lifestyles Archive through July 14, 2004

Here's a few poems I wrote a few years back. I just found them on my old hard drive, and I figured I'd share. They have a little darker undertones, since I was going through high school and adolescence. Let me know what you guys think!


Feel free to post your own (poems or any form of writing)!


Familiar

All too familiar,
Everyday, the same-old, same-old,
Faceless figures, hurrying nowhere,
Never Stopping,
Trying to find their nameless goal,
Busily, part of the hive,
Void of emotion, Void of Feeling,
One of many, a piece of the picture,
But for who are we toiling for?
That is the question that I ask,
When I wake in the morning,
As I hurry aimlessly,
When I rest during the night,
Why, and Who are we doing this for?
I have no answer,
As no one else does either,
Until we discover it,
We will all continue with the same-old familiar

Loneliness

The of silence,
Slowly eating away at my soul,
The deafening silence,
Is like the pounding of a jackhammer,
Slowly chipping away at the concrete of my consciousness,
There are people,
But only their superficial outwards are present,
Like a machine yearning for oil,
They squeak meaninglessly, only to hear their own noises,
Constantly bickering,
To make a point that will never be recognized,
Their perpetual droning fades away, thankfully,
And I am alone

Reality

How would it be to live in a permanent reality?
Never feeling the wonderful,
Never grasping your hopes,
Only attempting the guaranteed,
Afraid to defy logic and real-life,
You are a slave of time,
Constantly sinking deeper into the quicksand of tedious doings,
Forgetting your life, living for the chore,
No hope for the past or the future,
Knowing the latter will be the former,
What you want the most, you could never have,
The dreams and the life you desire,
You know you will never hold as your own


(Message edited by redstorm on February 04, 2004)

[banjojo]

reminds me of some pretty dark poetry I wrote when I was in Highschool. Highschool is a very dark place.


We sit and stare in silence
Awaiting our fate
Caressing the dead ones softly
knowing it's too late
Their veins are coated with anesthetics
Hail the anti-neuro god
Sick with your diseases
He's the cure you've been looking for
Birds wings are caked in blood
Too Weighed down to fly
The idiot's been poisoned
Now to sick to try
Caked in agony
sticky fingers of pain
All open wounds bleeding
My precious eyes now stained
The dirty wound spreads disease
Cut it off or it can spread
Apply pressure to stop the bleeding
Lie awake in your coma bed



I'm sick and I need healing
Tell me who I am
Give me the solution
for the pain you decided I had
Drug me up and beat me
I never loved you more
Sustain my pain, defeat me
I'll love you, I'm a whore



A fallen star
projected into space
smoldering beauty
extinguishing flames
Saddening silence
Abscence of peace
Wounds tied tight
Response negative
Dieing hope
Abundant pain
Nothing to lose
and Nothing to gain
A wilted bloom
A hard worn face
A seeking soul
Without a place

i cant do poems well i can more freestyling.. you see im in a band i sing and play trumpet ( ska-punk ) so i just come up with nonesense , Wish i had the ability to write music...

[xochitl]

I wrote this on the back cover of my magazine while commuting on the train.

when no little heads
are left
in the corner of the screen
it means
you have zero lives left
and if
you die this time
before you collect more
your
game will be over

hickory
dickory
dock.
any andrew dice clay fans here ?

i thought my hills were too steep
problems persist and i can't sleep
everytime i push on
i tell myself it won't last long
even when troubles are caked on
sometimes it's hard to be strong
so here i sit with my back to the wall
it ain't always easy to stand tall
heaven forbid
even angels fall.
i stare at the mirror of my reflection
the stranger looks back again
shows i'm in need of direction.
i hear the words you say
but somehow they get lost along the way.
stand, fall, stand, crawl.

a more upbeat haiku

Did not want to wake
You asleep so peacefully
Dishes in silence

Hehe

Flaming wings above

is it Icarus I see

laughing his wax off

[psilly]

I can definitely relate to anyone's negative high school experience. Unfortunately it wasn't until I was out for a few years before I realized there were other alternatives to "Constantly sinking deeper into the quicksand of tedious doings" (well put, Red). I've never been one to write much poetry, but I did write this short piece after a well-dosed Ozzy concert last year:

Such an outpour of energy, emotion, positivity.
Then, you rise above it all,
Connect with all who are embracing.
Eyes are wide open, hands are waving,
Heads are aggressively nodding yes, YES!
Non-believers are left in awe,
envy, and disbelief!
We are all gods tonight! OZZY!

