Kate Campbell's Word Garden

What I Talk About When I Talk About Guns

2013-04-28T13:28:00.000-07:00

Campbell Armory at Inveraray Castle

What do ancient struggles of the Scottish clans have to do with today's debate in America about gun control?

To my mind, everything. In the wake of atrocities against innocents at places like Virginia Tech, the cinema at Aurora Colorado, the slaughter of children and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, the debate about gun control has devolved into Congressional inaction, corporate lobbying and the sniping of special interests, along with bureaucratic and judicial malaise. It's time to take a look at where the idea of the inalienable right to bear arms comes from and how it should be interpreted in America today.

What seems to be lost in the discussion is what the right to "bear arms" actually means and how the concept came to be included in the U.S. Constitution. Reviewing the Federalist Papers, the writings of the Constitution's framers on various aspects of what would become the final document, I find there's reference to the right in English law to bear arms as recognition of the historical rights of Protestants to protect themselves from attackers, particularly Catholic monarchs.

The right to have arms in English history is believed to have been regarded as a long-established natural right to self-protection that supports life. The English Bill of Rights of 1689 emerged from upheaval in a country where tribal grudges and religious violence threatened sovereign rule.

Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquis of Argyll
8th Earl of Argyll, chief of Clan Campbell, with his wife Margaret.
He was the de facto head of government in Scotland during
most of the British Civil War (1642-1651). He was a major figure in the
Covenanter movement that fought for the Presbyterian religion.

According to the history of the Campbell family, Archibald Campbell, the 8th Earl of Argyll and the 1st Marquess of Argyll, was a devoted Presbyterian. This led into conflict with the monarchy. The Earl led (Protestant) Covenanters opposed to King Charles I and was beheaded for treason against the throne in 1661. Efforts were made after his death to disarm the Highland Clans. The fortunes of the House of Argyll were down until the "Glorious Revolution" in 1688.

Ultimately, the Catholic James II was overthrown in the English Civil War and his successors, the Protestants William III and Mary II, accepted conditions codified in the English Bill of Rights, adopted in 1689. Among issues the Bill resolved were the authority of the monarchy to disarm its subjects, after James II had attempted to disarm Highland Protestants, and his desire to maintain a standing (permanent) army.

The English Bill of Rights states that it restores "ancient rights" trampled upon by James II, though some have argued that it created a new right to have arms, which developed out of the sense that it's a "duty" to have them.

Mentioned as an historic "Protestant" right in the Federalist Papers during the framing of the U.S. Constitution, the right to bear arms for self-protection and the potential need to form militias in times of national emergency was included in the U.S. Bill of Rights.

The U.S. Constitution's 2nd Amendment reads: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

When the U.S. Constitution was created in 1787, however, the framers of the document were thinking of the right of persons to protect themselves from attack, historically an attack prompted by a disagreement over personal religious beliefs and fears of insurrection, still a strong concern in a nation founded by religious dissidents.

Today it's estimated by Amnesty International, Oxfam, and the International Action Network on Small Arms, that there are more than 639 million small arms in circulation and more than 1,135 companies based in more than 98 different countries manufacture small arms, as well as their various components and ammunition. In the U.S., market research counts about 300 gun manufacturing companies with combined annual revenue of more than $5 billion. That's a lot of fire power and a lot of money.

What I talk about when I talk about guns -- and the right to bear arms -- is this: historically it means a single-shot muzzle loader or a pistol to protect oneself from personal attack. Sticking with the context of history and Constitutional intent, possession by private citizens of high-powered, rapid-fire weaponry capable of indiscriminate mass killing is NOT guaranteed by the 2nd Amendment.

It simply is not and never has been. Just as all speech is not guaranteed by the 1st Amendment, ownership of any and all weapons is not guaranteed by the 2nd.

I can't figure out why nobody gets this. I call it Constitutional Drift or a Constitution of Convenience. We make up the Constitution as we go along to fit the fashion of the moment or to serve corporate or political interests or conform to self-centered intentions of individuals. Taken to extremes, I suppose a case could be made for the 2nd Amendment guaranteeing personal atomic bombs for children.

We need to grasp the genesis of the 2nd Amendment -- what it actually says and what it actually intends -- protection of the individual from surprise attack and establishing ready responders in the event of insurrection or foreign assault.

Those simple rights do not guarantee ownership of an AK 47 or a Glock semi-automatic pistol. I say ownership of a revolver and a hunting rifle stretches the 2nd Amendment as far as it will go. Possessing any of the rest of today's modern assault hardware is NOT guaranteed by the 2nd Amendment, is illegal, and, except when this equipment is used by trained professionals for purposes of public safety and military response, is a clear and present danger to modern American life.

No mater what money mongers, political opportunists, or the self-serving adventurer might say, when we talk about guns, let's stick with the basics -- let's talk about history and the law. As has been amply illustrated, the lives of our children depend on it.

I understand the complexities of this issue, the acrimony in the debate. I get that we aren't living with technology available three or four hundred years ago. I'm aware that I'll be dismissed as a crackpot. I also recognize that gun violence in America today is out of control.

I don't believe there is Constitutional footing for allowing gun violence to continue unrestricted in the name of the U.S. Constitution. Instead we need to insist Constitutional law be upheld. This is not an economic or partisan issue. It's about social survival. The 2nd Amendment does not guarantee the right to possess an Uzi, whether its continuous-fire mechanism has been disabled or not. I'm sick of splitting hairs and watching people die.

And, once we finish the discussion and confiscate the illegal weapons, let's get back to gardening.

Gardens at Inveraray Castle, Scotland

Home of Clan Campbell

Get Down, Get Dirty

2013-04-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

To celebrate National Poetry Month -- April -- I've been participating in an online poem-a-day workshop with about 100 poets. Lead by poets Molly Fisk and Lisa Chilar, who provided daily writing prompts, the poems contributed are astonishingly good. My poetic contributions turned out to be more like a poem every other day and weren't nearly as artful and engaging as those from other participants. But, I tell myself, comparison isn't the point. It's the poem that matters.

Ever bookish, it occurred to me that a collection of poetry from the workshop is sitting there waiting to be collected and shared with poetry lovers outside the closed workshop. But, creating a collection would take time and money, both in short supply for the busy poets who participated. I just wish you could read some of them. They're that good.

In the meantime, below is one of my poems from the workshop inspired by the spring planting going on in my garden.

Get Down, Get Dirty

Under fingernails

and among cuticles,

between thumb and forefinger that

rub grit, roll clay.

Hand gripping trowel

to trench the earth, happily

chewing up ground,

coffee cup conversing with potting soil,

shovel cuddling rake, ready.

All together now

turn yourself,

prepare yourself,

show yourself,

grow yourself.

Be the dirt you are

in the yard,

in the hand,

under the plow,

in the wind with the water, sprinkling

rivulets down your back.

If he was here, we’d be dirty as

this garden.

We’d roll in the furrows and mounds.

Have sex.

Hot, gritty sex, sex, while neighbors steal peeks with permission

prurient faces pressed to fence boards

eyeing through the cracks.

Roll on prickly grass.

Hot spring.

Spread seeds.

Spread love.

Get down.

Get dirty.

Getting Whimsical in the Garden

2013-04-21T07:37:00.001-07:00

In honor of Moms and Mother Earth, it's time to rethink what you plan to toss in the landfill or donate to a favorite charity. If the worn-out item can still hold water and a bit of soil, chances are it can take on a new life in the garden, with a bit of imagination, your repurposed junk just might prompt a smile.

Here in California's Sacramento Valley spring is well on its way with summer peeking around the corner -- yesterday temps were into the mid-70s with the mid-80s promised next week. I'm wandering around the garden in shorts and flip-flops, getting the veggie starters in and dreaming about the family gatherings and parties we'll enjoy as the season heats up.

Note to self: Check the twinkle lights, hang the wind chimes.

Here are some fun planter ideas from stuff found in the back of closets or the back of the garage.

These boots look too new.
Old ones work better.

My friends at Monrovia Nursery suggest that instead of sending your old wheelbarrow or watering can to the landfill … try planting in it. Here's a chance to be creative about what you can beautify with plants.

A chest with drawers pulled out at varying lengths and planted with colorful trailing plants. Old file cabinets, with drawers out, modern containers that can be painted bright colors. Old shoes, broken dishes, underwear. The fun of a summer garden is only limited by imagination.

Here's a clever idea for turning extra concrete pavers into contemporary (and sturdy) containers. Check out Monrovia's PinBoard for more creative ideas.

No junk waiting to be tossed? Try yard sales or the neighborhood thrift store. Send photos of the fun containers you've found and repurposed. We can include them in a future post. (No old toilets or bedpans, please.)

P.S. Just want to show off my new "California Dreamin" rose. Spectacular in full sun.

Why Memoir Matters: Gloria Parker's Story

2013-04-14T09:42:00.000-07:00

About a year ago, I got an email from a writer who’d seen my offer of editorial services online. She was beside herself with frustration and disappointment. The memoir she’d been working on for years just wasn’t right—she could no longer see what was needed, what was wrong. She asked if I’d read it and provide a critique and I agreed, in part because I’ve been there myself with a manuscript.

Author Gloria Parker

And, because I believe storytelling is an act of courage, an outright call for people to stop and listen, understand and relate. I’m committed to this effort. I ended up editing Gloria’s manuscript, falling in love with her honesty and writer’s voice and later contributing the foreword to her first book – published at the age of 83. Today, I consider her a friend.

Her memoir A Seat at the Table calls us to pull up a chair and share her experience of growing up poor and Black in the Jim Crow South. The story is not new, we know the historical facts – from Uncle Tom’s Cabin to Gone with the Wind to The Help – but we don’t always know the actual people, the unique spirits shaped by the experience, the families that survived to tell the tale.

Parker brings her writer’s voice and poet’s music to her story of America, rendering it with grace and integrity. The granddaughter of a slave, her story is intended first as a gift linking her grandchildren and great grandchildren to their heritage. But, also a connection to what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called the “inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one destiny, affects all indirectly.” Her story is our story, if only we will listen.

Order online from Black Books Plus

In the introduction to A Seat at the Table, Gloria says, “Many times I thought of giving up the project all together, but I felt compelled to continue. A few times, I put it on hold, but soon found myself going back to the computer to research another lead. There was a driving force within, steering me to task completion.”

