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July 1, 1964
July 1 is Canada Day sort of Canada's Independence Day, I believe, but actually July 1, 1964, is my birthday. This is the month of the dog days of summer as well as our Independence Day. Believe it or not I chose the image of the flag and soldiers for I was born the month that Americans started to be sent to the Vietnam War and all those issues Vietnam caused. Canada Day is Canada's day of freedom and for those who need to make some serious choices in their lives. Thank you soldiers for protecting the baby I was.
By Mark Graham7 months ago in Critique
Sociological Imagination
This place is odd. I am at a café in Allentown. I like the loft area. I am Phantom of the Opera here. Hiding in the shadows of a dead and vacant café. There are no people here; just as there were none on the street. The things around me that feel most alive are, ironically, the things that are most dead. To my left is some sort of wooden crank machine. To my right, an old, ornate full-size mirror. Up here, closer to the ceiling, one is better able to appreciate the ghosts of this building. Often the ceiling is the last thing to change through all the iterations of businesses and residences. These things feel more alive than the phone by my side, the clothes that are on me, the bag that I carry, but not the books that are within that bag. Marcel Duchamp coined the term the “infrathin” to give a word to the phenomenon of the residue left by humans on objects. It is the marks left behind, such as the warmth on a seat after someone has left, or the smell of tobacco in a room. These objects around me relate, but they are a more permanent version. They have taken in the marks of history and the dead. There is a possession to them. The phone, my clothes, my bag have touched no one but me. Save for the passing brush or the hug of family and partner. But this is not imprintation. Some of my books have not known the touch of another reader, but not most. I love used books. This possession of books is intensified by the marks of prior human contact. It is a connection with a separate mind that is thinking and interpreting the same words as you. In a way, this is a comradery. It cuts through the loneliness of thought. It adds life to thinking with the dead. Roland Barthes discusses in his essay “The Death of the Author” that the author should be one that disappears into the work. Ultimately, the reader becomes the author. It is the reader that is the end interpreter of the work, and it is the reader that gives meaning to the work. Without the reader, there is no author, and there is no author if they are not themselves a reader. Even without used books, there is an aliveness that comes from books that is ultimately unalive. It is this uncanny paradox that makes books the quintessential source of intelligence. Freud discussed this element in his essay on the uncanny by stating that the uncanny arose from “doubts whether an apparently animate being is really alive; or conversely, whether a lifeless object might not be in fact animate”. In this understanding, it can be argued that books generally hold this uncanny quality. They are both alive and dead and also neither. However, it should be accepted that the uncanny stems more from the doubt than the paradox. This aliveness is the continuation of life through ideas. Discussing, and somewhat opposing, Michel Foucault and Roland Barthes, Kate Zambreno, in her To Write as if Already Dead, speaks of the desire to write with the solitude and peace of someone dead, and yet to place oneself within the work in order to be seen, respected, acknowledged. Although the reader may give the ultimate meaning to the work, the words themselves are a certain continuation of the self. The words matter, but maybe so also the importance of its generality, which Hamlet may well have implied with his epizeuxis, Words, words, words. More than the café in which I now sit, with its wooden crank machine, ornate mirror, and historical ceiling, books contain the history and space in which one can think.
By Daniel J. Guercio7 months ago in Critique
Why Everyone Suddenly Loves 'Quiet Luxury'—and Why It’s a Lie
In recent years, a new trend has quietly taken over the fashion and lifestyle world—something called “quiet luxury.” It’s become the buzzword on social media, the darling phrase in magazines, and a must-know term for influencers, designers, and shoppers alike. But what exactly is quiet luxury, and why has it gained such a sudden surge of popularity? More importantly, is it really what it claims to be, or is there something deeper beneath the polished surface?
By Muhammad Asim7 months ago in Critique
Who remembers ......
One early morning I was channel surfing, and I found an old rerun of an old television show I used to watch before going to elementary school. This show always had many lessons to learn as well as just enjoying watching many stories of a boy and his dog. Even watching this show now as a grown person I can still hear my mom saying breakfast is ready, then it was off down the road to catch the school bus for I watched these episodes right before leaving for school. Who remembers the great show known as Timmy and Lassie?
By Mark Graham7 months ago in Critique
Dork Drabble #11
On February 4 the question is 'You got trapped in the mall overnight with your BFF's. Make a list of things you would do? If I got stuck in the mall alone or with friends, I would probably find a bookstore with some cozy chairs and find a book to read or a few of them and relax, but in reality, now-a-days that could not happen for when 'last call is heard and the mall closes all the stores bring down the gates and lockdown, and the security guards walk around making sure no one remained flashing their flashlights everywhere.
By Mark Graham7 months ago in Critique
Dork Drabble #10
On February 3 the question is 'If you were principal of your school for a day what would you do to make it more fun and exciting? If I were principal for a day at my old school, I would plan a scavenger hunt for the Freshman students they would need to find various tips about surviving high school. Sophomores/Juniors could search for various scores of sports and other activities and the Seniors could look for various college items. All will be posted somewhere or somehow throughout the school-10 points each. That is what I would do to make fun.
By Mark Graham7 months ago in Critique
Dork Drabbles #9
On February 2 the question is 'In gym class are you a scared of balls person, average, or a star-athlete? Why do you think so? In my gym classes I was totally average, but kind of excelled in track and field, swimming, and gymnastics, but average in football, basketball, and baseball. I remember a few years we had sections for physical fitness when we had to run an obstacle course and being timed as well, which was kind of fun even in a high school PE class for I remember I almost slipped during the Harvard Step Test. Please comment.
By Mark Graham7 months ago in Critique
Dork Drabble #8
On January 30 the question is 'If you could hang out with a cartoon character in real life who would it be and why?' There are a few of these characters that I would like to hang out with me and they are Scooby-Doo for the mysteries and the food. The others range from Winnie-the-Pooh to Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo and their various friends. Even once in a while Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids where one could learn many diverse ideas on friendship, food and what makes each of us special in many ways and making proper choices too.
By Mark Graham7 months ago in Critique
Dork Drabble #7
On January 21 the question is dealing with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his dream that one day ALL people would be treated equally, regardless of the color of their skin. What dream(s) do You have that would make the world a better place? For me my dream(s) did come true so far, I was a teacher, nurse and even an activity therapist and now a writer, and I used and am using everything I learned from school and home. Now I am using a skill I learned in high school business courses as a transcriptionist of a kind.
By Mark Graham7 months ago in Critique
Dork Drabble #6
On January 26 the question is 'When school is cancelled because of snow! How will you spend most of your day?' She gave suggestions a) Snuggle in bed catching up on sleep; b) lounging in your PJ's reading your fave book or c) playing outside in the snow with your BFF?' Actually, I would be doing all of these activities, but my favorite would be to play in the snow. The order I would do them would be to play in the snow before it gets all messed up by others, then back inside the house to read and nap.
By Mark Graham7 months ago in Critique
Dork Drabble #5
On January 23 the question is 'Who's the 'kookiest' person in your family?' Nikki (a character in the book) wrote a note saying everyone in her family are a little nuts, and actually my answer would have to be the same. Really now what does the word 'kooky' really mean? There are many ways to define this word, but if I had to pick a certain family member for there was a cousin that seemed a little kooky for he could make very good animal sounds of many kinds and the sounds did sound kind of kooky to me then.
By Mark Graham7 months ago in Critique
