January 2, 2008 archive

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

The muses are ancient.  The inspirations for our stories were said to be born from them.  Muses of song and dance, or poetry and prose, of comedy and tragedy, of the inward and the outward.  In one version they are Calliope, Euterpe and Terpsichore, Erato and Clio, Thalia and Melpomene, Polyhymnia and Urania.

It has also been traditional to name a tenth muse.  Plato declared Sappho to be the tenth muse, the muse of women poets.  Others have been suggested throughout the centuries.  I don’t have a name for one, but I do think there should be a muse for the graphical arts.  And maybe there should be many more.

Please join us inside to celebrate our various muses…

Hope, Despair and the Climate Crisis

This is about how we respond to the Climate Crisis and the relentless bad news about it-with despair, or with hope.  I’ll tip my hand and say it is really about how to fight off despair and find hope for the future.

It’s not easy to find hope.  For thanks to the climate crisis, the prospects for a livable future just keep getting worse.

I’ve written many times about the Climate Crisis over the past several years on various community blogs, and I notice several repeated reactions in comments.  Some offer their favorite solutions, or write about what they are doing personally to limit their carbon footprint.  But many responses are more emotional.

 There is fear, partly the product of quite natural denial-not denying the reality of global heating, but staying in denial about it as much as possible, while obsessing on much smaller issues.  There is anger, about how we allowed this to happen, etc. And there is despair: the world is coming to an end, and there’s really nothing we can do about it.

Despair, like anger, is another expression of fear.  But it is not entirely irrational.  How can it be, when we do face the real possibility of catastrophe?  

People have basically two reasons for despair: they believe that in its present state, humanity won’t meet this challenge.  There are too many political, economic and cultural barriers.  Humanity isn’t smart enough yet, mature enough, enlightened enough. And then there’s human nature: greed and fear will overcome.  

The second reason for despair is that resistance is futile: that the tipping points have all been passed, and there’s nothing humanity can do anyway to prevent catastrophe.  

It’s hard to argue with either of these reasons.  They may prove to be true.  But there are also counterarguments to each of them.

Iglesia ……………………………………… Episode 21

(Iglesia is a serialized novel, published on Tuesdays and Saturdays at midnight ET, you can read all of the episodes by clicking on the tag.)

Previous Episode

.

Interlude

A long dark tunnel with bright light at the end….faint voices.

Well, no.

A corridor actually. Like a hospital. With a few fluorescent fixtures most of them broken. Colored lines, red, blue, yellow, green, brown…laid down in tape that was peeling at the edges. On worn and ugly linoleum. The ‘voices’…a scratchy speaker out of which was coming a womans voice with an English accent, saying “Please follow the yellow line.” When he looked down, there was a piece of used pink bubble gum on the yellow line.

Self Publishing Possibilities

Twenty years ago I set out to write the Arthur-can-write-like Louie L ‘Amor western with gunfights, brawls and all that goes with it.

Didn’t turn out that way.

Louie L’Amour’s muse wasn’t splitting time between Louie and me.

As I’ve heard from others, when a writer really gets into his work, his characters seem to step in, take over and at times even change the total nature of the writing.

What was born was entirely within my own life experience and perception.

I wrote and sent this manuscript to a New York literary agent I’d listened on Larry King’s old all-night radio talk show while delivering the USA Today into boxes all over Vancouver.

The agent told me to forget it. There wasn’t a market sufficient for religious literary fiction. So I forgot it and missed my opportunity to step in front of the Left Behind writers ten years before they created their stuff.

This novel is self-published which is the point of the diary. As one or two advertisments out there point out, vanity publishing is now possible on a scale equal to individual resources.

Normal shipping is 3-5 days after order unless there’s a holiday going on. Also – as we did – the account holder/author can buy copies at cost from the printer (that is, minus the markup).

Books are printed on demand and authors don’t have to buy their books in lots of 100 or more in order to facilitate distribution.

My writing here came about because my wife, Lietta, wanted a printed version for our home and I looked into it.

The result is what you see here. Possibilities suggest themselves, shorter tracts, booklets, brochures, collections of essays, how-to manuals, and other stuff.

Yeah, check out my novel which has not been re-written, modernized nor edited from its original 1986 form when I was still trying to figure out the “he said”, “she reponded,” “they shouted” dialogue narrations

– not to mention avoiding too much head thoughts and not enough description via action.

But then, Mailer, Vidal, even Louis L’Amour are not in danger from the likes of me.  

Do You Know Anyone in Iowa? Election Swindle Redux!

It appears there may be some more panky-hanky going on in Iowa.  If you live there, or know folks who live there, please alert them to the following:

My friend Jerry Berkman has been very active in electoral reform for the last 7-8 years.  He played a major role in helping to correct problems in California.

