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It is Good Friday. Usually Ferrebeekeeper posts a beautiful crucifixion painting from the astonishing canon of classical Christian art to celebrate this solemn holiday. These days though, it seems that Jesus is being crucified more-than-sufficiently by his own followers (whose inability to understand the great rabbi’s message of compassion or even to read his actual words has become the defining feature of contemporary Christianity). Therefore I have made my own little painting of Christ for Holy Week this year. It is not an image of Christ dying (or performing any of the various supernatural antics which are the frequent focus of Christian cult iconography). Instead I have portrayed Jesus riding a little white jenny into Jerusalem as he pores over a book.
The donkey is an underappreciated sacred animal in Judeo-Christian scripture. In the Bible, asses are mentioned more than 130 times (complete with specialized Hebrew equestrian vocabulary about color, age, use, and gender) and feature in some of the defining moments of scripture. Sampson uses the jawbone of an ass as his weapon. Balaam’s ass is one of the Bible’s three talking animals (and arguably the only one which is not a divinity in animal form). The (now extinct) wild ass was a symbol of grace and beauty. Throughout the scriptures, donkeys are always doing the hard work of ploughing, farming, irrigating, carrying, and even fighting (the Persian cavalry rides asses). Finally & most importantly (to Christians anyway; Balaamites might decide otherwise), Holy Week and the Passion begin when Jesus rides a white donkey into Jerusalem as described in Matthew (which, according to textual scholars, is the original gospel written by someone who was maybe a contemporary of Jesus). Here is the relevant text from the King James Bible:
21 And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples,
2 Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me.
3 And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.
4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying,
5 Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.
6 And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them,
7 And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon.
8 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.
9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
10 And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this?
11 And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.
12 And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.
15 And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the son of David; they were sore displeased,
16 And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?
Although Jesus was putatively crucified by the Romans for pretending to the throne of Judea, careful readers will note that his death was mainly orchestrated by the Pharisees for interfering with their money-making operations (events set forth in this very passage we just read!).
The Jesus in my little painting seems to be steeling himself for harrowing the temple by checking out some relevant passages in his own sacred book (his writer’s proof copy of the Bible looks suspiciously like the same little white Bible my parents have had forever). The excesses of his followers as they throw fronds everywhere do not seem particularly connected to the son of man as he rides to the temple and to his doom (careful readers of Matthew might also be struck by how fickle, mutable, and downright frightening the multitudes can be in the story of Christ).
Of course, if this doesn’t appeal to you and you are taken back by my somewhat leading prose (and somewhat abstract image of Jesus) there is another possible interpretation of this Palm Sunday painting. The whole painting is only the size of my palm since I painted it in the tiny sketchbook which I carry with me. Sacred images and scriptural passages can have multiple interpretations, some of which are more right than others. Maybe it’s worth carefully looking at the actual book itself (without someone telling you what to think) just like Jesus is doing here!
Spring is starting to spring everywhere (even if January and February of 2024 were astonishingly mild in New York, it was still, ya know, winter) and, as April and May approach, a whole bunch of flower and bloom posts are in the offing here at Ferrebeekeeper! Thank goodness! Sometimes it is necessary to take a break from the broken realms of politics and culture to go outside and appreciate the greenery. Pursuant to which, today we have an uplifting post about an amazing plan by SUGi (an organization which supports urban forests) to plant a pocket forest here in New York City. This may seems like a post about a small native garden, but I believe the micro-forest is much larger and more important than its name might initially suggest.
The “Manhattan Healing Forest” is scheduled to be constructed/planted on Roosevelt Island in April. For non-New Yorkers, Roosevelt Island is a 150 acre island in the East River which was used throughout the 19th century as a forbidden institutional island of hospitals, prisons, and sanitariums, but which is now a more conventional residential community (even though it is only arms-length from the dense skyscrapers of Midtown). The forest will consist of more than a thousand native plants carefully arranged in accordance with the the renowned “Miyawaki Method” (named for the Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki) which focuses on sustainability, ecological mutualism, and native planting. The method involves a holistic “bottom-up” planting strategy: first the land is stripped to the foundation and then an entire humus layer of compost and mulch is installed all at once. Upon this rich mulch, native trees, shrubs, and wildflowers are planted close together at the same time–which fosters rapid growth (since the native plants grow in symbiosis with each other and with the local insects, fungi, actinomycetes, and other lifeforms). Thanks to mutualism (and the benefits of being in the proper ecological niche) Miyawaki-style forests can reach full maturity in mere decades.