"Rising above" refers to my crowd-surfing experiences. Maybe it was just because they were having a great time, too, but all the other crowd-surfers had enormous pupils, and I was sure they had all injested as well! The non-believers are the assholes who get general admission tickets but just want to stand there holding their ground the whole show and not let skids like me get back up to the pit...they just don't get it.

Good string, Red. Hope to hear more writings from everyone.

i wrote this in 11th grade english, the only calss i ever liked, a good sixteen years ago.
too much has changed since even then.



never-ending work is done
such tasks they do complete
no choice one way nor other
machines they are.

they create to such design
all that is needed, depended
and relied upon by their maker
they are hard wired.

and without such drones
society should collapse
for not much can be done
without them.

and so if one machine
should malfunction as such
and not perform one's task
as set by another,

one thing is certain
they should be discarded

replaced by one other

what a shame that man is the machine
run by the society he himself created.

I'm glad to see some good poems. We've even drug out some that may have gathered dust. Keep posting, folks, Ilove reading this stuff!

I absolutely love writing, whether it is an assigned paper for class or just me rabmbling on about whatever.

I also pride myself on my writing, and have been told by many folks that my writing ability is very special. I have started three or four books, and usually have no problem cranking out ten or so pages per day when I really work at it. The problem is that after 50-60 pages, I just kind of lose the motivation to continue.

I don't know whether I just not interested in the topics I'm writing about or what. I've written all sorts of stuff, from Fantasy to Crime Drama, but they all kind of fizzle out. It's kind of frustrating, b/c I believe the writing I initially do is very good. Maybe it's b/c I am still young, and I haven't reached my prime yet, but I still believe that I should be able to complete a novel, even if it isn't tip-top quality.

Maybe I should just stick to short stories, but it's like my life goal to get a least one novel published, even if it doesn't make me big bucks. I probably sound like a little, whiney brat, but this is really bugging me.

Could someone attempt to give me some advice?

Thank you guys a million times over!

(Message edited by admin on February 12, 2004)

[maliki]

Right short stories that all have a coomn them and pick up where the last one left off. When you have a few done you have created a novel of short stories.
A series of small steps can allways leed you to your final goal..

Thanks for the advice. I have no problems writing short stories at all, but eventually I want a cohesive singular novel. Maybe I should write a book of short stories first, just to keep myself from getting rusty instead of just complaining.

One thing that you could do is to take certain characters....and write a couple of different short story type situations with them that you can later connect with a story in the middle. That would maybe help just breakthrough the problems of having a story get stale....and then after you get one or two things you were happy with it might help you in writing a continuous novel from start to finish.

[banjojo]

Shrooms always give me ideas to write down. In fact if I start writing on shrooms, I can't stop for hours. Ever seen fear and loathing in Las Vegas? Hunter S. Thomson goes out into the world to experience his novels. It's not a bad idea to try to write about your experiences and become the main character of a story. There are also formats for writing that others have come up with, like fiction genres. Trying to write in a new genre can inspire you to write different and more interesting things. Also I believe that reading really good books can inspire you and show you new ways to write.

If you want to read a good fiction but based loosley on the life of the author book read 100 years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. That book is amazing and inspired me to think and live life a little differently. Its a great book.

Banjojo - I may just try the mushroom thing. I just got a nice leatherbound journal for X-Mas that remains blank, and I also just by chance have some homegrwn Creepers. Maybe I'll give it a go. It's true about reading books helping you in your writing. I worked at a library for 2 1/2 years, so I had my fair share of good books.

Thanks for the advice!

