History of the Trap: June Dreams Part 1

SYNOPSIS:  After being visited in prison by Morgan LaDona Tigh, Lance Martin has agreed to Dr. Duncan's request to detail what happened in the time that Lance is calling "the Trap."  Lance begins his journal by describing the morning before the trap fell, where we learn his father was the Principal of Loren High, that Lance is a Junior, and has a sister named Diane who is a sophomore.  After a couple hours at school that morning, where we see how different his relationship with Morgan is.  We meet Lance's best friend, Artie Pentler, and their gang. Just as Lance is ready to ask Ginny Estill out, the Trap falls, and they witness the horrible death of two P. E.students as they are caught in some kind of electrical storm.  The students soon realize, as April marches on, that the so-called storm is something more, and that they may be trapped at the school and it's grounds for a very long time. May involves grizzly murders of staff that remain unsolved, as Lance's father and staff struggle to come to grips with events.  They decide to schedule more activities for the students to become involved with, including sports,  a TV variety show, and the beginnings of the tunnel project. Lance realizes that Ginny has chosen Artie, and finds himself moving closer to the studious, pretty Lisa Carlton.

Chapter 5

June Dreams

1

I know what you're thinking.

Roughly seven weeks in with over 1,000 hormone driven teenagers trapped in a relatively small area, with few having parents there, and only a small adult staff to watch over them, why isn't there more ... well, hanky panky?

Several points regarding this, the first being that that is simply not the focus of my story to you, Dr. Duncan.  There obviously is a lot going on that I'm not telling you about, and I am trying to keep things as attuned to my experiences as possible, and provide an explanation for the events you already know about, and what led up to them.  It's not a tell all or a gossip journal.

That being said, there probably a lot less of that going on than you would imagine. This was owed at least in part to my Dad's efforts to keep us busy and organized.  And even though there were fewer adults, they did a good job of watching us and keeping us in group settings. 

But there were other things going on besides organized activities and adult supervision.  Rumors were quite strong that no girl had had a period since the trap fell.  It wasn't just student speculation; I had overheard conversations with my father and other administrators. Seven weeks in and no one had heard of any girl who had started her time. 

Could whatever is causing this be affecting the boys as well?  That was a little harder to prove or see, but the boys seemed a little less interested or as aggressive as you might think.  There was still interest there, as demonstrated by Lisa and myself, or (sigh) Ginny and Artie, or even Tom Bodell and Sue Boschman.  It just wasn't the all-consuming thing you might expect it to be.

I know what you're thinking.

How in the world did we still have electricity and water?  If we were that cut off, how were those things continuing? 

I don't know.  No one really did.  Maybe we were still connected to the grid somehow.  All I know is it continued for a very long time.  The fact that we weren't getting any bills was one of the few positives my Dad was experiencing.

I know what you're thinking.

How did we sustain enough food to sustain 1,167 people (by our latest count)?  More and more of our food came from the Fallout Shelter.  Why it did not get exhausted we did not know, at least at that time.  And we were rapidly beginning to grow our own food.  Some of us thought about the food situation a lot.  My Dad and Mr. Bruchow (our biology teacher) were obsessed with it.  Many did not think about it because there were no visible shortages or rations, although some were starting to complain about the lack of variety or fresh foods, with the exception of the unexpectedly large harvest of wild raspberries.  That made raspberries wildly popular, even among people who previously did not care for them.

I know what you're thinking.

We must have a good number of students who were addicted to substances, like cigarettes and drinking, who were going through horrible withdrawals.  Well, we did.  They weren't my immediate friends so I haven't dealt with it much, nor have I with people who needed prescription medication.  But there were problems. Problems that over the coming weeks, months and years would affect us all.

Marshy Vowels

Incredible
As it seems
Inviting
As it deems

The marsh
Is filled with water
It stops
My wayward daughter

Excitable
As they come
Enticing
As they dumb

The larvae
Swim around the murky
It bleeds
To where she lurky

Astonishing
As we feel
Anxious
As we kneel

The germs
Are in the muddy
We travel
without a buddy

Outstanding
As she wishes
Odorous
As she fishes

The infection
Is taking root
It swirls
Until it is moot

Unbelievable
As far as the ocean
Unmade
As far as tip potion

The dream
Lies in a fever
It swelters
Unravels without a weaver

My Family At The Start

Yes, it was a long time ago.  My best guess would be 1957.  Our family was gathered for the earliest picture I have of the four of us together.

My Dad would be about 35.  He was already starting to gray at the temples.  I also would start to turn gray early.  He has maintained his full head of hair, even at 90 (he will turn 91 this June 29).

His sleeves were rolled up.  Most of the time I saw him growing up, he was dressed up much more.  He was a hard working teacher, a high school math teacher at Charlotte High School.  He was very smart, but his particular gift was in teaching students who had been low achievers, those who weren't very interested in school.  Somehow he reached those students, and got them learning and performing beyond any one's expectations.

He grew up on a large farm, where he had major responsibilities. He loved yard work, so perhaps he had come in from doing that just before the picture was taken.

My mother seems happy that we are together.  She is holding my baby sister, Carol,.  We are about fifteen months apart.  That seems pretty close together, considering they were three years into the marriage before I was born. But I guess once they figured out how it worked....

My mother is wearing some big honking glasses.  I pretty much always remember her in glasses.  She had to start wearing glasses as young as 3.  She had crossed eyes that had only partially been corrected.  But with the glasses she could see well.  She was a lifelong avid reader, a passion that I have inherited. She died October 19, 2008.  I miss her terribly.

