On what planet have I chosen to live? One in which obscurity goes hand-in-hand with ability to really create. I dipped my toes in the flame-infested waters and realized that 200,000 views is not necessarily a good thing.

Newly reclaimed developments in Singapore come at a hefty price. Once intact mangrove forests now carved and eroded, gone. A real tragedy, if you had the chance to visit Southeast Asia before the fall...

They are now replanting and protecting mangroves in the Philippines as far as I can see––that is how behind-the-times wholesale destruction of this sort is. The irony is that Singapore's new developments are touted as green and environmentally friendly.*

Climate scientists are already warning us that it may be too late, accelerating warming is irreversible. I can't believe I had this  argument with my father three decades and nothing still has been done. I could have done more. He was not the only one who purported not to agree... when the evidence, if one read intelligently, was incontrovertible.

It is time to create a system such as Fabric that plants cloud-derived money where it can really take root and make a difference. In local communities that need money the benefits them and is not funneled out. It is not about right or wrong, it is about survival. This is why I fight.

The Philippines, long a relative backwater, is between a geopolitical rock and a hard place... and as $13 billion proves, this can be lucrative.

Unless China has suddenly gone green in the economies it plants FDI in this cannot be good news. Can Duterte simultaneously halt new construction in Manila, make mining companies accountable for reckless practices, ban smoking, limit videoke to decent hours, and reign in ninja cops, while accepting (let's get our heads around the number) $13 billion in tied FDI.

As Yoda would say: "hands tied behind the back, Duterte is." He just sold his country upriver to the highest bidder, without realizing that many of the notes will never be paid out. US aid, while not perfect, has been somehow buffered from political demands of the type that make people feel like slaves.

That said, as a writer and a human I do find this an interesting time to be alive. And I understand that many Chinese (and Russians) have different and probably valid viewpoints. And I know and get along with quite a few. This is why I am going to say that the world is young, after all.

Though a host of "isms" might disagree, Fabric has never truly been tried. Because the cloud did not exist as such. Internet silver-lining playbook.

#endwriter

Proposed sex tape viewing parties on the Senate Floor. The Philippines has witnessed a flowering of insensitivity, at least in the top-down influenced public sphere. 

I wonder if part of America's turn away from Trump has to do with taking notes about what other countries that have taken a hard turn toward doddering patriarchalism are going through in terms of everything. It is no secret where the real power lies, the only question is why so many willingly dupe themselves.

Why is the Philippines not looking long range, beyond China or the U.S.? Good points by the Duterte administration made about the US arranging to sell China nuclear subs and then provoking them militarily on the open sea, by sailing a carrier with 12 nautical miles of China's manmade island on the Scarborough Shoal. The question is why they are only making these points in the last two months. 

We are pretty lucky that Hillary Clinton looks to be getting elected––there may be increased sensitivity to what is going on around the planet, in terms of environmental loss and global warming, particularly in the developing world. 

Who knows, maybe the military provocations will even be toned down. If we had Trump, it would be like having a dictator. People would be very uneasy and stress causes things to go seriously awry. Focusing on Gross National Happiness on a global level seems the only solution to me.

​ #fabric

The smart thing for Duterte to do is to focus on making the MRT run more efficiently, set in place a Federalist system, and work to bring accountability to mining and heavy industries. If he can accomplish these things, he can basically wait and see which way the winds blow.

As for extrajudicial killings? I would suggest that Duterte focus on disabling the cartels and allow human rights observers in. What does he have to lose? He says he is not afraid of dying.

Duterte needs to just go with the flow on strategic policy for a while. Trading insults makes tensions rise, not soften. Although it may win him a few points with the barkada, the half of the Phil population who did not vote for him could be seriously offended. 

A boisterous style gets you so far. At some point you need to realize that exchange rates have to do more with keeping high-tech businesses in place in the Philippines than the CIA's foreign policy agenda.*

The basic issue is Duterte wants to keep prosperity... but his statements on the world stage are not helping. People in foreign counties (investors, you can call them) who only read the headlines like predictability and continuity.

I think it is wise for Duterte wait and see on foreign policy issues, rather than attacking what seem to be entire nations. His domestic policy is what he needs to focus on. There is certainly a lot of corruption and inefficiency to root out.

The bottom line is that government money should be distributed more equitably––what this has to do with incendiary foreign policy statements, I am not sure.

#endwriter

*It is not the CIA that is focusing on the negatives, it is concerned members of Philippine society. People in the U.S. don't really think about Philippine politics that much. 

