THAT DAY

I'm reading the manga Witch Hat Atelier by Kamome Shirayama. Farm girl Coco accidentally triggers a deadly spell, and is forced to join the witch-guild--one that falsely claims magic's a hereditary talent, conveniently reserving privileges to witch-families alone, so Coco has to hide her peasant roots. The guild suppresses innovation, independent magic use, or exposing their lies by memory-wiping without trial. Coco learns fast--no truth goes unpunished.

The guild justifies repression with "never again"--before it, magic was used for Frankenstein experiments and war. Yet banning certain uses of magic doesn't require or justify an Inquisition! The guild calls all dissidents "rebels"--no policy debates, no negotiation. No truth goes unpunished.

The rebels get the message--only force will break the guild's reign of terror. The two groups are headed for civil war...

...unlike our peaceful, truth-based democracy.

Switch to TV. Annika. An Edinburgh woman who just got out of prison for drunk driving--killed a man--is found drowned in a dog-cage in the Forth. Satchel of cash in her hotel room suggests the woman was paid off--did she cover for someone else, was she even at the wheel at all?

Weird scene: Annika, tricked into taking the mic at a comedy club, blurts that a colleague fathered her teenage child... telling him a mere 15 years too late!

We'll see what truth-telling gets her.

THAT NIGHT

I walk west along a street in north-central San Francisco. Feel unsure what to do, where to go.

Ahead on the sidewalk, a baffling sight: a big disembodied living head, eating garbage. I tell myself "It must be a man standing in a narrow hole." If so, a very ugly man--fat round face, big snout, huge mouth. Floppy ears?

Oh. That's a pig's head. Not in a hole, but not wholly disembodied either. A naked little piglet's body, totally eclipsed by that monster head. Way too small.

Big Head is eating a yellowish layer-cake, half in half out of a paper bag. Tipped-over trash cans lie around. A dedicated garbage eater.

Big Head grunts at me pig-style, then smirks human-style. My mind keeps flipflopping--construes a piggish human face, then a pig with humanish expressions. Teetering on the borderline.

Next I walk up a slope into a mall--small shops. Quiet; only a few pedestrians. No shops that interest me so far.

Ahead is a round desk or low kiosk, where a severe, froggy-faced old woman sits and glares. A checkpoint? She's sure not a guide or helper--she's visibly a Judge. And I sure don't want her judging ME.

A couple of Latinas walk up to the Judge; I stand aside, having no business with her. One's a bold, loud girl in her late twenties, in a loud orange minidress and heels, leading her more mousy (and uneasy) friend.

Loud Girl drops a big satchel. Rather than kneel to pick it up, she spreads her legs akimbo, knees locked, and bends from the waist like a giraffe at a waterhole. Baring, under that little skirt, a very furry but quite naked cunt. Her friend and the judge are at the wrong angle to see, but that pussy is aimed right at me. Crude way to flirt, if that's what it is.

I feel awkward, and look away. Judge Froggy glares as if she knows. Or is that glare just her only expression?

Leaving me (and her best friend) cringing under the Judge's glare.

NOTES IN THE MORNING

• Pig: capitalist pigs! On TV, a cruise-line ad showed a museum fulla European Culture: a line of portraits, every one a rich white guy, centered on a double-width portrait of a piggish man. Hogarth or Crumb couldn't cartoon a better capitalist pig--yet the guy surely commissioned this!
• Human/animal mix: in Witch Hat Atelier,
  1. One rebel witch got magically fused with an alleycat. Leaner than that pig in the museum, but just as ugly. Not a good ad for deregulating medical magic!
  2. Rebels curse a guild apprentice, turn him into a scaly wolf. Coco & her friends manage to restore his mind & speech, but can't turn him human--yet. To cure him they're being lured outside the law. Was that the rebels' goal?
  
• Sidewalk, hole: In Annika, a narrow stair led down to a comedy club, where Annika blurts what she's hidden for 15 years--her colleague fathered her child.
• Cake: Marie Antoinette's "Let them eat cake"? Or luxury cruises, as the world burns.
• Mall: in Witch Hat Atelier, the mall in the capital selling magical novelties--novelties within strict Guild limits.
• Woman at desk flirts, older woman glares: on Annika, a detective and a hotel concierge flirt a bit; Annika bristles like they did something wrong. Thanks to my repressive mom, I have a similar sex-hostile judge inside. My own little Inquisition.
• She bends over to flash me: on Deviantart I saw a self-portrait by PersonalAmi--drew herself as a catgirl bending over to open Christmas gifts... and raising her tail, flashing. Sexy, but (unlike many of her other pictures) not pretty. Is the dream distinguishing sex from beauty?
• Latina in a loud orange dress: don't recall seeing anyone like this today. PersonalAmi's pic had browns not bright orange; Witch Hat was pseudo-medieval ink drawings, and Annika, set in Scotland, had subdued colors.
• One body-part and appetite dominates each dream: a head & food in #1, a pussy & sex in #2. Parallel! So... are the dreams showing examples of monomania, or desire, or just flaunting your trashiest tastes? I'm left unsure.
• Her more timid friend: I can identify! I only feel safe hiding--like Coco and the other kids in Witch Hat Atelier. For good reason! Drawing attention leads to Inquisition in their world. As in ours! Under the glare of Judge Lynch--or a million phones and online hate campaigns--it's all too easy to mistake fear of harassment for guilt.

World Dream Bank homepage - Art gallery - New stuff - Introductory sampler, best dreams, best art - On dreamwork - Books
Indexes: Subject - Author - Date - Names - Places - Art media/styles
Titles: A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - IJ - KL - M - NO - PQ - R - Sa-Sh - Si-Sz - T - UV - WXYZ
Email: wdreamb@yahoo.com - Catalog of art, books, CDs - Behind the Curtain: FAQs, bio, site map - Kindred sites