in preserving the environment. A nature photographer and wildlife conservationist I met in Guatemala, Thor Janson, would go so far as to say humans have no business being stewards of the environment. According to Janson, people, at most, should respect and yield to nature. He says at least 70% of land should be untouched by man and left to wilderness.

Yet, the Earth Policy Institute reports:

Nearly 4 billion hectares of forest cover the earth’s surface, roughly 30 percent of its total land area. Though extensive, the world’s forests have shrunk by some 40 percent since agriculture began 11,000 years ago. Three quarters of this loss occurred in the last two centuries as land was cleared to make way for farms and to meet demand for wood… Each year the world loses some 7.3 million hectares of forest, an area the size of Panama. Due to extensive reforestation, this net forest shrinkage has slowed slightly from the 8.9 million hectares lost annually in the 1990s. While this is encouraging, it obscures the sobering fact that gross deforestation has not declined significantly since 2000… Of the world’s 1.4 billion hectares of remaining primary forest—natural forest that shows no sign of human impact—6 million hectares are lost or degraded each year. We are losing not only forest area but some of our best forest stands. Source: Earth Policy Institute

In don’t expect the trends to wane in the next ten, twenty years. So, long story short. We’re running out of vital forest and wilderness even with “extensive reforestation efforts.” You’re quote, Justin, could have easily been applied to human justice around the globe. But you make a strong statement, that I bring up soon.

So, let’s get back on point. Your blue elephant woman:

She showed me a network of energy, much like a fungal network that spans for miles underground and contains millions of individual organisms that link together to form one giant collective (study some mycology if you have no clue what i’m talking about), and related this not only to modern technology, but also the power that is evident in groups vs. that which can be obtained by an individual. But she also showed me how most things have their roots in beauty.

Uh, have you actually seen Avatar yet?? That’s a HUGE theme in the movie. And very beautifully illustrated, I might add. Not to mention the paradox of a movie trying to get people to see the truth of an innate network of worldwide connectedness (and I’m NOT talking about the internet here) causing people to have thoughts of isolation, depression and suicide. But, yeah J, go watch the movie. You’ll find it’s your dream come to the big screen.

On this next one, can I just say: touche!

If I may be Freudian for just a moment, your penis will never be as big as your MMO sword, your face will never be as perfect as the anime that represents you, your prowess will never be as high as your upgrade level, the world will never be as manageable as your WOW account, and every time you save a damsel or rescue a city from aliens, there’s a real woman being raped, and a real village under the throes of genocide.

And back to how re-engaging with the real world on a global scale could more than remedy a worldwide issue:

According to Feedothers.org, it would cost $13 billion dollars to ensure everyone in the world had proper food and sanitation. The gaming industry rakes in $22 billion dollars a year.

You go on to suggest that if every gamer would spend their money on donations every other time they wanted to buy a game… Bam! Hunger and sanitation issue solved!! A very positive thought and one to be considered as a campaign for human rights orgs like the International Rescue Committee, Invisible Children, Oxfam and many more. But, as was brought up with the recent quake in Haiti, how do we ensure that the aid results in aid and not just a big fat wad of cash in a corrupt pocket?? Sigh… maybe I should just call it quits and sign up for Second Life. :S

Finally, one thing I didn’t agree with, J:

We want life to be easy, and we want more than just one. We really want excitement!

While there certainly are those who want it easy and not in just one life, for me, the things I find most thrilling in life are the things that challenge me the most. I would argue that it is those who do yearn for true excitement who recognize the magic that exists in the real world. It is these people who don’t shy away from difficulty and challenge. It is they who keep society tethered to the riches of physical existence and keep us from floating off and becoming lost in the proverbial virtual realty. And, that my friends, is why I won’t be drowning out my reality woes in Second Life. (Though, I’m not necessarily against engaging it to make a buck of off those who do and funnel the cash right back to rehabilitating our little blue planet. Truth is, I’m quite fond of this world we call Earth, apocalyptic problems and all.)

