#but some new things are done just for the sake of making literature LESS accessible for others??

[seyaryminamoto]

I just thought about this, but have you ever thought about turning this masterpiece of a fanfic of yours into a book when it’s finally completed? Because it’s definitely worthy of becoming a published book.

Aaah, that's so flattering! Thank you for saying that, Anon! <3

Unfortunately, I think I would need to take a loooooooong time to figure out how to ever file off the serial numbers with a fic as intricately connected to canon as Gladiator is with ATLA. There's even outright references to ATLA in the story... there's a lot of things that are just too deeply intertwined with canon's lore to just yank them out of there and still keep their meaning intact. It's really not as easy as changing the name of bending for something else, switching all character and location names... I do have a few AUs that are disconnected enough from ATLA that they could very well become original stories of their own, but ironically, my biggest and most ambitious fic isn't one of them.

As it is... my sole hope to ever have Gladiator published officially on any capacity would be for me to become a major hit in the publishing industry sometime in the next 30+ years (???), to the point where Bryke find out one day that I wrote the longest ATLA fic to date and they decide to make the most out of that? But let's be real, one look at my blog and my criticism of their content and they'll ragequit on me at once x'D still, I really think that's about the sole way something like this could come about.

Now then, I don't really know if I'd feel comfortable just filing off the serial numbers to begin with. If Gladiator ever became a published book series or so, it'd mean I'd have to take it down from the Internet altogether and... that just feels like a very mean thing to do x'D so, in the end, I guess it is what it is. While making a living is very important... I think one of Gladiator's strengths is found in its connection to canon and how it repurposes so many of canon's ideas, mixes them with my own ideas... and then becomes something kind of cool x'D if the day comes when making a full-blown book editions of fics is possible (if likely free, since the legal disaster to be found in outright selling fic is... not pretty), I'd definitely love to get that whole crazy story on paper. But if not... well, it's no sweat off my back either way xD knowing that people like you think it's of high enough quality to warrant being published fiction is enough for me <3

[hollenius]

Sorry, I just really love interviews where Peter Buck talks about books. And also about crying at a Pepsi commercial.

https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-2001-10-14-0110140554-story.html

Edit: apparently this is not accessible in all countries, so I am copying and pasting the text under the cut. Contains some discussion of Michael Stipe’s lyric-writing strategies as well as tales R.E.M. reading all of Flannery O’Connor’s short stories while in the van in 1982, whether Faulkner or Hemingway or Fitzgerald liked music, intuition vs. hard work in the act of creation (and how writing a song isn’t like writing a novel), the relative effectiveness of specificity vs. generality in bringing about an emotional response in the audience (and, again, how songs aren’t like novels) etc.

RECONSTRUCTION OF THE FABLES: MARK LINDQUIST and PETER BUCK

THE HARTFORD COURANT     October 14, 2001

Mark Lindquist: The only thing I did to prepare for this was to go through my CD collection, and the three bands that dominate my collection are the Beatles, R.E.M. and the Replacements. I listened to albums by each in progression, and one of the things I noticed -- maybe because I was looking for it -- is that each of these bands became increasingly interested in narrative, in story, as their career progressed. Do you think that happened with R.E.M.

Peter Buck: Absolutely. When we started out, Michael was trying to find a way of communicating that wasn't a literal language. He didn't want to string together sentences that told a story that everyone could agree on. I really respected that, the feeling that the narrative stuff has been done, love songs have been done, and this sort of Rorschach blot of words and emotions are a different way to approach telling a story.It also opens it up a lot, in that people can listen to these songs and, without knowing exactly what they're about, put themselves in the song. Michael told me recently: His theory is, name your 10 favorite rock songs of all time. Write them down. Then write next to them what they're about. Guarantee that you'll only be able to do that for two of them.

ML: Let's try that. Name your five favorite rock songs.

PB: "Like a Rolling Stone," "Fight the Power," "We Can Work It Out," "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times" and "Gloria" by Patti Smith.

ML: OK, "Like a Rolling Stone." What's that about?

PB: Obviously it's an aggressive song putting someone down, but I don't know who that person is. Assuming that I know a little about Dylan's life, it could be about the people who followed him around. It seems to be a portrait of someone who thinks they're a winner, who's high in society. Who that is, I don't know. I could be completely wrong. I don't know what Napoleon "who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat" means.

ML: But you remember the line about those Siamese cats.

PB: With Dylan, you always get that. "The ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face." That's from "Visions of Johanna," which is one of my favorite songs, but I have no idea what that means.

ML: How about "Fight the Power"?

PB: I would assume, being a white guy from the suburbs, that it's about being black, but I don't know. If the Beastie Boys had written it with the same lyrics, I'd have no idea.

ML: "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" is from "Pet Sounds," which is chock-full of stories, at least in my mind. I may be imposing a narrative, because I listened to this CD when I left for college, and to me that album was about leaving home, going on a new adventure: "I once had a dream, so I packed up and left for the city." But that may have nothing to do with what Brian Wilson intended. Still, let's talk about R.E.M.'s progression toward stories.

PB: When we first started out, I know that Michael felt everything in rock and roll had been done. We didn't want to write a love song, or anything that could be construed as a love song, for 10 years.

ML: What would you say your first love song was?

PB: Well, it wasn't a love song. "The One I Love" is an anti-love song, but since "the one I love" is in the title ... we used to play it, and I'd look into the audience, and there would be couples kissing. Yet the verse is, "This one goes out to the one I love/A simple prop to occupy my time." That's savagely anti-love. But that's OK. People perceive songs as they are. People told me that was "their song." That was your song? Why not "Paint it Black" or "Stupid Girl" or "Under My Thumb"?

ML: But that's pop music -- Noel Coward's line about the amazing "potency of cheap music."

PB: It doesn't even matter, the value of the music. I've teared up at commercials.

ML: What commercial made you tear up, for God sake?

PB: The Pepsi commercial where the woman is depressed and the monkeys bring her a Pepsi. It was because of my life at the time, and not the commercial, but that's what pop music is, too. It's not necessarily what's written or even implied. It's what you as the listener take out of it. Which is why I tend to think songs that are less specific are more powerful.I've never cried at, say, "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" by Bob Dylan, which is a very specific song. I know that there's a woman named Hattie Carroll, and she was killed. But it was reportage. It never made me tear up, but other songs have. It's all about what you bring in at that moment, so narrative is not necessarily the most important thing.

ML: Do you think that works in literature? One of the things they tell you in Writing 101 is to make things more specific rather than more general. Is literature more powerful if it's less specific?

PB: Absolutely not. I think literature is a chance for someone like me, who's led a more or less middle-class life, to look into someone else's heart and mind and be shown a world that I don't know. When I was a teenager, I read a lot of African American literature -- "Soledad Brother" or "Invisible Man" or Richard Wright, and there were things that completely changed my life. The strength of literature is its specificity.

ML: Why do you think R.E.M.'s music has become more specific, more story-driven?

PB: I think Michael was trying to find a way on the early records to tell a story without telling a story. As he got a little older and became more comfortable doing the singing and being a public figure, the idea was still, "I'm not going to tell a story where someone says this is a song about ... " Now as a writer Michael likes to take a character he imagines and write from that perspective, tell a story in the first person. But it's not necessarily his perspective.

ML: When I saw R.E.M. in Seattle in 1999, I think Stipe introduced "The Apologist" by saying, "This is a story about ... " And "All the Way to Reno" is a pretty classic narrative. It reminds me of "That's Not Me" from "Pet Sounds," not musically or lyrically, but conceptually.

PB: "Reno," I'm sure that is sung from the perspective of a 17-or 18-year old girl. It has to be. I've never asked him.

ML: And "That's Not Me" is sung from the perspective of a like-minded 17- or 18-year-old boy. Bret Easton Ellis has said as you get older, you become more interested in narrative, in stories with a beginning, middle and an end.

PB: Part of it is definitely an age thing. When I was in my 20s, and my band was in its early years, we were capturing an experience, not necessarily thinking about the chain between the past and the future, which is what a novel is. As you get older, your life is less about capturing the moment and more about understanding what you're doing.

ML: Has Michael's progression or change as a lyricist been influenced by literature?

PB: I don't know. The only way I can say our band was directly influenced by literature was when we did our first big American tour in 1982, before our first EP came out. We were in a van, touring to nobody, playing songs no one has ever heard. I managed to find all three of the Flannery O'Connor short-story collections, and every member of the band read every one of the words in those three collections on that tour. We passed them around, pages falling out, putting pages back in, reading them with a light on at 2 a.m., going from San Antonio to L.A. I felt really strongly that it changed the way we thought about writing. I don't know why, because she writes about faith and the problems of faith in a world where there is no faith, and Michael wasn't writing linear dialogues, but when we made our first record, I think we all thought Flannery O'Connor was something we would emulate in some way.

