jiggity-jog! We’ve been here since Thursday. We were pretty wiped out for a couple days. Like I predicted the trip home was grueling. For the record, I recommend that you avoid the Newark, New Jersey airport unless you can’t avoid it. I won’t go into detail, but it was – exhausting. Still, here we are.
It is strange being back in the US. Trump and Biden are tied in the polls, and Trump is yelling about how extreme his next administration will be – NOOOOOO!!!!!!! Then there is traffic and congestion – as I said, the towns and cities we visited were really well designed, especially Helsinki. People on the street are very visible here – we had a layover in Sacramento between the train and bus home, and I counted 3 homeless people on one block.
At the same time, there are right wing populist movements in the Nordic countries, although from what I could see they aren’t as looney as Trump – I could be wrong. They are based on resentment of immigrants, inflation, and some climate change denial – sound familiar? These movements are apparently gathering steam in other parts of Europe – scary. Finland’s current government is right wing, and apparently there is a movement in Sweden too. People are opposing them though. Also, city design isn’t perfect, I mentioned that parts of Helsinki are congested – the same is true for other areas. And climate change is hitting – the area around Lom, Norway used to be very dry in summer, but torrential rain has hit for at least a couple of years. Oh yeah – there are pay toilets all over the place. Maybe they help pay for social services, I can’t say, but it was kinda odd.
These countries are really with it in a lot of ways, but there is no Utopia and never will be. One interpretation of Albert Camus’ THE PLAGUE is it is a metaphor for resistance to the Nazis, but the characters understand that people of good will will always have to deal with complex and ambiguous situations – and yeah, people of bad will. This is very much where I am in my thinking; it has been for some time. We will see what the future holds.
Ok, my poetry collection will be published Sept. 29, and my book on Bidwell Park will go to the printer around Oct. 1. This will hopefully leave me more time to blog, although I will be busy with publicity, promotion, etc. But as I always say – watch this space!
Paul's Collected Work 