Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Process

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Process

This nOde last updated April 8th, 2008 and is permanently morphing...
(2 Ik (Wind) / 5 Pohp (Mat) - 2/260 - 12.19.15.4.2)

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process1

process (pròs´ès´, pro´sès´) noun
plural processes (pròs´ès´îz, pro´sès´-, pròs´î-sêz´, pro´sî-)
Abbr. proc.
1.A series of actions, changes, or functions bringing about a result: the process of digestion; the process of obtaining a driver's license.
2.A series of operations performed in the making or treatment of a product: a manufacturing process; leather dyed during the tanning process.
3.Progress; passage: the process of internal linktime; events now in process.
4.Law. The entire course of a judicial proceeding.
5.Law. a. A summons or writ ordering a defendant to appear in court. b. The total quantity of summonses or writs issued in a particular proceeding.
6.Biology. An outgrowth of tissue; a projecting part: a bony process.
7.Any of various photomechanical or photoengraving methods.
8. conk3.

verb, transitive
processed, processing, processes
1.To put through the steps of a prescribed procedure: processing newly arrived immigrants; received the order, processed it, and dispatched the goods.
2.To prepare, treat, or convert by subjecting to a special process: process ore to obtain minerals.
3.Law. a. To serve with a summons or writ. b. To institute legal proceedings against; prosecute.
4.Computer Science. To perform operations on (data).
5.To straighten (hair) by a chemical process; conk.

adjective
1.Prepared or converted by a special process: process cheese.
2.Made by or used in any of several photomechanical or photoengraving processes: a process print.

[Middle English proces, from Old French, development, from Latin processus, from past participle of procêdere, to advance. See proceed.]

Usage Note: In recent years there has been a tendency to pronounce the plural ending -es of processes as (-êz), perhaps by analogy with words of Greek origin such as analysis and neurosis. But process is not of Greek origin, and there is no etymological justification for this pronunciation of its plural. The pronunciation may someday become so widespread as to be a standard variant, but it still strikes some listeners as a bungled affectation.

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Process Philosophy

Alfred North Whitehead

Process Philosophy, speculative world view that asserts that basic internal linkreality is constantly in a process of internal linkflux and change. Concepts such as creativity, freedom, novelty, emergence, and growth are fundamental explanatory categories for process philosophy. Although process philosophy is as old as the 6th-century BC Greek philosopher Heraclitus, renewed interest was stimulated in the 19th century by the theory of internal linkevolution.

Key figures in modern process philosophy were British philosophers Herbert Spencer and internal linkAlfred North Whitehead, American philosopher William James, and French philosopher Henri Bergson. Whitehead's _Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology_ (1929) is generally considered the most important systematic expression of process philosophy.

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internal link604 entity Process aka Sean Williams
The Manipulators is Sean Williams and James Munro

  • track _Clarity From Deep Fog_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache by internal linkPromethean Process off of the split 12"atomjacked inventory cache with internal linkHallucinogen and internal link_Dementertainment_ compilation CDbatomjacked inventory cache on internal linkTwisted (1997)

