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 |  You are what you write. Illusion and Reality...I reside in between. Where are you? |
UNDERSTAND THAT REDIRECTING CIVILIZATION is a major undertaking. You can write volumes about it and who will listen? But the energy that goes for that purpose cannot be withdrawn. You know that.  |
 Prompt: Rebecca Solnit says: “Writing is saying to no one and to everyone the things it is not possible to say to someone. Or rather writing is saying to the no one who may eventually be the reader those things one has no someone to whom to say them.” Do you think she is referring to writing in relation to solitude? What do you think on the subject where your writing is concerned? ------------------------------------------------------------- I think Ms. Solnit is writing to express herself with no intention or concern that anyone might or should read what she has written. It is purely self-expression. If there is stuff in your head that needs to get out, writing it down often helps clarify and resolve some of the concerns. Writing for self can also be a simple exercise in writing. Training your brain to express using language that makes sense. Look at what people do with journals and diaries. They write to keep a record of their daily life and thoughts with no intention that anyone else would read them. I have maybe forty years of journals. It's better than my brain for remembering where and when and who. Before digital media it was all hand written in books that are too heavy to carry around now, so they sit in a trunk in far-off Wyoming. I have used automatic writing for many years to see what's there. And a great deal of the images and concepts of my novels started from those early writing. And many of the characters evolved out of the automatic stuff. That's definitely writing in solitude, but with no plan or conscious intent. Just being relaxed enough to do that---without trying to judge or direct the stream, can be very difficult. As soon as you do, the automatic part evaporates. It is a different kind of discipline. I guess like a form of meditation. So, is it a form of channeling from another dimension, from another part of my soul, from another layer within my own mind? I don't know. But it works for me. Write on!...>>>iggy    |
| Prompt: Create something with an unwise owl, a disloyal dog, a demanding cat, a slow rabbit and a fast turtle.. story, poem, make it yours. ACROSS A SHORT-CUT LAWN The slow rabbit hopped deliberately, Barely half-an-inch above the short-cut lawn, Mowed and trimed and watered liberally, To reach the patch of carrots before the dawn. The unwise owl observed the rabbit’s progress Wondering at the reason why, The bunnie’s slowness might be less, If he were to flap his longish ears and fly. Across the neat and short-cut lawn, Another creature flashed with speed, To reach the patch before the dawn, A surprise to see the fast turtle’s lead. On the sidewalk beside the lawn, A disloyal dog pulled off his leash, The fragile leather he had gnawed, To break and run and never cease. The disloyal dog chased the cat, And stumbled over the turtle speeding, and fell headlong into the rabbit’s lap, To disrupt the race that he’d been leading. To the utter amusement of the demanding cat, The rabbit flapped his ears in high frustration, To see a dog rolling end to end and landing flat, On his carrot of choce a cruel tantalization. The unwise owl was deeply fasincated, By the how the accident changed his perception, As the fast turtle rushed past unabated, And the chase continued without interuption. The rabbit still got his carrot to munch, The turtle out of sight and very much long gone, The dog getting winded and worried for lunch, And the cat strutting across the well-kept short-cut lawn. Peace and Love...>>> iggy |
| Do you have any suggestions to keep our blogging on track? I know some of you are not in summer right now but you probably have the same fatal attraction with real life... as those of us here in the states. Help, what works for you? I worry about all this stuff all the time. How do you make a difference? This is a society that is absolutely addicted to entertainment. Did you know that the average American spends more than 10 hours a day plugged in to some form of media. Are those minds being directed to a certain track? What kind of influence is being exerted on teenagers and bored adults? I see SMS being changed into live video, instantly transferred. What kind of content is in that? Do you know? Once upon a time, we were one of the most loved nations on the entire planet. Now we are one of the most hated. Bloggers might research and comment on that idea. “The debt-fueled prosperity that so many of us take for granted is about to come to a screeching halt, and we are about to enter the hardest times that any of us have ever known. And I am not just