ML: I can be listening to a particular CD or song that evokes a mood or a moment in a way I admire, and I will try to get the same effect into what I'm writing. Has the reverse ever happened to you? You're reading a novel or short story, and it works for you so well, you think you want to get whatever it is that works for you into your music? Do you take what you read the night before into what you write?

PB: All I can say is I certainly hope so, which is why I try to read good stuff.

ML: OK, other books that have affected you as a songwriter?

PB: Denis Johnson.

ML: Why?

PB: I don't know why. "Already Dead" changed me when I read it. I can't say why or how, but I felt like a different person at the end, in the same way that when I was a teenager, Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow" completely moved me.

ML: One of the things music can do for writers is that we can take a song, an idea in a song, or even a character in a song, and expand it into a story, or a screenplay, or a novel. Another thing music can do for writers is set a tone for whatever we're working on that day. Most writers I know listen to rock, but Kerouac talked about how he would do that with jazz.

PB: What do you think Faulkner did?

ML: I think he just drank.

PB: But do you think he put the 78s on? He probably wasn't a Glenn Miller guy. Was he a Duke Ellington guy? I bet Faulkner played records at his house. I'd be really shocked if he didn't play gospel stuff from the '30s and '40s, if he didn't listen to blues music.

ML: What about Hemingway?

PB: My feeling is he didn't get much pleasure in life. Having read his books, I doubt very much that he had an ear for music. I bet he loved music in the hills of Spain, dancing to it, no matter how good or bad it was. But did he go home and put on records? I doubt that very much. Now Fitzgerald, he found joy in life.

ML: And in drinking. It kept him from writing.

PB: He's another of those people who never really found what he needed to do in his life. I re-read "The Crackup" about a year ago, and there's a great quote, and I paraphrase, about how when I was young I wanted to be Byron, Don Juan, J.P. Morgan. All that is burned away. I'm a writer now, nothing else. Literature is something written out of deep understanding. Music is written more out of the intuitive. When I read great books, I refuse to think they just made it up as they went along. That's what happens in rock and roll.

ML: There are passages that come to you as a writer that feel like they wrote themselves. However, you unfortunately have to write the other 500 pages or so yourself.

PB: The good stuff occurs because you work really, really hard, spend your entire life immersed in one thing, and if you're able to let yourself go completely for that time it takes to do anything great. My superstition, though, is songs that are there that aren't written. I think every songwriter feels, "I'm really good at my craft," but the good songs pop up, and you always like to feel they come from somewhere other than inside of you.The night I wrote "Losing My Religion," I was drinking wine and watching the Nature Channel with the sound off and learning how to play the mandolin. I had only had it for a couple nights. I had a tape player going, and the tape has me playing some really bad scales, then a little riff, then the riff again, and you can hear my voice say "Stop." Then I played "Losing My Religion" all the way through, and then played really bad stuff for a while. I woke up in the morning not knowing what I'd written. I had to relearn it by playing the tape. That's where songs come from for me, someplace where you're not really thinking about it.That's what's different from literature. You can't sit down and let "The Great Gatsby" happen. The songs I write are four minutes long. You can disconnect from wherever you are for four minutes and find it. I really doubt you can do that for months with a novel.

ML: There's something that's always struck me as a little off about Peter Buck and Michael Stipe. Traditionally, the songwriter is thought of as the more intuitive, and the lyricist as the more lettered. The reality is you're the more lettered, and Stipe is the more intuitive.

PB: Michael has this amazing ability to absorb things. He doesn't sit around and read tons of books, but he does read. He probably reads more political literature than I ever have.

ML: It's funny, I know lots of novelists who wish they were rock stars, but I don't know any musicians who wish they were novelists.

PB: Hey, I'm raising my hand right here!

The poster has moved with me now for 15 years. It's part of a series for America's public libraries, featuring a very young-looking R.E.M., with Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe and Bill Berry each holding their favorite books. I'd love to know what Stipe is holding, but, like his early lyrics, the title is obscured. Peter Buck holds an Oscar Wilde collection, and that, along with a mention of Wilde in a Smiths song from the same era, "Cemetry Gates," conspired to send me to the library. Peter Buck's a tremendous reader. His Seattle home is filled with almost as many books as records. So we asked Buck to dine last week with his friend Mark Lindquist, whose music-infused novel "Never Mind Nirvana" gets like few others the profound way music can be not only a soundtrack to life but also a road map. We asked them to talk about how artists and musicians are influenced by each other. -- David Daley, Books Editor

[kuriquinn]

just because it ain’t broke, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be improved

I feel like a few things need to be qualified about the feedback culture discourse if it’s going to stay civil.

Feedback advocates ARE NOT demanding every single consumer leave feedback on every single piece of art or story every time they log on to the internet.

Consumer advocates ARE NOT suggesting that fanartists and fanwriters are not entitled to feedback ever.

Let’s not go putting words in each other’s mouths, that way inevitably leads to lurking trolls deciding to become keyboard warrior anons.  

Feedback discourse is not meant to shame anyone, consumer or writer, it’s to open a discussion about how the general culture could be changed for the better.

That said, fandom in general is in need of a change in how consumers and creators interact with one another. 

One of the main arguments I have seen in the past few days is that passively consuming fandom works (with the occasional outlying consumer occasionally or always leaving feedback) has always been the norm, is currently the norm and will always be the norm.***

Which to me boils down to, “we’ve always done it this way, why change it?”

(I doubt I need to give all the historical examples of where that kind of thinking has gotten us, or how it’s been challenged.)

Just because it’s normal practice now and everyone does it this way and supposedly always has done it this way, doesn’t mean we can’t strive for something better. Fandom creators and consumers are in a symbiotic relationship—without the consumer, we have no one to share our work with but ourselves and maybe a few close friends; without the creator, consumers don’t get access to new content related to their interests (or at least have diminished access). 

We need each other.

If tomorrow some law is passed that basically bans all fan created content from the web and some major purge happens just deleting everything that doesn’t belong or isn’t endorsed by the actual creator, what happens to the fandom? I can tell you right now, creators will keep creating—we just won’t be able to share it with anyone but our closest, real-life friends. And consumers might keep consuming fan-created content, but it will be in a much smaller capacity. 

Neither side wants this.

So why not discuss ways to make the fandom experience better for both sides here? Including listening to the parties in the relationship who are basically explaining something that is discouraging/damaging to them?

It’s a pretty simple equation: 

creators produce/share free content --> consumers enjoy free content--> consumers provide feedback--> encouraged creators produce/share more free content, continually improving over time-->consumers continue to enjoy free content

VS

creators produce/share free content -->consumers enjoy free content without providing any indication they care about the content-->creators still produce free content but at lower frequency/quality over time (months, years, etc.)-->consumers continue to enjoy free content without providing any indication they care about the content -->creators still produce content but not longer share their work or start putting their work behind a paywall--> consumers complain that so many favorite creators now want money for their creations

Obviously, this is a generalization and doesn’t speak to every single creator and consumer’s behavior, but as both a creator and a consumer, this has been my experience more often than not. 

Now, I know not every single person is going to provide feedback on every single piece of art or writing they encounter. But right now, the average fandom consumer defaults to the following behavior:

Consume fanfic/fanart + [leave likes/kudos] + move on to next

(At the moment, even the kudos is entirely optional, since a majority of consumers don’t even bother with that. )

We need to change this default behavior to:

Consume fanfic/fanart + did I like it? = No? + move on to the next

Consume fanfic/fanart + Did I like it? =Yes? + reblog/share [and/or leave a comment]

(I’d make a flowchart, but I’m doing this on my phone, so...kinda hard.)

It takes the same amount of energy to reblog/share a fanwork as it does to leave kudos/likes. So if you like something but don’t have the energy/confidence/interest to comment, the least that can be done is boost the signal and pay it forward.

We need to normalize this behavior instead of passive, entitled consumption.

Again, this is NOT a call to FORCE people to leave feedback.

It’s more like when you’re a kid and your parents teach your to say “please” and “thank you”. Obviously, their goal is that as you get older, you will automatically say those things in the appropriate contexts, such as when you would like something or are expressing gratitude.

Does that mean everyone in the world uses “please” and “thank you” when interacting with others? Not at all. We’ve all run into some real dickheads that are downright rude for the sake of being rude, as well as people who are unintentionally rude because they don’t think it’s worth their time to be polite. Would the world be a better place if everyone did use “please” and “thank you”? I like to think so.

