Vinterkyss ( Kissed by Winter )
by Richard Oxman

This is a great film. Set in Norway. Don’t read anything about it. Not even the blurbs that appear here and there, on the DVD jacket… anywhere. Anyhow, just see it.

A better use of heartbeats than trying to help people in the real world… like the people in the film? Well, one must go to another world sometimes, yes?

A more beautiful world in cinema is not — to put it mildly — necessarily “beautiful” along the lines of… gorgeous lines and/or limned in lusciousness. It can be like Vera Drake, another aesthetic triumph… drenched in the fell clutch of circumstance.

Besides, the subtle sensitivity concerning children in Vinterkyss can reinforce our inclination to make the world more sweet… or more bearable.

Activists who don’t get back to me don’t know what they’re missing. I can put some of what I have to offer in words (from a distance), but that’ll only be like the hints here and there that appear in Vinterkyss… needing someone to actively connect the dots.

So… in case I drop dead today, not having a chance to even say goodbye to my children or lovely Sylvie or my deeply beautiful friends… Nella, our kitty, or the acorn in the dirt, I give you a few tidbits to chew on… if you’re engaged in engaging others ( vis-a-vis the various articles I’ve posted here concerning “recruitment” ).

What’s below is unedited, quite the rushed/spontaneous blah blah. But worth connecting dots over if I’ve gone to another world, and you’re trying to bring about Spring.

In no special order (for those organizing citizens for the purpose of TOSCA* registration, etc. in the “Taking Over the State of California”):

*You’ll have to review some of my articles. And please note that what’s below is unlikely to make sense to anyone who hasn’t been frustrated for a long time with downsides of activists, ‘cross the board, ‘cross the country.

1. You cannot disappoint people blatantly. You must get back. Promptly. In full. No excuses. Make it a priority. Nurture enthusiasm. Cease and desist from an obsession with numbers.
2. You must resist trying to convert people. Move on quickly. Do not get bogged down in talk, arguments. WalkTalk only. Find the open ones. Have them embrace your fire.
3. Don’t gravitate toward strangers. Start with friends. Have others do the same… creating “cells” which report down to one core member after another… culminating in collation by the initial creators of the… project.
4. Never forget that that bastion of Left-orientation, Santa Cruz, California, only gave gemlike Peter Camejo 5% of the vote in the 2006 gubernatorial race, the vast majority of voters banging it out between two major gangsters.
5. Core members, actually one and all, need to believe that The House Is On Fire. 24×8.
It’s the silliest thing to encounter, say, Anti-Death Penalty advocates who have offices… open from 9 to 5, five days a week.
6. Everyone must prioritize their devotion of heartbeats. There are only so many heartbeats one has to give. That’s why the TOSCA project is a threat of sorts to involvement with other activist causes. Seemingly, and de facto. It is an umbrella of sorts which must be opened up before too much more “giving” goes out the window elsewhere. You can serve in the soup kitchen, but not in lieu of doing the steps necessary for TOSCA.
7. Many well-intentioned activities are NOT “better than nothing.”
8. There is only time for very focused action following a new paradigm. One which is somewhat macroscopic in solidarity. Like TOSCA; I don’t see anything else on the horizon.
9. One should push the envelope with recruitment, not for money. The depths of recruits should be plumed. That is worth infinitely more than money for flyers. In fact, flyers (like blah blah on blogs) is virtually worthless now.
10. You do not fall victim to “mood swings” as per polls, etc. You simply focus on your task at hand, not worrying about what seems likely, etc. For instance: Is this particular person in front of me a candidate for moving in solidarity with me? Taking action — one way or another — based on that question is about all anyone can handle. All anyone should at this juncture.
11. If people get started early enough, a connection can be made between a desired ticket on the presidential scene (Nader/Gonzalez) and the TOSCA thing.
12. Count on being quite alone.

Perhaps people will join in… in a real life script titled something like Kissed by Spring.

Richard Oxman can be reached at headburg@yahoo.com.