I dare say J, regardless of whether anyone is reading all this back and forth banter, we make quite the team. And pouring my thoughts out here, using you as a springboard for mental stimulation, self-growth and worldly awareness makes it all worth while – even if our audience is two, me and you. Thanks for jumping head first into this new project with me, J. Sniff sniff.

J: I saw Avatar. Was very impressed by the visuals… The story was good, but it was just far too idealized. I would see it again because it was just so pretty and so immersive, but I’m not foolish enough to think that just loving animals and not fighting too much is the way to be totally successful and maintain a peaceful/functioning planet.

One reason I can see Avatar causing feelings of depression and all that, is that because the viewers already have isolated themselves (through digital means), when they see something so beautiful, and something that seems so unobtainable, and yet they have no one to be around and talk to about it… the presentation of a fictitious beauty can compound the very real loneliness that our real world is experiencing. The problem is there are worse people than you out there somewhere, so you have to have a means of defense from tyranny. That doesn’t necessarily mean war, but just some kind of checks and balances implemented from the get-go to avoid governments like the ones in action today… that really do reflect quite poignantly on the Silver Screen in a lot of movies. The bigger problem is consumerism. I think that should be our next topic. Let’s ease off the Avatar and Second Life nonsense.

And to retort, “we want life to be easy… etc”… those “we” pronouns in there obviously referred to the population at large. But you know as well as I do that easy and challenging are not necessarily opposites. I for one don’t want a simple life. I don’t want a life where I’m spoon-fed. I don’t want a life where I blend in… I want a life where I’m outspoken, I make a difference, I change things for the better, I’m challenged to my ultimate potential… But… And here’s the big but (hehe)… My life is easier, the more I’m pushed to my limits. If I’m just sitting around doing nothing, life becomes impossible to me… It’s when I’m challenged that I fill fulfilled. That I feel life is easier to manage. And we do want more than just one! Every single human being has some desire to experience alterations in consciousness. Hell even the animals try to get drunk or high… Cats have catnip. Elephants have fermented fruit. Humans have a hell of a lot more… But we all want to experience what it’s like to be able to get out of our minds for awhile. I do. I know you do… Next topic PLEASE! Consumerism? Steroids? Nanotechnology? Consciousness alteration? And Laura… I love chatting with you too. It’s so nice to have someone that doesn’t communicate in LoLz and omfg’s and “i went too get drnk n now im with you’re momz haha!”… sorry. Ok. Enough of that crap. Love.

Quick Digression: What We Really Are

J: Kathy wrote a comment that follows:

Love the name of your blog, he said/she said format, etc. Keep the “witty ping pong” going, and you’ll start the battle of the bloggers’ revolution.

It was relatively innocuous, but I think it did touch on an interesting point. Laura and I are perhaps the only Dual-Bloggers (hereafter referred to as DBs) that exist… I find that hard to believe, but I suppose we’re two of a very small number at least. But I think about the last post, and the need for actual community in the digital playground, and it reminds me that even if we’re not the only two people sharing our ideas on a blog, we are certainly unique. Anyway, thank you Kathy! For inspiring this discourse, and for the compliment on the name. I spent hours pouring over witty names and came up with this one… that’s a lie. I tried pingpong, seesaw, and teetertotter on the wordpress signup page, and when I found they’d all been taken, I quickly followed the discordant anti-logic in my brain, and settled  on mentallyretorted. It’s a play, one that’s very fitting for the two of us, on words. Side Note Alert: Years back i had a friend who decided it would be cool to build a jungle gym with little phrases on it… like the monkey bars could be the word “HAPPY” and the slide could be the S in Slide… stuff like that… he would call it “Play on Words”. It worked on so many levels. Good work Ryan.

