Happy Friday (even though it's the 13th)! This is my first time participating in the #HappyFriday event from Bloglovin'. Apparently it's like the social media version of a wave. You know, the thing at stadiums with your hands in the air that anyone can start and you hope it catches on? Just post, then tweet/post the link and share the happiness. Feel free to copy the image up there - I grabbed it from the original post.
We've been challenged to list ten things that made us happy this week. Hope it's contagious!
A pontoon ride out to Bomb Island here on Lake Murray SC to check out the purple martins returning to their roost for the evening.
Shrimp tacos at Frayed Knot.
Tripping over something that was my own dang fault, doing a near faceplant, and escaping unharmed.
Replacing our co-ax wifi with the fiber optic service that's now available in our area. It's screamin' fast and less money.
Finishing the most recent editing past of my current WIP. Now on to book two!
Discovering I had one more Otra Ves in the fridge when I thought I was out.
Watching the hummingbirds go crazy over the two feeders I recently put out.
Identifying Venus, Jupiter, Scorpius, and Antares.
Finally getting some much-needed rain.
Enjoying some fireworks at the neighbors'.
Now it's your turn. What made you happy this week?
American craft beer brewing, home brewing, and brew pubs are experiencing a boom not seen since colonial times. South Carolina is a little late to the party due to some political shenanigans. Now that the laws have been adjusted, SC residents can join in the fun. We have several new breweries in Columbia, and more in the Upstate and Low Country. That doesn't count the little do-it-yourself shops that sell the supplies and teach you how to brew your own. Nor does it count the so-called 'brew pubs' (brew pubs are restaurants that also brew and sell their beers on site).
Beer is by far the biggest selling alcoholic beverage in America. It's been around literally for ages. Some scholars estimate beer's likely accidental discovery at more than 10,000 years ago. Our prehistoric ancestors liked the happy accident so much, they quickly figured out how to duplicate it. The process involved heating water and a starch product together (cereal grains or other sugar sources). Because the water was heated or boiled, the beer was healthier than plain water. Ancient man soon caught on to Water Bad, Beer Good (although it was centuries before anyone understood the connection between boiling and healthy beverages). So beer was in high demand from the get-go, found in cultures around the world from Mesopotamia to Africa to North America and everywhere in between. Prior to the availability of modern containers (bottles and cans) and transportation and refrigeration, beer was difficult to distribute before it went bad. It was enjoyed either at ancient versions of brew pubs, or brewed and consumed at home.
If you do some digging around online you will find a charming anecdote claiming beer was the reason the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. They were headed for Virginia's milder climate to make colonization easier. But the ship's crew was worried they wouldn't have enough beer to make their return trip. They didn't want to get stuck in the middle of the Atlantic without a safe drinking supply (water, water, everywhere . . . ). They kicked the Pilgrims to the curb 500 miles short of their intended destination and hightailed it back to England.
New World settlers lost little time in establishing a local source for beer. One must have one's priorities! The first documented brewery here was established in 1629 in New Amsterdam, now known as Manhattan. No doubt they did a booming business - American colonists were avid beer drinkers. When he wasn't busy founding our nation, George Washington found the time to jot down a favorite beer recipe. And if you've always wondered why independent brewing behemoth Samuel Adams beers are not named for the more presidential cousins John and John Quincy, Samuel's family was in the malt business (a key beer ingredient).
As the American population grew, so did brewing. Tastes changed as immigrants each brought their preferred methods and recipes with them from their former homes. Many different types of beers were available, again mostly locally (until Adolph Busch perfected refrigerated transport methods in the late 1800s).
Like Mother Nature herself, the American beer business evolved. The strong overtook the weak. Consolidations occurred. Prohibition laws from 1920-1933 really hurt the small breweries. After they were repealed, large brewers dominated the American market until about the 1970s. That's when we saw inklings of a resurgence in craft brewing. The market had swung too far. People missed their favorite beers that had gotten swallowed up by the big guys during Prohibition. Some decided to try making their own, and craft brewing was reborn.
