Nelson Lowhim's Blog, page 87

I'm slow now, not because I'm old.

Well now there's an article about how writing on a screen is different from a hand.  Yeah I would say writing by hand is way different than doing so by keyboard. The visceral aspect of writing by hand is too strong to ever get the same thing from a computer (which I'm doing right now and I've clicked on several other tabs over the past few minutes so there's that fatal flaw of all inter-connected machines out there). 
But this doesn't mean that any old typewriter will do, because part of the reason I started doing this is that the King of American (possibly world) letters, James Baldwin, said he wrote by hand. So I had to. It really works and allows for a completely different process that includes completely rewriting on  the second go as well. 
Give it a try and see what you create!

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The New Green Deal

Well, it would appear that AOC and company are finally putting the needed steps for our nation before us and showing us what true leadership looks like. And of course, the crazies on the right are in full tilt against saving their own skins and trying to take us all down with us. If the term national security actually meant anything, we would use it to denote these fools who are now claiming our "lifestyles" will have to change. 
Yeah, idiots, that's the point. We're destroying our world as it stands. [1]
 Well, who can expect any thing from those on the right? Who seem to want to be comfortable rather than think and act?
It's maddening if not saddening and here's some thoughts on that. I came from that end of the political spectrum, yet when I read the evidence I learned not to hang on to my views but change them to what information was coming in. It would appear that many people would rather be comfortable and tribal rather than think deeply about anything.
That being said, I have yet to read all the details of a New Green Deal but it will have to deal with droughts and instability (and no cause any) in addition to all that it could do for us. Cities, of course, will be central to this future.





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And Then There Were Some.

Codes left for a free audiobook on Audible. Email me if you get the chance.
Meanwhile, there are a few other stories accepted elsewhere and I'll link them to you soon enough. As it stands, I have a few chances at having some more shorts out and will work on longer pieces as well!

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train

Me on a train, basically.

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A Brilliant Novel Perfect for Today's Moment in Time

I've been reading more contemporary novels and works recently, mainly because it appears that the mainstream publishing industry is finally releasing its grip on the past and allowing newer more diverse writers to come out in the open. 

This does not mean you should go with the usual canon (old white men), but rather you should branch out to other places for books you wouldn't normally consider. For example, I'm pretty sure I'm completely over Hemingway and some other writers taught to me in the halls of school. 
I could go into the many ways that finding something new actually requires you to dismiss many algorithms as well as the usual suspects in terms of bookstores (what does the staff think? it's not always that great or diverse). What you have to do is discover by mistake and by reading out of your comfort zone. 
To that end I am glad I took a risk on Singer's early novel, The Certificate . It's a perfect novel for our times, more so than anything based in the Nazi/WWII era. This one is based in Warsaw in 1922 and shows how tumultuous times with a million gods can tear humanity apart. 
Absolutely amazed. 
And the only reason I found it is because I was going to Warsaw and searched that word on my library site. If you search "Warsaw" on Google, you get some basic facts, travel guides and references to WWII (of course). On Amazon a bunch of movies of the same. If you add the qualifier "books", then you get something better, but still mainly focused on the idea of Warsaw in the time of WWII and its horrible aftermath. 
Nothing like this book that I managed to find, of course. 
So go out and read it. *stamps foot*
That being said, I'm sure if you went deep into the google or amazon page you'll find this book, but that's the point. It's hardly on the same level of serendipity as something like the library or a bookstore (some bookstores). What's most popular may make some $$ but it doesn't mean it's what grows knowledge in any meaningful way (see our current crisis for where this kind of thinking leads us). 
Even on the amazon product page for the Certificate book the "customers liked" is just a bunch of other Singer books which is true, algorithmically speaking, but not in terms of humanely.
Discovery is still a hard but to crack, but for the moneymakers of the world, it matters not.

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Spiderverse

You seen the latest Marvel Movie? Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse .(listen to the soundtrack here, also a brilliant score and one that seems to match up to what Americans listen to in general) I watched it after a whole host of people told me to watch it in real life. 

Note that I'm not writing off that all the people in real life saying something was not a matter of PR flowing into my reality, but it seemed different.
And here's the thing. I loved it.
I'm a contrarian, you know, and so when people like a movie (especially these Marvel ones) I rarely end up liking them and only think worse of society in general (old man reactions, these, but I've been having them since my youth, so go figure). 
But this is a movie you have to watch. 
Have to.
Go get in. 
Loved the graphics.
Loved the story. 
Loved the visions of NYC.
Loved the diversity (yeah it matters when 30% of our country wants to ethnically cleanse our nation). 
Check it out. 
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Sorry to Bother You & the Singular Lifetime Contract with Room & Board Only

Truly a tragedy, and if it were happening in a country that had oil (and none of our companies),  our media would be talking about how much of a failure it is and a reason for regime change (ditto increased drug use and increased alcohol use in certain countries, to say nothing of strikes and protests. Nevertheless, Japan is touted as a great country to emulate in terms of its equality and better health outcomes to say nothing of its public transport and housing. 
But here we have a Sorry to Bother you situation in Japan where the seniors of the country find it better to go to prison than to live free. Of course here they aren't giving any labor for this situation but it goes to show that the system is truly broken almost everywhere.

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You Know How I like the Art, Johnny Boy.

So I thought this would look good on your wall. For anyone who doesn't get the reference, I have a piece of art up at Tayo Literary Magazine (thanks!) which you can enjoy. I'll also look for a way to get that up so you can get prints of said art. So enjoy and have a great one!
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Billionaire Smackdown Alert!

These days we live in such dire times that every billionaire seems to have their own cargo cult. And don't even get me started on the "everything is great" idiots that want to tell everyone that everything (with the status quo) is fine.

For us peasants, the beatings will stop when morale improves.

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The Real Story on Clemson in the White House

Though I'm sure non-Bama/Clemson fans of college football haven't been big fans of the two teams essentially dominating the playoffs (and probably will for the foreseeable future, with maybe Oklahoma coming in a few times to break it up) some of us were impressed with Clemson's beatdown of the previously seeming unbeatable Bama train. 

Good times. 
But, as usual, the main lot of mainstream (and even the Twitter mob) missed out on the real story which is most of the players who went were the white players and those who were not the starters/main players who actually won the damn championship.
The Root has a full breakdown of what actually happened (even when I saw the pics I was thinking that, huh that's a lot of white faces, but since no one mentioned it, I assumed it was the photos taken):

The Root spoke with three black Clemson players who each separately confirmed that many players, both black and white, had no interest in making the trip. All three acknowledged that Donald Trump was the reason they chose not to attend. Even more telling, most of Clemson’s white players were in attendance while nearly three-fourths of the school’s black football players took a hard pass on the chance to eat cold fries with the president of people who eat salads from McDonald’s.

So the kids are all right in that they know not to give a reality TV show star any chance at using them for something like this publicity stunt. 
Of course, it was politics that even the ones who showed up kinda had to:

However, he noted that he knew that some players only attended because they worried that refusing to attend the traditional White House visit might affect their scholarships or playing time

 Good times, I suppose.
 Read this article for more deets.
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