Future is Fiction http://futureisfiction.posterous.com Make this Moment Your Poetry posterous.com Tue, 08 May 2012 13:38:19 -0700 RIP Maurice Sendak, Author of Where the Wild Things Are http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/rip-maurice-sendak-author-of-where-the-wild-t http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/rip-maurice-sendak-author-of-where-the-wild-t If you were born in the 80s or any time thereafter, you probably loved Where the Wild Things Are when you were a child. Which means today is a sad day for you. Hey, did you know Maurice Sendak was gay? And snarky? Is the "Wild Rumpus" a euphemism for sex? Check out this interview Stephen Colbert did with Maurice Sendak.

<table style='font:11px arial; color:#333; background-color:#f5f5f5' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' width='512' height='340'><tbody><tr style='background-color:#e5e5e5' valign='middle'><td style='padding:2px 1px 0px 5px;'><a target='_blank' style='color:#333; text-decoration:none; font-weight:bold;' href='http://www.colbertnation.com'>The Colbert Report</a></td><td style='padding:2px 5px 0px 5px; text-align:right; font-weight:bold;'>Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c</td></tr><tr style='height:14px;' valign='middle'><td style='padding:2px 1px 0px 5px;' colspan='2'><a target='_blank' style='color:#333; text-decoration:none; font-weight:bold;' href='http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/406796/january-24-2012/grim-colberty-tales-with-maurice-sendak-pt--1'>Grim Colberty Tales with Maurice Sendak Pt. 1</a></td></tr><tr style='height:14px; background-color:#353535' valign='middle'><td colspan='2' style='padding:2px 5px 0px 5px; width:512px; overflow:hidden; text-align:right'><a target='_blank' style='color:#96deff; text-decoration:none; font-weight:bold;' href='http://www.colbertnation.com/'>www.colbertnation.com</a></td></tr><tr valign='middle'><td style='padding:0px;' colspan='2'></td></tr><tr style='height:18px;' valign='middle'><td style='padding:0px;' colspan='2'><table style='margin:0px; text-align:center' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' width='100%' height='100%'><tr valign='middle'><td style='padding:3px; width:33%;'><a target='_blank' style='font:10px arial; color:#333; text-decoration:none;' href='http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/'>Colbert Report Full Episodes</a></td><td style='padding:3px; width:33%;'><a target='_blank' style='font:10px arial; color:#333; text-decoration:none;' href='http://www.indecisionforever.com/'>Political Humor & Satire Blog</a></td><td style='padding:3px; width:33%;'><a target='_blank' style='font:10px arial; color:#333; text-decoration:none;' href='http://www.colbertnation.com/video'>Video Archive</a></td></tr></table></td></tr></tbody></table>

And if you want more, here's an interview with Maurice on NPR.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/513147/karma_green_hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5fiSuzezq5zP daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach Sat, 14 Apr 2012 13:26:03 -0700 Writing the First Chapter of A Novel http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/writing-the-first-chapter-of-a-novel http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/writing-the-first-chapter-of-a-novel

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<h2>Two Chapter Ones</h2>

Novelling never seems to go as planned. When I started this novel, I told myself I would spend as much time on the later chapters as on the opening ones. Everyone spends forever writing their first chapter, of course because it is the first thing people read. I've also discovered that writing the first chapter is one of the hardest things to write. Why? Because what the reader wants is exactly the opposite of what the author wants. The writer wants to introduce you to their world: who these characters are, where they live, what they're in search of. The reader hasn't decided yet whether she cares about any of those things. The reader wants to know what happened: what's the story? What's the conflict? Where is this going? Complicating things further, the reader really does need some of that background information. Well into the novel, they know what the characters look like, where they live, what kind of world the story inhabits. So the author has this challenge: they must get the reader involved in the story right away while sneaking in little details that give the reader something to picture. When my reading group first looked over my story, I realized they didn't know diving in whether the world was going to be suburban or fantasy, if it takes place today or fifty years ago. Thus every detail in chapter one matters, because the readers is starting from nothing. Not only do you have to sneak them in, you have to give just the right details in just the right order.

The other challenge of first chapters is that they often a depict the world before the adventure began. Even Indiana Jones, as exciting as his life is, begins his story teaching at his university. Or take The Goonies: that action-packed story begins at home. Why even show the part before the kids discover the treasure map? Why not begin the story in the middle of the action, when they sneak into the cafe? The answer is that we want to know who these kids are, how they are like us, so we feel like this adventure could happen to us too. The problem comes in that many (most?) writers get lost in this set-up, taking too long in the introductions.

