Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/author/eleanor-arnason/page/5/)
Note on all that follows: the word “radical” comes from the Latin “radix” or “root.” Radical change is change at the root. Radical history is a history of roots: the stuff at the bottom that anchors and feeds everything else.
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Somewhere on the Internet I read a description of flying into New York from Europe: how shabby, rundown and beat up Kennedy Airport looks compared to European airports. The same can be said about most — maybe all — of our public structures. Compare decaying American bridges to the amazing new bridges in China. Compare Amtrak to the bullet trains in Europe and Asia. Continue Reading
The obvious explanation for Obama and the part of the capitalist class he represents is — they don’t really think global warming will happen. Or if it happens, it won’t be bad. Or it will happen after they die, and their children don’t matter.
The last actually sounds the most likely to me.
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There seem to be two theories about Barack Obama. One is he’s a spineless invertebrate and a terrible negotiator, who keeps being outmaneuvered by Mitch McConnell and John Boehner.
The other is he’s fiendish Machiavel, who only pretends to be a Democrat and who achieves Republican goals while appearing to be outmaneuvered by Republicans.
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I have been reading Kristine Katherine Rusch on the business of writing, because it’s been a long time since I thought abut writing as a business, and publishing is changing, due to Kindle and Nook. She sounds authoritative, and the topic is interesting to me at the moment.
Then I got to her advice on how to write, if you’re going to survive as a writer. I’m less sure about this.
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I went to three panels at CONvergence. One was on marketing for writers. I have real doubts about how much effective marketing most writers can do. The panelists talked about making bookmarks and postcards, going to cons, having a blog, being on facebook, taking out ads in trade magazines. These are fairly typical ways to try and increase visibility.
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Joanna Russ has died at the age of 74. She was formidable person in the science fiction community, especially to women of my generation, an impressive writer of fiction and an impressive feminist critic. I found it difficult to read her fiction, since much of it seemed angry to me, and I have trouble with anger. Open anger — expressed anger — has always made me uncomfortable. Continue Reading
I have been reading P.D. James, which has led me to think about detective stories. I would put her into the category of cozy mysteries. These are stories in which a crime in committed in a community that is pleasant and comfortable, cozy. The detective uncovers the criminal and reestablishes a moral norm. Continue Reading
I forgot the obvious example of my discomfort with technology. I have never had a driver’s license. I learned to drive (sort of) when I was 21, then never got my learner’s permit.
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I have been posting on facebook, rather than here. But now I have something to say that will take more than 420 words…
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