a fantasy of meme, myself, and I
Pacifica, California. This morning we practice math word problems, spelling, outlining a theme, developing topic sentences, fidgeting, and staring off into space before graduating to outright civil disobedience. My precocious child of ten mounts a powerful resistance movement, sitting in our camper and withstanding all efforts to complete his studies in a timely fashion. I briefly entertain fantasies involving the use of pepper spray to dissolve his opposition before resorting a good old-fashioned round of futile screaming instead.
the scream meme
Even though screaming never works in the long run, its one of the few legal options available to me as a road schooling parent attempting to keep order in the classroom. I’ve also fantasized about sending him to the principal’s office, but I have yet to find another responsible adult in our travels willing to undertake this thankless job. So I yell. Sometimes I slap the counter top for emphasis. Every now and then I even slam a door. All to no avail.
more sides to the argument
Eventually, I catch my breath and regain some perspective. Every now and then I am even able to see the humor in the situation. My own parent always made light of his children’s minor insurrections and noisy bouts of squabbling, referring to such episodes as the ‘screaming meemees.’ Maybe he was right, but I’m not so sure there isn’t more to it than that. When I stop to listen closely to my child I often find that there are at least two sides to any argument. Sometimes I even learn something myself. Listening always solves more problems than screaming ever will.
blinded by the situation
There are much more serious battles being fought, and you don’t have to look far to find them. Less than two hours from here at UC Davis youthful voices have been raised in protest over heavy-handed police practices employed to crush a peaceful protest movement. The young students are not backed by powerful banking interests. They are not licensed to carry arms. They have been subdued by burning liquid gases thrown in their faces and sprayed in their eyes. Yet they see the situation much more clearly than the ‘responsible adults’ involved. In fact their screaming memes appear to be working, having captured the attention of the national news media along with a whole new generation of young people connected by the living and mutating network of the internet.
saggywagontrail 