R. I. P.

Day 40

2009-10-03T13:34:00.000-07:00

Claire walks me ragged on the wilderness trail. Matthew beats me badly at video games.

Day 39

2009-10-03T13:25:00.000-07:00

Got up earlier than planned because Dickie's contractors showed up early to work on his den, so I showered, dressed, and left as soon as possible to get out from underfoot. I walked for an hour and then stopped by the little bakery on 16th for coffee and pastry while reading some more of Sharlet's book, _The Family_. Then to Mama's house for a couple of hour visit. Charles and I went to Cafe Calypso for lunch and then through the Mrs Winters drive-thru for country fried steak and buscuits for Mama's lunch.

Later I borrowed one of Dickie and Carolyn's autos and drove down to Murfreesboro to visit Claire and family. Much to my surprise I managed to find the place with no directions. Claire was at the grocery with Matthew but Andy was home and we had a good visit till she showed up. Later I went with Andy to pick up dinner at Cozumel, their favorite Mexican restaurant.

Claire has been wanting me to watch "Freaks and Geeks" for years and they recently bought the entire season on DVD so we had to watch a couple of episodes. Really very funny, so I guess I'll have to get the rest from Netflix. We stayed up until almost 2:00 AM talking music - Andy was distressed at Rolling Stone's top 100 album of all time picks, so we had to discuss the merits and demerits of each and lament all of our favorite music that didn't make the cut.

I slept on Daniel's bed (he slept with the parents - not uncommon) and I slept well.

Day 38

2009-10-03T13:22:00.001-07:00

Up early and walking in a pretty brisk morning. I stopped at Bongo Java at Five Points for strong coffee before heading out to walk the neighborhood for an hour before visiting Mama.

In the afternoon Dickie, Charles and I go for a walk on the Green way starting at the Welcome Avenue entrance. We walk as far as the pedestrian bridge over the Cumberland, cross it on principle, and then walk back. Good walk but not enough shade on the walk for a hot and sunny afternoon.

Day 37

2009-09-30T19:29:00.000-07:00

A chilly morning in the 40's and I'm not quite ready for it. Go out for a long walk early and walk all the way to town and back (about six miles) before going to visit my mother. Alternate between reading and walking - and visiting with Mama - for the rest of the day.

Wednesday night is the traditional dinner at Joe's. Charlie, Carolyn, and I ride over around 6:00 (Dickie is teaching). Jenny, Ben, and Naomi Rose are already there. Very pleasant evening.

Day 36

2009-09-29T19:18:00.000-07:00

Up early and read on Dickie and Carolyn's front porch for an hour, then shower and head out for a walk. On impulse dropped into a neighborhood hair salon for what turned out to be the absolute worst haircut I have ever had - then walked fast for an hour to work through the anger.

I visited with Mama for a couple of hours, listened to genealogical updates, watched soap operas and the 700 Club. Dickie and Charles wanted to go out for lunch so we drove over to Mitchels, a neighborhood sub that is new since I was in town and then picked lunch up for Mama from Windy's.

That afternoon I walked to Shelby Park and sat by the pond and read for a while before continuing on to the Green Way and walking a mile or so on it while having a phone conversation with Claire. I walked a lot further than i intended and was exhausted by the time I got back to Dickie's house.

I had an early evening visit with Mama and then returned to Dickie and Carolyn's placed for a diner of chili - perfect for the weather - and a couple of hours of various CSI shows - something I haven't experienced before.

Day 35

2009-09-28T21:23:00.000-07:00

This was a travel day. I'm flying to Nashville for a couple of weeks to visit family. The first flight was cancelled so I rebooked on a later flight which was delayed, delayed again, delayed yet again, and finally cancelled as well. Rebooked on a third flight I got out of town several hours later than scheduled. Despite the fact that fewer people are flying (note the virtually empty U S Air Club) all flights seem to be overbooked due to reduced flight schedules and having to accommodate all those from frequently cancelled flights. I expect that within five years there will be no domestic air service except for the very rich.

I got picked up at the airport by brother Charles, dropped off bags at my brother Dickie's house and walked down to my mothers. Dickie lives at one end of the block and my mother on the other end in the 1500 block of Stratton Avenue. Mama seems a lot better than the last time I visited - stronger, more alert and not in so much discomfort. I visited a while and then went back to Dickie's for the night.

Day 34

2009-09-27T18:07:00.000-07:00

I pretty much did nothing today. I didn't go out for a walk even though it was a beautiful and cool morning, electing instead to drink coffee and read the Sunday Times and Post. Neither very exciting but it's the leisurely Sunday morning experience I have missed. I spent the morning and a big part of the day taking advantage of the bench in our front yard - a quiet, lovely place to sit and read, even if my reading continues to be somewhat depressing. Today I started re-reading Mark Lynas's book _Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet_. This book reviews hundreds of scientific studies that deal with what each degree of warming might mean for the world. Six degrees had been considered the unlikely upper limit of climate change this century and promises a world that is virtually uninhabitable by current standards. Now it seems that the unlikely has become a 'good' bet. The most recent statements from the IPCC suggest that six degrees warming over the next century is likely. Ironically, the more strongly they try to sound the alarm the less attention is paid to them by the press.

K was off at church and then to Harris Teeter in support of her new plan to cook all of the Italian recipes in Cook's Illustrated's Italian selection. I'm not complaining. Today she whipped up a couple of batches of biscotti (amazing) and is currently finishing up with veal scalopini for dinner. WONDERFUL. I missed this when I was travelling all the time for work. One of our family jokes is remembering when my company explained their stingy food allowance by saying that they didn't think anyone should expect to eat better on the road than at home! I couldn't even come close at twice the money.

Tomorrow I'm travelling to Nashville to visit family for a couple of weeks. It has been years since I had more than a day or so at one time to visit, so this will be a real experiment. It will give me time also to see friends I don't often see, so I'm looking forward to it. It will be a real change of pace since I can't afford to rent a car for two weeks I will be walking, taking the bus, and bumming rides. We'll see how that works.

Day 33

2009-09-26T16:23:00.000-07:00

Rain all day. Unfortunately this was the day for the annual National Book Fair on the Mall. I walked down there in a light drizzle around 11:00 and much to my surprise found the largest crowd I remember seeing at one of these events. The lines were so long I couldn't even get into the tent that was selling the books available for signing. People standing in line for book signings must have had an hour or more per author. All the presentation tents were full with people overflowing outside the tent walls and listening to presentations via loudspeakers. At some points it was like a flat tower of babble with all the competing speakers cancelling one another out.

So, tell me again how nobody reads anymore.

I've been reading about Harding University on the Internet this week after being reminded that Glen Beck's inspiration for his current round of conspiracy theories is Cleon Skousen's books and that Skousen was a frequent speaker at Harding's various right wing / anti-communist forums when I was there in my early college years. I had hoped things would have changed more over the last four decades. Alas.

Day 32

2009-09-25T14:03:00.000-07:00

K had errands to run this morning and I left the apartment soon after her around 10:30. It had rained all morning and continued to drizzle so I expected the worst and didn't count on being out long. I walked down to the Capitol which is bustling with all the pompous and VERY important people involved in the Health care debate and upcoming votes. The grounds are alive with speeches and small crowds clapping for one point of view or another. At the foot of Capitol Hill, just before the National Botanical Gardens, a couple of confused Christian Evangelists were setting up their speaker's platform and props - a six foot high replica of the 10 Commandments. I asked them exactly how they thought they were honoring the 10 Commandments since one of the commandments is to make no "graven image" - like the one they were setting up. They didn't seem to understand and immediately started quoting irrelevant scripture at me. As I walked away they got on their microphone and kept increasing the volume yelling at me until the Capitol Police intervened and had them ratchet back a few notches.

I walked down to 14th St by the Washington Monument, spending a few minutes browsing at the Department of Agriculture's Friday Farmer's Market and then made my way back to the garden behind the Smithsonian Castle and found a new spot beside the Museum of African Art, surrounded by tropical plants and fountains.

Since I had finished most of the apocalyptic nonfiction I have been reading I decided on a departure and read a Joseph Conrad short story, "An Anarchist" (in honor of all the "self described anarchists" who were tear gassed, pepper sprayed, and arrested at the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh yesterday for attempting to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed rights to freedom of speech and assembly). A century on and some things just never change. I especially liked Conrad's criticism of the corporate advertising if his day - just like the corporate advertising of this day - exaggerated, unselfconscious, and designed for the gullible and uncritical.

