Swing Songs

I recall as a child that my favorite pass-time at recess was swinging on the swings. Now the swing set was large and probably had twenty feet worth of chain but only the truly determined could get it to full heighth. Now there were always a few nuts who chose to get it up to speed and jump off and see how far they could fly. I was not one of these nuts as a gravel playground was not conducive to a smooth landing even though it was easier to mark the distance that way.

No, instead I took this opportunity to hold a singing contest. Imagine if you will American Idol at thirty-five miles per hour, back and forth, done by second grade kids. The entertainment value was unmeasureable and I was the only judge. More of a Randy than a Simon.

We sang popular songs of the day such as C. W. McCall's haunting tune "Convoy" which was an anti-authority song against "The Man" who was holding us back and keeping us down. Bonus points were awarded for the obligitory CB squawk.

Another popular number was Kenny Roger's "The Gambler" as all second grade kids can identify with a world-weary drunken gambler who is down on his luck. Additional points were awarded for those who could achieve the correct lilt of a rough voiced ne'er-do-well turned pro.

The true test of the contestents was Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall, part two" as by second grade, we had learned all we needed to learn and, "we don't need no thought control".

Looking back on it now, I realize that it was not so much about the singing or working out the pent-up energy of being an eight year old on a swing set. It was about trying to suss out who shared my world view of our mutual oppression, and who would have my back when the revolution came.

Perhaps we should have sang this:



Doc

The Concept of Kipple

I learned of kipple when a buddy of mine gave me a copy of Philip K. Dick's novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" in the sixth grade. The film "Blade Runner" was in theaters and was based on this book. As I knew that this poor country boy was never going to see it in the theater, I accepted the book with many thanks and proceeded to tear through it. It warped me in a number of wonderful ways, and for a long time I would go back and reread it every year. I had to put a rubber band around it just to keep it together. Every Christmas I ask for a new copy as the old paperback finally disintegrated into kipple.

In the film there is a character named Sebastian, a brilliant engineer who helps design the replicants/androids and lives in a vacant apartment building. In the book the character is named J.R. Isidore, a man with limited intelligence who drives a fake ambulance to pick up and drop off electric pets that need repair, and he lives in a vacant apartment building. In the book Isidore explains kipple. Kipple is unwanted or useless objects, filth, rot, decay, or entropy. Kipple is invasive and self-reproducing. Isidore explains to the android Pris that the first law of kipple is "Kipple drives out nonkipple".

I think that may be one of the maxims of life. Life is about fighting back the kipple and trying to bring order to chaos, and driving out the it's degenerative forces. If you quit fighting the kipple, you die and are buried under it.

I thought of this today as I picked up the house. My two kids are fantastic kipple makers. As my Dad used to say "You could mess up a junkyard!", and I believe they could, the little scamps.

Then I got to thinking about fighting kipple. I can think of a few excellent warriors against kipple. The trashman who comes to my house every Wednesday for one. He takes my kipple and puts with it's own kind. Bubs over at Sprawling Ramshackle Compound for another. People can turn into living kipple and as a representative of the armed might of the state, he helps keep this human kipple off the street. Big Orange over at Frying Bacon is a warrior against kipple. He teaches kids how not to become human kipple, and how to use learning as a way to better themselves, and the rest of us how to keep the kipple from out of our heads with his regular feature of "God Talks". I'm sure even Evil Genius over at What I Like About The Universe does his part to fight kipple, although I couldn't cite examples just right here and now. Pezda does it with good cooking. GetkristiLove has been waging her own battle against kipple for about a year now. Cooper Green fights with one of the strongest weapons I can think of, humor. Chris combats it by designing new and better buildings, as well as shaving the cat. Megan joins him in his fight in much the same way I do.

May God bless you, one and all, for the fine work you have been doing.

I'm sure that I've left someone out but it was not intentional.

So tell me, how do you fight kipple? I look forward to your answers.

Doc