Guest Post: An Object of Miscellany

Well, ask and you shall receive :-)  I have been soliciting guest posts as a means of getting conversations moving in new and fascinating directions, and I've already gotten two.  Yay!  This post is written by Kenny Martin, who possess wisdom far beyond his years (we've had some very philosophical conversations via Facebook).  I'm going to respond to Kenny's post below it, but Kenny and I would both to hear your thoughts on this.  Oh, and keep the guest posts rolling in ... I'm feeling very re-energized :-)

Those against whom the fractiously tailored lives have gone, those who have been bequeathed without regard or piety, megrims, have another fault to lay blame upon aside from self. 

The genomic convolution and, by extension, the scientific methodologies at large have been partitioned as another of the archetypical points upon which the generation of the current day can relinquish both their hopes and their fears. 

There is a new absolution, and it is not contrived from spiritualism nor worship but from logicalities and concreteness. 

However, what, if anything, could be derived from this whether it be rooted in maleficence or benignity? 

The answer, I feel, is a drastic although not inevitable paradigm shift during which we choose between the subjective outlooks and the objective doctrines thereby conforming to one as a whole. However, people are not invariant, but to gauge the societal model as a whole would be the proving grounds as to acquiesce with which one reigns as the predominant model as of late. 

To speak with brevity, I will offer but one question: to which do you adhere and where does the populous as a whole reside?
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(It's me--Katie--again).

I was having a very similar discussion with a group of English teachers last week ... the idea of fate vs. free will, but when you add science into it, it brings a whole different dimension.

So can you blame your genetic makeup for how your life turns out?  Is that any different than blaming any sort of higher power you might believe in?  Different from saying, "Everyone's an asshole but me, and the world is out to get me?"

I, for one, don't think so.

It's funny, we were discussing "Fate" and "Free Will" on a 1-10 scale (in terms of whose fault it was that Oedipus wound up with the fate he did), and I fell much closer to the "Fate" end than most people ... but I believe strongly in free will as well (in other words, there are some things you just can't do a damn thing about, but how you handle events like death or natural disasters or the stock market or whatever is completely and totally up to you).

When you add in the gene factor, I don't think my mindset would be much different.  

You're handed a hand of cards in life ... how you play them is up to you.  If you are genetically predisposed to alcoholism, for example, it doesn't guarantee that you'll be an alcoholic.  If your genes call you to dark places, you can still choose to search for the sun (or take medication).  

I am also, as someone incapable of adding two digit numbers without using my fingers and only made it through the science-based parts of my schooling because my sister grew up to have a PhD in a field of biology, doubtful of "logicalities and concreteness".  I mean, it was "proven" at one point that the world was flat.  Thalidomide was given the scientific world's seal of approval.  And so on.  

So I don't think that the greater world is going to be surprised by any sort of scientific explanation for human behavior.  I'd even go so far as to say it won't change a thing, except possibly increasing the entitlement complex that permeates our culture.

I go back to alcoholism.  I don't mean to sound insensitive, but that "It's a disease" line only goes so far.  When you lie about everything, when you bully the crap out of the one person that has made Herculean efforts to salvage your relationship with your child despite your best efforts to self-sabotage, when you blame everybody else about the situation that you put yourself in, when you refuse to take treatment seriously (such as claiming to be on the "making amends" steps when in reality you haven't admitted to yourself that someone as freaking God-like as you could *possibly* be an alcoholic) ... you know, grow a set, man up, and get over yourself.  There is alcoholism in my genes as well (a lot, actually ... damn Irish ;-)), and I've managed to avoid it; somehow I've been able to take responsibility for my life and mistakes instead of drinking myself into a stupor to avoid reality (and then lying about drinking myself into a stupor to further avoid reality) ... well, I guess this rant should probably end because the point has been made.  

One of my best friends has a life slogan: "PMA (Positive Mental Attitude)".  That is how I try to live my life (I do fail epically at times, although I've gotten much better).  I think that mindset is much stronger than any sort of scientific propensities.

