Nick Shamhart's Blog, page 5

Hope Springs Anew

April 10, 2014

I love the smell of a warm spring rain on a northern night. It’s the scent of hope. Winter has beaten us cruelly in body, mind, and spirit this year. Month after month of cold, snow, wind, ice, and chill. I sit here, looking out at the dark, and the occasional breeze blows the earthen aromas of mud, clay, water, and  newly budding greenery across my face. The dark and the cold have had their turn. Hope springs anew as the rain falls on.

~Nick Shamhart

Cattle-Prod Your Mind!

April 8, 2014

Mantras are important. Call them prayers if that fits better within your ideology. It’s a way to cattle-prod your mind along a path of focus. Our thoughts are so easily congested with inane babble.

…”Did I leave the oven on?” “I should workout more.” “Did Ross and Rachael ever end up together?” “What does he think of me?” “I should eat more fiber.” “What does she think of me?” “Why aren’t they called orange fish? They’re orange. Not gold.”… and on and on all day and night long.

Harnessing a mantra or prayer can can silence that garbled mess we call thinking, or, at least momentarily focus it. I recommend a phrase or benediction that holds multiple layers of meaning for you. Something that calms your nerves or lifts your spirits as the case may be.

If you want to borrow mine until you feel inspired, I’m happy to share. A set of mental training wheels, perhaps? In this chaotic swirl of day-to-day when I find myself agitated over thoughts of, “How are Stephen Hawking and Honey Boo Boo’s mom even the same species? …Or are they?” I remind myself that I’m just passing through. I’m only here for a limited amount of time. The cells, molecules, atoms, quarks, and strings that are ‘me’ have a shelf life just like the planets, stars, and galaxies. It’s all just passing through, but my mantra allows for momentary clarity and perspective. Everything is important and at the same time…worthless, when I’m just passing through.

~Nick Shamhart

 

Stupid or Lazy?

April 6, 2014

Why is it that people refuse to fully read? If someone reads past the first few sentences of anything the writer should consider themselves lucky. Most often it is only the headline or title that filters in and then the reader passes judgement based on next to no information, but for their own prejudices. Honestly if that was as far as it went I may be sad about it, but I could accept it.

I began adding “Blog Journal Posts” to this website on the advice of several public relations consultants and the unasked for suggestions from many fellow authors. I simply write what strikes my fancy on that day (hence why the post is dated) for the joy of writing.

The previous entry Do Vaccines Cause Autism? was an answer to how often I am asked about the unscientific, celebrity-based idea that vaccines cause autism. I have received a ludicrous amount of angry emails and posts on social media defaming, slandering, and ridiculing me for that blog entry. Any author has to have a thick skin for criticism. That’s par for the course.

If you’ve made it this far you are in the extreme minority of comprehensive readers. So, thorough reader, do you want to know the crazy part? Every single fucking one of those emails and criticisms was saying that I supported the claim of vaccines causing autism. One in particular was multiple paragraphs long, supposedly written by someone on the spectrum. Now, as I write this my severely autistic daughter (the one who the bestselling novel, soon to be motion picture The Fog Within was based on) is screaming because I will not let her squeeze onto the bottom shelf of the linen closest where she plans to hide with a tub of Ricotta cheese and do God knows what. She cannot speak. She cannot write. She cannot be left alone because she is self-injurious. It must be nice to be on the mild end of the spectrum where typed out diatribes are possible.

The message of this entry? Please, please fully read something before you make a judgement. And, never, ever venture an opinion in a slanderous manner when your point is exactly that of the author, but you were unable to suss that out due to illiteracy, lassitude, stupidity, or all three. It makes you look churlish and incompetent.

~Nick Shamhart

 

Do Vaccines Cause Autism?

April 4, 2014

People tend to ask me for my opinion on vaccines and diets, and how they affect (or don’t) autism. Unlike other celebrities without formal scientific backgrounds, I refuse to pretend my own rhetoric is fact.

The most I will propose is the advice we all should have learned by this day and age – Follow the Rich White Man.

Examine the situation fiscally. Insurance companies despise paying out on mental illness claims. Rich white men hate giving any of the money they have “earned” back, even if it is a legitimate claim. The government is fit to bursting with rich white men. Soon more and more of these children being diagnosed with autism will turn eighteen and become eligible for government assistance no matter how much their guardians make per year, costing more rich white men more of their money.

What does all this tell us? Ignore the science. Ignore the celebrity propaganda. Ignore our human need to blame something for what is perceived as wrong. That leaves us with a bunch of rich white people fighting tooth and manicured nail not to have to pay for the mentally handicapped to receive treatment and resources.

Maybe it’s just me, but if vaccines or protein allergies cause autism don’t you think that instead of spending billions in legal claim wars that those rich white men would stop it all at the source and save themselves tons and tons of money? After all that’s what rich white men do. What’s best for them and their bank accounts.

So I suppose my opinion on vaccines causing autism really boils down to a matter of math.

~Nick Shamhart

Blue Light “Specials”

April 2, 2014

I never put much stock in statistics. By our “Best Fit” model of reality something is true if it can be repeatedly recorded more than half of the time – 51%. I find it difficult to view the world in a way that if the majority believes something, then it is supposed to be an established fact. Too many variables, I say. The nature of an infinite universe implies by definition infinite variables.

Autism is defined as a marked reversion into fantasy. What is fantasy and what is real? Are autistics simply the other 49% that disagrees with the majority’s definition? Oddly enough those variable-prone statistics seem to be hinting that that may very well be the case as the number of diagnosed children continues to grow.

