Haphazard Assemblies and Perceptual Enhancement Machines

The urban and suburban experience speaks in its landscape of angular functionality, of thorough-ways designed for movement of commerce and the somnambulism of traffic, basing itself in the methods of a psycho-geography that leaves no handhold for the fingers of the mind.  While cracked streets, uprooted pavement, and decay cause for unplanned shifts in the geometry of infrastructure and architecture, the standard constructive style based in practical function obliterates the irregular in favor of an enforced homogeneity that is experienced from town to town, from city to city.  One gets the feeling that in walking or driving from location to location in different regions, that one is still in the same place and that one is still the same person, thanks to unified standards of building and maintenance that enforce the geometry of order.  Curiosity and wonder are obliterated by planes of concrete and stretches of asphalt that support buildings in their simple facts of unadorned existence, discovery halted by the usual symmetries, and adventurous experience is transmuted into everyday boredom.

Additionally, these constructs are based in the technical specialism of an economy that has subjected construction and creation to cubby-holes that exist amid the division of labor.  Because of this, those who build cities are not artists, invested in the creation of sentiment or experience.  Those who organize the concrete aspects of our society are not philosophers, nor are they poets or sculptors or dreamers.  They are indeed, nothing more than repositories for calcified ways of completing things, people who would never imagine that perhaps a freeway should become a beautiful or curious thing.

While it is impossible currently to transform the inherent forms of infrastructure and architecture, it is possible to accentuate the spaces in which they reside through the construction of haphazard assemblies that work through abstract mechanism to offer pedestrians and motorists an encounter with new and unique arrangements.  We refer to these constructions as haphazard because they delightfully reflect the admirably amateur nature of people invested in creation who do not possess the training of a specialized role, but who regardless wish to lend to the material world a manifestation of their labor that carries the genuinely personal signature of their unique and often unrepeatable efforts.

The haphazard assembly is often a conglomeration of found materials and items, arranged in conformity only to the creator's desires.  Suitable trash or junk is useful in construction, as not only do assemblies based in such supposedly useless items facilitate new perspectives on discarded material, but are also readily available as per the wasteful nature of the consumerist-based economy.  These creations, an example of which we have illustrated by rearranging discarded lumber and old latticework, offer the enhancement of old forms through breaks in banal patterning, while exhibiting a chaotic order that forces a shift in the viewer's conditioned and unconscious facilities of aesthetic judgment towards involving an appreciation of the curious.  These constructions are meant as contrastive measures against clean and streamlined stylistic dictatorships, as well as events that allow the creator to contribute their own idiosyncratic model of material arrangement amid entrenched regimes of building.  Additionally, haphazard assemblies allow creators to reclaim space for free public usage by allowing them a fuller realm of participation in these areas.

The Journal of American Leisure

One has only to look at the boarded-up shops, empty schools, and understaffed hospitals to bear witness to the havoc caused by rampant astral projection .  In the past year, rates of astral disappearances have skyrocketed, indicating that people are leaving their bodies and simply not returning to them.  

The first exodus of soulbodies, it appears, was accidental.  Exhausted by the demands of modern life, working class Americans, who frequently found themselves in defeated postures of repose,  discovered that by simply relaxing their bellybuttons and allowing their mouths to fall open slackly, they could free the essence of their consciousness.  One of the first people to experience this in Peoria, Illinois was Mr. James Whittey, who was a bricklayer by trade, until he discovered the joys of astral projection.  He returned to his body only long enough to speak briefly with us, explaining that his dreambody was going to a Bruce Springsteen concert that evening.  

“It was the darnedest thing,” Mr. Whittey explains, “I’d gotten off of work and was pretty beat.  So, I was just sitting there in my chair and I got to scratchin’ my belly a little.  I scratch myself a lot, but I never felt the feeling that I started to feel around my bellybutton.  I didn’t know it at the time, but my astral umbilicus was awakening.”

“At first, I didn’t know what was happening, I thought maybe I’d better go microwave a burrito or have a beer, but when I went to get up from my chair, I just sort of floated up and I saw myself sitting there and my mouth was hanging open and I thought, ‘Well, I reckon I’m dead’ and, you know, thinking back, I wasn’t too sad about that.”