Today's boom has us circling back to the days of visiting the local corner brewer to enjoy their unique offerings. The American brewing renaissance is recreating the melting pot mentality - free from hidebound tradition, experimenting in exciting new ways. Rather than taking comfort in the knowledge that one can visit most any corner store and find the exact red-and-white packaging containing precisely the same pale lager one has been drinking all their adult life, beer drinkers are more adventurous. They want a pumpkin spice lager at Halloween and a peppermint ale at Christmas and a summer wheat to knock back at the beach. Uninspiring-sounding labels like Bud and Miller are now feeling pressure from offerings like Arrogant Bastard and River Rat. Consumers have rediscovered growlers and happily stand in line to have their little brown jugs refilled with whatever suits their fancy.
I'm not ready to clear a space in the basement and buy some brewer's yeast. But I am a staunch supporter of my local brewers. If you are a beer drinker, consider sipping outside your comfort zone. Seek out your local brewers. Sample their wares. Support their efforts. It's the American way.
History nerds everywhere squirm with delight each year when of our biggest national holidays makes it cool, for 24 hours anyway, to celebrate history. Even the most history-resistant among us pretend to go along with the hubbub because it means they get a day off. So today's blog post will be all history, all the time. For at least one day out of the year, maybe the historical slant will not seem too esoteric. Ostensibly it will be to celebrate Independence Day, but we both know I am a history nerd to the core and prefer to write about it all day, every day, occasion be damned.
Thanks Wiki for the pic
On with the show: who's your favorite founding father? Such a tough call. First hurdle is to agree on who counts as a 'founding father'. For many, that picture of all of them signing the declaration is proof enough. If you're in the pic, you qualify.
Next, what qualities are we looking for? That's also a tricky one - what may be important to me may not matter at all to you. For instance, do we go with politics or military prowess? Legacy or looks? Smarts or guts? If that's too ivory tower for you, how about we go with a more tabloid approach: which of them would have been the 18th century equivalent of 'Sexiest Man Alive'? And how would that have been quantified back then - number of progeny (in or out of wedlock)? Duels won? Wig style?
You know you are a big deal when you get on the $5,000 bill (Madison)
History has already done a pretty good job of annointing this group for all the reasons I listed and a lot more. Cities, towns, schools a-plenty are named for them. Two of them have their 60-foot tall faces carved into a mound of granite in South Dakota. They're on our money, for crying out loud. So how about we decrease the pressure on ourselves of picking the GOAT and pick the one we like best, just because.
I never could warm up to Adams or Madison. Washington is such a cliche - everybody loves Number One - but I admit he did grow on me the more I learned about him. Franklin seems like the Nutty Professor of the group - plenty smart but never President, which proves the smart part, doesn't it? Hamilton had looks and smarts, but his ego did him in. I have to go with Thomas Jefferson. He has always been my favorite. Tall, sandy haired, soft-spoken. He wasn't the first prez, but he seems like the kind of guy that would have been okay with that. I can picture him holding the figurative Presidential door for George and saying, 'oh no, you first, I insist'. I suppose it is his status as a true Renaissance man that holds the most appeal for me. Like Madison and Franklin, not only was he interested in everything, he was able understand and even master just about any topic - music, language, agriculture, architecture, politics, science.
And so it was with dismay that I learned of his alleged relationship with one of his slaves, Sally Hemmings. Naturally the owning of slaves is certainly a disappointment, ditto most of the other Founding Fathers. When DNA testing indicated Jefferson or a close relative likely fathered children with Sally, well, just when you thought owning slaves couldn't get any more distasteful . . .