There is one more statistic, or fact, or figure, or definition, or variable that I would like you to consider today. Please feel free to double-check this, (variables are everywhere) but when all the charitable donations are added up for previous years the amounts show that citizens of the USA prefer to give money to animal-based organizations than to mental health and hospice combined…

Is that right? Is that wrong? I would not begin to judge. There are simply too many variables.

~Nick Shamhart

Gosh Darn It All to Heck!!

March 29, 2014

A culture’s insecurities, obsessions, and foibles  can be easily deconstructed through an examination of their profanity. Dirty words build connotations in our children – we pass on to them the hang-ups that our forefathers passed along to us. For example, the bulk of my countrymen’s and women’s expletives revolve around sex or excrement. Begin mentally listing them. Go on. I have time…very few do not fall under one of those headings, correct?

Interesting to contemplate, yes?

Why call someone a coward? or chicken, or yellow, or lily-livered when pussy not only doubles nicely, but also allows for the added inference of female genitally culturally equating to weakness? So much more deriding than poultry, I suppose to some.

I wonder are these terms dubbed vulgar because of religious overtures? Sex and sin. Sex and vice. How many gods were born of a virgin mother? Such a common motif isn’t it? Heaven forbid something go in before something else came out. Odd the evolution of devotion that goes from Venus de Willendorf to immaculate conception. Possibly a smidgen of juvenile petulance tossed in against the Judeo-Christian commandment not to take the Lord’s name in vain. “Fine! If I can’t ask God to damn the door frame when I stub my toe on it, then I’ll yell doodie!”

Or, do such words continue their foul heritage because they simply sell so well? Dirty words, boys and girls, don’t say them. Dirty sex, guys and dolls, don’t do it. What does basic psychology tell us will happen when these dictates are presented to people? Hmm? So, if we tell them not to and that will only make them indulge that much faster, then why shouldn’t those of high financial bearing reap a profit off of the masses’ childlike predictability?

Sell it. Worship it. Do it…but, just don’t say it.

~Nick Shamhart

 

Another Gorgeous Spring Day in Cleveland!

Mary Todd Lincoln: “I hardly think 7″ counts as a ‘Log’, dear.”

March 23, 2014

Studying the twists and quirks of the human psyche never ceases to entertain me. Why do we most often quote or look to history and celebrities for our nuggets of wisdom? Hmm? I would wager it has to do with distance. Something sticks in our collective craw when we hear measured words and wisdom from our peers or, gods forbid, those who are  younger. We do not want to hear depth from those that should be our equals. No, that just won’t do. I believe that is why so much of historical poignancy happened “Ago” be it religious or philosophical.

I strive for humility. Don’t laugh. I do. My own career supports my previous supposition though. I have sold thousands of novels. I’m not bragging. I’m simply giving you an example. Readers from all walks of life point out the layers of philosophy and empathy in my works…yet, a very few of those readers are friends and family that were a part of my life before I began writing. I suppose I can empathize with this concept. I mean who wants to hear poignant words of wisdom from somebody to whom you have had to say, “Jesus! We have spray in the bathroom for a reason!” or “Was that you or the dog?” over and  over in your life?

Case in point: today my littlest daughter was mimicking the lines from a video about somebody being afraid of spiders. My wife pointed out that daddy oddly enough is not afraid of spiders even though he was bitten by a Brown Recluse once (Long story, don’t ask). To this I said, “The only thing I am afraid of in this world is myself.”

My wife’s response was, “Oh blah, blah, blah, such a drama queen!”

So folks, that’s why we look to the ancients of time, trial and tome for guidance, or to the talking heads on the screen with their pretty bleached smiles – distance. Just remember all that distance only blurs reality…it doesn’t change it.

~Nick Shamhart

Miley Cyrus Sitting Naked on a Frozen Wrecking Ball Making Out with Barney

March 21, 2014

Remember that little eyes are always watching and little ears are always listening. Now, I have been known to discuss – at length – the faults of certain children’s entertainment. But I always do my best not to do so in front of my daughters. I cannot remember any of the adults around me criticizing or belittling Star Wars, He-Man, or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (I mean come on, seriously? That’s just asking for it) when I was young. They smiled and humored me, playing along. Lately I’ve seen people complain about a movie or TV show right in front of their children. I believe that may be the adult equivalent of badmouthing a sports team or celebrity. Perhaps it is the ability to bitch at our fingertips that has changed people, or perhaps it is our inability to let children’s entertainment be just that – for kids. 

It is one thing if it is Miley Cyrus, dancing around butt-naked and mounting a wrecking ball style inappropriate, (please, please tell your daughters how that is about greed and insecurity) but if your child loves something – I say let them. We will soon be handing them a mess called adulthood and the “real world” so for a few years let them love things for the sheer joy of it. There will be plenty of time to ridicule, deride, and corrupt when they become teenagers.

~Nick Shamhart 

Ghosts in the Machine

March 18, 2014

I was scrolling through pictures of my daughters on Facebook and I noticed several comments from friends that have died since the pictures were taken. How excruciatingly painful, yet wonderful, is that? The idea that we can still hold a small presence in someone’s life. One that can be seen by many. No longer are our ghosts confined to old photo albums, faded Christmas cards, or dusty corners of memory. True, it’s only bits of data, or several hundred pixels, but still it lurks and haunts our machines, catching us off guard with a forgotten comment or picture.

Do cyber confines preserve us longer than memory, or, is it only an illusion that allows us comfort until someone trips the circuit breaker?

~Nick Shamhart