What keeps me busy other than the view of the Boulevard and sea through the finest Philippine-crafted windows of the 1930s? I've been getting back into the Beatles, sparked by watching Eight Days A Week: The Touring Years on the big screen.

I am now watching A Hard Days' Night, in my usual five minute increments, spread over a week (I am not much of a video viewer). Reveling in a classic British humour, the likes of which I have not since Peter Sellers' The Party and  Chaplin's Easy Street. Kinetic wordplay and silent-film era stunt comedy, combined with tunes that still hold up to discerning ears

The Beatles were a mixed bag dropped right on the head of middle America, as those of my mom's generation well know. ​That generation was infected and influenced by pop culture more than any other. Mass receptivity mirrored the indiscriminate nature of the threat posed by nukes and modern warfare I suppose––not just the quicker means of  transmission.

By 1964 standards, the Beatles came off as cheeky libertines with droog* influences. Swinging '60s was no metaphor. Thank god we had people like the Beatles at the fore, saying wise, nonsensical, things. And sending out musical messages that resonated––the anti-war thing was no joke, people were close enough to tragedy to remember. 

Donald Trump may be the first U.S. candidate ever who does not remember, and is not held accountable for willful ignorance. Though he has been brought to heel for gross innuendo. Alfred E. Neumann inhabiting a 60 year old body does not go over well in Kansas and other reliable bases of support. 

#endwriter

*Clockwork Orange and its homonym.

The privilege of living without undue fear of authorities is never really appreciated until it is gone. Even if Trump goes away (as seems likely) American authoritarianism is a many-headed hydra, no mistake. 

I can't believe how good the music is right now. What we have created in the studio Alchemy, with John and Paolo willing to experiment (and allow me full editing control through Garageband), is pretty incredible. 

"Eat the Fruit" is finished. Currently working on "Lost Upward" and "Horizons (Lokal Spirits)." No beats or non-organic instruments on the entire album. Now I see what the Beatles were up against. You can literally get lost in sound.

Fabric - Chasing Sun. Watch for it. Some call it OOPMD - Original-Original Philippine Music Deluxe. Others call it tones in a time of Duterte.

Above: The artists may kill me, but I cut the collaboratively envisioned Chasing Sun album art into tiny pieces, awaiting an aha! from UFO overlords.

#ChasingSun

What worries me is any figure who tells people to jump without asking how high. 

#endwriter

Still nominally in the first chapter, it's time for the Big 3-O. We finally meet the missing English teacher Steve, in predictably dire circumstances.

From here we will be getting back into detective Kaori Inoue of the Chiba Police and a bit of yin, to balance all the heavy sturm und yang of the past few episodes.

Forgive me gentle readers the Arisugawa Park progress has been fairly slow, as album Fabric - Chasing Sun takes precedence. And just observing life, which has become interesting in the Philippines. There are tricky things in human nature oozing under the surface, just waiting for a release valve.

​I sometimes wish I was a dodo, but then I'd be extinct.

#endwriter

    To say that he had been taken unaware was an understatement. Strolling down the steep, tree-shaded street along the far side of Arisugawa Park, two men had fallen in easily behind him.  Even now he could not say what they had looked like––just outside of his line of vision, one on either side, they had strong-armed him and, gaining a firm hold, lifted him off his feet like a potted plant. They slid him into the open car door in a practiced motion and tied the hood over his eyes.

    At first the darkness held only cold sweat, sharp voices in a language he did not understand. The conversation subsided as the start-and-stop of city driving gave way to the unbroken hum of the freeway. After two hours, the car shifted gears and seemed to climb a steep grade. This continued for nearly an hour. At one point the car shifted with a jolt and decelerated, turning onto what seemed a rutted country lane. He listened carefully to the no-nonsense tone of his abductors’ voices as they opened the car door and let him out. Must be Korean––other than Japanese, it was the only Asian language he knew of without significant pitch and tonal variations. There was a slight breeze and the air was distinctly chilly––they were passing somewhere over Honshu’s long spine he thought, the Japan Alps.
 
