More Photos From Moab, Utah and Arches National Park

Photos from Moab, Utah

About a month ago, a friend and I went to Moab, Utah for a long weekend. These are some of the photos that I took then and just got around to downloading. More photos will be forthcoming in the next few days. Some of these are from Dead Horse State Point and some are from Arches National Park.

Single Motherhood

I am a couple days late in this post, Mother's Day is past, but in a recent PEW research study 69% of the respondents stated that they disapproved of single motherhood. Further, 78% felt that the children would face anywhere from alot more challenges to a few more challenges than children from two parent homes. The question didn't address or suggest individual circumstances, economics, or any other considerations beyond that the children would be raised in a home with a single mother.

How sad it is that such a large percentage of people without any knowledge of individual circumstances feel that it is acceptable to judge the lives of others so harshly and to discriminate against these families so openly. Mike Huckabee in an incredibly discriminatory and ignorant statement recently said "most single moms are very poor, under-educated, can't get a job, and if it weren't for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death." It came out a few years ago that Wal-mart specifically recruited single mothers to work in their stores because the women were desperate to feed and house their children, worked hard, and would tolerate working conditions that other people wouldn't. Ann Coulter commented on national television that single motherhood is "a recipe to create criminals, strippers, rapists, murderers."

Single motherhood can be a tough job. Unlike the stereotype that insists that single mothers are all under-educated and on welfare, according to the Census Bureau, 80% of single mothers work and less than a quarter receive any form of public assistance. Further, five million of these mothers are owed child support.

Single mothers can be...
the thirty something professional who has never had time to find the guy of her dreams and sees her chance at being a mother slip away with her rapidly ticking biological clock;

the well known and engaged actress who felt it was time to have a child;

a teenage girl who was not given proper sex education but rather had the abstinence dogma drilled into her and it didn't help when the boy she was madly in love with wanted sex in the heat of the moment;

the woman who is divorced from the abusive husband and is working two jobs to support their children and receiving no child support because the ex is a self employed contractor who keeps telling her that he is sending what he can

the woman who is divorced whose husband shares joint custody;

... so many different variations.

Raising children is hard. It is hard in a two parent household where when one parent is tired the other can pick up the slack, read the bedtime story, and tuck the child in to bed. When there is only one parent there is no down time, no chance to be off the clock, no one else to make lunches, no one else to cover when the child is sick, etc. The job is hard, exhausting, and lonely.

I remember once hearing someone speak and they talked about how you can judge the moral character of a society. It wasn't by how religious the population was. Or by how many had cell phones, new cars, and televisions. Or how big their army was. The best criteria to judge the moral fitness of a society was how they treated their most vulnerable members-- i.e. the elderly, mothers, and children. A society that puts a premium on a type of social darwinism and creates heroes out of those who have taken advantage of others is reprehensible. A society that cares for its people-- the women, children, and the elderly-- truly has a high standard of living. Rather than denigrating single mothers, perhaps we should praise all parents and give support to those we have the important job of caring for, educating, and raising our next generation of citizens.

Author Interview with Horror Writer Tracie McBride

I had the pleasure of interviewing up and coming horror author Tracie McBride who recently premiered a special edition release of "Ghosts Can Bleed," an anthology published by Dark Continents Publishing. Dark Continents Publishing is an exciting venture. It is a co-operative publishing company and I will have to see about interviewing Tracie again at a later date in regards to this bold enterprise. For now, I was curious about her chilling fiction.

1. Have you always wanted to be a writer? Why? Or when did you first decide and why?

When I was about four years old, I wanted to be an actress or a model, in the same way that my daughter at the same age wanted to be a mermaid. I think it was shortly after starting school, when I discovered that I could learn to string written words together in ways that made sense, that I decided I wanted to be a writer. From that moment on, I thought of myself as a writer, even although I didn’t make any serious moves towards realizing that ambition until I was in my mid-thirties.
Why? Probably for the same reason that many other writers took to the keyboard. I love books. And I wanted to create the things I loved.

