2/24/23
GENTLE ON MY MIND - JOHN HARTFORD
2/20/23
SALMAN RUSHDIE and BRIAN COX PROTEST THE WOKE CHANGES TO CHILDREN'S BOOKS BY ROALD DAHL : SHAME ON THE PUBLISHERS
I dread to think what my old college creative writing program has turned into, since it was pretty damn Woke already when I attended; overall in literature discussions there was the attitude that if you wrote a character who was of a certain culture or sexuality, a Chinese transexual or a Jewish bisexual, as examples, you damn better BE a Chinese transexual or a Jewish bisexual. Everything you wrote was assumed to be coming from your own experience and some sort of personal point of view, even an agenda of activism, that characters were representative, not that your IMAGINATION was at work or even that you RESEARCHED to come up with a character.
AT THE SAME TIME in literature classes author's writing was being deconstructed and had various THEORIES such as Marxism or Freudism applied, without regard of the author .... We were to know nothing of the author, their heritage, background, politics, or point of view at the time in their life when they wrote what they wrote.... Try doing that to ARTISTS.
I wonder what would be SAFE to express verbally or in writing in that program today, how a student who wrote without concern for pleasing professors or TA's or fellow students would be treated by WOKE peers. (I can tell you that if their characters were perverted, that would likely fly.) I think of the day I made a comment about a Native American character and my peers seemed to bristle, as if they did not know if I had the right to make that comment out of some percentage of Native American in my DNA or if I could not be right because I had no percentage. (I had taken a college class at another college about Native Americans of the South West and California and had also done quite a bit of research for myself on those who had lived in my neighborhood historically.)
I was witness to a vegan staring down another student who dared eat a tuna salad sandwich, kind of like the way young environmental activist Greta Thunberg stares down people with hatred, appearing to want to kill someone with intent.
I wondered if my TA who smoked and ate lunch meat was doing so just to hold onto his own culture or as a kind of autonomy...
***
Salman Rushdie I last saw at a UCLA LA TIMES Book Fair. I didn't get into his presentation, but as the fair was closing down I saw him alone, rolling his suitcase behind him, going to his transportation like all other stragglers. I thought about how he'd had to go into hiding because of a book he wrote that was deemed against Islam. He has paid the price for being an author in this world. So I am glad that the attack hasn't censored him.
It is horrible that he was attacked and lost his eyesight in one eye because of one more mentally ill, demon possessed person who kills others just because. I used to be one of those people who said that if killing was wrong we should not have the death penalty. (I should research to see how many states that have the death penalty are also against abortion.) Lately I rethink that. I'm through feeling sorry for criminals.
This article from the Daily Mail is typical of their newspaper on line. You have to deal with irritating popups, articles that are clearly ads, articles that are duplicated in more than one space, a lot of celebrity trash including all those desperate for attention and showing off their selfies such as the Kardashians, and the chronic hatred of President of the United States Joseph Biden and all things Democrat (except for rock stars). I have sworn off reading it - I started during the Edward Snowden and Julian Assange reportage - and am weening myself. Finding what you're interested in reading in Daily Mail is like trying to find a diamond that fell in a pile of shit, icky but possible.
DAILY MAIL : RUSHDIE and COX LEADING BACKLASH AGAINST WOKE PUBLISHERS
EXCERPT:
'Roald Dahl was no angel but this is absurd censorship,' Rushdie wrote on Twitter.
'Puffin Books an the Dahl estate should be ashamed.'
PEN America, a community of some 7.500 writers that advocates for freedom of expression, said it was 'alarmed' by reports of changes to Dahl's books. ' If we start down the path of trying to correct for perceived slights instead of allowing readers to receive and react to books as written, we risk distorting the work of great authors and clouding the essential lens that literature offers on society,' tweeted Suzanne Nossel, chief executive of PEN America.
Laura Hackett, a childhood Dahl fan who is now deputy literary editor of London's Sunday Times newspaper, had a more personal reaction to the news. 'The editors at Puffin should be ashamed of the botched surgery they've carried out on some of the finest children's literature in Britain,' she wrote ...
