Kenneth Atchity's Blog, page 222
November 21, 2012
PUTTING CLIENTS TOGETHER: Story Merchant Client Robert Dembik Interviewed by SM Client Diane Maroney For her IMAGINE PROJECT
Ordinary folks tell extraordinary tales
by Mike Cejka
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Sometimes it's a good thing to pause and take stock in life's lessons.
This week the "Imagine Project" came to Buffalo to do just that. The soon-to-be-published book will highlight some ordinary people with extraordinary stories.
According to Dianne Maroney, book editor and nurse, "We realize everybody has a story and that there will be more compassion and less judgment and more kindness in the world. And just to make the world a little better place."
What sparked the idea was the emotional and physical toll that Maroney dealt with after giving birth to her three-and-a-half month premature daughter.
"I would tell people stories about their premature infants using the word "imagine." So, it was very impactful," Maroney said.
West Seneca native, Robert Dembik is among three from the area that will be featured in the book.
"My guardian angel was coming by," Dembik said. "A doctor saw the whole thing, started CPR on me immediately and it took a couple months to find out that the CPR the gentlemen was doing, was 25 minutes long. So anyone in the health industry knows that 25 minutes, you really shouldn't make it."
According to Tyler Kellogg from Watertown, who will also be profiled in the book, "I found myself depressed and overweight in my sophomore year of college. Instead of going on antidepressants, or down that road, I decided I'd live out of my car for a summer and just commit random acts of kindness for people."
The "Imagine Project" has an inspirational message for all of us:
"We all have challenges, big and small, and certainly some days are better than others. If you think in terms of having the mind set that this too will come to pass," Dembik said.
"Some us live out of a car and help people, some of us play bass guitar in a band, some of us work at a gas station, but it's all important whatever you do. Do it well and make this place a little better for the people who are around," added Kellogg.
Kellogg provided 115 acts of kindness over 65 days during his travels across the eastern United States. Everything from tarring a driveway and planting trees, to just listening to a widower reminisce about his wife.
Realms of Gold: Ritual to Romance Reviewed By Ruth Ann Hixson for Bookpleasures.com
Realms of Gold by Terry Stanfill is a novel in which the author cleverly weaves two plots together. It begins in 1953 with the discovery of major archeological find at a dig in Vix, Burgundy, France. The team digging at the site discover the burial site of a queen or priestess. Among her grave goods is a large bronze cauldron called the Vix Krater.
The first plot involves Italian archeological professor, Giovani Di Serlo, and an antiquities writer for an American magazine, Bianca Caldwell, who meet in Venice as guests invited to a wedding. His cousin is marrying her cousin
The second plot begins in the mountains near the Black Sea. Volcanic eruptions force the people to move west. They are forced to move farther west as the fresh water lake becomes inundated by salt water from the Mediterranean Sea.
Giovanni does not particularly like Bianca. She is not pretty and her clothes are sloppy, her shoes worn down. However, she possesses two things that attracts him: her great-grandmother's diary and a propensity toward visions and dreams.
Bianca returns to New York to find her apartment ransacked but nothing seems to be missing. Except the painting her great-grandmother did of the Campanile in Venice. Then she finds the painting in her raincoat pocket. She had taken it to Venice with her without realizing it.
She returns to her work of writing for a magazine about antiques.
Excerpt: At 32nd and Madison, she turns east...As she nears the corner of Third Avenue, she sees a man in a long black cape standing at the stoplight. Pulled down over his face is a slouch hat like an old fashioned Borsalino.The hat hides his eyes and nose. A muffler covers his chin and mouth. He seems faceless. He reminds her of the man in the old Sandeman Sherry ads. Or of the description of the black cloaked man in Nina's diary. She shivers. And not from the cold.
As she crosses Third Avenue, she thinks she hears his tread behind her; her legs take longer strides towards Grace's. But before she pushes open the door, she turns around. He's across the street, his head bent. Then he disappears around the corner....
Is the figure in the black cape a vision, a phantom from Nina's diary lodged in her mind like a bullet in her brain? Or has she been followed by a flesh and blood man?
....Just after she's gone to bed around one in the morning, she hears the doorbell ring. She won't answer it. Officer De Vita might have been right. Maybe someone is after her--or something in her apartment. The bell rings four more times. If she had a panic button, she would push it. Without turning on the lights, she tiptoes to the door and waits the until the ringing stops. After a few long minutes she peers through the peephole. Nothing. Moving to the window, she sees the back of a man in a black cape crossing the street. Now she's convinced that her visions are crossing over into reality. She grabs the phone. Six hours difference. In Italy that means seven in the morning. She dials Giovanni's cell phone and leaves a message. She's coming.
She hastily packs her bags and books a flight. Before she leaves New York she goes to Bloomingdales for makeup lessons and new clothes. Giovonni meets her in Naples.
From Naples they travel south through Italy. He shows her a drawing on an ancient workshop wall. She recognizes as the Vix Krater. They decide to follow the route the krater would have taken from Sybaris, a destroyed but one time famous trading center, on the southern coast of Italy. Certain that the krater was cast near that city, they set out to follow the route that could have taken it to central France.
The author cleverly twists the threads of the two plots until they can be knotted together in Vix, France. Bianca reveals to Giovanni the visions she has had about the queen with whom the krater was buried. Her name was Zatoria she tells him. She insists the krater was the Grail. She declares that King Arthur was the Roman General Riothamus.
They visit a dig on the top of a hill and the leader of the archeology team tells them that he thinks he has found Camelot. He also tells her that the Avallon in Arthur's legend is at the town of Avallon, France. "There is no Avallon in England," he says.
Reviewed by Ruth Ann Hixson
Reviewer
Ruth Ann Hixson: Ruth has been an avid reader since she first learned
to read. When she was forty-two, she went to college to become a
journalist. She started out as an assistant editor and reporter and
later graduated to Lifestyles Editor. She is now retired and enjoys
writing, editing and book reviewing.
November 20, 2012
STORY MERCHANT CLIENT DIANE MARONEY’S KICKSTART FOR THE IMAGINE PROJECT
The Imagine Project: Ordinary People. Extraordinary Stories.
by
Dianne Maroney
A soulful photography/storybook about ordinary people with extraordinary life stories.
by
Dianne Maroney
A soulful photography/storybook about ordinary people with extraordinary life stories.
