Your Square Life Issue #2

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I studied PsychotogSr in Coltege, rougtrty a ycar ago. I was good at it and it was rny passion. t lrave always sound the lnteractions between people and their thoughts to be of immense interest. lly edvice Gor schoole ol eny klnd, is to temper your study of the textbooks with the understanding thet they arc ell, with a Sew exceptions, crap. Thls ls not to say they ere misin$ormed, biasedl or comptetel5r wrong. The fect ls, however, these tomes of supposed knourledge are summaries of the painfulllr obvious, easil5r reasoned points of interest or regurgitated bits ol dumbed down inforrnation, that west long agor interesting and insormative. tt got to the polnt that t onl5r took courses t knew absolutet5r nothing about or had no interest in to avoid the greting knowledge that I was being condescended to.

For example f always avoided the maioriQr of psycholog5r classes and their texts, though t in psychologyr iust to avoid the mindless discussions in my clinical clssses.

arn immensely interested

Students sSo a death in the family may ceuse depression?, Professor: s. . .Yes, ln some ceses, but there are many exceptionst No shit.

My advice is to begin the studies of your lellow man in the excess that our cutture generates everlrday. Thls waste, like long $orgotten movies on TVr the trlte songs on the LPs ln your grandmats attic, or the obscure give-arvatrr books .t the llbraryr betrays the under[ring thoughts of the day, the things thet ere unarticulated ln your stogf,r tertbooks and dry lectures. So run out little student and go to a smell locat cafe and rvatch your $ellou' man try to get by. Read old L'fe magazines from the Salvation Army to understand the groundwor{c lor the babyboomerst endless neuroses. Most of all, whatever you dor dontt let someone who is most likely doing hack rvork rvriting your text books end teaching to the morons in the back rorv do all the rvork $or you. Go out and research from the rvorld eround you. Feel free to start here with the article below. As ahvays, Itm iust tr!/ing to erpand - Lee Post, lorrner student, a9g9

FtStlEB GHII8BEH: t[Hg Compwlsio e

Cux*mpti*tt

What working attitude is man to adopt towatd the potential glut of consumer goods that the new technologX will make available to virtually all memberc of the future society! Until now, modern capitalist societyts

traditional tesfronse to short-term

conditions of overproduction has been to genetate - through govemment manipulation

of fiscal devices - greater purchasing frower for discretionary consumption. At the same time, the rirn has been to cultivate the acquisitive impulse - l*g"ly through mass advertising, annual styling sfrenges, rnd planned obsolescence - so that, in the economistts tetminology, a high level of aggregate demand could be sustained. Fortunately, given the great new wants, these means

havg for the most part, worked comparatively well - both for advancing (albeit unequally) the mass standard of living and ensuring a rcasonably high rate of return to capital.

But as Walter Weisskopf, Robert Ileilbroner, and other economists have wonders4 will these means prove adequate for an automated futune society in which the merne production of goods and services might easily outstrip mants desirc for them, or his capacity to consume them in satisfring ways!

Massive problems of air pollution, traffic congestion, and waste dirpomf asidE is there no psychological limit to the number of automobiles, TV sets, feezers, and dishwasher's that even a z,ealous consumef can aspirc to, much less make psychic room for in his life space! The specter that haunts post-itr-

dustrial man is that of a n€sr worket-less economy in which most rn€n &re{€ttsttainc4

Wt?t OF US IIIRS BE HTFFIES (excerpt) By Fred Davis @ l97O through a wide variety of economic and political sanctions, to frantically purchase and assiduously use up the cornucopia of consumer goods that a robot-staffed factory sys-

tem (but still one harnessed to capitalism's rationale of pecuniary ptofit) rcgurgitates upon the populace. As far back as the late l940s sociologists like David Riesman wele already pointing to the many moral patadoxes of wodg leisure, and interpersonal relations posed by a then only nascent society of capitalist 1135s 4bs1dan66. IIow much mote perplexing the paradoxes if, using curnent technological ttends, we extrapolate to the year 2000t Hippies, otiginating mainly in the

middle classes, have been nurtuted at the boads of consumer abundance. Spaned theit parentst vivid memories of economic deptession and material want, howevet, they now, with what to tieir elders seems like insulting abandon, declarne unshamefacedly that the very qu€st for the "good things oflifer't and

all that this entails - the latest model, the third car, the monthly credit payments, the dght house in the right neighborhood-is a (bad bag.' In phrases redolent of neady all utopian thought of the past, they proclaim that happiness and meaningful life ane not to be found in things, but in tjre cultivation ofthe selfand by an intensive exploration of inner sensibilities with like-minded others.

