John Simmons: Unite or Perish, Chicago (1968)

I Will Inhabit My Future
I was supposed to write this introduction on my new MacBook Air, which arrived yesterday afternoon just as I was sitting down to create this week's writing summary. I deferred playing with that new machine until after I'd completed that chore, setting the copying over of the six hundred thousand odd files through supper. It was still happily grinding away two hours later. When I rose at two, the progress bar reported that three more hours remained, so I went off to distract myself for that time. Back just after five, I found it had finished copying, but it hadn't yet finished with me. It had prepared a gauntlet of Pastwords for breakfast, each with a slightly different name and incomprehensible, in turn. With The Muse's groggy help, I made it through the first two gates and was delighted that Safari and Chrome could remember the last opened tabs. The new computer apparently had a functional touch key, which might mean that I won't have to continually type out my seventeen-digit Pastwork so frequently. That alone would justify the purchase. I'm hoping the continual crashing that has become a near-constant background annoyance might finally be reduced or even eliminated. Facebook couldn't remember me or my Pastword, and, as is often the case, my Pastword-remembering software apparently couldn't remember the most current iteration, either. I figure if it can determine that my Pastword's incorrect, it already knows who I am and is just playing hard to get. Typed in Pastwords make as much sense as TSA pat-downs yet we all submit to the tyranny. The Facebook failure chased me back to my old machine, even though I knew I'd undermine the parallel environments final migration would require. It was Friday, and I was not yet ready for my daily posting and my preparation for my Zoom Chat. One day, I will inhabit my future.

——

Weekly Writing Summary

This CHope Story distinguishes between ideology and its first cousin, Idiology. One's driven by belief and the other by a tenacious inability to defer engagement.

James Castle: Red Coat; verso: Back of Man ((20th century)
"The best of all possible opponents to have when battling for decency and justice."
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This CHope Story finds me attending an elementary school piano recital to be reminded of RecitalRules.

Lee Russell: Boy giving recitation in program at end of school term. FSA (Farm Security Administration) labor camp. Caldwell, Idaho (1941)
"We only have everything to lose otherwise."
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This CHope Story tries to find an explanation for the mysterious histories embraced by the MAGAs: their Mistery.

Master of the Die: Apollo Slaying Python, plate one from The History of Apollo and Daphne (c. 1532) Gallery Note: The alteration to this impression is not initially evident, but closer inspection reveals that this predominantly nude Apollo is missing his genitalia. A viewer deliberately scraped away the ink at the god’s crotch in a campaign of extremely localized censorship. Given how modestly Apollo was originally endowed, this change does not significantly alter the image overall. Rather, the god’s sizable arrow quiver dangles more provocatively between his legs than his own penis ever did. The objecting viewer, apparently lacking a grasp of age-old visual puns, may not have realized that, with his alteration, the visual emphasis merely shifted to this larger and more obvious phallus substitute.
"Eye for an eye and tooth for tooth sentences actually seem like justice to them."
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This CHope Story finds me puzzling over people who are Scheduled out into an inevitably uncertain future. Without absolute certainty, we become skilled at believing in nearly absolute fiction.

Lewis Wickes Hine: Women do Irregular Work, Schedule of an unusually fast wrapper stripper for four weeks. Series/Book Title: Social Museum Collection (1907-1908)
"It was only ever eternal in the moment before it was declared done."
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This CHope Story finds me decomposing the Pettiness that characterizes this incumbent's time in office. I should be grateful that he focuses so much energy on things that cannot possibly turn into anything that outlives him. He seems to exclusively focus on the boringly trivial rather than issues of substance.

Style of Abraham Jansz Diepenbeeck: King Midas at the Contest Between Apollo and Pan(circa 1616–1675)
"That's the cultural capability of our present incumbent: Pettiness."
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This CHope Story finds me chasing down the recent spate of SlyenceFriction roiling our political universe. Those who cannot distinguish between science and fiction should not be entrusted with the keys to any city.

Lucas Emil Vorsterman: Backgammon Players (c. 1630) - ABOUT THIS ARTWORK: Adam de Coster was a prominent painter of illuminated night scenes in Antwerp around 1630, about the same time that Lucas Emil Vorsterman was engraving works after his popular contemporaries in the same city. A student of Peter Paul Rubens, Vorsterman employed a style that was originally similar to that of the Flemish master, until a falling out with Rubens and subsequent trip to England provoked him to create stronger, more stylized, Caravaggesque engravings such as Backgammon Players. Clearly influenced by De Coster’s handling of light, Vorsterman brightened the otherwise dark scene with two candles whose flames illuminate the faces of those seated around the table.
"Real life does not even distantly resemble a game of Grand Theft Auto, and probably never will."
——
May's first full writing week turned out to be an odd, taped-together affair. I found solace in acknowledging that what I and many others had mistaken for ideology was actually, probably, most likely an example of Idiocy, instead, the study of idiotic behavior masquerading as deeply held belief. I stumbled upon appreciation as a generally useful palliative when attending The Muse's piano recital. I cracked a long-standing mystery about how MAGA history might be created, since it so rarely relies upon what actually happened. Mistery seems a Biblical, child-like belief system relying on reassuring fiction. I reflected on how modern lives seem awfully Scheduled, with particular emphasis on the awfully part. I found further reassurance by acknowledging just how petty our current incumbent's initiatives have been. It seems very unlikely that any will outlive his tenure, and his legacy might well be a renewed dedication to never betray our common heritage again. I ended this writing week reflecting on how science fiction has been influencing the incumbent's reasoning, and not for the better, either. I labeled this influence SlyenceFriction in one of my better manglements. Thanks for following along.

©2025 by David A. Schmaltz - all rights reserved

Tags: #CHope , #PureSchmaltz