Sunday, July 28, 2019
Thursday, July 25, 2019
"Can it be done?". . . Well, why the hell not?
When I was a kid, everything I was ever taught about the future was prefaced with, "By the year 2000. . . " The Year 2000 was some sort of magical threshhold, a massive divide between our primitive way of life (nasty, brutish and short), and a brilliant new vision that seemed almost like the Third Reich in its monolithic, blinding purity. One day in Grade 5, the grade that was to change my life forever because we gave the teacher a nervous breakdown, we were even asked, one by one, to forecast what that astonishingly momentous year was going to bring to revolutionize the human condition. I have no idea what I said, and in fact nobody had much to say that was memorable, except for Michael de Haan (who is still on my Facebook page!), who said, "Twentieth Century Fox will become Twenty-First Century Fox."
That turned out to be about as significant as anything else I read and heard about the year 2000. Domed cities were a universal vision, perhaps inspired by the Jetsons and a certainty that the planet would soon become too polluted to inhabit. There would be no more food: we'd all take our nourishment by taking various pills. (I was secretly terribly worried about this one, convinced no one would ever be able to eat again. What would happen to all the restaurants?) All those zeroes just stood there in the future, and although they seemed to me like some nightmare from a bankrupt slot machine, to everyone else they shone like iridescent bubbles ready to lift the earth out of its squalid dilemmas once and for all - and mostly through the unmixed blessing of technology.
When the actual time came, if you can remember this, everyone began to run around in tiny little circles because of the Millennium Bug. The world was going to come to an end, supposedly, because of all those zeroes. Computers everywhere would malfunction, all at once, triggering global havoc. Time and Newsweek had the zeroes on their covers. There were whole books written about this, with the kind of bunkered-down hysteria that is still alive among the survivalists, happily awaiting the collapse of civilization with their stores of canned milk and dried beans.
You know what happened? Do you remember? NOTHING. Diddlysquat happened when 1999 rolled over to 2000, except that the world had a hell of a party. It was comical to see the sale bin in the book store on January 1, heaped with untouched copies of those alarmist books. But in spite of what everyone was proclaiming, it wasn't even the 21st century yet - that didn't come until the next year. But by 2001, the world had other, more pressing dilemmas to face.
It interests me to see "futuristic" things like these magazine pages from the 1930s. Like reading Ray Bradbury, the flavor of it is almost right, then goes off-course somehow because no one really knows how to think about the future. Bradbury was more of a 19th-century poet with a manual mind, and could never get the hang of technology. Even a visionary work like Fahrenheit 451 didn't get beyond a clunky sort of radio in its communications systems. Thus his writings had a sort of stay-on-the-ground quality even as they reached beyond the stars.
I never futurize because it scares the hell out of me, what with the unprecedented power we now have to destroy the earth and everything that is in it (including all those groaning billions of people). I am guilty of the worst kind of denial and suppression, because I want to have a nice day, thank you very much, and not sink into a depression from which I am not likely to emerge (unless I am blown to bits first).
No, I want to have a nice day, and for the most part I do, because I know how little control I have over anything at all. Those who say you rule and govern your life by the decisions you make don't take into account how utterly irrational most of our decisions are. We decide with our genes, our gonads, our superstitions, and our worst childhood fears. I have far more life behind me now than ahead, and believe me when I say, I don't want to waste one second of it in doomsaying. Besides, I might be wrong! The Soviet Union fell. The Berlin Wall came down. A Catholic Pope is making sense, at least some of the time. That's the list, folks, and it's short, but it might just be enough to sustain me for the rest of the day.
Tuesday, July 23, 2019
Saturday, July 20, 2019
Friday, July 19, 2019
Thursday, July 18, 2019
Wednesday, July 17, 2019
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
"Has THIS ever happened to YOU?"
AT LAST! Someone has made a truly impressive montage of all the "before" moments from infomercials. I have already watched it a dozen or so times.
Wah-wah-wah-waaaaahhhhh!
Friday, July 12, 2019
KFC EXPLOSION: Police do not suspect "fowl play"
July 12, 2019, 11:19 AM PDT / Updated July 12, 2019, 11:56 AM PDT
By Minyvonne Burke
Surveillance video caught the moment a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in North Carolina exploded, reducing it to rubble.
The explosion happened around 12:30 a.m. Thursday in Eden, which is about 35 miles north of Greensboro. Eden police said the fast-food restaurant closed between 10:15 and 10:30 p.m. and nobody was inside at the time it was destroyed.
There have been no reports of injuries, authorities said.
Video from Eden Drug, a pharmacy next door to the KFC, showed the building suddenly ripped apart by a large blast as debris flew through the air. A photo the Eden Police Department posted on Facebook showed the store reduced to just a partial building frame.
“We are devastated by this incident, but most importantly we are grateful that all of our restaurant team members are safe and no one was injured," a KFC spokesperson said in a statement.
