Sandy Krolick's Blog, page 22

A Review of VERONIKA from Javacat

I want to share this review of VERONIKA from Javacat with everyone on the blog.  Sandy

javacat says:

January 31, 2012 at 9:10 pm (Edit)

VERONIKA: The Siberian's Tale: A Hero's Journey in a Modern World

In his first work of fiction, Sandy Krolick weaves a powerful tale of ancient knowledge and modern challenge in the story of a young man navigating the seductive and treacherous world of modern Russia.

Writing from his adopted Siberia, Krolick (The Recovery of Ecstasy: Notebooks from Siberia) creates a compelling figure in Sergei, the tale's protagonist. The story unfolds as Sergei moves from his small village in the Altai Mountains to navigate the larger and more complicated worlds of Moscow and beyond. We follow the young man as he discovers his power and reclaims his past, learns of love lost and regained, and rediscovers what matters most. Krolick allows us to see through Sergei's eyes, and we keep reading.

The characters capture the taste, culture, and clash of forces at work in modern Russia and in the world at large. As the drive for development and modernization rises, the author deftly adds counterpoint in voices that connect to the land, the mountains, the ancient ways. Krolick creates scenes that are tense, sensual, idyllic, magical. He offers up reconciliation in ways that are unexpected and touching. The novel ends with a powerful acceptance of return and rediscovery, and a clear path for change.

VERONIKA: The Siberian's Tale is a rich and compelling story, well told.

Filed under: American Dream, body-subject, capitalism, civilization, collapse, commodification, cultural crisis, democracy, earthly-sensuous, feral, freedom, geopolitics, global collapse, human nature, nature, primal humanity, progress, rationality, religion, Russia, Siberia, soul, time, trust Tagged: capitalism, Earth, Empire, freedom, geopolitics, human nature, primitive, religion, Shamanism, Soul, Time

Monsanto, or the Death of a Maiden

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I have written often enough about agriculture as a turning point in human history.  In fact, it may very well have signaled the start of what we now call "history."  Agriculture has been associated with the birth of urban centers and the development of what we commonly understand to be civilization.  Yet it was the technological intensification of big agriculture –the use of plows and other deep tillage instruments for the large-scale cultivation of fields as opposed to the prehistoric digging stick – that was the decisive step, leading to greater productivity, food surpluses, and cost effectiveness. This was all pegged to a growth in human population, specifically within newly established urban centers behind newly constructed city walls.  It also led, not incidentally, to the articulation of the first civil laws, the rise of a political and legislative class (hierarchy), and the garrisoning of troops for the protection of the surplus food stores and other State properties.

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Filed under: Agriculture, civilization, Corporate State, freedom, geopolitics, global collapse, GMO foods, Monsanto, nature, Obama, State, terrorism Tagged: capitalism, conspiracy, Corporate State, Earth, Empire, freedom, geopolitics, GMO, Health, Monsanto

CENSORED!!

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In his most recent post, Chris Hedges has notified us that he is "suing Barack Obama" for signing into law the new (and controversial) National Defense Authorization Act.  The law, as written and interpreted, allows for military occupation/intervention on homeland soil, and for indeterminate military detention of American citizens suspected of terrorist associations or intentions.  As he says, "a catastrophic blow to civil liberties."

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Filed under: Anarchy, Body-politic, capitalism, civilization, commodification, Corporate State, cultural crisis, democracy, freedom, geopolitics, global collapse, Hedges, homeland security, human nature, inverted totalitarianism, nature, Obama, Occupy Wall Street, progress, social contract, Spectacle, State, terrorism Tagged: capitalism, conspiracy, Corporate State, Empire, Financial Crisis, free will, freedom, geopolitics, Occupy Wall Street, Protest, social contract, thought police

Corps-etat: The Corporate State

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State is the name of the coldest of all cold monsters. Coldly it tells lies too; and this lie crawls out of its mouth: "I, the state, am the people." That is a lie! (Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra)

There is quite a lot of talk today about the "State" and the "Corporate State" specifically. Critiquing it mercilessly, Chris Hedges finally asks plaintively, "When did the dead hand of the corporate state become unassailable?" Let us gingerly explore the concepts of the State, the body-politic, and the Corporate State in some detail.

