Thankful for the Tears

There are some things going on in this world that sincerely break my heart. So many things are broken or breaking and it is affecting us all on a huge level. I weep knowing that the world I grew up in, the things I thought I knew and could rely on will probably not be there for my future children. Life is getting harder and will continue along this path until something changes.

But will anything truly change for the better? I worry about mine and my fiance's futures. I worry about my family's future and everyone I know and love. I worry about the future of people I do not know, as their pain is my pain and inevitably we are all linked together. Even though I do not have much, especially lately, I try to give what I can. To ease someone else's burden, to see at least a hint of a smile.

Will the people of the future look back on this era as a black mar on their history books. Something that should have been changed sooner, in the same way that we look back on other facets of history, some that happened not even 100 years ago? Will today be a day in history books to be remembered, studied for, and marked on a test in hopes of getting an A?

If not perhaps it should be. Perhaps we should decide here and now that we need to make a change, if we band together we can do it.

It isn't necessarily the big things. We can do little things, simple things. Take back what is ours. Make purchases from local people. Visit local businesses instead of corporations. Dig up our yards and plant our own foods. Get our hands dirty, in a good way. Learn to fend for ourselves so we never need worry about hunger if things get worse in the way that my grandfather expects them to. He lived through the Great Depression and forsees our current situation dwarfing that one if it continues to get out of hand. My grandfather has been right about many things, some of which I wish he hadn't been, but the man is undeniably intelligent.

Yet, despite all that is going on, I am thankful to have what little I do have, for many people do not have even that. I am thankful that I have the heart to shed tears for my fellow man and woman. To feel their pain, and to at least try to do what I can about it.

I just hate that if things continue, we are stealing our children's futures, our children's hopes, and our children's dreams before they are even born. We are aborting their chance at a good life before they even have the chance for their first breath.

These thoughts tumble around in my head and my heart screams out for me to do more. What is more? And how can I accomplish this task? I share my thoughts with you in hopes that I can find somone who can relate, who can either help point me in the right direction or spread their own message along and reach even more people who have not had the words to put their own voice out there.

Words. Perhaps words are more. The sharing of a thought in a tangible idea.

Laura Leigh Jones will Blow you Away

So apparently my old high school is pouring out kids with talent (yeah we're grown up now, but I still feel like a kid, so I'm classifying former classmates as kids too).

Let your ears enjoy some of Laura Leigh Jones' beautiful music:



If you enjoy her music please share it with others to help get the word out about this up and coming vocalist!

Rain and Thanksgiving

I'm listening to it rain while sitting here in disbelief that it is already almost Thanksgiving again. Time is flying by ever faster the older that I get. But hey, at least that means turkey day seems to come more often.

I love the family time, the food (particularly the deserts), and just the general atmosphere. I just wish I could enjoy it more this year, but I've got homework coming out of my ears. But I'm thankful I have ears for the homework to come out of. LOL.

But holidays that seem to revolve around the eating of meat kind of disturb me. I'm not a vegetarian, though I have cut back my meat consumption quite a bit. (And am working on it as we speak). It just seems odd to have a day that has lost it's original meaning and is now something that is used to spur on more competition, who has the best turkey, most tender, biggest, etc.

Who cares?

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm really wanting The Boy and I to get a place so that one day I can host Thanksgiving and decorate and have my loved ones over. But if the turkey is a little dry, I won't hyperventilate or hide from humiliation in the bedroom. I'll just be thankful that I had a stove to overcook the turkey in and the money to have purchased it.

So many things have lost their original meanings over the years. I feel like it is time that we take some of those things back.

Thankfulness. Respect. Dignity. Honesty. Maturity. Truthfulness.

Above are the things we need to bring back into our lives. I have a feeling that we would be better for it.

How to Read Bizarro

Okay, so my last post was about the world of bizarro. So, coming from a newbie, I thought I'd give a little insight on how to read bizarro. At least from my point of view.