Naturally, I've been tweaking Chapter 1 all along, but today I finished my first total rewrite. I don't know about you, but I don't like rewriting chapters. I already did the work, I'd rather revise than start from scratch. But I finally found the hook I needed. The main problem I had was that I wanted to start the story with the lead character waking up from a dream, which limits the options for the scene. In trying to imagine how to make the scene more exciting, I kept imagining her awakening somewhere strange, like in the back of truck. But I couldn't make that work. I know that mortal peril is the best hook to interest the readers, but how could I put my character in mortal peril when she's just awoken in the safety of her room?

I also asked myself what exactly I needed to convey in this scene, for the reasons above. The main thing I wanted to get across was that the protagonist is depressed, but her boyfriend is even more so. I thought I had shown this, but it didn't seem to me like the readers were getting it, not to the extent that I needed. And the answer to the question: "How can I show that this guy is really unwell?" also gave me the answer to the question "How can I endanger the characters and hook the reader right away?"

Then I went through the old chapter one and I highlighted all the stuff that I thought I wanted to keep in the first chapter. Despite having whittled the chapter down to what I thought were the "essentials," it was surprising when I did this how little I highlighted. I may keep some of the other content for later chapters. I stuffed most of the keeper-stuff into the beginning, and then rewrote the chapter without so much as a glance at what I had before.

Are you curious?

Here's the NEW CHAPTER ONE of the novel

Here's the OLD CHAPTER ONE of the novel

I'd love your feedback, especially if you like the old chapter one better.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/513147/karma_green_hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5fiSuzezq5zP daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach Fri, 09 Mar 2012 10:20:00 -0800 Why Authors Need Twitter http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/why-authors-need-twitter http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/why-authors-need-twitter

I wrote an article for Opportunities Planeet on why artists, authors, or anyone who needs to market a product should be on Twitter.

For Anyone Looking to Market a Product, Twitter Can Be Even More Important Than Facebook

Twitter is the second-most popular social network in the world, and the ninth most-most popular website worldwide. But I believe for marketing, Twitter is the most important social media account to have. First let me say I’m comparing Twitter to Facebook not because they are the most similar, or because I think you should neglect to promote yourself on Facebook. I compare Twitter to Facebook because most people see Facebook as an important part of their marketing strategy, while neglecting the little blue bird. Sure, Facebook is the second-most popular website in the world. But most of the people who use it expect it to be a personal space. Facebook is where people share photos of their vacation and videos of kittens. You are expected to have one profile for all the different “hats” you wear, encompassing what you do at work, how you spend your free time, what music enjoy and what stories you’ve been reading…the whole kit and caboodle. Twitter allows you to brand yourself. You can have a multitude of Twitter profiles and no one frowns upon it as they would if you had a variety of Facebook personae. This means if you’ve written the book Zombies With Guns you can have a Twitter feed that focuses exclusively on weapons, ammo, and surviving the zombie apocalypse. On Facebook, your friends and family would be irritated by your constant stream of zombie and gun info, because they are not your target audience. On Twitter, your account is specifically for that purpose, so all of your followers would be people interested in that kind of content. Sure, you can get fifty of your friends to like your company on Facebook, but on Twitter those followers are not your pals but potential customers. Facebook has created a number of ways to compete with this advantage. They created groups, then changed, them, and are now getting rid of them. They created company pages. But in my experience, it is harder to gain followers of a Facebook company page than a Twitter page, even though many more people are on Facebook! That’s because people go to Facebook to talk to people they already know in real life. People go to Twitter to find out what’s going on in the world and to receive updates on their favorite subjects.

Read the rest of the article
at Opportunities Planet

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/513147/karma_green_hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5fiSuzezq5zP daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:26:00 -0800 Veterans in Fiction: We're Going To Be Seeing More of This http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/veterans-in-fiction-were-going-to-be-seeing-m http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/veterans-in-fiction-were-going-to-be-seeing-m

Last night on Glee, one of the male leads announced he was going to enlist. Glee is as campy as it is liberal, so it was expected that hunky but nosey teacher Will Shooster would try to stop Finn from becoming another dead hero, like his father. I was expecting the typical "don't do it son; it's not worth it" speech. The twist they threw down was much more honest.

