I've decided to classify the series of novels I am writing as a Big Speculative Fiction Epic.
I decided to nix "Science Fiction Story" because the new classification is much more accurate and conveys the proper sense of difficulty in my effort. It certainly is Big--I estimate it will be at least 1 million words. It's Speculative rather than Science because, while there are definite Scientific elements to it, like spaceships and time-travel, there are also elements of fantasy, conspiracies, religious magic, all weaved with tales from humanity's historical record, into what is perhaps an alternate reality--or not. It's a race against time and the forces of time itself to prevent catastrophic events.
There are also elements of mainstream fiction in that it starts out as a normal story, and then goes down the speculative road in a gradual way, much like the great plains gradually rise from east to west. And it's an Epic because it involves multiple characters across large time periods, although not as much so as other Epic novels.
And this all makes writing this story very, very difficult, and at the heart of that difficulty is consistency. Seemingly wild events need future justification in the mind of the readers, or they will feel cheated. And when there are inconsistencies of any kind, the readers, while they may not overtly detect it, will get a sense of unease that something is not quite right. Their sense of "confusion" will linger to the end of the work.
My target readers will enjoy being "confused", but at the end of the work, the Epic, that confusion needs to have been turned into a sense of satisfaction with the story. Otherwise, quite frankly, my future works will not sell as well. Also, the last thing I want, even if I'm not writing any more future works, is for my readers to feel cheated--that they didn't get the story that I promised them. The reason I am doing this is to write a story that my readers will enjoy. Yes, I want to be financially successful so that I can keep writing these stories, but financial success is not worth subverting the goal of writing this story for my readers to enjoy. If all I cared about was financial success, I would have become a doctor (I was one class shy of pre-med qualifications).
It is also difficult because, over long periods of time, characters must grow and change. It's easier to write a novel that takes place over a few days, because it is actually unrealistic for a character to grow too much over that short a span, even if their was a great deal of stress involved. Later, upon weeks and months of reflection, the character may change, but not in a few days. And so, my characters must change weeks or months after events have occurred. These changes will happen gradually, but they will happen.
A good example of this is the T.V. series, "Lost". In this show, at one point three years pass in a very short amount of time. For some characters, we don't see them at all during those three years. All of the characters are different after the three years, and some very much more than others (Jack, Sawyer). The fact that we saw Jack evolve but not Sawyer serves to juxtapose how, for some people, we see them change gradually, but for others, we don't see them for three years and wonder what changed them. We are given hints and clues, but we don't quite know for sure.
And, in the end, I have to make this all seem believable to my readers. What a psychologist might think is not very relevant, but what the majority of my readers think is (unless the majority of my readers are psychologists).
And the speculative nature of this has to be explained enough to allow my readers to engage in "the willing suspension of disbelief". That is achieved, I believe, by being "honest" to the story, which is another way of the story being consistent to itself.
The conscious part of the human brain inherently does not want to believe in non-benevolent things over which they or their leaders have little or no control of. UFO's is a prime example. Despite hordes of evidence of extraterrestrial visitation, many people state that there's no evidence at all. This is the cognitive dissonance of a brain that shuts out that which cannot be controlled.
But the subconscious human brain also needs to explore and entertain these possibilities so that it can be prepared to leap into action in a stressful situation.
These two aspects of the human brain make speculative fiction work. The conscious part of the brain is stimulated because the story is speculative and interesting. The subconscious part of the brain is doing its normal work, but when it does so it generates an emotional response.
This is what speculative fiction taps into, and that is why, while it is difficult to write, it will ultimately satisfying for me and my readers. I hope I can pull this off.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
J. Michael Straczynski
J. Michael Straczynski (JMS) (TV/screen writer, Babylon 5 (TV), Jeremiah (TV), Changeling (screen)) spoke at my alma mater, MIT, last night, and Heidi and I paid $10 each to see him. Trust me, it was a LOT more entertaining than a movie (well, except Star Trek, but we've seen that twice--Go See It!). Despite claiming to be a horrible speaker, he was funny as hell.
I figured I would get there early, breeze in, and get a good seat. But my years of working outside Route 128 in Boston still blind me, sometimes, to the culture of the geeks--my humble roots. I arrived 35 minutes early, but geeks were lined up for about 1/4 of the length of the Infinite Corridor. "Infinite" here translates to 1/4 mile. (Geeks understand that when they say theirs is "infinitely" long, no one can possibly top that). So 1/16 of a mile long line, 35 minutes prior, to get a good seat to see a mid-level TV screenwriter, who has just now emerged as a major motion picture screenwriter. (I raise my hand) Guilty as charged. Though if I had figured out ahead of time there'd be a line, I wouldn't have arrived early. I hate lines.
