K.J. Cartmell's Blog, page 5
January 26, 2018
Princess Leia & the Girl
I recently watched on Netflix the first episode of The Toys That Made Us. The focus of the mini-documentary was Star Wars toys. I’m interested in anything Star Wars, but Star Wars toys hold a special place in my heart.
I was a eight years old in the summer of 1977. Star Wars transformed me and focused my creativity for years on spaceships and robots, brave pilots and Jedi Knights. When Star Wars action figures finally came available in 1979, I started collecting, one figure at a time. I still have the majority of the Kenner action figures issued between 1979-1981.
As I grew older, and The Empire Strikes Back toys came out, I became more systematic and discerning. I collected all of the Hoth toys, then all the bounty hunters, then all the Bespin ones. The faces of the Kenner figures were all hand-painted, and I carefully selected toys with good paint jobs.
By the time Return of the Jedi was released into theaters, I was outgrowing toys like this. I bought a few, out of a sense of nostalgia, but I didn’t love any of those toys the way I loved my Boba Fett and my Han Solo Bespin.
I don’t have anything especially valuable. I have the red snaggletooth, rather than the rare blue one. My Jawa has a cloth robe rather than a vinyl one.
All my figures saw heavy action during my childhood. None are in perfect condition. Darth Vader’s vinyl robe is torn at the arm holes. R2D2’s stickers are faded. My original Han Solo, with his black vest, lost his head at one point. It’s attached to his body now with a metal rod, a piece of a paper clip. (He has a bionic neck, I would later joke.)
One figure that I don’t have is a Princess Leia in her white gown. I desperately wanted one. Yet at the moment of truth, money in my hand, I failed to make the purchase. Even though my other guy friends had Princess Leia action figures in their collections, my nine-year old self was afraid to buy one.
I was afraid, mostly, because of Her.
There was a girl in my Third Grade class with fair skin, brown hair and big brown eyes. I adored her from the moment I first saw her. After watching Star Wars for the first time, I walked around in awe, in a dream. As I relived the movie again and again in my head, it was easy to imagine myself as Luke Skywalker, and Her as Princess Leia.
She saw the connection as well, at least between herself and the space opera princess. One Saturday afternoon in the fall of 1977, She came to our elementary school Halloween carnival dressed in a white gown, with yarn buns pinned to her hair.
The boys in my class had been playing Star Wars at lunch since the start of school, running around the yard yelling “Choop-choop!” at each other. I was never high enough on the pecking order to get a plum role. I usually ended up playing the part of Ben Kenobi. (Every time before we played, we had to agree that “this is before he dies.”)
That afternoon, for a few minutes, She and I played Star Wars together. (I was not in costume, but I believe I wore my Star Wars t-shirt, the one with the Hildebrandt picture on it.) With no other boy to compete against, I got to play Luke. For that brief moment, there was a girl to play Princess Leia. Not a rough and tumble tomboy, either, but a pretty princess of a girl, dressed for the part!
I had always been fond of Her, but now I was head over heels in love, as much as a boy that young could be. After the carnival, though, she went back to her circle of friends and I went back to mine. In the 70’s, you stuck with kids of your own gender.
As a First Grader, I had befriended a different girl. She and I held hands a few times, and we kissed. The boys teased me mercilessly afterwards, and we had to stop. Two years later, I still carried the psychological scars from this attack. I was desperately afraid that the boys in my class would uncover my love for this sweet, shy brunette and begin teasing me once more.
For me, owning a Princess Leia action figure was the same as owning a figurine of Her. I was sure that, if I bought one, everyone would know why. They would see it for what it was, an act of devotion towards that little girl.
By the time the Empire Strikes Back toys were out, I was a little older, and a little more confident. I bought a Princess Leia Hoth, and like a busy actress, she played every female character in my creative universe. This Leia, almost sexless in her puffy snowsuit, had lighter hair than my classmate. I never associated this figure with Her, not the way I would have a white-gowned Leia with her dark hair and “buns of Navarone” hairstyle.
I nursed my crush on Her for years and years, but I never did anything about it. We never dated, never danced together. We ran in different circles, and I can count on one hand the moments I spent with Her.
I wish I had been a little more assertive, a little less afraid. I may have gotten a slow dance in the Middle School gym. Maybe even a stolen kiss. At the very least, I would have a 1978 Princess Leia action figure.
I was a eight years old in the summer of 1977. Star Wars transformed me and focused my creativity for years on spaceships and robots, brave pilots and Jedi Knights. When Star Wars action figures finally came available in 1979, I started collecting, one figure at a time. I still have the majority of the Kenner action figures issued between 1979-1981.
As I grew older, and The Empire Strikes Back toys came out, I became more systematic and discerning. I collected all of the Hoth toys, then all the bounty hunters, then all the Bespin ones. The faces of the Kenner figures were all hand-painted, and I carefully selected toys with good paint jobs.
By the time Return of the Jedi was released into theaters, I was outgrowing toys like this. I bought a few, out of a sense of nostalgia, but I didn’t love any of those toys the way I loved my Boba Fett and my Han Solo Bespin.
I don’t have anything especially valuable. I have the red snaggletooth, rather than the rare blue one. My Jawa has a cloth robe rather than a vinyl one.
All my figures saw heavy action during my childhood. None are in perfect condition. Darth Vader’s vinyl robe is torn at the arm holes. R2D2’s stickers are faded. My original Han Solo, with his black vest, lost his head at one point. It’s attached to his body now with a metal rod, a piece of a paper clip. (He has a bionic neck, I would later joke.)
One figure that I don’t have is a Princess Leia in her white gown. I desperately wanted one. Yet at the moment of truth, money in my hand, I failed to make the purchase. Even though my other guy friends had Princess Leia action figures in their collections, my nine-year old self was afraid to buy one.
I was afraid, mostly, because of Her.
There was a girl in my Third Grade class with fair skin, brown hair and big brown eyes. I adored her from the moment I first saw her. After watching Star Wars for the first time, I walked around in awe, in a dream. As I relived the movie again and again in my head, it was easy to imagine myself as Luke Skywalker, and Her as Princess Leia.
She saw the connection as well, at least between herself and the space opera princess. One Saturday afternoon in the fall of 1977, She came to our elementary school Halloween carnival dressed in a white gown, with yarn buns pinned to her hair.
The boys in my class had been playing Star Wars at lunch since the start of school, running around the yard yelling “Choop-choop!” at each other. I was never high enough on the pecking order to get a plum role. I usually ended up playing the part of Ben Kenobi. (Every time before we played, we had to agree that “this is before he dies.”)
