Happy Thanksgiving

ancient email exchange #1--- Oct 1, 2005

here's the first of many-- 1286, possibly? :) Damon sent it in response to a fierce debate about the nature of God, in which opinions became heated and views were challenged. (I've edited it for length...)


Dudes,

I want to say that this is beautiful, and that we should all just be honest and up-front about our thoughts. It's the only way that we will actually develop. If you think that I'm a prick, then call me on it...sweet. I am just so happy that we are conversing the way we are now. Email ceases to be a total waste of time.

...The world is a synthesis of these two to me, a unity of reflection and praxis. One without the other is rendered useless. Thoughtless action or self--absorbed reflection. Upon our reflection/praxis paradigm we build the world around us. Because that is what makes us human, we are creators, and we develop tools to mold our environment. Look at the theology that western society was based upon, the greatest power in the universe was a creator en masse. That says more to me about the nature of those who created that idea of god than the god itself.

I recall searching for that inner enlightenment. Withdrawing from the world, confronting the mind and seeking to tame it. Lonely times. Very lonely. But fruitful.

Lorne, I see that you sought god, I would think that at some time each of us have...correct me if I am wrong. Looking to be in touch with that divine light that we feel is so close but cannot grasp, to have that ultimate understanding and peace. Peace.

Today I told my doctor that I feel like the fight with cancer is over. I asked if this was naive. She smiled and told me that it's great. Thank you god.

Damon Alexander Hartung (Oct 1, 2005)

slow days at work...

hi all...

i've had a few slow days at work, and have been reading through the 1300 or so emails we sent each other in a three-month blitz a few years back. i think it was those emails that spawned this blog, when knack couldn't handle another bombardment of his inbox, and so created this blog instead.

anyway, there is some serious gold in there, including some gems from damon. i'm going to start posting some fun/funny/interesting bits soon.

lr

working

Conjuror
Originally uploaded by The Stranger

Hey Im working. Today I lifted logs that I found that measured 8 feet with no more than a 10 centimeter diameter on it's shortest end. I determine the correct specimens with a special eight foot stick and a special rope with markings. Both of these objects have red flagging tape attached so that I dont lose them. Once found, I lift the logs onto a machine with treads like a tank. I wear a safety helmet and vest and work gloves. I make 150$ a day.

Moose season starts tommorrow and there is a hunter's shack there with two dudes getting ready and offering me a beer at the end of the day which i politely declined. The bow hunters have already been here for two weeks but they didnt catch anything. I found a small canister of female-moose-in-heat-urine.

Im staying in a hotel at night.

Manitofu

(discovered by Lorne Roberts)

I am ruthless/It ain't easy

Hermes

Hermes (Greek, Ἑρμῆς, IPA: [hɜ(r)'mis]), in Greek mythology, is the Olympian god of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of orators and wit, of literature and poets, of athletics, of weights and measures, of invention, of commerce in general, and of the cunning of thieves and liars.[1] The Homeric hymn to Hermes invokes him as the one
"of many shifts (polytropos), blandly cunning, a robber, a cattle driver, a bringer of dreams, a watcher by night, a thief at the gates, one who was soon to show forth wonderful deeds among the deathless gods."[2]

"The trouble is, we've been taught what to see and how to render what we see." (Pablo Picasso)

Burma

Burma
= Myanmar.

Junta = government,

deathmonks skilled in the
oops i mean killed in the
acts of endless compassion

i didn't ask for any of this

i just want to have children

or twist here in my sad desire
and write stuff about it

but this is too complicated

i quit or
give up

you married the wrong person

we sold weapons to shitheads,
the whole world's on fire;

yet i don't quit,
or give up

since hopefully you're right and
somehow we can still love
at least
as much as we
don't

or at least just a little bit more than we hate


more than i hate
the thought of this
world,
ending on my watch.



i came across the two-year old draft of an email
i never sent
to someone who was alive then-- and who now
is like the myanmar monks

or maybe who now is
myanmar monks

recycled for us all,
broken in compassion,

hope,
and belief,

and so i sent it out anyway
into the void
a dead letter, sent to no one
and up to the minute
newsfeeds
from around the
maddening
lovely
globe.

Walking Through Time

Here is a shoe labyrinth we installed in Portage la Prairie this weekend. A collection donated to us by the Costume Museum of Canada, the shoes are from 1901 to 1980.

The opening for the show(which includes other labyrinth artists work from across Canada) is this Thursday at 7pm at the Portage and District Arts Centre(on 2nd ave).

Shoe Collection

Straightforward

...so far

vandals

The Cecilia Degagnes from the Jacques Cartier Bridge & Bari, Italy

Jangsangpo

Nuit Blanche

http://scotiabanknuitblanche.com/home.html



Fun, but I wished all the while that you were all here to enjoy it with me.

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