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Subject: I smell a couple red herrings
Author: RAMON GARCIA
Posted date: Friday, November 21, 2008 9:40:10 PM PST
Last modified date: Friday, November 21, 2008 9:40:10 PM PST
 
On one hand on the other hand, my hands come together in front of my chest, hands and palms pressed together with my fingers pointing upward, I bow “Namaste” Glendinning.

The split is merged, I’m correct on both counts. Her decision to mesh her rape with imperialism is a sure fire gimmick to sell those books, as evidenced by all the praise in the beginning of the book. But, it also acts as a red herring to soften the blow and slightly mask on what she is truly revealing, the New World Order as she plainly writes at the very beginning of the book on page 6. If the books don’t sell, she cannot reveal. “New imperialism” (Glendinning 151) and other like terms she uses throughout the book are code for New World Order. She obviously has a hatred of the New World Order, but why? “Is the good doctor” (Glendinning 62) a Freemason? “The lion is one of Freemasonry’s most powerful and potent symbols” (MasonicWorld.com). Glendinninng explicitly mentions lions numerous times stating, “We have a connection to these lions because our family has done business with the Criles” (Glendinning 62). Is this connection to lions a literal reference to stuffed lions or is she writing in code to those who know how to decipher?

This book is a treasure trove of revelations. I will need more time to extract them by reading the book several times and jotting down a lot more notes. I may not have the time to do this. I’ve got many other assignments to work on and there is so much in this book!

What Is Eco-feminism? According to Wikipedia it seems to involve a movement which believes there is much common ground between feminism and environmentalism.


Subject: RE: I smell a couple red herrings
Author: Katherine Spears
Posted date: Saturday, November 22, 2008 12:25:19 AM PST
Last modified date: Saturday, November 22, 2008 12:25:19 AM PST
 
Wow. I was intrigued, and flipped back to page 62 to check it out. I don't know about Freemasons...but I was a little unsettled over the manner in which she vilifies Dr. Crile:

It is a compelling idea for research, this notion of comparing the brains and sympathetic nervous systems of African animals with those of humans. Do peculiarly human diseases spring not from biology per se, Crile wonders, but from civilization's demands on the human organism? Yet the mind that thinks up this project is ensconced in the trappings of the imperial mind.

Wooooow! Though it doesn't really matter (for me) one way or the other, it is interesting that she takes the time to issue scathing criticism from up on high to this man, as if she has reached some level of intellectual development that she didn't have as a child interacting with him. This is the only (male) family friend that she names in the entire text. Is this doctor one of her perpetrators? One of those whose name "she can still recite"? Is this her indirect way of identifying him? Look at the angle from which she attacks and identifies him- "ensconced in the trappings of the imperial mind."

I was interested, and she gives his name, so I googled him. Here's his New York Times obituary. I was even more shocked than I already was. If you read it you will understand why. Wow. Just wow.
 

Subject: RE: I smell a couple red herrings
Author: RAMON GARCIA
Posted date: Saturday, November 22, 2008 11:09:21 AM PST
Last modified date: Saturday, November 22, 2008 11:09:21 AM PST
 
What is Glendinning's father's name? I can't seem to find it in the book. I've found Dr. George Crile's name in several Bonesman rosters online, keeping in mind the how unreliable this type of information can be.

http://www.redicecreations.com/specialreports/bonesmembers.html
 

Subject: RE: I smell a couple red herrings
Author: DAVID BROOKS
Posted date: Monday, November 24, 2008 1:31:37 PM PST
Last modified date: Monday, November 24, 2008 1:31:37 PM PST
 
Please keep us posted on this search. I am finding nothing for certain.

David
 

Subject: RE: I smell a couple red herrings
Author: Katherine Spears
Posted date: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 6:10:30 AM PST
Last modified date: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 6:10:30 AM PST
 
I can't find Glendinning's father in any search conclusively. I was shocked by your Bonesman find. Whoa. Did anyone read the obit on Crile? What I found so shocking was that he seemed to be a physician championing for women with breast cancer (holding the view that complete masteconomys (sp?) are unnecessary, long before it became conventional wisdom.

Do you think he was one of her abusers? WHy did she name him? There does seem to be a little code involved in that section (pg 62).
 

Subject: RE: I smell a couple red herrings
Author: RAMON GARCIA
Posted date: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 5:46:56 PM PST
Last modified date: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 5:46:56 PM PST

What I found interesting about Dr. Crile is his other research. If these sources are legitimate, it answers a few suspicions I’ve had about why all these years after the lunar landing we seem to be stuck on this planet. Why can’t we just jump into a starship and go on a 5-year mission? Why can’t we build those Mars colonies? This could validate the suspicions I’ve had why I believe we animals are slaves to plants.

This research is absolutely fascinating, but I don’t have time to deconstruct it right now.  However, I’ll provide the link to some excerpts.
 http://www.nuenergy.org/alt/crile.htm

I believe he could be one of her abusers. Many secretive cults keep control over their members by constantly having them prove their loyalty by forcing members to engage in despicable acts, hence Glendinning's anger towards imperialism and why she writes cryptically about it.


Subject: RE: I smell a couple red herrings
Author: Katherine Spears
Posted date: Wednesday, December 3, 2008 10:11:46 AM PST
Last modified date: Wednesday, December 3, 2008 10:11:46 AM PST
 
Actually, the research you site was done by his father, Dr. George Crile, Sr., who founded the Cleveland Clinic. You can find him here. 
 

Subject: RE: I smell a couple red herrings   
Author: RAMON GARCIA
Posted date: Wednesday, December 3, 2008 5:20:05 PM PST
Last modified date: Wednesday, December 3, 2008 5:20:05 PM PST

Thanks. After I made the post, I found some discrepancies which made me think I might have gotten him confused with his father, but did not have time to confirm.


