Hehehehehehe. Okay, if you have no appreciation of dark humor stop reading right now and stay far away from Flight–far far away. Got it? I’m warning you. This is no sweet flight of fancy tome. Our hero is an angry fifteen year old male of Irish and Indian origin with some serious grief and father issues–among other things. Now sit back and sip your hot tea, latte or bloody mary and think about a young man who refers to himself as Zits. If you can’t relate then it’s probably in your best interests–and mine (yes, I do fear homicidal repercussions from unhappy readers)–to go nowhere near this particular Sherman Alexie book. That said, last night I stayed up very late reading Flight via flashlight outside on the front porch–much to the dismay of anyone who had their doors or windows open to receive my hooting laughter when I turned to page 146. Some folks do not find boiled birdies funny–and I do understand that such minds exist. On the other hand, there are minds, such as mine and apparently Alexie’s, which find self boiled birdies absolutely hilarious–especially in the context of a potentially violent encounter between a homeless Indian man and the usual well-heeled white dude. If by some means, like using your local public library, you garner a copy of Flight you too will be in serious need of comic relief by the time you turn to page 146. Though, hopefully, you’ll have found other darkly comic things to chuckle loudly about before page 146. But you’ll also have encountered several incidents of mayhem, murder and molestation along the way. The lives of foster children are not all filled with sugar mommies and daddies. Nor do many events in American history since 1492 recount pleasant Thanksgiving din dins between Europeans and Indigenous folks.
Ever wonder how to diffuse the building anger of teenager? Well, Sherman Alexie offers one way–history lessons of the ”not me” and the “me?!” variety. Yep, direct confrontations of some dark sad truths of reality provide the fodder for the adolescent mind to chew heartily on and time travel, complete with out-of-body experiences, is the medium. From the Battle of the Little Bighorn to the grief ridden friendly skies of a private flight instructor Alexie takes us on a journey through history. Along the way he’ll shred your heart, sew it back together without anesthesia, and then shove it back into your chest. You’re going to need every last piece of humor to endure the operation. If you’re not laughing when Harry Potter takes a swan dive–then you might be dead and gone. Or you’ve abandoned Alexie’s exploration of time travelling adventures as an instruction manuel. Each episode serves as a short story with ethical issues galore. FBI agent Hank Storm may not get your heartstrings trembling–but Gus, Bow Boy and Small Saint could very well lay you flat on the floor demolishing an extra-large box of kleenex–or soaking an extra-large cotton hanky.
Zits experiences violence in many forms via his out-of-body time travelling–and this makes him seriously consider his pains of loss, abandonment and identity. Children NEED fathers–preferably decent men who care about their welfare. That lacking, one must find family where one can. Sometimes the concept of ‘family’ has not a damned thing to do with genetics and biology. It’s got to do with who gives a damn.
I’ve been a fan of Alexie’s work ever since reading his collection of poems and short stories The Business of Fancydancing. Yes, there’s a film by that title too– and it’s a great film. But–it was the text that had me wanting to scream and laugh from one page to the next. Ever felt bushwhacked by a writer? Well that’s how I felt while reading The Business of Fancydancing. It was great. Disturbing at times, but great nonetheless. I will never forget the story of the man, Eve and the post office. Hell, I’ve never entered a post office since and not thought of the story. The same holds true for Flight. It will not numb or bore you to tears. Not sure you can relate yet? Okay, who has had bad acne? Raise your hands now.
Click the boot to see the video trailer and more at Red Deer Press. If you find this an unsettling view of teenage girls then I suggest you consider all that’s been written about their physical and psychological cruelty. Science fiction has nothing on the daily reality strutting through school hallways everywhere.
Rustle: I think of all the clicking, whirling cams, the screens and monitors, the hidden mics tracking our movements when we least suspect it–the never knowing when they’re watching. And I surrender to my own inevitable defeat. A tear rolls down my sorry check as I flashback to the Treason Times. I rememory all those twisted cores, those poor broken specimens struggling, impaled on their death sticks, waiting for the pain to end. Our ancestors, the human mothers who bore us, ridiculed ’til the very last milli and Beyond. That’ll be me soon. Sniff.
