The mayor of Aljabara was not the president of the whole planet, but they did
enjoy some de facto influence that went beyond the city. When their former
mayor was taken to Earth by the salmon battalion, the city knew what to do.
They had a long history of special elections, so this would just be one more.
Hopefully this sort of thing would end after this one, though. They now had a
Constitution, and an easy-to-follow set of protocols for abiding by the law,
and making it fair and safe for everyone. A lot of people started up
campaigns, but most of them did not procure the necessary minimum signatures
to even officially declare their candidacy. Still, there were fourteen people
who felt up for the job. Only one of them was a woman. Other women were part
of the new government, but none so high up, because they hadn’t before been
given the education or experience to make policy. Voters weren’t trying to
continue the misogyny; there just weren’t many women who felt comfortable
running. Merrill Panders was different. Her father gave her mother a little
more leeway when it came to them being alone together. He wouldn’t have
approved of his wife educating her child against social conventions, but they
were sneaky about it. She taught Merrill everything her mother had taught her.
She had learned it from her own mother. They came from a long line of educated
girls, who passed their skills on to the next generation; both the knowledge
itself, and the expertise to get away with it without the men in their lives
knowing. Merril ran to be a member of the president’s cabinet during the last
election, but she lost. Now, though, she was famous and popular, and people
were ready to hear what she had to say about the future of Aljabara, and Durus
as a whole. She quickly became frontrunner. Merrill campaigned well, and
kicked butt at every debate. As the list of hopefuls were whittled down one by
one, she remained strong, and moved up in the polls. She had some strong
competition, however. Her primary opponent’s platform was very similar to
hers, and a lot of voters couldn’t decide between the two of them, because it
didn’t seem like there would be much of a difference. In the end, however,
Merrill nabbed too many of the votes. While women were fully free to vote in
the first election for the Democratic Republic, many of them still chose not
to. They weren’t used to it, and to be honest, they were a little scared. They
were less underconfident and bashful about it by the time 2170 rolled around.
Merrill was a good leader, and helped develop Aljabara into a thriving city
during her many years as mayor. She was particularly focused on female
education, which was no surprise, but wasn’t the only thing that she cared
about. She also pioneered technological innovations, hoping to one day match
progress with Earth in more ways than just social. She would go down in
history as one of the best governmental officials Durus ever saw, and many
assumed she would eventually run for president, or some other higher station.
She never did, though. She just kept running for mayor, and kept getting
reëlected, and Aljabara was better for it.
-
Current Schedule
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Sundays (macrofiction)
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The Advancement of Mateo Matic
Now that the lineup has been irreversibly established, and their reliance upon the direction of any external force removed from the equation, Team Matic must decide for themselves what missions to take. As they approach the year that changes everything, they may find themselves on a long detour.
Click here for the complete list of volumes thus far
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Weekdays (microfiction)
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Mateo Daily
Daily installments of The Advancement of Mateo Matic have temporarily replaced all weekday stories.
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Saturdays (mezzofiction)
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Mateo Daily
Daily installments of The Advancement of Mateo Matic have temporarily replaced all Saturday stories.
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- About Me
My name is Nick Fisherman III. It's not my real name, but that's not because I'm trying to hide from my former agency, or something. I named myself after someone I've known for most of my life, and he chose it in honor of his late best friend. I took up writing when I found myself failing 8th grade science, and realized I might never reach my dream of becoming a biochemist, a meteorologist, and a quantum physicist. I started developing my canon after a scouting trip to an island inspired what I thought would be my first novel. I founded this website upon the advice of many people, who told me I needed to get my work out there, and not wait for an agent to accept my manuscript. You can expect one new story every day. Weekdays are for microstories, which are one or two paragraphs long. They're usually only thematically linked, so you won't have to read one to understand another, but they do sometimes tell a combined story. Sundays are for my continuous longer story, The Advancement of Mateo Matic, which I started in the beginning, and won't end until 2066. Saturdays are for long series, most of which take place in the same universe as Mateo, and add to the larger mythology.
Thursday, October 15, 2020
Microstory 1474: New Mayor in Town
Labels:
campaign
,
city
,
competition
,
constitution
,
daughter
,
education
,
election
,
female
,
feminism
,
government
,
law
,
leader
,
men
,
mother
,
skill
,
teacher
,
technology
,
voting
,
women
,
world
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