Group Therapy & Fantasies, Hunger Strikes, Muncie Artists - Friday Into Saturday

I did group yesterday. The leader read us from some manual about fantasies. I realize that none of this applies to me. Everyone else has committed what we call a contact crime. Nothing I did was to fuel any fantasy of mine, other than as a pretext for suicide. However, I did take - silently - umbrage at one statement. That is, whenever we look at any gender that is our sexual preference, we indulge in fantasies. Aesthetics have no place in this psychology. A long-standing thought about this process, from judges to prosecutors to prison guards to group therapists, is that they are more obsessed with sex than Freud. 

Something more interesting had to do with Trump. Someone made mention that Trump was a smart businessman. I disagreed and got jumped on about this. That he was a very good businessman was the consensus. When someone mentioned that he made money off the casino that failed, that he got off with salary and bonuses, I said he was a crook. To them, this made him a good businessman. I have only one explanation for this kind of thinking - ignorance. Not just of Trump, but of what makes a successful businessman and history in general. 

I just cannot understand how it is that he has bewitched so many - other than people know no other examples. I remember Ted Turner and Bloomberg.

What has Trump built? Some ugly buildings have his name on them. Ted Turner left behind CNN, TCM, The Cartoon Network, the Atlanta Braves, and a million acres in Montana. 

Bloomberg made his own billionaire on his own work. He created Bloomberg News.

So, what has Trump created?

Have we come to where the businessman is one who ruins his business on the way to collecting a big salary, and the ruination of the enterprise is to be admired?

It reminders me of the bankers back in 2008, where they got huge balances even though their banks lost money.

Could we be doing Marxism in reverse, where the proles admire the capitalist who rip them off? 

Or am I being dim, and the proles in my group are actually cheering on the fulfillment of Marx's prophecies?

Did you see the photo of Trump staring into space when the guy fainted in his office? It struck me differently than some people. For me, that is a man who knows how to talk, not act; completely ignorant of leadership, wholly dependent on bullying others to act. He is softening on tariffs because he is a chickenshit - it finally got through to his mind that starving the masses will get him in trouble.

After group, I walked from the downtown bus station almost to Centennial, about a half mile. I was out of Coke Zero, had caught the bus instead of shopping at Payless, and so necessity moved my feet. That it was a beautiful day helped motivate me, too.

Some news from Muncie worth sharing.

 Muncie Artists Take Bold Step With ‘An Evening at the Murray’ Event on November 21

Plus, it gives the public a reason to climb the green stairs and find out who we are. So many of our patrons say we are the best kept secret in Muncie, yet we aren’t trying to hide. Quite the contrary!”

For the latest updates from Art at the Murray and to RSVP for An Evening at the Murray, follow their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61558423320296

Maybe I will go, but I am getting leery of being out walking around in November. Too bad, the buses shut down at 6:30.

Students target President Mearns during hunger strike rally 

Nov. 12 marked one week since the Ball State Students for Justice in Palestine started a hunger strike to protest Ball State University’s alleged involvement in the war between Israel and Palestine. 

This surprises me that anyone at BSU would be so politically active. When I was a student, it was getting drunk and..... I don't recall what else. 

Going further afield was Voices and Votes: Indiana Webinar - upcoming exhibit going around Indiana, from Indiana Humanities.

Some reading from later in the day are included in the following.
 

I lost track of the first-place winner, but I did read second place: Debut Fiction Prize 2nd Place: “Made in Wonderland” by Abigail Bokaer (The Masters Review). I suggest you give it a shot.

Smashing Plato’s Egg: “The Character of Place” and “A Cultural Revolution on the Right” (The Hedgehog Review) - Christianity gave birth to science.

“Learning The Passion and Control Twist” rejected:

Thank you for your submission for an upcoming issue of the Southern Indiana Review. Unfortunately, we are unable to accept your work for publication at this time. 

Sincerely,

SIR

I think that is the third story they have rejected. 

For the rest of the night, I revised “The Revenger's Tale”. Finishing with 1900+  words after midnight. I will edit it today. This was the one story I omitted from “The Dead and Dying” stories on the last go around. It feels pretty good.

The Secret Life of Tartan: From Sheep to Sporran is a good way to start the day:

And the song for the past 24 hours:

Off to Walmart in an hour or so. Back here to work on my stories and try to take care of some real business.

Probably run over to Minnetrista, too.

Of course, this might all be a fantasy!

sch