"It has always been a marvel to me--that French language; it has always been a puzzle to me. How beautiful that language is! How expressive it seems to be! How full of grace it is! And when it comes from lips like those, how eloquent and how limpid it is! And, oh, I am always deceived--I always think I am going to understand it."

"I heard a Californian student say, in one of his calmest moods, that he would rather decline two drinks than one German adjective."

"They spell it "Vinci" and pronounce it "Vinchy". Foreigners always spell better than they pronounce."

"In Paris they just simply opened their eyes and stared when we spoke to them in French! We never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language."

"Whenever the literary German dives into a sentence, that is the last you are going to see of him until he emerges on the other side of his Atlantic with his verb in his mouth."

Part IV

Travel Information Provided by

GamblingResort.com

GamblingResort.com visits gambling destinations on occasion so as to provide visitors with timely travel and casino information. The crew of GamblingResort.com recently traveled to Reno, Carson City and Virginia City, Nevada, to explore the many dimensions of these historical places. 

Carson City has a long and colorful history. It has been the capital of the Nevada Territory since it was established in 1861 during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. Statehood came quickly, only three years later in 1864, as the Civil War raged on, and the city has remained as the capital throughout.

The population of the town has ebbed and flowed over the years. The boom and bust days of mining activity in nearby Virginia City and other towns, the construction and re-routing of various railroad transit points have contributed to major population swings.

To visit Carson City and Virginia City is to step back in time. The story now continues from Part III:

Carson City became a major freight and staging area for all the mining activity in Virginia City, in the 1860’s and 1870’s, with the help of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, the V & T. Timber harvested in the Lake Tahoe basin became finished lumber here that ultimately helped to stabilize the mines in Virginia City and other mining towns.

Lumber was an essential component in the underground mines of Virginia City. Since collapsing mine shafts were a major killer of miners, a method had to be developed to protect the miner from the ever increasing problem of collapsing walls as the miners dug deeper into the mountain in pursuit of a vein of silver that turned out to be a half mile wide and seven miles long.

A mining engineer from Germany, Philip Deidesheimer, studied the problem and developed a method whereby notched timbers were interlocked into the shape of a honeycomb that allowed miners to go deeper and deeper into the mine without fear of the walls caving in around them. 

This strategy, called the “Square Set” was soon duplicated in mines all over the world. Over time, some 750 miles of tunnels were dug beneath Virginia City with the help of the “Square Set.” 500 million dollars worth of silver was ultimately hauled out of the Comstock. That represents several billion dollars in today’s terms.

Miners came to the area in the 1850’s in pursuit of gold. But they were plagued by conditions that were less than desirable. A blue sticky mud clung to their boots, to their tools and to their wagons. This gluey concoction made mining for a gold a miserable endeavor.

This mud, however, had a metallic sheen to it, as seen in the wheel tracks left by the wagons.

A sample of this glop was hauled over the mountains to an assayer’s office in Grass Valley in California for analysis. The suspicions of the miners proved correct. This mud was worth a fortune. It held some $2,000 worth of silver per ton of mud. Word finally got out and Virginia City would never look back.

Henry Comstock, a drifter and miner, sold for $11,000 his questionably obtained 1/3 interest in the Ophir Mine here, which was to become the largest silver mine in the world. Mining claims were bought and sold and investors from San Francisco like George Hearst made fortunes that helped to fuel the building of that city on the Bay.

At its peak, some 30,000 persons made Virginia City home. The gambling halls and saloons along “C” Street became the center of the universe for a time. Virginia City was raucous, energetic, dangerous, crowded, and populated by a rogue’s gallery of outlaws, drifters and hustlers. Still others who came to town were well intentioned.

So many eked out a difficult living as laborers in the mines, in harsh conditions, for two or three dollars a day, while others gambled and drank the hours away to no good end. A drink in the saloon was a welcomed thing. The temperatures in the mine increased by five degrees for every hundred feet decline. At 2,000 feet below the surface, the temperature was 130 degrees Fahrenheit. Water flooded these mines as well and had to be pumped out while the tools became too hot to even handle.

A witness to the activities inside both the mines and saloons was a gentleman from Missouri named Samuel Clemens. He came to town and became a reporter for the local newspaper, the “Territorial Enterprise” using the pen name Mark Twain. In 1861, he wrote, “In Nevada, the cheapest and easiest way to become an influential man and to be looked up to by the community at large was to stand behind a bar, wear a clustered diamond pin and sell whiskey. To be a saloonkeeper and to kill a man was to be illustrious. More than one man was killed in Nevada under hardly the pretext of provocation so impatient was the slayer to achieve reputation.”

By 1864, Mr. Twain left town and later achieved a certain reputation himself as author of “Tom Sawyer” and “Huckleberry Finn.”

One can walk down the center of “C” Street today in Virginia City and intuitively know what life was like there years ago. The appearance of the town has survived nearly unchanged for decades. The wooden and brick walls of these buildings and the wooden sidewalks too emit an unmistakable historical charm from every pore.

It is difficult to know for sure what the casinos and saloons that serve whiskey today were like in the day or if they even existed at all. The Delta Saloon, however, first opened its doors in 1863 and is alive and well today in its current manifestation. The Bucket of Blood Saloon has been around since 1876. It was built after the great fire of 1875 that destroyed some 1,000 structures in town. The McBride family has owned and operated the business since 1931.