2. Who are your favorite authors? Who would you recommend to people looking for a good read? Why would you recommend these writers?

I have to confess to being quite fickle and promiscuous in my reading tastes. I was passionate about Robert Heinlein’s work when I was fifteen. In rough chronological order, my literary crushes moved on to Kurt Vonnegut Jr, Stephen King, Anne Rice, Julian May, Clive Barker and Margaret Atwood.
Audrey Niffenegger’s “The Time Traveler’s Wife” is one of my all-time favourite novels, although judging by the literary forums, it’s a polarising work. I think it suffered from being described as a literary novel, when really it’s a science fiction novel, exquisitely plotted and startling in its complex depiction of time travel. Oh, and it’s also a genuinely moving tragic story, AND it’s a literary novel.
My current favourite is China Miéville. The scope of his imagination is jaw-dropping. I’m reading “Kraken” right now. I’m a little jealous of his talent. OK, a lot jealous.

3. You write dark fantasy and horror short stories. Where do you find your inspiration?

Dreams and nightmares. Odd little thoughts, random images or sentences that come into my head and won’t go away. Real life experiences and observations that I smoosh together with speculative fiction tropes to see what results.

4. Which of your stories bothered you the most and you found yourself thinking about it after writing it?

“Lest We Forget”, published in the Spectrum Collection in 2010. My husband, a former armed forces serviceman, had just taken our young son to his first Anzac Day Dawn Service. He commented that he had been to many Dawn Parades over the years, but he had found this one the most moving. I got to thinking about the nature of war, of sacrifice, of all those parents over the years who sent their children off to fight for the greater good and never welcomed them home again. It was an intensely emotional, personal and difficult piece to write.

5. What do you think is the essence of horror?

Oh boy. Talk about a hard question… Horror is visceral. It’s physical. It’s that feeling of having your intestines squeezed in your fist. It’s that creeping sensation on the back of your neck. It’s that surge of adrenaline, that racing of your pulse, that overwhelming desire to run far, far away, only there’s nowhere to run to and no way out. Unless you close the book, but if it’s really good horror, it will creep after you off the pages and lodge in your subconscious. What sends you into that state will vary from person to person, but some fears seem almost universal. The fear of the unseen, the unknown, or the unfamiliar. The fear of having control over your life forcibly wrested from you. The fear of being powerless in the face of an unstoppable amoral force.

6. Which of your characters do you like or admire? Why?

Now, that’s a funny thing – I will often find myself halfway through a story and I’ll think, “You know what? I don’t like this character very much.” It makes it easier for me to do horrible things to them, I suppose. I do sympathise with many of my characters, though, especially the ones who are loosely based on me, like poor dead Sharon in “Last Chance to See”. And I am rather fond of Nim of the Kamankay. Who wouldn’t love a big, strong warrior woman with a leather skirt and facial tattoos?

7. Which of your characters do you think you would not like to meet in real life? Why? Where did you get the idea for them?

You want me to pick just one? Most of my stories feature unsavoury types, be they supernatural or mundane. They all have two things in common; they have unnatural abilities or an excess of power, and they lack a moral compass. That is genuinely scary to me – someone or something that possesses both the ability to seriously mess you up, and the lack of restraint not to do it. Here’s a random selection:
Zero in “Whipping Boy”. He came to me in a dream. He is both victim and villain, and all the more dangerous for it.
Creepy Doll House lady Susan in “Life in Miniature”. I got the idea for this story from a piece of flash fiction I read years ago about a peculiar form of bonsai.
Sh’teth in “Baptism”. She was inspired by the malevolent mermaids in the 2003 movie version of “Peter Pan”.

8. Do you think that ghosts and other paranormal creatures might be real? Have you ever had something happen that you could not explain?

Vampires, werewolves and zombies? No. Ghosts… maybe. I haven’t experienced any supernatural visitations, but several members of my immediate family have. So I maintain an open mind.

9. When you write, do you have a particular creative process that works for you? Or a particular set of steps that you go through to write a short story?