That afternoon, for a few minutes, She and I played Star Wars together. (I was not in costume, but I believe I wore my Star Wars t-shirt, the one with the Hildebrandt picture on it.) With no other boy to compete against, I got to play Luke. For that brief moment, there was a girl to play Princess Leia. Not a rough and tumble tomboy, either, but a pretty princess of a girl, dressed for the part!
I had always been fond of Her, but now I was head over heels in love, as much as a boy that young could be. After the carnival, though, she went back to her circle of friends and I went back to mine. In the 70’s, you stuck with kids of your own gender.
As a First Grader, I had befriended a different girl. She and I held hands a few times, and we kissed. The boys teased me mercilessly afterwards, and we had to stop. Two years later, I still carried the psychological scars from this attack. I was desperately afraid that the boys in my class would uncover my love for this sweet, shy brunette and begin teasing me once more.
For me, owning a Princess Leia action figure was the same as owning a figurine of Her. I was sure that, if I bought one, everyone would know why. They would see it for what it was, an act of devotion towards that little girl.
By the time the Empire Strikes Back toys were out, I was a little older, and a little more confident. I bought a Princess Leia Hoth, and like a busy actress, she played every female character in my creative universe. This Leia, almost sexless in her puffy snowsuit, had lighter hair than my classmate. I never associated this figure with Her, not the way I would have a white-gowned Leia with her dark hair and “buns of Navarone” hairstyle.
I nursed my crush on Her for years and years, but I never did anything about it. We never dated, never danced together. We ran in different circles, and I can count on one hand the moments I spent with Her.
I wish I had been a little more assertive, a little less afraid. I may have gotten a slow dance in the Middle School gym. Maybe even a stolen kiss. At the very least, I would have a 1978 Princess Leia action figure.
January 4, 2018
Vote in 2018!
2018 is here. Barring horrific catastrophe (I feel compelled to say that these days), the United States will be voting for House and Senate seats in November. Every House seat will be up for a vote, along with 34 Senate seats.
Conventional wisdom states that the Republicans are in for a “shellacking.” They are linked both to an unpopular president and to unpopular legislative efforts to deny people health care and to give tax breaks to the ultra-rich. They certainly deserve to be routed, but we cannot be certain that this will actually happen. November is a long way off. The wealthy and powerful have time to scheme to protect the status quo.
To put it plainly, if we want to see change in this country, we must vote. Do not wait, however, for November. Each state holds primary elections. Usually, only “hard core” voters vote in the primary. “Average” voters wait until November.
This pattern must stop. If you are eligible to vote, you need to vote in your state’s primary. Step One: are you registered? Take care of that now, before it's too late. You can register to vote at your local election office or at your state’s department of motor vehicles. Look for both Republicans and Democrats making “get out the vote” drives as the elections draw nearer, but the sooner you engage in the process, the better.
Next step: Get excited about voting! Research your House and Senate candidates and find someone to back. (My personal crusade here in California is for US Senate candidate Kevin DeLeon, making a progressive challenge to incumbent Democrat Dianne Feinstein.) Get on your candidate’s email list, like their Facebook page, etc. Find out when the Primary is and make plans to show up.
Then: pass it on. Make sure your friends and family members are registered to vote, and get them excited about your candidate. Make sure everyone has a plan to vote on the day of the primary.
If you aren’t yet old enough to vote, you can still do many of these things. You can research candidates on the internet, and hold your own voter registration drive within your extended family. Make sure your older siblings and cousins, and your parents too, are all registered. Get them excited about the candidate you’ve discovered.
You can register to vote if you are not yet eighteen, so long as you will be eighteen by Election Day. Check your state’s regulations for more details.
Do you think you’re too young to understand the issues? I think you’re old enough. So much of politics is scapegoats and red herrings. Keep it simple. What would make your life, and your family’s life, better? What would make you feel safer? If a politician isn’t talking about things that would make a difference to your life, move on to someone else.
When you find the right person, you’ll know it.
All of our futures depend on us finding those right people and sending them to Washington. Time to get started.
Conventional wisdom states that the Republicans are in for a “shellacking.” They are linked both to an unpopular president and to unpopular legislative efforts to deny people health care and to give tax breaks to the ultra-rich. They certainly deserve to be routed, but we cannot be certain that this will actually happen. November is a long way off. The wealthy and powerful have time to scheme to protect the status quo.
To put it plainly, if we want to see change in this country, we must vote. Do not wait, however, for November. Each state holds primary elections. Usually, only “hard core” voters vote in the primary. “Average” voters wait until November.
This pattern must stop. If you are eligible to vote, you need to vote in your state’s primary. Step One: are you registered? Take care of that now, before it's too late. You can register to vote at your local election office or at your state’s department of motor vehicles. Look for both Republicans and Democrats making “get out the vote” drives as the elections draw nearer, but the sooner you engage in the process, the better.
Next step: Get excited about voting! Research your House and Senate candidates and find someone to back. (My personal crusade here in California is for US Senate candidate Kevin DeLeon, making a progressive challenge to incumbent Democrat Dianne Feinstein.) Get on your candidate’s email list, like their Facebook page, etc. Find out when the Primary is and make plans to show up.
Then: pass it on. Make sure your friends and family members are registered to vote, and get them excited about your candidate. Make sure everyone has a plan to vote on the day of the primary.
If you aren’t yet old enough to vote, you can still do many of these things. You can research candidates on the internet, and hold your own voter registration drive within your extended family. Make sure your older siblings and cousins, and your parents too, are all registered. Get them excited about the candidate you’ve discovered.
You can register to vote if you are not yet eighteen, so long as you will be eighteen by Election Day. Check your state’s regulations for more details.
Do you think you’re too young to understand the issues? I think you’re old enough. So much of politics is scapegoats and red herrings. Keep it simple. What would make your life, and your family’s life, better? What would make you feel safer? If a politician isn’t talking about things that would make a difference to your life, move on to someone else.
When you find the right person, you’ll know it.
All of our futures depend on us finding those right people and sending them to Washington. Time to get started.
November 12, 2017
Tax Cuts: Myth vs Reality
Tax Cuts: Myth vs Reality
The narrative on Tax Cuts is rarely challenged in the mainstream media. It’s repeated so often, you would be forgiven if you thought of it as fact. Here’s how it goes:
“Tax cuts stimulate the economy. They put money back into the pockets of working people, who in turn, spend that money on houses, cars, televisions and refrigerators. Corporations use the money they spend from tax cuts to hire more workers and pay them better. The growth generated by all this spending more than offsets the loss of revenue to the Federal government.”