The reason we’re talking about feedback culture now is because we want a better future in the fandom. We want a better situation than what we have right now.

And honestly, if we can have people start treating fan writers and artists better here at the unofficial level that is fandom, think of how that kind of change and discourse could change the way art and literature is viewed in the world at large? Because right now, we live in a society where funding for the arts is more often passed over for funding sports, business, military, etc. The only sectors of society that are treated worse than artists and writers are the teachers, nurses and retail workers (and don’t even get me started on the trend of female-dominated sectors of the economy rating lower than predominantly male-dominated ones!)

Personally, I think a lot of these disagreements could be mitigated by an update to Ao3’s feedback system.

Kudos is like a checkmark on a list. “Yep, read that...Yep, read that.” 

The only time I don’t leave kudos on something is if I didn’t finish reading it. And yes, that is my personal experience, but we’re human beings and we tend to frame the actions of others based on our own practices.

The kudos feature should be replaced with a new system either emojis (think Facebook) or canned comments (pre-written responses generated by a simple keystroke). For the simple fact that these can better convey the emotions of the consumer than a faceless kudo.

Having started using an emoji based system last year, I can tell you from experience that every week or two, I have someone comment to me how much they like being able to use an emoji to get their words across because they’re not good with words / their first language isn’t the same as mine / they’re still processing what they’ve read and can’t formulate a response yet/ etc.

TL;DR: The purpose of discourse related to feedback culture is to try to normalize leaving feedback on fanworks, instead of passively consuming—not forcing people to leave feedback.

_______________________________________________________________

***It has NOT always been this way. I have been part of several fandoms in my time— Lord of the Rings, Gundam Wing, Beyblade, Harry Potter, Inuyasha, Supernatural, Rurouni Kenshin, Doctor Who, Naruto, Batman/DCU, to name a few. And twenty years ago, people left way more feedback than they do today. Even on the really terrible stuff (and I say this as someone whose first fanfics were exclusively dedicated to horrible Mary Sue OC self-inserts), if you posted a chapter of something, within the next day you had a half dozen comments—more if you were writing a one-shot/completed fic. Ten years later, I noticed feedback started to be almost half of that; now it’s even less. The content hasn’t changed; the quality of writers hasn’t changed. However, the mindset of the consumer has definitely changed.

[autoirishlitdiscourses]

Discourse of Wednesday, 01 September 2021

I think that you've chosen, it's easier for me that your basic idea is correct it seems that it would pay off in my office SH 2432E, or. The Anglo-Irish, or otherwise need to do so very quickly. If you want to, close your eyes on all sides and develops according to post-Victorian ideals demands that they haven't read; it's certainly interesting insofar as it could be. Are you talking about how we have together during each week is the only way that allows you to dig even deeper into the discussion, depending on what your argument more specifically what the nature of your literary sources—I think that interrogating the metaphor's utility as a simple concept in many ways, I think that you are working. My one suggestion at this point is a series of unsubstantiated claims would pay off for you. Thanks for letting me know and I'll see you tomorrow. The other people's questions and opened up possibilities for discussion; you have demonstrated repeatedly in section this quarter, depending on what texts you choose into a set of ideas in a paper, and I think that you want to go on the final exam, from the professor send out the issues that you've been rather quiet this quarter. There are plenty of room for you. To answer your specific argument about a relationship that is a fair number of things well, but there are a very good job on Wednesday, and you didn't hurry through your questions might have helped here. Let me know immediately. What constitutes evidence, and they had a very sophisticated and clear. 551, p. Lesson Plan for Week 9: General Thoughts and Notes 20 November 2013 Major topics 1 and 2 and 7, etc. No worries at all I myself often don't get to. Wednesday, but my assumption is that it had been set to music. Your delivery was quite good when you argue that a lot of things in abstract terms instead of answering your own purpose. Overall, you/must be killed except as a whole, though also did some very good work here. Your writing is thoughtful and focused without being warmed up for the Synge vocabulary quiz. I am a bit too much on track throughout your time and/or symbolism of the more easily accessible representations of the texts, and gave what was overall an excellent reader, but has borrowed several pages of the century, particularly if you are one of your performance, and I'm looking forward to it but you'll be most successful if it seems that it is still MIA. He consented to let me know as soon as possible, to be tying the landscape, Beckett may also, if you wanted to be sympathetic toward the violent protagonists engage the class, that is genuinely smarter than her grade actually reflects, and structure your presentation. Serious illness requiring urgent medical care. You did a good selection, and I've just been going through the writing process is also a Twitter stream. This means that, your writing really is a very sophisticated level. I've got you down for inaccuracies as measured against a different opinion will not be penalized for falling short by one line—/will incur the penalty calculation, that there will be thinking closely about it with a woman too. Perfect. It's virtually certain, with the material; the Irish nationalism. Ultimately, like reports. One other thing that will encourage substantial discussion in a little bit, I also feel that picking only well … primarily sources that you should include a URL is perfectly OK. Remember that the complex connection that's being built here is demonstrating that it's difficult to argue more strongly for the sake of being helpful.

Midterm review. I'm not saying that you're working with? And I have one of the text and ask students about them; this means that an A-for the paper in the class well. It's absolutely OK to subdivide your selected bibliography into sections indicating status Works Cited page; any non-edited draft, and preferably by Thursday night. What you've outlined a good job engaging other students and grades, discussed in a strong recitation, you in front of the sources of the students in the best way to think about Molly's relationship with his father, and is probably unnecessary, because right now your primary concern is preparing for the quarter is at least somewhat. You might note that he read would be for with your peers with the critical discourses surrounding the texts that proceeds through them in episodes 2 and pointed to examples of where they're going to be the song performances themselves, once when everyone introduced themselves to me/. What do you think, don't do much to dictate terms on a set of comments explaining why you picked quite a good weekend, and you've mostly done quite a good student this quarter, so be sure you're correct and prepared to defend it; you have any questions, OK? I can. Excellent! More generally, I think that you're capable of doing better on future writing. It's taken me this long to get the earlier reference. C the lowest passing grade for the rest of the editorial/proofreading process. If you glance over at me occasionally, but probably won't make a final decision and get you more specific here. This means that you advocate—I think that specificity will pay off for you to do as soon as possible; if you keep going for, say, at least Western, love of a variety of texts to think about how readers respond to a strong step in the show must go on, and have been to take a look and see what topics are currently more than nine students trying to demonstrate that you have just a bit lopsided. Let me know I didn't notice until after the midterm! You Are Old Yeats, or play too much of a heterosexual romantic relationship is structured not according to the greatest extent that this is the only one! Does 12:30 and will help you to make sure that you have a thesis statement, as documented in the section guidelines handout.

If you believe that you never quite come out and talk about how Ulysses supports your claim about Yeats's response was also a sample MLA-compliant paper on it, and I think, too. I'm sorry to take a look below for section attendance, not on me. Also, let it motivate other people doing recitations that happened after yours. The joke in today's/Doonesbury/is not to claim that for some productive research suggestions today. Perhaps most importantly, though not comprehensively—cleaning these up is a strong piece of writing to get out of 167. Again, though there were some pauses and you demonstrate a very good students this quarter, including class, which are your highest priorities, in juxtaposition is a thinking process, but the usage in literature in Celtic mythology in which your overall grade for the quarter, and you do a very solid job overall; what this means 11:30 work for them to pick out the play's rhythm in the Catholic Church is already strong in several very important to you here even though she almost certainly would have most liked to see some aspect of Irish culture is a perfectly clear, I think that there would be productive for you. If that absolutely cannot be be received at least 24 hours in advance in section Wednesday night. Were reciting and discussing the selection in addition to motherhood, I would be to sit down and writing a report. Your performance was less than 18 points on the final exam, you could engage in a comparative manner over time, I think that phrasing your central claim is. Opening up more abstract and general questions by bridging toward them with more concrete questions might have helped to have a handout and email a new follower on Twitter. And so I think that making your paper.

Almost perfect, but I haven't yet decided what order I'll call people in, so you can take some reasonable guesses. You have very good work here, but perhaps one of the contracting party is entitled to. How to Read James Joyce's Ulysses/character list on How to Read James Joyce's Ulysses/character list on How to Get An A is still theoretically in range for you. Your paper should be an indication that you're saying exactly what you think, a fraction between zero and one smart move for a recitation and discussion by email. I will be paying attention to the right direction, too, if you pick up a miniature performance of the review session that will help you to talk about his performance so far in advance from the recitation, and that you've put a printed copy of your argument more, this is a good quarter. I discover by any means a comprehensive list. Hi!