They weren't there, though, to see him from his work writing the oscar-winning film, "Changeling" (Ron Howard, Clint Eastwood, Angelina Jolie). Instead, they were there because of his ground-breaking work on the science-fiction TV series, Babylon 5. Babylon 5 is most famous for being the first TV series with a pre-planned multi-year (5) story arc that made each episode completely consistent with all of the others. It turns out TV audiences have enough attention span to see a story through 110 hour-long (well, 43 minutes without commercials) episodes.
One of the main appeals of the TV series Lost is because of the pre-planned 6-season (oringally 5) story arc. The fact that this format worked was proven out by Babylon 5. Quite simply, we would not have Lost (as we know it) if there had been no Babylon 5. (Although Lost has certainly improved on the format, and DVD's and Netflix make this format even more accessible, but I'll save that for another topic).
You know, the signs posted on the way towards the lecture hall, with slogan and insignias from Babylon 5, were my first clues that I was back on Terra Geekdom.
JMS spoke in the lecture hall numbered 10-250. It was an abomination how much that lecture hall had changed from my college days. For one thing, it had a real name. You mean I can't call it "10-250" anymore? And everything had been updated and modernized. I was mortified and envious at the same time. However, one thing remained as before: the mechanized 9-panel blackboard system. That's right, it's still a blackboard. Not a projector screen, not a new system of whiteboards, but still the old blackboards. It's nice to see that *some* things never change. I bet it was like that in the 1920's (although without the mechanization).
But here's the amazing part--when JMS launched into his speech, I found him talking to me and speaking from his heart to mine. He told me something I already knew, but it was validation for switching careers. He said that the biggest obstacle to acheivement is the fear of failure. Everybody has the limits of their abilities, but people rarely test those limits because they are afraid to fail. And so most people stay in their "little box" where they know they will succeed and everything is predictable. It's a "comfort zone," and I am guilty as charged of remaining in my "comfort zone."
Recently, I knew I wanted to break out of my "comfort zone," to find the limits of my achievement, but I was confused about the direction. Do I go into management? I didn't have the temperament, but I could learn that. Do I go more technical in my profession? I could do that, too, but I didn't have the drive anymore. But when I started writing again, two years ago, I realized that I had to break out of my box in a big way.
And so here is JMS, ON THE VERY SAME DAY AS MY CAREER CHANGE WAS ANNOUNCED, telling me that I should do exactly what I had just done on that day.
I don't believe in coincidences, and I never will. This was clearly a message directed at me to PAY ATTENTION and listen to what he is saying.
And the message was--keep doing it. Keep testing your limits. Never be afraid to fail. You will never know what you can achieve if you never fail. If you're not failing, at least occasionally, then you're doing it all wrong.
Message received. I understand I have license to fail. I feel powerful already.
-Dan Fox
danfox@danielcfox.com
http://danielcfox.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1625342545
I figured I would get there early, breeze in, and get a good seat. But my years of working outside Route 128 in Boston still blind me, sometimes, to the culture of the geeks--my humble roots. I arrived 35 minutes early, but geeks were lined up for about 1/4 of the length of the Infinite Corridor. "Infinite" here translates to 1/4 mile. (Geeks understand that when they say theirs is "infinitely" long, no one can possibly top that). So 1/16 of a mile long line, 35 minutes prior, to get a good seat to see a mid-level TV screenwriter, who has just now emerged as a major motion picture screenwriter. (I raise my hand) Guilty as charged. Though if I had figured out ahead of time there'd be a line, I wouldn't have arrived early. I hate lines.
They weren't there, though, to see him from his work writing the oscar-winning film, "Changeling" (Ron Howard, Clint Eastwood, Angelina Jolie). Instead, they were there because of his ground-breaking work on the science-fiction TV series, Babylon 5. Babylon 5 is most famous for being the first TV series with a pre-planned multi-year (5) story arc that made each episode completely consistent with all of the others. It turns out TV audiences have enough attention span to see a story through 110 hour-long (well, 43 minutes without commercials) episodes.
One of the main appeals of the TV series Lost is because of the pre-planned 6-season (oringally 5) story arc. The fact that this format worked was proven out by Babylon 5. Quite simply, we would not have Lost (as we know it) if there had been no Babylon 5. (Although Lost has certainly improved on the format, and DVD's and Netflix make this format even more accessible, but I'll save that for another topic).
You know, the signs posted on the way towards the lecture hall, with slogan and insignias from Babylon 5, were my first clues that I was back on Terra Geekdom.
JMS spoke in the lecture hall numbered 10-250. It was an abomination how much that lecture hall had changed from my college days. For one thing, it had a real name. You mean I can't call it "10-250" anymore? And everything had been updated and modernized. I was mortified and envious at the same time. However, one thing remained as before: the mechanized 9-panel blackboard system. That's right, it's still a blackboard. Not a projector screen, not a new system of whiteboards, but still the old blackboards. It's nice to see that *some* things never change. I bet it was like that in the 1920's (although without the mechanization).
