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"Dog Day Afternoon" Revived on Broadway - Need to Be Reminded We're All Screwups, Like Sonny and Sal

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 Yeah, go rob a bank. That's the common blow-off we do to those who are boring us with their money challenges. The idea of pulling that off is so other-dimension that it shuts down the conversation. So, that real life 1972 event at the Chase Bank in Brooklyn by Sonny Wortzik and Sal Naturile resonated with lots of folks, including journalists and those in the film loop. Essentially it was a story about two screwups who had parts of themselves which were so much like ours. The pathos became a blockbuster box office and critical success in 1975 - "Dog Day Afternoon." To begin with, the robbers' timing was off (like studying for BA, MA or PhD which winds up on the wrong side of the law of supply and demand when done). They arrive at Chase after the money had been picked up, leaving only a bit over 1,000 bucks. There is also the tactical decision to burn the register. The smoke attracts the cops. And, all-so-human they believe the promises of authority. Their escape plan ...
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Social Status: In Post-Epstein File Era, Heathcliff, Catherine Wouldn't Have Fallen in Love

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"He doesn't even have a car." In most social niches car ownership is a marker of at least middle class social status. This client for a tarot reading (identity masked) was upset when finding out the man pursuing her didn't even have a car. She assumed he was tooling around on an e-bike for exercise and adventure. That kind of conversation took place months before the Epstein files dump. Even then there had been a fierce sensitivity regarding what goes into socioeconomics.  In the new book "Anointed," business professor Toby Stuart documents how much social status shapes everything from how humans are treated to the opportunities open to them. The tone and content of the Epstein files detailed the operations of one large circle of that privileged world. Also, there's no ambiguity: For most of us there would be no invitations to dinner parties at Jeffrey Epstein's mansions. Middle class not welcome. We don't have enough of value to exchange on the...
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"I Just Can't Go On" - It's Not Just You

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  The heads were nodding throughout the Buddhist temple. The priest in that particular order of Buddhism had introduced the meme of "I just can't go on."  And, for many of us the Ah-Ha moment was: That feeling of deep despair is universal. It's not just us caught up in a force field of assuming we had run out of emotional and spiritual options. In the tarot that sense of being stuck in total misery is depicted in the bottom half of the Five of Pentacles card.  The top half captures hope.  The reality is that, even in these crazed times (and this isn't the first round of that for civilization), there are options.  Among the major ones in Buddhism is that fundamental that things are always changing. The mental burden I walked in with the temple last evening will be modified as I do my cushion time. With that, my sense of where I am in the world.  Another is the awareness of transition. There's that moment of clarity: I have been through a rough phase before. ...
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Conscience - Joe Kent Brings It Back

 “I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran." That's what former counterterrorism official in the Trump administration - Joe Kent - wrote on government letterhead. It was when he was resigning that leadership position. The statement went viral. Maybe that old-fashioned word "conscience" and the duty it imposes on a society will now return to how we how we think, how we speak and, most importantly, how we behave. In tarot readings when suffering human beings wrestle with issues I have never heard them use that term. The usual is about feelings, not aspects of morality or what Sigmund Freud called the "superego." The last time I recall referring to "conscience" was in 1968. That was the last year I was a practicing Roman Catholic. I informed a priest in the sacrament of Confession (now called "reconciliation") that I had examined my conscience and determined that the rules of Catholicism were harmful to humanity. Then, I...
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Mental Suffering: Trapped in the Isolation of Chat Bots

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  It was Sylvia Plath, who eventually took her own life, who created one the best descriptions of mental illness. That was in her autobiographical novel "The Bell Jar." No longer on copyright, the entire book is here for you to read free. Plath depicts mental suffering as being totally enclosed in a bell jar, with no openings. So you continually take in your own bad air. That is, your own confused thinking. With no input from the outside, you sink deeper and deeper into the abyss. We commonly refer to that as "isolation." Isolation is exactly the state of being when attempting to sort out emotional turmoil with a chat bot.  At least when you phone or text a free 24/7 mental health crisis line like Samaritans you're engaging with another human being. Attend the free peer-to-peer weekly meeting at the National Alliance for Mental Health (NAMI) and there's plenty of input. Free 12-step program Emotions Anonymous offers in-person meetings, with opportunities f...
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Skipping Meals and Other Acts of Desperation among the Creative Class

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  Four years ago I was interviewed in a podcast about how-to-freelance strategies. The host edited out my statement about my own transition from content-creation to tarot reading. I didn't balk. At the time I was still on the defensive about no longer being able to make a good living as a member of the Creative Class.  Now, that host likely is among the creatives and more who are skipping meals to pay their bills and not wind up homeless. Also they probably are skipping long drives, vacations and buying new. About the latter, Goodwill and other thrift shops are jam-packed.  Meanwhile, during the past four years I have built a reserve in my checking account. Added to the investment fund. This week I was hired for a tarot-reading gig at a local spiritual shop. And I haven't missed a meal. Here's the real tragedy in this reversal of fortune for so many creatives: They remains closed systems about the law of supply and demand.  It doesn't matter how talented they are in ...
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Radical Acceptance: The New 80 Is Still 80

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  This year the oldest of the boomers, including myself, are turning 80 years old. Is this the new 80?  Sure, there are new aspects. For example, given our family histories, many of us wouldn't have anticipated still being alive at 80. More of us are working for income. Some of us are expert at technologies such as AI. But, overall, for the human species, 80 is still 80. Most often an aging professional will come for a tarot reading to sort out the disappointment that they can no longer approach work like they used to. For example, they can't put in the long hours. If an early riser, by 3 PM they're exhausted. In addition, they wonder, since crises in work raise their blood pressure, if they will have to hang it up. One did hang it up because of challenges managing diabetes. For the generation whose members changed the rules in Americana these realities are a shocker. And for those realities - that's where what's known as "radical acceptance" kicks in. De...
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