My little sister Carol is not looking at the camera,  Her face is turned towards her Daddy.  Is not that the way with daughters?  Since my mother died, my father's health has slowly declined.  He can do less and less for himself.  This little girl who so adores him, has become his primary care supervisor.  She lives within a few miles while I am a thousand miles away.  The care and devotion and love my parents gave to her is being returned to him, as she strives to make his life as comfortable and enjoyable as possible.

And finally, there is me.  I am the only one staring directly into the camera.  Is this thing on?  Should I put on a show?  Yes, I was contemplating the acting bug from very early on.

It was a long time ago.

It was just yesterday.

Thank God for photographs.

Ripping Good Yarns: Best of the Saturn Awards

The Saturn Awards will be presented on June 26th.  I am still trying to find out when they will be televised.  I have several posts about these awards, as I consider them closest in spirit to what Ripping Good Yarns is all about.  Great fiction stories told in an exciting, melodramatic fashion, with interesting plots and compelling characters.

Looking over all the nominees in the major movie and television categories, I have composed a list of my five favorites from each group.  I have left out those movies and shows that I have not seen, and for the most part have not included academy award Best Picture nominees, because I feel like they have their own awards.  Also I have yet to see most of them.

MOVIES!


5)  Brave

             An excellent animated film, I loved seeing the young princess of this movie take charge.  I saw it with all three of my sons and it kept all of them engaged.

4) The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

          I can't believe they've taken this modest sized novel and are going to make it into three films.  That being said, it was very enjoyable to watch,  It is much more concentrated on developing a greater appreciation of the characters and delving deeper into the wonders of Middle Earth.

3)  Skyfall

          Love me some Bond, and this was Bond at his best.  Exciting story, and a first-rat villain played by Javier Bardem.

2) The Cabin In the Woods

          Brilliant send up of horror films,  particularly the teens in jeopardy kind.  I didn't get to see this until this last weekend, but it was well worth the wait.

1) Marvel's The Avengers

         The reason they make movies.  All the advances in technology they have ever done have led to this movie.  Director/writer Joss Whedon at his finest.  This movie should not only have been nominated for an academy award, it should have won.


TV!

5) The Killing

          The pacing of this show is not for everyone, as it took 26 episodes to cover one murder investigation. But the rich detail and evocative mood of it was wonderful to sink into.

4) The Following

         The pace of this show, however, was electric.  The plot surged forward like a freight train without brakes.  No character was safe, no situation out of the realm of possibility.

3) Fringe

          The best show on network television.  This year it concluded it's run after five glorious seasons.  John Noble as Dr, Walter Bishop is one of the greatest characters ever on television, certainly the very best "mad" scientist.  As it hits syndication and the DVD and streaming markets, be sure to check this great series out.

2) A Game of Thrones

          A close call between this and my first choice.  A brilliant evocation of one of the best book series ever written.  Dozens of major characters are weaved into this great story, and the TV series does an excellent job of making them all come to life.

1) The Walking Dead

         Best characterizations on television.  Nothing else really comes close to the depth of character and involvement you have with them than this show.  If you just dismiss this as a zombie show, than you are missing out on the very best that television has to offer.


There you have it!  I'll let you know when The Saturn Awards get closer, and what will be our best opportunity to see them.

MEANWHILE.......get ready for the second annual Ripping Good Yarn television awards!  Start thinking of YOUR favorites now!  The more people that nominate and vote, the better these special awards will be!

Special Tuesday Moanings Edition of Monday Musings

Oy.  The little break is over.  Time to hoof it back to work.

We just stayed at home.  A trip to church on Sunday, and a little shopping and a meal out Saturday night.  That's it.  It felt good to be at home.

Benjamin's last day of 6th grade was Friday. He ended it in style with a slight altercation with another boy.  Ended the school year isolated at his desk, his head down.  I'm not sure completely what went on, but I am not too upset with him. Even though the boy hit him, Benjamin just raised a finger, but it was a digit that the teacher, just returning form somewhere else, noticed.    The last day of school is a little bit like the Wild, Wild West.

I spent three and half hours Saturday mowing the yard.  We made the brilliant decision to sell the riding lawn mower along with the Clark Road house, and it takes me awhile to mow Glenwood with my little push mower.  I start out with as much enthusiasm as I can muster but by the third hour my mind is numb, and it takes a day or so for my hand to stop vibrating.

I saw only one movie over the break, but it was a very good one.  The Cabin In The Woods, a movie produced and co-written by Joss Whedon (Buffy, The Avengers), was a gorgeous send up of horror movies and their cliches. Both Alison and I enjoyed it.

We had our last Sunday School class until September.  I am going to miss it tremendously.  I love being able to talk to people about religious philosophy, issues and concerns.  And our adult class is probably like none other in Southeast Georgia.  Most of our year has been focused on DVD presentations and books by Rob Bell, a pastor of a mega-church in Michigan.  He is a great speaker and writer, and makes you think about many things.

As I believe and was reminded of a lot on Facebook, Monday was not about grilling, it was about remembering the sacrifice that fallen soldiers had made.  And I certainly did that throughout the day, via posts and things I read, prayers I made.  But....there was also grilling.  We fired up ours and cooked some magnificent rib-eye steaks, along with a big ol' baked potato and some roasted vegetables.

But now that is done, and work once again looms.  This is a time of year where sometimes things slow, but not this year.  I have many assignments before me, so I will have plenty to do.  That's okay.  A busy day passes more quickly than an idle day.  And starting on Tuesday makes the next weekend that much closer.