November 19, 2012
Newtopia Magazine Interview
Newtopia Magazine
// About Newtopia: a definition
n – a cultural review that examines how our politics and policies are
reflected in our arts, government, and humanities. v – an experimental
form of thought mutation and cross-breeding, providing a unconventional
forum for a range of detailed and informed socio-political opinion and
analysis. adj – words or ideas used for the development of new
possibilities, theories, and solutions for a better world. Often
confused with the word idealistic.
Mongrel Patriot Review: Producer and Writer Kenneth Atchity
A dreamer who realizes his dreams and helps others do the same, Ken
Atchity has impressive credits in the worlds of film, television and
publishing. His long list of academic achievements and awards include a
Fulbright Professorship of American Literature at the University of
Bologna, the Faculty Achievement Award at Occidental College, grants
from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Mellon Awards, and he
was consultant on classical drama for the Mark Taper Forum. He’s
published over a dozen books, everything from academic studies of
Homeric literature to essential self help for writers. He edited the Classical Roman Reader and Classical Greek Reader for Oxford University Press.
Ken left academia to create a series of hybrid ventures that on the
one hand develop inexperienced talent and on the other make deals for
major projects in the boardrooms of studios and networks. He has
developed a flock of writers, at first shepherding them to book
publishers, now guiding their entry into the wild world of e-books.
He’s also produced TV and feature films, one starring Angelina Jolie,
and indie films, including Hysteria the hit of the Toronto Film Festival in 2011. His documentary The Kennedy Detail (2011) was nominated for a daytime Emmy.
Ken serves on the board of directors of Yogagivesback.org whose
mission is “to mobilize the global yoga community to empower women in
India to build sustainable livelihoods,” which is awesome. Kayoko
Mitsumatsu, a Japanese documentary director, understood the power of
micro-loans after producing a doc about Dr. Muhammad Yunus, founder of
the Grameen Bank and creator of the micro-loans culture. Having gained
so much from yoga herself, Kayoko found a way for yoga students to
return some good karma to India. Mothers and children can be given the
resources to lift themselves out of poverty for the cost of a yoga
lesson.
I recently caught up with Atchity to discuss his projects.
Your new thriller the Messiah Matrix is based on your research,
which has led you to believe that the origin of the Roman Catholic
Church can be found in the cult of Augustus. You point out the numerous
similarities in timeline and beliefs between the cult of the first
emperor and the Jesus mythology, including titles Augustus had that
included Christ, and savior. You propose that Augustus convened the
great minds of Rome to gather together the greatest myths of history up
to that point to create a paradigm of the perfect human. How did that
Roman ideal become wed to the rabbi hanging out with hookers and
lepers?
The novel suggests that the cult of Iasius actually began in Judea,
launched by King Herod in gratitude for Augustus sparing his life after
he made the mistake of siding with Antony against Augustus. As a Judean
cult, it gathered local details before being spread throughout the
empire by the emperor himself. I always thought the parallels between
the history of Caesar and the myth of Jesus were uncanny, and in this
story I found a way to challenge the reader to examine them for himself
through the eyes of the characters.
Why is Augustus Caesar the central historical figure of The Messiah Matrix?
Augustus Caesar was the most powerful ruler in the history of Rome,
and perhaps the most powerful ruler in the history of the Western
World. His Pax Romana, the two hundred years of peace he established
throughout his empire after taming the entire periphery of the
Mediterranean, which the Romans referred to as mare nostrum, “our lake,”
remains unrivalled in world history. Known in his monuments through
the empire as “savior,” “father,” “the mighty God,” “God and son of
God,” “shepherd,” and “prince of peace,” he was all-powerful and exerted
vast, pervasive influence throughout his Empire, an influence that
remains with us to this day. His shrewd policies concerning religious
tolerance, celebrated by the construction of the Pantheon in Rome,
initially led him to allow continuance of the religions of the nations
he conquered. He eventually realized that a multi religious empire would
lead to civil unrest and violence so he took measures to create a
single religion based on individuals honoring the God within us all that
he believed would engender peace among the nations.
Will Christian readers anything new about the roots of Christianity in The Messiah Matrix?
The book is written for anyone, like myself, who’s ever wondered
about the historicity of Jesus and who’s been troubled by the numerous
contradictions found in the Gospels. If you’ve been inspired by the core
teachings of Christianity but wondered if the figurines in the
Christmas nativity set are based on actual fact or are instead mythic
icons this novel was meant for you and will give you plenty to think
about. The literalists seem to feel that Jesus being “mythic” instead of
actually historical is somehow demeaning to the Christian founder—when
the very opposite is true. Nothing is more powerful than myth, which is a
public dream that endures through the ages. The true history of
Christianity has been shrouded in mystery for millennia, partly
intentionally and partly out of ignorance. The Messiah Matrix
reveals crucial structural and conceptual aspects concerning the roots
of Christianity, clouded by history through the ages that will change
the reader’s understanding, possibly forever. But it should not in any
way be a detriment to believing in the essential doctrines of redemption
and transformation that is the seminal essence of Christian—and indeed
almost every—religious faith. The challenge is stripping away the layers
of organized religion to find that essence.
Swami Vivekananda wrote of a dream he had when a ship he was on
passed Cyprus, an Essene told him: “This is the island where Jesus was
invented.” Whether historical or invented, from the most superstitious
to the sublime, he haunts every walk of life. What is it we’re after
with this Jesus mystery that has so fascinated humans?
We’re after the enormous transformative potential that lies within
each of us as human beings—to overcome our beastly nature and transcend
it to the level of our angelic (divine) aspirations. That is the true
meaning of ‘the christ,’ symbolized by the fish image described in the
novel.
You have an unusually optimistic view of current events, which you
compare to the great Jesuit scholar Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s
concept of “the Omega Point.” Please share with our readers this idea
that we’re living at the Omega Point right now.
