Of Afflictions, Fourteen

While we collectively fear wild animals and muggers, most contemporary plagues come in the guise of unavoidable corporate logos and unforgettable commercial jingles. This new and most modern form of disease presents symptoms that include unhealthy obsessions, unwise compulsions and preprogrammed responses, all accompanied by an irrepressible tune that inevitably drives a rational mind to the very brink of lunacy. Visualize anything except the latest fad slogan while engrossing yourself in a moment of hysteric interest, and then pause to think. Of dreamscape dominions wrought from the felt fabric of primitive emotion; of futuristic shamans enacting fabulous rites in technology; of a mother's ruined soul, savaged by violence and then transcendent in death for her child's love; of quirky neighbors, outrageous demands, abominable illness, and all the countless human infirmities that rot civilization from within; such twisted threads weave life's strange tapestry. Of fascinating grotesqueries, here study endless cases, and of afflictions, fourteen.