Lantern Books Blog

Stopping the Violence

martin [at] lanternbooks [dot] com (Martin Rowe) — Tue, 15 May 2012 06:00:00 CDT

Sid Heal: On the case

Lantern has made a commitment to pursuing the central issues of non-violence in its publications from a variety of perspectives.

From the perspective of law enforcement, Lawrence Blum, in Force Under Pressure and Stoning the Keepers at the Gate, makes an impassioned plea for the peace officer community and society to understand the tremendous pressures that cops on the beat face on a day-to-day basis. He argues that extraordinary stress is often ignored by the police and civil establishment and that officers don't know how important relaxation, proper emotional and physical conditioning, and access to therapy and other forms of mental processing are in making sure that they do not overreact to situations and cause them and others harm, if they are placed in a life-threatening situation again.

Charles "Sid" Heal takes a more tactical approach. His concern is to stop violence happening before it starts. In Sound Doctrine, the more specialized Illustrated Guide to Tactical Diagramming, and Field Command Sid, a former SWAT team member and police and military tactician, shows how officers and others involved in policing can monitor and control a situation (whether a rioting crowd or a hostage-taker) in such a way that as few people get hurt as possible.

Violence permeates our society: in Boys Will Be Boys, Myriam Miedzian looks at the cult of masculinist violence that forces boys into roles where they deny their own and others' vulnerability and need for connection. That lack of connection may, indeed, have played a role in the murderous rampage that Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris went on at Columbine High School in 1999. Brooks Brown knew them both, and in No Easy Answers, written with journalist Rob Merritt, he explains how a culture of bullying and factionalism in high school (in some ways mirroring the society outside) led these alienated kids to commit the unthinkable.

How does one cope when one has been violated? In Aftershock, psychologist pattrice jones reveals how activists who have been subject to trauma, whether being arrested by the authorities or seeing those whom you are advocating for beaten up or killed, or even simply living in a violent world. And what of the violent person themselves: how might those who care for them (in both senses) deal with them? Dr. Raymond B. Flannery, Jr. has made a career out of studying those who are violent. His books are published by the American Mental Health Foundation Press, whose titles Lantern distributes.

Finally, it would be remiss not to point out that violence against animals takes place every day, in a systematized and almost entirely ignored way on factory farms and in slaughterhouses around the world. We encourage you to look at other titles on our website to find out more about this "acceptable" form of violence.

For more on Peace Officer Memorial Day, click here.

Related Titles

The Violent Person Professional Risk Management Strategies for Safety and Care Raymond B. Flannery, Jr., Ph.D., FAPM	The Assaulted Staff Action Program Coping with the Psychological Aftermath of Violence Raymond B. Flannery, Jr., Ph.D., FAPM	Becoming Stress-Resistant Through the Project Smart Program Raymond B. Flannery, Jr., Ph.D., FAPM
Preventing Youth Violence A Guide for Parents, Teachers, and Counselors Raymond B. Flannery, Jr., Ph.D., FAPM	Violence in America Coping with Drugs, Distressed Families, Inadequate Schooling, and Acts of Hate Raymond B. Flannery, Jr., Ph.D., FAPM	Violence in the Workplace Raymond B. Flannery, Jr., Ph.D., FAPM
Force under Pressure How Cops Live and Why They Die Lawrence N. Blum, Ph.D.	Stoning the Keepers at the Gate Society �s Relationship with Law Enforcement Lawrence N. Blum, Ph.D.	Aftershock Confronting Trauma in a Violent World: A Guide for Activists and Their Allies pattrice jones
Sound Doctrine A Tactical Primer Charles �Sid� Heal	Boys Will Be Boys Breaking the Link Between Masculinity and Violence Myriam Miedzian	No Easy Answers The Truth Behind Death at Columbine High School Brooks Brown, Rob Merritt

Healthy in Mind, Healthy in Body

martin [at] lanternbooks [dot] com (Martin Rowe) — Sun, 06 May 2012 06:00:00 CDT

Ruth Heidrich: Order to go

Holistic medicine offers a paradigm of wellness that differs from the trauma and severe deficiencies of our current "sickness care" system.

One aspect of this system that demands attention is the issue of vaccination. In their first five years of life, children are expected to undergo an extraordinary thirty-seven doses of eleven different vaccines, yet relatively few parents are aware of the risks involved. As the writers in The Vaccination Dilemma indicate, a growing body of research has linked immunization with autism, seizures, asthma, arthritis, Crohn's disease, hyperactivity, and learning disabilities. Balanced and thoughtful, this book clearly describes the immune system, its workings (and what science does and does not know about them), and helps parents make educated decisions on behalf of their children.

In Iscador, Christine Murphy, formerly the editor of the magazine Lilipoh: Guide to Health, Nutrition and the Environment in the 21st Century, has gathered together essential information on a cancer medicine derived from the mistletoe plant that has been known for its therapeutic benefits for over eighty years. In the book, doctors and clinicians share their experiences working with conventional medicine, Iscador, and other alternative therapies, and provide holistic dietary guidelines to treat cancer patients. The book includes a full list of resources so that cancer patients can fully understand the options available to them.

Poet and therapist Ginny Jordan has undergone undergone surgeries and chemotherapy, experienced debilitating vertigo, and other conditions—at the same time as she has been a daughter, wife, mother of three, and member of a large, active family. Her beautifully written memoir of her life in her body, Clear Cut, illustrates how the body composes its own wisdom and teaches us compassion, tolerance, and the answer to the question: How much can we lose and remain whole?

