NOTICINGS: Parallel polis
Walking the balance beam of government power — the minority over the majority — and our own power at home, online, and on the street.
https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/803953/Here we are in our parallel polis: living a private life. Living within political ruthlessness.
Private life
Dad jokes.
What do you call a fake noodle?
An im pasta.
Public life
Did you hear the one about the SCOTUS 6 and the JAN 6ers who got together over drinks?
Parallel polis: private life and public life—the two faces of our new reality: American authoritarianism.
We each claim our freedom to call out distress.
We each claim our freedom to protect our inalienable rights.
Today, on this 2025 Fourth of July we claim our inalienable rights.
The Declaration of Independence says that we not only have the right but we also have the duty to alter or abolish any government that does not secure our unalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
All my life I’ve seen the flag. Every classroom. Every school auditorium. State occasions. I’ve never looked at the flag as closely as painter Jasper Johns. How does this symbol become real? Is the flag as real to me or to you as the truism, the personal is political? Does it now spotlight the inescapable connection between personal experiences and the consequences of the Trump government?
Jasper Johns, Three Flags, 1958I take heart from Cuban citizens living under a one-party government since 1959. Living a parallel life, from the freedom they take for themselves, Cuban artists sing out.
Walking the balance beam of government power — the minority over the majority — and our own power. Free to be unpredictable. Free to resist.
Source: Hayri Er, Getty Images/iStockphotoWild, wild wilderness
You glisten bright, with my heart;
And sing with the stars.
—Sierra Hermanson, 8
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