But here's the amazing part--when JMS launched into his speech, I found him talking to me and speaking from his heart to mine. He told me something I already knew, but it was validation for switching careers. He said that the biggest obstacle to acheivement is the fear of failure. Everybody has the limits of their abilities, but people rarely test those limits because they are afraid to fail. And so most people stay in their "little box" where they know they will succeed and everything is predictable. It's a "comfort zone," and I am guilty as charged of remaining in my "comfort zone."
Recently, I knew I wanted to break out of my "comfort zone," to find the limits of my achievement, but I was confused about the direction. Do I go into management? I didn't have the temperament, but I could learn that. Do I go more technical in my profession? I could do that, too, but I didn't have the drive anymore. But when I started writing again, two years ago, I realized that I had to break out of my box in a big way.
And so here is JMS, ON THE VERY SAME DAY AS MY CAREER CHANGE WAS ANNOUNCED, telling me that I should do exactly what I had just done on that day.
I don't believe in coincidences, and I never will. This was clearly a message directed at me to PAY ATTENTION and listen to what he is saying.
And the message was--keep doing it. Keep testing your limits. Never be afraid to fail. You will never know what you can achieve if you never fail. If you're not failing, at least occasionally, then you're doing it all wrong.
Message received. I understand I have license to fail. I feel powerful already.
-Dan Fox
danfox@danielcfox.com
http://danielcfox.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1625342545
Friday, May 22, 2009
A Leap of Faith – A Software Engineer Switches Career to Fiction Writing
In the Rider-Waite Tarot, The Fool card is the first in the deck and is numbered 0. Clearly, the Tarot was designed by a software engineer. The Fool lives up on the mountaintops, bathed in sunlight. Dressed like a dandy, he appears to not have a care in the world. And yet, there he is, with a small round hobo's bag attached to the end of a pole. With the pole carried in his right hand and resting over his right shoulder, he is walking headlong towards a cliff. The Fool, you see, is not content with living in comfort up in the mountains. Instead, he must descend into the world below. Why would he do such a thing, when he lives like a God up on the mountain? The card does not tell us why, because that is not important. What is important is that, despite his life of luxury and comfort, he is compelled to descend to the depths below, disregarding the fact that he must fall precipitously without any means of support. What he expects to find down below is also not important and unknown to us, but, whatever it is, it is certainly important to HIM. The jump off the cliff is so contrary, from our outside point-of-view, to what seems to be any reasonable and safe course of action, that it can only be called a Leap of Faith.
I have been writing fiction, off and on—mostly off—since I was 16, which was 25 years ago. (Now we see how quickly you can add!). At first, I thought I was good, but, in reality, I was horrible. Joe Haldeman, the award-winning science fiction writer, taught a class in science fiction writing at MIT. And when I took it, he made it very clear that I was irredeemably bad. Looking back, he did me a favor. I suppose someone else would have told me eventually--most likely Heidi, my future wife. But even if I was good, the expected mean income of an engineer is much higher than a fiction writer. Being an engineer was much more prudent.
At the time, I was contemplating a career either in fiction writing, chemical engineering or software engineering. When I realized I was not going to be a good author, I became a hybrid chemical and software engineer, and then finally a pure software engineer. Now that was a field which I was good at and made me happy.
For the last 11 years, I'm been writing a story that's been rattling in my wife's brain, and then started to rattle into mine. The story has undergone significant revisions since then, and then two years ago I decided to get serious and start writing it regularly. Stephen King says to write 1000 or 2000 words a day, every day. So I did. And something very wonderful happened.
It was good. It was very good. I was good. And I was passionate about it. This was a story that had to be told, and I had to tell it.
Heidi, my wife of 19 years, has been needling me to spend more time on it, but the demands of my career were simply too much. I tried to balance the two, but there was no balance in the mind of the A student that I am. And also there was the problem that I had the most fun and lucrative job than I have ever had. I very much enjoy being a software engineer working for my employer. But Heidi encouraged me to do what was already on my mind--devote full time to the writing. So I am switching careers, and Heidi is willing to support me while I get my new career off the ground (probably a few years). How wonderful is that?
I'm giving up so much to pursue my passion, and there is a lot to be fearful of. What if Heidi loses her job? What if we run out of money? What if we have to sell our house? But these things are all things that the body wants, and, quite frankly, my body is spoiled. For 41 years (did you add correctly?), I have been pampering of my body but doing little for my spirit, who is begging me to make this change. My spirit asks for so little. How could I turn my back on him?
And so I'm walking over the cliff. I see it coming, and I fear I will crash and die on the rocks below. But I know that's not going to happen. It's all very simple, really. At the end of the day, there is only one thing I can do, that, like The Fool, I MUST do. I must make a Leap of Faith.
