Backyard Wildlife Drama

In the past two years, wild turkeys have appeared in our back yard. The largest clutch was a tom with four hens. Wild Turkeys are large birds weighing 20 pounds or more with wing spans of up to 6 feet and like other birds often talk to one another through various "clucks."

My family delights in pointing out to me what turkeys look like since I never saw a single bird when I hunted them in Ohio (once in the same woods with Bob Evans, the sausage maker and restauranteur, but that's another story.)

I was an avid birder in my "tween" years and have since that time been very sensitive to bird calls, flight patterns and behaviour. While sitting on my deck last week, editing my book -- a seemingly never ending process -- I heard the call of a hen turkey and looked towards the sound to see two fully grown hens walking through our yard near the rock wall under the leather leaf verbena. One of them moved to the open part of our yard ten feet or so from the verbena shrub, pecking at something tasty on the ground.

From the corner of my eye, I saw movement. A Red Tailed Hawk dove from a limb high in one of the walnut trees at the edge of the woods, headed for the turkey in the open. The turkey spotted the hawk as it silently swooped on her. She squatted and ducked as the hawk went by, flying up to a dead tree limb, low on another walnut tree. Both turkeys began clucking loudly.

The turkey who had been attacked ran and flew up over the rock wall wall, scurried to the tree where the hawk was perched and with her big wings, her beak and her claws, started climbing the tree trunk, going after the hawk. Seeing this, the hawk flew to a higher perch in an oak tree at the wood's edge.

"Cree, Cree," the hawk screamed. Angry clucks continued to sound from both turkeys, one standing under the verbena, the other resuming her position in the yard.

Joan opened the sliding glass door to the deck, curious about the racket, just as the hawk dove on the turkey again. The turkey held her ground, bobbing her head. The hawk pulled up and went back to the forest's edge.

The combatants now seemed content to shout at one another "Cree, Cree, Cree."

"Cluuuck, cluuk, CLUUCK! Cluuuck, cluuk, CLUUCK!"

"Cree, cree, Cluuck, CLUUCK, Cree, Cluuck, Cree, cree. CLUUCK, CLUUCK, CREEE"

A new voice from the sky above entered the fray. "Caw, Caw, Caaaw. Caaaaaww. Caaaaawww." A single crow flew over our yard, buzzing our house, speaking in an excited voice. Soon seven of his crow friends joined him, and began diving on the hawk in the tree. The hawk jumped off his perch, flying over our house with eight crows in pursuit.

As Joan and I watched the aerial show, we noticed high above the drama, a lone vulture circling, apparently anticipating a lunch in our back yard.

"From the oyster to the eagle, from the swine to the tiger, all animals are to be found in men and each of them exists in some man, sometimes several at the time." ~~ Victor Hugo, "Les Miserables"

Exciting News!

The editor has finished her review of my book, "Great Heats" and not only did she cast her Chicago Style Manual at my effort, but she actually read it and liked it. Pretty good from someone who could be easily jaded by having to read words every day for a living and critique their authors.

I also have been given permission by the Portsmouth Murals Commission to use one of the murals for the cover of my book. While this is good news from a variety of standpoints, I also feel a heavier responsibility for the story to stand up to the vision of the original mural committee and to stand alongside the art of muralist Robert Dafford.

It will.

Sandy Words

Postcard

Sun, glasses, sand, shells, crabs, kids, coconut, breeze, umbrellas, surf, dolphins, tan, sunburn, ball, hard, soft, bounce, bikini, tanks, tankini, skirts, coverup, Pink, Speedo, ugghhh, airplane, tour boat, cigarette boat, fishing boat, sport boat, jet ski, parasail, advertising boat, helicopter, camera, sculpture, mermaid, crab, dog, shovels, rakes, hoes, sandals, slippers, bottles, bare, back, bareback, breasts, thighs, chests, hair, knees, butts, bacon, sausage, waffles, pancakes, sticky, buns, eggs, omelettes, muffin, pannini, French, Spanish, Russian, English, Long Island, Jersey, tomatoes, Virginia, ham, Greek, feta, Italian, provolone, Swiss, swiss, American, garden, spinach, chefs, pasta, Caesar, cobb, corn, Chianti, Cabernet, Sauvignon, Blanc, Franc, Zinfandel, baked, potato, asparagus. beans, mixed, pork, tenderloin, steak, chicken, free-range, ribs, sushi, lobster, scallops, shrimp, oysters, bouillabaisse, clams, calamari, crab, cake, gelato, ice, cream, DREAM.