Like Mr. Whittey, many people who experience satisfying out-of-body experiences are reluctant to return to their human bodies.  Studies show that the elderly, disabled, and stereotypically ugly are far more likely to leave their bodies more or less permanently.  Once a soul becomes a "runaway" their bodies become "vacancies".  It is estimated that millions have burdened their families with the fleshy husks they've left behind.  Assisted living facilities are becoming crowded with vacancies and care of these cases can be quite complicated.

Rhonda Little, a CNA at Fair Oaks Home in suburban Chicago, explains that it is very difficult to keep the vacancies safe. "Oh, it's not like they do much of anything, but you know, they're vacant and so any old soul could just slip in and, boom, take over.  Why just last month, old Mr. Hankins was inhabited by what appeared to be the soul of a crack whore.  He just walked up and down the halls, trying the doorknobs and hollering out to people.  We didn't know what to tell his family, when they came to visit on Sunday and he sat on his son's lap, started feeling around for his wallet.  Of course, the families know that this happens sometimes and they are very understanding."

The challenge of keeping vacancies safe has proved too much for some families and there has been a dramatic increase in the number of people being left sitting beside the highway.  It is now a common sight to see the soulless bodies of people propped against one another in city parks and highway medians.  One woman, who would like to remain anonymous, tells of the heartwrenching decision to leave her 23-year old son at an interstate rest stop. "We just didn't know what to do with him anymore.  He just sat and stared at us and at first we thought he'd gone schizophrenic..." The woman goes on to explain that they didn't fully understand until they found the books on astral projection under the young man's bed.

Donnegal Dougan, author of one of those books, Astral, Cheap, and Easy, is currently in settlement negotiations in a lawsuit brought about a family whose daughter "just disappeared" after reading the book.
 "This is why," Mr. Dougan explains, "there is a warning at the front of the book. It clearly states that: In this age of the soul traveller, we must heed the warning of our dreambody forebearers and cling always to the silken cord that draws us home."

"The effect of astral projection on the American economy has been devastating," says chief financial analyst of the New York Times, Bill Briggins.  "Why, I haven't gotten paid in a month because that dimwit in payroll decided to astrally project herself to the Justin Bieber concert and got all caught up in that mess!"

The mess that Mr. Briggins is referring to is the astral cloud that has been following Justin Bieber for the past month and a half.  "The dense concentration of souls around Mr. Bieber's head is actually impairing his cell phone reception.  However, the prismatic effect of dreambody refraction has created a halo of rainbow light that surrounds Mr. Bieber at all times.  We are trying to be sensitive to the aura and Justin is working on a new song, called You're My Dreambody."

Ticket sales to his concerts, however, are down.  The entertainment and travel industries have started a campaign in response to the skyrocketing rates of astral piracy of experiences that were once privileges of the rich and famous.  "Ticket sales have been way down," says Super Bowl marketing manager Tom Slatton. "I mean really, though - who can blame them...I'll tell you who.  God.  It is the position of the leading executives that those who go against God and country by astrally projecting themselves to dream vacations and VIP events are going to have their cords cut at the gates of Heaven and they will plummet down to Hell...to Hell! They will plummet to Hell!"

Aside from the strong messaging being offered by the entertainment industry, there has been little response from world religious leaders. The official statement made by the Vatican reads as follows, "We do not believe that one's soul can project, because one's soul is held by God and by God alone." There has been no statement made regarding the mounting evidence that the Pope himself may have left his withered vessel.  Reports have been made that during formal Mass, the Pope has just been seated in an ornate chair to the right of the cross and has, once, slumped to the side and had to be repositioned by the Bishop.


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Delusional Existentialism and Existential Delusion

It remains possible, despite claims to the contrary, to achieve meaning and purpose on ontological ground.  While it is the argument of the existentialist that meaning and purpose do not exist due to the notion that there remains no perfect and godly consciousness in which to spawn objective dispersal of such things, it can be witnessed ultimately that both purpose and meaning remain innately human constructs which may be divorced from ecclesiastical considerations.  Furthermore, it is the somewhat flawed argument of the existentialist that lays claim to the idea that human existence precedes essence and purpose, which upon further examination, will prove to be an erroneous notion.

