The next time you are at the grocery store, and just before you get to the cashier, take a look around, and think about what you see?
In part, the idea behind Fishing for Light was spawned from all those ‘plastic, dead-eyed faces’ – pasted to the colorful wall of glossy gossip magazines. I wonder at what point did ‘those people’ give up their souls and become human avatars? By the way, the noun, AVATAR, comes from Hinduism. There are several definitions, I’ll use this one: “a manifestation of a deity or released soul in bodily form on earth …” Within the story, Ms. Prosperina can shape shift into several rather nasty appearing beasts, in fact, the three that I use come from evil religious symbols, one of which comes from Hinduism. But, we’ll chat about that another time, I want to focus my view of ‘plastic, dead-eyed faces’.
First off, I don’t think there is anything wrong with plastic surgery, if it gives someone a boost of confidence, I say go for it! But what I’m focusing on is the fact gossip magazines are a one-way communication source. And the ‘fan’ does not really know what those plastic faces are really thinking, in reality, the ‘reality star’ has created a ‘brand’, and if you watch a television show, movie, sporting event, or read the magazine, you are simply buying a product. I have to give them credit, they are being really smart entrepreneurs!
I mean, take a look at my website, I’ve created my brand, right? But since I’m writing this blog post, you do know what’s going on behind my hazel colored eyeballs. And that’s the point behind Fishing for Light, I created a bunch of fictionalized famous people, put my characters into the scene, then I jumbled the names. Why? Professor Quan created a genetic wish list, and he discovered each target had magic DNA within the genetic code! I know, that is absurd, but that’s also why Fishing for Light is a satire.
I think as an American, we are all a bunch of jumbled DNA, we are not ‘purebreds’. From my hometown of Lexington, Kentucky, the thoroughbred is king! In fact, a friend of mine, Finn, explained to me years ago that each thoroughbred’s blood line can be traced back to the original stallions that were crossbred with English mares. And they are quite serious about those names you read on the racing form, it is a very structured, high risk business, and not for the ‘faint of heart’.
But more to the point, I think we are all ‘mutts’, Italian, Scot, Irish, Chinese, Japanese, African, you name it, we express our ancestry in many ways, but the one unified theory, if you will excuse the quantum physics pun, we are all Americans. And I think it sad that instead of taking what talents we have and seeking our destiny, we tend to live our lives vicariously through those famous faces, and like the Roman mob giving a thumbs up, or thumbs down.
We don’t need someone else’s DNA to be special, we just need to focus our mind and energy into listening to our instincts, and a light will appear and guide us to the place we should be, which is why the last sentence for the novel is, “He was home.”
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