RIPENING SEASONS
Background
Ripening Seasons, an intermittent journal
of personal perspective, was initiated in February 1995. It began as
an experimental form of personal journalism, developed to provide a
resolution for two ongoing problems: my constant mail backlog,
and the need for a venue of personal expression. Having concluded
long ago that I had no use for the competitive ratrace of a typical
writer's life, I nevertheless share the writer's urge to be read, and
Ripening Seasons has afforded me the perfect outlet.
Generally six pages of commentary, it has been
coming out at a 6-8 week frequency, with sometimes a single long
essay, sometimes two or three brevities, dealing with anything on my
mind: social concerns or personal life passages, but most often
seeking the deeper waters. My approach is seldom academic, however.
Philosophy should be a matter of how we live, not some ivory tower,
mystificating speculation (though I sometimes can't help myself :
).
The name, Ripening Seasons, was chosen to link
three central themes as a backdrop: 1) the approaching millennium, 2)
the experience of aging, and 3) the archetypal seasonal filter
through which life is generally seen, in cyclic (ripening)
terms.
Here is a survey of the issues,
working backwards, with links provided for those which are on the
site [the remainder will have to await the placement of material
that seems more important to get on board, as a way of making best
use of my time]. An asterisk (*) after the issue number indicates
that it has been indexed, in the theme quadrant:
- Ripening Seasons
#43 - Spring Equinox 2002
- Commentary on the times, the sorry
direction our country is taking; includes a long esoteric
statement on it from Solara. And a final testamonial to
Viv, who played such a large part in my formative
years.
- a Winter Solstice
letter, 2001
- This came out in place of a winter
Ripening Seasons, hence its inclusion with the rest.
Shattered by recent events, including the approaching death of
my onetime marriage partner, I was not up to a full issue but
had to stay in touch.
- Ripening Seasons
#42 - Fall Equinox 2001
- This issue was being mailed on September
11th. Hence, it was totally out of synch with what was
going on at the time, though it carried some prescient
observations about this time of year. The issue's theme,
however, was reality and the so-called Disclosure
Project about UFOs within our midst.
- Ripening Seasons
#41 - Mid-Summer 2001
- The detailing of a power-packed summer, as
it has played out (and continues to), happening in a classic
way, as to timing of developments, intensity, and available
energy. It bears out, quite well, the Spring portent, though a
number of surprises have been sprung.
- Ripening Seasons
#40 - Spring Equinox 2001
- The potent double-Spring of both a year and
a Septide fulfills expectations. This report outlines the
apparent Sprouts of a very energized and promising year,
telling where from and how they arrived. Virtually a prediction
for the year that is opening.
- Ripening Seasons
#39 - December 2000
- Observations on the recent problematical
election, on deaths of key friends during the year and my
dwelling on the topic of death (as a theme of my year), and on
the seasonal framework of life that I often make note
of.
- Ripening Seasons
#38 - September 2000
- The tale of a midsummer road trip - to an
Earthsteward Gathering, and a round of visiting in California,
and finally . . . an auto accident in Oregon. Together with
ruminations on death and dying, and such stuff. Closing with a
poem: Summer Dies.
- Ripening Seasons
#37 - June 2000
- Personal reflections on 'where I'm at' with
the turning of a century - what it feels to mean in my world,
relative to aging and the world around me, and to this unique
sort of work that I do here.
- Ripening Seasons
#36 - February 2000
- A short 'breakover' issue, to account for
the strangeness of the Y2K passage (in the particular way that
I perceived it), along with a brief report on my own sense of
the changing times, and what they might mean to my own
pursuits.
- Ripening Seasons
#35 - December 1999
- My own retrospective farewell, to the year,
the decade, the century, and the millennium. Looking at each,
in turn, and what it has meant from the perspective of my own
life. Elements of personal history, here.
- Ripening Seasons
#34 - November 1999
- A 20th Century "roll of remembrance" -- all
the folks in my personal world who did not make it to the end
of the century, necessarily incorporating bits of personal
biography, in detailing their specialness for me. Closing with
a centennial tribute to Mark Milsk an artist aunt of
mine whose remarkably adventurous early years I only recently
learned of.
- Ripening Seasons
#33 - October 1999
- An omnibus issue, trying to cover shifting
elements of my current/recent life, and the approaching Y2K
situation as well.
- Ripening Seasons
#32 - July 1999
- Focusing on the automobile, and the part it
has played in our century's times. With a major personal essay
on Me and the Automobile, detailing the part it has
played in my life.
- Ripening Seasons
#31 - April/May 1999
- Examining an issue of the Seattle
Times from April 14, 1927 (the day of my San Francisco
birth), and exploring the relevance (an amazing amount of it)
of its many articles and news items to the life that I have
lived.
- Ripening Seasons
#30 - February 1999
- Considering various instances -- and
implications -- of the seven-year cycle, as it has been a
factor in my life. Followed by some musings on the developing
Y2K situation and the Clinton sex scandal, and how these may
relate to reality in our world.
- Ripening Seasons
#29 - December 1998
- Things going on in my own life, including a
developing involvement, at several local levels in the warning
and preparation for the Y2K upheaval.
