THE FAILURE OF LANGUAGE

 A little over three months until turkey season. Jeesh! I don't know if I can make it. Between the snow and the cold I'm severely limited in how I can work. Forget putting pieces in the SS Park. The ground is frozen. I can't work large or comfortably in the unheated church or the shul. That leaves the living room, next to the woodstove. It's within this space that I do most of my writing and small drawings, paintings, and collages in the winter. After self-publishing 6 books this past year I've (temporarily) run out of ideas. So that leaves small, static artwork. I've chosen collage.

The large round coffee table from Wolf Lake now serves as both my pedestal and portal to the news (Aljazeera English and ICJ genocide proceedings) as well as my art production facility. The place looks like a very messy 19th Century Kindergarten classroom. Piles of Farm Journals and Lady's Home Companions from 1888 litter the floor. Tape, glue, white-out, scissors, paper and marijuana crumbs form a whirlpool of artsy/craftsy activity. I'll probably end up doing dozens (if not hundreds) of these collages and never show them. (see above).

As I watch South Africa's petition to ICJ in the Hague for a cessation of Israel's hostilities in Gaza under the heading and accusation of "genocide," while cutting and pasting butterfly wings, I can't help but notice how all parties concerned are struggling with the definition of terms. What's a war crime? What's a genocide? What's starvation? What's intent? What's ethnic cleansing? What's apartheid? Is it all that nuanced that the response of Israel to Hamas' atrocities of October 7th can in anyway be seen as "defensive" and "proportional"? The court will have to decide. 

Last night's adjacent Thursday found us down in the valley at Judge Andy and Miss Polly's cidery to celebrate the Judge's birthday. Of course at some point the conversation turned to Israel, Gaza, anti-semitism, etc. It seems embedded in the fabric of all convos these days. I was reminded, once again, how pissed off (and disappointed) my own community is with me - the non-Jew, non-Christian Infidel with a big mouth, self-righteous opinions, and plenty of aggressive verbiage online. WTF? What's wrong with these people? All I continue to hear is how this person or that is angry with me. Thank goodness we (the Buddes and I) ended up at The Dale- try the sausage and peppers. Great Manhattans! Make sure you tip Chris the bartender. Sometimes I forget. It was too loud to discuss Hamas.    

The band may have outnumbered the crowd but they (and we) didn't care. At one point I asked S. Birka if she'd seen Tricky Travis? Not five minutes later he appeared, grabbed the mic. and in his machine-gun rapid fire delivery cranked it up a notch. A little snoz-bloz and the place came alive. Yeah, words fail me (and the world) all the time.  I try to be careful to have my facts straight and not ruffle too many feathers. It's not working. That's why I retreat and cut paper with my blunt scissors and glue stained fingers. It's much safer.