Things To Keep In Mind As The New Year Approaches - 5 of 20

 

5. Be calm when the unthinkable arrives. 

When the terrorist attack comes, remember that all authoritarians at all times either await or plan such events in order to consolidate power. 

Think of the Reichstag fire. 

The sudden disaster that requires the end of the balance of power, the end of opposition parties, and so on, is the oldest trick in the Hitlerian book. 

Don't fall for it. 
 

Yale historian and Holocaust expert Timothy Snyder wrote: "Americans are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience. Now is a good time to do so." 
Snyder's a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (which includes former Secretaries of State), and consults on political situations around the globe. He says: 

Above, #5 of twenty lessons from the twentieth century, adapted to the circumstances of today.

Writing Challenge 2016 #26 - Ritual

NWC #26- "Ritual" Nov 27th at 8am

CHALLENGE: Start your play with some ritual. It is not what it seems!

Include water or sacrifice or flame. Is this about purification? About coming of age? About gaining status or membership?

Into what? from what?

Make this something only you could write.

(It'll have to be something only I can write when I'm back home in my solitary house.  A house full of family makes for extra challenging writing challenge time... at least I have plenty of interesting challenges to use after the holidays...For now, this is what surfaced...)

DREAM PANTS

                          1

So you know how I almost never remember my dreams?

                          2

You remembered a dream.

                          1

I remembered a dream.  Well, parts of a dream.  Maybe the whole dream.  It's hard to tell with dreams because they so rarely make logical sense or have transitions or -

                          2

But what do you remember of the dream?

                          1

Someone left their pants.

                          2

Is this a post-sex kind of dream?

                          1

No, sadly, this didn't have any post-coital sort of feel to it.  I simply returned to my apartment -

                          2

You were in your old apartment.

                          1

Yes, isn't it weird that I didn't dream about my house.  I've lived in the house now for almost two years.

                          2

But you lived in the apartment for over 20 years.  It was bound to be leftover in your brain.

                          1

I suppose it'll be rattling around in my subconscious for a long time.  I didn't realize it was my apartment really until I was thinking about the dream afterward and figured out the location.

                          2

So, your pants then?

                          1

No, I got the distinct feeling they were not my pants, that the pants were a mystery that needed solving.  Also the apartment was completely empty.

                          2

Except for the pants?

                          1

Except for the pants.  Not even anything on the windows.  Whole place completely stripped.

                          2

Except for the pants.

                          1

Except for the pants.

                          2

What kind of pants, jeans?

                          1

No, more slacks than pants, I guess.

                          2

Khakis?

                          1

Yeah.

                          2

Are you sure they weren't yours?

                          1

Yes.  It was a knit belt, a cloth belt.

                          2

These were pants from the 1980s?

                          1

I know, right?

                          2

So, someone had left their pants, and their belt?

                          1

And their wallet.

                          2

So you did find out whose pants they were?

                          1

You'd think so, wouldn't you?

                          2

No I.D.?

                          1

Too much I.D.

                          2

How can there be too much I.D.?

                          1

There were multiple cards, membership, credit, etc., oddly no actually picture I.D.  All these cards, different names.

                          2

Like a spy with a whole lot of different passports.

                          1

Kinda.

                          2

Well, that's just weird.

                          1

See, I thought the whole "abandoned pants" in my empty old apartment was weird enough.

                          2

So are you trying to find the man who fits these pants?

                          1

They are fictional pants.  They are dream pants.

                          2

They are pants from your subconscious.

                          1

Sometimes dream pants are just dream pants.

                          2

It's like that Billy Idol song, Eyes Without A Face.

                          1

Except these are pants without a face.

                          2

     (sings)

Pants Without A Face!

                          1

Actually it's pants without an entire body.

                          2

But it's a man's pants.  All those I.D.s?  Men's names, right?

                          1

Yeah.

                          2

You're searching for a man, among men.

                          1

A man who can fit in the dream pants?

                          2

Why else would you dream about pants, and unfashionable pants?  At least they weren't clown pants.  Or were they?

                          1

No, whoever fits in these pants is a trim fellow.

                          2

So the pants are a clue.  Come find me.  Reunite me with my pants.

                          1

Again, these are imaginary pants.  These are pants which don't exist.

                          2

But perhaps they are pants you've met before.  Pants that were lodged in your subconscious mind, waiting to reemerge.

                          1

Tied somehow to my old apartment.

                          2

As all past men would be.

                          1

The pants that got away?

                          2

You got a better theory?

                          1

Maybe I shouldn't have remembered this particular dream.

                          2

But you did.

                          1

I did.

                          2

So it's significant.

                          1

Somehow.

                          2

Yup.

                          1

A man without pants is waiting for me.

