#TakeAction

The “wall” state of emergency bs, climate change, growing fascism all over the world. We are living truly in a time of either making a positive difference, or not. It’s an active choice. I give 10% of my income, for example, to environmental and environmental justice organizations; some people dedicate their lives to policy change, or creating more resilient mental health, or teaching people about non-violent diets. Everybody can find where they fit it, stretch a little more, and do their part. Some people don’t realize that we’re living in such a decisive moment in history, because empire does such a good insulating middle class and rich white people from the stark realities around the world. Rome and other empires always try to shield and distract the core from the violence and ravages of the peripheries. It’s old empire playbook stuff. The more we can pretend that there’s nothing wrong with climate change, with income inequality, etc., the more we can blithely and blindly keep consuming. It’s all part of the evil game, perpetrated by people who think that they are good people, even as their actions create hell on earth–when things could be otherwise. #TakeAction is part of working towards that...

The best men’s pants I’ve ever made

I love comfort, style, and versatility so much that I decided that if the perfect pair of pants didn’t exist, I’d have to bring them into creation.   My current crowdsources campaign at BetaBrand to make these amazing pants needs your support! Please vote here for the creation of these industrial pinstripes, and get 30% off when they are made! Here’s a description of them. They look and feel even more awesome than this write-up can convey, so vote today! Roll-up Pinstripe Stretch-Jeans you can wear for days Versatile nonsynthetic men’s pants are hard to find. A pair that keeps you warm but you can still wear in summer. That falls just right on your boots but also work barefoot. Pants that look stylish at the office but possess the ruggedness for rock-climbing, skateboarding, or even just playing with your dog or kids. A pair you don’t mind wearing without underwear. Finally, Industrial Pinstripes. These pants are like your favorite pair of jeans, with a little more class and a lot more flair. They both look appropriate for a night out, and can be rolled up to look snappy when things get hot the next day. Black (with white) pinstripe (and brown with white) tough but soft strong cotton with 2-4% spandex for give, extra crotch room (a generous yoke), and a loose but flattering shape in the legs and butt, Industrial Pinstripes have gusseted knees, wrap around pockets in the back, 2 in the front (with coin pocket), and a smartphone pocket and tunnel hammer loop on the right thigh. It has silver rivets accenting the pockets, and a silver ring hanging...
Entering the realms of uncertainty

Entering the realms of uncertainty

The Wisdom of Uncertainty is probably Alan Watts’ best-known book. In it, he describes the fundamental openness of the future, the horrible indeterminacy, and the lack of control that is indicative of our condition as embodied beings in this collective experience we call human life on planet earth. This embodiment, this consciousness, is a fragile, finite thing–despite the ramparts and buttresses especially western civilization has erected to attempt to dam(n) the inexorable flow of life and death. This fear of death, what Freud diagnosed as Thanatos, or the death instinct, is precisely what compels us towards our destruction. For the desire for death (thanatos) and the fear of death, are just the Janus faces of craving and aversion. That is, both instincts, are out of alignment with the fact of death itself. And of life, for that matter. Death and life are not events or limns to be fetishized, but respected. As we’re reaching a low for the human race, ecocide, renewed racism and sexism, there is hope. And there is despair. Resting in either of these is unwise, as they are both incomplete half-truths. The steps back with every step forward, are indicative of predators and parasites holding on to their host, believing that their stability and certainty is tied up with dominating others. There is no recognition that maybe they themselves also are fluid, queer beings, subject to change and metamorphosis. No, instead–and in fact what ontologically makes a parasite a parasite–they are blind to the potential to be anything else. They are scared of evolving. They are scared of readapting to a changed ecology. This is...