Get the spirit

Enjoying Thomas Marriott - Winter Solace on the Holiday Jazz channel by JAZZRADIO.com
http://www.jazzradio.com/holidayjazz

Today's best

Pressure

Pope Francis says climate situation is 'borderline suicide'; deal 'now or never' - @AFP https://twitter.com/AFP/status/671404482174042112

New world

Home from the airport ... and for the first time in over a year, my focus is not caring for H. Maybe I can learn how to relax other than in the wee morning hours.

First up, a couple of home projects I couldn't do with her constant Monday morning quarterbacking. Downsizing!

Health concerns I play close to the vest. Doing no new projects helping anyone. Not sure if I have more to write, not fretting about it.

The 6-day wonder is timely, needs to be done everywhere. Needs a visionary director who sees this. Need a last bit of good fortune.

This will be a revealing two weeks, I bet.

Heroic work

No teacher lets them suffer: inside the German schools taking in refugees

http://gu.com/p/4efd6?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Intelligence, which is in short supply

What will it take to stop Donald Trump?

http://gu.com/p/4eh8z?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Downsizing

Discontinued a couple of "luxury" expenses, including belonging to Ukulele Underground. Wonderful group! But I'm not using the resources enough. Tightening the belt for winter.

Expect a very stressful day as H prepares to leave tomorrow. Her packing anxiety will be major.

Bought week of online access from other carrier just to do necessary chores without driving to hotspot. Only good for one device, no other hardware online. New modem due Tuesday.

Actually, alone, I might go this route. Sports not as interesting to me as it once was ... character of jocks different, corporate bullshit everywhere. Leisure could use downsizing, too.

No present energy to return to novel project. May change. No further idea about Ukulele man. May be done or inactive for a while.

The 6-day wonder sitting well. Damn good work ... deserves fine tuning in rehearsal. Not counting on it. If nothing happening by summer, will put together book. Probably my last hurrah. I've said that before.

I do look forward to two weeks without stress of H's crises. Though she can get in trouble east as well as here ... ah me. Maybe it never ends.

Nerd nation!

No. 9 Stanford drills 45-yard field goal as time expires to defeat No. 6 Notre Dame, 38-36 - @SportsCenter https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/670813616174735361

Bah humbug

USC defeats No. 22 UCLA, 40-21 - @myfoxla https://twitter.com/myfoxla/status/670753515069767680

Crashed

Modem at home crashed ... astounding what an Internet household we have ... TV, music streamed from online ... replacement won't arrive until Tuesday. Slumming until then.

Dum de dum dum

I thought you might like this story from The Washington Post.
The Great Thaw: As temperatures rise, the melting of glaciers is accelerating
http://wapo.st/1PQw8SB

The day after

A good low key Thanksgiving ... Meal in a chain restaurant, watched a few movies at home, calls from kids and grandkids cheered up Harriet ... Much better holiday than I feared.

Post turkey evening

An old strategy

Spike Lee urges women to go on sex strike to protest campus rape and harassment: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRawStory/~3/sl-ppeXM1gA/

Good question

Can Trump do ANYTHING that would alienate his supporters?

(And I naively thought Palin was as stupid as politicians get.)

A new low for Trump - but no surprise

I thought you might like this story from The Washington Post.
Trump blasted by New York Times after mocking reporter with disability
http://wapo.st/1Yv9tN6

Worse than Trump ...

... are his many supporters. Living evidence of what James Baldwin called the unadmitted failure of the American experiment. Very depressing so many back him.

Thanksgiving

No plans tomorrow ... I'd like to hang out, reflect, give thanks, maybe a movie, maybe turkey somewhere not requiring reservations ... but how the day goes depends on how H goes ... I can't predict that. But a mellow day would be so nice!

Perspective

Good thing Native Americans didn't treat the Pilgrims like we treat Syrian refugees

http://gu.com/p/4ed7j?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Vacation

H goes east Monday for 2 weeks. I'm sure it will feel like a vacation without the daily crisis.

