--ONE OF THESE THINGS IS NOT LIKE THE OTHER

 

…The shooting that happened in Connecticut Friday was horrific.  “Horrific” isn’t even a strong enough word.  Killing innocent people.  Killing anyone.  Killing children.  It’s unimaginable.  How can/could a single person be so evil, create such destruction, and leave years and years of unending grief behind.

On Facebook many of my friends are writers and mostly liberal.  Quite a few of them posted their vitriolic views about guns.  I understand their anger, but such posts only seem to create a bigger chasm, Red versus Blue states, etc.  I think Facebook is the last place to announce your political or religious views.

…Here’s what former Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee said about the shooting:

“We ask why there is violence in our schools, but we have systematically removed God from our schools. Should we be surprised that schools would become places of carnage?”

…Here’s what Rush Limbaugh had to say:

“It is terrible, incomprehensible but I’m going to tell you something – as we sit here at this very moment, you know it and I know it – there are liberals trying to find a way to blame this on conservatives or Republicans,” Limbaugh told his audience.

Good Lord.  Really?  Can’t people just grieve and support all those families and friends.

It was awful to watch news coverage.  My heart broke a dozen times.  I can’t even fathom what those people are going through.

Sorry this is such a sad post, but I feel broken.

…"So great has been the endurance, so incredible the achievement, that, as long as the sun keeps a set course in heaven, it would be foolish to despair of the human race." Ernest L. Woodward

 

--HELLO, KITTY

…I think about aging more than I should, likely more than most people.  I’ve never been a fan of getting older.  As a child and teen, I was very, very shy and didn’t come out of my shell until my freshman year of college.  Most people who know me think I’m outgoing, but really I’m that insecure 16 year old who moved to a new school one day before Junior year, knew no one, and used to eat lunch in the library, reading or writing (bad) poetry.

This morning my son left for a field trip and a big, formal DECCA presentation.  I helped him dress in a suit and tie.  He’s 16.  He’s six foot five.  He looked so grown-up and handsome, a boy almost a man.

In a year he’ll be off to college.  He’s a terrific kid, talented and gifted in so many ways.  It’s going to be strange when he’s gone.

Time is a mystifying thing.  Anymore, I try not to think about it too much.  I understand how aging, how death, is crucial.  It makes life important.  If we never aged or died, life wouldn’t hold the meaning it does.

…Anyway, just some psycho-babble for the weekend.  Thanks for indulging me.

…Here are some things to think about:

"Every day one should at least hear one little song, read one good poem, see one fine painting and if at all possible speak a few sensible words.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“If you are trying to transform a brutalized society into one where people can live in dignity and hope, you begin with the empowering of the most powerless. You build from the ground up.” Adrienne Rich

"Patience is passion tamed." Lyman Abbott

"Poetry is indispensable--if I only knew what for." Jean Cocteau

"Parents need to fill a child’s bucket of self-esteem so high that the rest of the world can’t poke enough holes to drain it dry." Alvin Price

"Man is so made that whenever anything fires his soul,impossibilities vanish." Jean de la Fontaine

"Victory is sweetest when you've known defeat." Malcolm Forbes

"Let everyone sweep in front of his own door and the whole world will be clean." Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

 "If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light.  Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness, and fears." Glenn Clark

 

 

--WHY DOES ANYONE DO ANYTHING?

…How’s your week going?  What are you wearing?

…I’ve been having a fun time dog-sitting.  Zoey is very cute.  You should see her.

…Here are some things I’ve read, or learned about:

…According to Richard Branson, of Virgin Atlantic:

The U.S. has the largest prison population in the world, with about 2.3 million behind bars. More than half a million of those people are incarcerated for a drug law violation.

The facts are overwhelming. If the global drug trade were a country, it would have one of the top 20 economies in the world. In 2005, the United Nations estimated the global illegal drug trade is worth more than $320 billion. It also estimates there are 230 million illegal drug users in the world, yet 90% of them are not classified as problematic.

In the United States, if illegal drugs were taxed at rates comparable to those on alcohol and tobacco, they would yield $46.7 billion in tax revenue. A Cato study says legalizing drugs would save the U.S. about $41 billion a year in enforcing the drug laws.

About 40,000 people were in U.S. jails and prisons for drug crimes in 1980, compared with more than 500,000 today.

 …K2, Spice, and other synthetic drugs that mimic a marijuana high sent 11,405 people--mostly teenagers and young adults to the emergency room last year.

…28 percent of American adults are obese

26% are physically in active
21% smoke

…9 million acres were scorched in wildfires this year, about the size of Massachusetts and Connecticut combined.  Also the third highest total ever.

…The typical annual salary of a Goldman Sachs partner is $900,000.  Goldman named 70 new partners, who join the elite ranks of more than 500 others among the brokerage's 32,600 employees.

…Last year the US birth rate dropped to its lowest ever recorded.

…44% of Americans plan on attending 3 or more Christmas parties.