C 2023 Christine Trzyna
2/14/23
LA LA MEANS I LOVE YOU : DELFONICS
2/13/23
DEATH ON THE MIND - DEATH AS THE INFORMANT - DEATH AS A REALITY
Is it the effect of a modern plague called Covid-19, or perhaps the famous people who have died since the beginning of the year --- broadcast journalist Barbara Walters, musicians Jeff Beck, David Crosby, Lisa Marie Presley, Burt Bacharach .... ? Death is a reality of Life. However, I don't recall the public count being what it is now - starting at the beginning of the year instead of the end. (I checked a list of famous people who had died so far and admit I had not heard of most of them.)
In recent days the Turkey-Syria Earthquake - their Big One - has taken thousands of lives.Thousands more are injured and in need of medical care. Thousands more survived but lost everything and are homeless. The smell of death hangs over in the air, while others die beneath the rubble awaiting rescue that may never come. Teams from all over the world have sent help, including a group called Samaritan's Purse, a Protestant Christian group known more for sending shoe boxes with this and that and promoting Jesus - to poor children all over the world. They sent a plane containing all that it takes to set up a field hospital. Teams from Russia as well as China are there. Teams with sniffer dogs from Germany. Teams from our United States... With hundreds of buildings down, every rescue is greeted with joy and often thanks to Allah. *But Allah or whatever It's Name Is, allows these things to happen, too busy to care. I say that humans need to stop associating natural disasters as punishment from God. Who wants to worship or live their life around such a character?
It also seems the Idaho Four murders, with Bryan Kohberger the only suspect, has not been forgotten by the media. Of 35,000 murders in the U.S. every year, you can delete all too common gang warfare and domestic violence as interesting unless it's truly bizarre or includes a famous person. Only a few murders are taken up by the True Crime Internet community as worthy of their every suspicion. Finally a few posters are posting why they do not believe he did it or did it alone, or do not believe he will be Found Guilty are coming up. (I hope the Gag Order remains. I really do not want to hear from Kaylee's family lawyer. I note that while other murder victim's familys public records of arrests and divorces have been publicized no one seems to know how her family has money. It's clear that of the Four, it is her parents who do have it.)
We are obsessed with Death.
My recall may be a little fuzzy regarding Carlos Castaneda's reveals in his books, likely read by me years ago, one here and one there, but was there not some wisdom relayed to him via Don Juan or some other shaman, about Death being an Informant? Well, if one keeps in mind that time alive is limited, it might influence one to stay focused on what one wants to accomplish. But, likely like you, I too can be interrupted by hunger, and distracted by all the things one does to stay alive, and a certain poverty of advantage. For instance, I got up and made myself a peanut butter on whole wheat bread toast sandwich just now, but rushed to eat it so I wouldn't loose my focus for this article.
I'm writing this on Sunday morning - that is to say yesterday morning - because I'm truly beginning to think I'm starting to be aware on some level when people have passed. I'll clarify in a moment.
I mentioned my friend who has been in stage four lung cancer for about five years, defying all predictions. I mentioned he does not want me to be involved. I should have clarified that he does not want me to be involved in his care not that he doesn't want me to care about him. What happens is that most of the time when I catch up with him or see him, such as at the Christmas potluck we both attended, he says he does not want to talk and I respect that. Yet once in a while he will blurt the latest such as that his doctors said he had a month to six months, which was actually about nine months ago. I feel he does not want to feel himself to be a burden but needs to vent. When he told me that I said, "You have outlived the predictions again and again." Based on his symptoms I did some research about lung cancer and what happens to the body in the last days. He has those symptoms and has had them, a lack of oxygen giving his skin a mottled appearance. So what is keeping him going? Is it Fate? Stubborness? That he has had very strong heart ? Fear of Death? Something more that he was meant to do when he took on the Assignment? Well, something is going on that is not explainable.
This is an example of my trying to use science to predict and prediction as a way of being prepared.
On perhaps the best of the true crime podcasts, Surviving the Survivor, the host, whose mother is a Holocaust survivor, mentions this Jewish saying. MAY THEIR MEMORY BE A BLESSING. Just the other day I was thinking that the memories of my dog, who passed in July, are all a blessing. She was a blessing to me from the day I got her to that last day and so often some memory of something that happened or something that she did, showing how perceptive she was, comes to me and puts a smile on my face. I can rarely say that about others I've encountered in this life who have passed or even many of those who have left my life who are still alive.
