we are all earthlings. we are all made of the stuff of stars.

This video is extraordinary. It's the first time I've heard astronauts speak so freely about the feeling of transcendence. Of one-ness. It made me think of Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin's discovery in the 1920s, that we are all made of the stuff of stars... and it made me want to go back to that play I've been working on forever. Cecilia and the Universe.

a little something is still more than nothing

it has been nearly a month since I used this template and that is partly because I didn't have easy internet access but also just because I was really really busy and in New York City and being a sponge and writing little notes, jot-downs, in my little notebook on the train or in a corner of the park but I didn't want to miss anything. I wanted to do, and listen to, and see, and take in, as much as possible. And it was pretty exciting and effective I think. I mean, I accomplished what I set out to do in that sense of it. I made a list of some especially extraordinary items that I will type up here pronto... but first, a detail I just read in the paper that made me bolt up and say, "I can't believe it! Really? Is this true? This is TOO weird. I've got to tell people about this."
Werner Herzog made a first-person documentary about his trip to Anarctica and in a write-up on the film it says Herzog finds "such banal appurtenances as a bowling alley and A.T.M.s," and "abominations such as an aerobics studio and yoga classes." REALLLLLLLYYY?
I find this very hard to believe but also not. I have nothing against bowling or aerobics or especially yoga for that matter but it is scary don't you think? I mean, is everywhere going to be the same? To me Anarctica represents all that is wild and strange and unknown and very very cold, and DIFFICULT, some untouched/untainted NATURE. Not so much anymore I guess.
And that makes me scared. And also a little sad. I mean next thing we know we might have the Concorde to Antarctica and it might be a giant winter wonderland playground and then at some point in the distant, distant future, they will make an amusement park that will try to re-create the Anarctica of a few decades ago, and there will be the last remaining polar bar on display, locked-up like some freak show, and the whole thing will be picked and pruned and fake-snowed and wildly popular and to think-- all to just imitate the very thing we seem to be ruining today.

friday night

I will go dancing soon and I walk the walk I'm talking so big in that little box on the lower right...


But first, a thought...

Yesterday I took many 8th graders to listen to "Farmer John," (his words, not mine), a delegate from the city agency dealing with envinmental education... he was wearing a massive straw hat, OVERALLS!, a red plaid shirt, and sandals! Who was he kidding?! It was like he was playing the part. This is LA and everything but this stuff is important. I bought my Vanity Fair "Green Issue" which indeed WAS NOT printed on any sort of receycled paper!! Anyway, his lesson was about "the environment, and gardening, and nutrition" ... he used the "3 Rs" to make his point, (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) and then we planted little bean sprouts in peet pods and he told us to eat apples. He actually made a cloudy metaphor between our bodies and fancy cars... something like, 'if we had nice cars we would put the nice gasoline in them, right? ... and 'aren't vegetables the 93 Octane of our diet??'
For some of the groups he brought up the idea of "RETHINK" ... you know, questioning the status quo, asking questions, not taking what we think we know for granted... which was wonderful, and made me think about that whole Know, Don't-Know, Know-you-don't-know, and Don't-even-know-you-don't-know circle David Dunbar enlightened me with...

anyway, as a whole, all 4 times I saw the presentation...it was REALLY WEAK.

I heard the same exact schpiel back in the 80s! Around the same time I did my 4th grade Science Project on Global Warming. BUT HELLO!!!!!!!! things have changed!! we know more now!! but most of us DO NOTHING with what we might know, or have a feeling is the case... coming from the East Coast I am constantly impressed with California's eco-consciousness and conscience, but if we aren't making REAL DATA and scenarios and alternatives and ways to DO SOMETHING available to every kid in LA, the city with maybe the worst pollution in America, isn't it all just an act?
I'm guilty of it too. It takes more effort to recycle than to just throw something away, or to wash out a bottle and continue using it. But if I don't even do these things, how can I expect teenagers to?
Anyway, from this moment forward, I'm going to try and do something personally everyday. Small or large. Something. To help.