I’m Starting to Feel the Pull of this Service
I haven’t read the work of the person who said “the medium is the message”. His name is Marshall Mcluhan and he gets namechecked all the time in NY Times podcasts. I look forward to reading him, but I already really agree with this format. When my most rewarding form of expression was writing songs I metabolized my feelings into thinking how they could be songs. And for quite some time I was drawn to twitter as the easiest and most comfortable way to get my ideas out. When I saw something I thought about sharing it on twitter. And now that this blog is semi cooking, I am finding myself free to think in this format and let me just be honest, it is really freeing. Really freeing. So here’s some free wheeling stuff I’ve been thinking about.
Sandra Bland - I do not believe that Sandra Bland took her own life. I understand all the things about mental health that can lie beneath the surface for every individual. But I have to admit that seeing Sandra' Bland’s bright optimistic “I just got a job” video had me feeling confident in the positive energy she was bringing to planet earth. On top of that, I saw nothing in the operations of the police personnel that made me believe they had a moral code for how to treat a fellow human, particularly a black woman who seemed to know her rights and was willing to be vocal about said rights. I believe there is more to Sandra Bland’s story and I don’t believe suicide has anything to do with it.
Minnesota’s COVID problems - The state I live in is by far the worst state for COVID cases right now. I have no idea why this is happening, but I do understand that Minnesota simply can’t take a sober look at itself and ask the question. Headlines that paint Minnesota in a negative light are the least sticky things we can offer up. It should be front page that this is a dangerous state to live in even if we have reasonably good vaccine rates. It also is not said enough that the clogging of the hospitals is primarily, though not exclusively, created by unvaccinated individuals.
Some of the funkiest music on earth doesn’t require bassists - This hurts me to admit. Organ jazz, which is often delivered with the organist providing the basslines, is absurdly funky and it works without bass players. I’m a bass player, I’m funky and there’s still no getting around these facts.
Fiction - Why can’t I read fiction? Why can’t I watch movies? Why don’t I have the stamina to consume this stuff. It pains me. I fear I’m going to die wondering why I never read Tolstoy, why I never got through all of James Baldwin’s writing, why I have seen only a smattering of movies on purpose. I can’t figure out a way to diligently work towards this. My hope is that viewing movies with my children is going to be the path to this. I don’t know if that will work.
That’s all for now you weirdos.