What happens is that I start thinking about someone or something that happened in my life years ago, someone who was once important in some way but who I moved on from or who moved on from me, someone I have not thought about in years, and then I find out they recently died. Could it be that as a person approaches their death they are reviewing their life and thinking of me (as well as others) and that's what I (they) pick up on? I have to emphasize these are not people like my friend with the stage four lung cancer, but people who I would consider to have been forgotten.
A couple months ago I started thinking about a friend I had whose mom was friends with my mom. Our episode of friendship ended because of her drinking, or to be more specific, I barely ever drink and after one of her cocktails I was drunk and did not want more. She openly ridiculed me for not being willing or able to keep up with her. (This happened on a few Friday nights in her mom's kitchen. I suppose her mom felt that at least we were not in a bar or on the road.) I had figured her parents had probably long ago passed but I found out that both of them had just recently died. My mom's friend died a few days after her husband!
And then, about a week or so ago I started thinking about an employer I had, a husband and wife who owned a business back in the day, and what it was to work for them. They were greedy people, cooking the books while underpaying and working their employees hard. We didn't get breaks or lunch which was not legal, so we could not leave the place to even go out and make a phone call. He had been a lawyer. If they had no spiritually driven morals, one would think at least they could obey the law. Their children were spoiled brats. Their son at 12 years old started screaming at me one day, telling me how I worked for HIM. I finally quit without another job lined up, unable to find another job while so entrapped. They acted as if we owed them and were owned by them. Though paid an unlivable wage, they resented that I quit.
I'd started writing about that experience, not for publication, and then what the hell, I put his name in the internet, as in my mind the man still looked as he had the day I quit, and it turned out he had been buried the day before. (The obituary mentioned his law school, the firm he had worked for, the business they owned. The rotten brat son went into public heath and might have been working selflessly while independently wealthy, to provide for the poor. Requests were made for donations to a food bank!) This means that he was dying while I was writing about what it was to work for people like that. (Obits rarely have anything bad to say about a person.)
Geeze, I said to myself, I really need to talk to someone like James Van Praagh about this! In a video this psychic medium says that when a person has their life review after death they get to feel the happiness and pleasure they gave others as well as the sadness and pain they gave others. Better or Worse, if someone has wronged you in a way where it effects the rest of your life, they get to feel that too. Every damn thing they set in motion.
At least Van Praagh is not in the "It's All Good" mentality.
C 2023 Christine Trzyna
Note Feb 13th. I have no idea why the font on this blogger is not holding firm. The problem seems to be when I use the medium font. I just went through this post and fixed the crazy font changes.
2/12/23
MYSTERIOUS DOODLES IN ANCIENT BOOKS : BBC REPORTS
Excerpts:
Centuries old books, manuscripts and printing plates often contain invisible etchings, mysterious letters - and even doodles. A new technology that maps the surface of these objects is bringing them to light. ...
Lowe suggests that, through this new approach, there could be thousands of new discoveries waiting to be made, hidden in plain sight in libraries and art collections. "People are starting to realize that 'relief information' is transforming our knowledge. There must be objects in libraries all over the world that could benefit for this technology... It's about treating material objects as evidence, " he says. "There's a lot that's known, but there's a lot more that can be, and I think that's an incredibly inspiring and exciting thought."
BBC - FUTURE - DOODLES IN OLD BOOKS
Using new technology, previously unseen doodles - as well as notes and good art - are being discovered impressed upon the pages of old books and manuscripts. Were children having their way with their parent's precious books? Were some of these images deliberate?
2/7/23
HAVE YOU SEEN HER : CHI LITES and A FRIEND IS IN HIS LAST DAYS WITH LUNG CANCER
Sent along a crochet blanket a year or so ago.
1/25/23
ONE OF THE MORE SANE OPINION VIDEOS ABOUT THE IDAHO FOUR MURDERS : TIMOTHY ALLEN CAMPBELL : BRYAN KOHBERGER'S CHANCES OF A FAIR TRIAL : TA REALITY
Having watched dozens of videos, I'm convinced it will be near impossible for Bryan Kohberger to get a fair trial. He has been convicted in the media for sure. Innocent until proven guilty is fundamental to the law in the United States of America but experts including ex FBI agents are talking as if he is guilty, even just calling him Bryan like they can own that over-familiarity. He is a suspect. A suspect. The ONLY one?