[banjojo]

Just be careful. Taking mushrooms for artistic inspiration can give you more than you bargained for. But I believe that there is no great art without great pain and struggle.

Redstorm -
It is funny you mention this b/c I am looking for a good screen writer for short stories. I enjoy film making as a side project and feel that I have everything in order except the most important aspect: a great script.
I don't require novel length stories b/c of my limited time and budget for projects. I really need just a 20 minute short story written in screenplay format. If you have never written a screenplay then you will be surprised at how simple the format is.
I personally enjoy, crime, drama, suspense, action, and comedy. I invest so much of my time into acting/directing/producing that I find little time or spark to create a good story.
You should PM or email me if you are interested in collaborating on something. I would like to read your stuff.

You have a PM Tyler!

It's quite rare to find a competent novelist
under the age of 30.
Writers are like cheese, wine, blah blah -
mature w/ age.... stick to the short stuff.
Screenplays run at 20 pages, so that's a good length.

good luck!

sol

Yeah, I know it's kind of impatient, but I know I can do stuff w/ my talent. The more literature I absorb, the better my style and choice of words becomes. I don't mean to sound cocky, it's just that I have high expectations for myself.

I'm going home from school on the weekend of the twentieth, and I have a crime-drama (probably my favorite writing so far) that would be perfect for a screenplay.

[jim]

Don't set out with the intention to fill a novel length story. Get an rough idea for a story and try writing it to see how far it goes. If it ends up just being a short story then that's all it should be, don't try to force it to be more. Keep this up and you will eventually come up with something that keeps going and will turn into a novel if you can stick to it. Try not to have to specific an outline/plot when you start. That way you can just write and see what happens. By not setting limits on the story you'll be able to get more out of it.

Also, don't be discouraged by stories that only end up being short stories. Try getting them published in anything. You're sure to get lots of rejection slips but don't be discouraged, it's normal. If you aren't getting lots of rejection slips, you probably aren't trying hard enough. But if you are persistant and don't quit, you could get something published. If you do, it's sure to give you that boost of confidence that will help you write that novel.

Also, don't forget about your short stories. Keep them in mind. You might think of things to expand on and your short story might end up being just piece of your novel. As I said, don't try to force a short story to be more than it is. But if more comes out naturally go with it, see what happens.

Good luck. If you have anything you could post I'm sure you'll get lots of critiques here. It's nice to have folks like us review them because, as I'm sure you've found out, it's hard to get any real advise or criticism out of your friends or family. All they will usually say is, "Wow, great!" or "Perfect!"

[jim]

Also, while were on this topic, if you literature buffs want to read something kind of interesting, check out the introduction to the Bachman books entitled "Why I was Bachman." The Bachman books are, of course, the five novels written by Stephen King under the name Richard Bachman. The books in the collection are Rage, The Long Walk, Roadwork and The Running Man (which is shockingly unlike the movie). Thinner was also written under the name Bachman but it's not in the collection. Misery was going to be by Bachman but the world found out Bachman was really King before it was published.
The gist of the introduction is that Stephen King had become really popular, so much so that everything he wrote was automatically a #1 bestseller. He wanted to find out if he had real talent or if he just got lucky. So what he did is publish some of his books under a fake name. At the time nobody but he and his publisher knew the truth. He wanted to see if he could start from the bottom and reach the top again. Bachman started to get popular on his own but somebody figured it out before he really hit big so we'll never really know how far he would have made. I guess they started to suspect it was really King and went snooping amd found his name on a copyright form at the library of Congress. One pretty cool thing is that in all the Bachman stories he mentions famous writers who published stuff under fake names, kind of to drop hints.

This Bachman fiassco was the inspiration for his book (written under the name King) The Dark Half. Which, like almost every Stephen King book, starts out with a really great idea for a story but just can't end as intriguing as it starts.

Dostoyevski wrote by installments, basically magazine serials. He just kept writing 2,000 words at a time. Wodehouse and Vonnegut did the same thing - 500 words a day - but not for serials. And work from an outline.