Regardless of race, life’s journey is filled with hardships and difficulties, Gloria says, “add racism to the mix, and the journey can become unendurable. Although physical scars left from racial attacks can eventually disappear, psychological scars remain a lifetime.”

For me, editing A Seat at the Table was like being present at a birth, watching a life emerge on the page and being stunned by the mysteries and promise it holds – squalling and hot with energy and muscle, ready to grow. Writing can be tough, but with help from others, it can be easier, or at least less lonely. With love and patience, frustration can be soothed and something as satisfying as a story can emerge.

Dan Siegel says in Parenting From the Inside Out that "storytelling is fundamental to all human cultures, and our shared stories create a connection to others that builds a sense of belonging." Receiving a story – an authentic, human story – is as satisfying as offering one. And storytelling invites the reader or listener to respond with his or her own story. Storytelling is a life-giving exchange and Gloria’s memoir offers this gift. More than that, her story begs for yours.

Candyce Ossefort-Russell, a psychotherapist and a writer in Austin, Texas, says the “nitty gritty particulars of life, shared in connection, clothe stories in skin and bone, heart and soul. Whether through talking or reading memoir, when hearts pulse with the connection of story, they begin to heal.” For those committed enough and brave enough to follow Gloria Parker’s path, Ossefort-Russell offers this advice:

Know that your story is a gift to others – it invites them to share their stories.

Listening to stories connects you to others.
If you want to get to know someone, ask them a question whose answer is a story.
Keeping a journal is a way to explore and remember your stories.
Dreams are stories. Writing them down can be fascinating.
Publishing a blog is an easy way to put your stories into the world.
A writing group can be a great place to share your stories in an intimate setting.

And, when your story is written, find a sensitive and supportive editor. During the odyssey of researching, writing and publishing, A Seat at the Table, Gloria said she asked herself why completing the project was so important. An introspective moment made the answer clear.

“Blithely ignoring autumn’s warnings, I suddenly found myself in the midst of life’s winter,” she said. “This knowledge did not cause fear and trepidation, but reminded me of the adage: ‘It’s time to put your house in order’. I found that a calm acceptance of life’s end put everything else into perspective—expunging fear. This unexpected freedom permitted me to finally talk about an incident I did not want to take with me to the grave. Writing this book afforded me an opportunity to accomplish this.”

Gloria Parker

Tiptoes of Spring

2013-03-31T08:26:00.000-07:00

Spring is on Sacramento Valley's doorstep. Daffodils raise their sleepy heads at the sound of rumbling thunder, but keep their yellow petals tightly cloaked. Tulips shout and wait for the sunshine. Now is the time, here in the West, to think about loosening our own cloaks and greeting spring in our gardens. We're mending fences, planting pansies and sprouting herbs for seed.

It’s also time to think about our gardens’ water needs. While the storms still bluster, read your irrigation timer manual, pray for a March Miracle of lavish downpours. It's going to be a long, dry summer. Learn how to adjust the irrigation controller and change the settings when (hoping, fingers crossed) we get that gift of additional rain. Do it before the sun scorches.

If your manual is lost, try the Internet. Many manuals can be downloaded from the manufacturer's site for free. Just like farm fields, home landscapes thrive with smart water management, even in a drought.

So, put on your raincoat, bring an umbrella, and test your system. Check for leaks, sprinkler-head misalignments, broken pipes and other system problems. Look for ponding, erosion and mushy spots that indicate your system may need tweeking. Clean filters in sprinkler heads and drip systems (the worms get in!). Allow for a five minute recovery between station run times to ensure adequate water pressure to operate the irrigation system when it gets hot. Set a goal of zero runoff from your garden.

And, while you’re cruising the net, visit the California Department of Water Resources Water Use Efficiency web site at http://landscape.water.ca.gov . They’ve got a great online guide to estimating irrigation water needs for landscape plantings in California. For my followers in other parts of the country, where snow is still piled up to the windowsill, check your University Cooperative Extension web sites for landscape irrigation tips specific to your growing conditions.

See you in the garden.

Wear a hat!

The Professor's Mistress & Other Secrets

2013-03-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

One of the East Bay's best kept secrets is that it's home to talented and prolific novelist Thomas T. Thomas. With nearly two dozen novels -- spanning science fiction, cyber punk, military fantasy, history and now -- romance -- Thomas continues to display an astonishing virtuosity, a commitment to hard work and a respect for his readers.

Much like the prolific Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope, widespread, popular success, has eluded Thomas for years. But that appears to be changing as each successive novel pushes him ever closer to mainstream recognition and acclaim. It took Trollope nearly 15 years to gain popular attention and another 10 years to enjoy real success with English readers.

Tom Thomas has been writing novels for about the same length of time and each book seems more engaging that the last. The Children of Possibility, a time-travel science fantasy filled with Bay Area settings, was published in 2012, followed this year by the sequel to the Wheelock family history that began with The Judge’s Daughter. The new novel, The Professor's Mistress, follows the next generation of Wheelocks through a turbulent twenty years filled with longing, love, greed, deception, and madness.

In 2012, he also published Between the Sheets: An Intimate Exchange on Writing, Editing and Publishing, which collects Thomas' thoughts in private conversations with me about the art and craft of fiction.

The Professor's Mistress finds the Judge's son, William Henry Wheelock enjoying some success. He has achieved his ambition of becoming a professor of classical studies and settled down in a cottage on a quiet campus with his wife Jane and young daughter Dani. But Jane is ill-suited to sedate academic life and—in a fit of rage ignited by an old misunderstanding—suddenly leaves him for parts unknown.

Available on Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook,

or search your iTunes bookstore app for “Thomas T. Thomas”

and “The Professor’s Mistress” to find the title.

William Henry plods on stoically, teaching his classes and raising his daughter, while the social upheavals of the 1960s change the world around him in ways he doesn’t always understand. Then one day the long suffering professor falls under the spell of an older woman, Galatea, an antique pleasure yacht from the Gilded Age, and his life begins to change.

“Old boats are like a beautiful woman,” observes a passerby at the dock as he inspects the graceful steam yacht. “They call to you. They entice you. And then they steal your soul.” The man calls that feeling “the sickness” and William Henry has gotten himself a bad case of the love-sick blues.

Because I've known Tom Thomas for nearly 30 years there are many things about him and his writing I respect. One of them is his unflagging curiosity about the way the world around us works. He's a geeks geek, with a wicked sense of humor and piercing insights into the human condition. If I want to know how things work -- from Skype to nuclear fission -- I talk to Tom.

His writing career spans 40 years in editing, technical writing, public relations, in addition to popular fiction writing. Among his various careers, he has worked at a university press, a tradebook publisher, an engineering and construction company, a public utility, an oil refinery, a pharmaceutical company, and a supplier of biotechnology instruments. When he's not working and writing, he may be out riding his motorcycle, practicing karate, or wargaming with friends. Catch up to him if you can at www.thomastthomas.com.

When asked about his techo smarts, he says, "I am a son of the Eastern technocracy. One grandfather was a civil engineer who—according to family legend—helped develop the stress tables for pre-stressed concrete and poured the concrete dome for the main building at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The other grandfather was a small town lawyer, later elected judge in his rural Pennsylvania county."

Thomas' father was a mechanical engineer. His mother was a landscape architect who knew the Latin name for every flower and shrub. The connection with civil engineering holds good on his mother's side of the family, too, as she was a direct descendant of Sir Christopher Wren, who designed London's St. Paul's Cathedral and rebuilt much of the city after the Great Fire of 1666.

"My education was all in public schools, including Pennsylvania State University, where I earned a BA in English Literature," Thomas says. "I studied Latin, French, and Russian in high school (with some great teachers), Russian and some Greek in college. And I’ve spent the rest of my life making up for my early deficiencies in mathematics, chemistry, biology, and physics with reading and working at science-based companies."

It was not until the mid-80s that Thomas started writing and publishing fiction. The result was eight novels, plus two novellas.

"Short stories never attracted me as projects, however; I tend to think in book lengths," he says.

In retrospect, Thomas says he sees his corporate editorial writing and editing as a way to learn how the Western industrial world is put together, how the necessities that support our daily lives are created and distributed, and how the technology of the twentieth—now the twenty-first—century has evolved and grown.

"I hope this knowledge and understanding makes my novels more interesting for the reader," he says.

Readers are getting interested and they're exploring Thomas' impressive body of work in fiction. Will his work gain the popular success of Trollope? Will his creative output match that of the prolific 19th Century author? We'll find out once the secret's out.

Stolen History, Happy Ending

2013-03-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

A. Andrews Jewelry Box, Circa 1869-1878

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the theft of a historic, gold inlaid jewelry box worth more than $800,000 from the Oakland Museum of California. At the time I lamented the loss of this artifact from the California Gold Rush Era because it represented not just the theft of an astonishingly beautiful object, but also the theft of our history, the heritage of future generations.

The baseness of this act was underscored for me because I'd just introduced my five-year-old grand nephew, Joaquin, to the world of fine art through a visit to the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento on a rainy day in December. Joaquin was enchanted by the collection and we spent several hours wandering through the galleries, talking about what we were seeing.

Joaquin lives in the East Bay and we plan to visit
the Oakland Museum of California this spring

I knew the chances of recovering this art were slim, that great art works are stolen all the time, never to be seen again. The FBI reports that art and cultural property crime—which includes theft, fraud, looting, and trafficking across state and international lines—is a looming criminal enterprise with estimated losses running as high as $6 billion annually.

To recover these precious pieces—and to bring these criminals to justice—the FBI has a dedicated Art Crime Team of 14 special agents, supported by three special trial attorneys for prosecutions. And it runs the National Stolen Art File, a computerized index of reported stolen art and cultural properties for the use of law enforcement agencies across the world.

The painting, Madeleine Leaning on Her Elbow with Flowers in Her Hair, was stolen during an armed robbery on September 8, 2011. An oil painting by French Impressionist Pierre Auguste Renoir, it was stolen during a home invasion robbery in Houston—and is estimated to be worth $1 million. It is the newest addition to the FBI’s Top Ten Art Crimes list.

“We hope that adding the Renoir to the FBI’s Top Ten list and publicizing the reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the recovery of the painting will prompt someone to come forward,” said Peter Schneider, a sergeant with the Houston Police Department who is a member of the FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force in Houston.

The FBI established the Top Ten Art Crimes list in 2005. Since then, six paintings and one sculpture have been recovered, including a Rembrandt self-portrait and another Renoir work titled Young Parisian stolen from Sweden’s National Museum.