It’s a nice story, and many people believe it. However, it’s completely false. There is over thirty years of economic data to prove that tax cuts doesn’t do any of the above. The economy can stall after a big tax cut, and the Federal deficit and National Debt balloon out of control. In exchange for a few extra dollars in their paycheck, working people suffer when taxes are cut.
Let’s break down where this story goes off the track, starting with the “money back into the pockets of working people” part. I get paid twice a week at my day job. On my last check, I paid $191.26 in taxes to the Federal Government. If the Republicans in Congress gave me a 20% tax break (and, no one is suggesting a cut that steep for middle class workers), that would be an extra $38.25 in my paycheck.
$38.25 would fill the tank of my Subaru Impreza. If I drank coffee, that money would buy me a few cups. It might be enough to pay for a dinner out with my wife. Most likely, the tax cut that does come down (if it comes down at all) would be more like 5-10%, which would be even less.
What would help me and my family far more would be a cut in my health insurance premiums. That would free up a significant amount of money for new purchases. But, that won’t happen with this Congress.
What about corporate taxes? If companies had more money, wouldn’t they hire more people and pay them better? Well, if you follow the business news, you know that corporations are already flush with cash. It’s estimated that Apple has $128 billion stashed in offshore tax havens, and they are hardly an isolated case. That money isn’t going to salaries. It’s not even going to research and development. It’s just sitting there.
Corporations have spent billions in recent years buying back stock. They do this to decrease the number of shareholders and prop up their earnings per share ratio. In 2016, Disney spent $7.6 billion buying back 73.8 million shares. From 2004-2014, Chevron spent $45 billion on share repurchases. This is money that went to shareholders rather than employees in the form of salaries and benefits.
Corporations already have more money than they know what to do with. Unless Congress is going to put provisions in the law, stating that tax savings must go to salaries of front line workers, a tax cut to big business will do nothing to help the economy.
Our country, with $20 trillion in debt, shouldn’t be cutting anybody’s taxes. What we need is actually the opposite. We need to raise taxes. Raise corporate taxes, close down the offshore accounts, increase taxes on billionaires. Invest that money in infrastructure, teachers, nurses, police and firefighters. Those salaries will drive the economic boom we have been waiting for.
The narrative on Tax Cuts is rarely challenged in the mainstream media. It’s repeated so often, you would be forgiven if you thought of it as fact. Here’s how it goes:
“Tax cuts stimulate the economy. They put money back into the pockets of working people, who in turn, spend that money on houses, cars, televisions and refrigerators. Corporations use the money they spend from tax cuts to hire more workers and pay them better. The growth generated by all this spending more than offsets the loss of revenue to the Federal government.”
It’s a nice story, and many people believe it. However, it’s completely false. There is over thirty years of economic data to prove that tax cuts doesn’t do any of the above. The economy can stall after a big tax cut, and the Federal deficit and National Debt balloon out of control. In exchange for a few extra dollars in their paycheck, working people suffer when taxes are cut.
Let’s break down where this story goes off the track, starting with the “money back into the pockets of working people” part. I get paid twice a week at my day job. On my last check, I paid $191.26 in taxes to the Federal Government. If the Republicans in Congress gave me a 20% tax break (and, no one is suggesting a cut that steep for middle class workers), that would be an extra $38.25 in my paycheck.
$38.25 would fill the tank of my Subaru Impreza. If I drank coffee, that money would buy me a few cups. It might be enough to pay for a dinner out with my wife. Most likely, the tax cut that does come down (if it comes down at all) would be more like 5-10%, which would be even less.
What would help me and my family far more would be a cut in my health insurance premiums. That would free up a significant amount of money for new purchases. But, that won’t happen with this Congress.
What about corporate taxes? If companies had more money, wouldn’t they hire more people and pay them better? Well, if you follow the business news, you know that corporations are already flush with cash. It’s estimated that Apple has $128 billion stashed in offshore tax havens, and they are hardly an isolated case. That money isn’t going to salaries. It’s not even going to research and development. It’s just sitting there.
Corporations have spent billions in recent years buying back stock. They do this to decrease the number of shareholders and prop up their earnings per share ratio. In 2016, Disney spent $7.6 billion buying back 73.8 million shares. From 2004-2014, Chevron spent $45 billion on share repurchases. This is money that went to shareholders rather than employees in the form of salaries and benefits.
Corporations already have more money than they know what to do with. Unless Congress is going to put provisions in the law, stating that tax savings must go to salaries of front line workers, a tax cut to big business will do nothing to help the economy.
Our country, with $20 trillion in debt, shouldn’t be cutting anybody’s taxes. What we need is actually the opposite. We need to raise taxes. Raise corporate taxes, close down the offshore accounts, increase taxes on billionaires. Invest that money in infrastructure, teachers, nurses, police and firefighters. Those salaries will drive the economic boom we have been waiting for.
November 2, 2017
Meeting Joan Osborne
On a Friday, late in October 2017, I caught Joan Osborne playing at an intimate theater in my hometown. I sat front row as she and her accompanist, keyboardist Keith Cotton, ran through a set of Bob Dylan songs. It was great to hear these amazing songs brought through Osborne’s sultry, soulful filter.
The last song of the night was one of her own, St. Teresa, a long time favorite of mine. It contains the line, “Every stone a story, like a rosary,” which I pilfered for the title of a short story collection I have on Tablo.io. I was very happy to hear her sing it live.
After the show, I hung around and spoke to the opening act, young Will Champlin, an amazing up and coming talent. Then, Joan herself came out from backstage, sat at a table and signed some autographs. I got in line and took a minute of her time. I thanked her for playing “St. Teresa,” and told her another of her songs, “Poison Apples,” was a favorite, too.
Her eyes lit up with surprise. “Poison Apples! I gotta bring that one back!” (Note, if you want to impress someone like this, let her know that your favorite song is a deep track on one of her early albums. But honestly, I love that song, and I make mention of it in my book The Gospel of Thomas.)
She signed my ticket and shook my hand. Still very much the 20th Century guy, I have her autograph, but not her picture on my cell phone.
The heart of the concert was her fierce performance of the VietNam era protest song, “Masters of War.” It felt like the song was written yesterday. Dylan’s words transferred easily from their original context into our own, troubled times. Joan let us know she had fans all along the political spectrum, and she bemoaned the bitterness and the deep divides in the politics of the United States. She said, “We will not be able to hate our way out of our current situation.”
That was music to the ears of this writer of love stories. Love is the answer, the way forward, the stronger power still. I celebrate love and teach about love in the time honored way, through my stories.