Jim Brown: The Bachman books are excellent! I'm reading Roadwork right now. If you get a chance you shoud read "Desperation" and "Regulators". Once was written under Bachman, and the other under King. They kind of parallel each other, since they each have the same characters (rather, names).

Redstorm,

A good short story is actualy harder to write than a good novel. I would try to master the short story first, then move on to the novel.

Thank you guys for all the advice! I am going to start writing a screenplay very soon, and will let you see the outcome.

[jim]

Red, how do you like Roadwork? It's actually the only one I haven't read. I really liked The Running Man. The long walk was pretty cool too. I didn't care too much for Rage, though. Both of them were great ideas (plot-wise, not actually doing what they do). It seems to me that the King books that don't usually fall apart near the end (and also that make the best movies) are the non-horror ones like Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, The Body (Stand By Me), The Green Mile and some others I can't think of now.

Which of those two you listed was written under Bachman? I thought he only did those five I mentioned earlier under the name Bachman.

Hey while were on the subject of Stephen King, there's two things I'd like to mention. First is, has anyone read The Eyes of the Dragon? It's a really good book, one of the most under-rated of King's works. Also, did you notice in the movie Stand by Me, when the Corey says to the dork who forgot the food; "Oh great! What am I supposed to do, eat my foot!?" Did any of you King fans catch the reference there to one of his greatest short stories? If you did it's pretty funny. Actually funny might not be the right word.

Also, I just saw Dreamcatcher recently. The book's pretty good but certainly not one of his best. The movie, however, I think is the closet adaption to the book of any of his books that have been turned into a movie (which is almost everyone of them).

One last thing; do you think Stephen King is the best-selling author of all time and/or the highest grossing? If he's not, who would be?

[jim]

Oh yeah, can anybody here identify the reference that the Corey made in Stand by Me that I mentioned above?

[mossback]

i would definatly work from an ouline composed of several short stories based on the back ground of your main characters , then go from there with an idea and you have got the groundwork for your novel. or possibly a novella. stay focused. i may make an enemy here but here goes, king is not that good of a "storyteller" in the sense of twain or hemmingway. not to say he is not one of the most talented authors in literature is a farce also but take an author like stuart woods who in my opinion is one of the most wonderful storytellers out there today, this guy can suck you in to the story and its hard to let go. but he writes crime drama that is a little smutty not quite the king level of intrcacy. checkout woods you'll see what i mean about the way he knows his craft. try the run or swimming to catalina.

Jim - I believe it was "Regulators" that was written by him. It was kind of a gimmick, as the cat was already out of the bag about the pseudonym. The two books are very good, especially how they somewhat mirror each other. They are one of the few King books that have a lesson entrenched in them. "Desperation" deals w/ religion, and "Regulators" deal with violence in television. I would definitely recommend you check them out of your local library, or even purchase them. I own both of them!

[jim]

Cool, thanks Red. I have a huge used bookstore by my house that will probably have it.

The in-joke from Stand by Me was in reference to King's short story "Survivor Type" from Skeleton Crew. There's a gruesome tale if ever there was one. I highly recommend you check it out if you haven't read it yet. Actually almost all the stories in Night Shift and Skeleton Crew are worth reading. I recently read Everything's Eventual which is Stephen King's latest collection of short stories. It wasn't bad but it wan't too great either. In fact, I can't remember hardly any of the stories of the top of my head.

Hey Red, we seem to have at least some aspects of similar taste. One of my few talents is giving honest and useful criticisms to peoples creative work. I'm happy to help if you want to post anything.

Thats cool Jim. I own almost every Stepehen King book (the ones in paperback), but I've only read about half of them. I bought his book "On Writing", which is actually pretty interesting. It is like half-and-half an autobiography and a how-to book. It was really quite interesting reading about how he became a bestseller, and his take on his horrible accident.

Roadwork is pretty good, but it's starting pretty slow. Hopefully it gets moving. Definitely give those two books a try, they'r well worth reading.

Last time I wrote something, I storyboarded it, the whole idea. Then I wrote the story to fill t in, and it came out the length it was. I did not start with a blank page and start writing, when I do that I get about a page and a half.

As for Stephen King, I liked The Stand.

