Steven Barnes's Blog, page 47

Seeking the best of the best…questions

Lifewriting deals with the power of myth to create a life of meaning. I apply it specifically to writers (its perfect for them!) but other arenas as well.  The emotional skein which holds the memories of our lives determines how we FEEL about those memories, and our lives, and our dreams, and determines what we will do. Which powerfully affects the results that we get.

Our Afrofuturism class is just a specific adaptation to this idea connected to the vast and bleeding  gaps torn in the social...

Everything I ever say leads to a single thought: Fear and...

Everything I ever say leads to a single thought: Fear and Lies separate you from everything you desire in life, everything you need and deserve.

I believe that with all my heart.  THAT’S the path out of the  trap life will try to put you in.

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I had a dear friend we’ll call Eric.    White guy from Texas.   We met in college, and his sense of humor and wide-ranging mind, and basic decency as a human being made him someone I loved to hang with.

Eric had a wonderful scholarly air, knew somethi...

Afrofuturism and “A Guide for the Married Man” (1967)

 

There is a movie I love for a lot of reasons, especially its 1960’s color palette and attitude,  called A GUIDE FOR THE MARRIED MAN (directed by Gene Kelly!), where Walter Mattau plays a guy  trying to figure out how to cheat and get away with it.

 

It is a series of pretty damned funny Star-studded cameo stories told by Robert Morse (playing the playboy neighbor guru) about various men who used various tactics to various results.  My favorite was “deny deny deny.”

 

Who starred in that one...

Cradle to the Grave

When I was working at the Moonview Sanctuary in Santa Monica, I had the chance to play with some of the most successful, wealthy, and powerful people in the world. It was an incredible honor, but I was forced to “up” my game considerably–there was no room for error at all when you deal with people used to getting results NOW, with access to the most talented and effective facilitators on the planet.

Experimenting, I developed a cluster of effective techniques I would routinely use with them.

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Keeping Octavia’s House a Home

There are two writers I owe the most to, because of the personal connection: Larry Niven, my mentor, and Octavia Butler, my big sister.  She inspired me to believe it was possible to survive in the field with integrity. Watching her over the years from a distance…and then living walking distance from her for about three years when I moved back into my mother’s house in “the old neighborhood”.  Octavia lived on West Boulevard near Washington Boulevard between La Brea and Crenshaw, and because...

Keeping the fire alive

My business partner Victoria and I did a great interview with a PhD who has risen in STEM far, far beyond what her parents or teachers expected.  She had massive physical challenges (I won’t go into that here–we’re creating a very specific course for that. ) But one thing that came out was that all the other people who suffered her ailment are either dead or institutionalized now.

Why?  What was “the difference that made the difference”?

They let their pain beat them.  What did SHE do?  Like...

The Wisdom of “Road House” (1989)

 

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There’s a wonderful speech in one of my favorite bad movies, where Patrick Swayze playing “Dalton”, the ultimate bouncer guru, speaks of his philosophy, the philosophy that led him to never losing a fight in his life.  He speaks to a group of bad-ass streetfighters ready to rumble:

 

Dalton: People who want to have a good time won’t come to a slaughterhouse, and we’ve got entirely too many troublemakers here..Too many uhh, 40 year old adolescents, felons, power drinkers, and trustees of...

Driving with demons

I suspect that most people parroting racist ideology don’t even think they are “racist”. They probably just think they’re being “realistic” or not even noticing their reactions or core beliefs.

 

Over the last few weeks I see an acceleration of comments about “when will black people get over slavery” (as if white people don’t shut down the world for events that took place thousands of years ago.  As if they aren’t now foaming at the mouth to preserve their cultural myths.  I mean history.  Ah...

Give Peace A Chance

What would the world look like if we spent more time supporting our friends than attacking our enemies?

 

A better one, I think.

 

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I have a friend who I respect as much as I respect anyone in my life. A good and decent man I’ve known personally and professionally for decades, who I trust and look up to.   He also supported the Confederate flag, the embodiment of that supposedly mythical Southerner who considers it a matter of “heritage, not hate.”

 

Yes, they actually exist.

 

And after...

Finally figured out my reaction to “Iron Fist”

Here’s my problem with Danny Rand. The other three Defenders got their powers accidentally, and they are all more mature and aware than Rand. Rand supposedly got HIS by studying, training, competing, forging his spirit in the fires of K’un Lun until he emerged the best of the best of the best. He had to absorb their teaching, shift his perspectives on reality and human potential, break conceptual “box” after “box”, go through ego death after ego death, like peeling an onion. He should be more...