Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Kip by Avedon

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Peace out.


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Does anyone else have prescient nostalgia?


I have this condition like a motherfucker. Sometimes I am overwhelmed with longing for this exact moment, as if I am visiting it from thirty years from now, looking back on it and missing it terribly.


The cool part about it is running around and hugging everyone you see, just like Jimmy Stewart in "It's a Wonderful Life!"


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"Hello, Bedford Falls!"



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Those Mai Mai in the jungles of the Democratic Republic of Congo.


Man alive.


Did you hear about them on NPR yesterday? Kabila's government armed them as part of a "local peacekeeping group" to help repel invaders from Rwanda in the late 90's. They liked being armed and after the Rwandans were mostly taken care of they kept their guns and started taking over all the little villages they could.

In the villages they took over, no one was allowed to wear clothes. There were strict rules about what foods could be eaten and which days they could be eaten. Disobediance was punished with death.

They became cannibals.


They believe that they are immune to bullets. The name "Mai Mai" means "Water Water." They got this name from chanting "Mai Mai" as they attacked their enemies. This powerful magic chant turns the enemy bullets into water in the middle of the air.


There is now another local group that is trying to fight the Mai Mai. They are not armed with guns, but with "Batons Magic" (imagine a french pronunciation here).


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This is happening right now.


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I don't mean to say by using the African subcontinent as an example that these kinds of things are only happening "somewhere else." There is shit going on right now in one of your neighbor's houses that would flip you right the fuck out.


Unless you are that neighbor, in which case, knock it off, you're creeping me out.


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3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

yes, i have that thing, that thing where i want to save/savor each moment because it is already over, and i think it has something to do with the fact that i have very little memory, so there is a bittersweetness to the flow of time, and i am always on a thin edge, not sure if i'm looking back or forward in time

i will forget i ever wrote this

7:06 AM  
Blogger Radish King said...

I have it but when I have it it's called mania (esp. the Bedford Falls part) and leads to dangerous but often entertaining times.

HAHAHAHAHA

xor

2:41 PM  
Blogger tearful dishwasher said...

Anonymous-

It must be how we all live to some extent. Sometimes it just cuts through me like a knife...



Rebecca-

HAHAhA!

I understand the entertainment value of danger,
believe me.

Glad you are feeling better. Some day would you please come over and explain how music contains emotional resonance for us? I mean, what's the mechanism?

Curious.


yrs-

Scott

5:56 PM  

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