As a catharsis, I have created many colorful creatures who represent the darker parts of me. They are the “saboteurs”, who rob me of joy, and undermine my capacity for joy and competence. One of these saboteurs is my tendency to hide myself from any threat, in the daft logic that if I cannot see my problems, they cannot see me. I imagine this part of me, not as the hideous alien, the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal, but as a much more terrestrial ostrich. Here is its story:

Ozzie the ostrich is beautiful, among the greatest of birds, with snow white tail feathers, fluffy and perfect, and powerful legs that can outrun most creatures. He is a truly magnificent beast. But the forces of evolution have also shown a touch of humor and given him a ridiculous appearance in comparison to other birds. Nevertheless his hubris shows in his stance, preening his neck and strutting like his more beautiful cousin, the peacock. Evolution has judiciously pruned him of his capacity to fly, and replaced it with the capacity to run like no other bird, but it did not ask permission of his ego.

Therefore Ozzie runs and hides and often; he is a fearful animal, conscious of the laughter of the creatures around him. He believes hiself to be worthy of the admiration, and even worship, of all. Even though some admiration is warranted, he deludes hiself, imagining himself seated on an high throne, surrounded by lesser beings. But the reality is that he either flees or “disappears”, the former on his speedy limbs, or the latter by lowering his head to the ground, thinking that doing so will turn off the universe.

Since Ozzie’s percieves his wish for worship will never be granted, he wishes not to exist at all, or for the universe not to exist, because it forces existence on him. Ozzie craves invisibility or perfection.

If I were to paint a portrait of Ozzie, he would be wearing a judge’s wig and possibly a crown, but also the fabled emperor’s underwear. I would paint him from below, seated on a throne of authority, surounded by feathers, clouds and glory, with an entire people giving him formal obeisance, but a small child pointing to his obvious lack of covering with gleeful malice shining in its eyes. Some of his limbs would also be as transparent as air.

I first embrace Ozzie, and console him for his tragedy but recognize he is my mortal enemy.  Ozzie is beyond my help, and so, for both our sakes, I must sacrifice him. To do so, I will join in the mockery of him, to his horror, until he disappears in a cloud of self-imposed shame.

Think of the sky

A strong wind carries out the dark ominous clouds, the draperies of fog, and the haze.

Think of a spring

Tinkling out of virgin rock, a clear fountain of water shoots up, dances down steep slopes, and meeting others becomes a roaring waterfall. Its spray and sound wash out the memories of evil.

Think of the sun

The sun adjusts its shoelaces and prepares to run accross the sky. Its light burns away the anxiety and fear that have shrouded you.

Think of the earth

The sharp unyielding stones are clothed with soft green turf and a fur of green trees, like flesh over bones and the plumage of a bird of paradise

Light and color surround you. Clear blue sky, crystal waters, bright sunlight, radiant greens and cheerful flowers.

Sounds wash over you, a chattering stream, a roaring sea, a whistling breeze, and trees whispering,

You feel the grass, soft underfoot, with tiny freckly spikes on your bare feet. The rough bark of a tree meets your fingers. The wind untangles your mind with soft hands.

The fragrance of earth enters and transports you to sunlit memories of childhood years.

The taste of berries, bright and sweet, reminds you of what has been, and can be, if only you are willing to try.

Happy Earth Day

The following is a brief meditation with echoes of Genesis 1 and the Big Bang. It came to me when thinking about the current US strategy against in the “war on terror” and North Korea.

Image by Pete Labrozi

I admire how brave Amanda Palmer is. I haven’t heard her music, but I have a strong feeling that the ways she conducts her finances will be the way of the future for most musicians.

Often I am frustrated by my feeble attempts at art. My music is good, but perhaps, not grammy worthy. I look in envy on musicians with more pluck than I building successful carrers on easily performed songs, plus the sheer daring of getting on a stage and performing them. In their place I would be petrified.

When I am alone I can make art and not fear judgement…unless I bring the world with me through the character of my evil judge. “It will never be good enough”, she proclaims. “No one will like it. It is worthless! Don’t waste your time!” But the hours of fun and satisfaction I get out of drawing, playing the piano, folding origami, or even making a model in Minecraft are pleasurable beyond any drug I could pump into me. Isn’t that reason enough!

I just saw Disney’s new animated film, Wreck it Ralph. I read that Disney and Pixar’s chief creative officer, John Lasseter gave the film’s director Rich Moore complete freedom, telling him not to make a “quote-unquote, ‘Disney’ film“. The result is very surprising to me; instead of Disney polluting Pixar, the opposite happened: Pixar revived Disney!

With Pixar’s John Lasseter at the helm, I can’t wait to see what Disney may come up with next. I only hope that he won’t neglect Pixar now; I felt a bit jealous for Pixar watching the film. But if both Disney and Pixar keep coming up with such original and beautifully executed films as Wreck it Ralph, it’s a win-win!

The characters are very yin/yang, with two couples forming from polar opposites. The film has much to say to loners and victims of bullying, as well as, hopefully, the bullies themselves. I found myself relating to Ralph very much. The presence of so many video game franchises with backstories to spare, made this film rich and good for the heart as well as the eyes. Good job Disney!

The title image, trademarks and copyrights all belong to Walt Disney Studios.

The war on drugs is raining bullets on the poorest countries of in the American continent, and on Mexico. It is hard to describe just how much impact this billion-dollar business in drugs and weapons is having on the people of Latin America. But the people responsible are not just the cartels, they are the powerful weapons groups, the US and Mexican governments. I think it’s time to stop the madness.

