I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: AGES AND AGES-“Divisionary (Do the Right Thing)” (2014).

I’ve enjoyed this song in a couple of formats so far–studio version and Tiny Desk version.  Now here’s another one. Here’s how it was set up according to front man Tim Perry:

“We surrounded ourselves with friends, family (my mom is one of the violinists), and all of our favorite musicians from all of our favorite Portland bands,” says Perry. “We reached out to people who’d inspired us over the years: other artists, activists, organizers. We reached out to Northwest Children’s Choir. We reached out to PHAME, a choir of adults with disabilities. We reached out to a lot of other people we didn’t know but wish we did. It was all over and done in four short hours. And it was one of the best days of my life.”

If the song was inspirational before, it’s crazy emotion-inducing now.

[READ: June 10, 2014] “Moonlit Landscape with Bridge”

This title is surprisingly calm and pretty for what the story is really about.  The previous story of hers that I read was set in a kind of dystopian land.  And this one is set in an unnamed country after a life-altering storm.  Either she is writing a post apocalyptic type of novel, or she is exploring very dark themes indeed.

As this story opens we see the Minister of the Interior packing his things.  Slowly it is revealed that the country has been decimated.  He thinks to himself that he was prepared for crippling winds, but not for the water that came with the winds.  Consequently, most of the country is apparently underwater (the details of the storm and the details of the aftermath are incredibly vague).

There is no more Ministry, so his title is superfluous, but because of his title he is given an opportunity to flee the country in a government jet (all other airplanes have been grounded).  On his way to the airport, he sees people struggling, crying, looking for… anything.  They crowd his car and he longs to help them.  His driver, Ari, tells him to ignore them, there’s nothing that he can do for all of them.  But the Minister insists that they pull over so he can dole out the bottles of water he has in the trunk.

Of course, as soon as he opens the trunk he is mobbed and pushed into the muck while the people steal all of the water.  So the Minister and his driver get back in the car and continue toward the airport.

They get stuck in a traffic jam that seems to be mostly people milling about.  The Minister has to go to the bathroom, so he gets out of the car.  On his way back he is pushed around by the masses until he falls to the ground.  A man in uniform comes over and helps hm up.  Then the man starts shouting that he is Red Cross and everyone needs to move for this man who has been injured.  The Minster is surprised by this, since the man doesn’t look like Red Cross.  Then the man hops in the car and says that he wants a ride to the airport too.

It is a tense scene, with the man threatening the Minister and the driver.  It turns out that the two men know each other, although once again the story is quite vague on details–details probably don’t mean very much in this new society.  But it is clear that the man used to be a criminal of some sort.  The story ends at the airport, where their paths diverge and we wonder if the Minister still has any authority (in its various meanings) at all.

This Minister is, like any politician, always trying to save face.  Even his good deed seems more like an ineffectual stunt.  And so it goes.

I assumed this was connected to the previous story I mentioned, by ever vigilant Karen (we haven’t read the same stories in a while), says that Zadie says they are not.  Well, that’s okay too, then.