Although Renoir's lovely Madeleine has yet to turn up, the case of California's million dollar jewelry box has been solved. Last week Oakland police recovered the artifact from a parolee with a long criminal history. The man is now in jail awaiting trial.

Displaying the jewelry box under Plexiglas, with an armed guard standing by, museum Director Lori Fogarty said at a press conference last week that the box, which was stolen in the 1970s and recovered years later, would be returned to public display.

"It is our mission and our responsibility to share California's history with the public," Fogarty told the media. "If we were just a treasure trove, a mausoleum for objects, we wouldn't be serving our mission."

Visit OMCA, 1000 Oak Street, Oakland, CA 94607.

Online info at http://museumca.org

Lasting Thrill in the Artist's Work

2013-03-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

Went to a literary lecture at the Sac Poetry Center, tweedy folks, women in clunky objects 'd arte jewelry with lots of lipstick—a polite, earnest crowd. On the walls, framed water colors of Paris street scenes for sale. The artist, Jeanie Keltner, professor emeritus of English at Sac State, happened to sit next to me. We shared a lap blanket because there isn't much heat in the center's old building and we smiled and nodded together during the lecture like old friends.

Former Sacramento Poet Laureate Julia Connor -- a gifted teacher who studied with Robert Duncan at New College in San Francisco and a friend of the poet for many years--presented a portrait of an erudite and charming genius who created an ocean of work before his death in 1988. Connor delivered an engaging, pointed lecture that kindled my interest in knowing more about the poet, his partnership with Jess Collins and their work.

Poetry, a Natural Thing

By Robert Duncan
1919–1988

Neither our vices nor our virtues

further the poem. “They came up

and died

just like they do every year

on the rocks.”

The poem

feeds upon thought, feeling, impulse,

to breed itself,

a spiritual urgency at the dark ladders leaping.

* * *

Connor offered quotes from Duncan, such as: "The lasting thrill in the artist's work is that it fits" and "The poet's task is to make out the design in the carpet." "An idea is something that comes to me or appears to me," which answers the age-old question often put to writers and artists: Where do ideas come from? Duncan's answer: They appear. I assume Duncan meant they appear to a cultivated and well prepared mind. Connor referred her audience to a new biography by Lisa Jarnot: Robert Duncan: The Ambassador from Venus, which I intend to pick up and read to help navigate such a huge and complex body of work.

The Daily Rumpus

And, then I got an email from Stephen Elliott, who is in New York preparing to shoot his movie "Happy Baby," based on his memoir by the same name. Along with about 1,000 other people, I'm an "investor" in the movie through Kickstarter and so, along with the other investors, I get occasional updates on the project. While kicking around New York, Stephen said he'd been part of a panel discussion on the connection between art and commerce. Joining him were writer/editors Maud Newton and Steve Almond.

Stephen said, "I don't see the link (between art and commerce). Steve Almond was talking about writing for Martha Stewart and dancing naked full of vim and madness. People were talking about writing for money. I said, Look, you can bartend, or you can teach classes, or you can write shit you don't want to write for publications you don't want to write for. You can be a secretary, or a hooker, or a lawyer.

"That's all Column A." he said. "In Column B there's making art. There's painting, dancing, writing poetry. In Column B there are things you don't do for money. You don't know why you do them at all. That can include starting a website, or sending out a daily email. Later, when you're finished, you try to get as much money as you can. How much you sell it for is not the point. The point is, Why did you do it? I said something like, You think you're talking about the same thing but you're not. You're talking about two different things."

Like everyone, I admire Stephen and appreciate his thought provoking stance, but at times he can be maddening. Writing for money isn't art? It's only commerce? Who says? I want to tell him: OK, I get your point, art arises from spiritual urgency, a gnawing hunger, a leaping at ladders in the dark, but try being a single mother raising boys by yourself and using only the strength of your writing ability to put bread on the table. It's hard to tell hungry kids to hope I can sell my art to buy them food and at the same time it's impossible to not leap at ladders. It a chronic dilemma.

So I call bullshit. Art doesn't fit into neat columns, but I'll concede Stephen has a point. No matter how committed to art and excellence, years of selling your skill, maybe some of your talent, to survive is corrosive. It's no way to prepare fertile ground for creative ideas, which Duncan refers to, so when those ideas arrive in the mind's garden they can sprout and take hold. Creating art for money breeds a bitterness because of continual compromise. Stephen suggested resentment taints the spirit and warps the gift and I agree it's a struggle to stay focused and committed to one's artistic principles and while creating on demand. I've been involved in this struggle for more than 30 years and can tell you it's exhausting and rewarding. It's how a body of work is built.

And, I just finished reading Author Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha and want to tell Stephen again that dividing money and art into tidy, separate columns is B.S. Actually, all artists are geisha, offering entertainments to survive. We're all playing the lead role in our own Kabuki plays. Some of us, however, are more deliberate and honest about what we're doing behind the mask than others.

Julia mentioned during her lecture at the poetry center that an exhibition of the collaborative work of Robert Duncan and his partner Jess Collins is coming to Sacramento's Crocker Art Museum -- JUNE 9 – SEPTEMBER 1, 2013. I'm hoping Julia will again offer a public lecture on the life and work of Robert Duncan and Jess Collins during the exhibition so a larger audience will have a chance to better understand the artists beyond just viewing their art.

An Opening of the Field:

Jess, Robert Duncan, and Their Circle

Jess Collins Trust,

courtesy of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

In its introduction to the upcoming show, the museum said: "The artist Jess Collins, known simply as Jess, and his partner, the poet Robert Duncan, were one of the most fascinating artistic couples of the 20th century. Soon after they met in 1950, they merged their personal and artistic lives to explore their interest in cultural mythologies, transformative narrative, and the appropriation of images."

This is the first exhibition to explore the couple's artistic production and relationship. Through more than 100 individual and collaborative works of art and personal letters drawn from private and public collections, this exhibit also looks at their influence and unique position as precursors of Postmodernism. A companion catalogue includes essays by William Breazeale, Ph.D., curator at the Crocker Art Museum, as well as Michael Duncan and Christopher Wagstaff.

The exhibition is supported, in part, by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Information about the exhibit and the museum is online at: http://www.crockerartmuseum.org/

Advice to a Debut Author

2013-03-11T06:15:00.000-07:00

I've been working with a friend and first-time author, editing and supporting her during the past year on the road to publication of her memoir. She sent an email yesterday saying her publisher has just shipped advance copies of her book, adding: "So far, the only people who have read my book is you, my best friend and the publisher. I had no problems when I was writing and trying to find a publisher, but now that it is a done-deal, I am terrified. Don't ask me why, but a lot of doubt has set in. Did anything like this happen to you with your first book?"

Yes, I have worried that the quality of my work isn't worth promoting. I've tried to counter my doubts by giving myself permission to be human and fallible and imperfect, and then moved forward with the process of bringing my stories to readers. I've felt this way even after winning awards and receiving glowing feedback. Sometimes I can't imagine how anyone would take the time to read the drivel I've produced. Other times, I say to myself: "Screw it. It is what it is. I've done my best. Take it or leave it."

I told her writers need to create emotional distance from their work and develop a stance toward what they've produced. You are not your book. You are much more than that. And, you still need to brush your teeth and pay the utility bill. Paparazzi will not stake out your apartment, eating fast food at all hours of the day and night, lying in wait to snap a photo of you appearing with lipstick on your teeth.

Here are some ideas I offered my client for maintaining perspective:

Act as if -- You are an author; act as if you're an author until you become one, really feel it with calm assurance. Confidence is an inside job.

Step back -- Get some emotional distance from your book, your work. If you're gnashing your teeth about what someone might say about your story, accept that criticism is often more about the person doing the criticizing than the subject at hand. Be prepared to give people space to react to your work and your accomplishment.

You are not alone -- You are not the only person in the world who suffers from occasional, crushing self-doubt. Share your feelings and seek it from others who will understand.

Make your ego porous -- Poet Rainer Maria Rilke once said: "Will is of little importance, complaining is nothing, fame is nothing. Openness, patience, receptivity, solitude is everything.” Get balanced, get right with yourself. Get your hair done for God's sake, take a nap, go for a walk! Do not obsess. Your are not an idiot.

Don't be afraid to bloom -- "There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." ~ Anais Nin. Your book is on its way to the world. You've done all you can. You've opened yourself. Now allow yourself to flower. It will happen in ways unexpected and that is the glory of this work and this life.

Stand Aside -- It is not your responsibility to judge yourself or your book. Those jobs belong to God and your readers. Stand aside and let them do their work. Prepare to let the world know your story exists, your book is ready, and then step aside.

Although I tried to reassure her with this advice, there's no easy cure for debut jitters. Writing and publishing is a risk and I honor writers willing to take their work to the precipice of public opinion and toss their books in. I honor readers and respect their kindness and judgement as they catch us in the leap of faith that is publication.

For a peek behind the curtain at the writing, editing, and publishing process, take a look at Between the Sheets, a spirited exchange between author and editor in the final stages of preparing a manuscript for publication.

Paradigm Changer?

2013-03-03T09:55:00.000-08:00

The Ambassador of Bliss, J.P. Hansen, also author of the popular romance novel Pink Slips and Glass Slippers, as well as a nationally recognized expert in career development picked up a copy of Adrift in the Sound and called it a "Paradigm Changer," going on to say:

"For a first novel, Kate Campbell writes a masterpiece. The free love 70s evoked memories of that era. Protagonist Lizette is well-developed throughout a complicated but effective plot that involves witnessing a murder. Intriguing setting, clever use of metaphor and symbolism, colorful prose, convincing dialogue, and mythical themes make this story come to life. From Looney the Orca whale to Lizette’s father, the minor characters strengthen the story. In “Adrift in the Sound,” Campbell manages to challenge the reader’s paradigms and cultivate new ones by story’s end."

Rating: 5 Stars

And, Jim Crocker of Missoula, MT, named one of today's hottest thriller and mystery writers (ADAM JAMES THRILLERS and AARON NORCOST SUSPENSE) last week offered reviews of Adrift and its companion non-fiction book on the final editing process for publication, Between the Sheets: An Intimate Exchange on Writing, Editing, and Publishing on Amazon:

This story was a privilege to read--a true gift. Thank you, Kate.