O thank you, Red Deer Press for your “…respect for the intelligence of the reader at every level…”–WOW–when’s the last time you read that in any American Publisher’s mission statement? Like NEVER! I mean what American media outlet of any sort has any respect for the intelligence of its audience??? Red Deer Press is a Canadian operation–smirk, smirk. Come on, be honest. I’m willing to entertain any suspects dishing up tomes to feed the intelligence hunger of Americans anyone is willing to offer up. Is it fair to argue that the fact that books in any form are still being produced by American publishers for the market is a good sign that we’ve not been entirely written off as complete morons–yet? Big Big Sky is definitely not mental junk food for a dumbed down Young Adult audience. The very talented Kristyn Dunnion makes the most of every page to infiltrate and stretch the imagination of whoever picks up this totally engaging novel which raises a multitude of issues about blind obedience, genetic manipulation, love, leadership. loyalty and survival of the fittest–”Decline, Deform, Disobey.” This is one hell of a science fiction/fantasy adventure into uncharted waters and beyond for the all female crew of a StarPod of young assassins: Rustle, Loo, Solomon, Shona and Roku. Dunnion creates a tightly controlled world of young people trained by ScanMans to exterminate other humans. Then Dunnion turns the tables on the core group and soon they’re deep in a swim for their own lives to the lands beyond the mountain of total mind control. There’s good language craft fun with all the lingo Dunnion devises for this unruly passel of rampaging lasses as the plot unfolds from the shifting perspectives of each. You don’t have to be a teenager or a female to jump into this novel and enjoy it immensely. Keeping an open mind about love relationships and science fiction could be a tad useful at the onset–until the characters themselves yanky yank you into their world of troubles and tribulations and transformations. Ever dream of becoming a big bird? How about an amphibian? What’s your control freak conformity factor? All is fair in love and war, right?
I’m eagerly awaiting more of Kristyn Dunnion’s wicked writing wonders. I promise to share with the other girls nice nice.
I picked up Lydia Millet’s Ghost Lights at a time when my brainpan needed serious distraction from stewing in its own juices. “Pulitzer finalist” on the book jacket caught my eye and I wondered what sort of contemporary work of fiction would fit that bill. Hence I decided to give the tome a chance even though the first pages concerning a three-legged dog did nothing to capture my interest. Now perhaps I’m missing something here as this is touted as the second book of a trilogy. Hmm. Okay well I am going to continue missing that special something that comes from the second book in a trilogy of which I have not read the first installment. I’m going to continue the ‘missing’ because I’ve no intentions of reading the first part of the trilogy, How the Dead Dream, in order to get up to speed on whatever I’m missing. Nor do I have any plans to read part three. Why not? It’s not because MIllet can’t write–she can. The prose flows easily across the pages requiring no effort from the reader at all. I’m not going to read any further backward or forward because there are more interesting books to read and for the following reasons directly related to Ghost Lights:
I do not care about middle-aged men who work for the Internal Revenue Service.
I do not care about middle-aged men who are upset to learn that their wives are being sexually active with males other than themselves.
I do not care about a wife having sex with a younger man than her husband.
I do not care about a middle-aged man who learns his crippled daughter is making a living doing phone sex.
I do not care that a crippled woman has found that phone sex is the most lucrative way to support herself.
I do not care about a middle-aged Tax Man who goes off to find a man he doesn’t even like just to get away from his issues.
I do not care about Tax Man going agog over a beautiful German woman and her husband and two boys.
I do not care about Tax Man having his dream of ‘sex on the beach’ with beautiful German woman come true.
I do not care about Tax Man having no clue what mess he’s walked into by his weak efforts to find the missing T-man.
I do not care about ignorant man befuddled by German woman’s ignorance of the issues of the Indigenous Guatemalan population.
I do not care about any of these characters because Millet provides absolutely no reason why I should care about them. Beautiful breasts of German women do not engage my interest. The three-legged dog seems to have been some sort of red herring. The crippled daughter operates as a sort of sympathy plea. The adulterous wife is so much shallow contemporary American woman that the character construction isn’t worth the effort to sneer at her. The Tax Man — is–well he’s the Tax Man nursing a Tin Man’s heart of sorts. Did I miss something of vital importance between the hardback covers of Ghost Lights? Did I? If so and you know what it is please drop a line and tell me. I’d really like to know. –Oh and NO the concluding pages of the book will not suffice. I’m NOT buying that at all. Btw, if any of this book was supposed to be funny–I didn’t laugh. There are many types of humor–but I don’t recall stumbling over any form here. Perhaps I need to update my humor catalog?
Okay neither of these delightful Gaiman tomes is loitering on the new release shelf in you local free book lending operation called the public library or independent bookstore–if you’re lucky enough to have an incarnation of the latter in your swamp. So what. Good reads are good reads and if you’ve not wandered through either and you enjoy the landscape of Gaiman’s imagination perhaps it’s time to hide under some shade tree and indulge yourself.
