Saved?

[RICHARD ROMEO]

Mr. HAG:  I for one would never claim to say I know what Mr. TRP is 
saying.  My views on who They are is similarly opaque.  I kinda think 
They're out there but if They're not I'm just as freaked.  Do We then 
realize They has been some bastard inanimate construction of 
Us--relinquishing through years of misery and disillusion our zest for 
the complexities of life?  We'll say things are out of control, can't 
blame any individual, so we blame a vague Them.  But they are our 
children and long lost ancestors and hey, we can't deny blood ties, murky 
as they have gotten.

But we do get a glimpse of who They might be, some other order, some 
process that is leading humanity farther and farther from origins (which 
might be just as bad).  It seems to me we've lost something in a big way 
(not that we can prove just what that is), or hunger for something even 
if it be scrounging around in the detritus of our fallen world.

No I don't believe in the Church or any orgainzed religion and it scares 
me what We do with notions of divinity which aint that far from madness 
(organized or intuitive).  However, from reading TRP I do sense a general 
sympathy for humanity's plight which leads me to believe some of that 
religion has paid off favorably.  The list has mentioned before the 
sympathy TRP shows for even characters fallen over to Their side 
(Weissman, Brock).  Remember Christ loved sinners even more...

So We are They but we must be aware that to destroy the inanimate push 
towards stasis if you will, we must recognize that potential in ourselves 
to not give in to those tendencies, as difficult as that can be (and we 
do fail everyday in the most comic of ways).

I still love TRP because in Vineland he seemed to grow up a bit and lose 
some of the heavy-handed suicidal gloom and doom.  They are there but we 
have the power of redeeming ourselves through family, through communit,y 
(not in the present sound bite politcal rhetoric), througn women 
(non-phallo-centric--I'm beginning to read about feminism so not sure if 
this sounds hoaky).

As much as I love the speculative brilliance of GR, I do believe in this 
exhausted and campy time we live in, we can a be a wee bit less focused 
on They and begin to concentrate on Us and what we can do in this mixed 
up world.  I hope TRP continues what he started in Vineland...

Hope this answers something...



Richard Romeo

Coordinator of Cooperating Collections

The Foundation Center-NYC

212-807-2417

rromeo at fdncenter.org