New Story – Future News Bulletins from 2050

Future News Bulletins from 2050: a  new story in pictures on the Multimedia tab! Similar to an earlier story of mine “Virtual Afterlife” it’s a story from the future told in pictures. Why? I was thinking of the whole piece in terms of Twitter blurbs/news aggregator websites and as I’m a writer and not a designer, this is the best I could do. I also had a bit of fun with the fake hyperlinks beneath each story.

I would like to add – you can probably guess the real life political family to which I refer. Growing up in Western Canada, I’ve found it amusing how some people easily demonized this family and from there I formed a “what if” scenario.  While I am a progressive thinker, what bothers me is the increasing hyper-partisanship among voters, politicians and talking heads. You see it on both sides of the spectrum – either the individual is “Great Leader” or “Great Satan”. Instead we should be looking at and judging the person and their actions – despite whatever attachment you have to him/her/them.
I’m also throwing these images up on my Instagram feed.

Random thoughts #23

Years ago, I had a T-shirt which, in big bold letters, stated “Have A Day” and included a neutral smiley face. I found it curious and funny how many people read “nice” into the words. Pattern recognition and pre-judging based on past experiences. But I loved it when I’d pass the random person on the street and they’d quietly giggle at my shirt. It’s the small things sometimes – noticing both sides of the reaction, and taking joy or amusement in it. But I’m also older and (hopefully) wiser to realize people sometimes are on auto-pilot due to things in their life, and what they’re doing at the moment. I’ve been on the clueless side too – once realizing 5 HOURS LATER that a guy may have been making a pass at me.

So I guess I’m saying, “Have a day – with the good, and the bad, learn, grow, don’t cling to pain, don’t expect happiness, accept reality as it is, breath in, breath out, be nice to one another if you can because we’re all going to end up as piles of dust eventually, so why not strive to get those pleasant fuzzy feelings in the meantime?”

15 Minute Hate – new flash fiction

Warhol mentioned 15 minute of fame but in the flash fiction (or future speculative fiction) I’ve written, it might be more like a 15 Minute Hate. What happens when the government regulates the outrage machine on social media. Is it a better or worse world? As it is a draft, any feedback let me know on my Facebook, Twitter or Instagram pages.