Never Mind the Bull, Where’s the Passion Fruit? by Vago Damitio For the bulk of the existence of the human species, men and women have not kept pets nor tended gardens in the ‘modern’ sense. Neither have they ranched livestock, planted fields, nor built houses in one spot and put a mailbox in front with…
Author: CD
Social Justice, Society, Education
I wrote this essay back in 2008, as of this publishing of it, my student loans add up to more than $45,000 despite my having paid back nearly $10,000. My education has earned me less than $2000 and none of it in my major of anthropology. A cracker jack degree would have gotten me the…
How to Deal with Aggression – Blackberries and Work
Blackberries by Vago Damitio Blackberries are the scourge of the Pacific Northwest. To those who have never dealt with them, it sounds lovely to have a huge blackberry bramble growing in the yard. It’s different if you live in the northwest. Imported from the Himalayas to England and from England to America, blackberries found a…
Hawaii Mind Body Spirit Expo – Kooks Are Us
Flashback 2005. This was one of those bizarre days I shared that I still think about. I posted this on my old blog and it inspired a long string of hate and troll attacks that culminated with someone posting my face on pictures of gay porn and posting them on craigslist…totally bizarre.I wonder if that…
Good Friends You’ve Never Met
This is an excerpt from the Original Slackville Road. It didn’t make it into the re-release. Here’s the thing…it’s a true story. It happened to me and a buddy in Bellingham…fiction is real life…in this case. ~Vago Damitio There was a guy sitting to my left that kept looking at Ricky on my right. I…
Tourism and Reality in Southeast Asia
Tourism and Reality in Southeast Asia by Vago Damitio While watching the food channel the other day, I came across a disturbing thing. Initially, what caught my attention was a bald man in a southern China marketplace looking at the various foods being offered on a street vendor’s barbecue cart. I wasn’t disturbed by this,…
Tourism, Women, and Power in Southeast Asia
Women and Power in Southeast Asia by Vago Damitio Society is a complex organism that reflects the diverse use of power by the individuals and groups within it. Sometimes obvious and sometimes subtle, power is coveted, used, exploited, and always present in all groups of human beings. This is a constant. What is not constant,…
Like Sands Through the Hourglass
Like Sands Through the Hourglass…. by Vago Damitio No matter who a person is or where they may be growing up, there is no doubt about the fact that they will, at some point in their lives, deal with some sort of rite of passage. If a person is Caucasian, middle income, and living in…
Living in a Not Material World
Living in a Not-Material World by VagoDamitio In looking at the material world around us, it is easy to suppose that everyone sees the same things, the same way, the whole world over. This is not the case. Most of us, living in what we call ‘western’ and ‘modern’ societies tend to look at the…
I am Disturbed
I am disturbed that whatever art I make will probably be used to sell something at some point in the future. This is only true if my art is deemed good or popular. I am disturbed that success is so narrowly defined in the society that I live in. Essentially economic success is the only…