![\"\"](\"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_7020-1024x1024.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nModern society is based upon the shuffling of paper. This has been true now for generations. As time goes by the volume of paper shuffled has escalated and deforestation has become rampant. It is inevitable that some day the paper will run out. There will come a transition period where paper will be replaced by digital files. Virtual paper. In virtual tablets. Somehow, paper will still be shuffled. Automatically. Without thinking. It will seem normal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before the advent of paper, indeed, before the advent of writing, cuneiform, hieroglyphics, there was a simpler time when primates communicated via howling at the sky. It was a simpler age. Traces still persevere. There were fewer insurance adjustors. Such anti-social behavior was not tolerated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even in San Francisco. Where she was. Now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The problem with paper is that not all of it is valued the same and it is not distributed evenly. There are exchange tables and valuation shifts by the minute during prime business hours. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You register with paper. Authenticate. State who you are. Where you are. With who. For what. State your net worth. Prospects. Losses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Punch paper. Mark paper. Throw paper in a box and scream, \u201cCount my paper!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paper! They scream. And we don\u2019t hear the end of it for a long time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ll give you paper for it. Paper? Okay. I\u2019ll put it in the box with the rest of the papers. Count it later. Its value may shift in the mean-time. I\u2019ll trade it for other papers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ll give you this land. Give me the paper that shows you have transferred this land into my name. It is mine now. I hold the paper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paper! Signifying the worth of paper. Stocks, bonds. Levels of abstraction. Insurance. Protect my paper! Fight for paper. File paper for paper. Grievances. Give paper to politicians. In ex-change for paper. From the legislature. Which grows unchecked to serve the interests of paper. Who must I bribe with paper in support of my interest in paper? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We owe you no paper and we have the paper to prove it. You should have read about it. In the paper. It was posted. According to the rules encoded in the law books. Treaties proving paper may not be worth the paper it is written on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you read it in the paper it must be true. Who controls the paper rules. When returning from battle they will throw paper at you. This is the least valuable paper of all. Less than the paper used in the toilet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Proselytize with paper, lines out of context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kill by paper, by proclamation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Live by paper. Die by paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paper starts a fire. Fire consumes paper. To ashes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paper says I love you. A love note to a loved one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paper says it is over. Paper is bad news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Folded paper to sop up the grease. The tears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Old fashioned paper, forever going out of style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was in San Francisco. And before her was a bookstore. Which she loved. It was filled with the writing of poets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On the poles jutting from the sidewalks were papers plastered upon papers. Advising of modern performances and things lost. Guitar lessons. Cultural gyrations listed in the most ephemeral manner. With time, sun, rain, the older papers remained on the poles but became washed out. Bleached. Unreadable. Forgotten. Like a book uncared for, left out in the weather. Newer papers were pasted over-top them. But you could see, still, the ghosts which lie beneath. She was in San Francisco. Civilization. Modern society is based upon the shuffling of paper. This has been true now for generations. As time goes by the...<\/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_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3u13S-12M","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":658,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/police-procedural\/","url_meta":{"origin":4016,"position":0},"title":"Police procedural","author":"David Raffin","date":"March 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I looked at the items assembled upon the table. I said to my partner, \"These are the raw ingredients for trouble.\" He said, \"Not to worry. They have to be assembled in exactly the correct order. At exactly the right temperature. For exactly the right amount of time. Anything less\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4087,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/daydream-believers\/","url_meta":{"origin":4016,"position":1},"title":"Daydream Believers","author":"David Raffin","date":"September 9, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Sophie tucked in for an afternoon nap. She didn\u2019t like the noise of the squabbling. It was disagreeable to her. She didn\u2019t like noisy train stations. Tried to hustle through them with cotton in her ears. But the sleeping cabin was warm, not too warm, and the noise was held\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":697,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/witness-the-kitty-cat\/","url_meta":{"origin":4016,"position":2},"title":"Witness the kitty cat","author":"David Raffin","date":"May 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A Hapgood and Fowler erotic adventure Hapgood stared at the crime scene. Actually, he stood at the crime scene, his back to the area of the actual crime. In front of him sat a black house cat. The cat stared to the left of the actual crime scene. Hapgood carefully\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":419,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/love-rejected\/","url_meta":{"origin":4016,"position":3},"title":"Love, Rejected","author":"David Raffin","date":"September 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"By\u00a0David Raffin My petition for love was denied by the central authority which handles such petitions. It used to be that these standard rejections came by certified mail and were printed in ornate script on fine paper. Today they all come by text message. Still, they carry with them the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":127,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/scenic-cesspools\/","url_meta":{"origin":4016,"position":4},"title":"Scenic Cesspools","author":"David Raffin","date":"May 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"My book \"Scenic Cesspools & other indignities\" came out May 1. Scenic Cesspools is a tragi-comedy about work. With just enough time travel. And a bucket of grease which has something to do with free will. Possibly everything. Scenic Cesspools\u00a0is the story of a kid who is pulled into his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Scenic Cesspools","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/SCcover-197x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":851,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/love-rejected-from-the-book-tragic-stories-disguised-as-jokes\/","url_meta":{"origin":4016,"position":5},"title":"Love, Rejected (from the book “Tragic Stories Disguised as Jokes”)","author":"David Raffin","date":"March 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"My petition for love was denied by the central authority which handles such petitions. It used to be that these standard rejections came by certified mail and were printed in ornate script on fine paper. Today they all come by text message. Still, they carry with them the same tradition.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4016"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4019,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4016\/revisions\/4019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}