[jim]

Red, I wouldn't get your hopes up too high about Roadwork. In the introduction to the Bachman books, King says that he felt it was the worst of the Bachman books because it tried to show that there is some good in the world. All the other Bachman books portrayed a world of the future that was dark and evil. They're still good books though.

Yeah, I read abotu 150 pages of it yesterday, and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Well, for my B-Day (today) I got Insomnia and another Stephen King book. Can't think of what the other one is though. Darn memory....

Hey, man, I'm a 3rd year writing/philosophy student, and I will tell you, if you're not writing books, don't sweat it. Write more short stories, poems, whatever, but don't get down on yourself because you can't pull off a novel. Go walk around a book store and see how many really great novels there are - most novel writers are people like Danielle Steele and Tom Clancy, and I don't think I'd really call them "great writers," merely sucessful ones.

So, I guess that's the real question you have to ask yourself. Do you want to be good at what you do, or sucessful? They usually go hand-in-hand, but oftentimes that is not the case in writing - I see plenty of great writers pack up shop because professors say so or they feel uninspired at times. Fuck that, man. Think of writing like mushrooms - your brain will work the way your brain wants to work, just like mushrooms grow as slow or fast as they damn well feel like. You can't force ideas any better than forcing the pen, my friend, and any attempt to do so will innevitably make you feel the way you do in frame 1. Do what you do well, and keep doing it, and become better - that's the idea behind anything.

[sleestak]

that runied my breakfast!

That is some sick looking stuff.

when i was in tarrant county jail [dallas texas]
we also used our raisin bread in our brew.
wasn't as bad as you might think,
a buzz is a buzz,
esp. behind bars.

<font color="0000ff">Source: The Chattanoogan
Article
www.svionline.org

Open House, Potluck Dinner At Moonshadow Feb. 28
posted February 18, 2004

The Sequatchie Valley Institute at Moonshadow will host an open house and potluck dinner on Saturday, Feb. 28.

There will be tours of the facilities at 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. CST.

Officials said, "The public is invited to see our innovative natural buildings, solar electric system and organic gardens and orchards."

There will be a vegan (no animal products please) potluck dinner at 5:00 p.m. CST.

For more information and directions, please contact SVI at 949-5922 or mediarights@bledsoe.net

The mission of the Sequatchie Valley Institute is:

To offer society an opportunity to experience and learn about living in harmony with nature by providing:
- education, art and research opportunities, land conservation and
restoration
- a dynamic model residence and learning center and
- a vision for attaining a sustainable future

PUBLIC EVENTS, WORKSHOPS AND GOINGS-ON AT MOONSHADOW - 2004

SVI is currently accepting applications for internships for this season. Internships could start anytime in March and last as long as October or anytime in between.

February 25th (Wed) - Environmental Activist and Musician, Danny Dolinger, performs...

February 27th-29th- Natural Building Work Weekend. We may be a bit chilly - but we're going to cob anyway! Join us!

February 28th (Sat) - Open House and Vegan Potluck Dinner. Tours at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. central time. Dinner at 5 p.m.

March 12-14th (Fri-Sun) - "Healing Self, Healing Earth" Workshop.
March 15-16 (Mon-Tues) - Earthen Spirituality Intensive - Going Deeper.
Reconnect with the Earth and each other through sharing circles, shamanic journeys, a sweat lodge and more.
For more information, please call Cielo at 423-332-0748.

March 18th (Thurs) - Connie Barlow and Michael Dowd presentation. See www.thebigstory.org for more information...

March 27th (Sat) - Spring Wildflower Hike and Open House. Hike starts at 11 a.m. central time. The hike will last a few hours. There will be a longer, rougher hike that continues into the late afternoon. Open House starts at 9 a.m. with ongoing tours.

April 17th (Sat) - Spring Wildflower Hike and Open House. Hike starts at noon central time. We will compare and contrast the amazing change in wildflower diversity and color from the first hike. There will be a longer, rougher hike that continues into the late afternoon. Open House starts at 9 a.m. with ongoing tours.

