I agree—being happy is an act of rebellion. They cannot steal our joy. They cannot steal our innermost peace.
And I love that Vonnegut quote! It’s perfect for something I’m working on right now.
I have been thinking about Spain lately because I am listening to a phenomenal collection of Albert Camus speeches and lectures (“Speaking Out”), and he speaks poignantly about the tragic triumph of Franco. It makes me think about all that art I appreciated while younger without any understanding of the historical backdrop—from Picasso’s “Guernica” to Motherwell’s “Elegy to the Spanish Republic” series to Hemingway’s “Sun Also Rises.”
Makes me want to reread Orwell’s revelatory “Homage to Catalonia.” The lesson that newspapers fabricate stories to serve a narrative remains with me today.
With regard in particular to pictorial art, when one begins to appreciate the historical context of a work like Picasso’s “Guernica” it becomes ever more obvious why the culture warriors at the CIA (etc) were such avid supporters of "abstract expressionism", which is in fact depoliticized, denatured art. I'm sure this strategy can be detected in other branches of the Fine Arts.
I'm intrigued by that collection of Camus speeches. Where can it be found? I assume it is not him speaking but a reader reading him in translation?
I am aware of governments’ pushing of abstract expressionism over realistic portrayals that were more likely to expose corruption and threaten hegemony (Tim Robbins made a really awful film about this called “Cradle Will Rock”). That said, I personally am aesthetically drawn to abstract expressionism (my favorite artistic movement) and feel they were able to convey evocative, anti-authoritarian ideas (certainly anti-war), despite the government efforts to co-opt them.
The Camus speeches are a revelation and unbelievably relevant to our totalitarian times. They are read in translation by a narrator and can be found here:
Thank you for the links! Interesting take on Abstract Expressionism. Should you ever feel inclined to write about this on your Substack and offer some examples, I would be most interested. Just curious: I watched that film maybe twenty years ago and don't remember much about it. What made it so awful?
I’ll keep that in mind re: abstract expressionism—that would be fun to explore when the opportunity strikes :-)
Regarding the film, my recollection is it felt extremely heavy-handed with a transparent political agenda, insipid writing, and weak acting. At the time, “Dead Man Walking” was one of our favorite films. Even though it had its own obvious political agenda, the film transcended it through powerful storytelling, acting, and a sincere attempt to capture the perspectives of all participants.
*Almost* But they didn't succeed, they will not. They cannot destroy our basic humanity. The more grotesque their actions, the greater the inevitable tide of reaction. They cannot think dialetically, we can.
That is where the "elite" made a mistake. They thought power and fear would be enough. But they somehow didn't realize that the world they want to create is such a nightmare, so disgusting to people that they really would fight back against it even if that means sacrifice.
The future with Pharma in control dictating what must happen to our children is not a future of healthy happy people.
I'll never understand why they didn't just fill their covid shots with salt water and claim victory. People would have believed. Now they have to deal with 90% of the world being highly skeptical of public health and pharma!
Very well said! I think we can conclude that they messed up badly with the Coof. The disease wasn't in the end all that virulent, and jabs turned out to be highly unsafe and ineffective. If it had been a Ebola-like plague and the jabs had worked to some degree, or at least done no significant damage, it might have been a completely different story.
My wife and I flew to the Netherlands for our youngest son's first wedding at age 44 in April. I would like to have stayed in Europe for months, but I was talked out of staying. You and I are on the same page I think about the powers that be manipulating our lives through covid and the deathly jab. It is time for the people of the world to stand up and refuse all that they are trying to do to us via WHO & WEF. Don't feel pressured to write. When you do write, your followers will be waiting patiently. It is a pleasure to follow you. All the best to you Celia.
I hope you have the opportunity to return soon. Holland is a beautiful country. We have an awful government right now which is digging its own grave. Things will get worse here, for sure, but then get better again. We need to purge the parasites. I wish your son and his new bride much happiness and a good life here.
Thank you Mr Brace for your kind thoughts and comments. My son had worked in Toronto, Canada for about 10 years before moving to the Netherlands. He loves the country, has lived there for 11 years, but is not happy with government policies.
"Now I want to chronicle becoming un-dead." Amen. I found this today on my computer as I searched for something else. I thought I'd return the favor. "The world is violent and mercurial--it will have its way with you. We are saved only by love--love for each other and the love that we pour into the art we feel compelled to share: being a parent; being a writer; being a painter; being a friend. We live in a perpetually burning building, and what we must save from it, all the time, is love. -Tennessee Williams
We were hanging by a thread before “covid” and something had to give. And did it ever. This is our golden opportunity to remember and restore our true knowingness and act on it. It’s up to us.
That's so funny that you call it "The Coof," Colin. Can you explain? I never know what to call it. Sometimes i just call it "The Nightmare." But monsters need to be named correctly, like all things.
