ICE 9.1 - STONED ON KURT VONNEGUT, JR., and HERMANN HESSE

My apology to Mr. Vonnegut... Kurt Vonnegut, the writer... for getting to him so late. I'm just getting around to acknowledge him, and the profound influence his novels had on me during my 20's, the 1970's... Hesse too.

I remember "Ice Nine" in particular, A story within the novel, "Cat's Cradle". The whole world turns to ice, due to a "stable polymorph" introduced into water. Everything dies... within hours, or minutes. And it happens, in Cat's Cradle. Can't help but compare it to the tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico - the "BP Spill".


Not exactly something to feel good about - stoned or not. In ICE NINE the world freezes completely. In the Gulf, everything turns to oil.

WIKIPEDIA LINK:
"Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (pronounced /ˈvɒnɨɡət/; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American novelist who wrote works blending satire, black comedy, and science fiction, such as Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), Cat's Cradle (1963), and Breakfast of Champions (1973). He was known for his humanist beliefs as well as being honorary president of theAmerican Humanist Association. He is widely considered one of the most influential American writers of the 20th century."

Vonnegut speaking in 2004

One of the effects of Vonnegut's books are how they blend together.. I've read and reread his novels, "Slaughterhouse five", for example, a novel with a very personal view of WWII. What gets me stoned is not because I have a rush reading Vonnegut, but rather... a connection - a high from connecting and living the stories. Like an out of body experience.

My mentor during the 1970's, Professor DS,  suggested that not only should I reserve some books for when I'm older -like over 50... but reread the ones that touched you when you were younger., back then in my 20's.


I can think of one novel in particular that I saved - by Hermann Hesse' , "The Glass bead Game"... I remember only that unlike his other novels, of which I read them all, "The Glass bead game" was mathematically challenging. I wasn't able to climb that peak, back then. But, soon... I will.


Authors like Vonnegut, Hesse, can heighten awareness, influence thoughts, change behavior. It's just like getting stoned on "marijuana". The only difference is that cannabis often provides a temporary, nitrous oxide effect (laughing gas), a rush of sorts... but then these novels do much the same... providing a high, and euphoria, as well as esoteric experiences.


WIKIPEDIA LINK: 

Hermann Hesse... maybe not what you picture for a spiritual guide... but similar to Vonegut, they're masters.

Hermann Hesse in 1927

"Hermann Hesse (July 2, 1877 – August 9, 1962)...  was aGerman-born, Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature. His best-known works include 'Steppenwolf', 'Siddhartha', 'Narcissus and Goldmund', and 'The Glass Bead Game(also known as Magister Ludi)'. Each explores an individual's search for authenticity, self-knowledge and spirituality."


My own epiphany:

"What's that that makes us who we are? So elusive as to pay it no mind... you can ignore it, or embrace it. If you "embrace it", "IT has a right to BE too! You are not a god. You do not own it. If you ignore it, you ignore yourself, which in effect is taking your life for granted."

MARIJUANA OBSESSION - Autobiographical Critique

Face it old man - "you're obsessed with marijuana".

So I face it...

I look in a mirror; what do I see?

What I see is why I don't look into a mirror.

No, not anything bad, I'm really a good guy, I know that. Being obsessed with marijuana isn't what i see looking in a mirror... what I see is the challenge life has been and how fortunate I've been to have had the very unique experiences I have had, and to be able to look back on them.

But not in a mirror...

In a mirror I see a person alienated from his family, and society... for really asinine reasons. My choice at age 21, for example, to get a job as a custodian at a community college. It was my dream... but there was the disgrace it caused to my mother... and then there was sex, OMG, sex! Not a place we can go just yet... but let's consider an obsession towards knowledge, being human, fitting in, and finally, my interest in cannabis, which happened quite unexpectedly (and covered under earlier posts) actually.

My family mocked me as a "career student", since once I started using cannabis, I suddenly loved learning... and my job provided free tuition, so I could take any subjects I wanted... and I did, but alas, "the family rulebook", like the Supreme Court might rule, found that "career student" was an unacceptable use of my life.