If you haven't had the opportunity to read my fiction, I invite you to Tablo.io to read my anthology, "Every Stone a Story." I’d love to hear which story reached you, and what you thought about it.
https://tablo.io/kj-cartmell/every-st...
The last song of the night was one of her own, St. Teresa, a long time favorite of mine. It contains the line, “Every stone a story, like a rosary,” which I pilfered for the title of a short story collection I have on Tablo.io. I was very happy to hear her sing it live.
After the show, I hung around and spoke to the opening act, young Will Champlin, an amazing up and coming talent. Then, Joan herself came out from backstage, sat at a table and signed some autographs. I got in line and took a minute of her time. I thanked her for playing “St. Teresa,” and told her another of her songs, “Poison Apples,” was a favorite, too.
Her eyes lit up with surprise. “Poison Apples! I gotta bring that one back!” (Note, if you want to impress someone like this, let her know that your favorite song is a deep track on one of her early albums. But honestly, I love that song, and I make mention of it in my book The Gospel of Thomas.)
She signed my ticket and shook my hand. Still very much the 20th Century guy, I have her autograph, but not her picture on my cell phone.
The heart of the concert was her fierce performance of the VietNam era protest song, “Masters of War.” It felt like the song was written yesterday. Dylan’s words transferred easily from their original context into our own, troubled times. Joan let us know she had fans all along the political spectrum, and she bemoaned the bitterness and the deep divides in the politics of the United States. She said, “We will not be able to hate our way out of our current situation.”
That was music to the ears of this writer of love stories. Love is the answer, the way forward, the stronger power still. I celebrate love and teach about love in the time honored way, through my stories.
If you haven't had the opportunity to read my fiction, I invite you to Tablo.io to read my anthology, "Every Stone a Story." I’d love to hear which story reached you, and what you thought about it.
https://tablo.io/kj-cartmell/every-st...
October 10, 2017
Bladerunner 2049
I understand that Bladerunner 2049 is not doing well at the box office, and probably will not have a long run in theaters. It is urgent that you see this movie now, while you still can. This is an amazing film, thought-provoking and deeply moving.
If it's so great, why is it bombing? Well, it's dark, bleak and very cerebral. Not typical characteristics of American cinema, we must admit. Like his earlier film, Arrival, Denis Villeneuve has made a movie that will go over the heads of most people. Like Arrival, it's not particularly fast moving, or scary in a thriller sort of way.
Bladerunner 2049 is scary in a "the world's going to hell in a handbasket" sort of way. That also may be part of its problem. Audiences are looking for a little more optimism in this dark year.
All that aside, I still loved this movie. It's not only a terrific tribute to the original Bladerunner, but it expands upon the concepts of the earlier film. 2049 delves deeper into the issues of freedom and slavery, of what it means to be alive, of thinking for oneself rather than simply following orders.
The movie is beautiful - even the devastated post-apocalyptic landscape has an eerie beauty to it. The soundtrack by Hans Zimmer & Benjamin Wallfisch beautifully evokes the original Vangelis compositions. (I sat through the end credits to see who the composer had been. I was convinced that it had been Vangelis.)
If you haven't seen the original Bladerunner, I'm afraid that nothing in 2049 will make any sense. If that's the case for you, you have two movies to see. (I'm giving you homework, but it's fun homework.) Find the Bladerunner marked "The Final Cut" and watch that. Then, go see the new movie. It will make a great double feature.
There's plenty of standard fare out in the theaters and on DVD for you to watch. If you want something very different, that will make you think, that will expand your ideas about what is possible in cinematic storytelling, go see this movie. See it tonight! Friday may be too late.
If it's so great, why is it bombing? Well, it's dark, bleak and very cerebral. Not typical characteristics of American cinema, we must admit. Like his earlier film, Arrival, Denis Villeneuve has made a movie that will go over the heads of most people. Like Arrival, it's not particularly fast moving, or scary in a thriller sort of way.
Bladerunner 2049 is scary in a "the world's going to hell in a handbasket" sort of way. That also may be part of its problem. Audiences are looking for a little more optimism in this dark year.
All that aside, I still loved this movie. It's not only a terrific tribute to the original Bladerunner, but it expands upon the concepts of the earlier film. 2049 delves deeper into the issues of freedom and slavery, of what it means to be alive, of thinking for oneself rather than simply following orders.
The movie is beautiful - even the devastated post-apocalyptic landscape has an eerie beauty to it. The soundtrack by Hans Zimmer & Benjamin Wallfisch beautifully evokes the original Vangelis compositions. (I sat through the end credits to see who the composer had been. I was convinced that it had been Vangelis.)
If you haven't seen the original Bladerunner, I'm afraid that nothing in 2049 will make any sense. If that's the case for you, you have two movies to see. (I'm giving you homework, but it's fun homework.) Find the Bladerunner marked "The Final Cut" and watch that. Then, go see the new movie. It will make a great double feature.
There's plenty of standard fare out in the theaters and on DVD for you to watch. If you want something very different, that will make you think, that will expand your ideas about what is possible in cinematic storytelling, go see this movie. See it tonight! Friday may be too late.
October 1, 2017
An Absolute Necessity
You wouldn’t know it by listening to some of these politicians, but taxes are an absolute necessity. I live in a suburb, with a paved street and nice sidewalk. The people who did the work paving the street and molding the concrete, and the machines they used, were all paid for with taxes.
Think about your local town or city. Every teacher, every school, the police and fire station, all of it was paid for with tax dollars.
We’ve had a series of hurricanes hit the United States recently, causing great damage to Houston, South Florida and Puerto Rico. As of this writing, Puerto Rico is still without power, weeks after Hurricane Maria struck. The combined damage from Harvey, Irma and Maria are estimated to be upwards of $200 billion dollars.
You can’t raise $200 billion dollars fundraising with candy bars and lemonade. That kind of money only comes from big governments with large amounts of tax dollars at their disposal.
Climatologists predict that hurricanes and super storms will be only more frequent. Next year, we could be recovering from another big storm, shelling out another $100 billion in tax dollars.
The problem is, the United States spends more every year than we take in in taxes. Our deficit this year, basically the amount we’re putting on our National Credit Card, is $693 billion dollars. The total bill, the National Debt, is $20 trillion dollars. That works out to $61,981 per citizen, whether or not you are old enough to vote. People who are not born yet will be paying off this debt with their taxes.
I could go on and talk about Social Security, Medicare, wars in the Middle East, etc., but I think you understand. Tax dollars make all of this possible.
