the oily bird finds the worm is dead

the industrialists have finally done it--they've made the entire earth the equivalent of the Gowanus Canal! Hooray, future generations of "humans" will thank us. They won't resemble us physically of course, they will have out of necessity mutated into ozone-breathing, petroleum-sucking, ultraviolet-light-ray- and microwave-resistant creatures with no need of clothing or hair. Maybe like sentient tumors bottom feeding on GMO krill shot full of hormones. They will thank us for preparing earth for their emergence.

Aptly enough, the Gowanus Canal, has the words has "anus" and "anal" in it and it frequently smells like crap because of all the solvents, garbage, guns and bodies in it. And now the Gulf is like that, too. Great.

The thing is that greed is what leads to these horrors. This is the pornography of greed. I don't know, maybe if there were some other motivation it would be acceptable or understandable. But so it is.

The efforts to clean up the Gowanus are charming and idealistic, and sweet because there is an ugly beauty to it and visionaries see potential here. I hope the idealists win, they clean it up and someday people will promenade on its splendorous banks. I hope the same for the Gulf.

lacking inherent existence

This is one of my favorite recent sightings along one of my favorite areas in Brooklyn, the Gowanus Canal. It's still affected by postindustrial blight, at least visually and olfactorily although signs of gentrification are rampantly present.

What is funny about this sign is that it's asking us to agree that the area immediately around it is no longer a basis upon which to impute "bus stop" because a bus will no longer be stopping here. I like it because it's a reminder that everything we encounter is an imputation of our mind upon the encountered stimuli--at least according to my understanding of Buddhism. This is great, good news. I try to imagine other things surrounding me are accompanied by similar signs: "Attention This is not a cat. You are imputing cat on these furry and annoying aggregates begging for food and stinking outside the box."

Ah, everything we encounter is colored by our mindset.

capitalism spills

On my commute yesterday (I freelanced this week for a pop "culture" magazine/ landfill fodder) I saw this revelatory and insightful graffiti: CAPITALISM SPILLS. It was painted on an oracular building which can be viewed in between EAGLE Clothing and KENTILE Floors where the F train rises above ground in a rollercoasteresque arc above Carroll Gardens.

I noticed on webular news venues, the oil spill disaster is being referred to as the "Louisiana Oil Spill"--why not say the truth and call it the "British Petroleum Oil Spill"? It's their fault, and the fault of all oil-driven economic policy which had come years ago, thanks to the great oil junkies, such as GW Bush, Tony Blair, et al. Language shapes public opinion, so place the blame where it belongs.

In any case, although studies show that the "me generation" is apathetic towards others (http://www.livescience.com/culture/empathy-college-students-generation-me-100528.html) it would appear that some youth do care about the environment, hence the graffiti. The economic, political and environmentally irresponsible quagmire we find ourselves in took generations of selfishness and lack of empathy to create, so I would argue that the current pathology has its roots in Reaganism.

This building is like an oracle, with social concerns posted by committed artists. I'm thankful for whoever is involved.