What the Democrats Never Seem to Learn

[eumaas]

There's definitely something of merit there. But because most traditional Aboriginal life was subsistence based and often migratory, the need for collective will was much greater. Smallish bands that required everyone knowing their role, their duty, for the survival of the whole. There was some fluidity within, of course, but ultimately the nature was more collective. More appealing, tho, was that, again by necessity, society was merit-based. There wasn't enough slack in the system to allow for the unqualified in necessary positions. I wonder, tho, whether the downside of all that was a rigidity in interpreting European actions and views, and a less successful strategy at co-existence.

Good points, all. I think it's important to note that our modern society seems intent on smashing community in favor of the nation--i.e. real human relationships are denigrated in favor of an abstraction.

Undeniably so. The wife's dissertation and eventual book, btw, deals with that kind of Aboriginal sense of community and how it influenced Metis participation in the fur trade. The Catholic Church and Hudson's Bay Company wanted to deal with individuals, but were limited in their ambitions because the Metis of northwestern Saskatchewan were family-based in worldview. Family was everything and connecting families thru intermarriage strengthened community.

is that book published?

[Dr. Medulla]

There's definitely something of merit there. But because most traditional Aboriginal life was subsistence based and often migratory, the need for collective will was much greater. Smallish bands that required everyone knowing their role, their duty, for the survival of the whole. There was some fluidity within, of course, but ultimately the nature was more collective. More appealing, tho, was that, again by necessity, society was merit-based. There wasn't enough slack in the system to allow for the unqualified in necessary positions. I wonder, tho, whether the downside of all that was a rigidity in interpreting European actions and views, and a less successful strategy at co-existence.

Good points, all. I think it's important to note that our modern society seems intent on smashing community in favor of the nation--i.e. real human relationships are denigrated in favor of an abstraction.

Undeniably so. The wife's dissertation and eventual book, btw, deals with that kind of Aboriginal sense of community and how it influenced Metis participation in the fur trade. The Catholic Church and Hudson's Bay Company wanted to deal with individuals, but were limited in their ambitions because the Metis of northwestern Saskatchewan were family-based in worldview. Family was everything and connecting families thru intermarriage strengthened community.

is that book published?

At the publisher right now. She completed revisions this summer, and now it's back with the external readers, but the editor with whom she's dealing wants it published. Taking my obvious bias into account, it's pretty good, challenging a lot of heavy-handed paradigms in the field. And, having read the diss version and the revised chapters about six times each, I don't ever want to read it again.

[eumaas]

There's definitely something of merit there. But because most traditional Aboriginal life was subsistence based and often migratory, the need for collective will was much greater. Smallish bands that required everyone knowing their role, their duty, for the survival of the whole. There was some fluidity within, of course, but ultimately the nature was more collective. More appealing, tho, was that, again by necessity, society was merit-based. There wasn't enough slack in the system to allow for the unqualified in necessary positions. I wonder, tho, whether the downside of all that was a rigidity in interpreting European actions and views, and a less successful strategy at co-existence.

Good points, all. I think it's important to note that our modern society seems intent on smashing community in favor of the nation--i.e. real human relationships are denigrated in favor of an abstraction.

Undeniably so. The wife's dissertation and eventual book, btw, deals with that kind of Aboriginal sense of community and how it influenced Metis participation in the fur trade. The Catholic Church and Hudson's Bay Company wanted to deal with individuals, but were limited in their ambitions because the Metis of northwestern Saskatchewan were family-based in worldview. Family was everything and connecting families thru intermarriage strengthened community.

is that book published?

At the publisher right now. She completed revisions this summer, and now it's back with the external readers, but the editor with whom she's dealing wants it published. Taking my obvious bias into account, it's pretty good, challenging a lot of heavy-handed paradigms in the field. And, having read the diss version and the revised chapters about six times each, I don't ever want to read it again.

Let me know when it goes to press.

I'm gonna geek out for a moment here... Non-writers/book types may stop reading.

I discovered when I participated in my friend Joanna's proofreading party for her MFA thesis that I really don't like surface reading. Still, great thesis. You should hear Joanna read--amazing reader, almost seductive. Unfortunately, on the page her work is very angular. I think it's because she spent her childhood speaking both Greek and English--each is infected with the other. I like her angularity, but it's not a smooth read. She's like if Ashbery forsook the avant-garde and wrote nonfiction essays--she has a similar sense of syntax. We used to exchange work, which was fun--I apparently inspired some of her thesis, so awesome and all. It's funny hanging out with writers, tho. I was greeted by a fiction writer as "Oh, you're that hot shit young poet, right?" Nice and all, but what the fuck?

[Dr. Medulla]

Let me know when it goes to press.

Hopefully a contract will be secured by Christmas.

I'm gonna geek out for a moment here... Non-writers/book types may stop reading.

I discovered when I participated in my friend Joanna's proofreading party for her MFA thesis that I really don't like surface reading. Still, great thesis. You should hear Joanna read--amazing reader, almost seductive. Unfortunately, on the page her work is very angular. I think it's because she spent her childhood speaking both Greek and English--each is infected with the other. I like her angularity, but it's not a smooth read. She's like if Ashbery forsook the avant-garde and wrote nonfiction essays--she has a similar sense of syntax. We used to exchange work, which was fun--I apparently inspired some of her thesis, so awesome and all. It's funny hanging out with writers, tho. I was greeted by a fiction writer as "Oh, you're that hot shit young poet, right?" Nice and all, but what the fuck?