In the scene, Finn's mother reveals that his dad didn't die in the war after all. In some fine acting from Romy Rosemont, she says, "I don't know if he did something or saw something or just lost his way but...he broke."

It was just a matter of time before the fiction of today began increasingly to deal with the plight of traumatized veterans and their impact on society. Post WWI we had Virginia Woolf's shell shocked vets, while much of E.E. Cummings poetry centered around his own struggle with life during wartime and we saw a slew of post-Vietnam characters in 80s movies. The same theme is returning to our stories as more soldiers return from Iraq and Aphganistan. More writers will know vets who've lost their way, or will hear of their stories from others and want to write about them. Drug addiction amongst veterans is always higher than the general population--it's a population that's not scared of the dangers and often much in need of "better living through chemistry." Moreover, often their position overseas gives them easy access to drugs.This scene in Glee where we find out Finn's father died of a drug overdose could just as easily have been written about Vietnam. Yet because drug addiction amongst soldiers is seldom talked about it makes me wonder if the writer behind this scene knew a veteran in this situation.

Either way, we're going to see more of this. In 2000, a show about bootleggers wouldn't have focused on returing veterans. Today Boardwalk Empire is so interwined with the story of psychotic WWI vets that it states them as the cause of the bootlegging gangsterism the show covers. What other shows are there that deal with PTSD and drug use among returning veterans? I'd like to ponder this more. The plight of the returning soldier says "War is hell" better than any flag-waving or flag-burning speech ever does.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/513147/karma_green_hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5fiSuzezq5zP daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach Thu, 05 Jan 2012 14:25:00 -0800 Nicholas Carr on E-Books http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/nicholas-carr-on-e-books http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/nicholas-carr-on-e-books

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via online.wsj.com

Nicholas Carr has an article in The Wall Street Journal about the malleability of e-books. Because a digital edition can be perpetually edited, it is never officially finished. He muses on how intrusive school boards and dictators will tinker in otherwise "published" e-books.

The section that interested me most (as I've pondered the article's subject before) was this:

What may be more insidious is the pressure to fiddle with books for commercial reasons. Because e-readers gather enormously detailed information on the way people read, publishers may soon be awash in market research. They'll know how quickly readers progress through different chapters, when they skip pages, and when they abandon a book.

I can absolutely see publishers doing this. It could create a world where books are tailored to fit a majority, in the same way market testing has resulted in a bevy of cookie-cutter movies. On the other hand, one could argue that this isn't so different from the modern writers' workshop.

One issue the article doesn't delve into is how editable e-books can encourage more collaborative reading. One could imagine people trading versions of the Bible annotated by Christopher Hitchens or popular novels with erotic fan-fic written in, or copies of The Da Vinci Code with embedded photos of the art mentioned in the story. You'd end up with a variety of specially named editions floating around.

This would all serve to add to the notion of the physical book as a collectors item. With e-books as ephemeral, the printed book may continue to exist as the authority on what the final, official draft is. In the future when print runs decrease dramatically, having a personal copy of the rare, unchanging, printed book will give its owner a certain authority on the text and having a personal library will again become a status symbol.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/513147/karma_green_hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5fiSuzezq5zP daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:23:20 -0700 "Specific suggestion: General strike" By Garret Keizer http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/specific-suggestion-general-strike-by-garret http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/specific-suggestion-general-strike-by-garret

As for how the strike would be publicized and organized, these would depend on the willingness to strike itself. The greater the willingness, the fewer the logistical requirements. How many Americans does it take to change a lightbulb? How many Web postings, how many emblazoned bedsheets hung from the upper-story windows? Think of it this way: How many hours does it take to learn the results of last night’s American Idol, even when you don’t want to know?

In 1943 the Danes managed to save 7,200 of their 7,800 Jewish neighbors from the Gestapo. They had no blogs, no television, no text messaging—and very little time to prepare. They passed their apartment keys to the hunted on the streets. They formed convoys to the coast. An ambulance driver set out with a phone book, stopping at any address with a Jewish-sounding name. No GPS for directions. No excuse not to try.

But what if it failed? What if the general strike proved to be anything but general? I thought Bush was supposed to be the one afraid of science. Hypothesis, experiment, analysis, conclusion—are they his hobgoblins or ours? What do we have to fear, except additional evidence that George W. Bush is exactly what he appears to be: the president few of us like and most of us deserve. But science dares to test the obvious. So let us dare.