Until next time,

T. M. Strait

A Modest Food Stamp Proposal Saturday Political Soap Box 65

A good friend of mine posted on Facebook, about the benefits of food stamps, and how they had played in instrumental role in helping her family in hard times.

Some people, like myself, responded very well.

Some others did not.

There were the typical rants about how some people were getting food stamps that did not deserve them. Anecdotal stories about the person in front of you in the grocery store who is dressed too well, drives too fancy a car, buying too upscale of food, getting stuff for free that you worked hard all your life to get.  And there go your tax dollars to support this freeloader.  Others were angry at the perceived fraud and abuse that takes place within the food stamp program.  More anecdotal stories pour forth.  Meanwhile, the story of my friend and her family, and the story of countless other families that have been helped by this program,  are drowned out in a sea of negativity.

The food stamp program is not a permanent status.  The average length of time spent on food stamps in nine months, according to SNAP statistics.  My friend quoted another source that said five and a half months.  The point is these programs do have turn around.  The vast majority are not on the program long term, nor do they want to be.

The stereotype that these people should look worse than us is just stupid and cruel.  This is a program designed to help us...there but for the grace of God.  It's possible to dress fairly well and be in need.  We're not supposed to be judging each other in that way, but I guess we just can't help it.

Is there fraud and abuse in the food stamp system?  Oh, you betcha!  This is America, after all, land of the free and home of the con!  We love our con men in this country!  Look how we celebrate The Wizard of Oz, Jack Sawyer in Lost, Robert Redford and Paul Newman in  The Sting, Ric Scott and Donald Trump, Bernie Madoff and Pat Robertson - we love them all!!!  Figuring out loopholes to tax law and regulations is The American Pastime! As soon as a law or regulation is passed in this country, lawyers and accountants start holding seminars to show how to get around them.  And yet, according to SNAP, their error rate is 3.81%, considerably below that of many other government programs.

According to a study done by Moody Business ( a fairly conservative, business oriented think tank), the number one smartest way a government can invest to most quickly get out of a recession is food stamps.  They return more money back in than is invested, and fuel economic growth faster than anything else.  It may not be pretty but it's true - if you want to get the economy going and growing, increase food stamp availability.

But our politics are greatly divided, and nothing I or my friend or others say or do is going to make any difference.  Most conservative thought in this country is fueled by fear of the OTHER.  There is someone out there who is not deserving, who is going to take your hard earned money and get things free that you had to work hard for. And the concentration of attention is always on those who are perceived to be economically below you - never on those who are wealthy or  large corporations; their thievery is always ignored or justified.

So for those of you in this intractable camp, I have a modest proposal:

WARNING!  THIS IS THE SWIFTIAN SATIRE SECTION OF THE POST:

If you are offended by people being in line with you that are using food stamps, why don't we create separate grocery stores for them to go to?  And of course, those grocery stores should only sell base commodities, not the fine, fancy foods you think they should be denied.  Bags of rice and flour, no name generic products, government cheese and surplus, Nothing fun or interesting, because they should be punished and humiliated for their inexcusable poverty.

No cars made in the last ten years should be allowed in the parking lot.  No one should be allowed in who has a manicure or clothes that are not clearly ragged hand-me-downs.  Use of proper grammar could result in expulsion.

But why stop there?  To be sure we are screening the right people, they should be made to wear an identifier on their clothing, say a yellow star.  It could even be a tattoo!  Somewhat removable, of course, using a special government process, but maybe leaving a little after mark so those people can forever be stained by their slovenliness, even if it is temporary.

But why stop even there?  Let's keep track of people and their level of moochery.  Let's implant a chip that keeps track of all the money you've paid into the system,take it out when you use a government service, and when these people start to run deficits, garnish their wages to make restitution for their mooching ways.

But why stop there?  Why don't we use the chip for everything, and just stop one's government benefit when the chip zeroes out, or make you start paying for your services?  Your chip starts to run negative for traveling on public roads - get off or start paying a toll!  Chip runs negative for public school?  Get your kid out and start sending him to private school or keep the little moocher at home!  It could track how much you've put into Social Security and Medicare, and boot you right straight snap out of the system once your own funds are exhausted!

But why stop there?  No matter what you do, there are still going to be those incapable of contributing.  People too old or disabled or unlucky, those who simply have a hard time with their family living in a van down by the river, catching contaminated, polluted fish and wildlife (poisoned by a lack of regulation on industry), working jobs paying at Bangladesh level wages.  For those who just refuse or are unable to get their chips into balance, there is another solution, one that might help us with those Food Stamp commodity stores.

And that solution is.......


Soylent Green.


To paraphrase one of my favorite Pogo comic strip sayings....

We has met the moocher......

...and he is us.

History of the Trap May Shadows Part 9

SYNOPSIS:  After being visited in prison by Morgan LaDona Tigh, Lance Martin has agreed to Dr. Duncan's request to detail what happened in the time that Lance is calling "the Trap."  Lance begins his journal by describing the morning before the trap fell, where we learn his father was the Principal of Loren High, that Lance is a Junior, and has a sister named Diane who is a sophomore.  After a couple hours at school that morning, where we see how different his relationship with Morgan is.  We meet Lance's best friend, Artie Pentler, and their gang. Just as Lance is ready to ask Ginny Estill out, the Trap falls, and they witness the horrible death of two P. E. students as they are caught in some kind of electrical storm.  The students soon realize, as April marches on, that the so-called storm is something more, and that they may be trapped at the school and it's grounds for a very long time.  As May starts up, a grizzly murder is discovered.  Mr. Franks, the substitute math teacher is found dead in a janitorial closet. The murder remains unsolved, as Lance's father and staff struggle to come to grips with events.  They decide to schedule more activities for the students to become involved with, including sports,  a TV variety show, and the beginnings of the tunnel project.