I've heard various podcasters using the term. It might have originated as a way to skirt around YouTube censorship, although I'm sure The Algorithm has learned it now as well.
I was fortunate to live in a state (Iowa) which barely shut down - opened up quickly and even banned mask mandates. Within this state I do live in a "progressive" college town so voluntary masking went on for a long time - still a few here and there. I find hope in my friends and the people of my parish. I know we will all combine our talents to face what hard time may be coming. We know that despite hard times, evil has already been defeated and cannot triumph.
I honestly do not want to insult anyone, but I hope to make at least one person consider the harsh reality that, should events continue as they seem to be, meaning a collapse of the society we have grown accustomed to, people who are today's writers/thinkers/entertainers etc .... could very well be tomorrow's most intelligent, [sic] starving bums.
I don't feel insulted. I just feel I think the critical action, in this unfathomable situation, is to love, and live, and live lovingly, and then whatever happens happens. I think it's brought out the best and the worst in us, by turns. I don't think the whole world as we know it will collapse. In Spain for example, cash is still preferred, cards sometimes not even accepted, and this is as we know a "Covid" pilot country. Not sure what it means but a good sign.
I believe we will do end runs around so many things. I am excited for the re-birth, already underway. being very broke I am very good at. People are trying to cultivate farming and so forth, but we're not farmers! All we can do is all we can do. Maybe THEY are collapsing.
The people, or skills I referenced are a generalization, but I have no reason to think it isn't a fair/accurate generalization. Of course the concept isn't confined to those categories alone.
Yes, Celia! Frosty winter mornings here in Oz. Shovelling compost around the veggie garden in the warm intermittent sunshine; the chooks keep climbing into the beds and I must stop while they fossick for bugs. (Better them than me) I idly look over the paddock fence and there are 5 new lambs playing on a fallen log, pretending to be little kid goats on their unsteady legs. I’m spellbound by the wholesomeness. The rooster and I gaze at their baby animal joy without a care for time passing. As if we are all dancing together to natural rhythm, we all move on to the next moment, separating into iridescent bubbles on the stream. This is what’s feeding me; veggies are optional.
I like the pictures without your interpretation. The fact that you took and chose them is the comment.
I love the shop windows especially, I want to go in that shop. Who is the saint with the pear on his head?
I could just make out he is Saint Tadeo and this is Saint Jude or Thaddeus one of the twelve apostles. He is apparently often depicted with a flame on his head which represents his presence at pentecost where he received the Holy Spirit.
The pictures make me feel something which I can't articulate.
Jo, I wish you could have heard me laughing in this small windowless kitchen...when I read: "Who is the saint with the pear on his head?" Pélerine may know. What I can do is post the other two photos I took of that window (other parts of it) now that I know you got so much from it. It's a shop very near La Catedral, what was once a silk market I recently learned. I'm reading a book called "Ornament Of The World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created A Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain," by María Rosa Menocal. Just bought it today. I'm lousy at history. I can't ever remember anything. But Granada is changing that. I'm determined to improve.
You paint a good picture and sound(?) for me to imagine you laughing there.
Yes please I look forward to more pics.
You inspired me to take photos of my very English walk this morning, rose bay willow herb, brambles, bushy hedges, tiny little yellow flowers. I noticed lots I wouldn't normally. The ground is much drier than ever, some of the 'mud' paths so cracked I imagined myself falling down into them like an earthquake.
Your book sounds fab, I'm reading The living of Charlotte Perkins Gilman. "Life is growth"
I'm also struck where I live at how quickly normalcy returned. That all the efforts to divide us, to sow doubt and fear, cannot and did not take root, at least among most of us. That basic humanity prevails. They can never destroy that, only damage it. We will come out of this predicament materially poorer, but wiser and stronger, with a renewed sense of who we are and how we fit into the grand scheme of things.
The Covid Beast is a vampire that feeds on hopelessness, so don’t feed it what it eats, ever ever ever. Don’t do it in the name of informing people or “waking them up—” just don’t do it. yes.
I agree—being happy is an act of rebellion. They cannot steal our joy. They cannot steal our innermost peace.
And I love that Vonnegut quote! It’s perfect for something I’m working on right now.
I have been thinking about Spain lately because I am listening to a phenomenal collection of Albert Camus speeches and lectures (“Speaking Out”), and he speaks poignantly about the tragic triumph of Franco. It makes me think about all that art I appreciated while younger without any understanding of the historical backdrop—from Picasso’s “Guernica” to Motherwell’s “Elegy to the Spanish Republic” series to Hemingway’s “Sun Also Rises.”
Makes me want to reread Orwell’s revelatory “Homage to Catalonia.” The lesson that newspapers fabricate stories to serve a narrative remains with me today.
