Essays by Larry Barnett
Remember “plug and play”? An obsolete term almost upon its introduction, it’s joined a host of other falsities of modern civilization. I put “plug and play” to the test a month ago when my wife and I bought a new HP all-in-one printer. I’m a follow-the-directions-kinda-guy, but it made no difference;… Read the rest
The ride through Halifax is unproblematic; the vehicle’s transponder, registered with the city government, is automatically detected and because Jacques Lehmann is the head of the Food Science Institute, his vehicle and its passengers are pre-cleared for passage. Private vehicles … Read the rest
I am my mind and my body, and they are me. So it is that my self-consciousness imagines itself. My inner thoughts, unspoken but constructed of words nonetheless, convert my embodied experience of being to the symbolic and then back to embodied again. I feel hungry; I think “I am hungry;” I find something… Read the rest
Saha awakens to the distant sound of thunder, a relatively rare experience in her life. While rainfall still falls on the wild lands of Nova Scotia, thunderstorms, with their lightening, hail and sometimes torrential downpours are infrequent. At the next clap, much louder, the entire clan… Read the rest
In her remarkable book, The Reproduction of Evil, psychologist Sue Grand highlights the role of the onlooker. Evil, she points out, is often the result of harm inflicted on a propagator, trauma and abuse endured by the propagator at the hands of others that gets passed on to new victims, some of whom go… Read the rest
Fifteen years older, now 70, Pierre sips Oolong tea. “Ahh. I don’t know what I’d do without tea,” he murmurs, and then remembers his guest sitting across from him in the library. “Pour you a cup, Jacques?”
Jacques Lehmann nods, takes the cup from Pierre, brings it to his nose and inhales slowly.… Read the rest
“Glad mom and dad are not alive to see this,” my sister Gina and I agreed during a phone call the other day. We were speaking about what’s going on in America right now: a Supreme Court dominated by right-wing, religious conservatives simultaneously upholding Federal protection for gun rights while … Read the rest
Karma, the second-oldest male in the group, sits quietly on a rocky outcropping on the upper slopes of the eastern side of the valley. He reckons his location through the use of landmarks and geometry. He does not use geometry as a conscious tool; rather, his internal calculations are … Read the rest
This is what psychologist Sue Grand calls the type of psychological disturbance spreading across America and the world right now. It’s happened before, of course, and has been called by other names like “social hysteria,” and “group delirium.” However named, such episodes are examples of acute mass… Read the rest
“Pierre? Are you there, Gittleman? It’s Lehmann from the Institute. We need to talk. People are mumbling about some secret work you’re doing. And why am I the last to know? If it’s true, of course. Please get back to me.”
Pierre reads the text. Now in his late fifties, he’s been able to … Read the rest
There are so many ways we tell ourselves that everything is going to be just fine. “We’re America,” we’re told, “there’s nothing we can’t do when we work together.” Or, “We’re the greatest country the world has ever known.” Or “America is the world’s beacon of freedom and democracy.” When is optimism … Read the rest
During the twenty years botanicus has roamed the forests of Nova Scotia, set loose by Pierre Gittleman to repopulate a changing planet, their tribe has slowly grown from an original four individuals to thirteen. Those four consisted of Jens, Saha, Kaya and Karma, raised by Pierre and except… Read the rest
In its rush to solve a so-called housing crisis, actually a housing affordability crisis, California has disenfranchised the power of local government to determine what’s best for the community it serves. New state land-use and housing laws effectively eliminate many of the choices, options, and… Read the rest
Pierre awakens early; it’s going to be a torrid day in Halifax, another in a long line of torrid days. The rise in ocean levels has already inundated the lower lying areas of the city, and the past few months of extremely high temperatures have only made matters worse. The desalinization … Read the rest
My wife and I offered to drive our granddaughter to an appointment in Santa Rosa, and as we neared the destination, we passed an In & Out Burger. In-N-Out is a fast food joint, in case you don’t know, and apparently very popular. My wife and I had never eaten an In-N-Out Burger, but my granddaughter had;… Read the rest
We Americans look down upon so-called primitive cultures such as the Aztecs who overtly practiced human sacrifice in obedience to their deeply held beliefs. We see their sacred celebration of violence as savagely cruel and backwards and we condemn it. And yet, America regularly sacrifices its people… Read the rest
The trek across the valley takes the botanicus clan the better part of a day. Unhurried, the group’s pace is comfortable and provides plenty of time for soaking up the sunshine and enjoying the spectacular views. Earth’s temperate zones have moved closer to the poles, making the climate… Read the rest
I grow intestinal polyps as well as the wine country grows grapes. Such polyps, benign growths when small and young, can become pre-cancerous if allowed to mature; accordingly, every three years I have a colonoscopy and any polyps are removed.
The worst part of having a colonoscopy is the prep the day… Read the rest
Pierre Gittleman is perplexed. Approaching fifty-five years of age, he has been working on his human/plant hybrid botanicus project for his entire adult life, but feels stuck. Despite his brilliance and gift for insight, the power of the gene-editing technology at his disposal, and his… Read the rest
I found myself scurrying around this week trying to keep ahead of technology. Keeping ahead of technology, actually, was impossible. The fact is I was doing technology’s bidding in order to keep my life in order, a situation in which I, and most of us, find ourselves regularly.
Rather than serving humanity,… Read the rest