Subject: RE: I smell a couple red herrings   
Author: RAMON GARCIA
Posted date: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 6:47:15 PM PST
Last modified date: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 6:47:15 PM PST
 
Another reason Glendinning writes in code and chose to mesh rape into her story is that she does not want to be labeled a conspiracy nut. During her trip through the Denver International Airport she writes, “I see something I have never seen in an American airport: two young men on the far escalator wearing jungle fatigues and black lace-up boots” (Glendinning 144).  She then notices “a lone passenger clutching a nylon dress bag appears beside a kiosk like an alien” (Glendinning 145).  Then she is told by the other travelers that “’Yeah, this is it.’ In a wink, the two men disappear down the escalator” (Glendinning 146).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denver_International_Airport
http://www.westword.com/2007-08-30/news/dia-conspiracies-take-off/
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread60583/pg1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjjIy1DO0gs

Personally, I think this will be the busiest airport on the planet several months before an extinction level event hits the planet, like the Apophis asteroid. An underground base here would also be of high elevation and very far from the oceans. What better place to build a bunker? Of course we regular folks we be lied to, making sure the economy stays afloat long enough.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/99942_Apophis
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11207


Subject: RE: I smell a couple red herrings   
Author: Katherine Spears
Posted date: Wednesday, December 3, 2008 10:24:58 AM PST
Last modified date: Wednesday, December 3, 2008 10:24:58 AM PST
 
Darn it, I don't have the book with me right now; I remember that scene being odd, but c'mon, Ramon, abovetopsecret.com? I definitely believe that there are black budgets, and that the government does things that the population doesn't know about. The DIA stuff is interesting; I remember hearing reports about underground activity in Spokane when I was going to high school there in the nineties- there really could be something to it. If the government can build Hanford in a matter of months, in secret, which was the equivalent size and scope of 7 industrial plants, in the 1940's, I have no doubt that they can and do build huge secret facilities, even underground, for nefarious purposes. But that Schneider interview was totally unhinged; he jumps from subject to subject, giving no background information or support for some of his claims. He just sounds like a nutcase, to be honest. He's like the Richard Simmons of conspiracy theories, making no effort to meet someone on their level. He's running Mach 5 when I'm sitting in my chair. Conspiracy theories have a bad rap, and this guy, and these kinds of websites, are the reason.

I think you have picked up something in Glendinning's text that perhaps none of the rest of us has, though. I was totally intrigued by the Skull and Bones connection; perhaps Glendinning's metaphors go further than we first suspected.
 

Subject: RE: I smell a couple red herrings   
Author: RAMON GARCIA
Posted date: Wednesday, December 3, 2008 5:16:10 PM PST
Last modified date: Wednesday, December 3, 2008 5:16:10 PM PST
 
Katherine, you missed the reason I posted that non-DIA link.

"The Dulce underground base in New Mexico" (AboveTopSecret.com).

"I buy a small house in a village in northern New Mexico" (Glendinning 89).

http://maps.google.com

"We are, it turns out, the first generation of children singled out to think for the computer" (Glendinning 97).

What if she is still thinking for the computer? Could she be under some control by the academic-military-industrial complex and not realize it or be forced, this book being a cry for help?

I'm only 639 miles away from Dulce. If I interpret her clues correctly, I could find her. I've been searching for Level Seven for quite some time now. Or, maybe she's been converted and it's a trap for people like myself.
 

Subject: RE: I smell a couple red herrings
Author: Katherine Spears
Posted date: Wednesday, December 3, 2008 7:15:21 PM PST
Last modified date: Wednesday, December 3, 2008 7:15:21 PM PST
 
She lives in Chimayo, NM, somewhat close to Dulce, but I somehow doubt that she is trapped in some underground base. You are off-the-hook crazy!!! Don't take it wrong, I am too. I get accused of being a conspiracy theorist all the time. My sister sends me all these NWO videos, I'm online with my other English classmates at all hours over this stuff; if I hadn't been on a family vacation the 22nd, I would have been at an End The Fed protest. I have my food stockpiles and all that.  I get it. I just think you're thrashing a bit, is all.

And, call me Kate- if you aren't cursing at your screen right now and thought up some other impolite name for me at this point
 

Subject: RE: I smell a couple red herrings   
Author: RAMON GARCIA
Posted date: Thursday, December 4, 2008 4:37:22 PM PST
Last modified date: Thursday, December 4, 2008 4:37:22 PM PST
 
Haha, I was having a bit too much caffeine. Caffeine is brainstorm medley for me. I don't have time to go looking for her. I've got to resurect my dead corporation. My contacts are in place, University of Arizona professors and Raytheon electrical engineers. I want to make money and advance the human race in the process. I'm just waiting to get distractions out of my way, like this degree.

I did not say she was trapped down there, just being used for tests. She was singled out rather young. They would probably like their test subjects living close.

I don't get offended much. If I see a train crash coming, I'm getting out of the way. I'm not going to waste my time trying to convice others while they ridicule me. Glendinning is sending a message to those who can decode it. I'll be rereading this book on my flight up to TriCities in a couple weeks. I've got unfinished business to take care of.


Subject: RE: I smell a couple red herrings
Author: Katherine Spears
Posted date: Friday, December 5, 2008 10:38:45 AM PST
Last modified date: Friday, December 5, 2008 10:38:45 AM PST
 
I'm sorry if you think I was ridiculing you- it was actually sort of affectionate, as in, you're one of my peeps! lol. That's what I was trying to get across, but alas, once again the tone and inflection of my words is lost in this so imperfect medium............ Over Thanksgiving, I was visiting with a sister that lives in Holland, who has researched Queen Beatrix and the Bilderberg group that originated there, quite extensively. Our other sister sat in a corner and scowled at us for "wasting our intellect" on "Stupid conspiracy theories that hold no water"; arguing with her is useless, she's a law student and good at running circles around you, dipping and diving when you prove her wrong, and buzzing like a mad hornet if you actually make her think more than she wants to about things that tend to scare the living dog doo out of her. She hates that.

You should email me when you get here. I'd love to meet you and have coffee if you have a spare hour. It's cool sometimes to meet students from online classes that you've been talking to all semester without having a face to the name. That goes for everyone

katiespe@gmail.com
 

Subject: RE: I smell a couple red herrings
Author: RAMON GARCIA
Posted date: Friday, December 5, 2008 6:41:16 PM PST
Last modified date: Friday, December 5, 2008 6:41:16 PM PST
 
No, actually I did not take it the wrong way. When I meant 'others,' I meant other people in general. I think you Kate, misunderstood my written tone and inflection.

I get ridiculed by partisans when I suggest Democrats and Republicans have worked out a back room deal for each party to get 8 years then switching back and forth. The parties divide and conquer the people. I find it funny to hear partisan puppets bicker with each other, playing right into their party's hands of control. The parties might differ as to plan lengths and details, but they are both taking us in the same direction, creeping socialism at the hands of BOTH.

Sure, let's have a get together. I'm flying in on the 25th, but I'll have more free time closer to the end of the month. Does everyone know the Starbuck's in Pasco on Rd. 68?
 