GamblingResort.com is a travel website dedicated to the proposition that all worthwhile casinos, especially those flanked by history, deserve special attention. Useful information and photos of the venues can be found here as well. One can plan a trip to any gambling destination and book hotels directly at the site.GamblingResort.com is ready when you are.

October.  This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks in.  The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August, and February.

• Mark Twain (pen name of Samuel Langhorn Clemens), Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar; The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson, Chapter 13

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

-Mark Twain

Some of the authors are unsurprising, but Toni Morrison didn't become a talented writer by hiding her head in the sand.  How fair is it to forbid future authors from reading the great writing of our time?  I'm all for parents keeping an eye out, but let's not be ridiculous.  There would be a certain irony to banning Fahrenheit 451, however, don't you think?

Here's my list and instructions for you to do the meme yourself: Bold the books you've read recently or as a child.

Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
Forever by Judy Blume
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Alice(Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Giver by Lois Lowry
It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Sex by Madonna
Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
The Witches by Roald Dahl
The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
The Goats by Brock Cole
Kaffir Boyby Mark Mathabane
Blubber by Judy Blume
Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
Final Exit by Derek Humphry
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughtersby Lynda Madaras
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
Deenie by Judy Blume
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
Cujo by Stephen King
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
Ordinary People by Judith Guest
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sonsby Lynda Madaras
Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
Athletic Shortsby Chris Crutcher
Fade by Robert Cormier
Guess What?by Mem Fox
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Native Son by Richard Wright
Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies by Nancy Friday
Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
Jack by A.M. Homes
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
Carrie by Stephen King
Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
Family Secrets by Norma Klein
Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
The Dead Zone by Stephen King
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
Private Parts by Howard Stern
Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
Sex Education by Jenny Davis
The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

Here’s the list of the 10 most banned/challenged books for 2007:
And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
Olive’s Ocean, by Kevin Henkes
The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
TTYL,by Lauren Myracle
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris
The Perks of Being A Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky

]]> http://audiobooktreasury.wordpress.com/?p=23 Sun, 05 Oct 2008 11:06:54 +0000 audiobooktreasury http://audiobooktreasury.pt-br.wordpress.com/2008/10/05/free-audio-book/

Our latest free audio book is Tom Sawyer - the story of a super-scamp.

The cheekiest, cleverest, cunningmost child ever to choose the letter 'C' as his favourite letter (probably) and to grace a children's book (definitely).

The following list was taken from the American Library Association's compilation of the 10 most challenged books of 2007.  Challenges are culled from newspapers nationwide and from personal complaints filed with the ALA.  (The ALA estimates that for every 1 challenge recorded, there are 4 to 5 that go unreported.)  Keep in mind that while a challenge is not a ban, it is essentially an endorsement for one.

Without further ado, a countdown of the top 10 books that are allegedly poisoning the minds of young people today:

10.The Perks of Being a Wallflower: Stephen Chbosky

What it's about: "The story takes place in a suburb of Pittsburgh during the 1991-1992 school year, when Charlie is a high school freshman. Charlie is the wallflower of the novel. He is an unconventional thinker, and as the story begins he is shy and unpopular.

The story explores topics such as introversion, teenage sexuality, abuse, and the awkward times of adolescence. The book also touches strongly on drug use and Charlie's experiences with this. As the story progresses, various works of literature and film are referenced and their meanings discussed." (Wikipedia)

Why it's being challenged: "Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group."

9. It's Perfectly Normal: Robie Harris

What it's about: "Frank yet playful, [this book] portrays a reassuring array of body types and ethnic groups...allowing readers to come away with a healthy respect for their bodies and a better understanding of the role that sexuality plays in the human experience.

Birth control, abortion, and homosexuality are given an honest, evenhanded treatment, noting differing views and recommending further discussion with a trusted adult. The dangers of STDs, teen parenthood, and sexual abuse are examined." (School Library Journal)

Why it's being challenged: "Sex Education, Sexually Explicit."

8. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: Maya Angelou

What it's about: "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a 1969 autobiography about the early years of author Maya Angelou's life. [It] begins when three-year-old Angelou and her older brother are sent to Stamps, Arkansas to live with their grandmother and ends when Angelou becomes a mother at age seventeen years old.

The author uses her coming-of-age story to illustrate the ways in which racism and trauma can be overcome by a strong character and a love of literature." (Wikipedia)

Why it's being challenged: "Sexually Explicit."

7. ttyl: Lauren Myracle

What it's about: "An epistolary novel [crafted] entirely out of IM transcripts between three high-school girls. Far from being precious, the format proves perfect for accurately capturing the sweet histrionics and intimate intricacies of teenage girls.

Myracle's triumph comes in leveraging the language-stretching idiom of e-mail, text messaging, and IM. Reaching to express themselves, the girls communicate almost as much through punctuation and syntactical quirks as with words." (Amazon.com Editorial Review)

Why it's being challenged: "Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group."

6. The Color Purple: Alice Walker

What it's about: "The Color Purple is an acclaimed 1982 epistolary novel by American author Alice Walker. It received the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award.