    Steve registered that they were speaking to him in broken English. “Toilet. Now.” His bound hands were cut achingly free, the sensation coming back to his wrists in faint pulses. He spent a moment drawing sensation back into his hands, unable to fulfill the imperative of an impatient bladder. Finally unzipping his fly with clumsy fingers, he let loose a long stream that pattered onto soft earth. When he was finished, hands tilted his head back and carefully trickled water into his mouth, followed by a small bite of onigiri––rice with tuna and mayonnaise––then another. Then a second ration of water. After he swallowed, his hands were expertly bound again, though not as tightly as before, and he was shoved back into the car. That had been three or four hours ago, maybe late afternoon, judging by the incremental darkening through the hood.
​
    As Steve settled in he felt a barely noticeable movement beneath him, though he couldn’t be sure, a gentle rocking back and forth. He was on some sort of pier or…. the engine leapt into life, a fierce mechanical shriek jutting through his spine and forcing his teeth together––it all fell into place. Fifteen laborious paces from the car, the carefully guided steps down to a jetty, being lifted into the hard hull of a vessel. Assuming they had travelled by highway over the Japan Alps, they must be at the Sea of Japan. There were dozens of islands for criminals to hide out in…. Sado Island was the major one he knew of. What were they after––ransom, notoriety? As he thought again of the language his captors spoke, it struck him that they were only about 100 kilometers from the Korean Peninsula. An abrupt acceleration, a rising current of air driving away the petroleum reek as they bashed into open ocean.

The data is in––the personal blog EnduranceWriter significantly exceeds user-generated "longform" content platforms Medium and Niume as a source of reads. Within 2 days, the six minute-read Medium version of "Love In Duterte" received 12 views and 6 full reads. The Niume version attained 22 views, 1 share, and 23 hype (not bad, considering that current top of the leaderboard is 46 hype). Admittedly, if I was as active at Niume or Medium as I am in things non-Internet, I might boost that number significantly.

Social media is a bitch for real writers. Because the act of real writing is about separating one's views from others, distilling them in ways that are not instantly popular. Gaming headlines or content to gain views is just that. Hard truths have never been easy to arrive at or convey (some say that when you reach a truth the ground has already shifted––same reason we can never achieve enlightenment).

There is so much more to life than promotion. The fact that I'll get about 200 unique readers and 600 views over the same time period on EnduranceWriter suggests that actively continuing the blog site is the way to go. Thanks gentle readers, for providing me a potential pathway toward changing the world.

Here, two days late, the latest piece of writing to go where paid journalism dares not. To the truth as I see it.

As an aside, my Quezon City dentist and German drummer friend Nils Sens, an old Asia hand, was so enervated by the piece he sent an excited missive to the NY Times lauding my talents "Writer Damon Shulenberger has INSIDE VIEW on Duterte's Philippines." Pat on the back aside, I guess this is the type of reader (and friend) I appreciate. 

Update - The day after this piece came out Duterte apologized "profoundly" for his equivocation of his anti-drug mission to Adolf Hitler's mad killing of (what Duterte estimated)  as 3 million souls. I guess my basic reading of the Duterte's strategy and viewpoint was reinforced here. (The fact that the new glocks he has ordered for his country's entire police force are coming from Israel may also be an influencing factor in this retraction).

#endwriter

These days in Dumaguete music is a focus. The Fabric project Chasing Sun plods on.* I try to enjoy the normally relaxed atmosphere of the historic Boulevard, anchored by the iconic green grass and white cupola’d Silliman University and the not always pleasant-smelling seaside Boulevard. There is an increased buzz of Chinese voices among a cluster of hardened from-wherever expats — an indication that glastnost, Duterte-style — even in this tropical backwater — is in effect. There is also an undercurrent of tension, this new government is turning out to be a little more rigid than people expected.
​
Ah, but who am I to say what should be? My impression is that Duterte is an old hand, the type that traditionally does business in coastal areas. No one has ever compared him to Hitler seriously — they know the anarchy of everyday life for so many in the Philippines, amidst a sense of just hanging on to survive. Among the barkada, language is regularly peppered with crudities that would make a saint blush.

It is something I cannot describe to those in the States who have never been around people on the edge. It makes Las Vegas look downright civilized. The favored sport here of cock fighting involves protracted, cruel bloodletting. And yet there is such friendship, laughter, and generosity among people. It’s hard not to smile when you live in a place that has been compared to paradise and you are among direct descendants of Adam and Eve.

Filipinos do not know much about Hitler. He is so opposite of their values, in left field. They would never vote for a President who made them work too much, or told them what to think. I mean what the fuck? The Filipinos do not even have a word for that.
​
As Duterte sees it, in his anti-drug campaign he is only borrowing from the regional Thai and Indonesian playbook of harsh penalties for hard drugs. Duterte sees what he is doing as about ending the country’s reputation as a soft target in the region. Drug operations I guess got introduced from multiple directions — I am no expert, but the problem was pretty widespread. People you wouldn’t expect. And the sense of the Philippines as country of warrior-like––but basically gentle––people changed overnight to one of crazy people. The international shady set had got a foothold.