talking about economics either.” How close is that prediction to your current reality? People who have already done the research say, “We are about to enter a “perfect storm” that is going to shake this country in just about every possible way that it can be shaken. So I hope that you will truly savor this summer – days like this will not come around again any time soon. What about summer now compared to summer ten-years ago? What is the true state of the United States of America? They keep talking about the American Sheeple and when they might wake up. Narrow it down to your life, your community, your neighborhood. When did you wake up? That's worth about ten blogs. If you are plugged into blogging---give it value, move beyond entertainment and amusement. If you are in Canada or Europe there are more challenges. Change is happening all around us. Peace and Love...>>>iggy |
| Prompt: You wake up, get out of bed and open the door. You are in OZ! That’s a prompt for a pop-fiction short story. Well, the first thing that happened was waking up from a nightmare at 3AM. I dreamed about faceless men wearing glowing, lavender shirts pretending to be business men. They were moving around, looking important, only accomplishing nothing. Woke up and could not go back to sleep. What kind of nightmare was that? Then the power went out for one third of the country, so I lost the Internet. That pretty much isolates me out in my jungle estate where I am house-sitting. The house is huge and the trade winds are howling at the wooden louvers. Next it rained, which cooled it off, but raised the humidity. When the sun came up, I looked around and for sure it is not Oz. It is a lush, green jungle with coconut palms, flowering trees, and banana palms all around the Wind Song House. The three dogs greet me with wagging tails and wet tongues. I take my walking stick and enjoying the warm, morning sunshine, follow the electric power line the quarter-mile out to the meter box to make sure it was not our line that the wind took down. All is good. One of the dogs jumped the fence to come find me and escort me back to the house. After lunch the power came back on so I can post this now. So much for not being in Oz, but I love where I am. Peace and Love...>>>iggy |
| Prompt: Which good memories are better-the recent and vivid ones or those that time has covered in a sweet haze? I don’t have a problem with any of my memories except resenting the military for drafting me at age 22. HOWEVER, there are thousands of combat veterans who suffer from PTSD and I pray their memories could be covered in a sweet haze. I know they are not, except with drugs or alcohol. Time does not help and they face it everyday. I have no more to say about that...>>>iggy |
| Prompt: Sense of Humor “Getting a comedic view of your situation gives you spiritual distance.” Do you use that comedic view for the ills in your life? And how successful is it? When certain people take themselves too seriously, they need a good dose of humor to balance them out. I’m afraid my humor can get quite sarcastic. The idea of a ‘spiritual distance’ is foreign to me. If anything, I would want a more spiritual closeness---and that can easily include humor. But then you realize that ‘spiritual’ can mean many different things to each person. I also have questions about ‘ills in my life’. That seems a very negative way to look at problems that happen. I do know people that carry around a bag of their ‘ills’ to list in great detail if you dare ask, “How are you doing?” Their negative energy sends me running. Now, do I have a sense of humor? Yes, for sure. But I don’t tell jokes---I never can remember them. I love hearing jokes or reading them, but once I’ve laughed, they’re usually forgotten. My best novel characters have a sarcastic sense of humor. Funny how that works out. I loved Don Rickles, he was so clever and could get away with saying just about anything. Joan Rivers was another. I also love the gentle humor of Betty White. These folks make fun of reality with such skill. Keep laughing...>>>iggy |
| Do you think artists should connect with their fans via social media or leave up the wall between performer and audience? If ALL ARTISTS were exactly the same, you could have some kind of general rule about privacy or transparency. HOWEVER, no two artists are the same. Some artists are private. Their work is highly personal and perhaps emotional. You can see it (their art), admire it, buy it, but you cannot know about the person who created it. Some artists are almost totally a creation of the social media. Their image is everywhere, what they wear, who they have dinner with, the scandals, the intrigues of who their next lover will be. All of it is part of social media. And some are multi-millionaires because of this exposure. Others are just laughed at and they soon disappear. Did you notice how real news has merged into social media to the point where they are indistinguishable. Of course it’s not surprising, all of it is produced and edited and presented by the same few giant corporations. It really blurred when Facebook began featuring the news networks. Now you could say that social media is THE MEDIA of our world. Is this illusion complete enough for you? Where is the reality? >>>iggy |
