It is a time of freedom and fear, of Gaia and of borders, of many paths and the widening of
a universal toll road, emptying country and swelling cities, of the public bought into
privacy and the privacy of the public sold into invisible data banks and knowing
algorithms. It is the time of the warrior's peace and the miser's charity, when the
planting of a seed is an act of conscientious objection.
These are the times when maps fade and direction is lost. Forwards is backwards now, so we glance sideways at the strange lands through which we are all passing, knowing for certain only that our destination has disappeared. We are unready to meet these times, but we proceed nonetheless, adapting as we wander, reshaping the Earth with every tread. Behind us we have left the old times, the standard times, the high times. Welcome to the irregular times. Reason #1199 to Boot Bush: The number of people visiting food banks in Ohio has increased during each year of George W. Bush's administration. Also on the rise in Ohio is enrollment in the food stamp program. Eric Bost, tapped by George W. Bush to run federal food programs for the poor, says that the rise is "due to people taking the easy way out." Bost's attitude underlines the lack not only of compassion but of basic understanding in the Bush Administration of how hard it has become to get by. (Source: Associated Press June 6, 2004) ![]() ![]() ![]() |