The Editor

The manuscript for "Great Heats" is with the editor. Although I am confident that this is a good story, sending it to her causes some apprehension in me because she is the first person outside a small number of family to read it, or parts of it.

I am prepared to receive her grammatical changes because I know that that is not my strong suit. I am better with a broad brush, rather than cutting a fine line of paint/punctuation/periods. The Chicago Style Manual is her expertise but is a black hole to me.

The important first chapter was a struggle for me to re-write. My first pass was too wordy, too expository without reason. Going back and dropping this scene or shortening a section was painful and laborious. Maybe the result is still not good enough. What if the editor hates it? Wants me to re-arrange sections? Throw sections out?

I have to stop thinking this way.

The artist I am working with has finished her work and the illustrations are ready to be inserted in the best possible place to maximize the impact of the story; I am still waffling on where that "best possible place" is.

There continue to be many loose ends to tie up on this book, but I can't find the drive to tackle them. Maybe the interruptions of the June windstorm or planning for the Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia trip or the preparations for a new roof and new windows, or the vacation at the Shore -- maybe these distractions are causing me to lose my concentration, my continuity.

But surely, I can still multi-task!

Or... perhaps my attention, my focus, is taken because, possibly... I am falling in love with my next book involving the Deccan Traps of India. Hmmm. Let's see. "The sky grew suddenly darker over the ancient steppes as a storm blew out of the Himalayas with revenge in mind."

"Life is a flower of which love is the honey."
~~ Victor Hugo, 1802-1885, Author Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Book Signings -- July 3 in Portsmouth and New Boston, Ohio

"On Harrisonville Avenue" continues to sell in Southern Ohio and Northern Kentucky, so while I am in Portsmouth over the 4th of July weekend visiting family, I will be having two book signings, both on Saturday, July 3:

11:00am - 2:00pm I will be at the Market Street Cafe in downtown Portsmouth, Ohio, a charming Cafe with home baked goods and terrific coffee.

4:00pm - 5:30pm Hickie's Hamburger Inn on Rhodes Avenue in New Boston, ranked nationally as having among the best burgers in the country. Brad and Shug there let me use some of founder Don Hickman's photo's of New Boston for my book.

If you are in the area, stop by these two unique and successful places with good food, quick service at a fair price -- all with a smile and a "how you doing'? "

Oh, and Mrs. Giles will be assisting me -- with a smile also :-) Yowzzir! (Yes, that's me in the 7th Grade.)

“You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I'm not hungry enough to eat six.” ~~ Yogi Berra, b. 1925

Finis!

Rewriting the Epilogue took longer than I thought, and I still may revise it as there are some details that I should revisit, but I say -- over.

My illustrator is reworking the third drawing she is doing for me. Her work will be the last pages of the Epilogue. I hope that readers are not like me and fan through the book, in which case you see the last pages before reading the book; instead, I want the drawings to be a surprise, so please Dear Reader, resist that temptation (and I will try to take my own advice.)

Now, for an editor. I want to work with one where there is a give-and-take, rather than a recasting of my effort. I'm not sure, but I may have located one. We'll see in the next few days.

Oh, and I received another rejection -- I have never been gracious at rejections -- from women, selling ideas, or in this case, publishers; somehow, it seems easier though, when it is an email.

"I used to save all my rejection slips because I told myself, one day I'm going to autograph these and auction them. And then I lost the box. "
~~ James Lee Burke, American Author, "Cimarron Rose," "Black Cherry Blues," and "Heaven's Prisoners."

On to the Epilogue

Chapter Four is now "in the can," a television expression actually derived from the film industry, meaning it is finished -- the rewrite is complete; of course, it is never really finished. If I started looking at it again today, I would begin agonizing over this word or that one -- but enough. On to the Epilogue.