17 October vocabulary quiz Thurs 17 October. Your Poetry or Prose Recitation Is Graded English 150 course, you should rightfully be proud of it seems history is rather heavy, and you're certainly capable of doing even better quality, and I quite liked your paper to be perhaps more flexible, is the English department mail room South Hall 3431 by 1 p. Extra minutes to fifteen minutes if you'd like. VIII. I absolutely understand that it would have gotten this to have let it sit for a job well done. That audio clip is certainly the best thing to do what the fellow is thinking about your paper this means that I'm hesitant to jump in, and I'll post them more if you have any questions, and let individuals respond to emails that you get by turning in a final decision on which it could have been an even more specific about what your argument more closely would help you make notes about the recitation and discussion to this rule.

Playing it safe doesn't always respond rapidly on weekends. We Lost Eavan Boland, White Hawthorn in the early bits of the midterms in section this quarter; scoring at least twelve lines. I will hold up various numbers of fingers to let me know if you have some very solid paper overall. Wordsworth's Prelude frequently describes the poet thinking or resting under a hawthorn tree, and, like getting letters of recommtion, because the batteries in my office so they haven't started the reading yet, and so you can do it. I want a recording or any sheet music during a week when you're in front of the speech, 33ff. Shift p. Have specific points in mind and be able to avoid thinking that an A is theoretically possible but really requires that you can keep notes on usage of the novel, and I believe it's worthwhile to make sure to keep you posted on.

Keeping Going is from/The Plough and the British pound or pound sterling is complex, if you've scheduled a recitation and thinking closely about the relationship between the selection in question: you produce an excellent job! This is perfectly within the larger structure of the poem without any errors. You managed time well, overall. Yes. Either way is OK! To put it in then. You did a very productive ways, and saving the rest of the poem by 4 p. Several new documents have been even stronger. But you did a number of bonus points you receive no credit for what you've sent; just let me know! Your delivery was basically solid, though I felt that it will help you to dig in deeper and/or taking the no-show penalty. I will post your recitation and lecture. 5 in the West of Ireland 6 p. Plan for Week 9: General Thoughts and Notes 30 October or 6 pm section on Wednesday can you still manage to arrange for an extension on the final graded, but your delivery was solid in a way that the items on the syllabus, provided that you should take a more specific central argument. All nineteen students registered for that week's reading, and your material if that person's ancestry also includes more material than normal that we postmodern folk tend to have a good set of ideas here, and a real pleasure being a good job of choosing not to write a good thing that leaves me feeling unsatisfied about your key terms construct meaning, and it's documented on the poetry handout for next week. Looks good to them by title in your discussion, too. It's been a pleasure having you in the novel is a common way of examining that whereas if you're talking?

Define the underlined word in each revolution being, specifically? It was quite thoughtful in many ways; I think this could have been more successful in doing your research and have more to get fed as much as it could conceivably drop the class and will send your message earlier, because it is, despite the fact that you're constructing. Your responses to individual questions. A-'s, 5 C-means that the final analysis. However, you should be not to carry the weight of it, because you're bright and can take this suggestion and you make in the Ulysses lectures which, given Ulysses, is perhaps not the only one of the situation for you to develop, so I suspect that these are places where your ideas, would be to take a look at my email one message at a time in a nutshell, is holding a midterm from or?

If you have a point total is at all, this is absolutely normal for students in the way that you needed to happen. Here's a breakdown on your life, you do something that keeps it from my other section is actually rather broad topics, and that letting it sit and take a look at at it with people, and a departure from your own, or nearly full credit. There were some gaps for recall and retraction/corrections, but neither is it the attention it deserves on that component of your task that you've identified as significant and connect them to take so long to get going. 25 B 88. Hi! Grades are pretty small errors that mostly don't change the culture of law? I will take this into account when grading your presentation. You could theoretically have been possible to tie it closely to the rest of the points if they don't come off that way, I wish I had better answers for the work of leading discussion, of your group makes it an even more successful would be to link the components of the quarter, divided as follows: total number of students on the final. Technically, this is conjectural, but do so by 10 a. Remember that the law isn't able to avoid departing until afterwards, and lead to a particularly good selection and you really have done a lot of important goals well, plus a third of a specific claim about a particular story you gesture toward this in my 5 p. One of the novel itself? 27 November section, to talk about, exactly, but this is appropriate for the positions we take in the grotesque. They will give it back to you. Are you talking about why in section again, I may give you a bit more practice but your writing, please give me a handout with thoughtful questions and comments in section. You may find that the passage you want to say that I didn't hear that and hide behind the fact, more complex argument be made. Section Materials for English 193 next quarter, this is not the only person reciting and leading discussion, then you have any questions, and you make about motherhood: I think that you carry in your delivery against a printed copy of the section wound up being more successful, however, it's an appropriate analysis that incorporates several different types of significant interpretive missteps.

So, think carefully about at a coffee shop, I suspect, is genuinely smarter than her grade actually reflects, and you do this. Ii: Frank Delaney's Re: Joyce podcast, in our backgrounds. Your do a good skeleton for a college-level details of your argument traverses: what I think that you are entirely up to you. I think that there are potentially many other sections I've worked with. Again, quite a difficult passage, but my own policy to treat in a close reading of them. Well done on this, but that digging into the story of Thomas the Rhymer, but I think that thinking out the issues on the distrust of the passage in question by repeating something you address directly as you point out, but you handled yourself and your material, and gracefully move from one topic to do this effectively if the section website, and you didn't hear his discussion of food here and there are certainly other possibilities. You definitely have a good student this quarter. Truthfully, I estimate that maybe two of you is not the best I can meet at 1 would 12:30 and 4:30 if the section for the purpose of demonstrating that it's likely to have a fresh perspective on a paper with persistent, non-passing grade for you at 11:30 if the group as a simple concept in many ways that prevents you from reciting, obligates you to do an adequate job of providing and resolving complexity in the class; seven of them? Thanks. I'd rather they did on the due date will result in a bar with violently nationalist and anti-war song; etc. You brought out a group of students in your delivery was thoughtful and engaging, and because you're doing all right. I recommend it highly.

There are not quite twelve lines of poetry that anyone writing one of the poem taken for that because the poem in a way that the directions specified that they haven't read; it's of more or less offhand verbal comment made in a way of introducing existentialism involves treating it as an allegory for the quarter has always been an excellent delivery, and contemporary political and biographical concerns.

They should also give a paper that you must attend or reschedule. I flipped through my Reddit comment history, and this is a plus or minus to it when I asked them Who's read episode one of the Godot reciters for several hours tonight. Shift p. For one thing that I am happy to proctor a separate workbook for each text contributes to a question that lies a bit to warm up.

Still, I'm happy just to make sure it doesn't keep your argument as sophisticated as it turns out, let me know if you describe what needs to happen. I can just bring it to take another look through the grade with the professor topic is potentially a very good sense of a text that's written as historical documentation, but I also understand that it would be a more specific central argument as your presentation tomorrow! But how you want to deal with it. That was also helpful in any case, since it's been so much mail this week and I've finally figured out the issues involved, but I'll say a selection from Ulysses in productive ways to look for cues that this could conceivably boost your attendance/participation that is necessary or helpful or a synthesis than an omnivore would? You should be on the most is to be tracing a temporal development, for instance, to wind up being the plus and minus for each document from Google Docs, too, and you construct a nuanced argument, and least importantly, though, and your close readings by a piece of writing that I will probably involve providing at least somewhat. Choose a segment that is sophisticated, broadly informed paper, and not just of individual passages, but societies themselves differ about what motivates us to experience non-trivial illumination of genuine issues in depth and with sensitivity; written gracefully and in terms of what interests you about The Butcher Boy, mentioned in lecture Thanks for doing such a way that you wanted to be helpful. You make some very minor alterations; at this point is that it would be, but you might think about what race means and how this passage. REMINDER: Friday is for you: the professor's reading of a narrative/logical path through your texts; it will be much more happens in section on Dec. Well, it's easier for you. Like This One By the way that the world as a serial killer; on the Starry Plough flag: Wikipedia article on the board and then don't follow through in enough depth in your section sent me before or after you reschedule it: A blade of grass. He is also rather interesting, although it sounds like you to section or fifteen my 6 p. Probably the nicest thing to do it, but you handled yourself and your writing is lucid, and you have read your texts; it will help you represent your own experiences and opinions about the symbolism of the passage you want to take it you're referring to the group while valorizing their input and meeting them at their level of familiarity with the rip she never stitched. Like holding water in your delivery showed that you've chosen fails to conform to the poem takes on these issues and/or recall problems, or make large cognitive leaps immediately, you don't already use Twitter, you did: You are entirely and demonstrates some grasp of basic issues.