Coming soon

Chi-Raq review: Spike Lee's urgent, angry – and very sexy – midlife masterpiece

http://gu.com/p/4eg48?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Traditions

Broken treaties, cultural genocide and murder: Here are 5 ways the US has ‘given thanks’ to Native Americans: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRawStory/~3/pRuEz0ljUEU/

Clarity

hobbling to the bathroom at 4 a.m.
I see Sketch stretched out on the divan
and envy him the clarity of his life

if I had more instincts, fewer ideas
my life might have great clarity, too
(right after I win the lottery etc.)

the villain of my old age is Socrates
convincing me the unexamined life is bankrupt
forgetting to add that the examined life is hell

End of an era

"Dear Charles,

As you requested, we have cancelled your "orelitrev"
account. As of today, all Web site files and e-mail addresses
associated with the account have been taken offline and no 
further charges will be processed."

The archive is now managed by the Eng Dept at PSU. Direct questions to them.

Our history

I thought you might like this story from The Washington Post.
Anne Frank and her family were also denied entry as refugees to the U.S.
http://wapo.st/1TcIGlR

Anniversary

I thought you might like this story from The Washington Post.
Einstein’s General Relativity at 100: Put that in your pipe and smoke it
http://wapo.st/1XbTaYk

Thanksgiving

My best Thanksgivings were from the mid 1960s to mid 1970s, when the Deemers, the Crooks, the Bradleys, the Fuquas and the Richardsons would gather at an alternating host household. These were 3 day affairs with great food and drink, great homemade music, and non stop laughter. Incredible celebration of friendship! I was the hub, Crooks and Richardson were Army buddies, Bradley and Fuqua I met at the Ash Grove, fellow folk musicians. Man, could we throw a feast!

Nothing close since.

Idea

No sooner the last post than a theatrical character enters my brain: a street musician, ukulele, political songs of his own composition ... title, Ukulele Man ...

Marvels

Still glowing with an appreciation of good manners in drama profession: thanks for sending this, look forward to reading it! Almost never get this courtesy in the film industry unless at small powerless indie level. Power embraces rudeness, I suppose.

What will I be writing next, if anything? A return to Dancing on the Titanic (an image used in the play)? Reworking another old play? Something new?

I think nothing for a while.

Hear, hear!

I thought you might like this story from The Washington Post.
Republicans need to stand up to Trump’s bullying
http://wapo.st/1MNU1nU

"Just in the past few days, Mr. Trump has repeated the lie that President Obama intends to admit 200,000 Syrian refugees; the correct number is 10,000. He spreads the lie that thousands of American Muslims openly celebrated the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center; in fact, there were no such celebrations. He tweeted a false statistic that blacks are responsible for 81 percent of murders of white victims; in fact, 82 percent of whites are killed by whites."

Ugly in America

I thought you might like this story from The Washington Post.
Attacks on American Muslims are growing uglier by the day. It must stop.
http://wapo.st/1P4Kq1P

"Why are we degenerating so quickly and so far from our country’s founding values? Because it’s an election year. And political leaders — egged on by the grandstanding and lies of Donald Trump — are peddling fear like it’s a miracle drug.

In communities across America, we are turning on each other, on the very neighbors who have been part of the fabric of our country for decades."

Trends

I thought you might like this story from The Washington Post.
NPR is graying, and public radio is worried about it
http://wapo.st/1X7uY9r

Orwell understated our nightmare

...I.e. candidate Trump. Lies are now "facts."

An old play of mine ends ...

What the people expect, they deserve.
What they deserve, they get.
Always.

Manners

I'm reminded (sending out a play) what better manners you find in the theater profession than in the film industry. I'd forgotten.

Hump the blanket

Not bad for an old man!

Zzzz

Wish I could go back to bed.

So long ...

