Supporting Our Troops

     It is good to remember veterans and help whenever possible.  I am reading the 2009 best seller, Home Front by Kristin Hannah.  She is a little like Jodi Picouldt, but more humor to her serious fiction writing, or perhaps it is the reader.
     Like my novel, American Boys, it takes place during the Iraq war.  Some of it takes place in Iraq, since the mother in the story is a soldier.  It is a little sad, because she has to leave her two girls with her husband, who has recently told her he no longer loves her.
     In my story, I wrote Adrien's Story, about the best friend of Daniel, the older son, and Adrien goes to Iraq and gets killed.  In my story, the White family are not military, but there is a family who is.  Daniel cannot go to Iraq, because he has retinitis pigmentosa, but suffers the loss of his friend, and Lizzy's best friend's son.  Of course, Lizzy and Jill have drifted apart, because their lives have become so different.  The loss of Adrien, brings Lizzy close to Jill again in Jill's grief.  
      Even if one does not believe in what America might be doing, once someone joins the army they have no choice but to go to war or go to jail.  It is important to support our troops.  
     I want peace, and I think we all do, but somehow it must be seen as keeping America safe.  That is how I feel.  
     Now we are under the threat of North Korea, and it is really scary.  I hope that we can maintain peace.
     It is interesting that this novel contains similar popular things, such as XBOX, War of the Worlds, and others of the times, especially a few years back, although my novel is a little more political.  I think it is always good to stand behind one's country, and support the troops.  It could be your brother, sister, daughter, son, mother, father, husband, wife or friend.  

How Long?

How long must you wander alone, 

as cold as a river stone,

Seeing the world in shades of gray,

and somehow lost the way.

How many suns have you watched go down, and tears like rivers in which to drown,

And a heart as heavy as metal and gold,

Young eyes always wise and old.

Wondering when this journey finds a source, beyond sorrow or remorse,

And wondering if you ever had a chance,

or if you'd have learned to dance.

And you wonder if this weariness ends,

if you find where your life begins,

And if these fears will go away,

as you stear from this cliff, this abyss.

And in the end you wonder, can I make it,

can you find your way somehow,

Wondering if anyone can see you now,

because so alone you became.

Discrimination and Inconsideraton

     I realize I have no idea what racial discrimination is like, but having been very close to a man who was African American, (he had been my fiance at one time, a few years ago), I know how someone black, growing up in the south, can have some bad experiences to recall.
     Now, reading Condoleezza Rice's autobiography, growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, then later the family moving to Denver Colorado, her having been a teenager in the sixties, I have been thinking about it now.  It sounds like her father was a really determined man, and her mother very strong as well.
     My only experience of difficulty is being visually impaired.  Sometimes some jerk will make a rude remark, someone will not understand if I run into them, and once in a while I will find a person in business who is not helpful, nor understanding when it comes to filling out paper work.  But, since I have a friend who is the president of the Federation for the Blind, for South Carolina, a blind attorney and politician, ran for Congress as a Democrat, but lost, as usually is the case with blind people, I pull out that card.  I realize I am bluffing at times, but I do think people with visual impairments suffer a lot of lack of help and understanding at times.
     

Why I Got Fed Up With Alice Walker's Autobiography

     I think Alice Walker has contributed so much with her prose and poetry, The Color Purple, made into the Spielberg movie with Oprah Winfrey, etc., criticized as making black men look bad, and have been enjoying her autobiography.
     The one thing that bothers me, is the part about her wanting to kill herself if she could not have an abortion at nineteen or twenty, when she was in college.  That is a bit cold towards an unborn child.  I got pregnant out of marriage, by my boyfriend at age twenty, when I was in college as well.  I was a singer and had hopes and dreams, but there was no way I would even have thought of not having my baby, and he is thirty years old now.  My ex husband married me in a so called, 'shot gun wedding,' but I would have had the child either way.  Six years later I unexpectedly got pregnant with my second child, now twenty-three going on twenty-four.
     I do not judge others, but Alice Walker says nine out of ten women, have had an abortion.  I have not, and I am now fifty-one years old, and cannot have children of course, in any way shape or form.  My own mother thinks that abortions are a good thing, and that women who have them suffer..., but I would not know, because I have not had one.  Sisters, if you are reading, all my female friends and family have, so do not think I judge.  I understand that sometimes someone would need or want an abortion, especially in rape or incest, threat to one's life, living on the street perhaps, and having no means of support, being way too young of course, like twelve, which also qualifies for rape, and no child that young should give birth, or finding that the fetus has a horrific birth defect, which would disable quality of life.  I do not think retinitis pigmentosa, which my sons and I have, would be in that category.  I just think the fetus is a person, and I know Baba people say, "oh Baba said the soul...", but truthfully I do not care, because I feel how I feel.  I mean why get rid of a perfectly good baby, that someone else might want, a nice single person or couple in fact, straight or gay, who cannot have kids of their own?  I do not have a problem with gay marriage, by the way, in case you are jumping to the conclusion that I am reactionary.  I am not.
     My own mother acts like you are not a real woman or something, unless you had an abortion, and says she councils all the women who come through, who had one.  So what am I, a freak, because I never had one?  I mean serious, man.  Don't you think these liberal feminist approaches go too far?  In fact frankly, as much as I love Walker's writing, and am interested in how she married a Jewish guy and all, I am going to stop listening to this, and send it back to the Library of Congress, Talking Books for the Blind.  I have had just about as much as I can take of pro-abortion rhetoric.  If anyone is angry at me, please feel free to exercise the first amendment.  I will respect what you say, I suppose.  It is the one thing I cannot stand about liberals, even though I am a Democrat. This is one reason, although I do not believe abortions should be illegal, I think if nine in ten, had one, they are too prevalent.
     I am going to go back to Condoleezza Rice's autobiography.  Plus, Alice Walker bitches about being blind in her right eye. Well I am too, but so what.  I don't bitch about it.
     Condoleeza Rice, although a Republican, like Laura Bush, is pro-choice, I am quite sure, and so am I.  Do not get me wrong, but I do not like to feel that abortions are good, because they really suck.  Watch a film about what they really do some time.  You can be a real woman and still not have one, even though a certain family member has no respect for my position, but I love her anyway.  When did killing babies get to be glorified, for crying out loud?  And, no I do not believe in killing babies in the war, like some sixties hippie would say to me, and have said to me.  You cannot bunch people up into a category, because they might have one opinion, and as I said, I understand, but still...
Look, as I said, I am not judging anyone.  I really am not.  All women are my sisters.  I just wish someone would respect how I feel, and not look at a virtue as some sort of shortcoming.  I do not put others down.  Why does anyone have to put me down?
     And, by the way, I am one of the people who have protested the drones, on facebook, and I am against war, and I am against killing, unless it is to save someone, like the holocaust, for example.  I did not believe in Operation Iraqi Freedom.  I do not like what we did, so please do not get the wrong idea about me.  
   