Guest Post: 10 Historical Facts About Thanksgiving

The following guest post was submitted by Lori Hutchison, an Art History Professor and owner of Masters in History Schools.  I think history is fascinating, and I look forward to perusing Lori's work myself.  Enjoy!  I'll be back tomorrow to Frag It for Friday :-) If you're interested in doing a guest post, drop me an e-mail.  <3 KL

Thanksgiving is a wonderful way to celebrate our nation’s unique culture and heritage. But the way we celebrate Thanksgiving has a long history that has changed significantly since the Pilgrims first arrived. Here are ten historical facts about the holiday we’ve come to call Thanksgiving.

1. The first recorded “thanksgiving” feast was celebrated in 1541 by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado of Spain and his troops, along with the native peoples of the Texas panhandle region, while they were on a New World exploration.

2. French and English colonists held several thanksgiving feasts in the late 1500s and early 1600s, but the one that went down in the history books took place in 1621 in Plymouth, MA.

3. Everything we know about the 1621 Thanksgiving came from a letter written by Edward Winslow, who was the leader of the Plymouth Colony at the time. This letter was lost for over 200 years. When it was rediscovered, an embellished account of the “First Thanksgiving” was printed in a newspaper in 1841.

4. The first Thanksgiving feast was attended by 50 Pilgrims and 90 Wampanoag Native American men. The Wampanoag killed five deer for the feast and brought fish, vegetables, and grains. The Pilgrims provided wild fowl, which may have been geese, ducks, or turkey. The feast lasted three days.

5. In the 17th and 18th centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies, then later by early presidents. However, these days were marked with prayer and fasting rather than feasts.

6. President Lincoln declared the first national holiday for Thanksgiving Day in 1863, after the suggestion was made by an editor of a popular magazine. It was to be celebrated on the final Thursday in November.

7. Following Lincoln’s tradition, later presidents continued to declare Thanksgiving each year on the final Thursday in November. However, from 1939 to 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared Thanksgiving on the next-to-last Thursday in order to extend the shopping season and help merchants coming out of the Depression.

8. In December of 1941, a federal law was passed declaring Thanksgiving to be celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. However, several states continued to celebrate on the last Thursday as late as 1956.

9. The National Turkey Federation has presented the U.S. President with two cooked turkeys and one live turkey since 1947. Ronald Reagan started the tradition of “pardoning” the live turkey in 1987, in which it lives the rest of its life peacefully on a farm.

10. Americans will eat an estimated 46 million turkeys on Thanksgiving Day, according to the National Turkey Federation.

(Source: National Geographic)

Free-Form or Pre-Formed: A Great Guest Post :-)

**Note: This is a "guest blogger" post from the amazing, talented, and thought-provoking Eric "Bubba" Alder of Bubba's Place, a writer of poetry and prose, thinker, and all around interesting person.  If you're interested in guest blogging here, send me an e-mail :-) <3 KL*


                                         Free-Form or Pre-Formed?

When it comes to writing poetry, I’m on the fence when it comes to using forms.

In general, I like to let my ideas flow freely.  I let the ideas and words dictate whether or not there will be an inherent form to the piece I’m writing.  And often my writing just falls into place in my head, so whatever arrangement it takes on is fine by me.  (That’s probably why I write so much prose)

But sometimes my ideas are just a vague notion, or even a single phrase that pops into my head, and the rest of it remains buried just beyond my reach.  That’s when forms can come in handy.  Needing to ‘fill in the blanks’ of a poetry form requires me to stretch my mind a little, to dig up more words or phrases in order to finish things.

But is either method superior to the other?  There are some bloggers who are fanatical about forms, trying as many as possible.  There are even folks who carve their words into shape-poems that create a visual picture.  Others get really slick and create new forms of their own.  On the flip side, I’ve seen people who write nothing but prose, eschewing any ‘form’ as restrictive and limiting.

