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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 But the energy that goes for that purpose cannot be withdrawn.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.  |
Blog City Prompt: What is your formula of sticking to New Year's resolutions or any other promises to yourself, after making them? My first real resolution was way back in about 1970 when I decided to STOP SMOKING. I was up to a pack a day of Malboros. I also realized I could not stop without STOPPING THE DRINKS. Every time I had a drink served at a bar with friends, I had to have a cigarette. The craving is incredible. The alcohol weakened my resolve, so cold turkey (as they say) I stopped. It was the hardest thing I have ever done. Talk about cutting off your social life. I think I was rather antisocial for a while and didn't go out much. I did a ten-day fast that really helped clear out my system and reinforce my belief in my self discipline. Going without food and only having water was easier than the stopping smoking. I did it and never went back. I can handle a glass of wine occasionally. Cigarette smoke bothers me a lot. I am the child of an alcoholic and my step-mom died from lung cancer. I have personal experience of those effects. Working in the movie industry, I was surrounded by smokers. It is a personal thing and one can't judge or say much. Just take care of yourself. I think the early discipline as a dancer and the daily classes, then teaching gave me a life-long sense of responsibility to self. Now as a writer, all I have to do is sit down and write. Sometimes that's a minor hurdle. All I can say is..."Write on!" Peace>>>iggy  Happy New Year everyone! ** Image ID #1264233 Unavailable **   |
Blog City Prompt: "Sometimes, if you aren't sure about something, you have to jump off the bridge and grow wings on your way down." Danielle Steel, What is your take on this? Take a chance.The risk is usually about personal ego. What will they think? What will I look like? What if they don't like it? It goes on and on. But what if you try it...and you like it? What if you get a nice rejection letter and you learn something? What if your work gets accepted! You'll never know if you don't jump off the bridge. The wings are up to you. Peace...>>>iggy ** Image ID #1264233 Unavailable ** |
Prompt: About the strangers you meet every day, in the supermarket, while shopping, on the road, etc. How do their offhand words, random gestures, or thoughtful or thoughtless actions affect your mood (or someone else's)? OK, inside the marina, where I live, EVERYONE is friendly and I'm greeted always, no matter what time of day. We have a fairly balanced mix of Hispanic, Mayan, Black, and a minority of White with four languages going. Outside in Belize City, as I am white and blonde and old, I get many beggars and street hustlers. To the majority black population any white person is a rich tourist and a potential source of income. Inside the shops and stores there is a general indifference about service. Of course, there are a few restaurants & shops with excellent, friendly service. I guess it is the usual problem with concentrated population in a city with very unequal incomes and opportunities. Sad to experience. Beyond the city, almost all the towns are Hispanic and Mayan. They are friendly, warm, hospitable folk for the most part. In the north around Corozal there are many 'Gringos' who have settled for good in Belize and are integrated into the communities. Many own and operate resorts and tourist facilities. At the border there is a 'free zone' with casinos and many stores. Those areas are another world from Belize City. I have many friends up there. Compared to New York , Los Angeles, or Tehran, the people in Central America are much more open and friendly. To greet a stranger along the road is not unusual or threatening as it is in the big cities. Which is why I live in Belize and love it. Happiness is being at ease with your environment... >>>iggy ** Image ID #1264233 Unavailable ** |
Blog City Prompt: Do you think we have the right to peek into personal letters of poets and writers after they are dead, even if they have indicated inside those letters that they don't want others to see them? For example, check this letter by Emily Dickinson. I miss my biggest heart - Letter by Emily Dickinson. This letter is painfully personal written for the eyes of one person. It's a glimpse into the heart of a much-admired poet whose talent and words are inspiring. However, it is an intrusion into her privacy. I'm not sure where the line should be drawn. Archeologists unearth anything and everything on past cultures and it is included as part of human history on Earth. How many generations should pass before the individuals personal communications are made public? In our real world of today, everything that an individual says in a phone conversation, an email, a tweet, and sometimes a posted letter in the mail---IS RECORDED AND READ by one of the many security agencies in many countries. And by their own admission. High speed computers sift through the unbelievable mass of daily communications to find 'red-flag words' that can trigger a closer examination. Some individuals are constantly monitored for every word. Privacy is limited to a handwritten letter hand delivered directly to the person receiving. And then it possibly is not private if they read it aloud, but it goes up in smoke when they burn it. Think about how little kids are conditioned to the idea of being watched by Santa Claus and maybe a few elves. They just grow up to being watched by the NSA. In these days, privacy is an illusion. How different for Emily and her friend who enjoyed amazing privacy during their lifetime. I envy them. As Emily says: A word is dead when it is said, some say. I say it just begins to live that day. She didn't know how true that is now! >>>iggy ** Image ID #1264233 Unavailable ** |
How do you feel about home-made gifts? Do you make them yourself? Go to craft-fairs? Or do you prefer store bought gifts only? I have always made my own gifts. Many years I've done small watercolor paintings, framed as gifts. And happily see them displayed at friend's homes. Some years I did paper flowers, and a few times a white fruitcake. Retirement and limited income now it becomes a newsletter with heartfelt greetings, emailed of course. Some photos go on Facebook, and those are appreciated. The driven themes of consumerism that wipes away all the original reasons for the Christmas celebration, I find depressing. The music and songs are forced into our brains 24/7 if we're outside or have the television or radio on. My ultimate vision (remembered) of this holiday is attending midnight high mass at St.Patrick's cathedral on Christmas Eve in New York City. The pagentry and music were so amazing. That was back in the days they still used the Latin language. Peace...>>>iggy ** Image ID #1264233 Unavailable ** |