For a while I was immune to NewsNation broadcasters being negative and opinionated but Banfield is now on my nerves and I no longer think NewsNation is what it claims, news without bias. Nancy Grace, go back into the hole you crawled out of. You don't need to be outraged for the rest of us.
I'm so glad I did not pursue journalism as my major as I would be ashamed and embarrassed to be in journalism at this point since almost all news is now soft, tabloid, badly researched news. MURDER HAS BECOME ENTERTAINMENT.
THINK ABOUT THIS.... There are about 35,000 murders in the United States each year but very few are taken up like this one by the media and few get the manpower and funding to be solved that this one has. Name the ones you remember that got this much attention... O.J.... Name the people you know or know of who have been murdered. (I know three.) I can bet you that if there was more than one or two investigators on the case who gave it a week or two, that would be exceptional.
And while the Idaho Four case has it's ironies, it's true that the Victims have all been turned into Saints, yet it IS likely that overall the party house was the scene of underage drinking and the use of illegal drrugs and a pain in the ass in the neighborhood where serious students also lived. IT WAS NOT SAFE BEHAVIOR TO HAVE PARTIES GOING ON THERE WHEN NOT ONE RENTER WHO LIVED THERE WAS HOSTING. IT IS NOT SAFE BE DRUNK, especially not stumbling drunk - EVER. Were one or all of these students so brilliant that they could excel in all their classes, work part time, and be involved in all that frat and sorority partying and volunteer work? What was their priority? If so they were all more brilliant than Brian Kohberger, a serious student. Rather, I think perhaps the University of Idaho college is really what they call a "party school" where students major in drinking and drugging, and where it is simply well below the usual academic standards, a college where it is easy to pass a class. For these people college is just something you do, an inevitability, not something you strive for, perhaps a rite of passage for a certain class who will spend their lives not really having to work: even sliding through you will end up well employed because someone your parents know will hire you but you can spend most of your time skiing or on the boat.
It also pains me that one expert and media person after another excuses their unsafe behavior as "Typical" of college students, and calls them "Kids." Last I heard age 18 begins adulthood.
I will never get it why ANY SERIOUS STUDENT would even WANT to be in a FRATERNITY OR SORORITY. I'm no longer in the position to hire, but I would consider that someone was in either to be a NEGATIVE. I would be hiring a drunk or druggie and someone who apparently thinks HAZING is OK. What does hazing TEACH people? That it is OK to Bully? To be a SNOB? To be a ROTTEN BOSS who treats underlings like shit? Is that what these stupid frats and sororities teach members? I think of the drunk coworkers and bosses (usually sales people) I had over the years and I can tell you they and their moods and verbal abuse were no fun nor was having to do their paperwork because they just didn't feel like it.
Some of the things that apparently make Bryan guilty that the media is running with are utterly ridiculous, from turning a shaving nick into being beat up in jail, from cleaning a vehicle that was just on a road trip and is visibly filthy with grime in those pull-over videos to be trying to cover evidence, to the whole cell phone ping thing.... which is not the same as GPS. I haven't even been using a cell phone for some time now after having more than one at more than one location that could not find a place to ping. Having to go out on the street (no privacy) to make and take calls was lousy. Finding out messages I sent early evening were showing up on other people's phones in the middle of the night was a problem. I also, when writing and researching do not want the interruption, not even the annoying buzz, and I am not ON CALL! It is near impossible to even find a place to work outside of one's own home, because the library is full of people on phones and buzzing.
Maybe his phone needed to be recharged. So I would like to know if this insomniac who had trouble sleeping at night had a pattern of turning the phone off, to recharge, or perhaps to try and sleep. (TRY LEAVING YOUR PHONE AT HOME and GOING THROUGH YOUR DAY! We used to do it pre-cell and it is possible.)
Worst, Kohberger's teenage angst expressed years ago on the Internet is being held against him as a man. Including by the obnoxious psyche "expert" Dr. Grandy. One more wanna be influencer who should pack up shop and go home. I suspect Grandy has narcissic personality disorder himself, because he has called himself an expert and there is no reason to think so if you listen to his speculations about various people in the news. He should admit that Bryan Kohberger was never his patient. And if he was his patient, then Grandy would be under the GAG ORDER.