-Dan Fox
danfox@danielcfox.com
http://danielcfox.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1625342545
I have been writing fiction, off and on—mostly off—since I was 16, which was 25 years ago. (Now we see how quickly you can add!). At first, I thought I was good, but, in reality, I was horrible. Joe Haldeman, the award-winning science fiction writer, taught a class in science fiction writing at MIT. And when I took it, he made it very clear that I was irredeemably bad. Looking back, he did me a favor. I suppose someone else would have told me eventually--most likely Heidi, my future wife. But even if I was good, the expected mean income of an engineer is much higher than a fiction writer. Being an engineer was much more prudent.
At the time, I was contemplating a career either in fiction writing, chemical engineering or software engineering. When I realized I was not going to be a good author, I became a hybrid chemical and software engineer, and then finally a pure software engineer. Now that was a field which I was good at and made me happy.
For the last 11 years, I'm been writing a story that's been rattling in my wife's brain, and then started to rattle into mine. The story has undergone significant revisions since then, and then two years ago I decided to get serious and start writing it regularly. Stephen King says to write 1000 or 2000 words a day, every day. So I did. And something very wonderful happened.
It was good. It was very good. I was good. And I was passionate about it. This was a story that had to be told, and I had to tell it.
Heidi, my wife of 19 years, has been needling me to spend more time on it, but the demands of my career were simply too much. I tried to balance the two, but there was no balance in the mind of the A student that I am. And also there was the problem that I had the most fun and lucrative job than I have ever had. I very much enjoy being a software engineer working for my employer. But Heidi encouraged me to do what was already on my mind--devote full time to the writing. So I am switching careers, and Heidi is willing to support me while I get my new career off the ground (probably a few years). How wonderful is that?
I'm giving up so much to pursue my passion, and there is a lot to be fearful of. What if Heidi loses her job? What if we run out of money? What if we have to sell our house? But these things are all things that the body wants, and, quite frankly, my body is spoiled. For 41 years (did you add correctly?), I have been pampering of my body but doing little for my spirit, who is begging me to make this change. My spirit asks for so little. How could I turn my back on him?
And so I'm walking over the cliff. I see it coming, and I fear I will crash and die on the rocks below. But I know that's not going to happen. It's all very simple, really. At the end of the day, there is only one thing I can do, that, like The Fool, I MUST do. I must make a Leap of Faith.
-Dan Fox
danfox@danielcfox.com
http://danielcfox.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1625342545
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
The Bottled Water Generation
Yesterday was a hot (91 F) day in Rio as we traveled up to Sugar Loaf Mountain. That may not seem hot, especially to my friends on the left coast, but in the humidity and strong sun of the tropics, it's pretty bad. All four of us got dehydrated to a certain degree. But Heidi and I fared much better than her parents. OK, her parents are older, but I don't think that was the reason. No, we're more lame for our age.
We fared better because we drank more water. A LOT more. We each drank at least a liter. Heidi's parents, on the other hand, kept saying they had water and pointing it out, when we offered some, but we NEVER saw them drink any. Perhaps they drank some, but if you're getting dehydrated you need to be constantly drinking water. You should never be seen without a bottle of water in your hand, ready to take the next drink.
My mother openly admits that she can't drink much water. Heidi's parents certainly drink more, but they're not used to it.
They're all not used to drinking a lot of water, because they belong to the Tap Water Generation. This was pre-bottled water, and pre-diet soda (except for maybe Tab, which was disgusting). You couldn't drink much soda because it was loaded with calories, and you didn't drink much tap water because it was...well...tap water. So they never got used to drinking a lot of water, or a lot of anything for that matter.
Heidi and I, when we grew up, weren't used to drinking a lot of water either, but we were young enough when diet soda and later bottled water came on the scene that we were OK with both of these. But our parents? Diet soda is awful. Water? Bottle Water? You *pay* for water???!!! To them, who grew up poor, paying for water is a decadence that is really hard to succumb to without feeling guilty. They do Brita at home, and they will pay for bottled water, but it appears to me they feel dirty doing so, and they certainly aren't used to guzzling it.
But Heidi and I, we're of the Bottled Water Generation. We see the dollar value in paying extra for good-tasting water (Heidi likes the taste of tap water, but she also likes the convenience of pre-bottled water, and she agrees bottled water does taste better sometimes). And we certainly understand the value in drinking lots and lots of water, especially when it's hot and/or we exert ourselves. And you really should be willing to drink it warm. Up to your body temperature, I would say. That's pretty damn warm.
But don't get me started on the vitamin water, energy drinks, and such. We're not in THAT generation. I'm sure they've figured out something we haven't. But right now I'm in the phase of not understand any of those things.
We fared better because we drank more water. A LOT more. We each drank at least a liter. Heidi's parents, on the other hand, kept saying they had water and pointing it out, when we offered some, but we NEVER saw them drink any. Perhaps they drank some, but if you're getting dehydrated you need to be constantly drinking water. You should never be seen without a bottle of water in your hand, ready to take the next drink.
My mother openly admits that she can't drink much water. Heidi's parents certainly drink more, but they're not used to it.