Taking place mostly in rural Georgia, the story focuses on female African American life during the 1930s in the Southern United States, addressing the numerous issues in the black female life, including their exceedingly low position in American social culture." (Wikipedia)

Why it's being challenged: "Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language."

5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain

What it's about: "The drifting journey of Huck and his friend Jim, a runaway slave, down the Mississippi River on their raft may be one of the most enduring images of escape and freedom in all of American literature.  By satirizing Southern antebellum society that was already a quarter-century in the past by the time of publication, the book is an often scathing look at entrenched attitudes, particularly racism. " (Wikipedia)

Why it's being challenged: "Racism." (Oh irony.)

4. The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman

What it's about: "The Golden Compass tells of Lyra Belacqua's journey north in search of her missing friend, Roger Parslow, and her imprisoned father, Lord Asriel, who has been conducting experiments with a mysterious substance known as Dust.  Both the trilogy and the film adaptation have faced controversy, as some critics assert that the story presents a negative portrayal of the Church and religion." (Wikipedia)

Why it's being challenged: "Religious Viewpoint."

3. Olive's Ocean: Kevin Henkes

What it's about: "Twelve-year-old Martha Boyle stands on the brink of discovery: about her family, about first love, and mostly about herself. Martha is given a journal entry from her classmate, Olive, who was killed in an automobile accident. Martha didn't really know Olive, but the journal entry makes Martha reflect on what might have been if Olive hadn't died. In her two weeks on Cape Cod, Martha learns to deal with the changing emotional landscape that comes with adolescence." (AudioFile)

Why it's being challenged: "Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language."

2. The Chocolate War: Robert Cormier

What it's about: "Set at the fictional Trinity High School, the story follows protagonist Jerry Renault as he challenges the school's cruel, brutal, and ugly mob rule. Because of the novel's language, the concept of a high school's secret society using intimidation to enforce the cultural norms of the school, and the protagonist's sexual ponderings, it has been the frequent target of censors." (Wikipedia)

Why it's being challenged: "Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Violence."

1. And Tango Makes Three: Justin Richardson, Peter Parnell

What it's about: "The book is based on the true story of Roy and Silo, two male Chinstrap Penguins in New York's Central Park Zoo who for six years formed a couple. Roy and Silo hatched and raised the healthy young chick, a female named "Tango" by keepers, together as a family.

This book aims to send the reader the message that it is okay to be in, or know someone who has, a "non-traditional" family." (Wikipedia)

Why it's being challenged: "Anti-Ethnic, Sexism, Homosexuality, Anti-Family, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group."

For those of you counting, "Sexually Explicit" was the biggest reason a book was challenged in 2007, with 7/10 books falling under that category; "Offensive Language" came in second with 5/10 books; and "Homosexuality" and "Unsuited to Age Group" tied for third with 3/10 books.

If you're wondering who challenges these books, the ALA has compiled the following graph of challenges by initiator from 2000-2005.  Parents lead by nearly four times the challenges as the next group.  Particularly troubling is the inclusion of elected officials and government as active challenging parties.