After finishing the Conrad story I walked back up Independence Avenue to the National Garden I found yesterday and spent another hour reading in the far south east corner (pictured above right). I read a chapter of _Moby Dick_. I haven't mentioned that I started re-reading this book while still in Oregon and have been doing at most a chapter a day. Since most of the chapters are short - and there are MANY of them - it has taken a while and I still have a ways to go. I love this book but it needs to be done in small doses since each chapter is really a self-contained essay and most have nothing to do with plot.

We had guests at 6:00 for cocktails before the Theater. An old friend who is now the Assistant Undersecretary of the Navy and his partner came over and we killed a couple of bottles of wine before calling a cab to take us to the Harmon Center to see Helen Mirren in Racine's "Phaedra". As much as I love theater (and Helen Mirren), I have to say that this production sucked. The set was wonderful. That is the end of the positive statements. The lights were mediocre. The costumes were pedestrian and inconsistent. The blocking and general direction was terrible. I have seen High School productions with more soul. K and I have seen Helen Mirren on Broadway in Strindberg's "Dance of Death" and in the West End in London in Turgenev's "A Month in the Country" with John Hurt. Both of those were wonderful experiences in totally different ways. It's hard to believe she would allow herself to be associated with something this bad. And too bad for us, we had all looked forward to this night. It is seldom that DC has a theatrical experience that can count as truly unique. This show will not be playing elsewhere - of course, having seen it I think that 'elsewhere' is probably fortunate.

Day 31

2009-09-24T14:02:00.000-07:00

I headed out today around 10:20 and decided to see how far I could walk in an hour nonstop. At exactly 11:20 I was in front of a bench beneath the steps of the Lincoln Memorial (3.2 miles from home) so my average walking speed is somewhat slower than it once was. I used to be able to do a 12.5 to 15 minute mile walking. Now it is closer to 18 to 20 minutes per. Still, I can walk for hours without totally giving out so that is something - and it's still a pleasure.

After commenting on Jefferson's huge statue yesterday I thought I should pay homage to Lincoln's. His has more dignity - I suppose because he is seated - but it's still a tribute that the living person would probably have been very uncomfortable with.

While sitting in the vicinity of the monument I finished Wright's book (_A Short History of Progress_). Two quotes will remain in my mind for some time from the last chapter of this book - a piece of old graffiti, "Whenever history repeats itself the price goes up" and one of my favorite quotes from Kafka, "There is hope; though not for us." Perhaps not uplifting but probably true.

I then headed on around the Vietnam Memorial to the lake and sat facing the Constitution Avenue side of the park and read another chapter in Tainter's book _The Collapse of Complex Societies_. After dealing with a very aggressive squirrel that tried to get into my backpack after my lunch,

I walked back to the Mall and sat in the patio of the Hirshorn Museum to read the last chapter of Catton's _Overshoot: the Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change_. For whatever reason the last chapter is the weakest. Too bad, the rest of the book is dynamite. I have read it numerous times and it always shakes me up.

Walking back home I called my mother and was talking with her when I stumbled onto a garden I had read about but never seen, The National Garden just west of the National Botanical Garden. This is a walled in garden of native American plants, very well landscaped and with a meandering path plotted through it. Because it is walled off I had not seen it from the street and forgotten that it was here. This would be a great place to come and read - attractive, quiet, not much tourist traffic. Just the kind of place the reader in me is excited to find.

Day 30

2009-09-23T15:40:00.000-07:00

K had a new helper working in the 'office' (our living room) this morning so I got up early and was out of the house before 10:00. Before leaving we had reserved tickets to fly to Nashville the end of October for nephew Aaron's wedding and to Indianapolis a week later for 'niece' Leah's Bat Mitzvah. And I had hoped being retired would keep me off of planes.

This was another day with rain (thunderstorms actually) in the forecast but no evidence in the sky. I walked down to Bartholdi Park at the foot of Capitol Hill on Independence Avenue. This triangular park has a large, ornate Victorian fountain that is currently closed off with a construction fence for renovation but the gardens are still well maintained and lovely. I took a bench in a cul-de-sac of riotous tall plants and read a chapter of Catton. Reading about biological overshoot and die-off in such a lush environment seems odd but it does lend a very real sense of what Catton means by biotic exuberance. To keep from being sprayed by the automatic watering system I grabbed my backpack and headed further down Independence. At 17th St I turned left by the Holocaust Museum and walked down passed the Bureau of Printing and Engraving to the Tidal Basin.

The most impressive site on the Tidal Basin is the Jefferson Memorial, with its dome echoing Monticello's style. I have always found the huge statue of Jefferson a bit jarring and I suspect he would be embarrassed by it - not that he had no ego but I think he had more subtle taste than this. This is never as crowded as most of the monuments, I assume because it is harder to get to, but it's a delightful space.

William Catton, in the book I am reading about Overshoot, views Jefferson as something of a hero because he feels that Jefferson really understood that the promises made in the Declarartion of Independence were only possible in a land that provided many options - a land that was not overpopulated and one that provided many rich opportunities for realizing one's dreams. Thus the Louisiana Purchase managed to double the new world's possibilities in ways most people at the time could not appreciate. Now, when there is not a huge virgin territory to acquire in order to expand the country's options, we can see what a major stroke of genius it was to pay the trivial price paid for such a bounty.

Continuing around the Tidal Basin beyond the Jefferson I encountered a little memorial I had never seen before, a garden, fountain and statue in honor of George Mason. The garden and fountain are a century old but the statue was installed this past decade. Living here for fifteen years I have never seen this before.

Continuing further takes you to the FDR memorial, a seven acre series of open 'rooms' dedicated to the four terms of Roosevelt's presidency. Dominated by waterfalls and oppressive dark masonry, I have never really liked it in daylight, but it is quite interesting at night. It's unique as a presidential monument in many ways, but one that is significant is that it is the only one with a statue of the first lady.

A half mile further takes one to the Korean War memorial. Unlike the Vietnam Memorial which is very stylized, the Korean is a series of over sized statues of soldiers alongside a wall of etched stone portraits of actual service men and women.
This is a very interesting space in the rain or early morning fog.

I walked passed the memorial and down the reflecting pool to the WWII Memorial on 17th ST, over the grounds of the Washington Monument and crossed over to the National Mall where I sat and read for another hour before heading home on the Metro.

Day 29

2009-09-22T18:16:00.000-07:00

With the threat of rain in the forecast I headed out late morning for as much of a walk as I could get in before bad weather forced me indoors. I walked down to the western end of the National Mall and spent an hour reading the beginning of the last section of William Catton's book _Overshoot: the Ecological Basis for Revolutionary Change_. With clouds growing darker and lower I headed around the Washington Monument, passed the WWII Memorial and down the long reflecting pond to the Lincoln Memorial and sat on the other side of the Vietnam Memorial to continue reading. It is quieter over here but far from private.

Then, since the clouds were still threatening but no rain, I walked back to 17th St NW and up the hill to Pennsylvania Ave and the White House. I spent another hour on the Bernard Baruch 'Bench of Inspiration' in Lafayette Park in front of the White House reading the next chapter in Wright's _A Short History of Progress_, then took the Metro back to the Hill.

My idea of a great afternoon.

Day 28

2009-09-21T08:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday sure didn't feel much like Sunday. I guess retirement sort of does in the special quality of 'the weekend' and especially the dose of pre workweek anxiety I used to feel on Sunday evening. Now it's just a day.

K returned from Florida today and I drove over to DCA to meet her plane at noon. It's kind of nice to go to the airport and not have to stand in line, take off my shoes, and have my belongings poked and prodded by the TSA. I got a cup of coffee and sat and read my new Kindle book, _A Short History of Progress_ by Ronald Wright. OK, I still have multiple books in progress but this is one of the joys of having my time be my own - I can read what I feel like when I feel like. Heaven. This book, which I've read before, is a great dose of reality about the current human condition, where we came from and where we are headed.

