A revolutionary ride

A lot of people are losing the plot right now. Personally, I’m ready to smash something— here, hand me that patriarchy. Astrologically though, I feel pretty good. Apparently, the last time Pluto went through Aquarius (our favorite relegated planet began its journey on November 19th) we had a little thing called the American Revolution, as well as the French Revolution, Haitian Revolution, beginning of the Industrial Revolution… Basically we, the people, are on the precipice of a big change and personally, I think it’s about time.

When I was a kid, Elitch Gardens in Denver had a ride called the SeaDragon. It was like a giant Viking ship with several rows of seats, each side facing the other from the middle all the way back to the narrow ends where only a few people could fit, wedged in together on the bench and holding onto the bar. (This was the 1970s when safety was often sacrificed for a good time.) As the SeaDragon swung back and forth, it picked up speed and swung higher and higher up into the air. If you sat in the middle, you had a wild ride with the wind in your hair; like sitting on a huge swing set with your friends, smiling and laughing in the sun. But if you sat at the back, you went much, much higher, gasping big air as your stomach stayed above while the rest of you plummeted back towards the earth, screaming. I think about this ride a lot lately.

As you all know, I have a tendency to Chicken Little my way along in life, but lately I’ve been trying to remind myself to hum and dance as I sidestep the pieces of sky that are actively falling all around us. Look on the bright side, I tell myself, not everyone gets to live through such a transformative time. We are coming up on an about-face, that point when the SeaDragon stalls and switches direction, and I believe we are headed for a more empathetic and generous future. It’s been a long time coming, when I look around at our current state of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes— the name of a great punk cover band started by Fat Mike from NOFX.

Punk rock is the perfect music for times ahead. We’ll have to let go of the old ways we’ve all become accustomed to. Things like air quality regulations, public schooling, fresh food on the grocery store shelves… These amenities will go by the wayside as our current systems are abandoned. Trump is beholden to Putin and now, so are we. It’s ironic that the Grand Ole Party is the leadership to hand our government over to what they themselves referred to as “the enemy.” I’m old enough to remember Reagan-era-Republicans like my grandfather, and boy, would he be shocked to see the cabinet choices Trump is making. It’s like watching a game show in Hell: Say Johnny, who’ve we got for Secretary of Labor…? Why, it’s Kid Rock! C’mon down.

Picking people loyal to his every whim, seemingly without a care for qualification or experience, Trump obviously wants to be the ringleader of this freakshow. But how will it work? Fascism doesn’t mix well with the fact that we worship at the altar of the almighty greenback. Capitalism, i.e., money and the pursuit of it, is priority #1 in this country and so I’m confused as to how he’ll control all the media, social and otherwise, but still be willing to sell airtime to any idea that gains financial traction.
I’m sure there’s a plan though, right? Trump will probably mandate crypto currency, then it’ll crash and devalue like the rest of the stuff he puts his name on. I bet that’s been Putin’s plan the whole time; he’s itching to watch the American dollar fail as the world standard.

Whatever. I’m focusing on self-care: remembering to get plenty of rest, drink water, eat something green once in a while, sit in the sun with my friends and laugh. Revolution is in the air on this SeaDragon we call American life, and we are headed back down towards the middle. What a ride!

https://www.thecut.com/2024/01/pluto-moving-into-aquarius-2024-meaning.html