I have a few thoughts of my own about this list from the ALA, such as Since when is "Homosexuality" a reason to ban any book?, Why are my elected officials campaigning for the banning of books?, and Have these challengers of literature checked out what their kids have been watching on TV for the past decade? I'd like to hear your thoughts.

 ~~~~~

"Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself."  Mark Twain

"A committee is a group of people who individually can do nothing but together can decide that nothing can be done."  Fred Allen

"A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen."  Winston Churchill

"If you can't convince them, confuse them."  Harry S. Truman

"A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul."  George Bernard Shaw

"I have opinions of my own-- strong opinions -- but I don't always agree with them."  George Bush

"We have a firm commitment to NATO; we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe; we are part of Europe."  Dan Quayle

"For seven and a half years I've worked alongside President Reagan. We've had triumphs. Made some mistakes. We've had some sex... uh... setbacks."  George Bush Sr.

"I must say acting was good training for the political life which lay ahead of us."  Nancy Reagan

"Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do."  Ronald Reagan

"It is not pollution that is ruining the earth. It is impurities in the water and air."  George Bush

"I love California, I practically grew up in Phoenix."  Dan Quayle

"Border relations between Canada and Mexico have never been better."  George Bush

"I have orders to be awakened at any time in case of a national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting."  Ronald Reagan

"The reason we start a war is to fight a war, to win a war, thereby causing no war."  George Bush

"When the president does it, that means it's not illegal."  Richard Nixon

"Being president is like running a cemetery: you've got a lot of people under you and nobody's listening."  Bill Clinton

"Politics are very much like war. We may even have to use poison gas at times."  Winston Churchill

"Things are more like they are now than they ever were before."  Dwight Eisenhower

One minute, I was driving down the road, just planning to sit in on an event near Lake Mary.

Then, the event expanded, I mean, it just flat-out turned turtle on reality.

Let me explain. This was the kick-off for the legal hearing that pitted the St. Johns RiverKeeeper against Seminole County ( where I live) and the regional water management district.

Here's the deal: About 150 years ago, the great American storyteller Mark Twain said we live not in a democracy, but in a "plutocracy." That's government by the wealthy.

More recently, the great naturalist Ed Abbey wrote that 'sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul.'

This out-of-body legal hearing had to do with the sheer arrogance and illogic of my home county wanting to continue to squander water. Mainly because they can---or, in this case, think they can.

Our elected officials have allowed water hogs to take as much of this "common resource" as they want from our underground Floridan Aquifer for decades. Now, because upland recharge is being paved over and unmanaged growth is sucking that geological reservoir dry, those same officials are looking for an easy fix.

Well, folks, there is no easy fix. It sort of comes down to taking responsibility for our actions---for acknowledging there are "consequences" to our squandering-mindsets.

That doesn't play well politically (Remember Twain's take on it?).

And so comes the trial. Leading off was a so-called expert for the county's "environmental consultants". He was an engineer working as the project director of a plan that would harvest a tremendous amount of water from the St. Johns River.

Yep, that would be Bartram's "Grand and Noble San Juan". An American Heritage River. The timeless aquatic highway into the interior of Florida. The most historic of our country's rivers, and the largest river in our state.

The engineer, on the stand, said that taking up to 150 million gallons of water of day from the grand and noble San Juan would have absolutely no negative ecological impact on it. The phrase he used was "no environmental harm."

He said that several times, in different ways. He was a puffed up sort of guy, overweight with a bad goatee, and every time he answered a question, he did so with a pronounced twitch of his head. He seemed as if the questions almost offended him, and each time he fielded one, he did so with one of those inbred arrogant reactions---as if to imply: "I've got better things to do with my time." Odd, but he seemed not offended at all by the lack of truth in his testimony. Or by the irony that other schemers said virtually the same thing a century earlier about the draining of the headwaters of the St. Johns. In this speciated world of the consultant it's not about sustaining the ecology--- It's about making money. Yet, the economic value of nature---the "natural capital"--- is never factored into such equations.

After this went on a bit, I leaned over to my good friend sitting next to me, and whispered to her: "Cane Toad."

As in Bufo marinus. Large exotic herp that hops about, croaks, eats up native fodder, and then, when all is said and done, sits back down on its haunches, and burps.

There's lots more to come on this strange theater. But for now, I wish that Twain had been with us. He would have provided context, and reminded us that, after all, vigilance is needed to keep the liberties that are so essential to us. And then he would have satirized it all in a story or novel.

And, if Ed Abbey were there, he probably would have laughed out loud at the outrageous lies.

I know I sure did.

A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.   -G.K. Chesterton

Look for a story.  Stories have the power to change lives. 

For years now I have been scratching out notes every chance I get.  As a result, I have a dumpster full of notes I carry around with me every where I move.  People often ask me when they catch me writing away, What are you doing?---especially when I scribble all over the palm of my hand because I don't have a notepad handy.  I've borrowed more scratch paper than an average household uses in a life-time. 

I'm constantly on the lookout for a good story.  

I have read wonderfully written books that are entirely unsatisfactory to me because I do not believe that the author was writing a story. The author was writing a book. There is a great difference.   -Kaitlyn Ramsey        

I'd say we get too hung up on finding the story, as if it were hiding---when there are countless stories waiting to be told if we'd only open our eyes and see them. 