As I said in a recent Huffington Post, we are nearing the point of
full communication among humans, which will make us ‘ubiquitous in time’
and nearly all-powerful (since governments and religions will no longer
have the power to deceive us about events—someone THERE with a cell
phone will transmit proceedings to the world before the press and
propaganda have had a chance to spin them). All knowledge will be
shared, as it is in Wikipedia; all images will be accessible. The very
idea of living in TRUTH will begin to bring out our better nature as a
species and eventually vanquish the evil within us. Call me crazy, but I
think that’s what’s going on right now thanks to the worldwide web. One
of the final hurdles is overcoming our addiction to organized religion,
which blinds us to the responsibility for our own destiny, which is the
essence of evolved humanity.
In 2011 you were one of the producers of Hysteria, an English
comedy about the invention of the vibrator as a medical apparatus to
deal with Victorian women in a culture where the female orgasm was
usually dismissed as the province of prostitutes. The film ran into the
difficult film distribution market. it didn’t comfortably any genres,
it’s not a good date movie, guy movie, buddy comedy, kid movie or horror
movie. What surprised you about who liked the film and who didn’t?
I’m never surprised when a great little film doesn’t reach its
audience. In this case it was a combination of factors—the star being
unavailable for publicity when the film was released, and the
distributor being preoccupied with Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris”
(which I loved, by the way, as a former professor of comparative
literature). I believe the film will find its audience eventually thrown
downloads and DVDs, and during the award season. I’m disappointed but I
take a long view of the work I’m involved with—if it’s good, it will
eventually be ‘discovered.’ I certainly see that happening with The Messiah Matrix, which I believe is one of the three best books I’ve written, along with my first Homer’s Iliad: The Shield of Memory and A Writer’s Time.
In 2010 you were involved in the production of The Kennedy
Detail. The film became notorious among JFK assassination conspiracy
experts because it supports the lone assassin theory and even throws
cold water on the rumored affair with Marilyn Monroe. What do you think
of America’s fascination with conspiracy theories?
I think our fascination is perfectly understandable. It’s so much
easier to believe that a pivotal world figure like JFK is assassinated
through a vast conspiracy than through the machinations of a single
maniac like Lee Harvey Oswald. Living is the constant working of an
enormous jigsaw puzzle and nothing is more frustrating than believing
that there are certain pieces that we may never find—and therefore never
be able to complete the puzzle. So every possible piece—the mob,
Castro, the CIA, the Russians, even the Secret Service itself—becomes a
candidate for solving this great unsolved mystery. The film hopes to
throw light on this process of constant assembling and reassembling that
is our human nature.
You’ve had many years of experience in the film industry and have
been in involved as a producer in the production of over thirty
movies. How has the business changed? Care to predict the future of
the movie biz?
If I worship anything in life I worship change, and the divinity
within it—the very spark of life. And change is what’s been happening in
spades for the last five years to the point where both publishing and
entertainment (not to mention, as you well know, MUSIC) are changing so
rapidly no one can say at the moment exactly what’s going on. But one
thing is clear on the film side: this is, and will be, for the next few
years at least, the ‘age of the independent.’ Because the studios have
retrenched down to making a handful of films each (instead of 20-30)
each year—and those with massive budgets, over $150 million), the
explosion of moviemaking has been in the indie world where I spend most
of my film time. What this means for the writer is that he must find a
way to become a PRODUCER, raising the money or attaching the talent
needed to move his story to the front of the conveyor built. I predict
that writers who become producers will govern the future of the indie
renaissance.
As many years of experience as you’ve had with film you have even
more as an expert on publishing. How do you feel about the future of
publishing? Is there a place for corporate publishers in tomorrow’s
world of writers or are eBooks and direct author to reader
relationships the new book business?
I’ve never been so excited about the future of publishing as I have
been for the past 2-3 years when it’s become crystal clear that the sea
change is underway. We’re living in a time as exciting as the last
decade of the fifteenth century when Gutenberg’s invention of the
printing press changed the world’s access to knowledge virtually
overnight. That is what the Internet is doing for publishing. For
storytellers in particular—and I believe we can change the world through
stories—this is the first time in centuries that we have direct access
to a worldwide audience. Traditional corporate publishers may continue
for another fifty or a hundred years but they will become even more
focused on “established brands,” the authors whose names are household
words because the cost of their overhead demands they publish books that
are “pre-sold.” But for the new voices and new ideas direct publishing,
via e- and print-book both, find their way to their markets without
interference from the gatekeepers of old. What could be more exciting
than that?
In Homer’s Iliad: The Shield of Memory you showed how the ancient
bards provided cultural retrospection and a moral compass by telling the
story of the wrath of Achilles and the consequences of breaking the
laws of hospitality of Zeus. Now we’re in a world where misinformation
is everywhere. So-called facts are countered by other so-called facts,
all cherry picked to support economic, and political and religious
agendas. I personally believe that the laws of Zeus still apply; I see
the results of its successes and failures every day, do you?
Yes, it is dizzying to hear, in clip after clip, politicians quoting
facts against the “lies” of their opponents. But the good news is that
we all have access to Google, and we can all research the facts
ourselves and decide whom to believe. The future of culture depends on
the intelligence of the computer-accessing individual. Stories still
change the world. I knew that in Messiah Matrix I had a better
chance of saying what I wanted to say about the ravages of organized
religion if I described the theory as part of an exciting story than as a
nonfiction study. My book on Homer sold a few hundred copies in the
past 40 years! So its description of how culture is transmitted through
storytelling went unheeded by the widest audiences. In fact, I moved
from the academic world to the world of commerce precisely because the
new world I’ve worked in for 25 years now is all about reaching the
widest audiences. In a novel we recreate the experience of the campfire,
where people gather around to hear a story and discuss what to make of
it. The Internet is that campfire, with the after-postings the
chatter of the gathered. The laws of Zeus allow us to gather and comment
and respond to the poster and one another. How exciting is that!
From 1980-1988 you were editor of DreamWorks: An Interdisciplinary
Quarterly about the relationship between dreams and the arts.
Contributors included Ursula LeGuin, Ingmar Bergman, Fellini, Paul
Bowles, William S. Burroughs, John Gardner, Carlos Fuentes, Stephen King
and Eugène Ionesco. How do your dreams influence you and your work
today?
