This ones like a charcuterie board
"Since Childhood I’ve been faithful to monsters. I have been saved and absolved by them, because monsters, I believe are the patron saints of our blissful imperfection, they allow to embody the possibility of failing” -Guillermo Del Toro
I love Folklore and the monsters within it because they connect us to ourselves in ways that are impossible in any other form. Folklore and myth was the way that we explained the world. It was a way of understanding the greater machinations of the cosmos before we had the tools to measure them, it was a way to teach children to stay away from swift running water or the dark woods at night, it was a way to look at human nature in a way that people could truly connect to. There is an idea that truth and fact are not necessarily the same thing, especially in literature. In a story there is the hard facts the way that they actually happen and work and that is one form of truth but there is also the truth of the emotion, there is a way to tell stories that bend the facts and change details in order to reveal the emotions of the tale creating a truth of feeling rather than of fact. Folktales do this very well. They give faces to what we fear as well as depth and context to the natural beauty of the world. Monsters and heroes and wizards and damsels are all aspects within humanity, pieces that make up who we are both individually and collectively.
I feel like life would be better if we adopted the watershed based state system proposed by John Westley Powell in 1890. A little on Powell himself. He lost his arm at the battle of Shiloh. He navigated the Green and Colorado rivers to and through the grand canyon with a minimal crew and two wooden dinghies. His mission was to find a way to use the waters of the West to transform the arid space into a new Eden, an idea that still tantalizes farmers and the government to this day. Powell’s hydrological plan came out of his understanding that this idea could never come to fruition, much to the chagrin of the committee, and the map allowed him to outline what he saw as the most elegant way to divide up the West.His plan was to center the state around a watershed, the headwaters, the tributaries and all the way down. With the aridity of most of the West many believe that this plan could have helped to avoid the dust bowl and many of the water shortage issues that the West still wrestles with today.
As a sort of case study on the water issues of the West let's look at the Colorado River basin, a constant point of contention. When the Colorado River Compact was drawn up they measured the flow rate and used that to divide up the amount of water that each of the basin states, (Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Wyoming, Arizona, Nevada and California) could pull out of the river. The issue is when the measurements were taken the river was at a high point, the past couple of years had dumped plenty of snow onto the peaks and the snowmelt in addition to the above average rains had created a picture of the river that was incomplete. With the river consistently having less water than promised and the populations of all of the basin states rising, requiring more water from both cities and agriculture, the compact has become an incredibly important document to revise to ensure the future of the watershed but also one that is nearly impossible to get everyone to agree on. While water scarcity will always be a part of the West, putting the rivers in a more central position might help. Rivers have historically been major factors in the drawing of borders. The Rio Grande separates the United States and Mexico the Connecticut separates New Hampshire and Vermont this idea simply reverses that idea. Instead of the river being the divider it becomes the centerpoint. It is a plan that harkens back to the cradles of civilizations when peoples lives were tied directly to their home river. Whether it was the Tigris, Euphrates, Ganges, the Nile or the many others people used the river for irrigation, transportation, sanitation, and recreation. The West isn't much different. Our technology may have advanced but the rivers are still cornerstones of our lives.
1. Spaceship
In a tornado of sci fi books, void metaphors, boredom and a great video from Adam Savage I decided that I needed to build a spaceship. The process itself was satisfying seeing the thing come into being from a set of pieces and a couple sheets of polystyrene but the inspiration that sprang from it was fantastic. Throughout the building I had to think about where things should go and what purpose everything was trying to achieve which led to thinking about why the ship exists, why the captain built it and developing ideas about his character. With the ship, mostly, finished now just looking at it it is a fountain of inspiration. I can see it hurtling through space, navigating asteroids, and taking in the cosmos. It's incredible that a little time filler project can make such a difference in getting the gears in my head turning.
2. Alcatraz Means Pelican
This has been my go to fun fact for at least a month now and it has lost absolutely none of its punch. Apparently when spanish explorers reached the island it was pretty much covered in the big fellas and so they named it after them. It might better translate to “strange bird” but they are pretty strange birds so it works either way.
3. Midnight Burger Podcast
An incredible story about a time traveling dimension spanning diner. The characters are all fantastic, the stories are great and as weird as it all gets it is one of the most human stories that I have ever consumed. With the new season coming out I am currently listening to it from top to bottom for the third time and every episode still hits just as hard. Cannot recommend it enough.
4. This Hat
5. Ghostbusters
I loved Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Reboots don't always work but this one nailed it for me. It had the goofy looking ghost dogs, the ecto1 with a gunner seat, and Paul Rudd and honestly what else can you ask for. They did a good job of connecting it back to the originals but still letting the new characters have their own energy and experience. The props are dope and the franchise keeps showing that sci-fi can be all kinds of things.
Joseph Parker 6/1/2024