Henry Inman: [Tah-Col-o-Quoit (Rising Cloud)],
Asakiwaki/Sauk Warrior;
representative of the Sauk and Fox coalition
Former Title: [Tah (sha)-col-o-quoit], Sauk and Fox Delegate
(c. 1832-1834)

" … promising greatness as if from the mouth of God."

Perhaps the primary difference between what most of us might recognize as regular order and the MAGA World manifesting before us might be best acknowledged as the fundamental difference between policy-driven and ideology-driven governance. Policy-driven governance relies on agreements negotiated between often opposing viewpoints, as embodied in the 'Out of Many, One' notion, codified as the official motto of this nation. This characterization deftly encapsulates democracy in practice. It's naturally full of contention but also well-practiced as resolution. For every disagreement, some compromise might exist, and the primary purpose of self-governance must be to find these and agree to live within them. Absolutism cannot coexist within democracy's inherent pluralism. There's right, wrong, and left: right or wrong, what matters might always be whatever's left after the passionate argument.

What's left is policy, a statement of agreement intended to transcend right and wrong.

Tags: #CHope , #PureSchmaltz

John Simmons: Man With A Pistol, Chicago (1965)

My Aches and Pains
Aging turns out to work differently than I'd imagined. I thought wisdom might visit, but so far, it hasn't. I see my contemporaries generally acting more foolish, which doesn't come as much of a surprise. Disease has ravaged many, and this wasn't unexpected, except I expected some justice to be represented in those it chose. It hasn't. It might be an illusion, but the innocent seem more vulnerable than any reasonable supreme being would have deigned. The cost of aging gets exacted in aches and pains, which ultimately seem inescapable. The meaning of those gets transposed into indicators of well-being. In our youth, well-being was gauged by the absence of aches and pains. Now, I can tell I'm well by their presence. They seem to be there not so much as an alarm or caution, but to reassure me. When my hands ache, they remind me of what I accomplished the day before. I dare not waste my precious remaining time chasing cures for these indicators, for what was once evidence of illness has become the very soul of my wellness. I have become my aches and pains.

Tags: #CHope , #PureSchmaltz

Francis Seymour Haden: Kensington Gardens, No. I (small plate) (1859)

" … bound as well as determined to drag itself through Hell again."

As our world continues to draw itself ever closer to Hell, I am gaining a renewed appreciation for SmallExtraordinaries. These tend to be tiny and easily overlooked. In most circumstances, I overlook these and never even notice my omission. In ordinary times, these go unappreciated because the foreground tends to consume the bulk of attention. When, as now, I find myself suddenly living in truly interesting times, I tend to need to avert my eyes. I understand the inexorable momentum of every slow-moving train crashing. I've seen that movie too many times and require no reinforcement to better recall the resulting calamity. I tend to become a little obsessive, as if obsessive ever comes in little sizes. I can become consumed with the resonance of demons and devils when civilization seems determined to run itself through Hell again.

I require respite now, and I have been finding it in SmallExtraordinaries.

Tags: #CHope , #PureSchmaltz

Unknown Artist: Picture (17th century)

"Such always was the way with this world."

Purpose often appears quite independent of anyone's intention. It might show after considerable effort. Whether that effort seems a success or a failure might not matter, for every system discloses its purpose through its product. The meaning of the effort appears in whatever that effort produced, however it might be judged. Many naive notions crumble beneath humbling realizations. Nobody's life turns out to be a smooth upward progression where one inevitably learns better to yield ever-increasing rewards. No, we each experience setbacks and thrusts forward, some of which, seemingly inevitably, sum to something different than we thought we had invested. Any serious search for anything occasionally results in producing its opposite; even the Ancient Greeks understood this.

Not one of us could possibly be exempted from this calculus.

Tags: #CHope , #PureSchmaltz

Jean Louis Forain: In the Wings (1899)

ABOUT THIS ARTWORK
In this backstage view of a Parisian opera house, ballerinas field advances from elegantly dressed male patrons, who approach them in pairs. The stoic dancer in the foreground, chin up and eyes downcast, absorbs the penetrating gaze of one large man while another looms just behind her, so close that his black top hat overlaps with her orange headdress. In 19th-century Paris, male abonnés (season ticket holders) had special access to a back room where they could socialize while watching the ballerinas warm up. Many took advantage of this privilege to sexually exploit the young dancers, who were well aware that their careers depended upon the good favor of this donor class.

——

"If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?"

Question sparked by common misconception

Our culture holds at least ten thousand curious convictions. Prominent among these are the ones insisting that wealth, and especially great wealth, imparts a wide variety of superpowers. Most notable among these must be the insistence that the wealthy are probably the smartest bears in every room, when direct evidence of this seems sorely absent. An inverse insistence might gain greater credence if anybody had the gumption to proclaim it. There does, in practice, appear to be a reverse correlation between great wealth and great wisdom, intelligence, and even kindness. I can inadvertently wound only those closest to me, but the Terribly Wealthy can crush many by simply thoughtlessly turning around, for their range of influence spreads much more widely than mine. I can choose not to go out for coffee, with nobody the worse for it, but let a billionaire opt out of their regular purchase, and it could be the death of a business. The very, very wealthy seem preternaturally responsible for many, and so seem required to practice a mandatory Noblesse Oblige.

Unfortunately, not every Terribly Wealthy person received the memo insisting upon this responsibility.

Tags: #CHope , #PureSchmaltz

Jack Gould: Untitled
(boys and girls learning ballroom dancing) (c. 1950)

" … Lifelong Rediscovery of what I'd apparently already learned before."

I understand that I am expected to be a LifelongLearner, even though I was always a hesitant one. From my earliest days, I recall fearing the acquisition of additional information, as if it might harm me, and I can see how this innate sense might have been evolutionarily advantageous. I don't so much despise knowing; it's the acquisition that I question, for it seems like I have one of those tile puzzles in my head, and I must fiddle with it to make space for any incoming information that anybody might expect me to retain. It’s not the exposure to new concepts that I question, but the absorption of them. I have always felt like a saturated sponge.

The start of a semester in school was always terrifying, for the expectation usually seemed to be that I should already know the inevitably new material I was going to be exposed to.

Tags: #CHope , #PureSchmaltz

Attributed to Richard Parkes Bonington: Small Figures and Tent (1823)

" … while the rest of the world gets distracted going to Hell."

While The World was distracted going to Hell, I volunteered to refinish the vintage trim boards I'd saved when removing the front porch ceiling. I had the necessary equipment and experience to successfully complete the job, but I needed a paint shop. Some of the boards ran longer than my garage. I needed covered space so I could work through sun and rain. The sun this time of year could render shade essential. Rain was also always possible, and rain and paint do not mix. The answer was some sort of tent, a Pop-Up Paint Shop. The Muse bought a fancy Pop-Up canopy when she was running for Port Commissioner, to use at the 4th of July gathering in the park. It had been in its case in the basement since, except when she'd loaned it out to another candidate for the same purpose the following summer. She promised that I could use her fancy canopy, but I wanted something less precious.

Our first Pop-Up canopy, bought to use as a paint shop in the driveway, was ultimately laid low by a rainstorm.

Tags: #CHope , #PureSchmaltz