9

It was the last of the colas.

 Being the Principal's son occasionally had its privileges.  Not near as many as most people thought, but it did have some.  Oscar Crowler, the Assistant Principal, had squirreled away one last bottle of a local cola, Schweiner's Cola, prepared with purified water from Lake Huron.  He gave it to me yesterday, saying it should be a student that drank it, not some tubby adult like him.  I was kind of surprised he chose me, but he was very loyal to my father, and it might have been a way of acknowledging that.

Regardless of Mr. Crowler's motivation, I was the recipient of his generosity.  I had to decide what to do with my treasure.  Should I keep it for some rare event or celebration?  It seemed pointless to keep until whatever trap we were in was lifted.  Then we could just go to Burger Chef and get what ever icy cold soft drink we wanted.  I decided instead to open it that night, that last night of May, and share it with another special person.  But who?

Artie Pentler, my best friend, did not drink sodas.  I had only seen him drink water or milk.  So the two major beverages we had, water and powdered milk were right up his alley.  He might not even perceive Schweiner's as a treat. 

I would love to share it with Ginny Estell, but it was sinking in that she was not as interested in me as she was Artie.  As attracted as I was to her, I could not bring myself to compete with Artie for her.  I would like to say it was strictly out of loyal friendship, but it was not.  In my heart, I felt like I was not as good as Artie and that there was no way I could compete with him.

I could share it with Artie's gang (including Tom Bodell, Jim Kurrash, Robert Bond and Jerry Mack).  But as much as I liked those guys, that did not just seem as intimate or special enough. 

I passed on the idea of my own family as well.  Like Artie, my Dad did not touch pop, and my sister would want to bring in her boyfriend and then it would be more about those two than me.  Selfish, I know.

My Dad was on another inspection tour of the grounds and building, and would not be coming back to his office.  He would spend the night sleeping in the teacher's lounge, which had been converted into sleeping quarters for the administrators.  He could easily sleep in his own office by himself, but he wanted to be more engaged than that. 

I had taken a key from his desk earlier in the day, and now used it to open the door for myself and my guest.

She came in with me, and we did not say a word to each other as we sat on the floor by my father's desk.  I was surprised that she so readily agreed to come, but any positive reaction from a girl surprised me.

I pried open the bottle top with a letter opener from my father's desk.  It took more effort to remove it than I initially thought, but it finally popped off and it flew across the room as if I were uncorking champagne.  It fizzed a bit, and then I poured a small amount into the two Dixie Cups that I had brought with me.

She took the cup from me.  She brought it closer, and her nose wrinkled a bit at the bubbles.  I thought it made her look very cute.  Her long blond hair hung close to her face, flat but clean.  She wore thick glasses, but had big expressive eyes, hazel brown in color.  Her skin was clear and her nose a bit long and pointed, her lips a little too thin.  No, she was not as pretty as Ginny Estill, but who was?  But she was attractive in her own right, and interestingly, the more I got to know her, the more attractive she became.

She put her it to her lips and took a dainty swallow.  She immediately choked and coughed, almost spilling the contents in her cup. 

"What's the matter?" I asked.  "Has it gone bad?"

"No, I don't think so," she answered.  "I don't drink a lot of pop, so I'm not really sure."

"You don't?  Well, if you don't really like pop, why did you want to come drink it with me?"

"Oh, Lance," she said with a sigh.  "Sometimes, for somebody so smart, you can be pretty thick."

Then it hit me.  She had not given me any sign of it, but I should have known earlier.  She was the one who had chosen to work with plants and gardening.  She was the one who was concerned about the nutritional effects of our diet.  She was the pretty and off the charts intellectual Lisa Carlton.  Well, if she wasn't here for the pop, why was she here?

Slowly, steadily, the logs lifting from my eyes, I became a little less thick.

"I have a boyfriend, you know. He's a freshman at Huron University.  He's very smart, and well, very tall. He is really kind and nice to me.  It's just that..." She paused, tearing up a bit.  "I'm not really sure I'll ever see him again."

I know I shouldn't have.  I just followed my instincts.  I put my arm around her.  "That must be very hard."  She leaned into me, and I swear, her body almost purred like a kitten.  Maybe that was just her slight shivering.

"You remind me of him, you know.  You are kind and a good listener, you're very smart, and you're funny.  Not tall.  I mean, that's okay, it's just a difference.  It's not that important"

And she stayed in my arms and we talked.  And talked.  Long into the night.  As long as I had talked to anybody in a long, long time.

The only girl I had ever kissed was Carol Dietrich, whom I had dated a few times, and then had broken up with me when I told her that I liked her.  Of course, I had imagined kissing Ginny many times.  But this was better than imagining.  Lisa was right here.

And I kissed her.  And it felt good and right.

We did a little more than just kiss.  Not everything, but quite a bit.

And then we talked some more.  Until we feel asleep in each other's arms.

And that is where my Dad found us when he opened the door to his office that early morning of the first of June.

Table Pop

I sat at the table.

As I slid into place, the red vinyl covering the booth seat made farting noises.

The table had not been cleaned off.  She had been there just before me.

I could see the pool of cherry pop she had split, disrupting the flow of the blue and green marbled Formica table top.

I could not stop myself.  I put my face into the pop, and started to lick it.  It was a cherry red liquid that she had been drinking from.  How could I not taste it?  How could I not imagine that it tasted a bit like her?

