Spondylolisthesis

Friday, December 13, 2024

I feel like I’m going through a significant cultural change here on planet Earth, and I don’t know where it will lead us, but I know it will be a bumpy and perhaps violent journey. I’m hoping that is not the case, but I’m seeing structures being abandoned and what one would consider everyday norms. The normal is not normal, and the absurdity aspect of that world is changing radically. If someone told me years ago that we would be electing a convicted rapist to the highest office in the United States, I would think that is impossible. I would also think it would be impossible to imagine a murderer in a positive light concerning the powerful and their hold on people who need assistance from that grouping. I was taught and raised to believe violence was not the way to bring results, but now, it seems to be the case that violence does get results. Or, more likely, the illusion of such results.

The packaging and the visuals that come with an album are essential for my aesthetic pleasure. That also includes good-looking artists; even writers with visual appeal are as vital to me as a Rock n’ Roll musician. Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, Andre Breton, Frank O’Hara, Tristian Tzara, and others had such a visual presence as I read their books. Recently, I have been attracted by the visual representations of Caroline Blackwood, Izumi Suzuki, Anna Biller, Rachel Kushner, Clarice Lispector, and so forth. It is not because they are handsome or beautiful, but more that their appearance is part of their art. The same goes for the book or record cover design. If another edition has a better-looking cover, I will gladly pay the extra dollars to get that package. The same goes for politicians and even criminals.

Since the 1990s, I have been fascinated by the Kray Twins of London. It’s a mixture that they are twins, but also tied to a specific area of London, and reading about the twins, one also gets a visual map literally, but also in the mind of where they lived and worked. The geography of their crime empire is also a portrait of a neighborhood, both visual and literal. I admire artists who use locations as part of their art or practice. I have learned much about London (and other cities) through groups and songwriters such as Pulp, The Kinks, The Smiths, and many British punk rock artists. And, of course, in literature, there are Raymond Chandler, Colin Wilson, Colin MacInnes, Kerouac, Andre Breton (Nadja), William Faulkner, and so many more. But the same can be said about serial killers and criminals. Like the Krays, they, too, add geography to their character or presentation of the world. I’m sure this is not conscious, but after something happens in an area, that location becomes part of the narrative, including its present and past. The Lovin’ Spoonful and Velvet Underground built up the idea of Manhattan through my ears, while reading Joseph Mitchell and Damon Runyon also contributed significantly to my imagination of such a location.

Noir films from the 1940s and 1950s also feature the cities and neighborhoods where the stories take place, so following the case of Luigi Mangione, the Suspect in the murder of UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson, is not such a giant leap. Before we knew the Suspect’s name, we knew his route through Manhattan. It starts at Starbucks on 56th Street and 6th Avenue (1380 Sixth Ave), where he buys energy bars and a water bottle. He approaches the New York Hilton Midtown Hotel on 1335 6th Avenue. He shoots and kills Mr. Thompson and then, on foot, finds a bicycle, and we are not sure if it is a rental bike or some other bicycle. He rode to Central Park, ditched the bike, picked up a taxi at 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, and arrived at George Washington Bridge Bus Station in Washington Heights. So, it took approximately an hour to get from Starbucks to the hotel and then to the bus terminal. The thing is, I have been to the area of the Midtown Hotel. My relatives stayed there a few years back. With this in mind, I recommend La Grande Boucherie, a French restaurant a block from the hotel.

As of this writing, we don’t fully know the exact schedule or route, and we don’t know what happened at the George Washington Bridge Bus Station. The Suspect was found and arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, 275 miles from Manhattan. Altoona is known for being a railroad town established by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1849. He traveled around Manhattan, throughout the United States, and even Hawaii. His last occupation occurred in Santa Monica, and he even visited small towns in Japan. The Suspect ends up being arrested in a Railroad town, a traveling man who had to keep moving.

The Suspect’s appeal at this point is that he’s not insane. Although I would never do anything like that, his actions are logical to a certain degree. That, and magnified by his victim being part of an organization that has caused harm and misery, is also noted because it seems a lot of people have the desire to do the same action, but they don’t. But the Suspect did do it, and not only that, but he’s handsome. He has become or is a perfect package with intelligence, upbringing, and part of the academic world. There is also a theory that he suffers from Spondylolisthesis, which is a physical condition that affects the spinal and, therefore, causes or contributes to severe pain in his body, especially the back.

Pain or even the fear of pain can cause reactionary gestures. In a proper society, pain would be treated in a manner that would be helpful to the patient and, in turn, improve the world. Yet, some (such as health insurance companies) contribute to the misery of the sick as they suffer, making the patient and family feel like they are caught in a web they cannot crawl out of or the feeling of being in quicksand and those who can help simply ignore them. In dark times, it makes sense that it is not lightness but another version of darkness that comments on the world we are stuck in.