Wow I’ve digressed. Find the roots (i’ll use this phrase quite a bit when i get off topic… ask me about the blue woman with the elephant trunk if you’d like to know why). We hope this dual blogging concept can be a revolution of sorts. It takes steps away from the one-sidedness we so frequently see in Solo-Only-Blogs (hereafter referred to as SOBs). Not that we’re not biased, but some of our biases will no doubt balance the others out. We’re not quite point and counterpoint, because we don’t go through and find things that we will disagree on and then write about those. It’s basically just… someone starts writing blindly and we see what the other has to say. It’s kind of like anyone reading all of this nonsense is just eavesdropping on us. The fact is… too many blogs on the internet are just verbal masturbation. You could even shorten that sentence into “The fact is… too many blogs on the internet.” People have something to vent about, and they use clever little quips and lots and lots of links to smarter people to get their point out. It doesn’t really challenge one’s mind usually. Don’t get me wrong, there are some great SOBs out there, but it’s nice that Laura and I are now sharing in the act of textual intercourse… uh. The best DBs you’ll ever know. You know what I’m saying. Thank you Kathy. Thank you India.

jm

L: Oh J, aren’t you lippy and witty! You’re staying ahead of me… speaking out first so all I’m left with is the retort. DBs and SOBs… hahaha. I must admit, I too am a SOB: Giramonda.com. Honored to become an official DB with you Justin! I did a little bit of research and yes, it seems we are a first.

I like your effort with the photo prop. Great choice… we still need to work on your code poetry though. Wink wink.

The Play on Words playground concept is quite clever. And yes, I, at least, want to know more about this “blue woman with the elephant trunk.”

I must admit: These past few days I’ve been quite distracted by the reports from Haiti. Thus, my rhetorical wit is a bit unispired.

I’m watching reports about bodies piled in the streets, the stench of the decay growing stronger every day. Blood coursing through sewers. Morgues and cemeteries filling up. Burials in mass graves. I don’t want to imagine the outbreak of disease that will follow.

Haiti Red Cross thinks 45,000-50,000 people have been killed and 3 million injured or homeless. Other reports insist that number is closer to 100,000.

Yet amidst the grim reports are positive responses:

JPMorgan Chase & Co. said Thursday it would commit $1 million to Haiti relief and recovery efforts.

The NY Daily News reports Indianapolis Colts Pierre Garcon is rallying support:

“I’m giving out autographed items to fans who donate money to help my foundation help with the Haiti relief,” the message said. Within 20 minutes, Garcon had raised $600 – greater than the average annual income of Haiti – and by early Thursday afternoon, the donations have already hit the $10,000 mark.

• Text “HAITI” to 25383 to donate $5 to the International Rescue Committee.
• Visit Freerice.com to take a vocabulary quiz. For every correct answer, 10 grains of rice will be donated to the United Nations World Food Program. The WFP is currently delivering rice to Haiti. There is no limit to the number of questions you can answer.
• Visit the Disater Relief Facebook Cause.

I’ll post more ways to get involved as I come across them.

U.S. politicians are turning this into a political finger-pointing game. Turning the spotlight away from those in dire need in Haiti and toward themselves. EXTREMELY disappointing.

Fox News Reporter Jonathan Hunt reports that Haitians are no strangers to crises and that there is stoicism and “a determination from the people” to get through this disaster. EXTREMELY enlivening.

In the meantime, media is questioning where have years of financial help disappeared to… why is Haiti still entrenched in an extreme state of poverty?

J: My heart goes out to those people. This is just a shitty event. I hope to God some serious change comes out of this at least. That’s a lot of lives affected. A lot of lives. Do what you can do people. That’s it. Seriously. Do everything you can. And seriously… freerice.com is amazing. A symbiotic website. I really can’t say much more about Haiti. Do everything you can.

TECHMOLOGIES…

J: So… Who would have guessed Laura’s topic of discourse would have such a strong fecal… er focal point? Me. If you’ve ever had to listen to her ramble on about Montezuma, or excessive cheese consumption, you know what I’m talking about. That aside, I believe our welcome was quite successful, Laura. I warned the people, and then you promptly demonstrated why I had to! What a team eh?

Anyway, this whole adventure into dual-blogging has made salient the whole idea of continued technology to me. It’s something I think about quite a bit, but it’s just such an interesting world… The exponential nature with which we’ve progressed in just a short while is alarming…

In 1980, a gigabyte of memory cost approximately $193,000.00. Now, it costs about 7 cents.