After retrieving K's bags and driving home, she took a nap and I took a walk to the National Mall to find a quiet bench for a little afternoon reading. I found the perfect spot in the rose garden beside the Smithsonian Castle. Despite wanting privacy I kept having to interact with people. I had a delightful conversation with one gentleman from Holland who wanted to see my Kindle and lamented that he couldn't buy one in Holland. He can get the Sony digital reader but it doesn't have the ease of ordering books and having them be delivered immediately by wireless. Later K told me that one of the friends she spent the weekend with is in talks with Amazon to use the Kindle in place of textbooks for the multiple public schools she is responsible for. It seems the economics of textbooks is such that a $300 electronic reader makes sense rather than print physical books, pay for shipping them and then replace them in a couple of years after normal wear and tear. Who would have imagined?

Walking home I noticed that going up Capitol Hill I was bending forward so severely that all I was seeing was the interesting aggregate in the sidewalks (pictured above left). Exciting, no? OK, no. But that's the reality of that part of my daily walk.

I spent the later part of the evening reading about Buddhism and Taoism on the net (why? because I want to and have the time) while waiting for Obama to be on David Letterman. Turns out the reading was more interesting and rewarding than the Pres's appearance. When I was a lot younger most of the people I knew were reading both Buddhist and Taoist texts and at least voicing agreement with the philosophies behind those beliefs. Many of us had an unreasonable optimism about the future because of all the meditative and altruistic pressure we felt around us. Funny how all of that seemed to dissolve during the early part of the Reagan years.

I first got interested in Buddhism when I was in High School and read Keroak's _The Dharma Bums_ (very puzzling to someone with no frame of reference for Eastern non God centered religions) and then got hooked on Eastern religions generally when I read Erwin Schrodenger's _What Is Life?_, a meditation by the Noble Prize winning quantum physicist about the cosmological implications of Hinduism. I have never forgotten his pivotal phrase, "Physical theory, in its present state, strongly suggests the indestructibility of mind by time." This was most impressive to me because it seemed so unreasonable. And I thought, how strongly must this guy want to be immortal to grasp and hold to something this weak? But isn't that where all organized religions want people to be? Desperate to hold on to what they know. Fearful to lose it.

Day 27

2009-09-20T15:48:00.001-07:00

Not much happening today. Lost in my own mind. The Sunday op-eds were singularly awful. I didn't find one article worth reading in either the Times or the Post and most just made my blood pressure rise. I'm truly amazed - and disheartened - that such ignorant ranting finds a publisher. I used to lament that my hometown newspaper - the Indianapolis Star - was published by Dan Quayle's family. But The Washington Post has degenerated to the point where it isn't much better. I really believe that Katherine Graham would not believe what the paper has become under the oversight of her son. Pretty sad.

So I retreated from unsupported opinion to rational and fact supported discourse. I walked down to the middle of the National Mall and read another three chapters in _The World According to Pimm_. So far in the book there has been no polemic. Pimm is very dispassionately compiling an inventory of basic measures for significant processes. Unlike almost everyone I have read about climate change etc he is scrupulous in describing how measures and estimates are derived. This focus on precision has the rhetorical effect of arguing for limits, just because it focuses on specific finite examples. The more particular these discussions are the less susceptible they are to grandiose arguments. I think one of the things that put me off this morning were the number of articles about the "Green Revolution" and its chief author, Norman Bolaug, who just died last week at the age of 95. In almost every tribute was the claim that he had "saved" more people than anyone else in history by his work in genetically modified, high yield crops. I'm sure, in a way this is true, but it is equally true that he is responsible for the deaths of more people than any single person in history. Why? Because saving a billion starving people allowed them to have billions of babies, thus increasing the population still further - and faster than agriculture can ever keep up. Despite all these articles claiming that we have proven the Malthusian theories wrong, Malthus remains correct - population growth outruns our ability to produce sufficient food - and every new increment in food just results in an increment in the population. Just consider, the Green Revolution got underway in the late 50's and after a few decades was declared a resounding success. But according to UN statistics from just a couple of years ago:

On average, 1 person dies every second from hunger - 3,600 every hour - 86,400 per day, and 31,536,000 per year. 58% of all deaths worldwide are the results of hunger. 60% for all deaths of children younger than five.

How do we gauge the value of lives saved over those continuing to be lost as we try to catch up with runaway population growth? The best estimates, based on empirical evidence, is that the carrying capacity (the ability to support life) of the earth is between 1.5 and 2 billion persons. In 1950, just before the Green Revolution took hold, the earth's population was around 2.5 billion - somewhat over carrying capacity. After several decades of the Green Revolution the current population of the earth is 6.5 billion, more than three times the earth's carrying capacity. Is this a success? Since it is clear that the greater population 'enjoys' a greater abundance of disease, starvation, privation, and misery, it is questionable.

Also, it is important to note that any 'overshoot' of the base carrying capacity for any environment tends to degrade that environment and make it less suitable to support life. The greater and longer the overshoot the more the degradation. What ultimately happens to a species that overshoots its environment is that it experiences a crash and die-off. The population falls below previous carrying capacity and may or may not be able to rebuild its numbers over time.

There is an old Bali folk explanation for death: with new babies being born all the time people must die because otherwise "what would we do with all the shit?" We may ask the same question with our numbers growing exponentially on a finite planet. What ARE we going to do with it? Everyone knows this cannot continue but absolutely no one in a position of authority will touch the topic of population growth. It is politically, socially, and religiously taboo. Too bad. Our very survival - and that of our children and theirs - depend on getting this right. If we are afraid to confront this we are too fearful to live.

Day 26

2009-09-19T19:17:00.001-07:00

I slept very late today and didn't get up until after 10:00. My main objective was simply to buy a new pair of walking shoes, since my current pair has threadbare soles and the top stitching is pulling apart. I hate shopping, especially for clothes; but shoes are an important adjunct to my new walking life so I took the Metro to Pentagon City to visit its multiple Department and Shoe stores. The Pentagon City Fashion Mall is a typical over-the-top destination for the those addicted to spending more money than they should on things they usually don't need. Palm trees in the food court are a good indication of the sense of unreality that pervades such places.

Despite multiple sales in progress I had no luck at most places. Macy's had nothing of interest. The Walking Company less (it's shoes are certainly not for people who actually walk anywhere). The only pair I liked at Nordstrom's was listed at $340! FOR SNEAKERS. Most others looked like something a pimp would wear. I was finally successful at Rockport, much to my surprise.

I hadn't intended to walk today since my legs and feet still hurt from walking to Arlington yesterday, but I really wanted to see the movie "Earthdays" playing at the E Street Cinema, so I headed out for downtown late in the afternoon. I really wanted to like the film but it was only so-so. Apart from being a minor but interesting slice of the late 60's and early 70's counter culture, the film never quite figures out what it wants to do. The most telling part of the film are the clips of all presidents from JFK to Dubyah giving their 'we must put the environment first' pitch. What was missing was a graph or other means of showing how things had gotten worse with each, despite the promises. Forty years of lip service but the movie was silent about where we stand now compared to where we were when JFK made his pitch. The talking heads assembled for narration were rather weak and my overall assessment of the film is that it is pretty bloodless. No passion, and this topic demands passion.

Day 25

2009-09-18T14:42:00.000-07:00

K left for a weekend in West Palm Beach, FL with a couple of high school friends this morning and I took a marathon walk to Arlington National Cemetery and the old Custis-Lee home. This was a great walk but the mistake was in not having anywhere I could really rest, eat lunch and read. The cemetery does not lend itself to that, nor do the grounds at Arlington House ("under renovation" - probably since 1865). So I made my way back to the National Mall and had lunch behind the Smithsonian at 2:00 PM and read. I'm almost finished with Catton but have just gotten to the start of Tainter's argument. For a break in the ongoing thread of thought I had started re-reading Robert Heilbroner's _The Worldly Philosophers: the Lives and Ideas of the Great Economic Thinkers_. I knew it was not deep but have always enjoyed it in the past as a decent overview. But today I was struck by how orthodox (in the Rand/Greenspan/Chicago school of economic theory) this book is. Each economist studied is analyzed in contrast to their understanding of traditional market dynamics - thus we start with Adam Smith and the "invisible hand" and conclude with Joseph Schumpeter and the situation at mid century last (the book was originally written in 1953 and updated in 1961, the year I started college and first read it).