As he sees it, Duterte is treading lightly — he did even not disinvite the United States from taking part in scheduled military exercises (what are the odds in Vegas?).

The masses understand what Duterte says, because he says it in their vernacular. In some sense, any person with the balls to be ready for heavy blowback from the establishment could have done what he did — get elected against corrupt money interests (a legacy, ironically, of the autocratic Marcos family).

To understand Duterte you must realize that he comes from a law background and that his father was intimately tied as an attorney to the Marcos family (Ferdinand Marcos was also a lawyer). This is part of the reason for his views — he was one of those who saw the bright sunshine of the Marcos system, the progress aspect.

As I see it, and I did stand at the periphery of some Duterte election rallies, observing rowdy exhortations in between songs by a country rock band, he is loved because he shoots straight in his unspeakably rude way. With a serious message — the ordinary Filipinos (if not the Badjao or Ati), have woken up to the fact that they––as have-nots––have a ballot box advantage.

Call it the moment of realization that Bernie Sanders almost convinced enough American voters he stood for. Trump stole that thunder, though he did so for the wrong reasons. This is not to lighten what extrajudicial killings represent––Duterte is worse than Trump in certain ways, though not nearly so unnervingly influential on the stage that we call World.

In his own mind, Duterte is determined to make the country come to heel to a new social reality, in which produced value is shared with the ordinary people. A concept of power less tied to indolent and often ostentatious wealth, and more tied to the will of the people. In which multinational mining companies don’t come in and wipe clean the virgin Mindanao environment (silver lining playbook).

Beyond the human rights questions of extrajudicial slayings, which I have been pondering on deeply and with real apprehension, the realpolitik question involves whether laying the groundwork for martial law benefits anyone’s real interests. The risks of fascism resist easy categorization. A glock in every police officer’s hands makes me suspect that the criminals will soon be carrying glocks as well. And then who to differentiate?

As messy as it is, democracy works — this is why Duterte is now president and recognized by other sovereign countries as leader. To disrupt the status quo for too long, with even not-serious shout outs to crazy rulers, risks bringing back the specter of leaders with absolute power. This is paradoxical because Duterte is dependent on a democratic system (with the basic human rights guarantees that this implies) in maintaining a high-profile status in the region.

What is happening here is, as always, complex (I have never seen so many major international newspapers get it wrong with tone-deaf––though politically correct––copy). In a real sense, despite the possibility of outright confrontation, the likelihood is that people will simply shrug and adapt. Some system of addict rehabilitation––instead of outright quota-tied murders––better emerge and quickly. The church organizations have a lot they can do to expedite this and they better get started soon. Christian Muslim, Buddhist, Zooastrian.

There is no doubt that the Philippines (as reflected, again, in the votes of poverty-threatened masses) is feeling shortchanged by capitalism and in the short term China, a trading society with traditional roots in the region, has renewed friendship potential. The question is how far they take their game — if the two superpowers can coexist here then we have a new regional stasis.**

My only question is why Duterte feels so impelled to thrust the Philippines so quickly in certain directions. He bases it, I am guessing, on his no holds-barred style, which went down so well in war-torn Davao. It’s like a fighter who remembers only the fights of the past and pushes on in life as if was still in the ring, in constant threat and danger. Duterte for all the barbarism of his approach to crime — which mimics that of the ruthless organizations the was up against — actually forged a working dialogue between Muslims, Christians, and Communists — this requires sophisticated knowledge of human behavior, I am told.

From the view of a world citizen the rise of Duterte is troubling, but it does not end my interest in the country. I respect that each country has its views and cultural peculiarities. I do not judge, but I can respectfully disagree. Duterte sprung up in the Philippine imagination because of the Internet-fanned realization that the 99 percent had been had. If you ask anyone whether the Philippines is corrupt, they look at you like you asked whether the sky is red or blue.

​Simple.

*Recording a fusion tribal flute concept is its own reward, in terms of sonic exploration. The mechanics of multitrack production that relies strictly on organic musical sounds, no beats, are surprisingly complex.
​
**Stasis is always better than the alternative, war. From a fabric perspective, if any society can practice sustainability it may be one-child policy China, keeping in mind the sobering lessons of what overdevelopment wreaks. If Singapore (and Hong Kong?) is a bell weather, there is hope. Advanced thinkers in the Eastern Hemisphere are working very hard on sustainability, to the point of designing negative-emissions cities.