Re: 2012–I plan to clear out my Y2K bunker, slather myself with ham squeezins and do a Mayan rain dance. Unless this guy is right. But what does he know?–he's only a Mayan elder:
Apolinario Chile Pixtun is tired of being bombarded with frantic questions about the Mayan calendar supposedly "running out" on Dec. 21, 2012. After all, it's not the end of the world. … "I came back from England last year and, man, they had me fed up with this stuff."
… "It's too bad that we're getting e-mails from fourth-graders who are saying that they're too young to die," Martin said. "We had a mother of two young children who was afraid she wouldn't live to see them grow up."
… [Archaeologist Guillermo] Bernal notes there are other inscriptions at Mayan sites for dates far beyond 2012 — including one that roughly translates into the year 4772.
Now here's a surprise: Chile Pixtun, a Guatemalan, says the doomsday theories spring from Western, not Mayan ideas.
Because we can't escape existential/apocalyptic anxiety, apparently. Perhaps it's what lurks beneath our frantic attachment to things like iPhones that enable constant affirmation of identity?
ADDITIONAL:
Speaking of constant affirmation of identity, here's something new I'm giving a try–Shelfari. You share with your friends your reading list, and you can check theirs out. Considering the number of writer friends I have, this may prove interesting. Here's what I'm currently (re)reading. (There's supposed to be a clever widget for this, but right now it's not working.)–
Philip K. Dick:
The Man in the High Castle
Second Variety (stories)
Jonathan Barnes:
The Somnambulist
Jim Shepard:
Lights Out in the Reptile House
