The kids are off to school, and the morning shifts into a dull quiet. It’s time to do what I have to do – time for a routine. Getting back into it is difficult when there’s little definition to my constant scrambling for work, but it’s important. The research trip to Miami is long over with now, and I’m back alone in the cold silence of my Saint Paul routine.
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Category Archives: People & Culture
All about the standing-upright chimps that really love to talk about themselves.
Miami
I’ve been on vacation for the last 3 days in Miami. Since this is where I grew up, it’s a strange place to take a “vacation” – but rather than get away from it all I’ve always been one to get in the middle of it. I was tagging along with my partner Cristy who went to a conference, meaning the hotel part was taken care of. It gave me a chance to research my novel a bit and see just what has changed.
Little has changed. It’s about what I remember.
Unity
Unity means a lot of things to different people operating in different circumstances. Among people of different backgrounds or beliefs, Unity means that they are reaching beyond their normal lives to act as one. The political system in the USofA is based on the idea that entire political systems are stronger when they come together to form a larger unity. Unity in writing, however, is a bit more subtle. It describes that which ties everything together into one whole so that it can be digested by the human mind. It doesn’t have to agree with itself completely, but when it works well the conflicts can be understood easily.
Organize
Many organizations are finding themselves in trouble they didn’t anticipate. Corporations, government agencies and nonprofits alike find that at the end of a long period of emphasis on individual achievement the advancing Depression sees them surprisingly vulnerable. This isn’t a totally unexpected. Organizations of people exist for a reason, and when times change the first thing people often do is retreat even more inward. Eventually, however, getting through hard times will require people to work together, which is to say refocus on why it works better with many hands. That may produce some unusual results.
Tuchusocracy
The moment of terror comes slowly at first, rolling under your subconscious before you really know it’s there. Only once it’s too late do you recognize the signs were there all along – the big stacks of papers that serve as fortifications and the large cups of coffee that can provision any siege. Everyone else knew it, why didn’t you?
It was destined to be one of those marathon meetings from the start. You walked right into a trap. All you can do now is squirm your tuchus (TUCK-us, Yiddisch for “backside”).
Barataria - The work of Erik Hare 