straightwalker
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@citizenx
Are you responsible for posting about the Stonehouse Mountain Poems?
A fine book, translated beautifully by Porter. It is one of the few books I keep near my bed, always reliable for its irreducible purity of spirit and calming influence. No one I know has ever heard of it.Manet’s painting of the Gypsy woman is a complete art lesson, brush stroke by brush stroke. This is how beauty is built.
@abs galore
Since you live near Hudson, I have to suggest you stop in and say Hi to Kit at OUR Bookstore in Saugerties. It is probably the best used book store between Albany and the city. A real treasure. He’s an old friend; we grew up together in Woodstock. John aka straightwalker@bluebird
johndayblog.com
works right now@darned kids
comment rejections:
could be various gotchas, but I finally got through when I fired up a different browser and signed in. Probably there is a persistent signal of some sort kept in your browser. You can experiment by emptying cache, etc. But then you can cause other problems. Try downloading chromium browser or brave browser or vivaldi browser and copy in your comment (having first saved it from your normal browser to an external document). If you write an extended comment you should probably save it externally as a matter of habit.
Don’t give up.@deflationista
Smearing the messinger is the best hope for those on the wrong side of a disagreement. The worming paste you refer to has won a Nobel prize and saved many from river blindness and parasitic infections of different kinds. If you look at records of areas in the world who are using Ivermectin, you will see how effective it is. Your posts are sleazy and manipulative.
Madamski is well able to take care of herself. I speak for myself. But I think you are a troll. Whoever recruited you seems to be sending others with the same m.o. Try making some money washing dishes or doing something else useful.@madamski
I think that suzmarie is suggesting (gently) that your writing is missing something, despite the marvelous imagination and empathy. I agree, most sympathetically, having been there, done that (missing the same something).
Form.
Symphony / folk song, portrait / mural, fiction / non-fiction, short story / novel… forms have evolved for a reason: they are effective. They constitute a loose contract between artist and audience. Fiction is borne along on story; something meaningful is happening; the meaning and the story are inextricable.
The best art is intentional, created within a form.
Find your form (or forms, no reason why you shouldn’t write short stories and novels, just, not at the same time.)
There’s a nice discussion of this in “Carlson’s Guide to Landscape Painting, John F. Carlson (a classic). It’s in the chapter titled “Composition.”
Good luck and keep the faith. You can do wonderful work.@madamski (handing herself over)
You might like this poem written in Chiang Mai eight years ago.Hallelujah
life, a silhouette
defined
by the darkness
into which
it disappears,
yet, this morning,
by Angel’s Cafe,
an eighty year old,
hair swept up and held
with a simple comb,
walked confidently
on the cobblestones,
delicate cotton
singing with blue
flowing to her ankles@absolute galore
I have ordered successfully from India three times. I have a stash of Ivermectin & associated drugs for either prophylactic use or early treatment. Until we have better home testing kits, I will assume any fever or flu-like symptoms are covid 19. Why not? Ivermectin is completely safe and inexpensive to take just in case. Your immune system is the best defense, so, keep up your great life style, make sure that you are taking Vitamin D (5000 units daily, per Dr J.D.’s advice), and try to keep informed about progress and experience with the new vaccines. I also bought a good thermometer and a pulse oximeter (cheap) to have on hand if I start coming down with something.
Trust in life (in the broadest sense) is healthy, not fatalistic.@madamski
Agreed about the general siding with power, when push comes to shove (when survival trumps honor or different values). This happens across genders, but it is slightly more common (easier) among men; men are socialized from childhood to line up behind the “alpha male.” Women are somewhat more resilient and independent. Speaking broadly, of course. There are heroes and heroines in history (thankfully).@Raul
My comment had a long line truncated. When I tried to edit, I was tagged as a spammer. It should read as follows. Trying to share my work with the excellent TAE community. Hope this posts.My books (fiction and poetry) are available, free, in various ebook formats at:
smashwordsDOTcomFORWARDSLASHbooks
FORWARDSLASHviewFORWARDSLASH3833This will bring up “Michelangelo’s Shoulder,” a collection of stories. Scroll down for a list of the others.