However, all the while, we ensure and continue to bring them out into the glare of light and due justice -
With regard in particular to pictorial art, when one begins to appreciate the historical context of a work like Picasso’s “Guernica” it becomes ever more obvious why the culture warriors at the CIA (etc) were such avid supporters of "abstract expressionism", which is in fact depoliticized, denatured art. I'm sure this strategy can be detected in other branches of the Fine Arts.
I'm intrigued by that collection of Camus speeches. Where can it be found? I assume it is not him speaking but a reader reading him in translation?
I looked it up because I am also intrigued by this (audio)book and saw that it's narrated by Edoardo Ballerini. You can listen to a sample here: https://audiobookstore.com/authors/albert-camus-audiobooks/
Thank you! Will check it out.
I am aware of governments’ pushing of abstract expressionism over realistic portrayals that were more likely to expose corruption and threaten hegemony (Tim Robbins made a really awful film about this called “Cradle Will Rock”). That said, I personally am aesthetically drawn to abstract expressionism (my favorite artistic movement) and feel they were able to convey evocative, anti-authoritarian ideas (certainly anti-war), despite the government efforts to co-opt them.
The Camus speeches are a revelation and unbelievably relevant to our totalitarian times. They are read in translation by a narrator and can be found here:
• “Speaking Out” (https://www.audible.com/pd/Speaking-Out-Audiobook/B09TTLLMG4)
I also highly recommend “Resistance, Rebellion, and Death: Essays” (https://smile.amazon.com/Resistance-Rebellion-Death-Albert-Camus/dp/0679764011/). There are a few overlaps but many wonderful gems.
Thank you for the links! Interesting take on Abstract Expressionism. Should you ever feel inclined to write about this on your Substack and offer some examples, I would be most interested. Just curious: I watched that film maybe twenty years ago and don't remember much about it. What made it so awful?
I’ll keep that in mind re: abstract expressionism—that would be fun to explore when the opportunity strikes :-)
Regarding the film, my recollection is it felt extremely heavy-handed with a transparent political agenda, insipid writing, and weak acting. At the time, “Dead Man Walking” was one of our favorite films. Even though it had its own obvious political agenda, the film transcended it through powerful storytelling, acting, and a sincere attempt to capture the perspectives of all participants.
Yes to this. I’ve been thinking about the need to dream together. We almost let them define us into a dystopian corner. Time to dream our way out.
*Almost* But they didn't succeed, they will not. They cannot destroy our basic humanity. The more grotesque their actions, the greater the inevitable tide of reaction. They cannot think dialetically, we can.
That is where the "elite" made a mistake. They thought power and fear would be enough. But they somehow didn't realize that the world they want to create is such a nightmare, so disgusting to people that they really would fight back against it even if that means sacrifice.
The future with Pharma in control dictating what must happen to our children is not a future of healthy happy people.
I'll never understand why they didn't just fill their covid shots with salt water and claim victory. People would have believed. Now they have to deal with 90% of the world being highly skeptical of public health and pharma!
Very well said! I think we can conclude that they messed up badly with the Coof. The disease wasn't in the end all that virulent, and jabs turned out to be highly unsafe and ineffective. If it had been a Ebola-like plague and the jabs had worked to some degree, or at least done no significant damage, it might have been a completely different story.
I'm smiling ☺️
My wife and I flew to the Netherlands for our youngest son's first wedding at age 44 in April. I would like to have stayed in Europe for months, but I was talked out of staying. You and I are on the same page I think about the powers that be manipulating our lives through covid and the deathly jab. It is time for the people of the world to stand up and refuse all that they are trying to do to us via WHO & WEF. Don't feel pressured to write. When you do write, your followers will be waiting patiently. It is a pleasure to follow you. All the best to you Celia.
I hope you have the opportunity to return soon. Holland is a beautiful country. We have an awful government right now which is digging its own grave. Things will get worse here, for sure, but then get better again. We need to purge the parasites. I wish your son and his new bride much happiness and a good life here.
Thank you Mr Brace for your kind thoughts and comments. My son had worked in Toronto, Canada for about 10 years before moving to the Netherlands. He loves the country, has lived there for 11 years, but is not happy with government policies.
"Now I want to chronicle becoming un-dead." Amen. I found this today on my computer as I searched for something else. I thought I'd return the favor. "The world is violent and mercurial--it will have its way with you. We are saved only by love--love for each other and the love that we pour into the art we feel compelled to share: being a parent; being a writer; being a painter; being a friend. We live in a perpetually burning building, and what we must save from it, all the time, is love. -Tennessee Williams
wow. Thank you. I love Tennessee Williams, and would like to circle back to him. The preface to A Streetcar Named Desire is beautiful, like this.
That Vonnegut quote — swoon :)
We were hanging by a thread before “covid” and something had to give. And did it ever. This is our golden opportunity to remember and restore our true knowingness and act on it. It’s up to us.