Yes, its true there are only four chapters and an Epilogue in my new book, "Great Heats." The word count is 53,000 something, so it will likely come in at around 200 pages, helping me earn my new approbation, "the easyreading author."

The title, "Great Heats," derives from an ancient Asian method of dividing the year into 24 parts, for the purpose of planting, planning for festivals and planning for the winter. One of the annual divisions is the Great Heat, the hottest part of the Summer -- the last part of August, where we live. Our main character was born during the Great Heat season, and each chapter is from a year in his life.

Among my favorite authors is William Least Heat-Moon, of Irish and Osage lineage. Least Heat-Moon is really not his legal name, but because his father was called Heat Moon and his older brother called Little Heat Moon already, William became Least Heat. In 1982, his book, "Blue Highways" was a best seller and on the New York Time list for almost a year.

I was not thinking of William Least Heat-Moon when I named my book, nor did I know the story of how his name came about, but in my book, the Chief, who is father of the main character is Tall Heron, his son, the main character is Young Heron, and his son is Third Heron. Odd, eh?

“There are two kinds of adventurers: those who go truly hoping to find adventure and those who go secretly hoping they won't.” ~~ William Least Heat-Moon, b. 1939

Progress

I now have finished rewriting Chapter Three. The usual grammatical and spelling errors have been found, but the number of content errors have surprised me.

For example, I am amazed that in the heat of writing I would rename a character, combining two names into one. Perhaps I knew it at the time but was so anxious to complete the scene that I went on, never coming back to correct it.

I also trap myself with the age of characters: "Ten years ago when I was when I was eight, my life changed in a dramatic way ... " Well yeah, I guess it would!

And then my most annoying trick -- highlighting a paragraph because something is wrong with it, but continuing to write without resolving or noting the reason because I'll always remember that. Then I rediscover the paragraph weeks later and am not be able to recall the reason I highlighted it. Did I want to move it, reword it, consider pitching it -- argghhhh.

I shouldn't rely upon my memory, anymore. When I taught history for three years in the mid 1960's, my memory was crisp and focused. I often worried then that education simply rewarded good memories and that I had gotten through because I had a really good one.

Much of my time today is spent going to a room in our house, stopping and trying to remember what I went there for.

"Life must go on; I forget just why." ~~ Edna St. Vincent Millay, American Poet, 1892-1950, and first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for poetry.

The Shortest Short Story?

This was in my mailbox this morning:

A College Class was given the assignment to write a short story using the fewest words possible, but the story had to include the following three things:
... Religion
... Sexuality
... Mystery

One A+ was handed out and here is her short story:

"Oh, God, I'm pregnant. I wonder who is the father?"
(A tip of the hat to Scotty Hood.)

Perhaps the short story that intrigues most literary scholars is attributed to Ernest Hemingway, who in six words communicated a complete message even though it is not a complete sentence. In these words are tangible and intangible elements, used to create a tragedy. The six words:

"For Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Worn."

Snipping Chives

My herb garden has been neglected. Although I have just potted new Basil and Rosemary plants, last year's Oregano and Chives once again "volunteered" to grow in the same historic but miserable soil without any help from me and a lot of discouragement from the weather; how hardy plants are.

This evening while preparing to braise boneless pork spareribs, I felt the need for chives as a garnish, so off to the herbs on the deck to snip the chives with my scissors. Some of the grassy blades had flowered; others had brown tips; some were hard and stem-like. Underneath all of that were the tender ones that I sought, so I trimmed back the less desirable blades, revealing a fistful of the shoots I needed to grace my dish. SNIP.

In that moment, I shuffled my mind to the on-going editing of my third book. Chapter one needed to be refreshed and strengthened, particularly the first paragraph and certainly the first five pages. It was not as easy as changing a verb here or moving a phrase there; whole sections were cut, new words were added, the old sections re-integrated. I lost the sense of forward motion of the story and had to start again. Laborious, detailed, concentrated -- all things I am not good at.

Snipping chives was much more fulfilling; it's oniony perfume, lovely and less lingering than the visceral after-taste of snipping words.

