by Ernest Hogan
Seems I’m always in some kind of intersection. And intersection being another world for crossroad. In West African Vodun, Papa Legba is the Lord of the Crossroads, who like the Mexica Yacatecuhtli, God of Travelers and Merchants, influences my life. Sorry if I crossed a border–it’s something I do all the time, without thinking. It comes with the whole Chicano enchilada.
So now I'm in the middle where Xicanxfuturism and Gonzo Sci-Fi meet. Not only is Xicanxfuturism: Gritos for Tomorrow, with my new Paco Cohen, Mariachi of Mars story coming out, but all kinds of bizarre changes are happening thanks to the senile billionaire in the White House, and I’m trying to finish my story “Once Upon a Time in a Mass Deportation” before I have to teach my online “Gonzo Science Fiction, Chicano Style” class in which I write a story over the course of two weekends, telling the students how I do it.
Whew!
The story is coming together. The plot is a done deal. Now all I have to do is figure out how to fit in all the insane details I’ve come up with. It’s more like composing a surrealistic mural rather than storytelling at this point. Yeah, it’s crazy, but it’s actually how I've always done things.
I don’t usually stop, look at, and think about what the hell I’m doing, but that’s what the class is all about. Funny how it goes from violent bursts of outrage in my brain to a kind of delicate surgery . . .
And of course, I’m being distracted by the ongoing Trumpocalypse. Trying not to obsess over all the bad news, but ignoring it would be like not paying attention to the nearby volcano that’s spewing smoke and spurting out fountains of lava. Maybe the eruption won’t be so bad, but then I want to know if a pyroclastic flow is heading my way.
It doesn’t help that the president is disconnected from reality:
Greetings, America, this is the Alternate Reality News Network.
Turns out El Chapo isn’t such a bad hombre after all, besides his business savvy will be good for the economy. And does have money.
We need immigrants like him and his family.
And we need to welcome and help all those Afrikaners threatened by that white genocide. Who says we’re not good humanitarians?
Dr. Strangelove III has been put in charge of the Golden Dome project that will keep us all busy building lots of satellites thatwill shoot down missiles in mid-air—fallout, anyone?And the doctor says he’ll be ready to come up with new defenses against any countermeasures all the other nuclear powers develop. A new arms race will be fun.
Ack!
And there’s a lot more happening as I type.
Meanwhile, in the real world, a new species of bacteria has been found on the Chinese Taingong space station, and the prevalence of feeders has caused a species, Anna’s hummingbird, to undergo mutations, and expand beyond their native California. New life, new civilizations. The evolution will not be televised.
What kind of future are you making?
Ernest Hogan is getting creative as the going gets tough.