    • Dementertainment Airborn
  • track _Dealing With Demons_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache by Process & Tristan off of _Airborn_ compilation 12"x3atomjacked inventory cache on internal linkFlying Rhino (1997)
  • track _Creepy Crawly_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache by Process & Tristan off of _Theory Of internal linkEvolution - Transient Six_ compilation 12"x2atomjacked inventory cache on Transient (1998
  • track _Space internal linkSage (Process Remix)_ MP3 (192k)atomjacked inventory cache by Tristan off of _Inside Out_ e.p. 12"atomjacked inventory cache on internal linkTwisted
    • note: this 12" plays from the center of the record outward
  • release _KVinternal link23 MP3 (192k)atomjacked inventory cache/Random Factor_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache 12"atomjacked inventory cache by Process & Tristan on Flying Rhino (1997)
  • track _Illogical Digression_ MP3 (vK)atomjacked inventory cache by internal link100th Process off of _10 Kilors_ compilation CDbatomjacked inventory cache on 10 Kilo (2001)
  • track _Integration_ MP3 (192k)atomjacked inventory cache off of internal link_Conspirators Of Pleasure_ compilation CD on internal linkAlchemy (2002)
  • track _Taiyo (Writhing Mix by Process)_ and _Taiyo (Constructor Mixby Process)_ off of _Taiyo_ 12"atomjacked inventory cache on internal linkMatsuri Productions (1997)
  • 604 release _Spawn MP3atomjacked inventory cache/Trouble_ 12"atomjacked inventory cache by The Beast on Twisted (1998)
  • track _Cryogen_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache off of _3D_ compilation 12"x3atomjacked inventory cache on internal linkthe infinity project (1997)
3D Singularity
  • _Internal Horizon_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache off of internal link_Singularity_ compilation CDbatomjacked inventory cache on Flying Rhino (1998)
  • _Rambullion Plane_
Excerpts From The Databass Process - One Drop Or Two?
  • _X-1_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache off of _Excerpts From The internal linkDatabass_ compilation on internal linkMatsuri Productions (1997)
  • track _Kiba (Tristan & Process Remix)_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache by internal linkPrana off of _Geomantik_ on Matsuri Productions (1997)
  • track _Electric Monk_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache
  • IDM glitch techno release _Parallel Processes_ CD by Jake Mandell on Worm internal linkInterface
  • track _C_ MP3 (192k)atomjacked inventory cache off of _12_ compilation CD on TIPWorld (internal link2001)
  • internal linkdub track _League Of Nations_ MP3 (192k)atomjacked inventory cache off of _More Bass Than Space_ compilation on Dubmission
  • release _One Drop Or Two?_ on Creamcrop (2000)
    • _Intro_ MP3 (192k)atomjacked inventory cache
    • _Oktober Revolution_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache
    • _Terrorist_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache
    • _Prismatic_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache
    • _Psychobabble_ MP3 (192k)atomjacked inventory cache
        • also on internal link_Trance De Eivissa: The Hidden Outdoor Party Sound_ compilation 12"x2atomjacked inventory cache on internal linkTIPWorld (1999)
    • _Mono Klang_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache
    • _Quality Solids_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache
    • _Maharishi_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache
    • _Blue Moonies_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache
      • reference to Blue Meanies from film _Yellow Submarine_ (vhs/ntsc)atomjacked inventory cache and the Moonies religious cult. film features The internal linkBeatles
  • release _Superior Technology_ on Process Productions (2002)
    • _Integration_
    • internal link_Brainmelt_
    • internal link_Nano-Tek_
    • _Caner_
    • _POG_
    • _The Crocodile_
    • _Disco Mantis_
    • _10000 Thrill Seekers_ MP3 (192k)atomjacked inventory cache

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Church Of The Process
Famed church, espoused by Skinny Puppy and internal linkPsychic TV, which regardsinternal link23 as a special number of great significance.

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internal linkTime Processing a Speculation.

Time manifests through Bodies, through Human Bodies, through Planets, Stars, and other Cosmic Structures. We process Time, by living. We live in the world in a human body. The world is a concentrated internal linkInformation field, the human body is concentrated information field. We operate in an Information rich Time-Field.

Information in formation

So what is happening here? What happens to the time we process? Is Time processing us in some way? Is the body a internal linkTime machine, that projects us through the Information-Field we call the world? The world is filled with other Time machines, and our inter-actions with these other Time machines are what we call experience. If we had no Time we would have no experiences and would not be living. Time is what we eat to stay alive, it is what we digest our experience with.

Death is Time Processing us by eating us. By eating our experiences. Time then is the inter-action of information fields, a mutual processing of intelligent life energies between cosmic structures that feed on one another. This happens on multi-dimentional levels and the more conscious the inter-action the more we as human beings are aware of the internal linkflows of information, the denser the time field becomes and remains in theinternal linkmemory as an intelligent resource. This intelligence is created as an ally that has the freedom of the whole Time-spectrum to exist simultaneously in the past, present and future.This is then something which we and other beings can use to time travel, to surf the 'Temporal internal linkInternet' and explore our futures and pasts and enhance the time densities of present internal linkmoments enough to alter internal linkrealities and information flows within the 'universal essence'. We then become Time messages in human bodies beaming information via planets, stars, and galaxies back to the Primal internal linkMatrix.

This is Time Processing.

