On Being Nobi

The philosophical conversation that breaks through the quotidian narrative of the contemporary, the Being-ness of being a plastic figurine from a chocolate egg, and the aesthetic irritation of desiring to see the world from a different perspective, a smaller one, but unable to because of our inherent human-ness.  

This is Being Nobi.

By the way, that was a spoof.  

I don't really buy empty art-talk like the above ;-) 

Read on, dear visitor.
And have fun!!!

War Games: A Stone's Throw to Poland

"Zwei Dinge erfüllen das Gemüt mit immer neuer und zunehmender Bewunderung und Ehrfurcht, je öfter und anhaltender sich das Nachdenken damit beschäftigt:  Der gestirnte Himmel über mir und das moralische Gesetz in mir."

"Two things never fail to fill the mind with ever more admiration and awe, the more often and steadily the thoughts are consumed with it:  the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me."

- Immanuel Kant

From the northeastern island of Usedom, which is divided between Germany and Poland.  The northwestern tip of the island is the site where the National Socialists developed the feared V2 "Vengeance" rocket, the response to the wide-spread civilian destruction that the British amassed on German cities during World War II.  

There came a time then when the wholesale targeting of civilians in London and Antwerp became a glorious feat to be achieved, a great departure from the traditional rules of war.  I'm trying to fathom what that breaking point must have been like, standing before a facsimile reproduction of a letter from October 3, 1942.

For the longest time, Allied forces had no clue that V2 rockets were being developed at Peenemünde, as it was disguised as a scientific research facility, not military development.  Foreign slave labor, mostly Polish, was used extensively here, the advantage being that foreigners would not understand the secret documents.  It was a harrowing existence.  The workers were told "For you, the only way out of here will be through the chimney."  As in the incinerator.  But eventually, two Polish slave workers succeeded in providing maps and sketches to Polish intelligence.  Similar information reached British forces in 1943.  The site was openly attacked in an air raid in August 1943.

A toy-sized model of the test site.  Even I feel tall here.

Mountain Paradise, China

Greeting from Yangshuo, China.  I traveled here by night train from Hong Kong and in the morning, through the train window I was amazed by the sight of the mystic mountains of southeast China, a common motif in Chinese art, found in scroll paintings, sculptures, and monetary notes.   

Yangshuo, a beautiful city in the mountains, seems to be one of those places in the world where people disappear to.  It's a remote and odd place for the enclave of expatriates that one finds here, western foreigners who brave the winters in poorly-heated rooms.  But being the crossroads of natural wonders that it is, Yangshuo has grown up to be a well-groomed place, with food, markets, and polite residents that make you want to come back one day.

Mexico, the Ruins

In total, we drove 2500 kilometers through eastern Mexico, visiting six major sites of the former Mayan civilization. Mayan civilization continues to exist today, just not in the form many expect.  The rural communities of thatched huts have changed little since the Mayans fled their cities over the span of about 300 years.  Wow, that is a lesson in what a centralized government does for us.  Yes, there is plenty of evidence for the top-heavy, over-privileged Mayan classes being the catalyst for their destruction, but without their organized government, there was no way they could have achieved all that we still marvel at today.

Many people ask me what I think about the world ending in 2012.  Very many people ask me this.  I don't know if, as a plastic figure from a chocolate egg, I am supposed to have some mystical knowledge about such things.  Many people seem to think so.  Anyway, here's my answer.  I'll refer to a real expert (who is, by the way, a real human and not just a toy...):

 

The professor of Mesoamerican art and writing, David Stuart, reminds us that Mayas were, and are, humans.  "They are not mystical seers, supernatural beings or aliens.  Stuart theorizes that such notions are a holdover from the discovery of the Maya's fantastic cities in the 19th century, when a brash, young Unites States was eradicating its own natives.  According to Stuart, the belief was that mere "Indians" simply could not have reached the height of art, writing, language, mathematics, architecture and astronomy displayed in these cities; their accomplishments were attributed instead to Phoenicians, Israelites, Scandinavians or even people from the lost continent of Atlantis.  He asserts that the view of the Maya as so exotic as to be alien, and the readiness to grasp at this milestone in the dimly understood ancient Maya calendar, says more about contemporary culture than it does about the Maya or their cosmology."

- From the SF Chronicle's "5 Things you should know about 2012".

The view from the Hacienda terrace, Campeche.  This city was founded in 1540 by San Francisco de Campeche atop the pre-existing Mayan city of Canpech, also known as "Kimpech".  Being an important port city after European settlement, Campeche was often the target of pirates and buccaneers, hence the ever-standing fortification walls around the old city.

*  *  *

This was an unforgettable day for me!!  I fell from this balcony earlier this morning and hit the head of a man on the street.  He picked me up and told his friend, "¡Si está lloviendo kitsch in México!"  ("It's raining kitsch in Mexico!")

To illustrate his point, the photo below.  Don't try to find me, but I am there...

Adventuring South of the Border

After a long hiatus, a hello from Mexico.  I never thought I'd spend so much time down here.  It was an excursion to explore ruins, ancient and otherwise.  But in the cities where I stayed, I was reminded of my trips to Andalucia, where the cities are built in rows that guide the summer winds.

Here I am in the Hacienda before breakfast.