April 18th (Sun) - "Lunch and Log" Shiitake Mushroom Workshop. Come learn how to grow your own delicious and nutritious Shiitake mushrooms and take a log home!

May 15th (Sat) - "Wine in the Woods" Fifth Annual Wine Tasting Fundraiser. We will be sampling some of the finest homemade and regional wines. Proceeds will benefit our educational work. For SVI members only (you can become a member at the door).

May 21-23 (Fri-Sun) - Gathering for the Tennessee Green Party. Contact shannonceleste@emailcom for more information and to register for the weekend.

June 18-27th - Natural Building Workshop. Our third building workshop will be 10 days of natural building techniques in action! Will include adobe, cob, wattle and daub, light straw-clay slip, infill systems, dry stack rock, earth bags, earthen plaster, alis and other natural finishes, straw insulation, experimental foundations, basic carpentry, adzing, post and beam timber-framing, cordwood, ferro cement, tile-making and stained glass.

July 8-11th - "Food For Life" Workshops. Our sixth annual gathering for skills-building around permaculture, organic gardening, food preservation, methods of cooking and diet choices, macrobiotics, medicines and nutrition. We will also focus on theoretical and political explorations of social and ecological implications of agriculture, including biotech, factory farming, genetic engineering and will discuss their many alternatives.

For more information on these events, contact the Sequatchie Valley Institute at Moonshadow
1233 Cartwright Loop, Whitwell, TN 37397 (near Dunlap)
423-949-5922 - www.svionline.org - mediarights@bledsoe.net
</font>

(Message edited by sweetness on February 19, 2004)

Doing college on the Internet, a lot of the research and study materials are on web sites linked up to my class site.

I'm taking a first-year Philosophy course, and the links provided are a treasure trove of Philosophical literature! So since we now have this forum, here's my contribution....hope you like.

This link contains the early Platonic (or sometimes referred to as Socratic) dialogue called Euthyphro.

http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/euthyfro.html

This link contains the early Platonic (or sometimes referred to as Socratic) dialogue called Apology

http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/apology.html

This link contains one of the most famous passages of Plato's writings from Book VI of the Republic known as the analogy of the line and the allegory of the cave.

http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GREECE/ALLEGORY.HTM

This link contains Saint Anselm's ontological argument for God's existence.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/anselm-proslo gium.html#CHAPTER%20I

Read this reply from Anselm's contemporary, Gaunilo, entitled "In Behalf of the Fool" to reveal a possible flaw in Anselm's logic. Then read Anselm's rejoinder.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/anselm-gaunil o.html

This link contains Descartes' Meditations.

http://philos.wright.edu/DesCartes/MedE.html

This link contains David Hume's Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding.

http://eserver.org/18th/hume-enquiry.html

This link contains Immanuel Kant's magnum opus, The Critique of Pure Reason.

http://www.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Philosophy/Kant/cpr/

This link contains one of Marx's most celebrated passages from Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts called the Alienation of Labor.

http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/MODERN/ALIEN.HTM

This link contains the entire text of Simone de Beauvoir's book The Second Sex.

http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosop hy/works/fr/2ndsex.htm

This is a famous article Sartre wrote to clarify and defend some of his arguments from his earlier work "Being and Nothingness."

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/sartre/w orks/exist/sartre.htm

The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy compiles articles from three main sources (1) from public domain sources, (2) from material written by the editors for classroom purposes, and (3) from original contributions by professional philosophers.

http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/

Enjoy!-Mycos



(Message edited by exshroomer on February 29, 2004)

Good links! I'm taking PHI too, so those wil probably be put to good use.

Hi All,
I am new to the Area, Lehigh Valley, and would love to meet like minded folks into, Music, the Arts and Enlightenment......I play guitar and piano and have a 64 track studio.....so any musicians please give a holler,
All my best,
Eric

welcome to mycotopia

Thanks Hippie,
are there any forums for musicians on this site
that you could point me towards?
}

you are in the right forum here,
music is art, brought to life.
and we do have several members with music skills, hopefully they'll drop into this thread as they become aware of it.