Thanksgiving

The Traditional Idea of Thanksgiving Has Become a Modern Battle of Symbols John Fraim _____________________________________________________________________ I’ve been studying and writing about the world of symbols and symbolism most of my life. It’s interesting that I’ve found that people of the West focus on symbols, those objects throughout history that have been catalogued in so many […]

Final Spin

“Willink tells his story in quick blasts of haiku-like writing with dialogue reminiscent of early David Mamet. Told with a gritty simplicity.” Publishers Weekly, November 2021 “A crackerjack thriller … Timeless.” Booklist, November 2021 It’s unusual to begin a review of this brilliant new novella from Jocko Willink with a quote from Marshall McLuhan in […]

Aerial Play

DRONE MEDIUM, MOBILITY, COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE Drones have become a ubiquitous new technology. While their effect in commercial contexts such as surveys and filmmaking are well understood, their effect on consumers has hardly been studied. Now, the first book to explore this by one of our leading media ecologists, professor Julia Hildebrand. See our review […]

Heat Wave

From the documentary Standing in the Shadows of Motown (2002). The story of The Funk Brothers, a group of Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972. Its members are considered among the most successful groups of studio musicians in music history. Among […]

The Green Light

“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us.” _________________________________________________________________ Last Page of The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald Most of the big shore places were closed now and there were hardly any lights except the shadowy, moving glow of a ferryboat across the Sound. And as the […]

Petaluma

Some photos around Petaluma, California in the Sonoma wine country. All taken with my iPhone. The abstract photos were processed with the ProCamera app manipulating the Curves function. Up here visiting my step-daughter Sarah and her partner Casey. I used to live just 15 miles north of here in Santa Rosa. It’s great being back! […]

Yellow Springs

(One of the first signs you’re not in Ohio anymore) _____________________________________________________________ “Instead of trying to bring a brilliant, intelligent, knowledgeable light to bear on obscure problems, I suggest we bring to bear a diminution of light – a penetrating beam of darkness: a reciprocal of the searchlight. Thus a very faint light would become visible […]

Synchronicity of Chance

______________________________________________ John Fraim Defined by life cycles and chance in life. We are all born into cycles and understand their length. The cycle of the day is 24 hours. A month at 30 days. Four seasons. One year. The cycle of an individual life. We move forward through the cycle of our life. We see […]