Ask Wednesday: How about novelist Michael Hanson’s new website?

Michael Hanson reading from
This Sweet Intercourse

Yes, indeed!

Interviewed by Morris Dean

We learned only this week that Chapel Hill, North Carolina novelist Michael Hanson, several of whose writings we have excerpted, recently launched his new website. We liked its clean, understated layout, and its art! We followed up by asking Michael a few questions [in italics]:

Tuesday Voice: The plantation of the mind

It rots more than 
the soul of the South

By Ed Rogers

I was taught in school that a plantation was a very large farm that was owned by one person or one family, and they were normally white. Because of the magnitude of the farm it required a sizable workforce. This workforce came in the form of slaves. Not all slaves were black, as we have begun to think of slaves. In fact, before Africans were imported to the Americas, the slaves came from the prisons of Europe. However, unlike the black slaves that followed, these men and women could work off their sentence within a prescribed number of years – usually seven or fourteen – and become free.

Sunday Review: Run All Night

And clap, clap, clap!

By Morris Dean

I was still awake this evening after my wife and I watched the conclusion of "Blue Lightning" from BBC Scotland's 2014 TV serial Shetland, so I said, "Want to start to watch this thriller with Liam Neeson?"

Second Saturday's Sonnet

Theseus

By Eric Meub

[Originally published on June 14, 2014]
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The king gave me protection, and the god
the body of an ad for underwear,
but on the docks of Troezen in a fraud
of both I tempted every sailor there.

Fish for Friday

London-based Peter Bellerby
taught himself how to make globes

Edited by Morris Dean

[Anonymous selections from recent correspondence]

I love the human touch! And the skill! "Meet One of the Last Studios on Earth Making Exquisite Globes by Hand." [Kristin Hohenadel, Slate] Excerpt:

Thor's Day: Experiencing Jesus

Is that experiment necessary?

By Morris Dean

[Republished with corrections.]

We’re not ready yet to sign up volunteers for the experiment we proposed last week (“Experiencing Jesus: Could we do a scientific experiment?”). But I can tell anyone thinking of volunteering that we weren’t envisioning attaching you to any machines.

Ask Wednesday: Liam Johnson on various things canine

Interviewed by William A. Johnson

[Liam is a 9+year-old lab-shepherd mix with three legs. In spite of his disability, Liam is just like other dogs in that he plays, runs, barks, begs for his food, and sleeps. He has experienced a lot in his lifetime and has agreed to talk about some of his experiences and lend us his insights. My questions are in italics.]

Second Tuesday on Franklin Hill Farm

Distress signal

By Bettina Sperry

Waking up to the peace of this farm each morning has been one of the blessings of luxury afforded to me. With a gorgeous farmhouse front porch, complete with rocking chairs, it would seem that I’d land there to await the morning sun with coffee in hand. Instead, my usual first hour of the day is spent stepping out the back door, walking the yard behind my house, and taking in the beauty of the farm. On many mornings I’ll take a camera with me, especially when the sun is peering over the mountain from the east.

First Monday with Characters

What long legs Envious has!

Edited by 
Morris Dean

Bettina Sperry, off to the races

While work on the farm had been settling down during the hot days of August, focus on my racehorse heated up significantly. There is so much more to horseracing than appears. Horses themselves can pose problems and race unpredictably, as has been the case with my boy. Horseracing is arguably hard on the people involved, for myriad reasons, though from the outside this can be conceivably difficult to understand. It is a world of constant problem solving, competition, and working towards improvement in racing – at the slow pace of one race at a time.
    I am also enjoying Franklin Hill's new thoroughbred foal [see photo]. Her name is Envious. At just a few months of age, she is gorgeous. She's a rough and tumble foal, and is mean spirited. She has been biting and kicking since day one on the farm. She recently left for her new home where she will be managed professionally during the months ahead. She is clearly a racehorse in the making.

Sunday Review: Life of Crime

Elmore Leonard would have loved this movie

By Morris Dean

Life of Crime isn't the title of anything Elmore Leonard wrote, but the movie (2013, directed and written for the screen by Daniel Schechter) sure has some Elmore Leonard characteristics: sardonic humor, true-to-life dimwits, bad luck, plans gone awry, cozy inevitability. And Schechter's screenplay seems to embody something Elmore Leonard wrote in his essay, "Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules of Writing":

First Saturday Growing Up in America

Chippewa on the Lake

By Rolf Dumke

[Sequel to “Into America's interior,” July 28]

It felt as if a magic wand had whisked us to this beautiful place, a small white New England cottage with a porch on its right side, surrounded by a white picket fence, and with a curving walk through a lawn up to the front door. The house was located in a small resort town placed on the slopes of a woody hill, gently rising from the lake. A small road and a strip of grass with trees separated us from the lake and its few piers that jutted into the lake. It was very quiet. Often the only sound came from a breeze from across the lake whistling through the trees and from the murmuring water and splash of waves landing on our beach. (See Wikipedia: “Chippewa Lake, Ohio.”)

Fish for Friday

Edited by
Morris Dean

[Anonymous selections from recent correspondence]

Over 60% of Americans think owning a gun will make their lives safer. But are they sure? [3:27]

Thor's Day: Experiencing Jesus

Could we do a scientific experiment?

By Morris Dean

We sometimes argue over whether a person can actually experience Jesus – as opposed to imagining experiencing Jesus. Well, maybe we can design an experiment to find out [i.e., decide the question]? I'll need your help to do this. Consider this an open letter asking for your assistance.

Ask Wednesday: How do you manage your time?

By André Duvall

The “you” in today’s question is me. The editor had noticed that I seem to have found methods that work well for my own active schedule of teaching, practicing, performance, and other obligations and hobbies, so he asked me to discuss how I manage my time, or how I “approach time management.” I make no claims to be an expert on time management. However, the editor assumed that I must be doing something right, so I’ll share what I know.

Tuesday Voice: From a farmers market

By Vic Midyett

Aussies are big on local growers and fresh produce. Dotted throughout​ even the big cities​ are fresh farmers markets. The Beaconsfield market, the one closest to us in Fremantle, Western Australia, is about five blocks away in a big field attached to a school. It appears every Sunday.
    One stall sold coconut milk ice cream, another all manner of custom leather workings, all kinds of fruit and vegetables, jerky, honey, crafts, and a long row of multinational ready-to-eat​ hot​ food. There is always a busker playing his choice of instruments. [A busker is a person who entertains in a public place for donations.] The featured performer changes most ever week.

Arrival

A farm-animal petting zoo for kids

Families bring blankets and make it a longer outing

The busker when Shirley and I were there

    And finally my favorite – the food row! J​u​st some of the options: roasts, soups, felafel's and crepes with various fillings, Egyptian cuisine,​ Chinese, South African,​ Korean and, of course, Indian. Heavens!!​ I also got some to bring home.​

Copyright © 2015 by Vic Midyett