R.I.P. Oklahoma

[bandwraith at aol.com]

Yea, and thanks for not taking me the wrong way. 



-----Original Message-----
From: Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net>
To: bandwraith <bandwraith at aol.com>
Sent: Wed, May 22, 2013 8:04 pm
Subject: Re: R.I.P. Oklahoma


Good reply. I had serious issues with flying but  until this trip I had never 
een out of the US apart from Mexico and Canada. We are all contributing to the 
ess but I don't at all think that invalidates art or the importance of clear 
hinking and language.  The world of letters has certainly affected more in my 
ife than political ideas or forming a usable map of the world. The artfulness 
f language seems to be for humans the main vector of how we see, know, imagine, 
ork with the fields of both experience and  ideas, and even  the possibilities 
hich experience and ideas suggest.
 I'm working toward a very low emission life and the trip was a family visit to 
 of my children I have not been able to see for a while. Still, we all want to 
eep our high carbon lifestyles and a person can always find a good reason to do 
o but the choice is stark when you add it up and we need to set new standards 
or ourselves or suffer the terrible consequences. My next big trip will be by 
icycle. I have a very large garden which provides most of our food and 
inimizes travel and helps see us through thin times.By the end f the year the 
ouse will no longer burn any oil.  
I don't accept the excuses for Obama. No one is asking that he engineer a 
olution but  he has betrayed and gone in the opposite direction of most of his 
romises. He neither uses the bully pulpit nor the Justice department nor his 
ower as Commander in Chief to make real changes. I believe P was using Velveeta 
s a stand in for the young Obama and the beginning of his presidency, admiring 
he slick operation of the Golden Fang, unable to control the bankers, his 
abinet etc..  
I'm not pure, I don't expect purity. I expect realism and effort because the 
takes are pretty high.
 Anyway, thanks. All your thoughts speak to me.  

On May 21, 2013, at 11:12 PM, bandwraith at aol.com wrote:
> But wait, Joe, you're doing Jason Velveeta wrong by this comparison. I like 
ason. He's the key to understanding The Golden Fang, doncha know. His dope may 
e crummy, but his information is right on the money. That's typical Pynchon 
igh/low magic/punning.
 
 It's ironic, and of course you must have been aware of this, that you picked 
p on McKibben "WHILE ON A FLIGHT TO OKINAWA." No lavaratorial assaults, I hope, 
n the poor Junk fisherman below. And I'm not being judgmental here, just 
ointing out that all pointing should begin in front of the silver mirror in 
rder to understand The Golden Fang, and how it keeps us all narcotized- and 
therwise into our separate greedy little pastimes- me too. 
  
 And probably Pynchon's as well. Which raises the question- is parody, satire, 
rt in general, and any otherwise counterforce-type resistance more than just 
ntertainment on the way to oblivion (and a paycheck for Pynchon), or is it 
ffective in showing us a way out of this mess? Setting aside the Nabokovian 
rgument that art should be unconcerned, for a moment, and focusing on the 
mpending global meltdown, what can any us do, beside point fingers and call 
achother names? Given the gravity, no pun, of the situation, should any of us 
ven be wasting time reading novels, let alone writing them?
  
 As far as Obama goes, he's obviously not the answer, but how can we expect him 
o engineer anything approaching a solution- even the beginnings of a solution- 
o climate change, when he can't even get a universal background check for 
ssault weapons through congress? I suspect that Velveeta is probably less 
amstrung. At least his dope could be used for "honey slides.'
 
 
 -----Original Message-----
 From: Joseph Tracy 
 To: P-list List 
 Sent: Tue, May 21, 2013 9:39 pm
 Subject: Re: R.I.P. Oklahoma
 
                   (...)
 Fuck Jason Velveeta and fuck his little dog too. 

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