July 2010

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9

After spending so much time contemplating cities, wars, politics and economics, I realized that I had lost sight of some of the more enduring aspects of the North American continent. The natural beauty, for example. The truth is, this land of variety and abundance is both blessed and cursed by that very variety and abundance. All of its problems in the aforementioned subjects of contemplation can be traced back to how people have approached America's bounty. After searching for a particular check-in station in a vast tract of under-serviced land in the Federation of Free States for half a day, the crew and I decided to break our routine and set up a camp. We chose a spot along the Platte River, a place that looked like it hadn't been disturbed by people in years. This would prove to be a peaceful respite in between very troubled periods in our making of this film.

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square tracts of farm land

and not a single mountain

far as the eye sees

The stars don't need trained professionals to read them. Fate has been moving since before humans appeared in this world and it will work its wonders after we've gone. That's why we like to invite new people to our humble blog to read the weekly horoscopes from a fresh perspective.

We could only convince Miss Natalie Jericho of the Little Blossoms Preschool to read the horoscopes for us this week after we proved we could recite our ABC's and could tell her three reasons why it's a good thing to share with our friends. For the record: 1. It makes us feel good, 2. It encourages our friends to share with us, and 3. No economy, from the smallest local exchange to the largest international trade agreement, could function properly without a baseline of trust established by a willingness to share. Here's Miss Jericho's take on this week's charts.

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just because they're fake

doesn't mean the instruments

won't give you blisters

dad had his LP's

sis had her stacks of CD's

I've more in my palm

Chapters

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7

When Edward, our road manager, told me we would actually be interviewing Chief Representative Harriet Feinman of the Pacific Civic Administrative Union (Pacific Union for short), I thought he was joking. We've attempted to spend time with the heads of state in every country we've visited but this is the first time our inquiry was actually acknowledged, let alone accepted. Though the PCAU is a rather unique case, I suppose. The country is made up of three distinct regions- The central segment still called California (though a significant portion of the former state in the north is not a part of this district), the southeastern Nevada region made up of remnants of the former states of Nevada and Arizona, and lastly the narrow Cascade region composed of the Seattle/Portland/San Francisco corridor. To refer to these regions as autonomous would be to gloss over the role autonomy plays throughout the nation. Laws and regulations vary not just city to city, but neighborhood to neighborhood. Only the Laws of Seal, those written and approved by the federal government, are even enforced by police. Each region has its own legislative council and a Chief Representative, a sort of local president. CR Feinman hails from Cascade.

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shame to stay indoors

nothing to watch anyway

sun instead of tube

The stars don't need trained professionals to read them. Fate has been moving since before humans appeared in this world and it will work its wonders after we've gone. That's why we like to invite new people to our humble blog to read the weekly horoscopes from a fresh perspective.

When we heard that Princess Yomoguchi Starlight of the extremely popular anime series Super Delicious Mango Exceptional Saga was going to be in the United States, we just couldn't pass up the opportunity to offer her this week's horoscopes. Adorably, Her Highness of Starlight misunderstood our proposition and came to the Zen Ramblings office prepared to battle twelve intergalactic monsters in some sort of tournament. When we explained what her actual task would be, a massive bead of sweat appeared beside her head and she agreed not to kill any of us with lasers... today.

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with alluring heat

the fullness of summer blooms

thirty-one great days

Chapters

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Because I believe it is necessary and because Lucas was kind enough to give me this segment of his film to do so, I have taken it upon myself to describe my experience while in the custody of the Texas National Guard. First and foremost, I want to make it clear that I was not harmed nor was I mistreated in any way during the extent of my detention. Though I still find it insulting and politically unjustifiable to be arrested simply for appearing foreign, I don't want to make the ordeal out to be anything other than what it was.

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