Romantics and Clickheads

Originally Posted Friday, October 25, 2013

I had forgotten how long it takes to make images when I am working with film only.  I forgot how few images you actually make when you are out in the street.  I had a working system in the studio that allowed me to produce many images without much wasted effort.  There are vast distances between things outside.  And then there is the processing, the tedious scanning, the inevitable disappointments.  I have a library of old images I can use here or else there would be many blank days.  Selah. 

The cold/flu/whatever progresses in slow motion.  I am worse today than I was the day before.  I went to bed at nine last night.  I really wanted to go to bed at eight.  Now I must make a decision about traveling one hundred miles to a conference I am supposed to attend.  And then one hundred miles back.  I felt very bad at four o'clock in the morning, but I will attest to this--the power of Aspirin.  Don't listen to people who tell you to take Tylenol or Advil or Aleve.  Nope.  Aspirin is a proven miracle.  I had fallen into the trap of using these other drugs because that is what people recommended, but they are wrong.  Aspirin is the oldest and safest and I think most effective of them all. I read somewhere long ago that Aspirin leaves the body as the same chemical, without alteration, as the one you ingested.  I like that for some reason. 

I was watching the new documentary about Assange last night.  I rented it on iTunes and forget the name right now.  We live in terrible times with terrible people.  I don't know that you can cheer for anyone.  One thing is certain, though--the clickheads of the digital world are in charge.  Everything is information.  Zeros and ones.  Value making doesn't seem to have a chance.  I guess I will read Dave Eggars new book.  Perhaps he will have something to say about it that will cheer me up.  But somehow I doubt it.  I know that a lot of you who read this blog are off the grid for the most part, are not techies in any sense, and take your values from gardens and oceans and long walks in the woods.  You still read books and love to cook and drink good wines.  Many of you are not in the most populated areas and still have a remote feeling about the workings of large population centers.  You don't have smart phones and don't completely understand your computers.  Your values are Romantic. 

I've sat here for five minutes trying to think of the summative sentence or two to end this piece, but I can't.  I just keep thinking of one word--Quakers.  That will have to do for now.  I've decided to shower and drive the miles.  What else is there to do?