Hello friends! Surprise! I am actually posting something on the blog! After visiting Bev and Frank at the art fair on Saturday, I have been inspired to keep writing. I have also posted a short message on my own blog (see link at right--Diane the Soulsearcher.) I hope to do this more often, although there will be a [hopefully] brief respite while I am in Colorado for a week beginning on Wednesday. So, please feel free to comment. But whether you comment or not, please keep up with your own writing! Inspiration is contagious.

I've posted my homework assignment on my blog (see the list on the right) as I don't want to duplicate my stories and bore you all to death. Besides, that will force you all to visit the blog and make the visitor counter go up. I am attempting to keep up with that crazy demanding class and teacher the best I can from home--even if I am lying on some exotic beach or something.

Miss you all already!

Lin

If You think this is Dumb then You are an Idiot

“There are two kinds of people in the world,” he said, “dummies and idiots. The only difference between the two is idiots think they know something.”
I protested. “There has to be more than two kinds of people. What about scientists and scholars, they can’t be dumb ?”
“That’s because they’re idiots. I just told you, idiots think they know better. You thought you could find an exception to my theory because you are an idiot. Dummies would not care. Dummies just live life and don’t ask questions.”
“So, if I just accept what you say as truth then I am an dummy.”
“No, the idiot part is still trying to figure out what is going on. The dummy part of you comes out when you sleep and eat and whatever else it is that you do.”
“Excuse me for being an idiot then,” I said, “but I just thought of something relevant to understanding what it is that you are saying.”
“Say whatever you want,” he replied as he turned over slightly. “The idiot part of me will listen but I warn you it is a small part of me. Don’t expect much from the dummy part of me, especially now that it is nearing my naptime.”
“You don’t do much do you ? “ I asked retorically since I did not want his answer. I really wanted to state my profound thought . “It seems to me that the states of dummy and idiot are similiar to Yin and Yang, in that there is an inner dummy and an inner idiot in everyone. The inner dummy lives in the moment, eats, runs, plays, and other things while the inner idiot tries to make sense of it all. “
I thought I had summed it up pretty good but when I looked at my companion, he was asleep. I touched him on the face and he woke up but not happily.
“Why the (word deleted) did you wake me up ? I was just beginning to enjoy your visit. “ He added a snarl for effect.
“I wanted to know what you thought about what I just said.” I countered. I was right. I knew it.
“Why ? “
“So you add to it or help fix some of the mistakes I might have made. “ I knew that I had not made any so I guess I just wanted his praise.
“Well, I would be an idiot to tell you what I think because what I think is how I see the world which is massively confusing. I mean one day, smoking is good because it calms you down the next day it causes cancer. One day, the universe spins around the earth the next the earth spins around the sun. One day, God creates the earth in six days and the next day, he slips in dinosaurs which somehow gets left out of the bible. What I am trying to tell you, in a nice way, is that to think you have some sort of final answer about what the world is, proves that you are an idiot. And if you think that not trying to find out what is going on is okay also proves that you are a dummy. “
“The search for truth is essentail to our make-up but reliance upon what we find is folly. Yet, we do that everyday because no one can be in the idiot state for more than a few moments at a time. And we have to live life no matter what we find out about the world. There is no escaping that. And when you are a dummy, you don’t care about what the idiot in you has found out. When you eat pizza, a really good deep dish pizza, all you care about is how good it tastes and whether or not you can eat another bite. That’s it. Nothing more.” He rolled over and started to go back to sleep.
‘Wow,’ I thought, ‘he must be serious because he used pizza, his favorite food in an example.’ I looked at his sprawled body resting there in the cat perch, his tail tucked carefully between his legs. He looked happy. And content. And asleep. I knew I would be risking a bite or two if I woke him again. I wanted to ask him about nuclear missiles but I thought better of it. Next time. Maybe.
I wondered if he would call me a idiot or a dummy for waking him up. My guess was that I was being both.

