Publication Notes -- October 2009

Okay, I really don't have much to say as far as submissions and rejections. I have received a couple of rejections and have not sent much out, due to busy-ness. But I do have other news. I have published a few things at Smashwords. This is a place for e-books, and you can find them in a variety of formats, so you can download them to your computer or other devices you like to read on. At present, I have four e-books available, one collection of stories and three volumes of poetry. Click here to see my profile. The books are:

Die Laughing includes three of my stories ("Jabba the Cop," "I've Been Killed Before," and "Except the Weather.") All are first person narratives, with the protagonist a young man (late teens/early twenties).

Three Laments is a collection of three suites (some poetry people call them "sequences," but I prefer the musical word). These were written as I went through some of the most difficult times of grief in my life.

Making Rounds is a sequence of its own, a collection of short tanka-like poems written during my time as a security guard.

Walking in Circles is a short collection of early poems.

I do have plans to offer a couple more in the future. I have a couple of longer stories that don't seem to fit any of the publications I typically try to publish in, but they are stories I happen to think deserve an audience. You can click on the covers below for information about any book or to read samples.

Music Notes -- Consequences

I don't know much about Dave Burrell, but I've always like Billy Martin's work with Medeski, Martin, and Wood. So when I found this little project with Martin using a bunch of percussion instruments with a piano player, I got very excited. But Consequences is a major let down.

While I do not listen to a lot of the avant garde side of jazz, I try to at least appreciate it. I try to give the benefit of the doubt that this music may need to grow on me or that musicians of this caliber may be trying to do something I just am not equipped yet to understand.

But the more I listen to this disc, the more I begin to sound like my jazz hating friends. Consequences is a self-indulgent nightmare. Some avant garde projects put me off at first, but grow on me as I begin to tune in to certain elements or instruments that strike my fancy. When I can find something interesting somewhere, I look to see how those pieces fit with the others. Doing so has helped me to at least appreciate, if not always enjoy, work by people like Derek Bailey and Ornette Coleman. But I couldn't find anything interesting here.

I tried. I listened. I put it away. I listened another time. I even tried listening different contexts and places. Nothing worked. It all just sounded like kids playing with instruments, not even like kids who actually play.

I wanted very much to like this, but so far the experience has been quite trying.

Music Notes-- Repercussions

Richard Souther's projects typically include either solo piano material a la his magnificent "Douglas Trowbridge" LPs for the old Meadowlark label or the electronica of his Narada days or the material he produces under the moniker Under the Radar. Repercussions seems to be a project that mixes the two with thoughtfulness and warmth.

I confess I have a preferences for Souther's acoustic piano works. Memories of Twilight and Reminisce are frequently on my playlist, especially when I need something soothing and reflective. So it should be no surprise that "For Philip" is my favorite tune on this project. I don't know who Philip is, but he has one very beautiful song.

But Souther's work is not mere mood music or wallpaper. Songs like "Follow Me (Dance Re-Mix)" and "Loch Ness" may contain simple looped melodies as underpinnings, but they are worth listening to closely for the other instrumentation and recorded sounds and where those take the songs. And what Souther does around and with the guitar riff on "Alice Absynth" is outstanding.

Two songs make use of recorded voice: "Twenty-Three" and "Doughgirls." The first of these combines a bluesy rendition of the 23rd Psalm with an aural palette that suggests real comfort during real storms. The second begins with a recorded conversation that put me off a little at first, but repeated listening has helped me understand that dialogue is also part of the world's musical landscape.

Even if one merely wanted a taste of what Souther's recordings are like, this is a nice introduction. But I think most people listening are likely to return to this project again and again.

Edited improv: Of Online Classes and discrimination

Normally, I try to remember that student journalists are students, in college to learn the art and craft of journalism. I try to leave their opinions alone and keep from responding, especially as a teacher might. However, there are times when I just can't stop myself from providing one of these guys either a strong pat on the back for a job well done or a little extra education.

The following is in response to an article entitled "Online classes discriminate against less-connected" by Brad Powers. It was published in the online version of The East Texan. I had tried to leave a comment, but got an "error" message that said my email address (which I have used for 12 years) is "invalid." Thus, I share it with you.

I am an alum of your school and I also have been teaching online, hybrid, and "face to face" classes for a number of years. These questions seem fine on the surface, but the attacks on professors in this editorial are out of line and show that you have not really looked at all sides of the issue.