It is quite clear that Heilbroner would not have believed the recent unannounced collapse of the world economy could have occurred. He thinks the system is understood well enough that the safeguards we have (had!) in place will prevent any significant market breakdown. Indeed, a "breakdown" would be in the social/political system imposed on the market and not the market itself - and there is, indeed, room for argument in that thesis if one takes the terms of argument at face value as presented. But then, the idea that there is a "market" independent of the social/political sphere that makes and enforces law, prints and supports currency, and regulates commerce is simply an intellectual fantasy, as is much that passes for significant in "intellectual" history.

But in keeping with the free market theory that postulates all market activity as based on the motivated self-interest of each participant, I will be searching for new shoes tomorrow. My current ones are falling apart. Since I have been walking so much I have put an extra strain on my shoes and they are showing it. Today I had a piece of gravel work through the sole of my right shoe and then noticed that the top stitching of the left shoe was coming undone. Falling apart! Time for new shoes. Stimulate the economy.

Day 24

2009-09-17T15:26:00.000-07:00

Spent the morning helping K get set up for a meeting at the Harmon about the upcoming NEA Opera Awards and then started out walking downtown but got caught in a downpour, so ducked into the National Portrait Gallery and the Museum of American Art, two great museums in one building. I spent two hours doing all three stories of this block size building. It was built before the Civil War as the country's first patent office and much of the third floor has been left with the original design elements intact. This building was used as a hospital during the Civil War and poet Walt Whitman volunteered here as a nurse and the scene is described in several of his poems. A decade or so ago the Smithsonian sponsored a Beat Generation reunion for all the surviving writers of that group and the several days of seminars, lectures and poetry readings were staged in the space pictured on the left. In the middle of an otherwise boring panel discussion Allen Ginsberg, near death, climbed on a chair and reminded the small audience in attendance about the 'spirit of Walt Whitman' lingering in the building. Ironically, today there is a display only a few feet away from where he spoke that day - a video tape loop of Ginsberg chanting and keeping time with finger cymbals.
In contrast to the high Victorian decor of the third floor, the exhibits of 20th Century American art can be jarring. The piece pictured on the right above is a three dimensional construction titled "De Kooning Breaks Through" by former Nashville artist Red Grooms.

Day 23

2009-09-16T16:30:00.000-07:00

This was another indulgent day for me, spent walking and reading as I choose. I found a delightful corner of the Victorian Garden behind the Smithsonian Castle with an ornate cast iron chair and fired clay sidetable, hidden from the rest of the garden by a wall of lush tropical vegitation. I set up camp here for a couple of hours mid day and finished several chapters of Catton and one of Tainter before eating lunch. I have to remember to return to this space - extremely pleasant and comfortable - and very private for an otherwise public space.

Friend Ankit in Oregon reminds me via email that Talk Like A Pirate Day is coming up and I had to inform him that pirates have always been a favorite occupation of mine since they are natural anarchists and early supporters of real democracy. The so-called 'pirates' of industry were really more like traditional War Lords who use force to secure the largest share for themselves - very different from the ethos of the pirate who, in deliberate contradistinction to the traditional business arrangement on commercial sailing ships, tended to share whatever profit came their way equally and required no hierarchy of authority to run the ship. Of course, this only applied to their shipmates; if you were not a pirate (and of their crew) - watch out. This goes to the heart of "The Parable of the Tribes" and may explain a great deal about how human societies evolved and still function. Suspicion of strangers still seems to have a high survival value - even if we look down on it as crude and peasant-like behavior. Arr Arr.

Day 22

2009-09-15T13:20:00.001-07:00

The morning spent in moving furniture around trying to make our small space feel less crowded by moving the clutter from the livingroom to the bedroom. At least it's different - which will do for the moment.

Walked down to the National Mall and ate a packed lunch by the patio fountain at the Hirshorn Museum of Art while reading Catton's and Tainter's scholarly and complementary views of the coming apocalypse. Bad news about the future didn't affect my appetite at all. Humans are good at discounting the cost of future problems - as long as things are OK today.

Tonight we took the Metro downtown to go to a town hall meeting sponsored by Eleanore Holmes Norton. Several hundred people turned out at the Commerce Department to hear real people's medical care stories and listen to expert feedback about the bills currently being worked on in the House of Representatives. No crazies in the audience. Very civilized.

Afterwards we Metroed back to the Hill and had dinner at Tunnicliffs Tavern across from Eastern Market. Then K read and I watched the Michael Douglas film "Falling Down."

Day 21

2009-09-14T18:21:00.000-07:00

A wonderful day in our nation's Capital - sunny, mild, and no Bushes in the White House.

I loaded up the backpack with reading material and headed down to the National Mall. With two books in progress (Tainter's _The Collapse of Complex Societies_ and Catton's _Overshoot: the Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change_) I added Stuart Pimm's classic _The World According to Pimm: A Scientist Audits the Earth_. I met Pimm a couple of years ago at a seminar at George Washington University and he was one of the brightest and most delightful people I have ever encountered. To have such a grim message (we are killing the planet and there probably is no solution) he has an infectious sense of humour along with an almost Buddah like serenity. Maybe it's fatalism, but he can seem brutally honest and ironically detached at the same time. The book is a good re-read and a perfect compliment to the other reading I'm doing.

I spent time on the mall enjoying the midday atmosphere and finishing Catton's chapter "The End of Exuberance" which made me want to go back and find Alan Greenspan's speech where he spoke of "irrational exuberance" as if what he was speaking of had not already been identified and condemned three decades before. Then I walked up towards the White House and across to the main downtown public library at G and 9th St. It wasn't as busy as the last visit and I spent a couple of hours getting familiar with the organization of books on the second floor - Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology, History and Biography. Very comfy and inviting. I can't believe I've lived in this town for 16 years and haven't taken advantage of this space.

After reading a couple of short stories by J. G. Ballard (one of the great 20th Century writers who recently passed away) I left the library and wandered over to the National Building Museum, one of the Smithsonian's multiple locations, to see an exhibit of photographs of store front churches - true Americana. This space was built in the 1880's as the Army's Pension master's Headquarters (essentially the Veteran's Affairs office) and was condemned by Gen. Sherman as "the ugliest building in Washington - and the worst part is, it's fireproof." The interior space is spectacular with three story high columns, fountains and mezzanine galleries and was today being decorated for a galla being thrown by the Carlyle Group. That's DC, investment bankers and arms dealers buy the use of public spaces and we peons just get to watch from a distance. This was the space where the Clinton's did their first Presidential Inaugural Ball and where Hillary gave her concession speech some years later (see photos). That was an interesting day.

After leaving DC's ugliest building I settled into one of the parks in the Judiciary Square area and read another chapter in Catton, dealing with ecological succession and the negative impact that organisms almost invariably have on their environments.

On the way back to the apartment I spent time at the Library of Congress reviewing their Computer Catalogue for entries of interest and then took advantage of the main reading room for an hour. Late in the day it tends not to be too croweded. Very pleasant.

Day 20

2009-09-13T15:05:00.000-07:00

Having experienced yesterday the faux outrage at SOCIALISTS that don't really exist in the government I have devoted today to reading the biography of an actual American Socialist, Eugene V. Debs, founder of the American Socialist Party, four times candidate for President of the United States, laborer, organizer, journalist, and convict. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for speaking in defense of conscientious objectors in WWI. So much for freedom of speech.

I believe that his statement to the judge at his trial is the most eloquent political statement ever made by an American after Jefferson and Lincoln:

"Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free."

A simple man from Terre Haut, Indiana who left an extraordinary legacy, Debs is representative of a whole group of late nineteenth and early twentieth century progressives responsible for many things we take for granted - like the forty hour work week, paid holidays, child labor laws, collective bargaining rights, and a concern for social welfare and equity. The idiots at the march yesterday could only associate socialism with Hitler and Stalin - neither of whom were really socialists.

And by the way, Debs was Kurt Vonnegutt's lifelong hero. Pretty good fan club.