I haven't seen the recent film about them. I have wondered if their relationship was a master/slave cliche (overbearing white guy forcing himself on helpless but attractive slave girl), or whether it was more a typical midlife crisis scenario (older guy cheating on his wife with a pretty young woman with whom he is in close proximity on a regular basis). No one will ever know. But it does go a long way toward humanizing Jefferson and all the other guys on our money because all the guys on our money have similar stories about them making some bad decisions. Hamilton pissed off Aaron Burr and got himself killed in a duel. Washington went to great lengths to avoid having his favorite chef, his slave Hercules, benefit from the capitol city's antislavery laws. Ben Franklin's first child was born out of wedlock; mother unknown.
Sure, they were the smartest guys in the room in that picture up there. But they were human. They did some dumb things, too. That's what makes history interesting.
Recently I read a useful article about maximizing your writing time. The information was excellent. But what interested me more was that it was yet another example of a skilled writer putting a new spin on an evergreen topic.
photo by Seth Macey via Unsplash
How many articles do you suppose are out there on the topic of writing habits? I Googled 'writing habits' and got 80,800,000 results. Eighty. Million. Now before you decide this topic has been done to death and move on to writing about The Mating Habits of the Female Chartreuse Banded Whelk Nipper, consider this: 80 million writers can't be wrong. That indicates strong demand, strong interest. So what difference can your article make among those millions? YOU. YOU are the difference. You are writing, let's be honest, an article that will probably have some elements of a re-hash. But you will be writing it with your own unique spin, and that's why we need 80,800,001 of these articles. You never know when your article will be the one that makes a difference to one reader out there who just hasn't been grabbed by that topic yet.
The article I mentioned earlier chose to link the topic of writing habits with sports. Specifically, the BSD college sports teams in her hometown, Michigan State University. Now this I didn't Google, but I am willing to bet there aren't many writing articles with an MSU frame.
Examine that article and you will see the scaffolding behind the structure.
Start strong - craft a good quality intro. "Tell 'em what you're gonna tell 'em".
"Tell 'em": Select the foundation - for our purposes, let's use the ironclad writing rule of three distinct elements of your topic; in this case, writing habits.
Select the style - three more elements from the mash-up topic. My gut feeling is the article will be improved if you have some personal connection to the mash-up topic, but choose anything you think is a good fit. Often, the elements you have selected for your foundation topic will suggest elements from the mash-up topic. See example below.
Link each pair in three well-organized bullet points or paragraphs.
Finish with a wrap-up. "Tell 'em what you just told 'em".
Add a pertinent graphic if you like.
To recap: evergreen topic + personal touch + structure = Success! There's your article, unique and ready to push Publish.
Let's put this plan into action with two completely random topics, just to show how it works. How about Good Driving Habits (our evergreen topic) and Pizza (something close to my heart).
Main topic: Good Driving Habits
Our three main points are:
Be aware of other drivers
Keep your vehicle in good, safe operating condition
Make responsible choices
Mash-up topic (the topic that makes our evergreen article unique): Pizza
Our three Pizza points are driven by the points we chose for our main topic, to wit:
Our first driving point is 'be aware':
If you enjoy pizza as much as I do, you probably take pains to familiarize yourself with the pizzas offered in your area. You don't want to end up hugging the toilet because you couldn't be bothered to Yelp and find out that kitschy joint across the street has been closed by the health department three different times. Likewise, learn the likely driving behaviors on your regular routes. If you pass near a high school, what time does school get out? AVOID. Do you live in Florida? If you cannot see the driver's head over the front seat head rest, prepare for slow travel and even slower right-hand turns into retail strips, especially if it is time for the Early Bird Special at the local Chinese buffet.
2nd point 'vehicle maintenance':
Quality pizzerias keep their kitchens clean and their ovens safe. No one wants to be featured on the evening news with the photo of the cockroach as one of the accidental toppings. Follow their example. Commit to performing simple car maintenance tasks that will save you heartache in the long run. No one wants to be featured on the evening news when their car fire causes four lanes to be shut down during Labor Day weekend rush hour.