After being diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of forty-seven and not getting answers from her physicians, Ruth Heidrich began her journey. "[I learned]I was responsible for my own health care," she reports. Heidrich went on to receive her Ph.D. in Health Management. Heidrich shares what she has learned from first-person experience about preventive medicine and living a full and rich life in her two books, A Race for Life and Senior Fitness.

Read more on National Nurses Day and World Red Cross Day.

Related Titles

The Physician Champion Agent for a Compassionate Culture Malcolm Herring, MD	Clear Cut One Woman's Journey of Life in the Body Ginny Jordan	The Vaccination Dilemma Sophia Christine Murphy
Iscador Mistletoe and Cancer Therapy Sophia Christine Murphy	A Race for Life A Diet and Exercise Program for Superfitness and Reversing the Aging Process Ruth E. Heidrich, Ph.D.	Senior Fitness The Diet and Exercise Program for Maximum Health and Longevity Ruth E. Heidrich, Ph.D.

Respect Your Chickens

martin [at] lanternbooks [dot] com (Martin Rowe) — Thu, 03 May 2012 06:00:00 CDT

Karen Davis: She rules the roost

What does it mean to become and then live as a vegetarian? It might mean nothing at all; or, of course, it might be a step too far for you. Carol Adams has been thinking deeply about vegetarianism for over thirty years in a number of titles that explore feminist theory, critical theory, sexual politics, religion, and environmentalism: all as they relate to the decision no longer to eat animal flesh or use the products of animals.

Now Adams has collaborated with Patti Breitman to explain How to Eat like a Vegetarian Even If You Never Want to Be One. Cutting back on meat but don't know what to serve? Want an easy way to eat healthfully? The lists, charts, and hints in this book will reward you with meals, snacks, and surprises that are as easy to make as they are delicious.

For those who've tried to go vegetarian but have found their own drama, or the pressure of family, friends, and co-workers too much, Donna Beaudoin's Sister Vegetarian's 31 Days of Drama-Free Living is the perfect book. With recipes, life-tips, and an exercise regimen, Donna (a.k.a. Sister Vegetarian) will have you up and running (literally) in no time.

Voices from the Garden takes a different approach to talking about vegetarianism. In fifty stories, people who became vegetarian talk about the reasons why they did so: whether they had a health crisis that propelled them into reflecting on what they put in their bodies; or whether they were concerned about the health of the planet and decided to reduce their consumption of meat and dairy because of the high costs of producing both for the environment; or whether they were moved by the plight of farmed animals and felt they didn't want to be a part of the system that treated them as commodities. Whatever your interest in being or becoming a vegetarian, these books provide numerous insights into what the vegetarian lifestyle means beyond the cookbooks and the fake meat products, and promise a way for you to live a deeper and more authentic life.

Of course, today wouldn't be today unless we mentioned the incredible work of Karen Davis at United Poultry Concerns and the two books she's written for us: More than a Meal: The Turkey in History, Myth, Ritual, and Reality and The Holocaust and the Henmaid's Tale: both of which deal with birds and both of which make a strong case that, at the very least, we should respect these extraordinary animals.

For more on International Respect for Chickens day, click here.

Related Titles

Sister Vegetarian's 31 Days of Drama-Free Living Exercises and Recipes for a Healthy Mind, Body, and Spirit Donna Michelle Beaudoin	Radical Vegetarianism A Dialectic of Diet and Ethic Mark Mathew Braunstein	How to Eat like a Vegetarian Even If You Never Want to Be One More than 250 Shortcuts, Strategies, and Simple Solutions Carol J. Adams, Patti Breitman
Voices from the Garden Stories of Becoming a Vegetarian Sharon Towns, Daniel Towns	More Than a Meal The Turkey in History, Myth, Ritual, and Reality Karen Davis	The Holocaust and the Henmaid's Tale A Case for Comparing Atrocities Karen Davis

Green Thoughts

martin [at] lanternbooks [dot] com (Martin Rowe) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 06:00:00 CDT

Julia Butterfly Hill: Giving us food for thought

Lantern tries to do its bit to support the earth. We publish environmental pioneers like Wangari Maathai, print on post-consumer recycled paper, use wind power, composts, keep a vegan office, use energy-saving light bulbs, and recycle. We drink organic-shade-grown-fair-trade coffee. For our pains, we were given a gold certification in the Green Press Initiative's Publisher Certification program.

You could say we're obsessed. Every day of the year. Yet, if the human species is to save itself on this planet, and not destroy everything else, beyond all individual actions we take and practices we change, we will need to change our consciousness: the way we see the natural world.

Contemporary science is now revealing what ancient wisdom long understood: that natural systems are not only more intricately connected than we at once thought, but their complexity reveals patterns of startling simplicity and beauty that can offer the cure to the restoration of those systems and the healing of the world.

It is experiencing these systems under threat and the working for the restoration of them that motivates the extraordinary activists (such as Julia Butterfly Hill, John Mack, and Deena Metzger) profiled by Andrew Beath in Consciousness in Action. All see that spiritual dimension underlying their green activism. Indeed, in their own way and from their own traditions they ask a simple question: What are our obligations as human beings to protect the planet, which God created and called "very good"?

Four books from Lantern offer further perspectives on this very question. In The Green Bible, Stephen Bede Sharper and Hilary Cunningham have gathered quotations from scripture, ecologists, world religions, and contemporary thinkers in a little book of meditations that reflects on the biblical mandates to care for the world and is itself a little bible of truths.