Day 19

2009-09-12T19:35:00.000-07:00

Gee, today is Glenn Beck day in our Nation's Capital. He has been inviting his fans to attend a march to protest - something - spending by the government, socialism, takeover of our freedoms, high taxes, pork, but mostly just Obama. And they have arrived - thousands of them. The crowd is virtually all white, mostly middle age and older, and very angry at something they can't quite seem to articulate. Signs like "Christ is the Messiah, not Obama" say a great deal but nothing coherent. Another is perhaps more revealing but unintentionally so, "Obama, we have waken up to your evil plans to destroy our country. Take your racist unamerican Acorn groups and arrogant wife back to your own country and strip their rights away!" The reality seems to be that these people just can't take living in a world where their kind (white, conservative, inarticulate, authoritarian, fundamentalist, uneducated) are not in charge as they have been for the last eight years. If it were not so scary it would be funny. If this is the face of the future I don't think I want to go there.

This is a pretty clear example of what has long been predicted by those who study the impacts of scarcity, overcrowding, and financial insecurity. One of the points often made in studies of the social consequences of resource depletion and the resulting loss of opportunity is that people will look for villains to blame for their misfortune and fear rather than acknowledge the physical reality behind their plight. We live in such a time. Actual income has been declining for the middle class since 1970. All avenues for advancement are shrinking. College costs are up dramatically and continue to rise. Most of the main cost of living factors - food, energy, housing, education, medical care - have increased in price steadily over the last three decades with no end in sight. This breaks on Obama's watch because he is a perfect target for the anger that has been building up for so long. America is a very racist nation and always has been - however much we want to see ourselves otherwise. The anger directed at Obama and his family should come as no surprise given that large numbers of whites have always resented minorities, foreigners, elites, and anyone who is clearly different from themselves. To have someone like that in charge - as President of THEIR country - is a personal offense they can't abide.

The reality is that America - and the rest of the world - is now and has been for some time, bumping up against physical limits that cannot be transcended. The total amount of energy available per capita worldwide peaked in 1969. Oil production peaked in America at around the same time and in the world at large in 2005. While the amount of fossil fuel available per person continues to shrink the demand continues to grow - as does the population. This is a formula for disaster - as is quite clear, but it is consistently ignored by those in power. No politician who admitted to this would be elected. Remember what happened to Jimmy Carter when he suggested that we needed to conserve energy? Gone! In comes Ronnie with his "Morning in America" message and rips the solar panels off the White House roof - to much cheering from the same crowd that is protesting today in DC. Yet all it takes is to look closely at the numbers - available energy, cost of living, preventable diseases, resource wars, percentage of the population incarcerated, savings rate - to see that it was really twilight in America. All factors of distress have been increasing for decades even as we fool ourselves that we have the best health care system in the world, the healthiest economy, the freest people, brightest future. Sorry, ain't so. And blaming politicians - of either party - is way off base. There is plenty of blame to go around but it has to do with our willingness to lie to ourselves and deny logic and evidence when it points to conclusions we find uncomfortable. The government lies to us, businesses lie to us, the news media lie to us, and worst of all - we lie to ourselves. We really have no one else to blame for our plight. We know the world is finite. We know that resources can't be extracted forever. We know that the economy cannot continue to grow indefinitely. We know that our children will NOT be better off than we are. Worst, we know that with only 5% of world population we consume more than 25% of all its resources - food, water, oil, coal, timber, metals, consumer goods - and there is no way that the rest of the world can achieve this same level of profligate consumption. Nor is there any way we can continue it indefinitely either. But, no one will face this and consider the eventual consequences. Thus we get misdirected protests against 'socialists' that don't exist. It's fantasy over reality yet again.

Day 18

2009-09-11T15:57:00.000-07:00

Extremely rainy morning, most of which was given over to staying out of the elements. I dropped into the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress when the rain caught me as I was walking toward downtown, It is easy to spend time here amid the grandeur of late Victorian American extravagance. It is interesting to compare the obvious sense of self-importance that went into this grand presentation with the reality of our current situation - a nation dependent on foreign sources of energy, foreign financing for our bond sales, foreign support for our various self-serving policies in the world. Our vulnerability has never been so obvious - both to us and to others. I think it may be time to quit pretending that we are somehow exceptional and that other countries have to follow our lead. We are fast approaching a day of reckoning for which we are ill prepared.

With this kind of pessimistic attitude in place it is significant that my movie choice for the day was "The Baader Meinhof Complex" at E Street, a long and pretty dark portrait of the West German members of the Red Army Faction during the hectic political turmoil of the 70's - ending with their deaths which either were or were not suicides depending on how one interprets the story.

Day 17

2009-09-10T17:25:00.000-07:00

I spent a big part of the day walking the National Mall and taking in selective exhibits at various Smithsonian Museums. I revisited the Museum of American History which has decided to make Julia Child's kitchen a permanent exhibit and then took a long rest in the Victorian garden behind the Smithsonian castle, watching the families of tourists go by and cracking up at the things I hear. Parents try so hard to be 'right' even when they have no idea what they are talking about. I long since gave up being stunned when a father would point to the Capitol building and tell his kids that was the White House but some of the other stuff I overhear every time I take a walk is amazing. It's entertaining but a bit disheartening.

It's interesting that I just started reading Tainter's _The Collapse of Complex Societies_ and in "The Oil Drum," a blog I read daily, he has a new essay on Human Resource Use and its implications for sustainability in society. Funny how that happens. Two weeks ago I had never heard of this man and then I start seeing his name in books and articles I was reading and now he seems to be omnipresent.

An interesting ongoing controversy from last night's Health care speech by the President is that occasioned by Rep. Wilson of South Carolina who shouted out "You lie" when Obama said the health care bills being debated did not cover illegal immigrants. What is most interesting about the 'controversy' is that no one is addressing the question of whether the President was or was not lying, but focusing instead on the bad manners involved in insulting the President in this situation normally considered off limits to such behavior. Personally, I think a lie should be called a lie whenever. If congressmen had done that to Bush he wouldn't have gotten through a single speech without multiple interruptions. In this case however, it appears that it is Wilson and not Obama who is lying - and the fact that mainstream reporters can't be bothered to address that fact says a great deal.

Day 16

2009-09-10T17:23:00.000-07:00

Another rainy day. K and associate Martha working on business taxes for last year all morning. I was going to walk down to the Supreme Court (five blocks) to see at least a few minutes of the oral arguments for what is shaping up to be a historical court case and civil liberties show down but missed the end of the session by minutes. The court has taken the unprecedented action of holding a special session prior to their regularly scheduled season in order to re-hear a case brought by right wing litigation group Citizens United they have already heard once but failed to rule on - essentially at issue the question of whether any financial restrictions can be placed on corporations with regard to campaign contributions. The Roberts Court has been very up front in its desire to remove all limitations on corporate contributions to political campaigns. If they succeed in this they will have done in the concept of 'one man, one vote' and substituted 'one dollar, one vote.' Also, perhaps most important, they will have undermined the ability of congress to impose such limits by declaring them unconstitutional. This is really not good.

This concern colors my approach to listening to Obama's speech about health care 'reform.' I am so sick of hearing the talking heads speak of the need for insurance coverage when the issue is one of health care. Being 'covered' by an insurance policy in no way insures that one will actually be provided with health service when needed - or reimbursed for out of pocket funds paid. That is more of a problem than the number of persons with no insurance. The crisis is that 'insurance' doesn't really insure anything today. Private insurance provides no clear service. It really makes its profit from refusing to pay claims and the policy holder has little recourse when left in the cold. The need for some standard 'public option' is clear to all those who have been stiffed by United Healtcare, Blue Cross / Blue Shield, Golden Rule, Well Point, or any of the hundreds of other rip-off companies that exist for the purpose of extracting money from suffering and fear. I worked for multiple insurance companies for years in Indianapolis and it was quite clear that the gap between what was promised and what was provided was deliberately wide and obscured. That government has been complicit in this ongoing rip-off is also clear and something that, going forward, we all need to keep in the forefront of our concern. As long as government takes the sides of the private insurers, the citizens will be short changed and continue to pay for empty promises.

Day 15

2009-09-08T16:20:00.000-07:00

Nasty, rainy morning and indoor chores come easy. Helped K put up racks in the kitchen so that many of the cooking gadgets she has can be easily at hand but not just in the way. Took a load of empty boxes that may be needed for future moves to the garage for storage and assembled a set of utility shelves to accommodate more.