My process is very simple. I seldom do plot or character outlines. I just start at the beginning and write until I can’t write any more. Either the story has enough legs to carry it through to the end, or it hasn’t. Sometimes I’ll take on an unsatisfactory ending and give it to one of my critiquing groups to read in the hope that they can help me tease some meaning from the narrative.

10. How many short stories have you published? What anthologies can they be found in?

Numbers. I like numbers. They’re my second favourite thing after words. As I write, I have 38 stories and 20 poems published or forthcoming. 22 of those pieces have been reprinted. You’ll find my work in print and online magazines, anthologies, and the occasional audio publication. Recent anthologies include Dead Red Heart, Roll the Bones, Devil Dolls and Duplicates, Big Pulp (Winter 2010) and Horror Library Vol. 4. And of course there is The Spectrum Collection, a sampler of short fiction and poetry by the members of the writers’ co-operative Dark Continents Publishing, of which I am vice-president. Dark Continents has just released a collection of my previously published speculative short stories and poems, entitled “Ghosts Can Bleed”.

#

Links –
Dead Red Heart http://ticonderogapublications.com/tp/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=126:dead-red-heart&catid=77:dead-red-heart&Itemid=97

Roll the Bones
http://www.amazon.com/Roll-Bones-Fantastic-Tales-Magazine/dp/0983311927/

Devil Dolls and Duplicates
http://www.equilibriumbooks.com/devildolls.htm

Big Pulp
http://www.bigpulp.com/

Horror Library Vol 4
http://cuttingblock.net/books.html

The Spectrum Collection
http://darkcontinents.com/catalog/

Dark Continents
http://darkcontinents.com/

Tracie McBride's Blog
http://traciemcbridewriter.wordpress.com/



Author Bio

Tracie McBride is a New Zealander who lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband and three children. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in over 50 print and electronic publications, including Horror Library Vol 4, Coyote Wild, Abyss and Apex, Space & Time, Sniplits and Electric Velocipede. She won the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best New Talent for 2007. She is active member of the HWA, an associate editor for horror magazine Dark Moon Digest and vice president of the writer's co-operative Dark Continents Publishing. Her blog can be found at http://traciemcbridewriter.wordpress.com/

Please look for "Ghost Can Bleed."

Philosophical Mood on Mother's Day

Memories and hopes.

Memories can be bitter sweet. They can weigh one down. Regret. Remembrances of some happy time past that is no more. Guilt. Whatever.

Hopes are of the future, but to have hope there has to be some reasonable assurance that future aspirations have a possibility of coming true. Hopes are built on a foundation of belief from experiences past.

I think there comes a point when things can either spiral upward and hope becomes self-fulfilling prophecy or downward because aspirations seemingly have no ground in any possible reality. If the latter happens it becomes hard to set any goals because it feels like there is no chance that they can be fulfilled. Life becomes a constant struggle in the now.

All of this is nothing but illusion. All desires have no real life except in the mind of those who desire. If desires are fulfilled then there is happiness, acclimation, and let down. Endless cycles of emotion like rising and ebbing tides.

But maybe if one can realize this, there is a way to harness the power of mind, release from attachment, and work towards something greater. But what is something greater? Where does meaning lie?

Our lives are so short in the grander scheme of things. We are but one small part in a greater ecology. Not entirely insignificant, but such a small and fleeting part.

What is meaningful? Or should one just create bliss in the mind and know that that is the only place that it can be and create it for oneself?

Poetry: Gary Snyder's "The Bath"

I have loved the poetry of Gary Snyder for a very long time and have had the privilege to hear him read his poems twice. I was discussing on facebook how his poetry mellows me out and a friend commented that she enjoys the poem "The Bath". I looked it up and reread it this evening. It is a lovely poem from Snyder's Pulitzer Prize winning collection titled "Turtle Island".