In The Bible According to Noah and Science and the Search for God, Unitarian minister Gary Kowalski examines apparently conflicting ideas and shows how they point to a greater unity. In beautifully lyrical prose, Noah reimagines episodes from the Hebrew scriptures and shows how they can help us rethink how we treat other animals and the earth. In Science, Kowalski explores the consonance between religion and scientific understandings of nature and the universe and advocates for a renewed conversation between them. Finally, In Judaism and Global Survival, Richard Schwartz illustrates how Judaism's central tenets demand reverence for, and responsible stewardship of, the planet.

And then, of course, there are the tree-planters par excellence: Wangari Maathai and David Kidd, who between them planted over 60 million trees. Both, as it turns out, were Arbor Day winners.

Related Titles

Green Monasticism A Buddhist-Catholic Response to an Environmental Calamity Prof. Donald W. Mitchell, William Skudlarek, O.S.B.	The Bible According to Noah Theology as If Animals Mattered Gary Kowalski	Consciousness in Action The Power of Beauty, Love, and Courage in a Violent Time Andrew Beath
The Green Belt Movement Sharing the Approach and the Experience Wangari Maathai	The Green Bible Stephen Bede Scharper	Growing America The Story of a Grassroots Activist, A Call for Renewed Civic Action David A. Kidd
Judaism and Global Survival Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D.	Science and the Search for God Gary Kowalski

A Day of Infamy

martin [at] lanternbooks [dot] com (Martin Rowe) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 06:00:00 CDT

Brooks Brown: Survivor

On April 20, 1999, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, two seniors at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, walked into their school and shot to death twelve students and one teacher, and wounded many others.

It was the worst single act of murder at a school in U.S. history. Few people knew Dylan Klebold or Eric Harris better than Brooks Brown. Brown and Klebold were best friends in grade school, and years later, at Columbine, Brown was privy to some of Harris and Klebold's darkest fantasies and most troubling revelations. After the shootings, Brown was even accused by the police of having been in on the massacre, simply because he had been friends with the killers.

In No Easy Answers, Brooks Brown and journalist Rob Merritt describe the warning signs that were missed or ignored, what life was like at Columbine High School before the shootings, and the evidence that was kept hidden from the public after the murders. Shocking as well as inspirational, No Easy Answers is an authentic wake-up call for all psychologists, authorities, parents, and anyone wanting to learn the unvarnished facts about growing up as an alienated teenager in America today.

Here's an interview from 2002, conducted by CNN's Connie Chung, with the authors.

Related Titles

No Easy Answers
The Truth Behind Death at Columbine High School
Brooks Brown, Rob Merritt

Reducing Food Wastage

kate [at] lanternbooks [dot] com (Kate Lawrence) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:54:56 CDT

A Practical Peacemaker Ponders . . .

I grew up in a clean-your-dinner-plate kind of family, with parents whose food limitations during the Great Depression and World War II rationing had taught them to value food highly. That ethic has stayed with me, so I have been shocked over recent months to learn of the gargantuan amounts of food wasted, some of it, especially in restaurants, still perfectly edible.

I'd been idly aware of this topic when it was recently brought again to my attention in a blog post by James McWilliams (I highly recommend following his blog "Eating Plants"). He cites a study finding that consumers throw out an astonishing half the food they buy!

My interest was piqued, so I looked a little further. "Global Food Losses and Food Waste", a 2011 report from the FAO (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization), states that worldwide, one-third of all food--that's 1.3 billion tons each year--is wasted. In Europe and North America the figure is 620 to 660 pounds per person wasted each year. In the developed world, about one-third of the wastage is done by consumers, discarding even food that is still edible. "The Battle Against Food Waste" (New York Times, Jan. 15, 2012) discusses some responses to the problem. And here are some suggestions for individual action:

Plan your meals and shop accordingly. Write a shopping list and stick to it. This helps to prevent impulse buying. And never go shopping when you're hungry.

Learn to use items in creative ways so they'll last longer.

Keep an eye on your serving size. Many times, we feel forced to eat all that's on our plate. Sharing out less food will cause less waste, and you'll still be fulfilled.

Don't ignore leftovers. New meals can easily be created from previous meals.

If you have leftovers you won't be eating soon, freeze them before spoilage begins.

Compost your kitchen scraps.

Related Titles

The Practical Peacemaker
How Simple Living Makes Peace Possible
Kate Lawrence

A Meetup at Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary

kate [at] lanternbooks [dot] com (Kate Lawrence) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:41:32 CDT

Lucas the pig enjoys a mud bath at Peaceful Prairie

A Practical Peacemaker Ponders . . .

Last Sunday, I participated in a group tour at the nearest farmed animal sanctuary, Peaceful Prairie, about an hour's drive east of Denver. Both we and the animals we visited were fortunate to have a warm, clear day to enjoy each other.

The first thing we noticed as we approached the property was a herd of llamas. I'd never seen that many, about fifteen, in one place. Then we drove through the gate and up to the house. Peaceful Prairie's founders and directors, Chris and Michele Alley-Grubb, welcomed us. First we chatted for awhile with Chris as everyone arrived, then Michele took us out for an extended meet and greet. She explained that the llamas had been abandoned to starve, and many had already died, before Peaceful Prairie was called to the rescue. We then walked to an area where goats, chickens and turkeys were milling about, curious about all these visiting humans. In a few minutes, a pickup pulled up and a volunteer began unloading boxes of unsaleable but still edible produce donated by Whole Foods. He spread the contents widely on the ground and all the animals, led by the goats who were nearest, moved quickly to the area. Who knew that a cow, for example, would go after a potato, or a goose rip eagerly into a bell pepper, or a goat enjoy a banana? And everybody loves apples, apparently. The geese were squawking, ducks quacking, everyone congregating--in short, it was an interspecies party!

