[MD] Roller Coaster Moon

[John Carl]

Full moon roller coaster ride at the edge of the pacific.


Marsha says its a sturgeon moon, by native american folklore, but I don't
know if any sturgeon are left anywhere so I'll stick with my own
nomenclature.


But I'm liking the white man's roller coaster, even the lines.  The lines
are my favorite parts, the panoply of people, there's probably more people
in line for the roller coaster at the boardwalk in Santa Cruz than live in
my whole hometown.  And they're all different colored.  I like that.  I like
variety.  I like ups and downs.  In them I feel life like a sine wave.  I've
always liked Santa Cruz.


At the top of the Big Dipper  on tuesday night, it definitely felt like an
upper side of the wave.  A sweet moment of exhiliaration and beauty.  I
should try and describe the big dipper... it is my duty to this ancient (85
years old) and wooden edifice of terror to young'uns to describe it's very
essence in it's creaking wooden joints, it's drop into darkness to begin the
ride, twisting and banging down deep in the bowels of the underworld, only
to climb, climb, climb toward the light.- which on tuesday night was the
full moon rising over Monterey Bay, a clear and broad path of silver
pointing to the moon, no finger needed,  solitary boats in the harbor as
dark specks, rocking triangles each alone the bay.  So distant.  So much to
think about as the chain of cars nears the clanking top.


I can remember clearly my first time, I was 12 or so.  I wanted off.  I was
so terrified, I just wanted off.  Something about the slow creep up that
steep incline, knowing the horrible drop on the other side... if I could
have climbed out of that thing, I would've.  True, it has held together so
far, but there is nothing in its ancient engineering to inspire much
confidence in modern sue-happy man.


Now, many years later with my own teenage daughters in front of me, my wife
(reluctantly) beside me, I don't want off.  I want on.  I want to keep
riding this sweet up and down experience, this wave of existence.  It is a
good thing.  The roller coaster has so much more value, simply being at the
edge of an ocean.  It's like I'm gulping great draughts of the sea, the sea
and the moon and the beauty of the world filling me in waves while happy
couples meander the bright lights and cotton candy world.  All in big up and
down swoops...


But for some reason, what I think about as I'm on this roller coaster ride,
is value free metaphysics, and whether that term could be applied to the
moq, if properly manipulated.  It'd take some finagling, I think.  But why
not?  What if value was just another word for differentiation?  In that
case, we're back to socially applied values over a values-free chaos.  Which
doesn't make sense but it makes people happy so why not.


And you wanna know something really weird?  The low quality of the idea
detracted just a bit from my roller coaster ride.


Not a lot.


But a bit.