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How is it that the vast majority of Trump supporters are people who lived through the Cold War?

Shouldn’t the generations who grew up in constant fear of the Russians be the most outraged that they interfered with our elections? Shouldn’t the people who hid under a desk during school because they thought the Russians would nuke them any second be the most angry that the Russians have so much power over the US government? Shouldn’t the people who grew up hearing stories of Russian spies be the most concerned that Trump has secret meetings with Russians? Why would anyone believe that the Russians have all of a sudden, after the last 70 years of tension, come into this situation with no malicious intent whatsoever? 

It literally doesn’t make any sense.

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The Chronicles of Xylona and a Young Satan

By: Xylona Clemens

When I was 15, my English teacher explained to the class that for a book to truly impact us, it had to come into our lives at the right time. When I was fifteen, I was living in a small, religious town in New England and felt stifled by the conservative views of people who did not understand me or my perspectives. I would try to have conversations with my friends and teachers, but they would always write me off as too critical of the system. During this period of my life, I spent a lot of time on the internet trying to find like-minded individuals, and still usually came up short. But then, one day I came across a free version the short-novel “The Mysterious Stranger” by Mark Twain in pdf form. As soon as I began reading, I was entranced. Only about eleven chapters long, I did not get up from my desk until I had finished reading this work. I remember walking downstairs to have dinner with my family afterward and telling them, “My life and my way of thinking has been changed forever,” and Twain has been my favorite author ever since. Mark Twain’s legacy as the preeminent American satirist has provided the world with an unrivaled perspective on humanity, one that forces us to realize the only way to make the world better is to stand up to the injustices of the world in whatever form possible.

Most people think of Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) as an author of novels for young people, discussing hard topics in outwardly more light-hearted stories, such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Twain had the genius ability to take extremely controversial topics and give them a lighter tone, making his criticism of racism, religion, sexism, speciesism, culturalism, and ableism significantly more palatable for the masses. However, this is by no means the full extent of his literary abilities. In his final stages of life, Clemens was living alone in an apartment in Europe after a bad financial investment caused him to lose most of his fortune and his famous house in Hartford, CT, which was soon followed by the deaths of his beloved daughter and wife. This extremely depressing turn in Clemens’ life caused him to produce a series of books, letters, and short stories that have helped to shape my views of the world as an adult. During this period, Twain actually wrote three different versions of “The Mysterious Stranger”, each one seemingly better than the last.

The most famous version of the story, and the one I read first, is referred to as “The Mysterious Stranger: A Romance” or “The Mysterious Stranger: Chronicles of a Young Satan,” and while the story is starkly lacking in romance of any kind, it is an example of Twain’s dark and sarcastic sense of humor. The plot of this more obscure Twain work is about three young boys living in Austria during the Middle Ages. One day they are playing in the woods when they meet a strikingly beautiful young man, who tells them that he is an all-seeing, all-powerful angel called “Satan”. Satan has the ability to see into the future, the past, and the minds of all individuals on earth, as well as time-travel, teleport, and produce an infinite array of goods. While this seems like the beginning of a fantastical children’s story, it quickly takes a sharp, dark turn. Satan, in the form of a human, tells the boys that they are not allowed to divulge his true identity, and through his angelic powers makes it literally impossible for them to do so. Enamored by Satan's powers, the boys ask him to help their friend, a poor priest called Father Peter, who was at risk of losing his home if he did not pay his debts. Because they cannot say where the money came from, they have Satan leave a purse full of gold coins lying in the road, which Father Peter finds and believes is a miracle from God.

The townsfolk are extremely impressed with this gift from God and praise both their deity and Father Peter. He pays off his debts and feels extremely lucky, until the village astrologer, who hates Father Peter, claims that he is missing the same amount of money that Father Peter has “found”, accusing the poor priest of stealing his money. With no good explanation for where this money came from, Father Peter is arrested and his niece who lives with him is left penniless and with a terrible reputation. When the boys try to explain where the money truly came from, they find their mouths unable to work, due to the powers of Satan. Throughout the short story, Satan continues to quietly create miracles, all of which have terrible repercussions due to the awfulness of human nature, personified by the villagers and the other priest living in the community, Father Adolf. Satan gives a starving, poverty-stricken old widow a magic cat that gives her a gold coin every day, and she believes this to be a gift from God. However, the devoutly-Christian townsfolk accuse her of being a witch and burn her at the stake after torturing her for several weeks. Twain uses this as an opportunity to comment on the witch hunts that took place in the Middle Ages. At risk of giving away too many spoilers, Satan performs miracle after miracle, all of which are bastardized by the suspicions of religious townsfolk. Through the townspeople’s reactions and Satan’s conversations with the boys, Twain explains the depravity of man in the voice of a very cynical angel.

