Between the Lines

As you were describing the novel

plot and symbolism
character dispositions,
rising and falling
actions
twists and turns in
theme, setting, time
line for line

your friend

lifelong chum
whose booze-
breath babbles
but can still saddle a
stallion sentence

interrupted you

hurdling himself
to the middle of
the mute in
your mouth
between words

to laugh and say, “ha that’s clever”

never  can your momentum
find its way back
now that the conversation
lost its slack

because he didn’t understand you

intelligence
is social currency
you mustn’t act cheap

And now three years later

three years packed into
the empty space between
the lines of this poem

when you think about that novel

infrequent but happens
time to time

you ponder what significance

a different denomination
of social currency

your friend understood in that one part

understood an
overstatement

What clever irony

the currency
of past
prospects

eluded you,

our poetic protagonist

you thought

infrequent but happens
time to time

,that your friend realized secondhand

he was always able to read
between the lines

Technology in the Aid of Revolution

Technologies, such as paper, eyeglasses, mechanical clocks, roadways, or any other extension of the human spirit, have forever changed the operational facilities of life. They have influenced the level of productivity that a society can achieve by creating extensions of our individually limited capacities. For example, eyeglasses enabled the workers of medieval times to extend their careers by several years, giving workers clarity of sight even in old age. Eyeglasses have also lead to the development of precision tools by focusing the eyes on mechanical detail.  Similarly, the Gutenberg press, and other printing innovations, have allowed for mass publication of news and ideas, while also raising the level of collective literacy.

Of course, with every new stride in technological development, there comes with it a certain level of consequence.  Certain technologies have both benefited human society as well as thrown in obstacles, limiting the scope of potential efficiency.  They have propelled our minds into a wealth of information, and they have sedated our minds with visions on the screen.  A long list of automated, prerecorded options on a company’s voicemail might save time and money for the company, but it also severely limits the level of communication and customer satisfaction.  One could even argue that the mechanical clock, although allowing us to organize our day, has lead to procrastination; since it is much easier to put something off till the last minute when one knows when the last minute is.

The question of whether or not technology as a whole has helped or hurt our human species could be equally supported on both sides.  Sometimes there is no concise answer to such inquiries.  What can be agreed upon is that technologies have influenced immense change and have completely revolutionized how we live as human animals.

David Landes says in his essay The Invention of Invention that, “Government rests on paper.”  Although it might be more accurate to say that government rests on language, – Hammurabi’s ancient Babylonian code of laws were printed on clay tablets – Landes does present an interesting point: without the proper means of organizing a standardized language of rules and regulations, it is very doubtful that a government could exert control over a large nation.

By mass producing printed law and constitutional rights, governments can distribute the same standardized information to a large populace and expect a consensus of understanding.  In this sense, the printed word has contributed to the rise of most governments’ ability to establish control.  One only need to look to the German propaganda of the 30s and 40s to realize the large influence the printed page has on our perceptions and actions, and the propensity toward indoctrination that these manufactured perceptions have.

When it comes to the printed word, on paper that is, ideas are easy to regulate.  Governments can easily burn and wipe clean the journals and papers of Wilhelm Reich, or they can distribute Mao Tse-tung’s Little Red Book to every citizen and enforce a mandatory reading.

On the other hand, digital print and media operate quite differently.  It opens publication to every individual, it’s hard to stop, and it has the ability to spread like wildfire.

The birth of new digital technologies, such as the internet and smart-phones, are inciting fear within the leaders of more authoritarian governments.  The regimes of China and Egypt are two contemporary examples of governments who have attempted to restrict citizens’ access to community-run websites and social networking.  They are terrified of the internet’s ability to share information and organize opposition.  What’s scarier for the rulers of oppressive nations than a populace that can organize and freely publish dissent?  The recent explosion of Wiki-Leaks is another great example of the impact that internet technology has on government; even in our own country.  The tides are turning, and governments no longer hold the restraints on media that they once had.

We are already seeing drastic changes in collective consciousness and public awareness due to technological developments that have raised the bar on global communication.  With ubiquitous and instantaneous spreading of information, cultural barriers are diminishing and new ideas are being pushed to the foreground of public discussion – such as the T.E.D. conferences which are now posted online. It is also worth mentioning that during the peak of Cairo’s revolution, anyone with internet access was able to go on Youtube.com and watch the rallies and protests that Cairo citizens were publishing from their smart-phones.

The famous chant “The whole world is watching” is brought under a different light and holds new meaning than it did for the antiwar protesters of Chicago in 1968.  The whole world really is watching, and it’s becoming more and more difficult for oppressive regimes to hide their citizens under their frayed cloak of ignorance.  Governments might rest on paper, but they’re reformed through binary.

Weather or Not

This could be a poem, or an essay, or maybe just stream-of-consciousness psychobabble, but most importantly it is words that have been collected in order to communicate a particular message. Yet, don’t focus so much on the words, but focus more on my body language in the telling of them.

Weather or Not

We collect in pockets of binary energy

Grouped like spots on a cow.

Energy dictated by weather

Wound

Around

Words.

Climate conformation – a secular happening

We are to the climate (and other things, like culture, habits, beliefs… But the topic of today is climate, so we shall not digress) as puddles are to conforming the curves of the earth.

Winter weakens willingness to work.

Summer sets a synergistic stage of situations summoned by the sun.

Simultaneously: Melancholy Maine rain

And

Burning Texas rage.

So maybe the blame should be put,

When one does not ‘behave’,

Not on the cast of characters

But on that which sets the stage:

(summary)

Which is environment. We have focused on climate, but this is all really about environment, and as Marshall McLuhan says, “Environments are invisible. Their ground-rules, pervasive structure, and overall patterns elude easy perception.”

Environments are as multifaceted as the organisms that must live in them, and both co-depend on each other for meaning. To break it down simply: if someone appears to be acting a son-of-a-bitch, maybe there are other environmental phenomena factoring into their behavior; or even clouding your perception of their actions…