Later we saw the chickens and turkeys close up. At each stage of the tour Michele explained the miserable lives each group of animals had had before arriving at the sanctuary. She poured some muddy water into a wallow to create bliss for Lucas the pig. Most of the animals were very willing to come up close: Roscoe the turkey constantly strutted around us, showing off his plumage, and the goats on several occasions walked up immediately next to me to be petted.

When we were all inside the house afterwards, Michele spoke about the current threat to farmed animals of so-called sustainable farms, or "happy meat." In contrast to the industrial food system, the myth of humane farming is lulling people who might otherwise have considered veganism to believe that it is OK now to eat animal products if these products come from a small organic farm. Yet the same abuses continue. You can educate yourself on these matters by reading "The Humane Animal Farming Myth" on the Peaceful Prairie website.

Related Titles

The Practical Peacemaker
How Simple Living Makes Peace Possible
Kate Lawrence

Pondering the Animal Question

martin [at] lanternbooks [dot] com (Martin Rowe) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 06:00:00 CDT

Jim Mason: Plenty to think about

Other-than-human animals are an overwhelming presence in our collective and individual lives and, at the same time, are taken for granted by human animals. Sociologists have neglected the study of human-animal interaction and the role of animals in society. This is true despite the fact that animals are an integral part of our lives: in our language, food, families, economy, education, science, and recreation.

In more than thirty essays, Social Creatures examines the role of animals in human society. Including work by Peter Singer, Tom Regan, Carol J. Adams, Josephine Donovan, Barbara Noske, Arnold Arluke, Ken Shapiro, and many leading scholars, anthropologists, and psychologists, the book also comes with an extensive bibliography of hundreds of articles and books.

In order to know how we can best address cruelty to animals, we need to know why we are cruel to animals. This essential, yet perhaps elusive, question is the centerpiece to Lantern's publishing program.

Jim Mason's visionary An Unnatural Order is perhaps the most ambitious book to do this, finding the dislocation in the human-animal relationship in the domestication of animals and the dis-enchanting of the natural world thousands of years ago and cataloguing its manifestations in misothery (or "hatred of animals") today.

Mason comments that environmentalism is clear as to the Nature Question: that we need to have a reverence for the natural world that compels us to save it. But, he says, "after having laid down such strong rhetoric, however, the movers and shakers of conservation and environmentalism, with rare exceptions, stop dead in their tracks when they approach the Animal Question—the whole sticky mess of human views toward, relations with, and uses of animals." He continues:

This part of the Nature Question is oddly off limits. Should a great thinker step on it accidentally, he or she usually jumps back to safety in the remoteness of discussions about trees or the abstractions of biodiversity and species.

The Animal Question is regarded as illegitimate, silly, peripheral. Those who address it are regarded as emotional, sentimental, neurotic, misguided, and missing the bigger picture of human relations with the living world. One's importance as a thinker on the Nature Question is measured, in part, by how widely one steers away from the Animal Question.

Why do we avoid the Animal Question so insistently? One of the answers surely is that our thinking is so embedded with the language of animal exploitation. Joan Dunayer's Animal Equality and Speciesism both show the illogicality, cruelty, and injustice of speciesism (prejudice against nonhuman animals) and how deeply engrained is our belief in our inherent right to say or do whatever we like to and about animals. She calls for a radical change in our perspective and consciousness and provides guidelines for nonspeciesist language, philosophy, law, and advocacy.

From the first hominids who hunted woolly mammoths to today's factory farms and bio-engineering labs, The Longest Struggle: Animal Advocacy from Pythagoras to PETA tells the story of animal exploitation and the battle for animal justice. After describing the roots of animal rights in the ancient world, author Norm Phelps follows the development of animal protection through the Enlightenment, the anti-vivisection battles of the Victorian Era, and the birth of the modern animal rights movement. At once an accessible history of animal protection thought and a revealing narrative of campaigns for animal rights,.

Related Titles

Social Creatures A Human and Animal Studies Reader Clif Flynn	The Philosophy of Animal Rights A Brief Introduction for Students and Teachers Mylan Engel, Ph.D., Kathie Jenni, Ph.D.	An Unnatural Order The Roots of Our Destruction of Nature Jim Mason
Animal Equality Language and Liberation Joan Dunayer	Speciesism Joan Dunayer	The Longest Struggle Animal Advocacy from Pythagoras to PETA Norm Phelps

Get Vegucated!

kate [at] lanternbooks [dot] com (Kate Lawrence) — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:02:13 CDT

Tesla, one of Vegucated's three featured participants, making friends with a chicken

A Practical Peacemaker Ponders . . .

I'd been hearing great praise for the documentary Vegucated, and this week was able to see it at a vegan potluck/movie event. Three average meat-eating New Yorkers agree to go vegan for six weeks and have their experience filmed. They get lots--and I mean lots--of support and expert advice. It begins with the filmmakers, who show them vegan advocacy films, take them grocery shopping, dining out, and to a farmed animal sanctuary. Their "vegucation" is also provided by such luminaries as Howard Lyman (a contributor to Lantern's book The Way of Compassion), Dr. Joel Fuhrman, Dr. Milton Mills, T. Colin Campbell, and other speakers and participants at the Vegetarian Summerfest, which the three attend as part of the experiment. How fortunate they were to get this kind of solid information and encouragement, compared to those of us who went vegan years ago and had to figure it all out for ourselves! Viewers, of course, get all the same encouragement vicariously by watching the film, and can find more at the Get Vegucated website, including the movie trailer; Vegan at Heart, a four-week-long daily email coaching program; tips on making social connections with other local vegans; the DVD available for purchase ($19.99); and info on hosting a screening.