Welcome New Writers

I want to welcome the new writers who came to the class last night:
Sharon, June, and Pam. I also want to thank you for making class last night
such a fun experience. I hope you enjoy this blog.
Frank

I need you - part 2

I thank all of you who responded. I have added more to the story and corrected some mistakes that no noticed - such as the crazy lady was named Sara on one line and Clara on the next line. I still need your valuable feedback. I won't flunk you if are too critical. I promise scout's honor. so once again -
I have started a new story and I need your help. It is on the depressing writings of Frank blog.
Specifically, I need to know if the story keeps your interest, entertains you and if there are major grammatical errors. I also could use any other feedback, you might give except ones about personal hygiene (aka you stink).
Thank You,
Frank
How come no one is posting ?????
this means you Mutti and Lin.

At long last spring - a class(less?) essay

It was a bitter winter - not only in terms of temperature.Chris thought that the difficult point was making the decision to divorce. However once made, she had an immediate sense of release and relief. Soon, she would be free and then she would create a new and exciting life for herself. She was only forty-four. People told her she didn’t even look that old. She would soon join the world of singles; the world of fun and foolishness.But it didn’t work out that way. the lawyers ripped and tore and sucked her dry. Yes, she was initially finally free but she had nowhere to live and nothing left to live on.
Chris was devestated. She was upset. She was hysterical and worst of all, she voiced her complaints to anyone who would listen. She complained so much that pretty soon there was no one left to complain to. Now she was alone, all alone.
Who could she turn to? Maybe that mechanic, her neighbor, who kept oogling her when she took out the garbage ? Or maybe the retired eighty-three year old lady who asked her for rides to the grocerey store. She thought about asking the local pastor but she had stopped being religious years ago, about the same time her marriage started going bad. What good had a church wedding been? It certainly didn’t promise a comfortable , loving, dependable relationship with her husband. Come to think of it, the only person she could think of that was that way (loving, dependable, etc.) was -
Her Cat! Her cat would listen and give unconditional love. She even thought that each meow had a slightly different tone to it, as if Kitty was really giving her advice. How interesting, she thought. My cat will never betray me, it just purrs on my lap twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week., staring at me faithfully with those glowing yellow eyes. She hypnotizes me with her unwaqvering stare. I don’t need two legged friends in my life, four legged ones are just fine for me. God, I love her. She is my confidant. I shall never be betrayed by her. All I have to do is just clean her litterbox, make sure she has her daily tuna fish and I have her undying love. And she has at least nine lives to hear all my troubles. Yahoo, she is better than a therapist who charges.
Pretty soon, Chris had two cats, then four, then six, and before you could say too many, she had forty-eight. The house began to have a distinct stench which could be detected a block away. Pretty soon those lousy neighbors were complaining, saying that her cats were getting into their garages and their kids’ sandboxes. Someone came out from the Animal Welfare Society to investigate this ‘cat lady.’ Yes, Chris had turned into the neighborhood crazy cat lady.
The Humane Society declared the place disgusting and took all the cats except for one, Kitty, the original friend of Chris. Chris had saved her by hiding Kitty in her blouse. Now workers were coming from Catholic Charities to clean the house up. Good timing, too because it was spring, at last.

this was done by the entire class _ I did the title - Frank

Anger

I am angry about war. Why does it have to be such a power thing? Why does one country have to one-up another one? I liked the times of the 60’s, when it was peace and love and all that good stuff. Love children, flower power. Why cannot we live in peace now? Why is there so much anger? I’ve felt it enough in my own life, why does it continue to surround me? Why are people so, so unhappy? Are they angry because they had a rotten childhood? Are they angry because they want to be right? I think a good way to be less angry is to write about it. Today in writing class as I wrote about anger, I felt it dissipating from me. I realize I have been holding onto my anger for a long time, like a good friend. But I think now I can let it go. It does not do me any good and keeps me stuck and unable to move on. It has been my companion for too long. I wonder how I will feel when I let it go. Will I feel empty? Will I want to fill up that emptiness with food? Or Sugar? Will other feelings replace it? Could joy move in? These questions I ponder. This anger has felt like a dark piece of coal sitting in my stomach, hard, dark, unmovable. But today after I wrote about my anger, the coal seemed to get softer, change into rainbow hues of color, and began to move around. Suddenly wings sprouted and this thing inside of me began to fly, upward. Through my heart it moved and up into my mouth and flew out through my teeth and into the Center woods. I watched it dance with the cottonwood fuzzies and then it vanished from sight.

I have set my anger free and in the process have freed my soul!

Marlotus O’Keefe 2008