Just Keep Writing

Hi Friends,

Perhaps this post will find a dangling few...but that's ok. 

Today is Wednesday Dec 17th, the week before the business of Christmas activities commences.

I have been chewing on this idea for a while now. Have y'all noticed that just writing....just words seems to be  harder to find...and harder to craft lately?

Perhaps it is the plethora of different keyboards I work on , or the different software that controls the fonts and formatting....But I feel very strongly that 

words are on the way out, and automation and many more pictures and virtual realities are on the way to impose and bully the simplicity of the written word only.....out.

As someone who respects black and white words....the beauty of language and expression and mastery of such.... I am trying to reposition myself. And still, I find myself not wanting to craft a new position. 

I like the old ways. I miss my Blackberry cell phone keyboard. It was tactile and provided instant "sense of typing". Using a blackberry was as close to using an old school typewriter as it could get.

My cell phone is hopelessly over programmed. Software interrupts my every word.

I still write things by hand, with pen or Sharpie on paper, and proudly do so....because I feel like I am fighting for my right to do so. There is a war against the craft of writing. There is a war against all things manual and handson.

But back to my point for this post. The reason I write is to develop my thoughts, to create what consumes my latest pondering and hone their legitimacy or toss them out of mind, as the writing forces me to 

look with greater clarity at my latest obsession.

Writing with being interrupted, by pop ups and grammar "fixers" is a choice. It's like hammering a large nail in a fresh piece of wood...simple and satisfying. 

With the onslaught of so much info, so much data and so many opinions, it has become even more important for us all, as human beings, to no only consume ....but to create. To be a constant consumer and never push back with creations of our own, is highly imbalanced and borderline perverse.

We live in a free country...where we can type and say what we want, as long as it does not harm someone else. We must exercise that freedom. Use it.....my friends. Use this power. Don't get drunk on data consumption and let your mental faculties become limp and unwell. Your brain and spirit are "muscles" that must be flexed to grow in strength and complexity.

Yes, our world is growing in skill and expertise at lightening speed. But we must stay the course to keep ourselves responding and processing what is going on around us. Don't just blindly consume. You must talk back....you must respond.

That is all.

Peace,

Carla

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Goat Gals

Hi Friends, Long time no write.

This past week or two I was thinking....who out of all the female public figures out there, really can be categorized as being capable of going full on "beast mode" with confidence.

And so I started crafting a list:

Sha'Carrie Richardson

Kim Mulkey

the late Christie Blatchford

Christiane Amanpour

the late Kirstie Alley (if you don't why I added Kirstie to this  list....you never read her tweets)

Would you like to add a few names to the list?

I feel like Melissa McCarthy has come pretty close to being added to the list, but has to let loose even more to be written in said solid bold print. 

We are trained to be polite and agreeable, to not be too loud or too confrontational. But what is the fun in that? There comes a time, when we can choose the safe route or the great route.

Peace,

Carla

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The Roar Against the Music

The somewhat faded photo attached epitomizes my effort made many years ago to preserve what I felt was fading....which were the names of the composers of the piano pieces I learned as a child.

The names of these classical composers were no longer on people's lips....Youtube had not assisted in their preservation. 

Those many years ago, I had a faint panic set in when I realized that these composers were not being taught any more, at least not in the common music venues or in public schools. I felt like I was on an archeological dig, but simply putting these names on to paper. I purposely wrote them out by hand.

I recall asking a graphic art print shop to make something out of the names and it was a strange experience. They did not understand my request and did not value the treasure trove of names on this list. They did not understand my desperation to preserve that which is faded and too often forgotten.

And so I left that print shop, disappointed and alone in my quest...gripping a yellowing copy of hand written names of classical piano composers.

Tell me friends, how do you preserve those old things you cherish? Old recipe books or photos that are fading and recipes cards that are worn and covered in crumbs?

Are you uploading all your precious memories onto the cloud? Is this the best choice?

We must not let the huge computer conglomerates "own" all of our memories. 

Keep some of your memories in actual literal tangible formats. Keep some recipe cards in paper or cardstock format. Let some things in your life still be touchable and "feel-able". Keep some photos on the walls, even if it makes your home look dated. Allow some of your instruments to be "dumb" and without electrical aspects. You don't need to plug in a grand piano. May it always be so.

I know that this generation is very much oriented towards putting absolutely every aspect of life online.

We must thing deeply about the ramifications of having everything online. That which is online can be altered and misfiled and put to the back of the line. It is very easy for computer systems to promote that which "they" want us to think about and recall. The items and knowledge and skills that are deemed irrelevant or unworthy are not "boosted" to top of mind reminders. There are billions of virtual garbage dumps of data that someone in some computer head office has decided is not worthy of preservation. Much knowledge will be lost if we do not continue to preserve and practice that which we value....in real life. Hands on playing of instruments. Real singing in real choirs with real voices.

 Well trained classical pianists are few and far between. How many people can easily identify a classical composer if asked to "identify the writer of a classical piece"?

Yes, it is a learning curve, assisted by many hours spent listening to classical music, whether it is being played live in person, or remotely by a livestream, or in past tense via file downloads, or CD's, cassettes, or vinyl records or on classical radio stations or classical moments on pop radio stations.

 Time spent learning and absorbing the music of the great classical composers is not time wasted if one is truly respectful of that which was carefully created for timeless enjoyment and expression.

Classical music is on a higher level than pop or rock or rap. It trains the human spirit and the mind and the heart to sense and express that which is subtle and sublime. We must not reduce this expression and sensitivity. We must protect it's very existence.

And so I thought I would revisit this faded photo to impress upon my readers once again....that there is a war going on right now. 

If we love classical music and being literate in it's cultivation, we must celebrate these things by bringing more of these practices into our lives. We must attend more classical concerts live and recorded. We must practice the art of whatever instrument allows us to play classical themed music. Whether this is through singing in choirs or playing an instrument that isn't electric.... We must create new pieces which carry that same respect for beauty and musical delicacy that classical music embodies.

Thank you for listening friend. Go on  and have a lovely day.

Peace,

Carla

Thank you God, for the composers below....both baroque and classical. These gifts keep giving.

JOHANN STRAUSS

Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH

C.P.E. Bach

M. CLEMENTI

W.A. MOZART

G. Grovlez

FREDERIC CHOPIN

GIUSEPPE VERDI

ALEXANDER BORODIN

JAN IVANOVICI

Antonín Dvořák

EDWARD MACDOWELL

Domenico Zipoli

Johann Ludwig Krebs

Friedrich Kuhlau

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