The waitress came right then.  She looked at me like I was a toddler who had just dropped a deuce in the tub.  She told me someone would be there right away to clean the table up.  I tried to assure her that there was no need.

I looked across the table and she was there.  Pretty blond hair, achingly deep blue eyes, pouty full red lips.  She was breaking up with me.  The friend speech.  I did not want to listen to that again.

I looked at the booth on the other side, and I was there with her, along with my brother and his girl.  A blind date, an accident, whatever it was, it felt like magic.  There we were laughing, already sinking into her eyes, her soul.  I made her laugh.  She made me smile.

I turn back to my table, and she is there.  And we talk for hours and tell each other absolutely every thing.  Nothing is left out.  Why hide anything from your soul mate, your one true companion in life.

I look outside and we are leaning on my car.  I kiss her for the very first time, and the county fireworks  begin.  Or at least it felt like it did.  Our very beings were bleeding into each other.  I could feel her bare back as I slipped my hand underneath her shirt. I didn't want to stop.

I turn once again to my table, and she is not there.  I am alone.  Truly and completely alone,

She had been there minutes ago.  With another man.  A new love.  I had been thrown away.

I waved the waitress with the cleaning rag away,

All I had left was a pool of cherry pop, that which was still left after my tasting.

I was going to keep it as long as I could.

What else was left?

The Year In Benjamin

Benjamin gets confirmed in our church, Grace Episcopal.

Benjamin plays Little John in the play, Young Robin Hood, that I wrote with Karissa Cook.

Benjamin uses his Cotillion learned dance skills and his newly acquired polite demeanor to dance at his big brother Doug's wedding.

Benjamin dances in his new room at the house we renovated and then moved into, the famous Glenwood Restoration.

Benjamin read a poem about me at the Martha Davis award ceremony.

At the last Cotillion dance of the year, Benjamin dances with a very special lady.

Benjamin and Alison stand in front of some kind of flowery bush at our new Glenwood house.

Benjamin with his mother and father, at the Indian ceremony where his brother Doug married Ramya.

Benjamin played Rapunzel's Prince in the middle school's production of Into the Woods, Jr.  Yes, Benjamin, there is a pretty young girl behind you.

6th Grade ends in a blur as Benjamin holds up his ward from Honors Ceremony, for all As in Social Studies. Benjamin receive almost all As throughout the year, but he received just enough Bs, an occasional Baby Ruth floating in a sea of pearly As, that  Social Studies was the only one in got all As in after every 9 week period.  For starting middle school he did pretty well, and 7th grade should be even better.


There were more I could have included, like the trip to New York,  pictures of him in band, and so much more, but I don't want to challenge the space limits, both of my blog and of my reader's attention.

Congratulations on a great year, Benjamin.  We are so proud to call you son!

Chariots of Gnats: Walking In Their Clouds

I'm trying to improve myself.

My physical health is pretty good, given my size and shape.  But it is not a good long term path.  My hobbies and interests are all sedentary, and my diet wavers between fairly healthy to college dorm, and I stress too darn much over things I shouldn't.

How to straighten this out, realizing that you're not tracking somebody determined to be the next triathlete, but someone who just wants to stay healthy enough to enjoy the reading, writing, acting and other storytelling interests that are so cherished,  that wants to enjoy being with has family a very long time.

The first thing is to restore some semblance of walking to my routine.  I'm starting out with an evening walk with the dogs, just to get back into things.  There are several challenges.

The first is the unrequited love affair that gnats have with me.  They love buzzing around my ears, and it drives me crazy.  Something about my pheromones attracts them in such large numbers to me, when I walk I look Pigpen from the Peanuts cartoon, a huge cloud of them following me wherever I go. I have received a number of suggestions to combat this, including the male perfume BRUT, other commercial spray repellents such as off, an electronic noise emitter, and my own favorite - wearing earmuffs.  I have to try BRUT, although I am afraid it will repel more than just insects (Alison does not care for perfumes, and I have not worn so much as an after shave).  The commercial sprays also leave me sticky and odorriffic, and the noise emitter doesn't work all that well.  Earmuffs just make me look even dorkier than I already do.  But I'll keep working on it.

The second problem is Georgia weather, and our frequent summer evening thunderstorms.  When we moved, we sold the treadmill along with the house, so I eliminated my indoor option.  I have to develop some sort of routine I can do in the house.  I noticed Alison the other day using something from her iPad that gave her an exercise routine.  Maybe I can find something like that that won't utterly and completely bore me to tears.

The other element of my attempt to reform is diet.  I will save that discussion for another post.  Suffice it to say I am trying to talk myself into more fruits and vegetables.

But I will not be deterred.  I will find a way to keep the gnats away, or at least more tolerable.  I will figure out a way to sneak more exercise into my life. But there is a trade off.  The idea is not to let the exercise subsume me.  It's like working.  I work in order to have the money to pay the bills and to do the things my family and I really enjoy.  That's the same thing with exercise - it is not an ends to itself, but a means to enjoy other things in a healthier state.

I will keep you posted.  Unless I give up this blog and take up jogging in the morning.

Nah.  Not gonna happen.

Mother Nature's Horrible Reminder

It is a rough and horrible reminder that we are not really in charge.

For all we can control with our intellect and skill, we still have not mastered the unexpected rage of Mother Nature.

My heart, my prayers go out to those devastated by the powerful tornadoes that tore through Oklahoma.  It was a ferocious, wide tornado that went through Moore, Oklahoma, with unprecedented wind speeds and strength   I would call it a rare storm, but they are happening with greater frequency and intensity now,  But that is another topic for another day.