When I heard that Oakland is planning a general strike for November 2nd, I went and pulled up this fantastic article written by Garret Keizer for Harpers magazine back in 2006. It is among the best essays I've ever read.

I will post more excerpts from this on Subversive Soapbox but you should really just go read the rest of it right now.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/513147/karma_green_hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5fiSuzezq5zP daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach Fri, 23 Sep 2011 22:21:46 -0700 Gus http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/gus http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/gus

1687947408

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/513147/karma_green_hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5fiSuzezq5zP daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach Thu, 25 Aug 2011 15:37:27 -0700 Getting published: See Yourself in Print #1 http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/getting-published-see-yourself-in-print-1 http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/getting-published-see-yourself-in-print-1 Because books are my bread and butter folks occasionally ask me how they might get into the business of being a writer. There are a lot of things you can do to get your polished prose in the hands of booksellers. Note that this isn't about self-publishing, but getting your book printed the old fashioned way.

Cat%252520with%252520Glasses%252520Reading%252520Paper.jpg

Image thanks to Barbara Moldenhauer

This Week's Tip to Becoming A Bad-Ass Author: Establish Yourself as An Expert

The more you can do to convince the publisher that you're an authority in that area, the easier it will be for them to sell you to Barnes & Noble.

The simplest way to do this is to start a blog. A lot of potential author's worry about "giving away" too much info on a blog, so that there is nothing left for their book. Unless you write poetry, this is a non-issue and obsessing over it only looks unprofessional. It turns out people have no problem buying a book that reproduces the content of a blog they can read online for free. Go figure. And if consumers will buy it, somewhere there's a publisher who will publish it. Sites like Stuff White People Like, XKCD, and the Oatmeal don't worry about giving away too much.

Of course, once you're a blogger you have to start worrying about SEO and keeping up with other people's blogs and all kinds of HTML nonsense that has fuck all to do with writing your manifesto. Starting a blog is in some ways like joining a virtual, global community. If you're not interested in the existing community that exists around the glockenspiel, why would you expect anyone to read your potential book, Stop, Drop and Glock: How the Glockenspiel Will Set Your Roof on Fire? So while it is a lot of work, that work is seeding potential fans of your obsession (It is an obsession, right? If not, why bother?).

Another way to establish expertise is to write guest posts on other people's blogs, or articles for local newspapers. However, this is easier to set up if you already have a blog in the first place. Otherwise, what can you point them to that shows you have something to say on the subject?

Local organizing can be useful as well, but remember publishers are looking to sell your book all over the country. A monthly meet-up of thirty people isn't going to impress Simon & Schuster.

Building expertise is less true with fiction, but it is still true. Many writers now are experimenting with keeping up a blog about their process. This can include research notes, advice, and inspiration. There are sites like Urbis.com where writers upload pieces of their draft to be critcized by other writers. This is another way of joining communities and building a fan base.

This seems like a lot of work, doesn't it? It is. But if you've chosen your subject matter wisely it turns out to be just another way to immerse yourself in a subject you are passionate about.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/513147/karma_green_hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5fiSuzezq5zP daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach Sun, 31 Jul 2011 17:24:58 -0700 The Berkeley Kite Festival http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/the-berkeley-kite-festival http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/the-berkeley-kite-festival

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/513147/karma_green_hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5fiSuzezq5zP daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach Wed, 25 May 2011 10:51:00 -0700 Have Coffee Will Write » Blog Archive » TODAY IS TOWEL DAY…! http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/have-coffee-will-write-blog-archive-today-is http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/have-coffee-will-write-blog-archive-today-is

But why a towel? Because, as the Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy informs us:

A towel, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitch hiker can have. Partly it has great practical value:

you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta;

you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours;

you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon;

use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth;

wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat;

wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal,
it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you — daft as a bush, but very ravenous);

you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course

dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc.

Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have “lost”. What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth f the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

via havecoffeewillwrite.com

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/513147/karma_green_hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5fiSuzezq5zP daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach Tue, 08 Mar 2011 13:55:22 -0800 I Do Nothing To Stop the Blaze II http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/i-do-nothing-to-stop-the-blaze-ii http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/i-do-nothing-to-stop-the-blaze-ii

Very Busy People by The Limousines Listen on Posterous

I had a strange sensation the other evening. Riding on the Bay Bridge at night always makes me think of the time that tanker truck blew up and I saw a section of the freeway melt. The bridge is covered, so we couldn't see the tanker fire until we were right on top of it, flames suddenly shooting fifty feet into the black starless sky. That stretch of the bridge makes me metaphorical because it reminds me that there are situations where even if the fire you're facing is enormous, it is possible not to see it until it is too late. It is possible to be barreling down the metaphorical freeway, going 80, with few signs of the catastrophe ahead. I was reminded that the empire I was born into is riding the crest of a crashing wave, a tsunami taking down with it the salmon and the sturgeon and the grizzly bears and the polar bears, etc.