The Coof has shaken us out of our complacency, but the process is long, slow, and gradual, as much as some of us might wish otherwise.
That's so funny that you call it "The Coof," Colin. Can you explain? I never know what to call it. Sometimes i just call it "The Nightmare." But monsters need to be named correctly, like all things.
I've heard various podcasters using the term. It might have originated as a way to skirt around YouTube censorship, although I'm sure The Algorithm has learned it now as well.
Thank you, Celia. The perspective of this piece from JC, while in a very different style, is not so different to yours, I think :-) https://corbettreport.substack.com/p/technocracy-is-insane-anti-human?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
I read that this morning and found it hopeful too
Ha! I was thinking the same and about to post the link as well!
I was fortunate to live in a state (Iowa) which barely shut down - opened up quickly and even banned mask mandates. Within this state I do live in a "progressive" college town so voluntary masking went on for a long time - still a few here and there. I find hope in my friends and the people of my parish. I know we will all combine our talents to face what hard time may be coming. We know that despite hard times, evil has already been defeated and cannot triumph.
I honestly do not want to insult anyone, but I hope to make at least one person consider the harsh reality that, should events continue as they seem to be, meaning a collapse of the society we have grown accustomed to, people who are today's writers/thinkers/entertainers etc .... could very well be tomorrow's most intelligent, [sic] starving bums.
Wow, that was a long sentence!
I don't feel insulted. I just feel I think the critical action, in this unfathomable situation, is to love, and live, and live lovingly, and then whatever happens happens. I think it's brought out the best and the worst in us, by turns. I don't think the whole world as we know it will collapse. In Spain for example, cash is still preferred, cards sometimes not even accepted, and this is as we know a "Covid" pilot country. Not sure what it means but a good sign.
I believe we will do end runs around so many things. I am excited for the re-birth, already underway. being very broke I am very good at. People are trying to cultivate farming and so forth, but we're not farmers! All we can do is all we can do. Maybe THEY are collapsing.
The people, or skills I referenced are a generalization, but I have no reason to think it isn't a fair/accurate generalization. Of course the concept isn't confined to those categories alone.
Enjoy Spain's cultural gifts...Celia :)
Yes, Celia! Frosty winter mornings here in Oz. Shovelling compost around the veggie garden in the warm intermittent sunshine; the chooks keep climbing into the beds and I must stop while they fossick for bugs. (Better them than me) I idly look over the paddock fence and there are 5 new lambs playing on a fallen log, pretending to be little kid goats on their unsteady legs. I’m spellbound by the wholesomeness. The rooster and I gaze at their baby animal joy without a care for time passing. As if we are all dancing together to natural rhythm, we all move on to the next moment, separating into iridescent bubbles on the stream. This is what’s feeding me; veggies are optional.
"...their spectral deity..."
Absolutely Brilliant !
I like the pictures without your interpretation. The fact that you took and chose them is the comment.
I love the shop windows especially, I want to go in that shop. Who is the saint with the pear on his head?
I could just make out he is Saint Tadeo and this is Saint Jude or Thaddeus one of the twelve apostles. He is apparently often depicted with a flame on his head which represents his presence at pentecost where he received the Holy Spirit.
The pictures make me feel something which I can't articulate.
Isn't that the point of pictures and art anyway?
Jo
Jo, I wish you could have heard me laughing in this small windowless kitchen...when I read: "Who is the saint with the pear on his head?" Pélerine may know. What I can do is post the other two photos I took of that window (other parts of it) now that I know you got so much from it. It's a shop very near La Catedral, what was once a silk market I recently learned. I'm reading a book called "Ornament Of The World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created A Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain," by María Rosa Menocal. Just bought it today. I'm lousy at history. I can't ever remember anything. But Granada is changing that. I'm determined to improve.
Hola Celia,
You paint a good picture and sound(?) for me to imagine you laughing there.
Yes please I look forward to more pics.
You inspired me to take photos of my very English walk this morning, rose bay willow herb, brambles, bushy hedges, tiny little yellow flowers. I noticed lots I wouldn't normally. The ground is much drier than ever, some of the 'mud' paths so cracked I imagined myself falling down into them like an earthquake.
Your book sounds fab, I'm reading The living of Charlotte Perkins Gilman. "Life is growth"
Jo x
I'm also struck where I live at how quickly normalcy returned. That all the efforts to divide us, to sow doubt and fear, cannot and did not take root, at least among most of us. That basic humanity prevails. They can never destroy that, only damage it. We will come out of this predicament materially poorer, but wiser and stronger, with a renewed sense of who we are and how we fit into the grand scheme of things.
The Covid Beast is a vampire that feeds on hopelessness, so don’t feed it what it eats, ever ever ever. Don’t do it in the name of informing people or “waking them up—” just don’t do it. yes.