Bxtreme as this anti-materialistic stance may seem, and despite its probable tempering should hippie communities develofrs as a stable featule on the American landscap.e, it nonetheless points a way to a solution of the problem of material glu! to wit,

SIIIIEIRS

the simple demonstration of the ability to live on less, ther,eby calming the acquisitive fr"ory thatwould have to be sustaine4 even acceletate4 if the present scheme of capitalist ptoduction and disttibution wele to tsm.in unchanged. Besides such establishments as the Diggerts Free Storre, gleanings ofthis attitude are even evident in the strreet panhandling that so many hippies engage in. Unlike the street beggars ofold" therc is little that is

obsequious or deferential about theirmannen On thecontraty, their approach is one

of

easy, sometimes condescending ca-

sualness, as if to say, (6Youtve got more than enough to spa.rE I need it, so let's not make a degrading charity scene out of my asking you." The story is

told in the Haigh-Ashbury of the pattonizing tourist who, upon being approached for a dime by a hippi" Strl io her late teens, took the occasion to delivet a small speech on how delighted he would be to give it to her - provided she first told him what she needed it fon Without blinking an eye she neplied ((Itts my menstrual period and thatts how much a sanitary napkin costs.tt

Geltingr i, On !

Ftotn Sctaalfle' by llarc lantal. Dr. e.C.. D. pe..pc.

F. ilggt

For several years I have had

dark olralcs around my

cVCs. lly fathcr confessor olaims that thlc ls e GonsGquerrcc of rnasftrballon- A

doclor, wlthout erplloitly

oonflrmlng rny father's

oplnlon, cecmed to acccpt ll, but had no cuggestlons to rnake. ls lhere fio ?eltledy to cffaoc thls stlgma

aot-

SlnGe rny

reftun from eapfivtly I have

becn lll. ls my dlffloulty a Goncequencc of my lllnecs, or lc it a mcnhl sfafc lhat rcqulres ltcalrnent? f am afratd to approacb a wolnaD beeauce she rnay thtnk I am llnpotenlYour problem eqlls to mind the old debate qs to whieh eame first, the chieken or the egg. ls gour shgness the eause of gour premature eiscu-

W&

v'ffi.t :r#+r

lation or vice versa? There is n0 point in trging t0 qnswer sueh eonundrum. What gou rnuct improve gour present sfate.

Obviouslg the burden

oner hqs been made illness. The two things suffieientto ueate in gou

that ctnbarrasses mc co muoh I arn tweDty-ottG years old and I am a law

Ple,r<.

ln order to fuce the

u\ a) lbs,,' tv"tl

eonsider instead is how to

/

,

of havingbeen a war pris-

heavi$ bg gour present logether qre more than a sfuong inferioritg com-

u

future with equanimifg

all right

A sfudent, becquse of night laborc - and other less studious nocfurnal pastimeJ msg suffeJ fiom nervous fatigue, of whieh dsrk eireleJ

-

qtound the eges qre often a sgmptom.

q eonseienee tormented bg guilf eomplex to "rationalizer" that is to fig to find a plausible reason for a mqnifpsta. tion thqt is o psgchic orign. Thus gou eonneef gour sgrnpforns with however, for

fi* .(',DDr"l*

the ideq of masfurbqtion.

This conneetion probablg onlg exists in gour mind. Think no qbout

it

rorl

Trg lo live a heallhg and weJl-balaneed life, in whieh ctudiec,

hg$ene, diet and q normql sex life must all find their proper place. Do not womg about the eireles around gour eges. Coffee snd cigarettes are probablg more t0 blame than studieJ or rnasfurbafion.

your Squere f,lf

Please conteet l,ae tlth your conments, quest1ons, lnil cleslr:es ct leepost0gcl.net. t-shr.rts, FYI.

lll srtrork snil son6 of the 161l thought out Prose ls propsrty of f,ee Post snil 1s not to ba reprl.ntect or useal ln eny ray rlthout the express rrltten permlsslon of Lee Post, ttKotl 8&on*, nâ&#x201A;Źntttl

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.,r

l/t, 6-

e

1s cn lnilepend.ent publlcctlon of lque Fortls Daslgn, creeteal by Lee Post.