…Don't fear for your Twinkies.  Bankrupt Hostess Brands says it's in talks with 100 serious potential buyers for its famous snacks, including Ho Hos and Ding Dongs.

…For 2012, top five baby names:

Girls:
1. Sophia
2. Emma
3. Olivia
4. Isabella
5. Ava
(Note they all end in "a", whatever that means)

Boys:

1. Aiden
2. Jackson
3. Ethan
4. Liam
5. Mason
(Note, none ends in "a" but rather all "n" or the lone "m")

…The average salary of a college football coach is $1.64 million, up 70% in 6 years.

…Ralph Lauren sells a wallet for $495.

Bottega Veneta sells a dog collar for $310 and a woven leather leash for $440

…The highest price paid for a comic book is $2.1 million

…32% of Americans say they couldn't cover their bills if their paycheck was delayed by even a week.

…New York City's homicide rate is expected to finish the year lowest since 1960.

…The average American eats over 35,000 cookies in their lifetime.

…8 -The percentage of time the Earth has been at peace in the past 3,5000 years.

…7 --The median number of minutes sexual intercourse lasts.

…52% of men spend 4 or more hours a week playing video games.

18% -Percentage who've played 6 to 9 hours in a single night trying to beat a tough level.
1 in 3 -Number of men who've turned down sex to play video games.

…The most diverse city in America is San Jose, CA

Seattle is 26th.
Fargo, ND is 98th
Charleston, WV is 100.

...What Women Like In Men":

#1 -Abs
#2 -Biceps
#3 -Chest
#4 -Obliques
#5 -Triceps

...What Men Like In Women:

#1. -Butt
#2. - Abs
#3. -Obliques
#4. -Quads
#5. -Chest

…The median price of a home in Alpine, NJ is $6.7 million

It's $5.1 million in NYC
$3.8 million in Beverly Hills

..Nine in ten Americans expect a world disaster to occur in the next quarter-century, including devastating earthquakes, terrorist attacks or financial collapse.

…Total enrollment of foreign students in America increased 31% over the past decade to 765,000

…As unbelievable as it seems, the US will pass Saudia Arabia in 2025 as the world's leading oil producer and will become a net exporter by 2030

...What's your definition of getting ahead?

Doing better than:
57% -Previous years
24% -Your parents
9% -Most Americans
6% -Don't know
4% -Friends and neighbors

 

--DON'T WORRY, ONE OF THESE DAYS I'll MAKE A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION

 
…I’m dog-sitting this week for my daughter.  Zooey looks like a cross between a deer and a fox.  She’s quite cute, but she’s my daughter’s dog and won’t hang with me in my office, so I have to constantly check on her to make sure she’s not shredding something in the house.
I hope to get my own dog in spring.

…What have you got planned this week?

…Come the New Year, I aim to get back to reading steadily, something I’ve failed to do these last few months.  I think that’s part of the reason my writing has faltered of late.

…I did have this piece published at Collective Exile:

http://collectiveexile.com/price-of-gold/

…And also this poem, at Red Booth Review, which is also one of the poems I read on a radio show back east:

The Sweater

I am the black

Sweater
You left behind
On the love seat
Love no longer an option
Love seat
Love

My yarn is tight

Fine Egyptian cotton
Mercerized
Top stitched and fully-fashioned.
Your skin
It used to sit or swish
Inside of me
Against my limbs and lengths
My sleeves and being

You took me places

Folded me
Kept me clean
Now I am a heap of yarn
Dead threads
Smelling of your perfume
But mostly
Reeking rust and
Regret

…I hope you have a fantastic week.

…Here are a few things to consider:

"What the dead don't know piles up, though we don't notice at first." Roger Angell

"The vision that you glorify in your mind, the ideal that you enthrone in your heart-- this you will build your life by, and this you will become." James Lane Allen

"Those who love deeply never grow old; they may die of old age, but they die young." A.W. Pinero

"You won't believe the most amazing things can come from some terrible lies." ~Fun, "Some Nights"

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." Oscar Wilde

"There is no sensual pleasure in the world comparable to the delight and satisfaction that a good man takes in doing good." Tillotson

 

--DID I MISS ANTHING?

…I hope you have a fabulous weekend.  Watch out for that Fiscal Cliff and try not to fall over it.

 …The good folks at SOLARCIDE published three of my flash pieces this week:

http://solarcide.com/special-guest-content/guest-stories/guest-stories-2012/len-kuntz-flash-fiction-week-at-solarcide-continues/

…Here are some thoughts from Andre Dubus III about writing or life or anything:

...“Gustave Flaubert was known to writhe on the floor in search of the perfect word to complete whatever it was he was writing. When’s the last time you writhed on the floor, other than during sex?”

“I believe when you write a story you are pregnant with that story the way a woman can be pregnant with a child. Similarly, she can eat right and not drink, and she can exercise and make all the correct choices but still miscarry.”