The Bath

BY GARY SNYDER

Washing Kai in the sauna,
The kerosene lantern set on a box
outside the ground-level window,
Lights up the edge of the iron stove and the
washtub down on the slab
Steaming air and crackle of waterdrops
brushed by on the pile of rocks on top
He stands in warm water
Soap all over the smooth of his thigh and stomach
“Gary don’t soap my hair!”
—his eye-sting fear—
the soapy hand feeling
through and around the globes and curves of his body
up in the crotch,
And washing-tickling out the scrotum, little anus,
his penis curving up and getting hard
as I pull back skin and try to wash it
Laughing and jumping, flinging arms around,
I squat all naked too,
is this our body?

Sweating and panting in the stove-steam hot-stone
cedar-planking wooden bucket water-splashing
kerosene lantern-flicker wind-in-the-pines-out
sierra forest ridges night—
Masa comes in, letting fresh cool air
sweep down from the door
a deep sweet breath
And she tips him over gripping neatly, one knee down
her hair falling hiding one whole side of
shoulder, breast, and belly,
Washes deftly Kai’s head-hair
as he gets mad and yells—
The body of my lady, the winding valley spine,
the space between the thighs I reach through,
cup her curving vulva arch and hold it from behind,
a soapy tickle a hand of grail
The gates of Awe
That open back a turning double-mirror world of
wombs in wombs, in rings,
that start in music,
is this our body?

The hidden place of seed
The veins net flow across the ribs, that gathers
milk and peaks up in a nipple—fits
our mouth—
The sucking milk from this our body sends through
jolts of light; the son, the father,
sharing mother’s joy
That brings a softness to the flower of the awesome
open curling lotus gate I cup and kiss
As Kai laughs at his mother’s breast he now is weaned
from, we
wash each other,
this our body

Kai’s little scrotum up close to his groin,
the seed still tucked away, that moved from us to him
In flows that lifted with the same joys forces
as his nursing Masa later,
playing with her breast,
Or me within her,
Or him emerging,
this is our body:

Clean, and rinsed, and sweating more, we stretch
out on the redwood benches hearts all beating
Quiet to the simmer of the stove,
the scent of cedar
And then turn over,
murmuring gossip of the grasses,
talking firewood,
Wondering how Gen’s napping, how to bring him in
soon wash him too—
These boys who love their mother
who loves men, who passes on
her sons to other women;

The cloud across the sky. The windy pines.
the trickle gurgle in the swampy meadow

this is our body.

Fire inside and boiling water on the stove
We sigh and slide ourselves down from the benches
wrap the babies, step outside,

black night & all the stars.

Pour cold water on the back and thighs
Go in the house—stand steaming by the center fire
Kai scampers on the sheepskin
Gen standing hanging on and shouting,

“Bao! bao! bao! bao! bao!”

This is our body. Drawn up crosslegged by the flames
drinking icy water
hugging babies, kissing bellies,

Laughing on the Great Earth

Come out from the bath.

What We Choose to Believe

When I was a kid the Soviet Union was the "evil empire" and everyone was terrified of what the Soviets might do. They weren't like us-- good, upstanding, moral Americans. Of course, there was the message out in the media that they "loved their children too", which was supposed to mean that they weren't going to be likely to start a nuclear war and was an argument against the Star Wars defense system. The Soviets were built up to be ruthless, powerful, and scary. They were an enemy to generate paranoia. Fear.

But then there was this odd article that I remember reading in the Christian Science Monitor when I was in about sixth grade that talked about the Soviet state farms and that they were having a hard time plowing their fields and keeping food in production. And there were stories about food shortages in the Soviet Union. And then I read about how they designed a huge tractor for the Soviet state farms to plow the fields and miscalculated the weight of the tractor and what the spring mud could support. The tractor sank half way up its man-sized wheels in the mud.

I grew up in rural Michigan. Michigan. The home of the US auto industry and some of the best blueberries, apples, peaches, cherries, corn-- well awesome produce. This did not add up in my thinking. Suddenly, when Ronald Reagan was calling the Soviets the "evil empire" it didn't make sense. They weren't so terrifying to me if they were simply having that much trouble feeding their people and designing a tractor. They needed some assistance. Wouldn't we all be better off with improved relations, mutual exchange of ideas and information, and cooperative trade?