Right off, the floor fell away and I was adrift--no stopping, no turning back. It was like walking through a doorway and it was forty years ago.

This gripping story of personal struggle is set against the turbulence of the seventies. But this is no Love In. This is hard-boiled, in-your-face writing, and Kate Campbell pulls no punches. It reads like memoir, but really it is fiction shot through with the stinging clarity of truth.

If you lived through the era, you'll recognize the characters--adrift on the emotional roller coaster that racked and paralyzed the nation. This is the story of all of us--those who "made" it, those who fell and those struggling today with truth and justice in their search for the American Way.

Rating: 5 Stars

Between the Sheets—Thomas T. Thomas and Kate Campbell

A Peek Behind the Curtain—A Journey of Discovery!

Ever wanted to be the fly on the wall? Here’s your chance.

Between the Sheetschronicles the dialogue between writer (Kate Campbell) and editor (Thomas T. Thomas) concerning Kate’s first novel, Adrift in the Sound—which was a fabulous read. Dorothy called it, “Best book I’ve read in a long time.”

Of course, immediately after finishing Adrift, I jumped Between the Sheets, as it were, for an opportunity to find out just how this amazing story evolved into the light of day. The collection of emails between writer and editor discloses more than I’d anticipated. You’ll be privy to a candid, honest discussion, where lives (albeit literary) hang in the balance.

Thomas is a wonderful editor and spirit guide. We would all be fortunate to have him covering our back.

Between the Sheetsis a must-read for writing students and seasoned writers, alike.

Writing is a journey of discovery. While yearning for the end—the publishing of our new baby—we bask in the process along the way—whiling away in solitary hours writing, editing, turning over stones, trying on hats, anticipating the next surprise waiting around the corner. Conjuring a story may not be magic, but we certainly hope the final result will be.

Rating: 5 Stars

Look for a Word Garden review from me of Tom's forthcoming novel: The Professor's Mistress, due soon in ebook format.

Getting It Right in the Garden

2013-02-26T06:02:00.000-08:00

How to Buy the Right Plants,

Tools & Garden Supplies

Picture this: You're standing at your local nursery, garden center, or big box store. You're musing over the spring planting stock, maybe looking for a nice small tree for the front yard, or some perennials to provide summer color, or maybe you need a new pair of pruners.

You're confronted by scores of choices, and you freeze like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming semi. Should you get that Japanese maple? (yes, I really want it). It's kind of small and pretty pricey. Maybe a magnolia instead? (gets to big and the waxie) Will that daylily do well in the spot where you need to plant it? Would a hosta be better? What kind of pruners should you get, bypass or anvil? Should you get an expensive brand or would cheaper ones work just as well?

That's exactly what you'll get when you read How to Buy the Right Plants, Tools, and Garden Supplies, by Jim Fox. Jim is a lifelong gardener and an experienced nursery professional. He's been handling questions from baffled gardeners for years.

New from Timber Press, $10.47

How to Buy the Right Plants, Tools and Garden Supplies

In his latest book, he tells you how to evaluate the conditions in your yard, so that you'll know which plants can be expected to grow well there. Next, he shows you how to evaluate a nursery, garden center, or mail-order company.

Then he gets to the real inside dope: how to select healthy plants and the garden tools that will give you the best value. And, so you're not left hanging, he tells you how to get your plants off to the best start and how to maintain them with the best watering equipment, mulches, fertilizers, and other products.

Jim's book is nothing short of a complete practical gardening education between two covers. Take its lessons to heart, and there will be no more worry, no more confusion, no more wasted money. How can you afford not to get it?

See you in the garden!

Saving Tigers in San Francisco

2013-02-15T06:00:00.000-08:00

Leanne, a Sumatran tiger has given birth
at the San Francisco Zoo

Something cute and cuddly is making history at the San Francisco Zoo. An endangered Sumatran tiger has given birth to a cub--an addition to a wildlife population estimated at less that 400. Born Feb. 10, the cub's gender is unknown until its first wellness examination, which will take place in a few weeks. Zoo officials say mother and cub are bonding in the Lion House, which is closed to the public until further notice.

“We are thrilled with this birth,” said Tanya Peterson, executive director and president of the San Francisco Zoo. “Sumatran tigers are a critically endangered species and every birth is so impactful for these beautiful animals. Leanne is an experienced mother and everything went beautifully.”

What makes this birth even more notable is the participation of Leanne in her prenatal care. As part of the SF Zoo’s ongoing wellness program, Leanne is one of the few tigers in the world trained to receive examinations and prenatal sonograms while awake. The Zoo’s carnivore team of curators, keepers and veterinarians created a special examination bench that allows Leanne to receive medical evaluations and examinations without the need for general anesthesia. Through this set up and with extensive training and food rewards, Leanne received a weekly prenatal ultrasound, and is also trained for injection, vaccination and weight procedures.

Leanne and newborn

“It is so much better for the animal not to have to be sedated for these procedures,” explains Curator of Carnivores and Primates Corinne MacDonald. “Many animals have adverse reactions to the anesthesia, which can be worse than the actual procedure. Leanne was a great student – she learns fast and was very willing to participate in her own care.”

Leanne is a nine and a half-year old female Sumatran tiger. She came to the SF Zoo from the San Antonio Zoo in 2006. This birth is her second litter; her first was in 2008 when she gave birth to three males, who were transferred to other zoos to participate in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Species Survival Plan. Leanne is named for the late Leanne Bovet Roberts, a former SF Zoo trustee and very generous donor and supporter of animal care organizations.

Larry is a six-year old male Sumatran tiger that came to the SF Zoo in 2012 on breeding loan from the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans, with a stop at the Jackson [Mississippi] Zoo in between. This is the first litter he has sired. He is named in honor of Lawrence Hauben, the late husband of SF Zoo donor Margaret Hauben, who always signed his correspondence, “Love, Larry the tiger.”

This birth represents the first tiger born at the SF Zoo since 2008. Prior to that, the last litter of tigers born at the SF Zoo was in 1976.

Larry, sire to the newly born Sumatran tiger

About Sumatran Tigers

The Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris) is classified as Critically Endangered, with the greatest threat to the species survival being destruction of habitat, followed by poaching. From the island of Sumatra, off the Malaysian Peninsula, these terrestrial and nocturnal cats inhabit evergreen, swamp and tropical rain forests as well as grasslands.

As the smallest of the remaining subspecies of Panthera tigris, the Sumatran tiger is particularly well suited for life in the deep jungle. The fur on the upper parts of its body ranges from orange to reddish-brown, making it darker in color than other tigers. This helps it to hide within its heavily wooded forest habitat.

Also unique to this subspecies are distinctly long whiskers, which serve as sensors in the dark, dense underbrush. Males weigh between 200-350 lbs., and females between 180-300 lbs., with a head to body length of 7.2 - 8.9 feet, and a tail length of 2-3 feet.

In the wild, the carnivorous Sumatran tigers eat mainly wild pigs and sambar deer. While at the Zoo, the tigers receive fortified horse meat, chicken and rabbit. Sumatran tigers are usually solitary and prefer to live alone, except for courting pairs and females with young. Females are sexually mature between 4-5 years and give birth every 2-2.5 years. After a 102-112 day gestation, a typical litter of 3 or 4 is born.

Until recently, there were nine subspecies of Panthera tigris. Three subspecies, the Caspian, Bali and Javan tigers, were deemed extinct between the 1940s and 1970s. Estimates to the six remaining subspecies in the wild are as follows (according to IUCN Redlist): Bengal 1,706, Indochinese less than 2,500, Sumatran less than 400, Amur (Siberian) 360, Malayan less than 750, and the South China tiger is thought to be already extinct in the wild. These remaining subspecies are either listed as endangered or critically endangered.

About San Francisco Zoo

The mission of the San Francisco Zoo is to connect its visitors with wildlife, inspire caring for nature and advance conservation action. Nestled against the Pacific Ocean, the San Francisco Zoo is a 99-acre urban oasis. It is home to nearly 700 exotic, endangered and rescued animals from all over the world and lovely peaceful gardens full of native and foreign plants.

Bittersweet Lilacs

2013-02-07T20:00:00.000-08:00

And the lost heart stiffens and rejoices
In the lost lilac and the lost sea voices
And the weak spirit quickens to rebel
For the bent golden-rod and the lost sea smell

From Ash-Wednesday [1930] T.S. Eliot

The velvety purple of lilac blooms brings up memories of my childhood bedroom in San Francisco, with it’s French provincial furniture, white and gilded, lightly chipped, and winds from the Pacific Ocean billowing the curtains beside my single bed, the bed draped in a soft spread of patterned lilacs.

My granddaughter, taken to Wisconsin when her parents split, has become a sweet, innocent voice heard on the phone. Lilacs bloom in Eau Claire like wild things. When I visited the cottage where she lives, it was spring. I cut an armful of lilacs from the bushes and put them in a big pitcher on the dining room table, the dainty flowers matching my granddaughter and the love in my heart. Perhaps the sentiment seems cloying, like the scent that takes over a room. But, that's the thing about lilacs.

If you’ve planted Lilacs near your windows and doors, the sweet aroma of spring soon will delight you and maybe memories will be lifted on the breeze, too. These old-fashioned favorites are easy to grow most everywhere, and Monrovia Nurseries says "they occupy a romantic niche in America’s past. Westward-bound pioneers brought cuttings with them and, decades later, their vanished wagon trails and homesteads are still marked by fragrant, old-fashioned treasures" in the form of lilacs.

When Lilacs explode into flower, it happens quickly. The flower spears bend in shapely arches. Because the flowering lasts just a couple weeks, Monrovia gardening experts suggest planting varieties that bloom at different times to extend the pleasure of these fragrant flowering shrubs. Two early-season bloomers from Monrovia are the new Declaration, with extra-large flower panicles of deep reddish-purple, and Pocahontas, one of the hardiest varieties, down to Zone 2. It has deep violet blooms and is actually a parent of the Declaration hybrid.

Growing Conditions

Growing lilacs, (Syringa vulgaris, the Latin name for lilac) is best in full sunshine to ensure the plant will flower reliably. The more shade you give this plant, the fewer blooms you'll see. If you have a plant that is not flowering, this is normally the reason. The soil is generally not an issue in growing lilacs unless it is very heavy clay (they don’t like that). In the Sacramento Valley where I live now, it’s harder to get good lilac blooms. But, give it great soil and it will still grow well.