Blog City Prompt: Have you ever visited a place that remains in your consciousness, long after you left? Was it the people? The architecture? I have two. The first is the ruins of the ancient city of Persepolis. I've visited the site many times, spending days studying the massive stone work---the walls with intricate carving, the high columns, stairways with hundreds of figures, and the grand doorway arches. Mostly carved from grey limestone, the palaces were started about 518 BC with work continuing for several hundred years. I know there are many other ancient sites, but this one I had access to and it impressed me. The scale of everything is beyond human size, meant to impress. When Alexander the Great discovered the city in 330 BC, it was the capital of the Persian Empire. Because the Persian army had burned the Greek city of Athens in 480 BC, Alexander burned, looted, and destroyed Persepolis in retribution. Only the stone remains plus the tombs high above, carved into the mountain face. Persepolis is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979. It is located about 80 miles from the city of Shiraz, Iran. The second is the old city of Bam in Iran. Built almost entirely out of mud adobe, the city is a major location in my soon to be completed novel, Apex Project. It is another site I've been visiting since about 1974. It the fortress and palace had been restored beautifully only to be destroyed by a massive earthquake. Now the restoration work is about two-thirds completed. There is one photo in my portfolio. "Invalid Item"  In both cases it was the architecture that attracted me. I only spent one day, but Pompei in Italy was pretty cool. And now in Belize there are uncounted Mayan sites to explore. I love all this stuff...>>>iggy ** Image ID #1264233 Unavailable ** |
Prompt: Was Christmas more fun as a child or is it more fun as an adult? My parent's generation are all past on. However I have wonderful memories of those huge, home-made dinners, Christmas trees, gifts, music, and snow. My generation, of which I am the youngest, are scattered all over the world. (and gettng very old) I still have contact with a few 2nd and 3rd cousins. Growing up in the late 30's and early 40's, which included WWII, were a time of great stress for my parents. But the few carefully budgeted gifts I received, Christmas time was the best part of the year. A wooden box of oranges would come, each fruit wrapped in tissue paper. My piano teacher did a Christmas recital every year so we all had to learn and play carols. I learned 'White Christmas". I remember getting socks, maybe one toy, and several books. Mostly it was going for dinner at my Aunt Nettie's. Her house was big enough to hold all the relatives. That's when my Grandparents, Great Aunt and Uncles were still alive. I was part of the 4th generation. Those were the best of times. Everything home made, the turkey and all the trimmings came right out of my Aunt's farm. I used to stand on the fence and let the sheep and calves lick my shoes and climb the big Cottonwood tree followed by the flock of turkeys. I would call that, "The America of Memory." Peace...>>>iggy ** Image ID #1264233 Unavailable ** |
Prompt: A second Royal Baby will soon be joining the Windsors in England. Would you rather be an heir to the throne or an off the hook sibling? The romanticized royalness of the British elite from an American point of view, is totally created by the media. The reality is probably most different and not nearly as perfect and glossy. In the news today is this item: The University of Leicester has studied the DNA of Richard III and found that there could be a break in the royal bloodline. Scientists were intrigued to find the DNA did not match, suggesting a 'non-paternity event' somewhere between Edward III and his descendants. Someone was illegitimate. The politics and intrigues are piled one upon the other until there is no true reality, only an accepted consensus. However, my personal belief is that Diana and her two sons are more 'royal' than Charles and his second wife. I admire Harry because he's off the hook and behaves mostly in a very warm and compassionate style like his mother. I wonder how long this idea of monarchy will endure in these unsettled times. Where I am in Belize, did you know that Queen Elizabeth's face is on all the currency and coins? Somehow the dregs of the British Empire are still present in many, many parts of this world. Happy in the Caribbean, far from the drama of the Royals...>>>iggy ** Image ID #1264233 Unavailable ** |
Prompt: How do you think a hostage negotiator would go about talking to the hostage takers? The prompt about a hostage negotiator is really a prompt for a short story or flash story. I can't blog unless I've been there and done that. Fortunately I haven't. We have so much real world negotiations and devastated families dealing with the beheading videos and executions of hostages with the situation in Iraq and Syria. It is too intense to consider speculation about what a negotiator might say. Especially with the possibility of the Torture Report being released today. For me, the reality and the illusions crash together into an impossible tangle. There is too much in the news today to calmly write. I return to my science fiction...>>>iggy ** Image ID #1264233 Unavailable ** |
Blog City Prompt: In movies and fiction, cartoonish heroes and characters such as Rambo, Batman, Indiana Jones, Wonder Woman and The Warrior Princess Zena charm the audiences. Why do you think is this popularity of cartoonish heroes, and why are they so loved in popular culture? Well, think about it. Our real world hero's are WHO? A few sports figures have avoided corruption, but with the huge salaries they are paid, the temtations are all around them. And the political leaders? Honest and transparent are an unknown for almost all. International figures as heroes are even more rare. The cartoonish heroes are presented as physically ideal, and expressing character traits of honesty, compassion, using their powers for the protection and rescue of the threatened ordinary persons. They fight crime and corruption the way we wish real heroes could oppose the wrongs of the world. As our heroes, the cartoon figures represent the ideal that does not exist in our very uncomfortable societies. The mass media has tried again and again to create and promote living heroic figures that never live up to the hype and promises. I'm not naming names.You know that feeling of disappointment when a once-admired person moves onto the very long list of faded heroes. On the other hand...If a person begins to present true heroic qualities, they are identified as a threat to the status quo. The negative press and gossip will begin to overwhelm the minds of the public. Those potential heroes are soon diminished and another more glossy, fake one takes their place. We've all seen it happen. I think it takes an enormous amount of belief, faith, and aggressive support to sustain a hero in 2014-15. Listen to the silence...>>>iggy ** Image ID #1264233 Unavailable ** |
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