IT'S SUPER TUESDAY and signs across the street read: "Joe Martinez for Travis County Sheriff" and "Integrity, Leadership, Strength—Commander Duane McNeill for Sheriff." A mockingbird zooms by and checked flags fly in a southeastern wind. There's trash in the parking lot and a photo of the space shuttle beside me. These barren images announce the nondescript haze of middle morning. Desire for intrusion comes strong. I crave disruptions of routine to re-orient me. Get unplugged from this human humming. And the earth-bound babe will make its way, beating death, an alien traveler. Meanwhile, numb out on work. Death preserves us, keeping feeling in control. In the auto shop this morning I speak with a Ba'haist about the new splatter-flick Passion and about gay marriage in California. "These are just distractions," he says. "There's no work, no new jobs." But it's not the deliberate and organized destruction of the American economy that disturbs me, the absorption of a landmass that is the whole world. We live on a map now. So what?
Posted by Dale at April 25, 2004 02:53 PM