Thanks,
straightwalker@all
My books (fiction and poetry) are available, free, in various ebook formats at:smashwordsDOTcomFORWARDSLASHbooksFORWARDSLASHviewFORWARDSLASH3833
This will bring up “Michelangelo’s Shoulder,” a collection of stories. Scroll down for a list of the others.
Thanks,
straightwalker@madamski
speaking of books… were you around NY / Woodstock in the sixties? If so, pm me: straightwalker at protonmailDOTcom.@all
My comment @madamski was accepted after I disconnected from my VPN (proton, which operates very well elsewhere) and posted again!@madamski
re: the light in Van Gogh’s painting even though his pigments are thick
Do you remember color wheels in school? When spun on an axis, the pie shaped colors turn white. I’m wondering if V.G.’s juxtaposition of complementary colors, together with the swirly brush strokes, don’t joggle our perceptions a tiny bit in the same direction.@all re: woodstoves
I lived in Maine for 30 years with all kinds of wood stoves. If you are considering a wood stove and have children or might rent your place, I recommend a Tempwood stove. They are top loading—a steel box with draft control on top along with a round cover over an opening large enough for good sized pieces of wood. There are no other openings. Nothing to come accidentally open. Load it and forget. No worries. Every so often you shovel out some ashes. Clean burning. Doesn’t have elegant Jotul castings.
Now I live in a houseboat with six electric heaters. They don’t require loading & cleaning. Do require a working grid and $300 a month in the winter. Life changes. All good in different ways.@kults0mmer
Agreed. I was not thinking of “narrative” so much as story than as something intentional or purposeful that motivates a painter. My bad. Sloppy language.
I just finished a painting of a Great Egret standing still on a sawhorse on a raft in front of Pam’s houseboat. Daylight is coming on the shore just beyond. I began by trying to paint the bird and then fill in the rest. As the painting developed (over a couple of weeks), I realized that it was more about the coming of a late winter / early spring morning (this is Seattle), the first crocuses, the greenery, etc., the Egret’s awareness just a part of the whole.
So, that isn’t story, but something is happening. What to call it?@kultsommer
Good observation! Though there’s nothing wrong with narrative in painting, if it was there from the beginning (in the motivation).
@madamski
It is maddening.
@maxwell quest
I’ve had a number of those experiences. It hurts to be rejected as an equal human being, even allowing for the fear and misinformation behind the snap reaction. It’s hard not to respond in kind, especially when you are the stronger. Some people are good at that. I’m still learning.@geppetto
@d benton smith
I had the same question. According to Google, the Rna does NOT affect the DNA. It floats around in the cytoplasm, acting as physical analog or pattern for builder organelles that roll across it and produce a corresponding protein fragment. This fragment is pushed out of the cell and triggers production of antibodies against any contact with a similar protein (found on the spike of the virus).
The Rna has a shorter life span than the cell and breaks down for disposal. If the cell divides before this, I suppose that, if the rna is carried into the new cell, it would break down long before the new cell died or divided.
I can imagine complications in real life. That is why vaccines should be tested for years (especially a vaccine with a technique never tried before in humans.)
Please, someone, straighten me out if I’ve got this wrong.@geppetto
Thanks for the funny reminder. Quite right. I’ve fallen off one or two such beautiful peaks. Going up is more fun than going down, no? Life is good.@D Benton Smith
witchy woman speak good
@madamski
NPD? I am suffering from Newly Perplexed Disorder.@madamski
your skepticism is refreshingI was able to buy hydroxychloroquine from India last spring using bitcoin. It took a minute or two with no questions (except for a shipping address).
Also, you can buy precious metals directly in the same way. Bitcoin is its own proof; if you have it, you own it. You can have gold shipped anywhere to anybody.
Also, the electrical requirements can be lessened if necessary, although I don’t know the process details.@v arnold
I agree with you about gold. I wish I had some.
I love it when people disagree with me, by the way; it’s my best chance to maybe learn something.