Although Twain wrote the three versions of this book in secret intermediately between 1897 and 1908, it was not published until 1916, six years after Twain’s death in 1910. Due to the highly controversial subject matter, this novel was not widely distributed until the 1960s and has never gained as much popularity as some of his other works. This novel struck me because I had never read such a blatant antipathy for so many aspects of human society stated in such a way, especially by a famous author like Mark Twain. While I do not hate humanity, and neither did Twain, he brings up the importance of questioning and contradicting norms of society such as violence, racism, speciesism, sexism, culturalism, and ableism. Since I first read “The Mysterious Stranger”, I have read as many Mark Twain texts as I could get my hands on, and love every word of his perfectly constructed satire. Having lived in New England I have been fortunate enough to visit Twain’s famous Hartford home in Connecticut on several occasions, and maintain a membership to the “Twainiac Society”. While I have not read all his works, I plan to eventually, and his words provide me with the courage I need to stand up to the inequalities of society throughout the world. 

For anyone who would like to make their own interpretation of this work, here is a link to a free ebook of the “Mysterious Stranger”:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3186/3186-h/3186-h.htm

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Response to Reuter’s “Harsh Laws and Hatred Thwart Fight for Gay Equality in Nigeria”

By: Xylona Clemens, 2017

While crimes against the LGBT community are rampant throughout the world, Africa is one of the most dangerous continents to be non-heterosexual. Reuter’s “Harsh Laws and Hatred Thwart Fight for Gay Equality in Nigeria” documents the perils of attempting to gain legal protections for the LGBT community in Nigeria. This has continued the development of an issue in the international sphere, as a lack of protections in Nigeria provide evidence for the larger issue of enforcing human rights around the world, and the even larger disconnect between developing and developed nations. Due to strong religiosity, conservative viewpoints, and lack of education about diverse lifestyles, prejudice behaviors in Nigeria tend to be the norm; especially when Nigerians believe LGBT protections are fostered by western cultural expansionism. Reuter discusses the systematic discrimination that the Nigerian government supports, and how that affects the existing LGBT population who reside in this large country. This matter has recently been worsened by the fact that the United States was one of a small handful of United Nations members that recently voted against a UN sanction that would have made it illegal to execute LGBT people on the basis of their sexuality (Porter). However, just because people in Nigeria may not be executed by the Nigerian authorities does not inherently protect them from harsh abuses by both the government and the civilian population. Nigerian members of the LGBT community are at a very high risk for HIV infection, and are often turned away by medical facilities due to their sexual or gender identity. While this article focuses specifically on the case of Nigeria, LGBT people are at risk of verbal or physical abuse by their doctors in many countries throughout the world. Furthermore, this abuse is protected under the law due to homophobic governmental policies which allow for direct discrimination against non-heterosexuals.

Unfortunately, these deep-rooted homophobic sentiments are culturally expressed and hinder the LGBT community’s attempts to move forward in gaining equal rights of life, not only Nigeria, but all around the world. However, whether or not a person deserves the basic human right to life and to make their own relationship decisions with other consenting adults should not be a decision made by external parties. In many situations, LGBT-identifying individuals’ families would rather see them raped by their arranged spouses on their wedding night like the lesbian mentioned in the article, Habibah, than living a healthy, fulfilling life as a homosexual. These familial pressures can often put LGBT people in direct harm in countries like Nigeria, which legally allows discrimination, as they become targets for family members to threaten, blackmail, and sexually, emotionally and physically abuse them. Adults who solely attempt to exist in a healthy manner are not allowed to do so by their own families. Worse still, anti-immigration sentiments in developed countries that protect LGBT people from harm make it very difficult for at-risk LGBT people to emigrate out of Nigeria and into a safe environment. While organizations such as the Bisi Alami Foundation, which was created to promote acceptance of the LGBT community in Nigeria, do exist, they are uncommon and lack protections from the government. Especially with the recent passing of same-sex marriage in Australia, it is very easy for people in developed nations, even LGBT people who live in these countries, to focus solely on their own rights. However, if there is even a single country in the world where LGBT people are not protected, then there will be a need for change-makers.

Works Cited

Porter, Tom. “Trump Administration under Fire for Voting against UN Motion Condemning the Execution of Gay People.” Newsweek, 5 Oct. 2017, www.newsweek.com/trump-administration-under-fire-voting-against-un-motion-condemning-gay-death-677412.

[xylonaclemens-blog]

Lovely is The boy Who thinks Feels and acts Genuinely  So smart So strong To me, He’s perfect Entirely

For years I searched For him, Only for him, Now he is mine

I’ll hold Onto My booy Forever Eternally

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"Snowflakes" by Xylona Clemens

Snowflakes The greed of the few Stifles the many We are each individual We feel helpless standing alone We belong not in the fires of your hell You think us weak But you are but bullies Remember what snowflakes can do One alone may be fragile They try to separate us, Alienate us from one another Because they know If we begin to stick together We can destroy and create anything How alone must we all feel Before we stop our quarrelling To realize our true enemy Bigotry, discrimination, bias How can we fight for equality If we do not first see it within each other?

