Posts filed under ‘WALT’S OBSERVATIONS’
A FATHER’S DAY POEM
The members of my writers group, The Wordwrights, were given an assignment to write a Father’s Day piece. I decided to write a poem.
The poem is bleak, but it reflects a trend I see.
I could be totally wrong. I hope I am.
THE FATHER THAT NEVER WAS
Contributing their seed,
They flee,
Gone.
Not knowing life was passed,
Never hearing the first cry
In the silent night,
Creating a hollow being,
Guidance from the streets
Of despair,
Walking a path
Into a world
Of dead ends,
Death, all too young
The only future.
A NEW APPRECIATION OF AN OLD STORY
For the last few months I’ve been doing a lot of reading and I’d like to share with you a book that I recently finished that I found to be a fantastic read.
I’ve been haunting the local Goodwill Store lately, picking up books and stumbled across a paperback written by Nikos Kazantzakis and first published in 1952. The title of the book was well-known to me but I had no idea of what the story involved. I should add that he is also the author of The Last Temptation of Christ. The title of the book I wish to discuss is his novel, Zorba the Greek.
Who has not heard of this book, yet again how many continue to read this work? If I hadn’t stumbled upon it I too would have remained ignorant of this fantastic story.
The story takes place in Crete. The two main characters are the narrator, whom I think is never named. He is bookish young man who comes to Crete with money, hoping to make more. He hires Zorba and together they start mining for coal.
The thrust of the book is the frequent talks about what life is about and the existence of God between a young man wrapped in words and not life and 65 year old Zorba who has experienced life to its fullest and is not ready to stop his search for love and his lust for life.
This is not meant to be a review but only to let you know that this is a most satisfying read and worth the trouble to seek out this book.
Michael Dirda, a book critic for the Washington Post, loves used book stores. He said in one of his books that you should try reading something written fifty years ago indicating that there are long forgotten treasures out there. I found one.
MY INTERNATIONAL READERS
I would like to do something I have meant to do for some time now. That is to thank the residents of the many nations that have visited my blog. In the past year my blog was viewed by 39 nations, granted of those 39, 21 were just a single visit. I don’t think I can use the term ‘global’ yet, but I appreciate your interest.
In the future I plan to post more regularly. I hope to share with you my current writing projects and completed novels I am trying to publish.
Take care my friends.
UPDATE REHAB
My consistent readers, 4/11/13
I’m home now and have been since last Saturday. I thought I’d share some of my thoughts while getting to the point that I could come home.
Once I left the hospital after my bout with a ruptured spleen, I was not able to go home so I entered a rehab facility. I would like to share some of my thoughts while experiencing this period of my recovery.
I was now a resident, temporarily, of Devon Manor, after falling and suffering six cracked ribs along with a lacerated spleen. The spleen was a big problem for I was on blood thinners when it began bleeding. I went to the rehab center after a ten-day hospital stay and was weak as a baby. I needed a walker to walk and breathing exercises to rebuild my lung capacity.
Once I made fun of walkers calling them ‘jungle jims’. Now that I was using one to get around during my recovery they were no longer a source of ridicule.
I went through a strange period when I first started rehab. We did our exercises in a large room with about four or five patients at a time each working with a physical therapist. As I looked around at my fellow patients I realized that, except for those with brain injuries, I was the youngest at 65. Later I would visit another gym where those in rehab were around my age or younger.
What started me thinking this way I do not know. But as I looked around at the patients working along side me, some extremely elderly and barely able to move, unable to do the simplest tasks, I wondered why rehab them at all? What were they going to rehab to?
But after much thought my heart softened and my mind opened. They were rehabbing back to the life they left no matter how limited that life may be. They were rehabbing back to their families, their children and grandchildren.
I’ve mellowed during my rehab experience. Perhaps it’s having your routine, your normal life; take away from you and trying desperately to get back to where you were. I now know it doesn’t matter how old you are or what that life was like – you want to return.
The care, the concern of the therapists at Devon Manor was highly professional. I owe them a great deal, especially, Lisa, the physical therapist who worked with me for most of my stay.
UPDATE RADIO INTERVIEW
My consistent readers,
I wanted to tell you that I have a radio interview this Sunday, 1/13/13, with the Writers and Readers Broadcast Network. I am excited about his and hope you get a chance to listen to me talk about my work. It will be at 1:00 pm MST.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
Here’s a link to the site.
SPACE; THE ULTIMATE FRONTIER
THE ULTIMATE ROAD TRIP
GO CURIOSITY
If you are interested in space science at all you are definitely aware of the landing of Curiosity on Mars. For the landing of this rover the artist’s concept appeared like something that might be the cover of a pulp science fiction publication.
AND IT WORKED.
With the platform, with thrusters firing, hovered over the Martian landscape and lowered Curiosity to a soft landing. Imagine that happening in your back yard, a craft coming from another planet.
As I assume you know by now, I write science fiction. My mind immediately engaged in the ‘what if mode.’ As a writer, it is your obligation to also be a reader. I am currently reading a novel, accelerando, by Charles Stross. It is a fantastic read and I encourage all science fiction readers to read it. The author deals with the advancement of post humans and The Singularity. The concepts in this novel are fantastic and I will talk about them in the future.
