Mulling Novel Concepts

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

I find myself thinking of different novel concepts and I’ve boiled it down to two. One is about a man coming to grips with secrets that his late mother has left for him to deal with, while the other stems from something I learned about Poland after WWII. You see, Poland was pretty much completely destroyed as a part of WWII. Almost totally. There wasn’t much left after the war ended. So all the beautiful old buildings you see there now are actually reconstructions.

So, they’re not really that old.

Maybe 50 or so years at the max. So, that got me thinking, what if you were forced to move an enormous chunk of humanity — say about 1 billion — to a new planet and you had to unite humanity under one culture and government. How would you do it? I have generally come to think of this as The Impossible Scenario.

You just can accurately do it. It’s not possible. But I’ve come to one possible scenario that is the closest I can come to solving The Impossible Scenario and it’s good enough that I might look into trying to tell that story. It would actually be a two parter the way I imagine it.

But really the issue is I have to sit down and do some serious thinking about how this bonkers situation would come about and how, on an individual level, it would be represented. But it’s one of my favorite things to daydream about.

The other novel concept is really cool, too. I may bounce back and forth between the two simply to keep myself entertained.

‘Where Are The Babies’ — #Lyrics To A Pop Punk Rock Song

This would be one of those pop punk rock fusion songs that was really fast, but you could hear the lyrics well enough that you could sing along. At least, that’s my vision. But no one listens to me and this is just relaxing.

Where Are The Babies
lyrics by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls
please give credit if you produce or perform

turn on my TV eat my dinner a
what do I hear but the screams of children torn
from their mother’s breast
what do I have to do to attest my rage
that my country is engaged in this shame

where are the babies
I scream
where are the babies
I want to question the powers that be
where are the babies
where are the babies
where are the babies

those in control are quite droll
tell me we’re on a roll
making America great again
but I hang my head in shame
lulz, nothing matters but
where are the babies

when will I get the answer
will Jeff Sessions stop lying to me
thousands of children are in a void
I’m supposed to ignore their fate
even at this late date

where are the babies
I scream
where are the babies
I want to question the powers that be
where are the babies
where are the babies
where are the babies

[bridge]
when this is all over
we can go back
to talking about the weather
but for now we have to rage
until we get the answer to my question

where are the babies
I scream
where are the babies
I want to question the powers that be
where are the babies
where are the babies
where are the babies

‘Eat In Peace’ — #Lyrics To A Rock Song

I like this one. It’s interesting. But I’m just relaxing writing lyrics. No one listens to me. No one cares.

Eat In Peace
lyrics by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls
please give credit if you produce or perform

babies cry in cages
longing for their papi
while you drink your sake
you’re a monster it’s true
you won’t eat in peace forever

never again will you eat in peace
never again will you eat in peace
never again will you eat in peace

complain all you like
but the people are stirring
you’re going for a ride
no more cake for us

we’re gonna bum rush Trump Tower
if that’s what it takes
to free those kids
there lives are at stake

never again will you eat in peace
never again will you eat in peace
never again will you eat in peace

[bridge]
when the babies are freed
we’ll put you on a leash
parade you around the streets
you create the monsters you keep

be prepared to
never again eat in peace
never again eat in peace
never again eat in peace

‘Cages’ — #Lyrics To A Folk Rock Song

Just screwing around. Enjoy.

Cages
lyrics by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls
please give credit if you produce or perform

[hook]
babies in cages
what are we going to do
babies in cages
won’t quit till their free

think we’ve forgotten
forgotten so quick
but let me tell you
that’s not going to stick

babies in cages
babies in cages
babies in cages

Uncle Sam’s putting babies in cages
we gotta set’em free
that’s all I know
that’s all I know

[bridge]
don’t talk to me about Obama
that’s not the issue
we’ve got children in cages
gotta free’em soon

[hook]
babies in cages
what are we going to do
babies in cages
won’t quit till their free

babies in cages
babies in cages
babies in cages

‘Postcards To Voters’ — #Lyrics To A Pop Rock Ballad

Just screwing around. In the mood to write lyrics. No one listens to me. This is just relaxing.