They're all not used to drinking a lot of water, because they belong to the Tap Water Generation. This was pre-bottled water, and pre-diet soda (except for maybe Tab, which was disgusting). You couldn't drink much soda because it was loaded with calories, and you didn't drink much tap water because it was...well...tap water. So they never got used to drinking a lot of water, or a lot of anything for that matter.
Heidi and I, when we grew up, weren't used to drinking a lot of water either, but we were young enough when diet soda and later bottled water came on the scene that we were OK with both of these. But our parents? Diet soda is awful. Water? Bottle Water? You *pay* for water???!!! To them, who grew up poor, paying for water is a decadence that is really hard to succumb to without feeling guilty. They do Brita at home, and they will pay for bottled water, but it appears to me they feel dirty doing so, and they certainly aren't used to guzzling it.
But Heidi and I, we're of the Bottled Water Generation. We see the dollar value in paying extra for good-tasting water (Heidi likes the taste of tap water, but she also likes the convenience of pre-bottled water, and she agrees bottled water does taste better sometimes). And we certainly understand the value in drinking lots and lots of water, especially when it's hot and/or we exert ourselves. And you really should be willing to drink it warm. Up to your body temperature, I would say. That's pretty damn warm.
But don't get me started on the vitamin water, energy drinks, and such. We're not in THAT generation. I'm sure they've figured out something we haven't. But right now I'm in the phase of not understand any of those things.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Rio and Back to Bloggin
It seems I only blog when I'm on vacation. Perhaps it's because I have so little time otherwise, or perhaps nothing interesting happens to me otherwise. Or I just *think* I have so little time otherwise, or I just *think* interesting things happen to me while on vacation.
When I showed up at the Hotel Atlantico Copacabana in Rio, the night guy was all screwed up, and first thought me and my father-in-law were on one reservation together in two twin beds in the same room. Then when I pointed out the mistake, he gave us separate rooms (with our wives), which was fine except I got the room with the two twin beds. The prospect of spending two weeks on vacation on two twin beds did not thrill me, so I went downstairs to fix the situation.
The night guy then proceeded to be rude to me and point out that I had only made a reservation for the room with the two twin beds, that there were no more rooms with double beds, and that I should be happy we have rooms at all. Even though my paperwork showed I had two rooms with a double bed.
My room was smaller and clearly inferior, but he even refused to give me a credit for getting a lesser room. He never offered, and he almost laughed when I asked.
Well, the day crew took care of me, although I was not allowed to speak to the manager directly. He was there, but he "didn't speak English." How does a manager of a hotel anywhere not speak English?
Well, something always has to go wrong on a trip, doesn't it? This wasn't so bad. In the end, I got upgraded to a suite for no extra charge. Of course, I'd rather have some closet space than a sauna...A sauna? In Rio? I'll just go outside! :)
So every city has its quirks, although you'd never expect the inability to get facial tissues. Napkins, we got, but not kleenex.
The people here are really friendly, and most of them don't speak English, but they're very tolerant of those who don't speak Portuguese. They really go out of their way to try to understand you. You know, I really like the people of South America. Except Argentinians. :) I'm kidding, it's just a think with Brazillians vs. Argentinians.
Of course it's easy to be nice when you live in the tropics and sub-tropics, but even the people down way south in Ushuaia (where it never ever gets into the 60's F or higher) are friendly.
I had a great time at the Bar Vinicius (though I'm sure about the others) in Ipanema. The 'e' is pronounced 'eh' or 'ay' nasalized, and certainly not 'ee'. They're a little defensive about that around here.
The restaurant Gula Gula in Ipanema was not very good.
More later.
When I showed up at the Hotel Atlantico Copacabana in Rio, the night guy was all screwed up, and first thought me and my father-in-law were on one reservation together in two twin beds in the same room. Then when I pointed out the mistake, he gave us separate rooms (with our wives), which was fine except I got the room with the two twin beds. The prospect of spending two weeks on vacation on two twin beds did not thrill me, so I went downstairs to fix the situation.
The night guy then proceeded to be rude to me and point out that I had only made a reservation for the room with the two twin beds, that there were no more rooms with double beds, and that I should be happy we have rooms at all. Even though my paperwork showed I had two rooms with a double bed.
My room was smaller and clearly inferior, but he even refused to give me a credit for getting a lesser room. He never offered, and he almost laughed when I asked.
Well, the day crew took care of me, although I was not allowed to speak to the manager directly. He was there, but he "didn't speak English." How does a manager of a hotel anywhere not speak English?
Well, something always has to go wrong on a trip, doesn't it? This wasn't so bad. In the end, I got upgraded to a suite for no extra charge. Of course, I'd rather have some closet space than a sauna...A sauna? In Rio? I'll just go outside! :)
So every city has its quirks, although you'd never expect the inability to get facial tissues. Napkins, we got, but not kleenex.