Report: Mariners second-baseman Robinson Cano is reportedly not happy in Seattle and would love to return to New York - @SNYtv https://www.sny.tv/mets/news/robinson-cano-would-love-to-return-to-new-york/157974166

Cartoon

Texas Textbooks: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Truthdig/~3/JmWYNglY6eU/

We have one ... Helps H's memory loss

Goodbye privacy, hello 'Alexa': Amazon Echo, the home robot who hears it all

http://gu.com/p/4ed3j?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Bohemian Pdx died in the 90s ... Hip sucked

Is hip Portland over? How the rent crisis is displacing the city's creative soul

http://gu.com/p/4eejn?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Long day

Housekeeper day, never my favorite ... staying out of the way etc ... but H insists.

Front runner

I thought you might like this story from The Washington Post.
Donald Trump’s outrageous claim that ‘thousands’ of New Jersey Muslims celebrated the 9/11 attacks
http://wapo.st/1N7omBx

Funk

Trouble with being a morning person is that the day invariably gets worse after a typical great start. By nightfall, it can suck.

Letter to Nation magazinr

...I am a novelist. Every year, I spend a great deal of my time giving readings or lectures at which, almost unfailingly, I am asked about Islam and Muslims and the wars now consuming the Middle East. I try to explain and contextualize, to remind people about history and politics, to bring some art and culture into the mix. But every couple of months, when another terrorist attack happens, the work I do seems to be for nothing. What chance does someone like me have when compared with the power of well-funded networks? The beheadings, the crucifixions, the destruction of cultural heritage that ISIS practices—none of these are new. They all happened, and continue to happen, in Saudi Arabia as well.

This year, the government of Saudi Arabia has beheaded more people than ISIS. It persecutes Shiites and atheists. It has slowly destroyed sites of cultural and religious significance around Mecca and Medina. To almost universal indifference, it has been bombing Yemen for seven months. Yet whenever terror strikes, it escapes notice and evades responsibility. In this, it is aided and abetted by Western governments, who buy oil from tyrants and sell them weapons, while paying lip service to human rights. I have no patience anymore for people who claim that Muslims do not speak out. They do, every day. Muslims are the primary victims of ISIS, and its primary resisters. It is an insult to every one of the hundreds of thousands of Muslim victims of terrorism to lump them with the lunatics who commit terror.

The truth is that ISIS unleashes its nihilistic violence on anyone—Muslim, Christian, or Jew; believer or unbeliever—who doesn’t subscribe to its cult. I wish I could do something for the victims of terrorist violence. But I am a writer; words are all I have. And all I know is that I want, with all my heart, to preserve and celebrate what ISIS wishes to destroy: a multiethnic, multireligious, multicultural life.

Laila Lalami is the author, most recently, of The Moor’s Account , a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. She is a professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside. ■

Relativity

The extremist anti-Muslim views of today’s GOP makes George W. Bush look like a progressive: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRawStory/~3/pslt4qd5FC0/

Sun records

I thought you might like this story from The Washington Post.
The man who brought down racial barriers through music
http://wapo.st/1MsSbL6

Beer

I thought you might like this story from The Washington Post.
Even beer skeptics can enjoy Oregon’s craft-brewery mecca
http://wapo.st/1O9pQf6

Data

I thought you might like this story from The Washington Post.
There are far more Muslims ready to fight for the West than against it
http://wapo.st/1QB6HVb

Buttermilk rolls

2015 in America

A reservation town fighting alcoholism, obesity and ghosts from the past

http://gu.com/p/4dfj2?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Olive bread

Serendipity

Marveling at the good timing of my professional life ... beginning my writing career when the arts were not slaves to the marketplace and grants were numerous ... then when the pendulum began to swing in the 1990s, suggesting a new financial challenge, the phone rang and Portland State's Eng Dept invited me to start a screenwriting program. Perfect timing! and two decades of $tability. Amazing good luck.

French national anthem

One of the best, musically ... can't hear it without seeing the wonderful scene in Casablanca.

Changing times

'Americans saved my life': former refugees from Iraq perplexed by US fears

http://gu.com/p/4edg8?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Portland #3

'The Housing Crisis Is Insane': 6 Cities Where Homelessness Is Out of Control: http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/124325183/0/alternet~The-Housing-Crisis-Is-Insane-Cities-Where-Homelessness-Is-Out-of-Control

Early start

Got household chore done before six this morning! Been putting it off.

