Hello everyone, and welcome to the July issue of Synchronized Chaos Magazine! Thank you very much for sticking with our publication for almost two years, and welcome to the newcomers as we grow and mature.

Our theme this month materialized as Moving Past First Impressions, as many of the pieces point out through drama, poignancy, or humor the need for continuing investigation and thought as we get to know others and our surroundings.

Finn Gardiner’s poetic works illustrate the power of the imagination to fill in gaps left by initial impressions, as his speakers wait until the very last minute to acknowledge they do not even know the names of the objects of their elaborate and romantic flights of fancy. His longer piece, Mnemosyne, has the speaker personify and thus externalize and detach from his memories. Here, Gardiner’s speaker steps back from the lingering fallout of his specific emotions and experiences and reflects upon the dual nature of memory itself, the possibility of both comfort and torment. Unlike the speakers casually musing in the coffeehouse, who record a certain naive emotional state in exquisite detail, Mnemosyne goes beyond and leaves behind the particular people and episodes which sparked its speaker’s thought, and reflects a less personally involved, but perhaps at times more psychologically manageable, state of mind.

Kandake Brockington’s epic novel characters seem to lack the luxury of time for abstraction, as they must stay alert in a world of shifting loyalties and violent upheaval. The pharaohs, concubines, slaves, priests, deities and other characters in Journey through Darkness survive in part by literally going beyond first impressions, always looking over their shoulders for spies or rivals, who may come from among their former trusted friends, and changing their own strategies and alliances with new information. Even with such a harsh, challenging environment, many of them turn to spirituality and religion to abstract, revere, and personify aspects of life which they feel connected to or dependent upon, such as sun, rain, war and courage, self-sacrifice, or beauty. The perpetual jostling among the gods for position in the pantheon reflects the struggles of many competing characters and civilizations. Brockington suggests through the various characters’ responses to the continual instability that people may find greater happiness by contenting themselves with living a worthwhile life, rather than desperately seeking immortality.  

In a much less serious manner, returning short-story author Tony Long shows the discord jealousy can create among a previously fraternal gang of North Beach writers, and how envy, even while cleverly camouflaged as concern for higher principles of craft, can cloud our impressions of each other. Through increasingly ridiculous remarks and attitudes, the writers attempt to exorcise the specter of their friend’s impending commercial success, with camaraderie briefly restored when his book deal almost falls through. 

Also with humor, returning vignette artist Patsy Ledbetter regales us with a summer tale of advice regrettably snubbed at first glance, then reconsidered in light of the consequences. Her husband will likely wear sunscreen wherever he goes from now on, even in the winter! Essayist Narmin Kamal advises her fellow Azerbajanis to re-examine their social mores, encouraging people not to give primary importance to a woman’s looks and allow her time and permission to develop her conscience and intellect. She develops her ideas further, highlighting the explicit and implicit ways in which women become hidden away and treated as human ‘shrinking violets,’ unable to express themselves or share their insights and talents with a world which needs them. And, finally, she urges women to find solidarity with other hunted and confined living creatures in the natural world, rather than in effect competing with the personified feminization of ‘Mother Nature’ through conspicuous consumption rather than dismantling the social structures which restrict both human women and wild animals and plants. Women (and men) can get beyond their first impulse to buy new leather and fur clothing to demonstrate wealth, success, and beauty, and find that confidence and strength from within their own minds and characters.

Our imperfect knowledge as human beings often brings about the need to re-examine our initial thoughts on any topic – often, even if our judgements are not incorrect, they are incomplete. Returning academic writer and photographer Reuben Rutledge explores the intersections among language, art, and human experience, elucidating how we use art to convey and represent ideas and phenomena which go beyond what we can express even through language. The present limitations of our ability to understand everything we encounter also prevent us from directly naming and expressing those transcendent phenomena, so we develop systems of aesthetics as symbolic languages to convey the transcendent.

We don’t just struggle with grasping transcendent phenomena, but often find it difficult to understand ordinary human beings and everyday conversations and emotions.  Artist Murphy Adams illustrates intense moments in relationships, times when people become very angry or sad, and suggests that what we can interpret as rudeness or lack of self-control can actually represent desperation to be heard, or to connect on an emotional level, to finally convey one’s emotions in a manner that the other person will understand.

Linda Lee-Smith’s soft, gentle artwork seems to stem from a quiet desperation, an inner need to convey to the rest of the world to get beyond our snap judgements of abused and/or incarcerated people and to see the entire picture of their lives as complete human beings capable of transformation. Lee-Smith does not use her greeting cards or artistic images as a soapbox to preach or a megaphone to force herself to be heard. Instead, she speaks most effectively through creating a calm, muted ambiance, demonstrating stillness and dedicated craftspersonship, focusing on the art and images in themselves. Her experiences and her past do not define her or hold power over her current life, as she creates her own sanctuary and inner life through her work.

Visual artist and children’s book writer Laura Lagomarsino details how her artistic process involves combining and musing over different images and ideas. With the metaphor of a clothesline, she describes allowing projects to overlap and blend with each other, and observing when each becomes ‘dry’ and ready for final touches. Lagomarsino experientially lives out the month’s theme, not ignoring her first impressions and thoughts, but not remaining tied down to them, either. She knows how to play with and re-examine plot and picture elements, working with them over time, staying attuned to their implications and effects on the rest of the project, doing for her art what Narmin Kamal wishes society would do for its attitudes towards gender.

Architect and collage artist Keith Farrell works via a process somewhat like Lagomarsino’s, taking the natural setting of a potential building or outdoor landscape as a starting point, like the first item on a clothesline, and then incorporating various design elements over time, like the elements of a collage. He and his partners have worked in the United States and various South American countries, adapting their style and vision to the financial and environmental requirements of the project for which they are contracted.

Some artists aim to harness ‘first impressions’ to intentionally bring us back to an earlier state of wonder and curiosity. Mixed media artist Jamie Banes seeks to recreate the fascination many of us felt as children looking at big-city architecture, allowing us to explore and play and remember the days when everything was huge, and we wished to find out how it all worked.

We at Synchronized Chaos Magazine hope that you will find fascination and pleasure within the posts of this issue, and encourage you to think deeply about what you see and read. We encourage you to contact the authors and artists directly if something touches you or inspires you, and wish you a restful and pleasant month of July!