I also have another book, The Singularity Is Near, by Ray Kurzweil. This is a work of nonfiction and deals with the mating of computer technology and mankind. This is another book which I will discuss in the future.
But now to my ‘what if’ moment. I can imagine Mars covered with cells below the surface, ether one cell deep or millions deep, it doesn’t matter. What if Mars is one massive intelligence? If you read the books I have mentioned, you will gain a concept of post humans and The Singularity.
My readers, I hope this opens an appreciation of science and a desire to read science fiction.
A GREAT READ ABOUT HURRICANES
Isaac’s
Storm
by
Erik Larson
While the horror of Hurricane Sandy is still in our minds, I had a brother-in-law lose his home; I want to suggest an interesting read about a hurricane that was far more destructive. It may have not caused as much property damage, but the loss of life was unbelievable.
The subject of this book is a hurricane that occurred on September 8, 1900 and still remains the most deadly natural disaster experienced by this country.
Isaac Cline was the weatherman working in Galveston, Texas for the U.S. Weather Bureau, a relatively new organization. On the island of Cuba, members of the same organization were stationed, along with local weathermen. They knew a storm was coming from reports by ships in the Atlantic. The Cubans said the storm would enter the Gulf of Mexico. The Americans said that no hurricane had ever entered the Gulf, to their knowledge; the storm would make a 90º turn on journey up the eastern United States. Cline received no warning, and by the time he suspected a storm was about to impact Galveston, it was too late. The book states that over 6000 people lost their lives to this storm. A recent article in our local paper reviewing past hurricanes puts the death toll at between 8000 and12000.
For those who are interested with what life was like before we had technology to predict weather that we have now, I suggest you read this book.
UPDATE CHESTER COUNTY BOOK & MUSIC COMPANY
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE.
On November 23, from 6PM to 9PM I will once again join a host of local writers in support of our local bookstore, Chester County Book & Music Company located at 975 Paoli Pike within the West Goshen Shopping Center. They now exist month to month and most in the community hope they will continue to exist in a different location.
They were kind enough to allow me to have a book signing in their store last year and are very interested in supporting their local authors.
Here is a list of the authors that will attend:
Jim Breslin
Jessica Dimuzio
Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban
Beth Kephart
Elizabeth Letts
Jonathan McGoran
Karen E. Quinones Miller
Jan Mulligan
Kathye Fetsko Petrie
Chris Shaughness
Lisa Scottoline
Francesca Serritella
Walt Trizna
Kelly Simmons
K.M. Walton
Please come by and show your support.
We cannot afford to lose this bookstore.
UPDATE, HURRICANE SANDY
Hurricane Sandy has come and gone,
But its scars and memories still linger on.
We survived the storm with only a short power loss on Monday and internet and cable on Tuesday.
The winds howled and we had quite a bit of rain, but our community fared well with only some minor flooding and loss of power.
What I found interesting was our animals’ reaction to this historic event. We have two cats and a lab mix, Millie. As the storm intensified one of our cats, Sammy, who is slightly insane, climbed onto my lap and watched the trees sway with the wind. I could see fear in her eyes. Millie also watched the storm from her favorite chair and her eyes showed concern. My wife thinks I read too much in the animals’ behavior, but I’m a stay at home writer and spend a great deal of time with them. Perhaps I imagine more than is real, but that’s my job.
Our property is surrounded by mature trees, and I realize now that as long as they don’t fall on the house, they protect us from the wind.
What I have a hard time imagining is the destruction caused by this storm. So many coastal communities devastated. As I watch the coverage of the aftermath, I wonder how and where you begin to recover.
My heart goes out to the small seaside community of Union Beach, west of Sandy Hook, New Jersey. My sister, Judy, and her husband had a small house there. It is a blue-collar community. This isn’t a resort community of summer homes but a town where people settled to raise their families or spend their retirement years. My sister died three weeks ago at the age of 62. Yesterday I found out that their house was destroyed. How much sorrow can people endure? Take that sorrow and multiply if by thousands, tens of thousands. I cannot wrap my mind around the extent of the loss experienced by the coastal communities that have suffered through this storm. Even might New York City bowed to the storm’s might and its flood and fires.
I was raised in Newark and spent vacations ‘down the shore’. I remember the anticipation of leaving the confines of the city and going to Seaside Heights for a week or a few days, the thrill of the first taste of salt air. I would stare at the vastness of the ocean and its limitless freedom. Seaside Heights was all but destroyed. The boardwalk and piers with their amusements, gone. I have my memories but it may be generations until such memories can again be made.
UPDATE ON WRITERS EVENT
MINGLING WITH THE AUTHORS
I want to report that last Friday, October 26, I was one of a host of authors who gathered in support of the Chester County Book & Music Company.
It was inspiring to meet and talk to such a talented group of people and helped renew my passion for writing. I enjoyed is so much that I intend to attend the next event on November 23. I hope some of you who live in the area can attend.
But for now, what occupies my mind the most is the weather. We live about 40 miles west of Philadelphia so we are anticipating a rough night.
I’ll report how we fared, power permitting.
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