SJ Rozan

The below was written by a comedian named Patton Oswalt in response to the Boston bombs. Here’s the thing: when I started reading it I thought it was just another look-for-the-helpers attempt to put whatever tiny positive spin possible on horror. I’ve always had a pretty dark, pessimistic view of our species. But I was knocked over by this: “We would not be here if humanity were inherently evil. We’d have eaten ourselves alive long ago.”

Oh.

You know, he might be right.

Thank you, Patton Oswalt, and may good follow you to the end of your days!

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Boston. Fucking horrible.

I remember, when 9/11 went down, my reaction was, “Well, I’ve had it with humanity.”

But I was wrong. I don’t know what’s going to be revealed to be behind all of this mayhem. One human insect or a poisonous mass of broken sociopaths.

But here’s what I DO know. If it’s one person or a HUNDRED people, that number is not even a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the population on this planet. You watch the videos of the carnage and there are people running TOWARDS the destruction to help out. (Thanks FAKE Gallery founder and owner Paul Kozlowski for pointing this out to me). This is a giant planet and we’re lucky to live on it but there are prices and penalties incurred for the daily miracle of existence. One of them is, every once in awhile, the wiring of a tiny sliver of the species gets snarled and they’re pointed towards darkness.

But the vast majority stands against that darkness and, like white blood cells attacking a virus, they dilute and weaken and eventually wash away the evil doers and, more importantly, the damage they wreak. This is beyond religion or creed or nation. We would not be here if humanity were inherently evil. We’d have eaten ourselves alive long ago.

So when you spot violence, or bigotry, or intolerance or fear or just garden-variety misogyny, hatred or ignorance, just look it in the eye and think, “The good outnumber you, and we always will.”

All our epic rivalries have always been between brothers and sisters. We love you, Boston. Stay strong.

Water’s glass surface

Rises up in rolling swells,

Smooths itself again.

Pastel images

Of opposite shore’s towers

In river’s mirror.

Copter chops through sky

Briefly silencing “feed me!”

From newborn grackle.

And more haiku if you need them.

The most valuable thing I learned in architecture school was that organizations, like all other living organisms, have as their first priority their own survival. After that comes their mission and after that, living up to their values. The decision by the bloated and self-aggrandizing Museum of Modern Art to destroy this building because it’s at odds with their bullheaded “aesthetic” —

“MoMA officials said the building’s design did not fit their plans because the opaque facade is not in keeping with the glass aesthetic of the rest of the museum. The former folk museum is also set back farther than MoMA’s other properties, and the floors would not line up.”

— is a clear example of how an organization’s mission can get completely smothered under its own swollen sense of self-importance.

Okay, architects. Anyone ever use a product called Sylprotec CP240 to cover a spray-on asbestos ceiling? If so, are you satisfied? Anyone ever decide not to, and if so why?

1. Why on earth not?

2. Here’s a link to my latest newsletter, the Rozan Report, the Is It Spring Yet? issue. You can read it, study it, and sign up for it. (You do the sign-up part on my website under “newsletter info.”) Go ahead, you know you want to.

Close to 70 degrees this afternoon, bright sunshine, daffodils popping all over the park. Big white ones with orange centers, little yellow ones with yellow centers, big yellow ones with yellow centers, little yellow ones with orange centers… Sun’s shining through them all, and they’re glowing. Next to me on the bench, two people having an animated discussion about high-yield short-term Treasury notes. Of course people have a right to debate high-yield short-term Treasury notes wherever they want to, but it seems like a waste of good daffodils to me.

Sorry about the quality but the camera was recharging so had to use the iPhone. A third squirrel, out of frame, came along soon after and broke this up, but it was a few moments of peaceful snooze.

Buffleheads sleeping.

One black-and-white dot, one brown,

On calm blue river.

Brant geese at pilings

Nibble breakfast barnacles

Revealed by low tide.

Canada goose swims,

Looks around, bursts from water,

Flies honking to lawn.

And haiku through the year, if you want more.

Right now at this moment a young squirrel is lying on his belly on the flat board at the top of the fence. His paws are hanging down on each side, his chin’s on the board, and its tail is laid out flat. This is the first really warm and sunny day we’ve had and this guy is taking advantage. If I’m right about the squirrel family living inside the fence now, then he’s about four feet from home. This, of course, before the nest fell out of the tree, was always Squirrely’s favorite position: flat on his belly, paws hanging down, on a branch right near home. This guy isn’t Squirrely; he’s smaller and his tail’s not as thick. But obviously, like father, like offspring.