Many of these people who are talking speculations and convicting Bryan Kohberger have advanced educations and are in the professions yet they apparently do not know much about our legal system. How did they manage to be educated and not know a suspect is NOT A CONVICT?
And I'll bet vegans, but also especially Kosher Jews, are cringing as the media tries to make it mentally ill and weird that Kohberger would not want to have his food cooked in pans that had meat in them. I met a number of brilliant grad students - these in the sciences and from other countries who had food weirdness. One slip of an Asian scientist - not an ounce of fat - ate only cup sized balls of white rice with a little seaweed mixed in. She had her rice cooker, and this was what she ate for three meals and a snack each day - four cups of white rice with seaweed. Another each morning had a ritual in which he carefully folded a cereal box and laid it flat, then put his bowls and utensils down. He was unable to eat without performing this set up first. Well, if you read this blog you already know I have some opinions about vegans and vegetarians and organic foodies being in denial of their own human body, their carnivore teeth and intestines, but I guess what I'm saying that I think food weirdness and PhD candidates may go hand in hand.
The owner of the Mad Greek Restaurant has spoken out that NO, Bryan Kohberger DID NOT eat there, yet many media are still reporting that he did. So I decided to do something I rarely ever have and that was make comments. BUT MOST OF THESE SLANDER SLINGING VIDEOS HAD COMMENTS TURNED OFF.
ALL TIME WASTING VIDEOS IN WHICH THE INFORMATION PROVIDED HAS ALREADY BEEN PROVEN WRONG SHOULD BE TAKEN DOWN.
So, give Timothy Allen Campbell a listen because he may not be all wrong.
This morning it was considered suspicious that a brilliant grad student would apply for an appropriate internship with the police.
Even Bullhorn Betty is apparently ignorant of the typical Graduate Student, PhD candidate's way of life.
So let me tell you. Grad students very often are hired to be Teaching Assistants or TA's as a way to earn money and as part of their education especially if they may want to stay in academia and teach themselves rather than be a researcher or employed outside academia. I had many of them, in "sections" where a professor, who lectured to a huge crowd, would then divvy out the discussion groups and testing and so on to a number of TA's. TA's go on strike due to their work load and lousy pay (University of California). Some of them not only TA but also have other part time work as well as massive student loans in order to get through to a PhD so they have to have confidence and gumption. However, depending on the school and major, they may not be expected to get on out of there quickly, they may TA for years. Their (personal) work is under an advisor and falls into the category of independent research.
As TA's, they work under a professor who is responsible for their work. But some of those professors are just so happy not to be teaching themselves. They actually find they must PUBLISH OR PERISH so they are focused on their own research and writing. They are supposed to review the TA's work but I can tell you from personal experience that some of the professors really are in their own world, the so called Ivory Tower, and don't bother. Unless you call them up on it.
If a TA is grading unfairly, if that professor hears that from too many students or a particular student makes their case, he or she will very likely call in the TA and have talk with them about grading. After all, he or she doesn't want students to quit the class or talk to the Dean and cause them trouble.
Very likely Bryan Kohberger was on such a higher level in his own education and didn't realize it, which is also not uncommon among professors. We would say that the professor was so into his theories that he failed to any longer be able to communicate to beginners. Bryan Kohberger was also a beginning grad student. He had only been in his program a few months. He had years ahead of him. I would hope that if he is not found guilty, he will be able to go back to his PhD, because as I see it, the media has ruined his life.
A good number of grad students do not make it to a Phd. Phd students work with an advisor who guides them and may have strong opinions about how to write their thesis. I've heard of grad students finding their advisor to be sabotaging and jealous, to basically live to make the grad student quit. Also I came to think that most of the grad students I met had parents who had been pushing them to be PhD's from an early age. Often this meant that they were, when it came to relationships, very immature. Their head was in the books for so many years that they did not have much socialization as compared to someone whose parents were accepting of them as they were. I would say (many of those I met) grew up with parents who were snobs and who WOULD NOT LOVE THEM UNLESS THEY SUCCEEDED. Some of them were practically horse-whipped as children to be professionals, and a normal childhood was taken from them.
