Month: December 2016

Posted in Non-fiction

The Standing Rock Pipeline Resistance

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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This issue had been resolved, but today, January 23, 2017, President Donald J. Trump issued an Executive Order stating that this Pipeline would go forward.

The Native American Standing Rock Pipeline Resistance is based on two issues. The construction of the pipeline will cause sacred sites to be bulldozed. The pipeline will also be constructed under the Native American’s source of water and they are legitimately concerned about leaks. The resistance is entering its eighth month.

The resistance is organized in the Sacred Stone Camp by the Standing Rock Sioux Nation. The news media says that the resistance is unprecedented but Native Americans have organized protests and more than one resistance down through the years. Our news media just does not give the Native American the news coverage it should. We have treaties with the Native American tribes that we seem to conveniently forget when we want to. Many of those treaties have to do with just this type of land infringement.

In 2015, the Rosebud Sioux organized a protest against the Keystone XL pipeline which would have crossed their land, calling it an act of war.

Disregard for the rights of the Native American, the indigenous people of America, is not a new issue. Protests such as the one at Standing Rock have happened down through the years. The U.S. government has a history of disregard for the Native American lands and for our own indigenous people themselves.

Perhaps the most famous resistance was the one that happened at Wounded Knee in 1973. Wounded Knee was the site of the massacre of hundreds of Native Americans in 1890. Protests since then have resembled the one at Wounded Knee including the Standing Rock protest.

The United Nations has called out the United States over the treatment of our indigenous people. We have used violence against them including things such as rubber bullets, tear gas, and compression grenades. They are simply protecting their rights under their treaties with us. The U.N. statement also mentioned cultural rights, free speech, and the environment.

We should take notice that the U.N. is involved. If we can’t honor the treaties between the U.S. government and our own indigenous people, how can we be trusted to honor the treaties with foreign nations? #amwriting #amblogging #writing #StandingRock

Posted in PTSD

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is best known as a disorder of veterans of war. It can also be a response to other traumatic events in civilian’s lives. Here are three of the most common symptoms:

One:  Insomnia: Due to increased anxiety and emotional arousal.

Two:  Nightmares: Due to the subconscious re-experiencing the traumatic event.

Three:  Failure to Remember Certain Aspects of the Event: Due to avoiding activities,    places or thoughts that remind one of the traumatic event.

*This post is in response to the One, Two, Three! Weekly Discover Challenge.

Posted in weekendcoffeeshare, Writing

#weekendcoffeeshare 12/3/2016

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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Come right in for coffee, tea, hot cocoa! It is very cold outside, in the upper 20s! I’ve added some herbal teas to my stash so if you aren’t into caffeine, help yourself. There is also decaf coffee. Then, there is English Breakfast Tea, Hot Cinnamon Black Tea and Green Tea, and Russian Tea (watch out for this one!). You can have your choice of a chicory coffee, a breakfast mix, cappuccino, or expresso. I also have hot cocoa. So cold this morning. Join me in my writing studio and I’ll tell you what’s up in my world!

I’ve done a lot of writing, and a lot of reading about writing, since we talked last. Last weekend, I told you that my novel had morphed from a romance into a psychological thriller. I’ve written almost 10,000 words on it this week, writing it as a thriller, and it is working very well. This book is so clearly not a romance that I wonder why I was thinking it was. I think I can make it fly as a psychological thriller. I will be interviewing some psychologists to make sure it makes that cut.

I’m getting so many book ideas that I’ve started keeping a notebook listing my ideas and I’d like to tip you off to do the same or you’ll forget those ideas. It seems like everything fiction that I blog about is screaming for a book of its own. Clearly, that will take some time and some of the ideas won’t ever see the light of day.

As I mentioned, I’m reading a lot of books and authors who have written about writing. If you haven’t read Stephen King’s book On Writing, do! It is possibly the best book I’ve read on the subject though there are other good authors out there.

Where I live, cold weather is finally starting to arrive. We had a warm, even hot, fall. Cool and cold temperatures are finally here. I don’t mind the cold, but when we start having a little snow in the weather forecast, I do mind that. I live on top of a hill and snow makes it impossible to get off this hill of mine.

I’m hoping we don’t have a snowy winter as I can already feel some cabin fever creeping into my psyche. Some of you may remember from previous posts that I had a rather severe trauma in my personal life earlier in the year. Even though I am feeling some better, for some reason, that trauma has caused me to develop rather severe claustrophobia. I don’t have an explanation for that except to say the trauma was a bad one. I feel like if snow traps me on top of this mountain, I will be crazy! What I will do try to keep busy which probably means I will write and write.