In Anansi Boys, Gaiman spins the Spider myth anew complete with Fat Charlie and his long-lost brother, Spider, dealing with the legacy of their family inheritance via dearly departed dad, Mr. Nancy. Gaiman concocts a tasty rum punch involving theft, murder, mayhem, mythology, and love. Fat Charlie soon learns there’s more ways to travel than by plane–sometimes one’s ticket to ride involves four elderly women, black candles and a little voodoo–no seatbelts required. You might want to be careful what you say to the next spider with the nerve to plop down beside you–it might summon your brother who might fancy your girlfriend as much as you do. Yes, Spider, does complicate Fat Charlie’s life but it’s all for the best–who needs a Rose when there’s a Daisy for the picking–though said Spider really hasn’t any intentions at all beyond entertaining himself. While one can zoom through Anansi Boys simply enjoying the unfolding of a story–one can do some deep thought diving too via the role of myth in the human psyche and the desire for stories and the telling of them. There’s magic in words–spoken and written. Maybe in karaoke too? What really constitutes ‘magic’ and why do some folks engage it as part of life while others have no clue of its existence? How doe the imagination create magic via storytelling? I’m not quite certain–But–I know one thing for sure, Spider’s bedroom has me wanting my own version–complete with waterfall.
While I enjoyed the tangling and untangling of web romping of Anansi Boys quite a bit, it was in Fragile Things, Short Fictions and Wonders where I loitered and took my time exploring and delighting in Gaiman’s literary small plates buffet. Don’t skip the introduction wherein Gaiman offers commentary regarding each ‘wonder’ in the collection. I was in a very very dark mood when I turned to this tome for some serious distraction. ”A Study in Emerald” involving those Baker Street fellows hooked me straight off. This might have had some benefit from my anticipation of the second season of the ‘new’ modern Sherlock rendered by Masterpiece. I was primed and ready for some mystery and fun Holmes style and swallowed this hook completely. While there is much temptation to gush at length over many of the short stories here I will refrain from such indulgence. There’s a lot to like if you’re already a Gaiman fan–and more to discover if you’re not yet. I’m seeing my coffee, ghosts and zombies in a different light since reading “Bitter Grounds.” I’ve been wondering what sort of “x-file” episode could have evolved out of “How to Talk to Girls at Parties.” Neither harlequins nor valentines will be the same for me after consuming “Harlequin Valentine.” For The Matrix fans there is “Goliath”–enough said. Get a copy and read for yourself!
Okay folks my lack of geek brain cell mass is seriously crippling an addition of a quick Care2 widget to this blog for instant gratification petition signing purposes. But what I can do is provide the link to Care2 and the title of the petition you can find on site there to sign. I realize this will require a few more minutes of YOUR time and energy –and I do apologize for this extra effort on your generous spirits. But even my resident geek computer god cannot fathom why the embed code will not thrive in this WordPress blog’s post soil. So– we’re going there the slower route–but we CAN get there! Or so I hope. This is for everyone who requested an online petition to sign. Thanks to Barb Reese for putting this petition online at Care2. Folks, they’re only hoping for 1,000 signatures. Can you help them blow way past that amount by sharing on fb, tweeting, email, reblogging and other means? They’re up to 190 at the time of this blog post. Please show your support. And if anyone figures out how get that widget code to work on this Word Press blog theme – Come back a leave specific step by step recipe for ME!!!!
Petition title —-> “Senate Bill seeks to extinguish Navajo and Hopi water rights” petition to sign at Care2
Hello everyone to whom I’ve been AWOL for so long. Just have been pre-occupied with streams of Occupy online and other things offline. Hope everyone is well and is surviving whatever winter is throwing your way weatherwise. It’s COLD here but nothing to complain about. Looking forward to visiting many blogcasas very soon. Something that came up in a recent occupy livestream chat was the lack of comprehension of word ‘play’ on the part of many Americans. Apparently our educational system offers NO appreciation of the finer points of the English language and hence our sense of humor is stunted by our lack of appreciation for clever turns of phrases. Some of you poets will probably beg to differ on this account. But–believe me it is a valid a concern time and time again in many occupy chats where random segments of the global population consort daily. Some humor simply does not come across well in text. Others fail to comprehend multiple meanings of words. And there are many forms of self-expression from individual communities that take time and patience to decipher. This goes beyond the texting genre. Though that also comes into play in the chat stream in various incarnations. Best thing to do when at a loss is to ask for definitions–some are obvious, some bewildering and others very enlightening and useful. It’s an ongoing exercise in communication on a global level. So–when I use the word “wicked” to herald the new year –I have a variety of meanings and associations with “wicked” that vary from slang to formal dictionary traditional meanings–very cool and wonderful to downright evil. While hoping 2012 is indeed a wonderful and exciting new year for everyone in all the possible positive ways this is tempered with the awareness of the president signing the National Defence Authorization Act on New Years Eve when many people were paying NO attention to this potentially evil little legislative ‘delight’. So–while every ‘new’ year brims with creative positive potential it also brims with all sorts of new negative hatchings as well. And so it goes…..