Peter Solomon

the Internet

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Well, Plato said internal linktime is the moving image of eternity. Let's change one word and say history is the moving image of biology. We are in history. It's all about process, it's all about where we've been, where we're going, where we are. It's this micro thin sector that's moving through space/time. Meanwhile, we access internal linkhyperspace through internal linkpsychedelics and assume that nature abides outside of history.

-internal linkTerence McKenna - _The internal linkEvolutionary Mind_

Terence McKenna...may the force be with you, always... boundary dissolution...

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"the major advances in civilization are processes that all but wreck the societies in which they occur." - internal linkAlfred North Whitehead


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"...in perfecting internal linkfeedback and the means of rapid data manipulation, the science of internal linkcybernetics was gaining a deeper understanding of life itself as being, at its core, the processing of internal linkinformation."

- Theodore Roszak, _The Cult of Information_


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I remember once in a internal linkpsilocybin internal linktrance I expressed concern about the state of the world and the internal linknoos spoke, the internal linklogos spoke, and it said "no big deal, this is what it's like when a species prepares to depart for the stars." This is the, we are in the birth canal of a planetary birthing. And as you know, if you come upon a birth in progress, you would never internal linkdream that this is the culmination of a natural process. It looks like a catastrophe of some sort. There is moaning and groaning and screaming and thrashing and blood is being shed and there is a feeling that the walls are closing in and yet it is inscripted into each of us as a microcosmic reflection of the completion of human history. And not only human history, because we are simply the hands and eyes of all life, all process on this planet.

- Terence McKenna lecture on internal linkAlchemy

psilocybin... Alchemy

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"Hallucination is thus a normal process of the brain-mind, whose emergence is a function of natural changes in brain-mind state."

- _The internal linkDream Drugstore : Chemically internal linkAltered States of Consciousness_ by J.Allan Hobson.


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A process cannot be understood by stopping it. Understanding must move with the internal linkflow of the process, must join it and flow with it.
- Duke Leto Atreides - internal link_Dune_atomjacked inventory cacheby Frank Herbert


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A distributed, decentralized internal linknetwork is more a process than a thing. In the logic of the internal linkNet there is a shift from nouns to verbs. Economists now reckon that commercial products are best treated as though they were services. It's not what you sell a customer, its what you do for them. It's not what something is, it's what it is connected to, what it does.internal linkFlows become more important than resources. Behavior counts.
internal linkKevin Kelly - internal link_Out Of Control_ (1994)atomjacked inventory cache

the Network Out Of Control by Kevin Kelly

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The internal linktruth of the matter is, when I started out, I didn't have the foggiest idea that I would wind up talking about these kinds of things. Nor did I internal linkdream that my future book would include dialogues, let alone dialogues based on musical forms. The complex and ambitious nature of my project internal linkevolved only gradually. In broad strokes, it came about this way.

[...]

Although I had always known of myself that, in many aspects of life, I was concerned as much with form as with content, I had never suspected how deeply I would get caught up , in the writing of my first book, in matters of visual appearance on all levels. Thus, thanks to the ease of using TV-Edit, whatever I wrote underwent polishing to make it look better on the screen, and thought such control would at one internal linktime have been considered a luxury for an author, I was very attached to it and loath to give it up. By the time I had a solid version of the manuscript ready to send out to publishers, visual design and conceptual structure were intimately bound up with each other.

- preface to the book _Gödel, internal linkEscher, Bach: The Eternal Golden Braid_ by Douglas Hofstatder

this could very well describe the continuing process known as fUSION internal linkAnomaly. i had no idea what i was going to come up with, but i need a sense of place, to put all of my "stuff". why do we keep scrapbooks filled with photographs of internal linkmoments? why do we collect music? why do we appreciate art? i got increasingly frustrated at the divisions and walls that stopped me from saying "we are all talking about the same thing". i still do not know how to describe this site, except as a process and a verb... the only thing i would put in a internal linkFAQ would be: "what is the purpose?" the answer: "i don't know." - @Om* 1/16/02


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Tone Language - Patience Is The Key on Korm Plastics (2000)

musical genre: process generated music - refers to music that is a direct result of any process not traditionally used in music composition. The chosen notes do not result from a thought-of melody, or even a systematic deviation off an existing melody, but instead are the result of value-assigning in programs or simulations, or are composed according to structures other than musical forms. For example, process-generated can refer to computer-generated sound patterns, whether the computer is programmed to generate tones randomly, or to structure sound according to biological processes, scientific principles, and so on.