The student will present a thesis, usually about five years after they began their program, often attempting some new research, an innovation, a discovery. Bryan Kohbergers on line questionnaire is not creepy but is totally in line with a grad student who is trying to get focus to hone in on what their specialty area will be.
At least one of my grad student associates started a sexual affair with her married advisor in the literature department within the first months of her arriving on campus. But then she was a sex addict and might not have used this to get an advantage over him. (She had a list of men she wanted to have sex with which included a couple of my platonic male friends.)
12/25/22
12/14/22
JOINING GREEK LIFE? YOU MAY NEED A TRUST FUND FOR REHAB and UNDER-REPORTED ON THE IDAHO FOUR MURDERS
GREEK LIFE and "ALCOHOL ADDICTION" by Recovery Village Interesting stats.
Statistics from other surveys show the direct effects of substance use in Greek organizations. Each year:
- Around 500,000 members suffer unintentional injuries related to substance use
- 70,000 cases of sexual assault and acquaintance rape
- 1,400 members die from alcohol-related causes
- 600,000 assaults occur
- 50% of members perform poorly on important school assignments *************************************
It could be that someone heard she would be back in town. One last chance.
11/26/22
DALE CARSON LAW ON IDAHO STUDENT MURDERS : PROFILING A CRIMINAL
11/25/22
BLACK FRIDAY CLUES TO THE IDAHO STUDENT MURDERS CASE - WHAT'S OF VALUE?
Having now read articles or watched videos - at least a hundred - searching for new information on this case, I can tell you that there are many news media that have not and are not up on the latest and reporting erroneously. Mish-mashing like that is not responsible journalism. Piggy backing on main stream news by citizens is not the same as news media and responsible journalists not even knowing what has already been broadcast. Speculations and amateur sleuths can sometimes be valuable to an investigation as well but that's not the same as news media and responsible journalists being so out of it when it comes to the competitor's reportage, the scoops. I watched one news outlet that had a group of people discussing the case and it was clear they were about three days behind.
WHAT'S OF VALUE?
The first thing to do as you search for information on this horrible murder scene is to forget any psychic medium predictions or tarot card readings. Sorry... Don't waste your time.
Second... Forget any criticisms that the police are inept or bumbling. The local force called in experts right away and the FBI is on it, a million more dollars towards the investigation is incoming... A great number of hours have been spent and will be spent. Be it that the killer has killed before or not, be it that this is the work of a serial killer and can be tied into one or two other, somewhat similar murders, they are not just looking BACK, they want to find the killer or killers SO THEY DON'T GET TO KILL AGAIN. They are doing everything they can and far more than they could have ever done in the days before DNA. This is not a television show or film where crimes are solved as you watch. This real time crime research has already been aided by technology when it comes to the timeline especially which it would not have had as an advantage before video cameras on food trucks and before cell phone calls. So, if these murders happened even 20 years ago, they would have to proceed with none of that information.
Third ... Dr. Todd Grande... making an issue of the phone call someone made reporting an unconscious person rather than a blood bath... I'm NOT in the psychology profession but I can tell you this... This man does not know his stuff.
WHAT LIKELY HAPPENED IS THAT THE PERSON SAW ONE BODY, maybe by opening a bedroom door that was unlocked slightly, to peer in because they wanted to respect the right and need of privacy, and did not see the bloodbath.
If you are living with someone and had a late night yourself or know they are usually up by a certain time and you're sure they're home but hours have passed and you start to wonder, well, how do you know why they're in their room? Maybe they have someone in there with them or are ill. I can imagine a person going to the door, calling a name, knocking gently... taking a while to open the door. Who would think that they were going to come upon a crime scene?
Or if they did, they may have gone into shock and not been able to process it mentally. I don't know the name for that condition but I know that people who are terribly frightened cannot always process and there is also something called a cover memory. That person may have called friends over for comfort or advice and unable to say or do more. A group of friends may have assembled to talk about what to do. In youth some of that discussion might be about who to tell because your friends are trusted more than your parents or authority figures. So they bonded, trying to figure out what to say or do.
THIS IS THE BEST VIDEO UP ON WHY the two women whose bedrooms were on the first floor, the original part of the house, might not have been awakened by the murders taking place upstairs. Floor plans and explanation by Johnny Law.