Most simply, it can be stated that purpose and meaning in human life exist in relation to social function and participation, particularly in the attribution of a social role to the individual.  Within the network of human creation, this ascribed role provides meaning, value, and purpose within the framework of an organized formation that may exhibit manifold goals as its ends.  A man who works as a firefighter maintains the purpose of being one who fights fires, just as the baker is one who bakes bread, thus showing that social roles ascribe features to humanity which the existentialist doubts exist.

Moreover, it can be argued that in terms of solipsism, that we alone create value, meaning, and purpose for ourselves within the context of our day to day lives.  The truth, invariably, is what we carry with us, and exists in a relationship to our unique experiences that is crafted by us alone.  The same is true of our individual constructions of meaning and purpose, which are rooted in our convictions, whims, and follies, and may be said to feature properties as analogously distinct as our physical features.  While it may be evidenced that many individuals incorporate meanings and values that are not original creations but have rather been disseminated through tradition, conditioning, and education, it is ultimately the reactive choice of the individual to incorporate or discard these aspects of life, leading to the conclusion that subjective axiology is fashioned along the lines of solipsistic choice and discernment.

Indeed, existentialism errs is in its claim that unlike the technological props of mankind, whose purpose exists before creation, that human existence occurs before having a purpose.  This claim can be shown to be false by the mere fact of human biology, all of which possesses clear functional purpose in terms of maintaining life.  The human hearts function is to pump blood, it is the purpose of blood to carry oxygen, and it is the function of the lungs to intake oxygen.  The roles of various facets of human biology act to deny the existential claim that existence precedes essence, if only in a strictly material sense.  Yet, almost any human activity on a micro or macro level may be pointed to as an example indicating the value and purpose of human essence, particularly role or conviction-based behaviors.  It may furthermore be explicated that human life is a purpose in itself, requiring no value beyond its fulfillment to serve as justification for its operation. 

However, as a springboard, we may adopt the existential consideration that man is condemned to freedom, as this is evidenced by our solipsistic relation to rational and irrational choice, especially in terms of maintaining value and purpose.  Man always harbors the capacity for free choice within the artifice of circumstance, a fact which people unfortunately have forgotten in the course of the reward-punishment conditioning proffered by the social nexus.

In order to achieve a break with the enforced and mediated aspects of purpose and meaning inherent in social role considerations, it may be advisable to cultivate conscious delusions.  Beyond the fact that people achieve this within the course of everyday life for the purposes of diminishing cognitive dissonance, conscious cultivation of delusions create perhaps an undisclosed benefit in the sense of serving as tools which ultimately lend towards enhanced depth of meaning and value in life.  Rather than view delusions as negative features of defunct mentalities, we can optimistically view their existence as constituting the art of essence and the literature of meaning.

Since we are indeed free to choose (and arguably free to react even to delusive intrusions), it is certainly preferable to lead a delusional life that cultivates aspects of meaning which are not readily obtained by positivist conceptions of reality that would regulate the world to remaining as bleak as a Monday morning.  In terms of solipsistic considerations, it may be viewed as imperative that you adorn the story of your experience with ornate fictive qualities in order to reclaim your capacity for living amid stale social writs that have ultimately served constrictive roles in terms of supporting positivist pragmatism.  An example of a delusion that transmutes thinking and existential role is the conception that reality exists as a veiled prison that we must admirably struggle against using art, humor, and love as our weapons.  You can place yourself in the delusional role of underground resistance soldier, a job that requires considerable skill, secrecy, and bravery.  It may be argued that the effects such an intentional delusion has on your sense of value and meaning will ultimately lead to enhanced quality of life. 

In maintaining delusional relations to the world and incorrect thinking, we also affirm our solemn and unspoken right as existential experimenters to be wrong but beautiful, as contrary to academic conception, truth is not invariably linked to beauty, but beauty may also be linked inordinately to falsehood.  If beautiful delusions are viewed as an aspect of human biology (as indeed, they are based in the brain) one can take the view that they ultimately may be esteemed as much as rational thinking, given that both reason and delusion purport the same basis of existence, namely the foundational structure of the mind.   And in terms of value and purpose, the unapplied and immaterial products of the brain may be said to exhibit equality of meaning in their appearance as symptoms of an anatomical agent crafted in the essence of life itself.  