A few years ago, the term "digital divide" was used to identify the problem you are writing about: that the poor and others could not have access to technology (or did not have access others more fortunate did). That has not completely gone away despite computer labs and other resources more and more colleges have. But it is getting better.

Calling professors lazy shows you have not taken the time to talk to one. You need to find out just how much work it takes to put together online elements for a course and to maintain those courses. You obviously are not sitting in the same damn seminars teachers all over the country have to where we-- after working late not only putting together syllabi or tests, had to deal with putting the material online in a way that fits some other person's idea of a user-friendly format-- have to listen to some blowhard tell us that our students are "digital natives" and that we (backwards professors) are "digital immigrants."

In most schools, students do have choices and can enroll in classes with no online components. There are still many professor who are willing to teach the "old fashioned" way. Note also that those who are not "technologically inclined" are often people making excuses to avoid gaining the computer literacy they will need to be employed once they leave school.

Why didn't you, before spouting off, ask even one teacher the questions you pose in this article? Why didn't you consider that NO change in the way classes are taught is going to make every student happy? Why didn't you look at the whole story before trying to give the impression that professors had some sort of agenda? Why didn't you do your homework?

Bookmarks -- Jazz Notes

Donald Miller calls Jazz Notes a "re-mix" of his bestselling book, Blue Like Jazz. The book is more like a Reader's Digest version which retains the "what happened" and not much of the narrative magic. It is more a collection of anecdotes than stories linked to form a narrative.

Supposedly, the book contains new material, but most of what is added is stuff about the characters since Blue Like Jazz was originally published and a few tidbits about the movie (which I have been looking forward to because of the book and because the director is Steve Taylor). Speaking of which, most of the notes say that things will happen in 2008. So far the film hasn't been completed.

I reviewed Blue Like Jazz a couple years ago, and I liked it very much. Still do. But I cannot figure out what this is supposed to be other than a "gift edition" of the original book. I'd rather give the book itself.

Jazz Notes comes with a CD that I think is Miller reading these excerpts. I'm not sure because the music overpowers the speaking, so the experience is like a bad subliminal tape. I also could find no notes anywhere to tell me who made this music.

Though it captures somewhat the general idea of the original, Jazz Notes was, for me, ultimately a disappointment. It might be a nice book to show your friends to give them a taste. But why leave a couple of bites on a plate when the whole enchilada is so much more appetizing?

Bookmarks--Acedia & Me

Before the concept of Seven Deadly Sins, there was the idea of Eight Bad Thoughts. When the Seven Deadly Sins were originated to help monks and others to recognize tendencies in themselves and help them order their lives, Acedia was the Bad Thought that seemed to have dropped from usage. But dropping a word does not mean the realities go away.

Acedia is a Greek word which means "the absence or lack of care." But of course there is more to the concept than this. Kathleen Norris provides a few definitions at the beginning of her excellent book, Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and A Writer's Life. As I see it, the term refers to a lack of concern or care that is so strong that one might come to believe (act as if one believes) that no action is worth doing. This affected the medieval monk terribly, and was sometimes called "the noonday demon," because it took the monk (or any other spiritual traveller) from proceding with the tasks that were important for spiritual formation and growth.

I finished Norris' book months ago, but I have had the problem of finding the book and the concepts she addresses difficult to talk about at the same time I almost cannot stop talking about the book's impact. I realized that it has struck a personal chord that I cannot adequately explain or express. It is also difficult to admit problems of this nature and at the same time I notice the workings of such problems in my own life and in the lives of some around me.

Norris weaves her stories of wrestling with acedia with narratives about her dying husband and her time as a Benedictine oblate. As with her best known book, The Cloister Walk, she also intertwines healthy, but not too heady doses of theological and literary scholarship. Other gettting a handle on the concept, I found it particularly important that Norris addresses the differences between acedia and depression, noting that some who have been diagnosed with depression are actually dealing with acedia. She does not diminish the value therapy and medication, particularly from those who suffer from severe depression. However, she agrees with many today (myself included) that drugs are too easily and readily prescribed, and often do much more harm than good.

This is not a self help book or a how to book. Yet as I read, and very much after, I had a sense naming and identifying the problem could help me get up and engage the world, and I could fight this "noonday demon" whereas I have lived much of my life in a cycle of inaction, guilt, and prayer. The prayer helps, but isn't all that is necessary, and often the struggle means I might not pray when I need to most.

