Shockwaves of Identity

Buford Youthward
stockcap@hotmail.com

Advertising truth requires complex markings. Simplicity and sincerity are not at odds but rather held premium as the act of making marks is far from complex.

There's no time for hyperbole. You have to show up before you can get started. Showcases are cool but some cats dig shadows. Like looking straight ahead and knowing you're at the right place but not sure if it's the right time.

In a world that's broken, nothing can be taken for granted. Not even the weather. So it is that we look in on our condition, one frigid summer evening. Acting bad, doing good, mixing technique and treachery, welcome to the insurgent generation.

Demanding the impossible is the trite, casual jingoism that non-artists like to shout about and posers like to print on t-shirts. I can't afford to ask that much but it's not like the bylines are too big for your lunchbox.

The present must be studied as a historical problem. It must be opened up in order to close. We live within language like polluted air. I prefer to hold my breath and take gasps only when necessary -- learning to breathe is easier than relearning. Language is the constant conflict.

Cultural weapons do not exist, taste is no defense. Machines make music, poetry is found on tea bags, fine paintings are marketed as jigsaw puzzles. Entertainment is a parody of itself. Culture is a joke.

We live in a democracy of impotence with emphasis on the progress of harmony rather than the beauty of harmonic progressions. Such is the fate of forward motion. Sentimentality must be eschewed. But I chew on the residue noting that literature and cinema come closest to parodying authentic experience.

The logic of mass marketing attempts to correspond with content and placement. Just as there's no such thing as bad press, there's no such thing as improper context. Transparency and participation envelop the environment.

So it is that you may have the good fortune to be filled with dreams of abundance and indulgence. Afterwards, make the right call and move on peacefully.

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