Jack Burns Lives!

Commentary, ideas and miscellany in the spirit of Edward Abbey

Archive for July, 2007

Abbey Memorabilia

I’m not much on collecting expensive memorabilia, primarily because of the often ridiculously high prices. But if I see something unusual, especially if it relates to my favorite Abbey works or subjects, I may bite.
Just tonight I found such an item, a 1962 “Showman’s Manual” for the movie Lonely Are The Brave, starring Kirk [...]

Reclaiming the Island

I responded this morning to a simple minded, conservative apologist railing against local food production. He’d posted some of his drivel on the Abbeyweb, and while thinking of what to say to him, I recalled a quote from Turtle Island:
“The return to marginal farmland on the part of longhairs is not some nostalgic replay [...]

Just Another Day

Another glorious morning in the Mississippi Delta. My human neighbors are busy with their leaf blowers, stirring up dry as a bone biomass into a cloud of dust that swirls and settles only feet from where it originated.
Soccer moms head to Jazzersize. Carport sales are open so folks can sell all the cheap, plastic crap [...]

The Real Estate Boom

I’m hoping for a real estate boom. Boom as in the sound of something blowing up and disintegrating.
Real estate is one of those businesses most folks view as benign. Even beneficial. But in my mind, it’s anything but benign. It ranks right up there with the worst in corporate greed, probably not far behind those [...]

The Old Neighborhood

As a young boy, I used to walk around our neighborhood and look at all the houses. There was an interesting assortment, mostly 1930’s style bungalows, and I grew up in the same one my mother did. You almost never hear of that these days.

Three bedrooms and one bath. Nice screened in porch on [...]

Not Ready For Prime Time

Our society isn’t ready for anarchy. At least not on a grand scale. Then again, does anarchy have to be on a grand scale?
Maybe the grand scale is antithetical to anarchy. It is. Anarchy is small. Local. Decentralized.
But we need anarchy. We need more anarchy. We need it now, but most humans [...]

Journey to The Shasta Nation

Pics are here.
So, the big California trip is nearing an end. As I peck, tap, tap, tap…I’m trapped on a missile moving at 500 miles per hour with several dozen other tourists, peering over the edge into the abyss, contemplating my recent journey into the Shasta Nation. NorCal.
An inaugural trip for everyone but me [...]