Tips for Living In the New Age

As evidenced early in the day, chakra misalignment can be the cause for much morning malaise and may end up exhibiting ruinous effects on the arc of your waking time.  While you may be stocked up on herbal tea and natural remedies, the true path to balance is found amid the landscape of chakra work, which involves the embracing of mere bullshit for bullshit's sake.  A cup of coffee won't connect you to your spiritual brethren or even act to adjust flaws in your muddled aura or unsymmetrical energy field, and may actually function in the worst of circumstances to banish you to the most ancient of Sumerian hells encapsulated by the image of a pit of stinking darkness.

To conscientiously avoid the punitive afterlives of ancient civilizations, one would do well to follow this simple recipe for chakra balance amid a world that is filled with mythological torments.  In order to facilitate a plan of wellness, it is advisable to begin with meditations rooted in the groin chakra, which is the most important and oft-neglected sources of our vital, pick-me-up, day-to-day energy flows.  To sufficiently achieve a blissful reckoning within the magical realm of the groin, it is currently necessary as dictated by the expertise of New Age gurus to balance an expensive designer cupcake upon your genitals.  You may also, during this important venture, meditate on the image of a stray unicorn named Saul, who has journeyed to you as a spirit guide interested wholly in making certain that your designer cupcake remains perfectly stable upon your loins, while expecting nothing in return but the satisfaction of spectating with dewy eye the true beauty of a dessert item placed upon the generator of reproductive energies.

Where there is a method, there is also a reason.  The cupcake, being particularly sweet, will transfer its saccharine nature directly into your groin.  This has, in my experience, achieved dramatic effects, and is by far more preferable than the use of salt-based foods such as beef jerky or pretzels.  As consequence of this technique, you will notice omens of benevolence scattered through out your day like cupcake sprinkles, importing their color and vivacity while reproducing in gay color.

Next, we turn to the third eye, or mind chakra.  I like to call this one "Old Thoughty" in order to remember where my thoughts come from.  You can name it something fun and endearing as well, and I may be as bold as to suggest such titles as "The Armchair of Western Scientific Discovery" or even "The Handmaiden To Imperialism."  However, you may want to take into account the fact that New Agers never use their brains, thus leading you to name this chakra "The Great Burgeoning Useless" or even "Why People Think Crystals Hold Special Energies That Help With Healing."  Really though, despite the cute and necessary names we may ascribe to this chakra, the path to its balance remains difficult and complex.

In order to balance the third-eye/mind chakra, you have to ultimately take into account The Law of Perfection, which is the title of my latest book, written while undertaking a dramatic and fun spiritual quest while using psilocybin in the city of Mogadishu.  This law states that in order to enjoy life, that we must be maniacally and robotically perfect in every task we perform, no matter how large or small.  And in order to balance the mind chakra, this perfection must reach levels unknown to even the obsessive-compulsive.  Consider for example, the act of brushing your teeth.  If you do it haphazardly, albeit with vigor, evil spirits will flood the crenelations of your mind chakra, as dental hygiene acts as a known gateway for manifestations of darkness.  You must consciously rotate the bristles of your toothbrush first in a counter-clockwise direction over each individual tooth before making a little "Z" for Zoroaster on the pearly white, and only in this order, as is the proper way.  I have seen firsthand the arrogance of people who have refused to buy my book be met with lifelong demonic possession due to their lackadaisical teeth-brushing lifestyles, and it is my truest hope that you may avoid this by following the spiritually empirical method.

But yet, it is important that you remain vigilant in your following of The Law of Perfection, not only for the sake of balancing your chakra, but also for the sake of being liked as a human being.  Needless to say, but nobody likes a person in the office who cannot consistently land freethrows of wastepaper into the trashcan, nor do we admire those who may inefficiently place a water glass on a table in such a position that it negates the capacity for optimum drinkability. 

