Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun

Today I found a 1962 yearbook that had a photograph of Jean Harris when she was a teacher in the Detroit area. In the picture -- a group portrait -- she's sitting by a window about ten feet from where I was holding the book. How creepy is that?

HBO is still showing Mrs. Harris and it's well worth seeing. Annette Bening is perfect in the role, and the rest of the cast is quite good, too.

Meanwhile in Iraq, Operation Swarmer is underway. More human squander. And who makes up these horrid names?

Globally, the omens are bad and coming fast; they go way beyond mere politics. We seem no better prepared for global warming and its fallout than we were for the tsunami or Katrina, which were probably in themselves signs of things to come. FEMA has managed to house thousands of people in mobile homes -- horribly vulnerable to the fast-approaching new hurricane season (which is predicted to be very active and dangerous). The bird flu is on the way to North America and could begin mutating as early as this fall. Are we prepared for a worldwide pandemic on the scale of the 1918 influenza? Not by a long shot. Are we prepared for melting ice floes and massive coastal flooding in the near future? Are we prepared for anything, really?

Jim Morrison may have had it right decades ago. "I don't know what's going to happen, man, but I want to get my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames." (American Prayer, 1978. Amen).

With spring break looming, I showed Pompeii: The Last Day (2003) in class today. It's good. The students were riveted. The reenactments are quite believable and seem remarkably appropriate to today's world. Last time I really visualized that disaster was in Amsterdam, watching Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii. And speaking of disasters, what do you suppose the omens meant on my wedding day -- April 26, 1986? The day of Chernobyl, the day we flew to Europe for a "honeymoon"? Interestingly, San Antonio Bill posits that this fearsome nuclear disaster was a significant factor in the collapse of the Soviet Union (and come to think about it, it may have been a significant factor in the collapse of my marriage, but that's another story). I think that Bill is entirely correct in his other points, too (Afghanistan, sectarian uprisings, etc.) But collectively, what have we learned by all this?

Despite all, good personal news today: an acceptance by Pearl: A Literary Magazine for next year's poetry issue (37) by way of a very sweet letter from editor Marilyn Johnson. Here's their website: www.pearlmag.com

More good news: I applied for a grant to go back to the Hotel Chelsea and today got word that I got it for this summer. I'm very excited and appreciative -- and, of course, thinking about many of the people I've been writing about having stayed or worked there. What a great place. There's an image of Diane Arbus terrorizing Germaine Greer, snapping a fearsome photo that Greer hated. There's Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison; there's Valerie Solanas lurking in the lobby on the day she shot Andy Warhol; there's Edie Sedgwick; Jack Kerouac; and hundreds of others. Quite a vibe to work in. Global warming notwithstanding, I can't wait!

Finally, William S. Burroughs, another denizen of the Chelsea, heaps on the scorn with "A Thanksgiving Prayer." Though wicked, this short text applies now more than ever. Here's a link: www.inter-zone.org/thanks.html

Adieu for now . . . . .