It really is remarkable how the same words flow like wine when spoken and become molasses on the page (and vice versa). I've said this to many of the writers on this board (you know who you are): I am in awe of your ability and determination. It takes more than technical skill. I'd say character, but that's a bit of a cliche. Nevertheless, I know I don't got it and never will have it.

[eumaas]

It really is remarkable how the same words flow like wine when spoken and become molasses on the page (and vice versa). I've said this to many of the writers on this board (you know who you are): I am in awe of your ability and determination. It takes more than technical skill. I'd say character, but that's a bit of a cliche. Nevertheless, I know I don't got it and never will have it.

You're quite an able writer on the board. Me, I feel like outside of formulaic academic essays, my prose work falls apart. I'm quite ashamed of the writing on my blog, for example. I work great in poetry, perhaps because it's a compact form. There's a parallel with my past as a composer--I usually worked with miniatures a la Webern and Zorn.

[Wolter]

It really is remarkable how the same words flow like wine when spoken and become molasses on the page (and vice versa). I've said this to many of the writers on this board (you know who you are): I am in awe of your ability and determination. It takes more than technical skill. I'd say character, but that's a bit of a cliche. Nevertheless, I know I don't got it and never will have it.

You're quite an able writer on the board. Me, I feel like outside of formulaic academic essays, my prose work falls apart. I'm quite ashamed of the writing on my blog, for example. I work great in poetry, perhaps because it's a compact form. There's a parallel with my past as a composer--I usually worked with miniatures a la Webern and Zorn.

When I'm actually trying to write, it's pretty much dialogue and informal conversational style for me. Which is how I probably drifted into playwriting/blogging about ghostbusters.

I used to be decent at formal expository prose, but I have to bust my balls to do it now.

[Dr. Medulla]

It really is remarkable how the same words flow like wine when spoken and become molasses on the page (and vice versa). I've said this to many of the writers on this board (you know who you are): I am in awe of your ability and determination. It takes more than technical skill. I'd say character, but that's a bit of a cliche. Nevertheless, I know I don't got it and never will have it.

You're quite an able writer on the board. Me, I feel like outside of formulaic academic essays, my prose work falls apart. I'm quite ashamed of the writing on my blog, for example. I work great in poetry, perhaps because it's a compact form. There's a parallel with my past as a composer--I usually worked with miniatures a la Webern and Zorn.

When I'm actually trying to write, it's pretty much dialogue and informal conversational style for me. Which is how I probably drifted into playwriting/blogging about ghostbusters.

I used to be decent at formal expository prose, but I have to bust my balls to do it now.

I've explained that I know how to write but I can't actually do it. I quickly get bogged down, editing sentences on the fly instead of just getting a damned draft done and worrying about rewrites later. I know what I should do and how to do it, but my mind won't let me—I just get hung up on both the miniscule and what the finished product should look like. I also lack an intuitive sense of developing a structure from the ground up. I know it's like building a house, piece by piece, but I try to finish everything too soon. I'm one of the few people who needs to add material during rewrites rather than subtract. It's all a horribly frustrating experience. I did a collaborative novel with a friend—quite good in parts, shitty as a whole—that left me frazzled on the weeks when it was my turn to contribute.

[eumaas]

I just get hung up on both the miniscule and what the finished product should look like.

*cough* Geschwind *cough*

[Dr. Medulla]

I just get hung up on both the miniscule and what the finished product should look like.

*cough* Geschwind *cough*

Nope, don't think so. I'm just more comfortable in the rewrite stage—hence, how I make my meagre living.

[JennyB]

All of you guys on this board are extremely eloquent and expressive, even those of you who don't consider yourselves writers. I, however, can barely string a sentence together.

[eumaas]

All of you guys on this board are extremely eloquent and expressive, even those of you who don't consider yourselves writers. I, however, can barely string a sentence together.

Well, you are a woman...




*ducks*

[JennyB]

All of you guys on this board are extremely eloquent and expressive, even those of you who don't consider yourselves writers. I, however, can barely string a sentence together.

Well, you are a woman...




*ducks*

I am harnessing my supernatural power to make John Zorn's wall to fall on your head.

[eumaas]

All of you guys on this board are extremely eloquent and expressive, even those of you who don't consider yourselves writers. I, however, can barely string a sentence together.

Well, you are a woman...




*ducks*

I am harnessing my supernatural power to make John Zorn's wall to fall on your head.

And Gene awakes to find himself impaled by Varèse's Ionisation.

[Dr. Medulla]

All of you guys on this board are extremely eloquent and expressive, even those of you who don't consider yourselves writers. I, however, can barely string a sentence together.

Well, there's your problem—don't use string. Elastic is good, staples if necessary. Gum never.

[eumaas]

All of you guys on this board are extremely eloquent and expressive, even those of you who don't consider yourselves writers. I, however, can barely string a sentence together.

Well, there's your problem—don't use string. Elastic is good, staples if necessary. Gum never.

I use spit.