The Gloriousness of Redundancy

How far will it go?

I know Seniors.  I know Juniors, sometimes called the Second.  There are Thirds, often with the nickname Trey. Only having heard it spoken, I used to think it referred to trays, like those cafeteria trays we used to use in college to go traying (a kind of sledding).

I have met a handful of Fourths, though if thirds are Trey, I don't know why Fourths aren't nicknamed Quad.  Via the tax returns I do, I have seen Fifths (Quint?).  I don't think I've ever run across a Sixth (Sext?).

I don't quite get the desire to have a whole line of male descendants with the same exact name.  Nor do I understand of calling somebody by their middle name.  If you wanted to do that, why didn't you just put their middle name first, and their first name second? But it takes many kinds and approaches to give the world it's zesty variety.

In my family, we did have a short streak of Thomas Jefferson Straits, but I don't think it got beyond four.  I have three boys, and there ain't a Junior in the bunch.  One tradition that I do carry is using maiden names within the mother's family as a middle name.  Gregory Roundtree Strait is my oldest, Roundtree being his mother's surname.  Douglas Redwine Strait has his mother's grandmother's middle.  Benjamin Sloan Strait has a middle name form his grandmother's family.  My name, Thomas Martin Strait use my mother's middle name.  And so goes our family tradition.

So my question to all my army of followers is - do you know any Sixths or higher?  Care to share?  I invite your participation!

Recalculating......

Those GPS devices sure get disappointed when you go in a different direction than they expect.  It tells you "Turn right", and instead you turn left; it says, in an exhausted, frustrated voice, "Recalculating".  Like people. sometimes technology is easily discouraged.  But then it bucks up, trying to get you on the right path again.

Flying Dragon Arts Center recently is experiencing some bumps in the road, some unexpected moments of recalculation.  That is in the nature of community theater.  People come and go.  Sometimes they move, sometimes they just get burnt out, sometimes they get mad at each other, sometimes there is a power struggle.  In a children's theater particularly, some will grow up or out of the phase that theatre is what they want to do.  And in a community Waycross's size with it's seeming inability to economically grow beyond a certain point, it is hard to retain the young adults who find more opportunity outside the area.

Flying Dragon, like all community theaters,, will have people come and go, but the heart of it's purpose will always be there.  There will always be a corp group of people that care enough to help the group survive and continue.  There will always be new people, excited and fresh to the theater, eager to grow and learn, who will constantly help revitalize things.

So don't lose faith in The Flying Dragon.  Seasons will go on, recalculating will be done.  As far as a building goes, I am sure whatever we find, people will follow.  Because as The Wizard of Oz taught, home is where the heart is, home is where the people you love and who love you are.

Of course, really good air conditioning would be nice too.

Runnin' From the Mittbot

I'm so sorry.  I got that title wrong.  I meant Runnin' WITH the Mittbot.  I mean, of course, who wouldn't want the opportunity to run with this attractive candidate. Well, I guess most of the candidates who are asked say they wouldn't do it, but what the hey!  It's early yet, They are still hundreds of millions of dollars in anonymous donations to be given to run completely scurrilous and negative ads.  Plenty of time to convince the American people that up is down and down is up.

I believe Mittbot will not make the same mistakes that John McCain did.  His decision will not be off the cuff or rash.  The primary concern will be who can most help win the election.  If the person is qualified to actually be President someday, that would be an extra bonus, but not a deal breaker.  As long as the majority of the public believes the vice presidential nominee is qualified should be sufficient.

The first rule is that the veep nominee should be able to bring you his home state.  A marginal swing state with a healthy chunk of delegates would be best.  In that regard, Governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia would fail the test, as recent polling shows his addition to the ticket does not help Mittbot win Virginia.  Indiana is light in delegates, but Governor Mitch Daniels might help seal the state.  Governor Chris Christie is someone the mainstream media won't shut up about.  He has some popularity among conservatives across the country, although he just strikes me as a reprehensible bully.  They're not likely to pick him as he would overshadow the Mittbot, both literally and figuratively.  Frankly, right now, most of the Republican governors across the country are highly unpopular right now, and are more likely to become impeached or recalled than become Vice President.