Employees who are affected will have their choice to work at six area KFC restaurants “to minimize disruption to their work schedules and pay” while the Eden location is rebuilt, the spokesperson said.
Eden Mayor Neville Hall told NBC affiliate WXII in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, that he was several miles away and still felt the blast. He said residents and the store's employees are lucky.
"It's hard to see that and think you can be lucky about anything," he said, noting that if the blast had occurred hours earlier, the restaurant would have been "packed with people."
Authorities are still trying to determine the cause of the explosion. NBC affiliate WCNC in Charlotte, North Carolina, reported that energy and natural gas crews arrived at the KFC location shortly after the explosion.
"WOW!" Response to yesterday's post
As a followup to yesterday's lament, which was originally posted on Facebook, I received a heartwarming outpouring of support from my fellow writers, many of whom aren't even on my friend list. Some of the longer comments say "see more", so they aren't complete, but you get the idea. I had no idea ANYONE would respond to this. It's that "I'm all alone in this" thing, which it turns out I am not. I have copied and pasted these without changing the format, as quite often you get nothing but one solid block of text. This is one of the longer things I have ever posted, but it's important to me that it be put up here to balance yesterday's lament. I also had a chance to tell some writers how I felt about them and their work. I didn't do the usual thing and intersperse photos (as I've always felt big blocks of text are hard to get through). But here are the comments, not quite complete. As Christopher Walken would say: "Wow."
· Ruth Hill I am wondering why he is bent on criticising you instead of
encouraging you. I also do not believe popularity is any measure of the quality
of the creative endeavor. I am hoping you can ditch the grouch and surround
yourself with
Margaret Gunning I think writers have a tough enough time trying to deal with
editors, critics, etc. without getting it from their fellow writers. It's too
bad. But his opinion doesn't carry much (if any) weight with me.
Vera Ingrid
Tarman Ruth Hill well
said!
Amber Hayward A real writer doesn't write so that their words will not be heard, a
real writer aims to communicate. Otherwise we could stow it all away in closets
and feel we accomplished enough. Good grief!
Margaret Gunning I keep thinking: humans became human when they began to communicate
with words. And that began with everyone sitting around the fire in a circle
listening to the the Storyteller, mesmerizing everyone with the tale of. . .
Oh, wait - take away that circle! A storyteller isn't a storyteller if they
need THAT crap.
Lori Hahnel You don’t need a jackass like that in your life.
Margaret Gunning Well, he's blocked. It was kind of a shock to receive a tirade like
that. And he wanted me to re-title my novel Glass Girl. The novel is about
silent film comedian Harold Lloyd. But "girl" was a sort of buzzword
in titles a couple of years ago. . . I don't know, everybody's an expert, I
guess. (But you're right.)
Lori Hahnel Good for you for blocking him. What a weirdo.
Catharine
Clark-Sayles This person is not a friend
Margaret Gunning No, he's not. Not even in a Facebook sense.
Luanne Armstrong Sounds like a good subject and an interesting topic from you
Bruce Meyer Hey, you have a right to care. Everyone who is a professional
and wants to be recognized has a right to their own barometer for success. Keep
writing. Books don’t go away and many begin to sell long after the fact. Austin
Clarke felt the same way you d…See More
o
Margaret Gunning I'm still hoping for the movie deal! And I still keep writing, this
"thing" I work on late at night. . . I don't think I'll ever show it
to anyone. But you never know.
MJ Cates Wanting your work to be read by as many people as possible is
not nearly the same as wanting to own a private jet and four houses. Many great
writers lamented their lack of sales/recognition (Keats, for example), and your
analogy to making something yo…See More
Margaret Gunning Thank you so much! I posted this because I was trying to come to
terms with what happened and, frankly, not get too hurt by it, though it hurt
anyway because I used to think this guy was an ally, if not a friend. But his
naivete (or perhaps ignorance) …See More
MJ Cates I mentioned your post to a highly regarded novelist today and he was
as offended by your friend's comment as I was.
Margaret Gunning MJ Cates I
almost wish I had kept it, but I blocked him to protect my feelings. It was
just jaw-dropping. I have no idea why he'd do this to me, as a fellow writer.
To say I wasn't a writer and have never been a writer. Hmmm, I kept a diary
from age eight because I felt like nothing had really happened in my life until
I had written it down.
Natalee Caple That is garbage and abusive -- real writers are not all the same and
this is just a way of asserting power for the jerk who wrote that. Writers care
about reception -- otherwise they would not publish.
Margaret Gunning Thank you so much, Natalee. Though I seldom comment, I follow your
page daily because I admire your sensitivity and honesty and can see that all
writers are "up against it" in many ways, including ways which never
came to light before. Yes, this guy is a bully, and though he more-or-less
behaved himself before and seemed supportive, there was an agenda. I blocked
him immediately.
Natalee Caple Good, that was a set up for more abuse -- I am glad you asserted
your boundaries.
Patricia
Robertson Facebook can be hazardous.