- Ripening Seasons
#28 - October 1998
- A full analysis of what seems to be down
the line for us, and why, because of the Y2K computer
problem.
- Ripening Seasons
#27* - August 1998
- A recap of the senior housing 'wars' that
have drawn on much of my time and energy for the past two years
and more. Originally capped by the first advance warning of a
Y2K problem - not included here.
- Ripening Seasons
#26 - June 1998
- Hey, hey, adventure again! The tale of a
fresh roadtrip (hitch-hiking), with an incredible assortment of
quite unbelievable happenings...as is so often characteristic
of such journeys. This issue also relates my life to that of
another ragged wayfarer from early in the century: Vachel
Lindsay.
- Ripening Seasons
#25 - May 1998
- Another excursion back into my past, this
time focused on some of what it took, for me to find my freedom
from a world that had been squeezing the life out of me. Along
with some of the songs that marked my passage...very personal
songs. And a lead-in to what the next issue would be all
about.
- Ripening Seasons
#24 - February 1998
- A new year opens up for me, replete with
challenges and demands...a look at the housing situation, the
changes underway, and what I think it says about the nature of
our small lives.
- Ripening Seasons
#23 - December 1997
- A memory tour of my early San Francisco
life (I mean a real one), on the occasion of my
brother's very recent death, and reconnecting with three old
friends, by surprise visits.
- Ripening Seasons
#22* - September 1997
- This, in effect, is the second chapter of
the book begun with Issue # 20, on the seasonal aspect of our
lives, except that I am departing from a standard book format .
. . and the reasons are explained herein. It involves a
recognition of different energy levels as I move into my
seventies, with consequently different approaches to my
activity.
- Ripening Seasons
#21* - July 1997
- I ran across a strange and interesting
book, while in London, and it led me on a fascinating trail,
back home, that turned up a "genealogy" I had known nothing
about, and enabled me (in its discovery) to more easily accept
the anonymous mortality that my life appears to have settled
for.
- Ripening Seasons
X (an extra issue) - May 1997
- The tale of an early-year journey abroad --
six weeks, spent half in Britain and half on the Continent,
renewing old friendships, and . . . and . . . God only knows
what else it was all about, but there were a few
hints.
- Ripening Seasons
#20* - February 1997
- Intending a book, this year, in the pages
of Ripening Seasons, this issue carried the first chapter: all
about the seasonal archetype, our closest bond with Nature, and
the many ways in which it directly influences our
lives.
- Ripening Seasons #19 - January 1997
- Noting the imminent approach of the
final 1000 days of the century, an observance of a
countdown. Together with a long passage from a 1942 book about
America, Fair is Our Land, by Donald Moffat (NYC,
Hastings House)
- Ripening Seasons
#18* - December 1996
- The full tale of this demanding year: my
activism with respect to Seattle's Senior Housing Program . . .
a major struggle that came close to costing me my residence.
Following that, as Part 2, is a tribute to my recently departed
friend, Danaan Parry.
- Ripening Seasons
#17* - October 1996
- Preceded by a serious effort to probe the
insubstantiality of reality, I fill the bulk of this issue with
a long passage from Vivian Sobchack's book, The Persistence of
History (1996: Routledge), on the film, "Forrest
Gump."
- Ripening Seasons
#16* - August 1996
- Autobiographical memoir celebrating 25
years of a dropped-out life. Reflections on the course of
consciousness expansion and the evolving perception of what it
means to be living in a Provident Universe. Detailing elements
of Right Livelihood.
- Ripening Seasons
#15 - July 1996
- Midsummer reflections on aspects of a
demanding year, in the context of an aging life. Includes an
early review of Seattle Senior Housing situation later detailed
more completely in Ripening Seasons #18. Also, the Providential
tale of how Joy and I managed to outwit poverty, in finding a
"mansion" to share.
- Ripening Seasons
#14 - June 1996
- A confirmed Luddite (me) waxing rhapsodic
on the wonders of the internet, and sundry affiliated
technology -- by way of response to a friend's not-so-oblique
putdown of same.
- Ripening Seasons
#13 - April 1996
- Rather poignantly (considering how
turbulent would be the coming years, from a housing challenge
just getting underway at this point), I lay out my future
prospects, moving into the final year of my 60s. And some
glowing prospects for the internet, as well.
- Ripening Seasons
#12 - February 1996
- A brief essay on the deconstruction of
morality, together with Ripening Seasons' "rules of the road"
and a reprint of John Perry Barlow's reflexive response to the
imposition of the so-called Telecom Reform Act that sought to
impose censorship on Internet transmissions. [the last
noted section has not been included here]
- Ripening Seasons #11
- Ripening Seasons #10
- Ripening Seasons #9
- Ripening Seasons #8
- Ripening Seasons #7
- Ripening Seasons #6
- Ripening Seasons #5
- Ripening Seasons #4
- Ripening Seasons #3
- Ripening Seasons #2
- Ripening Seasons #1
YOUR FURTHER OPTIONS FROM HERE ARE:
1. to the Venue
Quadrant index
2. to the Timeline
Quadrant index
3. to the Theme
Quadrant index
4. to the Autobiographical
Quadrant index
5. to the Main
Staging area
6. Send
response