I turned to the driver and in a dry voice I began to monologue about how lucky we are, not only to be born comfortably into the stack of nuclear weapons and Wal-marts that is the foundation of this nation, but also so lucky to have been born into this generation. To be born a hundred years ago in America would be to live before there were unions and women, men and children worked in unbearable conditions with no weekends for no end in site. But to be born a hundred years from now would be even worse: millions of environmental refugees, widespread ecological collapse, severe droughts and floods, starvation, famine—not to mention the largest extinction event in the history of the world.

As he was agreeing we had won the time-and-place-of-birth lottery, I was thinking of an unfinished poem I wrote years ago. The poem, like the bulk of my work, is about the contrast between privilege and the knowledge that one's privilege comes at the expense of other creatures' suffering. It isn't surprising. I spent the first fifteen years of my life, for as long as I could remember, wanting to be a writer. Then I went to college, and, as my favorite professor Larry Isaacs put it, I "stopped living my own personal narrative and started living history." I felt a real imperative to change the world, even if it was at the expense of pursuing my dreams. Unfortunately, I'm not very good at changing the world. It seems my only real gifts are impractical things: writing, dancing, drawing. Despite that, I spent the next section of my life raising my fist at marches, running social justice campaigns, meeting influential activists, and generally being a hell-raiser. Now I've circled back to focusing on my writing. I live in a state where my vote is irrelevant, because everyone thinks the way I do. I'm happy and life is easy. But I still feel the pull. I still know the fire is coming. And this conflict is what I try to capture in my fiction and poetry.

The poem that was running through my head ends:

The indymedia headline reads: THE ELECTION WAS HACKED. I read it and cry and then corporate radio machine plays "Video Killed the Radio Star" and I dance in the sweet happy-face sunshine that I know is melting the polar ice caps.

And then an odd thing happened. I realized the song playing on the radio was my favorite song from 2010. Immediately I perked up, yanked on the volume nob and started to sing. The very thing that I had written about in the poem actually happened: I was distracted from contemplating the terrible situation we've gotten ourselves into; it was a mere abstraction compared to the immediacy of a simple luxury: a song I loved coming on the radio. What was even stranger was that the song itself epitomizes my life of luxury. The song, "Very Busy People" is about the endless stream of pleasure and distraction I was contemplating:

We'll end up numb from playing video games and we'll get sick of having sex. And we'll get fat from eating candy as we drink ourselves to death. We'll stay up late making mix tapes, photoshoping pictures of ourselves while we masturbate to these pixelated videos of strangers fucking themselves.

The metaphor had become real. I was caught in a tangle of irony. I was caught in a loop, wherein no matter how hard the universe attempted to send me the message: Your luxury is an illusion, temporary at best, the message was always carried on the back of the illusion itself, ZOMG, I love this song, turn it up! Or perhaps it is the reverse: every moment I'm enjoying myself—knitting scarves, scrubbing my feet soft and masqueing my pores smooth, alphabetizing my CDs, laying in the orderly grass and drinking Saki—all of these things are clouded by the knowledge of my privilege. Even the passion for working in publishing is tarnished by the knowledge of the production cycle that produces millions of books every year. The experience was a reminder that no matter how hard we try, we cannot contemplate anything without seeing it through the frame of reference of our worldview. I felt like the cavemen of Socrates, realizing my reality was cast through the distorted lense of the shadows on the cave walls. And all this time, with the knowledge that I'd slipped back into the comfort of my lifestyle, I kept singing: my shoulders dancing, my mouth smiling, and the shimmering skyline of Oakland baring herself before me as we disembarked the bridge. I felt that I was wearing a mask. But which was the mask? The sulking me, that had so easily turned off when my song came on the radio? Or the smiling me, that dances in the sweet happy-face Oakland skyline?