One of modern day literature's most prolific and genius writers died on the twelth of September---he was 46 years young.  David Foster Wallace was tormented for nearly twenty years by depression and ended his pain by hanging himself at his home in Claremont, California---only to be found by his wife of four years.  Tragic story.  The NY Times described Wallace as a writer [who] mapped the mythic and the mundane.  I'd like to think of myself in those terms, a writer who unwraps incredible insights within the most ordinary of circumstances. 

To often however, it's the extraordinary we either botch up or shrink down to bite sized pieces.  

Wallace was a crafty storyteller, and it was largely his hunger for finding a story that set him heads and shoulders above his peers.  He is quoted as saying, We're not keen on the idea of the story sharing its valence with the reader.  And maybe that helps to explain our hesitancy to use story in our writing.  We'd rather spout off our opinions about a story or write a dissertation about the lessons to be learned from a story---rather than simply tell a story.  

Are we are afraid our readers may take it the wrong way?  You may remember that people misunderstood Jesus, but he didn't throw in the towel on the art of storytelling.  I've had several folks give me a hard time about sharing stories that extol the wonders of God's grace---they've said I'm giving people the wrong idea and that people will abuse grace if you share it too much.  We share it too little really, people will abuse anything they want to abuse.  So I won't stop talking about grace just because a few religious types get all bent out of shape. 

We need to tell our stories despite the naysayers.          

Tune out the noise and get found in your writing.  You have to listen to write anything of value.  

Getting quiet is imperative when it comes to listening.  And great writers have learned the science of not only listening well---but of listening to the sounds that count.  Wonder and beauty and mystery aren't always hanging out in the broad day light.  We have to peek around in the shadows, the margins, and the back rooms if we are going to uncover it.  It's nearly impossible to develop any kind of narrative when you are steeped up to your eyeballs in the details of every day living.  You have to unplug.  Go sit out in a field if you have to.  

If any man wish to write in clear style, let him first be clear in his thoughts; if any would write in noble style, let him first possess a noble soul.    -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Ernest Hemingway's friend and long time fishing partner, Gregorio Fuentes, had this to say about Hemingway's inspiration for one of his most famous works (The Old Man and the Sea)---When we went to sea, we found the old man and the sea. We found him adrift on a little boat with a big fish tied there... 

It is imperative that we find our own sea, whatever it may be.

We must learn to crowd everything that distracts us.

Devote yourself to your holy must.  If writing isn't flowing through your veins and taking up space in your brain---it isn't for you.  Get out while the gettin' is good and do yourself a favor.  Save yourself the thankless hours invested and the gray hairs and the endless pots of coffee and the sleepless nights.  Find your passion---what you excel at, what you can't live without.  And if you are gonna stick it out as a writer, some good questions to ask yourself are obvious ones: What will I write about?  What is it that I have written about that has most enlivened me?  What is it that I most wish to say and if I don't say it, will most regret not having done so? 

Write about those things.

Just like an uncaged bird has little capacity in his life for anything that doesn't include flying---so it is for the serious writer when it comes to writing.  Good writing is rarely the byproduct of a mere hobby. 

You can have so many irons in the fire that you can't keep any hot. 

One desire has been the ruling passion of my life.  One high motive has acted like a spur upon my mind and soul.  And sooner should I seek escape from the sacred necessity that is laid upon me, let the breath of life fail me...   -Abraham Kuyper

Can we say that writing is a sacred necessity for us---a holy must?

Let me close this short series of posts by stating that what I have shared certainly didn't come to me on my own---I have much credit to pass along but wouldn't even begin to know where to start.

Twain, incidentally, was the one who wrote that “in the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then He made school boards.”

And, the next line tells you how to bypass God's plans as revealed by Twain:

The genius of DonorsChoose is that it bypasses those pinnacles of God’s handiwork, letting you route money directly to deserving teachers.

Yes! Scott's post is for donations to DonorsChoose. Take a look -- and, if possible, chip in a few dollars too!

Seriously, this is a major pet peeve of my mine. There's a reason why I don't watch Gray's Anatomy --  the only realistic thing on there is an intern sleeping with her attending. I've had a pretty colorful life so far, and I've surrounded myself with colorful friends over the years, so I can smell bullshit from a mile away.

I've had the pleasure of working with two writers this week who prompted this post. One of them, "JoNightshade", contacted me through AW to help her write an ER scene for her novel. She had gone so far as to join a surgeon's forum to try and get answers to her questions and make her writing as believable as possible. She did her homework, and she has my admiration for doing it.

Then there's another writer who's stuff I read that made me what to bang my head against the table. Part of his novel is set in a fantasy land, part in modern day NYC. I can suspend disbelief when the characters are in the fantasy land, and he did a great job with his world building there with some very imaginative ideas. But back in NYC, things were getting a bit... umm... incredulous? Maybe Joe Shmoe reader wouldn't have noticed them. But I cringed. A lot. For example, he has a character who's an aspiring actress do something that is the equivalent of professional suicide. It's sorta like you as a writer going up to the editor who rejected your work and telling him/her off. BIG NO-NO in the acting industry, and the reason I know this is I was once an actress, and I have plenty of friends in NYC still treading the boards (link included for all you non-acting types). But it was the director's reaction in the novel that pissed me off because there's NO WAY IN HELL he'd respond that way in real life. There were other "fouls" that would have earned him 5 minutes in the penalty box, but I'm going to leave them for his ears (eyes?) only.