And after all this exciting activity I went downtown to visit the main branch of the DC Public Library, the Martin Luther King branch located across the street from the National Portrait Gallery and the National Museum of American Art is the District's only building by noted 20th Century architect Mies van der Rohe. In their great wisdom local government officials have decided that this building isn't important and that DC needs a new main library that is truly "World Class" - whatever that is. It is true that the building is in bad shape but that isn't the building's fault. Much in the district is in bad shape - largely due to selective inattention and unwillingness to spend money on things that are really important but not to really important people. The library is very heavily used. So much so that I couldn't get on any of the multiple computer catalogues.

Day 14

2009-09-07T09:40:00.000-07:00

Labor Day. Mostly overcast and muggy. Short periods of sun and then of rain. Very schizo. My exciting day consists mostly of reading on the bench in the front yard. No news and nothing much happening. K off to spa in the morning and back to the apartment in the afternoon. She cleaned out and organized the livingroom closet and I took out the garbage and recycling and that was the high point of the day.

Pasta with red sauce for dinner. Very civilized.

Day 13

2009-09-06T14:55:00.001-07:00

One of the things I really like about living in DC is the Metro and the ease with which I can travel almost any place in the city I want to go for a small fee. Subways are almost a necessary accompaniment of great modern cities. They are the preferred way to move large crowds from point to point without contributing to traffic congestion and street crowding. It's hard to imagine New York, London, Paris, Rome, Athens, or Madrid without factoring in their subway systems as essential components of the experience. I sold my car when I moved to DC in 1993 and have never regretted the decision. Most of where I need to go I can get on foot. Occasionally I run out of steam and need to sit down and be delivered to my destination. That is when the Metro is essential. Our apartment is about five blocks from the Eastern Market Metro Station, making it about as convenient a stop as possible. From there I can get to multiple destinations in Maryland and Virginia as well as most neighborhoods in the District. The glaring exception is Georgetown, which objected to having a Metro stop (you can imagine any number of reasons), and is now one of the most crowded and traffic congested pieces of real-estate in the area. Their decision sure didn't keep the riff-raff out. When I go there I have to take the Metro to Foggy Bottom and then walk a half mile down M Street. That isn't a killer but it sure is inconvenient - so I don't much go to Georgetown.

Today I took the Metro home after walking down to the Sackler Gallery of Middle Eastern Art which is located underground behind the Smithsonian Castle and connects to the Freer Gallery of Oriental and American Art on the National Mall. I especially like the exhibit rooms of ancient Chinese bronzes. The oldest have design patterns that are so similar to widespread design motifs of Northwestern American Indian art that it's very difficult not to buy into the notion that American Indians were originally Asians who crossed over a frozen Bering Straight ages ago. And the focus on numerous dynasties that came to great power and then disappeared fits nicely with my current reading (Tainter's _The Collapse of Complex Societies_). But a couple of hours standing and walking slow in the galleries did in my enthusiasm for climbing Capitol Hill so I decided to ride home.

Day 12

2009-09-05T16:53:00.000-07:00

Saturday and everything is OK. I had a rocky night for reasons I can't quite figure - up at 3:00 for an hour - but it is a beautiful day and I left early for a long walk on the National Mall. Took the opportunity to call my Mother and Daughter and discuss the possibility of coming for a visit soon. Also called brother Dickie to see if it was OK to crash at his place. I need to be in Nashville for longer than a few days now that I have the option.

Back home on the Hill K and I go to Eastern Market for a two pronged strike - buy a chest of drawers at the flea market so we have enough storage space to fully unpack, and buy veggies for the upcoming few meals. We found a chest that should work and arranged to have it delivered. After buying vegetables, milk, flowers and wine we returned to the apartment and spent as long as we could sitting outside reading until the mosquitoes drove us in. Before the insects defeated us I managed to order Tainter's _The Collapse of Complex Societies_ for the Kindle (I can't get enough of a signal inside to actually connect to Amazon). It isn't an uplifting book but I have seen it referred to frequently in the last couple of years and feel uninformed for not having read it. So, time to catch up.

It probably is worthwhile to explain why I am interested in a scholarly treatment of the collapse of complex socities. I have always been something of a pessimist but over the last few years I have come to the conclusion that the world as we know it is quickly coming to an end. I don't really think - despite Al Gore and other hopeful critics - that changes in individual behavior will make enough of a difference to save us. It isn't just global warming - although that is serious enough - but also resource depletion generally - including the upcoming crises of oil, water, and food. Oil production peaked wordwide in 2005 and has been declining ever sense, water tables are falling and water shortages are being faced everywhere from China to California, and grain harvests for the last few years have been dramatically lower than expected even as prices for all foods have increaed. We are simply unprepared to deal with a sudden shortage of any of these and yet such shortages are inevitable given how we live. That no one in a position of authority will even suggest that we are living on the edge is a testament to how artificial and generally phony our 'government' and educated classes are. To pretend that we can continue to 'grow' the economy when what we are talking about is an exponentially growing population (with all its demands) set against a finite planet and its ever limited resources, is both foolish and the worst kind of magical thinking. No one will attempt to make sense of this because it is political suicide to address the subject of population - every single demographic group can cry fowl. There is no way of dealing with this that doesn't offend someone. Therefore, nothing will be done until it is too late - which is the same as saying that nothing will be done. I wish it were otherwise but I can't imagine how it will play out other than as a dark tragedy with most participants having no idea what has happened or why. There will be much illogical blaming of others - races, religions, nationalities, and ideologies for what is really a set of physical relationships that impose a limit beyond belief, prayer, cunning, or technological innovation. We are not prepared and nothing in our current world view, training, or experience can prepare us to deal with this. It is simply unprecedented.

So, sorry for the downer but this has been building for years and I fear the evidence is too great to ignore now. I try to live every day by savoring each moment. The richness of human experience will not diminish in the future, but any sense of security and predictability will be undone and what that will mean to human life overall can only be imagined.

Day 11

2009-09-04T13:57:00.000-07:00

Another beautiful day in DC. I took a long walk along the Independence Ave side of the National Mall, past the worst curated museum in DC - The Museum of the American Indian. You have to see it to believe how bad it is. Apparently, whoever is running the place is so intent on pretending that native Americans represent a coherent and unified political/demographic bloc that they have gone out of their way to obscure the number and variety of native tribes - the true strength and appeal of native American cultures. It is confusing, boring, uninformative, and not even very aesthetically pleasing. Just saying.

Then I walked downtown to see the new Davis Guggenheim film, "It Might Get Loud." Excellent - and it could have been louder. I was very surprised at the demographics of the audience - old farts of both sexes and teenage girls. I would have expected otherwise.

Back home on the hill to small chores and harassing the cat. Light reading and some afternoon wine. Life is good. As the sun was setting K and I walked down to La Lomita Dos, our favorite Mexican restaurant on the hill, for a traditional Friday night out. This eating establishment has an additional source of gravity for us. Every major decision we have made regarding buying property or changes in jobs have been made over a meal there - usually at a predictable table in the back (one that we always seem to be directed to on those occasions). But besides the spooky stuff, the food is excellent and they have treated us well for 15 years. What more can you want of a neighborhood establishment?

Day 10

2009-09-03T17:44:00.000-07:00

K left the apartment early to spend the day working with Martha on last year's taxes. I took the umteenth load of dry cleaning to the cleaners down the street and then vacated the apartment so the cleaning lady could have it. I walked hard for an hour and a half - I'm almost getting easy with long fast walks again - and ended up at the West Wing of the National Gallery of Art. As many times as I've been here I don't get tired of it, but now almost half of the main galleries are closed, so a great deal of what I am used to seeing is not currently available. So, I crossed under 2nd St by way of the tunnel between the two museums to the East Wing of the National Gallery. The East Wing specializes in 'modern' art - as opposed to the more traditional art on display in the original West Wing. Some of this stuff I love but a lot of it is just nonsense. OK, I am in many ways a Philistine. Just because some critic says that something is significant doesn't mean I have to agree. I am absolutely convinced that most of what is on display in the East Wing today will not be there in 20 years.