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/513147/karma_green_hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5fiSuzezq5zP daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach The Limousines - Very Busy People Mon, 07 Mar 2011 20:09:00 -0800 Jason Jaworski at the Noise Pop Culture Fest http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/jason-jaworski-at-the-noise-pop-culture-fest http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/jason-jaworski-at-the-noise-pop-culture-fest

Festivals like the Noise Pop Culture Fest are ineffective for becoming a better artist. The time with each presenter is too short, the instruction too thrown together. It is a great place to find inspiration, however.

Take Jason Jaworski. He's not the first poet I've seen typing snippets of poetry on old typewriters and giving them away to the sources of their inspiration. But surely he has the most compelling delivery. While other street poets set themselves apart with dapper hats and gloves, Jason wears a prom dress and a wrap of silver crinkly fabric. His head is crowned with an unknown substance and a wreath of false (chicken?) feet. Moreover he sits not in a desk or a chair, but barefoot and cross-legged in a tiny house filled with countless baubles and trinkets and swathes of fabric. The traveling improvisational poet is a rare creature but Jason Jaworski sets himself apart from the rest of the herd.

In truth, I wish there were herds of these poets, legions armed with typewriters and cases full of correctional fluid. I wish there were one on every street corner in every city, waiting with fingers poised on the keys, looking into the eyes of those in line, waiting for a simple unedited poem. These poetry buskers provide an important service. Poetry is the twin sister to music, first formed among cavemen beating their drums around breezy campfires as people huddled together, searching for warmth and meaning. Now it is thought to be a dusty relic, a secret language only understood by MFAs and and smirking grammar dominatrices.

Whereas poetry is thought to be abstract, poetry buskers use the person standing in front of them to create their art.
Whereas poetry is thought to be disconnected from its audience, poetry buskers create a one-on-one relationship.
Whereas poetry is thought to be collections of overly dwelled upon minutia, these intrepid fellows will type out a poem in under two minutes.
Whereas poetry has certainly become narcisstic and static, these poets create hundreds of poems and give them away.

The last part is the one I would have the most difficulty with. Every poem I've ever lost lives in my imagination as the greatest thing I've ever written. But these poems aren't lost, they're set free. They're created with a view of abundance, a belief that inspiration is as commonplace as fortune cookies. Who knows how many poems Jason Jaworski gave away at the Noise Pop Culture fest? Each poem was unsigned, whatever brilliance it brought became solely the possession of the person who inspired it. I've thought a lot about the ways our egos can get in the way of producing good writing. What could be a better way to do this than to write a hundred poems and give them away anonymously?

He never at any point told me his name. There's no need for names in a simple exchange between a muse and an artist. I gathered that information from his website, which I had the fortune to reach because I asked him to type it onto my poem. I use his name here again and again, so I can remember it if I am fortunate enough to happen upon this gent again. Jason Jaworski. Jason Jaworski. Jason Jaworski. I wish I knew you; I'm glad, at least, to have met you.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/513147/karma_green_hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5fiSuzezq5zP daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach Wed, 12 Jan 2011 21:01:21 -0800 Cannabump http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/cannabump http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/cannabump Cannabump - Noun. The economic boost provided to cultivators, confectioners, hydroponics peddlers, lawyers, accountants, lobbyists, etc. due to the expanding cannabis industry.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/513147/karma_green_hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5fiSuzezq5zP daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach Sun, 09 Jan 2011 14:41:19 -0800 New writer's night in Oakland. http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/new-writers-night-in-oakland http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/new-writers-night-in-oakland

010911143420

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/513147/karma_green_hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5fiSuzezq5zP daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach Sun, 05 Dec 2010 19:22:00 -0800 Southern Baptists Spamming Google: A Search Query WTF http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/southern-baptists-spamming-google-a-search-qu http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/southern-baptists-spamming-google-a-search-qu

While not especially shocking nor deliberately weird, this is perhaps the most perplexing thing I have ever discovered through a search query. For novel research I googled "asthma drugs coma." I at first thought the page I clicked on was for one of those stupid spam search pages that exist to put ads in your face because it was just a long list of search queries for abortificants. Even a list of fetus flushers is weird, but that's only the beginning. There were no ads, and the queries weren't hyperlinks, just ceaseless words in a list. Gems like:

medications to help induce miscarriage
powerpoint presentation of acute cholelithisis operation induced acute renal failure and ards
french bulldog induce vomiting
can salt baths induce my period
creatine induced cholestitis
anxiety induced asthma
wake induced lucid dream tips
libs laser induced breakdown spectroscopy fundamentals application ppt
particle induced x ray emmision system fendi ppt

But that's not the weird part. The weird part is that the website is run by "Waco Baptist Church."