Talking about cutting taxes, reducing Federal revenues, is utterly irresponsible. Taking in less money will only give us less for teachers and police officers, less for hurricanes, less money to pay off that enormous debt. If anything, we need to raise taxes.
You have skin in this game, my friends, to the tune of $62,000. You need to make your voice heard.
Check out this link for more information: http://www.usdebtclock.org/
Think about your local town or city. Every teacher, every school, the police and fire station, all of it was paid for with tax dollars.
We’ve had a series of hurricanes hit the United States recently, causing great damage to Houston, South Florida and Puerto Rico. As of this writing, Puerto Rico is still without power, weeks after Hurricane Maria struck. The combined damage from Harvey, Irma and Maria are estimated to be upwards of $200 billion dollars.
You can’t raise $200 billion dollars fundraising with candy bars and lemonade. That kind of money only comes from big governments with large amounts of tax dollars at their disposal.
Climatologists predict that hurricanes and super storms will be only more frequent. Next year, we could be recovering from another big storm, shelling out another $100 billion in tax dollars.
The problem is, the United States spends more every year than we take in in taxes. Our deficit this year, basically the amount we’re putting on our National Credit Card, is $693 billion dollars. The total bill, the National Debt, is $20 trillion dollars. That works out to $61,981 per citizen, whether or not you are old enough to vote. People who are not born yet will be paying off this debt with their taxes.
I could go on and talk about Social Security, Medicare, wars in the Middle East, etc., but I think you understand. Tax dollars make all of this possible.
Talking about cutting taxes, reducing Federal revenues, is utterly irresponsible. Taking in less money will only give us less for teachers and police officers, less for hurricanes, less money to pay off that enormous debt. If anything, we need to raise taxes.
You have skin in this game, my friends, to the tune of $62,000. You need to make your voice heard.
Check out this link for more information: http://www.usdebtclock.org/
August 21, 2017
Combating Racists
What’s the most effective way to combat white supremacists? Matching violence with more violence only plays into the hands of the extremists.
After the riots in Charlottesville VA that left one peaceful protester dead, President Trump blamed “both sides” for the conflicts.This preposterous statement, condemned on both sides of the aisle, provided cover for the KKK and the other white supremacist hate groups. KKK leader David Duke praised Trump’s statement in a tweet, justifying his own group’s violence by saying that the Antifa and Black Lives Matter crowd were violent, too.
Logical arguments about the benefits of a diverse society will never win over the likes of David Duke. There is no compromise, no middle ground available to the white supremacist. Either he is absolutely right, and God has blessed Caucasians with the duty and privilege to dominate and oppress all other peoples on Earth, or he is completely, terribly, tragically wrong.
If black lives matter today, then they mattered back then, too, and his ancestors, instead of sitting at the right hand of God, may instead be burning in Hell. David Duke would rather go to his grave, convinced of his righteousness, than to admit that he and his kind must atone for 400+ years of crimes against humanity.
So, what are we to do? We cannot save the committed racists. They need to die of old age and disappear into dusty history books. But, there were plenty of people at Charlottesville who were simply angry. Alt-right media outlets like Breitbart News are appealing to these men by giving them a scapegoat, a target upon which to vent their anger and frustration. “The blacks, the women, the foreigners, they are taking away your jobs and driving you into poverty. We will help you get back what is yours!”
It’s a seductive argument, one that plays on fear and anger rather than logic. Our challenge as a civilized, diverse, liberal society is to keep these young working class white men from becoming the next generation of hard core white supremacists.
How to we do that? As I have pointed out in previous blogs, anti-establishment anger is real and legitimate. Wages for most people have stagnated. Costs, particularly insurance premiums and drug prices, have risen astronomically. Economic and political power is being concentrated into a few wealthy families who have little understanding or regard for the struggles of regular people.
The solution, not just for white men, but for men of other ethnicities too, is good high paying jobs and comprehensive, affordable health care. For the health care piece, I recommend adopting universal health coverage, coupled with controls on drug prices. To bring thousands of necessary, high paying jobs into the economy, nothing beats giant infrastructure projects.
To do both of these will take a big expansion of what former Trump advisor and leader of Breitbart News, Steve Bannon, calls “the administrative state. We will need to raise taxes, particularly on the wealthy, and increase the reach and vigor of Federal regulations.
Steve Bannon and Breitbart News propose to do exactly the opposite of this. Bannon wants to “deconstruct the administrative state,” or in other words, take apart the Federal government, weakening it and making it even less effective than it is now. It is important to note that Breitbart is funded in great part by a pair of millionaires, the Mercers. (They also fund another right wing bastion, the Heritage Foundation.)
The Mercers, and other members of the super-wealthy oligarchy, have the most to lose from Bernie Sanders style populism. It is their taxes that will go up, their slice of the economic prosperity pie that must be reduced. They have a vested interest in pitting one group of working class men against another. This tearing of our social fabric, combined with policies that amount to vandalism upon our institutions and ideals, is the real danger, the representative democracy.
This is the group we must beat, the millionaires and billionaires who buy politicians to say and do whatever makes them the most money, while at the same time propping up a dying, racist creed via their media empires. We must defeat them, not with torches and guillotines, but at the ballot box. We can defeat them in the way that we treat others in our daily lives, and by posting positive messages on truly free speech forums such as this one.
If we can make Washington work again for everyone, we can grow the middle class and infuse the economy with good paying jobs accessible to everyone in every corner of our nation. This will not only bring about widespread prosperity, but it should mute the seductive, siren call of the alt-right hate media. We will deny white supremacists the new young recruits needed to keep their ideology alive.
After the riots in Charlottesville VA that left one peaceful protester dead, President Trump blamed “both sides” for the conflicts.This preposterous statement, condemned on both sides of the aisle, provided cover for the KKK and the other white supremacist hate groups. KKK leader David Duke praised Trump’s statement in a tweet, justifying his own group’s violence by saying that the Antifa and Black Lives Matter crowd were violent, too.
Logical arguments about the benefits of a diverse society will never win over the likes of David Duke. There is no compromise, no middle ground available to the white supremacist. Either he is absolutely right, and God has blessed Caucasians with the duty and privilege to dominate and oppress all other peoples on Earth, or he is completely, terribly, tragically wrong.
If black lives matter today, then they mattered back then, too, and his ancestors, instead of sitting at the right hand of God, may instead be burning in Hell. David Duke would rather go to his grave, convinced of his righteousness, than to admit that he and his kind must atone for 400+ years of crimes against humanity.