Doug Green’s Web site for beginning gardeners offers lilac growing tips and a whole lot more. Doug says the only thing to understand about growing lilacs is that if you feed them heavily, they will grow leaves at the expense of flowers. A shovel or two of compost is all they really require, he says, unlike my nutrient hungry camellias, I might add. So, don’t plant lilacs near fertilized lawns. The plant leafs heavily, but no fragrant flowers.

Common Complaint about Growing Lilacs
“One complaint I often hear is that newly established lilacs won’t bloom,” Doug says. “They will bloom in the container in the nursery because they are root bound. But when you plant them outdoors, they’ll often take up to five years to establish roots and enough top growth so they’re comfortable in throwing a blossom.
“But, when they start, they’ll bloom nonstop with relatively few pests or problems for the next 50 years. The only reason they’ll stop blooming is if you change their sunshine levels with surrounding trees.”

When they decide to bloom, trust me, your lost heart will stiffen and rejoice.

In Search of Priceless Delights

2013-01-26T10:13:00.000-08:00

Stolen pioneer jewelry box

During Christmas time, my nephew and his family visited for a couple of days. It was wonderful to spend time with them, especially their three small children. We enjoyed the tree, a warm fire and a variety of treats. But the holidays brought torrential rains to Sacramento and the kids couldn't play outside. The oldest, Sofia, went shopping with her mother and grandmother. Mateo, just a few months old, went along for the trip to the mall.

That left Joaquin, almost 5 and full of energy. The men watched football and Joaquin felt left out. So I scooped him up and we went to the Crocker Art Museum. Joaquin was enchanted. We explored all the galleries, moving at the pace Joaquin set. We talked about the traveling Norman Rockwell exhibit, lingered over landscapes that included animals, especially deer, we talked about the Samurai armor and studied Japanese swords.

We also talked about the rarity of the objects and their value and I explained in terms I hope were understood by a child that much of what we saw that day was priceless, which led to a discussion of security and museum etiquette -- no touching.

As I was pointing out ceiling surveillance cameras to my amazed grandnephew, security guards rushed through the Asian art gallery, as if on cue, talking into their radios, charging ahead, in hot pursuit, underlining my points to Joaquin about value and the security needed in a treasure house. I could see he was greatly impressed--by the beauty, history and and value of the art that we enjoyed, and the efforts made to protect it.

A few weeks ago, a historical 19th century, Pioneer-era quartz and gold jewelry box was stolen from the Oakland Museum of California’s permanent collection. I've been planning to take Joaquin to the Oakland Museum and when I read about the theft, I thought about him and the conversation we'd had on that rainy day in December, recalled how engaged he'd been at the Crocker, how touched by the beauty he saw, how he recognized the importance of maintaining and protecting the treasures.

The Oakland Museum recently offered a reward for return of the jewelry box -- $12,000.

Jewelry Box Description:

Made between 1869 and 1878 by A. Andrews, a San Francisco goldsmith. It is made of California gold, and features a rectangular moulded top and base that rests on four feet formed of four miniature female figures depicting allegorical California.

The artifact is seven inches in height; nine inches on length; and seven inches in depth. The top pilasters and mouldings are of veined gold quartz in tones of grey and cream with veining of gold. The interior of the top is recessed and engraved in full relief with scene of the early days of the Union and Central Pacific Railroads, mounted Native Americans, herds of buffalo, and a train of cars. The gold quartz is cut and set in mosaic fashion in the top of the lid, exterior and the sides are gold veined quartz.

I don't expect you'll stumble across this treasure as you go about your daily lives, but want to point out the loss, not just of something of great monetary value, but of an object that's part of our heritage, that holds the promise of priceless delights for grownups and children, alike. Sadly, not anymore.

Questions about the jewelry box, the reward, or the Oakland Museum of California in general should be directed to 510-318-8460 or info@museumca.org.

Tips for Resolute Gardeners

2013-01-22T06:00:00.000-08:00

Just got back from Reno, NV, where temps dipped to -2 degrees. In that high-altitude environment, surrounded by snow-covered mountains, there weren't many gardens to admire. The frozen landscape is brown and rocky, covered with patches of ice. But, I found the desert is a good place to think about my Sacramento Valley garden, about what I want to do when warm rain awakens my plants and spring bursts out.

Here are some New Year's resolutions I'm making for my gardening based on thoughts from the University of Maine Cooperative Extension:

An excerpt from a National Garden Bureau (NGB) e-Newsletter written by Diana Blazek, Executive Director of National Garden Bureau

1. I will not blame myself for gardening failures. Oftentimes, Mother Nature is not our friend when it comes to gardening. Or life gets in the way. We do not want you to despair! Simply try again and learn from experience. Your garden, and your gardening friends, are both extremely forgiving.

2. I will not be afraid to ask questions. How else can you learn? Take advantage of the experience of your neighbor, your aunt, the garden center employee or the local extension agent. If they are like typical garden fanatics, they will appreciate your interest and be flattered that you want to learn from them. And learn you will!

3. I will try something new. This is kind of a no-brainer, right? Have you ever met a gardener who didn't want the newest of the new, for bragging rights if nothing else? But what about really new...like a new growing style or completely new crop of vegetables. Cruise around on Pinterest and we guarantee you'll find something irresistible that's out of your usual comfort zone.

4. I will share my passion. We've done and seen studies that show many of today's gardeners got their start by learning from someone else, usually a parent or grandparent. Can you be that mentor? Will you be the reason your son or daughter serves homegrown vegetables to your grandchildren? Can you be the reason your neighbor plants window boxes for the first time?

5. I will embrace nature and garden for the birds, the bees and the butterflies (and the bats too!). One of the most enjoyable benefits of having a garden is being able to enjoy the beautiful creatures who visit it. So plan your flowers and vegetables with that in mind then sit back and enjoy the show.

Enjoy more gardening information from NGB at their website - www.ngb.org, Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/nationalgardenbureau, and their Pinterest boards - http://pinterest.com/nationalgarden/.

Boom Time for Books

2013-01-08T06:30:00.000-08:00

Book reviewers are saying it's time to create a new category of books likely to appeal to Baby Boomers, a term generally referring to people born between 1946 and 1964. Here’s the basic pitch Claude Nougat (she’s an author, a painter, a economist and a blogger) made when she started a GoodReads group on the subject:

"When baby boomers reached their teens in the 1950s/1960s, the Young Adult (YA) novel was born as a genre, dealing with coming-of-age issues. Now that baby boomers are 55+ and embarking on their second life, most of them in excellent health thanks to medical advances, it is time for writers to come up with Baby Boomer novels, or BB novels."

A BB novel deals with “coming-of-age issues”, and just like YA novels, it can be tragic, romantic, suspenseful, humorous, ironical but always compassionate.

Book experts say the category could be defined somewhat more broadly than coming-of-age stories, without losing its appeal, to overlap, not only with various fiction genres, but also with several nonfiction categories including biography and memoir, personal finance, and self-help.

There also are movies that might fit into this newly defined genre: "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" comes to mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDY89LYxK0w based on the 2004 novel These Foolish Things, by Deborah Moggach. Admission: I watched it twice during the holidays in private moments. And, there's the king of Boomer movie genre, Jack Nicholson. Think "Something's Gotta Give" about a successful 60-something and 50-something, who find love for each other in later life.

As the BoomerCafe website noted the other day in the introduction to an article by Ms. Nougat on the subject “baby boomers are the biggest, richest demographic in the world today.” Boomers buy books, lots of them, and they enjoy movies relevant to their experience. If only they had more to read and a category to list them and make Boomer-centric literature more accessible.

Interesting idea. Are writers creating a new book category? Are producers creating movies that reflect Boomer experience and sensibilities? What books would you call "Boomer"? Which ones might make good "Boomer" movies?

Kate Campbell's Word Garden: Mo Yan on Dragons, Storms and Book Reviews

2013-01-01T06:46:00.001-08:00

When you toss your hat into the teeth of a storm it's hard to predict what will happen next. Nobel Laureate Mo Yan tells a story about one outcome. Kate Campbell's Word Garden: Mo Yan on Dragons, Storms and Book Reviews: New Jersey shore Roller Coaster in aftermath of Hurricane Sandy that struck in late October - Reuters image This year's Nobel Prize in ...

Mo Yan on Dragons, Storms and Book Reviews

2013-01-01T06:00:00.000-08:00

New Jersey shore Roller Coaster in aftermath
of Hurricane Sandy that struck in late October - Reuters image

This year's Nobel Prize in literature winner, Mo Yan, delivered his Nobel Lecture Dec. 7 at the Swedish Academy. The full text of the lecture is available online at the Nobel Foundation's Web site.

In part, Yan told the Academy: "My greatest challenges come with writing novels that deal with social realities, such as The Garlic Ballads, not because I’m afraid of being openly critical of the darker aspects of society, but because heated emotions and anger allow politics to suppress literature and transform a novel into reportage of a social event. As a member of society, a novelist is entitled to his own stance and viewpoint; but when he is writing he must take a humanistic stance, and write accordingly. Only then can literature not just originate in events, but transcend them, not just show concern for politics but be greater than politics."

Yan's concern with writing novels that deal with social/political realities, rendering story within the context of the time in which the tale is told, is also an interest and challenge to me. There's concern about taking a particular stance and sublimating story to polemics, worry that the story will lose artistic impetus and reader appeal, becoming mere reporting. As a long-time journalist, the emotional distance required by the discipline has been a worry to me in my fiction writing. There's a big difference between telling stories that offer insights into deep questions and reporting details from the middle ground of composed facts and elicited comment. I'm glad Yan touched on this issue in his lecture. He has been criticized for his membership in the Chinese Communist Party and his defense of censorship, which are political judgements. These criticisms have also been leveled at other novelists, Nobel Laureate John Steinbeck comes to mind. I'm acutely sensitive to this debate having struggled with the issue during the writing of my latest novel, Adrift in the Sound.

Concluding his lecture, Yan asked the Academy to "Bear with me, please, for one last story, one my grandfather told me many years ago: A group of eight out-of-town bricklayers took refuge from a storm in a rundown temple. Thunder rumbled outside, sending fireballs their way. They even heard what sounded like dragon shrieks. The men were terrified, their faces ashen. “Among the eight of us,” one of them said, “is someone who must have offended the heavens with a terrible deed. The guilty person ought to volunteer to step outside to accept his punishment and spare the innocent from suffering.