There are different relief agencies to donate what is most needed now - money targeted to where it will do the most good.  There is the American Red Cross.  There are individual relief groups sponsored by churches, such as Episcopal Relief and Development Agency.  Give your dollars there if you can.

The President has already declared Oklahoma a disaster area, and I am sure the US Senators from Oklahoma, normally opposed to disaster relief, will be more generous in this case.

From Episcopal Relief and Development:

Please join us in prayer for those affected by tornadoes and those on watch throughout the night. 
http://www.episcopalrelief.org/usdisaster


From American Red Cross:

You can support #Moore response & other disasters by txting REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10, or online at http://redcross.org

Play Season's End and Other Monday Musings

The young Prince (Rapunzel) has his sight restored, and Rapunzel and her Prince look lovingly at each other - okay, not so much.  But at least he can see again.

A long and active play season for both Benjamin and I drew to a close this weekend, as Pierce County Middle School put on a rousing performance of Into The Woods, Jr.  Many attended and all enjoyed this fine show.  It gave many students experience, both performing onstage and working backstage.  The sets and stage direction was fantastic, and I really appreciated the fact that play had a lot of movement, both in musical numbers but also in regular scenes.  Sometimes plays lose a lot if there is little movement, or the characters react woodenly.  

My own play, The Graduate, finished the week earlier.  It was a great experience with one of the best all-around casts that I have been onstage with.  Because it was an "adult" show, the crowds were light, but with only one or two exceptions, the small crowds were enthusiastic and receptive.  It was a joy for me just to get into a play and have as my only responsibility my own acting.

I don't normally eat supper until after a rehearsal or performance, so now that it is over, I'm having trouble getting my appetite to respond at better times.  I'm still getting hungry at 10 or 11 each night, and that is not a good thing.  Hopefully, I can get back to normality in week or so.

My middle son Doug was down here this weekend, and we had a blast.  He saw Benjamin perform Into The Woods, Jr, and we also saw two movies, as Strait boys are wont to do when they get together.  One was Star Trek: Into the Darkness and the other was Iron Man 3.  Both were very good, but Star Trek was very, very good!

I was a little bit perturbed when I realized that Star Trek was going to have good box office, but not in the same class as Iron Man 3.  Since it was a superior movie, it kind of threw me off.  Then I realized that Alison chose Iran Man 3 to see over Star Trek, and even stated she had little interest in seeing it.  I have a friend who is a huge Star Trek fan, whose spouse said he would take her to it if she wanted to, but emitted little of his own enthusiasm for it.   And these are people who do not automatically dislike anything fantasy and science fiction.  Alison has a great deal of enthusiasm for these genres. I think the whole weight of the Trek mythology may sometimes weigh against it when people who are not immersed in it consider seeing a Star Trek movie.  Well, you're making a mistake.  You do not need to be "immersed" in Trekkie stuff to enjoy this movie.  If you are on the bubble on Star Trek: Into the Darkness, pop it and give it a try.  You won't regret it.

There is little over the summer to participate in drama-wise, which is good, because our family needs to take a break for it from awhile.  But next season, WACT is doing Dracula and A Christmas Carol, and it's going to be hard to stay out of those shows.  And I'm sure there will be opportunities to perform and write for Flying Dragon, and another middle school play in 2014.  

And that's how it is in Strait World.  As the curtain goes down on one season, we are already anticipating the curtain rising on next season!

Until next time,

T.M. Strait

Scandalicious Saturday Political Soap Box 64

It seems to be the inevitable rhythm of modern American politics.

The second term of our American  Presidencies get mired in scandal and inertia.

Nixon had Watergate, Reagan Iran-Contra, Clinton Monica-gate, Bushy Jr. started early and most insidiously by lying us into a war.

So now it's Obama's turn to live up to America's glorious political past.

And what do we have so far?

The IRS targeted conservative groups for investigation of 501(c)4 status? Well, that's wrong.  Of course, the 501(c)4 status is being abused by groups of all kinds.  Claiming to be organized to benefit and promote and social welfare, and instead pursuing a completely political agenda, including running vicious attack ads aimed directly at individuals.  The IRS should be investigating EVERY organization filing for this status.  Of course, that would take a lot of money and resources.  And it's awful that the IRS disproportionally turned down the status to Conservative groups. Wait a minute!  They actually didn't turn anybody down.  And they actually gave the same set of inquiries and questions to progressive groups applying.  Somebody just shot their mouth off because they noticed that a large number of the groups looking to take advantage of this status were right wing.  And President Obama seems more pissed off about it than you or I are.  He has no connection to it and heads in the IRS are rolling.  Ne connection, no defense of the behavior, no cover up.

Benghazi looms like a shadowy promised land for Republicans.  The same party that 9/11 happened to, and lied us into war, and had countless terror incidents happen on their watch (Reagan/Bush/Bush) is excited that something happened under Obama's watch.  Wow.  The world's largest actor on the international stage sometimes has things go SNAFU.  Should we investigate and fix what wrong?  Sure!  Let's see what we can do!  Why don't we start by restoring the many millions that the Republican Congress cut from embassy security?  This whole thing is now more of an attempt to smear Hilary Clinton than it is anything else.  Good luck with that.

The over monitoring of AP phone calls and such stinks, but it was mostly done in an over-zealous attempt to trace leaks that had done damage to our intelligence community.  The Republicans can't say much because they would have done this times ten.  The safety of the United States versus certain privacy issues of the news organization that participated in the leak of classified information?  Yeah, I can just see hordes of Republicans lining up to support the news organization.