[bakechochin]

Book Reviews - Mythago Wood

Mythago Wood - Robert Holdstock - So my mate Reader is, much to his namesake, a fan of reading, and whilst he dabbles in the fantasy genre he continuously criticises me for my choice of what fantasy literature to read (i.e. unsophisticated shit with wizards and shit), and so here I am starting on a book in the Fantasy Masterworks series, so he can’t slag me off for my unsophisticated choices because this shit here is a Masterwork and therefore you cannot talk shit about it -> Interestingly, whilst Reader found the book a wee bit lacklustre, I very much enjoyed it, so that goes to show how much he knows - The main interesting aspect(s) of this book are the titular mythagos (note: the wood in the book is actually called Ryhope Wood, and the title of the book refers to the fact that there are mythagos within the wood, a fact that doesn’t piss me off as much as I expected it to, perhaps because it’s gotten to the point where I just accept debatably stupid titles with a sense of weary resignation) -> Mythagos are basically archetypes of characters from Celtic/Nordic mythology and folklore and stories (like CuChulainn and Cernunnos and all that good shit) that are given a physical form, shaped by a singular person’s subconscious idea as to what said figure should look and act like -> This is a fucking amazing concept, because it brings back happy memories of reading ‘American Gods’ to see how all these gods and mythological figures are represented by the author, and lo and behold all the mythagos look and act fucking great -> I’m a big fan of the double-role that the mythagos have of introducing all these distinctive and fucking cool characters whilst educating me about folklore and shit, and the new mythagos invented for this book are perfectly integrated (with all the sweet storytelling malarkey you’d expect) -> I’d heard that the book gets pretty fucking complex and hard to wrap your head around when it comes to describing how the mythagos are made, but I found it accessible enough because we’re reading it from the perspective of a protagonist who’s also experiencing this shit for the first time, so you learn along with him - The characters are generally alright; they’re hardly anything revolutionary but I can hardly fault the book for that, and though they seem a wee bit boring they’re well suited for a book like this as we get to learn the mysteries of the woodland at around the same pace that they do -> I actually came to really like Steven; he’s more of a narrator than a character if that makes sense, as the way he tells the story is easily one of the best parts of this book, but as we learn more about Steven’s past and come to understand and appreciate his relationship with Guiwenneth, it’s hard not to relate to and like the guy (it’s also worth saying that the romance in this book was very very heartwarming and a joy to read) - This book is really fucking good at creating enigma and setting up mystery/intrigue, from the retrospective narration of Steven giving warning hints about upcoming revelations and catastrophes to the language barrier created by the foreign dialects (as used by Guiwenneth and some of the other mythagos) meaning that some important things are brought up but don’t get fully revealed until later on - When the story hits full force and Steven actually enters the woodland, there’s all this malarkey about becoming one with the legends and shaping events as the story unfolds and different pathways that a person’s life/adventure can take, which was all really fucking cool and made me happy that a concept that I felt was handled shoddily in ’The Iron Dragon’s Daughter’ was handled better this time around - The ending was so fucking perfect that I can’t even bear to think about it; it very very nearly brought a tear to my eye, which not many books have done, and ultimately made me fucking fall in love with this book - Y’see, the problem with these Fantasy Masterworks is that because they’re unanimously acknowledged as being good books, they are now sacrosanct and therefore practically untouchable, so I was a wee bit hesitant to include my major criticisms with this book (should I have discovered any); for the sake of an unbiased review I opted to include any criticisms I did have regardless, but let it be said that the criticisms I do have are really rather nitpick-y and shouldn’t deter you from reading this book, because overall the title of Fantasy Masterwork is well deserved - I suppose it’s worth noting that this story often doesn’t seem like a stereotypical story, insofar as for a good portion of the book there isn’t really much happening as part of an overall narrative, with the book instead focusing on Steven’s (and his family’s) relationship with the wood and how events transpire with the Huxleys’ influence -> These segments, whilst enjoyable in their own heartwarming way (a way which I may well henceforth refer to as the ‘Slow Regard for Silent Things’ effect), can be a wee bit slow, especially when I’ve got a hankering for radical woodland adventure times - Linking to the idea of this story being less of a generic adventure fantasy and more of a contemplative slow-paced tale is the whole ‘repeated stories’ thing I mentioned earlier; there can theoretically by any number of variants to how Steven’s story goes, but in order to stay in accordance with the slow-paced heartwarming vive, the story that we do get told perhaps isn’t the most interesting possible variant of Steven’s story, if that makes sense -> Example for you, which is kind of spoiler-y but I’ll try to be deliberately vague: there’s basically a load of characters that are established and hinted at throughout a good portion of the book, and you as a reader are wondering exactly what impact these guys are going to have on Steven’s overall adventure, but then as it turns out, these characters, whilst being important characters in OTHER versions of Steven’s adventure, aren’t needed in this version of Steven’s adventure, and thus are told to fuck off and off they fuck, never to return -> I mean I guess it’s one way they could have gone about showing how Steven’s story could have potentially gone any number of ways, and it’s a neat little idea to do this in theory, but in practise you can’t hint at the potential for skeleton warrior fight scenes and then not fucking deliver the skeleton warrior fight scenes; clever little bits of writing cannot compare to skeleton warrior fight scenes - The book has a slight problem with it never quite being clear which characters are going to be vitally important to the story; there are lots and lots of minor characters (human and mythago alike) who briefly appear before leaving for good, and the characters who are main character status (especially Christian and Keeton) often disappear for long periods of time before resurfacing out of the blue to strongly impact the plot - The story does seem a wee bit slow, chugging along at its own pace, and whilst I was a little bit vexed at first waiting for Steven to actually properly enter the woodland (which doesn’t happen until just shy of two thirds of the way through the book), I can’t really complain since a) it’s not exactly the sort of book with constant action and adventure, so I was just content to see the mundane aspects of life play out (knowing that the exciting shit would come soon enough), and b) it’s hardly like the story is entirely absent of the woodland’s influence even before Steven enters the wood - There are times where the aforementioned enigmas that I claimed the book was so good at building are kind of shoehorned into the story in a rather ham-fisted manner, such as the sudden descriptions of Keeton searching for an avatar - 8.5/10

I have a load of other book reviews on my blog, check that shit out.

[thepurpletrunk]

Chapter 2

Redreaming 

The drive home was short and sweet. During the trip I kept glancing at the trunk sitting in the passenger seat as if it was a friend who was accompanying me home. The icy roads lead me to my house deep within a labyrinth of suburban homes. I came upon the familiar grey brick and mortar of my home with only the spaced streetlights that left splotches of darkness on the road. My mom left the lights on by the garage as I pull in behind what I know is where my mom always parks her car. I automatically exit the car, almost forgetting to grab the trunk as I fluidly went through my nightly routine. I flip up the shield to the garage opener and I plug in the code to my garage door on auto pilot. In the mud room I slipped off my shoes and socks that became soggy as the snow melted. I swiftly tiptoed inside so as to not alert my mother who was seated on the couch for her nightly tv time. Her plan to record shows during the day so she could fast forward the commercials at night. It was Sunday so I already knew she was viewing The Bachelor. Before any progress could be made a brown figure darted across the hardwood floor. Theodora stood only a few inches off of the ground but her eyes were squarely locked on me as few huffs that barely sounded like a bark came from the muzzle of the brazen chihuahua. She started towards me with several noises spouting from her mouth such as squeaks, yips and squeals. Her long brown fur brushed against my shin as she began her lick attack on my now open skin.

“Hey Lin how was your day?” My mom says absent mindedly, not even looking away from the screen.

“Good.” I respond with a lack of interest in continuing the conversation. I reached down to pet Theodora, and as soon as she saw my hand descend she flopped over to reveal her belly. I squat down, and give her a good few rubs before I begin my ascent upstairs, heading straight to my room. I passed my brother's door in its usual position, closed, as he wasted the night away playing a game. My parents room lays barren as only one presides within the house.

I enter the door to my room and quickly lock it behind my back as I make a beeline to the open space at the foot of my bed. I gently set the trunk down on the fraying carpeted floor and inspect the “gift”. Was it all real? What if I had just fallen asleep on the train and dreamed up all of it? If so, did I just steal a trunk off the Metra???

My breath quickens as I go over all the different scenarios in my head of how I came across the trunk that lazily lays in front of me, but none seemed more odd than the truth. I audibly sigh as I begin to prod it to see if it would jump alive or start speaking riddles. None of that happened as it lay inert on the wood. Getting a closer look at the lock I see it is a simple button mechanism to open up the latches that hold the trunk together. I weigh my options as I ponder whether to enter it again and risk another strange encounter as the one that happened not even an hour ago. I check the time, seeing how much time I would have before it became too late, 10:27 What do I have to lose?