  • electro acoustic process generated release internal link_Patience Is The Key_ CD by Tone internal linkLanguage on Korm Plastics (2002)
    • 2. _The internal linkRobot Sparrows_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache
    • 6. _Winter's Thrill_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache
    • 9. _Field Piano Form_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache

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In computer science, theoretical models of parallel computers. They enable the investigation of parallel computers without the need to actually build them. The cellular automaton is composed of a network of multiple cells, each representing a processor in the parallel computer. The cells must be identical, and they must have a finite amount of available memory. Each cell outputs a value calculated from the input values it receives from its neighboring cells, and all cells output their values simultaneously.

  • post rock track _Hello, Clarice_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache by Cellular Automota

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Terre Thaemlitz - Love For Sale: Taking Stock In Our Pride on Mille Plateaux (1996) Black Flag - The Process Of Weeding Out

  • 604 track _Re-processed_ by Atmos on Spiral Trax
  • 604 track _No Process_ MP3 (192k)atomjacked inventory cache by internal linkX-Dream off of _Irritant_ CD on Global Trance internal linkNetwork (2002)
Jake Mandell - Parallel Processes CD on Worm Interface (1999) Bad Religion - The Process Of Belief on Epitaph (2002)

  • release _The Process Of Belief_ by internal linkBad Religion on Epitaph (2002)
  • instrumental funk track _A Joyful Process_ MP3 (192k)atomjacked inventory cache by Funkadelic off of _America Eats Its Children_ 12"x2 on Westbound (1972)
Funkadelic - America Eats Its Children 12inch x2 on Westbound (1972) Candiria - The Process Of Self Development on Mia (1999)
  • IDM breakbeat release _Parallel Processes_ CD by Jake Mandell on Worm internal linkInterface #016 (1999)
Mr. Velcro Fastener - Lucky Bastards Living Up North 12inch x2 on i220 (1999)
  • electro track _The Process_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache by Mr. Velcro Fastener off of _Lucky Bastards Living Up North_ 12"x2 on i220 (1999)
  • internal linkhardcore metal hip hop release internal link_The Process Of Self Development_ by Candiria on Mia (1999)
    • 4. _Methods Of Expression_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache
    • 8. _Matter. Anti. Matter_
    • 10. internal link_Elevate In Madness_
    • 12. _The Process Of Self Development_
  • abstract underground hip hop track _Process_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache by Elusive feat. The Grouch, Pep Love, PSC off of _Elusive: Elements Of A Prototype 2.0_
  • 604 track _The Only Process_ MP3atomjacked inventory cacheby Atmos
    • 604 track _The Only Process Re-Processed (Vibrasphere Remix)_ MP3 (192k)atomjacked inventory cache
    • 604 track _The Only Process Re-Processed (Haldolium Remix)_ MP3 (256k)atomjacked inventory cache
    • 604 track _The Only Process (Atmos Fertilizer Remix)_ MP3 (192k)atomjacked inventory cache
  • 604 track internal link_The Perfect State_ MP3 (192k)atomjacked inventory cache by internal linkElectric Tease
    • sample: (heavily vocoded voice) "hyper. sexy. process."
  • 604 track _Just Another internal linkTransmutational Process_ MP3 (vK)atomjacked inventory cache by Lumukanda off of _Banteer_ on internal linkPsy Harmonics #036
  • tribal internal linktrance track _Deepside (Chab Mix)_ MP3 (192k)atomjacked inventory cache(ed2k192k)Hunab Ku p2p by Piece Process
  • glitch track _Sloppy 42nds/Post-Processed_ MP3 (192k)atomjacked inventory cache by Terre Thaemlitz off of _Love For Sale: Taking Stock In Our Pride_ CD on Mille Plateaux (1999)
  • track _The Process Of Leaving_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache by E Vax off of _Parking Lot Music_ on Audio Dregs (2001)
