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Wednesday, October 25, 2006

The Times They Are A-Changin'

http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=b36d1022-7fd3-4d4a-91ab-ba9f977746a2

The Times They Are A-Changin'
Published on 10/24/2006 in Features

Taylor Katz

I've recently been convinced that records may be the key to my happiness.
When you play a record as opposed to CDs or songs off of an iPod, there is a
necessary amount of interaction with the music; you have to chose the
record, carefully place it on the turntable, place the needle down, etc.
There is something almost magical about the music that comes from a record
player, and the inevitable scratchy background noise only serves to enhance
the authentic feel of the music being played. Back in the day (as in, the
days of exuberant hippies, peace marches, and LSD), people used to make
records-as in the record of the event of people playing music in a room
together. But nowadays music is all about advertising and who's writing
beats for whom, and that distinct purity of simply making music (with or
without the help of hallucinogenic drugs) very often feels lost.

Not that I don't love my iPod. How else could I feel like I am starring in
the newest sitcom based on my adorable life as I walk down the sidewalk
bouncing along to some new Justin Timberlake song? The availability of so
much music in a portable gizmo like an iPod is truly a wonder. However,
before the days of iPods and Discmen, music wasn't nearly as accessible, and
therefore I imagine that it had to mean more each time you listened to a
song, because the music wasn't always so readily within reach.

It's very possible that I'm romanticizing about an era that I've only
experienced through movies, stories, and Janis Joplin's drunken warbling. I'm
aware that this newfound passion for records may sound random coming from a
college student in the "technological age." But ever since my boyfriend got
a record player, all I've wanted to do is sit in musty antique stores and
sort through piles and piles of records, no matter how it may make me sneeze
or make my neck so tense I can barely nod. Because when we put on a record,
no matter what time of day it is, I immediately feel a unique sense of calm
and nostalgic happiness. "So this is what my parents felt like back in the
day!" I'll exclaim, leaning back on a chair. Normally a connection between
my parents' youth and mine results in a nauseated sensation, but listening
to records is a shared experience that delights me. And believe
me-delighting in having something in common with my parents is a once in a
blue moon occurrence.

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Smokey the Bear Sutra by Gary Snyder

SMOKEY THE BEAR SUTRA

BY GARY SNYDER

Once in the Jurassic about 150 million years ago, the Great Sun Buddha in this corner of the Infinite Void gave a discourse to all the assembled elements and energies: to the standing beings, the walking beings, the flying beings, and the sitting beings--even the grasses, to the number of thirteen billion, each one born from a seed, assembled there: a Discourse concerning Enlightenment on the planet Earth.

"In some future time, there will be a continent called America. It will have great centers of power called such as Pyramid Lake, Walden Pond, Mt. Rainier, Big Sur, Everglades, and so forth; and powerful nerves and channels such as Columbia River, Mississippi River, and Grand Canyon. The human race in that era will get into troubles all over its head, and practically wreck everything in spite of its own strong intelligent Buddha-nature."

"The twisting strata of the great mountains and the pulsings of volcanoes are my love burning deep in the earth. My obstinate compassion is schist and basalt and granite, to be mountains, to bring down the rain. In that future American Era I shall enter a new form; to cure the world of loveless knowledge that seeks with blind hunger: and mindless rage eating food that will not fill it."

And he showed himself in his true form of

SMOKEY THE BEAR

A handsome smokey-colored brown bear standing on his hind legs, showing that he is aroused and watchful.

Bearing in his right paw the Shovel that digs to the truth beneath appearances; cuts the roots of useless attachments, and flings damp sand on the fires of greed and war;

His left paw in the mudra of Comradely Display--indicating that all creatures have the full right to live to their limits and that of deer, rabbits, chipmunks, snakes, dandelions, and lizards all grow in the realm of the Dharma;

Wearing the blue work overalls symbolic of slaves and laborers, the countless men oppressed by a civilization that claims to save but often destroys;

Wearing the broad-brimmed hat of the west, symbolic of the forces that guard the wilderness, which is the Natural State of the Dharma and the true path of man on Earth:

all true paths lead through mountains--

With a halo of smoke and flame behind, the forest fires of the kali-yuga, fires caused by the stupidity of those who think things can be gained and lost whereas in truth all is contained vast and free in the Blue Sky and Green Earth of One Mind;

Round-bellied to show his kind nature and that the great earth has food enough for everyone who loves her and trusts her;

Trampling underfoot wasteful freeways and needless suburbs, smashing the worms of capitalism and totalitarianism;

Indicating the task: his followers, becoming free of cars, houses, canned foods, universities, and shoes, master the Three Mysteries of their own Body, Speech, and Mind; and fearlessly chop down the rotten trees and prune out the sick limbs of this country America and then burn the leftover trash.

Wrathful but calm. Austere but Comic. Smokey the Bear will Illuminate those who would help him; but for those who would hinder or slander him...

HE WILL PUT THEM OUT.

Thus his great Mantra:

Namah samanta vajranam chanda maharoshana Sphataya hum traka ham mam

"I DEDICATE MYSELF TO THE UNIVERSAL DIAMOND BE THIS RAGING FURY BE DESTROYED"

And he will protect those who love the woods and rivers, Gods and animals, hobos and madmen, prisoners and sick people, musicians, playful women, and hopeful children:

And if anyone is threatened by advertising, air pollution, television, or the police, they should chant SMOKEY THE BEAR'S WAR SPELL:

DROWN THEIR BUTTS

CRUSH THEIR BUTTS

DROWN THEIR BUTTS

CRUSH THEIR BUTTS

And SMOKEY THE BEAR will surely appear to put the enemy out with his vajra-shovel.

Now those who recite this Sutra and then try to put it in practice will accumulate merit as countless as the sands of Arizona and Nevada.

Will help save the planet Earth from total oil slick.
Will enter the age of harmony of man and nature.
Will win the tender love and caresses of men, women, and beasts.
Will always have ripened blackberries to eat and a sunny spot under a pine tree to sit at.

AND IN THE END WILL WIN HIGHEST PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT

...thus we have heard...

(may be reproduced free forever)