Yes, you read that right.

About halfway down this very long list, is a different font that says:

Welcome to the Waco Baptist Church web page. We hope that you find something here that blesses you today.

My best guess is that they are using their site exactly as the search spammers do, as a lure. But instead of flashing ads in your face they are hoping to snag wayward women in order to save their souls, or burn them as witches. This theory is supported in that, sandwiched between "how to self induce a miscarriage using medicine at home" and "alchohol induced dimentia anger" it offers their email address and:

We want this web site to serve the needs of those viewing it. In order to better do that we need to hear from you. Thanks.

Can you just imagine a bunch of Southern Baptist church ladies sitting around in their fancy hats, practical heels and serious faces, brainstorming this list of search queries that potential baby-stranglers would search for? Or more likely it's some graying pastor with a determined face, running his own google searches into the wee hours of the morning, learning about the ways of wicked women who have induced miscarraige using the dangerously effective abortificant, acupuncture. You know, for research.

But even if the list sought to induce gals who've induced miscarraige into the church, who the fuck would find such a list useful? They're not even hyperlinks! If anyone can shed some light on this weirdness, I'd appreciate it.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/513147/karma_green_hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5fiSuzezq5zP daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach Thu, 02 Dec 2010 18:57:49 -0800 Last night on Fourth Street. http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/last-night-on-fourth-street http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/last-night-on-fourth-street

_java

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/513147/karma_green_hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5fiSuzezq5zP daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach Tue, 16 Nov 2010 21:00:26 -0800 A Wordle of the Poetry I Wrote in College http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/a-wordle-of-the-poetry-i-wrote-in-college http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/a-wordle-of-the-poetry-i-wrote-in-college

I'm not a valley girl, just a girl who likes similies. Damnit, there's that word again.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/513147/karma_green_hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5fiSuzezq5zP daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach Wed, 10 Nov 2010 17:24:05 -0800 The State of Things http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/the-state-of-things http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/the-state-of-things

1. Yesterday at the BART station I overheard a guy say he was sacked. There were 2500 people in his department and they got rid of 2000 of them.

2. In the last week I have seen two people in my neighborhood sleeping in their cars

3. My sweetie works in a school. I taught him to play a game that only requires a wall clock but none of the rooms where he works has working clocks

4. My sweetie teaches the kids computer lab. He had a kid recently seriously ask him how to get to "the game that makes a blank screen you can write with." He had another child who did not know what the space bar was for.

The budget cuts continue.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/513147/karma_green_hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5fiSuzezq5zP daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach Sat, 18 Sep 2010 09:33:24 -0700 Neologisms http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/neologisms http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/neologisms

Sdc13119

As part of the ongoing crusade to remove trite words from my speech, lately I've taken to using the word "puppycock." This is not to be confused with poppycock. Or rather, it is too be confused so that I may delight in making the correction. I use this word in situations of surprising dismay, such as stubbing my toe or discovering a parking ticket. "Puppycock" is a perfect curse word. It captures something real that civilized people would rather not think about in the space of nine letters. It conveys a clear image of this thing. It is disturbing enough to furrow the brows of my fellow citizens, so that they may join for a moment in my unhappiness. But it is not so disturbing that polite ladies will not sit next to me in the dining hall.
Christopher is a dog lover (considering the context of the curse, I beg you not to read into that) and he does not approve of my use of the word "puppycock." In retaliation, he has taken to using the word "kitty poon." Alas, his blade has reached a tender spot as my psyche wishes I had never heard him utter that terrible phrase. I am not even convinced the phrase existed before he coined it. I suggested he google it to be sure, he declined---a first for the man who, at the whim of an offhand query, spent an hour on Wikipedia last night learning about the Statue of Liberty. I believe he has outdone me. Because no one wants to think about the vag on a kitten. He pointed out that a cat in heat is all too happy to spread the notion but I responded that kittens do not go into heat---only fully mature, womanly cats. Serendipitously we made the discovery that just as "puppycock" sounds like the word "poppycock" "kitty poon" has the benefit of being easily mistaken for "kiddie porn." We look forward to having a conversation that goes something like this:

