1/22/24

 Monday, January 22, 2024

In bed at 11, up at 6.  24°, high of 33°, windy.  SEVERE WEATHER ALERT:  slick roads with wintry mix and glazing.  The wind is SSW at 15 mph, 5-15/29.  Wind chill 12°, 9 to 26°°,  Sunrise 7:16, sunset 4:50,  9 +33.  Solar noon will be at 12:03, altitude 27°.     

Treadmill; pain.   Woke with normal back and left shoulder pain, and worse pain in my right wrist.  30.18 & 0.60  at 3:30 while watching an interview of an international law expert on Israel's and America's liability vel non under the Genocide Convention.  The interviewee was a signatory to a brief filed in a case before some American court against Biden, Blinken, et al., for failure to exert the country's influence on Israel to prevent genocide.  I'm surprised at the huge number of programs on YouTube dealing with Israel, Gaza, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.  Earlier in the afternoon I watched a 50-minute speech by Chris Hedges, former NYTimes reporter, on what he claims is Israel's genocide in Gaza.  Years ago I read one of Hedges' books ("War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning")  He left reporting (or more likely was given the boot), attended Harvard Divinity School, and was ordained a minister in the Presbyterian church.  He condemns not only Israel and the United States but also Western civilization with its White supremacy, corporatist, capitalist, morals and ethics.

I'm grateful that it is this year and not the last when I was beside myself with Tom's unexpected death and the challenge of eulogizing his life.  My journal entry on this date last year:

In bed at 9:15, unable to sleep, up & on recliner till 11:30 or so, back to bed till 3:45, unable to sleep, back up & on recliner, thoughts of Tom coursing through my brain, worries about weakened voice, CPP, IC, ability to deliver eulogy, hold on through funeral, burial, consolation meal.  Worked on eulogy till 5:20, another attempt to sleep on recliner. unsuccessful, up again at 6:10.  Washed some dishes, made Geri's coffee, back to recliner at 6:50.  26 degrees, drizzle, flurries, high of 30, wind chill is 22,  Sunrise at 7:16, sunset at 4:50, 9+34.

It would be hard to exaggerate how troubled and weak I was that week, missing sleep all week, experiencing chronic pain and bladder problems, etc.  As it happened, I made it through the funeral and the eulogy but wisely skipped the burial to take care of my IC needs.  The cemetery wasn't prepared for the burial which ended up taking considerably longer than expected.  After resting at home, Andy picked me up and we returned to Congregation Sinai for the consolation meal where I saw and was able to speak with many old friends.   Looking back on the journal from a year ago reminds me of how long I have been struggling with the IC and CPP and the degree to which the diseases have diminished me.

Notes from Alan Jacobs' blog The Homebound Symphony:

From SCT [Standard Critique of Technology] (1/8/24):  "The basic argument of the SCT goes like this. We live in a technopoly, a society in which powerful technologies come to dominate the people they are supposed to serve, and reshape us in their image. These technologies, therefore, might be called prescriptive (to use Franklin’s term) or manipulatory (to use Illich’s)" . . .  That essay, for me, marked the end of a decade or so of articulating my own version of, or elaborations on, the SCT. For much of that decade I wrote about Technopoly’s demands on our attention, and insisted that we can attend otherwise. . .  

Basically, I’m just a simple caveman; your modern world confuses and frightens me. But one thing I do know: That I ain’t buying what Technopoly (or the Machine, or whatever you want to call it) is selling. 

I feel like Jacobs: the modern world confuses and frightens me.  Worse, I believe that, on balance, it is getting worse, more dominated by technologies controlling and manipulating our lives, more prescriptive, more manipulative, and more fascistic.  I think of my dear brother-in-law Jimmy, both of us in our 80s, sharing the macabre thought that we are glad that our remaining time on earth is short, feeling weltschmerz and fear of the future.   And feeling guilty about what the future may hold for our children, grandchildren, and those who come after.

Dinner at the Goldbergs with Micaela was lovely, as expected.  I was struck by Dan's offer to Caela to come to her house to see if he could help open her garage doors, and by his admonishing me that I should have called him on November 25 when I needed help getting to the VA ER.  

Sarah, dual citizenship; AfD.  Sarah is approaching the 14th anniversary of her move to Germany.  Eventually, she received the German equivalent of her "green card" and permanent residency authorization.  The other day she posted on FB that in the Spring  Germany is expected to adopt a law authorizing dual citizenship, presumably including U.S. citizens among those who will be eligible.  She intends to seek the dual citizenship status.  Yesterday there were huge demonstrations in Germany against the neo-Nazi party, Afd, after it was disclosed that party members have engaged in some planning for mass deportations if they acquire power, including asylum seekers, non-assimilated Germans (whatever that means), and non-Germans with residency rights, which presumably would include Sarah. However, I suspect it is aimed at Turks and other non-Whites brought to Germany to augment the country's workforce.