We live in a world where the concept of sin is diminished, often nullified by those who are supposed to offer us the most help. We also live in a world where it is easier to take a pill or spill our guts to a paid "professional" who does not actually help us to explore our real selves and what we may do or not do to harm to ourselves and others. We live in a world where the spiritual, if it is acknowledged at all, is put on the back burner or blamed for the world's ills. In such a world, Kathleen Norris' Acedia & Me is much needed.

Music Notes--Living Proof at First Baptist Church of Fate

I pretty much soured on gospel music long ago. And bluegrass is a genre I have always had distant admiration for, which means I have enjoyed sporadic performances and appreciated the talent of a few great players. Yet, I must admit I enjoyed the concert I recently attended at First Baptist Church of Fate of Living Proof.

The strength of this group, or at least what surprised me most, were their arrangements of not only their original songs, but also well known hymns. I expected a lot of verse/chorus, verse chorus songs with no room for musicianship. But they did not seem afraid to allow the instruments to take part in the ministry. I was particularly struck by their version of “How Great Thou Art.” Leader Jonathan Thrift, is a particularly fine musician, adept on guitar, mandolin, steel guitar and banjo. He also shared vocal duties with his wife Melissa and Kathleen Parker, and the harmonies, particularly between he and Parker were really fine.

Much of the set seemed to lean a little more to country than bluegrass, but I didn’t find that to be a distraction. I suspect people who like either style will find the band agreeable to their palates. They didn’t, thank God, talk to the audience a whole lot. The music did all the communicating they needed.

Living Proof is based in Jacksonville, Texas and work through the music ministry of Emmanuel Baptist Church. If you are in that area and enjoy southern gospel, country or bluegrass, you should give them a try.

Edited Improv #1: Of Politics and Polls

It may be that I’ll lose some Facebook friends for saying that I will, as far as I can see now, vote for Obama in 2012. Actually what will probably tick them off is that I commented that the polls on Facebook, like the one I responded to, are not set up in a way as to actually be fair or unbiased.

I was upset, at first, by the photo image used to attract others to the poll. Here we do not have two pictures of Mr. Obama or a photo that might be non-descript, but one of the now infamous pictures of the president with a cigarette dangling from his lips. It is, of course, quite an unflattering pose. So the implication for many is that a vote for Obama is a vote for a filthy man with a disgusting habit.

Then I thought further. I’m not sure the creator of the poll was trying to use some sort of subliminal message, but I do believe that person chose the image deliberately, quite likely because this person has an image of Barack Obama as a bad man. A person who already has a negative image of a person will likely portray that person in a negative light, even if they do so unaware that their portrayal is such. They may actually believe either that there is no other way to “see” the person they dislike, or that they are actually being fair.

A few weeks ago, I responded to a poll whose language was obviously biased: “Would you like to have the government take your guns or allow criminals to put you in danger?” (This isn’t the exact wording, but it isn’t far off.) In the case above, the wording is not biased, but the image that goes with it.

So the person with negative ideas about a person chooses a negative portrayal to present to others, and then shares that image via a poll, which may appear to be unbiased, as if only looking for information. But who is this person going to be sharing this poll with? Those who, by and large, already agree with him: his Facebook friends, who are most likely to share most of his beliefs about politics. And who is likely to see the results of those friends’ voting? Other friends who mostly share those beliefs.

So it doesn’t surprise me that when I looked at the “results” of the poll up to that point, the “No” votes largely outweighed the “Yes” votes, probably by a three to one margin. A computer tabulates the votes, so that seems unbiased, but the dissemination of the poll in the first place keeps the instrument from being democratic or even honest.

I have largely contended that bias is neither good nor bad, but that it just is what it is. But when we cannot recognize bias in such things as this, we have real bad brewing. Conservatives, from my experience, have spent a long time complaining about “liberal” bias every where they look. This usually means anyone who doesn’t agree with them is 1) a liberal and 2) therefore not to be trusted. And I am well aware that liberals (myself included) have often argued using the same logical fallacies.

If we want to stop trafficking in fear, then let us consider less what people with labels might “do” to us, and think more about what a lack of critical thinking on all sides has been doing to our country. And while we are at it, we might confess the sin of acting on the belief that it is more important to manipulate others toward what we believe is the right end than to seek, with open heart and mind, an honest truth.