Claude Monet: The Petite Creuse River (1889)

The Impending Downfall
My Business Law professor told me back when I was still an undergraduate that if I wanted to predict our political future five or ten years out, I should just keep an eye on British politics. He insisted that the United States parrotted whatever our British cousins did over the prior couple of centuries with a few years' lag. It never seemed to matter whether the British did something brilliant or stupid; we'd be following on their tail. Their Brexit vote, arguably the most foolish political movement in modern history–at least up until the MAGA movement kicked in—took place in 2019, with the catastrophic effects starting immediately. Their government's "conservative" response to the vote's impact proved disastrous, for they began to engage in austerity to manage the immediate effects of choosing to walk away from their previous prosperity. After a few years of that absurdity, with government services worn to less than a nub, their conservative movement in Britain effectively ceased to exist, a victim of their own appalling excesses. We're about five years behind. November 5, 2024, was our Brexit vote, and we narrowly chose to leave our union. We will shortly experience an austerity-induced recession, which could become depression-quality depending on how quickly we smarten up. Our unemployment numbers should soar as qualified workers are serially disqualified from contributing because Congress could never codify the rules for their inclusion. They took five years. Like Britain, we chose to follow lies rather than obvious facts, chasing pasts improved with fictional proofs. Our government, by and for The People, seems set to turn against The People in favor of a regressive austerity that can only wound the weakest while enriching the already wealthy. The comeuppance will come after providing a lesson Britain had already learned and we could not quite learn from yet. Divided, we fall. We can only stand tall when united. I'm grateful for the coming comeuppance if not for the impending downfall.

——

Weekly Writing Summary
This Exiled Story tells of me Discrediting every damned deli in the greater Denver area as a means for continuing my Exile.

Edward Donovan: Anchovy, Clupea encrasicolus (1804)
" … not a single deli in all of Denver could hold even a small candle [to the one I left behind.]"
—
In this Exiled Story, ElbowRoom, I describe how I maintained my distance from my Exiled home, lest I become too attracted and never return to my real home. This sometimes seemed a real danger.

Eugène Delacroix: Standing Lion (1833)
" … lest I become a traitor to my home."
—
This Exiled Story mentions some things The Muse and I caught ourselves TrackingIn after we returned from being Exiled.

Pierre Redouté: Morus rubra = Murier rouge. [Red Mulberry] (1801 - 1819)
"We couldn't help but TrackIn some of what we'd acquired … ."
—
This Exiled Story recounts what I found most punishing about being Exiled: the MissingHistory that might have better oriented me.

Arnold Topp: Abstract Composition, from the portfolio "New European Graphics, Portfolio III: German Artists"
[Abstrakte Komposition, aus Bauhaus Mappe "Neue Europäische Graphik III: Deutsche Künstler"] (1921)
"I couldn't hope to become a local while being Exiled there …"
—
This Exiled Story, IdEntity, finds me not wanting anything after being so rudely Exiled. The word 'want not' suggests something other than a biblical context for this Exile.

Julia Margaret Cameron: Julia Jackson (1867)
" … I returned an IdEntity with Ego clearly absent."
—
This Exiled Story, ThanksGiven, finds me giving thanks for being Exiled, which was an unexpected outcome when I started creating this series. How could gratitude result from being Exiled? I believe those are called blessings.

Giuseppe Rosso: Thanksgiving (1968)
" … an experience one cannot choose but for which might feel gratitude later."
—
An Exile becomes a series of psychological games the Exiled engages in to maintain what might pass for sanity. These seem necessary, even essential, for their context shifted and took the Exile's sense of balance. They might seem unnaturally defensive, finding reason to Discredit almost everything, if only to maintain their high opinion of the place from which they were Exiled. They insist upon ElbowRoom and might even appear unduly stand-offish. Regardless of the defenses mustered, the Exile will probably end up TrackingIn some of the stuff they encountered when they were gone. While they might intend to remain humble, they will be capable of appearing haughty if only because they bring difference, however unintended. They lived for a time in confusing isolation in a land apparently without a past, MissingHistory. A few, like me, struggled to desire again, adopting an IdEntity lacking sufficient ego. All of that notwithstanding, our Exile might find ample reason to feel grateful they were Exiled and even find words to declare ThanksGiven. Thank you for following along through this writing week leading up to and ending on Thanksgiving! I hope yours was satisfying!
©2024 by David A. Schmaltz - all rights reserved

Tags: #Exiled, #PureSchmaltz