Football Saturday. Big game for underdog Bruins.

Headcheese!

My store for headcheese stopped carrying it some time ago .... but I found a new source! Highlight of the day!

Yep

'Beyond terrifying': Muslim Americans shocked by Trump and Carson quotes

http://gu.com/p/4edab?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Fascinating

Hemingway's Paris memoir rises to No 1 in France following terror attacks

http://gu.com/p/4ecpd?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Recovery

Today I hope to do absolutely nothing. Past 3 weeks exhausting! Wrote a new play and rewrote a 20 year old play. Both off on first searches for a life. Ace in the hole, both will be published eventually at RBP, says the publisher.

But another round of good luck to wrap up a career would be sweet. So would a sane world. Crapshoots, both.

Nothing today, not even cooking. Vegetate.

Yes!

Syrian refugee shames Republicans: We are not terrorists — we are fleeing from them: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRawStory/~3/Hs0L5irXNxM/

Yes!

Pope Francis: Christmas festivities ‘a charade’ in a world filled with ‘war and hate’: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRawStory/~3/2FtGuVlWvoI/

Bipartisan bigotry

47 Democrats Join With House GOP to Refuse Suffering Refugees: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Truthdig/~3/dGuYgkCjgbY/

Dancing on the Titanic

'Our melting, shifting, liquid world': celebrities read poems on climate change

http://gu.com/p/4ebep?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

The future

Pacific Ocean temperature data shows El Niño is gathering record strength

http://gu.com/p/4ecea?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Some are more equal than others etc

Saudi court sentences poet to death for renouncing Islam

http://gu.com/p/4ebxd?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Hospitals

I've spent more time in hospitals in past year than in all years prior.

Defining himself in tradition of FDR

Bernie Sanders defends his politics as authentic face of American democracy

http://gu.com/p/4eceg?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Hospital waiting room

H hand check up re dog bite

Doctors

Done with series of annual checkups ... good to go another year. Good. At the same time, I don't want to live beyond reasonable comfort. No life for life's sake for me.

Cartoon

I thought you might like this story from The Washington Post.
Jeb Bush changes the Statue of Liberty’s message
http://wapo.st/1Ncm2Lc

Yep

Robert Reich: America Faces Existential Threats, Yet There's a Good Chance an Idiot Might Become President: http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/124016484/0/alternet~Robert-Reich-America-Faces-Existential-Threats-Yet-Theres-a-Good-Chance-an-Idiot-Might-Become-President

Deja vu all over again

The GOP's Xenophobic Rage Is Out of Control: Why It’s Time to Get Very Nervous : http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/124016045/0/alternet~The-GOPs-Xenophobic-Rage-Is-Out-of-Control-Why-It%e2%80%99s-Time-to-Get-Very-Nervous

Quotation of the day

"I wouldn't wish being an artisi on anyone."
--Paul Schrader ("Taxi", "Raging Bull")

Baseball

I thought you might like this story from The Washington Post.
David Ortiz’s origin story with the Boston Red Sox
http://wapo.st/1j7xIko

History of science

From Newton to Einstein: The origins of general relativity: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRawStory/~3/p5tFYKBlenk/

Street theater

'Dismantle Europe's borders':  Pussy Riot speak up for refugees

http://gu.com/p/4e44k?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

American universities as model for disaster

University lecturers on the breadline: is the UK following in America’s footsteps?

http://gu.com/p/4e6kg?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Old story

Whether Jewish Refugees in ’30s or Syrians Today, U.S. Continually Falls Short of Its Own Ideals: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Truthdig/~3/HEvcKOMX9bM/

Back to retirement

After I rework the old play, I think I need to go back to a snail's pace. I no longer have the mental or physical stamina for this. Existential marathons are for younger folks. The 6-day play wiped me out.