"Naturally, there were no volunteers. So one of the others came up with a proposal: Since no one is willing to go outside, let’s all fling our straw hats toward the door. Whoever’s hat flies out through the temple door is the guilty party, and we’ll ask him to go out and accept his punishment.” So they flung their hats toward the door. Seven hats were blown back inside; one went out the door. They pressured the eighth man to go out and accept his punishment, and when he balked, they picked him up and flung him out the door.

"I’ll bet you all know how the story ends: They had no sooner flung him out the door than the temple collapsed around them."

Yan said that for a writer, the best way for writers to speak is by writing, by facing the maelstrom with words.

"You will find everything I need to say in my works. Speech is carried off by the wind; the written word can never be obliterated. I would like you to find the patience to read my books. I cannot force you to do that, and even if you do, I do not expect your opinion of me to change. No writer has yet appeared, anywhere in the world, who is liked by all his readers; that is especially true during times like these."

This observation came to mind after book reviewer Angie Mangino commented on my novel Adrift in the Sound. She'd agreed to review the book a couple of months ago and while a long time had elapsed since the requested review copy had been sent, I didn't want to bother her in light of the catastrophe that has occurred in New Jersey and New York.

About the same time as Yan's lecture, Angie sent this email: "Hurricane Sandy caused devastation here on Staten Island, so my review schedule is currently behind. I was one of the fortunate ones with only some damage to my house and 4 days without power. My best friends were not so fortunate, and will be staying with me until all the uncertainty is lifted and they can move forward. They lost their house, most of its contents and a car. My 90 year old mother-in-law lost her entire basement, making her home unlivable until mold & water damage is removed and her heater replaced and power is able to be restored. Thanks for your patience in my completing this review for you."

Below is the review Angie posted to her Web site.http://www.AngieMangino.com

Her Facebook page is a place for authors and readers to meet, housing links to her book reviews, as well as links posted by authors and discussions.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Angie-Mangino-Looks-At-Books/124051464305848

Adrift in the Sound

By Kate Campbell 2012

Reviewed by Angie Mangino

Rating: 5 stars

Having reviewed Between the Sheets, an inside look of the editing process of publishing Adrift in the Sound, this reviewer began reading with very high expectations for excellence in Campbell’s novel.

She did not disappoint!

The protagonist, Lizette Karlson, captures readers immediately.

“’SO … YOU’RE HERE.’ Einar Karlson spoke to her through the screen door on the back porch. ‘When did you get out?’”

Immersed immediately in the story, readers hunger for answers that Campbell progressively supplies as the story unfolds, offering the right amount of hints and circumstances to keep them absorbed in the story.

Set in Seattle in 1973, with realistic characters that portray the unsettling times as they were then, how will Lizette survive? Or will she? What really matters?

Campbell leads readers to an ending that both satisfies and challenges.

Angie Mangino currently works as a freelance writer and book reviewer, additionally offering authors personalized critique service of unpublished manuscripts.

MLA style: "Mo Yan - Bibliography". Nobelprize.org. 8 Dec 2012 http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2012/yan-bibl.htm

Kill the Indian, Save the Man

2012-12-28T06:00:00.000-08:00

“Kill the Indian, and Save the Man”: Capt. Richard H. Pratt on the Education of Native Americans

Beginning in 1887, the federal government attempted to “Americanize” Native Americans, largely through the education of Native youth. By 1900 thousands of Native Americans were studying at almost 150 boarding schools around the United States.

The U.S. Training and Industrial School founded in 1879 at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, was the model for most of these schools. Boarding schools like Carlisle provided vocational and manual training and sought to systematically strip away tribal culture. They insisted that students drop their Indian names, forbade the speaking of native languages, and cut off their long hair.

Not surprisingly, such schools often met fierce resistance from Native American parents and youth. But some Indian young people responded positively, or at least ambivalently, to the boarding schools, and the schools also fostered a sense of shared Indian identity that transcended tribal boundaries.

One of those schools was in Riverside California and is the subject of a new book from scholars aUniversity of California, Riverside. Following is a news feature highlighting the book and the research being conducted at the university.

By Bettye Miller, UCR

At Sherman Institute in Riverside, Calif. — the flagship among 25 federal off-reservation American Indian boarding schools — students who could no longer speak their native languages became alienated from their communities. Others, however, assumed leadership positions when they returned home and helped their tribes bridge the gap between Native American and mainstream American societies.

The Indian School on Magnolia Avenue: Voices and Images from Sherman Institute, written and edited by historians connected to the University of California, Riverside, recalls those experiences through the voices of Sherman students and photographs from the school’s extensive archives. Published this month by Oregon State University Press, the book is the first collection of writings and images about an off-reservation Indian boarding school.

“We want people to understand about the attempted assimilation of American Indian children by taking them out of their homes and putting them in boarding schools,” explained Clifford E. Trafzer, co-editor of the book and the Rupert Costo Chair in American Indian Affairs at UC Riverside. “In spite of that, many children used their education and experiences — sometimes positive, sometimes bitter — to help their tribes understand U.S. government, business and culture.”

The book’s approach differs from that of much scholarship about Native Americans in that it embraces oral histories of the students who attended Sherman instead of relying only on written documents, Trafzer added. “It reflects a belief that American Indians have something of value to tell you about their history, that there is value in listening and learning from Indians. That is not a common approach.”

For much of its history Sherman enrolled children as young as 10, until 1970 when it became a fully accredited high school. Today, Sherman Indian High School is controlled by Native Americans with a curriculum that includes American Indian history, languages and cultures.

Sherman Institute enrolled its first students on Sept. 9, 1902, a decade after its predecessor, the Perris Indian School, was founded in an agricultural region south of Riverside. Harwood Hall, Sherman’s first superintendent, lobbied to move the school from rural Perris to the larger community of Riverside, where entrepreneur Frank Miller wanted Indian students to work at his Glenwood Inn, later renamed the Mission Inn.

Tourists would ride the trolley from the inn to the Magnolia Avenue school, “visit the Indians, then go next door to the zoo,” Trafzer said.

“Miller wanted to be associated with Indian students so they could work at the inn and be a part of his pseudo-mission — just like in Old California,” Trafzer and co-author Lelelua Loupe wrote in the first chapter of “The Indian School on Magnolia Avenue.” “Once Miller and Hall accomplished their goal, the two men set about to exploit the school as a local tourist attraction and source of cheap labor.”

Garden Girls, Sherman School

The book was written by Trafzer, UCR alumni and current Ph.D. students in American or Native American history, and Lorene Sisquoc, curator of the Sherman Indian Museum, where UCR graduate students have spent countless hours conducting research in the archives. Sisquoc also is a UCR master’s degree site supervisor.

“Without Lorene Sisquoc, this book wouldn’t have happened,” Trafzer said, adding that the relationship between public history graduate students at UCR and the Sherman museum began in the 1990s when Ph.D. candidate Jean Keller volunteered as a museum intern.

Keller’s dissertation and resulting book, “Empty Beds: Indian Student Health at Sherman Institute, 1902-1922,” were the first written about Sherman Institute. Her research on the Sherman nursing program and the impact of public health education on Sherman students is the subject of one chapter in the book.

Other chapters focus on the role that Mission-style architecture played in the life of the school and its students, Sherman students as patriotic Indians, vocational training and the “outing” work program, the Special Navajo Five Year Program, the school cemetery, and the extensive photographic record in the Sherman vault that numbers more than 10,000 images.

In the concluding chapter, co-editor Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert recalled his internship at the museum while a UCR graduate student and his discovery of documents relating to the experiences of his grandfather and his sister. His research led him back to the Hopi reservation and conversations with elders who attended Sherman in the 1920s, resulting in a dissertation, a book — “Education Beyond the Mesas: Hopi Students at Sherman Institute, 1902-1929” — and a PBS documentary on the Hopi boarding school experience, “Beyond the Mesas.”

“The vault is not finished sharing the voices of those students who left their families and homes to attend Sherman,” he wrote. “Their stories of assimilation, resistance, and accommodation still remain in the Museum. They wait for the next wave of researchers to release their voices so others might hear.”

Learning housekeeping skills

Sherman School

Images from the Sherman School archive are available online at: Photo Slide Show

Grants from the Rupert Costo Endowment at UC Riverside and the UCR Academic Senate funded some research expenses associated with the book. “The Indian School on Magnolia Avenue” is part of First Peoples: New Directions in Indigenous Studies, a Mellon Foundation-funded initiative that supports Oregon State University Press’s publication of Native American scholarly titles with a special focus on collaborative and community-based research. Proceeds from the sale of the book will go to the Sherman Indian Museum.

The Indian School on Magnolia Avenue was co-edited by Trafzer, Sisquoc and Gilbert, an assistant professor of American Indian studies and history at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (M.A. and Ph.D., UCR).

Co-authors are: Gilbert; Sisquoc; Trafzer; Keller, adjunct professor of American Indian studies at Palomar College (M.A. and Ph.D., UCR); Jon Ille, who is completing his Ph.D at UCR.; Robert McCoy, associate professor of history at Washington State University (Ph.D., UCR); Michelle Lorimer, who is completing her Ph.D. at UCR; Leleua Loupe, who teaches American history at several colleges (B.A., M.A. and Ph.D., UCR); William O. Medina, adjunct professor of American history at Riverside Community College and San Bernardino Valley College (Ph.D., UCR); Kevin Whalen, who is completing his Ph.D. at UCR; and Shaina Wright, a Ph.D. student at UCR.

Note: My latest novel Adrift in the Sound includes Native American themes and characters from the Pacific Northwest, incorporating extensive research into the Lummi Nation, whose people lived on Orcas Island, part of the San Juan archipelago off the north coast of Washington State, which is the setting for much of the book.

Christmas Letter to Algernon Moncrieff

2012-12-25T07:30:00.000-08:00

My Dearest Algernon: Thanks for the kid's school photos, very cute. Susie looks like such a lady and Joey is Mr. Personality-plus. I'll miss seeing them during the holidays. I've included a few shots of my own from lovely High Hand Nursery in Loomis, such a Divine place to shop. So sorry you couldn't be here to celebrate.

I'm off tomorrow to all points tropical—Eau Claire WI & Boulder CO. It will be down to 7-8 degrees at night in Eau Claire. I'm taking two suitcases of heavy clothes. Feel like Admiral Bird setting off for the South Pole.

