THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER 55

We watched the 1995 film La Haine (Hate) last night. La Haine follows a group of disaffected Parisian youths of various racial outsider statuses around on a day when they’re just screwing around & figuring out how to survive in the margins. They’re not doing well, they are totally agitated. It has a feeling similar to Trainspotting without the heroin & it made me flashback to living in Oakland & being a disaffected young man myself looking for trouble. I drank on the streets & smoked weed in public before it was legal. I smoked tobacco openly where it was prohibited. Stole. Started fires. Did graffiti. Broke things on purpose just to see what would happen. Tried to provoke this feeling of alienation in others. I didn’t feel ownership of society or my life. I did all this again when working as a children’s librarian & later as a teacher to show other people’s kids, my kids, myself & other adults that you could own your life, take part in society & still get down, cause trouble & not be castrated & boring. Living like this for so long probably added to my chances of having a stroke, but also helped me to see the world with wisdom & understanding now. Today France & the world have just gotten worse in terms of alienation. The countries look different, are different than they used to, change is the only constant. Having a racial view of the world just gets in the way of how fluid things are, how they will be. The role of the country should be as a vehicle, a mantle that can be put on, a way of being that anyone can adopt & claim as their own. The country as a transformative formula should be adopted by all. There will still be tons of problems, young people, young men in particular have a disaffected & dangerous period no matter how good things are for them. I see it in my kids. That feeling is part of finding yourself & keeping society on its toes. Stirring the pot prevents stagnation, it only takes a little wisdom to see this.