Pulling from a Congress with a 9% approval rating don't seem like much of a winner either.  Paul Ryan of Wisconsin may seem like a wonderful choice, but he is very conservative, a social Darwinist and Ayn Randophile whose vaunted budget will not bear public scrutiny.  Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, a very new Senator, a woman is not batcrap crazy like Palin and Bachmann might pass the test, but the idea it might help with women is naive.  When a man wants to take away your birth control, that's pretty awful.  When a woman wants to do it, that is monstrous.  The problem that the Republicans have with women is their POLICIES, not the atmoshperics.  Rob Portman of Ohio might help if he can demonstrate some positive polling in Ohio.  He is relatively unknown, and has the Bush stink about him, but stranger things have happened.

So, good luck, Mittbot 2012 2.0!  May the best man/woman that is available within the Republican party who won't shrink in horror at the prospect of the job be your nominee!

The Great Comic Reboot: Time to Drink Champagne from a Boot or Monthly Comic's First Foot in Boot Hill?

Several months ago, the comic world was shook up by DCs decision to reboot their entire comic line and start all their titles over at No. 1.  The comics world had been upended before (e.g., the Crisis of Infinite Earths done in the 80s), but the universal renumbering was new.  This disrupted even the numbering of titles that had been in existence for over 70 years, including Detective and Action.  Action was over issue number 900 and would pass 1000 within the decade.

Why go to such great lengths?  Because even though superhero movies dominate the American Box Office, and merchandising of comic book characters are everywhere, the monthly comic book that begat it all was a dying thing.  In the forties and fifties, some comics sold in the millions.  Even a decade or so ago, many comics sold several hundred thousand copies.  Now, only a handful of comics each year barely stagger over the six figure mark.

The reasons are varied, and I won't go into all them at this time.  Their pricing, competition with video games, the aging of the comic book reader without being replaced by new readers - all of these and more are factors in the decline of the monthly comic book.

DCs purpose in renumbering was to entice new readers, and promote digital sales.  They were afraid if they promote comics with high numbers online that new fans would not be interested.  They are failing on both counts.  Except for a handful of titles, sales numbers are settling to where they were before.  Some new readers are being attracted, but they are shedding old readers in droves.  Digital sales have not soared as DC hoped it would (although I have to admit, my research on this limited - I'll update with more on this later).

I have collected a few, and like with any comic line, the quality varies dramatically.  Action Comics is very good, returning to a point very early in Superman's career, and restoring his social justice roots.  On the other hand, I have been trying to hang in there on the Legion comics, but they have been very convoluted and disappointing.

The comic art form will remain strong.  It is the source for so much other media in our country.  Not just superheroes, but also television such as The Walking Dead and movies as varied as American Splendor and The Road to Perdition.  But we may be witnessing the last gasps of the mothership that created it all, the monthly comic.  Say it ain't so, Dan Dido (editor-in-chief at DC).

I hope in future columns more concrete suggestions as to what might be done to save or rejuvenate comics.  Heck, maybe I'll make my comic book commentary a "monthly thing."  Consider this outburst, "Number One!"

The New Ball & Chain - Saturday Political Soap Box 22

At one time, it might have been doable.  Not necessarily without effort, but nevertheless doable.  My college took a little planning, but my four years at the public university (University of Michigan) was something that didn't break me or my parents.  We took out no loans.  I qualified for the State Merit Scholarship and my Dad refused to apply, feeling he would rather us do it own our own.  I held summer jobs, including night shift at a pickle factory and a summer at a  GM plant.  I did not work during the school year, my Dad preferring I concentrate on my studies.  I did not own a car until my Senior year (needing it to get to student teaching).  I lived in the dorm all four years.  But I got my degree with no debt, for myself or my parents.