The point is, write what you know. Harper Lee may not have had a colorful life (even though she had colorful friends like Truman Capote), but she wrote about life in small town Alabama. She wrote what she knew. The same for Mark Twain and life on the Mississippi. Or Robin Cook in medical field and John Grisham in the legal field.

If you want to write about something you don't know, get to know it. Learn the lingo. Interview people in that field. Use the Internet. Become a mini-expert. Make your writing as believable as possible.

Because the minute a reader spots you bullshitting your way through something, you loose all credibility.

   El fet però de que tant el crash del 1929 com el dilluns negre de 1987 es donéssin en el mes d'octubre ha donat peu a percebre aquestes connotacions de caire baixista. I que en Mark Twain deixés ecrita la següent frase en una de les seves obres, ha donat peu també a anomenar aquest biaix baixista com l'efecte Mark Twain.

"October. This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August, and February."

Mark Twain, que com tothom sap va nèixer a Reus, va deixar escrita aquesta frase en el llibre "Pudd'nhead Wilson", que en la seva traducció a l'espanyol reb el títol de "Wilson Cabezahueca". No sé si el llibre fou traduït al català. Suposo que si ho ha estat, es deu haver traduït com a "Wilson Capdesuro" o alguna cosa semblant.

Here's something from my Inbox that will tickle your funny bones:

ARTISTRY OF INSULTS
When Insults Had Class (no 4-letter words!!) These glorious insults are from an era when cleverness with words was still valued, before a great portion of the English language got boiled down to 4-letter words, not to mention waving middle fingers.

The exchange between Churchill & Lady Astor: She said, "If you were my husband I'd give you poison," and he said, "If you were my wife, I'd drink it."

A Member of Parliament to Disraeli: "Sir, you will either die on the gallows or of some unspeakable disease." "That depends, Sir," said Disraeli, "whether I embrace your policies or your mistress."

"He had delusions of adequacy." - Walter Kerr

"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire." - Winston Churchill

"A modest little person, with much to be modest about." - Winston Churchill

"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." Clarence Darrow

"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary." - William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway).

"Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?" - Ernest Hemingway (about William Faulkner)

"Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it." - Moses Hadas

"He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know." - Abraham Lincoln

"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." - Mark Twain

"He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends." - Oscar Wilde

"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend.... if you have one." - George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill

"Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second... if there is one." - Winston Churchill, in response.

"I feel so miserable without you; it's almost like having you here." - Stephen Bishop

"He is a self-made man and worships his creator." - John Bright

"I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial." - Irvin S. Cobb

"He is not only dull himself, he is the cause of dullness in others." - Samuel Johnson

"He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up." - Paul Keating

"There's nothing wrong with you that reincarnation won't cure." Jack E. Leonard

"He has the attention span of a lightning bolt." - Robert Redford

"They never open their mouths without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge." - Thomas Brackett Reed

"In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily." - Charles, Count Talleyrand

"He loves nature in spite of what it did to him." - Forrest Tucker

"Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?" - Mark Twain

"His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork." - Mae West

"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go." - Oscar Wilde

"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang (1844-1912)

"He has Van Gogh's ear for music." - Billy Wilder

"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it." - Groucho Marx

Let's talk about time for a few minutes. There's Greenwich Mean time, Daylight Saving's time, Island time; and then, there's God's time.  We human creatures invented all of these different means of
measuring time, except for that last one. Unfortunately, while everyone talks about God's time, nobody ever does anything about it; or is that the weather in San Francisco? I think it's the weather, but it holds true for God's time as well. The disparity between the way we humans calculate
time and the way God calculates time creates fundamental differences between us creatures and the One and Only Creator. The ramifications are staggering.

For example, God would have been a terrible dinner guest, I think. Say you plan a dinner party for 8:00 p.m. on Saturday and make the mistake of inviting God. After the cost of catering, cleaning and decorating, the meal is spread, the musicians arrive on time for once, but God makes no
appearance. I seems He has stood you up.  In your anger, you rant and pace, complaining that He could have at least phoned to explain why He would not be coming to break a little bread and
engage in a bit of small talk and healthy gossip. But He didn't call because it is not His custom to explain His timing. We are talking about God after all. So you decide to do a bit of sleuthing to see how it is that God could miss your party and not show a little common decency,
pick up the phone, and call to beg off. You decide to get to the bottom of God's no show. But where do you go to learn a little bit about the One and Only? How about scanning the "good book" to see what it might say about the Man Upstairs and His inclinations? Sounds good to me. So off to the good book you go only to learn that in His way of looking at things, there is no difference at all between
one day and a thousand years. 2 Peter 3:8. Talk about a loose approach to time. 2 Peter 3:8 states that "with the Lord a day is like a thousand years." This sounds a whole lot like Mark Twain's description of San Francisco, when Twain wrote that he spent an entire winter in SF one summer.

Whatever else 2 Peter 3:8 may teach, one thing we know: when it comes to God our calendars and watches are useless. By my calculation, the time formula presented in 2 Peter means that when we say dinner at 8:00 p.m., to God that means dinner at some point in time between the scheduled 8:00
p.m. Saturday and 41,6 years later. Here's the math: 1000 years equals one day. 1000 years x 365 days per year = 365,000 days x 24 hours per day =8760000 total hours in a thousand years. The ratio between 1000 years and a single day = 8760000/24 (in hours). 8760000 /24 = 365000/1 (in hours).