The first draft of anything is #%&*.
~ Ernest Hemingway

The Hardiness of Plants

At Christmas, I was given a plant holder in the shape of a tricycle. It joins the rooster plant holder in the front of the house and several other architectural pieces designed to add color, but without a lot of the neediness of flowers.

The tricycle has a small pot holder where the "rider" would sit. I needed the right sized pot to put in there, so off I trundled to the garden (which has yet to be planted) where there is a number of last year's pots stored and waiting to be used. In spying the perfect pot, I noted last year's dirt and dead plant remains in it. And there amongst the detritus was a plant from last season, growing. I was taken by it.

Despite the 40 inches of snow and the freeze that followed, this Hen and Chicks plant survived the winter and was prospering in a pot crowded with dead sticks and crowded roots. I had to try and save it. And I hope it will prosper this season in a new pot.

While that plant positively impressed me, the Morning Glories from last year did also, but in a negative, aggravating way. They survive by having so many seeds and such a powerful underground root system, that they survive despite my best efforts to "control" them. Now they are starting to "fight" with three rose bushes.

We live in a pleasant relationship with plants and trees. They brighten our lives even in the depth of winter. The lushness of green grasses, the chartreuse of a locust tree, the velvet colors of day-lilies all add to the quality of our lives. But, make no mistake, under that foliage and along with their beautiful pastel colors, at the heart of the plant is a potent competitor with a long history of surviving in that jungle of beauty outside my window.

“One generation plants the trees, and another gets the shade”
~~ Chinese Proverb

The Query Letter

Among the most important pieces of writing that an author can send, is the Query Letter -- either to a literary agent that you hope will represent your new work, or to a publisher that will accept Query Letters directly from an author instead of through a literary agent. The purpose of the letter is to excite/convince/interest them in staking their reputation on representing you or getting a publisher to risk publishing your book! Thumbs up ... or thumbs down on something you have spent a goodly portion of your life.

Some agents have their own peculiar form, such as:
... send the first paragraph or
... send the first five pages or
... send the first chapter or
... write a one paragraph description of your work and I'll tell you if I want more.

Some have no form or template and depend upon you, the author, to "Wow" them with your concise, brilliant prose, written in a new voice, using words that have never sat next to one another -- in 100 words or less. And you hope that they won't "just shrug it off as the foghorn bleat of an over-privileged mediocrity looking for some attention." (Quote courtesy of the Anchoress, Elizabeth Scalia.)

If you are curious or ever need such a device as a Query Letter, take a look at Nathan Bransford's Blog http://www.nathanbransford.com/ (I follow it, so you can see it on the right of my Blog). He has a "form" to follow. Since he is a Literary Agent, the template should be "very" accurate.

Substitute "damn" every time you're inclined to write "very;" your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.
~~Mark Twain

Hurst Lightning Rods

Yesterday, my son, Steve and his son, Jason (my Grand Son) went to a local car show of Pontiacs and Oldsmobiles -- two marques that have recently been relegated to the great car brands of the past, you know like Morgan, Dusenburg and Gremlin -- as well as a few Buick muscle cars from days past.
The show was a nice mix of local enthusiasts with some serious entries. Five year old Jason, particularly enjoyed the 1959 Oldsmobile 98, while his Father and I had our heads under the hood of a 1964 Pontiac 2+2 with a 421 cubic inch engine with three, two-barrel carburetors. (No Pansy fuel injectors on this model!)

It was a trip down memory lane for me, walking among these aging engine blocks, as I regaled my two younger males with stories of hot rods and porta-walls and metal dashboards from my youthful days "On Harrisonville Avenue."

"Grandpa Ron, Grandpa Ron. What are these?" Jason asked.

I looked closer inside the 1984, 15th anniversary edition of the Hurst Olds. There, above the ash tray (another historic anomaly) was the real gearshift and two other shifters, the "Lightning Rods." I had never seen anything like that before.."
.
Well," I replied authoritatively, "one is for vanilla and the other for chocolate."
.
Jason looked to his father for guidance, since he knew that I have kidded in the past. "Is that right?" Jason asked.
.
"Grandpa Ron is having fun with that answer," my son replied. "Actually, the Lightning Rods allow the driver to shift up or down when he wants to, but without having to use a clutch, like I do on my Honda."
.
Jason smiled at me -- knowingly -- and we walked on to the Pontiac Firebird 6.6.
.
Maybe I shouldn't joke around with a five year old. Maybe he'll grow up with a distrust of adults. My Grandfather Borders joked around with me when I was growing up, and I turned out alright. Right? RIGHT?

