Arnold Drake World is a treasure of a human being. For years, he's spent his days holding down a table in the cafe at Portland's Powell's Books, folding intricate, gorgeous "botanically correct" flowers out of paper napkins.

https://vimeo.com/151972138 

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Now he's in serious trouble. He's broke and his landlord is about to kick him out of the RV he rents-to-own. The stores he normally sells his art through are closed and many aren't expected to reopen.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/paperflowers101

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He's trying to raise $10K to he won't lose his home. He's currently at $3k. I kicked in $25.

Neoliberalism's signature move is squeezing the slack out of the system. Is there a storehouse of ventilators no one is using right now? Sell 'em off! A cash reserve? Stock buyback!

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Is there a neighborhood where people live cheap? Bulldoze it and replace it with luxury flats that no one ever intends to live in,only to use as safe-deposit boxes in the sky.

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Ripping slack out of the system doesn't just make the world brittle, it murders the quirky and idiosyncratic things that give the world texture and delight. It's the reason every shopping street in London and NYC (pre-crisis) looked like a looping Flintstones background.

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The same 6 shops, over and over again: CVS, Citibank, realtor, 7-11, Chase, Citibank, Walgreens.

Arnold Drake World is one of those treasures that you only get when there's slack in the system, like a bolt of insight that only comes when you down tools and laze in the grass.

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He represents one of the many likely casualties of covid, as we bear down on whatever slack remains in the system, making our world more brittle as we do.

eof/