I am living my dreams, and have been since I left the academic world
twenty-five years ago. So many projects I’m involved with originated
with a dream—whether a daydream or a night dream—and I’ve realized that
the more dreams I facilitate the more facility I have in generating
them. They just keep coming, waking or asleep—and the thrilling thing
for me is that I get to assist in making the dreams of others come true.
That’s been my life mission: helping stories change the world by
getting them to their audiences.
44 young girls who are funded now
by YGB’s “Sister Aid” programs to stay in school as well as receiving
out of school supplementary tutoring.
How does Yoga Gives Back work and what’s going on currently?
What is going on at the moment is that Kayoko Mitsumatsu, head of YGB
and my dear wife, is in India for three weeks to document (she’s a
filmmaker) the results of YGB’s support to the women and children in the
villages, and is reporting back daily (see yogagivesback.org) that the
program has become so popular that one wall in a rural community depicts
children walking around with bags bearing the “Yoga Gives Back” logo.
Again, she has taken her story—“For the price of a lesson, you can
change a life”–to its target audience and is witnessing the
transformation that yoga practitioners’ support can achieve in these
lives.
In 1995 you wrote a little gem called Cajun Household Wisdom.
Since this interview will be live just after an election that has deeply
divided America, can you offer a Cajun saying for our political
predicament?
Don’t get into a pissing contest with a skunk. Seriously, whatever
the outcome, President Obama represents the future of America as the
dream of the melting pot come true. We are living in historical times,
to have seen him be elected. We are finally reaching the potential
represented by the Statue of Liberty. This remains, truly, the land of
freedom and opportunity.
Written by Tamra Spivey
Newtopia staff writer TAMRA SPIVEY
is a founding member and primary singer of Lucid Nation, executive
producer of the documentaries Rap is War and Exile Nation, and associate
producer of The Gits documentary. She was art editor and west coast
editor of Newtopia Magazine in its former
incarnation, collaborating on in depth interviews with whistle blower
Michael Ruppert, ACLU and record business honcho Danny
Goldberg, and grassroots political strategist Larry Tramutola. Follow
her on twitter @MongrelPatriot.
// About Newtopia: a definition
n – a cultural review that examines how our politics and policies are
reflected in our arts, government, and humanities. v – an experimental
form of thought mutation and cross-breeding, providing a unconventional
forum for a range of detailed and informed socio-political opinion and
analysis. adj – words or ideas used for the development of new
possibilities, theories, and solutions for a better world. Often
confused with the word idealistic.
Mongrel Patriot Review: Producer and Writer Kenneth Atchity
A dreamer who realizes his dreams and helps others do the same, Ken
Atchity has impressive credits in the worlds of film, television and
publishing. His long list of academic achievements and awards include a
Fulbright Professorship of American Literature at the University of
Bologna, the Faculty Achievement Award at Occidental College, grants
from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Mellon Awards, and he
was consultant on classical drama for the Mark Taper Forum. He’s
published over a dozen books, everything from academic studies of
Homeric literature to essential self help for writers. He edited the Classical Roman Reader and Classical Greek Reader for Oxford University Press.
Ken left academia to create a series of hybrid ventures that on the
one hand develop inexperienced talent and on the other make deals for
major projects in the boardrooms of studios and networks. He has
developed a flock of writers, at first shepherding them to book
publishers, now guiding their entry into the wild world of e-books.
He’s also produced TV and feature films, one starring Angelina Jolie,
and indie films, including Hysteria the hit of the Toronto Film Festival in 2011. His documentary The Kennedy Detail (2011) was nominated for a daytime Emmy.
Ken serves on the board of directors of Yogagivesback.org whose
mission is “to mobilize the global yoga community to empower women in
India to build sustainable livelihoods,” which is awesome. Kayoko
Mitsumatsu, a Japanese documentary director, understood the power of
micro-loans after producing a doc about Dr. Muhammad Yunus, founder of
the Grameen Bank and creator of the micro-loans culture. Having gained
so much from yoga herself, Kayoko found a way for yoga students to
return some good karma to India. Mothers and children can be given the
resources to lift themselves out of poverty for the cost of a yoga
lesson.
I recently caught up with Atchity to discuss his projects.
Your new thriller the Messiah Matrix is based on your research,
which has led you to believe that the origin of the Roman Catholic
Church can be found in the cult of Augustus. You point out the numerous
similarities in timeline and beliefs between the cult of the first
emperor and the Jesus mythology, including titles Augustus had that
included Christ, and savior. You propose that Augustus convened the
great minds of Rome to gather together the greatest myths of history up
to that point to create a paradigm of the perfect human. How did that
Roman ideal become wed to the rabbi hanging out with hookers and
lepers?
The novel suggests that the cult of Iasius actually began in Judea,
launched by King Herod in gratitude for Augustus sparing his life after
he made the mistake of siding with Antony against Augustus. As a Judean
cult, it gathered local details before being spread throughout the
empire by the emperor himself. I always thought the parallels between
the history of Caesar and the myth of Jesus were uncanny, and in this
story I found a way to challenge the reader to examine them for himself
through the eyes of the characters.
Why is Augustus Caesar the central historical figure of The Messiah Matrix?
Augustus Caesar was the most powerful ruler in the history of Rome,
and perhaps the most powerful ruler in the history of the Western
World. His Pax Romana, the two hundred years of peace he established
throughout his empire after taming the entire periphery of the
Mediterranean, which the Romans referred to as mare nostrum, “our lake,”
remains unrivalled in world history. Known in his monuments through
the empire as “savior,” “father,” “the mighty God,” “God and son of
God,” “shepherd,” and “prince of peace,” he was all-powerful and exerted
vast, pervasive influence throughout his Empire, an influence that
remains with us to this day. His shrewd policies concerning religious
tolerance, celebrated by the construction of the Pantheon in Rome,
initially led him to allow continuance of the religions of the nations
he conquered. He eventually realized that a multi religious empire would
lead to civil unrest and violence so he took measures to create a
single religion based on individuals honoring the God within us all that
he believed would engender peace among the nations.
Will Christian readers anything new about the roots of Christianity in The Messiah Matrix?
