Death is Eternal #354

Sunday. June 25, 2023. 1,806 words.

A back-to-normal Death is Eternal. After atypically writing the last one on Monday, I’m back to using part of my Sunday to communicate with you, dear subscriber. Is it a monologue communication? Is communication the act of passing information along, or is it the act of passing and receiving it? Not that it matters in this case because, unlike what you may think, the newsletter isn’t a monologue. Subscribers reply to me, or do you think I’d keep asking questions if no one answered them? I may be crazy, but not that crazy.

Contents

1. For English to See (intro)

2. For English to See

3. Writing: Blank

4. Bye!

5. What have I been writing lately?

6. Last week (June 19 to 25, 2023)

7. This week (June 26 to July 2, 2023)

8. Death is Eternal review #215: White House Plumbers

9. Death is Eternal review #216: BEEF

10. The end

1. For English to See (intro)

In Brazil, the phrase For English to See is commonly used to describe laws, rules, and attitudes seen as demagogic and not followed by anyone. This idiom originated during Brazil’s Regency Period and may have been first used to describe Feijó’s law, which was anti-slavery. And so, obviously, as a Brazilian, I felt the need to tell the story and share with the world how Brazilians fooling the British became a defining part of our culture.

2. For English to See

“We can’t approve this,” begged a congressman. “If we banish slavery, who’ll work?”

“Oh, you’re so naïve!” the leader of the meeting said, genuinely impressed. “And they say every politician is a fox,” he laughed.

The congressman didn’t understand. His face showed his confusion as clear as day.

“I know we can’t banish slavery; we need slaves. However, we also need to be in good grace with the English. Do you agree?”

The congressman nodded and added, “We can’t do both.”

“Oh, but we can,” disagreed the leader.

Again, confusion.

“You see, years ago, the English had slaves. Now, someone over there is saying that free work is cheaper than slaves,” the leader laughed; the idea was ludicrous to him. “Because of that, they are travelling worldwide saying that slavery is wrong and everyone should stop. If we don’t stop, they threaten to stop buying our coffee, which is, maybe, even worst than freeing the slaves--”

The congressman interrupted, “I know all that. Why are you repeating something that we all know? We want a solution, not an explanation.”

“Now,” the leader ignored the interruption, “we see ourselves cornered. Or we free the slaves, or we stop doing business with the English--”

“Again, more solution, less explanation.”

“What the English didn’t know is how creative we are. We’ll approve this Feijó’s law—I even named it after a known Liberal to give the English a sign that we believe in liberalism—and then we’ll pretend to enforce it.”

Everyone was silent. The plan was cruelly brilliant.

“We’ll bring the slaves, we’ll pretend to free them, and after a while, we’ll send them. The law is unambiguous. Newcomers can’t be slaves,” the leader smiled. “I’ll repeat it very slowly; newcomers can’t be slaves,” he briefly paused to highlight the word “newcomers.”

Everyone smiled and laughed.

“You see, we are approving a law only for English to see. We pretend we’re obeying them, so they keep buying our coffee. At the same time, we keep our slaves.”

Everyone laughed and clapped. The plan was perfect. So perfect that it worked for decades, and to this date, Brazilians still use the expression for English to see.

The end

3. Writing: Blank

Credit: DALL-E 2 (a high quality photo of people smiling while failing to score a goal)

No, I won’t talk about the blank page... again. (And curiously, the last time I used the word “blank” in this section, the short story was also about Brazilian history; sometimes the universe creates parallels that some may seem like signs, but I know for sure are only coincidences.)

What I’ll talk about is the mind blank, aka, not having ideas. But fear not, my lack of ideas doesn’t regard short stories or novels; I’m talking about this section that I’m currently writing and you’re currently reading.

I love Death is Eternal! If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be writing it weekly since 2016. However, the weekly thing sometimes becomes too much—i.e., a lack of ideas. Although, as you know, I usually have something to discuss, it’s not always. Sometimes, I have to force myself to come up with an idea, and rarely, that doesn’t work. Today is one of these days. I didn’t have anything. I tried to create out of the blue and came up short. So, today, this section is a confession instead of a reflection. And that’s ok.

Allow yourself to come up short. Try as hard as you can to avoid this, but there are days or weeks when your best effort won’t be enough, and—again—that’s ok. Accept the fact and do something else. Or, if you’re anything like me, write about it. It may not be what you wanted, but it’s better than nothing—(again), at least for me.

4. Bye!

Here’s where we say our farewell to the free subscribers. If you want to read the rest of Death is Eternal, consider becoming a paying subscriber. If you already are a paying subscriber, first of all, thank you very, very much! And second, I’ll see you on the other side of the paywall.