art + non - art

via http://www.obamaartreport.com/

i’m trying to get a pair

having just watched part of the olympic opening ceremonies, let me be one of the first to say definitively: america is entering a new period of anxiety, and has just hit the steep part of its descent from the world’s singly dominant country to, perhaps as kagan calls it, a “normal” position in the world.

not a new observation, but china’s attitude and approach to these entire games make it abundantly clear that over the next generation the world is increasingly going to be determined by its whims, and on its terms.  the geopolitical implications of this fact are important, but clear and well-known.  i’m more interested in the effect on the american conscious.

i don’t think any of us can really understand, have yet tried to understand, that mild tingle of inferiority and resent that circles the outer edges of the brain, and that i think might be familiar to non-americans over the past 40 years - particularly before shit went to hell with bush.  china is certainly familiar with this feeling, and the chip it has on its shoulder makes it all the more dangerous to american interests, and the american self-conscious.

I am more nervous about what will happen as we all realize, once it’s already too late, that we have been overtaken, than I am about any specific international threat.  the way we react to diminishment, to defeat in a way, will determine both the cultural and political direction that our country takes in our lifetimes.

juliaallison:

They need to write a new children’s book (distributed on the kindle) called “Goodnight, laptop.”

(Tonight I’m trying to be all reasonable and get to bed before 3 am. Eyes are already blurry at the relatively early hour of 1:53 am, so it’s looking good … if a book doesn’t distract me.)

one of my favorite books - although i remember (and i can’t believe i remember this - you think you don’t remember being little and then stuff like this, and this (!), bring it back) being unsettled as a 3 year old by the emptiness in the rooms, and the pervasive silence of the book.  it was eery, like something bad was about to happen.  but maybe i was just a neurotic 3 year old.