I'll sled and ice skate with Mary and do a little bunny-slope skiing with friends in Boulder, Colorado, perhaps snowshoe, or merely snuggle into a lap robe. Based on the Rocky Mountain slopes I've seen, they are some mighty big bunnies in Colorado. Last time I was there, I slipped on the ice at the chair lift. Took a half-hour to get the lift going again and the rest of the afternoon to untangle the skis from around my neck.

Tonight we're having a little dinner party and gift exchange. Uncle Matt and his grudging wife Laurie are coming, staying at the nearby Happy Garden Inn, which is small and nice, in a secluded pocket of Natwick that is park-like and private. She will complain about the accommodations and the traffic, the pressure of having to come all the way from San Yisdro. (This update: Laurie has opted out of our soiree, has decided she hasn't a thing to talk about with Uncle Matt on such a long drive, 20 years of marriage and not a thing left in common.)

Uncle Matt will describe in gory detail when he gets here his latest prostate procedure or back operation or hip maladjustment, lament that a ride on the trolley doesn’t cost a nickel anymore. He’ll stump around the buffet table and joke, like always, “Don’t ya have anything to eat?”

Like always, I’ll ring my hands and inquire sincerely, “What else would you like?” quickly calculating how long it will take to get to the supermarket and back, how long the lines will be and whether self-checkout might be faster. I remember now, after having completed more errands than Mrs. Dalloway that I’m out of gas . . . another calculation will be required and a reminder to self to bring the gas can. Uncle Matt knows how I hate forgetting even the slightest detail during the holidays. He’ll laugh about yanking Santa’s beard and mine, the old frog phallus.

Actually the gift exchange at my house is a misnomer. In case you've forgotten. It has been such a long time since you and the family have come north. It goes like this: I give gifts. They exchange them later and complain the gifts weren't good enough, that other people got better gifts and more, that they'd rather get money, that they don't want underwear, that it isn't fair, that I'm a selfish, and claim that unlike me, no one gives socks for Christmas anymore.

That will open the door for the rant that no one likes me, that even my own family doesn't like me, that I have a bad attitude, that I ruin everything, that I'm the reason Jared isn't coming for Christmas, that Rockie and Kelly hate me, that Uncle Dick threw me out of his house for bad facial expressions last holiday, that looking at me makes them feel like getting loaded and then they'll grab the bottle of after-dinner sherry by the neck, and assert that life is all my fault, etc., etc., etc.

There’s much to be said about the decision of Septimus Warren Smith at times like these, times when a swim in the flood swollen Sacramento River seems like a wise outing. I can see it coming, the storm clouds gathering. Although no one actually buys me a gift during this holiday exchange, they do remind me of the dangers of sitting on my pity pot too long. They’ll say: “Could you get off the cross? We need the wood!”

So, I baked a couple of pumpkin pies, have oysters, smoked salmon and clam dip to laid out, a honey-baked ham, pasta Alfredo, tri-tip stake, tossed salad, three kinds of vegetables, mountains of juicy mandarins, candy canes, nuts, dates and ice cream. I've been cleaning and decorating for the past two days, sleeping in four-hour shifts to get everything done. There’s a mountain of gifts beneath the tree -- all lavishly wrapped from bits of rescued and recycled paper and ribbon.

Tonight I'll build a fire, put on some Christmas carols, stretch out on the couch in my novelty reindeer sweater, scratch, and wait for the magic of the season to descend like a runaway elevator headed south. I hope Andy likes the waffle iron and strawberry syrup gift I got him. I know he lives under the freeway, but isn’t it the thought that counts? And, a good waffle iron is a powerful inducement to get a place with electricity. Don't you think? And, thank god Dino's still in jail. At least he has hot water and overhead lights. It also saves on the gift budget.

Oh, Holy flippin’ Silent Night! The stars are brightly shining, which helps while I'm unclogging leaves from the rain gutters. After that, I'm off. Mushing the sled dogs across the tundra. Outta here, like splitsville. Adios. Goodbye and remember . . .

"All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his."
- Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, Act 1

Keep that in mind, Dearheart

Merry Christmas!

Yours ever, Lady Bracknell

Cannibis and the Cult of Hyprocrisy

2012-12-20T06:00:00.000-08:00

Street image, first snow in London

It's dangerous territory to express what one really thinks. I try to cloak my convictions in stylish robes, keeping them close and only revealing what I think when the fabric is safely and gently freed of its folds.

Friends might say: "You're full of opinions and yourself!" I can only smile like an onion and shed a few layers. Most of the time I feel my expression of a moral or intellectual stance is superficial, but is often taken as full depth, rather than a mere starting point for deeper exploration. Usually the discussion ends before going beneath the surface.

From time to time, however, I feel compelled to speak my mind on certain subjects and let the bricks fall where they may. Here's one of them:

What truly irks me is hypocrisy -- proclaiming a virtue while doing the opposite. This is the case with do-gooders who wish to save "the people" through food labels that warn of plant alterations, also called genetically modified organisms, "GMOs." In many cases these also are people who favor legalizing marijuana and who also might be inclined to indulge in an occasional toke.

Carl Jung suggested that "every individual needs revolution, inner division, overthrow of the existing order, and renewal, but not by forcing them upon his neighbors under the hypocritical cloak of [brotherly] love or the sense of social responsibility or any of the other beautiful euphemisms for unconscious urges to personal power."

This brings me to a new book from Timber Press, an outstanding publisher of gardening, botany and environmental books. Amy Stewart, author of Wicked Plants and Wicked Bugs, says Jim Rendon's new book: Super-Charged: How Outlaws, Hippies, and Scientists Reinvented Marijuana is, in part, a discussion of how the plant's genetics have been altered to satisfy the American appetite and culture. Marijuana is a popular recreational drug that has been genetically engineered over the years without any regulation or control.

Rendon's book does not advocate for or against the use and legalization of marijuana. It's a look at the plant and world that surrounds it. Marijuana has been illegal in the United States since 1937. Yet, thanks to a loosely connected underground world of breeders, dealers, and smokers, there are currently more than 2,000 plant varieties available -- in other words GMOs -- the very thing people want labeled, but no one demands this of their local dope connection.

And since 1996, when California first passed legislation allowing for legalized medical marijuana, the underground has slowly surfaced, pushing what was once a decentralized, lawless land closer to the corporate world of business, agriculture, and pharmaceuticals. I have yet to see a call for
labels that warn the sick that the reefer they rely on is genetically modified, such as has been the case with packaged food stuff.

In Super-Charged, Rendon gets up close and personal with the people who have transformed this controversial drug. With personalities and backgrounds as diverse as the plant itself, the growers include a former Silicon Valley software entrepreneur; third-generation residents of Humboldt, California; a publicly traded pharmaceutical company; and the famous marijuana personality Jorge Cervantes.

Rendon takes readers behind the scenes and into the homes and grow operations of the committed, quality-obsessed practitioners in the international underground industry responsible for creating today's genetically altered, super-charged cannabis.

Ironically, the pioneers who built this illegal industry may one day find themselves out of business in the face of the drug's growing mainstream acceptance. Just how this could come about is part of the incredible story. But, my guess is that those who sanctimoniously call for GMO labeling and GMO-free foods have never questioned the genetic engineering in their smoke of choice.

In a fascinating blend of botany, politics, and cultural revolution, Rendon succeeds in taking apart these contradictions and creating a vivid portrait of what may be the world's most powerful plant.

I point out this book because I believe that those who would seek to save the world from the evils of modified food and drugs should take a look at one of the world's most popular medicinal and recreational plants and understand the profound biochemical changes that have occurred to weed to meet the demands of today's users. I recommend a serious look at "Mary Jane," with a eye to understanding what has happened to this plant and whether we're applying the same concerns and standards to this produce as would be applied to other food stuff.

Jim Rendon adds his book to discussions about whether marijuana should be regulated and taxed, labeled, packaged and delivered to consumers who should want the same confidence about what they're putting into their bodies as they would want with corn or strawberries. While we're being bombarded with anti-tobacco ads, what's being done to point up the personal and social perils of marijuana? If marijuana production is regulated like tobacco, will we start seeing warnings about the effects of second-hand smoke? How do we protect children?

To do anything less is hypocrisy. That's my stance. What do you think? There's a comment box below.

Jim Rendon is a freelance writer who covers business, science, design, and the environment. His work has appeared in The New York Times and The New York Times Magazine, Mother Jones, Fortune, Men's Journal, and other publications. He is a former staff writer for SmartMoney magazine. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Pistachios and Puttering in the Garden

2012-12-15T06:00:00.000-08:00

Another beautiful hydrangea is just entering the garden scene. Pistachio is in the New Generation™ series of hydrangeas from innovative Hines Nurseries and is a breeding break-through; compact (2 to 3 ft. tall), reblooming, multi-colored, plus...mildew resistant!

Pistachio's large flowers are a scarlet -red tinged with green, and anchored with violet centers. I've been seeing potted Pistachios in the floral department of my local supermarket and they make a great gift, as well as cut flowers after established in the garden. As the flowers age, their colors shift in intensity, making a continuous, showy display. They're also great for drying and use in long-term, in-door floral displays

Most nurseries have only received a limited, preview supply of Pistachios, since they're just starting to become available. Look at the plant's colors, consider your garden's overall color palette and find a way to work this new take on a garden staple into your plantings.

Collection Name: Bloomtastic!™

Botanical Name: Hydrangea macrophylla 'Horwack' PPAF

Common Name: Next Generation Pistachio Hydrangea

Category: Flowering Shrub

Sun Exposure: Part Sun

Average Size: 24-36" tall x 36-60" wide

Hardiness: Hardy to -20° to -10°F

Bloom Time: Spring to Fall

Features: A reblooming variety with flowers of scarlet red tinged with green. Compact, rounded habit is great in patio containers or in the garden. Large, deep green summer foliage.

Care Information: Keep moist until established. Keep soil uniformly moist, but not wet. Fertilize with acid plant food in early spring.

Planting Instructions Spacing: 36-60" apart.

Consult your Nursery Professional for specific local planting instructions.

If Pistachio isn't a color you're working with in your garden, consider "blueing" your hydrangeas.

Fertilize with Growmore Hydrangea Blueing Formula, available online or from specialty nurseries. As hydrangeas (and other deciduous plants) go dormant, they store nutrients in their roots for spring growth. That’s why fall feeding is so important.