Postcards To Voters
lyrics by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls
please give credit if you produce or perform

the world is turning on its axis
we all want to be famous
twirl around and let me see
your claim to fame, baby

postcards to voters
is what we need
postcards to voters
oh say can you see

the nation is on its knees
worried about the state it’s in
leave the debate to the mavens
I say let’s roll

don’t blame me if we’re screwed
I know what to do you fool
walk as quick as can be
once the polls open my friend

postcards to voters
is what we need
postcards to voters
oh say can you see

[bridge]
there’s hope this fall
if we have the gall
to install a new government
to take care of it all

see you at the polls
see you at the polls
see you at the polls
see you at the polls

A July 4th Manifesto: In Praise Of Liberal Rage

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

A sentiment I see an enormous amount of on Twitter is people tusk-tusking liberals who are these days in a near-constant state of panic mixed which what can only be described as rage. Conservatives — even many of them of who purport to be NeverTrumpers — tell me to focus on policy and to get over my Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Well, in all honesty, in the spirit of the 4th of July and the Founding Fathers — fuck those guys.

People who clutch their pearls over the liberal rage generated by Trump and his policies believe that only by meekly accepting Trump’s insane behavior and focusing on policy will we win elections. We’re supposed to let Trump lie. We’re supposed to let Trump run roughshod over Constitutional norms. We’re, in fact, supposed to let Trump do whatever the fuck he wants as long as it helps us with about 2% of the electorate who are swing voters and who are still somehow magically undecided about the dark turn the nation has abruptly taken.

Let me suggest, however, that things are so dire that we need to embrace the dark side, as it were, and let our liberal rage envelop us. The 2018 mid-terms will be about getting out the vote, about mobilizing the base. So while Conservatives are gleefully smacking their political lips at what they feel is our impeding doom caused by our outrage, I see this as an opportunity to finally fight back in a constructive manner.

I can not express properly in real terms how misguided, patronizing and condescending the Right’s constant critique of the Left’s outrage over Trump feels to me. The very thing that could really drive The Resistance into electorate success — the sheer power of the liberal base being apoplectic over Trump’s policies, the Right sees as a flaw that has to be fixed as quickly as possible.

But I feel that only by embracing our rage against Trump and using it as an engine to power activism on the part of the Left can anything change. I’m not saying there won’t be problems caused by this. Plenty of moderates might be turned off by some of the ideological froth this might cause, but at the same time plenty of people who might simply shrug at Trump’s policies might see the light if we can funnel our rage into something constructive.

The Left attacking Trump with clear eyed counter-policies, while making making members of the Right’s intelligentsia happy, would make the base of The Resistance feel disenfranchised. Trump is currently a weird mixture of an American Caligula mixed with a would-be tinpot Hitler and he thrives on the confusion his constant barrage of Twitter mindfucking generates. To say I should focus solely on dry policy matters in the midst of this enormous Constitutional crisis is rather intellectually dishonest in my opinion.

I propose we focus on curating the rage of the base. It’s not like it’s going anywhere, no matter how many NeverTrumpers tell me it should be forced to abate. If we tell people who are astonished at the sheer insanity and outrageous behavior on the part of the Trump Administration that it’s ok to be filled with political rage, then that’s the first step towards regaining power at the polls. It’s not like the Right’s base, which has been hysterical for decades now, is going to let up their rapacious attacks on the Left simply because we decide to play nice.

No, I say instead of rolling over and letting the Right continue to drive the United States into a ditch, that we wrestle the wheel away from them with all our might. I’m not in any way advocating violence. Far from it. But I am advocating the center-Left quit even trying to put up the facade that it would be in the best interests of the cause if everyone would just cool it and worry about dry policy matters.

All Trump does is stir up his base. Literally, that’s all he does. He braces the worst instincts of his base to a surreal extent, which, in turn, riles up the base of the center-Left because we look at each other in amazement that the MSM is so busy trying to be fair an objective that they are unable or unwilling to call out Trump’s lies.

So, let your freak flag fly. Embrace your inner Howard Beal. If you are mad as hell and you’re not going to take it anymore, then do something about it. Becomes engaged in the political process on a personal level. Stop trying to convince your MAGA Facebook friends of the error of their ways. Fuck those guys.

It’s not like the American Founding Fathers were cool with the abuses of King George III. If they finally had enough and decided to do something about it, maybe the center-Left should too. We need to scare the living bejeebus out of the Establishment in Washington and the only way we can do that is at the polls. If we’ve learned anything from the recent events involving immigrant children being torn from their families, the only guard rails the Trump Administration currently is willing to acknowledge is popular outrage.

That’s all we got. Thus, instead of calming down, let’s rock.

Shelton Bumgarner is a writer and photographer living in Richmond, Va. He can be reached at migukin (at) gmail (dot) com.