This means that in God's time, He would be on time at any point between Saturday evening at 8:00 p.m. sharp and 365000 hours later. Put differently, as long as God showed up at your doorstep within 41.6 years of Saturday at 8:00 p.m., He would be on time or at worst an "hour" late).  If you were to add the "fashionably late" additional half hour, well let's just say that the food would definitely be cold.  All of this suggests two things: 1. Don't invite God to dinner; and, 2. The next time you say that things will happen "in God's time" it would a be a good idea to have your own "Plan B."

That's all....time to go.

Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.

Be humble enough to be teachable.  You don't know it all.  You may be as gifted as anyone and you might work your tail off when it comes to preparation---but even you can be better.

It never ceases to startle me when a fellow writer can tell (with such ease) the rest of us how much we stink.  There's nothing like a haughty writer who wants to show off his acumen while showing up someone who may not be as far along.  Disgusting I tell you.  Insecurity sure breeds ugliness.  So few of us lend a hand to one another, but we sure are quick to step over one another.  Why can't we be in this together?  Surely there's room for the both of our contributions.  You don't have to like or appreciate my style or content---but we can respect one another.  

The older I get the more I realize the validity of the fact that the less I know, the smarter I become.  I don't write fiction, but that's not to say I can't learn from someone who writes the stuff.  As I study writers who are and were the best in class I am only challenged to raise my own game.  

I've found the really tricky discipline to writing is trying to play without getting overcome by insecurity or vanity or ego.   -David Foster Wallace 

There is a story that goes something like this—This guy’s strolling down the street when he stumbles and falls into a manhole with walls so steep he can’t get out.  A doctor passes by, and the guy shouts up, Hey you, can you help me out?  The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole and moves on.  Then a priest comes along, and the guy shouts up, Father, I’m down in this hole.  Can you help me out?  The priest writes a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on.  Then a friend walks by and the guy excitedly shouts up, Hey, Joe, it’s me.  Can you help me out?  And the friend jumps in the hole.  The guy says, Are you nuts?  Now we’re both down here.  The friend says, Yeah, but I’ve been down here before—and I know the way out. 

Learn from the masters---they have wisdom to impart. 

Incorporate your every day life into your writing.  Without experience we have nothing to give our readers. 

My favorite person in the bible is David---with Jesus as the lone exception.  I relate with David on several fronts, but my partiality concerning David comes down to this: He is real, raw, unpackaged and he lived life wide open.  He's what I consider to be an every day guy---and that despite his being a king, a giant-killer, and a man after God's own heart (that, according to God).  And despite all of that, David's story is about his ordinary life---his time in hiding, his time on the run, his time as the hunted, his time with his kids, his time with friends, his time in battle, his time in prayer, and his time in bed with another man's wife.  David lived an expansive life and in turn he was able to write fully (take a peek at the Psalms if you don't think so). 

David's personal journey was a story at every turn.

The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.   -Augustine

Our own lives are books in a sense and those of us who do not live our lives only have blank pages with nothing to write on them.

Pay close attention to your life.

Make honesty your policy.  Being transparent with our readers takes work---it can be like pulling teeth for some of us.  One of the things I most respect about the writers I follow is their willingness to let their hair down.  The point isn't to be self-depreciating (although it works for some)---the idea here is to tell on yourself from time to time. 

I know a number of pastors, I have met a good many and sat under the ministry of several.  My favorite, Dr. Richard Alberta (Brighton Michigan), is a bit of a know-it-all, but he can sure let the cat out of the bag on a dime when it comes to what he is really like.  And due to this transparency and willingness to be vulnerable, you just can't help but appreciate him all over again every time he lets you in on another secret of his. 

Now, don't mistake what I am trying to express here as the equivalent of airing out all of your dirty laundry.  That is not what I am promoting.

There is something else which has the power to awaken us to the truth. It is the works of writers of genius. They give us, in the guise of fiction, something equivalent to the actual density of the real, that density which life offers us every day but which we are unable to grasp because we are amusing ourselves with lies.   -Simone Weil 

Tell the story as it is, not as you wish it were. 

We do our readers an injustice by not leveling with them and by portraying a make believe world if you ask me.  If it is relief from the pressures and stresses of life that we can provide for our readers for a moment or two, as well as some perspective---we will have reached our goal in some regards.  But if it is escape from reality we offer---we give them no hope at all.   

Don’t tone down your writing in the name of God—the bible isn’t a sanitized book for goodness sakes!  I am not suggesting you be crass or vulgar, but I am saying we need more transparent writers today.  And while we are on the topic of honesty---don't take yourself too seriously. 

Be sure you can demonstrate some genuine humility if you want to be any kind of a reputable and respectable writer.  

Be bold and speak truth---even when it stings to do so.

More to come in part 5.

Pero hoy no nos centraremos en la coincidencia entre aquellos que piensan que los hombres convivieron con los dinosaurios y aquellos que quieren quemar literatura. Hoy quemaremos literatura. No nos basaremos en criterios morales, sino literarios. Eso sí, pasad de quemar a Lucía Etxebarría, Mario Benedetti y acólitos, que odiarles está muy barato. El tema es otro: ¿Qué libros os han dicho que son imprescindibles, y habéis odiado? ¿Qué obras canónicas lanzáis desde el panteón a la pira?

Los míos son:

10. Absalom, Absalom - William Faulkner: Aparentemente es como sus mejores libros, pero sin sentido del humor ni inspiración. Un tostón. Sí que recomiendo: Mientras Agonizo, las Palmeras Salvajes, Luz de Agosto, Santuario; todas de Faulkner.