I read an excellent blog post today about getting through the winter if one doesn’t like winter. It recommended using winter as a time of regeneration for the new spring that is just around the corner. The idea behind that blog post gave me hope for spring. It gets pretty gray around here during the months of December and January particularly.

Are you getting ready for the holidays, whatever your version of the holidays is? For me, it is Christmas and I have been doing some shopping but just started doing a little decorating today. I don’t do as much decorating as I used to but I do like for it to look a little festive here. My next task is to get some Christmas cards sent with some gifts to the people who perform services for me during the year.

When I have been to the city nearest me during the last week, I can tell the holidays are upon us. The traffic is unbelievable! During one visit there, it took me an hour to get across the city to the interstate. Any shopping I have to do either has to be on weekdays or online! I wouldn’t dare attempt it on a weekend day.

I hope everyone has a good week and I hope to see you next Saturday! #amwriting #amblogging #writing #claustrophobia #seasonalaffectivedisorder

 

*This post sponsored by parttimemonsterblog.com.

Thanks, Diana!

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Sheepdogs. When I saw Linda’s prompt for this Saturday’s stream of consciousness challenge, that’s the word that popped into my mind. I’m a dog lover and the type of dogs I’ve had most in my life have been sheepdogs of one type or another. My mind really started working overtime, remembering my wonderful sheepdogs.

After the death of a beloved dog, I researched the type of dog I might want and came up with the Pembroke Welsh Corgi or the Cardigan Welsh Corgi. After a little more research and a search for breeders in my area, I settled on the Pembroke Welsh Corgi and suddenly, I had my first sheepdog. I named her Kelly and she is still one of my two heart dogs. I’ll never forget Kelly. She was bred in Wyoming by a breeder who became my friend. This was way back in the 1980s.

Kelly was the most wonderful companion for 14 years. Yes, Pembroke Welsh Corgis originally herded sheep in Wales and still do in some places in America. They are long, very low dogs. They even nip at the heels of their humans and try to herd us. They herd sheep in precisely that manner and are too low for the sheep to kick. They kick right over their heads. Kelly was soon joined in my household by two other corgis. One was another Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Zachary. They are the most wonderful little animals with unbelievably winning personalities and great herding skills. Kelly is on the far left in the picture below and Zachary is on the right.

 

 

I also raised two Cardigan Welsh Corgis at two separate times. Katy and Eliza. Katy grew up with Kelly and Zachary. Katy was a black and white Cardigan and Eliza was a black and white with brindle points Cardigan with one brown and one blue eye. Eliza was a dog that came later in my life. Cardigans are slightly larger than Pembroke and they are the corgis with the tail. In Wales, they were usually used to herd cattle as opposed to sheep as they have the larger bone structure and are slightly taller and stronger dogs. They are still short enough for the cattle to kick over their head. In the U.S., they are also used to herd sheep. Cardigans, in my opinion, are the ultimate fireside dogs. Yes, they can work and herd, but they adore their “people” and want to guard their home. Katy is in the picture above with Kelly. Below is a picture of Eliza, who was with me until she was 13 years old. Eliza, like Kelly, was my heart dog. She was with me through some hard times and I will always be sad she is gone. I miss her every day.

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I haven’t had another Pem since Kelly and Zachary. But, I was introduced to another herding breed by my friend, Anne, who breeds Pulis. The Puli may not be as well-known in the U.S. as most herding breeds, at least not to just the average person. They come from Eastern Europe. I was fortunate enough to be able to have a Puli that was of Anne’s breeding. His name was Bear and I will never forget him. Pulis herd by actually jumping on the backs of the sheep and they are very effective herders. They are one of the corded breeds. You can see Bear and his dreadlocks in the picture below. I found the Puli to be strong, determined, and very, very quick. I can imagine that they are very good herding dogs. Bear had to be content with herding us. He spent his days keeping track of me and my Cardigan Welsh Corgi mentioned above, Eliza, and was the sweetest boy ever. I secretly think that Bear would have been happiest had he been given a real herding job. Bear occupies a very special place in my heart. He loved hugs more than any dog I’ve ever had.

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I don’t have a herding dog now. I have a little spaniel who thinks she owns me. As much as I love little Betsy, I miss my herding dogs. Maybe I’ll have another one yet. Another corgi, another puli, or maybe I’ll go further afield and opt for a herding breed that can also serve as a guard dog.

This was a long stream of consciousness post. But, the letters “sh” inspired me about my precious sheepdogs. I have experienced a lot of the sentiment “they don’t live as long as we do” and it has been painful to lose each and every one. But, they have brought great joy to my life. I hope you have enjoyed reading this. #amwriting #amblogging #writing #dogs

 

*This post is part of Linda Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Challenge

Thanks, Linda!

