Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Memo
To: National
Security Agency (NSA)
From: Daphne Muse
Re: Verification, Fact Checking and NSA Feeling Neglected
& Standing for Democracy in a Digital Age
With your operatives tracking billions of calls,
emails and other electronic communications platforms deep into the corridors of
global power, up in Pookie’s Place and across the Universe on a nano-second by
nano-second basis, the complexities of gathering and verifying data is bound to
produce errors. While your scale of efficiency on harvesting data is far
reaching, accuracy may well be another matter.
The unredacted part of my FBI
file is filled with misinformation documented by agent Jim South. Stuff just got made up by folk who fabricated
and fictionalized my life including having me in two different places
simultaneously. In accordance with the
Freedom of Information Act, I’m requesting a random sampling of documentation
gathered on the date noted above, to begin making some determination about the
level of erroneous details that may well be under construction about me, my
life and communications with others.
According to my records, I:
Arose at 5:35 AM and turned on my 24/7 jazz station
KCSM
Drank two glasses of water
Processed the meal from the evening before
Brushed my teeth/splashed face
Drove to the Aquatic Cathedral
Dashed into a 75 degree pool/with an air temperature
of 46 degrees for a brisk mile long swim and realignment of my molecules
Showered after swim and mixed it up with my aqua-homies
in the locker room
Returned home and called my momma; we discussed her
progress with a series of dental treatments and her latest art project
Spent an hour talking with my brother Vincent and
yes we discussed this electronic harvest of shame
Wrote for four hours
Ate carrots, coconut and lox for lunch
Watched DW-Journal (They have penchant for
intelligent coverage of news around the world and interesting programming with
a global focus.)
Finished editing a piece for my blog
Read an article on Common Dreams about the country’s Electronic Harvest of Shame: “Nation's Libraries Warn of NSA's 'Ravenous Hunger' for
Data”
Had lamb bacon sandwich (Yes, my butcher does lamb
bacon) and collard greens for dinner; no wine
Stepped outside on the deck to talk a few minutes of
smack to my rescued orchids and watch the bright beacons from the satellites
now obliterating the stars in the sky and thanked the Universe for forming me
Read some Lucille Clifton poems. She should be canonized as the Goddess of
Poetry
Invoked my gratitude mantra before going off to
sleep at 10:11 PM
Had reams of dreams about liberation, freedom and
the daily formation of socially just living, and a fellow kinda sorta on my
mind
Oh, and don’t feel neglected, ‘cause there are folk
around the world paying as much attention to you, as you are to us. As you now know, a call for International Bill
of Digital Rights was put out by five-hundred writers worldwide (http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/12/10/249935326/book-news-500-authors-demand-international-bill-of-digital-rights). You probably received and coded this memo
before I finished writing it.
Daphne Muse is a writer, social commentator and
poet. Her articles and commentaries have
appeared in The Atlantic, San Jose
Mercury and aired on NPR.
