Brixton Hughes
The Fully Automatic Trickster (FAT) Donald Trump has been out performing himself all over again. I admit that I have started to watch his new show with the same eyes I use to check out traffic accidents and war videos. Our FAT PET (President Elect Trump) has become a center stage side show with a malevolent Jester half in charge and half playing for punchlines. Costello sings “I used to be disgusted, but now I try to be amused”, and I realize that amusement is a distant bridge to cross another day. Now it is time to redouble effort, because the Dear FAT PET has remixed the probable paths and enhanced our chance. If I learned anything from my time at Mandala News Network (MNN) it was that Bill Carson was serious when he’d say, “Chaos is your friend.” Chaos scrambles probability and so promotes a statistical environment in which the dominant reality can be modified or reconfigured. The Art Temple Mandala (ATM) experimented with that hypothesis and eventually it burned them out. I know. I was there. Looking back on those days, I begin to understand how mismatched the ATM was with the Bush League. They were punching way up and over their heads. But, back in 2000 the nascent ATM was the Trickster playing with Chance and Intent. Today the FAT Donald punches down, across, and every other which way. We are in need of sanctuary. Punch no one. Hold on and stand solid. Move forward with purpose.
The way I see it, an abundance of civic energy was stirred up by the ascendance of Our Dear PET. The question is how and where to apply my portion of it to try and elicit the positive change I want to see in our culture. Maybe because I’m intrigued with decay and fermentation, I often think about fungi and soil as an analogy for the role of people and their homes in growing a sustainable community, town, or city. Build the soil that will sustain the society we want to succeed. That is my plan. Refocus on local issues and double down with specific action intended to bring positive change. When they go global, we go local.
In the 2017 election the entire city government in Minneapolis will be on the ballot and we have Ranked Choice Voting. This situation is a kind of localized chaos, because it enhances the chances of alternative candidates to win where they might otherwise be relegated to place or show. Its a small scale antidote for national afflictions like Trump and the DNC. I have begun to sort through the candidates vying for offices in Minneapolis in 2017. So far, I have found two that are worth a listen. Devin Hogan and Russ Henry are both running for an at large Commission on the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board (MPRB). Getting people like Russ and Devin elected is important, but it is even better because they are working together. They plan to represent a set of ideas that will inform the MPRB regardless of who serves as Commissioner. This approach is itself a rebuke of authoritarians such a FAT Donald and his ilk. They understand that no one can do it alone. Get involved in your town today and let’s do it together. Double down with your neighbor.