I didn’t get malaria or dengue in Thailand, mostly cuz I walked around in Chiang Mai for a year and didn’t get much into the boonies. Wimp award. Loved the Thais.@Dr D
Thanks for your take on trading bitcoin; it syncs up with my limited experience. If you are going to trade against the pros who have unlimited capital and inside advantages, you’d better do it with extreme humility and take what you can get.
@madamski
Investing is a voyage of self discovery: you must lean on your strengths (patience, research, people skills, decisiveness, courage, etc. etc. whatever they are) and stay in your groove. This is usually learned, if at all, the hard way. Gold is excellent for the long haul. Its cash price is completely manipulated by the big guys and gals, but in the long run it dependably holds its purchasing power. And is beautiful to look at or work into jewelry. As currency, it has drawbacks.
Bitcoin is presently in a tulip like price surge, but I don’t think it is a fraud. It is an audacious application, the first face, of the block chain, an invention made possible by the computer, the internet, cryptography, and decades of software advances. Block chains store data irreversibly. They can be public, where anyone can access the data, or private, where you have to have the keys to the building. In either case, data entered can not be changed in any way. Can not.
O.K., voting, accounting, scientific data, contracts, words…the information in block chains is trustworthy, indefinitely, as long as the block chain exists. Block chains are also referred to as “distributed ledgers.” The computers which maintain a block chain each have a total copy of all of its data. The internet allows these computers to be anywhere in the world. A world wide block chain like bitcoin can not be shut down by the U.S. government.
O.K., so the bitcoin block chain contains every bitcoin transaction ever made in each of the computers that maintains it. No one owns the block chain. It is designed to allow peer to peer transactions without intervention. If you own bitcoin you can give it to someone else, trade it for something, save it (hopefully) as a store of value (intended to increase in value as there will never be more than 21 million bitcoins). It is a first, a deflationary currency that can be subdivided indefinitely.
You get the idea. It is not a fraud or ponzi scheme. It is an experiment, a brave new world experiment.
Sorry to go on and on. Others know much more than I. If you set up a bitcoin wallet, I’ll send you a satoshi (one hundred millionth of a bitcoin) from my tiny stash.@geppetto
Thanks for good story. It reminded me of a time when I was nineteen, in the military, and struggling with the feeling that war is wrong. I made a small fuss and was court-martialed. Three or four lieutenants with shiny new bars were there to observe the colonel. I gave my speech.
The judge listened and said, “I’ll give you a choice: one year at Fort Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, reduction in rank to Airman Basic, and a bad conduct discharge; or, keep your mouth shut, do your job, and I will sentence you to reduction to basic, $500.00 fine, and 30 days in the stockade. What will it be?” He raised his gavel.
I was stubborn and about to go to Fort Leavenworth, when I heard a voice in my head (that has happened to me twice in crucial moments).
“What are you doing? People kill each other. They have always killed each other. You asshole!”
I was shocked. Then managed to say, “Thirty days.” He repeated the sentence and bang went the gavel. Two guards grabbed my elbows from behind and marched me out.
Today I am sad because the world seems to have been taken over by liars, power seekers, and cowards who will not deal with the theft of the election. I don’t have a cross tattooed on my neck, but I can relate to your employee. Pretty soon I’ll remember that there’s me and there’s reality. Deal with it. I’ll feel relieved. I hope your employee is better now.@Gepetto
I really enjoyed that clip: Everything is Everything. Six minutes of that beat and I’m ready to go. A different kind of food.
Excellent discussion today. Thanks all.@WES
You can get them from India for $6 each plus $38 for tracked express shipping. Takes a few weeks to get through the U.S. customs mail, figure a month in total. Info is available through Dr. Chris Martenson’s site: peakprosperity.com.
You have to register, but it is free. He used to just issue podcast videos on youtube. Google censored every mention of ivermectin and hydroxychlorogine, and he was in danger of being banned altogether (after many years of providing useful info and building an online community). So anything that Google doesn’t approve he has to broadcast on another platform.