Lee 81so ilaslgns tatoos and

q

gou musf first get rid of this eomplex. Then onee gou reeover gour health, gou also will reeovs Uour peace of mind and evergthing will be

ctrdent-

If is easg,

I often hcctlalc to have lnleroource wllh a utomah beeause I oannotprolong the scrual

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IIEROES

-+',a

BY lEE POST

Heroism is dead in todayts cultule. cone ale the days of valor and rusponsibility. Ihey have been replaced with a sweet sponsorship contract or odes of pradously unfathomable misdeeds.

says, "If I let you die, I would be no better than youJ' He pats Skelator on the butt and he is on his merry, evil way As a kid, I always felt grilty for wallowing in my baser emotions, and was stuck second-guessing my own

I bla,me marketin$Jhe business of sultivating disposable income, which is always-easy target I admit, for subjugating heroism and respect into the mold of advertisements. I should not blame them, however. Ad-

Wtren our heroes follow and embrace our base instincts are they heroes atrJmorc or have they become examples of mediocrit5r on a grand scale?

vertising is opportunistic. Like water flowing from a clogged toilet, it flows wherever it is unimpeded. If it flows down a drain, that is well enough. If it ruins your new white carpet, that is when you staxt to care.

Often, you don't notice the beauty of the things you value come soiled.

until they be

llhere I must place the most blame is with society itself. Ihe public has allowed its ideals to be nolded into those ideals that are easily attained, hence cheapeningthem. Aspirations are gone. their surrogate has become moment-to-moment tbrills that satiate the gnawing want of instant gatification that is cultivated as a right of passage into 'true' American culture. Heroes bave begUn, through attrition, to be capable of what we ourselves are readily capable ol and no more. Accomplishing the average and commending it prevents us from dweloping guilt for our own poor choices or faults in judgmeni as we wind our ways through life.

If we find out the fireman who saves a fa,mily of five from their burning home beats his wife on his off hours or out nation's president keeps lookin$ for a little ass to get him trtr1srrgh the ni$ht, where is the pain in our failures.

My point is not to say that our culture and values are falling down around our ears, because . . . hell, they always are. Ihe point is there is no more push. There is no more fire in aperson's bellyto accomplish geat tlrings, unless accomplishing gleat things can lead you to bigger and betkr ways to screw your fellow man and get ahead. if your favorite basketball player assaults his coach, why should you feel guilty cheating on your taxes or splashinâ&#x201A;Ź stranded motorist. Ihe people you Iook up to would do the same thing and mope, so there are no worries.

Hell, you are doing better than the $ty next to you who is fuckin$ up worse than you. Before you knowit you are lookingpretiy damn good in the eyes of God.

An example for those fallin$ into the cate$ory of 'Gen-X'. In musing on ihis topic,I always remember the old He-Man cartoons when, for whatever reason, Skelator falls off a cliff and all that was between him s6f, certain death is He-Man's Sasp on his hand. As a child you are wondering if he is goingto drop h@ because as evelyone lnows, Skelator ls evil and he will just be back next week to cause more problems for our hero. You almost wish he would. But in the end, He-Man pulls him up and

motivations that led me to be "no better than" Skelator. (When you're a child, He-Man takes on deep, philosophical significance.)

this is not to saythat heroes rnust remain lily-white protectors of truth and justice. From a literary perspective, flawed heroes have provided some of the most captivating characters of the literary pantheon. think of the Greek and Roman myths. Hell, most of those grys were bastards in sone way, shape, or form, far from always making the correct choices. they sometimes followed their basest instincts to reap petty vengeance for minor sli$hts. But in the end, the heroes of these myths unarguablyaccomplished the heroic. fire drama comes from them casting aside their flaws and doing $rhat is right. gaddens me to see people today equating and confounding the flaws for heroism. the classic exa,mple is the young musician who equates

It

his favorite artist's heroin addiction with their $ft for music, working the equation out to the conclusion that a hit of smack before a $g will produce a record contract. I've seen too many strung out teens wandering the streets of Seattle to believe the truth in this argument. Ifhile bein$ an extreme example,I hope you get the point. Ihe most benigEr advertisement uses the silme axâ&#x201A;Źlument to nake you purchase any number of products. If you buy Nike shoes like the pros own, you will jump higher and play better, The mechanism is simplistic, but it works and works well.

I long for a new age of heroes and heroines. An age where the press does not feel i.he need to go back years in a person's past, miUing friends and family with interviews for that nugget of dark past that will nullifyany present good deed. People have become uncomfortable around those who in their eyes have done no wrong.

Maybe it is a remnant of our revolutionaryAmerican past when we despised the holier-than-thou En$ishroyal familyor fromthe Depression Era despise felt toward the fat-cat robber-barons. But they had George Washin$ton and Superman to pin tbeir aspirations on.

llho

do we have? Wro are your heroes?

