The Newtown Pentacle

A week of madness, doubt, and insecurity ends.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The Roman Emperor Caligula set the standard of sanity for his culture. Luckily for the rest of you, I’m the emperor of nothing other than what exists between my ears. Unfortunately for me, there’s a couple of rebel groups here in Cortex city, and a bizarre religious cult which is steadily growing in population and making itself known out in the Oblongata Desert. At the border, in Medulla town, a team of terrorists seems to be forming up as well. One hopes that a War on Terror won’t spring up in my neck.

I’m all ‘effed up.

from wikipedia

Deviance, in a sociological context, describes actions or behaviors that violate social norms, including formally-enacted rules (e.g., crime), as well as informal violations of social norms (e.g., rejecting folkways and mores). It is the purview of sociologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, and criminologists to study how these norms are created, how they change over time and how they are enforced.

Norms are rules and expectations by which members of society are conventionally guided. Deviance is a failure to conform to these norms.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

How one wishes that satisfaction and desire had led to a more wholesome life, rather than the bizarre simulacrum- a series of dull events- which was the path I ended up on. It isn’t fair to those who, against all logic and reason, care for my well being. Would that I had chosen homogeneity, embraced the traditional desires of this culture, and was able to pretend or even feign. Unfortunately, this is my lot, to remain apart.

Barren, disappointed, abused, shunned… always must I remain an outsider…

from wikipedia

Normality (also known as normalcy) is the state of being normal. Behaviour can be normal for an individual (intrapersonal normality) when it is consistent with the most common behaviour for that person. Normal is also used to describe when someone’s behaviour conforms to the most common behaviour in society (known as conforming to the norm). Definitions of normality vary by person, time, place, and situation – it changes along with changing societal standards and norms. Normal behaviour is often only recognized in contrast to abnormality. In its simplest form, normality is seen as good while abnormality is seen as bad. Someone being seen as “normal” or “not normal” can have social ramifications, including being included, excluded or stigmatized by larger society.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

For one such as myself, the middle weeks of August are always a time of lament, recrimination, and doubt. Marching- ever marching- across the Newtown Pentacle as the burning gaze of the thermonuclear eye of god itself glares down upon me, an unending soliloquy of uncertainty and madness is held imprisoned just a few inches behind my eyes.

Whether it be Mōnandæg or Frīġedæġ, you can count on a humble narrator to find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

from wikipedia

The name Friday comes from the Old English Frīġedæġ, meaning the “day of Frigg”, a result of an old convention associating the Old English goddess Frige with the Roman goddess Venus, with whom the day is associated in many different cultures. The same holds for Frīatag in Old High German, Freitag in Modern German and vrijdag in Dutch.

The expected cognate name in Old Norse would be *friggjar-dagr. However, the name of Friday in Old Norse is frjá-dagr instead, indicating a loan of the weekday names from Low German. The modern Scandinavian form is Fredag in Swedish, Norwegian and Danish, meaning Freja’s day. The distinction between Freja and Frigg in some Germanic mythologies is problematic.

“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle

Want to see something cool? Summer 2013 Walking Tours-

Kill Van Kull– Saturday, August 10, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.

13 Steps around Dutch Kills– Saturday, August 17, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.