It seems that the street preachers have suffered a winnowing in my absence. Their numbers have reduced, a bleakness waxes their expressions and tints their voices as they shout to passersby. I am told, though, that some have broken away to spend time at the Arizona State Fair – a place that I no longer patron insomuch as visit in my childhood memories.
I'd like to bring up this moment that I'm extremely amusing bringing Kazz with me on my Mill rounds, since – unlike me – he is a recalcitrant atheist. And by this I mean, he coughs into his hand and shrugs and the next thing you know he's into it with one of the preacher's about some point of deception. I like to examine the preachers as an interesting examination of predatory memes clawing and scratching and fighting for headspace. While I cannot dismiss the fears of people, like Kazz, who see these people as the scout-drones of dangerous memes corrupting otherwise free-willed individuals, I do somewhat dismiss the memes themselves on the grounds that they don’t have much to do with me as a person (nor the people who spread them.) Also unlike me, these people’s memes are Kazz’s enemy because of the nature of their ideas; whereas with me it is a cultural vendetta that causes me to ignore their advances and avoid discussion.
The great eyeless masses don’t need this messiah to rescue them from these particular saviors – but it doesn’t mean they’re not entertaining to listen to.
It’s just a virus, after all. Particularly insidious, yes, but years of evolution and psychic development have allowed the wet wiring of both individuals and their social synergies to develop extremely effective immune systems.
One particularly welcome element to the Ave was in the form of George, a light-on-his-feet young man who I would suspect is going to ASU. According to him, he came to town stranded and went off in every direction but Mill initially. Kazz and I found him arguing with one of the preachers about some point of fact that I didn't quite catch. The way that his face lit up when I mentioned Erisianism simply made my day. I hope to see him again. I gave him a copy of Vexations Volume 5.
The nights are getting colder! So, whatever that long, dark road brings us beneath the taciturn glow of Mill Ave’s lamps, and the blinking of those cranes building the Centerpointe Condominiums above…
"...your eyes are telling stories that I can't neglect."
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