Surreality

I am a surrealist. My mind is constantly making odd connections and imagining things reversed or flipped. Here's a recent thought as an example: I'm biking to my studio, and come to a stop at the crosswalk. There's a guy there, impatiently pressing the button, so I wait for the sign to change and step off the curb. As I do, he remains there, pressing the button. I cross and continue down the street to my studio. As I open the door, I turn and look down the street, and notice that he's still standing there, pressing the button.

I wonder what he's expecting, as the crosswalk obviously wasn't it. Makes me want to continually press the button just to see if something else happens. Once activates the crosswalk. Five hundred times might bring manna. A thousand times might bring unicorns. I don't try it, but it crosses my mind.

In late November, my understanding of things was flipped on its head. I thought America was a certain way, and awoke one morning to find that I was wrong. I had misunderstood things about America my entire life. It was disillusioning, like finding your wife in bed with another, or your parents removing their masks to reveal they're aliens.

Since then, other things I took for certain have become less so. I've felt as if gravity could cease, random items begin to float about the room, and it wouldn't even interrupt a sentence. I could be talking with a friend when the stapler starts to rise from my desk, and I'd just grasp it and set it back down without missing a beat. It would be that little of a surprise to me.

As a surrealist, this is intriguing. America's newly chosen leader lies constantly – up is down, small is large, facts can be overwritten with "alternative facts." It gives me the freedom to move from surreal imagination to surreal reality, or my new 'surreality.' In this new reality, I no longer identify as American. I am an Angeleno, from California in North America. My only affiliation with the Untied States is that of tenant and landlord. My home happens to be in the USA, so I send them my taxes. Any patriotism went out the window in late November.

The odd thing is, I don't feel sad about this. When I realized how I'd misunderstood America, and realized how many others felt the same way, it became exciting. This current pendulum swing is so fast and so extreme, it is bound to bring sweeping change as it changes momentum. We've known for generations that sweeping change is needed - economically, ecologically, politically. It is going to be a wild ride with likely bouts of civil unrest, martial law, and extreme upheaval. But when the dust clears, I think the world will be a better place. I think new powers will emerge, and America will take a back seat for a while. For good or ill, this 800 lb. gorilla is going on a shock diet, and will not be allowed to throw its weight around as it has in the past. The world has no need for a powerful bully. Go world.