Birthday blessings

Just passed another annual anniversary threshold. Not saying exactly which day, as I don't like to put markers on my timeline. You won't find one on Facebook, because I don't care much for auto-greetings, even though I use the prompt to wish others a happy birthday.

This December's birthday was notable for two important reasons, among others. Firstly, because I hit the benchmark age of 65 years old. 65! Until fairly recently in the UK, this age marked a person who was required to retire and could draw their state pension. These days, there is no mandatory retirement age, and the age at which state pension may be drawn is set to get progressively higher. I draw mine from my 66th birthday in one year's time. Anyone a few years younger must wait until 67. Regardless of what age you can draw a state pension, 65 still makes me, to my mind at least an old-aged pensioner (OAP), even though I am not yet fully retired.

More importantly this year, my birthday was notable for a certain flash fiction challenge.

I am beyond delighted by the number of people who have been inspired by Roy Lichtenstein's painting: I love you but, 1964. I'm still trying to work out exactly how many entries have been submitted and how many accolades have been won by their authors. Not to mention getting them all listed here:

Oh Jeff Challenge - The Entries

Don't think I have covered even half of them yet. If you are interested in reading all of the entries, please drop by from time to time for updates.

For my part, setting this challenge has resulted in a bonus boost, to date, of $25 which is great, because it will fund the $10 top prize and runner up prizes. More importantly, in addition to winning a top story for the challenge, and $20 bonus for most subscribers last week, the challenge story became my most popular Vocal publication to date.

In only 10 days, the Oh Jeff Flash Fiction Challenge has raced up my popular story lists. It is now the most popular story among registered Vocal users. There are two stories with a higher number of hits but both were achieved by listing the stories on social media. In both cases these most-read stories only got two likes. This is because the reads came mainly from non-Vocal users who cannot 'like' a story or comment on it.

I don't like to boast about my achievements. The main reason the success of this challenge is such a gift to me is not so much the financial gain, the number of hits, likes or comments. No, important as these things are, the main gain, the main birthday present, is the knowledge that I have introduced a painting that demonstrates the power of art to inspire creativity.

In recent years, I have become really involved in the art world. Not only do I volunteer as a visitor host at Tate's art museums in London, Tate Modern and Tate Britain, I also write articles and deliver talks on some of the works and exhibitions I see. These works are based almost entirely on what I see and how I relate these perspectives to everyday life. I am not an art historian or any other kind of art expert. I visit other art galleries when I can and sometimes write up reviews of any exhibitions that take my fancy.

I first visited an art museum in the 1970s with my father: Tate Gallery, as it was then known, now Tate Britain. There I saw, for the first time, Lichtenstein: Wham!

As a young boy, growing up in the 1960s and 70s, I read the kind of comic books that inspired this painting. I saw this canvass, not as art, but as representing something important to me. I didn't read books, I read comics. I loved the size, scale and boldness of the images.

Wham! tells several stories in parallel. It tells the obvious and literal story of a 'dog-fight' between an American hero and a vaguely defined enemy. It tells the wider story of the US role in world affairs. It tells the story of mass media in the 20th century and it tells the story of our perception of the necessity for defeating those who oppose our ordered and comfortable way of life. Arguably it tells the story of the desensitising of the public to acts of war carried out at a safe distance.

Oh Jeff, tells a much more complex story. It tells a story of love, but one which is far less prescriptive than the story told by Wham! More importantly, Oh Jeff tells a story that is much more open to ambiguity, to interpretation and imagination.

That is why, I think, the Oh Jeff challenge has proved so popular on Vocal. The Oh Jeff challenge allows us, as creative spirits, to fill the void created by that word "but." So many possibilities, so many interpretations, so many stories could be told by the words given in the painting.

As creators, it is our role to tell that story.

A thousand thankyous to all those Vocal creators who have taken that void and filled it with their brilliant tales and poems.

As I write, there are nine hours left to write a/another story to fill this void.

Thank you for your stories and for giving me the best 65th birthday I have ever had.

From London with Love

Ray