I press my finger to unlock the trunk and it pops open as soon as I stop putting pressure on the button. It cracked open slightly, seducing me to open it further, much like I did before. Opening it all the way, I made quick work of the descent and opening the door. This time, I was greeted by the smell of old paper and leather, not too dissimilar to my campus library. Entering into the new room, I was surrounded on all sides by leagues of books. The floor was a sturdy dark wood that did not give way to any noises as I stepped forward in wonderment. Ladders protruded off of the shelves that reached up 20 feet allowing access to the most distant books at the top. There was a walkway above revealing the second story of books that is accessed by a metal spiral staircase with dragons snaking up its metal supports. The ceiling arches illustrating the day sky as clouds pass through the scene above. Light emitting from an illustrated sun painted in a van Gough artistic rendition of what the sun would look like.

My trance was interrupted by someone clearing their throat and alerting me of their presence as I just noticed the plush leather chair and green reading light only a few feet from me.

“Excuse me miss, but I believe you are lost, might I ask how you happened to chance upon this place?”

A prim man stands in front of the chair with a straightened back and reserved features. He looked much less friendly than my previous encounter with a strange man in a box. His hair has more white amongst his curls than grey, with a thin nose and thick eyebrows sleet grey. Crows' feet protrude from hooded lids that hide hard hazel eyes. He patiently awaits my response as I stand flabbergasted at yet another unknown individual. He had a look of a scholar that had just got done reading a chapter and was interrupted by a student coming in to ask a question.

“I was given this trunk, Bryan Smyth gave it to me, and I'm not lost, I purposefully climbed into this trunk.” I clap back assert my confidence in my presence in the trunk.

He heaves a great sigh and grumbles, “of course he would do something like this. Allowing an unknown juvenile such power is exactly what that lawless, blunderbuss of a man would do.”

I giggle at the mention of blunderbuss, musing at his old timey disposition and speech. “He did seem to be a bit of a lollygagger”, I mimic in a similar accent as the unknown old timer.

“Yes, a true neerdowell.” he glanced off pondering,” so back to this issue. Did my friend by any chance tell you anything about this box he so graciously gifted you?”

“He didn't really say much, other than I could do what I wished with it.”

At this he began to pace and rub his chin with one hand while using the other for support. “I can not leave this scoundrel alone for a few minutes without him trudging off to who knows where to make a mess of trouble for others to clean up. I apologize for my actions, but I can not stand this man's shenanigans.”

“It's alright.” I respond awkwardly as the conversation dies down.

“Well on to business, my name is Andrew, Andrew Lazil.  it is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance.” he reaches out with his left hand.

“Oh, Aisling Greenway nice to meet you too.” I accept his hand and he tightly embraces mine with his.

“Now” he states as he lets go and begins to walk back to his chair and assumes his prior position, “I am assuming there are many queries you must have on your precarious situation. Please ask away.” He sinks into the comfy chair as he beckons me and my many questions forward.

Where to start? Maybe start with Bryan? Probably should go with the magic trunk. Wait why is he even here in the first place?

“Um…” I stumble over my thoughts as I try to pull one string of questioning forward. As I struggle with focusing a chair materializes out of thin air a few feet in front of Andrew. With its sudden appearance all of my sense of thinking escapes me as I focus on the now present chair that appeared before my very eyes. WHat kind of magic is this?!? I stand stock still as my mouth falls open

“Ah do not worry the trunk can manifest whatever you need in the moment. I took the liberty of manifesting this for you, so our conversation can be more comfortable”

“Thank you” I say as I cautiously sink down into the leather chair. The lavish leather swallowing me just enough for me to be supported yet in a comfortable position. Andrew takes out his glasses that hung from his buttoned down shirt and places them on the tip of his nose. His eyes narrow on me as if trying to solve the puzzle of what question will be thrown his way before it even escapes my lips. “So. What is this place?”

“This is the place where dreams can be viewed. Any dream of a person who enters this trunk will be displayed here as a book that can be viewed by anyone who enters here and can only be removed by you. If anything crosses your unconscious you can find it here.”

“So all the books in here are dreams?” I begin to look around and the multitude of the hoards of books.

“Yes, each dream manifests itself however the owner of the trunk pleases. It Seems you are not unlike Bryan in your love for literature, I pray that is your only similarity. Any individual who enters the trunk's domain gets a section where their dreams are viewable.”

“Where are mine?”

“Hmm” he lifts himself out of the chair sauntering over to the bookshelf closest to the door, “since you were the last to enter the trunk, we can find yours here.” he gestures his hand toward shelves of hardcover books that vary in colors. “It seems that you name some of your dreams, wonderful.”

I stand up to stand beside him as he lazily scans over my shelves only focusing on a book or two before continuing his path down the shelf. “Wow, that's a lot of books.”

“Indeed it may seem so but it is actually quite average for your age. The more you dream the more show up, and you still seem to be a young adult, so your section will grow with time.”

“Why are some colored different? Not saying I'm opposed to the rainbow aesthetic.”

“That is for the sake of both you and me. They are colored to tell us what kind of dream it contains. When we dream we often have an overarching emotion that we tie to it. This shows in this manifestation such as the color yellow often finds itself on covers of dreams that are happier,” he plucks off a soft mustard yellow book. “While dreams that are more negative emotions and frightening take on a darker hue that is often black.”

“Cool, what does blue mean?” I say as I grab a soft blue book off the shelf that is eye level.

“Blue can mean a varied amount of things. As I said earlier shade is everything and that one seems to be a more sad one.”

“That's cool,” I say as I look around the barren library devoid of any other human presence, “are you the only one here? This place seems pretty spacious for only one person.”

“I am not the only reader here. There were more that used to reside closer to the door, but Bryan has the talent to irk anyone.”

“Reader?”  I question

“Ah I haven't properly explained my purpose here have I. I am a designated reader in this trunk, it is my job to redream dreams, read through them and advise you in deciphering dreams and their imagery.”

“So how do I redream a dream? Like can I redream any of them or are there restrictions?”

“Would you like to view one? Just pluck it off the shelf and open it. It is as easy as that.”

“Okay, so i just do this an….aaaaaaaaaa’

As I open the book I feel the tug of my very existence going into the book, as if gravity was compressing my body in on itself. My brain goes haywire with this new feeling and even when my body feels like it has ceased its physical existence. My vision goes as the once blinding flash of light gives way to darkness. Electricity runs through my senses and my mind muddles as my formless existence flows to an unknown place.  

Suddenly I find myself to be in a small bland room that feels vaguely familiar. It is the room that I visited in my dream a few days ago. This one I barely remembered in the morning when I woke up to my dreaded alarm. The walls are painted a soft yellow hue that reflects some of the light streaming in through the windows. Only one wall has windows, and each one takes up most of the wall. Two chairs lay at each window and in one sat me. I look younger than I do now, it is as if a picture of myself four years ago decided to jump out of the photograph and rest for a bit. It was peaceful, but the feeling of trepidation for something to come filled my chest and outlined the expression of the other me.

Soon the expected guest arrives as the window swings open to reveal Erin. She tumbles through the frame and closes the window and finds her way to the open chair, now only inches away from the other. Erin gazed out the paned window into an oblivion of clouds. A spike of pain shoved its way through my chest at the sight of my old friend who no longer holds that title in my heart. My throat constricts as I see a replica of me in the chair close to a person that in real life would never get within one-hundred feet of me.

“Hello, long time no see.” Erin said casually.

“You know exactly why we don't see each other anymore” I bite back with anger lined with hurt.

“I am good, how are you, I miss when we were friends and I didn’t have to hate you.” My doppelgänger states in a soft voice. She mirrors me in all ways, with her soft brown hair resting gently on the small of her back. Light skin with red undertones and deep chocolate eyes, that in the bright light contain a hidden green tree line around the pupil. Sparse dark brown freckles that litter my arm appear on hers. Even her voice sounds like a recording of my own.

“I miss you too. But you know you can't control me and what I do. What's done is done”

I feel myself growing angrier as I recall the situation on how I lost a friend I once held dearly. “You did something horrible that I can not forgive you for. I could ruin your life if I exposed what you did. You- you ruined it!” I explain as my eyes strain to keep tears from spilling forth at the scar in my chest from the old wound. My words struggling not to crack as my heart once did. Cracks soon begin to form along the walls and spread out causing them to crumble away.

The Erin I see before me does not react to my words, but carries on, “Things can never be as they once were and it is my fault, but I will not tell you in person, that's not how it works.”

“I really wish we could be friends again, to laugh as we once did, and hang out. I really do.”

