'They say this town is full of cozenage,
As, nimble jugglers that deceive the eye,
Dark-working sorcerers that change the mind,
Soul-killing witches that deform the body,
Disguised cheaters, prating mountebanks,
And many such-like liberties of sin:
If it prove so, I will be gone the sooner.
I'll to the Centaur, to go seek this slave:
I greatly fear my money is not safe.'
William Shakespeare
Comedy of Errors, Act I, Scene II
Our definition:
Cozenage, prior to the modern era, had a colorful meaning: trickery, con, witchcraft, tomfoolery, and autonomy practiced by mischievous characters. Shakespeare might have given a negative connotation to the term, but we embrace it, as we look up to a simpler, more vibrant way of living that went against the boring norm.
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Today, the boring norm could be ideal for some, because cozenage can be thought of as a dark smog hanging above our lives, stemming from the factory chimneys of the Industrial Revolution, capitalism, timeless patriarchy, and injustice that flows into our daily lives.
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To be cozen-aged, based on zero etymological reasons but wordplay alone, is to live in the era after 1918, where the aforementioned, combined with the new US foreign policy, ideological clashes of the superpowers, and misinformation, tricked us into playing a game we never wanted to be part of. A game that cost the lives of a billion people between 2020-23. Tigrayans, Syrians, Ukrainians, Palestinians, women everywhere, and more.
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While we play and wait for our possibly inevitable nuclear demise, tongue-in-cheek or not, we want to look back at the colorful meaning of cozenage and resurrect with words and actions, to be a thorn in the side of those who control the board, and speak up, expose them with our art, scathing poetry, and social actions. To be the coven of witches they've been hunting for centuries, making them toss and turn in their sleep.