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capri0mniImagine the following lines to be swirly and curvy, rather than straight across:
I've recently realized I haven't read any fiction that was written in the last twenty years.
O_o
I think this is, in part, because I haven't done much reading on the toilet since I moved to this house 16 years ago -- I rush to the toilet having to go, without turning on the light, then I'm stuck on the toilet with no windows, and all the light switches on the farthest walls away from me... It's a drag (In the house where I grew up, in every bathroom, there was a big window over the toilet, so you could read, or do the crossword, by natural light).
Throughout my high school and college career, there were several dystopian/horror novels I was required to read as part of the curriculum:
Fahrenheit 451
The Lord of the Flies
1984
The Red and the Black (okay, technically, this is not a dystopian novel, but the whole message is society is F***ed up because people suck, and there's nothing you can do about it -- Oh, how desperately I wanted to NOT read it)
...I can't think of one Utopian novel ever discussed or assigned for class...
Why are dystopias considered more serious/realistic/worthy of study than utopias?
Why I believe dystopias are just as skewed and unrealistic as utopias:
Even in the darkest periods of human history, when life was short, and full of sickness, pain and death, people still put pretty designs on their dishes, and hair combs. If, even in the midst of the Bubonic Plague, people find value in creating art, then surely, no society could be entirely miserable.
So... yeah... Why? Why is warning against horror seen as more important and worthy of consideration than imagining what perfection might look like, if we could get there? We will never reach that spot (probably), but shouldn't we at least look in that direction, so we know where to start heading, so we can get a bit closer?
I'd also like to point out two things:
Roses come in all sorts of colors (except blue). And the slight pink tinge to these lenses I'm wearing is prescription (cuts down on eye strain from the computer monitor).
I've recently realized I haven't read any fiction that was written in the last twenty years.
O_o
I think this is, in part, because I haven't done much reading on the toilet since I moved to this house 16 years ago -- I rush to the toilet having to go, without turning on the light, then I'm stuck on the toilet with no windows, and all the light switches on the farthest walls away from me... It's a drag (In the house where I grew up, in every bathroom, there was a big window over the toilet, so you could read, or do the crossword, by natural light).
Throughout my high school and college career, there were several dystopian/horror novels I was required to read as part of the curriculum:
Fahrenheit 451
The Lord of the Flies
1984
The Red and the Black (okay, technically, this is not a dystopian novel, but the whole message is society is F***ed up because people suck, and there's nothing you can do about it -- Oh, how desperately I wanted to NOT read it)
...I can't think of one Utopian novel ever discussed or assigned for class...
Why are dystopias considered more serious/realistic/worthy of study than utopias?
Why I believe dystopias are just as skewed and unrealistic as utopias:
Even in the darkest periods of human history, when life was short, and full of sickness, pain and death, people still put pretty designs on their dishes, and hair combs. If, even in the midst of the Bubonic Plague, people find value in creating art, then surely, no society could be entirely miserable.
So... yeah... Why? Why is warning against horror seen as more important and worthy of consideration than imagining what perfection might look like, if we could get there? We will never reach that spot (probably), but shouldn't we at least look in that direction, so we know where to start heading, so we can get a bit closer?
I'd also like to point out two things:
Roses come in all sorts of colors (except blue). And the slight pink tinge to these lenses I'm wearing is prescription (cuts down on eye strain from the computer monitor).
no subject
Date: 2012-09-24 09:30 pm (UTC)Each author is personally invited to submit something written on the theme ahead of time, and then Irene O'Garden (the Editor/Publisher) selects which pieces will be included and arranges them in a certain order so that each piece links to the one before and the one after... And no one knows, until they arrive to perform where they will be in the lineup. Which is why I want to suggest the possibility of performing "Meaning" with Irene, now...
But you're right about going ahead and writing something new, also...
no subject
Date: 2012-09-25 11:10 am (UTC)In which case, if the piece I wanted to share wasn't the one selected (or maybe even if it was), I'd print it as a Farewell To Art Garden fanzine with illustration(s) so it'd look more like a greetings card with a "cover" image and message inside (and, if you're interested feedback, an unintrusive email address somewhere). But then I wouldn't be participating in an event like the Art Garden in the first place, heh. You could hand it to people as "my business card". ;-)
Yay for new poems. \o/
no subject
Date: 2012-09-25 04:18 pm (UTC)That's why I've been confident about claiming my Art Garden pieces as "published works," even if there is no hard copy available for sale. They've gone through the same vetting process that they would have if I'd been submitting them to a print magazine for the last 23 years. People have paid actual money to hear the piece I've composed for the evening, and I've been paid actual money for the work of composing it (not much, mind, but actual legal tender)... And yes, Irene has also asked me to rewrite and resubmit pieces. But I wouldn't make such a claim for something composed for an open mic night...
It might be a new essay, or story, too... ;-)