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i was gonna buy some snow shoes this weekend, but seeing as it refuses to snow and, having gone to the bank yesterday a.m. and discovering that Church mice are comparatively rolling in it this season, i guess it's a weekend at home with the post-parked doggies (now crashed under my comforter in the bedroom), and the rain-gloom hovering at the windows.
which is just as well because i have been working on the website off and on, and though it is crawling, I am almost getting somewhere with it. i think, goal-wise, if i can get all the basic parts in place this weekend with at least temporary page holders, i will be happy.
i'm having some delightful rishi snow buds tea. got such a lot of wonderful tea for Christmas ~ ginger and passion fruit and more ~ and a wonderful blue and white tea kettle and a tea cozy (wow, my very own tea cozy, knitted with love!) tea is great on a rainy morning.
~ * ~
in writing: i'm still happy with my new title, though more daunted than ever about putting it together. whenever faced with the difficulty of actually composing triptychs, i get rather squirmy. not everything falls naturally into three beats and it becomes a question of whether i should try to force it on top of which i have proven (again and again) that my endurance in this area is poor at best (for those of you who remember my french triptychs).
i spent part of yesterday with james and emmaline hunter, which is unusual, but sometimes it's nice to get away from lewis and morse and look at the mortar that binds everything together. i've always liked James and Emmaline as characters despite how derivative they are. try as i might to make emmaline her own person, she'll always be melanie hamilton no matter what i do to her. oh well. it's the hair, i think.
more importntly, i feel like i am getting more emboldened about being able to tell their stories since the years and research have got me so much more comfortable with the politics of the era (last night i was reading about Preston Brooks ~ oh my God, you can't make up stuff like this!).
Anyway, my point is, I think I understand better than ever these days why perfectly sane and intelligent people like James and Morse would be seccessionists and why otherwise non-slavery supporting southerners would do anything to distance themselves from abolitionists (Pottawatomie Massacre anyone?).
it doesn't get much more barbaric than using broadswords
to hack up your enemies. (from the Harper's Ferry Museum).
not that loony john brown was the only murderer rampaging through Kansas, mind you, but the rationalization to kill people outright to set other people free will always astonish me moreso than just killing people out of bigotry or hatred. maybe both rationalizations are just as equally self-righteous and despicable. but it seems to me that the person who is on the side of the right has the greater responsibility to act with humanity and reason in order to set the good example.
and if anyone is curious as to why this is at all relevent to us 150 years later, you've not been watching the news lately.
all of which is much too heavy to get into on a morning like this!
it's the last day of 2006. much hope and prayer that 2007 will bring positive changes to the condition of the world.
: D
i am off to do some writing perhaps ~ happy sunday lj!
which is just as well because i have been working on the website off and on, and though it is crawling, I am almost getting somewhere with it. i think, goal-wise, if i can get all the basic parts in place this weekend with at least temporary page holders, i will be happy.
i'm having some delightful rishi snow buds tea. got such a lot of wonderful tea for Christmas ~ ginger and passion fruit and more ~ and a wonderful blue and white tea kettle and a tea cozy (wow, my very own tea cozy, knitted with love!) tea is great on a rainy morning.
~ * ~
in writing: i'm still happy with my new title, though more daunted than ever about putting it together. whenever faced with the difficulty of actually composing triptychs, i get rather squirmy. not everything falls naturally into three beats and it becomes a question of whether i should try to force it on top of which i have proven (again and again) that my endurance in this area is poor at best (for those of you who remember my french triptychs).
i spent part of yesterday with james and emmaline hunter, which is unusual, but sometimes it's nice to get away from lewis and morse and look at the mortar that binds everything together. i've always liked James and Emmaline as characters despite how derivative they are. try as i might to make emmaline her own person, she'll always be melanie hamilton no matter what i do to her. oh well. it's the hair, i think.
more importntly, i feel like i am getting more emboldened about being able to tell their stories since the years and research have got me so much more comfortable with the politics of the era (last night i was reading about Preston Brooks ~ oh my God, you can't make up stuff like this!).
Anyway, my point is, I think I understand better than ever these days why perfectly sane and intelligent people like James and Morse would be seccessionists and why otherwise non-slavery supporting southerners would do anything to distance themselves from abolitionists (Pottawatomie Massacre anyone?).
it doesn't get much more barbaric than using broadswords
to hack up your enemies. (from the Harper's Ferry Museum).
not that loony john brown was the only murderer rampaging through Kansas, mind you, but the rationalization to kill people outright to set other people free will always astonish me moreso than just killing people out of bigotry or hatred. maybe both rationalizations are just as equally self-righteous and despicable. but it seems to me that the person who is on the side of the right has the greater responsibility to act with humanity and reason in order to set the good example.
and if anyone is curious as to why this is at all relevent to us 150 years later, you've not been watching the news lately.
all of which is much too heavy to get into on a morning like this!
it's the last day of 2006. much hope and prayer that 2007 will bring positive changes to the condition of the world.
