Re: Jose Torres Tama's response to the "Metafiction" of this March Madness

Good form, Jose.

I don't know how I'm relating to all of the events from the war to 9/11 and
the following deevolution of US society (more than it already is), except
that Leigh and I are also in a deep depression. The first shock was 9/11,
and I felt an Adorno-esque aversion to criticality, or art for that matter,
after such an event. With the war, and its corresponding dismantlement of
accepted Western concepts of humanism, just causes, etc which have been in
place for many, many years (decades to centuries, depending on the oeuvre
you wish to cite), it leaves a person with a sense of helplessness and
absence of meaning.

However, to paraphrase Baudrillard, the end is only an illusion; the
question is where we go from the event. I think that in many cases, we as
Western society are experiencing a profound paradigmatic shift that cannot
be ignored, but what does the artist do except rant on about the
times? Perhaps nothing more; perhaps being the town criers is our
function. Perhaps some of us will continue on as the Powers ask, to
reiterate ourselves I cannot allow this environment that I see to not
affect me.

I don't know. I feel as if I am sitting in a bomb crater, culturally
speaking. And for me, I'm reevaluating a lot of things. Maybe it's a time
of real growth, as sometimes the greatest of human endeavors comes from strife.

CArry on, amigo.

Patrick