What do you think?  How do you prefer to write your poetry?

Kids Can Be Fun ... In Hindsight

**Note: This is my first "guest blogger" post, and I'm thrilled that the honor is going to Martin Willoughby of From Sand to Glass.  If you're interested in guest blogging here, send me an e-mail :-)  Thank you, Martin, and I hope you all enjoy his stuff as much as I do!  <3 KL*


My kids are a joy, for everyone else.  Their amusing antics have brought many a smile to people, but had me pulling my hair out and sent me prematurely grey.

At the age of four years old, my darling eldest decided that he could take himself off to the toilet whilst we were in church, my wife having already taken our other child out to breastfeed him.  Reluctantly I allowed him, but five minutes later there was a call from the back of the church.  'Dad I can't wipe my bum properly.'  Everyone turned round to see who was calling out and there he stood, trousers round his ankles and trailing a roll of toilet paper behind him.  All eyes then focused on me.

When he was five, I was in the kitchen preparing dinner when I heard a loud bang from the front room as if something had exploded.  I had taken two steps towards the front room, knowing that my darling was in there, when he rushed into the kitchen saying, 'It wasn't me who cut the wire and there was no flame.'  I ran into the front room to find the aerator in the fishtank had stopped working and two fish were floating on the water on their side.

Two years later the whole family was at a church picnic, and as we had the head of the church in Britain there too, everyone had turned up for a change.  On summer days such as this, we had a picnic after the service and when we did so, my little darling would walk over to the duck pond to see his favourite bird, a duck with a red splodge on its bill that looked like congealed blood.  This time he took his little brother with him, stopped at the edge of the pond and looked round as there were no birds there.  They walked around the pond, back to where they started, then marched up to me.  He asked, very loudly, 'where's the bloody duck dad?'  Guess who everyone looked at?

By the time he'd turned fifteen, I had a large bald spot, a receeding hairline and not a trace of my original dark brown colouring anywhere on my head.  We were at McDonalds.  Myself, a friend, her two daughters, all three of my boys and a couple of friends.  After eating, the eldest girl announced that she and every other kid should go outside and have some fun.  When no one wanted to go with her, she went outside anyway and started to knock on the window and encouraged everyone else to go outside and join her.  She's a blonde.  My, now rather large, darling boy pointed at her and said 'Look.  She's so blonde she can't find the door'.  Friends and family laughed.  Elsewhere heads turned and stared....at him.  At that moment I knew I was free.

In the intervening years I've found a great way to silence him and his teenage brothers in public.  One that gives a slightly malevolent pleasure and allows me to make up for the embarrassment of the past.  If they start to get out of line or rude I remind them how they were created...loudly.  Now, the mere threat of mentioning that they started their lives being squirted out of my penis is enough to get them to behave.

Kids can be fun, in hindsight.

p.s.  I have many more true stories of my child, and other children, but one of the above is false.  Can you guess which one?

Anyone Want to Be a Guest Blogger? Read for Details ...

I've noticed a lot of "guest blogging" going on lately, and I figured I'd try out the idea.

Somehow, my blog has accumulated over 200 followers (thank you all so much <3), which is pretty exciting.  What I was thinking would be even more exciting is for an occasional guest post, which will allow me to participate in discussions that don't originate with me.

I started this blog to share my thoughts on the world and on the philosophy that exists in everyday life.  It's become more (my aspiring writing career, motherhood and other details of my personal life, and the field of education are all directions I hadn't planned on going in but somehow have), but that's still my underlying goal.

If you'd like to write a guest post on a topic that generates thought and discussion, please let me know.  I'm not picky about specifics beyond getting people to think and talk about the different directions capable of moving by the human brain.

Send me an e-mail with "Guest Blogger" in the subject line or leave a comment here with questions or queries (heh heh ;-)), and let's get this thing cracking.

I look forward to hearing from you ... and to moving this blog forward in new and interesting directions.

<3 KL