Today, I read Tomasino's update on
his move to Iceland and was shocked to
see a much too kind reference to
myself[1].
In any case, the phlog entry got me
looking back into the details of
Tomasino's move and since then I've
been spelunking through the depths of
his phlog. It's fascinating stuff. If
you haven't dug into the Tomasino
archives, I highly recommend it.
Gopher is definitely a form of
asynchronous communication and I don't
think it gets any more asynchronous
than this. I stumbled across a phlog
post from January 2018 in which
Tomasino discussed the impact of a TV
show, Northern Exposure, on him. He
described it as a 'profound and
personal' 'mystical connection.'[2]
I have a TV show that impacted me
similarly: M*A*S*H. I can't remember
not knowing the characters. I remember
sitting in the grass outside the house
when I was about four years old and
hearing the theme song, and then going
in to watch it. It's hard to believe
that my parents let me watch the show
at that age, but they did. I watched
it as I grew up and after it ended in
1983, I often watched the reruns.
Then, when we went to Maui in May, it
was on in the evenings and I started
to watch it again. Since then, I've
been re-watching it online, from the
beginning.
When I think about where I got my
values, that show had a major impact.
Hawkeye Pierce (perhaps minus the
philandering!) shaped my views as much
as Tommy Douglas, Jesus Christ, or my
Grandmother. I will never be a
militarist. I will always be cynical.
I am a humanitarian. And I will always
feel trapped in a situation not quite
of my own choosing....
That outlook, I think, stems from
those M*A*S*H scripts and hours of
exposure to the ideas of whoever was
writing them. When I went to
university, I learned many things, but
I think that the cynical, critical,
analytical, and humanitarian outlook
fostered by the social commentary at
the heart of M*A*S*H was as
responsible for my successes as
anything I read for my classes.
Somewhere, in some phlog entry,
Tomasino mentioned Joseph Campbell and
his statement that "all myths are
true." I think I would add that when
it comes to our personal experiences,
all myths are equal. We each carry a
personal mythology, and a sense of
ethics absorbed unintentionally from
works of fiction, that we cannot
really escape. From our own vantage
point, the power of those stories is
every bit as strong as the 'official'
mainstream mythologies (be they
religious, nationalistic, or
otherwise) foisted upon us by our
societies. Perhaps they're stronger.
I'm kind of tickled to think that
Tomasino's universe of saints includes
Ed, Marilyn, Shelly and Holling. That
show really was epic in a weird kind
of way. For me, it's Saint Sherman,
Saint Radar, and Saint Margaret. Amen.
By the way, if you're too young and
you haven't watched M*A*S*H or
Northern Exposure, holy hell you're
lucky. Start watching!
[l]
gopher://gopher.black/1/phlog/20190705-some-replies-from-iceland
[2]
gopher://gopher.black/1/phlog/20180104-northern-exposure