                          2

You can only hope.

Things To Keep In Mind As The New Year Approaches - 4 of 20

 

4. When listening to politicians, distinguish certain words. 

Look out for the expansive use of "terrorism" and "extremism." 

Be alive to the fatal notions of "exception" and "emergency." 

Be angry about the treacherous use of patriotic vocabulary. 



Yale historian and Holocaust expert Timothy Snyder wrote: "Americans are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience. Now is a good time to do so." 
Snyder's a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (which includes former Secretaries of State), and consults on political situations around the globe. He says: 

Above, #4 of twenty lessons from the twentieth century, adapted to the circumstances of today.

Writing Challenge 2016 #25 - Hero's Journey

NWC #25- "Hero's Journey" Nov 26th at 8am

Format a standard HERO'S JOURNEY about your own life.

State what you want to do- some ideal fantastic thing.

And then slap together the story of you as a hero!

You need a hero- you!

You need a mentor- ??

You need a villain!!!  have fun with this one PLEASE don't be nice

Look. The most important part of this is that you set up (quickly!) a sense of normal- put in a strong inciting incident and call to action- REFUSE THE CALL TO ACTION- and then go kick some ass, take all the names, save the things, and be amazing.

Bonus- wear super hero tights WHILE YOU WRITE

NOT A HERO'S JOURNEY

                          SIDEKICK

Not feeling very heroic.

                          HERO?

Well, let's be honest, it's hardest to land one of these writing challenges over the Thanksgiving holiday.  I come home to spend time with family, and so this half hour right now is all I get.  Not much time to craft anything even mildly heroic.

                          SIDEKICK

You bought your mom a new computer today.

                          HERO?
That's true.

                          SIDEKICK

And you got the full brain transferred from the old one to the new one.

                          HERO?

Also true.

                          SIDEKICK

And you got all the connections to the internet set up and the new software loaded, and all the updates to the old software, and the email box is all up and running.

                          HERO?

Again, true.  That's what family holidays are, tech support.

                          SIDEKICK

And you have to admit watching the first two episodes of the new Gilmore Girls cycle was fun.

                          HERO?

Yes, but also probably not the best thing for a struggling writer to watch.

                          SIDEKICK

Why not?  The writing's clever, the characters are fun.  It's like hanging out with old friends.

                          HERO?

Yes, but at the halfway point, Rory's been disappointed by all the potential feelers and nascent projects in their infancy coming to nothing, one right after the other.  No one wants her or what she's writing.  She's got a few decent notches in her belt but no career, no home, no life.

                          SIDEKICK

You have a home.

                          HERO?

I have a mortgage on a home.

                          SIDEKICK

Yes, but you get to live there, and settle and make a home.  Month by month the payments aren't just rent, they're making it yours.

                          HERO?

OK.  But I'd hardly call the writing a career.

                          SIDEKICK

It's more than a hobby.

                          HERO?

Yes, but the collaborations have been less than successful for the most part.  Mostly it's just me pushing the rock up the hill, alone, waiting for something to hit.  I have no idea what's going to happen next.

                          SIDEKICK

Isn't that exciting?

                          HERO?

Right now.  It's exhausting.

And I don't really have a sidekick.

                          SIDEKICK

You have a lot of people in your corner.

                          HERO?

Yes.

                          SIDEKICK

Not just your family.

                          HERO?

No.

                          SIDEKICK

Something's bound to hit.

                          HERO?

My most significant relationship right now is with a fellow writer who pays me to sit on the phone with him and brainstorm.  And he's straight.  With a girlfriend.  And halfway across the country.

                          SIDEKICK

Well, who's fault is that?

                          HERO?

Mine.  I'll grant you.  I'm not prioritizing it.  There's no love interest.  No prince.

                          SIDEKICK

Because - ?

                          HERO?

Because the writing's never let me down.

Collaborators maybe, but never the writing.

Guys are -

                          SIDEKICK

Complicated.

                          HERO?

You don't get rewrites.  Bad first impression, done.

                          SIDEKICK

They're probably feeling the same pressure.

                          HERO?

You never appreciate the opportunities when you're in college or high school.  They just seem endless.  There will never come a day when no one looks at you on the street.  Except that day does in fact come, and I'm long past it.

                          SIDEKICK

Well -

                          HERO?

Priorities.

                          SIDEKICK

Yeah.

                          HERO?

Something other than a fictional sidekick would be nice.

                          SIDEKICK

Yup.

                          HERO?

Guess I better get on that.

                          SIDEKICK

Yup.

                          HERO?

Whattaya know.  Time's up.

                          SIDEKICK

For today.

                          HERO?

Maybe the other two episodes of the Gilmore Girls end on a more hopeful note.

