I don’t have to watch very long to have seen too much.

“Lot Lizards” is the name given to prostitutes who work the parking lots at truck stops. The social observers and commentators dropped the “lot” but kept the “lizard” to dehumanise the prostitutes who work the streets like Figueroa in LA or 27th Avenue in Phoenix, as if it is possible to further dehumanise these women.

I suppose it’s all a matter of packaging that compels the women to negotiate uneven sidewalks in stiletto heels. I watch as a woman walks, one foot in front of the other, as if she were walking an invisible tight rope instead of pavement.

The determination that a woman is a lizard is up to Lizard Hunter’s trained eye. I hope he edits out slack periods in his trolling. Lizard Hunter claims to have fifty thousand followers 50,000.

This is a scene I could see Diane Arbus photographing. It has the garish quality. The whores in their red sateen shorts or yoga pants contrast with painted cinder block, the facades of 7-Elevens, the signs blinking Checks Cashed or Vapes. The coin laundries, motels, churches offer the back drop. The scenery becomes very familiar I’m sure the lizards must get used to this lizard hunter recording them, cruising in his vehicle, stopping, operating his camera, then driving around the block again. I’m sure if I made the effort and watched long enough I would recognise the women working 27th Ave. I know the businesses already, Quick Corner, Mamoun’s Auto Sales.

The streets carry the vehicular traffic, pick-up (fitting) trucks, sedans, the occasional SUV. One woman is ignoring a man in a blue sedan who said something to her. The self-described “Lizard Hunter” offers a running commentary on the women he features in his videos. What if he just kept quiet?

Say you get tired of watching women in Phoenix. You can watch women in Medellin or Bogotá or Rio de Janeiro hanging out on street corners. The Johns just don’t come by in cars.

If I’m getting bored, I’m wondering how the women are bearing up.

This nightmare is ending. It will be written about, talked about for generations. The pandemic was the pretext for starting new things. The Church hierarchy wants to try new new things, like permanently ending the Traditional Latin Mass and reception of The Precious Body of Christ on the tongue.

Every revolutionary, whether political or ecclesiastical, took the plague as the excuse they needed. I get government money in the mail I didn’t earn. I spend it before it becomes worthless, which it will.

Incredibly wealthy people want to change the definitions of money and wealth. We’ve gone from specie currency (money backed by gold or silver) to fiat currency, money declared valuable by government decree, to virtual currency, money that exists in a digital universe.

Hopefully we will keep our faith in virtual money. If we no longer trust its value, whatever tangible and desired items you possess will be your currency for barter. Books for butter, liquor for meat,

They will manage to have enough money to have wars The idealism will be the veneer to cover the baser woods, the poplar, of greed, power that the war mongers use in constructing their furniture of fate. And we will buy their goods, to give meaning to the empty consumerist lives we all live. We will buy goods to replace what the wars have destroyed. We will rebuild the bridges and buildings the warriors have destroyed.

In chess, do the pawns ever complain?

Am I the only one who has noticed how difficult it is to find a strong team of oxen these days? You would think it was on purpose. Sure pickup trucks are everywhere, with the carbon emissions, rubber tyres,and no need for expensive straw or barn to house it. 

This transportation revolution is down right aggravating sometimes.

It’s been a good day, or couple of days, depending on how you count. I started listening to music, then took a shower, listened to more music. Doesn’t matter what I listened to. The I put my DVD of Viva Zapata into the DVD player. Brando was a great actor, as were Anthony Quinn and Joseph Wiseman. Yet the star of this film is the exquisite black and white cinematography.

I feel as if I could stay up all night and watch movies. So many films, too many to list.

I’m watching Zapata! and I suddenly want a sombrero. This is an Elia Kazan film, one of many great ones And I am going to buy tortillas when the grocery store opens,along with fresh cilantro, limes and avocados.

I am tired, however, I should go to bed. I shall pause the film.They are speaking English, John Steinbeck’s words.

One last thought:

Will the pain of Mexico ever end?