January 13, 2024, mid-morning: I finished my first full length novel. Or at least, I finished a first draft. Now I am recruiting beta-readers, or as I am fondly calling them, beta-fish, to read the draft and help me work towards editing it to be readable to an audience. But first, let us back track, and I shall explain how we got here in the first place.
Continue reading “I wrote a novel …”Category: Thoughts
A poem I wrote for my little sister …
An excellent 14th birthday,
To the princess who lights up my life.
May she have grace in all her doings,
And a wonderfully happy life.
A wonderously happy birthday,
To my little princess so small.
May her heart be strong and loving,
And may she grow quite tall!
A beautiful, bright birthday,
To this princess who so loves blue.
May she wear her crown with pride,
And may her heart always be true.
Our Laws Affect Our Culture
In a talk he gave at Wyoming Catholic College (WCC), Joshua Craddock posed the idea that law affects culture. His talk inspired me to write this short paper.
According to Rick Warren, “Law is downstream of culture. By the time you make a law about something, you’re reacting, not acting.” Rick Warren is saying that our culture directly affects our laws, and to believe otherwise would be foolish. However, what Warren misses in saying culture affects law, is that law also affects culture. While it is true that culture affects law, it is also true that law affects culture, changing how people view certain activities to the point that one could say culture is, as Warren says, ‘downstream’ of law.
Continue reading “Our Laws Affect Our Culture”why don’t you feel anything anymore?
Numb fills your heart, drowns your thoughts, seeps at your soul. Your homework lays upon your desk, unfinished. Your art scatters across the floor, abandoned. Your dinner sits, untouched.
Why don’t you feel anything anymore?
Continue reading “why don’t you feel anything anymore?”Magna Carta Libertatum vs. The Declaration of Indepedence
Today I am exploring the similarities and differences between The Great Charter and the American Declaration of Indepedence. Enjoy!
A quick note before we begin: my little brother has started doing this thing whereby when he sees two bugs, creatures, people, whatever, he announces grandly “X versus Y” for example “Woollybear caterpillar versus red ant!” or even “Sister (insert names here) versus cousin” and then proceeds to tell you which one would win (sister, she would flip cousin onto floor). Because of this, all the small people in my family hear the word ‘versus’ or ‘vs’ and assume we mean fighting against, so I thought I would clarify: in this context versus is best translated as “as compared to or in contrast with” and not “against.” Alright, with that out of the way, onto the essay!
Continue reading “Magna Carta Libertatum vs. The Declaration of Indepedence”hold on
Sometimes, you think the fear will drive you mad. Then you remember, it already has. The voices in your head. They are part of you, down to the bone. They have been with you since your childhood, helping you know what to say, telling you stories.
Continue reading “hold on”Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness – a short note on the day
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
With each passing Independence day, I see more and more signs simply saying ‘happy July 4th’ and wonder with each one … are we, as the people of this nation, forgetting the meaning behind why we celebrate July 4th, or rather, why we celebrate Independence day?
Continue reading “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness – a short note on the day”Back to School
With school beginning in five days, it is time to insure you are fully ready to embrace the school year. The motto for notebooks, calculators, desks, and anything else school related is ‘when in doubt, decorate.’
Here are a handful of the notebooks I will be using during the coming semester:
Farewell, Adios, Goodbye
What is one of the hardest words in any language?
Goodbye.
Whether it is a goodbye for a short time or a long time, it is always hard. A friend says goodbye till tomorrow, and yet hesitates to go out the door. A husband leaves on a buisness trip for two weeks, but calls every night and hates the need for this goodbye. Again: a sibling leaves on a trip with some friends, but writes letters home and cries over the phone; the goodbye paining her heart and leaving her chest aching.
Continue reading “Farewell, Adios, Goodbye”The Traveling Book
I have finally reached the stage of preparing for my trip where I pack the backpack.
I gather together the various assortments of things I must bring with me: sketch book, reading books, origami paper, etc.
When I begin to pack I find, in middle of the stack, a book with which I am well acquainted. Despite never having meant to put it in the stack it has ended up there, almost as if it had a mind of its own.
Continue reading “The Traveling Book”