Subject: RE: I smell a couple red herrings
Author: Katherine Spears
Posted date: Monday, December 8, 2008 11:37:32 AM PST
Last modified date: Monday, December 8, 2008 11:37:32 AM PST

Yep, and my family lives out that way, so I'll be out there a lot around Christmas anyway Give me a time and day, and I'll be there- I'm not working over the break. 
 

Subject: RE: I smell a couple red herrings
Author: RAMON GARCIA
Posted date: Friday, December 12, 2008 11:46:11 AM PST
Last modified date: Friday, December 12, 2008 11:46:11 AM PST

How about the evening on Sunday the 28th around 6pm? My schedule is very flexible, just wanted to throw something out there.
 

Subject: RE: I smell a couple red herrings
Author: Katherine Spears
Posted date: Monday, December 15, 2008 8:52:34 AM PST
Last modified date: Monday, December 15, 2008 8:52:34 AM PST
 
Sure, if it's open....is it open that late on a Sunday? If it is, I'll show up Otherwise, email me at katiespe@gmail.com. PEACE 


 

Subject: Sawdust
Author: RAMON GARCIA
Posted date: Sunday, November 16, 2008 6:23:29 PM PST
Last modified date: Sunday, November 16, 2008 6:23:29 PM PST
 
Glendinning uses Snowflake’s example of the nice pretty Washington “they sell nowadays” (Glendinning 42) that tastes like sawdust as a metaphor for the empire. An empire which on its exterior presents itself as the savior of mankind through global socialism or “New world order” (Glendinning 6), but on the inside is morally and spiritually corrupt because it justifies its means to ensure the end.

If expanded the apple could easily be a metaphor for the planet, in which humanity the worm eats it from the inside in order to one day transform into a flying insect which will one day leave the this apple.
 

Subject: RE: Sawdust
Author: Joshua Donaldson
Posted date: Sunday, November 16, 2008 10:26:17 PM PST
Last modified date: Sunday, November 16, 2008 10:26:17 PM PST
 
Interesting metaphor.  I wonder if it also is a metahpor that the best things are actual what you can find right outside you door.  Either way it is a reference to quality.  You know your own environment, and what to expect.


Subject: Identifying the dis-ease; Glendinning as "road-namer"
Author: Katherine Spears
Posted date: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 3:41:16 PM PST
Last modified date: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 3:41:16 PM PST
 
The metaphor I chose to look at is Glendinning's allowance that her first professional aspiration was to be a "road-namer", at the age of seven. I found this to be poignant. "Hidden away in the bureaucratic labyrinths of city hall, I will staff a cubicle of an office cluttered with dog-eared papers and a jet-black typewriter. My work willl entail visiting new lanes and highways, applying my talent for seeing their essence, and giving them appropriate titles." (24)

Glendinning is a road-namer, a brave human being that is willing to identify the inroads to empire, willing to name the abuse she suffers, willing to identify her abusers, "he takes us on Sunday drives in the Packard in the Le Sabre in the Cutlass...draws others into his game-other children to harm, other adults to be our dominators, adults whose names I can still recite." (48-49).

I wondered about this last bit. Was it a threat to her former abusers? There is much power in being able to identify those who committed such nightmarish atrocities; as well, it follows the theme of her story; her deft, if sorrowful, ability to name names, to call things what they are.

She draws the strength that she requires to bring a voice to pain, personal, political, social, psychological, environmental. However, she also realizes at much too young an age that using one's voice can be dangerous- "The slap from her hand, the sting from the pearls on her bracelet, they  hit like a hatchet to a turkey's neck. 'Never use such a word! NEVER!' She grabs at my collar, and I jump from her bony reach and scurry down the garden path." (56), but she ultimately finds that being able to NAME the dis-ease, name her own pain, and connect her personal experience of rape and imperialism to a larger paradigm, is ultimately cathartic and empowering. I wonder if she really did want to be a road-namer as a child or if it was simply a clever device and metaphor for her story.
 

Subject: RE: Identifying the dis-ease; Glendinning as "road-namer"
Author: RAMON GARCIA
Posted date: Wednesday, November 19, 2008 6:51:53 PM PST
Last modified date: Wednesday, November 19, 2008 6:51:53 PM PST

I'm split on her decision to mesh her rape with imperialism. On one hand it sounds overly thought out as a sure fire gimmick to sell those books. Because if the books don't sell, she may not be published again and will end up on the talk show circuit with Oprah and Dr. Phil.

On the other hand, perhaps her rape has defined her thoughts and life, forever tainted never a waking day without thinking about it, always in her thoughts and always intermingled with any other thought or idea she has. She opens a can peaches, RAPE! Her dog humps her leg, RAPE! An over friendly fan tries to hug her, RAPE! The world is all about RAPE, people RAPING people, entities RAPING people, people RAPING entities, RAPE, RAPE, RAPE! I hope not, her life would suck.
 

Subject: RE: Identifying the dis-ease; Glendinning as "road-namer" 
Author: Katherine Spears
Posted date: Wednesday, November 19, 2008 11:36:29 PM PST
Last modified date: Wednesday, November 19, 2008 11:36:29 PM PST
 
I flat out disagree with you that Glendinning used her childhood experiences in an opportunistic manner. I also think that she makes a good case, with apt metaphorical language and a firm grip on history, sociology, and psychology. Nor do I think she is necessarily someone with a worldview that would be welcome on Dr. Phil or Oprah. They sure like have victims on their shows, but I doubt they would agree with or like to hear her rather anti-globalist, anti-empire views. At all.

I would concede that her horrifc nightmare as a child has colored her view of life- anyone who is repeatedly, brutally raped, and by their own father, would have their life changed by such a thing. That she not only grew up to be educated and successful, but also has gathered the strength and wherewithal to find her voice and try to heal, is pretty amazing. Many women (and men) that go through things like that have a very difficult time dealing with it, and never manage to heal or to live legitimate lifestyles (drugs, prostitution, abusive relationships, etc). I think Glendinning is miraculous in that respect and I appreciate reading her work and getting her perspective.
 

Subject: RE: Identifying the dis-ease; Glendinning as "road-namer"
Author: DAVID BROOKS
Posted date: Thursday, November 20, 2008 10:12:12 AM PST
Last modified date: Thursday, November 20, 2008 10:12:12 AM PST
 
I did not see that her rape dominated her life. I am keeping her book because it is a good reference for me. Her experience gives her insight she would not have otherwise. This is another thing that the forest has done for me. The forest, when given time to heal and with proper care can recover from a rape. So can people. I would wager that Glendinning has recovered. Her work makes me think so anyway.