As you can see in the thrilling aerial photo above, the forest will indeed be tiny (there is the footprint, outlined in bold white). At 250 square meters (2700 square feet) it is only the size of a small back yard. However the effects of these little wildlife refuges are bigger than their square footage: such miniature wildernesses provide an opportunity for birds, insects and other animals to maintain a footprint even in the densest city. Humans benefit as well: the rooted greenery help prevent erosion and soak up rainfall while capturing carbon and otherwise filtering the air (in addition to providing a respite from hectic city life for locals). According to SUGi’s founder, some of the 40 species of flora planned for the Manhattan forest “include white oak, Virginia strawberry, butternut, New York fern and eastern white pine” .
The SUGi micro forest is designed to anchor the roots of the island against extreme weather and to provide a place of tranquil refuge to thoughtful humans However, more importantly, it is part of a hidden worldwide archipelago of ecological refugia across the world. SUGi’s little native growth forests compliment the wilderness areas, cemeteries, parks, gardens, yards, and even vacant lots which are part of the urban landscape. By stitching together these tiny safe spaces, living things can maintain a toehold in what first seems to be a wasteland of concrete, glass, and asphalt.
Humans are the architects of the urban world–we could build our cities into glorious wonderlands of self-reinforcing life. Yet generally the rancid developers, cruel traffic engineers (who hate all living things with boundless antipathy), & crooked politicians who hog the blueprints of urban planning can only envision lifeless concrete worlds hostile to ecology and inimical to lifeforms other than mean bald guys in SUVs. Lately though, there is a pervasive sense that the selfish “humans-only” model of city-building is not just failing other lifeforms, it is failing humans too. Like a coconut landing on a beach after a volcano eruption, the mini-forest is a foothold for disrupted ecosystems to reestablish itself.
Throughout the decades I have lived in New York City, I think I have been to Roosevelt Island once (when I got off the subway at the wrong stop by accident). Maybe it is time to head out there again and see the city from a new standpoint (both literally and ecologically).
Say, has anyone noticed that the Supreme Court is clogged with corrupt high magistrates who were appointed by popular-vote losing presidents or granted stolen court seats through Senatorial conspiracy and skullduggery? A lot of commentators from all sides of the media are remarking that the crazy pro-autocracy, pro-tyrant, pro-monopoly rulings from this compromised court require a political solution (unless we want to be ruled forever by unelected high priests in black robes who answer only to billionaires). But what would such a solution look like?
Americans other than Ted Cruz all believe in self-government, but today’s compromised Republic is pulling the constitution in weird terrible (totalitarian) directions and making a mockery of the original ideas of government by the people for the people. The Senate is hopeless: reprobates from bunch of mostly empty states filled with dust, nightmares, rusting mines, and white supremacists have power to derail any needed legislation or reform. The House is where the people’s business should really be decided, however it has been compromised by decades of anti-democratic, anti-majoritarian trench warfare (which is to say gerrymandering and voter interference have produced a strange anti-democratic & unrepresentative lower house, too). The electoral college means the president can lose the popular election by millions (…or tens of millions?) of votes. Yikes!
A reformed Supreme Court could help us transcend this democratic back-sliding!
Institutionalists and centrists favor term limits, however not only would this not solve any of our immediate problems, it would also probably not address any long-term problems. Thus we come to the solution most favored by progressives and reformers: Court packing! The Constitution never specifies how many Supreme Court Justices there should be. We could change the number and Joe Biden could ram through a super majority while we still have the Senate (you’re leaving the Senate soon anyway Joe Manchin, make sure Justice has to deal with some real justice).