And that’s market value… Not even considering inflation, not considering the fact that the production cost is significantly lower. It’s just a little crazy to me. And it’s not just computers directly. I mean it’s all about what they’re doing, and how they work… We live in a world where we’re no longer concerned about a quicker way to get from California to New York, but rather, how do we get from the 4th, into the 5th or 11th dimension. But there’s a danger. The isolation is a danger. The fact that a select few are doing “science” and what they say is somehow immediately “law”. I think that our society has become so blinded by the sensory, that we often forget to trace things back to the roots. To appreciate things through their development. Just think for a second about how quickly modern technology becomes “obsolete”… You buy an iPhone, and the next gen is out in a month or so. It’s hard to settle on any one thing, because things just keep getting more complex! I think it’s great, but I also think it’s incredibly easy to take for granted.

We have anthropomorphized computers to such an extent, that it’s almost like the computers are getting smarter, and that’s the end of it. We have to remember that people are in charge of this technological revolution though… People are making smarter computers, but it involves the people getting smarter too. It’s important to keep our eyes on the progression of these things, and to do our best to understand how things are working. That doesn’t mean go out and study circuit charts so you know how a computer works, but it is an encouragement to analyze what these things really mean to you. They’re a way to connect, they’re a way to get things done quickly, they can be used to put out your thoughts, your music, your blog, etc. But they pose a real threat of replacing real interaction, in my opinion. It’s so easy to watch movies, talk with friends, play games, etc. that it’s getting harder and harder for people to really connect face to face. I realize the irony of me typing all of this on a blog, but I think you understand what I’m saying.

Of course, there’s always the other side of the coin. Our modern lifestyle has given us the ability TO connect with people instantly. There have been so many times where the instant nature of the internet and its relatives (twitter, smartphones, etc) have provided unlimited possibilities for growth and friendship. It’s changed the music industry, the film industry, the dating scene, etc. Look at Avatar for instance… It had a compelling story, and an astonishingly beautiful feel to the whole movie, but it used a “gimmick” with the new RealD 3D feature… But it worked. It didn’t get in the way and become a distracting “feature” it immersed you in the movie. It comes down to balance really.

I believe there’s more to come. I think technology will hit a wall if it isn’t used in a way that can extend our stride in the evolution of humans. I believe our next step in evolution is one of connection and spirituality. How do we build a program to extend that? One that goes beyond facebook and myspace and all that… Ok I’ve realized at this point I’m just rambling. I’m watching the NYJ-CIN game… It’s distracting… Laura, come bail me out here.

ciao.

jm

p.s. this all kind of started because i don’t know how the hell Twitter works. or what it really is… and the fact that our site looks better now than it did before, and i know that’s some digital voodoo laura did. and i’m jealous. peace.

L: Pffffffff. I feel like my head is going to EXPLODE. The wheels in my head are spinning at Mach 10 and all thoughts are flying loose like haphazardly-fired missiles, frying the nerves my cerebrum. Wasn’t it just a week ago or so that my dear-friend Sweetie Petie said something along the lines of:

Laura, what I love about you is how quirky and crazy you really are. You show off this composed, got-it-all-together air on the outside. But, on the inside your thoughts, feelings, emotions and ideas are bouncing around in a ping pong frenzy of insanity.

Oh so sweet you are, Peter. Again, we see why this blog is called Mentally Retorted. And J, how little do you know the true irony of your post. How little do you know how your post bombarded my little bird-brain. You are my mental steroid (hey! steroids… another great topic to put on the back-burner.)

Ah kay. Stay on topic, L. (Yes, Sweetie Petie, I’m talking to myself again. And I was hoping I could keep this somewhat brief. Pffff…)

Second Life

Irony. Irony. Justin you mentioned the irony of tackling this very issue of Techmologies (a subject we’ll revisit time and again) on a blog. Well, I’ve got irony for you. You’ve certainly opened Pandora’s box with this one. Oh wait. Wasn’t Avatar based on the planet of Pandora?? And, didn’t Avatar’s Colonel Miles Quaritch say:

Ladies and gentlemen, you are not in Kansas anymore. You’re on Pandora.