“Does Grandpa love to babysit his grandchildren? Are you kidding? By day he is too busy taking hormone shots at the doctor. At night he and Grandma are too busy doing the cha-cha.” ~~ Humorist, Hal Boyle

I Have Been Away

I have been away -- not in the travel sense, but away from this and other widely social settings. Among the things keeping me away is my third book. Even though the writing is complete, I have been revising the first chapter, an agonizing process for me, in preparation for sending it to an editor. And, as part of the process, I have sent off five query letters -- one to an agent that I carefully researched as to his interest in historical fiction, and four to publishers who accept contact without an agent. Four rejections; one is still out.

The book has also sent me searching for an illustrator to work with. I expect to use three or four illustrations, presumably from my main character who was an artist a thousand years ago. The search ended up in my own back yard -- the wife of my cousin's son; she is an '09 Fine Arts graduate from Kent State with quite a range -- from anime to portraits to insect illustration (she currently has a contract with Orkin).

In the past four weeks, Joan and I have presented four hour long concerts -- "Hymns and Their Stories." Each of these are formatted for the occasion; two of the three used an actor playing the role of a poet, with me writing their script. And then there is rehearsal; generally, I try to rehearse one hour a day with Joan for three weeks to get my voice in shape for singing and speaking an hour's length. As I age, my voice is not as forgiving of things like outrageous amounts of pollen. It's amazing to recall that as a younger singer, I smoked two packs of Winstons a day and got away with it (I think)! I couldn't do that any longer.

And then there is family -- Joan is preparing a 75 page booklet on our annual Memorial Day grave visits in Pittsburgh. Carefully researched stories and photographs of deceased family members proudly grace the pages she has painstakingly -- oftentimes in conflict with her computer and other mechanical objects that stand in her way -- assembled over two months in a spiral bound and tabbed edition intended for this and future generations. I have tried to stay away from her "process" but somehow always manage to become involved -- much as she does in mine.

The Grand Children are getting older and as they do, they become involved in sports and theatre and activities that grandparents want to see and photograph. How precious it is to get beaten by your 5 year old Grand Son in Bean Bag Toss; I think I can take him the next time!

Writing, Art, Music, Children -- I have been away Dear Reader, in a most pleasant way.

"Writers will happen in the best of families"
~~ Rita Mae Brown, American Writer, b. 1944

President Obama In His own Words

One of our dear readers pointed out to me that in my previous post, my partial list of the industries and organizations that President Obama has demonized was unsupported. I offer the following in support of my list. Although the Administration has many people who speak additional words on behalf of the President (Gibbs, Emanuel, Geithner) this is the President of the United States in his own words:

President Obama Blames the Medical Profession for high health care costs, thinking of themselves and not their patients --
July 23, 2009:
"And part of what we want to do is to make sure that those decisions are being made by doctors and medical experts based on evidence, based on what works, because that’s not how it’s working right now. That’s not — that’s not how it’s working right now.

"Right now, doctors a lot of times are forced to make decisions based on the fee payment schedule that’s out there. So if they’re looking and you come in and you’ve got a bad sore throat or your child has a bad sore throat or has repeated sore throats, the doctor may look at the reimbursement system and say to himself, “You know what? I make a lot more money if I take this kid’s tonsils out.

"Now, that may be the right thing to do, but I’d rather have that doctor making those decisions just based on whether you really need your kid’s tonsils out or whether it might make more sense just to change — maybe they have allergies. Maybe they have something else that would make a difference."

President Obama demonizes the Insurance Industry -- March 8, 2010:
“Every year, insurance companies deny more people coverage because they have a pre-existing condition. Every year, they drop more people’s coverage when they’re sick and need it most. Every year, they raise premiums higher and higher.”

