In the face of darkness, high stakes, and horrible odds, you can save yourself and the world
Michael Moore’s interview with Rachel Maddow yesterday.
Jay Lake sends along this post from Keith Olberman.
And Steve Buchheit gives us a report from on the ground in Ohio about Senate Bill 5.
Bryon and I are looking forward to having our right to negotiate health insurance and lay off rights stripped away as well. Gronstal can only stem so many tides.
Catherine
Bryon and I waited a long time to get I, Claudius sent to us via Netflix. A costuming buddy had recommended it years ago, and I put it in my queue. I expected something fairly melodramatic and cheesy, along the lines of Upstairs, Downstairs or The Forsythe Saga.
Instead, I’ve received bloody Roman empire, literally. I also am seeing amazing acting out of the likes of Derek Jacobi, Sian Phillips, Patrick Stewart, and John Hurt, just to drop the names of a few luminaries. Bryon and I have just started reading Claudius to each other in the car, and we’ll follow up with Claudius the God.
There’s a lot that makes Claudius good. I root for the clueless underdog, Claudius, watching him balance ethics and self-preservation tenuously. I am appalled at some of the things this family does to their relatives. But, and writers in the room should perk up their ears, what chiefly recommends Claudius are its villains.
And the villains are good enough that each deserves their own discussion. So, over the course of a few entries, I’ll be analyzing Livia, Tiberius, Sejanus, and Caligula. Each of them represents a very different kind of representation of the antagonist, and each is portrayed with vulnerability and sensitivity, as well as delusion and self-deception.
After I get back from Madison this weekend (and I will tell you the highlights of the Maass workshop), I’ll start in with an analysis of Livia. Poison will be queen!
Catherine
Everyone welcome Julia Rios, fellow Fighting XIII’er and fashionista.
Tamago: When did you discover you wanted to be a writer? How long have you been writing?
Julia; I’ve always loved making up stories and hearing stories. My brother started learning to read when I was about 2, and I remember watching him and working out that words on the page meant something. I knew right away that I needed to understand how that worked, but it was a few years before I was really reading and writing on my own (I wasn’t an amazing child prodigy like some others I know–none of this “I was reading the Wall Street Journal at age 3” stuff for me). As soon as I learned, I started writing stories, though, and even my earliest efforts were clearly speculative. I have some stories I wrote when I was 9, and they’re all about ghosts and magic and things like that.
Tamago: How would you characterize the kinds of stories you write?
Julia: Other writers, editors, friends, and family members love to ask this question, and I inevitably respond by gaping and flailing like a fish out of water. I don’t really know. I guess I tend toward weird additions to contemporary realism? That sounds mighty pretentious, doesn’t it?
Who knew that the deadline for reading groups was this Thursday? Not me. I just wasn’t paying attention.
Unless anyone I know would like to include me as a fourth for bridge, I’m probably going to sit this one out. I have things I can read, but I find myself remarkably unambitious in organizing a group. That’s okay. We’ll let the other young ladies exhibit (Mr. Bennet from Pride and Prejudice).
Catherine
Today is a big rally at the Iowa State House. Given my recent flu, I will be teaching today. I can’t neglect my students after neglecting them most of last week.
To show my solidarity, however, here’s Michael Moore doing the supportive thing in Wisconsin, our neighbors to the north. Also, the transcript of an email he sent around.
Thanks to Jon Gibb’s Weekly Round-up of writing links:
What are you afraid of? by Donald Maass
Brent Bowen gives you permission to suck. So do Ira Glass and Brandon Sanderson. Just scroll on down and see.
Con or Bust Auction ends Sunday. Support scholarships for PoCs to go to SF/F cons of their choice.
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Right now I’m working on Substance of Shadows, the substantial re-write. I spent about a month plotting the Klarion sagas, and I’m in book 3 for the time being. I’m doing my usual thing–shifting scenes, thinking about POV, slashing and sharpening language, but this time, I’m going beyond these things.
I’m going to dig deep.
To understand what I’m talking about, let’s talk about The Were-humans and the Vegas Retreat.
I guess if you’re going to do anything, you need to commit. Day 4 with flu, Day 3 off work. I’d be stressing about what’s piling up on my desk, except I feel too lousy to do that. It wouldn’t be so bad if I could do anything worthwhile. Yeah. Boohoohoo, me.
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To top all that off, the union sends news that we have a bill in the statehouse about eroding our bargaining rights. We aren’t where Wisconsin is, but Governor Brandstad and the House of Reps are making a start. Why we gave the best years of our career life to Iowa is not a question you should ponder when you’re this sick.
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On the plus side, I’ve read Donald Maass’s The Career Novelist. I planned some more for the Finland/Norway trip yesterday during the period before the relapse. I thought I was gonna break outta here today, but the guards got wise.
So, let’s see what you’re doing. Gotta be more interesting what I’m doing.
Catherine