belated End of CH 14 315-322

[Robin Landseadel]

Thanks to Joseph, Richard, Bekah, Josiah, Amy, Laura, Mark, Michael  
and anyone else who strummed, chirped, stumbled and chimed in. As we  
closed out Against the Day, I felt a creeping sensation that issues  
expressed in Vineland were about to be echoed on the world stage—the  
run-up to the election was filled with constitutionally questionable  
actions on the behalf of the crumbling Neo-Con empire, and the degree  
to which the agendas of the election cycle were being driven by the  
needs of Television was extraordinary. Citizen participation in video  
distribution via the interweb, was both exalted and co-opted:

http://www.youtube.com/user/barackobamadotcom?blend=1&ob=4

On another and potentially more hopeful note, Eric Holder announced  
that the DEA would cease harassing Medical Marijuana outlets in States  
that legalized ganja as medicine. This bit of maybe even good news  
relates directly to Vineland—that  was a little jerk on Vond's tether  
you just felt. Vond's budget was just line item-ed out by the new  
boss. Very much like Vineland.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS189JMhKks&feature=related

During our reading there was an incident in Oakland—the police  
shooting of an unarmed teenager at a BART station in Fruitvale—where  
citizen participation with the now omniscient eye of phone/video  
recording combos became the story. This seems like a page ripped from  
the tattered casebook of 24fps. Then again, the all-seeing eye  
[private and sometimes not] is a constant theme in Pynchon's writing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKy-WSZMklc

On Apr 4, 2009, at 4:22 PM, Joseph Tracy wrote:

> Summary with personal comments

Thanks in particular for these personal comments. Since so much of  
Vineland is cartoonish it makes it hard to accept that there could be  
a real on-the-map place so much like Pynchon's fictional Vineland,  
California. I was further inland all those times I've visited by mom  
up in Garberville, only been to Arcata and Eureka a few times, but  
concur with your remarks. One particular gift found in Pynchon's  
writing is an extraordinary sense of place.

> There are some great radio stations from Santa Rosa on and it was  
> part of why  I always felt a lot better driving north by the time I  
> was getting close to Arcata. ) Zoyd catches up toVan Meter in  
> Eureka; VM is driving Z’s Dodge Dart. They pick up Prairie and go to  
> Vineland. The Journey is over and the remainder of the chapter is  
> about  the geography, and culture and history  of Vineland.  I lived  
> in Arcata for most of a decade and paid closer attention this time  
> to see if Vineland was a specific place in this region . It isn’t. P  
> borrows details from Eureka, Arcata, Trinidad, Blue Lake,  
> Mckinleyville,  and Crescent City and blends them.  There are six  
> rivers there and his Vineland is on the 7th. It is most like Eureka  
> which has a long spit connected by an art Deco bridge to the  
> mainland, 101 passes through it  with regular street traffic, and it  
> has a community college called the College of the redwoods, but it’s  
> a blend.
>
> The swap meet is real, the land developers, the ornate victorians,  
> surfers,flower children, there were daffodil fields 300 yards down  
> the street from our house, the Finnish Country Hot Tub(Shangri La)  
> and Sauna is in Arcata, the Bigfoot stories, the L.A. people  
> adapting to the local economy, the live music and theater,the  
> powerful presence of the Yurok and Tolowa culture, spirit world and  
> people, the ghost towns and abandoned houses in the hill-country. He  
> gets it right along with the old school Logger lefties, grangers  
> etc. Pynchon obviously loved it and so did I. The beaches are  
> beautiful and uncrowded and the rivers are the greatest place in the  
> world to white water raft, the summers provide an endless supply of  
> wild blackberries, and the Redwoods surround you with the spirits of  
> the ancient Forest. I remember taking a 2 person inflatable Kayak  
> along part of the Trinity with my son  and  beaching for a while and  
> finding ripe concord grapes  on a wild vine. Vineland the good is  
> still real in some places.  Definitely shared that feeling with Zoyd  
> of having chosen right, for a change.