Church and Writing; Arts in Muncie; A Reject and Throwing Myself Against The Wall

I went down to St. George's for church and communion. It was a wonderful experience. Good people. Beautiful church.

I did my laundry. I fixed dinner – a version of pork and beans. Less satisfactory today.

Out of caffeine, so I walked own to Dollar General for Coke Zero.

I still have not closed out my email. 

I did manage some reading. Who First Realised the Earth was Round? by James Hannam. Ghost Writer: On the fictional—or not-so-fictional—narrator of In Search of Lost Time by Michael Wood. The Accidental Time Traveler from Thornfield Hall blog is a paean to readers and their books. From Merriam-Webster: 10 Words to Call the Snobs and Elitists in Your Life. ‘Wife, children, best friend all gone’: Diaries reveal Steinbeck’s darkest year. 

This is one aspect of Muncie of which I have not taken any action. If I leave here after getting dad's trust straightened out, there is more in Bloomington. But Plyspace Welcomes Fall 2023 Resident Artists makes me think I need to do more here, and I am not. (Yes, I have too much writing to get typed.)

Throughout the next 9 months, MuncieArts, PlySpace, and the BSU Metals Guild will host a variety of visiting artists, maker parties, special lectures and events that will help educate the public and jewelers of all levels about mining and material sourcing issues involved in jewelry making. Jewelry students at Ball State University and professional jewelers from the regional community will be transforming donated jewelry items into radically fresh and responsible jewelry. The project will culminate in an exhibition of these wearable creations displayed at the Grunewald Gallery at Indiana University, Bloomington and in Muncie at the PlySpace Gallery for a First Thursday Artwalk event in 2024.

Stay tuned for more information about upcoming resident events this fall. Announcements will be posted  on our website, PlySpace.org and MuncieArts.org, and on the PlySpace Facebook page and Instagram, @plyspace and @munciearts.

A rejection came in on Friday for “Hey, Watch This” (which was the first version of “Between The Dead and The Dying”):

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to consider your story, which we read with great interest.
Unfortunately, it is not quite what we are looking for at this time, so we must pass. We understand that this is not the response you hoped for but please don't take it as a reflection on your writing. We received over twelve hundred short story submissions for this issue and can only select six, which means a lot of fine work has to be turned down.
We wish you the best of luck with your writing, and hope you will try us again in the future.
Yours sincerely,
The Munster Literature Centre

I am for Biden. He is competent and he doesn't tweet. However, The Last Politician review: the case for Joe Biden, polling be damned is worrisome:

Watching the latest spate of environmental cataclysms, it is hard to dispute that the climate crisis is real – all while Republican presidential aspirants continue their denials. But there is something amiss in Foer’s enthusiasm and the administration’s posture. For now, inflation holds more public attention. Nearly three-quarters of Americans see inflation as a “very important” issue. Climate crisis and the environment? Forty-four per cent.

A hunch: voters are less worried about moral authority and more about grocery bills and prices at the pump. According to the polls, the Democrats have lost their grip on voters without a four-year college degree, regardless of race. A priorities gap is on display again.

Issues that speak loudest to white progressives lack broad resonance. The faculty lounge makes a lousy focus group. Foer’s enthusiasm is premature.

Why Is Music Getting Sadder? is about a trend, I am too far removed from to even notice. However, I wonder if it is a symptom of more problems with America.

I take some solace in knowing that no trend lasts forever. I’d be especially glad to see this one lose steam. Maybe by next summer we will be singing about carefree things again.

Let’s go surfing now. Everybody’s learning how. Come on a safari with me!

But somehow I doubt it. We probably have at least a few years more of minor chord dirges and angry country singers before we modulate back to the major.

 I got “Between the Dead and the Dying” and “Their Bright Future” off to L'Esprit Literary Review. I re-submitted “Their Bright Future” to Halfway Down The Stairs, only to find when I updated the story, I had omitted one word in the last sentence. This was found out only when I tried transferring the change to the original file. Effing idiot is what I am. “Walls and Lines” went to underscore issue_2; this one will be controversial, being about race, but I think I handled it well (I had to edit it – this I thought was done last night.). Hope or foolishness has me still sending out “Visions of Colonel Tom” – today it went to Voices de la Luna. I sent “The Rational Actor” to The Real High Horse's T Paulo Urcanse Prize For Literary Excellence – I hope they are both serious, and they have a sense of humor.

Hemingway’s Suicide by Jeffrey Meyers had me thinking about my own suicide attempts. There should be more written. I got lucky that obstacles were put in my way, and that these obstacles were enough that I decided on lucidity. It is hell feeling like one's talents went to nothing and the future only holds their extinction. Even worse would have been a genius like Hemingway having the same convictions about their self-worth. Without self-worth suicide is a relief.

Good night.

 

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