STAR TREK OR ROAD WARRIOR

Riding home from work last night was scary. Not because of the traffic on 36. Not because it was so warm in early March and seems to be yet another sign that Global Warming or Climate Change or whatever you want to call it is racing towards up at the speed of light. Certainly not because I'm worried about Inflation, which seems to me to just be the greedy raising prices because they can and to keep the downtrodden downtrodden.

No. 

I was frightened because I was listening to reports about the biggest Nuclear Power Plant in Europe being set on fire after getting shelled by whatever you want to call the Russian Army.

That's some scary shit.

Some China Syndrome, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl meets Strangelove kind of scary shit.  

I think most of us like to think that the threat of nuclear annihilation is over, that the possible end of the world due to our own stupidity went down with the Berlin Wall and now we are headed to the future promised to us all in Star Trek.

But we ain't there yet.

First off, we still have all these missiles. And by we I mean: USA, Russia, Chine, the UK, France, and Chine.

Oh, also North Korea, Israel, India, and Pakistan.

Maybe more.

What could possibly go wrong?

Oh wait. I know. You could have a total asshole who seems kind of crazy be in charge of at least one of those countries.

It really feels like we are at this moment of do or die. Either we get our collective shit together and start living that Utopian Star Trek existence, or we go down the path of Mad Max and the Road Warriors of Doom.

I remember having a conversation about this long ago, right after 9/11, on a balcony with an old friend, in Mid-Town Manhattan. 

Star Trek or Road Warrior.

Life or Death.

I happen to think we need to aim for Star Trek. Seems like that would be a. more enjoyable future to live in. Transporters. Space Exploration. The Holodeck.

Bring it on.

I know it's hard to do. I watch the news and I think, let's just go into Ukraine and fuck shit up and wipe out the Russian Army and then march on to Moscow and kick Putin's ass. Right in the middle of Red Square.

If it weren't for the threat of all out nuclear war and mutually assured destruction, this would be choice number one, violent as it may be.

But that threat is real.

And now, Putin the Fuckface shells a huge nuclear power plant. 

So what to do? 

I have no idea. But I think whatever course we take, right now and in the the future, has to involve changing our whole idea of how the world works, how finance happens, what worth there is to having rich and poor, haves and have nots, and all that.

Like what Jesus tried to talk about before the powers that be said "Fuck that guy" and nailed him to a tree.

I wonder if this is what happened to Atlantis.

We need to stop this. We need to start loving more. Listening more. Giving more. Striving more.

We need so much more, spiritually.

So I write blogs and screenplays and teach theatre and produced shows. 

Hopefully it makes people have a little more hope, a little more compassion, a little more determination to make the world less likely to blow up.

Here's a song. It's Untitled by REM, but I usually call it This World Is Big.

PS: I am co-producing a new play, and we are doing and Indiegogo camapign. If you can, please donate. If not, please share the link:

 https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/higher-ground-presents-puerto-rican-nocturne/x/3385268?utm_campaign=contribution_receipt&utm_content=receipt-campaign_link&utm_medium=email&utm_source=lifecycle#/

PPS: Please take a moment to breathe. Right Now. 

BEAUTY AND TERROR

The dreams all ran off this morning. Jumped over the moon while looking for the dish and spoon. And I woke up extra early for no reason. Well, I did go to sleep a little earlier than usual. But only a little. I always feel a bit robbed when I can't remember my dreams. Like a message from my spirit guides got lost in the mail or something. Sometimes, as I wake, I can feel them fading, can remember them for just a moment, and then they're gone. As if they had substance and were physically taken from me. I wonder if there is a cabin out there somewhere, full of forgotten dreams. A country sized cabin, a world, full of me flying and being in old places that aren't really those old places but an amalgamation of other places that only make sense in the dream world.

We watched JoJo Rabbit last night. I've been wanting to see that since I first saw a trailer for it at the Alamo Draft House (my favorite movie theatre). I blew me away. So funny and original and exciting and sad and tragic. That's the kind of film I would like to make. Sort of a farcical magic realism period fable from a modern perspective that's both intelligent and heartfelt. And so damn funny. I think it's streaming now, so if you can, watch it. Fables of courage in times of madness seem like a good idea right now. And it has a fantastic quote in it which I think applies to us all more than ever.

“Let everything happen to you
Beauty and terror
Just keep going
No feeling is final”

― Rainer Maria Rilke

Speaking of which, it's almost the end of the month. Bills are coming due. Energy, water, phone, internet, cable, credit cards, and mortgage. What are we going to do? I know, the stimulus. And yes, that's a good thing and I'm glad it passed, though I'm not sure yet what all it means other than that one time check. I hear artists might be able to apply for grants. And that there are small business loans at zero rate. I hear lots of things. But what will actually happen? How hard will it be to get these things? What will we all do at the end of next month? I think I heard that we will be in isolation until at least the end of April now. So much for the Easter uprising. I think, as this grinds along, we are going to have to rethink our economic system. Completely.

I remember, shortly after 9/11, standing on the balcony of a friends apartment in NYC, talking about the world, what had just happened, what to expect, and so on. This was right after, when you could still smell the electrical fires from downtown and there were army dudes in the subway stations and it felt for a brief moment like wartime. My girlfriend had just gotten a radical masectomy and was in chemo, and had caught pneumonia after that day of the attacks, being young starving artists we had no insurance, and things looked a bit bleak. My friend conjectured that the world would either go in one of two directions: towards the anarchic dystopia of movies like The Road Warrior, or towards the Utopian world of Star Trek. I think about that conversation a lot these days. I vote for the Star Trek world. We can start by doing the Andrew Yang thing of guaranteed income paired with the Warren/Bernie thing of universal healthcare. Seems like a huge portion of the world would be better off, happier, and healthier- and this would trickle up, down, and all around. I'm sure there would still be problems- Klingons, Tribbles, and such- but we would all be better equipped to deal with them.

So. Another Monday. Only it's not like Monday used to be. Not going back to the grind Monday, no sleeping in Monday, no it's-a-whole-week-until-the-week-end Monday. It's just a day that starts with the Sun rising, the dog needing to be let out, and a world that seems cleaner of late quietly spinning.

Time to explore the inner soul a bit, tend to our garden, and write my story.

Here's a song. It is a bit of a spoiler if you haven't seen JoJo Rabbit. So watch the movie first!