3rd point 'responsible choices':
Pizza lovers enjoy their pizza, but we know our limitations. No matter how tempting, if you are on cholesterol meds, just say no to the extra large all-meat supreme. Similarly, do not operate a two ton vehicle at freeway speeds if you are planning on enjoying adult beverages beforehand. Both choices may seem harmless until the EMT holds those paddles over your bare chest and yells 'CLEAR!'.
Easy-peasy. Add a snappy intro and outro and voila! you've got the thin-crust-black-olive-and-onion of evergreen articles, fresh out of the creative oven. Can't wait to see what you cook up next!
I was amused by a recent article speculating on the popularity of yoga pants far outstripping the popularity of yoga. Apparently people are eschewing the expense and effort of actually taking a yoga class, opting to just wear the yoga outfit instead. Why didn't I think of that??
It's about time a women's clothing fad is something that is both comfortable and has a reasonable expectation to be flattering on most. Farewell, stripper platform heels! Sayonara, overalls and flannel shirts! Bring on the leggings and ballet flats! And what's all this squawk about the dreaded 'camel toe'? If you ask me, it's a small price to pay for comfort. The current women's athletic wear industry is a godsend, with its stretchy yet firming miracle fabrics and built-in shelf bras. 'Twas not always so. We've come a long way, baby.
Improving and maintaining one's health through physical activity has been around since the Greeks jogged up the steps of the Parthenon. Those nice ladies pictured below playing beach volleyball notwithstanding, exercising for health was directed more towards the gents until gender equality arrived on the scene 2500 years later. Around the turn of the 20th century in the U.S., two activities in particular resulted in women becoming more active and therefore needing a wardrobe update: bicycling and basketball.
Early bicycle manufacturers were so considerate to design a model that allowed women to keep their legs together.
Nowadays, keeping their legs together is the least of this team's worries.
The Colombian women's bicycling team. They must have held an 'Ugliest Uniform Design' contest. Winner!
A century ago, women were lucky to be allowed out unaccompanied and let the sun touch their delicate complexions. It was too much to ask that they be allowed to wear comfortable clothing as well. Heaven forfend any ankles might show.
Girls playing tennis at what would become Texas Women's University, Denton, ca 1904. Source: SMU digital collection.
Tennis togs have lightened up considerably since then.
JK - this is not an actual tennis outfit. Model Bar Refaeli has a new lingerie line. Why she is wearing it on court is a mystery to me.
Golf has always been a big ask for women, both for its misogyny and its [lack of] fashion sense. I can confirm the game's reputation for being misogynistic. I once had a lesson from a pro who stated I would never develop a quality golf swing because I was too, ahem, well-endowed. Looking at these outfits, I'm not sure what would get in the way the most - the boobs or the skirt.
Nowadays the view is definitely better, but golf clothes still have a ways to go IMO.
The widest swing of the athletic fashion pendulum has to be women's swimwear. Bikinis were all the rage in ancient Rome. Too bad the fad got lost in the shuffle until 1946.
In the early years of recreational swimming, one risked literal drowning by being weighed down in these hideous outfits to avoid risking personal shame by swimming in something more comfortable.
Thanks to a fabric shortage during World War II and an enterprising French designer, we no longer have to swim in our pajamas. However, there were some bumps along the road. The Chicago police department, among others, had a hard time adjusting to the new paradigm. Swimsuit Patrol had to be the most popular beat at the station!
Exercise for fitness has cycled in and out of popularity since the days of laurel wreaths and togas. The most recent wave has surged forward to compete with our hundred-year obsession with American team sports. It it too much to hope more modest exercise fashions will cycle back as well? I was all for the less-is-more fashion philosophy until I reached middle age. Now the last thing I need is athletic wear that exposes the sun damage/wrinkle/cellulite-inducing sins of my past. If I don't push away from the keyboard and get some exercise, I'm gonna wish tennis skirts still covered the ankles. Time to put on my yoga pants and watch a yoga video.
Here in the south, it's that fun time of year when spring thunderstorms overlap hurricane season. Whenever a storm passes through and we emerge unscathed, one of my first thoughts is: hurray - the power didn't go out!