I just received the following note from him:

California Election Reform Alert, Dec. 31, 2007 The Iowa Caucuses happen this Thursday. So far, both the Democratics and Republicans have been unwilling to release the procedures for counting and tabulating the votes, and are unwilling to commit to posting the precinct results and how they arrive at the state wide totals. Since a poor showing in Iowa can knock a candidate out of the race, transparency of procedures should be a requirement. If you know anyone in Iowa, forward the link below to them and ask them to contact the Democratic and/or Republican parties. For details, see the lead article at: http://www.blackboxvoting.org archived at: http://www.bbvforums.org/cgi-b… – Jerry

I know it’s short timing, but see what you can do to let people know.  

The price of democracy is eternal vigilance.

         Thomas Jefferson.  (Is this quote accurate?)

Thanks!

Docudharma Series Spotlight

Greetings and thanks to all who read, write and comment on this blog.  Our short existence in 2007 has been funtastic – witnessing the birth of the blog and forming a community of like-minded souls. I’m sure 2008 will be amazing as well.    I especially want to thank the contributors who have committed to writing regular original series (just like HBO!).   My latest project has been to put together a Series page (now linked under DharmaDocs) where everyone can have easy access to the content and catch up on their favorites.  

The page is reproduced below….  

Series on DocuDharma

Docudharma has a wealth of talented writers – some of whom contribute a regular series on a particular topic – news, art, philosophy, fiction, etc.

Click the Titles to go to the RSS Feed.

Click the Author to go to their page.

ALL TIMES EASTERN US (GMT -5:00)























SeriesAuthor/DescriptionTime (Eastern US)
News. Four at Four – Current events and hot topics uniquely presented by Magnifico the founder of Overnight News Digest.  M-F 4 PM
Teaching, Learning. Robyn serves up an educational feast at CafĂ© Discovery.  Pull up a chair.Sun 10 AM
News. Docudharma Timesmishima starts your day with the morning headlines and the amazing ticker.Daily 7:30 AM
Teaching, Law.  Friday Constitutional  – Something The Dog Said walks us through each Article and Section of the Consititution.  Knowing the relevance and intent of this document is essential for every political blogger and citizen of the United States. Friday
Salon.   nightprowlkitty sets the beat, Friday Night at 8, with lyrical prose and Hepcat style. BYO cocktails.Fri 8 PM
Life. Friday Philosophy: Robyn‘s personal and profound ponderings.Fri 6 PM

SciFi/CyberPulp. Iglesia  by buhdydharma – a cliffhanger serial with a metaphysical twist.  Stay tuned for what happens next…Tue & Sat midnight
in Other news. pico‘s weekly roundup of GLBT newsWed noon
on hiatus
Music.  Late Night Karaoke  – mishima cues up the tunes so everyone can sing along.nightly 3 AM
Economy, Business. Manufacturing MondayJohnny Venom digests the weekly business news, bringing you informative and detailed analysis of industry, labor, economics, world trade and more.Monday
Art & Poetry. Muse in the MorningRobyn celebrates the Muses and encourages everyone to contribute their talent.  M-F 6 AM
Open Thread. Pony Party hosted by Turing Test and the stable crew.  For fun and amusement… must be this high to ride!  Daily
Books. Profiles in Literaturepico‘s fascinating lessons about the history, lives, and works of authors.Tue 6 PM
on hiatus
News. Random Japan – Special and unusual news items from Japan.  Brought to you by mishima.Fri midnight
News/Commentary. ek hornbeck ace reporter for The Stars Hollow Gazette.  Sun, M, W, Th midnight
Trippin Tuesday – All things psychedelic.  To wake up your mind… get On The Bus. Tue 10 PM
(highly irregular)
Fiction. Weapon of Young Gods – authors Roy Reed, dhaynes and others. A wild stab at expression born of boredom, nostalgia, inertia, and spasmodic bursts of heretofore-unknown discipline and willpower.   Random
News. Weekend News Digest with ek hornbeck  – Top Stories in Technicolor.  News from the World, U.S, Business, Politics, Science and more. Sat & Sun 4 PM
Books. What are you reading?plf515’s popular series cross-posted at Daily Kos.  discontinued
Spontaneous expression.  Writing in the Rawpfiore8 (with occasional guest hosts) lets it all hang out in this creative workshop.  discontinued

Pony Party: How Low Can You Go?

Greetings from the land that substance completely forgot (Southern California!) and welcome to the Pony Party Special “How Low Can You Go?” New Year’s Day edition. Brought to you tonight by DoodyDude (www.doodydude.com), because – given the subject matter and the author — it just seems fitting to link to a company devoted to shoveling sh*t. (Have to admit, though, it seems that I can still be shocked – there’s an Association of Professional Animal Waste Specialists — WTF??? Would it be redundant to say “holy crap” at this point?)

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