Non Sequitur Ardor

Non sequitur is a Latin phrase that translates as "it does not follow." Often used in humor, it provides a comedic twist which always tickles my funny bone. As in the joke, "How many existentialists does it take to screw in a light bulb?" The answer - "Fish!"

I could put on airs and attribute this to my reading of Keirkgaard's, The Sickness unto Death, or Camus', The Myth of Sisyphus. But to be honest, it traces back to watching Rocky & Bullwinkle in my youth. The show's writers filled every episode with puns, satire, irony and, yes, non sequiturs creating a smorgasbord of silliness.

That flying squirrel and befuddled moose opened my mind to a plethora of peculiar portholes: in art, Dada and Surrealism; in philosophy, Existentialism and Absurdism; in music, Sun Ra and Edgard Varese; in literature, Richard Brautigan and Kurt Vonnegut; in comedy, Firesign Theater and Monty Python.

One may say that it does not follow that a simple cartoon show from the early 60s could uncover such disparate paths. My response is, "Exactly!" - as ever BB

"A squid eating dough in a polyethylene bag is fast and bulbous." - Capt. Beefheart