Wise and Otherwise - Mark Twain

Not Being Beautiful - Golda Meir

Children as a Battle Ground

23^rd November 2011

Dear Cassi,

   

One of the things I learned a good deal about in both Psychology and Sociology is the aftermath of divorce. I know it has played a large role in my life, and I must imagine it has come about in yours. 

   

Some people stay in bad marriages for the sake of their children, some folks split up because they just can stand one another. Still others come to understand that it truly is the right thing. I have to stress at this point that the experts recommend all couples go to therapy when the relationship is good. Generally, by the time couples come to see a therapist they have built so much resentment that the relationship is doomed.

   

Living in that broken home children will rarely thrive. Even if the couple can hide their fighting normally their children will pick up on the hostility. Petty folks tend to bleed their misery into the world around them even if they refuse to believe that they are miserable.

   

For those couples who do split up, and there are many, their children often become at battle ground. The arguments that once lived in the marriage are played out in the minds of impressionable children. Those children are asked to choose between parents. Then the children loving both father and mother can’t shake the feeling that they have betrayed both.  

I recall telling one of my Psychology classes that the thing to do is be reasonable adults, and your kids should come out fine. The sad truth is that most of the divorcees studied by science simply aren’t reasonable adults. How does that old song go? “Shattered lives broken dreams.”

Stay safe, Cassi,

Richard Leland Neal

Intelligence is Quickness - Alfred North Whitehead

A Life Too Full

24^th November 2011

Dear Cassi,

   

One of the many things we have in common is working long hours. As the New Year brings me back into full time employee and full time student this would be a time to say a few words.  

   

What was it that fellow said to you? “Two jobs breaks the soul.” I will never understand the mentality of people who think that because they have a slogan for something it must be true. I like to define truisms as those things that become obvious once pointed out. A slogan is a philosophy that one must take up by their own volition. You should tell this man that his soul must be a fragile thing.

   

I know folks with two jobs and I know folks with three jobs, but none of them need to apologize for living in a world where those things are needed. True, there are those of us that live in a dream world and will never see the world for what it is even when they get slapped in the face with all the pain and suffering.

   

It has always been helpful to me to see those sleep walkers for what they are and press into the nature of my soul the values that will bring me round right. Those of us who decide to live their lives in a dream may never wake, but for the wakeful we must give those dreamers little mind.

   

It’s funny how we were taught for the whole of our lives that it’s good to dream. I will grant you that working toward impossible goals will keep a soul from going stagnant, but living in a world of dreams takes a stagnant soul. For some folks life is easy, for us life is hard, but so long as we have the will to fight there is still hope.

Stay safe, Cassi,

Richard Leland Neal

Shake Hand With a Clenched First - Indira Gandhi

How do I Make an Alien?

This was a post in response to the blogs of the ill fated Leucrota Press and their commentary on the makings of Aliens. I have to figure that it would make good reading for any Sci Fi geek looking to make a new beast. 

15^th January 2011

NASA found a what you say? Last time it was warp bubbles and the time before that life on Mars.

   

Sorry to tell you, but I’ve been following this story and the science was a little fuzzy. First off the Arsenic they fed the bacteria had phosphorus in it so the bacteria could have just eaten that, second the extracted DNA was poorly cleaned so it could have been contaminated. This is a long way from proof of arsenic life.

Proof is a bad word when dealing with one study to begin with. My teachers always told me to say ‘this study suggests’ rather than it proves because proof can be unproven.

Moreover, if you’re coming up with a strange body for your aliens you also need to come up with a reason for the morphology. With my massive Red Stone warriors I came up with a clear evolution that molded them into their present state. Every now and again people keep saying ‘I thought they weren’t humans because they were so tall.’ 

They’re tribe is no different from you or I than a pigmy, but the diversity among the ranks of the human race is lost on many a modern American. There are lots of humanoids running around on earth for us to make into aliens and even more strange things in the sea to give intelligence. Still, let us set that aside for now.

Things evolve out of utility, and if you’re going to make a true alien the first question is “why did it evolve?” It needs hands to hold with and feet to walk with, eyes to see, and a brain to wonder. If something is going to be so different from humanity that it is truly bizarre then why did that life form become dominant?

The final note in this alien song is, “what does it have to do with the story?” Remember that people can’t see what you’re talking about so you need to show them with words. My Red Stone are giants and so I have to keep reminding the reader that they are dealing with a being bigger and stronger than normal humans. If I forgot to do that they would just be people who use different words and their uniqueness would be lost.

Different isn’t always good, so if you’re coming up with something to be different you’re thinking too hard.