a sign(al)

Out in nature: the magnolia trees bloom. In the news: Signal, the messaging app, keeps being discussed. I've already written about Signal's co-founder and ex-CEO, Moxie Marlinspike, so I won't trample the same path here. (You can read that post about his "secret" here if interested – and watch his documentary I mention.)

Instead, I want to share how I've been savoring the irony that higher-ups in any political administration are using an app co-created by a person who has posted many stories and essays on a website called The Anarchist Library. Regardless of your idealogical affiliation, the library has had some worthwhile think pieces since I stumbled on it thanks to Moxie. His essay, "The Promise of Defeat", is the one I think about the most whenever I hear his name, or mention of the app Signal.

Part-essay, part-autobiographical fun, the philosophical musings turn into a David-versus-Goliath story about trying to find, or make, a place to live in an expensive American city. One of my favorite sections:

We'd have races up the hill to the bike cart while carrying sheets of plywood, our lungs stinging with the cold night air. We'd do our best to stifle laughter every time we'd drop something with a dramatic crash, or every time the bike cart toppled the entire load into the street. There's nothing quite as funny as watching your friend try to quietly throw an empty 55-gallon steel drum over a razor-wire fence. And it's hard not to smile when you realize that there's nothing quite as conspicuous as towing a bike trailer down empty city streets at 3am, with ten 16' lengths of 2x4 extending far into the road behind you.

As commonly happens in real life, Goliath wins handily. In this version, David shares his thoughts post defeat. He writes:

Anarchy, by contrast, offers us defeat. This is a logic that transcends quantifiability, emphasizes our desires, and focuses on the tensions we feel. Anarchists are such failures because, really, there can be no victory. Our desires are always changing with the the context of our conditions and our surroundings. What we gain is what we manage to tease out of the conflicts between what we want and where we are. What I "won" were the wistful moon-light bike rides, the realization of hidden geography, the time spent with friends, the dance parties, the nights of discovery, the chance to be in control of my surroundings, and those fleeting moments of elation.

That sounds like a win to me, even though it may look like a big-L to others. Spring blooms here in this city. Maybe it's trying to tell us something. Maybe it's nudging us to open ourselves and think about what's possible, too.

indoor animal is curated by a human: Tim Papciak. On Mondays, he shares one link to one music video to help spark creativity in himself and in other creative types. On Thursdays, he recommends a book, movie, show, art piece, or link to some dusty corner of the internet that he believes either 1.) adds to the human experience, or 2.) serves as a coping mechanism in the year 2025. Note: this is not, and never will be, self-help content.