“There’s a certain stupidity writers can hardly do without--it’s called waiting. Not waiting for inspiration to write--because only amateurs do that-- but writing it as best you can and then waiting, waiting and sending out again, waiting, waiting and sending out again for the hundredth, second-hundredth time to see if someone likes it.”

“If you think you’re thinking when you’re writing, think again. Dreaming is closer to writing than thinking is to writing.”

“Imagine it, don’t make it up. There’s a huge difference.”

“This thing we do is mysterious because writers are the kind of people who want to enter the mystery of things.”

“You want to get yourself in the frame of mind where you accept any idea that comes your way.”

 

 

--I'M A LOT STRONGER THAN YOU THINK

…I have two new stories up at Solarcide and one more Friday:

…I saw “Argo” yesterday and it was about as I’d anticipated: a strong movie with great acting.  B+.  Ben Affleck has turned into a quite a director and he pulls off an appropriately restrained acting effort.  See it.

My guess is it’ll be up for an Academy Award but that Lincoln will win Best Pic and Best Actor.

…I watched a disturbing program about child/teen abductions.

One girl was taken inside her home and no one knows how or who and it’s been years.
Another was a college-aged girl who went missing after bar-hopping and seeing some friends.  The last people to see her have lawyered up and refuse to talk any more than they legally have to.
Perhaps the most disturbing was about a girl, twenty-something, who’s been missing for a few years now.  The girl’s parents get all kinds of prank phone calls.  One person called and just kept repeating, “Mom?  Mom?”  Who does that?  Why?  Other times, people called up and just screamed or said, “I killed her!”  It’s hard to fathom how any human could do such a thing to another person.

…A friend sent me an article about this man with cancer who was only supposed to have six months to live.  He moved to some Greek island to be with his family in his last days.
But his cancer disappeared and it’s now been 30 plus years since his fatal diagnosis.  I borrowed the idea and the article’s title and wrote this:
 

                                          The Island Where People Forget To Die

 

            She wanted to be forever young and so she moved to The Island Where People Forget To Die.  It was in the tropics with brightly flocked macaws and squirrely little monkeys that laughed at you for no reason whatsoever.

            Before this the cancer inside her felt like a large bowl of steel, invisible yet heavy filling her gut, making walking difficult, causing her to rasp if she spoke.

            But on the island paradise melted the cancer.  She knew this because she felt spry and light.  For a few weeks her urine was dark, coffee-colored yet she did not become frightened because she understood that she was merely, and literally, pissing the cancer out of her system.

            There was no electricity on the island and the last call she made with her cell phone before the battery died was to her family back in the states.  They’d been worried about her, but became elated when they heard the news of her recovery.  They called it a miracle, and she agreed.

            In time, boats arrived, stuffed with all sort of maligned and diseased people.  Each of them—the blind and lame and infected—were cured.  After a while, perfectly healthy folks showed up, greedy to live beyond their allotted years.  Condominiums and Hotels were erected.  Roads were paved.  Shops built.  A localized regime was established with a constitution.

            In a short span, The Island Where People Forget To Die became so massively congested that new inhabitants were turned away dismissively.  Then a fleet of warships arrived, looming shore-side like large walls of steel, blocking both sky and sun.  

            Using homemade catapults and roughhewn spears, the island’s tenants fought back.  But it was no use because the enemy was the Federal Government.  Naval vessels fired missiles and bombs, so many that the island at once went up in flames and those who did not burn to death were forced into the ocean where the current caught them, if not many of the menacing sharks.

            In the water the woman floated on her back.  She drowned out the cacophony of bonfire noises and screams, drowned out the shrieking pleas for help and violent cursing.

            It’s better this way, she thought.  The end of something means all that came before is real and of value.

 

--AND SO, THIS IS HOW THE STORY GOES

…It’s morning and the sun is struggling to find a place for itself.  Across the lake a few houses are lit up, others dark and sealed as if the world is all too much for them to take.

The water this morning is a muddy green-gray, the color of an antique army tank maybe, or a chalk board faded by the sun.

There’s not a single living thing in sight.  No ducks or eagles or leaping fish.

The surface of the water is rippled, resembling an old person’s skin.  It floats persistently to the west, like salmon on the way to spawn.

I’ve seen many things in my life, as we all have, but the lake never fails to mystify and stun.  It changes every day.  There are always new things to see, find, discover.

I love it.

…I hope this week is wonderful for you.

…"It is wonderful to be in on the creation of something, see it used, and then walk away and smile at it." Lady Bird Johnson

"We look in every store window to see if we look better than we did in the last store window." Barbara Sher

“A man without a smiling face must not open up shop.” Chinese Proverb

“The thing about performance, even if it’s only an illusion, is that it is a celebration of the fact that we do contain within ourselves infinite possibilities.” Daniel Day Lewis

“Age is strictly a case of mind over matter.  If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” Jack Benny

“The secret to life is making your vocation your vacation.” Mark Twain

"We are all the same, underneath the sycamore." Death Cab For Cutie

"Poetry is as exact a science as geometry." Flaubert