You will not be bored watching this, even if you've been vegan for many years. Vegucated is non-threatening, engaging, informative, consistently funny, and keeps its heart open to the challenges of maintaining the vegan commitment in the real world. It shows average people changing their lives, dealing with unsympathetic friends and family, continuing until the new way of eating is no longer strange, and joyfully reaping the benefits of better health and a more peaceful conscience. I urge you to see Vegucated, talk about it and show it to friends, and encourage them to take the Vegucated Challenge.

Related Titles

The Way of Compassion
Vegetarianism, Environmentalism, Animal Advocacy, and Social Justice
Martin Rowe

The Practical Peacemaker
How Simple Living Makes Peace Possible
Kate Lawrence

Of Dishwashers and Durability

kate [at] lanternbooks [dot] com (Kate Lawrence) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:58:10 CDT

A Practical Peacemaker Ponders . . .

When we bought our present home in 1999, the dishwasher was, shall I say, vintage. In recent months it had become noisy and wasn't cleaning well; we were looking forward to replacing it with a more efficient model. After some days spent researching and shopping, we chose one that qualifies under the improved 2012 Energy Star rating system. I was amazed at how little water this model uses: less than three gallons per load. You'd have trouble washing dishes by hand with that amount of water, as just filling the sink would take about two gallons, plus you'd need rinse water. Its electricity use is modest too, although we don't worry too much about that because our solar PV panels generate more electricity each year than we use.

The shiny new dishwasher was installed yesterday. In chatting with the installer, I asked, "How old do you think our old model was?"
He replied, "At least the 1970's, maybe 1960's." If so, that would mean it could have been installed when our house was built.
"And how much average life does a good model dishwasher provide today?" I continued.
"About ten years, average," was his response.

Time for a reality check. Our previous dishwasher, even if no older than 1975, lasted 37 years and maybe longer; new ones average ten years? Appliance makers clearly know how to make more durable models, but apparently choose not to, in order to sell more. I'm glad I can purchase an appliance that uses electricity and water more efficiently; we've made progress there. However, our society has not yet understood that the environmental resources involved in manufacture, including both the metals and other components as well as the energy necessary to operate the factory and to create and transport the appliance, must be factored into the pricing structure. We can't just keep extracting and extracting from a finite planet, and piling up waste from models that wear out too soon. We see this process moving even faster and more wastefully, of course, from computers, phones, and other quickly obsolete popular devices.

I'm glad to see more efficient appliances being built and sold, but we need durability too.

Related Titles

The Practical Peacemaker
How Simple Living Makes Peace Possible
Kate Lawrence

Lantern Authors and "The Story of Chickens"; Public Slaughter Cancelled

kate [at] lanternbooks [dot] com (Kate Lawrence) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 12:35:14 CST

A Practical Peacemaker Ponders . . .

Two weeks ago I blogged in this space about "The Story of Chickens," a project sponsored by the Spencer Art Museum at the University of Kansas (KU). This so-called "art" exhibit called for the display of five chickens in a moveable coop at several locations in Lawrence, Kansas; the chickens were then to be slaughtered in public and served at a community potluck. I am happy to write today that the project has been substantially altered because local animal cruelty law does not permit slaughter within Lawrence city limits. No chickens will be displayed or slaughtered; the project has been reduced to the display of an empty coop and a concluding dinner. For details, see the news release from United Poultry Concerns and yesterday's article in the Kansas City Star.

In the midst of rejoicing about this, I noticed that a number of Lantern authors had become involved in actively opposing this project, helping to publicize it and urging others to join the outcry. Karen Davis, president of United Poultry Concerns, sent out an alert on Feb. 8 bringing it to the attention of animal activists nationwide and writing powerful letters to the sponsors. She, JoAnn Farb, and I were interviewed and quoted by the Kansas City Star in articles on Feb. 18 and yesterday. Keith Akers notified activists in Colorado and wrote to Rocket Grants, the project sponsor; I wrote to the Spencer Museum. Actively involved at the local level was Judy Carman who, along with a KU professor who also opposed the project, met with the artist, Amber Hansen, for a lengthy meeting Monday. Judy succeeded in persuading Hansen to include vegan dishes at the project's concluding dinner; Judy and the professor will be allowed to speak at that event. Local artists may display works there and Judy is encouraging the display of art supporting veganism. She also gave Hansen a variety of vegan literature. Bravo, Judy! More actions by these and perhaps other Lantern authors may have taken place without my being aware of them.

According to a Rocket Grants statement, Hansen's "intention throughout the project has been to engage regional residents in dialogue about the relationship between humans and the food we consume." She certainly succeeded, so to my mind she is a winner in this too.

Lantern authors are not only writing books about compassion, but taking active roles promoting it in the real world. See some of their books below.