“When I was young, just got out of college, I had to buy auto insurance. I had a beat-up old car. And I won’t name the name of the insurance company, but there was a company — let’s call it Acme Insurance in Illinois. And I was paying my premiums every month. After about six months I got rear-ended and I called up Acme and said, I’d like to see if I can get my car repaired, and they laughed at me over the phone because really this was set up not to actually provide insurance; what it was set up was to meet the legal requirements. But it really wasn’t serious insurance." February 25, 2010, President Obama confusing who pays when you are rear-ended, while slamming the insurance company/industry.


President Obama indicts the Cambridge, Massachusetts Police Department
"The Cambridge Police acted stupidly." ~~ President Barack Obama, July 22, 2009, on the arrest of Professor Henry Gates.

President Obama on "people waving tea bags around" (President Obama ,April 29, 2009) "So, I have been a little amused over the last couple of days where people have been having these rallies about taxes. You would think that they would be saying 'Thank You.' " ~~ President Barack Obama, April 15, 2010.

President Obama slams banks and bankers:
"I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street." December 12, 2009

"Banks don't get it." December 9, 2009

"Here's the problem," Mr. Obama said, "It's almost like they've [banks] got -- they've got a bomb strapped to them and they've got their hand on the trigger. You don't want them to blow up. But you've got to kind of talk them, ease that finger off the trigger." March 18, 2010

President Obama insults Wall Street firms
"Unless your business model depends on bilking people, there is little to fear from these new rules." ~~ April 22, 2010

"That is the height of irresponsibility. It is shameful, an outrage." ~~ January 29, 2010

It appears that President Obama and/or his handlers are following a plan taken from Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals," published in 1971. President Obama knows of the Alinsky method because he used it in community organizing and employed it in his 2008 campaign. It was so successful, that he became President, evoking this note from Alinsky's son:

"Obama learned his lesson well. I am proud to see that my father's model for organizing is being applied successfully beyond local community organizing to affect the Democratic campaign in 2008. It is a fine tribute to Saul Alinsky as we approach his 100th birthday." ~~ L. David Alinsky.

Whenever the Administration wishes to undertake a new initiative, it appears they follow Radical Rule #13, excerpted from Alinsky's book, pages 127-134 :

13. Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.

"In conflict tactics there are certain rules that [should be regarded] as universalities. One is that the opposition must be singled out as the target and 'frozen.'..."

"...any target can always say, 'Why do you center on me when there are others to blame as well?' When your 'freeze the target,' you disregard these [rational but distracting] arguments.... Then, as you zero in and freeze your target and carry out your attack, all the 'others' come out of the woodwork very soon. They become visible by their support of the target...'

"One acts decisively only in the conviction that all the angels are on one side and all the devils on the other." ~~ Saul Alinsky.

On Earth Day

"It always makes it easier to fight a war if you demonize people, so that you are not killing human beings, you are killing the devil." ~~ Retired Army Colonel, Harry Summers

The Obama Administration has demonized quite a few "devils" in 18 months:

... Doctors
... Insurance Companies
... The Cambridge Massachusetts Police Department
... The Tea Party Movement
... Banks
... The Auto Industry
... Wall Street

And, who is most likely to accept this argument of demons, as being responsible for the "ills of the moment" -- the labeling of "them", or "they" as being the ones responsible? Young people are the most likely to buy the argument of demonization without pause, ages 11 - 25.

So, if I were mindful of the power of propaganda -- as demonstrated by the brilliant film-maker, for Adolph Hitler, Fr. Leni Reifenstahl -- what audience would I go after as fertile ground for my message. That's right -- the youth of the country, any country, your country.

... Al Gore announced today, "Inconvenient Youth," a website to indoctrinate our youth without questioning the gospel according to Al Gore, Nobel Prize Laureate, Oscar Winner, former Vice President of the US.

... "Barack Hussein Obama, Hmmm. Hummm. Hmmm" ~~ Maryland Elementary School Children

... http://www.climate.nasa.gov.kids/ -- part of Climate Kids, which is part of kids.gov, a part of the White House Websites, confidently states in #6 that "People Cause Global Warming" and yes, there is the picture of a Polar Bear clinging to melting ice, with the caption: "Polar Bear clinging to melting ice, surrounded by open seas." Awww!

