The Phenomenology of the Pickle

"Once a pickle, no more a cucumber." so they say. But what's wrong with pickles? They are one of the most adaptable of condiments, delicious on hamburgers or with tuna salad. "Pickled" may describe someone who's had one too many, but neither pickled cabbage or beets hurl or pass out. No pickled vegetable ever forgot what they said. "My downfall came when I started to steal from other people's plates," begins Lost Weekend, a memoir about a food addict. The nice thing, from a phenomenological point of view, is that no food has agency. So that the journey is something no cucumber has control over, anyway, since neither pickles nor cucumbers possess volition. Farther and Wilder was the memoir Charles Jackson was writing at the time of his death in l968, but the earlier book, the original Lost Weekend, is what put Jackson the map. Consult the laws of metaphysics for a moment. Imagine a 12-step program for pickles. "I'm Howard," says Howie, who is one. Yes, he has learned to be grateful to want what he has, which is the dish he is sitting in, on the table in front of the argumentative couple, and though he's a mere pickle Howie can still imbibe a Maurice Merleau-Ponty, '45.

Gaslight

Humanity is evolving right before one’s eyes. Stephan Jay Gould coined "punctuated equilibrium." What’s going on definitely could use some periods. The thing about the rant which is the mode of discourse propagated by the president is that it’s usually NAS. You may remember that acronym from freshman composition. Ranting btw is viral. All the Trumpeters sound the same. Have you ever listened to an interview with Stephen Miller? Gaslighting is the means. The weave, as Trump terms it, is the method. The result is an art served up with the loss of a moral center, hold the mayo. "Value-free politics" is the name of the game and speech. The bowdlerization of language is part of MAGA man, Homo MAGAensus, a creature who trundles through Lilliput crushing all the insects (aka insignificant creatures) that get in his way. Is it fascistic to call a fascist, fascist?

read "Current Affairs" by Francis Levy, The East Hampton Star

Condition

electron micrograph of Ebola virus

De Clerambault's or erotomania, ataxia, Wernicke's, temporal lobe epilepsy, Capgras, prosopagnosia and Tourette's are all neurological disorders. Then there are Ebola, Marburg's, spongiform bovine epilepsy,ALS and Parkinson's which are diseases that result in the actual deterioration of the brain. Are delusions, like consciousness itself, just another biological process? Certainly schizoid personality disorder has biological and sometimes genetic roots. Irredentism is the propensity for formerly balkanized countries to reconstitute themselves. Putin displays a demagogic form of the syndrome. Hemorrhaging with the loss of considerable amounts of blood is a direct result of these behaviors. 

read "Current Affairs" by Francis Levy, The East Hampton Star

Raising Cain!

Accepting limitations runs contrary to the American creed. And there are "No Inhibitions Allowed" signs everywhere in the modern all/inclusive resort Homo Ludens resides in. You may not want to be a member of a club… but you probably can’t being yourself to say no to this weeks offering at Club Hedonism. Addictive personalities ultimately have to accept the notion of abstinence and even dreamers end up selling their copy of The Fountainhead to The Strand. Who would you rather be Citizen Kane or Bishop Tutu?

read "En Plein Air" by Francis Levy, The East Hampton Star

Robert Wilson's Moby Dick at BAM

 

Christopher Nell, sublime boy, and Rosa Inskat, Ahab, (Krulwich NYT)

If you loved The Life and Times of Sigmund Freud, The Life and Times of Joseph Stalin, Deafman Glance and even the late Robert Wilson's more recent production of The Three Penny Opera (whose majestic production by the Berliner Ensemble derived from its faithfulness to the original work), you may find the current production of Moby Dick, by Germany’s Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, disappointing. To begin with Moby Dick is its words. The greatness derives from language which is belittled and mocked, in the current outing with once grand characters turned into babbling cartoons. The other problem is that the last half is quite simply a rock opera. No doubt the songs by the British singer song writer, Anna Calvi, will make it to the hit parade say like Laurie Anderson's "O Superman!" Anderson BTW did a l999 production of Moby Dick at BAM. The audience was grooving, heads bobbing, and the production received standing ovations from the youthful crowd. Moby Dick had been turned into a rave, the kind of irritatingly percussive soundtrack that accompanied Sirat.

read "En Plein Air" by Francis Levy, The East Hampton Star

Inigo Jones

Inigo Jones (1573-1652)

Inigo Jones, the Vitruvian 17th century architect and set designer, responsible for Ben Jonson's masques--imagine a time when theater had the immediacy of movies and theaters like Shakespeare’s globe evinced their own raucous and sexy spectacle in the galleries. What a name for a stage! The Globe! Ever since humans first recognized their own faces as reflections, the desire and need to see themselves has exploded, Look at the famous Bayeux Tapestries down the road from Omaha Beach and look at how many hits Pornhub receives in a day. Over 114 million is the answer. War is just one of the arenas. Pharoah receiving the prophecy about the calves is another. Joseph btw was the first Jewish psychoanalyst. Let’s call it the interpersonal school! Speaking of analysis, "the rest is silence."

read "En Plein Air" by Francis Levy, The East Hampton Star

Nudity

strip club in Anora

Nudity can be physical or emotional. In the latter one exposes oneself, the orifices and cavities which comprise the mind. The former is a taller order. You undress, perhaps finding yourself in one of those dreams where you find yourself standing in front of a crowd with nothing on. As irrational as it may sound, some people would rather admit to anything in lieu of finding themselves scrounging for a fig leaf. The shame attached to nudity is a mystery akin to that of consciousness itself. Words play the role of clothes when it comes to unveiling emotion, but most people are not afraid to let down their guard when they get excised enough, for example. Stripper is a noun most people take for granted. You think of gaudy Gentlemen’s clubs where dupes pay exorbitant fees to drink champagne in the V.I.P room, but why not apply it to those who tell the truth? Further, to be contradictory, is telling all a definition of truth.

read "En Plein Air" by Francis Levy, The East Hampton Star