Paper Dolls for Adults


My mother is an artist.  Not on scale of Georgia O'Keefe, and she is definitely incapable of a Monet. But she definitely comes from the Picasso gene pool.  Or maybe her art is similar to "The Persistence of Memory" by Salvadore Dali.  I definitely do not share her taste with regard to art.    

One year, she took pictures of all of the female members of the family and carefully snipped out the eyes, made a kitchen magnet with it and displayed it on her refrigerator.  "Guess whose eyes...." was the prompt.   My brain said, "Late blooming schizophrenia."  But my concern is misplaced, in this age of ChatGPT.

My brother - a normally logical person - sent me images of he and his wife in evening apparel. I took note that while his tuxedo was the same,  but the bow ties were of different colors.  "You are in shorts."  He confirmed it.  Our temperature in the DFW metroplex was in the mid-80's for Christmas.  I sent him an image of our younger son.  He was now in a Santa suit with a hat.  It is official.  We now live in an age of paper dolls for adults.  

Indiana's Senate Majority floor leader is also into paper dolls.  And while it is humorous, problematic is that Senator Chris Garten releases a message which conveys to his constituents absolutely nothing regarding his role in Congress.  This is not about a "war on Christmas", but it is definitely a war against an intelligent constituency.

https://nypost.com/2025/12/28/us-news/indiana-gop-senator-ripped-for-posting-ai-images-of-himself-clobbering-santa-then-calls-critics-snowflakes/

The fact that he was a Gunnery Sergeant in the USMC places him in the category of all-things-forgiven by this prior Naval Officer. I love the Corps.  My real issue with Senator Garten is that as a ranking member of the Indiana Senate he doesn't wear well, nor understand the onus attached to his position. He presents as both an ordinary bully and a class clown.  Not the best of optics.

https://www.indianasenaterepublicans.com/garten

Our politicians now reach out to a generation which dwells in a world of misidentification. Sophistication is viewed as talent, tech savvy is a clouded mirror for intelligence, and virtual experience is misappropriated as a real life skill set.  No differently than our POTUS and SecWar Pete Hegseth,  the lowest common denominator for messaging trades quadratics for multiplication.  All that matters is reaching the widest possible audience. This is a damn shame.  

And while Santa Claus taking a beating does not offend me, I have only one question for Senator Garten.  Beyond making paper dolls in your spare time, what are you currently reading?  Not, "What did you last read?"  (A blog reader once told me the last thing he had read was "Catcher in the Rye".  That translated to his last attempt at reading was in high school.)  

What am I currently reading?   Thank you for asking.

"On the Sociology of Islam: Lectures by Ali Shari'ati" Translated from the Persian by Hamid Algar, Mizan Press, Berkeley, California, 1979






 

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