Interview with a Coconaut

Log Entry ivx: Interview with a Coconaut - Stardate 01.12.14

Coconaut News Reporter Ricardo del Planeta Viera: According to universal dictionary interpretations trek, both noun and verb, originally dealt with long difficult overland trips such as migrations or exploration. There has always been objections to either jocular or hyperbolic use of either to refer to shorter less ardous trips such as San Juan - New York or New York - San Juan, better yet, those that don’t involve pioneering in some sense. How did El Spirit Republic de Puerto Rico decide to get involved in a space program and in essence a “trek” to the cosmos?

Commander Adál del Planeta Maldonado: According to our out of focus jibaro griots, Puerto Ricans who’d migrated to the US mainland started finding air plane tickets under their pillows and began to travel frequently to the old country. They traveled in fat propeller airplanes nicknamed el ki-ki-ri-ki because it took off at midnight and arrived at sunrise. This plane had a pair of dice [topos] hanging from its control panel and a live trio that walked up and down the isles singing boleros, plenas, guarachas. They christened the airplane la guagua aerea and the experience was likened to a magic realist airborne bus ride.

The story of the development of El Spirit Republic’s out of focus space program, however, is a far more serious account, no laughing matter. Following the creation of the out of focus state of El Spirit Republic de Puerto Rico, Doctor Ocula, an eccentric optometrist and founding member of Los Bodega Bombers,
a terrorist group that set off explosive cans of Bustelo Coffee to protest anything the out of focus state of El Spirit Republic stood for, began a series of experiments to see what laid beyond the field of restricted sight in our out of focus world and developed an optic apparatus he called eye glasses. The new development allowed the wearer to bring blurred objects into focus and the conditions that plagued the old world of hard objects: hunger, distrust, war, famine and expansionism, began to infiltrate the Spirit Republic.

Information regarding these concealed experiments reached the ears of the Grand Council and our physicists and scientists realized that an optic experiment like that could bring down our out of focus world before its time. Doctor Ocula was apprehended and his experiments in inter-optical perception and travel were terminated. But these events raised concerns that any territory material
or imagined could be infiltrated and subverted.

As a precaution, in case of any future acts of sabotage against our out of focus state of reality, the government established the Coconaut Space Program whose objective is to explore the cosmos for alternative life supporting dimensions and territories in other solar systems. To date we have discovered and explored an out of focus dimension on Star Luna and established a settlement there named  Villa Borrosa in honor of Santo Borroso the Patron Saint of the out of focus.

Coconaut News Reporter Ricardo del Planeta Viera: What kind of scientific training is required to be a Coconaut? What makes this outfit different from other space explorers that came before?

Commander Adál del Planeta Maldonado: It is said that in the old world where hard objects reside many Puerto Ricans were send to mental institutions after experiencing accidental shifts in their fixed assemblage points. According to the mystical practices of indigenous peoples each person has a fixed energy point where the coordinates of his fixed place in the world of hard objects is located.  An accidental shift of this assemblage point can have disastrous consequences sending one hurling through inner or outer space with no way back. These unsuspecting individuals suddenly found themselves out of focus and started behaving accordingly, but from the outside world they seemed to be acting erratically and were placed in controlled environments with others suffering with perceived similar disorders. There were people at these asylums suffering from biological disorders that affected their minds but most had simply suffered a shift in their assemblage point  because their physical and mental circumstances were made intolerable. And while some incited rebellion others found escape from the reality of the world of hard objects into the dimension of the out of focus.

After establishing the out of focus state of El Spirit Republic de Puerto Rico we learned the mystical lessons of our forefathers who coexisted peacefully and commuted between islands without moving an inch. Among these was the intentional dislocation and repositioning of the assemblage point from its fixed place for form changing, dreaming to wake up, interstellar and interdimensional travel. We learned that although this condition was initially an escape from an oppressive reality it could be mastered and used to benefit our circumstances.

These lessons are now applied at the Agapito Space Academy of El Spirit Republic de Puerto Rico where Coconauts Cadets endure strict physical preparation and are taught the mathematical lessons of Astronomy and space travel. One formula conitues to escape us, however, how to travel at MACH to the 10th power or faster than the speed of light squared. Under normal travel conditions it would take 150,000 Earth years for a space craft using liquid rocket propulsion and traveling at 30,000 miles per second to reach another solar system. The only current option would be to enter a worm or black hole that act as corridors between galaxies. This can be a very risky business because black holes are stars that collapse into themselves and can crush whatever objects enter into its center. So we have integrated Assemblage Point Dislocation courses into the training. Through this practice and when confronted with these circumstances all members of the Coconaut Team can intentionally shift their assemblage points and  instantly appear at the other side of any given galaxy. So the Academy produces Coconaut Cadets that are highly skilled in all the practical and mystical principles of the mind body and spirit.

Coconaut News Reporter Ricardo del Planeta Viera:  Why is it so important for El Spirit Republic to leave an undistorted legacy? What motivates some societies to distort and revise histories and to erase from history accomplishments other than their own? Is history a lie of convenience?

Commander Adál del Planeta Maldonado: Western Societies tend to privilege the written word as a form of documenting history. In some cases critical historical moments have been adjusted to meet the needs that the dominant class deems important to represent their historical trajectory. In this process distortions are inevitable and significant contributions are mistakenly or intentionally accredited incorrectly or not credited at all. In cases like this history can be a lie of convenience.

As Coconaut Commander and artist I’ve imagined a society from where I can criticize this condition of history revisionism. As artists and poets if we were to draw from our historical experience we would assume a new kind of power. We would be empowered by the process of writing our own histories and in this way we’d insert ourselves into their psyche or consciousness and true place in world history. And in the process we would define our experiences more precisely giving meaning to our lives by leaving a true legacy of our history in which we’d be active agents.

Coconaut News Reporter Ricardo del Planeta Viera

Coconaut SpacCommander Adál del Planeta Maldonado

Over y Pa’ Fuera