Herman Greene is right about exchanging more stories specially surrounding the members of this listserv. I did not know Stephen Wells, for instance, but Paul's announcement and the responses made Randy W more "accessible" than three paragraphs of his cogitations (which are welcomed, too). As John Cock commented on our picture of the montage on Greenrise: what a fellowship. Am coming to the tail end of our literary contributions to the Saipan Tribune and will likely have, at most, only six more before the end of the month. The following might lose me some readers but should be familiar territory to this listserv. The usual caveat: curious, welcome; not, meet you at the bend. Jaime Whereof we stand We’ll pull together the wisdom of our existence so far, a decade of which was spent in Saipan where we commenced our literary habit. We do not intend to be prescriptive by foisting our experiential learning on the behavior of others. Nor do we have a litany of lessons we share so that others follow our example. Instead, we convey a transparent stance so that our witness acts like a mirror to reflect not the structure of our selfhood but a invite others to see theirs. The word we use is “transparency” in the plane of history, in contrast to the prescriptive inclination of a “transcendent” ideal often used as a measure of perfection from on high that commerce in the language of eternal verities, and the intense immanence of one’s sense of depth and profundity to ground awe and wonder over the mystery of life itself. We stand at the core of contemporary relevance. OK. We are babbling abstractions here. Let me come at it another way. Say the reader stands in the middle of a world map, see the ends of the four directions and the in-betweens as well (like the trigrams do in the ancient symbol of the pugua) to effect a comprehensiveness view and inclusive stance of the whole. Let’s take the inclusiveness to be the earth as a planet, organic, interdependent of parts, and interlocking in roles and functions. This establishes our middle centered position in space. We’ve used the word “glocal” to capture the 60s sense of “thinking globally, acting locally”. A product of my time, literally a twin to Tinian’s nuclear Little Boy, I intend to sally forth till 2031 when I am 86. The sallying forth at the center involves stepping outside of our self (up) and contemplate the processes that abides (down) on the quantum physics of our being. In ’68, the Apollo mission shifted our ground to the reality of a blue orb rising on moonscape horizon oblivious of drawn political boundaries on its surface; a singular, fragile, and pulsating organic throb careening into an unknown universe. The earth and I are one. Internally, we affirmed the external truth, that “all the earth belongs to all the people” is at the heart of globalization. “All the decisions of history belongs to all the people” is an unstoppable impetus that grasps the passion and imagination of local revolutions. Today, nations and States are officiating marriages based on consent and covenant rather than sexual orientation. More significantly, “all the inventions of humanness belongs to all the people” has made religions ecumenical (fundamentalist defensively execute a reflexive jerk). We are participate in glocalizing decision-making at all levels; pedestrian goods and services worldwide move across human existence irrespective of status symbols. Some write manifestoes to state this knowledge; others quietly incorporate it into the fabric of daily life. But the reality is inescapable. Earth is a living organism though the humans in its last 10,000 years created a cancerous global brain that threatens the life engendering capacity of the organism itself. Furthering the new understanding, alas, is met with determined opposition from entrenched vested interests. Development of real estate fuels the economy of many places around the world and greed in this sector is predicated on the ownership of land rather than the equitable stewardship of the same. The bubble burst in the housing sector in the US in 2007 was a financial Ponzi scheme, and the numerous ghost towns of China continuous construction of an illusory pyramid for as long as investors keep paying up with everyone’s retirement fund. Social stratification favors those who own real estate, and while semblance of meritocracy towards upward mobility through education is in vogue, the sad truth is that existing policies favor the privileged and those who already sit at the edge of advantage. The immigration debate is instructive. Like the previous movements to get women their rights, and the birthing of the struggles versus gender biases, the calcified privilege of land owners are staking Alamo defenses to stem the mass of humanity moving into territories without first securing proper documentation. Instead of focusing on improving the documentation process, we build holding camps on Christmas Island as a deterrent to boat people and wetbacks. Pray tell, by what right does Australia have to stop Southern Asians from migrating to the land it grabbed from the aborigines less than two centuries ago, or the USofA have on the border folks across the Pecos and the Rio Grande who used to own the land only a couple of centuries back? Austria-Hungary married the Ottoman Empire so why be surprised at Turk proles in Frankfurt? The Dutch gathered spice in the Moluccas and Amsterdam worries about its Indo plebes!?! The Brits in the Indus and Ganges valleys had their footlockers carried on their tramping around Hindustan (stopping for tea around the Deccan plateau) and the French languished in the hammock as their weeds were handrolled in Indochina while scented rif-rafs fanned the humid air. Now we worry about the lilting accents in London and Paree! Yo, since when was ownership of anything an eternal sacred right? Comprehensive, inclusive, simultaneously transcendent and immanent, is our transparency at the center. How do you describe yours? Jaime Vergara pinoypanda2031@aol.com yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today. participate. In all, celebrate! -----Original Message----- From: Jayvee Vallejera Editor <editor@saipantribune.com> To: Jaime Vergara <pinoypanda2031@aol.com> Sent: Tue, Aug 20, 2013 2:22 pm Subject: Auto-correct Hi Jaime, This is what comes with relying too much on auto-correct. Will turn it off. Jayvee ________________________________________________________________________This email has been scanned by the Barracuda Spam & Virus Firewall 300.For more information please visit http://www.barracudanetworks.com ________________________________________________________________________