Civilized fellow: My word! Did you just say "kiddie porn"?
Christopher: No, no, of course not! What kind of gentleman do you take me for! I would not utter such blasphemy as a simple declaration of displeasure!
Civilized Fellow: Thank goodness! There are women and children present! What did you say then?"
Christopher: I said "kitty poon." KIT-TEE POOHN.
Civilized Fellow: [blank stare]
Christopher: You know! as in the immature snatch of a wee baby kitten!
Civilized Fellow: Come along Margaret. We're going back to the first train car with no air conditioning and the writhing hobo.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/513147/karma_green_hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5fiSuzezq5zP daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach daretoeatapeach Fri, 09 Jul 2010 00:19:33 -0700 Some Thoughts On Why The People Down the Street Are Rioting http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/some-thoughts-on-why-the-people-down-the-stre http://futureisfiction.posterous.com/some-thoughts-on-why-the-people-down-the-stre

Oscar_grant_sticker_macarthur_

I wasn't surprised that officer Mehserle wasn't convicted of murder despite all the video footage and witnesses of him shooting an unarmed teenager. I first had my suspicions when Forum reported there wasn't a single black person on the jury. But then I took heart in thinking that the prosecution would want a whiter jury so it would be harder for the defense to appeal. Besides, the victim, Oscar Grant, was hand-cuffed face down with another police officer's foot on his neck. So for weeks I held out some hope for a verdict of second-degree murder.

Mehserle claims that he accidentally grabbed his gun when he meant to grab his taser. I asked an ex-cop about this and he doesn't think such a thing is possible. For one thing, a gun is much heaver than a taser and tasers are designed to have mechanisms that don't work like firearms to prevent exactly this kind of situation. Moreover, officers' training drills into their heads over and over the exact location of such things. The location of a cop's firearm should be second nature.

The defense's case is based on the very idea that Mehserle was poorly trained. Ironically, the prosecution's case was based on this too. He probably was, since LEOs receive inadequate training in economies far less strained than California's. In the last big election there was a measure to give more funding to California's police force but that didn't have a hope and a prayer of passing when the budget is taking huge cuts in education and social services. So he probably was under-trained.

When you get down to it though, why the hell should he be reaching for his taser in the first place? It's not like they were busting an armed robbery. They were responding to a call that a fight had broken out on the BART train. A simple fight, possibly nothing more than kids horsing around---and on New Year's Eve, the night everyone horses around. If you watch the video it doesn't appear he's resisting arrest. So there were lots of reasons to believe that the jury might hand in a murder verdict.

But I gave up hope of that when I heard on the radio that Mehserle cried on the stand.

I don't think the jury was a pack of outright bigots. Surely they recognized that what happened was a tragedy. But racial identity is a powerful thing. Simply put, they saw Mehserle as one of their own. When they listened to him talk they tried to imagine themselves in his situation. "But it was an accident!" Aw, gee, poor guy, he was scared, the jury thought, I would be too We can't put him in prison with those people. Just imagine what they'd do to him! On the contrary, the victim was one of "those people." They see a boy but they don't see their own child. They don't see themselves.

Oscar Grant III(1986-2009)

If you don't believe me, try to imagine it if the situation were reversed. Imagine a black man claiming he "accidentally" shot a white man who was lying on the ground completely defenseless and over-powered. That case would be a joke. It would be a guilty-verdict hands down, case closed. No way it would be a story the media clamoring to cover all across the country.

Of course all this is conflated by the fact that Mehserle wasn't just any white man but a man of the law. One could argue that a black cop that shot a young white man would get just the same sentence. Though I find that very hard to believe, it really doesn't matter. Because black police officers aren't shooting white men. Tends to happen the other way.

This sends a very clear message to black folks: the law does not protect you. It is here only to convict you. Protection from crime is for "those people." They already knew this of course. America doesn't need another black martyr. Hell, Oakland has enough to last us for the next hundred years, ThankYouVeryMuch.

Maybe that's why there's no part of me that cares whether Mehserle deep down and truly meant to reach for that taser. He knows that his behavior was inexcusable and unforgivable. He also knows that his identity as a white police officer is the key to him escaping a life sentence. If he had been a man of honor, he would have settled this case quietly, explaining his side while taking a guilty plea. I'm not saying I would have had the fortitude to do that if I were in his position. But it would have been the right thing to do for Oscar Grant's family. Sure it would have been a sacrifice, but taser or no taser he took this boy's life and he shouldn't have, and he knows it.

So I don't want to hear a word about how the jury are the only ones who saw all the evidence. Mehserle had a chance to step up and offer himself as America's white martyr. Because everyone knows we have plenty of slots available.

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