* This is so true that we * F"iutrJship is less simple. It * Ti'n. J.Lrrroh."y is liberatt.r.ly in those *ho ut. is long rtrJ Lu"J to ottain, L,ri *h". ing tecause it creates no obligr"orrfiJ"

Letter than we. Rather v,e are more inclineJ to flee tLeir society. Most oft"t, on the otLer hrttJ, *. oonf".. to tLose *ho -t.

lik. ,t. rnJ *lro .hrr. o.,' *.-k-

o.r" hu. it there is no gietting riJ o{ tions. In it you possess only yorrtit; one sirnply has to cope with it. ."lf; h.t it remains the favorite ". th. gireatest pastime lo.r"ts o{ * What*. o"ll the Lasic trutLs their own"fperson. It is a jungle

ure simply the ones te. all the others.

*.

Jisoo..,"t uf-

nesses. Hence *" Jorr't want to irnprove ourselves ot t. LettereJ, for *" sh"JJ first have to b" * TL"u I rs r -Wb ".rliz.J, ".s,rlt rnerely *ish of JeLing into my mernory, that ;uJged itr J.f"ult. to te pifieJ.nJ.nco.rtrgeJ in th. moJesty h.lpuJ me to.hirr., h,rrrrilcourse *. h.-r. chos.rr. In short, ity to conquer, anJ virtue to op*" shonlJ like at the sarne tirne, press. I ,rs"J to wagie *r. by p."o.to cease Leing guilty anJ yet not frrl ,'.ars anJ event.'lly .r..J to to rnate the effort of cleansing rchi"o", through JisinteresteJ o.rts.lo"s. Not enough cynicisrn means, everything I JesireJ. anJ not enough virtue. W'. Irct tLe energy of * But "l.il rs *"ll as the lo*s"l Lo".. truth, cher ar,-. i, is a coenergy of goo,l.

*

You see, I'.,," hearJ o{ t .rrrr, *hose frienJ h.J t"..r imprisoneJ rt J *ho slept on the floo" of ks toorn every night in o.d.t not to enjoy r corn{ort of

*

E"chexcessd.or"r".switalis nothing {r"rrzi"J aLout J"tr..chern conLrary to what is tlrought.

It is tut a long sleep.

f.llo*

rnan, or ,r"rrly sry

one's neigLor

of

*kl. tnitting."',.i1But

in certain cases, carryin$ on, tn.t.ly continuing, is superhurnan.

*

A single sentence *ill suffio" fot ,noJ..n rrran: h" fornicateJ rnJ r"rJ the papers. was not a rnatter, rninJ yo,r, o{ t}re certainry I LaJ of L"ingf rnore intelligent tfrat everyone else. BesiJ.., s,r"h certainty is of no consequence b.cu.rs. so rna'y irnbeciles share it.

*

ity, hence suffering. There

Yes, one can wagie war in tLis *otlJ, .p" lo.r", torture orre's

pri..eJ. \4ro, rnon.ieur, will "L"t sl."p o.r th" {Ioor {or ..s?

It

frorn the *otlJ. On enterind, one leaves b"hittJ f.rt rt J hop.. Conversation is not otlig"tory there; what one corrres fo. cr' b. h"J without *otJs, rnJ oft*n it J"eJ without rnoney.

Alo"h"l rnJ *ou"' p.o-.id.J me, I aJrnit, th" o.rly solrc. of orLi.lt f was *orthy. *'

*hioh his {ri.trJ hrJ b..n d.-

*

without past or future, urithout any prornise aLout r11, t ot rt y irnrneJiat. p.r..lty. Th" plrc.s *h.r. it is practio"J r". s"prtrtrJ

*

:J (r n4

You see, a person I L..* ,r..J to Ji..iJ. htrrrr.t Leinfs into three cate$oriesr those *ko p."{er hawing nothing to kJe rather than being oblig.J to lie, those *ho pt"f"r lyrng to havinS nothing to hiJ., rttJ fittrlly thos" *ho

lit. *

b"th ly'.g.'rJ th. hiJJ.".

I arn eagfer t" bl"ct the Joor

of th" clos"d little urri.r.rs" of *hich I

arn the

the juJge.

titrg, tlt" pop.,

"rrJ

EIPnaENTARY

Scnool Bus Srop MeruoRIEs

Fftt}i{ PALi'IEft, AI( Il{ I}tE 1980S

I t.ro"tt tr eL . .

