Tonight is All Hallow's Eve. Now it is the time to think about giving thanks and it all starts tomorrow with All Saints Day and saying thank you to all who have gone before. Thanksgiving is a day that brings families together and to show gratitude for what they have accomplished hopefully for the good. We all hope to be bountiful in what we do in our lives no matter what we choose. It's time to put away the scary and bring out the joy of harvest time and to help others in need and give thanks for surviving tonight.
About the Creator
Mark Graham
I am a person who really likes to read and write and to share what I learned with all my education. My page will mainly be book reviews and critiques of old and new books that I have read and will read. There will also be other bits, too.
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More stories from Mark Graham and writers in Critique and other communities.
Looking at Old Photos
Going through many old photographs from my parents' younger days through my childhood of the 1960's and 1970's. There are black and white ones as well as those color ones with all the 'red' eyes. There were tears and smiles with more smiles than tears. As I found out my mom saved all those school pictures (individual and class). I began looking at these and wondered whatever happened to most of them especially from elementary school. I know some moved but believe it or not I found a few on social media and now are 'friends' once again. Happy memories.
By Mark Graham4 months ago in Critique
The Shaped Self: Images Without History
The Shaped Self: Images Without History Peter Ayolov, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, 2026 Abstract E-democracy is not a technical upgrade of representative government. It is a transformation of citizenship inside a regime of visual formatting. Drawing on Žarko Paić’s analysis of video-centrism and the world-picture, this article argues that contemporary political life unfolds in an environment where images no longer reflect history but organise reality in advance. In this condition, the citizen does not merely participate; the citizen appears through an interface. Political agency becomes inseparable from visibility, recognisability, and circulation. By placing Paić in dialogue with Marcel Duchamp, Jean Baudrillard, Tom Wolfe, and Jean-Luc Nancy, the article develops the concept of the shaped self as the central figure of e-democracy: an interface-formed subject structured by edges, templates, and repeatable visual patterns that enable identification but risk reducing agency to performance. The struggle for democracy becomes a struggle over representation itself: over ownership of likeness, transparency of distribution systems, and the capacity to distinguish voice from simulation in an environment saturated with images, metrics, and deepfakes. As the concluding work of the Mirror Selves Trilogy, this article presents the book The Shapes of the Self: Identity and Recognition in Visual Space (2026) that investigates how the self emerges not as an inner essence but as a shaped and formatted presence within contemporary visual space.
By Peter Ayolov7 days ago in Critique
Comments (5)
Thank you for sharing the gratitude reminder!!😊💕💖
Lovely Drabble for tonight Mark 😊🦋😊
This is a great Drabble, Mark! I never really thought about the transitioning and contrasts between two, back-to-back and completely opposite holidays.
To be honest I do not like Halloween, My favorite holiday is Christmas. Thanksgiving is great reminder of being grateful. Your piece shows what should be important.
Both Halloween and Thanksgiving is unfamiliar for me (I mean I never experienced them truly.) My mind already wandered to Christmas, as the shops are full with Christmas chocolate and decoration already. But All Saints Day is something we celebrate in Hungary, too and it's one of my favorites.