Hooray

Willie Mays and Yogi Berra to receive presidential medal of freedom

http://gu.com/p/4e9dc?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Perspective

Mindless terrorists? The truth about Isis is much worse

http://gu.com/p/4e8b4?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Eyes

Saw eye doc today, cat surgery ahead but not yet, maybe in 1 to 3 years. Updated distance/driving glasses.

How does this help?

In wake of Paris attacks, CBS pulls episodes of 'Supergirl' and 'NCIS: Los Angeles' scheduled for Monday night because terrorism is figured in plots - @nytimes http://www.nytimes.com/live/paris-attacks-live-updates/cbs-pulls-two-tv-shows-with-terror-themes

Wishful thinking?

Paris victim’s brother: ‘I worry we’ll make the same mistake as when the US was attacked’: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRawStory/~3/UFZaac3K1-c/

Buttermilk rolls

Writer friend in Paris

...is ok. Showed her the 6-day wonder: "wonderful play."

Another late reader didn't think so.

What else is new?

Forecast

Global Warming Is Draining the Waters of Life: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Truthdig/~3/aSeFZsVRXI8/

Paradise Now

Important 2005 Palestinian film, two boyhood friends selected to be suicide bombers. About their last days. Highly recommended.

A chilly night

Is it?

'The Tides Are Turning': Portland Passes Landmark Resolution Against Fossil Fuel Infrastructure: http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/11/13/tides-are-turning-portland-passes-landmark-resolution-against-fossil-fuel

Not Missouri

Virginia Tech gets it right by uniting to stamp out hate after threat to kill all Muslims on campus: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRawStory/~3/zwILfhBtXEM/

Progress

First rewrite of act one of Family Values. Moving ahead faster than I expected.

Crisis (so what?)

I thought you might like this story from The Washington Post.
Scientists say Greenland just opened up a major new ‘floodgate’ of ice into the ocean
http://wapo.st/1NOAmZh

Yum!

My biscuits have gotten very tasty.

Tempus fugit

Summer, 1959, 19 years old, listening to the very same Gerry Mulligan album I'm listening to now at 76; in Berkeley, a transfer to Cal from Cal Tech but a dropout in less than a term; in the Army in a few months, in the Security Agency because the recruiter had a quota to fill, from boot camp to Monterey's Army Language School, to Germany as a Russian linguist, top secret codeword clearance, hanging out with, drinking with, Ivy League wannabe writers, get turned on to literature ... And the rest is etc etc etc.

Bread! Biscuits!

Gerry Mulligan!

Oregon Literary Review

I am ending my management of the archive. It goes offline at present web address on Nov. 23. If you want to save something, download before then.

Archive will be managed by the English Dept at Portland State Univ, presumably returning online at new address. Direct questions to them.

Oh?

Annie Hall voted funniest screenplay of all time

http://gu.com/p/4e63v?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Hear, hear!

Humanities are vital, science is vital. Stop treating them as opposites

http://gu.com/p/4e5p2?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Trends

American War in the 21st Century: A Scam, a Swindle and a Fraud: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Truthdig/~3/BTN-c5LPF1Q/

Progress

Grunt work prep done, ready to rewrite an old play I now call Family Values.

Nostalgia for "old Internet"

I thought you might like this story from The Washington Post.
http://wapo.st/1WQiNIJ

"“The Internet has become a conspiracy to get people to consume,” said the computer programmer Kyle Drake, who — with anthropologist Amber Case — just wrapped a sold-out two-day conference on the glories of the early Web. “There’s a shift from creation to consumption … Frankly, it’s become oppressive.”"

A vet's perspective

A Veterans Day 'thanks' for our service is a sorry stand-in for honest talk about war

http://gu.com/p/4e4eb?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Try this marinade

H raves about my marinade, a simplified version from a Korean recipe. My signature marinade now, mainly for chicken and turkey.

1 small bottle of cola. I usually use Dr. Pepper.
About a cup of soy sauce.
About a quarter cup of rice vinegar.
Splash of sesame oil.

Marinade for at least 3 hrs. Then grill or bake.

Try it!

