Steven Barnes's Blog, page 35

Drawing the Circle

Once you can visualize a circle with the “Hero’s Journey” as the horizontal axis, and the Chakras as the vertical, you really have the core of the “Lifewriting” idea.

 

All you have to do with any character is wound them on one level, and describe the path of action that would let them heal.   Or, if you start with a plot or scene, ask yourself what character would find this WONDERFUL and ask how it could turn nasty. Or who would find it HORRIBLE and how it could become the best thing that ev...

What is the value and meaning of Art?

Tomorrow we have the honor of video interviewing Tony “Candy Man” Todd for our THE SUNKEN PLACE black horror class.  I already have questions I want to ask him, and they center on a few different areas: career, role preparation, creating and sustaining an iconic character, the subtexts of contemporary horror, his own view on the “Candyman” phenomenon, his view of the genre  and how it has changed over the decades, and the road ahead.  Fear of black male sexuality and the way that fear was nur...

The Argument Beneath the Argument

I had a long, involved argument with a FB friend, where I kept wondering “is she being deliberately obtuse?  That argument doesn’t make sense. THAT argument doesn’t make sense. She is ignoring that she’s changing the subject and arguing in an entirely different arena…”

 

It was frustrating, because I respect her intelligence.  But then, a light went on:  She wasn’t concerned with this issue because she didn’t see it being an issue IN HER LIFETIME.  If it wasn’t going to be a problem IN HER LI...

Balance in the Force

Another SPOILERY discussion about THE LAST JEDI.

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I’ve heard a lot of happiness…and complaint…about a thematic aspect of TLJ.  And that is that the actions of Finn, Poe and Rose fail, while the plan of Leia and Vice Admiral Holdo succeeds.  Let me take the movie seriously enough to dig into it–otherwise what’s the point, right?

 

So a complaint/observation has been that the girls are showing the boys what fer.  That those silly men are simply outthought by the women, and that Poe...

It’s never too late to be true to your heart

The M.A.G.I.C. formula is designed to take a frustration and turn it into a power.   I’ve noticed that almost NO major positive events have ever occurred in my life through direct action.   I didn’t meet Tananarive when looking for a partner.  I didn’t achieve my major martial breakthroughs in a martial arts school.  I didn’t get my best writing opportunities through pounding on doors, and didn’t have any idea which projects were going to hit hardest.  None.

 

It’s all a crap shoot.  But…if y...

The Last Jedi (2017)

SPOILER-ISH.

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No one reading this needs to be told there is a new “Star Wars” film out. That it deals with Luke and Leia and Rey and Ren and Poe and Finn.  In my humble opinion it rocks.  It has also been more divisive than any SW movie I can think of. The prequels were almost universally panned.  People weren’t split. Here, they are.  Well, there are always reasons to love or hate anything.   Rather than just review the film (go see it!) I thought I’d offer some thoughts on some of t...

Let’s have a ‘Second Level’ Conversation, shall we..?

I find it unuseful to have certain conversations beyond a given point.  In other words, if (for instance) I’ve discussed “does X exist?” for a decade, find that a majority of the best and smartest people I know agree it exists, and have witnessed and experienced the phenomenon myself, I think the sane thing to do is move on to the next subject: “what do we do about X?”

 

There will always be doubters. But especially if the downside for ignoring X is greater than the downside of assuming its e...

Art turns fear into power

Did a terrific show yesterday, on how art turns fear into power.  We focused on a sliver of that: Afrofuturism, specifically Octavia Butler’s fears, how they drove her to excellence, and how Ryan Coogler used fear to go from a boutique film to a 200 million dollar blockbuster.   In the middle, how Jordan Peele used his own fears to propel GET OUT to a quarter billion dollars at the box office.

 

Now, take a step back and look at this process.  It implies that fear can be used as energy, that...

I Dream of Genie…

Octavia Butler told me that the single thing she feared most about humanity was:

The tendency to think hierarchically The tendency to place ourselves higher on that hierarchy than we place others.

 

The application of this notion to race, gender, political life, religion and nationalism are obvious.  Even species-ism.  But there is another application that is part and parcel of this, and inevitable.   And both terrifying and a door to wonder, depending upon perspective.

 

If our hierarchic...

Ikigai

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Some observations on this:

The things you are good at are usually the things you spend the most time doing.   If you love it, you’ll do it, and if you do it, you get better at it.

Finding the things you love requires staying in touch with your heart. This can be mentalized as an “inner child” or “Heartbeat meditation”  but there are other means as well. Find one.

Asking what people NEED is the key to acting in alignment with your greatest good, your higher self, your “elder” or “grandparen...