IVIV: chapter seven—Trippin' with Doc

[Robin Landseadel]

I'm going to be out for a day, spend more time cogitating over Larry  
in Tripsterville. Doc and that magic can of Burgie go through what I'd  
call an educational Acid trip, one that seems to be pointing towards  
knowledge of the interconnectedness of life and perhaps to the  
fragility of those connections. And maybe Vehi actually is  
'connected', but to what?:

	They were greeted by a person with a shaved head, wearing wire-rim
	sunglasses and a green and magenta kimono with some kind of bird
	motif on it. He was a dedicated old-school longboarder recently back
	from Oahu, having somehow known in advance about the epic surf that
	hit the north shore of that island back in December.

	"Man, did you miss a big story," he greeted Doc. "You too, man."

	''I'm talkin about sets of fifty-foot waves that wouldn't quit."  
"'Fifty,' huh.
	I'm talkin about Charlie Manson gettin popped." They looked at each
	other.

	"On the face of it," Vehi Fairfield said finally, "two separate  
worlds, each
	unaware of the other. But they always connect someplace."

	"Manson and the Surge of '69," said Doc.

	"That's because you think everything is connected," Sortilege said.

	"'Think'?"

There certainly is an interconnectedness of classic Pynchon leitmotivs  
here—Vehi is dressed in magenta and green, there's that bird/ 
psychedelia thing going on again and there's that "everything is  
connected" theme we have stumbled over so many times. And there's  
echos of GNASH as well, putting the spiritual effusions of Vehi in a  
slightly questionable light. I suspect that there's some hidden  
activity here, under the pavement and all. While TRP has written about  
trips & tripping elsewhere seems to me that he's getting more into the  
particulars of that peculiar experience.

In any case, I'll be back on Sunday to wrap up chapter seven.