Loss of Innocence and sciences

So, the solution (or at least what I think is a solution now) came to me - and opened a number of new possibilities. My problem was how to express an essentially scientific mindset while simultaneously expressing the draw of mysticism, and the way I think I can pull it off is by making a major element of the story the observation of and interactions with a child, and thoughts upon how that child thinks - the way he has insights without realizing they are insights, and how he sometimes says plain foolish things.

This opened the possibilities of a whole short story collection - which I think I may embark upon - which deals hugely with children, but with children almost as metaphors for ourselves, our politics, our loves, and our deaths, are all reflected in them. The struggle will be to not simply rely upon the natural hypnotism of children (I'm sick of authors who just use kids to arouse automatic sympathies) but to explore the place of children in our world, to show them in their horror and their unexpected kindnesses, and, more than this, to show that they are not always right, and that they do not always know it when they are.

Story: Pink Knot and the Shell on the Shore

So, back to my story about the young man travelling the world, an encapsulation of the pink knot and the shell on the shore: Two things I don't want this story to become are preachy and somehow "against" modernism/rationalism/structuralism. I believe structuralism has its uses, and I don't believe that somehow the dreams of savages are superior to our own -the noble savage ideal is one I reject completely - I am, in fact, more likely to trust in the dreams of modernist scientism than its results - I think they are beautiful, worthwhile dreams. So I don't want to criticize them. But I do want to bring up the joy of metaphor, because I think metaphors, and their mis-application does lead to a fair amount of the pain and bad philosophy in the world. So, there's definitely a struggle there, for me as a writer at least. Hopefully one I can somewhat transfer to the page.

Storytelling and focus

So, in a random, unfocused attempt to give this blog a bit more focus, I've decided, for now, to make the focus of this blog my story writing. I'm thinking of working on a short story collection, to work on my plotting skills, and, if nothing else, this should give me a good chance to keep my mind on it.

So, for now, I'm back. Perhaps not all that consistently, but I'm back.

A thought

A thought for today:

Despite a history of oppression, despite a long string of human rights violations, despite the fact we kill babies, torture prisoners, invade countries, snoop, and generally limit freedoms, the United States has, it seems, managed to make at least one man completely free.

George W. Bush.

Free of consequences. Free of accountability. Free to torture, invade privacy, extradite, invade, and generally do whatever he wants. These days, generally, even, free of criticism. I wonder if that's because the critics are getting tired.

A thought on political definition

I've been thinking about Obama's position on abortion, and I arrived at a broad, but I think, insightful set of definitions.

The libertarian believes the government/society has the least possible place dictating the range of choices of the individual.

The authoritarian believes the government/society has the most possible place dictating the range of choices of the individual.

The "liberal" believes the government/society has the least possible place dictating the moral choices of the individual, and a greater place dictating the possible economic choices of the individual(s).

The "conservative" believes the government/society has the least possible place dictating the economic choices available to the individual(s) and a greater place dictating the moral choices of the individual(s).

It offers interesting insight toward Palin's comments on abortion as well - she seems very reluctant to say anything about policy towards abortion, but very open about her "personal" feeling - which is almost the same as Obama's position - thinking people should make the decision for themselves.