As a professional writer, I write for money, an audience and attention. We
write to communicate. We need readers to complete that circle. Book sales are
driven by timing, subject matter, marketing budgets, PR efforts and the …See More
Margaret Gunning I think his comments reflected a kind of purist attitude of
"art before everything" (when I know very well he's just as interested
in recognition as most other writers). I found this article (link below) many
years ago and bookmarked it. It spoke to me and at least made me feel better.
I …See More
THEGLOBEANDMAIL.COM
Artists struggle to survive in
age…
Margaret Gunning I don't agree with everything he says, but it's true that
writers feel they have to shoulder the entire burden of the shifting global
economy and the way it rules book sales, and who becomes a
"best-seller" or even a "seller" at all. There used to be s…See More
Patricia
Robertson Margaret Gunning and
Ian Brown's show, too. I remember Gzowski's great interview style. Readers and
writers still need to find each other. I'm not sure that poverty is good for
your art as Smith concludes. I'd rather have my bills paid so I can focus on my
writing. But much of what he asserts about the shifting tides in the industry
is bang on.
Margaret Gunning I think he was being ironic! I just realized Gzowski extensively
interviewed Elly Danica, the author of an incredible book called "Don't: A
Woman's Word". This was in ***1988*** and he gave it his full attention,
and also extensively wrote about the au…See More
Patricia
Robertson Margaret Gunning I
remember that book. It was ground-breaking and controversial back in '88 when I
was enrolled in Women's Studies at York
Patricia
Robertson "I was interviewed by Peter
Gzowski for CBC’s Morningside Show in 1988 after the publication of Don’t: A
Woman’s Word. Peter won an ACTRA award for this interview, which was produced
by Hal Wake." from Danica's website
Margaret Gunning Patricia
Robertson She was, and is, extraordinary. Women weren't
speaking out then, and when they did, lo and behold, it spawned a new corporate
entity: the False Memory Syndrome Association (FMSA for short). I say "corporate"
because it was highly org…See More
MH Pilk I've gotten up every single day for 19 yrs and cooked breakfast
for my kids, made their lunches for both school and home, and cooked dinner.
I'm a mom. It's what I do. But if I found that every single day they were
scraping it in the trash and walking …See More
Margaret Gunning I am loving this conversation! I felt so alone in this.
Jerry Levy Hey Margaret. I don’t know you other than that we both published
with Thistledown. And I rarely post anything on FB. But your post made me write
something. I just want to tell you that you have an amazing track record as a
published writer. Think about…See More
Margaret Gunning It took me literally decades to get the first deal, after which
I assumed I was on easy street. My first publisher, whom I really liked by the
way, and treated me well, told me two things: I had gotten more reviews/more
positive reviews than they had …See More
Jerry Levy So hard to get a book deal. That means only one thing - publishers
love your work. You should be incredibly proud of yourself. Not everyone can be
a NY Times best seller but likewise, not everyone can write and publish novels.
So continue writing, you’re obviously a very, very good writer. And ignore the
naysayers (they just might be jealous of your talent)
Luanne Armstrong It is bloody hard to be a Canadian writer. It's very much a
popularity contest. I think frankly that almost every writer in Canada
Margaret Gunning I think you guys may have just saved my life!
Luanne Armstrong Good for you, Margaret, now I am going to look up your work and
maybe order some books. It's also hard when we have small publishers ( mine is
Caitlin) and depend on their writers to do all the PR. I am not well enough to
run around and do that. So, not much more I can do...
Margaret Gunning Would you like the link to my Amazon author page? It lists all the
novels, publishers, etc. Well, here it is!https://www.amazon.com/Margaret-Gunning/e/B001K7NGDA
Margaret Gunning Luanne Armstrong I
think at least one of my novels has been pulped - maybe the first two - because
they weren't selling and the publisher didn't have warehouse space for them, so
they were destroyed. But there may be a few copies left, and I think Amazon has
a few.
Luanne Armstrong ok -- I'm gonna read up on you anyway. We can complain to each
other. I'm fine with that. I don't think there are any real rules on FB yet.
There should be. It should be subject to libel and slander and hate speech
rules like any other publications. And why people are so rude, I just don't
know.
Sue Reynolds I'm so sorry you had that experience Margaret. When someone tells us
how we "should" feel about ANYTHING that complete invalidates the
experience we're having. You didn't need to have more shit heaped on top of the
way you were already feeling. I'm sorry you're struggling right now.
Margaret Gunning Oh I don't know, this turned out to be a pretty good day after all!
It's the first time I've felt this supported on FB. I appreciate all of it. You
make yourself vulnerable when you expose feelings of failure or disappointment
in the reception of your work. I find a lot of social media in general is
"sunny side up", and that's not of much help.
Sue Reynolds Well that's making lemonade! Happy to hear of your resilience
Margaret Gunning Sue Reynolds A
lot of it is age, I think. Being a senior has its points. The pension cheque is
great!
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