To Be a Tree

I thought of this while imagining I was sitting under a grand sycamore tree, leaning against the multicolored, scaly bark, and imagining I was the tree, but, in fact, I was lying in bed, my head against the wooden headboard, my paper journal beside me, and probably something about trees playing on the radio.

to be a tree
is to know
that countless microbes
will defecate on your toes
and you live with it
and you live by it

to be a tree
is to know
that your leaves
will betray you
and you call for it
as you fall for it

to be a tree
is to know
by osmosis
that the wind blows
and you dance to it
as you disperse it

to be a tree
is to be a tree
and nothing more
it's probably not for me
but I will think about it
and I will long for it

One of Seven

I can’t help but feel that people are missing the point of this statistic that one of seven of the released Guantánamo detainees go on to engage in some act of terrorism or militant activity. Consider the situation: a person, picked up by the most powerful government and military in the world, virtually plucked from their homes, their countries, their families, and transported to a notorious prison and detained with no recourse to habeas corpus, an indeterminate amount of time, and possibly with no idea why. Then consider the possible treatment of this person while in detention, something we can only speculate about, but which we can probably agree was no picnic.

Now, imagine how this person might now feel towards the people who put him through this and the country they represent. If I were building a betting portfolio, I’d put my money on the chance that 100% of these people will harbor ill feelings towards the country and jump at the opportunity to retaliate. The fact that only 14% have acted in such a way speaks volumes, don’t you think? Either, they weren’t treated so bad, or they have the tolerance, understanding, and patience of a saint.

Furthermore, 534 detainees have been released, 240 are still being held, lets assume that the 240 still being held are very dangerous, add the 14% of the 534 have proven themselves to be dangerous, that is a total of 315 dangerous persons out of 775, that means 60% of the people detained have not shown themselves to be dangerous but have had to have their lives interrupted in the name of the unattainable and farcical notion of security.

Coming Up For Air

What a busy three to four weeks it has been.

I saw Gigantic at the film festival. It’s a comedy film, but the characters–save for mattress store owner Roger Stovall (Clarke Peters) and mattress mover Kevin Blue (Daniel Stewart Sherman)–aren’t very funny. The comedy mostly arises from absurd situations and cheap visual puns that quickly fade but whose occurrence seems to be the main reason for the film. As if the writer and director decided to build a film around these preconceived situations and fleeting visual puns, with no regard for how such a film could possibly be held together.

Quirky, obfuscated, and remote would aptly describe this film. In fact, those two mattress workers, who have the tiniest parts in the film, manage to come off with more depth and familiarity than all the other characters combined. That’s harsh to the main characters, Brian Weathersby (Paul Dano) and Harriet ‘Happy’ Lolly (Zooey Deschanel), but its sooo true. Then again, maybe the mattress salesmen are familiar because they are playing stereotypes and playing them well. I suppose John Weathersby (Ian Roberts) is also doing his stereotype well, but these roles are entirely peripheral and superfluous to the film.

The funniest part of the film has to be the mattress mover’s two parts awkward plus one part dry line, “Hey, what’s up? Not much.” That is, he asks someone a question but quickly follows it with his own reply to the very question. It is hilarious the second time too.

I also saw a bunch short films in the Short Program #2 with a bunch of contrived and amateur premises. Not to say all the films were bad:

• Julie, Julie - a film that portrays the difficulties of a young couple when one of them becomes someone else entirely due to a strange amnesia. It was very good, I’d trim a few scenes, especially those with the doctor, who gave the weakest performance.
• Io Parlo! - a young boy blackmails his older sister’s boyfriend, who is cool in the boy’s eyes, into playing the role of a big brother. The girl breaks up with the guy, but the big brother relationship continues but the boy’s interest wanes when the boy sees the guy in a slump. Overall, it was well executed with all around terrific performances.
• 7 Days a Week was playful and genuinely entertaining. An effective video for a They Might Be Giants song of the same name. Check it out:
  

Mind in a Rut Gutter

The shocker should not be confused with similar looking hand gestures such as “The Pitchfork,” (pictured above) which is a hand signal used at Arizona State University. (notice the spacing between the Index and middle finger).

What’s a shocker? Go find out Shocker (hand gesture).

Peculiar Orbits

Today, at a lunchtime seminar, a figure came up, and my mind went dirty.

That’s a diagram of stellar orbits in a galactic bar potential. The solid line is called an x₁ orbit, the dashed line is called an x₂ orbit. The speaker traced the x₁ orbit, hovered momentarily at the top, and then highlighted the cusp with a steady circular motion.

Like I said, my mind went dirty. I blame Nicholson Baker’s novel Vox, a voyeuristic peek at a long, sexually-charged conversation between two strangers. A novel who’s genius lies not in its vividly intense descriptions of wet daydreams and bizarre turn-ons, but in the overarching theme of prolonged and delayed gratification and the benefits that follow.

“I can hear your strumming in your voice, you nasty boy.”

“Nastybation. I don’t want to come, though. I’m going to stop.”

“Prudent.”

“Funny.”

It’s totally meta in this respect. Consider this excerpt:

“As I was driving home I was so stiff from owning this pre-enjoyed book that once when I was stopped at a stoplight and I saw a woman in my rearview mirror I made a very small clit-circling motion with my fingers on the roof of my car, despite the bird droppings up there—the idea that she might notice and understand what this motion meant made me feel faint with excitement—but she was expressionless.”

which spurs an alternative interpretation of the slight pause in today’s speaker’s pointer as he is about to describe how shocks can form near the upper cusp as stars on x₁ orbits transfer to x₂ orbits giving rise to potential sites of star formation in the central molecular zone of our galaxy.