All one has to do to verify this prediction is to look at Art periodicals throughout the 20th Century. Most of the artists featured and praised are currently unknown. The same is true of poetry, theater, and music. What forces combine to save some artists and consign most others to oblivion are really not well understood. Nor is it in any way certain that the artists added to the cannon are really superior to those who fell by the wayside. But the reality is that they are the ones who will be known. Historians and others, when they survey the past, focus on those figures whose names and stories have survived. Doctoral dissertations can be written about the odd, obscure figure, but only the famous are real to the multitudes. Furthermore, a few seminal names come to be proxies for whole classes of persons. The most uneducated person knows the names Einstein, Beethoven, Shakespeare, and Picasso - even though they (and for that matter most 'educated' persons) have little if any familiarity with their actual work. They have become cultural icons and proven their value by being commercially viable. Their names and images can sell product and they can serve as a convenient shorthand reference for excellence in their respective fields. But how did they, rather than Fermi, Vivaldi, Webster and Braque, become the poster children for their fields?

OK, so I worry about odd stuff. But the question of who gets to decide what is important and what is not (in art and in every other field) is the basic political question. It goes to the heart of what all governance is about - the distribution of rewards (and punishments) and the allocation of responsibilities and perks. Living here in the land of Pork and Baloney I tend to get cynical about most political issues. For good reason. But they are not that different from the more high brow questions of assessing excellence in the arts and preserving someone's works accordingly. Most politicians are forgotten - even if their works were exemplary. The same is true of most artists, poets, playwrights, and composers. Success in one's own brief span of years does not guarantee even a faint memory in times to come.

And speaking of fleeting fame and odd standards of taste, as K and I were about to return to the apartment from an emergency run to FedEx (mailing in the payoff check for the Jaguar) we watched a bizarre happening play out in the area in front of the Eastern Market Metro - Snoop Dogg, sans posse and seemingly just wandering, was setting off waves of celebrity meltdown among the unsuspecting commuters exiting the Metro station, dispensing handshakes, hugs, and autographs. What he was doing wandering around the southeast section of Pennsylvania Avenue I have no idea. He has no performance currently in DC that I could find. The scene reminded me of the movie "Soap Dish" where Sally Fields, playing an aging soap opera star, goes to shopping malls in order to be recognized and fawned over. Seemed rather strange.

Day 9

2009-09-02T18:31:00.000-07:00

After a night of interrupted sleep due to back pain I got up very early and went out for a walk hoping to 'walk through the pain', but it was not to be. I spent time in the old neighborhood first experienced 15 years ago, south of Stanton Square NE and then walked over to Union Station where I once caught the Mark Local train for Baltimore every morning at 6:00 AM for my first job in this part of the country. Strangely little has changed. So, after enjoying the nostalgia of the moment I walked to the Mall and had the unpleasant realization that nothing opens until 10:00 (and I was there at 8:30). That being the case, for the next hour and a half I walked the mall and the monuments that are not dependent on schedule because they are always 'there' and available.

When the museums opened I was in line at the Museum of Natural History. I haven't visited here in several years and it was a real pleasure to revisit the various elaborate exhibit halls of fossils, geology, insects, human anatomy, mammals, meteors, and other arresting subjects. The building is SO nineteenth century - as is most of the Smithsonian - that that alone affords a museum like experience. When I finished there I went next door to the West Wing of the National Gallery of Art and spend some time with my favorite Rembrandt self-portrait. The big new exhibit at the museum is "The Art of Power", a very strange collection of images and artifacts that glorify warfare during the 16Th Century. The exhibit includes many equestrian figures in armour. Much of what is in the exhibit K and I had seen in Madrid a few years ago at the military museum connected to the Royal Palace - and it was boring even then. So I didn't linger.

Back home in time to meet K for lunch we walked over to Eastern Market and ate at a relatively new Salvadorian grill. We sat outside at a cluster of tables serving several new adjacent ethnic restaurants. At an adjoining table Julian Bond was having lunch. Bond and I are both from Nashville and only a couple of years different in age but I always think of him as much older since he accomplished so much so early - founding SNCC (The Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee) when he was still at Morehouse College and then founding, with Morris Dees, the Southern Poverty Law Center - still a major force against white supremacist organizations and hate crimes. Currently he is Chairman of the NAACP and a professor at both the American University in DC and the University of Virginia.

Across the street at one of the picknick tables in front of Eastern Market, our newest Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor was holding court with a full gaggle of fresh faced law clerks, none of whom looked older than 12. Damn, I love this neighborhood.

Day 8

2009-09-01T10:59:00.000-07:00

The return of the cat. While K was helping me close out the corporate apartment in Salem, OR our cat, Maggie, was residing with DC friend Susan Perry. Today her imperious self came back home.

In addition to dealing with Maggie the Cat we had other feline issues to deal with. I mentioned earlier that we sold our Jaguar to a friend in Oregon. She was transferring the sale price of the car to my checking account and was going to mail a check for the payoff to our bank once we verified that the funds were in my account. The transfer took place Wednesday 8/26 but the funds never appeared in my bank. Her bank says the transfer worked as it should and if the funds are not in my bank it is my problem, My bank says that the problem - whatever it is - is on the other bank's side. Funny how neither side can offer any help. A large number of dollars went somewhere - just not where it was supposed to.

After doing all we could about the missing money we walked down to Eastern Market to have dinner at an exceptional French restaurant (Montmarte). and confirmed our suspicion that most really good restaurants have excellent starters and desserts but are not as predictable in the main course arena. We are almost at a place where we will be ordering only appetizers - the right proportions, the most inventive ingredients and treatment, and the ability to turn any restaurant into a Tapas bar.

On top of other positive things about the day the weather has turned into that wonderful combination of late summer/early fall perfection of temperature and humidity that one can only dream of for most of the year, so walking home is almost magical. Capitol Hill is a great neighborhood under most circumstances but in weather like this is heaven.

Day 7

2009-08-31T20:30:00.001-07:00

Today I satisfied a long term desire and got a new Library of Congress Library Card -with the time available to actually use it. Pictured is the main building of the library complex, the Jefferson Building of the famous round reading room. Across the street to the side of Pennsylvania Ave is the Madison Building and behind on 2nd St is the Adams Building. All are joined by an underground tunnel complex. The library supports multiple reading rooms associated with different subject areas. I don't think I will be bored here - and it's only a ten minute walk from the apartment.

After leaving the library I walked down around the Capitol to the National Botanical Garden by the Reflecting Pool and spent a few minutes cruising the exotic plants. Then walked further down, through the main first floor of the Air and Space Museum, reputed to be the most visited museum in the world and a virtual commercial for McDonald Douglas, Boeing, and Lockheed, Martin. After escaping the military indoctrination I went next door to the Hirshorn Museum of Modern Art but most of the second floor was closed for a new installation not yet open. So, I sat on a bench on the mall and thought about how I would divide up my Library of Congress time. But my bibliophile's fantasy was interrupted by the need to return home and assist in dealing with 41 boxes of 'stuff' shipped from the corporate apartment in Salem, OR.

K and friend Martha Mountain were already at work breaking down boxes and putting stuff away - where possible - when I got back at 1:00. Much to my surprise, by 7:00 PM we had pretty much emptied and/or repacked all the boxes and put those that couldn't be emptied into the apartment into storage in our rented garage. The apartment is still a wreck but what is left is just organizing. That may take several days but it's doable. Martha's husband Greg drove over and helped move the boxes to storage - in two trips. Without him and his larger vehicle I would have had to make 10 trips in the Smartcar. So, it's only smart some of the time.

K cooked a late dinner which we ate around 11:00 PM (this is theater time) and we are both settled in for a late night read - ignoring the piles of clothes and other stuff on the bed in the bedroom that will make going to bed a challenge.

Day 6

2009-08-30T14:56:00.000-07:00

Another very indulgent day for me. I was up until almost 3:00 AM last night reading and listening to the Ramones so slept until 10:00 this morning. That's a habit I'll have to break soon (living on West Cost time). I skipped coffee and the paper at home and headed out to Eastern Market just for the ambiance. This is one of the things I have really missed about Capitol Hill - the weekend flea market and outdoor vegetable market. After a brief stop at Capitol Hill books (where I was careful not to buy anything since my 'to be read pile' is pretty high already) I walked the two miles to Chinatown to catch an early matinee at the Gallery Place multiplex - "District 9" - not perfect but very, very good sci-fi. Much better than average fare and intelligent to boot. On leaving the theater I split the difference and did the train half way home and got off at Capitol South to walk the last mile in the afternoon heat.

