It's All Connected

is my dominant thought these days.

The collapse of US capital markets. State-sponsored violence against the poor around the world. Global warming. Global hunger. Soaring fuel prices. It's always all been connected.

And the connections have no correlation to how the fallout is experienced. The powerless get screwed. The rulers pull up their drawbridges, drain their moats, build helipads so supplies can be flown in, shore up the walls between themselves and the consequences of their actions.

People look for saviours: Obama, Jesus, Revolution.

Or seek distractions: Palin.

I read poetry, philosophy, drama - because I have that luxury. The books by my bedside:

The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul In Corporate America,
David Whyte

The Door, Margaret Atwood

Kissing God Goodbye (Poems 1991 - 1997), June Jordan

M. Butterfly, David Henry Hwang

Another America (Otra America), Barbara Kingsolver

Making Friends With Death: A Buddhist Guide To Encountering Mortality, Judith L. Lief

One Stick Song, Sherman Alexie