9. Los Hermanos Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoyevsky: Si Crimen y Castigo ya se me hizo dura de terminar, ésta, con sus diálogos y Reflexiones interminables, se me hizo imposible. Sí que recomiendo: Pasarse a Tólstoi.

8. Ada, o el Ardor - Vladimir Nabokov: Nabokov es pedante y divertido. Menos en Ada, donde toda la diversión se convierte en más pedantería, dando lugar a demasiada pedantería. Sí que recomiendo: Lolita, Pnin, Pálido Fuego; todas de Nabokov.

7. La Señora Dalloway - Virginia Woolf: Una mujer aburrida tiene un día aburrido. Hurra. Sí que recomiendo: Las Olas, Orlando, la película de las Horas, basada en un libro que está basado en Mrs. Dalloway.

6. Ferdydurke - Witold Gombrowicz: Apuesto a que Gombrowicz tardó una semana en escribir esto. Sí que recomiendo: La sinagoga de los Iconoclastas, de Rodolfo Wilcock. Porque sí.

5. La Muerte de Artemio Cruz - Carlos Fuentes: Un tipo muere en Méjico y yo me aburro. Sí que recomiendo: Si quieres muerte y Méjico, tanto los Detectives Salvajes como 2666 de Roberto Bolaño.

4. Corazón tan blanco - Javier Marías: Un hombre mira por la ventana de su habitación de hotel durante 100 páginas, y yo dejo de leer. Sí que recomiendo: Autores españoles contemporáneos que valen la pena - La Velocidad de los Jardines de Eloy Tizón o El Hermano de las Moscas de Jon Bilbao.

3. La Náusea - Jean Paul Sartre: Un hombre bebe whisky y reflexiona. Esto no es una novela, sino un aburrido tratado filosófico. Sí que recomiendo: Para novelas de reflexión, Herzog de Saul Bellow.

2. El Corazón de las Tinieblas - Joseph Conrad: Uno de los libros más aburridos jamás publicados. Tuve que leerlo en la universidad, y aunque es corto, me costó más que En Busca del Tiempo Perdido, que son 7 libros. Sí que recomiendo: Para leer sobre europeos en Africa, acudid a Louis Ferdinand Céline y su Viaje al fin de Noche. Una obra maestra.

1. Fantasmas - Paul Auster: Una historia predecible y personajes que se llaman como colores. Pretenciosa, y además se parece a todos los demás libros de Auster. Sí que recomiendo: La autobiografía de Paul Auster no está mal.

(Esta entrada está basada en una MUY similar de Esquire)

Having such miserable and disappointing condition of the country where people are killed like never and nowhere before, and where situation is tantamount to 'Kul yaom aashura, wa kul arz karballa!' We are faced by the destruction of our towns and cities - done by the terrorists and our safeguards, the government: be it Islamabad or Tribal Areas! Both the parties are strong... They are mighty 'bulls', and as a a Sindhi proverb goes, when bulls fight, it's the bushes and plants that become victims of the fight, not the bulls themselves (Sindhi: وڙھن ڏاند، لتاڙجن ٻُوڙا); in this case, we are the ones who are crushed under their bloody feet!

Ironically, here comes Eid - one of the happiest feasts of Islam. Nothing to celebrate: nothing to wear, nothing to eat!! Deaths of our loved ones to be mourned... Darkness prevails. Yet, we - the faithful - won't utter a single word against or chide our Qismat, otherwise responsible for all our good deeds! ['We are 'alive' and that's the greatest gift God could bless us with', somebody whispers] I have witnessed lives more terrible than death itself... you don't know!

But, it's not religion which is to be blamed here. Or is it?

However, when I thought to write on the idea, Mark Twain's The Prince and The Pauper clicked in my mind. And I opted to cite the first passage from th book which, though not directly, represents our country's present situation. Here it is:

In the ancient city of London, on a certain autumn day in the second quarter of the sixteenth century, a boy was born to a poor family of the name of Canty, who did not want him. On the same day another English child was born to a rich family of the name of Tudor, who did want him. All England wanted him too. England had so longed for him, and hoped for him, and prayed God for him, that, now that he was really come, the people went nearly mad for joy. Mere acquaintances hugged and kissed each other and cried. Everybody took a holiday, and high and low, rich and poor, feasted and danced and sang, and got very mellow; and they kept this up for days and nights together. By day, London was a sight to see, with gay banners waving from every balcony and housetop, and splendid pageants marching along. By night, it was again a sight to see, with its great bonfires at every corner, and its troops of revellers making merry around them. There was no talk in all England but of the new baby, Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales, who lay lapped in silks and satins, unconscious of all this fuss, and not knowing that great lords and ladies were tending him and watching over him--and not caring, either. But there was no talk about the other baby, Tom Canty, lapped in his poor rags, except among the family of paupers whom he had just come to trouble with his presence.

Next time when you're going to celebrate any occasion, at least, think about the life of Les Damnés de la Terre...

-Peace

In the NY Times today (9/30), I read that a movie has been made based on the story (with Brad Pitt taking the role of the 70 year-old baby). I wonder what it might be like to be born old. Interesting to think about. At birth, you would have the aches and pain of age, but these progressively get better and disappear as you get younger and younger. I'm looking forward to seeing the movie and what they've done with this fascinating twist.

Yes, Twain uses what is now an extremely derogatory term.  No, he does not really critique the institutions of slavery and racism.  But that doesn't mean that we need to hide Huckleberry Finn from students.  Twain's novel is a great example of what those of us in education call a "teachable moment."  Use Huckleberry Finn to teach students about our racist history.  Use it as a primary text document to show that even more "progressive" writers such as Twain were nonetheless bound up in the institutions of slavery and racism.  How are students ever going to learn about our mistakes if we attempt to shield those mistakes?  Children need to know the wrongs we have committed in the past.  Children need to understand the extent of racism, and that it goes beyond slavery.  We could teach children about Huck's unrecognized privilege, for example.  We don't have to take the book at face value.  We can use it to show where we came from, the ways in which we have progressed, and how much work there still is to do.

(Note: Tom Sawyer has been banned as well, but because I have not actually read it, I'm not really addressing it here.  Commentary about Tom Sawyer is welcome if you have a perspective on the book.)

Crossposted at Feminocracy.

--Mark Twain, from "What is a man?"