November 16, 2008 archive

I grew up in about as stereotypical a Midwestern white middle class household as one can imagine. My dad worked, and my mom was a full-time stay-home mom, as were most of the moms of my friends, with a few schoolteachers and nurses as exceptions here and there. We were not rich, but we were very comfortable. We had everything we needed, and much of what we wanted. We knew our neighbors, not just next door, but for blocks in any direction. Any kid with a scraped knee could knock on any door around and find a mom with a bandaid, a mom who knew your name and knew your parents and with whose kids you played and went to birthday parties (in those days, with the little girls wearing white gloves and party dresses, and the boys in dress pants and bow ties, believe it or not…)

Move toward a Resiliant Suburbia?

moving solid line | stable divided line | moving solid line … fire moving to earth

stable divided line | stable divided line | stable divided line … earth

The hexagrams …

36. Wounded Brightness Wounded brightness. Beneficial is laborious persistence. Being weakened. It is good to work diligently on the situation. (The brightness is the light of consciousness, one’s aliveness, one’s energy. It being injured means that one’s aliveness is diminished, one is being weakened.)

2. Land Land. A foundation for progress. Beneficial is the persistence of a mare. The noble one has a goal to move to. Being confused at first, later acquiring mastery. It is beneficial that companionship is gained in the southwest, companionship is lost in the northeast. Calm persistence brings good fortune. There is a new potential, for you to develop. At first you’ll not know your way, but you’ll gain a handle on the situation and eventually master it. Just calmly proceed. It is beneficial to make partners and allies, and not to move on with people who have different interests. (At the original place and time of the Yijing, allies were in the southwest, territory they wanted to conquer was in the northeast.)

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Original article by Ron Jacobs, via dissidentvoice.org:

Like many of my contemporaries, I grew up on comic books. From the mainstream graphic fiction starring Billy Batson and Archie to the alternative realities of the Zap Comix universe and the Freak Brothers, those stories with pictures entertained me and enhanced my world. Nowadays, comic-styled tales and interpretations of classic novels claim a popular space in libraries and bookstores across much of the world. Many of the graphic novels are geared towards a youthful audience and deal with teen angst, vampires and such. Others are designed to convince the reader of a certain point of view and are often published by an organization or group with a particular point of view. Then there are those that stand alone.