Related Titles

The Holocaust and the Henmaid's Tale A Case for Comparing Atrocities Karen Davis	More Than a Meal The Turkey in History, Myth, Ritual, and Reality Karen Davis	Peace to All Beings Veggie Soup for the Chicken's Soul Judy Carman
The Lost Religion of Jesus Simple Living and Nonviolence in Early Christianity Keith Akers	The Practical Peacemaker How Simple Living Makes Peace Possible Kate Lawrence

In Vitro Meat--Are You Salivating Yet?

kate [at] lanternbooks [dot] com (Kate Lawrence) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 11:13:53 CST

A Practical Peacemaker Ponders . . .

A news story this week reports that a lab-grown or in vitro burger will be available from a science lab in the Netherlands by October. The burger grown from animal stem cells will cost $330,000 to produce, and scientists working on it say that it will be at least 20 years before the process will be efficient enough for large scale and cost effective production. Such meat is not imitation meat or a meat analog, but actual meat grown from animal stem cells. It promises to reduce animal suffering, because such meat cannot feel pain, as well as avoid the environmental impact of livestock agriculture. Because no animals need to be fed, no grain supplies are needed. No manure is produced. Apparently there is considerable interest these days among researchers, and increasing funding available, to bring such products to market. Learn more about the current state of research, production and expected impacts here.

The human health impact of such meat is unknown; growth hormones and antibiotics may be required for large scale production. Presumably the amount of fat and other undesirable components can be controlled in a lab setting; researchers want to make it healthier than conventional meat. Time will tell. But whatever words come to mind at the prospect of in vitro meat, at least to me, "yummy" is not one of them.

Related Titles

The Practical Peacemaker
How Simple Living Makes Peace Possible
Kate Lawrence

Violence Is Not Art: An Open Letter to the Spencer Art Museum

kate [at] lanternbooks [dot] com (Kate Lawrence) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:30:10 CST

A Practical Peacemaker Ponders . . .

Today I sent the following letter to my alma mater, the University of Kansas, in protest of an upcoming exhibit at the university's Spencer Art Museum called "The Story of Chickens." This project will encourage townspeople to get to know and care about five chickens over a period of time, then the chickens will be slaughtered in public and served at a potluck.

To the Spencer Art Museum:

As a native Kansan and KU graduate, I am writing to urge you to cancel "The Story of Chickens" project. While helping the public get to know chickens as "beautiful and unique creatures" and learn to care for and about them is admirable, the inclusion in this project of public slaughter is definitely not. Just as public spectacles of human execution used to be the norm, public animal slaughter also used to be common, hardly noticed or even made into a sport, but that kind of behavior is fast becoming obsolete. Consider this evidence taken from Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker's recent book on the decline of violence, Better Angels of Our Nature: Fox hunting was outlawed in Britain in 2005, and the last U.S. state to permit cockfighting banned it in 2008. As of 2010, bullfighting became illegal in the entire Spanish region of Catalonia, and the state-run Spanish television network has ended live coverage of bullfights because they are considered too violent for children. The European Parliament has considered a continent-wide ban as well. Regarding hunting, the proportion of Americans who report that either they or their spouse hunts has been steadily declining for decades.

Giving approval to public violence against animals, performing it in front of audiences which may include children, and especially elevating it to be considered "art" is to increase tolerance for violence, to make a wider segment of society accept and practice it. There are good reasons why actions that are naturally repulsive are done behind closed doors. To bring animal slaughter into our neighborhoods coarsens society and stifles discussion of the options humans have to reduce animal slaughter rather than promote it. The project description refers to the planned slaughter as "a phase of the [chicken's] life cycle." While death is certainly part of a chicken's natural life cycle, being killed by a human is not.

I have no problem with allowing shocking art forms as part of the free speech we all cherish, but the line must be drawn at exhibits which include actual harm, pain or killing of living beings as part of the exhibit. That KU would be sponsoring such an exhibit casts a bloodstain on its otherwise fine reputation. I urge you not to be a party to making public animal slaughter acceptable; cancel "The Story of Chickens."

Related Titles

The Practical Peacemaker
How Simple Living Makes Peace Possible
Kate Lawrence

Men We Love

kara [at] lanternbooks [dot] com (Kara Davis) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:01:38 CST

Wanna see it big

I can't promise that I love all the men listed in VegNews' "The Vegan Man Issue," but our own Martin Rowe appears in boldface!

Also, Lantern authors Steve Best, Nick Cooney, and Bart Potenza appear with lots of other men we DO love and respect. Congratulations to all these loved men on Valentine's Day.

Related Titles

The Animal Liberation Front A Political and Philosophical Analysis Steven Best, Ph.D., Anthony J. Nocella, II	Change of Heart What Psychology Can Teach Us About Spreading Social Change Nick Cooney	Look Two Ways on a One-Way Street Food for Thought from the Founder of Candle Café and Candle 79 Bart Potenza
Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? Reflections on the Liberation of Animals Steven Best, Ph.D., Anthony J. Nocella, II

Wealthy Business Leaders Told To Go Vegan

kate [at] lanternbooks [dot] com (Kate Lawrence) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:02:50 CST

A Practical Peacemaker Ponders . . .

Here was a surprising link in my inbox: CPI Financial, a website dedicated to offering advice and analysis for bankers and business leaders throughout the Middle East, headlined the recommendation to go vegan.

The article, begins as follows:
Ok, here's the bad news. You're going to have to become vegetarian. Sorry. As soon as possible, so you may as well put down that chicken sandwich and start now. Not just you though, all of us are going to have to stop eating meat and dairy products if the world has any hope of not going to hell in a hand basket.