And just where is it that I’m pondering and publishing this scatter-brained post? From my dad’s house in, you guessed it, Kansas. (Whew… we’re not done with the ironies yet!)

J, I agree:

The next step of evolution is spirituality and connection.

How’s this for connection? Just last night I met an American girl who supports a life in Bangkok, Thailand entirely from a most unique Techmology way. (Yes, I met her in Kansas of all places!) Kara Jordan sells virtual clothing designs. You heard me right. She uses Photoshop to design exotic clothing like Indian saris for avatars in Second Life.

We live in a world where we’re no longer concerned about a quicker way to get from California to New York, but rather, how do we get from the 4th, into the 5th or 11th dimension.

Oh how right you were, J. So, what is Second Life you ask?

Second Life (SL) is a virtual world developed by Linden Lab that launched on June 23, 2003 and is accessible via the Internet. A free client program called the Second Life Viewer[1] enables its users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars. Residents can explore, meet other residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, and create and trade virtual property and services with one another, or travel throughout the world (which residents refer to as “the grid”). Source: Wikipedia.

Just like the concept of the movie Avatar, people trading one identity for another. One body for another. One life for another. Except, unlike the movie, Second Life – as compared to a planet Pandora – doesn’t actually really exist. It’s all virtual. People are trading real life, physical experiences for virtual ones. Is that not opting to become something of a robot?? Now Kara, however, is working the system. She uses the money she makes from people buying her all-virtual clothing graphics to live a most exotic and as-real-as-you-can-get life of an American Woman in Bangkok. She also uses what she saves to travel from time to time, through Couchsurfing (sleeping on stranger’s couches around the world – more on that below.) Talk about taking life by the horns! And how ironic is all that??!

But, the whole virtual reality concept gets even scarier. Did you know that people spend hours discovering and collecting special keys, guns and money in video games and then actually sell those virtual items for real greenbacks on Ebay??? It’s called virtual gold mining. I’m sorry, I just can’t get my mind around the logic of all that. ‘It’s their time‘, they say. I say, this is just pure and inarguable evidence that an alarming rate of the human population is becoming mindless robots obsessed with consumption.

We have anthropomorphized computers to such an extent, that it’s almost like the computers are getting smarter, and that’s the end of it. We have to remember that people are in charge of this technological revolution though… People are making smarter computers, but it involves the people getting smarter too.

J, I would argue that a small sampling of people are getting super smart. The rest are being dumbed-down into, as I said, mindless robots driven by consumption.

They pose a real threat of replacing real interaction, in my opinion… it’s getting harder and harder for people to really connect face to face.

Oh you nailed it buddy. That is precisely the danger. Danger of a nation of physical isolation. Not social castration but, the castration of the very idea of society. A virtual manipulation of “reincarnation” that masks a reality of utter deprivation of true human interaction. You know, possessing a strong imagination has been more-or-less upheld as a prized virtue by society… and, most admittedly, by me. But, in light of all this virtual obsession and Second Life illusion, I can’t help but wonder: Could it be that imagination can go too far? Can imagination lead to virtual (pun so intended) mummification?

I believe our next step in evolution is one of connection and spirituality. How do we build a program to extend that? One that goes beyond Facebook and Myspace and all that.

Yes, J!! And how? Answer: Couchsurfing and projects like it. Times.com listed Couchsurfing.com as one of the 50 Best Websites of 2009. It was ranked 38, in fact. Times reporter Adam Fisher explains the unique quality of the CS concept most eloquently:

The glaring limitation of most social networks is that by the end of the day, you’re still staring at a computer screen. Have you really made friends if you’ve never actually spent time with them? CouchSurfing is different because it’s only incidentally a social network. At the heart of its community is a social bargain: host a couch surfer as he or she backpacks through your country, and another couch surfer will host you.

Couchsurfing uses Techmology to promote real-life, human interaction… not kill it! J, you said it’s about finding the balance. I would say Couchsurfing has not only achieved that goal, but has capitalized upon it in the most living way.