Share this video, please!

The late Aaron Swartz explains SOPA. His recent suicide has been in the news so much that I feel it isn’t worth discussing. His opinions, though, are.

The thing that most resonated about this talk was Colin Stokes’s defense of a particular Disney Princess: Merida, from Pixar’s Brave. I wrote a disappointed rant about that movie when it came out.

I still deeply dislike the “You are a princess, act like it!” storyline. I find it offensive, lazy and boring for Disney to recycle it. I find it even more disappointing that creative powerhouse Pixar would resort to it…I love Pixar. It hurts.

The more empowering heroines are not princesses, but normal, or even disadvantaged, and overcome their weakness. I prefer Hermione over Eowyn, even though Eowyn is a warrior princess and Hermione a nerdy schoolkid, or perhaps because of it. Satsuki and Mei from “My Neighbor Totoro” are an excellent example of normal girls whose story is worthy of the big screen. Even Disney has Lilo, from “Lilo and Stitch” as an example of a normal girl becoming a heroine.

I realize that I was a bit unfair to Pixar. Merida’s courage and intelligence led her to humility and leadership. The way she repaired her relationships with her mother, brother, and even her subjects is true heroism. Her mother’s insistence on proper behavior is probably accurate to what real-life princesses (Elizabeth II of England?) may have to live with.

But why the princess fixation?. Is that the most interesting story that Pixar can tell with a girl as a protagonist?

In 2009, the Honduran congress and supreme court perpetrated a messy coup against president Manuel Zelaya. Yesterday President Lobo and the Honduran congress have perpetrated an “institutional” coup against the supreme court, sacking 4 out of its 5 members.

This was in retaliation for repeated blocking of key legislation proposed by the president in his first 3 years of office. The supreme court declared special development zones called “charter cities”, as proposed by economist Paul Romer, unconstitutional a few months back. In the past weeks, the supreme court declared that using polygraph tests to weed out corrupt police was unconstitutional. Both were pet presidential and congressional projects.

The Death of Charter Cities

Paul Romer’s proposal of creating cities like Singapore and Hong Kong from scratch in third world countries was branded as neo-colonialism by many, especially the left. Since these cities would be built with foreign investment, the Honduran left described it as selling national property, or creating micro-states within the country, or changing the countries borders, all illegal in the Honduran constitution. Unflattering comparison was drawn with Ayn Rand, a controversial figure.

The proposal of building a charter city in the political minefield of land rights that is the Aguan valley of Honduras, was the worst possible location. Romer was forced to withdraw his support amid mounting condemnation in the international press. The supreme court fired the coup-de-grace by declaring the concept of charter cities unconstitutional.

Weeding out the police

The president is trying to weed out rampant corruption in the police, many of whom have been reported to be in collusion with Mexican cartels. His methods are an imitation of Mexican former President Felipe Calderon’s attempts to do the same.

Calderón created many police forces in the last few years. The original police force was wiped out ruthlessly by the cartels, who bombed out their headquarters with grenades, murdered police chief after police chief until in many municipalities in the northern Mexican states, surviving police officers deserted their posts to protect their families.

In one town, a 20-year-old mother and criminology student named Marisol Valles García was the only one brave enough to take the mantle of police chief. She was forced to flee to the US, where she is seeking assylum, after death threats from the cartels.

The military, especially the Mexican navy, was assigned to protect northen Mexican cities. This, however, drew the ire of human rights groups, who see military interactions with civilians as invitations for abuse of power and atrocities. Their fears became reality when the military shot down two college students in the first week they patrolled Monterrey. As a result, the US embassy removed their non-essential personnel from the city, and many foreign students dropped out of the school.

The Fuerza Civil, a civilian police force was created as a result. Confidence tests (using a polygraph, or lie detector) are regularly administered to the military and police in Mexico as well. This is where President Lobo’s proposal for confidence test for Honduran police comes from.

Why this is a coup

Honduran law states that supreme court magistrates serve for their natural lifespan, unless they resign. Also, the supreme court was correct in both their decisions.

A key charter city provision is that cities should be free to set their own laws, even in opposition to their host countries. This was necessary because of China’s oppressive government would destroy the fragile prosperity of Hong Kong otherwise. But when Hong Kong was returned to China, all of China suddenly became capitalist: the Chinese leaders would rather change their doctrine than ruin a successful city. But setting a limit on Honduran laws was not foreseen in the 1982 constitution.

Polygraph tests are unreliable, and thus, are not admissible evidence. Thus the should not be used solely to establish guilt. Probably they should be used to warrant further investigation, but their accuracy could let many culprits free, and bring unnecessary suspicion on the innocent. Here the supreme court’s decision is not so clear. They were nominally seeking to protect the human rights of police officers from unreasonable suspicion. But they were accused of political partisanship.

Crying Wolf

President Lobo loudly and publicly complained about these supreme court decisions to the press. A few days ago he stated that the Honduran political system “learned nothing” from the 2009 coup. He said that the owner of two of the most read newspapers was plotting another coup, only because he put a defense the supreme court’s decision on the front cover of his newspapers (see picture above).

Thus we have come to another civil coup, and the anthill of Honduran politics will be put into upheaval. But, I doubt international condemnation will descend on us this time, because no one was put on a plane to a foreign country this time. I truly hope that Lobo’s government will survive until the next elections.