‘SKY TULIP’ | Target parking lot, Barboursville, W.Va. | thestoryisthething.com manipulated photo | july4.2024
by Douglas John Imbrogno | thestoryisthething.com | july7.2024
I realize full well that we are careening towards an election in America that could pierce the delusion under which many Americans have long labored: ‘Autocracy, much less fascism, could NEVER happen in the land of the free and home of the Braves … ‘So why, at this moment of dire danger to the Republic, do I come to you with an arthouse video and artfully manipulated photos from this year’s 2024 Independence Day fireworks, as seen from the Target parking lot in Barboursville, W.Va.?
‘FIRE IN THE HOLE’ | Target parking lot, Barboursville, W.Va. | thestoryisthething.com manipulated photo | july4.2024
A guy’s gotta do what a guy’s gotta do, in search of a mental health break from the trauma of potential political apocalypse. I make oddball videos to chill out. It’s just who I am and I should probably bring it up in therapy. But, please note and follow along! My next big project — debuting shortly in these pages and elsewhere — is all about the election.
Using my down-home multimedia skills and tiny, but not totally insignificant, media megaphone, I’ll be launching a website and a short, punchy bi-weekly video series called NotesBeforeYouVote. Its goal? To sound a Paul Revere-like warning, minus the horse. Target audience? Anyone considering staying home on that Tuesday, Nov. 5 election day. Plus, anyone leaning towards voting Third, Fourth or Fifth Party. Plus, anyone who may live in a Trumpish family or community, but who will take a still functioning conscience, heart, and soul into the voting booth.
What each of these communities of folks do that day matters deeply. Each mark NOT checked for the Democratic presidential ticket — whatever it shakes out to be — is a vote for Trumpianismo strongman retribution and rage against democracy. And maybe against you, too, your community, and the people you cherish. (If interested in the series, free subscribe to: https://notesbeforeyouvote.com)
‘FIRE WORKS’ | Click to View Video
But you can’t fret and freak-out 24-7, you know? What do you do when you finally flick off and, then, flip off the dire headlines? And you cry “Talk to the hand!” to a press corps and punditocracy gone mad? I make arty videos for the tiny local and global community for arthouse videos. (Are you out there? Blink once or leave a comment below!!!) In the case of the video above, I call it an ‘iPhoneagraphy exploration‘ that attempts to transmute a local fireworks display into iPhone artworks. I am fascinated by what an iPhone (version 13) can shoot on the fly and under conditions of duress. Nighttime and bright explosions, for instance. And, then, to see how I might artify the results further in my favorite photo-editing app, BeFunky.com. (I think pretty darn funky, but you be the judge.)
‘DAVID BOWIE RE-BORN AS A FIREWORK’ | Target parking lot, Barboursville, W.Va. | thestoryisthething.com manipulated photo | july4.2024
P.S.
Not a few commentators, pundocrats, and Facebook posters have noted that if everything goes south on Election Day 2024, this could be the last real ‘Independence Day,’ given the magnitude of Trump’s hunger for retribution, score-settling, and unleashed rage. Lately I have been half-joking that my creative plans for 2025 depend on whether I will be sharing a bunkbed by then (maybe with you, Dear Reader) in an Official Trump Re-education & Retribution Camp. That’s only half a joke and not a fun one to make. Most importantly, all of us who are committed to the conclusive end of Trump’s threat to re-stain the White House, need to hang together. You know what happens when we hang out separately, per the remark supposedly uttered by Ben Franklin:
‘MARSHMALLOW FIREWORKS’ | Target parking lot, Barboursville, W.Va. | thestoryisthething.com manipulated photo | july4.2024
So, please also consider my little Fourth of July arthouse project as a statement of belief, purpose, and solidarity. How sweet an America it will be in 2025, when the Fourth of July rolls around once again. Imagine his soulless mug and threats to all that make these United States so special no longer dominating our every headline and intake of breath. A Trump-free America is certainly something to hang together to achieve.
Thanks to Jeff Seager for his peerless editing feedback on content featured on this writing and imagery site. Free subscribe to this site’s email newsletter to keep up with the work at: thestoryisthething.substack.com.
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