I can handle rough weather as long as I still have running water (we're on a well) and an Internet signal. Some day I may write a horror story based on a power outage. There is nothing so terrifying as punching the buttons on the microwave and nothing happens. Well, maybe one other thing: opening the fridge and no light comes on.
I'm not going to pretend I understand the science here. But I have a good grasp of the publicity war these two birds engaged in. Both men were desperate to have their own technology perceived as the best, safest means of distributing electricity. In 1889 the Niagara Falls Power Commission (NFPC) was established to evaluate and select one for use at their plant. The NFPC was composed of experts in the field, and supported by wealth entrepreneurs who had a keen interest in the outcome. Whatever was chosen would likely be the foundation of the American electricity industry. Edison and his company, General Electric, held many patents on the DC (direct current) technology. The pressure was enormous to have DC selected. If a different technology such as Westinghouse's AC (alternating current) prevailed, obviously Edison would stand to lose money as well as prestige.
I wonder how this 'current war' would have played in the age of Facebook and Twitter. It was actually gruesome enough without the complication of Internet technology. Edison's main method of trolling Westinghouse was to paint AC power as dangerous. He documented the use of AC power to kill animals and even humans via electric chair. Let that sink in for a minute: He paid a guy to build and use an AC-powered electric chair at a New York prison to demonstrate how dangerous Westinghouse's product was.
I have a feeling Edison's antics backfired. The NFPC was not swayed by his tactics. As the Current Wars raged, the technology for safely transmitting and distributing AC power improved. Eventually AC proved to be easier, cheaper and safer to transmit and distribute over long distances. Westinghouse was awarded the NFPC contract in 1893. Edison and General Electric threw in the towel and made the switch, devoting their energies to AC research as well as DC. They did pretty well for themselves, didn't they? Both companies are still alive and kickin' even as we speak.
Edison may have been ruthless. He may have been an elephant-electrocuting creep. But he was also a genius, some say the Steve Jobs of his day, and the inventor of the little miracle that comes on every time I open the fridge (at least when we have power).
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, I hope you'll take a minute and subscribe to my email list.
Unless you are under age 2 or over age 50 and just don't give a flip unless James Bond is in it, you've heard the Marvel Avengers blockbuster franchise has another movie coming out soon.
Macnee and Rigg doing what they did best
BTW I'm of an age that when I hear 'Avengers', my first thought is of the 1960s British TV spy-themed show starring the marvelous Diana Rigg. The sexy, stylish Rigg teamed with dapper Patrick Macnee, protecting Queen and country from all sorts of nefarious mayhem.
Marvel's Avengers is something quite different - a group of superheroes banding together to fight evil (when one superhero just isn't enough). Marvel noted the success of this team concept by their competitors at DC Comics and jumped on the bandwagon with their comic book version in 1963.
After pondering on Marvel's Avengers and their various abilities, I realized I also have a team of friends with superpowers. I suppose that makes them Super Friends. I don't know a lot about superheroes, but I do know this: they like to conceal their true identities. So I will extend my Super Friends the same courtesy and refer to them by fancy nicknames. I'll throw you a bone and give you one hint about who they are: unlike most comics/movies in this genre, all of my Super Friends are women.
The White Glove - Her house sparkles. Every room is immaculate and furnished perfectly. I often send her interior design pictures out of Southern Living as proof that she has already done that room better. Think of her as the love child of Martha Stewart and MacGyver. The White Glove can create a chic tablescape (yes, that is a thing) out of nothing but the contents of my recycling bin and a hot glue gun that makes anything on HGTV look like, well, like it came out of my recycling bin.
Dig It - The mistress of anything with roots. She needs a ladder to harvest her tomato plants. Last summer, she gave me some collard greens so large I had to rinse them off in the swimming pool. Her cut flower garden (which she planted by accident when a packet of seeds blew out of her shopping bag) has taken over a quarter mile-long strip of common area in her neighborhood. It looks like the poppy field scene from the Wizard of Oz.