For the moment–Chocolate truffles for everyone! But don’t you dare fall asleep under the table this new year or there may be hell to pay……. Mic Check!
Doing an internet search of NDAA ought to bring you up to speed fairly quickly. You might want to have your favorite libations or comfort foods handy while discovering what’s happened.
At this point in time the lack of mainstream news coverage of the ongoing Occupy Wall Street event is becoming news in itself. As more people become aware of the now week-long effort to raise awareness of the 99% of the population who are NOT reaping the benefits of Wall Street shenanigans–the more glaring the lack of coverage becomes. Yet this lack is not really surprising. It is most predictable considering the present nature of the media that flows nightly into the homes of millions of Americans. Ironically, many of these same Americans unknowingly have a vested interest in the efforts of the occupiers who are from their non-Wall Street ranks. Yet, showing Americans other Americans engaged in protests like the recent Tar Sands Keystone XL arrests in front the White House for two solid weeks during which over 1,253 were arrested, seems to make the Americans who own and run news broadcasts in America very uncomfortable. Why is that? Have they forgotten that the goal of their occasionally respectable profession is to inform people? Naw….they haven’t forgotten. They’ve been co-opted, sold out, and/or taken over by certain interest groups who are distinctly uncomfortable with anyone/anything that rocks the boat of the status quo–no matter how badly that boat is taking on water. Like climate change deniers, news media deniers cannot make the reality go away. Climate change is not invisible nor is the Occupy Wall Street protest. Tuning into the livestream video at Peaceful Uprising and elsewhere online may not bring stunning images of dramatic nonstop action into your brainpan. But it will provide a sense of what is involved in such activism. Yes, there are scenes of Police presence and arrests when the occupiers are on the move. There are interesting arenas of group communication and consensus reaching efforts during the General Assemblies. There’s a great deal of dealing with the practical issues of everything from keeping the video operating to information on where/how to donate food supplies. Occupations require the necessities of daily life. Who knew? In many ways this is a practical primer for such activist efforts. Is it any wonder the mainstream media is avoiding it like the plague?
And now for something completely different–Nigel Farage speaking in the European Parliament on the economic chaos in Greece. Caution! His words have implications far beyond the state of Greece. And yes, my fellow Americans, what’s happening in Greece matters to you. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But it will matter just like the dead canary in the coal mine mattered to miners when its silence and death signalled the presence of deadly gases. Just like being able to ignite tap water matters. Who drinks flaming water? Just like the imprisonment of Tim DeChristopher matters for what it reveals about the nature of the legal system in America operating as a vehicle for political oppression. All are signs of something going “wrong” in a very serious manner. And if that doesn’t compel you to lend your ears to Farage’s little rant–then listen just for the entertainment factor. I think I’m developing a penchant for references to insane asylums. What’s that signify?
Much thanks to Berit for sending this delightful video my way. Oh the joys of cyberspace!
Violating copyright births bad karma---imagine a mad hacker you'll never see coming--nor catch going. Respect = my work is my work and your work is your work.
Everything posted here is my work, copyrighted, unless otherwise noted. Comments aside. Om
KKFI
Streaming Online
"Radio Like You've Never Heard It Before!" Click the logo above for KKFI 90.1 fm KCMO.
For Kili 90.1 fm, Pine Ridge, SD, click the image below for The Voice of the Lakota Nation.
Cemetery Hill, Wounded Knee, Mugged by a Squirrel for a plum, Ed's driving, Art for Art's Sake, painting nudes, Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, KKFI, Crazy Horse, Reading, Marry, Critical Path, Political Missionary, White Wolves, teaser (1), We Shall Remain Shallow, Winter Fox Frank, Wes Studi, The Only Good Indian, Spotted Elk, naked woman centered, devotees (Crazy Horse), Blue Heron, Critical Path, An Adaptable Woman, and other plums ripening and Tanka Bars.
Art Short Bull Gallery
Click Art Above
to see more of Arthur Short Bull's original Art online at www.dawnhawk.org. Clicking on other images on the sidebar will take you to other places or enlarge photos.
om mani padme hum jewel in the lotus wahupa qi prana universal life energy
