I think the initial turn-around started in the 1950s and 60s, with the generation of post-war parents who, coming from a heritage of privation in the war years, and the Great Depression, delighted in giving abundantly to their kids, proud and happy not to have to deny them anything! In the 50s there was more stuff, new stuff …
Author Archives: Ciel
Having Faith
My dad, a scientist, once told me, “I don’t need faith, I’ve got knowledge!” I think it was a response to my asking him to have a little faith in me. It was, however, his scientist-mindset all around. He had great respect for the scientific method, for things known, and for things not yet known, …
Mystic Whispers: Medusa
O maid, you once were lovely,full of grace, and named for Wisdom in eternal female form–Metis, Maat, Medha the names you bore… But the passing generations, reshaping and restructuring the norm,made you over as a thing to fear,no longer Maid, but monstrous with a deadly, stony gaze; Men made you cruel and coldand perilous to life in latter days,forgetting …
The Virtue of Conflict
I was just watching a documentary about the first civilizations that states that for 99% of humanity’s time on Earth, we were hunter/gatherers, pretty much doing the same things for the whole time. Then we began to settle down with our patches of grain, and herding animals instead of just following them. We discovered metallurgy… …
Lament For Home
When the night goes dark, all glowing wild eyes dimmed and dead;When the forest goes silent of song and cry and roarand there is only the creakingof trees moved by the rush of wind; When flowers no longer humwith the dancing bee;When the sky is empty of wingsthat glitter and crackleor softly beat the air;When water is …
“Aren’t you kind of old to be so cynical?”
I look at some of the young people around today and they are a lot less bullshit-inclined or fooled than other generations have been: Less trusting of authority, more spin-proof. While this might look like cynicism sometimes, it may also closely resemble common sense. Cynicism is a result of disappointed trust combined with a sense …
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Lessons from binge-watching AMAZING RACE
Tonality sinks more ships than flapping lips, and triggers more reactive explosions than the thing said. History, geography, and basic manners are neglected studies these days. Judging people by superficials–their accents, background, nationality, religion, physical attractiveness, or skin tone–is always going to be mistaken. When there are no rules, sometimes people still choose to play …
On Fallen Heroes
Heroes… perched on pedastols, enthroned, enshrined… And suddenly one day they come toppling down, to be charged with heinous behaviors, to be run out of town on a rail in a suit of feathers and tar… Or we just tear them down on principle, for daring to rise above the ordinary, pitching stones at anyone …
Gender-Flex
So, I have been thinking a lot about this for the past little while for reasons sociological and personal, and this is where I have arrived. Top of the hill? Or a plateau on the way up? Don’t know. The view is good enough from here, for a while. It doesn’t matter if your maleness …
Because We Can
Why do we make stuff that actually in the long run, diminishes us? Why are we so proud and excited by what we clever monkeys can make, like machines to do work for us, like AI to do that humans used to do? Think of the jobs loss, think of the boredom of forced retirement …
LOOSELY SPEAKING... 