Don L.'s Comments

A Photo by sally g.

Aug 8, 2009 | comments: 3

Don L. Aug 9, 2009, 1:08am EDT

Yum, I love chocolate.

A Photo by Solange S.

Jan 12, 2009 | comments: 3

Don L. Jul 27, 2009, 1:48pm EDT

Nice.

Shakespeare at 40 by On Point Webmaster

Feb 12, 2008 | comments: 5

Don L. Jul 27, 2009, 12:23pm EDT

Most interesting discussion. Fills in a lot of the gaps in Shakespeare scholarship. We still don't know much about him, but at least this showed him as a real person of flesh and blood, away from the stage and in his isolation. I can never quite look at him the same again. Thanks.

I Have Lost All Hope by TinaMarie H.

Jun 25, 2009 | comments: 24

Don L. Jul 26, 2009, 8:20pm EDT

Noone ever hurt as bad as he who has lost hope.

See my previous comment for some encouraging words.

I Have Lost All Hope by TinaMarie H.

Jun 25, 2009 | comments: 24

Don L. Jul 26, 2009, 8:17pm EDT

Love yourself, and look for miracles. There is always a rainbow in sky after a shower. If you can find it, it will lead you home. Good wishes, your friend.

A Photo by TinaMarie H.

Jul 21, 2009 | comments: 34

Don L. Jul 26, 2009, 8:10pm EDT

Oh, Mabel-line, why can't you be true?

Courage of Fear Quote: Choices? by Barbara Boyer

Jul 26, 2009 | comments: 6

Don L. Jul 26, 2009, 7:48pm EDT

Most of the persons who are caught between fear and despair lack the courage to do anything about it, until someone like you comes alongside to give encouragement. What a beautiful expression is the title of your work. Thanks for sharing it.

Cold Feet -- a Wednesday Writing Essential prompt by Susan Budig

Jul 9, 2009 | comments: 13

Don L. Jul 26, 2009, 8:03am EDT

I kind of like this piece.

True poetry, like Bly's or Shelly's, is a dancing in the wind.

Too often we sit on the page and do nothing. You danced here!

Wednesday Writing Essentials: July 22, 2009 by Susan Budig

Jul 22, 2009 | comments: 78

Don L. Jul 25, 2009, 8:22pm EDT

In all seriousness, if Gather pays you 10 bucks for every 625 comments you get, then you have not left the freelance markets. I will say, however, that it is still hard to eat Amazon coupons, and not much nutrition eiither. To be freelance, you should contact Yahoo about a personal website and pay them for the privilege!

Although I feel Gather gives us a certain freedom, it ain't the New Yoker. Not much audience here. This has been proven over and over again in my writings. I know there is a search box up there, but when does anyone ever use it? I see no signs that people are finding my tags. I try to stay positive, but I guess you have be a reader before you can expect others to accept you as a writer. The problem with Gather is there are too many unartistic people around here that are living happy and contented lives, but don't contribute a whole lot to discussions!!!

It had to be said. I'm not ready to join the hard luck job club yet, any more than I want to continue to write for a rag without a union. I can starve by myself, I don't need a helper.

What I do is look for authors I like on the internet, try to get some interaction going, and see what comes after. Ever since I changed my focus towards youtube away from gather I have been much happier. I see no limitations there so far, but gather seems to have a hidden motive that I can't quite figure out. It must be to make us better citizens, but I wonder if its working or not.

Grin.

Wednesday Writing Essentials: July 22, 2009 by Susan Budig

Jul 22, 2009 | comments: 78

Don L. Jul 25, 2009, 8:03pm EDT

In the case of men, it is definitely "bags of water". What are you saying?

Wednesday Writing Essentials: July 22, 2009 by Susan Budig

Jul 22, 2009 | comments: 78

Don L. Jul 25, 2009, 8:01pm EDT

Most freelancers could find work, but we're tired of reading our credits and wondering whatever happened to that great American novel that only an unemployed hack could write went to? I went to the cupboard, and the cupboard was bored.

Wednesday Writing Essentials: July 22, 2009 by Susan Budig

Jul 22, 2009 | comments: 78

Don L. Jul 25, 2009, 7:56pm EDT

I never read my own stuff, and I have only read Tristram Shandy by another writer. Whatever mistakes I've made, I did it on purpose!

HELLO EVERYONE by TinaMarie H.

Jun 19, 2009 | comments: 14

Don L. Jun 20, 2009, 1:47am EDT

Hey, the Gibson girl is back! Missed you.

LINK TO HURRIANS by Don L.

Jun 12, 2009 | comments: 8

Don L. Jun 17, 2009, 12:53pm EDT

I was unable to find the passage in Genesis where Abraham's family (Terah his father was still alive at the time) pay tribute to pharoah. Actually this scene comes out of a modern movie adaptation on the life of Abraham starring Richard Harris. I recall something about Terah being ill but that he recovers. I'm not sure where they got this material from. It seemed so much of a part of the story that I assumed it was in the original Bible story as well, but I can't find anything on the life of Terah in it.