On a regular basis I talk to people. Parents of children. Whoever. I remember when I was a kid, my cousins and I were allowed to run pretty free during the day. We got into mischief and got ourselves out of it. But we felt a great deal of confidence being on our own. We had trust in world, trust in ourselves. Now, I have heard it repeatedly expressed that kids should not play out on their own because it is too dangerous. Play dates, lessons, after-school activities, and more take up kids time rather than free, independent play outside. When I have asked parents about what they think is dangerous about their children playing outside independently, I have had numerous people tell me that they fear harm to their children from strangers. Child molesters. When I ask them who they think these molesters are, they tell me that they are predators just waiting for kids. Kind of like the boogie man.

Most people do not know their neighbors. Houses are like isolated pods where each family lives their life separate from their community. They do not know the strangers on their street. Any of them might be a predator. Isolation creates fear and fear creates isolation.

I have been listening the last couple days to the reports on NPR about Osama Bin Laden being captured and killed. For so long he has been the Al Queda Boogie Man. After Sadam Husein was killed, he was the primary focus. But this one man doesn't solely represent the face of terrorism. And for US policy killing one target means momentarily "celebrating" how mighty the US is in being able to hunt down and kill a man after a decade of trying, but already the rhetoric is ramping up and the number two man who will take over is being built up as really bad. Someone potentially worse. We have to stay vigilant. Keep sending those troops to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Today I read the State of the World's Mothers 2011 Report that was released by Save the Children. The United States, the world's wealthiest country, placed an embarrassing 31st on the list. But we love our children too. Right? While we are spending over $800 billion per year bombing Iraq, we spend approximately .5% of our federal budget on programs that are focused towards programs dealing with poverty. One of the best ways that we could create a more secure United States would be by focusing more money towards humanitarian aid and education. Both within the US and outside the United States. Our rate of childhood poverty is deplorable as is the fact that we have the worst rate of pregnancy related deaths of any of the industrialized nations.

I have heard it said that we are now part of a global economy. A global community. But I think many views within the US do not follow this. Our foreign policy feels to me like more than a bit of a relic from a time past. It is there to support the war time industries-- companies like Halliburton. It feels like a gross application of individual isolationism where we do not really know our neighbors or try to foster good relations with them because they might be dangerous. Better to have a gun and be able to defend ourselves rather than try to reach out and create a relationship.

So what makes an enemy?

Otis Redding's "Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay"

Today I had Otis Redding's "Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay" playing in my head. I really love this song. I discovered that if I put it in Pandora as the song and artist to create my own station a really nice mix of Motown plus came out. Seriously, give it a try.

Meanwhile, here is the link to Otis Redding singing "Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzrXc68gNjQ

(SITTIN' ON) THE DOCK OF THE BAY
written by Otis Redding and Steve Cropper

These are the lyrics as recorded by Otis Redding December 7, 1967, just three days before his death in a plane crash outside Madison, Wisconsin.
This song was #1 for 4 weeks in 1968 and has been covered by such varied groups and singers as Pearl Jam, Michael Bolton, Bob Dylan, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, Sammy Hagar, and Sara Bareilles.


Sittin' in the mornin' sun
I'll be sittin' when the evenin' come
Watching the ships roll in
And then I watch 'em roll away again, yeah

I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay
Watching the tide roll away
Ooo, I'm just sittin' on the dock of the bay
Wastin' time

I left my home in Georgia
Headed for the 'Frisco bay
'Cause I've had nothing to live for
And look like nothin's gonna come my way

So I'm just gonna sit on the dock of the bay
Watching the tide roll away
Ooo, I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay
Wastin' time

Look like nothing's gonna change
Everything still remains the same
I can't do what ten people tell me to do
So I guess I'll remain the same, yes

Sittin' here resting my bones
And this loneliness won't leave me alone
It's two thousand miles I roamed
Just to make this dock my home

Now, I'm just gonna sit at the dock of the bay
Watching the tide roll away
Oooo-wee, sittin' on the dock of the bay
Wastin' time