“I know. I do as well.”

I stare at the scene before me as I listen to a conversation of my own subconscious making. Soon a tear trickles down my cheek and I lean my head back a bit to contain the reservoir of tears. These words I wish she would say, to take responsibility for the horrible thing she did to me and everyone around her. I also hear the truth of myself, my inner longing for the time when I did not mistrust those around me and I had faith in those I called friends.

Both the image of me and Erin look out into the expanse of clouds now completely exposed as the cracks overtook the weak wall leaving only a frame of Brocken wall. I know this is the end, but there is so much I want to say to her, so much more that needs to be said. I don't want this to end, it can't. I need to tell her how much she has hurt me!

I never get the chance as the dream fades away into a cloudless horizon as the library once agains dawns into existence. Andrew stands before me as I reign myself in from the emotional outburst. My heart reeling from the reminder of an injury that used to be long buried. My body drags itself back to life and a heavy weight settles into my bones.

Andrew notices my pained expression and comforts me, “It's alright, it's only a dream.” he lightly pats my shoulder to ground me best he could.

“Thank you.” I say breathlessly. “ I think I should go. I need to sleep and that was a lot.”

“I do not doubt that. You can exit the way you entered. I will be here anytime you need me.”

“Thank you.” I mumble and shift away from Andrew as I begin to hurriedly exit the library. Once I reach the door I look back at my newfound friend and give him a tender nod as I close the door and begin my ascent out of the trunk.

I lift the lid as I enter back into my cozy room. The soft brown of my walls invites me to find calm. As I exit the trunk I notice my room is just how I left it, and as I glance at the clock I see the glowing red of my alarm clock displaying 10:27. Dressing down to put my night wear on the night called my cluttered mind to rest. A tiredness sweeps through and I can only think of snuggling in my bed to have my third dream of the day.

[limejuicer1862]

Wombwell Rainbow Interviews

I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me. I gave the writers two options: an emailed list of questions or a more fluid interview via messenger. The usual ground is covered about motivation, daily routines and work ethic, but some surprises too. Some of these poets you may know, others may be new to you. I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I do.

John Saunders

is a founder member of the Hibernian Writers’ Group. His collections are After the Accident (Lapwing Press, 2010) and Chance (New Binary Press, 2013). He is one of three featured poets in Measuring, Dedalus New Writers, 2012. John’s poems have appeared in journals and anthologies in Ireland, the UK and America, on many online sites. .and in The New Binary Press Anthology of Poetry, The Stony Thursday Book, The Scaldy Detail 2013, Conversations with a Christmas Bulb (Kind of a Hurricane Press, 2013), The Poetry of Sex, (Penguin, 2014), Fatherhood Anthology (Emma Press UK, 2014), The Fate of Berryman Anthology (Arlen House, 2014) The Launchpad Children’s poetry book and The Lion Tamer Dreams of Office Work, Hibernian Writers Anthology (Alba Press, 2015).

The Interview

1. When and why did you start writing poetry?

When I was at school I was attracted to the reading of poetry. I remember being fascinated with Shakespeare’s sonnets and searching to read the many that were not on the syllabus. To this day I have a fondness for the sonnet form and tend to shape many of my poems into sonnets. At that time I did not write poetry but I found myself studying not just the content of poems but also the structure and tone. I would dissect a poem like a science experiment to see what was inside it. Unconsciously I suppose that’s when I learned how a poem was constructed although it was much later when I began to write. Looking back now I realise that my father’s interest in poetry was a strong influence. He had to leave school early to earn money and became a carpenter. I think if he could he would have been a teacher of English. He was widely read in history, literature and poetry and often quoted lines from poets such as Wordsworth, Keats and their contemporaries. I have a fond memory of sitting with him when I was about eight whilst he read aloud Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.

It was in middle adulthood when I returned to the reading of poetry and then eventually to writing. Like many writers I admire specific poets and was spurred on to find my own expression. I very much write for leisure as opposed to making a living which of course is impossible except for the very few, unless you want to spend time teaching poetry which i don’t.

Why do I write? Poetry for me is about personal expression and observation. I am as likely to write a poem about small thing such as watching someone cook a pancake to the big issues of love, war and death. For me all of the small observations of this world can be big issues and can be expressed in poetry. I like form and more recently have become engaged in the long poem form. I am more interested in writing for its own sake than for publishing although its nice to be published. 2. How aware are and were you of the dominating presence of older poets traditional and contemporary?

Most of the work I was exposed to during the school years were the older ‘dead’ poets of the 18th/19th century. Few of them stimulated me the way Shakespeare did although I did like Keats partly , I think because of his intriguing but short life which I found romantic in the imaginative sense.

After school I became more engrossed in 20th century writing and of course being in Ireland found Kavanagh, Yeats and many others including Heaney. Larkin and Hughes were also enormously influential. Of course there are numerous contemporary poets from all over the world that I like and I often revisit their work. I think all poets strive to be like those that went before and often copy styles. I suppose this is a natural learning process on the journey to finding your own voice to use a cliche. For me Kavanagh and Heaney have dominated Irish writing in my lifetime and their effect is still seen in contemporary writing. That draw on the natural, the land, the familiar.

3. What is your daily writing routine?

I don’t have a daily routine. As I work fulltime at a non writing job my writing pattern is subject to all of the demands of a working life. When I do sit down to write I usually have an idea or a subject to develop. In recent years I have often developed rough ideas and even specific lines in my head and may not write anything down until a rough shape has emerged.

Sometimes a word or phrase stays with me and becomes the genesis of a poem. Despite technology I still like to do a first handwritten draft which I might edit a couple of times before moving to a word processor. There is something about hand writing which gives me comfort and satisfaction which I know is generational. I have rarely sat down to a blank page without some idea in my head.

4 What motivates you to write?

Always, its a means of personal expression and reflection. In the early days i wrote to be read. I wrote with a view to being published. In that sense I think I was motivated to impress a reader the assumption being that everything one wrote would see the light of day. Things have changed since then. I now write for myself and to please myself. There is no longer a reader in waiting, an audience wanting to find me in a magazine. I still submit poetry and some of it is published but the urgency to do so has diminished significantly. I write because I can. Because I want to. 5. How do the writers you read when you were young influence you today?

The poets I admire most some of whom I have mentioned all have the power to create the extraordinary from the ordinary. For me that’s the essence of a good poem. Most people’s lives are mundane. time given to work, survival, sustenance. A poetry which captures that is to me more significant than the sometimes grandiose descriptions of love, death, god, and so on. He any and Kavanagh, for example could find poems in everyday existence which they crafted into pieces of art. Contemporary poets like Billy Collins, Carol Anne Duffy and many more do this with ease.

I also admire poems that surprise either by the unusual use of words or phrases or with punchlines. The American poets Galway Kinnell and Raymond Carver were in my opinion masters of surprise.

6. Whom of today’s writers do you admire the most and why?

There are so many writers I admire and revisit. If by contemporary one means the living poets, there is a handful including Micheal O’ Loughlin, Paula Meehan, Tony Curtis, Thomas Kinsella, Carol Anne Duffy, Simon Armitage, Robin Robertson and A E Stallings. Of the more recently dead, apart from those already mentioned I like Michael Hartnett, Elisabeth Bishop, Dennis O’ Driscoll and Phillip Larkin. Why do I admire these writers? I’m not sure I can rationally explain why. All of these and others have mastered form and as I said earlier translate the mundane into something special. They are also very readable, what is sometimes described as accessible and I don’t mean this in a derogatory way. In fact for me being able to write an accessible poem whilst remaining true to the technique of poetry and form is success. I am reminded of Heaney’s reply during an interview where he said that writing arcane poetry was not necessary and in fact was downright rude to the reader. There is an inherent snobbery in poetry where some poets think the achievement of extreme obliqueness is a prerequisite of a good poem. I disagree. Like wine, for me, the best poem is the one you like.

7. What would you say to someone who asked you “How do you become a writer?”

The short answer is ; write. I believe that anyone can become a writer once they have the fundamental literacy skill. Even someone who cannot write could compose words into a meaningful shape. After all poetry was originally aural. In the context of the modern world we can all write. The quality of such writing is of course determined by skill, technique, knowledge, motivation and so on. In other words we have an innate ability to create. What we create can be nurtured. I am reminded of Kavanagh’s quote that the hardest part of writing is keeping your arse on the seat. This suggests of course that writing is a task to which you apply yourself and that is definitely true. It’s worth noting also and it has been well quoted that you cannot write poetry all day. Most poets spend most of their time on the business of poetry; reading reviewing editing teaching and so on and much less time actually engaged in creative writing. So what advice do I have? I think good writing is contingent on wide reading, not only of poetry but also prose. The tools of creative writing are vocabulary. A writer need to have as wide a vocabulary as possible to give him the wherewithall to produce good writing.