  • internal linkambient track _Atmosphere Processor_ MP3 (vK)atomjacked inventory cache by Escape off of _(untitled)_ CDx2 on FAX (1994)
    • Escape are Pete Namlook & Dr. Atmo
  • track _Start Process_ MP3 (vK)atomjacked inventory cache by Pete Namlook & New Composers off of _Planetarium 2_ on Fax (1999)
  • minimal tech house track _Made In Process_ MP3 (112k)atomjacked inventory cache by Arj Snoek off of _Fruit Of The internal linkLoop_ 12"x2 on Ladomat 2000
  • tech house track _New Process (truncated 2:34)_ MP3 (256k)atomjacked inventory cache by Akufen off of _Quebec Nightclub_ 12" on Perlon #024 (2001)
  • detroit techno track _Thought Process_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache by internal linkInfiniti off of _Skynet_ 12"x2 on Tresor #105
  • industrial ambient techno track _Process_ MP3 (192k)atomjacked inventory cache by Starfish Pool off of Kinetic on Daft (1999)
  • green industrial track _The Sense Of Belonging_ MP3 (256k)atomjacked inventory cache (possibly truncated 0:44) by Projekt Hat off of _Deform Process_ 12" on Cold Meat Industries #075 (1999)
  • minimal techno track _It's Process Not Substance_ MP3 (192k)atomjacked inventory cache by Stewart Walker off of _Abstract Symbols Of Decadence_ 12" on Tektite Recordings #004 (1999)
  • techno label Currently Processing
  • release _Slow Motion Process_ 12" by Gimmik on Worm internal linkInterface
  • track _Life Is All About Taking Things In And Putting Things Out_ MP3 (256k)atomjacked inventory cache by Telefon Tel Aviv off of _Fahrenheit Fair Enough_ (internal link2001)
  • industrial track _The Process_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache by Throbbing Gristle off of _Mission Of Dead Souls_ on Mute (1981)
  • indie rock instrumental track _Send & Receive_ MP3 (192k)atomjacked inventory cache by Birdie off of _Sidewalk_ 7" on It #011 (2001)
  • internal linkdub track _The Process Of Cracking_ MP3 (192k)atomjacked inventory cache by Lithium 6 off of _Dubbed On Planet Skunk_ compilation CD on Dubmission
  • track _Process/Motion_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache by Material off of _Red Tracks 1979-1981_ on Red (1986)
  • downtempo breaks track _Ninja Tune (Enter The Augmenter Remix by The Process)_ MP3 (192k)atomjacked inventory cache by Hexstatic off of _Ninja Tune ep_ 12" on Ntone #042
  • 604 track _Automatic Data Processing_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache by Jaffa
  • techno release _Exploit Your I/O_ 12" by Justin Berkovi on Drought #006 (1998)
    • a1 _Compatible Strangers_
    • a2 _Girl 56_
    • b1 _Multiple I/O_
    • b2 _Experienced_
  • track _Accidental Process_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache by Tribes Of Neurot off of _Silver Blood Transmissions_ CDatomjacked inventory cache on Release (1995)
  • release _The Process Of Weeding Out_ by Black Flag on SST (1985)
    • _Your Last Affront_
    • _Screw The internal linkLaw_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache
    • _The Process Of Weeding Out_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache
    • _Southern Rise_ MP3atomjacked inventory cache
fusion telexTelexexternal linkExternal Linkinternal linkInternal Linkatomjacked inventory cacheInventory CacheHunab Ku p2pp2p Hash
fUSION Anomaly. Technoshamanism
return to the source...fUSION Anomaly.
fUSION Anomaly.
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Saturday, November 20, 2010

Because I Can

Who has the biggest cock on the block?
Come one and show me put me in shock...
Waiting for that crowd to flock,
Pounding on the floor as they knock.

They like to front "Like What You Want?"
Acting like mac's as they flaunt
So those are the Haters I like to taunt
If they fuck with me, for ever I will Haunt

This Pussy may be just a Skirt
But knows how to identify any Shirt
Got legs and an ass, know just how to Flirt
To get you laid down under in the Dirt!

