call me kuebiko

Kuebiko is a scarecrow from Japanese mythology: a weather-beaten deity who stands rooted to the earth, watching the world pass by. He cannot move. He cannot intervene. Even so, he becomes sagacious through aeons of silent observation. In recent years, "kuebiko" has taken on another meaning: the exhausted bewilderment that follows tragedy after tragedy, when the world reveals itself to be stranger,…