Perspective

It's so dangerous to be a black American, I've sought asylum in Canada

http://gu.com/p/4dqqt?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Downside

For me the downside of writing (serious inside-out writing, not commercial outside-in) are the physical and mental fatique that result, more acute the older I get. Writing becomes an existential marathon, after which one collapses.

In other words, still recovering ...

Starting off the day

A week or two of grunt work, getting an old script into new software. Cut and paste didn't retain a lot of format. Fix before I rewrite, which itself will be challenging, given the monumental change I have in mind.

Harriet looking for an art class to take, a schedule to follow. Trouble motivating herself. I never had that problem!

Sketch better, I think. Let's keep him around!

Security blanket

Doctor's office

H seeing her counselor ... monthly mental health checkin. Each of last two sessions she was supposed to bring a new painting. Still not started. Her world is still solataire.

Back to reworking the old play tomorrow. Should keep me busy for weeks.

Feeling okay. Mayhem has calmed down for the moment.

Creative arts

Anonymous 'Artist' Draws Penises Around Potholes to Get Them Repaired: http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/122952081/0/alternet~Anonymous-Artist-Draws-Penises-Around-Potholes-to-Get-Them-Repaired

Future

These shocking images reveal what sea level rise will look like in some of the world’s most iconic places: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRawStory/~3/hvUtghLu2lo/

Feedback

Most rewarding comment: I like this better each time I read it. Yes, the way it's supposed to work.

Onward.

Changes

A peaceful, quiet night for Sketch ...

Darwin

On the Origin of Species voted most influential academic book in history

http://gu.com/p/4e47y?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Yes

Sonia Sotomayor lambasts justices for backing officer who shot fleeing suspect

http://gu.com/p/4e3pb?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Oops!

Signs of dementia could include sense of humour getting darker, says study

http://gu.com/p/4e42g?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Yep

I thought you might like this story from The Washington Post.
Missouri shows the real power of big-time sports
http://wapo.st/1MTcowT

Hooray!

I thought you might like this story from The Washington Post.
This high school student just won $250,000 for his film explaining Einstein’s theory of relativity
http://wapo.st/1PlnoDv

Hear, hear!

I thought you might like this story from The Washington Post.
One veteran’s view: How patriotic pageantry at sporting events lost its meaning
http://wapo.st/1WN4ogn

Modern medicine

I thought you might like this story from The Washington Post.
Scientist falsified data for cancer research once described as ‘holy grail,’ feds say
http://wapo.st/1kknKh0

Perspective

Happy birthday, Carl Sagan: Enjoy these 6 bits of wisdom from the science legend: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRawStory/~3/gt1hmXcdJOw/

Progress, I think

All the household sick are a little better today ... Dog's advanced urine test came back negative, no apparent serious problems, old age, minor infection ... Vet's guesses.

4 minor script fixes. Then get the sucker out of the house ha ha.

Maybe tomorrow.

Another reader ...

... on the positive side ... one more close reading and I'm turning it in. What happens, happens ... but a bit of good fortune would be welcomed.

More to fix on the other play than I anticipated.

Writing, having written

Dorothy Parker wrote she hates writing but loves having written. I am the opposite. I love writing! Nothing that happens later matches the high, the joy, of the present tense process of writing. The older I get, the more this is true.

Beware the Cougs!

Wash St comes to the Rose Bowl Saturday night to play UCLA - and they scare me.

Breakfast therapy

Trend

World's climate about to enter 'uncharted territory' as it passes 1C of warming

http://gu.com/p/4e38h?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Players win

University of Missouri president resigns amid protests over racial intolerance

http://gu.com/p/4e3h8?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

History

Chile Admits Pablo Neruda May Have Been Killed by Pinochet Regime: http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/11/06/chile-admits-pablo-neruda-may-have-been-killed-pinochet-regime

A model

First They Jailed the Bankers, Now All Icelanders Will Be Paid in Bank Sale: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Truthdig/~3/W-A9SxHWeow/

Bad night

Sick wife, sick dog, not up to snuff myself ... Overload! Sketch on divan with me, finally quiet. Long damn night ...