Regardless, this is not a unique idea, that tributes were paid and that some rebelled against it, moving into the mountainside to fight against the oppressors. I'll just have to find other sources for it, and then perhaps my understanding will grow as well.

I think there was a writer during the Liberation Theology movement that talked about this, or something related to that period, and I should still have the books here someplace. I didn't just come up with this concept on my own. It has a basis in my past studies. I just don't recall what it was right now. This happens quite often, causing me to go back and check my sources.

Boaz Article Introduction: The Supposed Evolutionary Pattern of the Development of Religion by Don L.

Jun 17, 2009 | comments: 3

Don L. Jun 17, 2009, 12:33pm EDT

Eastern thought has always intriqued me. Ageless Body and Timeless Mind type writings confuse me with its mysticism about how we can control our moods and such. But of course all of that is sort of theoretical knowledge that is based on clinical trials and such that don't get any mention, making it sound as if it is all mental science. If on the other hand you listen to an indian physician speak on body cycles and the specifics of getting regular rest, not watching tv or having bright lights turned on before bedtime to get better sleep, natural brain chemicals that promote rest (I forget the name) and tryptophan from turkey meat, it all starts making sense.

Boaz has benefited greatly from being born in India.

Boaz Article Introduction: The Supposed Evolutionary Pattern of the Development of Religion by Don L.

Jun 17, 2009 | comments: 3

Don L. Jun 17, 2009, 12:11pm EDT

Yes, I think we've gotten so accustomed to hearing about the Creation versus Evolution schools of thought that we forget that religion and science are both creations and evolutions themselves. I like Henri Bergson's more intuitive way of looking at things in his Creative Evolution. He simply states that life transcends intellect, and that any kind of interpretation of life has to incorporate the romance of the singleness of function with the complexity of organ. The eye has only one function but the eye itslef is made up of a multiplicity of parts. Understanding can be best derived from the intuition rather than dissecting everything into individual components until you've lost all sense of what it was you were initially attempting to describe.

The beauty of Boaz's descriptions of religion, as Bergson's descriptions of science, are that they are so simple and easy to understand, without demanding a sacrificial giving up of the reader's intelligence.

I believe we have a major find here, an evolution in human thought and expression that is outstanding. Boaz is finding ways to explain the complex operations of God through the simple functions of the powers of One. I don't find a lot of dogma or wasted space here. He gets straight to the point in a very short order.

Magic Moon by Mikal *A Four Year Smithie* M.

Mar 8, 2007 | comments: 12

Don L. Jun 17, 2009, 11:43am EDT

The second moaning doesn't work for me. You might want to play with those lines a little more. You could change it to standing or even waiting to create a sense of further suspense. The suspense here that I infer is not something supernatural, but the coming of the sun. A perceptive reader would need to figure this out if you said waiting, but I think most readers are intelligent enough to put the pieces together. A change like that could change this from a good poem to an excellent one, imho.

Magic Moon by Mikal *A Four Year Smithie* M.

Mar 8, 2007 | comments: 12

Don L. Jun 15, 2009, 7:18pm EDT

Lots of typos. Thinkness instead of thickness, slendid instead of splendid. I don't think you meant for the moon to create a haze in our minds.

The editor works, so people should make corrections when they find errors. Makes it so much easier to read when everything is right, then you're not slowed down by a wrong concept. The poem is basically simple, but the typos make it hard to decipher. always proofread to make sure it's ok.

Nice poem, though. Nature illuminating nature.

MONOTHEISM CAME FIRST? by Don L.

Jun 14, 2009 | comments: 2

Don L. Jun 14, 2009, 6:19pm EDT

Yes, or at the same time. It's immaterial, they came after.

LINK TO HURRIANS by Don L.

Jun 12, 2009 | comments: 8

Don L. Jun 14, 2009, 5:49pm EDT

This Perfect Day by Ira Levin describes a Utopia where everyone has one of three names. A group of these individuals rebel and stop taking their medications and become sort of normal people, who lose immortality or whatever sets them apart from humanity living on an island in their ignorant bliss. The rebels gain access to the control area where the leaders live, and intend to blow it up. But when they get to the leaders, it is explained to them that by rebelling they have become the new leaders and can take up their new position immediately. They decide to blow the place up anyways, ending the utopia.

Perhaps something similiar happened in Egypt where the priestly class rebelled against the pharoahs. Was Aknaten a heretic pharoah, or a former priest who somehow gained some secret knowledge and power? I don't really know. It is so hard to figure these things out. Someday I might read about Aknaten again. I have quite a few books. It seems like he had a weird shaped head as I recall. That might be worth investigating. Or maybe he just got portrayed that way. After his reign, it seems his entire city was demolished and he was deemed a heretic.

When a pharoah died, they scratched his name off of all the monuments. It seems rather pointless, but that's how they preserved order in their system.