Note: I should not have said 'killing babies.'  That was not appropriate, and I do not think that way.  I guess I was mad at a certain person's attitude, and took it into my writing. My apologies to all or any I may have offended by my bad wording.  I am not going to write on this subject anymore, anyhow.  It makes me uncomfortable and is too sensitive a topic, so I was insensitive to write it, and it was even, in fact, too personal on all fronts.

What is Happening to America as We Know It?

     "Readin' the news, and it all looks   
     bad, they won't give peace a chance..."
                                         Joni Mitchell       (California, from the Blue album)

      I suppose I think myself nonpartisan, so I am not blaming any political party that I know of, but I am worried about certain problems this country is facing, and how it will turn out.
     I know that worrying is no good, not helpful, but there is so much disturbing news, although I am glad they are finally addressing the gun control problem, to some degree.
     Here are the things I am finding disturbing: 1) the postal service may be going under.  I cannot even begin to say what a crisis that would be.  I discussed it with my own postal delivery person today.  He said that obviously he did not want it going under.  Look how many jobs are at stake, and how many people you or I may know who do or have worked for USPS.  
     2) They want to put more restrictions on food stamps, the snap program, which is federal, so country folk cannot buy a candy bar or a bag of potato chips, nor city folk for that matter.  That is just wrong.  
     3) The mental health system is suffering, the public mental health system, including psychiatric hospitals and an overall lack of beds, and in mental health centers, a lack of doctors as well, because mental health center doctors can work off student loans, but are not getting rich, the way that private practice psychiatrists and physicians can.
     And finally, and I realize this is not our country's own fault, 4) North Korea is either bluffing in their threats towards The United States or not, but are most likely, not bluffing, when it comes to South Korea.  This is unfortunate, because our country is so depleted by Iraq, Afghanistan, and we cannot police the world on and on.  But, the threat from North Korea is a serious matter.
     Finally, 5) I am tired as many of you, of corporate welfare, especially when they complain about a guy buying a snickers bar on food stamps.
     What are we going to do?  What will happen to us?  I love America as much as the next person.  Would love your commentary.    
               

Should Snap/ the Food Stamp Program be Controlled to the Point of Eliminating Junk Food Altogether?

   