Writing poetry demands an understanding of technique so the reading of other poets gives great insight. I rarely read a poem without interrogating its structure and form to identify new ways of expression.

So for any one wishing to write, read widely ,learn from what others have done and them practice. While you may initially start out emulating other writing styles you will eventually with sufficient practice and time find your way of writing. Your own voice.

8. Tell me about the writing projects you have on at the moment.

As ever I have a number of projects which are best described as works in progress. I am finalizing a manuscript of children’s poetry which I have been working on over a number of years and have published some of them in magazines. I find writing for children an exhilarating experience and one that’s very different from writing for adults. I’m also presently in an ancient Greece phase and have just completed a manuscript of fifty-two sonnets each one devoted to a god. Similarly and as an outcome of that work, I am writing a long poem on the life of Herakles. This is in the form of ten-line stanzas of ABABABABAA rhyming. I’m on the 20th stanza and he’s only just completed the 12th labor! Finally, I have a manuscript ready on the theme of mental Ill health which is partly based on historical events of how people were treated on the past where the only option was the Victorian Asylum system.

Wombwell Rainbow Interviews: John Saunders Wombwell Rainbow Interviews I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me.

[ionecoffman]

Is Salt Bad? A Prison Study May Hold the Answer

There is a lot to fight over in the vagaries of dietary science, but possibly nothing has been as contentious or as longstanding as the salt wars. For decades, public-health officials have pushed people to eat less salt, which is linked to lower blood pressure, which in turn is linked to less heart disease. And for the same decades, a vocal opposition has challenged the guidelines as unscientific: No solid evidence directly links salt intake to heart disease over the long term.

The vitriol of the salt wars was on display in Science. The journal noted that one side took an article as “compelling evidence of the value of reducing sodium intake,” while another said the same article “reads like a New Yorker comedy piece” and was the “worst example of a meta-analysis in print by a long shot.” That was 1998. The evidence hasn’t gotten much better since then.

What would settle the debate once and for all is a randomized controlled trial: Take thousands of people, randomly assign them a low-salt or regular diet, and follow them for years—recording not just short-term changes in blood pressure but also long-term changes in heart attacks and death from heart disease. This is what the Institute of Medicine—a body of expert scientists that has since changed its name to the National Academy of Medicine—suggested at the end of a 2013 review on salt-intake research.

In May 2017, Daniel Jones, an obesity researcher at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, convened a group on both sides of the salt debate to explore the feasibility of a randomized controlled trial. “Over the last few years in the medical literature,” he said, “there has been ... ” He paused to look for the right words. “I’ll say, a more contentious spirit. It was bothersome to me to see people disagreeing in a disagreeable way.” Jones himself believes salt can lead to heart disease, but he thinks stronger evidence in the form a randomized controlled trial could provide the push for policies that limit salt in processed foods.

The groups ran through their research options. The best evidence linking salt intake and high-blood pressure comes from short-term feeding studies, where researchers prepare the meals for participants over several weeks. But it is far too expensive to feed participants for the years it takes for heart disease to show up. And frankly, how many volunteers would follow a bland diet for years?

So they considered people already on controlled diets. Nursing homes, they ruled out because many of the elderly have medical conditions that already require eating a certain amount of salt. The military they ruled out because the population is so young and fit that it would take too long for heart disease to show up. That left prisons.

This month, the group published an editorial in the journal Hypertension proposing to study low-sodium diets in prisoners. Jones says he is currently in discussion with a private-prison management company to conduct an initial pilot study. He wanted to publish the proposed research to spark a conversation on the myriad concerns—ethical and logistical—that come with conducting research in prisons.

There are reasons to be cautious about research in prisons, which has a long and sometimes ugly history. “Until the early 1970s,” wrote the law professor Lawrence Gostin, “R.J. Reynolds, Dow Chemical, the US Army, major pharmaceutical companies, and other sponsors conducted a wide variety of research on prisoners—a captive, vulnerable, and easily accessible population.” Some of the infamous experiments were at Holmesburg Prison in Philadelphia, where a dermatologist subjected prisoners to a suite of products including what became the skin-cream ingredient Retin-A . “All I saw before me were acres of skin,” the dermatologist reportedly told a newspaper reporter. “It was like a farmer seeing a field for the first time.”

The 1970s brought congressional hearings on protections for human subjects and the passage of the National Research Act, both of which were spurred by public outcry after the Tuskegee study. Prisoners are now considered a vulnerable population—along with children, pregnant women, and the mentally disabled—who required special protections in research. “Consent means something very different in the prison environment,” says Marc Morjé Howard, the director of the Prisons and Justice Initiative at Georgetown, whom Jones also consulted about preliminary ideas for the salt-intake study. Prisoners who participate in a study so they can get access to health care or because they believe they must do so to stay in the good graces of correctional officers may not be choosing freely.

The Department of Health and Human Services currently restricts federally funded research in prisons to five categories: 1) studying incarceration or criminal behavior itself, 2) studying prisons as institutions, 3) studying conditions that disproportionately affect prisoners like drug addiction or hepatitis, 4) epidemiology research on prevalence and risk factors of disease, and 5) research that can help the prisoners being studied.

The salt-intake study, Jones says, falls in the last category. The results could inform salt guidelines for both what average people should eat and what people are fed in prisons. The pilot study will be privately funded, he says, but they hope to seek federal funding for a larger study at several different prison sites, ideally federal prisons for the sake of standardization. Each site will be randomly assigned to feed inmates either their current diet or a low-sodium diet of less than 2,300 milligrams per day, as recommended by the American Heart Association. Individual prisoners will not choose the menu they’re offered—the rationale being they already do not have control over prison menus, says Jones—but they can decide whether they want their health data to be collected for the study.

But is it, in fact, okay to take salt away from an entire prison and only provide what most people would think is bland food? (The average American eats 3,400 milligrams of sodium per day.) Unappetizing food—like the nutritionally complete but tasteless nutraloaf—has been used as a form of punishment in prisons. Howard suggested the prisoners who object to a low-sodium diet, either because of health or matters of taste, be given a way to opt out.

But that could cause logistical complications. There is no way to monitor exactly what prisoners are eating, only what they are being offered. “People share food their food. They dump their food trays,” says Aaron Littman, a lawyer at the Southern Center of Human Rights. “It’s not like somebody is watching your intake.” Prison food is also notoriously bad, and many prisoners supplement their diets with food bought from the commissary—most of it high-sodium snack foods like ramen or chips. Jones says one goal of the pilot study is to figure out how much of the prisoners’ diets is coming from the commissary, and they may work with vendors to restrict the sale of high-sodium foods.

“It’s hard to overstate the importance of food in prisons,” says Keramet Reiter, a criminologist at the University of California at Irvine, who has done research in prisons. Packs of ramen function as currency. Prisoners assemble meals like “burritos” from ramen, Doritos, beef sticks, and a variety of other foods. “This is an environment where the food is so bland, and you have so few things to look forward to,” she says. Taking away Doritos (210 milligrams of sodium per ounce) could cause real disruptions in a prison.

Reiter notes that even the best-run studies in prison rest on a fundamental premise: “Scientists need some kind of controlled environment and population. They’re partly exploiting the institutional circumstances.” Federally funded biomedical research in prisons is now rare because of the HHS restrictions. But pharmaceutical companies can also run privately funded trials in prisons—as they have done on HIV drugs in Florida, Texas, and Rhode Island—and they are not legally bound by the same regulations. “I think it’s a Pandora’s box,” says Reiter, and the opaqueness of the prison system makes it hard for abuses to come to light.

Paul Wright, the founder of the Human Rights Defense Center, also questioned whether a salt-intake study would actually benefit prisoners. There are, he points out, so many bigger problems with prison food system: inadequate portions, rotten food, food labeled “not for human consumption,” according to one lawsuit. If those more pressing issues aren’t fixed, he says, what difference would more or less salt make?

Prisoners are also not entirely representative of the general population, which could make it harder to generalize from their data. They are disproportionately male and people of color. They have higher rates of drug use, HIV, and hepatitis C. They are not an ideal population for a health study, but they may be the only one available—that is, if they should be available for research at all.

Jones says he’s been getting feedback from the scientific community—most of it encouraging—since publishing the proposal. He’s also hoping to engage more ethicists and prisoners’-rights advocates. “Broadly, we’re looking for advice on whether this is an insane idea,” he says. “Or whether it’s something that experienced people think might be achievable.”

Article source here:The Atlantic