The book is written for anyone, like myself, who’s ever wondered
about the historicity of Jesus and who’s been troubled by the numerous
contradictions found in the Gospels. If you’ve been inspired by the core
teachings of Christianity but wondered if the figurines in the
Christmas nativity set are based on actual fact or are instead mythic
icons this novel was meant for you and will give you plenty to think
about. The literalists seem to feel that Jesus being “mythic” instead of
actually historical is somehow demeaning to the Christian founder—when
the very opposite is true. Nothing is more powerful than myth, which is a
public dream that endures through the ages. The true history of
Christianity has been shrouded in mystery for millennia, partly
intentionally and partly out of ignorance. The Messiah Matrix
reveals crucial structural and conceptual aspects concerning the roots
of Christianity, clouded by history through the ages that will change
the reader’s understanding, possibly forever. But it should not in any
way be a detriment to believing in the essential doctrines of redemption
and transformation that is the seminal essence of Christian—and indeed
almost every—religious faith. The challenge is stripping away the layers
of organized religion to find that essence.
Swami Vivekananda wrote of a dream he had when a ship he was on
passed Cyprus, an Essene told him: “This is the island where Jesus was
invented.” Whether historical or invented, from the most superstitious
to the sublime, he haunts every walk of life. What is it we’re after
with this Jesus mystery that has so fascinated humans?
We’re after the enormous transformative potential that lies within
each of us as human beings—to overcome our beastly nature and transcend
it to the level of our angelic (divine) aspirations. That is the true
meaning of ‘the christ,’ symbolized by the fish image described in the
novel.
You have an unusually optimistic view of current events, which you
compare to the great Jesuit scholar Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s
concept of “the Omega Point.” Please share with our readers this idea
that we’re living at the Omega Point right now.
As I said in a recent Huffington Post, we are nearing the point of
full communication among humans, which will make us ‘ubiquitous in time’
and nearly all-powerful (since governments and religions will no longer
have the power to deceive us about events—someone THERE with a cell
phone will transmit proceedings to the world before the press and
propaganda have had a chance to spin them). All knowledge will be
shared, as it is in Wikipedia; all images will be accessible. The very
idea of living in TRUTH will begin to bring out our better nature as a
species and eventually vanquish the evil within us. Call me crazy, but I
think that’s what’s going on right now thanks to the worldwide web. One
of the final hurdles is overcoming our addiction to organized religion,
which blinds us to the responsibility for our own destiny, which is the
essence of evolved humanity.
In 2011 you were one of the producers of Hysteria, an English
comedy about the invention of the vibrator as a medical apparatus to
deal with Victorian women in a culture where the female orgasm was
usually dismissed as the province of prostitutes. The film ran into the
difficult film distribution market. it didn’t comfortably any genres,
it’s not a good date movie, guy movie, buddy comedy, kid movie or horror
movie. What surprised you about who liked the film and who didn’t?
I’m never surprised when a great little film doesn’t reach its
audience. In this case it was a combination of factors—the star being
unavailable for publicity when the film was released, and the
distributor being preoccupied with Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris”
(which I loved, by the way, as a former professor of comparative
literature). I believe the film will find its audience eventually thrown
downloads and DVDs, and during the award season. I’m disappointed but I
take a long view of the work I’m involved with—if it’s good, it will
eventually be ‘discovered.’ I certainly see that happening with The Messiah Matrix, which I believe is one of the three best books I’ve written, along with my first Homer’s Iliad: The Shield of Memory and A Writer’s Time.
In 2010 you were involved in the production of The Kennedy
Detail. The film became notorious among JFK assassination conspiracy
experts because it supports the lone assassin theory and even throws
cold water on the rumored affair with Marilyn Monroe. What do you think
of America’s fascination with conspiracy theories?
I think our fascination is perfectly understandable. It’s so much
easier to believe that a pivotal world figure like JFK is assassinated
through a vast conspiracy than through the machinations of a single
maniac like Lee Harvey Oswald. Living is the constant working of an
enormous jigsaw puzzle and nothing is more frustrating than believing
that there are certain pieces that we may never find—and therefore never
be able to complete the puzzle. So every possible piece—the mob,
Castro, the CIA, the Russians, even the Secret Service itself—becomes a
candidate for solving this great unsolved mystery. The film hopes to
throw light on this process of constant assembling and reassembling that
is our human nature.
You’ve had many years of experience in the film industry and have
been in involved as a producer in the production of over thirty
movies. How has the business changed? Care to predict the future of
the movie biz?
If I worship anything in life I worship change, and the divinity
within it—the very spark of life. And change is what’s been happening in
spades for the last five years to the point where both publishing and
entertainment (not to mention, as you well know, MUSIC) are changing so
rapidly no one can say at the moment exactly what’s going on. But one
thing is clear on the film side: this is, and will be, for the next few
years at least, the ‘age of the independent.’ Because the studios have
retrenched down to making a handful of films each (instead of 20-30)
each year—and those with massive budgets, over $150 million), the
explosion of moviemaking has been in the indie world where I spend most
of my film time. What this means for the writer is that he must find a
way to become a PRODUCER, raising the money or attaching the talent
needed to move his story to the front of the conveyor built. I predict
that writers who become producers will govern the future of the indie
renaissance.
As many years of experience as you’ve had with film you have even
more as an expert on publishing. How do you feel about the future of
publishing? Is there a place for corporate publishers in tomorrow’s
world of writers or are eBooks and direct author to reader
relationships the new book business?
I’ve never been so excited about the future of publishing as I have
been for the past 2-3 years when it’s become crystal clear that the sea
change is underway. We’re living in a time as exciting as the last
decade of the fifteenth century when Gutenberg’s invention of the
printing press changed the world’s access to knowledge virtually
overnight. That is what the Internet is doing for publishing. For
storytellers in particular—and I believe we can change the world through
stories—this is the first time in centuries that we have direct access
to a worldwide audience. Traditional corporate publishers may continue
for another fifty or a hundred years but they will become even more
focused on “established brands,” the authors whose names are household
words because the cost of their overhead demands they publish books that
are “pre-sold.” But for the new voices and new ideas direct publishing,
via e- and print-book both, find their way to their markets without
interference from the gatekeepers of old. What could be more exciting
than that?