So, what are we to do? We cannot save the committed racists. They need to die of old age and disappear into dusty history books. But, there were plenty of people at Charlottesville who were simply angry. Alt-right media outlets like Breitbart News are appealing to these men by giving them a scapegoat, a target upon which to vent their anger and frustration. “The blacks, the women, the foreigners, they are taking away your jobs and driving you into poverty. We will help you get back what is yours!”
It’s a seductive argument, one that plays on fear and anger rather than logic. Our challenge as a civilized, diverse, liberal society is to keep these young working class white men from becoming the next generation of hard core white supremacists.
How to we do that? As I have pointed out in previous blogs, anti-establishment anger is real and legitimate. Wages for most people have stagnated. Costs, particularly insurance premiums and drug prices, have risen astronomically. Economic and political power is being concentrated into a few wealthy families who have little understanding or regard for the struggles of regular people.
The solution, not just for white men, but for men of other ethnicities too, is good high paying jobs and comprehensive, affordable health care. For the health care piece, I recommend adopting universal health coverage, coupled with controls on drug prices. To bring thousands of necessary, high paying jobs into the economy, nothing beats giant infrastructure projects.
To do both of these will take a big expansion of what former Trump advisor and leader of Breitbart News, Steve Bannon, calls “the administrative state. We will need to raise taxes, particularly on the wealthy, and increase the reach and vigor of Federal regulations.
Steve Bannon and Breitbart News propose to do exactly the opposite of this. Bannon wants to “deconstruct the administrative state,” or in other words, take apart the Federal government, weakening it and making it even less effective than it is now. It is important to note that Breitbart is funded in great part by a pair of millionaires, the Mercers. (They also fund another right wing bastion, the Heritage Foundation.)
The Mercers, and other members of the super-wealthy oligarchy, have the most to lose from Bernie Sanders style populism. It is their taxes that will go up, their slice of the economic prosperity pie that must be reduced. They have a vested interest in pitting one group of working class men against another. This tearing of our social fabric, combined with policies that amount to vandalism upon our institutions and ideals, is the real danger, the representative democracy.
This is the group we must beat, the millionaires and billionaires who buy politicians to say and do whatever makes them the most money, while at the same time propping up a dying, racist creed via their media empires. We must defeat them, not with torches and guillotines, but at the ballot box. We can defeat them in the way that we treat others in our daily lives, and by posting positive messages on truly free speech forums such as this one.
If we can make Washington work again for everyone, we can grow the middle class and infuse the economy with good paying jobs accessible to everyone in every corner of our nation. This will not only bring about widespread prosperity, but it should mute the seductive, siren call of the alt-right hate media. We will deny white supremacists the new young recruits needed to keep their ideology alive.
July 19, 2017
Wanted: Two New Political Parties
The United States’ system of government is not broken. We may have, collectively, made a poor choice of president. We may be frustrated by our legislature’s lack of progress on key issues, but there’s nothing structurally wrong with the way the United States runs. The three branch Constitutional government that has served us for so long is still viable.
I’m even in favor of keeping the Electoral College, though it disadvantages populous states such as California, where I live. I understand the reasons why the Founders created Electoral College; their reasons for doing so are still valid.
I want to keep the two party system, too. Though it’s not an official part of the Constitution, it works pretty well. I think it is more effective than the Balkanized, multi-party systems in many Parliamentary governments.
What the United States needs right now is two new political parties. We need to throw both the Republican party and the Democratic party into the dustbin of history and start over again.
No matter what the source of one’s news is, it should be painfully obvious to everyone that the Republican Party has lost its ability to function properly. Despite controlling both the House, the Senate and the White House, the Republicans have been unable to enact a coherent legislative program.
We should not be debating how many millions of people should lose health coverage, or whether or not women in their twenties actually need maternity coverage on their plans. There has been no debate whatsoever on the true causes of rising healthcare costs: monopolistic consolidation in the industry; unregulated markets causing absurd, inhumane price hikes; a medical industry focused more on corporate profits than the health and welfare of its patients.
Republican elected officials no longer serve the people who elected them. They have been utterly corrupted by the money flooding in to fund their campaigns. They have become thralls of their corporate sponsors and billionaire donors.
I wish I could say with conviction that the Democratic Party is much better. Their failure in the last election, not only to elect Hillary Clinton but also to wrest the Senate from Republican control, speaks to an uninspired agenda that is failing to speak to large swaths of the country.
All the energy and enthusiasm on the left is coming from the Progressive wing, headed by Bernie Sanders. Sanders articulated a program that energized and inspired his young followers. Mainstream Democrats, however, are deeply resistant to Sanders’ agenda, including his call for universal health coverage.
In California, we have the opposite situation from that of Washington’s: the Democrats control both State Houses and the Governor’s Mansion. (Wise, savvy, experienced Governor Jerry Brown is the anti-Trump). Still, we cannot get a universal health care proposal through the legislative process.
It’s not the people who are “uncomfortable” and “not ready” for this initiative. It’s the donors funding the Democratic Party who are uncomfortable. (For the same reason, there has been no effort by Democrats to control medical costs by setting limits on payments and caps on drug prices.)
The Democrats are drinking from the same well as the Republicans. The only difference, as Ralph Nader pointed out almost twenty years ago, is how low they are willing to grovel.
These two political parties are too comfortable with the status quo and too corrupted by monied interests to be effective. We need to start over. Here’s what the new Conservative and Progressive parties could look like.
I have always been uncomfortable with the cozy relationship between the Republican Party and the Evangelical Christian community. I felt, from the Republican’s standpoint, that this was a violation of the Constitution’s separation of Church and State. The Evangelicals, meanwhile, were allying themselves to people who were exploiting their votes while sharing none of their values.
I would like to see the Evangelical community reach out their hand in friendship, not just to the Catholic, Jewish and Mormon communities, but also to Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and other religions represented within our ever more diverse populace. The Leaders from each of these communities could come together and forge a consensus over common principles. This would not be a Constitutional violation, because no single religion would be gaining the upper hand over the others. Nor would the result of this confluence be a single Federal religion. Each community would still keep their unique beliefs and traits.
This would be a true Conservative Party, full of wisdom and learning. They would be cautious and prudent. Like the Republican Party of old, they would be concerned not simply with cutting taxes, but with using the people’s taxes wisely, seeking to invest tax dollars in the most effective programs and policies. Their symbol would not a be an elephant, but rather, a compass, for this party would be the moral compass of the entire nation.