Hmm, sounds like a play I know ...

‘Our Generation, Our Choice,’ Say Young People, Readying for Mass Civil Disobedience: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Truthdig/~3/wsIrkU_1JOk/

Trends

World Bank says global warming could push 100 million more into poverty - @AFP https://twitter.com/AFP/status/663446113840717828

Script

Still tinkering but it's time to stop. Time to send it off. Wed. or Thur., after a final read and whatever feedback comes before then. Later feedback processed for later development. Not sbout to mess with big things at this stsge. Comes later if at all.

Then focus on FAMILY VALUES, new title for old script I am reworking. Major revision of major character.

Busy!

Last two days, H playing solataire about 15 hrs a dsy.

In the Chronicle

Scientists alarmed at ocean warming
By Peter Fimrite and Kurtis Alexander | 1627 words

The poisoning of Dungeness crab off the California coast by a mysterious algae bloom may be bad news for the seafood industry, but to marine biologists and climate scientists, it is a frightening omen of future distress to a vibrant ecosystem. Experts say the toxin in the algae, which likely flourished in this year's record-high ocean temperatures, is one symptom of a wholesale shift in the physical and biological makeup of the Pacific Ocean - a transformation so abrupt and merciless that it is endangering species and forcing migrations before our eyes.

Value system

John Lennon's Gibson J-160E guitar sells for $2.4 million at Julien's Auctions - @businessinsider http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-john-lennons-guitar-sells-for-2.4-million-at-auction-2015-11?IR=T

5 upsets

I thought you might like this story from The Washington Post.
Top 25 Capsules
http://wapo.st/1Qm37wS

Navy's big win

I thought you might like this story from The Washington Post.
Navy football rolls past No. 13 Memphis for breakthrough victory
http://wapo.st/1Pvxr7u

America, 2015

Black Missouri Tigers players to strike over racial harassment on campus

http://gu.com/p/4e2k2?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Navy rocks

Last time Navy beat a ranked opponent, over 30 years ago, my dad was alive. Tonight they destroyed #13 Memphis. Can't wait until Army-Navy game.

Good rain

Reread, retouched, play ... Like it much.

Baked bread.

After slow start, UCLA looking great in rain at Corvallis.

Sketch seems better. Harriet seems better. I am good.

My play brings tears to my eyes. Hope it does to audience as well. But first it has to find an audience.

And have started reworking 20 y/o play probably ahead of its time.

Not a bad Saturday so far.

Early feedback

4 responses so far. Scale low 1 to high 5, they went roughly two 5s or close, a 3 and a 2, all helpful. The usual crapshoot. But very useful to me.

Right on!

To Help Hard-Hit Seniors, Warren/Sanders Bill Would Boost Social Security: http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/11/05/help-hard-hit-seniors-warrensanders-bill-would-boost-social-security

SF blues

Crab season called off ... from Chronicle:

"We've never had this in my career down here, and I've been fishing crabs since '86," said Larry Collins, president of both the Crab Boat Owners Association and the San Francisco Community Fishing Association. He noted that water temperatures measured 61 degrees Thursday when they should have been about 54.

Crapshoot

The trouble with experience, you find out how things like dramatic competitions really work. Writing a good, even great, play is not the ticket. It's having the right script in front of the right decision makers at the right time. Most of those parameters are out of your control. It's a crapshoot.

I've been lucky before. Maybe I can get lucky again.

Survival

Today's kids could walk on Mars, says Britain's first official astronaut

http://gu.com/p/4exky?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Sawant on Bernie

Socialist politician credits Bernie Sanders after re-election in Seattle

http://gu.com/p/4exza?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Cosmic glory

Don't get much in the city with its lights but in the southwestern sky this morning, the moon, Jupiter and Venus are bright enough to show off their powwow.

If I had any sense, I'd move to where I can die under a glorious night sky.

Have taken out a twenty year old play to rework.

This "progressive" state ...