After taking out the recycling and garbage I have been doing the last few loads of laundry. K is due back from Indianapolis around 9:00 and we will have a late dinner. There are a couple of lamb chops thawing and some asparagus and other veggies in the fridge for grilling. We'll probably be up late getting caught up since we didn't talk much while she was gone and a lot is going on.

Oh yeah, and the first wave of shipped boxes arrive tomorrow. Joy. Now it will be unpacking, repacking, and storage. I can hardly wait.

Day 5

2009-08-29T17:29:00.001-07:00

This was another day of spotty weather with bouts of rain followed by bright sunshine. I slept late and left the apartment around noon to go down to the E Street Cinema again. Another questionable movie selection ("The Hurt Locker") but I would see it again - and that criterion is more and more my base standard of aesthetic judgement.

After the movie I joined the throng waiting for Ted Kennedy's funeral procession. I walked the length of Constitution Ave from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial and back rather than just stand in one place. I knew they would be late but had no idea how late. There was to have been a short prayer service in front of the Senate side front steps of the capitol at 4:30 and then the burial at Arlington at 5:30. But by 6:00 the procession still had not arrived at the capitol and no one was keeping the crowd informed. I am reminded of the Will Rogers saying, "I don't belong to any organized political party. I'm a democrat." As my wife keeps reminding me - these people need a stage manager. And then I remembered that I was really a closet Anarchist rather than a Democrat so gave up and went home to open a bottle of wine and read a good book. Later indulge in a marathon session listening to old Ramones CD's. Bop till you drop.

Day 4

2009-08-28T15:11:00.001-07:00

Being retired is more of a challenge than I thought. Many more questions surface when one doesn't have WORK as a convenient excuse for scheduling most of one's waking hours. And as if my own mind is not enough of an ugly taskmaster, my iPod just went to Bob Dylan singing 'A Hard Rains A-gonna Fall'. This is where we were in the early 60's - and through most of the 50's - fearing day to day that nuclear annihilation was just a moment away. This, more than anything else, paved the way for the radicalism of the 60's and 70's - faced with immanent destruction the nine to five corporate life seemed like a hypocritical cop-out. But the whole sex, drugs, and rocknroll thing frightened the natives so along came Reagan and it was 'Morning in America' and everything was stood on its head with country music stars wearing long hair and beards and the aging hippies discovering how to make fortunes selling software, real estate, and designer drugs.When I was in college everyone wanted to be in the Peace Corps or join a commune. By the time my kids graduated from high school everyone wanted to be an Investment Banker or an attorney. No problem was so serious that it couldn't be solved with enough money and PR.

What is really strange is that now the real threats we face - from Global Warming to Energy and Water shortages - are equally as serious as nuclear war but largely outside the control of single states (or even groups of states). Yet people seem to be largely indifferent even though these problems are potentially lethal for all living things. I fear that by the time circumstances really get their attention it will be too late. I probably won't live to see it but for those who do it looks like the current crop of 'gathering threats' will be the biggest crisis humanity ever faced (see James Howard Kunstler's _The Long Emergency_). And we are singularly ill equipped to deal with anything of this magnitude that is so outside our experience and learned behavior.

And since this train of thought was really getting me down, I took the Metro downtown to catch a matinee of "In the Loop" at the E Street Cinema. This is a British political comedy and is very like a Tourettes Syndrome version of The West Wing as imagined by Robin Williams in his best cocaine days. Just what I needed. I liked it a lot.

Now back at the apartment doing necessary chores - laundry and such. Not as much fun but necessary. The real world is always there. But that's the thing - the "Real World" we talk about is just the up close world - the one we see every minute of every day. But that world is constructed for each of us by our limited senses situated in a particular culture at a particular time and place. We know what we know by virtue of our limitations. Outside of that tiny sphere there is an unimaginable world of variation over time and space that we are not privy to. From the earliest earthly fossil three and a half billion years old to the farthest galaxy - a billion stars a billion light years away - we are such a miniscule flash in the pan that our pretenstions to centrality and importance are laughable.

Day 3

2009-08-27T00:16:00.000-07:00

Well, we're home all of one day and K has to be on the road - flying to Indianapolis this morning. So I get to take her to the airport in the Smartcar. Easy trip with sparse traffic and good weather. Not typical for your Nation's Capitol. I returned the car to the garage we are renting a few blocks from the apartment and walked to Penn Quarter to catch the early matinee of Tarantino's 'Inglorius Basterds.' Bad choice. I'm really not sure what Tarantino was attempting here but it didn't work. Lots of good performances but no script to sustain them. Great set piece scenes but no structure to link them. Fundamentally it was neither Interesting nor Entertaining. Though many disagree.

I've made up for the bad early afternoon experience by being totally derelict later in the day. I am listening to Incubus and Nirvana and reading articles about species extinction (hell, I was already depressed). Earlier in the day I thought I should take the time today to start thinking about those things that I ususally keep submerged - now that I don't have work as an excuse to keep putting them on the shelf.. But I'm finding that I don't really know how to think about those things. We have lived with lies and bullshit so completely and for so long that it's almost impossible to formulate a proposition or question that isn't distorted by unsupported assumptions we take for granted daily. Maybe I should just let it go but I don't seem to be able to. All my life I have been nagged by questions and imperitives counter to the dominant direction of ordinary life. Mostly I've pushed them away and gotten on with business, but they were always there. Now they are more intrusive but I feel less capable of addressing them than I expected. This is going to be a real test. Interesting.

I turned on the TV tonight briefly and then turned it off immediately. The whole political arena as presented in our electronic media is cartoonish, two dimensional, and dominated by a handfull of millionaire talking heads whose allegiance is to their 'betters' - the truly moneyed class to whom they are indebted for their status and way of life. Why would any normal person believe that either Sean Hannitty or Chris Matthews has anything meaningful to say to them?

Day 2

2009-08-26T15:41:00.000-07:00

After travelling for fourteen hours yesterday we made it back to DC after 10:00 PM and back to the apartment before midnight. We checked four bags and carried four. We don't have this much stuff with us when we travel in Europe! I have no idea what all we are dragging back to the 'nest'. And that's without thinking about the 41 boxes of STUFF that we shipped that will be arriving next week.

I honored my second day of retirement by sleeping until 10:00 AM and essentially doing nothing substantive all day. K and I had a celebratory lunch at the Westend Bistro at 22nd and M St NW, another of those restaurants noted mostly because the chef is seen on TV. This is Restaurant Week in DC when eating establishments offer a special rate on lunch and dinner meals to lure in those who may have avoided them because of the cost. Four star chef Eric Ripert has great appetizers and desserts going for him. Main course? Not so much.

After lunch it was grocery shopping at Harris Teeter (K is boycotting Whole Foods because of their CEO's stance on health care). Tonight is all about unpacking and trying to find some place to put everything. This will be tough. But then, it will be a LOT easier than working on the 8.3b Data Conversion Specifications deliverable. Now if I could just stop thinking about that stuff my retirement could really commence.

Here in DC all flags are at half mast in honor of Ted Kennedy's passing. It really is the end of an age. I was a senior in High School when his brother Jack was elected President and in graduate school when Bobby Kennedy was assassinated.

Day 1

2009-08-25T20:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went into the office for the last time to drop off my company computer, card key, and corporate credit card. Damn, that felt good. Fourteen years working for the same company and over fifty working forty hours or more a week for some entity with priorities other than mine. So now I'm free to do what I want with my time - and my mind.

K and I shipped 41 boxes - clothes, books, kitchen stuff - while cleaning out the corporate apartment here in Salem, OR. I have been living in such apartments in various cities from Anchorage, AK to Tallahassee, FL for over 15 years and it really feels good to have that behind me.

This morning we accepted a ride to the airport in Portland from friend Astrid who had just bought K's Jaguar - another possession behind us. In honor of our leaving, Oregon decided to put on a more typical overcast and rainy face than she had been showing for the last few weeks. But that was fine. We had brunch at PDX and then boarded the flight for Phoenix on the way to DC. Long day ahead but WE ARE OUTTAHERE.

Last night I had the only 'good bye' party I have ever had when leaving a project. Thank you Lisa for going to all that trouble. And thanks to all those who showed up to usher me out of town. I'll miss you - but not the project.