Vogue - She looks good in everything. Everything looks good on her. She's the only person I know who can wear yoga pants, Crocs, plaid lumberjack shirts, and cat-eye eyeliner, ALL AT ONCE, and not look like an Egyptian redneck escaped from a minimum security prison in Dubuque. One year we decided to wear the same costumes for Halloween. No one had any trouble identifying her as Buttercup from The Princess Bride. Everyone thought I was Carol Kane's character.
Hella Prep - Recently I wanted to try a new recipe that only had two main ingredients: zucchini and Parmesan. And of course when I went to fix dinner that night, I had no Parmesan. This never happens to Hella Prep. Her pantry is always fully stocked. When she grocery shops, she always gets home with everything that was on her list (unlike myself, who either 1) leaves the list at home, or 2) creates a great list, then leaves the list in the car). She rarely runs out of anything, but if she does, knows how to make a substitution. I once saw her feed a spur-of-the-moment GNO with some Key Lime yogurt, a half a box of All Bran, and a Vitamix.
InstaFriend - People LOVE her. Like they love their pets, or their kids, or their best bra. She never meets a stranger. Spend 90 seconds with her and you'll fire-walk across traffic at rush hour in midtown Manhattan and spread-eagle at the curb to save her a parking space. People send her flowers if she's under the weather. They bring her warm homemade cookies for no reason at all. The only warm cookies I get are the ones I buy myself, that fall out of the bag, wedge themselves into the driver's seat, and I unwittingly sit on them all the way home. Usually in white pants.
These people really do exist!
Ms. Olympic - is good at every athletic endeavor. She shot under 100 the first time she ever played golf, even though she kept confusing the driver with the fairway woods (who doesn't?) and played in her flip-flops. Her first time bowling was as a chaperone for her daughter's 4th grade class party. She bowled over 200, and her score was only that low because she couldn't decide if she wanted to bowl righty or lefty. Even though she always wins, she's so modest and self-deprecating and genuinely delighted with her unanticipated success, you can't be mad at her - because you definitely always want her on your team.
It wasn't easy divining who among my friends harbors these Super Skills. They don't like to talk about it, natch, although they probably discuss it among themselves, far from the prying ears of mere mortals. If you observe carefully, you may find impressive powers hidden among your nearest and dearest. Currently, I'm keeping a close eye on another possible addition to this list. She has the most amazing ability to talk her husband into just about anything. I think I'll call her the Spouse Whisperer.
Someone's clever idea for recycling tattered hardcovers into unique bookmarks
Lord knows I love me some Internet. But torrents of information contained on web pages stretching into infinity make me feel a little anxious, like when I walk into an overcrowded flea market and have a compelling urge to turn around and walk back out again. The only way I can survive such a shopping excursion is to have a plan. If I go in without a plan, after 90 seconds my eyeballs start doing that cartoon black-and-white spinning spiral thing, possibly with sparks shooting out. At least if I have a plan, the blinders are on (Frankoma Aztec Desert Gold, Frankoma Aztec Desert Gold), and I have a chance of surviving the outing.
I employ a similar strategy in overcoming information overload anxiety (IOA) while surfing the 'net. But instead of a rhythmic chant, I impose order using bookmarking technology. Between the basic technology of Google Chrome's bookmark feature and apps like Evernote, my stuff will be there ready and waiting for me to use it whenever called upon.
And therein lies the rub. Bookmarking is too easy. Click, click, click, and before I know it, I'm featured on a technology version of Hoarders. That stupendous mound of info lies there like Smaug's treasure, serving not to enrich my writing career as intended, but as a glorified prop for my writing tuchus. I can loll about on my info pile, pointing to it and saying 'Look! See what I did? I bookmarked all this stuff!' But guess what: it's not worth anything if I never use it!
