Ski Bummers & Snow Angels

One must have a mind of winter

To regard the frost and the boughs

Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;

And have been cold a long time

To behold the junipers shagged with ice,

The spruces rough in the distant glitter

Of the January sun; and not to think

Of any misery in the sound of the wind,

In the sound of a few leaves,

Which is the sound of the land

Full of the same wind

That is blowing in the same bare place

For the listener, who listens in the snow,

And, nothing himself, beholds

Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

— Wallace Stevens, The Snow Man

All the streets around Raymond. J. Fisher Middle School were deserted when home schooler Marcello and I went for a walk today around High Noon. We both did double takes ‘cause it’s usually bubbling over with noise there at that time, and the kids were all off the day before...for Prez Day.

“Hey, what gives...?”, we asked the woman with the wild Pomeranian off the leash, her two daughters almost knocking my 6-year-old down as they imitated the Pommie, acting as if ‘Cello were invisible or a rickshaw repairman.

“What do you mean?”, she responded in perfect (Los) Gato(s)anese, taking in my disgusting attire with disgust.

“It was Presidents’ Day yesterday,” I explained, really wanting to respond in Mandarin. “Why is no one in school today?”, I conceded.

“Oh, why...it’s Ski Week,” she clarified, hoping to hide some of her shock at my ignorance and appearance.

“They get a week off in February and a week off in April,” she elaborated.

Her typical American girls began to feign spitting at one another near my angel.

Los Gatos, Hummer Capital of the World.

I’ve said it before, but it begs to be said again now: “Hummer Capital of the World.”

The town is absolutely humming with bad vibes. And it’s a “decent” reflection of the rest of the country, particularly the privileged set. But for others too.

And if you require delineation regarding what’s “wrong” about having a Ski Week set aside, you’re part of the problem too (if you don’t write to me to get down with a breakdown).

It’s a bummer, of course, but there’s no alternative -obviously- to activists having to stop business as usual in ongoing ways...if they’re going to have an impact on any fronts. Significant. Lasting. That’s what people should be doing with their heartbeats when they rendezvous over the Activist Hearth in private. Discussing that. Zero else, essentially.

I understand that The Powers are handing out pretty stiff penalties for people committing arson at Hummer outlets these days, however.

Mmm...perhaps there’s some hope to be found in a parallel to Pommie Abduction.

Even in abject failure, one would have to admit that such a yummy beats what’s on the table at present...like fare from the highly-touted Realizing Hope: Life Beyond Capitalism by Michael Albert, or what’s served up in any of the oh-so positive Left-Wing “best sellers,” and counterculture cafes (full of foam). If one considers the requisite sense of urgency. Our Roman Empire limits. Hummer Climate. [1]

Commie abductions never worked, but that doesn’t necessarily say anything about....

Look at it this way. Even if you’re one of those lefties who’s gonna be on the slopes this week, you’ve got something to discuss with your ski-masked compatriots après-skiing.

Readers are always tellin’ me that they’re “on the ropes” respecting...having no good verbal dope to hash around the Alternative Fire. What to do? There’s wood to burn here.

But I fear the foolish will cry that it’s not clear, expecting me to not hide in the snow,

wanting me to play the Snow Angel with the oncoming Hummer in/on the wings.

One must have a mind of winter.

Richard Oxman, info@parisgraves.com, provides the most updated versions of recent articles at http://www.oxtogrind.org. He considers this piece a Taoist treatment of walktalk; that’s noted to let readers who have been following his Chinese-related pieces of late know that he hasn’t left Cathay altogether...and that he’s still very much Dragon on.