“Gossamer Glinda was a Gertrude in disguise (my apologies to Gertrudes everywhere)”.

Observations of a Lion somewhat bereft of courage to a Tin Woodman of sorts and a not very frightening Scarecrow after a friend’s unusual departure.

A perspective reflected more in the reporting of infamous alternative media reporter Gregory Maguire than in that parlayed as official narrative of the life and times of an itinerant (very itinerant) purveyor of snake oil and elixirs guaranteed to cure all ills by the mainstream media of its day, as reported by L. Frank Baum.

I wonder how Messrs. Maguire and Baum would report on the lives and times of the more recent, albeit unfortunately not-that-itinerant, snake oil salesmen currently engaged in politics in the age of Coronavirus.

What role would Joey Biden play, or Chucky Schumer, or Nana Pelosi, or Donny Trump? Obviously the narratives would be as different as those spun today by Fox News and MSNBC or CNN, the Washington Post and New York Times.

….

“What a world!!! What a world!” (Elphaba, circa, 1900s, Kansas time)
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© Guillermo Calvo Mahé; Manizales, 2020; all rights reserved. Please feel free to share with appropriate attribution.

Guillermo Calvo Mahé (a sometime poet) is a writer, political commentator and academic currently residing in the Republic of Colombia although he has primarily lived in the United States of America (of which he is a citizen). Until recently he chaired the political science, government and international relations programs at the Universidad Autónoma de Manizales. He has academic degrees in political science (the Citadel), law (St. John’s University), international legal studies (New York University) and translation and linguistic studies (the University of Florida’s Center for Latin American Studies). He can be contacted at guillermo.calvo.mahe@gmail.com and much of his writing is available through his blog at http://www.guillermocalvo.com.