Hemingway's " The Killers",  was written to make you feel awkward. He succeeded. And being an odd duck myself, I liked every awkward line.  

I had a blast with this story simply because you have to fill in all the important parts yourself. It is the ultimate "choose your own ending" book. I am very easily distracted so being able to use his story to launch a million of my own was very entertaining. This tactic was extremely useful when applied to the question that was eating at me. Why is George protecting the cook, Sam? 

Once I chose acceptable answers to all the unanswered questions, (and stopped picturing Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta arguing about what's for dinner) I was able to move on. I can't help but wonder if the relationship between the story and time is bigger than the clock on the wall. I might be reaching a bit here, but I believe the central theme of the story is time.

Hemingway's story happens only in the present. There are no flashbacks or glimpses into what may happen. If you are going by George's time, the story takes place in a little over 2 hours. And the usually punctual, Ole Anderson, was out of time, literally.  Everything leads to time but it is not the only thing going on. 

We were told to also examine how identity and knowledge play apart in this story, as well as time. As far as identity goes, time doesn't care what your name is, and apparently neither did Ernest. He told us exactly what we needed to know and no more. Which leads me to the topic of knowledge. All of the characters have secrets. But of all people, Max seems to be the only one to jar loose with some of his. 

We were privy only to the fact that someone sent Al and Max there to kill Ole Anderson. 

The only character that had most of the knowledge, if not all, was in a loosing battle with time. Mr. Anderson couldn't spend the rest of his life in his rented room. Sooner or later he was going to come out and time would claim him. Time is constant and the same for everyone. No matter the multiple identities we all carry or all the knowledge we could possibly obtain, time does not wait for anyone. It effects us all equally.

 

Hip in the Boonies

Before the invention of the Internet, it would have been nearly impossible to be hip in rural America. Anyone that held any potential for the hip lifestyle would have sought it out. You don't wait for hip to come to you. No, sir. You would reach out and grab hip unmentionables.

Hollywood has made millions of dollars reusing and recycling the same story idea over and over again. A young person feels alienated and smothered in their small town. The fall in love with the romanticized idea of the city and set out to follow their dreams. Maybe the big city suits them or maybe they fall flat on their face and decide all they need was back where they started. Either way something is lost and something is gained by this journey. One could argue that this romanticized idea is actually the search for hip. No matter how the search ended, there was a certain level of enlightenment that was achieved.

Leland hit directly on my point when he said, "As a form of enlightenment, hip flourishes during periods of technological or economic change." Our culture is currently experiencing one of these periods. Our economy, for lack of a better word, sucks. The younger generations, like generations before, are looking for their own way to deal with hardships. It is time for the young to reinvent themselves. However, they may not even need to leave the house to accomplish this.  In which case, can enlightenment even take place if you do not physically immerse yourself in the rich culture that is hip?

You do not need embark on a long, tiresome journey to enlightenment in search of big city dreams.  You simply need to plug in and instantly you are where you need to be. We live in an age where reinventing yourself means you change the look of your avatar. The Internet is encroaching on big city territory. All you have to do is Google "hip new styles", for instance, and you can get those things shipped right to your house, no matter where you live. The Internet is making a whore out of hip.

I believe, however, hip is a state of mind, not the latest fashions at Urban Outfitters. So you may be able to pretend that you are hip, but hip has a conjoined twin, enlightenment. You can't have one without the other. So here lies our problem.  In low populated areas you are less likely to meet a kindred spirit to bounce ideas off of in your pursuit for enlightenment. The urban areas hold all kinds of treasures and would introduce you to things and ideas that you would never have thought possible.

I would say that if you have access to knowledge and an outlet for you to make your voice heard, you would be able to obtain a certain kind of hipness. But without a hip posse to back you up, would you really be hip or just a forward thinker? In this day and age, no matter where you are on a map urbanization had a role in your upbringing. Even if it was just having been forced to read literature, which was born of urbanization in a way. The Internet is also a form of urbanization that you can't seem to avoid no matter where you are from.

2-7-11 post lost

Where would we be without the blues? The Kraft Corporation would have had to find a new slogan for starters. But would the entertainment industry be what it is today without the musical movement that helped shape America?

Some might argue that the musical movement I speak of happened in the 60's headlined by the J-byrds, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison, just to name a few. I don't believe the hippy movement would have been nearly as strong if the blues had never come to be. It's weird to think about what kind of music we would be listening to if Charley Patton and others never made it.

Furthermore, would the blues have ever been born if there was no slavery in the United States? Or would it have simply popped up on some other shore sung by a European version of Ida Cox or Fats Domino? The blues is all about embracing the bad things in life and searching for the tiniest of silver linings. Since bad things happen all the time, would the blues have prevailed if white men didn't feel the need to dominate over all people and cultures they didn't understand?

My blade of grass

This is what you shall do-

Understand that True individuality comes from the Individual ~ Don't sell yourself short~ Be Curious, question reality ~ Love that which you do not understand ~ Do not hold beliefs that are not your own

~ Do not let others use fear against you ~ Fear Nothing, especially Death, it comes for us all ~ Hate oppression, but not the oppressor, for they are oppressed themselves

~ Don't put baby in a corner ~ Be a weirdo ~ Find the humor in every aspect of life and cling to it in rough times ~ Turn pain and fear into art or good deeds, let life's negative details suppress you no longer

~ Know how to live outside of technology ~Sing and dance all the time, especially in moments that would be considered socially unacceptable ~ If life is an oyster than share your pearl ~ Put forth more energy and time into the improvement of your inner self than you do on your outward appearance

~ Be your own seamstress or tailor ~ Put more faith into the world around you, all the plants animals and elements, than you do into technology ~ Strive to use the full potential of your brain ~ Do something kind for another living thing without reason or self gratification ~ Arm yourself with Love, Knowledge, Pen and Paper ~ Don't hate the player, hate the game

~ Wear smile lines like a badge of honor ~ Do not inject food poisoning into your face, age gracefully ~ Vow not to become a walking billboard for a company who's fat cat CEO is investing your hard earned money into offshore accounts to avoid giving back to the people that have given them so much ~ "Damn the Man, save the empire"