In Homer’s Iliad: The Shield of Memory you showed how the ancient
bards provided cultural retrospection and a moral compass by telling the
story of the wrath of Achilles and the consequences of breaking the
laws of hospitality of Zeus. Now we’re in a world where misinformation
is everywhere. So-called facts are countered by other so-called facts,
all cherry picked to support economic, and political and religious
agendas. I personally believe that the laws of Zeus still apply; I see
the results of its successes and failures every day, do you?
Yes, it is dizzying to hear, in clip after clip, politicians quoting
facts against the “lies” of their opponents. But the good news is that
we all have access to Google, and we can all research the facts
ourselves and decide whom to believe. The future of culture depends on
the intelligence of the computer-accessing individual. Stories still
change the world. I knew that in Messiah Matrix I had a better
chance of saying what I wanted to say about the ravages of organized
religion if I described the theory as part of an exciting story than as a
nonfiction study. My book on Homer sold a few hundred copies in the
past 40 years! So its description of how culture is transmitted through
storytelling went unheeded by the widest audiences. In fact, I moved
from the academic world to the world of commerce precisely because the
new world I’ve worked in for 25 years now is all about reaching the
widest audiences. In a novel we recreate the experience of the campfire,
where people gather around to hear a story and discuss what to make of
it. The Internet is that campfire, with the after-postings the
chatter of the gathered. The laws of Zeus allow us to gather and comment
and respond to the poster and one another. How exciting is that!
From 1980-1988 you were editor of DreamWorks: An Interdisciplinary
Quarterly about the relationship between dreams and the arts.
Contributors included Ursula LeGuin, Ingmar Bergman, Fellini, Paul
Bowles, William S. Burroughs, John Gardner, Carlos Fuentes, Stephen King
and Eugène Ionesco. How do your dreams influence you and your work
today?
I am living my dreams, and have been since I left the academic world
twenty-five years ago. So many projects I’m involved with originated
with a dream—whether a daydream or a night dream—and I’ve realized that
the more dreams I facilitate the more facility I have in generating
them. They just keep coming, waking or asleep—and the thrilling thing
for me is that I get to assist in making the dreams of others come true.
That’s been my life mission: helping stories change the world by
getting them to their audiences.
44 young girls who are funded now
by YGB’s “Sister Aid” programs to stay in school as well as receiving
out of school supplementary tutoring.
How does Yoga Gives Back work and what’s going on currently?
What is going on at the moment is that Kayoko Mitsumatsu, head of YGB
and my dear wife, is in India for three weeks to document (she’s a
filmmaker) the results of YGB’s support to the women and children in the
villages, and is reporting back daily (see yogagivesback.org) that the
program has become so popular that one wall in a rural community depicts
children walking around with bags bearing the “Yoga Gives Back” logo.
Again, she has taken her story—“For the price of a lesson, you can
change a life”–to its target audience and is witnessing the
transformation that yoga practitioners’ support can achieve in these
lives.
In 1995 you wrote a little gem called Cajun Household Wisdom.
Since this interview will be live just after an election that has deeply
divided America, can you offer a Cajun saying for our political
predicament?
Don’t get into a pissing contest with a skunk. Seriously, whatever
the outcome, President Obama represents the future of America as the
dream of the melting pot come true. We are living in historical times,
to have seen him be elected. We are finally reaching the potential
represented by the Statue of Liberty. This remains, truly, the land of
freedom and opportunity.
Written by Tamra Spivey
Newtopia staff writer TAMRA SPIVEY
is a founding member and primary singer of Lucid Nation, executive
producer of the documentaries Rap is War and Exile Nation, and associate
producer of The Gits documentary. She was art editor and west coast
editor of Newtopia Magazine in its former
incarnation, collaborating on in depth interviews with whistle blower
Michael Ruppert, ACLU and record business honcho Danny
Goldberg, and grassroots political strategist Larry Tramutola. Follow
her on twitter @MongrelPatriot.
November 17, 2012
Reimagining Sicily by Mark Spano
Mark Spano Communications, Inc. is seeking travel funding for the production of a feature documentary entitled Reimagining Sicily.
Little has been produced about the cultural or historic relevance of Sicily. The most invaded place on the planet, the three-sided island’s story rivals both Greece and Egypt as a primary source for Western ideas. Sicily is more fascinating and more diverse than so many of the worn out discussions of regions in France and other parts of Italy. And, few of those “popularized” regions compare to Sicily for a story of authentic human struggle, the presence of cultural icons and the significance of so many important historical sites. But for crime, Sicily has gone unexplored.
November 16, 2012
Guest Post On Laurence O'Bryan
A short guest post: Ken Atchity – master story merchant
I met Ken Atchity on a visit to a writer’s conference in San
Francisco. Ken was one of the speakers. He is both a master storyteller
and a great producer. Below you will find a brief biography of Ken, and
below that his answer to this question, what is your number one piece of
advice for storytellers, Ken?
Kenneth John Atchity or “Ken Atchity” is an American
producer and author, who has worked in the world of letters as a
literary manager, editor, speaker, writing and career coach, book
reviewer, brand consultant, and professor of comparative literature.
Ken’s films include the Jim Carrey movie, Ripley’s Believe It or Not and Amityville 4 among others.
He and his companies, The Story Merchant, Atchity
Entertainment International, Inc. The Writers Lifeline, Inc, and The
Louisiana Wave Studio, LLC, produce films and develop books for
publication; and books, screenplays, and films for television and
cinema. They also consult with writers about their career strategies and
tactics.
So, Ken, what is your number one piece of advice for storytellers?
My advice to storytellers is to recognize that your stories can change the world,
and that you can make that happen best by retaining control over your
own career and getting your stories onto the Internet and into print
without losing your publishing or other rights!
You are born under the lucky star of the Worldwide Web and it would
be a crime for you not to take advantage of that piece of good fortune.
Ken is supremely positive about the impact of the web and about the
opportunity it provides for writers. We are on the cusp of a new age.