At last I have reached a point in my current writing project where I am going to try something new: I'm going to spend some of my information hoard. I'm going to dig through my writing bookmarks in the Character and also the Plot folders, and apply that glorious info to my current manuscript as part of the editing process. I've already gone through and checked the copyediting stuff - spelling, grammar, moving scenes around, and so forth. Now it's time for some polishing. Using these bookmarked articles as my guide, I'm going to go through them one by one and use them to improve my story.
As of today, I have nineteen articles bookmarked in my Character folder. Here's the cream of the crop:
Creating Stunning Character Arcs from K.M Weiland. This is a multi-part series, including this one on wants (the lie) vs. needs (the truth). "The lie your character believes is the reason for all character arcs."
Crafting Interesting Characters by Karen Woodward. "First impressions count. When your character comes onto the page for the first time take the opportunity to do something characteristic, unique and memorable."
Secondary Characters With Their Own Needs by C. S. Lakin. "Every character needs a core need, a deep fear, and a lie they believe about themselves and their world."
My bookmark collection is evolving constantly. What have I overlooked? Send more, please!
I about blew a gasket when I learned some morons painted over a mural by artist Blue Skyon a building in downtown Columbia, SC. It was a cat mural. My daughter loves cats. During her one of her visits, we made the block, parked illegally, and ticked off our driver (my husband) just so we could stop and take a picture of it. And now I'm glad we did.
RIP Adopt a Kat Mural 🙁
Now, these weren't your garden-variety morons (teenage vandals armed with spray paint). Nope, the mural was painted over on purpose by the actual owners of the building. That is a whole 'nother level of moron. I can't help but wonder (in very colorful language NSFW) what they were thinking. The building is nothing special. In fact, the mural was the best thing about it. I'm glad I didn't happen by while they were painting - I likely would've wrecked the car. Small chance of that happening, anyway. They probably did it in the wee hours when most unsavory and objectionable activities occur, the better to go undetected. Unless this is some type of weird performance art and they are planning to have Blue Sky re-paint the entire thing as part of a documentary, this whimsical mural is likely lost forever.
This got me thinking about other stomach-churning stupidities resulting in lost art, like the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan in 2001 by the erudite aesthetes otherwise known as the Afghanistan Taliban. The two statues were hundreds of feet tall, carved in the 6th century AD into the native sandstone cliffs 140 miles
That gaping hole is where the larger Buddha used to be. Photo from dawn.com.
northwest of Kabul. The Taliban had their reasons, of course - don't they always? - but couldn't they come up with a more relevant activity to advance their cause? The Taliban destroying ancient art to make a political point makes about as much sense as the teenager who punches a hole in the sheetrock because his driving privileges have been suspended. He feels better at first (until the swelling kicks in) but the hole mocks him every time he passes by, and he ends up spending a lot more time and money making it right PLUS doubles the driving suspension, so. . . . how's that workin' for ya?
All that sandstone puts me in mind of another brain trust: (now former) members
Photo from MoronsRUs.com - er, I mean natureworldnews.com
of the Boy Scouts of America who topped a 200-million-year-old rock formation in Goblin Valley State Park in Utah. And of course video'd themselves doing it. I can just imagine one of them saying, 'hey - watch this!' before the big moment.
Sadly, I could go on and on. Just Google art, monuments, vandalism, deliberate destruction - gah. Very distressed regarding the number of hits on these searches
. What is wrong with people? Imagine how much great publicity (and possibly even broad-based pop culture support) they could garner by destroying something ugly or meaningless, like early model Yugos or the CNN news archives? Until they figure this out, I'm speeding up the bucket list process. Already too late to visit the old Yankees Stadium (RIP 1923-2010) and Peachtree Rock (RIP 150,000BC-2013). Attention, morons: steer clear of the Taj Mahal and the pyramids until I can get there with my Instagram app.
