Thu - February 19, 2004
The New Yorker Magazine and the Waiting Room
A serendipitous encounter
Yesterday I accompanied a dear friend to the
University of Iowa Medical Center. Her disabled adult son needed oral surgery.
What happened next is an example of why I love living the Speculative Life.
Saying yes to my friend required
faith - faith that I would have the strength, patience and competence to help
her manage her son. Faith that my husband would pick up the slack at home. Faith
that the 16-wheelers on Interstate 80 wouldn't squash us like a bug. And, even
faith that I would have the grace not to count the hours that I would rather
have spent writing.
I've been
researching a character for the project whose working title is "Apocalypse
Garden." This character finally has a name, Prince Faisal bin Rahman Aziz Al
Sa'ud. He insists that he is Crown Prince of the Pan Arab Emirates in the year
2225. The Emirates comprise about a third of the nation-states of the world,
their capital is Riyadh, and their law is Shari'ah. But that's about all I
know, so far. Prince Faisal tells me that he wants to do good and not harm when
he succeeds his father.
Writing
speculative fiction means that the author gets to make up a lot of stuff. I
prefer, however, to make up stuff that has some basis in a reality that my
readers can understand, even if that reality takes some unexpected twists. So, I
decided to do my homework on Arab culture in order to speculate on where it will
be in the year 2225. I checked the internet, and found a lot of disorganized
information. I went to the library and found books that were full of poppy-cock
and propaganda, and, again, no organized information. I thought about
interviewing Arab students attending University here, but, I'm kind of shy, so I
kept that option as a last
resort.
Yesterday, in the waiting
room of the Day Surgery Center at the University of Iowa Medical Center, I
picked up a copy of The New Yorker magazine. Honestly, this was not really even
a waiting room; it was more like a hallway with a few chairs. And this was the
only magazine in the whole area. It was over six weeks old: the January 5, 2004
issue.
In this magazine I found a
riveting article written by Lawrence Wright for his regular feature, A Reporter
at Large, "The Kingdom of Silence." This article was twenty-five pages of sights
and smells and textures and nuances of life in Saudi Arabia, character sketches
that I will shamelessly draw from, and subtle details that skip the propaganda
and go straight to the truth.
What
are the odds of that?
Here's what
gets me really jazzed: If I had told my friend, no I can't go to Iowa City with
you, I have to stay home and do research for my new novel, I would not have
found that article. I am laughing out loud
here.
A little bit of faith goes a
long way ...
Posted at 06:26 PM
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Sun - February 15, 2004
More Relentless Pursuit of "What If"
A Meme Cry for Help
Writers often live with characters and
ideas that go far beyond their experience, level of education and even their
value system. There is no rational explanation for this. That's why the idea of
memes intrigues me. WHAT IF ideas are really alive, looking for a place to
dwell? Here's what Joshua S. Lateiner said in a paper called: "Meme-Based Models
of Mind and the Possibility for Consciousness in Alternate Media," Originally
presented to Dr. Daniel C. Dennett, December 10, 1992. Copyright (c) 1992 by
Joshua S. Lateiner, All rights reserved. (View full article at:
http://www.eff.org/Net_culture/Consciousness/memes_and_consciousness.paper)
"
Memes
are
living
information,
capable
of
being
transmitted
and
reproduced.
Their
desire
is
simply
to
live
and
to
grow;
that
is,
to
reproduce
and
generate
new
memes.
This
requires
a
good
information
processing
environment;
a
human
brain
will
suffice
for
the
moment.
"Memes
seek
the
best
possible
habitats
for
themselves
in
much
the
same
manner
that
humans
do.
We
moved
out
of
caves
a
long
time
ago,
it
turned
out
that
well-appointed
houses
in
the
suburbs
were
much
more
conducive
to
the
successful
reproduction
of
both
people
and
memes
(it
is
hard
to
read
in
dimly
lit
caves).
"The
ideal
habitat
for
memes
would
be
extremely
dynamic
--
a
combination
of
large
storage
capacity
and
enormous
information
processing
power;
and
well
connected,
as
memes
love
to
communicate
(that
is
how
they
reproduce
and
grow).
I
postulate
that
although
the
memes
have
made
do
for
the
moment
with
the
human
brain,
that
cyberspace
or
something
like
it
will
ultimately
be
a
more
hospitable
medium
for
memes."
I'm trying to accommodate the meme
that's living in my mind by putting out a call into cyberspace. A few weeks
ago, Phil The Speculist (www.speculist.com) asked the M104 (Formerly Known as
The Posse) if anyone would be willing to help me figure out why and how my
characters are telepathic. I'm expanding this request because these characters
won't leave me alone and they live in a story way beyond my capability to write.