Lastly and most importantly is the wallet chakra.  While you may have heard of other chakras, I can assure you that they do not exist, as empirical evidence has not bore them out, and it is my heartfelt belief that their existence is created by false gurus with manipulative tendencies who wish to squeeze money out of the gullible by instilling an illusive sense of purpose into otherwise meaningless lives.  That being said, it is the wallet chakra that is the source of all human love and affection.  This is a fact born out of personal experience, as evidenced by the fact that a Ketamine addicted veterinarian did not want to make out with me behind the animal-medical dumpster until I bought her a set of matching refrigerators.  In order to balance the wallet chakra, one must not only be a natural expert at the game of Monopoly, but must also take the time to be a good-looking and successful person with a great personality who has made all the correct career moves at the proper time.  The wallet chakra is also perhaps the most suitably New Age, being that the philosophy of love and spiritual understanding can only be participated in within the framework of a consumerist economy that allows people to buy commodified indigenous beliefs bolstered by frilly and feel-good sentimentality worthy of the imaginings of LSD babies.  As you can see, it is invariably important that your wallet chakra maintains levels of exceptional energy, especially in order that you may buy my new book entitled "People Suffer Because They Deserve It."  That being said, I sincerely hope that you are a handsome social ladder climber invested with a wealth of inner gold, because suffice to say, otherwise you're fucked.

I hope my words have invested in you the necessary secret knowledge for achieving an easy and uncomplicated day.  I would have more to say to you, however it is imperative for the purposes of research and universal harmony that I cloister myself in a golden casket for the purpose of playing with my own supple vibrations.

Freudian Economy: Ego Defense Mechanisms

The modern epoch has witnessed only relatively stale analysis of economic functions, with tools of analysis regulated to the subject of economics itself.  If one takes a broader view of micro and macro behaviors of the market, it becomes obvious that its functions are based ultimately in human psychology and not externally objective laws.  It is evidenced, therefore, that the economy and current markets serve as aggregates of individual psychological properties, and as such an aggregate, can be said to function as a gigantic psyche itself.

Given that the economy works like a massive mind, we can draft new conclusions based in its psychology using tools of Freudian analysis, particularly those pertaining to ego defense mechanisms.  Therefore, it is our claim that the current economy is subject to exhibiting the features of sublimation, denial, repression, displacement, and projection.

A clear cut facet of sublimation as it operates in the market economy pertains to the trans-formative aspect of capitalism, and in particular, the propensity of human allurements, goods, services, and characteristics to be changed into commodities in order that they may be bought or sold.  A prevalent example that may be pointed to involves the propensity of subculture characteristics to be co-opted by profit-seekers in the market, ranging the spectrum from punk rock fashion and recordings to antagonistic political literature.  Sublimation of goods and ways of life that by themselves speak to values external to the market is facilitated by the unspoken corporate attitude that nearly anything may be bought and sold, leading to "counter-culture" markets that include such companies as Hot Topic and arguably even Urban Outfitters, which pander to the initial human desire to express uniqueness.  Subculture attitudes and expressions which ultimately have content that is antagonistic, transcendent, or apathetic towards economic operations are dealt with by the market in a manner that incorporates them into an acceptable feature of the current economic system through co-option and sublimation of their properties by transforming them into commodities, which is the main language of the market.

Denial is subsequently a resonant feature of the economic mind.  The most readily available example of denial in action pertains to the inability of the economy to deal with its own externalities, which take the form of such things as environmental, human, and financial damage.  The market and the economy continue to operate ceaselessly on its own unchallenged assumptions while arguably making the world unlivable through wars, resource exploitation, pollution, and labor exploitation.  The fact that it is possible for stock market traders to buy or sell silver while subsequently denying the conditions of communities which its mines have created for indigenous populations is specific evidence of the operations of denial, which appear as the prevailing feature of modern economic operations.

Another feature of the economic mind is its ability to invoke repression on a consistent basis.  When the market is up, histories of financial and economic disasters are conveniently forgotten, and often even the policies that have safeguarded against market depressions are absconded with during these periods of prosperity, as may be seen in the Bush administrations move to privatize enormous sectors of the economy, which may be currently responsible for the wide-spread recession we are experiencing.  Negative periods, depressions, recessions, and panics are not dealt with by upper-echelon executives or marketers, leading one to the conclusion that these periods of calamity have been repressed by the economic mind.

The need for the market to take out impulses on less offensive targets, or displacement, is also a widespread consequence of its operation.  This may be seen recently in the actions of banks making predatory loans to low-income people who desired housing, and the mass foreclosure rate that ensued.  It can be argued that it is the fundamental nature of the current economy to act in an aggressive manner in terms of seeking profit, and that furthermore, this aggressive nature is most frequently levied on the poor and oppressed people of the world, as they lack the power of political lobbying or the financial power necessary to pursue counter-actions in the event of victimization at the hands of corporate or financial entities.  Displacement is a consistent facet of the economy's actions, who's players maliciously seek profit and power over easy and readily available targets.

