[ Thursday, May 22, 2003 ]
Day 73 to Day 88
San Francisco, CA. The Art of Propaganda. Agent Floss and I attend the opening of the propaganda art exhibition at Studio Z. We weren't invited to be in the show. Arrive at shortly after 9 p.m. By 11 p.m. we're in the show - in the bathroom, on the light switches, on the random exposed beam. By midnight there are traces of homeland security surveillance everywhere in the gallery. Tree guy is selling a box of deception dollars I drink a Heineken and we leave feeling satisfied with the evening's work.
My walk around SF. It's time for our Kathy Acker routine. Balmy alley murals Monsenor Romero two other tourists I snap a few shots and walk back to Floss manor. Earlier in the day walk to gun shop load up on .38 special rounds and a box of .357 magnum rounds hold a Rugar .40 get looked at funny because my nails are polished ambidextrous nice $400. Maybe. I swing my bike bag around to get my I.D. for the ammo purchase, start opening my bike bag, they're all three of them ready to draw. Reach for my wallet they look at my I.D. look at my nails, look at each other the only gun store left in the city "last one standing" insurance and shit all the shit's cheaper in Arizona at gun shows don't need a bunch of paranoid dudes wearing holsters walking around eyeing the customers like they're waiting for T3 to walk into the shop.
Windy mission walk, sad, alone in the mission, spot a white Westfalia, get sad again, spot the pupuseria get sad again, spot the thrift stores get sad again. "I'll show you a wild animal." No you won't yes I will I'm too serious I'm not here. No compr-e-h-e-ndo. There's no telling anyway. End Kathy Acker routine.
Humboldt County, CA.
I start my drive up the coast, en route to Erich and Katherine's wedding in Seattle. Camp the first night at Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Get a quick ride and a hike in before sunset. Wish I wasn't alone - no, it's o.k. this way. Visit the tallest living tree on the planet - a sequoia sempervirons, aka giant redwood, 368 ft. There is almost no one in the park, and it's a beautiful hike. That night I wake up at 4 a.m. and something is happening, stand in my campsite looking up at the canopy of giant redwoods, which nearly block out the faint moonlight, or maybe the dawn light. This is the first sublime moment of my trip, I believe. There's something about the redwoods.
Eugene, OR. The next day I continue northward through a gorgeous stretch of Hwy. 101 bordered by redwoods on each side off and on for a hundred miles. Get to Eugene for dinner with my friend Steve. We watch the lunar eclipse from his backyard in Glenwood. The next day I do a short ride in the McDonald Forest up in Corvallis. It's partly muddy and the sky looks ominous, so I pack it in after a few hours and have a picnic before resuming the drive.
Portland, OR.Get to Portland that night, and visit Hovering Labs. We debrief one another on the sorry state of the world, the rise of proto-fascism, plans for the playa, and the discovery of more homeland security installations (including the one I had found earlier that day while biking near Corvallis - see above). Disneyland's razor wire ride.
Seattle, WA.. Erich and the boys - Japanese food - the Contour, the Baltic Room, the march. I'm bored with writing down the details, and try to think of new direction for my travelogue, a New Word Order, something. Now looking for my brother in every Kinko's and motel within 10 miles of SeaTac. O brother, where art thou?
In the Matrix (Seattle). Decide to devote the rest of my summer to analyzing plot inconsistencies and contradictions in the new Matrix film. Who made the oracle? The matrix. Who made the matrix? The architect. Who made the architect? Aliens. Who made the aliens? God. Who made God? Different aliens.
Decide I will become a filmmaker later in life so I can tie together the whole genre of dystopian "new bad future" films into one uber-theory of sci-fi cosmology. Will have to wait until at least the premiere of the new terminator film . . . As with all these films, it's fun to watch assuming they are allegories for the struggle against global capitalism. All the Agents are white, after all. Zion is looking pretty third-world world-beat proletariet-ish, after all. While at Hovering Labs, there was a screening of someone's remake of Lord of the Rings, as an allegory for the struggle against globalization. I wonder if that's what Tolkien or Phillip K. Dick or any of them were thinking . . .
Todd Gitlin's talk at U of W bookstore - the role of activism in social change, from SDS to today, and his new book, "Letters to a Young Activist." Followed by a speech and Q and A session by Homeland Drifter staff on the subject of "how to get grant from Avery Labels corporation for political art projects" or maybe it was "how to score free wireless DSL on an extended road trip." Anyway, after this amusement, we retired to a neighborhood tavern for an evening of drinking and big ideas. Comrade K and Subcomandante M seen below in an interlude from the Big Debate, Round n, on the nature of idealism, activism, and political compromise.
Seattle, WA. Still in Seattle. Riding my bike around the city. Looking for inspiration and something to read at Erich and Katherine's wedding this weekend. Considered reading something by Rilke - but only in my best Agent Smith voice. Found a yoga class this morning. Drinkin' coffee, hangin' with my brother, who demanded - and was given - the following space on homelanddrifter.com to plug the G8 protest posters done by his NGO, the Massive Effort Campaign:
Stop G8 noncompliance on AIDS, TB and malaria. G8 leaders are not in compliance with promises they made to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. Six million people in Africa and Asia will die this year from these diseases, as G8 leaders continue to neglect their promises to stop diseases of poverty. As a result, millions of people will become sick and unable to work, care for their children and provide for the well-being of their families. Yet, most of these deaths and illnesses could be prevented or successfully treated with effective medicines and supplies costing less that $10.
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria is the world's best hope to defeat these diseases. Kofi Annan called on wealthy nations to provide $10 billion annually to the Global fund, so it can help expand the work of effective disease-fighting projects. In fact, donors are only providing around $1 billion annually. Take a look at the past promises G8 countries have made. Get involved!
End G8 routine. I love being on the road.
Soundtrack: Jack Kerouac, prose/poetry box-set;
every classic rock station from Santa Rosa to Seattle
Reading List: The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium: American Culture on the Brink, Mark Dery
[5/22/2003]
PAY ATTENTION BLACK ROCK CITY