| Prompt: What's the coolest thing you have ever seen in a museum? EVERYTHING IN THE LOUVRE MUSEUM IN PARIS. I especially liked the Persian and Egyptian sections since I was working on my novel, Apex Project at the time. But, all of it is amazing. We stayed in a small, hotel very nearby and went to the Louvre many times for many hours. Still never got to see everything. Certain days are free so they are very crowded. I liked the Solomon R.Guggenheim Museum in New York City. To walk down the spiral to see the continuous display of the current exhibit is not like any other museum. What a building. I also enjoyed the Versailles Palace in Paris. and the Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. The Museum of Modern Art in Tehran, Iran has an outstanding collection. The Getty Villa in Los Angeles is someplace I always remember. And you should see the Iolani Palace in Honolulu. There is not just one cool thing. There is so much art, history, culture from so many ages of man. It’s all cool. The thing is---you could go every day for the rest of your life---and never see it all! Once in your life, you should see these treasures...>>>iggy |
| How often do you look back into your life? Does it ever bother you or are you afraid to? It seems that a lot of the recent prompts have asked about our lives for one reason or another. I have no problem looking back, but find it kind of boring. You know, been there, done that? I've had so many different jobs in so many different places. And with each new opportunity, I learned something new. When I was 15 or 17 and working, I was a different person than I am now. I loved my friends and coworkers and will never forget them. And many times, I was close to the power, the top dog, but being a Virgo, I am in service of others, not myself. Those people trusted me and so I will never write about them. So the idea of looking back as part of a written, public record? Never happen. I'm not afraid of it, I cherish the memories, but they're just for me. Bits and pieces of events, locations, skills, and people show up in my books totally fictionalized. So my life, looking back is a very valuable resource. Write on...>>>iggy |
| “I am not a glutton - I am an explorer of food,” said Erma Bombeck. What are your feelings about food? How much do you love it? Or do you fear it? (Sorry, this is another rant) I believe ignorance about food is the major cause of illness and body failure. Traditional styles began with unadulterated, organic sources, which now, generations later, are processed, bleached, enhanced, possibly genetically modified---so the old grandma recipes are deadly over time. The ingredients are simply not safe to use. And unless you have your own greenhouse and farm where you control everything, including the quality of the soil and water, better rethink, regroup and start some new traditions with a lot of education and research. Just a couple examples of the extreme changes that have happened are: >>>The story is that most of the wheat, before it is harvested, is sprayed with Roundup or similar herbicide, to speed the drying. So what does that do to the bleached white flour used in so much food? >>>The common denominator between Mad Cow and Chronic Wasting Disease7 is forcing natural herbivores to eat animal parts. Confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are major warehouse-style growing facilities where animals are crowded together by the thousands, and fed a completely unnatural diet of glyphosate-containing genetically engineered (GE) grains mixed with antibiotics. That alone is a recipe for out-of-control spread of disease, both among animals and humans. >>>The food industry loves sweeteners, especially high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), as they make every type of food more palatable – from soup to bagels, ketchup to bread. As a liquid, it is also easier to blend and transport. In particular, it is used in low-fat foods, which have coincided with a rise in obesity and related illnesses. So you see, food has changed drastically. You can't eat what you used to eat with out serious consequences. If you have not educated yourself about today's food---then you should fear it. Think who benefits from sick people? How much do they spend to keep you uninformed and misinformed? You have to be very sure about what you are preparing and eating to love it! Healthy humans are very smart...>>>iggy |
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