David
 

Subject: RE: Identifying the dis-ease; Glendinning as "road-namer"
Author: RAMON GARCIA
Posted date: Thursday, November 20, 2008 6:42:12 PM PST
Last modified date: Thursday, November 20, 2008 6:42:12 PM PST
 
I've only read half the book, which is why I'm split. Being a victim does not make one a saint who can do no wrong. She is still a human with all the weaknesses of one. The statement by her father, “I’m giving you my disease” (Glendinning 48), indicates a chain of abuse. She may not have caught her father’s disease, but she seems to have caught “endless ways to perpetrate” (Glendinning 49) the retelling of her abuse over and over, meshed into other ideas, her books, and her everyday conversations “He raped and beat me and my brother” (Glendinning 22). I’m only suggesting the possibility she is playing the sympathy card, whether she fully realizes it or not, to sell books, which makes money, which buys healing.  She is only human, and humans tend to be very opportunistic animals.
 

Subject: RE: Identifying the dis-ease; Glendinning as "road-namer"   
Author: Katherine Spears
Posted date: Friday, November 21, 2008 11:29:50 AM PST
Last modified date: Friday, November 21, 2008 11:29:50 AM PST

I disagree that money buys healing. Money can certainly buy a sense of physical security and comfort, but it can't buy a sense of emotional or psychological well-being beyond the most rudimentary, especially for those who have been tramatized.

Case in point- Lottery winners that commit suicide.
 

Subject: RE: Identifying the dis-ease; Glendinning as "road-namer"   
Author: RAMON GARCIA
Posted date: Friday, November 21, 2008 8:01:11 PM PST
Last modified date: Friday, November 21, 2008 8:01:11 PM PST

Indirectly, it does as you suggest. I did not mean she was going over to Wal-Mart to buy a box of healing. Physical security, comfort, psychological counseling, travel vacation getaways, freedom from the stress of a crappy job, education, free time for self-exploration, and the ability to acquire the resources to foster healing and obtain emotional well being, is what money as a tool can buy.

Lottery winners who commit suicide probably did not know what to buy or lost the will to shop. I’m done reading the book now.

Subject: North American Water And Power Alliance
Author: RAMON GARCIA
Posted date: Friday, September 26, 2008 8:02:29 PM PDT
Last modified date: Friday, September 26, 2008 8:02:29 PM PDT

The other blood that will run through the veins of a new empire.

This subject has been quite intriguing, with lots of interesting conspiracy theories attached to it. I once knew more about it, but my memory can fade quickly.
 

Subject: Reply to Ramon by Heather C.
Author: HEATHER CAMPBELL
Posted date: Friday, September 26, 2008 9:15:24 PM PDT
Last modified date: Friday, September 26, 2008 9:15:24 PM PDT
 
Ramon,

    Wow! I had to google the North American Water and Power Alliance to see what it was and it surprised me. I had heard in the past about diverting water from rivers to dry areas but this seems like a huge, huge undertaking. Plus it makes me worry about the possible effect this project could have on ocean levels and overall well-being. Just a broad question here, but do you think this will actually happen someday, or will we learn to lessen our water usage so such a feat does not have to be undertaken? I look forward to learning more about this topic!

-Heather C.
 

Subject: RE: Reply to Ramon by Heather C.
Author: RAMON GARCIA
Posted date: Saturday, September 27, 2008 9:58:12 PM PDT
Last modified date: Saturday, September 27, 2008 9:58:12 PM PDT

If I remember correctly from what my biological conservation instructor said, this proposal has never been rejected. It is merely on hold until the time is just right.
 

Subject: RE: Reply to Ramon by Heather C.
Author: DAVID BROOKS
Posted date: Monday, September 29, 2008 2:55:45 PM PDT
Last modified date: Monday, September 29, 2008 2:55:45 PM PDT
 
Ramon

This kind of conspiracy has been around for some time. When California began eyeing Northwest water back in the 60's people got all excited and everybody in the country registered how much water they needed to survive. It turned out that we used so much water, that California would have to ship us theirs. Not quite, but we made it clear that our water was not for sale. It looks like these battles will have to be fought over again. We'll be interested in what you find.

David
 

Subject: RE: Reply to Ramon by Heather C.
Author: RAMON GARCIA
Posted date: Monday, September 29, 2008 6:31:43 PM PDT
Last modified date: Monday, September 29, 2008 6:31:43 PM PDT
 
Hopefully I can find good reliable sources. But this sounds interesting.

Planet is running out of clean water, new film warns

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/09/19/water.crisis/index.html



Subject: RE: North American Water And Power Alliance
Author: JEFF SELLEN
Posted date: Sunday, October 12, 2008 9:26:38 PM PDT
Last modified date: Sunday, October 12, 2008 9:26:38 PM PDT
 
Empires do depend on water, and if they don't have it close at hand, then they need to go looking for it.  I'm not sure where the proposal now stands, but the historical fact of this proposal nevertheless points to a fundamental problem with development in the American Southwest.  I think that even if the proposal seems unlikely in the near or distant future, an analysis of the historical discourse could be very interesting.

Jeff Sellen
 
 

Subject: An undiagnosed Asperger who became Theodore Kaczynski’s role model
Author: RAMON GARCIA
Posted date: Sunday, September 21, 2008 8:10:07 PM PDT
Last modified date: Sunday, September 21, 2008 8:10:07 PM PDT
 
I see interesting parallels between Thoreau and Kaczyncski, which leads me to believe Thoreau was a socially awkward person who retreated from people whom he could not connect with, but could only analyze on a scientific level. By reducing himself, a human, to a more primitive level, he strove to understand people as they are living on the edge of survival that do not have the time to engage in excessive social activity. Therefore, I agree with Tanya’s ideas that he felt overwhelmed by a modern society which has excess leisure time to develop intricate social networks, which he had difficulty navigating as an Asperger.  I agree with Joshua that his “solitary experience with nature allowed for a pattern of self discovery,” but that he used this self discovery to understand other people by peeling away at a human, himself, down to the core and learning to see the basic human fundamentals which exist in others under the fluff of culture. Only via this method was his Asperger scientific mind able to understand human connection which comes naturally to most people. 


Subject: RE: An undiagnosed Asperger who became Theodore Kaczynski’s role model
Author: JEFF SELLEN
Posted date: Monday, September 22, 2008 12:48:22 AM PDT
Last modified date: Monday, September 22, 2008 12:48:22 AM PDT

Ramon--
Do you think that most of us would enjoy sitting down with Thoreau for an evening?  For many readers, he is a very engaging writer.  But that doesn't mean that they would like him as a person. 
 

