Last night in New York...

Last night I was walking toward Veselka with my mother I saw a procession walking along Second Avenue. There were five or six people, vaguely potheadlike or hippie-ish but otherwise ordinary, surrounding a tall man with ratty blonde hair, and gazing at him with worshipful expression which I knew all too well from my ashram childhood. The blonde man wore a large placard, both front and back, reading, "[His name,] Spiritual Healing. Natural Medicine. [Contact information.]"

This was a bit odd, but not blog-worthy, nor would it have caused, as it did, everyone on the street to stop dead in their tracks and stare in astonishment. What was creating such riveted attention was that, as they walked, about evert thirty seconds they emitted, in ragged harmony, a loud and sonorous honking howl: "HWONNNNNNG!"

I spent some time trying to figure out whether this was actually an effective advertising technique, and what group discussion had led to the decision to march howling down Second Avenue. I decided that a lot of premium pot had been involved. But my mother's friend Sally, who said that she had lived in the area for twenty years and never seen anything like that before, suggested that HWONNNNNNNG was not a mere means of attracting attention, but their official healing sound, perhaps invented because Nam Ho Renge Kyo was taken and Om was played out. Or, perhaps, because of a lot of premium pot.

Last night in New York...

Last night I was walking toward Veselka with my mother I saw a procession walking along Second Avenue. There were five or six people, vaguely potheadlike or hippie-ish but otherwise ordinary, surrounding a tall man with ratty blonde hair, and gazing at him with worshipful expression which I knew all too well from my ashram childhood. The blonde man wore a large placard, both front and back, reading, "[His name,] Spiritual Healing. Natural Medicine. [Contact information.]"

This was a bit odd, but not blog-worthy, nor would it have caused, as it did, everyone on the street to stop dead in their tracks and stare in astonishment. What was creating such riveted attention was that, as they walked, about evert thirty seconds they emitted, in ragged harmony, a loud and sonorous honking howl: "HWONNNNNNG!"

I spent some time trying to figure out whether this was actually an effective advertising technique, and what group discussion had led to the decision to march howling down Second Avenue. I decided that a lot of premium pot had been involved. But my mother's friend Sally, who said that she had lived in the area for twenty years and never seen anything like that before, suggested that HWONNNNNNNG was not a mere means of attracting attention, but their official healing sound, perhaps invented because Nam Ho Renge Kyo was taken and Om was played out. Or, perhaps, because of a lot of premium pot.