The people here are really friendly, and most of them don't speak English, but they're very tolerant of those who don't speak Portuguese. They really go out of their way to try to understand you. You know, I really like the people of South America. Except Argentinians. :) I'm kidding, it's just a think with Brazillians vs. Argentinians.
Of course it's easy to be nice when you live in the tropics and sub-tropics, but even the people down way south in Ushuaia (where it never ever gets into the 60's F or higher) are friendly.
I had a great time at the Bar Vinicius (though I'm sure about the others) in Ipanema. The 'e' is pronounced 'eh' or 'ay' nasalized, and certainly not 'ee'. They're a little defensive about that around here.
The restaurant Gula Gula in Ipanema was not very good.
More later.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Barack "Hussein" Obama
In a truck stop in the Texas Panhandle, Fox News was on (shocking!). On the crawl it said something like, "Why is Sarah Palin winning over evangelicals?"
I walked by and asked the question allowed as I read it. A gentleman took the the bait and said, "'Cause she's hot!"
I asked, in all seriousness, "It's not a problem that she has a 17-year-old unwed pregnant daughter?"
Now, I was raised in a Protestant religious family who taught me that one qualification for elected office is moral character and judgment. A classic example of this is, although my parents met while campaigning for John F. Kennedy, my father said he could never vote for Ted Kennedy for elected office, because of the incident at Chappaquiddick (sp?). He felt this incident demonstrated a lack of moral character that is necessary for elected office. (The fact that JFK himself might have been as bad never came up, and since my father has been dead for almost 20 years, I'll never really know if he knew about JFK's own shortcomings or if he felt they were as bad as Teddy's).
So one window into moral character, in my opinion, is the ability to keep your teenage daughter from getting pregnant. I feel that this is one of a parent's top priority: don't let your daughter get pregnant before she is ready, even if she thinks she is.
And if a person can't accomplish this, then that doesn't make them a bad person. But it does show that that person can't juggle all of the responsibilities he/she has, now does it? And a President must be able to effectively juggle responsibilities.
I'm not saying this is an automatic disqualification for me, but it's a very, very, serious problem. Some people may think I set the bar too high, but, how and under what circumstances a girl gets pregnant can determine the course of her entire life. It's a very, very, serious matter.
So my question to the gentleman was very serious. As far as I can tell, the evangelical "morality" is all about furthering agendas but that somehow the personal morality of the candidate who makes decisions on our behalf is not an issue.
His answer: "At least she's not a Muslim."
I had finally met one. Met a person who was willing to admit he thought Barack Obama was a Muslim. At first I thought he was kidding, but he was dead serious. College educated with sources and everything. Redneck colleges, sure, but he was confident Hillary had said he was a Muslim. (He was sure I hadn't attended college because I didn't know these things.)
Hillary has never said Barack's a Muslim, of course.
It's a real shame this country has not come far enough to elect a Muslim as President. It's unclear the country could have elected a Mormon this time around as well.
And it's unclear to me that it's ready to elect anyone of dark skin, but at least it might take making everyone believe he's a Muslim to make it happen. One step at a time, I suppose.
The gentleman said that of course he wasn't going to vote for Obama anyway because, "he's the anti-Christ."
Now that's just silly. Doesn't he know the anti-Christ is supposed to be born in Europe?
Anyway, we can take this one solace: evangelical Christians are on board with electing a woman President. (well, VP, but the same qualifications to each apply because all the VP is is the person who would become President without another election).
Seriously, if you think about it, it's a big accomplishment.
I walked by and asked the question allowed as I read it. A gentleman took the the bait and said, "'Cause she's hot!"
I asked, in all seriousness, "It's not a problem that she has a 17-year-old unwed pregnant daughter?"
Now, I was raised in a Protestant religious family who taught me that one qualification for elected office is moral character and judgment. A classic example of this is, although my parents met while campaigning for John F. Kennedy, my father said he could never vote for Ted Kennedy for elected office, because of the incident at Chappaquiddick (sp?). He felt this incident demonstrated a lack of moral character that is necessary for elected office. (The fact that JFK himself might have been as bad never came up, and since my father has been dead for almost 20 years, I'll never really know if he knew about JFK's own shortcomings or if he felt they were as bad as Teddy's).
So one window into moral character, in my opinion, is the ability to keep your teenage daughter from getting pregnant. I feel that this is one of a parent's top priority: don't let your daughter get pregnant before she is ready, even if she thinks she is.
And if a person can't accomplish this, then that doesn't make them a bad person. But it does show that that person can't juggle all of the responsibilities he/she has, now does it? And a President must be able to effectively juggle responsibilities.
I'm not saying this is an automatic disqualification for me, but it's a very, very, serious problem. Some people may think I set the bar too high, but, how and under what circumstances a girl gets pregnant can determine the course of her entire life. It's a very, very, serious matter.
