As Rosh Hashana draws near, literally hours away, and I have yet to finish this article, it occurred to me that there are many things that I have to finish, things which I began or planned to begin which never have come to fruition due to time constraints or, more likely, my own personal disorganization. Here are but a few of them.
by Tammy Tillotson
Modern advances in science and medicine are redefining human perceptions concerning the extent of power and control that can be exercised over the evolution and reproduction of the human species. As population control has become a pressing issue for many countries, attempts to curb increasing density statistics has raised the scientific and ethical issue of which human lives are, in essence, more evolutionarily important for survival of the species.
Continue reading → A Mentally Disabled Evolution on the Value of Human Life
by Diane Buccheri
I have screams in my ear, echoes banging through my consciousness. “What are you doing?” ask those outside voices. I’m skipping along. I’m letting the sun shine on my hair, letting the breeze blow through it. I’m singing and dancing along the beach with the sparkling waves. I’m thinking and feeling and writing about things, allowing my spirit to live and breathe. I’m letting life be happy and can easily pass some of that onto those who touch my life.
by Terry Gardiner
Living and working in Silicon Valley is a breathtaking experience! Anyone who has an interest in the high tech computer world or even the future of the techno universe must keep a close eye on the valley. It is a high stakes, high pressure, environment where people work smart, meet impossible deadlines and play very hard. Fortunes are won or lost here with the click of the NASDAQ stock ticker and even the lowest employee on the corporate totem pole, the one who sweeps the floor, can get a $50,000 Christmas bonus.
Rich man-Poor man
A typical clean room technician or printed circuit board assembler makes enough money to buy a mansion in middle America but can only afford to rent an apartment here in Silicon Valley. In fact, the rental prices are so high that I see in the paper today a 850 square foot cottage in Palo Alto renting for $2000 per month or a one bedroom apartment, in an undesirable area renting for $1250 per month. The reality is that many Silicon Valley workers drive to work each day from homes located 100 miles away. These commuter families even bring their young children up in the commuter lane; they see them for the 2 hour morning commute, drop them off at childcare, go to work, then pick the kids up for the 2 hour ride home. What a life!
by Pearl Snyder
I am old —
Didn’t use to be.
Never meant to be —
Never believed old
Could happen to me.
When did I become old?
I don’t rightly know.
Been too busy living
To know if it was age
Continue reading → When Did I Become Old?
In a concerted effort to “give back” what has been provided to me by writers who have come before me, I have made myself available as a writing mentor for several universities and organizations. I believe you pay back as you go, not when your career is over. The following questions and answers are from student writers who found me via the Columbia University Center for Career Services Alumni Resource Network.
Q: What do you think I need to know to make an intelligent decision about writing for a living?
BOLES: The first thing to realize that the life of a writer, be it one of a playwright, author, freelancer or screenwriter is governed by instability and unpredictability when you begin. Starting out in the writing business means that one month you might make $12,000 in royalties and then the next six months you earn nothing. It’s the nature of the beast. I’m lucky that I have a lovely and loving wife who understood the caste of a creative writer when we first got married. It was her steady income early on that freed me to write. We considered her paycheck our “daily bread” while my waning and waxing riches were the butter we sometimes spread across our crumbs. Writing is a Calling and its cures and curses are not unlike those who serve The Cloth of God. Read my Go Inside article, Greater Goodness, for the details on that comparison. The key for me is writing — it doesn’t matter how, when or what as long as I can do it to experience the world.
Can you believe they cloned a sheep in Roslin, Scotland? The penultimate ramifications of such a wildly successful operation bodes darkness for Humankind precisely because “survival of the fittest” will no longer be the watershed test for creating and sustaining life. Our Evolutional mantra will have to change to “survival of the richest, smartest and most beautiful” instead.
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