What? Did I read that correctly? Of the myriad reasons for veganism, why were investment bankers being urged in that direction? The answer is water, already scarce in some parts of the world, facing increasing demand due to increasing population and affluence, and wasted unconscionably by livestock agriculture. Water is the new oil, a resource that is being alarmingly depleted, yet unlike oil, is absolutely necessary for life.

But if these guys are investment bankers, there must be some way to make money off this advice, right? Are you sitting down for this? If access can be gained to a scarce resource, in this case water, it can be sold at a profit. To keep it profitable over the long term, the investor is continually looking for more water he can buy up and resell, and this is where veganism comes in. If meat consumption drops significantly, more water becomes available to sell--from one part of the world which is--pardon the pun--flush, to another part of the world where water may be desperately needed.

The report concludes by suggesting that meat eating be made illegal. Now that idea is right as rain.

Related Titles

The Practical Peacemaker
How Simple Living Makes Peace Possible
Kate Lawrence

The Fish Stories in the New Testament

(Keith Akers) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:11:33 CST

Jesus disrupting the animal sacrifice business

One of the big problems that people have with the idea that Jesus was a vegetarian is the "fish stories" in the New Testament -- stories in which Jesus distributes fish as food to people, or in one case actually eats fish. If Jesus was a vegetarian, then what are these stories doing in the New Testament?

We can get an important clue as to what they are doing in the New Testament if we take a quick look at what their effect is and has been. From the point of view of a meat-eater, these fish stories are very convenient. Jesus ate fish, therefore eating meat must be all right. The letters of Paul, which predate the gospels by decades, also explicitly reject ethical vegetarianism at several points. "Eat whatever is sold in the meat-market without raising questions of conscience" (I Corinthians 10:25).

Whatever we say about the historical authenticity of these references to eating meat, it's clear what the effect has been: it has been to make ethical vegetarianism a heresy. You can be vegetarian for your health, if you want, but not for ethical reasons. During the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars in the middle ages, suspected heretics were given an animal to kill. If they refused, they were determined to be heretics.

1. Let's start with the one case where Jesus actually eats fish, after his resurrection. (There is a similar passage in John 21:4-13, but in John, Jesus only distributes the fish, he doesn't eat it.)

And he said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do questions rise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have." And while they still disbelieved for joy, and wondered, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them. (Luke 24:38-43, emphasis added)

Historically this passage is suspect right at the outset; the resurrection stories are the latest in the tradition and wildly contradictory to each other. This particular passage in Luke is especially suspect, because Jesus talks to his disciples and wants to convey that he is not a mere spirit (just as in the case of his appearance to "doubting Thomas").

Anyone familiar with the history of early Christianity can immediately see the problem. Some, such as the famous second-century heretic Marcion, had exactly the belief to which Jesus is "replying" -- that Jesus never existed on a physical plane, but was just a spirit or ghost. Most likely, this verse was penned as a specific response to Marcionism, which didn't even become an issue until many decades after Jesus and the original disciples had all passed from the scene. Jesus says he isn't a spirit, and when the disciples still don't believe, only then does he eat the fish, something a ghost could not do. This passage can't be taken seriously as real evidence about the historical Jesus. It is likely written as a response to Marcion and those like him.

2. What about the feeding of the multitudes with bread and fish (Matthew 14:13- 21, 15:32-38 and parallels)? There are many parallel versions of this basic story. Not only is it in the Bible, it is mentioned several times by early church fathers. Ireneaus twice states that Jesus fed the multitudes with bread alone (Against Heresies 2.22.3, 2.24.4). Arnobius also describes this incident without mentioning fish (Against the Heathen 1.46) as does Eusebius (Proof of the Gospel 3.4). Indeed, even Jesus himself, when referring back to this miracle (Matthew 16:9-10), mentions bread but doesn't mention fish.

The bread is everywhere present, but the fish only sometimes. This strongly suggests that the original tradition was about distribution of bread, not bread and fish. In the case of Matthew 16:9-10, the insertion of fish becomes obvious, because the editors of Matthew changed the original story to include fish but forgot to change Jesus' backward reference.

3. "Fish" was a well-known mystical symbol in early Christianity, because the Greek word for "fish" is transcribed "ichthys" or "ichthus," which is an acronym (in Greek) for "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior." Many early writers speak of fish in a clearly symbolic way, e. g. Tertullian On Baptism 1. Because of this, it isn't clear that the original "fish stories" were even intended to be literal accounts of actual events, but were allegories about the distribution of the sacred message. Jesus wasn't distributing physical fish, but rather himself and his message as spiritual food.

So what is the real origin of these fish stories? Rather than fight this issue out on the terrain of historical criticism, I'd suggest that curious students look at the whole controversy about vegetarianism in the early church. We are blessed in this respect: unlike the gospel accounts, where we have second-hand or third-hand stories warmed over and heavily edited, in the authentic letters of Paul we have first-hand accounts from one of the key participants in this dispute. Romans 14, I Corinthians 8 - 10, and Galatians 2 all give accounts of a divisive dispute between Paul and the Jerusalem church (James, Peter, and John) over food. This left Paul isolated from the rest of the church; "even Barnabas was carried away," Paul ruefully admits.

We know that the leader of the early church, James the brother of Jesus, was not only a vegetarian, but was raised a vegetarian, and didn't drink alcohol either (Hegesippus, quoted in Eusbius, Ecclesiastical History 2.23.5-6). It is clear from this and other evidence (discussed in depth in my book, The Lost Religion of Jesus) that there was a group of people in the early church who thought that eating meat was an issue of conscience, and that we should be vegetarians. Otherwise, why would Paul feel the need to "refute" these views? When Paul stresses the need not to offend those who do not eat meat or drink wine (Romans 14:20-21), he is likely referring to James or people like him.

