A Contrarian At Heart, I Am Often

People Are Actually Very Good At Being Communists In The Sense That They Instantly Abandon Capitalism, That They Love These Relationships Of Mutual Aid, Because The Astonishing Thing About Disasters Is That People Are Often Weirdly Joyous In Them, Because They've Recovered A Sense Of Agency, A Sense Of Power, Etc.

Many People Nowadays Live In A Series Of Interiors...disconnected From Each Other. On Foot Everything Stays Connected, For While Walking One Occupies The Spaces Between Those Interiors In The Same Way One Occupies Those Interiors. One Lives In The Whole World Rather Than In Interiors Built Up Against It.

Sure, You Can Say Nuclear Power Is Somewhat Less Carbon-intensive Than Burning Fossil Fuels For Energy; Beating Your Children To Death With A Club Will Prevent Them From Getting Hit By A Car. Ravaging The Earth By One Irreparable Means Is Not A Sensible Way To Prevent It From Being Destroyed By Another. There Are Alternatives. We Should Choose Them And Use Them.

The Battle With Men Who Explain Things Has Trampled Down Many Women - Of My Generation, Of The Up-and-coming Generation We Need So Badly, Here And In Pakistan And Bolivia And Java, Not To Speak Of The Countless Women Who Came Before Me And Were Not Allowed Into The Laboratory, Or The Library, Or The Conversation, Or The Revolution, Or Even The Category Called Human.

The Language Of Commerce Has Been Engineered To Describe The Overt Purpose Of A Thing, But Cannot Encompass Fringe Benefits Or Peripheral Pleasures. It Weighs The Obvious Against What In Its Terms Are Incomprehensible. When I Drive From Here To There, Speed, Privacy, Control, And Safety Are Easy To Claim. When I Walk, What Happens Is More Vague, More Ambiguous-and In Many Circumstances Much Richer. I Am Out In The World. It's Exercise, Though Not So Quantifiably As On A Treadmill In A Gym With A Digital Readout.