1. Be aware of the definition of bizarre before even thinking about reading Bizarro.
   Bizarre: adjective markedly unusual in appearance, style, or general character and often involving incongruous or unexpected elements; outrageously or whimsically strange; odd: bizarre clothing; bizarre behavior.  (thank you dictionary.com)
2. Open each book with a fully open mind.
3. If you are reading one of the more grotesque in the genre and have a quesy stomach you may want to keep a trash bin nearby.
4. Try not to read between the lines until after the completion of the story, novella, novel. I have found that once the book is in your brain it can be slowly digested to see that something that seems to be completely out there in ways that some would classify as totally idiotic actually has quite a link with what is going on in our society and world on a much deeper level.
5. Keep in mind with #4 that I sometimes overthink things.
6. Enjoy in small doses, or big doses. Just know the dosage of bizarro you can handle and stick with it until you build up a healthy tolerance. Or if you are just weird like me and fall madly in love with the first thing you read, just eat them like candy and keep at it.
7. If you love bizarro, buy, buy, buy. This is a new genre and it is hard for these authors to make enough money to eat dinner let alone other expenses. It is hard starting out and they need your help.
8. If you love bizarro, promote, promote, promote. Talk about it. Let friends borrow the books. Buy the books as gifts for people you know would fall in love with them. Blog it. Tweet it. Stumble it. Facebook. Google+. You get the idea.

So if you are a bizarro fan and have some extra tips on how to read bizarro Please share and I will add them to this blog. Or perhaps make a part 2 contination of this topic, just depends on you the reader and how many ideas you can come up with to help out the people just now finding this delightful gem of a genre.

The World of Bizarro

Either you've heard of Bizarro, or you are wondering whether I have cracked my head.

I assure you my head is in one piece at the moment.

I came across Bizarro through my fiance. He introduced me to the genre with Carlton Mellick III's Satan Burger. And I must say, this book piqued my curiosity of the Bizarro Genre. Unfortunately, the extent of The Boy's Bizarro collection consists mainly of Mellick's writings. Which isn't neccesarily a bad thing, but when you want to tear into a new genre and explore all of its nooks and crannies, one writer just isn't going to cut it.

So what do you do when you are curious about a new genre that isn't quite considered worthy of mainstream bookstore's and library's shelves and your budget is too tight to allow mass purchases of books?

You find a way to review them. So I have joined the ranks of the Bizarro Brigade in order to review Bizarro books.

I have received my first book to review:

The Traveling Dildo Salesman by Kevin L. Donihe

So check back soon to see what my thoughts on the book were!

Poetry in Rain

Here is a poem I wrote when I was probably 15, had it rejected several times and retired it. Dusting it off, making no changes, and posting in here. Just for my own amusement mostly:

Storm

Thunder races,
Through each cloud.

Lightening shatters
The calm serene air.

Clouds roll toward
The peaceful home.

Slow and steady.

Pit-pat
Pit-pat

The rain begins.

Animals scurry,
To their dens.

Leaves turn up,
Welcoming each mouthful
Of fresh, sweet rain.

Slowly the thunder fades,
Into a deep,
And low rumble.

The lightening,
No longer fierce
Dims.

Slow and steady.

Pit-pat
Pit-pat

The rain,
It fades away.

Poem to be Published

I won a writing contest quite some time ago. It was for my poem Secret. The anthology that it will be in should be coming out during the first quarter of 2012. Here is a link to the article on Twin Trinity's website: http://twintrinity.com/?p=1412

The anthology will be called Expressions of Passion if I recall correctly. I really need to crack out my old laptop and get all my info off of it onto the new one. Then I would be able to just do a quick check for ya. So don't hold me to the anthology name.

Needless to say I'm uber excited to see this come out! Now off to do some work for school and hopefully have a little time to edit my manuscript tonight.

Crier's Release

Revisiting a blog that I used to write with Blogophilia, everything on the blog was just spur of the moment, impromptu type writing. Thought I would share a few of these pieces with you starting with a poem I called Crier's Release. Going through this older blog has really made me miss all the Blogophilia folks. I am posting the poem as is, no touch ups, no rewording, etc. Just how I wrote it back at the age of 22/23. Here it is all blemished for your to read and critique (be harsh I know it needs it!)

"Crier’s Release"

Have you ever thrown your head back,
And just soaked up all the rain,
Listening to the thunder,
Trying to hide all that pain?

Have you ever tried to hide,
The tears that fell down your face,
As people walked by laughing,
Making jokes of your disgrace.

When the rain finally stops,
And the tears begin to dry,
Do you find yourself pretending,
That you never need to cry?

When these feeling shake your world,
And your heart yearns to be free,
Let go of all your doubts,
And your soul can finally be.