I have bought twice from Sunil, who is mentioned in the comments.@Mr House
Thank you so much for this link. I’ve been trying to understand the suppression of info about HCQ and Ivermectin without success. I couldn’t account for it out of hatred for Trump or editorial/advertiser collusion or talking heads group think. It didn’t make sense. This link nails it perfectly! Clear as can be.
Now what?
Thanks again. Made my night.@Maxwell Quest
Agreed on elections and media.
I’ve been dragging myself, kicking and screaming like a little boy, to this acceptance. The judicial system’s refusal to look at the evidence (see Sydney Powell’s attachments) in an open and impartial manner is the last straw. Truth, whatever it is concerning the election, lost to Power. Getting Trump out of the White House was more important than investigating and salvaging the integrity of our elections, the cornerstone of a democracy.
I do not think we will come back from this; it is our turn to slide from a civil democracy to strong arm rule. Increasing censorship is obvious and inevitable. Artists and progressives will be driven underground. Mr. House said, “Change will only come from outside the system.” I agree.
Phoenix Voice lists helpful changes under way in her city. Excellent. Local positive change is still possible (and may well outlive the systemic crash ahead). This is where we should focus. There isn’t much point in trying to change the big picture. Anyone who threatens radical change will be eliminated. Ask Julian Assange.
My advice is to keep your head down, think small, work toward practical achievements, tell the truth, and ride out the upheavals. It will be difficult, but we can share the trip. Thanks to all commenters!@McSorley’s!
Fine painting! In the 60’s, I used to have two beers (they were a nickel cheaper if you bought two drafts at a time) at McSorleys when I visited friends in the city. It is in the east village (NY) and was a hangout for artists, mavericks, and assorted old timers. It looked just as it does in the painting, except grubbier. Directly behind the bar there was a huge photo of Babe Ruth’s last at bat. He had a pot belly and was leaning on his bat. Yankee Stadium stretched out before him, filled with fans.
Twenty some years on, I was in the city with two dentist friends for the national dentists convention. We were demonstrating a software system I developed. I hadn’t been in McSorley’s since the sixties. “We’ve got to go to McSorley’s …” I raved about the old days and the classic photo.
When we got there, it was the same as always, but the picture was gone. Very sad. We ordered our beers and looked around. In the darkness at the far corner of the wall behind the bar, I saw a small framed picture. The Babe!
It was a wonderful moment. I have distrusted my memory ever since.@huskynut
Thanks for the link to the positivism piece. In different terms it describes the breakdown of clear thinking presently occurring. The politicization of science… The author frames the situation clearly and explains the nagging irritation I have when listening to main stream media experts. Usually I just say, I think he/she is full of shit, but that doesn’t leave me with much.Love the story, three generations of people who care. I started drawing at 70 without a clue. Betty Edwards book helped me a lot. Here’s something I wrote about it:
Why Draw?
Talk has limitations. Vocabulary is ever shifting and is shared imperfectly. Talk is necessarily linear, one word at a time, excellent for lists, describing events in time, cause and effect, but it is clumsy at describing, say, the New York subway system or the liberation of first love.
I’m not the first writer to have begun painting in his or her dotage. Perhaps I’ve not much left to say. Perhaps I’m inhibited by the suspicion that our culture has talked too much.
Our schools teach students that the road to success is paved with correct answers, generally, correct words. The correct answer for a power hitting third baseman is a home run. The correct answer for a chef is a sauce that enhances without overwhelming. Correct words are distinctly secondary in most endeavors, it turns out.
Why draw? A camera does a better job of preserving light reflected from the subject. Photography is the tool of choice for archiving. Drawing involves sustained attention: the more you look, the more you see. There is action and reaction as the drawing develops; a relationship forms between you and the subject. Feeling influences your hand. The drawing is modeling the subject and how you feel about it. Your light mingles with that of the subject. A drawing discovers and celebrates; it is both egotistical and profoundly humble.
Finally. Because a drawing stills time, it leads to the present moment, the ultimate reward.
@teri
Here is a link to the full contents of Sydney Powell’s suit in Georgia:You might want to read through the 104 pages and reconsider your opinions. I am not pro Trump, but I am pro fair elections.