                          SIDEKICK

That'll have to wait til tomorrow.  Right now you have to deal with the two dogs, the cat, your mother and your younger brother, and seeing the 8pm showing of Dr. Strange.

                          HERO?

At least his problems will be worse.

Things To Keep In Mind As The New Year Approaches - 3 of 20

3. Recall professional ethics. 

When the leaders of state set a negative example, professional commitments to just practice become much more important. 

It is hard to break a rule-of-law state without lawyers, and it is hard to have show trials without judges.


Yale historian and Holocaust expert Timothy Snyder wrote: "Americans are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience. Now is a good time to do so." 
Snyder's a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (which includes former Secretaries of State), and consults on political situations around the globe. He says: 

Above, #3 of twenty lessons from the twentieth century, adapted to the circumstances of today.

 

Writing Challenge 2016 #24 - Lies, Lies, Lies

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NWC #24- "LIES LIES LIES" DUE Nov 25th at 8am

The truth has no place on the stage. Shakespeare knew it. You should know it too. At least, not the newspaper documentarian kind of truth that is limited and unaware of the lies that are packed into its own perspective (and lack of perspective regarding scope and time and space)

CHALLENGE

Find a wikipedia article or some other source of facts- your drunk uncle perhaps. History can be good!

Or find a common object near you and find out its origin story. How DID we come to call it a spatula?

And then lie about them to make them more interesting.

LIE DAMN YOU! LIE!

YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH... ON STAGE 'CAUSE IT'S BORING

And make the story better.

And by better I mean more provocative, meaner, fantastical, and heart-warming.

I remember a story about a television show-runner taking the script of his team and saying- make the teenage boy (who is killed) a young girl, blonde, asthmatic. It's more sympathetic.

And the author argued that the killer they were basing this episode off (in real life) killed a teenage boy... and the show-runner fired him saying "this isn't the news".

Bonus- I like to write MY lies with bourbon. Pick your own poison and let it all hang out.

A WRITER'S DILEMMA

                          WRITER

OK, so here's the thing.  I've stepped in it.

                          EDITOR

Stepped in what?

                          WRITER

Sticky situation.

                          EDITOR

Not necessarily a bad thing.

                          WRITER

No, but it makes me nervous.

                          EDITOR

If it makes you nervous, you should definitely write it.

                          WRITER

It makes my entire writing group nervous.

                          EDITOR

Then you should absolutely write it.

                          WRITER

Everyone seemed to be laughing and really enjoying themselves.

                          EDITOR

A very good sign.

                          WRITER

Then we actually started talking about it and things got awkward.

                          EDITOR

How so?

                          WRITER

Everyone trusts me as a writer.

                          EDITOR

Yes - ?

                          WRITER

And everyone knows, or hopes they know, that I am not a careless or malicious person.

                          EDITOR

However - ?

                          WRITER

The script deals with issues of sexual consent.

                          EDITOR

Not in a NAMBLA kind of way, though?

                          WRITER

What?  No!  Oh my god, absolutely... everyone's an adult here.

                          EDITOR

OK, OK, just checking.

                          WRITER

I doubt everyone would have been laughing and enjoying themselves -

                          EDITOR

Probably a very different writing group.

                          WRITER

And why do we immediately go to pedophile here?

                          EDITOR

Well, you are gay.

                          WRITER

That's what I'm saying.  Gay immediately leads to NAMBLA.

                          EDITOR

Well, you said it got awkward and it had to do with questions of sexual consent.

                          WRITER

And you went to men diddling little boys.

                          EDITOR

OK, what was it then, not a gay guy seducing a straight man, right?  I mean that would be -

                          WRITER

Kinda.

                          EDITOR

OK, that is also not helpful.

                          WRITER

Then you're going to think it was even less helpful that the straight guy was married.

                          EDITOR

Yeah, that makes it worse.

                          WRITER

And his wife's pregnant.

                          EDITOR

Boy, you're just piling it on.

                          WRITER

And I accidentally also backed into someone else's religion.

                          EDITOR

Oh dear.

                          WRITER

But see here's the thing - the whole scenario got described as "cute but a little rapey"

                          EDITOR

Oh dear.

                          WRITER

And on the issue of religion I was told - "I trust you as a writer, but you're kind of stepping all over the basic tenets of my faith here."

                          EDITOR

Yikes.

                          WRITER

Exactly.  So I'm educating myself - on magic and paganism.

                          EDITOR

Which makes it kind of hard to write the next scene -

                          WRITER

Because I've kind of blundered into some big issues.

                          EDITOR

Which is worthwhile.

                          WRITER

But only if I do it right.

                          EDITOR

Guess you'd better get back to reading.

                          WRITER

Guess I'd better -