[AGL] alienation and sense of impending doom while living in Xanadu

[gilbert shelton]

Hi Mike,

Don't despair.  I would describe my own attitude in Paris as angry
despair punctuated by periods of enjoyable times, such as when my old
friends come to visit and I can go touristing with them.  Out in the
country where I spend most of my time I get the feeling that the
neighbors actually like me, even if it's obvious that I would rather be
left alone.  It's not Xanadu of course, but it really is 73° often.
Hard to discern if my personal life is "keeping up" with what is
available.  Tell Madelon I'm sorry I didn't get over to Orleans to visit
while she was there.  That sounded like an interesting project but it's
some distance from here.

Gilbert


Michael Eisenstadt wrote:

> according to literature, the average man/woman lives a life
> of silent dispair.
>
> many in real life opiate themselves with their living descendants,
> many (most?) of us here at Austin ghetto are childless. about
> half and half married and living alone. Connie is in Houston,
> Karen (childless) is in Austin, so is Fontaine. Ewie in Hawaii,
> Byron (childless) in Indonesia, Gilbert (childless) in France,
> Jon Ford in Palo Alto, Wayne (childless) in semi-rural Virginia,
> Gerry near Silver Springs, NM
>
> in flights of fancy we long for Xanadu. Xanadu is out in the
> country, friendly locals, easy grocery shopping, and the
> weather. Oh dear! the weather in Xanadu is 73 Fahrenheit
> all the time. a great place to be when dealing with our
> poisonal devils.
>
> it is very dangerous to live in Xanadu if your poisonal life
> is not keeping up with what is available out there.
>
> not easy to live in NYC or Paris without a better than
> average despair coefficient. imagine the alienation of
> being alone in such a place.
>
> still and all one could be living in the ninth arrondissement
> surrounded by minorities and dog shit but go down the
> street and stand on a blvd and look towards the west
> and see the architecture receding into the haze and feel
> oneself lifted up by its majesty out of one's poisonal funk
> for a moment into pure transcendance of self .
>
> that can also be managed in the country with a natural
> landscape which will lift you up likewise. trouble with
> the country lifting, it soon reduces itself to the inanity
> of rural life, to use Marx's phrase and you're back in
> your poisonal funk maybe even worse than in the city.
>
> Mike (childless)