The Polar Bear looks pitiful, doesn't he? Like he is going to drown at an moment now, as soon as we adults melt the ice that he is clinging to. The truth is that Polar Bears are excellent swimmers and have been seen as far away as 100 miles from land. Our kids do not know that they are being manipulated.

www.epa.gov/ozone/science -- Kids are treated to cartoon drawings citing 1992 data proving that CFC's have caused a huge hole in the atmosphere over Antarctica. "Animals can't get enough food to survive and eventually people don't get enough food either." Pretty scary stuff to read, as an adult; imagine how you would feel as a kid!

Dear reader, we are paying for the government to do these things (Al Gore is being paid by others, I guess). Is that what you want done with your money -- presenting a point of view to children as fact, when we are generally 50/50 in disagreement on everything?

There is too much government waste of our money anyway. Let's not have it used to proselytize our children to bureaucratic views.

If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the state can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the state to use all its powers to repress dissent, for truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the state.

~~ Joseph Goebbels, 1897-1945 -- Reich Minister of Enlightenment and Propaganda for the National Socialists German Workers Party (NAZI)

Alea Jacta Est

In Mr. Obama's own words:

________________________________________

"I now have been in 57 states -- I think, one left to go." ~~ Candidate Barack Obama, Oregon, 2008.

"Anybody been to Whole Foods lately and seen what they charge for arugula?"

Candidate Obama in Iowa, 2008, relating his own grocery store shopping experiences to the common people.

.

"It's not surprising then that they [voters] get bitter, they cling to their guns or antipathy to people who aren't like them, or anti-immigrant sentiment, or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustration." -- Candidate Barack Obama to middle-class voters in Pennsylvania, 2008.

"The Cambridge Police acted stupidly." ~~ President Barack Obama, July, 2009, on the arrest of Professor Henry Gates.

"The Middle East is obviously an issue that has plagued that region for centuries." ~~ President Barack Obama, Florida, 2010.

"So, I have been a little amused over the last couple of days where people have been having these rallies about taxes. You would think that they would be saying 'Thank You.' " ~~ President Barack Obama, April 2010.

_________________________________________________________

Maybe this explains why the President is not permitted to have Press Conferences and uses a Teleprompter (TOTUS) all the time.

President Barack Obama speaking to elementary school students in Maryland, 2010.

Joan -- the Editor

Just in case you thought the Chicago Manual of Style was rough on writers whose careful quotient was low, please meet JOAN -- Mrs. Giles.

She can spot a single space after a period as soon as she turns the page, and then takes obvious delight in darkly circling the needy spot. SPACE, she tirelessly writes.

Then there is my need to capitalize words for emphasis, uhh, Emphasis. My penchant for this new and inconsistent addition to the English Language must be very frustrating for Joan, offending her sense of proper rule-following, since I do it over and over Again. If the poet, ee cummings, could play with capitalization and word placement,

why

Can't I?

Finally, I find the ellipsis a very useful form of punctuation ... say, when characters are thinking, looking for just the right ... word. Or, when the villain catches himself from saying the spot was caused by "blood" and instead says ... "wine" after a pause for consideration or for ... effect.

Joan's quarrel with my ellipsis is that they should be . . . that is, three periods separated by spaces, but that really calls too much attention to itself. I want something that the reader "trips" over and pauses to catch their ... balance, rather than pausing to catch their . . . balance.

Joan is very specific, and I'm ... well, Scattered. The differences between us has kept us married for 44 years, and has led to some spirited, if arcane, Discussions.

"Grammar is not a time of waste."

~~ Bart Simpson

Writing

Rewrite, revise, ellipsis, spellcheck, Chicago Style Manual, rejection letter, Chapter Three, drop cap, page break, cut, paste, copy, clarify, redo, find, replace, eat, pay attention to wife, cook, wine. Sleep.

"I'm not a very good writer, but I am an excellent rewriter."

~~ James Michener

Writing

Revising, revising, revising -- capitalization, grammer, em dash, grammar -- cutting, substituting, moving, synonyms, missing words, fleurons. Singing, shopping, church, cooking -- revising, revising, revising. Five pages a day, 125 to go.