Like Sarah Silverman, I just wouldn't "grow-up"!

I am, therefore, pretty much in self-exile from my family... in the 1970's we were expected to go to college, get a good paying job, get married, buy a house, have children, and grand-children, and die. College was but a stepping stone - one not designed or established so one would really learn, but an extension of high school, where you furthered your "prescribed" implant of information to go to the next square.

I blame a book my Aunt Helen gave me, Christmas, when I was 8yo, by Ray Bradbury - "R Is For Rocket", for making me different. Not cannabis or marijuana as many like to call it. Cannabis simply opened my eyes to the obvious... or what should have been obvious in my opinion... that education was and could be much more than the next square.

Having uncovered that secret however made me an outcast - yeah maybe in my own mind, but think about it - how many persons really look at college as a place of enlightenment, a place to learn, a place to become all you can? A place to research your most intimate interest, a place to socialize and find you're not so bad after-all...

If, like Sarah Silverman was able to do in her 2010 autobiography, I was able to do in my blog... I would not only feel very happy, but I'll bet, I could knock your socks off! The title of the book is "A View From Behind the Mop", and I've been working on it for almost 35 years... it's a story that happened by accident, when I chose the "road less traveled". What's ironic is that I didn't search for this road, it found me. As it should.

I had decisions to make for the first time in my life... and I embraced them, rather scared at first, but I did. But then, that "family rulebook" and almost daily calls from my mother, all starting out innocuous, but all leading to that rulebook, and to continued "parenting", which not only really annoyed me, but by age 21 that's an infringement.

Marijuana, happens to be a topic I've extensively researched since the 1970's... and had ample opportunity to experience first-hand. And to be quite honest, since I turned 50, like clockwork it seemed,  I haven't used cannabis very often since then, because pot is for young people. At least that's how the laws affect it's use, in my opinion. Instead, now I reflect on my life... smoke a lot of cigarettes and consume a lot of beer. Yes, and I do work 40 hours a week and commute an additional 17hours during the week. The irony - I've been told it's healthier drinking and smoking butts - Why? Marijuana is illegal, that's why.

Marijuana Prohibition is simply plain wrong. That's why i write about it... that and because my First Amendment rights permit me to. I'm also bothered by how cannabis, which was accepted in this country until 1937, suddenly became "the demon weed". If you've read my history of marijuana you'd see the term "marijuana" is directed towards Mexicans to begin with, and a prejudice... we called it ganjah, not marijuana. It became the target of immigration reform back in the 1930's... which then led to Reefer madness and the problems we have today, sorting truth from fiction.

Considering what's going on in our world, it's ironic that I find myself writing a blog that's considered "at the fringe", as I try and separate fact from lies. That the likes of people like Charles Manson and Joran van der Sloot are celebrities, getting numerous marriage proposals, and attention; that Wall Street needed us tax-payers to bail them out... hey, I could use a "bail-out" too!!!.

Marijuana is not the problem... Reefer madness is - the concept, the idea. It a comedy of tragedies... one that grows more elaborate and ludicrous every day. I need not remind my readers that on Change.org for 2010,  "legalization of marijuana" was voted the number 1 issue for reform in America.

I'm hardly alone... it turns out. Though I feel like I am.

STONED ON SARAH SILVERMAN ... *>* - Part 2

Sarah Silverman...

Someone survived. Wow...

What I mean by that... Sarah was refreshing, sincere, genuine, smart, bright and funny... she can tell it like it is, and she knows how it is. She's a comedian who knows the truth...

I completed her 5 CD Audiobook, "The BedWetter", published by Harperaudio.com this year. I spread it out over a week during my commute home in the evening. I love her voice, so the hard-cover version would be a reference - the only way to hear Sarah's story is on the audio CD.

I highly recommend it to anyone feeling down in the dumps... if you're feeling alone, feeling oppressed, feeling this weight from your right pressing down on you to behave in an orderly fashion, or if you simply feel weirded out by all the catastrophies of late... oh, and you're not offended by four letter words... I highly recommend her book.