     On the news last night, they were talking about this new policy, which might take effect, where people on food stamps could no longer buy such foods as potato chips and candy, etc., things which are so called, bad for you or just fattening I suppose.
     I had more than one feeling about it.  I suppose there are two or three reasons why they might do this, but first I will tell you what I believe to be the cons.  Feel free at the end of my blog, at the bottom, or on facebook, to state your own opinions.
     These are reasons why I think this might not be a good idea, having been a single parent, and having had food stamps, or food benefits, which is actually on a card now, not actual stamps, at various hard times: 1) there are already restrictions on what can be bought with food stamps, such as you cannot buy alcohol, cigarettes, paper products, shampoo, and anything inedible, but also not hot prepared food in the grocery store, such as a rotisserie chicken, unless cold, or anything hot from the deli, and energy drinks, other than coffee, such as ginseng, etc., 2) this may be too much government control of private lives, although I know that the first lady, Michelle Obama has made childhood obesity a cause, so I know where they are coming from, although I think it is the conservatives who want this, to cut spending, although I am not sure, 3) country folk, who shop at country stores, buy a lot of these types of food, and store owners may suffer, because there are many poor people in the country, especially the south, and 4) sometimes it is enjoyable to eat so called junk food, such as potato chips or cheese doodles, and chocolate, which can be good for you, as well as Coca Cola.  It was a pleasant surprise to me, to be able to buy such things as candy, like for Halloween.  Life can be dull enough.  Live dangerously, lol, although candy is not good for one's teeth, unless you brush them right after and still not so great, and although good chocolate has some health benefits, such as antioxidants, most candy is just junk.  See more further down in this article.
     Now, I will say why I think, perhaps this makes sense, and could possibly be a good thing: 1) Michelle Obama is right about the morbidity of childhood obesity.  Empty calories cause fat cells in childhood, which can remain through adulthood, and obese or even overweight children and adults have a higher chance of getting diabetes and/ or high blood pressure, not to mention high cholesterol, the bad kind, 2) it could change the eating habits of Americans, including the poor, who may lack education, but food prices for healthy food are higher, so could they really get enough food?  Look at how much more expensive a loaf of multi-grain bread is, compared to a loaf of white or low quality wheat bread, but I am going back to cons again.  Sorry.  3) Perhaps it would cut pork, no pun intended, on a conservative level, and it could be a cruel to be kind maneuver, in that sense, because perhaps American eating habits on a massive scale could improve, but not without education.  I can see where this would all be difficult, and I know how little food money people actually get to feed a family.  Prices on good food, such as fresh fish, free range eggs, soy milk, fresh vegetables and fruit, would have to get lower, and you know as well as I, how expensive food is right now.  It is outrageous, especially if you are trying to eat healthy at all, not to mention free swimming salmon and what not.  I mean, get a reality check.  Is this even available to the country living poor on any level?  They do not even have this stuff!  They do not even know about it.  Do we have a Mother Teresa for poor Americans?  No, of course not, not to be flippant.  As wonderful and well meaning as Mrs. Obama, she has other things to do as first lady, and this is a huge country, the size of the whole continent of Australia, geographically.
     That is really all I have to say about it.  I had three reasons on both fronts.  Tell me what you think.  I added a picture of me having a decadent McDonald's frappe, so you will know that, although I try to eat healthy, I like a yummy treat just as much as anyone, if you get the point.  Of course you cannot use food stamps in restaurants, bare in mind.

About Fiction Writing

     As you may know, I am not just a blogger, but a fiction writer.  Aside from American Boys, I have written a novella called The Farm, which is not on line, but I have the manuscript, although it has not been published.
     I enjoy listening to a large eclectic selection of fiction and nonfiction.  I enjoy Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Elizabeth Berg, Fanny Flag, and in the nonfiction, Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra and Neil Donald Walcsh, and of course many others in both categories, and of course I realize my taste in fiction varies.  I also like historical fiction, as well as historical biographies and books about history, such as Man Hunt, about the search for Bin Ladin, similar to the movie Zero Dark Thirty, but in much more detail and historical fiction such as An Unbroken Chain, My Journey Through the Nazi Holocaust.  
     One author of a biography of Abraham Lincoln, I read, in the forward explained that although accused of plagiarizing, had merely had to use other people's work for research.  Anyone knows, who ever took English 102 in college, writing a term paper with research and footnotes, that this is necessary.  You just need footnotes and a bibliography, as well as quotations.  I admit that writing Adrien's Story, an addition to American Boys, the story of an American soldier in Iraq, his journal in first person, and the demise of him in Baghdad, in writing this piece, I did hours and hours of research on Operation Iraqi Freedom, including excerpts from novels written about the war in Iraq.  I learned some disturbing things about the death tole, cover-ups, toxic leaders, and so forth.
     Today I woke up thinking about writing fiction.  Stephen King always writes about a writer, who is a recovering alcoholic, who is married with kids, and lives in Maine, almost always anyway.  Essentially, he is always writing about himself.  I guess what better to write about than one's own experience, although it could be redundant.  So, anyway, I thought I could write about a woman writer like me...  who lives in the south.  Then I began thinking about my character, Megan, from my novella, The Farm.
     If it were published, the book jacket could say this:
     After learning of her husband's affair, Megan Washburn divorces him, taking her nine year old son, Noah and their German Shepard, Rocky to live on her newly inherited farm, from her grandmother, in South Carolina, near the coast and Charleston, about two hours south of Myrtle Beach.  Michael, her ex husband, is literally coming apart at the seems, an elementary school teacher in Denver, Colorado.
     Megan learns many shocking secrets about her grandmother, and must learn to care for horses, with the help of a veterinarian and the Chestnuts, who live near by.  
     She has a brief encounter with a shady hired hand, and Susan, her best friend comes to live with her, pregnant, but not married.  Susan and Megan are both book editors.  
     Shocking twists of events occur, even danger, as Michael comes to reclaim his family, and Megan's estranged relationship with her own mother and sister come into play.
     Scary, heartwarming, adventurous, and romantic, The Farm will keep you captivated with its old worldly charm, and unexpected turn of events.  Read and let it unfold.