Opposing them, vigorously, passionately, but with the dynamics of a family rather than that of two countries at war, would be a new Progressive Party. This would be the party of youth, of enthusiasm, of experimentation. They would see a problem and want to fix it; they would want to change things to see if they could make it better. Their agenda: universal health coverage, tuition free college education, and other key items from the platform of their patron saint, Bernie Sanders.
And their symbol? Not the donkey, but the little Bernie Bird.
I’m even in favor of keeping the Electoral College, though it disadvantages populous states such as California, where I live. I understand the reasons why the Founders created Electoral College; their reasons for doing so are still valid.
I want to keep the two party system, too. Though it’s not an official part of the Constitution, it works pretty well. I think it is more effective than the Balkanized, multi-party systems in many Parliamentary governments.
What the United States needs right now is two new political parties. We need to throw both the Republican party and the Democratic party into the dustbin of history and start over again.
No matter what the source of one’s news is, it should be painfully obvious to everyone that the Republican Party has lost its ability to function properly. Despite controlling both the House, the Senate and the White House, the Republicans have been unable to enact a coherent legislative program.
We should not be debating how many millions of people should lose health coverage, or whether or not women in their twenties actually need maternity coverage on their plans. There has been no debate whatsoever on the true causes of rising healthcare costs: monopolistic consolidation in the industry; unregulated markets causing absurd, inhumane price hikes; a medical industry focused more on corporate profits than the health and welfare of its patients.
Republican elected officials no longer serve the people who elected them. They have been utterly corrupted by the money flooding in to fund their campaigns. They have become thralls of their corporate sponsors and billionaire donors.
I wish I could say with conviction that the Democratic Party is much better. Their failure in the last election, not only to elect Hillary Clinton but also to wrest the Senate from Republican control, speaks to an uninspired agenda that is failing to speak to large swaths of the country.
All the energy and enthusiasm on the left is coming from the Progressive wing, headed by Bernie Sanders. Sanders articulated a program that energized and inspired his young followers. Mainstream Democrats, however, are deeply resistant to Sanders’ agenda, including his call for universal health coverage.
In California, we have the opposite situation from that of Washington’s: the Democrats control both State Houses and the Governor’s Mansion. (Wise, savvy, experienced Governor Jerry Brown is the anti-Trump). Still, we cannot get a universal health care proposal through the legislative process.
It’s not the people who are “uncomfortable” and “not ready” for this initiative. It’s the donors funding the Democratic Party who are uncomfortable. (For the same reason, there has been no effort by Democrats to control medical costs by setting limits on payments and caps on drug prices.)
The Democrats are drinking from the same well as the Republicans. The only difference, as Ralph Nader pointed out almost twenty years ago, is how low they are willing to grovel.
These two political parties are too comfortable with the status quo and too corrupted by monied interests to be effective. We need to start over. Here’s what the new Conservative and Progressive parties could look like.
I have always been uncomfortable with the cozy relationship between the Republican Party and the Evangelical Christian community. I felt, from the Republican’s standpoint, that this was a violation of the Constitution’s separation of Church and State. The Evangelicals, meanwhile, were allying themselves to people who were exploiting their votes while sharing none of their values.
I would like to see the Evangelical community reach out their hand in friendship, not just to the Catholic, Jewish and Mormon communities, but also to Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and other religions represented within our ever more diverse populace. The Leaders from each of these communities could come together and forge a consensus over common principles. This would not be a Constitutional violation, because no single religion would be gaining the upper hand over the others. Nor would the result of this confluence be a single Federal religion. Each community would still keep their unique beliefs and traits.
This would be a true Conservative Party, full of wisdom and learning. They would be cautious and prudent. Like the Republican Party of old, they would be concerned not simply with cutting taxes, but with using the people’s taxes wisely, seeking to invest tax dollars in the most effective programs and policies. Their symbol would not a be an elephant, but rather, a compass, for this party would be the moral compass of the entire nation.
Opposing them, vigorously, passionately, but with the dynamics of a family rather than that of two countries at war, would be a new Progressive Party. This would be the party of youth, of enthusiasm, of experimentation. They would see a problem and want to fix it; they would want to change things to see if they could make it better. Their agenda: universal health coverage, tuition free college education, and other key items from the platform of their patron saint, Bernie Sanders.
And their symbol? Not the donkey, but the little Bernie Bird.
June 27, 2017
San Francisco Values
I understand that the term "San Francisco Values" is still a pejorative term in some parts of the United States. I was thinking about this on Sunday night, as I was picking up my in-laws at the train station. John & Lianne were coming home from a vacation in France. They took the train from the airport to our sleepy suburb 50 miles to the east.
Their train ride coincided with the end of Pride festivities in San Francisco. As Lisa and I waited, we saw crowds of colorful people coming off the train and dispersing to parts farther east. Watching these folks walk past, I reflected that, thirty years ago, these festivities were pretty much limited to San Francisco proper. 30 years ago all my gay friends were still keeping their secrets (at least, from me anyway.) Now, gay, lesbian, trans, queer, poly, on and on, it's all out in the open, familiar to the point of being ordinary.
Last weekend, we were celebrating pride in our diversity; we were celebrating our friends and family members who can be themselves without fear of reprisal or harassment. Pride parades were happening in major cities across the world; even in our sheltered little suburb, people were celebrating. These aren't just San Francisco Values anymore. These are American Values. These are World Values.
Their train ride coincided with the end of Pride festivities in San Francisco. As Lisa and I waited, we saw crowds of colorful people coming off the train and dispersing to parts farther east. Watching these folks walk past, I reflected that, thirty years ago, these festivities were pretty much limited to San Francisco proper. 30 years ago all my gay friends were still keeping their secrets (at least, from me anyway.) Now, gay, lesbian, trans, queer, poly, on and on, it's all out in the open, familiar to the point of being ordinary.
Last weekend, we were celebrating pride in our diversity; we were celebrating our friends and family members who can be themselves without fear of reprisal or harassment. Pride parades were happening in major cities across the world; even in our sheltered little suburb, people were celebrating. These aren't just San Francisco Values anymore. These are American Values. These are World Values.
March 26, 2017
Wrestling with the outline
Gospel of Thomas: Wrestling with the outline
This is the second in a series of blogs about my magnum opus, The Gospel of Thomas. Book One, Revelation, is now available on Amazon through GenZ Publishing.
In the first blog, I described the moment of inspiration for The Gospel of Thomas. The concept went through a long gestation and underwent a thorough revision before I was reading to begin drafting.
I initially paired my hero, Thomas, with the eldest of the Godson sisters, beautiful, headstrong Cassidy. Tom and Cassidy were the same age, and knew each other from the neighborhood. He liked her because she was beautiful. She was drawn to him because he was forbidden - he didn’t go to her church or her Christian high school.