Subject: RE: An undiagnosed Asperger who became Theodore Kaczynski’s role model
Author: RAMON GARCIA
Posted date: Thursday, September 25, 2008 1:02:54 AM PDT
Last modified date: Thursday, September 25, 2008 1:02:54 AM PDT
 
I would agree with this belief and expand it to self-absorbed celebrities, politicians, and overpaid athletes. 

Subject: heat generates gas
Author: RAMON GARCIA
Posted date: Sunday, September 14, 2008 7:17:51 PM PDT
Last modified date: Sunday, September 14, 2008 7:17:51 PM PDT

The paragraph suggests he considers himself an outsider and represents himself as someone passing through civilization. He does this for several reasons, one it puts the reader on notice that they will encounter different ideas to their own and that an open mind will help them understand him and his philosophical ideas on the costs of survival. Second, this allows the reader to shift their perspective into Thoreau’s and join him on his storied sojourn.  Having accidentally read half of chapter one before realizing my mistake, I must add that his philosophical meanderings can be tedious and random. While this may serve as a warm-up to the end of chapter one where he gets into describing the beginning of his little experiment, his “animal heat” generates much gas which requires it be relieved before delving into the beginning of his story. 
 

Subject: Alone in the Woods
Author: Rebeckah Turner
Date: Sunday, September 14, 2008 5:13:05 PM PDT
Last modified date: Sunday, September 14, 2008 5:13:05 PM PDT

The first paragraph of Walden effectively piques the reader’s interest. We are introduced to the main character, yet unnamed in the first paragraph, who has recently rejoined “civilized life” after spending 2 years and 2 months in the virgin woods of Walden Lake. Thoreau represents himself as a man, a working man; one who labors and reaps the benefits of what his hands are able to sew. He is educated enough to speak to his imagined audience with proper speech and grammar. He lives in a cabin that he built with his hands. We get the impression that he is almost completely alone in the woods, save for the nearest neighbor, who we are told is about a mile away. The first paragraph evokes the question: is he solitary by choice? What purpose does his exile serve? Perhaps these questions will be answered by the following chapters.


Subject: RE: Alone in the Woods
Author: RAMON GARCIA
Posted date: Sunday, September 14, 2008 7:29:18 PM PDT
Last modified date: Sunday, September 14, 2008 7:29:18 PM PDT

I've often wondered if ever I was stranded out in the middle of nowhere, how would I keep track of time and date? Jeff Probst would not be around to remind me how many days it has been. Would I resort to scratching notches on something? Would I care or have the luxury of time to do so?
 
 

Subject: The crackpot ?
Author: Katherine Spears
Posted date: Monday, September 8, 2008 12:58:19 AM PDT
Last modified date: Monday, September 8, 2008 12:58:19 AM PDT
 
Thoreau rambles on and on in some parts of the text; he makes me think of your crazy uncle that only appears for the annual family gathering, and he also reminds me of Utah Philips, this old folk singer (he died this year in April). I was exposed to him through Ani Difranco's music- she collaborated with him on an album that pieces his jokes and stories between songs, with her own guitar lines and background music. It is funny and compelling (If anyone wants to find it, I believe it's called The Past Didn't Go Anywhere). On one track, his son asks him a question, which he reframes as "Why is it that you are fundamentally alienated from the entire institutional structure of society?" At which point, he launches into a story about his experience as a soldier in the Korean War.

This is exactly what Thoreau is- fundamentally alienated from the entire institutional strucure of society. His experience of nature is thrilling and compelling, his scathing indictment of "civilization" hilarious and food for thought. My version of the text also includes Civil Disobedience- has anyone read it?

Does anyone think that Thoreau is a crackpot, for the way in which he frames civilization?

I'm overposting here (too much coffee tonight), but wanted to hear your thoughts.

Peace


Subject: RE: The crackpot ?
Author: Joshua Donaldson
Posted date: Sunday, September 14, 2008 12:26:42 PM PDT
Last modified date: Sunday, September 14, 2008 12:26:42 PM PDT

I've tried reading civil disobedience, but at 21it was hard to follow and I didn't finish it.  It was awkward I thought he was a complainer in it, maybe with another two years of growing I would think differently. 


Subject: RE: The crackpot ?
Author: RAMON GARCIA
Posted date: Sunday, September 14, 2008 7:35:34 PM PDT
Last modified date: Sunday, September 14, 2008 7:35:34 PM PDT
 
I think he questions the practicalities of survival which have evolved mostly by practical customs but points his figure at non-practical customs which come about from a culture having creativity and spare time.
 
 

Ramon Garcia Jr.
Professor Fankhauser
English 368
July 23, 2008

Serpent Interrupted

   Survival instincts corrupted, mental disorder, stress and depression, and mad obsession snake through the novels McTeague and The Awakening. The serpent is evolutionary hosted within the human brain and works in symbiosis with the reptilian complex and higher brain functions. The serpent can be interrupted by mental disorder trickling down from higher brain functions, which corrupts the algorithms of the reptilian complex. A corrupted reptilian complex results in conflicted counter-intuitive survival instincts. Conflicted survival instincts eventually result in death, if not corrected or restrained. The serpent is the survival imperative.