So my question to the gentleman was very serious. As far as I can tell, the evangelical "morality" is all about furthering agendas but that somehow the personal morality of the candidate who makes decisions on our behalf is not an issue.
His answer: "At least she's not a Muslim."
I had finally met one. Met a person who was willing to admit he thought Barack Obama was a Muslim. At first I thought he was kidding, but he was dead serious. College educated with sources and everything. Redneck colleges, sure, but he was confident Hillary had said he was a Muslim. (He was sure I hadn't attended college because I didn't know these things.)
Hillary has never said Barack's a Muslim, of course.
It's a real shame this country has not come far enough to elect a Muslim as President. It's unclear the country could have elected a Mormon this time around as well.
And it's unclear to me that it's ready to elect anyone of dark skin, but at least it might take making everyone believe he's a Muslim to make it happen. One step at a time, I suppose.
The gentleman said that of course he wasn't going to vote for Obama anyway because, "he's the anti-Christ."
Now that's just silly. Doesn't he know the anti-Christ is supposed to be born in Europe?
Anyway, we can take this one solace: evangelical Christians are on board with electing a woman President. (well, VP, but the same qualifications to each apply because all the VP is is the person who would become President without another election).
Seriously, if you think about it, it's a big accomplishment.
Albuquerque
As I write this, I am sitting in a Midas in a bad section of Albuquerque (I'm quickly realizing there are no good sections) at 7:40 AM (Tuesday, September 9) , hoping that I won't be ripped off because my brakes are screeching like the Devil. They screech even when I'm not depressing the brake pedal, suggesting it's the brake pads that I just had replaced around a year ago.
They probably got dirty from Burning Man, but after a rain actually made them worse (that's right, water falling from the sky, haven't seen that happen since Missouri on August 20), I decided to take no chances and bring the truck in to the Midas.
I haven't blogged for a while because driving across the country has become exhausting. Now that I'm the only one driving, it seems to be exponentially more difficult. 7 hours straight seems much harder than 7 hours within 14 hours. So I suppose regular breaks are better, but who wants to hang out at a truck stop for 2 hours?
In Moab, we spent a day seeing Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. I now remember that I really wanted to spend an entire week in each – off-roading and hiking. Arches is a lot of hiking to see all of the arches.
There seem to be a lot of great restaurants in Moab. We ate twice at Pasta Jay's. Very good gourmet pizza. From there, we drove to Albuquerque via Four Corners.
Four Corners is actually not what you would expect because it's in the Navajo Nation. It's just as cheesy as you'd expect, but it's very low tech and “only” costs $3 per person for the privilege of saying your body was in four states at once. If this were run by the U.S. Government, I'm sure it would be about half the size of Mt. Rushmore, with a cafeteria, an admission of around $12 (that seems to be the magical value that a parent can't refuse on the basis of being too expensive), and a place where you can stand to get your picture taken for a 6x9 glossy that will cost you $25. The cafeteria would have bad food, but you wouldn't mind because you were starving when you got there.
In the Navajo version, there is no cafeteria, the bathrooms are portos (mine was very clean), and there are huts where they're selling...wait for it...jewelry.
Any retail store owner will tell you jewelry is where it's at. It takes up very little floor space and the margins are ridiculous. Jewelry, figurines and such. That's where the money is. Books...no one except Barnes & Nobles and Amazon make any money from books. Retail is really a hard business to make money at if you're not Navajo with no rent or labor costs. Your margins have to be at least 50% to have a chance. This is why Amazon does so well. Retail shops are extremely inefficient.
Anyway, we spent an entire day (Monday) in Albuquerque. Not because Albuquerque is especially interesting, but because I simply needed the break. I did, however, think that I'd find some live jazz as I heard this was a good town for that. But I couldn't find any last night. I did find a really good restaurant, The Standard Diner, on old route 66. The décor and atmosphere was elegant, and the food was really good. There were very few people there, though. They must have lost money last night. We didn't spend much more than we would have at Uno's.
As I was trying to find jazz clubs and restaurants, I encountered a LOT of “the number you have dialed has been disconnected or is no longer is service...”. I was told that Albuquerque was hurting in this economy but I had no idea. No wonder this state is rapidly moving from “swing state” status to solidly for Obama for this election, even while McCain is gaining lots of momentum elsewhere.
Today, if I get out of this Midas in a decent amount of time, we will drive to Oklahoma City, stopping at the Big Kettle National Grasslands on the way.
Why Big Kettle? Well, it's where one of the scenes from my novel takes place. How this scene came to take place there reveals a lot of my personal creative process. One day I had a vision of a hunting scene from a character's childhood. This scene would have taken place in the mid 1940's. It was a strong character-developing scene, and it took place in a grassy, swampy area. I then looked for an area that looks like that that is near where I knew the character grew up, and I found this park. Hunting was allowed there back then as it wasn't a National Grasslands. In my scene, they are hunting rabbits, and although I can change that, I recall there are rabbits in this park. I am going to take pictures there and simply take in the atmosphere so that I can more richly and accurately describe the surroundings.