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"Guilt of a Useless Observer" by Xylona Clemens

Drowned Floundering This cannot be real I cannot understand Never understand Never want to understand And yet it happens Every. single. day. And we do nothing

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What Would Jesus Do? by Xylona Clemens

Would he allow children in Syria to die To pay for the sins of the few? Would he break the backs of the poor To fill the pockets of the rich? Would he cry for the masses Killed by violence every single day? Would he disown his own family For whom they fell in love? Would he expel masses fleeing horrors For the sins of a few? Would he feel as though his followers Are fulfilling their duty to each other? Would he grant asylum To those who begged for help? Would he have children alone Rather than have parents who are gay? Would he ignore the cries Of the homeless he passed on the street? Would he justify the needless murder Of so many innocents in all nations? Would he keep his borders closed To those who cried out in need? Would he leave someone starving in the rain, As he walked into a warm home? Would he make a rape victim carry a child Against her will? Would he neglect the sick, Because they could not afford care? Would he offer his resources and aid To those who had none? Would he protest a funeral For a soldier, a child, a murdered victim? Would he quiet the voices Of those standing for peace and equality? Would he rather trans people be killed Than allowed to exist unharmed? Would he starve children Because their parents could not afford food? Would he treat others with respect Or “grab them by the pussy” Would he understand, how his name Could be used to justify so much wrong? Would he value his own gifts And use them to help others? Would he wonder How the world has remained so cruel? Would xenophobia allow him To let others suffer for being born elsewhere? Would he yell in the faces of women Who are forced to make the hardest decisions? Would he zincify or pollute drinking water So that companies could fuel their greed?

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From Where the River Flows by Xylona Clemens

From where does the river flow Not from the peaks of mountains But from the blood of children lost To the wars of the greedy Of who do I speak? The racists The fascists The 1% Money is not endless It does not come from nowhere Every penny taken in greed From someone with less Millions in the bank As billions suffer A position of protector Given to the most heinous of poacher How do you sleep In your bed of gold As children suffer And masses die As parents bury children And children bury their spirit To conform to a pattern Created to stunt growth

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Look Me in the Face by Xylona Clemens

Look me in the face Say the words out loud And tell me I deserve no respect That I do not matter That I don't belong That your happiness means more than mine Look me in the face Dead in the eye And tell me I am not valid Hiding behind tweets, The fakest of news Shame beyond the shameless Look me in the face, Own your behavior Because no crime of hate is victimless How many must be maimed Shot dead like dogs in the street Before our cries are heard Look me in the face, Tell me I deserve to die Because of who I am For what I look like, For who I walk with, For what I believe Look me in the face, and explain why you deserve more Why you can take from those with less A nation built on religion Drenched in the shit of sin Under the basis of capitalism Look me in the face In the faces of my people And tell us that millions mean nothing For years they have separated us Taught us we are different But it is them who are wrong Look me in the face And tell me you know better Because I'm too stupid to understand And maybe that is true, I will never understand, don't want to Understand your hatred and greed Look me in the face Tell me children should die So that your pockets may overflow A home, food, safety “Luxuries” only to those who never go without Am I not poor enough for you? Look me in the face Tell me I don't deserve doctors That basic care is a privilege That your children deserve doctors And ours do not Why must we suffer for your sins? Look me in the face But you cannot Not all the way from Miralago

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Now We Know by Xylona Clemens

The clearest blue The darkest night Shattered among the ruins Of what we thought was life The dense foliage of dusty clutter That patterns the walls of eternity Shine not for me, But for the most heinous of traitors To steal from the poor To give to the rich A crime of hate so blatant And yet we stand idly by Restitution Where does she lie As the grasses of Miralago Reflect the sky The greed of the many Suffocates the more 40% to 4 Shameful We always think, When we read from history, “How could this be?” And now we know

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Greyhound by Xylona Clemens

Traipsing through perpetual agony, I wither away As the burning drive of passion glows from below, I am given a taste, skimmed from the top: The simmering acidity of reality To write, is to complain, A pad of paper a kind ear when all other friendships exhausted, The kind who judges not what we believe, but in the way we believe it Awake, I jostle as wheels of fate propel me into the future, I hope I am ready Without the sharp tearing of burnt flesh I would not recognize the face of paradise amongst the blank mould of conformity However, only now that I have seen The glory of the flesh Moulded from clay, in its perfection, May I realize how much I have suffered For the issue with truly living, Is that when we return to our lives, We are struck by a sensation A pain in knowing true happiness, and of the understanding that it is but a temporary illusion brought upon by a need for something more. I am unable to ponder, As I drown in a sea of green mucus, As my chest contracts and my bones ache, What is the truest sensation of happiness The feeling of complete painlessness I stare into the deep blue chemicals A makeshift home built in the era of “good enough” A distraction for a troubled mind