Personal Archaeology: Infinizine, part 3
“What's past is prologue.” ― William Shakespeare, The Tempest
This artifact was created c. 2007.
Read my introduction to the Personal Archaeology series for paid subscribers here:
Personal Archaeology: Infinizine, part 3
This is the third part of a multi-part series showcasing a ‘zine I made c. 2007, when I was 17 years old. I called it Infinizine. It had only one issue and was never distributed—I never even took it to Kinkos. But, as you will see, I’ve been running on the same hamster wheel for a long time.
In many ways, Juxtaposition is, now, what I couldn’t make Infinizine be, then.
Editorial note: Infinizine was my own personal creative endeavor but I solicited art-work and a couple poems from friends with whom I no longer have any contact. I don’t feel right posting those sections without permission or credit, so I will black out any content that was not created by me, except for the cover photo, which I found on the 2007 internet.
Transcript (left): Doesn’t Matter
I only have three more hours of free time before work. That means I just wasted three and a half hours of free time. There must be a solution to this.
The phones must be down. Not doing me any good. Today has gone all kinds of not right. I hope it has nothing to do with death. DO OVER!!! Where’s my reset button?
Run away with me some night when everything’s bad. When there’s nothing to lose. One of those nights when nothing matters, even the things that do. We’ll buy stock in cigarettes and energy drinks and only eat when we have to. But we’ll eat well: bloody steaks and mashed potatos [sic] and eachother.
Empty streets in pouring rain and nothing but a hat to keep it off. That doesn’t matter either. Blocks of cement tearing across the city. Lights flashing as the count starts on a universal scale. And then an explosion right in the middle that stops everything but us.
And then it stops us too.
But that doesn’t matter either.
I only have three more hours of free time.
Sometimes I wish it wasn’t consistently proven to me that expectations are synonymous with disappointment.
And sometimes it just doesn’t matter.
Transcript (right): An Answer
[References questions posed in Infinizine, part 2]
Assumption #1: Spatial infinity must have no perpetual starting point and no definitive ending point.
Ex: If you put your pencil on a piece of paper and draw a spiral that goes on forever, it is NOT infinite because there will always be a recognizable starting point.
However, a three-dimensional spiral that spirals out in opposite directions from one point IS spatially infinite. It's beginning point will soon become obsolete and indistinguishable from the rest of the spiral.
Assumption #2: Temporal infinity is defined the same way as spatial infinity; no beginning and no end.
Ex: The three-dimensional spiral that is spatially infinite, is NOT temporally infinite because it did, in fact begin. There will always be a moment in time in which it was first formed and therefore the spiral does not adhere to this argument's definition of infinity.
Thesis: “Infinite” and “finite” are not mutually exclusive. It is possible for a subject to be both infinite and not infinite at once. Alternatively, just because something is NOT infinite does not necessarily mean that it IS finite and vice versa.
Thank You for Being. Here.
I hope you found some resonance with this exhibit. The complete Infinizine series will be freely available to all subscribers—but, as a thank-you to anyone choosing to place an early bet on Juxtaposition’s success, the price to upgrade will be at its lowest during this limited time.
Use the button below to upgrade your subscription for just $4.44/month or $44.44/year1 any time before I release Infinizine Part 4 in a couple weeks. That will be your price forever, as long as you don’t cancel.
Each subsequent Infinizine exhibit will see those numerals count upwards2 until reaching $7.77/month or $77.77/year, which will be the final price.
Will You think about it? You have some time to decide.
If You’d rather stay on a free subscription for now, I won’t blame You at all. You’ll still receive all of my best content—but I sure would appreciate it if You’d take a moment to share Juxtaposition with someone in Your life who might appreciate it.
And as always, You can be read by me via email to juxtaposition@substack.com. I may not respond, but take a look at the “Commun(icat)ion” section of the About Page to find out why You should definitely still write to me.
Substack actually won’t let me set a price this low, so I had to add a percentage discount with a lot of decimal places and it’ll probably force it to round. It might end up being $4.43/month or $44.30/year, which is less satisfying but fine.
Or as close as I can get using percentage discounts, ha.