#SoCS December 3/16

Posted in Creative Nonfiction Essays, Politics, Writing

We Can’t Stop Diversity

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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The dictionary defines diversity as the state of being different between two individual entities when and only when they are not identical. Diversity came to America with the Pilgrims. When they stepped on American soil, the population became diverse because, up to that time, the primary population was the Native Americans.

Diversity in the United States is not a new concept. We hear this often, but the population of the United States is composed of individuals so diverse that it is called a melting pot. Diversity has been encouraged in America and made possible by our immigration policy.

Diversity within countries across the world may have taken a different path, but the result is the same. Any country that looks attractive to outsiders looking in is going to draw a diverse population. Who doesn’t want to improve their lot in life?  In Iraq, for example, there are three diverse population groups. They have spent centuries fighting each other. It has stunted Iraq’s growth.

In America, our population is becoming more diverse. We now have a large Hispanic policy and many feel like those people are taking their jobs. If Americans would apply for and win their jobs, then do their jobs and work hard, they would have no fear of Hispanics taking their jobs. Instead of fixing what is wrong with our immigration policy and enforcing the immigration policy already on the books, the talk is of building a wall to keep Hispanics out. Do we really think a wall can stop increasing diversity in a country where so many want to live?

Diversity in religion often is what starts war. We can see that if we look all the way back to the Crusades. Look at the Middle East. The conflict there is all about religion. Oh, some say it’s about land. But if their religions had not been at war for hundreds of years, I think the property issue would have been resolved long ago.

Diversity in religion or skin color often leads to the persecution of the minority B groups in a population.

We began to focus more on diversity after the 9/11/2001 terror attack in New York City. We blamed an entire sector of our population, even though their numbers were reasonably small. When you think about it in that way, it makes very little sense.

Diversity is not the problem in America. Every single one of us is an immigrant from somewhere or have ancestors who were immigrants. There are bad, evil people in every religion and in every country. America has more than its share across all diversity boundaries. But, we blame Muslims for every single thing that happens in America.

We can’t round up illegal Hispanics and send them back to Mexico. We can’t put every Muslim in America in interment camps. That’s not who America is. That reeks of Fascism. We have to find another way to deal with the problems. If we let ourselves deal with diversity in this way, the shining city on the hill will be no more and the place we call America will be like every third world country on the planet. #amwriting #amblogging #writing #diversity

 

*This post sponsored by Creativity Challenge #12

Posted in Politics, The Economy

Trump, Trade, Labor, and Banking

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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I have news for President-elect Donald Trump. It’s too late. It’s too late to stop globalization. The internet, global communications and transportation, and corporate and banking connections and interdependencies reached the White House before he did. Donald Trump seems to think he can step into the White House and turn back the hands of time. But the globalization trend has already been there and it may be too late to become nationalists and isolationists now.

There is no doubt that Trump has a point. The middle class are suffering at the hands of globalization. Jobs in the hundreds of thousands have been shipped overseas. But there are several reasons for that. One reason is that labor is cheaper overseas. There is another reason. Many jobs in the U.S. are being performed automatically and do not require human assistance. In other words, robotics. Unions are absolutely not solely to blame. Cheap overseas labor is not solely to blame. We are innovating ourselves out of manufacturing jobs through the increasing use of robotics and technology.

I’m not particularly a fan of trade deals myself.  Mr. Trump is likely to slow down or halt negotiation of the TPP. However, the U.S. has become a service economy. What are we going to do for goods and products if we don’t negotiate trade deals? The plants that used to produce them are gone and if they still stand, they are woefully deficient in the technology required to produce those goods and products. It will take a generation to get those plants on-line again. I wonder if the people who voted for Mr. Trump realize how much those goods and products would cost after the cost of getting those plants back on-line and training the workers were factored in.

The stock market has been soaring since the election. Sure, this has to do with investors expecting, or perhaps just hoping for, economic growth under President-elect Trump. The stock market’s engine is investor expectations. What is likely to happen, in reality, is a drastic cut in the corporate tax rate in order to lure U.S. corporations with headquarters overseas back home and to keep corporations contemplating a move from making it.

Globalization started slowing down years ago. It is only growing at about 2 percent per year, a result of our low GDP. Since the financial crisis of 2007-08, cross-border lending between countries has slowed considerably because bank regulators took hard looks at the international lending practices of the big U.S. banks. Lending across borders is taking a huge risk with depositors’ money. We should be glad that regulators are trying to hold the line on that kind of foreign investment. Instead, Mr. Trump is likely to try to loosen up regulation on the banks to stimulate more foreign investment, taking increasing chances with our money.

In the meantime, we have a President-elect who is a businessman. Not necessarily a bad thing. But what about foreign policy? While he is negotiating deals, who will have their hand on the foreign policy button? #amwriting #amblogging #writing #banking #trade #labor