Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

~
So many exciting changes to hope for! No more Guantanamo, torture, renditions, White House secrecy, double-standards for the wealthy, and no more empty promises. (Yes We Can! To the Moon!) No more wars in Iraq or Afghanistan, ("Oh, don't worry, baby, I'll pull out, Promise!") No more War on Terror, no more War on Drugs, no more infringements on Constitutionally guaranteed freedoms. No more support for racist apartheid nations. No more corporate malfeasance. No more economic debt. No more bailouts for Wall Street goons.

Oh, wait. Nevermind. Guess that's not the change that's coming.

As the economy continues to implode, and believe me, it's going to keep right on getting worse, we're getting ready to be more self-sufficient, especially when it comes to the basics: food & shelter. The chickens are doing fine and have survived the Winter well. We're watching Henrietta's brooding for chicks. The seedlings are getting started. I'm marking trees for felling & firewood.

After ten years of struggle, I've thrown in the full-time self-employed-artist towel. Looking back I'd say the single greatest obstacle is the way tax-laws are structured in favor of the corporate world. In order to work for yourself you apparently need a full-time bookkeeper and a part-time tax-accountant just to figure out how much you're going to fork over to the Warmongers and the Bankers. The greed, corruption and thievery of those same folks, culminating as it is in the present economic chaos was the last nail in that coffin. Here's a rose, and a handful of dirt.

I've landed a great new job in arts education, and I'd love to keep it for a lifetime, but I'm certainly not counting on it surviving the next few years. I suspect we're heading for unprecedented economic and political upheavals.

It would be wonderful to be wrong.