Tony V's blog

The Syntax of Sorcery: An Interview with Tom Robbins

Tony V

Tom Robbins is one of our unruly pioneers, and his frequently bestselling novels – including Even Cowgirls Get the Blues and Skinny Legs and All – are so saturated in an uncontainable joie de vivre that they have remained virtually required reading throughout the years and decades since their initial publication. (more)

6-6-12
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A Child of God in Misery: On the Origins of Spiritual Retardation

Tony V

Consumerism robs us of our ability to define our own experience. There is a malevolent force afoot in this world, an historical movement to transform humanity's wild-begotten beauty into a panopticon so ubiquitous that the very concept of escape becomes an archaic curiosity. (more)

3-20-12
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Situation Normal, All Fucked Up: A Freakonomic Analysis of the Burning Man 2012 Ticket Fiasco

Tony V

Now that Burning Man's ill-conceived ticket lottery has ended and the dust storms of indignation have settled, I would like to offer my observations on how this ticketing system was doomed from its very inception, and suggest how it might be improved in the future. (more)

2-2-12
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The Incorruptibles: A Requiem for Civilization

Tony V

From the oil shocks of the 1970s to the savings & loan crisis of the 1980s, the dotcom bubble of the 1990s, and today's mortgage meltdown, systemic crises are larger, more devastating, longer lasting, and closer together, and our so-called leaders are in denial. (more)

12-17-10
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Courage, Synchronicity, and the Technology of Magic

Tony V

Synchronicity, the sensation that something magical has just occurred, is but an artifact of our limited technology of mind. It is only astounding when we persist in the delusion that we are distinct from the all and everything. Expanding consciousness beyond the limited point of view of oneself -- this is the technology of magic. (more)