So it's an interesting diversion, RepubliCorp.  Thanks for playing.  But when you get a chance, maybe you want to think of a few ways to help us with unemployment, immigration, sensible gun legislation, climate change, a crumbling infrastructure and a myriad of other pressing real problems.

Ripping Good Yarns: The Rest of the Saturn Television Awards

Continuing to show the award nominees for awards that seem made especially for Rippers!  The Saturn Awards, to be presented in June, are awards designed around great genre action and adventure programs.  Nothing frou-frou or sitting around at tea about these nominees.

I have earlier shown all the movie awards and the top two television categories.  My favorite in the Best Network Series category was Fringe, and my favorite of the cable series was The Walking Dead.

So let me proceed apace with a minimum of interruption:

Best Television Presentation
Breaking Bad - AMC
Continuum - Syfy
Falling Skies - TNT
Game of Thrones - HBO
Ken Follett’s World Without End - Reelz
Mockingbird Lane - NBC

Spartacus: War of the Damned - Starz

Best Youth Oriented Series on Television

Arrow - CW
Beauty and the Beast - CW
Doctor Who - BBC America
Merlin - Syfy
Teen Wolf - MTV
The Vampire Diaries - CW

Best Actor
Kevin Bacon, The Following
Billy Burke, Revolution
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Joshua Jackson, Fringe
Timothy Hutton, Leverage
Andrew Lincoln, The Walking Dead

Best Actress

Moon Bloodgood, Falling Skies
Mireille Enos, The Killing
Sarah Paulson, American Horror Story: Asylum
Charlotte Riley, Ken Follett’s World Without End
Tracy Spiridakos, Revolution
Anna Torv, Fringe

Best Supporting Actor
Jonathan Banks, Breaking Bad
Giancarlo Esposito, Revolution
Todd Lasance, Spartacus: War of the Damned
Colm Meaney, Hell on Wheels
David Morrissey, The Walking Dead
John Noble, Fringe

Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Carpenter, Dexter
Sarah Carter, Falling Skies
Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad
Laurie Holden, The Walking Dead
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Asylum
Beth Riesgraf, Leverage

Best Guest Starring Role in a Series
Blair Brown, Fringe
Terry O’Quinn, Falling Skies
Lance Reddick, Fringe
Mark Sheppard, Leverage
Ray Stevenson, Dexter
Yvonne Strahovski, Dexter

My choices:

Best Television Presentation:  Game of Thrones by a country mile!

Best Yout Orienrted Series:  Doctor Who

Best Actor:  Andrew Lincoln of The Walking Dead

Best Actress: Mirelle Enos, The Killing

Best Supporting Actor: John Noble, Fringe

Best Supporting Actress: Jessica Lange, American Horr Story: Asylum

No opinion on that last one.

Love to hear your choices or thoughts!

A Binding Song

Talk to me
From a distant shore
Walk to me
Across a shattered floor

Dance with me
To a fancy ballroom score
Kiss with me
By a moonlit moor

Pray unto thee
In a genuflected mode
Cry unto thee
Along a less traveled road

Caress my soul
With the kindness of your touch
Melt my soul
With a fierceness that is so much

So much more than I can bear
So much more than I can share
The brightness of your spirit
A lantern by which I steer it

Come to me
Share the joy of our binding
Open to me
And the world will flash like lightning

Head Into the Woods This Weekend!

The cast of Into The Woods.  Lots of great young thespians!

Benjamin looking a little concerned with his love interest, Rapunzel.

Amazingly, I couldn't find any pictures of this to post.  UPDATE:  Now with pictures!

But it is too important to let pass.

The Pierce County Middle School is going to be performing Into the Woods, Jr this weekend at the times mentioned below.  My son Benjamin plays Rapunzel's Prince.  He has a few lines and one song.  My good fiend's daughter, Elizabeth Beck, is also in the show.

Both Benjamin and Elizabeth have a lot of experience, but with other groups.  They both got very small roles for this production.  Benjamin was disappointed, but I told him. "Show the Director how dedicated you are.  Always be there to help.  Always show up for practice.  Do whatever you're given with enthusiasm and without complaint.  They will understand that you can be relied upon and over time, good things will happen."

Both Benjamin and Elizabeth did this, and over time, good things did happen.  Now they both have promoted to bigger parts than they started out with.

I really hope all of you who are in the area can come to this show.  The Director, Yvonne Hazen Russell has done extraordinary job in the past with children's productions (including Annie), and this should be top flight.  Please check out the times below and give serious consideration to seeing this show.

It will be performed at Eagle Station in Patterson, Georgia.


Friday, May 17 at 7pm and Saturday, May 18 at 2pm & 7pm.

The Brothers Grimm has “gone Broadway” with a cockeyed fairy tale where all of your favorite characters – Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack (his beanstalk), Granny, Step-sisters, Princes, The Witch and many more – meet and interact on their journeys.

Ticket Prices: $5 for general admission
LINK TO PURCHASE TICKETS: http://pcms.pierce.k12.ga.us/

Ripping Good Yarns: The Great Gapsby

I saw a movie, old sport!

It was the bee's knees!  It was the cat's meow!

It was a pretty good movie  all in all.  It was very faithful to the story, even if some of the music numbers were a little imaginative and anachronistic.  But if you wander into a Baz Lurhmann directed film and don't think you're going to get anachronitic, you've wandered into the wrong theater.  Did the music bother me?  Not at all!  I thought it was very entertaining - some of it was hip hop but with a jazzy tilt.

