October 11, 2020

Thanks, gocomics.org

The blistering, June heat didn’t stop Marine veteran Todd Winn standing outside the Utah Capitol to protest police brutality for hours…

“When I put on the Marine Corps uniform for the first time in 2004, I swore to support and defend the Constitution,” Winn wrote in an open letter in June. “There’s no qualification on that. It’s not until a specific date, or only for certain people.”

“As courageous voices around the world rise together in a deafening roar to oppose the injustices facing our fundamental human rights, I stand humbled among you,” Winn wrote. “Racism, bigotry, hatred — these deplorable ideologies lead only to misery and suffering. History has proven this time after time.”

Solidarity, Marine…solidarity. Thank you.

[Slightly enhanced to match a 54-year-old memory of the last time I saw this]

…After this week’s vice-presidential debate in the United States, the fly that landed on Vice-President Mike Pence’s head was more of a sensation than the details of the debate — at least on social media…

When a fly becomes famous, it’s worth wondering why…

…In the great scheme of things, our lives are no longer than that of a fly. For me as an art historian, the fly was a moment to reflect not only on the history of flies in western painting, but to begin considering what the long history of this symbolism may reveal about why the fly generated so much buzz…

Salvador Dalí, who was pretty much the lord of the flies (he painted them a lot) included a fly on the watch face of his painting The Persistence of Memory (now housed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York). He also used an army of ants to signify the decay of time and life’s impermanence…

Good enough reasons for me. Certainly, sufficient starters for your own musings about flies.