Barry Graham's Blog, page 120
July 29, 2012
July 28, 2012
For Artists, Ego Is a Lethal Drug
If you write for God you will reach many men and bring them joy. If you write for men - you may make some money and you may give someone a little joy and you may make a noise in the world, for a little while. If you write for yourself, you can read what you yourself have written and after ten minutes you will be so disgusted that you will wish that you were dead.
- Thomas Merton
There are many stories of artists who have been destroyed by addiction to alcohol or other drugs. There is another ki...
July 26, 2012
Censorship Is a Class Issue
There is a scene in the filmThe Bad Lieutenantin which the protagonist, played by Harvey Keitel, blackmails two young women into titillating him - one of them shows her ass, the other mimes performing oral sex - while he masturbates. It is the best-known and most controversial scene in the film.
Recently, I watched the film on Netflix instant streaming. The scene had been cut out, altering the meaning of the film.
During the U.K. obscenity trial ofLady Chatterley’s Loverin 1960,the chief...
July 25, 2012
Zen Master Hakuin: Perfect In His Imperfection
The Japanese Zen master Hakuin is one of the most revered and influential of all time. A collection of his letters was recently published. Some of the letters show Hakuin to have been vain, arrogant, hungry for fame, competitive and vindictive.
Some people in the Zen world are shocked. Others are trying to spin it, to make Hakuin’s neuroses into subtle teachings, in order to preserve the image of the perfect, enlightened master. I think that shock and denial miss the point to an equal de...
July 24, 2012
Are Porn Theater Customers Like Fred Willard Exhibitionists?
When I heard that Fred Willard got arrested and lost his job at P.B.S. for flogging the dolphin in a porn theater, two (admittedly obvious) questions occurred to me:
What else do they expect someone to do in a porn theater? It’s like busting someone for drinking in a bar.
Doesn’t Fred Willard have an Internet connection?
The second question got me wondering… Since the vast majority of people in the U.S. have Internet access, how do porn theaters stay in business? I assume their...
July 23, 2012
Recommended Boxing Books and Films
A reader who liked The Champion’s New Clothes asked, “What other great books have a boxing background?”
I can’t think of many, but there are some. If I had to pick the best, it would probably be F.X. Toole’s story collection Rope Burns, which was reprinted with the title Million Dollar Baby. Toole was a cut man, and he gets every detail right.
If I had to choose the greatest boxing novel, I would be torn between Leonard Gardner’s Fat City and Eddie Muller’s...
July 21, 2012
How Would Gun Control Reduce the Number Of People Who Are Murdered With Guns?
With 70 people shot in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado - 12 of them dead, including a six-year-old girl - some people are predictably blaming the gun laws (or lack thereof) and calling for more “gun control.”
I don’t understand this. If a person is willing to shoot 70 people, how likely is it that guns being illegal will keep them from obtaining one? With at least 200 million guns in the U.S., it’s never going to be difficult to get one, legal or not. I don’t...
July 20, 2012
43rd Anniversary of Whitey's Trip to the Moon
On this day in 1969, humans (an invasive species) walked on the moon for the first time.
I think it’s the white man’s ego trip, and a gross waste of money and resources. When no one is hungry, no one is homeless, and everyone has access to healthcare, then maybe the government will be justified in spending billions playing at being Captain Kirk.
John F. Kennedy compared the “conquest” of space to the “conquest” of America. Yes, isn’t it wonderful how th...
July 19, 2012
Leaf and Street: The Art of Daishin Stephenson
Daishin Stephenson’s photographs close the gap between common dualistic ideas of what is “nature” and what is “urban.” Inspired by her practice of Zen, and by the Japanese aesthetic of mono no aware (the beauty of impermanence), she captures images of the cycles of life in city streets, harsh deserts and mountain forests.
A native of Phoenix, Arizona, she is also a gardener, Zen teacher and urban homesteader, and has grown food in Sonoran Desert...
July 18, 2012
Why Mental Health Is a Political Issue
This article in The Guardian considers the link between welfare cuts and rising suicides among men in the U.K., and quotes the former Labour Party official Luke Bozier:”Welfare suicides don’t exist. Suicide is a mental health issue.”
The idea that mental health stands separate from the effects of policy changes is - pardon me - insane.
When my friend Paul Reekie killed himself two years ago, he didn’t leave a note on his table. He left two pieces of correspondence from t...
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