Leonardo DiCaprio was very good as Jay Gatsby.  The boyish hopefulness really shined through.  Like all truly great movie actors, he conveyed many of his mood changes just through his eyes, and subtle changes in his facial expression.  Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan was incredibly insipid and vapid, but that is what the character called for.  Love is a strange and uncaring beast, because practically there is no way someone as dynamic as Gatsby should be obsessed with her.  She is pretty but empty.  To me, the very best performance was by Joel Edgerton as Tom Buchanan, Daisy's mega-wealthy husband, played with malicious fervor.  He made you understand the truly corrupt power of these people who can do whatever they want and so casually play with other people's lives.

Any great work of literature will have multiple themes, like a kaleidoscope in what you pick up and see. But clearly the dominant theme of The Great Gatsby is disillusionment, the corrosive effects of greed and money, and the growing income inequality of that time. An income inequality and greed that eventually led to the Great Depression.

But this is not some distant artifact of a time long ago.  We are living it again today.  Income inequality is as severe if not more severe now than it was then.  And the gap has been growing.  And many of us seem completely unfocused on it.  We would still rather rail at someone getting filet mignon on food stamps than a corporation exploiting workers here in the country and overseas, where factories collapse and human beings work endless hours for pennies.

Statistics from Business Insider, from a study done by professors Dan Ariely and Michael Norton:

The Top 1% of Americans own a staggering 40% of the entire country's wealth!

The top 1%, in fact, own more than the average Americans (Republicans and Democrats alike) think that the whole top 20% should own.

Again, the top 1% of Americans own a staggering 40% of the country's net worth.

The bottom 80%, meanwhile — 8 out of 10 Americans — own only 7% of America's net worth.

The richest 1% of wage earners now take home 24% of the country's total earnings. This compares to only 9% four decades ago.

The top 1% own 50% of the country's financial assets.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/wealth-and-income-inequality-in-america-2013-4?op=1#ixzz2TMAqpoRe


Is this the way it always is?  NO!  Is this the way it has to be? NO!

We all want some kind of curve upwards, for hard work and effort to mean something.  But this?  This is ridiculous, and devastating to our ability to be a free, mobile and democratic society!

We can enjoy the drama and music and characters of The Great Gatsby.  But listen to the story carefully.  We don't have to live with The Great Gapsby.  We can do something about it if we have the will.

Through Time and Space With T. M. Strait

Tonight is a special night.

The Writer's Guild meeting is going to be held at Plant Cafe, where will meet the very prominent and successful science fiction writer, Jack McDevitt.  Mr. McDevitt writes in the field of science fiction and has many distinguished awards and nominations, including a Nebula Award for Best Novel (2007 for Seeker). I have met him once before, at a book signing he did at Read Me again Books.  He was very friendly and open, and I very much look forward to meeting him again.

My love affair with science fiction began very early.  We would visit my grandparent's lake front cottage in Southern Michigan, and my Grandma Martin would give me a handful of change and with that change I would go down to a grocery/pharmacy/hardware store that was close by, a store to service all the most immediate needs of the lake community.  That clutch of change could buy me a couple of comic books and a clutch of candy.  But I also saw something else that I was compelled to try.  Splurging the incredible sum of 35 cents, I bought a Worlds of If Science Fiction Magazine. The issue was December 1963, and it featured what it promoted as Larry Niven's first short story.  I was eight years old.

Larry Niven became one of the brightest lights in the science fiction genre, including the Ringworld series, and a number of popular collaborations with Jerry Pournelle (Footfall and The Mote In God's Eye being among my very favorite science fiction books.

I followed Worlds of If closely, even to the point of subscribing by 1965.  I also got a Worlds of Tomorrow magazine that featured Phillip Jose Farmer's introductory River World story, To Your Scattered Bodies Go. There were many compelling and wonderful stories in Worlds of If. I loved Keith Laumer's Retief stories.  I read Robert Heinlein's The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress in serial form, I read a fabulous story about a treehouse that goes to Mars.

Television also inspired me into science fiction.  I loved The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, although sometimes I had to watch through partially covered eyes.  Local channels would show old movies in the afternoon, movies with giant monsters, or space ships and aliens.  Star Trek was amazing, and I remember begging and pleading to stay up for it.

I discovered H.G. Wells and Jules Verne.  I particularly loved H. G> Wells, with classics like The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds.  In 7th grade, I decided that I would write under the pen name of T.M. Strait.

Movies at the theater were a little slower coming.  I enjoyed Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and other gems when I could find them.  But science fiction movies, to me, did not reach their full potential until years later with Star Wars.  Much of that movie I watched with jaw open and tears of joy.  That was one I had been waiting a long time for.

Since the age of eight, I have always dreamed of being published in one of those pulpy science fiction magazines.  I have tried off and on throughout the years, with no success.  Will Jacques being kind enough to publish my short story Waiting for the Last Train, even illustrating it, in his online magazine Ghastly Door, is a partial fulfillment of that dream, and I am very grateful for that.

The pulps still exist, at least a small handful of them.  Maybe I should brush off some of my stories, maybe even put together something new, and give it one more go.  Hey, you never know.  Maybe the 57th time will be the charm!

UPDATE:

A great picture from a fabulous meeting.  Here is a picture of our budding novelist Leslie Crane  in the middle, with Jack McDevitt and his wife, Maureen.  He was a great speaker and very friendly!  He has inspired me to once more hit the breaches of the science fiction magazine market and try once again!