   Mental disorder can cause reptilian complex corruption which conflicts survival instincts which can lead to death. Mental disorder can have numerous causes, such as the inability of a person to cope with the reality which envelopes them.  The character Edna in The Awakening suffers the mental disorder of depression in the beginning, “Edna often wondered at one propensity which sometimes had inwardly disturbed her without causing any outward show or manifestation on her part” (Chopin 18). Her disorder manifests itself as the longing for men outside her reach, the sad-eyed cavalry officer, the “young gentleman who visited a lady on a neighboring plantation” (Chopin 18), and the tragedian. Edna is forced into marriage with Léonce by her unexpected pregnancy outside of wedlock, “Her marriage to Léonce Pontellier was purely an accident, in this respect resembling many other marriages which masquerade as the decrees of Fate” (Chopin 18). Her marriage brings her temporary happiness, but with other men out of reach, over time her depression is reactivated. In her pursuit of happiness she comes to depend on the comfort of other men besides her husband, first with Robert then Alcée. Feeling entrapped by her marriage and societal norms, her mental disorder draws in additional stress and apprehension which stimulates her reptilian cortex causing her to move away from her husband. After continued secretive extramarital affairs with Alcée, “To-day it is Arobin; to-morrow it will be some one else” (Chopin 108), her realization she is pregnant causes panic and extreme anxiety, “Nature takes no account of moral consequences” (Chopin 105). Feeling strangled by her marriage, husband, and children, her thoughts entertain lashing out against her unessential offspring as a means of escape, “that she would give up the unessential, but she would never sacrifice herself for her children” (Chopin 108), but instead she chooses the more permanent flight of death by swimming out into the seductive sea.
    Mental disorder can cause reptilian complex corruption which conflicts survival instincts which can lead to death. Mental disorder can have numerous causes, such as the creation of a new overriding reality far removed from the one which previously enveloped.  The character Trina in McTeague, develops the mental disorder of compulsive behavior characterized by extreme frugality after winning the lottery. This extreme frugality jeopardized her physical health, “Her charming little figure grew coarse, stunted, and dumpy” (Norris 264), and blinded her to the danger her husband is becoming. Trina is murdered by her husband, “Toward morning she died” (Norris 296), but had it not been so she would have brought about her own death through her poor health, “She grew thin and meager; her flesh clove tight to her small skeleton” (Norris 278).
   Global mental disorder can cause reptilian complex corruption which conflicts survival instincts which can lead to global death. Global mental disorder can have numerous causes, such as human infighting caused by finite resources and ideological differences. Reptilian complex corruption comes about through the creation of powerful weapons capable of mass population destruction. Conflicted survival instincts will cause the use of these weapons of mass population destruction, which can lead to the global death of humanity. The global serpent interrupted causes its own death. Death or survival of the species is ultimately dependent on the chain of decedents. A defective and corrupted reptilian complex causes self-destruction by becoming blind to the chain.
Any efforts to bring pacification to humanity through further domestication of man via genetic, hormonal, psychotropic, and consciousness manipulation, will come at the cost of fracturing humanity into separate master and subordinate subspecies. A master subspecies of man would also find itself within a small genetic pool and highly susceptible to threats normally overcome by genetic variability, an inconvenient detail they continue to ignore. A better alternative is to leave the species of homo-sapiens intact as it continues to evolve. The survival aspects of the reptilian cortex which become counterproductive to survival with the creation of increasingly powerful weapons must be redirected to the external threat.
In Carl Sagan’s book, The Dragons of Eden, Sagan promotes the ideas of Paul MacLean, chief of the Laboratory of Brain Evolution and Behavior of the National Institute of Mental Health, on the reptilian complex seem which support ideas I have presented over the span of this course. Sagan writes, “But it is striking how much of our actual behavior–as distinguished from what we say and think about it–can be described in reptilian terms” (Sagan 63), which supports my idea that the character Edna does not swim out to sea because of some high-minded principle of death rather than unhappiness, but because she is a stressed, threatened, and confused human animal with a corrupted reptilian complex. According to Sagan, “It is very difficult to evolve by altering the deep fabric of life; any change there is likely to be lethal. But fundamental change can be accomplished by the addition of new systems on top of old ones” (Sagan 59). This means that higher brain functions, like the neocortex cannot operate independently of the reptilian complex and humans will always be bound by this underlying behavior, “Thus evolution by addition and the functional preservation of the preexisting structure must occur for one of two reasons–either the old function is required as well as the new one, or there is no way of bypassing the old system that is consistent with survival” (Sagan 61).
The global serpent interrupted causes its own death because “the R-complex plays an important role in aggressive behavior, territoriality, ritual and the establishment of social hierarchies” (Sagan 63), and self-destruction is quickly achieved through the development and use evermore powerful weapons of mass population destruction.  On the possibility of receiving an extraterrestrial message Sagan writes, “the receipt of a message from an advanced civilization will show that there are advanced civilizations, that there are methods of avoiding the self-destruction that seems so real a danger of our present technological adolescence” (Sagan 244). Such a method is the redirection I suggest. Rather than fight our true nature in vain, redirect it for continued survival. This suggestion is not unique. Science fiction has been tugging on our global reptilian complex for quite some time, but the time is coming when it must be initiated into our reality or face extinction.

At this point in humanity’s evolution, whether or not this external threat exists is not of much consequence. Not only does redirection ensure the survival of humanity, but it further unifies all humanity across the planet overcoming past differences, since redirection builds on the reptilian complex’s natural tendency for xenophobia. With the serpent as our guide, humanity as a species will launch beyond homo-sapience into the vastness.

Works Cited

Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. 1899. The Awakening: An Authoritative Text
Biographical and Historical Contexts Criticism. Ed. Margo Culley. 2nd ed.
New York: Norton, 1994.

Norris, Frank. McTeague: A Story of San Francisco. 1899. McTeague: With a New
Introduction by Eric Soloman. Introduction. Eric Soloman. New York:
Penguin, 2003

Sagan, Carl. The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human
Intelligence. New York: Random, 1977.

Ramon Garcia Jr.
Professor Naynaha
English 368
December 12, 2008

Break and Domesticate

European imperial domination of Native Americans as brought forth by both Britain and the fledgling United States of America originally sought to break and domesticate the natives before the option of genocide was pursued. In the books, Hope Leslie; or, Early Times in the Massachusetts, and The Pioneers, there is evidence of this original plan. However, as massacres increased on both sides, bitter hatred resulted in the abandonment of this original plan with the eventual policy of genocide of the Native Americans to bring them to smaller controllable numbers. The question that remains is, why not bring about full extermination of Native Americans? Why allow remnants and survivors on reservations?

In Sedgwick’s Hope Leslie, examples of broken and domesticated Native American servants are introduced early in the book. Monoca, Magawisca, and Oneco are broken as their tribe is slaughtered and a few are taken prisoner. Magawisca “is the daughter of one of their chiefs, and when this wolfish tribe were killed, or dislodged from their dens, she, her brother, and their mother, were brought with a few other captives to Boston” (Sedgwick 21). After these Indian captives have been broken, European imperialist proceed to domesticate them into servitude as they “were sent into slavery in the West Indies” (Sedgwick 21).  However, because of Magawisca’s English speaking abilities and her mother’s recorded kindness to white traders, they were spared by the governor the harsh slavery of the West Indies. Instead Magawisca and Oneco were permitted to be domestic house servants for Mr. Fletcher.
   In Cooper’s The Pioneers, examples of broken and domesticated servants come in a slightly different form. Chingachgook, the Great Snake, was once a great warrior chief but as the “lingering remnant of his nation extinguished their fires, among the hills of the Delaware, he alone had remained, with a determination of laying his bones in that country, where his fathers had so long lived and governed” (Cooper 82). Broken and converted Christian, he became Indian John and was treated as a helper servant as “his services were of importance” (Cooper 82) to the white European imperialist. As a good servant with medical skills, he helped the doctor dress a wound.