So I have told you my anthem that's How We Do!
I'm one of those Bitches who'll always be true.
Hanging out with the most solid boys in the Crew.
The one to raise Hell all the way through!
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Friday, November 19, 2010

therez sister

The Trickster, the game of Bingo, and the comic elements in "The Rez Sisters"

Tomson Highway's play "The Rez Sisters" was released on November 26, 1986, talking about seven women, all related to each other, which have to go to Toronto to win "THE BIGGEST BINGO IN THE WORLD". This decision and the activity that accompanies it, change their lives, as they, altered by the bingo game and Nanabush, a trickster spirit of the Ojibwa tribe, who accompanies them on their journey, poking fun at them all the time (or so it seems at a first glance), get back in touch with their inner selves and re-assess themselves.
At a first glance, "The Rez Sisters" is a very simple comic play about seven related to each other women, who live such empty, mundane lives that an ordinary event - namely the bingo game - becomes a pivot around which all their lives rotate. However, a deeper glance reveals the depths beneath that comic and limpid surface.
Primarily, though, "The Rez Sisters" is a humorous play, and it pokes fun at the lives of the inhabitants of Indian Reserves, places where the Native Americans supposedly preserved their cultures. However, as the heroines' actual names reveal, this idea failed to come true by a long shot: the relatively Aboriginal name of Pelajia Patchnose belongs to a half-sister of completely anglicized Annie Cook, showing the gradual assimilation of the Native people by the Europeans (primarily French and English). It seems that rather than keeping the Aboriginal culture and preserving it for the future generations, the inhabitants of the "Wasaychigan Hill Indian Reserve" seem to be forgetting it instead, allowing it to dissipate into thin air. Pelajia Patchnose describes this state of affairs to her sister Philomena Moosetail: "Everyone here's crazy. No jobs. Nothing to do but drink and screw each other's wives and husbands and forget about our Nanabush." (The Rez Sisters, 6)
Of course, on one hand, this mismatch of names - Pelajia and Zhaboonigan next to Anne and Marie-Adele, Dictionary vs. Dadzinanare - only helps to put the audience in a good mood, adding to the play's rather bizarre humor. On the other hand, however, it shows how the European Anglo-French culture is assimilating the Native American one, including the names, and consequently the identities, of the Native American people.
Moreover, as the play unfolds, we see further evidence of this moral and cultural decay and assimilation so complained about by Pelajia: the heroines gossip mostly about Gazelle Nataways' illegitimate relationship with Big Joey, as well how Little Girl Manitobi's daughter June Bug McLeod had won the last big bingo. All are casual, small, practically petty, things, but because nothing ever happens in "the Wasy" that can be considered big even by the standards of the audience, these topics are practically the only things the play's heroines talk about.
Tomson Highway describes Nanabush as the Trickster spirit of the Ojibwa culture, thus making him an ambiguous figure both in the play and the Native culture to begin with. For the Native Americans, various Tricksters - Raven, Coyote, etc. - were heroes of both funny stories and stories about creation. For example, the Raven brought forth the Sun into the world, Coyote introduced fire to humans (and in others - introduced death to the world), etc. Thus, Nanabush, also known as Nanabozho, is a spirit that figures prominently in many Ojibwa myths, including their creation myth - in short, a very important character; to forget him means to forget a large piece of the Ojibwa religion and culture.
However, even as Pelajia complains to her sister that everybody in the reserve are forgetting Nanabush and their culture, the author shows that Nanabush has never really gone away, he is still here, albeit in a guise of a seagull - a bird. (18) Quite often in native folklore, a bird is the symbol of the other world, world of gods and spirits. Furthermore, the only people who really notice or interact with him are Zhaboonigan Peterson, the mentally disabled adopted daughter of Veronique St. Pierre, and Marie-Adele Starblanket, Veronique's sister-in-law who is slowly dying from cancer, and thus can be considered to be currently residing between the worlds of the living and the dead, the humans and the spirits. However, this shows that Tomson Highway tries to tell the readers that culture, or spiritually, wise, things are not as bleak at the Reserve, as they appear in the beginning of the play. Apparently, Nanabush (and the rest of the Native American culture) is still present in the Reserve, you just need to know where to look, and be willing to - and you'll see Nanabush poking and laughing at the people of the reserve. Sadly, it seems that of all the characters in the play, only the mentally unstable Zhaboonigan and the dying Marie-Adele are willing (and able) to make that effort.
