No Refuge

I keep looking at the one picture of Major Malik Nadal Hassan. I don't know what I'm really looking for in it but I keep looking at it. Something in the story reminds me about the first time I got seriously involved with a girl.

She was second generation. Her mom tried hard to raise as Japanese as she could, but still she was growing up in the Boston suburbs. I think this contradiction left her with an intense misshapen nationalism, among other quirks. I think sometimes its hard to be second generation here. If I recall correctly, I read that Mr. Hassan was second generation as well, and if the stories surrounding him are true, he too had a malformed sense of self that manifested itself in a horrible way.

This doesn't in any way excuse his actions for me. I don't even know if any of what I'm thinking about has anything to do with the man, but I keep thinking about this and I keep looking at the one picture I can find. I keep looking at it waiting for some insight, but the only thing I see is that goddamn smirk.

Fuck you two times, Major Malik Nadal Hassan.

After the second plane hit the second tower Ali Eteraz was thinking "I hope these aren't muslims." When I heard about the shooting at fort Hood I thought the same thing. I really hoped it was some peckerwoods angry at the feds or something like that. There's a reason for this. It might be callous, but America seems to keep its head better when white domestic terrorists do something terrible. After Oklahoma City people didn't seem so scared, the constitution didn't get undermined, our prejudices didn't seem to grow. 9/11 was different.

So the anger I feel towards this suspected mass murderer, stems from two things. One being the mass shooting, and the second being that this mass shooting threatens to drag America further backwards, to make the country more divided and less free. I hope he doesn't die in a hospital bed, and actually makes it to trial.

Other than the Gorilla Gorilla skull, these are studies for more Chomsky Stuff. When planning this I was struggling to come up with symbols for Pakistan, India, China, Russia, and America. America and Russia were quick, the bear and eagle, as was China, the other bear. India was at first going to be an elephant, but was changed to the tiger both because it works better for a piece about militarism and because it fits with the trend I had going of using the national animals to represent these nations. I had no idea what to use for Pakistan although settling on national animals solved this issue. I am proud to say that while brainstorming on the couch I said to Tim, " Maybe a goat or something?" only to find out that the national animal of Pakistan is a Markhor, which is indeed a goat, or something. Actually Pakistan has many many symbolic animals. China has many as well. This is noteworthy because one Chinese national animal according to wikipedia is a dragon. China is the only country I know of with a make believe animal as a national animal, they don't give a hoot what you think they do what they want. Giant Dams, sick Opening Games, industrial might, oodles of executions, DRAGONS, China's got 'em and there isn't a thing we can say to change that. Ballers.

I read some Chomsky in the Hopkins bookstore and got some ideas. These are preparatory bits. Actually I was reading comic books in the Johns Hopkins bookstore and would quickly switch to Chomsky whenever someone would walk by so they wouldn't know what I was up to. I really think if you see this you probably know I'm an awful nerd though so I can speak freely. I'm glad we've grown so close.

Lesser animals and Back issues of NGM. Thanks Book Thing.

My friend the domestic batterer

My friend Jake is an aspiring playwrite. He is also a graduate of Emerge, a court ordered support group for domestic batterers. The story I hear are that he was a man trapped by circumstance and foolishness, not the monster his situation would seem to make him. I believed it until he asked me to make a drawing of a tampon fighting a menstrual blood demon for a series of monologues he'd made called "Women are Raging Cunts."

I'm proud I made anything good out of this dreadful idea.

Just kidding pal you're alright in my book.

JULIAN 9TH

As I ran forward I shouted at the beasts and those that were leaping for the figure stopped and turned toward me. I knew something of the temper of these animals and that I might expect them to charge, for they were quite fearless of man ordinarily; but I ran forward toward them so swiftly and with such determination that they turned growling and ran off.

The one that had hold of the figure succeeded in dragging it to earth just before I reached them and then it discovered me and turned, standing over its prey, with wide jaws and terrific fangs menacing me. It was a huge beast, almost as large as a full grown goat, and easily a match for several men as poorly armed as I. Under ordinary circumstances I should have given it plenty of room; but what was I to do when the life of a woman was at stake?

-From Chapter Three: The Hellhounds of The MoonMen By Edgar Rice Burroughs.

I'm planning a nice big JULIAN 9TH for the top, or possibly THE MOONMEN or possibly THE HELLHOUNDS and possibly a nice by Edgar Rice Burroughs for the middle bit.

More than likely you will see some more MoonMen based work in the upcoming book "RED PONY #1."