A recent combination of computer problems and writerly procrastination resulted in my focusing my attention on a long-overdue project: cleaning out the spare bedroom that had become a de facto storage locker. I girded my loins and made a run at the two plastic storage bins containing my 'writing' files. These are neatly labeled folders containing printouts and magazine clippings on a variety of writing topics that I once considered potentially useful for future writing endeavors. I sat down with a pile of folders and started going through them bit by bit, the old Keep Or Toss game in full bloom. It quickly turned into a game of WTF???
Ninety seconds in, I felt like I had entered a time machine and was back in the pre-Internet, pre-cell phone era when a personal computer cost $10,000 and took up more desktop space than a microwave oven. Thank goodness for bookmarks, Evernote, Diigolet, Scoop.it, etc. I mean, who clips newspaper or magazine articles anymore? (for you youngsters out there, I am using the verb 'clip' here in a historical sense: physically cutting out paper articles with scissors). The articles I had clipped were yellowing. Some were missing pages. Most were stained (probably tea). The most amusing moment: discovering an article called "How to Write a Poem" by Lawrence Jay Dessner. It was printed on fanfold paper via dot matrix printer. I am tempted to keep it for historical value as the paper, the printer, and my interest in writing poetry are all nearing extinction.
The Keep Or Toss game was astonishingly simple for some topics. Anything on finding an agent, cover letters, query letters, etc. went directly into the circular file. With the evolution of the self-publishing industry, who cares about that stuff anymore? Not me!
Jeffery Zbar's article on marketing (written in 2000) encouraged writers to maintain their Rolodex, whether the original or the newfangled 'contact management software'. Other suggestions included top quality stationery for sending invoices, cover letters, query letters, etc. He also suggested we be aware of the least expensive times to make phone calls (it used to be Friday).
One article by J. A. Konrath dated 2007 mentioned MySpace in the same breath as YouTube and Wikipedia as the up-and-coming web presence. No mention of Facebook or Twitter. Another marketing article emphasized the '100-mile circle' as key for making grass-roots marketing efforts. That sounds laughably provincial, doesn't it? 1000 contacts on Facebook or Twitter, maybe. 100 miles? I've driven farther than that to get shoes on sale.
I was doubly amused to see how many resources I kept on such a wide variety of writing genres. It was obvious I had not quite settled on one yet. So the articles on children's picture books and the aforementioned poetry got the heave-ho. A woman's gotta know her limitations.
On the flip side, some things are eerily unchanged more than ten years on, like the article on having a good 'elevator speech' to pitch your story. Ditto on
an article on clips, although they are delivered electronically rather than on 24 lb. bond paper via US Mail. Youngsters, this definition of 'clips' refers to samples of your work.
Robert Bly's article on setting financial goals for freelancing is still sensibly on target.
Writer's Digest's '5 Hot Markets' in 2000: Baby Boomers, health, entertainment and travel, money and retirement, family matters, and essays and humor. No mention of vampires or zombies, however.
The article on 'marketing savvy' by Marcia Yudkin is sound in theory, but is fatally handicapped by the omission of the role of social networking, which of course did not exist when she wrote this in 2002.
John Borchardt's article on making a good first impression (in person, at a writing conference) still works for the purists who still insist on making first impressions in person.
I only made a small dent in the writing file archive. But this first session has made me eternally thankful. I am thankful for cell phones, so I don't have to research when is the cheapest time to make calls (or ever call anyone again as long as I live, thanks to texts and email). I'm thrilled I no longer have to fret over agents and publishers and query letters. I'm thankful I no longer have to physically clip articles and store them away in desiccated file folders, never to be seen again - I can ignore my electronic bookmarks just as easily. I am ever so glad for the Internet, even though it sometimes tempts me away from writing priorities. All I have to do now, is write.
Being thankful for power puts me in mind of a 
fery Zbar's article on marketing (written in 2000) encouraged writers to maintain their Rolodex, whether the original or the newfangled 'contact management software'. Other suggestions included top quality stationery for sending invoices, cover letters, query letters, etc. He also suggested we be aware of the least expensive times to make phone calls (it used to be Friday).