The use of projection by the capitalist economy was utilized in a widespread fashion during the Cold War, where unacceptable impulses were placed on the motivations, constructions, features, and philosophies of the Communist World.  The subsequent dehumanization of communists (in particular, the Vietnamese) which took place were varied forms of projection that had been incorporated into the capitalist market in order to serve the values of market production and expansion, which were witnessed in the marketing of Coca Cola in Saigon and more generally in the desire for communism to be abolished if only so that the communist nations may form new markets for growth and expansion.  As a tactic of the economic psychology, communists were much maligned, and the dangerous impulses of the capitalist system were invariably projected upon people who, in general, simply lived under a different economic system.


In conclusion, it can be said that the current economy and market are highly criticizable, given the widespread activities of Freudian ego-defense mechanisms which inundate its behaviors.  It is not far-fetched to consider the economy as a troubled mind, in vast need of extensive therapies and changes, in order that it will not only abscond from the usage of ego-defense mechanisms, but also so that the quality of human experience witnessed while living under its rather dubious features may be dramatically improved.  It is our hopes that through the view of the economy as an ailing mind, that its questionable aspects may be dramatically improved through corrective and therapeutic measures.

Portraits of Banality

These pictures were "inspired" by a recent art installation that exploited the first person perspective in terms of making the viewer a participant.  With infinite benevolence, we have crafted a similar experience for your displeasure, invoking aspects of living which are often overlooked by creative ventures, and as you can see, are overlooked for good reason.

Notations Concerning Post Apocalyptic Psychiatry

Inveterate dissemination of 20th century pre-apocalyptic psychiatry has facilitated ruinous manifestations of oppression and constriction upon the psyches of untold millions, despite it's narcissistic self-perception as a healing science.  If the fact that the world has ended is taken into consideration, we may draft a retrospect of this barbaric discipline through the frame-work of our own superior values and knowledge, with the understanding that 20th century psychiatry had propagated untold barbarisms on vital psychic flowers in need only of simple understanding and appreciation.

Firstly, it can be illustrated through the methodology of 20th century psychiatric experiments that the dopamine hypothesis as a cause of madness and disorder is inevitably a flawed conclusion, given the circumstances in which the neurotransmitter dopamine was discovered in 1957.  While working in the pharmacological laboratory, Arvid Carlsson injected prepared rabbits with amphetamines, which increased their temperament to a state of frenzy.  They were given a sedation agent comparable to Thorazine, which dramatically decreased their frenetic behavior to a state of passivity.  This drug reaction, instead of typically and most obviously describing the effects of foreign and man made substances on the biochemistry of the rabbit brain, were without caution cited as evidence of the neurotransmitter dopamine and furthermore erroneously cited as the source of madness in the human brain.

It must be seen currently that indeed, the human brain is a complex system that is ultimately unknowable through dubious reductionist terms.  Increasingly, it has become apparent to the post-apocalyptic psychiatrist that the dopamine hypothesis was based in the diminutive philosophy of human psycho-biology functioning in mechanical terms along an overly-simplified cause and effect capacity.  Furthermore, given the transmuted value of human life witnessed after the apocalypse, we have recorded in ample evidence the existence of the human mind as a complex and innovative system rooted in transcendent qualities, with its material manifestation existing as the peak of an island above the mind's foundation.  Manipulations of human psyches have furthermore ceased, given that the lack of a falsely ordered society has abated the constrictive requirements that formerly negated cognitive liberties.

Post-apocalyptic techniques for ease of the troubled consciousness have invariably taken on a humanistic approach, and are obviously viewed as dramatic improvements over history's poor intentions.  Indeed, even history's appraisal of the mad has proven to be incontestably short-sighted, as during the events which effectively ended the world, it was evidenced that only the mad were psychologically and emotionally prepared for the catastrophic events.

Techniques for maintenance of a healthy post-world consciousness are as follows:

Promoted participation in primal screaming, in order to achieve catharsis and satisfaction.  Primal screaming has become an appropriate aspect of conversation, indicating that the screamer has been having a bad day.