As Zhaboonigan (and to a lesser extent Marie-Adele) interacts with Nanabush, the rest of the women are busy planning for THE BIGGEST BINGO IN THE WORLD, and thinking how it will change their lives. By now, bingo in the Reserve has become much more than a game; it is now something of a quasi-religious ceremony, a game of luck and skill, complete with its own champions, such as deceased Bingo Betty (16-17), who is treated, eventually, in the same way as Nanabush and other original Native American spirits and gods. (5) True, at one level this situation is funny, for in a regular society, bingo is never more than just a game, but for a restricted mini-society, such as the "Wasaychigan Hill Indian Reserve", bingo truly earned its role of a social pivot, since there is nothing to challenge it, as Pelajia Patchnose indicates. Instead, such an out-of-town event becomes a window of opportunity for the women, a period of change in their otherwise static lives. Naturally, all women save Zhaboonigan Peterson are full of dreams and plans, and they intend to use their to-be-won money to change lives - their own, or, everyone in the reserve, as Pelajia says to the other women:
[...]I know how to handle that tired old chief. He and I have been arguing about paved roads for years now. I'll tell him the people will stop drinking themselves to death because they'll have paved roads to walk on. I'll tell him there'll be more jobs because the people will have paved roads to drive to work on. I'll tell him the people will stop fighting and screwing around and Nanabush will come back to use because he'll have paved roads to dance on. There's enough money in there for everyone, I'll say. (The Rez Sisters, 59)
At one level, sure enough, Pelajia's inspirational speech will cause nothing but smiles, for it is absurd to believe that paved roads will solve all of the Reserve's problems. However, the money that could go into those paved roads can also go and improve the life in the Reserve in other ways too, most likely. Despite her external cynicism and expressed disgust for the Reserve, in her heart Pelajia is an optimist who wants to restore her people's culture and fix their current society at "the Wasy" instead. That is why she is contemplating becoming the chief at the end of the play. (114)
But yet, before Pelajia even started her inspirational speech, Zhaboonigan is talking to Nanabush, who has supposedly left, about her horrible misadventure with two white boys, who
"Put something inside me here. [...] Many, many times. Remember. Don't fly away. Don't go. I saw you before. There, there. It was a. Screwdriver. They put the screwdriver inside me. Here. [...]
During this last speech, Nanabush goes through agonizing contortions." (47-48)
Zhaboonigan's speech bothers Nanabush so because the latter is not just a Trickster spirit; like the Tricksters of other Native American cultures, he is the hero of the Ojibwa culture as well. Therefore, it is his duty of a hero and a spiritual guide to aid, assist, and protect those under him, and he has clearly failed with Zhaboonigan - and she can see and recognize him for what or who he really is, she knows that he is real. Zhaboonigan believes in him even more than Pelajia or Marie-Adele do. Sadly, for now Nanabush has to stay in the background as a seagull, unable to influence or affect the women directly, even though that does allow him to laugh at them behind their backs. However, this changes in act 2. Then, this situation changes.
By the time the audience reaches the second act of the play, it should be obvious to them that one of the heroines, Marie-Adele Starblanket, has cancer (49, 65), and has to have tests in a hospital to check on her condition. Sadly, she never makes it there, because she dies right on the bingo night in the middle of the game (104), putting a dumper on the initially humorous play. However, that scene is one of the most heart-rending, important, and the richest in the supernatural effects, parts of the play. Moreover, Nanabush is right in the thick of it, as well.
At first, he makes his presence known as a bird still - but not a seagull, a nighthawk (92), as the play's mood begins to darken from the initial light-hearted comedy of the first act. Of course, even back then Marie-Adele stood a bit aside from the others' excitement, but now, confronted by the bird that has a sinister meaning for her, she becomes terrified of it darting around her, and moves to the pivotal point of the second act.
"Who are you? What do you want? My children? Eugene? No! Oh no! Me? Not yet. Not yet. Give me time. Please. Don't. Please don't. Awus! Get away from me. Eugene! Awus! You fucking bird! Awus! Awus! Awus! Awus!
And she has a total hysterical breakdown." (92)
Now, earlier in the play (18), it was said that only Marie-Adele and Zhaboonigan had some recognition of Nanabush in relation to his real identity. Now, it becomes obvious that Marie-Adele actually has a very good recognition of the nighthawk/Nanabush, who, for her is the messenger of death (19, 56), which means that he is more than just a clown he was in the first act of the play. (Incidentally, Marie-Adele's constant linguistic slips between the English and Cree languages also indicate that the knowledge of the old Aboriginal ways is not as gone as Pelajia and other heroines presume.)