The ine"plicable paranoia I had that i[ I wasn't payinp attenlion the *ulls *,r.rld p"ll b"uk L"h;trJ me or a trapdoor -o*ld op"n lluhbu ^nl the Hutt with ht' Inll hrt"-, *ould rise out on u Ju.tt platform, just lihe i.r Return of the Jedi. As a result, I {requently kept a wary eye out lrehi"d mg just in case, on my Jaily -alhs to und fro- the bus, Jabba *onld pop out anJ scare the crap out o[ me. Th;s is on" of th" thoughts that crept into my minJ when I LuJ lS minutes a clay of uninterrupteJ thought at the tus stop and I was eight yuurs old. Now I just thinh about my job on the drive to vlorh. I don't know *hlch is -ore frightening.

\flatching a tree grow {ro* u little sprout to u f.,ll-g.ou,r, evergreen tree during myyears o{u,ulkitrg to the tus {rom grades K-9e. Irr. {o.,nJ only in chlldhood do p"opl" have the time and clarity of minJ to notice a tree $row on their

-uy ury*hur".

f.o- -y front door when I was shuffled o# t" grade. s.huol in the first I was weating a full snowsuit, moon toots, arrd Seeing a moose {ive {eet

prizefighter size mittens. I immediately lock"d eyes with that moose *hen I trotteJ out side the Joo.. After a tense moment of absolute {ear, I ran tu.k into the house screaming that I couldn't go to school. I r"-"-tcr -y dad, without hesitation, *ulkittg out that same door, into the snow, anJ right up to the moose (II see-eJ like they *ere only inches

My annoyance at a certain hid at my bus stop. \[hen I *onld g"t off th" br',s u.td starl walhing home, I rould t"ll hi-, us an oulpouring o[ my childh"od civility, 'I'll see you rro,rnd." Everyday sin gl" duy, h" *orld parroL back, 'See yo,r square." This u,as his first year at a public o-chool, uft". y"urs spent at the local Christian s.hool. I {elt plty {or hi- bu.u.rs" o[ it. IIe was or" of those Lids that trieJ n"ry hurd to fit i'' and

*"s roully

nice,

tut

sudly, us cvidcnced by his taste in humor, h" .,orrlJ I thinh he eventually retreated bu.h to Christian

never quite cut it. s"hool some time b"{or" sophomore year o{ hqh s.hool. was corrsiJer"d rr.ry funny there, bu.L in his element.

I'-

su.e h*

Daily Affsrmations

BY Lgg "Mastgr

Motivatop Post

In some cultures, I am considered beautiful or at least reasonablg atltactive.

I am not grosslg malformed.

I do not b'ave lbtee nipples. (if gou do have 3 nipples, add ,1, e.g, 'l d.o not have 4 nipples') If the problem is not difficult and reguires no effort on mg part, I will succeed.

Avetage is still bettet tbat balf the test.

ust because others (fiiends, teachels,mg mother, the norm of Western societg) do not tecognize mg intelligence and talent, that does not mean tbeg're not there waiting to be found.

There is no

lf

'I'

in the word 'telarded',

people look past mg shocking ugliness and abusive personalitg, theg will see tbe love I can give, damn it.

away at the time) and he let out a out an animalistic bollo*. Th" *oose slowly got up atrd *andered off, u*ay fro- -y path to the tus, thus allowing my passage. I was tahen buch by the amount o[ courage and strength my J.d sho*"d in the {ace o{ t}rat Least, considering "sp"cially that Alaskan are taught are stomped ty ,rroos" o' u "hilJt"n "hild."tt daily basis {o, so -nch as thinking atout them the wrong way. At that

point, I decided I wanteJ to 6lrow.tp a.rd b" lik"

-y

dud.

Thi.rhittg, *hetr I *.s ulo.r" at the tus stop for long perioJs on a -indy day, that I conld control the weather. I -orld {ace the wind, raise my huttds ,rp high, grasping the air, and concentrating v.ith all *y t"ight on becoming one with the wincl. I thought oI -ys"lf as a benerrolent v,eather goJ. I *o"lJ try to malee the wind stop so the weather q,o,tld b" more tolerabl" {o. ull the other .hilJt"tr waiting {or the tus on that same blustery day, but my powers

tich np again. I thought I

*onld dirni,rish and the wind would

.reeded more practice unJ

*o."

concentration, which I was co.r{ident, would come with rg". Th"r, I could be the weather god that I wanted to be anJ live in a castle in the shy. These were my pluns {ot the future in the 2"J draJe. -Lv Lee Post