Pynchon in Chicago

[Christopher Tassava]

TRP has GOT to be here in the Windy City right now.  I mean, it's almost 
frightening, the convergence of Pynchonesque events:

1. 	The Democratic Nat'l Convention.  Not that Our Man would attend or 
nuthin', but rather the heritage of Chicago conventions. 
	a) The media (for what they're worth) are going wacko over the '68 
stuff, and it seems to me that the '68 police riot was all Their fault.  I 
mean, Da Mare, Richard M. Daley even LOOKS like Them.
	b) The Chicago Reader had an article last week about the literal and 
figurative bulldozing of all memory of the Haymarket Massacre, which 
falls neatly and poignantly, at least for me, into the "forgotten history" 
category occupied by the Herero genocide, amongst other events.
	c) Even beyond the '68 retrospective (it's po-mo'istically funny to 
see everyone try and coopt it in one way or another), there's the hideous 
spectacle of the "protest pits," the designated areas around (but not too 
close) to the actual convention site.  The groups chosen to protest in the 
pits were selected by lottery (a la Borgesian Babylon, maybe...) and they're 
a pretty benign group.

2.  The annual Air and Water Show was held this past weekend.  Chiclitz was 
here in spirit, watching the deafening display of militarism.  And who 
sponsored it?  Shell, that's who.
	a) the state's "liberal" Senator, Carol Mosely-Braun, just returned 
(to a firestorm of protest) from a trip to Nigeria, where she apparently 
kowtowed to the junta.  And we all know about Shell in Nigeria...

3.  And most importantly, the world's Godzilla conference was held here last 
weekend, too.  What more could TRP ask for in a late summer excursion: Them, 
political intrigue, genocide, the burial of left history, and a radioactive 
monster?

Feelin' the vibe,
 
Xferen

"Important to keep going, obliterate the sure thing
and come upon a moment of stealthy blessing."

Don DeLillo