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Filed under: Body-politic, civilization, collapse, Corporate State, cultural crisis, democracy, geopolitics, global collapse, Hedges, human nature, Nietzsche, Occupy Wall Street, Plato, Presidential politics, primal humanity, Protest, Riots, State Tagged: capitalism, Corporate State, Empire, geopolitics, human nature, Libya, Occupy Wall Street, Plato, primitive, Stanley Diamond

Deep Temporality and the Challenge of Community

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We all recognize that preservation of social order after any significant disruption, if not the cessation, of industrial civilization on the heels of fossil-fuel depletion and/or environmental collapse will necessitate a reconstituted sense of community – more egalitarian, more intimate, more grounded.  In November we talked about the problem of time in some detail.  I want to return attention to our time-conception but now in relation to the notion of community, and the challenge of an emergent post-collapse community, specifically.

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Filed under: American Dream, body-subject, capitalism, Christianity, civilization, collapse, commodification, cultural crisis, democracy, earthly-sensuous, feral, geopolitics, global collapse, Heidegger, homeland security, human nature, Merleau-Ponty, nature, phenomenology, primal humanity, progress, rationality, religion, time Tagged: capitalism, Christianity, Earth, Empire, freedom, geopolitics, human nature, MENA, phenomenology, primitive, Reality, Time

Year End Confessions and Prognostications

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When I began this experiment in blogging back in April of 2011, I had no idea if I would be capable of writing "well" weekly and, more important, whether I could maintain the interest of a lively and demanding group of readers and commentators. The response has exceeded my silliest imaginings.  I have had much good fortune to be grateful for in my life; and I never can forget that.  Yet, just now I thank you, my fellow readers, for tagging along on this part of the journey with me.

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Filed under: Africa, American Dream, Anarchy, capitalism, Christianity, civilization, collapse, commodification, cultural crisis, democracy, Financial Crisis, geopolitics, global collapse, homeland security, nature, Obama, Occupy Wall Street, progress, rationality, religion, Russia, terrorism Tagged: Africa, capitalism, Christianity, Earth, Empire, Financial Crisis, freedom, fundamentalism, geopolitics, human nature, MENA, natural disasters, Occupy Wall Street, religion

The Faith of Christopher Hitchens: In Memoriam

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Exactly one week ago the civilized world lost a brilliant and outspoken essayist to esophageal cancer.  It was his choice, in large measure. Christopher Hitchens lived on the edge – strong drink and cigarettes, burning the candle socially and professionally until the final days.  He was a journalist, a writer, a man in love with life and its many distractions.

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Filed under: 9/11, cancer, capitalism, civilization, collapse, cultural crisis, democracy, evangelical, freedom, geopolitics, Hitchens, Karl Marx, Nietzsche, Occupy Wall Street, progress, Protest, Riots, Spectacle, terrorism Tagged: cancer, capitalism, Christianity, Empire, freedom, fundamentalism, geopolitics, Hitchens, Libya, MENA, Occupy Wall Street, Protest, religion

Mishka, the Russian Winter, and Terror in the Homeland

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"Now is the winter of our discontent" – William Shakespeare

"Civilization originates in conquest abroad and repression at home." – Stanley Diamond

Well, the thaw may be on, but winter in Russia is just getting started!  And sleepy Mishka (the Bear; or is it the Tundra Mammoth) is now facing the voice of a people clamoring at his door. Across the globe, the hunter and the hunted are exchanging places.  As much as the (generally) Western media likes to portray the recent political demonstrations in Russia as yet another desperate call for real democracy, they may be woefully  disappointed and disillusioned.  I do not know if the Russians are sick of Putin, or just plain sick of politics as usual and the bureaucratic power hierarchies; perhaps, not unlike their American counterparts.

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Filed under: American Dream, capitalism, civilization, collapse, commodification, cultural crisis, feral, freedom, geopolitics, global collapse, homeland security, human nature, nature, Obama, Occupy Wall Street, primal humanity, Putin, Russia, soul, terrorism Tagged: capitalism, Earth, Empire, free will, freedom, geopolitics, human nature, Occupy Wall Street, Oil, primitive, Protest, Reality