Anyway, need to know more about Avatar? View the trailer here:

Official Avatar Movie

Download an interactive trailer by clicking here. Though you need Adobe Air.
Avatar even has a Typepad blogging community. (Really? Typepad??) 2631 members and counting…

Avatar video game coming soon.
The Avatar iPhone game is already available.
Follow Avatar on Twitter to learn where to find things like a published field guide to Pandora.

Can we say cult??? Though, I must say, I enjoyed the film nearly as much as any fanatic.

J, looks like I need to give you some virtual reality training so we can more aptly bash it through our virtual blog. Oh sweet irony.

Wow. I can’t believe I managed to make all that scatter-brained babble appear somewhat connected and coherent.

Deep breath… Whew. Well, I’ll be signing off. This post is keeping me from watching Watchmen on HBO… I’ll let you catch the double-irony of that one.

J: I may respond to the rest of this later, but the most important thing i can tell you… Don’t watch WATCHMEN! Read the graphic novel. The movie is just plain awful. I’ll retort later.

J: OK! It continues… Had a great conversation last night with a friend about exactly this topic. Avatar came up, facebook, etc. I could go on for pages about the conversation… it was that good. But I’ll shorten it to this. There is no denying that online communities have changed the way we relate to people. Some are good, some are bad… Just go for the good. Don’t be the person who forgets what people look like because you’re too busy looking at their avatar. Amen. Let’s move this train along… What’s next Laura? Bowel movements? Quantum physics? Drugs?

Hi everyone… Get ready for this nonsense.

J: Welcome everyone! Hope you’re doing your leg presses, because things are about to get heavy. Here are the rules to this blog… I’m Justin Mayfield. The other half of this adventure into insanity is Laura McNamara. There are billions of topics that can be discussed here, and nothing’s sacred so far as I’m concerned. Our posts will be preceded with the initial of our name. Justin’s will start J:, Laura’s will start L:… We’re gonna go at it. Sometimes we’ll agree, sometimes we won’t. We’ll do our best to keep things cordial, but there are no promises. Laura, if you’re talking jive, i might have to verbally slap that pretty face of yours… and I’ll keep my guard up for any flying rhetorical elbows you may have coming my way. Any posts we receive in the comments section will be read and considered. Pitch us new ideas, put in your two cents, do whatever you’ve got to… but play nice. We don’t wanna hear about how we can make our genitals grow, or where we can find the greatest ring tones… So don’t spam us, but we do believe that free speech should truly be free, so say what you need to say. We’re tough, but there’s no need to just slam us if you have nothing to say that will continue the conversation. So go ahead and tell us we suck, but tell us why, and even what we can do about that. I think you’ll find we’re very free and very open to new ideas and extended topics. So that’s my piece… Laura? What do you have to say for yourself?

as an addendum… i use way too many ellipses in my typing (an ellipse is the “…” thingy that you see littering my posts). i’m sorry about that, but i type like i speak. if i have to break for a few seconds to get my point across… an ellipse it shall be!

ciao.

jm

L: Adventure into insanity… oh how deliciously exciting! To quote the infamous American writer Edgar Allan Poe:

I don’t suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!

Britney gets me. Uh oh. My expression looks uncannily close to that of Miss Oops-I-Did-It-Again. Maybe it’s the other way around: Could it be that I GET HER? Shiver. Scary. Now it’s all coming together on why you called us Mentally Rorted, J.

And, I’ll tell you one thing that’s sacred: my bowel movements. There will be NO discussion or debate about the size, shape, color, frequency or smell of my number two poo. Er… wait… how does my common greeting go?

Oh! Hello there! How do you do? I’m Laura McNamara and it’s been five days since I’ve gone poo!

And, I mean, since we ARE on the subject, for those of you having trouble doing the double I highly recommend Dr. Natura’s Colon Cleanse (warning: that site is graphic and kind of gross). Stick with it a month, maybe two, and you’ll have a… er… gooey break through. (Please forgive all my rhyming. For some reason, it seems to make writing about poop less offensive.) Hmmm… I should probably order some more myself. My bowels are blocked… again.

So J, what do I have to say for myself? Shit, I guess.

Oh yeah, my rambling prose is also littered with ellipses.