Editor Notes
Everything happens for a reason, my mom said, and I have found that to be true. She usually offered this bit of wisdom as a consolation prize for all the stuff we missed out on, being a whole family of procrastinators. Borrowing a phrase from Springsteen, I called my mom’s props against depression “cloud liners.” As we missed planes, trains and automobiles, we good-naturedly made the best of a thousand misadventures, telling ourselves that falling out of the schedule and tumbling helter-skelter through life was really exciting. My mom’s favorite cloud liner, too often used, was, “If we had caught that plane, it might have crashed.” This was her way of mining traditional Mexican fatalism to extract the psychic gold of optimism. She was a genius at renovating reality, something that living with and loving my father must have required of her.
Not surprisingly, I too have inducted those near to me on expeditions to distant lands and strange beliefs. “ Rude Awakening” is a story about some of those expeditions, as well as a review of what I’ve called Ram Dass’s testament, the moving and disturbing movie, “Fierce Grace.” This movie, and my review of it, consider the dangers of relying too heavily on cloud liners to repel the terror of insurmountables like old age and death. All techniques have their limits.
Iggy Pop put another spin on the idea that everything happens for a reason:
I'm looking at you
And you're too much to chew
For a reason
And the problems you got
Are the problems you got
For a reason
And what you are not
Is what you are not
For a reason.
Loser, Skull Ring © 2003, Iggy Pop
I have come to believe that Iggy’s approach is the one more likely to lead to catching the planes, rather than reconciling yourself to missing them, and having the expected experience, rather than what you can put together like a gyspsy, out of the back of a car and a handbag.
Still, when shit happens, I dust off my mom’s philosophy, so I was reaching for the cloud liners when Jacob took off for Houston, leaving me with no layout skills at my easy disposal and the short month of February staring down the gunbarrel straight at me. But my son Josh and Meghan McGuire allowed me to save on cloud liners. They’re real gold. Right now Meghan and I are sitting here at our respective computer screens in the late evening, cranking out the work so that you can read, enjoy, trip out, and totally have a blast with this publication. For a reason. Josh’s cover art gives us new pride in our ability to kick ass in the graphics department. With these talents in our corner, I think you can see that the paper has shaped up into a real contender. Again, for a reason.
Pushing beyond the confines of the printed page, our new website is fun, fast and hauling in the hits. We will publish all future issues to the site as soon as they are ready, so Ashland’s web-users can read the latest issue as soon as it’s written, days before it rolls down the road to the numerous distribution locations that are now serviced by our new Distribution Chief, Jamie Altman.
The Hour of Dave has rocketed to stardom, racing to the top of many popular podcast lists, and the queue of local musicians lining up to entertain on the show is growing. The Hour of Dave has become a must-listen online event for those who want to tap into the psychic hotline hidden beneath the quiet streets of Ashland.
Down in the Underground Market, like an electric seed, the Ashland Free Press & Writer’s Lounge has started sprouting all kinds of gnarly growth. I had feared it would attract layabouts and space cadets, and it certainly has, but somehow, perhaps due to the guidance of our resident incarnation of Job, Steve Sumrell who operates the Los Gordos spaceport, diner, and spiritual mission next door, people are using the space productively. Andy Warstars got his website up at www.andywarstars.com, Holly Sheehy cranked out a review of two local gigs and helped get other writers’ articles online. The other writers in this issue wandered in with their material under their arms, and walked out with publication credit.
They say it takes a village to make a child. I don’t like the saying. It sounds like a slogan that didn’t quite translate into our society — I grew up in a Mexican restaurant and on the inferno-like streets, backlots and canal banks of Phoenix, Arizona, which was not a village. I suppose I was not a child, therefore, or am I being obtuse? Perhaps, but one thing I know — it takes a village to make villagers – people who know and really like their neighbors, who watch the same hills, the same rain drifting up the valley, the same moon lighting the sky, the same trees and the clouds each night. The Underground Market feels like a village to me. I love being there, and I am never bored. For a reason.
Charles Carreon,
Managing Editor
AFP Personnel
Charles Carreon, Editor
ed@ashalndfreepress.com
Tara Carreon, Research
ambu@americanbuddha.com
Josh Carreon, Graphic Designer
joshcarreon00@hotmail.com
Meghan McGuire, Layout and Design
meghanmcguire@gmail.com
Holly Sheehy, Editorial Assistant
spacekitty@yahoo.com
Dee Fretwell, Advertising
advertising@ashlandfreepress.com
James Altman, Distribution Chief
541-973-1124