The problem with court-packing is that it would lead to retaliation. If the Democrats packed the court with highly intelligent progressive justices of great probity, then, the next chance they got, the Republicans would fill it up with crooks and Clarence Thomases (although, frankly, we already have such a court, and could hardly do any worse). With such a back-and-forth dynamic, the court could soon become a huge body of political hacks and apparatchiks who ignore the letter of the law for whatever is favored by their backers and payers (although, again, it seems like we already have that). What could stop such a court-packing race?
My proposed solution solves this problem and likewise solves the wider problem of democratic back-sliding. It also gives Americans new dignity, new authority, and even a little bit of money! It is a guaranteed hit with every single American (except for nine). Every American citizen over the age of 18 should automatically become a Supreme Court Associate justice. We, the people, as justices of the Supreme Court, can “try cases” (which has already become the Washington jargon for “administer the nation”) through an Athens style direct vote by whomever wants to show up.
Obviously there will have to be some adjustments. The current salary for a Supreme Court Associate Justice is a not-inconsiderable $300k per year. With around 250 million justices, we would have to reduce remuneration to a more reasonable honorarium of say $13.00 per justice per year available as a $13.00 tax credit (assuming you remember to check the “I am a Supreme Court Justice” box buried somewhere in TurboTax). The court would no longer have offices and security details and clerks (and infinite lavish benefits) but would instead be issued a stylish laminated “official Supreme Court Justice” card (which I also imagine would be honored by Blimpie or Subways for a 10% “Supreme Lunch” discount on their budget mayonnaise sandwiches). We could probably also put some stylish gilding and holograms on this card to make court service more appealing to lazy or recalcitrant justices (of whom there will always be a hundred million or so). Likewise the Supreme Court building would need to be relocated/replaced. Presumably we could put some blind naked lady statues on Commanders Field and use that until a suitable new Supreme Court stadium/office is built by the Federal Government.
One wouldn’t expect every American citizen to have a sophisticated lawyerish understanding of precedents, precise legal language, witness testimony, and that kind of stuff. Fortunately, this wouldn’t matter since these days Clarence Thomas and some of those other right-wing nutjobs don’t bother with such niceties anyway. They just take money to do what their patrons say. So, as an incentive bonus, all of the new justices would serve with this same set of ethics rules! If Harlan Crow gives you 20 million dollars to vote on the constitutional underpinnings of building “Crow House Casino” atop Arlington Cemetery or whatever, feel free to just take the money and do whatever you want (just like Clarence Thomas!). Admittedly Harlan Crow might find it harder to individually suck up to and bribe 250 million of his fellow justices, but that is his problem (and a huge point in favor of this new Court as opposed to the extremely corruptible nine person version we are now suffering through).
By this point maybe you have stopped laughing and are saying: “Golly! I could use 13 dollars and I already have a black robe left over from my Darth Maul costume last Halloween! Also, I would like to personally run the nation and I could not possibly do a worse job than the current idiots and reprobates (not you, Ketanji Brown Jackson, although maybe you can have my 13 dollars to help us with the language of this new universal reproductive freedom decision). This actual democracy stuff sounds like a GREAT idea!”
Well, maybe your angry feelings not such a joke either! (in fact none of this is a joke, I am coldly furious about the corrupt Court and the broken republic and I am now willing to consider just about anything to expedite some desperately needed Constitutional reforms). If you also feel this way, then send this very article to your friends. Just copy this link and paste it in everything. Just do it! Or, if you don’t want to help make me self-promote myself into some sort of cut-rate Dean Swift, then write a white-hot letter to your national elected representatives.
Incredibly, the completely crazy and dangerous idea that we could all be Supreme Court Justices is less crazy and dangerous than what we currently have! Couldn’t we fix some of these problems before all of our eagles and marble buildings and high ideals implode under a wave of anti-democratic corruption? You actually have the power to agitate and fix this, whether you are a Supreme Court Justice or not. Start writing and complaining (and explaining). Also, whatever happens, you will always be Supreme in my book (even if Harlan Crow and Donald Trump say otherwise).
Liberty and Justice for All!
ferrebeekeeper 