Also, another scene takes place at a bank in Oklahoma City, and so I want to scope out a couple of those, also. That scene takes place in 1998, so it's more recent. The trick here is to make the scene appear to be as realistic as possible while making it still a ficticious bank. OK, so I don't have to travel to Oklahoma City to describe a bank realistically, but while I'm here, I might as well spend the extra half hour to get it as right as it can be.
My belief is that in order to help the reader suspend disbelief, the writer needs to go way beyond what seems to him/her to be enough in making it realistic. Why is that? Because there are lots of people who know more than you do about most things. Sure, for someone who hasn't been to Oklahoma City, I could make it appear to be very realistic, but for someone who lives there, you have to do more.
They probably got dirty from Burning Man, but after a rain actually made them worse (that's right, water falling from the sky, haven't seen that happen since Missouri on August 20), I decided to take no chances and bring the truck in to the Midas.
I haven't blogged for a while because driving across the country has become exhausting. Now that I'm the only one driving, it seems to be exponentially more difficult. 7 hours straight seems much harder than 7 hours within 14 hours. So I suppose regular breaks are better, but who wants to hang out at a truck stop for 2 hours?
In Moab, we spent a day seeing Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. I now remember that I really wanted to spend an entire week in each – off-roading and hiking. Arches is a lot of hiking to see all of the arches.
There seem to be a lot of great restaurants in Moab. We ate twice at Pasta Jay's. Very good gourmet pizza. From there, we drove to Albuquerque via Four Corners.
Four Corners is actually not what you would expect because it's in the Navajo Nation. It's just as cheesy as you'd expect, but it's very low tech and “only” costs $3 per person for the privilege of saying your body was in four states at once. If this were run by the U.S. Government, I'm sure it would be about half the size of Mt. Rushmore, with a cafeteria, an admission of around $12 (that seems to be the magical value that a parent can't refuse on the basis of being too expensive), and a place where you can stand to get your picture taken for a 6x9 glossy that will cost you $25. The cafeteria would have bad food, but you wouldn't mind because you were starving when you got there.
In the Navajo version, there is no cafeteria, the bathrooms are portos (mine was very clean), and there are huts where they're selling...wait for it...jewelry.
Any retail store owner will tell you jewelry is where it's at. It takes up very little floor space and the margins are ridiculous. Jewelry, figurines and such. That's where the money is. Books...no one except Barnes & Nobles and Amazon make any money from books. Retail is really a hard business to make money at if you're not Navajo with no rent or labor costs. Your margins have to be at least 50% to have a chance. This is why Amazon does so well. Retail shops are extremely inefficient.
Anyway, we spent an entire day (Monday) in Albuquerque. Not because Albuquerque is especially interesting, but because I simply needed the break. I did, however, think that I'd find some live jazz as I heard this was a good town for that. But I couldn't find any last night. I did find a really good restaurant, The Standard Diner, on old route 66. The décor and atmosphere was elegant, and the food was really good. There were very few people there, though. They must have lost money last night. We didn't spend much more than we would have at Uno's.
As I was trying to find jazz clubs and restaurants, I encountered a LOT of “the number you have dialed has been disconnected or is no longer is service...”. I was told that Albuquerque was hurting in this economy but I had no idea. No wonder this state is rapidly moving from “swing state” status to solidly for Obama for this election, even while McCain is gaining lots of momentum elsewhere.
Today, if I get out of this Midas in a decent amount of time, we will drive to Oklahoma City, stopping at the Big Kettle National Grasslands on the way.
Why Big Kettle? Well, it's where one of the scenes from my novel takes place. How this scene came to take place there reveals a lot of my personal creative process. One day I had a vision of a hunting scene from a character's childhood. This scene would have taken place in the mid 1940's. It was a strong character-developing scene, and it took place in a grassy, swampy area. I then looked for an area that looks like that that is near where I knew the character grew up, and I found this park. Hunting was allowed there back then as it wasn't a National Grasslands. In my scene, they are hunting rabbits, and although I can change that, I recall there are rabbits in this park. I am going to take pictures there and simply take in the atmosphere so that I can more richly and accurately describe the surroundings.
Also, another scene takes place at a bank in Oklahoma City, and so I want to scope out a couple of those, also. That scene takes place in 1998, so it's more recent. The trick here is to make the scene appear to be as realistic as possible while making it still a ficticious bank. OK, so I don't have to travel to Oklahoma City to describe a bank realistically, but while I'm here, I might as well spend the extra half hour to get it as right as it can be.
My belief is that in order to help the reader suspend disbelief, the writer needs to go way beyond what seems to him/her to be enough in making it realistic. Why is that? Because there are lots of people who know more than you do about most things. Sure, for someone who hasn't been to Oklahoma City, I could make it appear to be very realistic, but for someone who lives there, you have to do more.
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