It's May!

In the midst of the gloriousness, the lustiness, the upthrust and outburst, here is my statement negativa of the month:

There's no deterioration or acceleration in the children these days - it is only all the same, as when I was young, as when my parents were young - it is all the same process, like how the seedlings come up, every year.

There's no progress. There is no mega-narrative, there is no histrionic sweep to be a part of. There's only meta-drama, of how one leaf unfurls this time, this year, how it unpacks itself from the seed.

This isn't to say the style and emphasis of the seedling, generation to generation, doesn't slowly (or in one fell swoop) change - but the path and goal are remarkably consistent. There are only a few goals.

And it's action that needs doing - and needs our interest - how that leaf unfurls! - in fact, it is all our immediate curiosity. But this guilt - regret - about missing out, or not being in the right place for the right action - it's just a sham, a false industrialist capitalist notion of progress.

Just do what you are doing! Fully be where you are being!

And, speaking of the children, I'd like to dedicate this weekly rite, this may-song, to the graduating seniors at UVM - and in particular, Daniel Weinberg - who said he wanted to see more of me in the kitchen. What an inspiration you all are. I wish you "blissfully astray" life-living and art-making.