: D
i am off to do some writing perhaps ~ happy sunday lj!
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From:
no subject
Happy New Years to you too, and yay for writing! I loved the triptych idea - but, ya know, I bet things will fall into place because you've planted the seed of what you want in your brain. And, if they don't, maybe there's a reason for it, because sometimes the things that poke out of triptychs or run over the sides....or, are on the back, in the margins...oops. I'm getting all excited about marginalia again. Oops.
*sends good writing vibes* I'm jonesing for more :D
An aside...Mikel's reading the Nathaniel Starbucks Chronicles right now, by Bernard Cornwell - have you read those?
From:
no subject
as to the starbuck chronciles, alas, cornwell writes the sort of story i tend to rear at. i tried reading the first one and never got beyond the first page. didn't like the characters, didn't like the premise, and found much of it very "Jakesian" ~ i.e.: look at me, i did my research! geh!
to me, i good civil war story doesn't explain itself any more than any other piece of fiction. i wouldn't enjoy a book that felt the need to explain to me what a convenience store is, so why would i enjoy a book that insists on explaining to me what a sutler is?
this is a peculiarity entirely my own and it's why i don't easily cleave to the genre in the traditional sense. i can name on two hands the stuff that i think is well-written civil war fiction out there ~ and given the enromous body of literature on the subject, that's pretty narrow pickings.
i'm such a hopeless snob.
hahahahahahahaha ~
: D
thank you for the vibes ~ they worked!
From:
no subject
Cornwell - interesting reaction! :D I read his Arthur series a while back and enjoyed it, but when I tried some of his other stuff, it wasn't for me either. It felt self-aware, but it's interesting that Mikel just devours the stuff. Maybe it's because we're out of touch with the whole Civil War era up here and the spelling out doesn't bother him because our whole education of that era comes from Gone with the Wind . But, I read through a couple pages this morning, just for kicks, and pretty much knew I wouldn't like it, though I can't say why.
Translation for "Jakesian" please? :D
(An aside: I met Cornwell at the conference I went to, and though he was very charming, he also seemed rather enamored with his point of view on things...one of those slick Brit horse-trader types...he *was* entertaining, though....:;)
From:
no subject
i can certainly appreciate that some people like a more didactic approach to their historical fiction ~ and there's nothing at all wrong with that! i just like the adventure of discovering what stuff is for myself (insert a long story about Zola's Nana which i must tell you at some point ~ it maybe will clarify some things ~ hahahaha).
as for Jakesian, sorry: a la John Jakes, who is renowned for his historical fiction, though i have never been able to stomach his work at all (it's just soap opera against the backdrop of big history events ~ very very pedestrian for my tastes).
yes, once again, i fully admit i am a snob.
: D
From:
no subject
I also haven't been watching the news, but just from reading the history aspects of your post, I have a feeling its all terrible, terrible junk that will bring tears to my eyes... or enrage me at the injustice. But then the world is cruddy like that.
Isn't it wacky that it's the last day of 2006 already? It's like.. when did this happen? I feel as if time is moving much too fast for me.
From what I remember of your past triptychs (which did sadly fizzle out after awhile), they were very pretty, and I liked them greatly. ^_^ But then I admire all your work, so maybe that doesn't mean as much?
I'd inspire you and somehow infuse you with endurance to tackle this project, but alas it only comes in prayer form. Praying about writing. I think that's plausible, right? For it's one of the gifts God gave you... and praying that you utilize it to the best of your ability with maybe some added dosages of inspiration mixed in...
From:
no subject
i should send you some tea before you go! what kind do you like?
: D
From:
no subject
I'm leaving tomorrow! O_O Time passed by too quickly. I'm tired from all this running around trying to get everything in order. Though I'll be able to receive mail and e-mail on campus because it's cool like that. ^_^
From:
no subject
but at least you will not be gone.
travel safely and look for white tea (it's de-caf, usually has more subtle and fruity flavors). when you get to where you are going, you will have to keep us filled in on all the doings!
i'm so so so excited for you!
: D
From:
no subject
WHEE!!! ^_^
From:
no subject
bon voyage! God bless you!
check in now and then with a full report!
: D
From: (Anonymous)
Happy New Year
And I keep on believing~
Love,
moo
From:
Re: Happy New Year
one day, i am quite confident, something will blossom ~ booklike or no, and it will be strange and wondrous and it will be the child of all the people who believed in it and nourished it and coaxed it into the world (and then i'll tell it to stop hanging on my shirt sleeves and wish it would go play in traffic because i'll be off on some other mania by then) ~ hahahahahaha
thanks moomoo
:x: