I have always distrusted technology, but it was my seventh grade science teacher who cemented my identity as a Luddite. Computers were a new thing in 1985, and Mr. Wasson got a hold of one and gave the class an assignment: Write a program using the logic computer language to draw a simple picture on the screen. I chose an image of a whale, but I couldn’t wrap my brain around the process, or maybe I just wasn’t willing to spend the time telling a machine to draw something I could draw faster and better myself. In any case, Mr. Wasson gave me a ‘D’, my first nearly failing grade, and told me he was disappointed in me, and I’ve been avoiding computers ever since.

It is a quixotic stance in our time, a rejection of the great march of progress, but there are principles in the absurdity. Satisfaction comes in many forms, differing for each of us, no doubt, but I find I‘m most gratified by the tasks that are eternally human: playing, dancing, singing, cooking, washing, sleeping, laughing, eating, and drinking. In an Old Babylonian version of the Epic of Gilgamesh from the early second millennium BC, Siduri, the tavern keeper at the edge of the world, shares with Gilgamesh what may be the oldest written prescription for happiness, and what she feels are the true tasks of humankind: 

“Gilgamesh, let your belly be full
Enjoy yourself day and night
Every day make merry, dance and play
Let your clothes be clean
Let your head be washed
Bathe yourself in water
Gaze upon the little child that holds your hand and
Enjoy your partner’s repeated embrace.”

So, I propose, this Thursday, or Saturday, or Sunday, let’s all close our laptops and meet up at OAKLAND YARD, drink ancient beverages, follow some of the oldest advice in the books, and make merry. 

TONIGHT: THURSDAY NIGHT FLIGHTS – New Italian Reds & Whites – $12 from 4-8pm

SATURDAY, July 21st: Special guest TOM SWITZER pours classic French and Italian tasting flights  – $15 from 2-5pm

SUNDAY, June 22nd:  FRENCH GAMAY – Fresh and fruity, from Beaujolais to the Alps, find out why Gamay makes our favorite summer reds - Flights from 2-6pm

See you soon,

Max