Director: Steward Savage

When George Orwell composed his masterpiece 1984, he was not only suffering from severe illness, but many close to him believe that the writing of this novel was his final creative act and that it literally killed him. As a commentary on the totalitarian Eastern Bloc regimes settling in over Europe in 1949, he was writing a warning to the world that the fight against the falsehoods of official governments and the swarming of surveillance mechanisms was a distinct threat to freedom. But what does Orwell ask of us, his audience?

 1984 swept back into bestseller status in January 2017 after President Trump’s advisor Kellyanne Conway used the phrase ‘alternative facts.’ Trump’s ‘fake news’ slurs were called freakishly Orwellian by some – but Conway’s redefinition of a word to serve the interests of the state seemed to many as ‘newspeak’ to a tee.”

My favorite reference to this time when President Trump’s Press Secretary Sean Spicer falsely exaggerated the attendance at Trump’s inauguration came from Buffalo News/New York Times/Washington Post writer Margaret Sullivan who wrote: “…Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway told ‘Meet the Press’ Sunday that Spicer had been providing ‘alternative facts’ to what the media had reported, making it clear we’ve gone full Orwell.”

 And the “alternative facts” just keep on comin’ with Donald Trump himself averaging 15 lies per day, according to the Washington Post and other news sources. “Full Orwell.” There’s an old saying: “The two best times to plant a tree are, first, 20 years ago, and second, right now.” So, if there were ever a time to revisit 1984, if not right after Donald Trump’s inauguration, it’s today, after an insurrection and being twice impeached.

We are on the cusp of a great new revival in our world. One that a pandemic and political disagreements managed to halt but didn’t stop. While we were on “pause” we were still creating content. Hears to a rebirth of the “THOUGHTS” and those who are willing to be “criminals” in the pursuit of creativity and the arts.