Clara B. Jones

 

A Closer Look

 

“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.” Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis

 

Should I press, “Delete All”?	“The main reason Kissinger did not last was that he simply did not fit in with Kennedy or his people. He was a character out of Wagner trying to play in Camelot. ‘Kissinger was not the president’s style,’ recalled Carl Kaysen. ‘He was pompous and long-winded. You could be long-winded if the president found you likeable. But I never heard someone say that Kissinger was likeable.’” Walter Isaacson’s biography, Kissinger	“Really, it’s about privacy and data, not about free speech.” Kara Swisher
My cat, Dégas, eats eel lasagna with greater gusto than I brush my teeth with ®Colgate gel.	D8N2 and I have become inseparable. Rarely do I think of Sam and Lily who were remanded to their father’s custody after my episode last year. It was in their self-interest, but I can never forgive the judge who found me unfit to care for minors. The New Yorker published a profile of an heiress whose needs were fulfilled by an afrobot she bought in Frankfurt. Not only are they non-binary, but they are, also, programmed to perform the full range of household tasks. My savings allowed me to purchase a ticket to Berlin where I was able to purchase a second-hand companion. D8N2 was a beautiful alter, and our attraction was immediate after the salesman charged my bot’s central processor. D8N2 prefers his own bedroom; but, other than that disappointment, he has complied with all my demands. I hired a technician to code the entity for English, but we are able to communicate through other modalities. Speech is not the only skill we have in common.	“First report on the use of Stryphnodendron adstringens (Fabaceae) live fruits as nests by Camponotus sp. and Nescomyrmex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in a neotropical savanna.” AAF de Souza…HS Miranda
When I was six, I wanted to be a pirate. My mother begged my doctor to amputate my leg and blind my eye. (Inspired by Bill Maher)	rb – c > 0 is a neuromodule that never fails to serve my interests.	“Kemp et al.’s, Climate Endgame, reaffirms the imperative of taking the potentially existential threat of human-induced climate change seriously rather than simply dismissing it as ‘gloom and doom.’ … We agree with the authors that much of the climate-change science literature underestimates the potential for catastrophic impacts and agree that it is important to investigate worst-case scenarios for strong policy measures. … However, it is vital to convey that dangerous climate change is already here.” A Bhowmik…JR Varga
“Deep” Racism is Math. I Race. I perform Race. I Think. I perform Thought. “Deep” Thought is Green. I perform Green Moss on the banks of the Corobici not far from Arenal’s Green Ash performing Eruption while children romp near the rim, risking their lives for memories—Green like Don Werner’s rifle sighting a Green Quetzal far away from Monteverde.	Plantations were never homosexual spaces, were they? Or, did Master closet with Amos and Will in barns and fields?	Emma Darwin was a Wedgwood, blueblood as that Biddle girl I went to college with, fornicating with the Yalie who’d never marry her though he dreamed about Yuli’s eyes when he went to Paris in May.
“The point of departure is order, which alone can produce freedom.” Klemens von Metternich	In a post-racial world, all victims matter.	Master and I had a special bond that lasted until I was sold to a planter in Georgia who said I was the best investment he ever made. I never bowed to flattery, but I was eager to please so my devotion was secured by my new Master’s regard. In the months that followed we played together before an act of submission that confirmed my suspicion that I would stay remanded to a way of being more content than any I had ever known. The others—men, women, children—envied me but never said a word nor fixed their eyes too long at the calm of my mien.
If Sex can be performed, then Sex can be denied.	“Cryptic female choice (CRC) is commonly assumed to act only in polyandrous mating systems which allows females to bias fertilization towards the sperm of particular males. However, accumulated evidence has demonstrated that sperm show significant phenotypic and genotypic variation also within single ejaculates, which have important consequences for offspring phenotype and fitness.” Jukka Kekäläinen	“We address social media sharing of low-quality news sources by political elites.” Jana Lasser…Stephan Lewandowski
You get what you want because you are heteronormative and socially-acceptable.	Negroes will always live outside the social order, won’t they?	“Life changes fast.” Joan Didion

 

Clara B. Jones is a Knowledge Worker practicing in Silver Spring, MD, USA. As a woman of color, she sometimes writes about identity in its past, present, and future contexts.

 
 

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