Now I am an addict.

I researched her on Wikipedia:

Sarah Silverman - Link from Wikipedia:

Sarah Silverman

I read on another site where one critic's view was that she "never grew up".

I can identify with that kind of criticism. Seemed number one in my family. The whole idea of "growing up" is so abstract though. What does "growing up mean?" We all grow-up. We don't all "measure up".  Is that the difference?

To measure up requires a ruler, something history teachers loved to use in high school, back in my day. Why did they have to make history so painful? I guess those in Texas will soon find out... it's because history is prescribed, not taught, in many cases.

Sarah Silverman's biography on CD reopened a person huddled in a protective cocoon. The person was essentially letting go... becoming a lemming. Experience taught him - too many games, too many expectations, too many rules... it's a sacrifice alone having to work 40 hours a week for a strange company, who pays you so you can survive, and holds it over your head. We can take solace in the fact WE bailed out the corporations that caused it the 2nd Depression... because they have few rules, or did....

Sarah Silverman is a comic with exquisite insight into what makes us tick... some of us, that is. She has no qualms with using four letter words, nor speaking openly about religion, sex, politics, and farts... and that's... why she's unique. Normally there are ways to "make people grow up". Sarah is a survivor... she's retained her humanity.

I like this picture of her, courtesy of her father, Donald Silverman, and the LINK he provided, a "thank-you, in a comment he posted to my original Sarah Silverman post.

Sarah Silverman with Pres. Bill Clinton

Yes, my Netflix cue is loading up.... I'm hooked!

And Sarah, I agree totally that "PEE" is far better than "Pee Pee". What were they thinking???

"DUDE... What's With Your Blog?"

 I have a friend - truly, I do, and I've been encouraging him to visit my blog. You know, when you want an objective opinion, if getting an opinion from a friend is objective, but you know what I mean... someone who wouldn't be afraid to tell me "it's bad", or "wow, cool site man!"

So my friend goes to my blog and he writes back... "way too dark man, I can't read it".

Hmmm, I wonder... is his monitor brightness turned down, or what?

The next time I saw him I asked him to clarify, please.

"It's the green text... too dark."

I'd already figured that would be his answer, when I looked at my blog with an objective eye and I changed the green to an off-white. (He still think "black on white", but I'm firm on white on black).

So I asked him to look again.

He said, "Dude, your background, it gives me a head-ache."

"What?" I ask, honestly perplexed and now wondering why my friend is feeling the way he is. I like my blog, so what's up?

He told me, "I sent you an e-mail of your blog so you can see what I see... it's just too busy; can't read half the stuff, and your background... honestly, it's not good."

Well now I was hurt, and discouraged. Until I saw the picture he sent!

OMG... I was dumbfounded! "It doesn't look like that", I told him... it looks like this:

He was surprised! 

There's a logical explanation... one that plagues many web designers... making your blog compatible with different browsers. I use Google Chrome and Firefox... my friend uses Firefox. A really old version. I just now looked at my blog in my up to date Firefox and it looked good. Explanation... his browser is too old a version to support the template I'm using.

I asked him, "were you able to read any of my posts?"

"Obsessed", he answered. "Yes, a few of them".

"Obsessed by what", I asked?

He laughed.

"You mean pot?"

"Yeah".

Interesting I thought. "Well, you know", I told him, "I learned one must chose their battles wisely." I honestly believe cannabis prohibition is very bad policy, and it harms people in many ways, and compared to use of it, the punishments and hassles do not fit the perceived crime. American citizens are made victims by the very laws that simply don't make sense, in any way, to me. Yeah, so maybe I'm obsessed... but the simple (harmful) fact that cannabis is illegal means many law makers are equally obsessed. 

I asked my friend to update his Mozilla Firefox. I ask law makers to update the laws... stop making criminals out of people who enjoy cannabis... need I add - it is far safer than alcohol or tobacco. Regulate and Tax instead!!!