In the case of blue hydrangeas, it is the aluminum (a blue metal) that is in Growmore Hydrangea Blueing Formula that will be stored for the buds in spring. (If you use it on pink hydrangeas, it can make them purplish). Repeat application in spring to keep hydrangeas their bluest blue.

P.S. Planted some perennial King Alfred daffodils in my front flower bed and hope I didn't get them into the ground too late. I'm trying for a drought-tolerant, native-rustic feel in the front bed (140 ft. long!) but spring daffodils do my heart good. We'll see what comes up in a few months.

P.S.S. Planted narcissus "paper whites" in a hanging basket and they're starting to bloom. My plan is to bring the blooming basket inside, place it on a corner table in the dining room and inter-plant some red bedding plants around the bottom of the stalks for a "living" indoor holiday garden. Hope it's pretty, hope it blooms at just the right moment. In gardening, as in life, timing is everything.

In the meantime: See you in the garden!

Nut House: Fact, Fiction & the Future

2012-12-09T06:00:00.000-08:00

Psychiatric hospitals have served as effective settings for some of the greatest films in history; it’s where Norman Bates went at the end of Psycho, and it’s where Jack Nicholson’s character rallied the patients in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. These characters, including the cannibalistic Hannibel Lecter in John Harris' Silence of the Lambs, and my own character Lizette Karlson in Adrift in the Sound came first from fiction.

But how much of that fiction is based on fact?

In my case, Lizette's experience was based on observation and research. I was lucky to work with editor Tom Thomas, who has a depth of knowledge about the mental health care system based, in part, from his experience as a volunteer with the National Alliance for Mental Illness. He brought his practical knowledge to bear during the final shaping of Adrift in the Sound.

Mike Bartos, a psychiatrist with experience at a state institution for mentally ill patients convicted of violent crimes, and author of the new novel “BASH” (Bay Area State Hospital), www.mikebartos.com, says, what's factual about these institutions depends on what kind of facility we’re talking about.

“Some places are private institutions that more closely resemble a country club when compared to state-run facilities," explains Bartos, who served as chief of staff at a state hospital for mentally ill patients convicted of violent crimes. "The differences can be startling; however, these are places that are typically rich with characters, drama, and a fair share of staff burnout.”

The intended use of state facilities is to control and contain, if not cure, mental illness. Bartos reviews the reasons why mental institutions often fall short of that goal:

• Bureaucracy: The state hospitals, being government institutions, are rife with bureaucratic confusion, Bartos says. These hospitals are inextricably linked to the legal system, which invites all sorts of problems if the goal is to meaningfully treat patients. “The reality is, when offenders straddle the line between criminal intent and questionable sanity, they can end up in a state hospital, which is part prison and part hospital. This is a difficult place to find healing.

• Drugs: Many of his patients at the state hospital had committed crimes while in a drug-induced haze. “Really, we often have patients there who don’t have schizophrenia or bipolar disorder – they are criminals who may or may not have a problem with drug addiction.” In other words, many hospital patients are not so different from prison inmates; the biggest difference is they can be tempered with psychotropic drugs and therapy.

• Violence: While not as bad as prison, state mental hospitals are often violent because of the criminal element. The majority of patients at state forensic hospitals committed crimes before their admission. This large percentage of convicts drastically increases violence in hospitals and results in staff requests for heightened security, which can be slow in implementation, and frequently considered inadequate by the people who work there.

• Staff burnout: With limited state budgets and a high demand for professional support, state workers at hospitals work long, difficult and often dangerous hours. The result is less effective treatment.

• A challenging population: A community of people with serious mental disorders or drug habits, and misplaced criminals – or combinations thereof – is quite a melting pot. Unfortunately, bad ideas and habits are shared, and instead of improving the mental conditions of patients, they tend to get worse.

“Through my years of experience as a professional and as a human being, I know the very best medicine for mental health is love – whether it’s TLC from loved ones or truly compassionate care from doctors and staff,” Bartos says. “Unfortunately, that is too small a part of the state hospital equation.

About Mike Bartos

Mike Bartos is currently in private psychiatric practice in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he lives with his wife, Jody. He has several decades of experience in the mental health field.

More than a year after the death of psychiatric technician Donna Gross at the hands of a patient at Napa State Hospital, employees continue to demand for more staff and improved security at the state psychiatric institution to which most patients have been referred through the criminal court system.

Labor unions have gathered employees on numerous occasions in front of the hospital on the Napa-Vallejo Highway to protest work conditions at the hospital they say remain unsafe. But the California Department of Mental Health a plan to overhaul its agency into a new Department of State Hospitals, wants to eliminate more than 600 positions statewide. The Napa Valley Register reported that after the announcement, union representatives expressed concerns at the department’s plan to increase patient-staff ratios.

Family Connections and Camelot

2012-12-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

For various reasons, I've always had an interest in the legendary King Arthur. In part it's because of my family name: Campbell. Some traditional medieval genealogies trace the Scottish highland clans of MacArthur and Campbell to a certain Smervie who is said to have been a descendant of King Arthur. But, now they tell me Camelot exists. It's real and it's in France.

King Arthur supposedly ruled what is now Britain in the late 5th and early 6th centuries and according to medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and his historical existence and the Knights of the Roundtable, are still debated and disputed today.

The British Royal family has long tried to claim descent from King Arthur to bolster their claim to the throne, particularly through the Plantagenets, but the genealogy experts say any possible claim might more likely be through the Tudors because of their Welsh origins. While the Tudor family’s connection to King Arthur, like the Campbell's, remains unconfirmed, they certainly took full advantage of the possibility, beginning with the first royal Tudor, Henry VII, crowned in 1485.

The name Campbell , which means crooked mouth in Keltic, is ancient, with first written references to the family dating from at least the 1250s, on that there's lots of agreement, but those references are 600 years after the supposed reign of King Arthur. Meanwhile, the clan has long been one of the largest and most powerful in the Scottish Highlands. They are among the early founders of today's "Black Watch," protectors of the royal family, with whom my American father served briefly during WWII at Buckingham Palace, perhaps because of his family name.

The origin of the Campbell family name, as well as of the identity of the founder of the family, remains misty, however, a matter of much debate. The real history has been a source of childhood wonder for me and my siblings. Attempts by others to figure out my family's connection, if any, to half-mythical King Arthur have come to conclusions as tenuous as the Tudor claims of descent from the same source.

The current British royal family's ties to the crown appear equally shaky. They wedged themselves in through connections to Hanovarian Queen Victoria and her German husband, Albert of Saxe-Coberg and Gotha. But, I would add, their daughter Princess Louise had the good sense to marry John Campbell, the Marquess of Lorne and future Duke of Argyll in 1871, which meant she married beneath her station, causing whispers in in court.

Campbell Armory Room
Inverary Castle

The Victorian royal family later changed its name to the more Anglo sounding "Windsor" because of anti-German sentiment in Britain during WWI. As you can see, trying to trace these things to any point of firm conclusion is complicated.

Inveraray Castle

“The Arthurian legend is so ancient, and yet it has been one of the most enduring interests in Western civilization,” says art expert Terry Stanfill, author of Realms of Gold: Ritual to Romance, a novel of ancient history and modern romance that posits her new theory about Camelot. “It’s exciting to think that after all of these centuries, we have a strong case for a real Camelot.”

Educated in Medieval history, Stanfill offers this primer on King Arthur, including her own surprising theory about the true location of the original Camelot:

• The legend Arthur as king was first mentioned in “The History of the Kings of Britain” by Geoffrey of Monmouth, 1100-1155. A generation later, Chrétien de Troyes, a French bard and poet, began to weave stories about King Arthur's court, introducing the characters Lancelot, Guinevere and Perceval. He was the first to mention Camelot, King Arthur’s home, describing it as "a place by a river, surrounded by forests and plains beyond."

• The reality Toward the end of the Roman Empire, circa 450 AD, Arthur Riothamus, King of the Britons, was hired by the Romans to fight off invading Goths and Visigoths. There is documentation from multiple sources that Arthur spent a lot of time in Burgundy, France. He died after a battle near Bourges and was taken by his men to Avallon in France, a town that had existed for centuries. This is fact, not fiction.

• Avalon While many people believe the mystical Avalon of Arthurian legend was in England, perhaps near Glastonbury, there is no record of a place called Avalon in that country.The Avallon region of France, however, has long existed. It was and still is known for its fruit trees and vines, much like the lush island of legend.

• Camelot While many presume Camelot was in England, the extraordinary discovery in 2007 of the remains of an ancient community on Mont Lassois in France makes Stanfill wonder if this was actually the true Camelot. The community is near Avallon, and among the buildings unearthed there appear to be the remnants of a palace, including a great hall, where there is evidence of feasting.

“When Chrétien de Troyes wrote of Camelot, this place may have been held in the memory of the locals as a place where peace, prosperity and the good life held a long reign,” Stanfill says. “His vision was a nostalgic tribute to a distant, golden age of tranquility that was on this hilltop.”

The citadel of Latisco on Mont Lassois -- a site of palatial buildings unprecedented in the Celtic world – is not far from Avallon. Arthur Riothamus’ time in Burgundy is documented, and we know that the first person to write about Arthur was the bard Chrétien, who lived in the area.

This place is exactly as he described it: ‘on a hill, a place by a river, surrounded by forests, with plains beyond.’ Terry Stanfill may well have it right.

About Terry Stanfill

Terry Stanfill holds a degree in English literature with a minor in medieval history. She is an Overseer of the Huntington Library in San Marino, Calif. An enthusiastic preservationist, she was decorated by the president of Italy with the Ordine al Merito, Cavaliere della Repubblica Italiana, and more recently as Commendatore, for her fundraising efforts for the restoration of San Pietro di Castello, the ancient cathedral of Venice.

She is a former international representative for Christie’s auction house and former director of Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, Calif. “Realms of Gold: Ritual to Romance” is her third novel. Her first two are “The Blood Remembers” and “A Tale of the Fortuny Gown.” Stanfill is married to Dennis Stanfill, former CEO of 20th Century Fox and MGM Studios.

The Book Connoisseur: Kate Campbell – How to Write a Book

2012-12-01T09:35:00.001-08:00

The Book Connoisseur: Kate Campbell – How to Write a Book: Kate Campbell – How to Write a Book Advice on How to Write a Book by Kate Campbell Got this message from a friend: Hi Kate, Looking f...