My older sons, Greg and Doug, had to be more creative.  They went in the early to mid 2000s.  Doug was a Hope Scholarship student, a scholarship he maintained throughout his four years at the University of Georgia.  Both boys worked starting in their high school years, and maintained that throughout their schooling, even during the school year.  I wasn't very happy about that, but times had changed and it was going to be impossible to achieve without that.  Doug even got a paying internship with Johnson & Johnson his last two years.  They got some money from myself and their mother, Greg more so than Doug, simply because Greg did not have a scholarship.  Frankly, as hard as Greg worked to be in school, he would not have been able to stay there at Savannah College of Art & Design if his mother did not have deep pockets.

Now Doug is going to graduate school, and Greg has an excellent job editing television in California.  I am extremely proud of both of them.  And neither has the ball and chain of large college debt.

But all that is now changing.  College is much more expensive than it was, even just dating back to the mid-2000s.  Tuition has accelerated to astronomical levels.  The Republicans in the Georgia legislature are gleefully chopping away at the one thing that makes Georgia special - the Hope Scholarship.  Student loan debt nationally now exceeds credit card debt  And the Republicans in Congress would like to see the interest rate allowed on student loans to double - unless of course, the government gives up preventative care funds for women's and children's health.  Snidely Whiplash is alive and well and has taken up residence in the American legislatures.

You can no longer work your way through college.  Only if your parents are wealthy (very wealthy, indeed), or you get one of a dwindling number of full scholarships (by the by, Republicans also wish to massacre the number of Pell grants offered), can you go to school without incurring massive debt.  I'm very worried about Benjamin going to college.  He is very smart, with very good grades.  He will work to earn money for school.  We have a 529 plan for him.  Even with all that, with the current trajectory of college tuition, and the continued reign of short-sighted reactionary Republican leadership, I worry if we'll be able to afford for him to go.  And if he does go, if he will have a ball and chain around him that he will haunt him for the rest of his life.

So what are our solutions?  Ultimately, higher education should be relatively free, like it is many other more civilized countries.  Probably won't happen here.  So what else? Student loans should be offered without interest at all - if we can't invest at least that much into our future, maybe we don't deserve to have one.  Pell grants should be increased, not decreased.  The Georgia Hope Scholarship needs to be strengthened not weakened - perhaps it needs to become a regular part of the budget instead of based on how much people are willing to gamble in the lottery.

Something needs to be done to control the runaway cost of schooling, particularly public universities and community colleges.  Whether it's government subsidies, capping pay increases to cost of living/inflation, revising pension plans, dramatically changing technological delivery of education - all this needs to be looked into - both liberal and conservative solutions.

It is ironic that at a time when higher education is a more and more of necessity, that it is becoming more and more of a luxury in it's pricing and public support.  I welcome all thoughts from across the political spectrum.  What can we do to make a decent post-secondary education affordable again?

Fair Warning!

I have had a small change in job structure that should allow me to have a little more time to write on this blog, and improve my eBook presence on Smashwords.  Hopefully, as I gain experience, I should be able to branch out to Amazon, and perhaps even mainstream publishers.

I want to thank everyone who comes to visit this blog, and I will do my best to make sure there is something you will want to seek out and enjoy, no matter what your interest.  I will strive to maintain the same mix of fiction, poetry, politics, personal commentary and reminiscences that you have seen in the past.

Keep checking everyday.  I will bend over backwards to make it worth your while.

Cover for History of the Trap

This is a photo that I was trying to use as a cover of my History of the Trap story on Smashwords.  I tried to format it through a photo-shop type program called Gimp, and that proved to be an utter failure.  I would show you my efforts, but I couldn't even get them to upload here.  If anybody has any suggestions as to good programs to generate ebook covers, please let me know.  I would greatly appreciate it!

And yes, this is my alma mater, Bridgeport High School, the true setting for History of the Trap.