Regulation and Fear

Years ago I was playing music in a nightclub when it was raided by the police to see if minors were being served. The club was frequented by bikers (sweet guys, really), so the police came in with overwhelming force--probably 25 of them. I remember that we stopped playing and watched as the police came in, one after another, until (after a period of stunned silence) everyone in the club starting laughing, everyone thinking the same thing: are we really that scary?

But what seems like excess from one perspective may seem prudent from another. Today, I feel like a lone policeman as I stare out into the yard and watch the vines and weeds make obscene gestures at me. And I don't like the idea of going out there alone.

While I've been busy inside, the forces of nature have been churning outside with energy from months of rain--crazy wild energy that has infected our plants with shameless intoxication and unrestrained growth, not unlike the feeding frenzy of financial greed that recently devoured our retirement accounts and pooped them out into stinking piles of feces, not that I am emotional about it.


The big bamboo, for example, is on a serious binge, with the new shoots climbing above the old canopy. Already this guy dominates the backyard, and he has the potential to become twice as big.

Even safely nearby, at the edge of the pond, I found vines choking my cute little volunteer bamboo. Where have you been, she asked me, unable to straighten up after I set her free.

It's clear that we need some major regulation, so Willow and I have scheduled a committee meeting to discuss it. A first draft should be ready no later than November.