The massacres which were experienced by both the Native Americans and European whites caused deep rift of hatred and bitterness among them both. Repeatedly throughout books of this time, Indians are savages, non-Christian heathens, and “a treacherous race” (Sedgwick 43). There are hints in Hope Leslie which show the reasons behind the abandonment of the original plan to domesticate Native Americans and its replacement with the policy of genocide.
   In Hope Leslie, Magawisca’s village is savagely attacked by the English, “Thus did the strangers destroy, in our own homes, hundreds of our tribe…The bodies of our people were strewn about the smoldering ruin; and all around the palisade lay the strong and valiant warriors—cold—silent—powerless as the unformed clay” (Sedgwick 51).  In reciprocity for the carnage which took Magawisca and Oneco, Mononotto their father appears with two warriors. One of the warriors attacks Mrs. Fletcher killing her. The wounded warrior “tore the infant from its mother’s breast. She shrieked, and in that shriek, passed the agony of death…she neither saw nor felt the knife stuck at her own heart…Everell was torn from the lifeless bodies of his mother and sisters” (Sedgwick 67). Thus, the hatred and bitterness between the Native Americans and European imperialist grew over time, increasing with each massacre which occurred on both sides.

History shows that the genocide of the Indians was not complete, but why? Why not completely eliminate the savages? In his work titled, “The Horrid Alternative: Miscegenation and Madness in the Frontier Romance,” Harry Brown might offer a glimpse into the fledgling United States of America’s decision to reduce their numbers and round them into reservations. According to Brown in a speech given by Thomas Jefferson to a gathered group of Indians of the Delaware and Mohican, Jefferson urged the Indians to merge with whites and spread “over this great island” (Brown). During this time Jefferson was president of the U.S. How could a president of the United States of America dare suggest miscegenation in such a time when it broke social rules which were the foundation of racial separatism and European expansion in the New World?
   According to Brown, in books of that time when miscegenation was addressed it was seen as degeneracy and madness. Hybridization in which offspring are not fertile was the test used to determine whether animals were of a different species according to naturalist of the time. When it became apparent that offspring between Indians and whites were viable, the test shifted to reduced fertility over generations, therefore something to be avoided. This diminished fertility as came to be compared “to bestiality, a horribly abhorrent union between two distinct species” (Brown). In fiction of the time, Indian-white half-breeds came to have characteristics of beasts, while in polite literature such unions considered whites to have suffered mental degradation.
   “It appears to follow Jefferson in its consideration of whether the white and Indian races can resolve their differences by interracial marriage rather than racial warfare” (Brown), referring to Sedwick’s Hope Leslie. Brown states that the idea that the Indian-white romances of Faith and Oneco are under the cloud of degeneracy and madness, as both Faith and Oneco are the lesser siblings of Hope and Magawisca. Brown also suggests that this mental degeneracy is also one which was used to explain why white women who were captured by the Indians refused to reenter white society when given the chance. However, it appears that Jefferson did not share such a belief that interracial marriages were the result of mental degeneracy or bestial if he urged it as a means of cooperating and ending the bloody warfare among whites and Indians.
   In this work titled “Cooper’s The Pioneers,” Stern Kelly explores the metaphor of the deer in Cooper’s The Pioneers. He starts off by analyzing chapter 27 in which there is a deer hunt. He writes of the deer hunt, “can be interpreted as symbolic of the struggle between the ‘Indian’ way and the ‘white’ way — between nature and civilization” (Kelly). He believes the characters, Natty, Edwards, and Chingachgook, to be torn between these two ways. However, Chingachook finds this an “opportunity to reaffirm his Indian ways” (Kelly), while the others have to walk the line between both ways.
   Kelly writes that Chingachgook is a blend of savagery and civility, but that he prefers the savage hunter in himself and that the civilized “Indian John” is no match. Edwards from the beginning is separated into both the savage and the educated gentleman. According to Kelly, he is reluctant to leave his savage ways when he refuses to work for the judge, but that towards the end of chapter 27, he referred to often as “Mister” and seen more civil than savage. Kelly believes Natty struggles between the laws of nature and civility and that Cooper shows this by referring to characters by different names, such as when Chingachgook calls Natty “Hawkeye” (Kelly), while Natty continues to refer to Chingachgook as “John.”
   Kelly writes, “The deer stands as a symbol for these ways, for the laws of nature, for instinct. All three characters embrace these things during the hunt, and their actions seem to represent their true selves” (Kelly). I would add that the deer stands for the common goal of two separate and distinct cultures and people, the goal of survival which would have benefited both via the merge suggest by Jefferson.

For some time, European Imperialist had met their match against armies with primitive weapons. They reluctantly had respect for the warrior ways of the enemy and in time the U.S. Army even came to adopt their fighting tactics of stealth and language for encrypting radio communications. By suggesting the merging of Indian and white, Jefferson was in fact trying to merge the ways of whites and Indians because he saw benefits to both cultures and races. Eventually as it became apparent this merging would not happen in his lifetime, both because of engrained social norms of racial separation and because of the deep bitter hatred which developed between whites and Indians, Jefferson chose to abandon the plan of domesticating the Native Americans and engineered their genetic and cultural preservation on reservations, rather than pursue complete and total genocide. As Mary Rowlandson wrote when she was captured by Indians:

I cannot but take notice of the strange Providence of God in preserving the heathen: They were many hundreds, old and young, some sick and some lame; many had Papooses at their backs; the greatest number at this time with us were Squaws, and they travelled with all they had, bag and baggage, and yet they got over this river aforesaid; and on Monday they sat their wigwams on fire, and away they went; on that very day came the English army after them to this river, and saw the smoke of their wigwams and yet this river put a stop to them. God did not give them courage or activity to go over after us. (Rowlandson 34-35)

God’s providence must have worked through Thomas Jefferson.

Works Cited

Brown, Harry. “The Horrid Alternative: Miscegenation and Madness in the Frontier
   Romance.” Journal of American & Comparative Cultures 24 (2001): 137-51.

Cooper, James Fenimore. The Pioneers.  New York: Signet Classics, 2000.

Rowlandson, Mary. A Narrative of the Captivity, Sufferings, and Removes, of
   Mrs. Mary Rolwandson. Cornhill: Thomas and John Fleet, 1856.

Sedgwick, Catharine Maria. Hope Leslie; or, Early Times in the Massachusetts.
   New York: Penguin, 1998.