Oregon county passes ballot measure claiming its sheriff can block federal gun laws: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/6yfafPXzCx4/-Oregon-county-passes-ballot-measure-claiming-its-sheriff-can-block-federal-gun-laws

Progress?

Sketch having a good day so far. H still in bed.

Just read latest drsft ... man, it's tighter thsn before. Eager to send it off and forget about it until contest results. Focus on the other play. Waiting for more feedback.

Health i$$ue$

In Boise we met a guy in the park who said we was spending thousands a month to keep his dog, his best friend, alive. After paying for some of Sketch's tests, I believe it! But we don't have thousands ... So we'll see what happens.

Exhaustion

See if I can get back in bed without waking the dog ...

Awake

And Sketch comfy on divan ... will he act up when I return to bed? Sometimes he just wants company.

Universe

Sketch got me up to go out ... much better than last night. More tests, zero in on likely kidney issue. Spendy, but what do you do?

R.I.P.

Melissa Mathison, ET screenwriter, dies aged 65 in Los Angeles

http://gu.com/p/4evae?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Very interesting ...

George Bush Sr says 'iron-ass' Cheney and 'arrogant' Rumsfeld damaged America

http://gu.com/p/4evb4?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

Hangin' in

Old Folks Home

Everybody's doing better today, which is great. I'm jacked because 2 of the
4 feedbacks so far say "it's a winner" and all feedback has been helpful, the new draft already significantly stronger. Maybe I can get it out of the house next week.

Fun!

Rewriting is so much fun! Making something good better. Great feedback from TS, and an offer to publish when it's time.

I'm going to rework a 20 y/o play that was ahead of its time. Maybe now ...

Sketch better so far today. Subdued. Waiting for results of blood tests.

Quiet

My two sick roommates sleeping peacefully.

Feedback

More feedback leading to improvement. Eager to get it all and get this script out of the house.

Chronicle headline

Dungeness judged too toxic to eat as crab season nears

End times?

Up all night, trying to comfort a hurting dog. He seems better this morning. I'm not.

Last night, around 3 a.m., I prayed, O ye gods, take back your damn play and give me my dog back!

Baking in the wee hours

So stressed out, crashed at 7. Consequently up now, baking buttermilk rolls. Soy bread in the hopper.

Stress

Harriet in pain with her dog bite, our dog in what may be end if life discomfort, I'm trying to keep the ship on course ... So add this to the gift from the gods and guess what? Zero sum universe!

Told you

Robin Williams' widow: 'It was not depression' that killed him

http://gu.com/p/4dpqe?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Bloggeroid

If it ain't one thing ...

Our doc freaked by severity of dog bite ... Let's put this dangerous dog to sleep, oops, belongs to daughter, H refuses to file complaint. Meanwhile when I wasn't looking, took pain pills without food, sick in doc office. And just to make life interesting, Sketch (90s in human yrs) having symptoms of major decline, may not last the year. So why am I smiling? Because the gods of theater gave me a great gift!

Busy morn

Spent morning on 1000 word description of play, required for a competition. Harder than writing the play.

Off to hospital with H ...

Bummer

I let H read the draft, a mistake. She doesn't respond to the darker areas of lit, which is where I am most of the time. When push comes to shove, this is not a feel good play. But letting her read it was better than putting up with the consequences of not. I wish she had forgotten I was writing it ha ha.

Process

Already got first feedback, resulting in minor change, major improvement. Name of the game.

Afternoon sanity

Blessing

Taking the dog out into a damp fall morning, felt filled with blessings, a new play of some worth presented to me on my birthday by the theater gods, a guarded optimism it will find a home with its topical subject matter, its professional delivery, its engaging story, its rich characters, with perfect timing to realize local opportunity, serendipity, and many national opportunities, someone, somewhere, will embrace this play.

And the possibility my last act may take a turn I never expected.

Process

From here on out, my relationship with the play is collaborative. The solo ride is over.

Post partem II

Exhausted, mentally, physically ... too tired to sleep ... ready to be retired again!

Post partem

play sent out for feedback.

well. no idea how folks will respond.