between broadview and castle frank

leafless trees sway slightly in the wind.
a single car, with the hazard on,
is parked on the shoulder of the highway.
the traffic is light but steady.
a patch of graffiti separates the road from the railroad.
a bird swims – no, it floats rather peacefully – in the water.
i want to ask it if what is good
for the goose is also good for the gander,
but it might be a duck.
a message on the path asks me to think!
a lone runner runs around the gravel track
around the baseball field, her hoodie pulled up.

there lies an entire world between broadview and castle frank.

Moneyball

I was watching Moneyball the other day. The movie is nothing spectacular. In fact, it’s downright cliched in many places. Still a sports film, slightly different slant.

What did strike me during the film was how swept up I was by this sports team that I have absolutely no connection with. They win 20 games in a row in the film and I can feel the changes in my body. I can feel myself rooting for them. It’s not active, in the sense that I’m not exactly jumping up and down. But I can feel quite the change in my feelings. And my feelings are rooting for the team.

There is absolutely no significance or consequence of this team and their 20 wins in a row to my life in any way. And yet, I feel.

Then I have to wonder what the difference is between this story, and the stories for which I don’t feel much. And if I may, extend this to a general us/we. What are those stories that we do not feel much for? And what is the difference?

If we root for this sports team, perhaps because they’ve been labeled the underdog in a certain situation. Why do we not care/cheer for so many non-sports situations?

real life

What makes real life so real? Tell me, is there a false life you store somewhere? Somewhere between the spaces, perhaps. What is a false life anyway? What component can you add to life to make it false, or what function can you take away?

Do you have a different life that’s all a play. All pre-scripted. You get the script the day before, plenty of time to practice. Then morning comes and you act it out. Line by line, a pitch perfect delivery. How fake. Sounds so different from a real life.

Oh, by the way, what you do online (on the internet) is real life. Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr, Mumblr – all real life. All the interactions that take place within those contexts are real.

Unless, you know, you’re the one faking them.