There’s nothing funny about authoritarian systems. But there are clever ways to protest them. Taking it to the streets, clown style here. And it is worth noting that activism roils clowndom, too, as our institutions undergo generational soul searching here.
All posts by jmp
Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Interview
The late, great artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, who were preparing the ground for their proposed Over the River Project on the Arkansas River in Southern Colorado, sat down with me for an interview in January, 2002. The result, which was published in Eye Level and is reprinted below, was used by them on their Read More
Pandemic Price Guide
It was widely reported this morning that Pfizer Pharmaceuticals is finding positive results in the Phase Two trials of a vaccine for Covid-19 protection. The federal effort to secure an effective vaccine may not play out as promised, however. The nearly $2 billion dollars it placed on the table sounds formidable but may in fact Read More
Food and Climate
Are you willing to change your diet to save the planet? What if you learned that farts are releasing as much methane into the atmosphere as oil & gas exploration? This is classically “food for thought.” In an article about the Paris Accords by Henry Fountain in today’s New York Times Digest (no link available), climate Read More
Robber Barons of the 21st Century
While high-tech Mandarins continue to accumulate staggering wealth, and the Revenge of the Nerds assumes dominance in the economy, service sector jobs make up most of the rest of what’s available in the marketplace and the pay sucks. The pandemic has convincingly demonstrated, among other notable inequities, that most of the “essential workers” keeping society Read More
Cascadia: Prelude II
Some fifty miles off the coast of Cascadia, miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean and only 10 minutes ago, pressure built up between two massive tectonic plates over more than 300 years finally gave way. Along a 700 mile fault line, the Juan de Fuca plate slipped a few meters beneath the continental Read More
Pay It Forward
The thing about change is that it usually is forced on us. Few of us go there willingly, foregoing the familiar for a venture into the unknown. When truly dramatic change happens, like the world wide pandemic we are suffering, all the pain is readily apparent. But sometimes, too, the sheer magnitude of the disruption Read More
Power Play
It may surprise you to know where your electricity comes from. This state-by-state look at the sources of power generation over the past 20 years is provided by Nadja Popovich and Brad Plumer in The New York Times edition of Oct. 28, 2020.
Cascadia: an excerpt
“So, what’s the deal?” he said. “Deal?” said the bum. “I thought we agreed you’d go away. I gave you money. You said you would!” “I did go away.” “Not for long. Just a few days.” “Had to get back to work.” “What?” “Money ran out. Need some more.” “More? From me, you mean?” Read More
Uncle Billy in the Last Best Place
Uncle Billy came calling on more than one occasion and it was always a pleasure when he did. He and you had been tighter than ticks in the bad old days in Boulder and Denver, spent a lot of time, effort, and money together dancing on the hyphen of irrationality, as he might put it. Read More