However, Nanabush's stunt as a nighthawk is nothing compared to his act as the bingo master, promising the players the world. He is "dressed to kill: tails, rhinestones, and all" (100). In other words, he is the ultimate snake-oil salesman, promising the innocent suckers the world, or more precisely - "HALF A MILLION SMACKEROOS!!! IF you play the game right", that is. (101) Sadly, his deliverance isn't like his promises - "the Bingo Master calls out number after number - but not the B 14" (102), which the women apparently need to win the jackpot. Moreover, parodying the classic scene of driving such a hustler out of town tarred and feathered, they grab the bingo machine and drag it out of the bingo palace, apparently planning to throw it in the lake. (103)
"And out of this chaos emerges the calm, silent image of Marie-Adele waltzing romantically in the arms of the Bingo Master. The Bingo Master says "Bingo" into her ear. And the Bingo Master changes, with sudden bird-like movements, into the nighthawk, Nanabush in dark feathers. Marie-Adele meets Nanabush." (103)
This is it; this is the climax of the play. All the chickens are coming to roost now, as the comic elements of the play get suspended and put aside for the time being. Marie-Adele was obviously afraid of dying or going insane (96), and put up a brave front to deny it, but no more, she is ready to move on into the afterlife. Nanabush was little more than a trickster, a half-forgotten nature spirit of the past, but now he reveals his true self of a divine power, as he takes Marie-Adele into the afterlife that she must deserve after dealing with 14 kids and a useless husband. Lastly, the audience understands that while by regular standards Zhaboonigan is crazy; by the supernatural Native American values, she has spiritual gifts, for she tries to follow her and Nanabush into the spirit realm. (104) (Furthermore, since it is Emily Dictionary, who prevents her from doing that at the last moment, it also becomes clear that despite her clearly modern and even urban appearance, the second youngest of all the seven heroines is more in touch with her inner self than she lets on.)
As the last words of the Ojibwa funeral dirge vanish into silence, and Pelajia says her epiphany to her deceased younger half-sister, the living women begin to recover from their trip to Toronto and prepare for the rest of their lives. Using the bingo game, Nanabush (who is absent for almost the rest of the play) has changed them all. Emily Dictionary has finally come into touch with the woman inside herself, and with both her new baby and Zhaboonigan to take care of on top of her old job she is going to need everything she learned in life to deal with it. Zhaboonigan has "passed" from Veronique's somewhat dubious care to Emily, who is growing genuinely fond of her. Veronique, for her part, is left to take care of Marie-Adele's 14 children and husband, a prospect that she seems to genuinely enjoy, unlike the deceased woman. Annie Cook, the most Europeanized sister of them all, has finally gotten enough courage to leave the reserve and try to live a new life with her boyfriend, Fritz the Katz. Philomena gets her new toilet, her fondest wish - no spiritual insights there. However, Pelajia, the oldest Rez sister, has re-discovered her native roots, and plans to ensure that the rest of the Reserve does as well, by running for the chief's position (113-14), and probably getting the paved roads or some other renovations in the Reserve. As she plans to do that, she is unaware that the supposedly missing Nanabush - the spirit of the traditional Native American values - is right there behind her, dancing to the tune of her hammer beat, "merrily and triumphantly" (118), using the absurd to hide the fact that he succeeded at last.
Tomson Highway's play uses the absurd metaphors, speeches, and situations to hide the darker themes of both the mundane side of living in an Indian Reserve, and the spiritual one. Using such distraction tactics as Philomena's obsessions with her toilet, Annie Cook's too-perky-to-be-true attitude, and Gazelle Nataways/Big Joey side plot as distractions, Tomson Highway hides the facts that life in an Indian Reserve is destructive upon both the physical and spiritual lives of its inhabitants, and that renovations must be done to prevent that from completing. This in turn needs money, which is apparently in a short supply in such a community. The author's attitude also makes itself felt in the actions of Nanabush, whose Trickster reputation hides the deeper, darker, more serious aspects of his role in the Native American folklore. Finally, the resolution of the play shows that the author believes that despite the importance of money, one does not need it to acquire happiness, as the surviving Rez sisters (except for Philomena) show the audience
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