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Jul 11, 2022Liked by Chris Ryan

Short but rich, I loved the way the conversation included aesthetics and the politics of preservation, personal history, primatology, and managed to contain good humor and some needed good news. Always appreciate the geographies of stories, the maps of histories and places in your conversations. Thanks, Chris.

The discussion and the general tone of the show made me think (tangentially) of a wonderful little story/essay by the Dutch writer A.L Snijders, recently translated by Lydia Davis.

Ukiyo-e

About the trip I took through Africa in 1957 in my father’s old Land Rover, there are many things I could tell, but I’m limiting myself to ukiyo-e.

Each time I had to put the car on a raft or ferryboat, I was overcome by a strong feeling of futility. I wanted to end my journey, I did not want to go back home, that was not it, it was not homesickness, I wanted to end it, I wanted to switch off the car in my mind. There were always many people standing on the sandy shores, they were watching what came and went, but they were not traveling themselves. They were causing the feeling of dejection in my head. I wanted to watch the trip, I did not want to travel. In the vicinity of Dar es Salaam I spoke to a Japanese man who explained it to me. He said: “It is ukiyo-e.”

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I'm seeing your Sends, as Only Viable content of worth

much thanks

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Short but sweet.

I watched Gorillas in the Mist when I was fairly young, and had a huge impact in me. Later I read an article about Fossey in Discover magazine which gave a less glamorized portrait of her; still, there's no doubt her passion (or obstination) saved the Virunga gorillas from extinction.

Jane Goodall on the other hand is everyone's darling, and she's especially revered by my fellow weirdos due to her open support to the possibility of Bigfoot being an actual living creature instead of just a myth; just like Michio Kaku is now very supportive of UFOs. Weird how nobody has openly attacked Goodall for her "heretic" ideas about Bigfoot, the same way skeptics have attacked Kaku --perhaps deep down they all fear she could send an army of angry chimps charging at them with just a snap of her fingers ;)

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