katzpen

[katzpen]

Writing Between the Lines

The Tree, The Lizard and Viewing Tower & Pan-American Highway (Nazca Lines) image courtesy of Creative Commons © 2019 psamathe.net “I thought a lot about the Nazca Lines while I was writing a novel set among the sixth century Nasca people. What had the lines signified for the people who created them, and for their descendants? When would they gather there, and why?” visit my substack to find…

[katzpen]

all in its time

I started my random occasional blog while living in Lima, Peru. Part of me is still there, tuned in to friends, happenings, communities, and the Andean cosmovision that resonated deeply in my soul. My many years in Peru nourished the seed of a novel that materialized in Lima as Patya y los Misterios de Nasca, and in the US as Call of the Owl Woman – A Novel of Ancient Peru. Life continues to…

[katzpen]

on humans and the environment

From the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Environmental Ethics 

“Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, first published in 1962, alerted readers to how the widespread use of chemical pesticides was posing a serious threat to public health and leading to the destruction of wildlife. Of similar significance was Paul Ehrlich’s 1968 book, The Population Bomb, which warned of the devastating effects the spiraling human population has on the planet’s resources. Of course, pollution and the depletion of natural resources have not been the only environmental concerns since that time: dwindling plant and animal biodiversity, the loss of wilderness, the degradation of ecosystems, and climate change are all part of a raft of “green” issues that have implanted themselves into both public consciousness and public policy over subsequent years. The job of environmental ethics is to outline our moral obligations in the face of such concerns. In a nutshell, the two fundamental questions that environmental ethics must address are: what duties do humans have with respect to the environment, and why? 

“The latter question usually needs to be considered prior to the former. In order to tackle just what our obligations are, it is usually thought necessary to consider first why we have them. For example, do we have environmental obligations for the sake of human beings living in the world today, for humans living in the future, or for the sake of entities within the environment itself, irrespective of any human benefits? Different philosophers have given quite different answers to this fundamental question...”  

what would it take for humans to live in harmony with the earth, without polluting our air and water?

[katzpen]

In my dreams, Susan Seddon Boulet would illustrate my novel about Nasca... 

There is a place deep within the heart that yearns for the old songs. The songs that call upon our ancestors for guidance, that encourage the grain to grow with their trusting and hungry notes. Songs that reach to us from the beginnings of our people to remind us how to live. Where are the songs of dying and grieving, birthing and planting? As languages die out and the music and teaching die with them, it is up to us learn how to sing again in that ancient way, so that we might be the ancestors that our descendants will sing to. — Craig Paterson of Temple Wind Flutes  — Painting by Susan Seddon Boulet

[katzpen]

from one word addict to another...

The very best articles and essays about our relationship with words and the writng process, including stone-cold classics by Joan Didion, Zadie Smith, Michael Chabon, John Jeremiah Sullivan, David Foster Wallace, Tom Wolfe and many more…

[katzpen]

bla bla blahging. any excuse for a chance to wind a good book!

To win on of our 100 favourite non-fiction books (you get to choose which one) just reblog this post. Not on Tumblr? Tweet a link tagged #tetw. We’ll pick a random winner. No cash alternative. Judge’s decision is final. Bla bla bla.

[katzpen]

to view her paintings is to journey through spirit and mind...

SUSAN SEDDON BOULET

[katzpen]

thank you, SSB, visionary artist and painter of portals!

Susan Seddon-Boulet : Pathways