As I developed Cassidy’s family, however, I became increasingly interested in Cassidy’s younger sister, Adeline. Unlike Cassidy, whose attitude towards faith and religion were more cavalier, Adeline was a committed, hard core believer. I didn’t want her faith to be blind and shallow, but rich and fully tested.
From the beginning, Adeline has a school-girl crush on her older sister’s boyfriend. Slowly, over time, they grew to be friends, then more than friends. I did not want Thomas and Adeline to be diametrically opposed to one another. Adeline should have doubts and questions that she keeps hidden from her family, and she finds these doubts reflected in Thomas.
I imagined her, as a young girl, sitting on a park bench and discussing religion with a disillusioned Catholic priest. Some of these scenes were humorous while others were profound and haunting.
In another scene, young Adeline acquires a box of college textbooks at a yard sale. The books had belonged to a young collegiate who had died in a car accident. The sisters refer to them as the Dead Boy’s Books. Adeline is drawn to a book about animals. I envisioned a book with many color pictures, accompanied by Attenborough-esque narration. Cassidy peruses the box and discovers a human sexuality textbook, which she promptly confiscates. The books remain a secret between the sisters for years.
I was pleased with these initial ideas, but there were problems, too. I wanted this to be a love story, and I was uncomfortable with the idea of my hero being 2-3 years older than my heroine. If Thomas is 20 and Adeline 17 when the two become physically intimate with one another, the questions of consent and coercion become difficult to answer.
As Adeline grows older, she begins to rebel against her strict family upbringing until she reaches a moment of crisis. In the original outline, when Adeline reaches this point, she is still seventeen. I had the good fortune, in the spring of 2011, of discussing my ideas with a family law judge. Without giving too much away, it made a big difference, legally, if Adeline reaches this scene at 18 rather than 17. If she was still a minor when this incident occurs, my plot could go dramatically off course.
Confronted with these two issues, I decided, in May of 2011, to scrap the initial outline and start over. I wrote out a short story of Thomas and Adeline first meeting. The two strike up a conversation in an airport lobby and discover that they are the same age, from the same neighborhood, but they didn’t know one another because all this time they had gone to different schools. Over a late-night flight to Houston, they fall in love.
I had the first chapter of my novel. It was time to put my outline back together again. For a month, ideas came in a flood. I was writing them down as fast as I could, desperately hoping that I wouldn’t forget some crucial item before I could record it. Crucial scenes from the original concept, including the scenario involving the Dead Boy’s books and the conversations with Father Mahoney, worked their way back into outline. Regretfully, beautiful Cassidy was shunted aside, limited to a handful of scenes.
All this time, I was writing “The Dangers of Black Cats” and Liam Wren and the Dragon Wand for HarryPotterFanFiction.com. On November 25th, 2012, I posted “The Long Goodbye,” Dragon Wand’s final chapter. Eighteen months had passed since I had written that scene at the airport. Nearly four years after I had that early morning daydream, I was finally ready to write The Gospel of Thomas.
This is the second in a series of blogs about my magnum opus, The Gospel of Thomas. Book One, Revelation, is now available on Amazon through GenZ Publishing.
In the first blog, I described the moment of inspiration for The Gospel of Thomas. The concept went through a long gestation and underwent a thorough revision before I was reading to begin drafting.
I initially paired my hero, Thomas, with the eldest of the Godson sisters, beautiful, headstrong Cassidy. Tom and Cassidy were the same age, and knew each other from the neighborhood. He liked her because she was beautiful. She was drawn to him because he was forbidden - he didn’t go to her church or her Christian high school.
As I developed Cassidy’s family, however, I became increasingly interested in Cassidy’s younger sister, Adeline. Unlike Cassidy, whose attitude towards faith and religion were more cavalier, Adeline was a committed, hard core believer. I didn’t want her faith to be blind and shallow, but rich and fully tested.
From the beginning, Adeline has a school-girl crush on her older sister’s boyfriend. Slowly, over time, they grew to be friends, then more than friends. I did not want Thomas and Adeline to be diametrically opposed to one another. Adeline should have doubts and questions that she keeps hidden from her family, and she finds these doubts reflected in Thomas.
I imagined her, as a young girl, sitting on a park bench and discussing religion with a disillusioned Catholic priest. Some of these scenes were humorous while others were profound and haunting.
In another scene, young Adeline acquires a box of college textbooks at a yard sale. The books had belonged to a young collegiate who had died in a car accident. The sisters refer to them as the Dead Boy’s Books. Adeline is drawn to a book about animals. I envisioned a book with many color pictures, accompanied by Attenborough-esque narration. Cassidy peruses the box and discovers a human sexuality textbook, which she promptly confiscates. The books remain a secret between the sisters for years.
I was pleased with these initial ideas, but there were problems, too. I wanted this to be a love story, and I was uncomfortable with the idea of my hero being 2-3 years older than my heroine. If Thomas is 20 and Adeline 17 when the two become physically intimate with one another, the questions of consent and coercion become difficult to answer.
As Adeline grows older, she begins to rebel against her strict family upbringing until she reaches a moment of crisis. In the original outline, when Adeline reaches this point, she is still seventeen. I had the good fortune, in the spring of 2011, of discussing my ideas with a family law judge. Without giving too much away, it made a big difference, legally, if Adeline reaches this scene at 18 rather than 17. If she was still a minor when this incident occurs, my plot could go dramatically off course.
Confronted with these two issues, I decided, in May of 2011, to scrap the initial outline and start over. I wrote out a short story of Thomas and Adeline first meeting. The two strike up a conversation in an airport lobby and discover that they are the same age, from the same neighborhood, but they didn’t know one another because all this time they had gone to different schools. Over a late-night flight to Houston, they fall in love.
I had the first chapter of my novel. It was time to put my outline back together again. For a month, ideas came in a flood. I was writing them down as fast as I could, desperately hoping that I wouldn’t forget some crucial item before I could record it. Crucial scenes from the original concept, including the scenario involving the Dead Boy’s books and the conversations with Father Mahoney, worked their way back into outline. Regretfully, beautiful Cassidy was shunted aside, limited to a handful of scenes.
All this time, I was writing “The Dangers of Black Cats” and Liam Wren and the Dragon Wand for HarryPotterFanFiction.com. On November 25th, 2012, I posted “The Long Goodbye,” Dragon Wand’s final chapter. Eighteen months had passed since I had written that scene at the airport. Nearly four years after I had that early morning daydream, I was finally ready to write The Gospel of Thomas.