Thanks Ken.
http://lpobryan.com
I met Ken Atchity on a visit to a writer’s conference in San
Francisco. Ken was one of the speakers. He is both a master storyteller
and a great producer. Below you will find a brief biography of Ken, and
below that his answer to this question, what is your number one piece of
advice for storytellers, Ken?
Kenneth John Atchity or “Ken Atchity” is an American producer and author, who has worked in the world of letters as a
literary manager, editor, speaker, writing and career coach, book
reviewer, brand consultant, and professor of comparative literature.
Ken’s films include the Jim Carrey movie, Ripley’s Believe It or Not and Amityville 4 among others.
He and his companies, The Story Merchant, Atchity
Entertainment International, Inc. The Writers Lifeline, Inc, and The
Louisiana Wave Studio, LLC, produce films and develop books for
publication; and books, screenplays, and films for television and
cinema. They also consult with writers about their career strategies and
tactics.
So, Ken, what is your number one piece of advice for storytellers?
My advice to storytellers is to recognize that your stories can change the world,
and that you can make that happen best by retaining control over your
own career and getting your stories onto the Internet and into print
without losing your publishing or other rights!
You are born under the lucky star of the Worldwide Web and it would
be a crime for you not to take advantage of that piece of good fortune.
Ken is supremely positive about the impact of the web and about the
opportunity it provides for writers. We are on the cusp of a new age.
Thanks Ken.
http://lpobryan.com
November 15, 2012
STORY MERCHANT CLIENT DIANE MARONEY’S KICKSTART FOR THE IMAGINE PROJECT
The Imagine Project: Ordinary People. Extraordinary Stories.
by
Dianne Maroney
A soulful photography/storybook about ordinary people with extraordinary life stories.
by
Dianne Maroney
A soulful photography/storybook about ordinary people with extraordinary life stories.
November 14, 2012
Publishers Weekly Reviews Story Merchant Client Dennis M. Walsh's Nobody Walks: Bringing My Brother's Killers to Justice
Nobody Walks: Bringing My Brother’s Killers to Justice
Dennis M. Walsh. St. Martin’s/Dunne, $26.99 (304p) ISBN 978-1-2500-0548-9
Walsh, a criminal defense attorney for 30 years, tells the blistering true story of the 2003 murder of one of his brothers, Christopher, who was discovered in a trash barrel in a California storage locker. Despite law enforcement’s reluctance to pursue the case since the author’s father and younger brother were in prison on drug charges, Walsh shoulders the burden and delves into the nadir of the criminal underworld, quizzing thieves, skinheads, Nazi bikers, hookers, and porn queens to construct something meaningful from various lies and schemes. Good leads dead-end and seemingly ironclad confessions crumble, but the author’s resourcefulness and determination to catch his brother’s killers keep this sordid tale moving along at a quick clip. Walsh keeps his law practice operating throughout the ordeal, but still finds time to persuade reluctant witnesses to offer their testimony and cooperate with authorities; after four years of sleuthing, the trial finally begins. The hearing is a real corker, chock-full of twists and turns, and written with passion and an eye for drama. Taut and relentless, this chronicle of a former cold case puts one man’s resolve and the American idea of justice to the test. B&w photos. (Feb.) 
November 13, 2012
STORY MERCHANT CLIENT DIANE MARONEY’S KICKSTART FOR THE IMAGINE PROJECT
The Imagine Project: Ordinary People. Extraordinary Stories.
by
Dianne Maroney
A soulful photography/storybook about ordinary people with extraordinary life stories.
by
Dianne Maroney
A soulful photography/storybook about ordinary people with extraordinary life stories.
November 12, 2012
Steubenville, OH Looking Forward to Clint Hill's Upcoming Appearance on November 14th
Former proofreader recalls when news of JFK death broke
By WARREN SCOTT - Staff writer (wscott@heraldstaronline.com.)
,
The Herald-Star
NEW CUMBERLAND - Claudia Musick Flowers, a New Cumberland
resident and Weirton native, remembers vividly where she was when she
heard about the assassination of John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963.
"I
was sitting at my desk at the Steubenville Herald-Star, where I was
employed as a proofreader. The daily paper had already been put to bed,
so I was at a slow period of a normal day."
But that quickly
changed, Flowers recalled, when her boss, an editor at the paper, "was
running toward us, frantically waving copy off a wire service story and
yelling, 'The president has has been shot, stop the press!'"
Warren Scott
LOOKING
BACK — Claudia Musick Flowers of New Cumberland, a former proofreader
for the Herald-Star, looks at a reproduction of a front page covering
the national response to the death of John F. Kennedy in 1963. Flowers
was on the job when news broke of the president’s assassination.
"There were gasps from everyone that turned to a deadly silence as we
quickly collected our thoughts so we could function and do our jobs,"
she said.
Flowers, who was then 19 and had begun working at the
paper earlier that year, said, "There were people running back and forth
and shouting. It was very tense."
As one of three women who
served as proofreaders, she was charged with checking copy for errors in
punctuation, spelling, grammar and wording while seated at the center
of the busy newsroom and in front of the noisy teletype machine.
"I proofread the short first copy that said very little other than
the president was shot at 12:30 p.m. while riding in a motorcade in
Dallas," Flowers said.
She said Kennedy's visit to Dallas for
Democratic Party business was considered minor news locally until word
broke of his assassination while riding in a motorcade bound for a
luncheon with civic and business leaders in the city.
Flowers
said following that first, brief wire transmission, "Copy kept coming,
each with more details. Typesetters set the story and reset the story
many times as new updates came through.
"Then at 1 p.m., I
proofread the heartbreaking news that a priest had announced the death
of President Kennedy. Our grief enveloped us as we put the final update
into type and sent it to the press," she said.
"In the short span
of 30 minutes, a story had a beginning and an ending that stopped the
world. Our hands had held it for those few moments of time, and then it
was history," Flowers said.
Among the many who witnessed the
tragic incident firsthand was Secret Service agent Clint Hill, who ran
after the presidential limousine in order to shield first lady
Jacqueline Kennedy, whom he was assigned to protect.
Hill and
journalist Lisa McCubbin will speak about their New York Times-best
selling book, "Mrs. Kennedy and Me," at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 14 at the
Steubenville High School as part of the Jefferson County Chamber of
Commerce Concert and Lecture Series.
