NON-PROFIT STATE OF MIND

“Non-profit” can derive from a generous sentiment: the desire for prostitution; but it is soon corrupted by the desire for property. “Nonprofit” wants to go beyond itself, become one with its victim (like the victor with the loser) and somehow preserve intact its privilege as conqueror. The main virtue associated with it is an authenticity that goes handin- hand with its distance from a money-based profit system, reserved for the common that has to earn a living. The organic grocery store owner and its customer agree that a pear that has not been sprayed with pesticides rots faster than one that has, but flaunting its indifference to the advantages of pesticide more than compensates for the flaw and even drives up the value. The common that has to earn a living can also be non-profit, and inversely, the non-profit can become a state of mind and elude the determinisms (shopping sprees, drug binges, investments, interest in the arts, etc) it is prone to.

For example: a bohemian girl inherits a fortune from a relative. She takes on a liability which will likely cause an upheaval in the set of rules she has been playing by so far. The focus will have to shift toward inventing new problems that can help her sustain a level of poverty she feels comfortable with. The labor of exploiting herself out of love has begun.

And maybe there's something about the whole concept of the "New York City anthem" that's always going to resonate with and, to borrow a word, inspire us. It's not that there's even anything terribly out-of-the-ordinary going on here: swinging for the upper decks and subsequently the gut, working that angle that appeals to the bridge-and-tunnel set as effectively as it does to people who've never actually visited NYC. And Cleopatra’s plays the nonchalant tour guide, pointing out landmarks to fill space even as their train of thought begins to break up. Times being what they are, the need for this "unifying" type of hit becomes more apparent, acting as a tiny reaffirmation of a collective self that's becoming easier and easier to lose sight of completely. It is a very good question whether the parties involved really believe it can work its magic in the face of such divisive infield politics.