...and out of left field come the relief pitchers:

jwm, d.andrew, a.bazin, a.malraux, e.mounier, & p.teilhard de chardin

i. profession
by the end of june, i had outlasted the most dangerous part of my life, so far
i have now emptied myself of (some) illusions
and reemerged with both a sense of purpose
and (maybe) a little bit of confidence in my abilities

ii. meditation
andre malraux saw in art
'the eternal part of man, which emerges as the power which both enables
and impels man to transcend his human condition
to break through the world of time and appearances to a
truth
whose discovery affords him a glimpse of
eternity'

iii. formulation
art=humanity=evolution:
the evolution from one style to another shows
humanity's need to transform itself
perpetually
but
does not suggest a final goal

iv. exercise
let us view the following phrases about video gaming in their broadest
cultural
stylistic
and technical spheres:
my brother, plays halo2 on xbox *live*
interacting with digital representations of
others
when the game ends, he has a kill total of 17
winning the game, killing 17 people
digitally
in 30 seconds a new game will load and the cycle will continue until
holiday 2005, when xbox360 is released
'are you an xbox live user?'

v. optimism
teilhard's theories believed we should
renunciate the self
recognize the insufficiencies of individual consciousness
commit to the creation of a new social consciousness
believe that these times of struggle are part of an inevitable evolutionary design
which one can recognize throughout nature
(catchwords include: "progress," "evolution," "development")

vi. pessimism
the vaccuum of my consciousness tells me that the notion of "progress" is invalid
does not exist
is a human creation that has been severly abused by powerful people
whatever progress' current status
please return my phone calls and emails because i am bored of monologues

vii. correspondence
dear progress,
at this moment i believe that humanity is a searching not a proclaiming being.
in light of this, sorry for the nasty message i left on your machine in regards to the year 2008.

warmest regards,
jwm

ps. will people from detroit still believe in you after the super bowl?

viii. manipulation
the computer becomes the latern with which the programmer
peers
into the dark, seeking
a glimmer of values
expressed in style which
like the person
is not to be expressed but an inner orientation enabling an outward search