Flowers said the pressure of
reworking that day's Herald-Star to include the devastating news seemed
to override any questions the newspaper staff had about a motive and to
some extent, the sorrow they felt.
"After our boss said 'that's it,' we all collapsed," Flowers said.
When
their work was finished, she and other staffers took turns calling
family from the break room. She noted in those days there were no
cellular phones, and there was a radio, but no television, in the
newsroom.
Her husband at the time was a Weirton police officer, and he also was shocked, Flowers said.
"I
was a big Kennedy person. There was absolute sadness because he was
such a great president," she said. She added she had taken a photo of
him riding in a car through downtown Steubenville during a campaign stop
before his election, and she was impressed by his public speaking.
Flowers
said her favorite Kennedy quote is: "Ask not what your country can do
for you -ask what you can do for your country." The statement was part
of his inaugural address.
Flowers said despite the arrest of Lee
Harvey Oswald, identified initially as a lone shooter responsible for
the president's death, some citizens believed others were involved.
A
committee formed by the House of Representatives in 1976 found
Kennedy's assassination was likely part of a conspiracy involving others
and that earlier investigations by the FBI and Warren Commission - a
committee formed by Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson - that found Oswald
acted alone were flawed.
Flowers said when Oswald was shot and
killed by Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby, she was unhappy, not because
of sympathy for him but because it left many questions unanswered.
"It was like you didn't want him dead because you just wanted to know why," she said.
Flowers
recalled the sadness she and many others felt while watching Kennedy's
state funeral as it was televised live three days after his death.
"It was everywhere. I remember being glued to the TV," she said.
"It
just felt like the whole country was crying. When Jackie and the
children were beside the casket, and John Jr. saluted (his father), it
just broke your heart," Flowers said.
[image error]
©
Copyright 2012 The Herald-Star. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
By WARREN SCOTT - Staff writer (wscott@heraldstaronline.com.)
,
The Herald-Star
NEW CUMBERLAND - Claudia Musick Flowers, a New Cumberland
resident and Weirton native, remembers vividly where she was when she
heard about the assassination of John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963.
"I
was sitting at my desk at the Steubenville Herald-Star, where I was
employed as a proofreader. The daily paper had already been put to bed,
so I was at a slow period of a normal day."
But that quickly
changed, Flowers recalled, when her boss, an editor at the paper, "was
running toward us, frantically waving copy off a wire service story and
yelling, 'The president has has been shot, stop the press!'"
Warren Scott
LOOKING
BACK — Claudia Musick Flowers of New Cumberland, a former proofreader
for the Herald-Star, looks at a reproduction of a front page covering
the national response to the death of John F. Kennedy in 1963. Flowers
was on the job when news broke of the president’s assassination.
"There were gasps from everyone that turned to a deadly silence as we
quickly collected our thoughts so we could function and do our jobs,"
she said.
Flowers, who was then 19 and had begun working at the
paper earlier that year, said, "There were people running back and forth
and shouting. It was very tense."
As one of three women who
served as proofreaders, she was charged with checking copy for errors in
punctuation, spelling, grammar and wording while seated at the center
of the busy newsroom and in front of the noisy teletype machine.
"I proofread the short first copy that said very little other than
the president was shot at 12:30 p.m. while riding in a motorcade in
Dallas," Flowers said.
She said Kennedy's visit to Dallas for
Democratic Party business was considered minor news locally until word
broke of his assassination while riding in a motorcade bound for a
luncheon with civic and business leaders in the city.
Flowers
said following that first, brief wire transmission, "Copy kept coming,
each with more details. Typesetters set the story and reset the story
many times as new updates came through.
"Then at 1 p.m., I
proofread the heartbreaking news that a priest had announced the death
of President Kennedy. Our grief enveloped us as we put the final update
into type and sent it to the press," she said.
"In the short span
of 30 minutes, a story had a beginning and an ending that stopped the
world. Our hands had held it for those few moments of time, and then it
was history," Flowers said.
Among the many who witnessed the
tragic incident firsthand was Secret Service agent Clint Hill, who ran
after the presidential limousine in order to shield first lady
Jacqueline Kennedy, whom he was assigned to protect.
Hill and
journalist Lisa McCubbin will speak about their New York Times-best
selling book, "Mrs. Kennedy and Me," at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 14 at the
Steubenville High School as part of the Jefferson County Chamber of
Commerce Concert and Lecture Series.
Flowers said the pressure of
reworking that day's Herald-Star to include the devastating news seemed
to override any questions the newspaper staff had about a motive and to
some extent, the sorrow they felt.
"After our boss said 'that's it,' we all collapsed," Flowers said.
When
their work was finished, she and other staffers took turns calling
family from the break room. She noted in those days there were no
cellular phones, and there was a radio, but no television, in the
newsroom.
Her husband at the time was a Weirton police officer, and he also was shocked, Flowers said.
"I
was a big Kennedy person. There was absolute sadness because he was
such a great president," she said. She added she had taken a photo of
him riding in a car through downtown Steubenville during a campaign stop
before his election, and she was impressed by his public speaking.
Flowers
said her favorite Kennedy quote is: "Ask not what your country can do
for you -ask what you can do for your country." The statement was part
of his inaugural address.
Flowers said despite the arrest of Lee
Harvey Oswald, identified initially as a lone shooter responsible for
the president's death, some citizens believed others were involved.
A
committee formed by the House of Representatives in 1976 found
Kennedy's assassination was likely part of a conspiracy involving others
and that earlier investigations by the FBI and Warren Commission - a
committee formed by Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson - that found Oswald
acted alone were flawed.
Flowers said when Oswald was shot and
killed by Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby, she was unhappy, not because
of sympathy for him but because it left many questions unanswered.
"It was like you didn't want him dead because you just wanted to know why," she said.
Flowers
recalled the sadness she and many others felt while watching Kennedy's
state funeral as it was televised live three days after his death.
"It was everywhere. I remember being glued to the TV," she said.
"It
just felt like the whole country was crying. When Jackie and the
children were beside the casket, and John Jr. saluted (his father), it
just broke your heart," Flowers said.
[image error]
©
Copyright 2012 The Herald-Star. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
