Advertising is everywhere, and it keeps our media afloat. Without ads there would be no money to support cultural centers like news organizations and sports teams as we’ve come to know them. But are the ads that fill our lives effective at selling the products – or, indeed, worth anywhere near the money spent on them?
Sinking In?
Is the Depression becoming internalized? It may just be a feeling or it may be the people I know, but I’ve been seeing a lot more symptoms of depression in the world around me. Friends and acquaintances have detached themselves gradually from the hyper-connected world and pushed back on anything not right in front of them. Some are clearly having trouble coping with even simple things that they used to enjoy. Calls and e-mails are rarely answered with any kind of consistency or speed.
I wanted to discuss this because if this is true the only way out is old fashioned talking about it. If it’s not true, I may need a new circle of friends.
Improv
“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.”
– William Shakespeare (As You Like It)
It’s a trite phrase, a fairly obvious cliché more than 400 years old. Yet like so many of these little sayings it has only stuck around this long because it holds a certain truth. We each have defined roles we play out, hoping that they both fit into the bigger production even as we standout as the star in our own monologues. Where the saying fails, however, is the lack of a written script implied by the credit given to the Bard. A play has to seem true and make sense – but life is rarely just as we like it. Life is more of an improv act.
A Bridge Too Far
It’s been three years since the I-35W bridge fell down. The new bridge has been up for nearly two years, and everyone seems to have forgotten there was a problem. It was fixed, after all, and the new bridge has an amazing array of technological safeguards built into it to prevent the collapse.
All is well, yes? I don’t think so. The fact that we are in the middle of a governor’s election and this is not a major issue – indeed, it seems like ancient history – I take as adequate proof that we are doomed.
Mythnology
Truth, like fire, takes many forms. There is a harsh truth that burns everything it touches and a softer truth that has the mysterious spark of life at the core of it. And then there is the basic truth of the universe that is as irrefutable as the waves of cosmic radiation that constantly washes over us, unfelt and unseen.
Many kinds of truth are best explored through fiction. That’s what is at the heart of my new project, Mythnology. I’d like to take some time to explain this new novel, the interaction I hope will guide it, and an a way that writers can connect directly to their readers. If you like what you see, please subscribe – and tell your friends!
Barataria - The work of Erik Hare 