Friday, October 07, 2005

The day I saw almost everything (including Subway terrorism)

William Burroughs said: “I have an exercise I learned from a Mafia don in Ohio: See everybody on the street before they see you.”



I tried it...and saw a homeless man shaving in the bathroom at Barnes and Noble.

I saw a woman scratch her breast through a sheer pink blouse.

I saw a child wailing in a carriage and a young mother wishing he’d shut the hell up.

I saw a famous local newscaster walking on the Upper West Side having a very serious conversation.


“It’s quite interesting actually because, if you see everyone before they see you, they won’t see you,” Burroughs continued.

I saw a guy, standing right next to me on the subway, reading my essay in Metro.

I saw three middle management types pretending/wishing they mattered.

I saw a tired woman who really needed a break.

“And then you’ll find that somebody beat you,’ Burroughs warned.

I didn’t see the pretty Asian woman on the W train who watched me pull my book out of my backpack. When I looked up, she was already turning away…unaware that the large black man across the way had seen her first.

What have you seen?

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Orange (soda) alert?

When I heard about the Subway terror warning (http://tinyurl.com/brkxk), I figured the mainstream was finally catching on to the horrors of animal consumption.

When I realized they were talking about stuff like this…

...I said to my wife: “Bloomberg’s looking for votes.”

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Associated Press sez:

“Delivering a rare wartime slap at Pentagon authority and President Bush, the GOP-controlled Senate voted 90-9 on Wednesday to back an amendment that would prohibit the use of ‘cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment’ against anyone in U.S. government custody, regardless of where they are held.”


Slapped…

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We started with Burroughs, we’ll end with Ginsberg…

50 years ago today, Allen Ginsberg read “Howl” for the first time.

In honor of this, I offer a haiku:

I have seen the best
minds of my generation
destroyed by blindness

As Paris might say: “That’s hot”

Posted on 10/07 at 07:18 AM
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