Going to extremes

[gurdonark]

The French elections, coupled with interviews with neo-right leaders across Europe on the radio today,
made a strong impression on me. How can people have forgotten?
The era 1933 to 1945 is less than a century in our past, and the scars have not begun to heal. I expect for each generation to make its own mistakes, but must they be so transparent? I believe that good people can help overcome xenophobia and hate. I hope this sends a wake-up call to the French people--don't send messages by voting for fascists. History shows that sometimes the message is received with a vengeance.

I set up the bird feeder that I got for 5 dollars at Dollar General today. The bird seed package, sold by the folks who wrote our wonderful Stokes bird book, promises that desirable red cardinals find the seed tasty, while the omnipresent black grackles
prefer other fare. I rather like grackles, with their "great tails" and their "boat tails", but I wanted to see if this boast on the package could be true. The feeder hangs suspended from a back fence. Of course, I wait until winter has passed and seed is abundant to make my contribution to nutrient supply.

I got my scrapbook mail art project off to Australia today.
[note to self: investigate US Postal Service alternatives
to air mail, such as "backpacked on an emu overland" or "handed to a woman [or man] with a desultory smile who already has purchased air passage to Sydney" for next 2 pound mailing]. I am pleased with myself, because a rather elaborate (though unelaborated here), if wholly inartistic, package was conceived, produced, and transmitted within a space of 72 hours. I wanted to send it far, far away, and my goodness, I think I have.

I received a very nice mail art card from nacowafer, and posted a card to an old friend in North Carolina. I was delighted that my
old friend GregWest98 set up his livejournal. I've read his stories and notions for years on end, and to see them encased in amber here will be a fun addition to my friends list. Greg is a recovered rocket scientist turned computer genius.
My own bachelor's in physics gives me just enough info to get through the average dinner party with the average scientist, and I remember when one programmed in Fortran using punchkey cards, but I never feel a great contrast between us.

I had a very productive day, no doubt stimulated to unusual achievement by all that exercise and fun this weekend. I've got a Frederick Pohl sci fi to finish, some good book recs for something a bit more meaty, and a general optimism that I wish I could translate into something useful.
But my television program is about to begin.

Comments

[nancyjane.livejournal.com]

i don't have beaucoup friends, but i do have a rather close tie with someone who does a lot of traveling, and one of those places he goes quite regularly is Perth, Oz. Other stops include Indonesia when the political climate permits, France, England, Whales. He stops in Texas, aren't you in Texas? and I meet up with him on his occasional stop to San Fran. He's in the oil bidnas... anyway... it's an alternative you're welcome to explore if it interests you. He's a nice guy and very friendly and makes friends everywhere he goes, very laid back, i think he's 38? years old. Somehow i think he'd get a kick out of transporting mail art if the planets aligned just so

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the offer. Some fun possibilities there....almost as good as an emu.

[amatrixangel.livejournal.com]

The French elections

Not a good time to be an Arab or African in France at the moment.

emu overland

No emus. We eat them.

Frederick Pohl

Ohww...he's good. I like Ursula le Guin and Robert Heinlein. Actually one of my fav. patimes was staring at SF covers with Christopher Foss artwork on them.

emus in a strange land

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

Emus came to mind because some folks are starting to raise them here.

Isn't it funny how Pohl, Le Guin and Heinlein are such different authors, and yet one can say them in the same line as if they are "three of a kind"? I credit sci fi for teaching me to dream big dreams in my teenage years.

Exactly

[amatrixangel.livejournal.com]

I credit sci fi for teaching me to dream big dreams in my teenage years

Same with me :)

name droppers anonymous

[asphalteden.livejournal.com]

I almost spilled a drink on Pohl trying to tell him how much I loved The Space Merchants.

There is an essential lumping of sci-fi authors together. I always had a happy fantasy of them all meeting like some colossal Elks club.

Re: name droppers anonymous

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

You know, I think that the number of authors I have actually met is a really small number.
Recently, I met the local gardening expert.
I told him my favorite anecdote from his radio show. He gave the impression of having heard similar fan anecdotes one million times. So much of the experience of an author is what the reader (or listener) brings to the work.
I'm just not sure that can translate into
face to face contacts with the author.
Still, it would have been fun to meet Heinlein or Pohl or Le Guin.

[mouchette.livejournal.com]

The French elections have really freaked me out too.

Somehow, of all places, I didn't think this would happen there. I may be rosy tinted though as my father fled there from Nazi Germany and outlived the rest of his family in a relatively safe haven.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I feel a bit of disbelief, too, that this would happen in France. In our media, we frequently remember a time when France accorded equality to minority group members from the US who were treated as second class citizens here in their own country. Now we watch in dismay as the Parisian greengrocer and the Colmar pharmacist tell us that they would rather vote for an aged
agent of bigotry than try to live in a diverse society.