Clarissa's Blog

Pat the Putin

So “Pat the Puppy” is one of those really great interactive books where babies can pet a furry animal, see themselves in a mirror, pull a tab and make a frog hop, make a toy squeak, etc. Klara loves this sort of thing. The problem with this particular one is that when it asks me to turn the wheel to see pictures of babies, the last one totally looks like Trump and Putin. 

See for yourself. What kind of ancient babies are these?

Freaks me out every day. 

Inventing the Wheel

I thought it would be a grand idea to give the kids at Klara’s birthday party little goody bags with small gifts. Nothing edible, of course, because half of the kids are from religious families with different dietary restrictions, and I don’t want to step all over that. Plus, you never know who’s allergic to what and whose parents are ideologically opposed to things like candy. 

So I headed to the dollar store and discovered that my brilliant invention already exists and it’s called “party favors.” There is a whole aisle of them at the store. 

It’s very hard to be original any more. 

Inviolable Tenents

The nonvoilent, nationwide National General Strike has been called for one week from tomorrow, with rallies up and down the country. The strikers have two demands for elected lawmakers: 1. Reaffirm your oath of office and unbounded compliance with the Constitution of the United States of America; and 2. Actively oppose any governmental language or action that violates any tenent of our Constitution.

Since everybody has their own vision of what violates the Constitution, this effort is doomed to failure from the start. If there is an entire institution dedicated to interpreting the Constitution in accordance with the demands of the moment and the current political climate, pretending that there are some immutable “tenents” (probably a mix between tenets and tenants) is a waste of time. 

New Topics for a New Era

Since the American people have decided* to plunge head on into the most hard-core form of the market state (a.k.a. whatever happens after the nation-state is demolished), the question is: what does it make sense to invest in intellectually? What subjects does it make sense to ponder and discuss?

Here is the list I came up with but feel free to add to it:

1. Personal productivity.

2. Time management. 

3. Body and health management. 

4. Local politics. 

5. Psychological health. 

6. Personal relationships in the age of fluidity.

7. How best to eradicate the remains of nation-state mentality from one’s way of seeing the world. 

The fight for resources and opportunities in the new state form is on. Those who entertain us on TV are very aware of it and are fighting for their share. 

Opportunities are massive but they are different and for different things than the ones we are used to. 

* What you decide is not about your rhetoric on the subject but about the result. Whatever Trump says, for instance, about wanting to strengthen the nation-state is useless if his actual actions lead in the opposite direction.