It's no coincidence that Phil recently made me a member of the aforementioned
M104 - it was my meme crying for
help.
You can help by
commenting on these future scenarios that my characters have insisted
upon:
The United States is no longer
a superpower. People have abandoned capitalism and they have been told that the
world's resources are severely limited. How did this
happen?
The world has suffered from
a series of catastrophes from which (ostensibly) the global economy hasn't
recovered and human population has diminished by about one third. Speculate
about at least five possible
events.
The Western world no longer
imports oil. How does this shape Middle Eastern politics?
Some aspects of technology have
continued to advance. Who controls the funds and sets the priorities for
research and development?
And, let
me remind you, two characters are telepathic. They are driven to find out why
and how and when this adaptation occurred in the gene pool. Do you have any
ideas?
And, one last thing. The
major religions, including Christianity, are no longer practiced in the United
States. What happened to the people of
faith?
I apologize to my meme if I
didn't express things clearly enough. Email me at hansonkathy@mac.com with your
comments and questions
...
Posted at 04:40 PM
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Wed - February 11, 2004
For Extra Credit!
This JUST IN from the Middle School Language
Department: New Literary Device! The Tom Swiftie!
Attention writers! Stretch the limits of your
cliche repertoire and turn in Tom Swifties to this site for extra credit.
Examples:
Tom
virtually admitted to being addicted to video
games.
"Go walk the dog," my dad
barked.
"I want to see the
volcanoes," Timmy erupted when his mom said it was time to leave the Science
Fair.
"Don't think I didn't see you
slithering in the back door late last night," Edgar's wife
hissed.
Get the picture?
Make my day and send me
some Tom Swifties of your own! Send comments to
hansonkathy@mac.com
Posted at 04:37 PM
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Mon - February 9, 2004
A Commitment to the Relentless Pursuit of "What If"
About this blog ... this is not a blog. A blog
sounds like it might cause a stroke if lodged in an artery. A blog would require
boots when visited. I prefer b'muse. If web log, contracted, is "blog," then
web muse, contracted, is "b'muse." In this case, very apt.
It is with fear and trembling that I launch this
site. Words are powerful, and once they're out there in cyberspace, you can't
take them back.
The blogging medium
requires a modicum of self-esteem ("selfish steam," as one of my daughters once
misapprehended the term). Or, is it vanity to assume that I have something to
say that might interest you? I will do my best to fill this site with " ...
things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious - the best, not
the worst, the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse."
(Philippians 4:8, The Message
paraphrase)
Disclaimer: I'm pretty
sure that the Amplified Version says, "This scripture does not apply to making
fun of a) oneself, b) left wing fanatics, c) right wing fanatics, d) celebrities
(especially boy bands, bare-naveled female pop singers and movie stars who
venture into politics - excluding Ronald Reagan) and, e) the
French.
That being said, this b'muse
will cover many aspects of living the Speculative Life. A principle that guides
me is this: A life surrendered to Christ changes each small step of obedience
into a leap of faith. I take this freedom very seriously. The relentless pursuit
of "What if" is a high calling.
The
Speculative Life reaches every domain. Sometimes it spans the limits of the
cosmos. Sometimes it dwells in the landscape of the mind. This weekend, we
found it in the kitchen. Speculative Cooking! We were expecting visiting
kinfolk, and what with the mounds of snow accumulating in Iowa, trips to the
store are an adventure. I realized that I had neglected to procure ingredients
for dessert, and not wanting to snub the kinfolks, who are step-inlaws or
something not listed in conventional genealogies, I made something "from
scratch," as they say in those old-fashioned cook-books, with things "on hand."
The things on hand were: week-old sugar cookie dough and pecans left over from
Thanksgiving. I spread the cookie dough in the bottom of a pan, and whipped up
a pecan pie filling to pour on top. Then I said a quick prayer for Martha
Stewart's trial, and gave thanks that she hadn't asked me to fill in for her
during this time of hardship. I put the confection in the oven. Then (music
from the movie "Jaws" here), my husband CAME INTO THE KITCHEN.
"What are you making?" he asked. "Does it
involve chocolate chips?"
I took a deep
breath and muttered, " I cannot tell a lie. It does NOT involve chocolate
chips."
"Well, take it out of the oven,
then," he said. Then he came right at me carrying a giant Bag O' Chocolate
Chips and poured a layer an inch thick on top of the dessert. The chips melted,
forming a lovely frosting. And it was the best dessert I've ever made.
That, my friends, is just one of
the rewards of The Speculative Life.
Posted at 11:15 AM
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