{"id":2178,"date":"2020-02-19T23:26:02","date_gmt":"2020-02-20T07:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/?p=2178"},"modified":"2020-02-21T03:17:39","modified_gmt":"2020-02-21T11:17:39","slug":"pro-logue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/pro-logue\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro-logue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Pro-logue<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had enough of your horseplay,\u201d s\/he said. \u201cOff you go now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything in the world is seeking to stand on the highest point. Where one can see. There is nothing else which explains the urge to climb mountains, get there first, or pat oneself on the back. It even explains the eruption of volcanoes, the contents inside wishing to come out on top. That\u2019s the prime real estate. No matter what one has to do to get there. That says a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Eruption by Richard Lindsay<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why an eruption is such a sacred shared event. A seismic shift. People remember it. It burns itself on the social memory pad. Changes everything. I saw such an event once. It was my first. After this I saw more, but they were robbed of absolute novelty. Because If you see one you\u2019ve seen it all, the world order set up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At some point everything becomes common place. It starts to look alike. A revelatory illusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything is built on something else. The novelty is an illusion. The present is a time shift of the past. It seems clear because there has been a precedent. A prologue. An introduction. And when we left we said \u201cMake it look like no one has ever<\/em> been here before.\u201d So as not to rob the future of its own initiative. Priorities. I don\u2019t make the rules, I break them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The present has to be built. In detail. For the purpose of references. Few check these out. Outdated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once it is built, it seems to have always been there. This is the natural order. It\u2019s traditional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My first book was a stapled together mess called A Child\u2019s Guide to Suicide<\/em>, and I handed it out at a punk rock club. Have you ever been hugged by a sweaty punk rocker? I don\u2019t even have a copy of it.  You come away looking like you were up on the stage. The copy I had drowned in a flood. It was from a hot water heater. Twenty years old, it sprung a leak into the basement apartment. The trauma of aging. I was dreaming at the time. I dreamt of water, a gentle flow. A steady dripping and splashing of the tropics. As if I were stranded on a beach. When I awoke I splashed down, as my feet hit the floor and were submerged. I salvaged what I could. And rebuilt. It\u2019s what people do. By conditioning. Tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So here we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She had short hair, light brown, when she approached me. She was tall and played the bass guitar. I had been admiring her from afar, but she had no way of knowing this. Like when you look to the top of Mount Everest with longing in your heart, though you understand the perils inherent in such a desire. It\u2019s a question of preparation. How well you pack. If you are ready. If your heart is strong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAre you handing this out to children?\u201d<\/em> she demanded. And it was a set-up to a joke, but instead, for love, the punchline was moved to a footnote. And so the response was left wanting. And she walked away with a flourish. And perhaps that was the greatest gift I could give her. For who can understand the nature of love, for which so much is sacrificed in our perpetual present?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pro-logue \u201cI\u2019ve had enough of your horseplay,\u201d s\/he said. \u201cOff you go now.\u201d Everything in the world is seeking to stand on the highest point. Where one can see. There is nothing else which explains the urge to climb mountains, get there first, or pat oneself on the back. It even explains the eruption of volcanoes, the contents inside wishing to come out on top. That\u2019s the prime real estate. No matter what one has to do to get there. That says a lot. That\u2019s why an eruption is such a sacred shared event. A seismic shift. People remember it....<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,2],"tags":[121,147,167,136,217],"class_list":["post-2178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-my-books","category-writing","tag-fiction","tag-humor","tag-humour","tag-love","tag-publishing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3u13S-z8","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1950,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/tragic-stories-disguised-as-jokes-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":2178,"position":0},"title":"Tragic Stories (disguised as jokes)","author":"David Raffin","date":"May 29, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Tragic Stories (disguised as jokes) is a collection of tales told by a monster to a demanding little girl. Monsters are unlucky in love. Cupid explains. Some monsters are closer than others. There is a monster who only dines on one half of any available loving couple, A specialty. You\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/TSDaJ80-189x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1261,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/burn-this-flag-please\/","url_meta":{"origin":2178,"position":1},"title":"Burn this flag, please","author":"David Raffin","date":"December 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I question all the proposed laws against burning or desecrating the flag. That\u2019s bad for business; ergo it is un-American. Think of it: every flag burned is product moved. Flag burning should be encouraged. That\u2019s good business. Otherwise flags would have to be manufactured to wear out sooner. Or the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "My books"","block_context":{"text":"My books","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/my-books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2250,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/trigger-warning-the-assassination-of-fred-hampton\/","url_meta":{"origin":2178,"position":2},"title":"Trigger Warning: The Assassination of Fred Hampton","author":"David Raffin","date":"June 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"It was not about the guns. We had them. They were a necessity. And a defense. That was the necessity. That's why the full name of our organization was the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. Self-defense and the defense of others. Defense of the wider community. 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