Over-ecstatic sensual appreciation of scarce resources such as fruits and vegetables, and additionally, benevolent circumstances.  It is an inherent necessity of life that we enjoy ourselves, whatever the situation or environment.

Adaption and implementation of the follies of the mad, given the truth in the expression that "the sane ones are murderers and the insane ones gather flowers."  As it turns out, the end of the world freed a lot of people from their prisons of sanity.

Divine and furious dance parties.

Mandatory masturbation

Discussion and implementation of post-apocalyptic psychiatric and therapeutic techniques through an institution that functions like a decentralized democracy instead of an elite hierarchy that institutes the dominance of the specialist.

Cultivation of wonder and an openness to experience


Let it be further explicated that our techniques and philosophies are the result of the dialectic between theory and practice, further bolstered by our sincere valuation of the benefits of empiricism as they have been seen to function outside of the socio-political context of capitalist environments.  Our findings have been made objective by the fact that they were not influenced by research grants, pharmaceutical lobbying, skewed drug company research, or the climate of the economy.  However, it must be expressed that the most valuable aspect of post-apocalyptic psychiatry is in its acceptance of the experience of the individual above all else, as the meanings of people's lives are fundamentally and without question the very essence on which we have based our theories and practices.

Call to Artists, Musicians, Writers, and Provocateurs

In any city, town, or suburb, there exists in ample and unfortunate evidence the propagation of a concrete aesthetic that informs the senses of the populace with alarming consistency through out the course of everyday life. Managed by developers, advertisers, and urban planners, this aesthetic reflects artistic assumptions based in the values of a barren functionalism that would deny expressions of life and creativity. Not only is its enforcement through capital and image management authoritarian in both implementation and denial of democratic expression, but it is furthermore prefaced by sentiments rooted in the manipulative tendencies of economic thought, where such aesthetic functionalism serves to bolster the values and activities of material consumption within the capitalist system.

It is our stated intent to work with artists, musicians, and writers in order to overcome enforced banality by dismantling art as commodity in favor of offering it as lived experience within the structure of a gift economy. Spread throughout the environment, examples of our aesthetic include the distribution of copper birds as gifts for strangers, paintings hung in bank parking lots, brief poems written on stickers, sidewalk concerts, and a free newspaper publication filled with the glorious subjectivity of personal stories.

We sincerely hope that our efforts will be met with mutual participation from interested creative types who wish to expose the finer aspects of humanity through dispersal of their work outside of established roles and venues for the purpose of infusing the environment with a vital aura based in the spirit of creation.

Side Project: The Buena Vista Socially Awkward Club

Nearly everyone without exception has heard the expression that "man is a social animal."  Given inherent faculties for language and expression, it would seem as if such a statement is indeed a truism, especially given the evidence of everyday life.

However, this social nature can be seen to be based in mainstream attitudes of affability which rely on quantitatively mechanical responses and can furthermore be shown to actually strangle discourse, expression, creativity, and intellect.  Locutions that are representative of friendliness and ease remain as accepted and sanctioned currency in the social milieu, while relying on a poverty of meaning that maintains social functioning.

A casualty of this process is the socially awkward character, who becomes a much maligned and shunned figure, given his or her propensity for unwarranted interruptions, unacceptable sentiments, or dramatically awkward silences.  Rarely invited to parties or social outings, these people may become loners who are given to a life of social frustration.


It is our hopes that in the creation of the Buena Vista Socially Awkward Club, that marginalized social figures may find an ease of expression or non-expression among a gathering of like types who beyond acting in concert as sympathetic participants, are free to actively foist their awkwardness en mass and through  organized venue on the droves of socially accepted persons.

Promises and Plans of the Buena Vista Socially Awkward Club

--We will creep you out with painful silence and smile in your attempts to speak without feeling awkward yourself.

--We will blurt strange malignancies and unsolicited sentiments with a fecundity that makes normalcy appear as a plague

--We will unite our kind in revelry of the undiscovered grandeur of social awkwardness

--As our movement grows, we will coordinate actions against normal gatherings and parties with the explicit purpose of making the socially acclimated feel invariably awkward and insecure among our ranks