Stern, Kelly. “Cooper’s The Pioneers.” Explicator 55 (1997): 208-11.

Ramon Garcia Jr.
Professor Sellen
English 472
November 7, 2008

Asperger Animal

   If humans were assigned ape counterparts, most people would be lie somewhere between a violent chimpanzee and an orgy seeking bonobo, but Henry D. Thoreau would be an orangutan. Orangutans are known for their intelligence and for their solitary nature. Interesting enough, in the movie Planet of the Apes, Doctor Zaius was depicted as an evolved orangutan, while military commanders by evolved chimpanzees and infantry soldiers by evolved gorillas. If humans are closely related to these apes, is it possible that some humans might somehow inherit social remnants of an orangutan rather than those of chimpanzees or bonobos, therefore giving rise to the condition we are only recently beginning to define as autism?

   First, the rationale behind Thoreau’s solitary wilderness experiment must be explored.  In chapter one of his book, Walden, Thoreau states “nature is as well adapted to our weakness as to our strength” (12). What Thoreau implies are the survivability limits of a human and how humans can either thrive or die within the natural world. Therefore, the rationale behind his wilderness experiment seems to be a test to measure his ability to survive as an attempt to find greater meaning in his life and a reason to continue living. Thoreau tests himself in this manner because he is lonely and disconnected from other people. He hides his loneliness and disconnect from others under the mantle of an emotionless intellectual, by giving random facts, anecdotes, introspective thoughts, and observational accounts. He sheepishly alludes to the sting of rejection by others stating that he went, “faithfully minding my own business, till it became more and more evident that my townsmen would not after all admit me into the list of town officers, nor make my place a sinecure with a moderate allowance” (Thoreau 22). Not only was he rejected socially, but this social rejection threatened his livelihood, therefore his ability to survive in a modern society where his wages buy him sustenance needed to survive. How often do people get ahead by who they know than by what they know? How often do those who talk a good talk get promoted over those who are much more quiet and reserved?  To a socially awkward Asperger, this happens quite often. Thoreau’s solitary wilderness experiment was prompted by this threat to his survival.  Therefore, by selecting this particular experiment he set out to better understand other people by reducing himself to the primitive level where basic human fundamentals can be self observed, but also as a depressive response to his rejection he gambled with the gods of nature to see if he was fit to continue living. “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately” (Thoreau 118), because only by facing possible death does one truly feel alive.
   Tanya Beltz writes, “Thoreau, feeling overwhelmed with modern society, retreats into the wilderness to find himself and a new meaning to life.” However, I must disagree. It was not the modern aspects of society that overwhelmed him, but the social aspects of society. Thoreau writes, “we have to agree on a certain set of rules, called etiquette and politeness, to make this frequent meeting tolerable” (Thoreau 179), which indicates that social interaction, which he sees as rules which he can understand, is what he is overwhelmed by, not modern society and its technology. Yet, he longs to fit into social society, pushed by his male yearnings for a woman, “it would be better if there were but one inhabited to a square mile, as where I live”, as he seems to fantasize of factory girls that “should touch him” (Thoreau 180). Thoreau longs for a woman because he cryptically admits he is tired of masturbating, “whose loneliness was relieved by the grotesque visions with which, owing to bodily weakness, his diseased imagination surrounded him” (Thoreau 180).  He writes this in reference to some man lost in the woods, because he is too embarrassed to confess openly.
Joshua Donaldson writes, “Thoreau solitary experience with nature allowed for a pattern of self discovery.” I would have to agree, but it was not self discovery for the sake of self discovery, it was self discovery to understand humans on a scientific level. Thoreau tells of a simple-minded pauper who confesses to him the fact he is not very intelligent. To any regular person he would merely be a dimwitted person, but to Thoreau “he was a metaphysical puzzle” (Thoreau 199), which is highly indicative of his desire to understand humans on a scientific level because it is the only way his mind is capable of understanding human connections. By understanding himself, Thoreau hoped to understand other people and know how to connect with them. He states, “I was ready to greet” (Thoreau 203), because he was putting his new social skills to the test, further experimentation by him.
   Secondly, Thoreau’s behavior must be compared to currently known patterns of people with Asperger syndrome. According to Wikipedia,
Individuals with AS experience difficulties in basic elements of social interaction, which may include a failure to develop friendships or to seek shared enjoyments or achievements with others (for example, showing others objects of interest), a lack of social or emotional reciprocity, and impaired nonverbal behaviors in areas such as eye contact, facial expression, posture, and gesture.
Because we are reading Thoreau’s words, they cannot be objective because he will not confess out of shame, but he offers us clues which help us make the connection. Thoreau writes, “To be alone was something unpleasant. But I was at the same time conscious of a slight insanity in my mood, and seemed to foresee my recovery” (Thoreau 173). According to Wikipedia,
Unlike those with autism, people with AS are not usually withdrawn around others; they approach others, even if awkwardly, for example by engaging in a one-sided, long-winded speech about a favorite topic while being oblivious to the listener's feelings or reactions, such as signs of boredom or haste to leave.
Thoreau’s knack for detailed observation, both scientifically and financially, is indicative of a person with Asperger syndrome. According to Wikipedia, “People with Asperger syndrome often display behavior, interests, and activities that are restricted and repetitive and are sometimes abnormally intense or focused.” One particular example is his fascination with the warring ants in which he writes, “It was the only battle which I have every witnessed, the only battle-field I ever trod while the battle was raging” (Thoreau 304).
   
   While I can only extend my hypothesis that Henry D. Thoreau was an Asperger without concrete proof in the finite amount of time I have, I’m convinced Thoreau is masking his Asperger symptoms out of embarrassment. I believe I have connected enough clues for my readers to digest my hypothesis with a fair amount of credibility and fascination. Thoreau does a good job of bamboozling most readers, but to a person like me who has been accused of being an Asperger and who has an autistic son, Thoreau shows transparency. From my personal experience and from my personal research, the evidence suggests Thoreau is an Asperger, a condition which was not known at the time. I’m not a doctor or geneticist or a psychologist. Therefore, my hypothesis that autism originates somewhere in our ape lineage, will never be taken seriously. Perhaps one day my hypothesis will be validated by someone in the scientific field. I can only note that his facial hair does give him the appearance of an orangutan or Dr. Zaius.

Works Cited

Thoreau, Henry D. Walden. New York: Crowell, 1910

“Asperger syndrome.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia 7 Nov. 2008. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome>.

“Orangutan.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia 7 Nov. 2008. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orangutan>.