The tragic looms before us as an event that shows the terrifying aspects of existence, but an existence that is still human. It reveals its entanglement with the uncharted background of man’s humanity. Paradoxically, however, when man faces the tragic, he liberates himself from it. This is one way of obtaining purification and redemption. Breakdown […]
peter eichenberger
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Franklinton vs. global, corporate fascism
It is a brittle cold, dazzling morning in Franklinton. Ice and styro take-out trays float in the chipped bathtub we have commandeered for mixing cement. Time moves slowly here. I take my time futzing with a slap-stapler slipped out of the factory packaging not 10 minutes before Jim drove one rack of 1/4-inch staples and […]
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Grabbing the mike from NPR
National Public Radio is the only broadcast service in the United States with an ombudsman, sort of a human complaint/suggestion box-cum-P.R. person. Ombudsmen have been a feature of news organizations in other countries for some time, and with scandals like the Jayson Blair affair, they’re becoming more widespread in the U.S. NRP’s man is Jeffrey […]
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Rebels rally and show their true stripes
Sullen gray clouds raced over the graceful, patinaed arc of the copper dome on the Capitol building. Flags snapped straight out, scoured by the light drizzle. One flag in particular stood out, one seldom seen–not in this century, anyways. It was Confederate Flag Day, the annual gathering of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, an organization […]
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As the world turns
OK. The sun’s magnetic poles have flipped, and according to NASA, Earth’s might be about to do the same. This could very well explain why we’re seeing some really odd reversals in humans: the emergence of big-government, deficit-running, free-trade “conservatives,” and, from the left, a small-government revolution brewing in Vermont, where the Green Mountain State […]
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Feds send a message–use apples and screens
There’s this place I buy drugs–nicotine, specifically. Last Thursday I breezed through the door as always–and plowed right into Copzilla. “They’re closed.” Then I see U.S. insignias, a couple of GSA shitboxes sportin’ D.C. tags, and two U.S. marshalls hustling around the head shop like movie stars, rolling their eyes. The leading edge of the […]
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Local librarians are bookmarking the dangers
Recent polls show that around 75 percent of Americans are not afraid that the war on terrorism will infringe on their civil liberties. Some 48 percent think that the official response, the USA Patriot, goes far enough. Finding poll figures of how many Americans have actually read and understand all 300-plus pages of the act, […]
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The weapon that keeps on killing
One of the legacies of the twentieth century was the invention of fourth-dimensional warfare. Formerly, war had been restricted to the here and now of the battlefield or subsequent sacking of civilian property and attendent atrocities by invading troops. Everything changed with the perfection of modern weapons systems. Land mines, unexploded ordinance and the like […]
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Look out, Minneapolis!
The convention center decision reminds me of a neighbor disposed toward the purchase of lawn furniture. A lot of lawn furniture. She wasn’t the type to have anyone over for tea, yet was more than amply provisioned with seating capacity for the garden party that never happened. That is the plan for the publicly financed […]
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Code Red in Newark
It’s Code Orange at the Target. Beautiful day, sunny light breezes. Bored clerks are marking down a made-in-China Christmas while the panicky patrons scurry by, shopping between their two jobs, you know–fear and greed. Last week, I climbed toward my own little Code Red, starting when General Tommy Franks said “a terrorist, massive, casualty-producing event […]