These passages in the New Testament were not just an impartial record of historical events; they were a belated effort to settle a divisive dispute in the early church by incorporating fish stories into the original gospel. In this they were unfortunately rather successful, but as historical evidence it's pretty transparent what their origin was.

Ethical vegetarianism as a "heresy" has survived in numerous forms, all the way from the Jewish Christian Ebionites, down to modern Christian thinkers such as Charles and Myrtle Fillmore (founders of Unity) and Ellen White (founder of the Seventh-day Adventists). If you trace this "heresy" back to its origins, it becomes clear that it comes from Jesus himself, who was killed after entering the temple and disrupting the animal sacrifice business there.

Related Titles

The Lost Religion of Jesus
Simple Living and Nonviolence in Early Christianity
Keith Akers

How to Give All Your Food to the Hungry, and Eat It Too

kate [at] lanternbooks [dot] com (Kate Lawrence) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:21:33 CST

A Practical Peacemaker Ponders . . .

With over seven billion people crowded onto the planet and increasing numbers of them hungry, what can compassionate people do to help? The most important action we can take, beyond being careful not to waste food, is to go vegan, because growing plant foods for direct human consumption is the most efficient use of farmland, water, fuel and other resources. But what if we could make even more food available? Beyond even the efficiency that veganism provides, what if we could make 100% of our food available to the hungry? That is, be able to offer the same amount of food we eat every day to the starving? (In some cases, this might not mean that food would get sent anywhere, but it would free up the resource potential to grow and ship an equal amount of food.) And what if we could compound the additional food with 100% of our water consumption, 100% of the fuel we use for cooking, heating and transportation, 100% of our cars, household appliances, clothing, and everything we use as an average American? Did you ever stop to think that remaining childless does exactly that? Let me explain.

If a typical American couple has two children, each parent has effectively added one more person to the planet. That child, later adult, grows to consume about the same as the parent would, which in the U.S. is much more than most of the world's people can ever hope to enjoy. Although the child eventually replaces the parent, there are an average of 50 years during which both are alive and consuming double what just one of them would. Grandchildren of course add even more. Now let's go back and assume that this couple did not have children. 100% of the resources necessary for two offspring are now not being used, and can ease the stress on the planet and make a better life for people already here.

As practical peacemakers we can, in everyday conversations and blog posts, encourage more people to remain childless, or at least to limit family size. We can strengthen societal approval of the childless and point out the many benefits. We can help deconstruct the belief that childless adults are either deprived or selfish. (For more on this, including research showing that childless marriages are happier, see the chapter on overpopulation in my book The Practical Peacemaker.) In this time of unprecedented droughts and floods that reduce harvests, of food riots, precarious economies leading to increased unemployment, and water scarcity affecting 1.2 billion people (according to the UN), what we do NOT need is unquestioned encouragement of childbearing, especially in the affluent West where each person consumes so much.

I am grateful that by not having any children or grandchildren I continue, every day for decades, to make a profound contribution to the well-being of the planet and our worldwide human family. I invite others to do likewise.

Related Titles

The Practical Peacemaker
How Simple Living Makes Peace Possible
Kate Lawrence

The Commoditization of Paula Deen

(Keith Akers) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:27:56 CST

Photo: Bev
Sykes

Doubtless you have already heard the latest news story, so thick with irony that it is its own satire. Paula Deen, the "queen of butter," not only announces that she has Type 2 Diabetes, but -- wait! there's more! -- announces that she has become a paid spokeswoman for pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk. She's even got a web site to promote her bad habits.

Since the irony will likely be lost on a lot of people, I'll spell it out. This is a perfect example of the commoditization of food, medical care, and information. Things which make good commodities are not necessarily good for us. Paula Deen has now become a commodity, and can't even see it. On the one hand the big corporations sell you the foods that give you diabetes, and on the other they'll also sell you the drugs that will control your diabetes.

Money can sell bad food, bad information, and bad medical care. Good information, good food, and good medical care are not easily made into a commodity, because there aren't that many ways to make a profit on it. You can write some books, I suppose, or maybe invest in broccoli futures, but that's about it. But this is nothing compared to the money to be made by pharmaceutical companies, drugs, big agriculture, and high-powered medicine. And in our society, guess which wins out?

We can only speculate as to why Paula Deen has sold herself out, but the obvious suspicion is that it has something to do with her bank account. The "diabetes-friendly" lasagne recipe she provides gets 2/3 of its calories from protein and fat, has 55 mg of cholesterol per serving, and features 4 1/2 cups of cheese, 2 eggs, and a half pound of beef. It's "diabetes-friendly" all right; I'll bet her diabetes will flourish with it. The recipe and materials, we are told, have been reviewed by "Diabetes Care and Education" -- evidently another organization bought out by the influence of corporate money, which now controls our political system, our medical care, our food, our information, and our entire lives.

A vegan diet can not only treat diabetes, but can actually reverse diabetes. Drugs can sometimes lower blood sugar, but at increased risk of heart attacks and bone fractures. When the American Diabetes Association diet was put head-to-head against a vegan diet in a clinical trial, the trial demonstrated that the vegan diet was clearly superior and actually reversed some cases of diabetes.

Get a grip, Paula. If Bill Clinton can do it, you can do it. Go vegan.

Related Titles

The Lost Religion of Jesus
Simple Living and Nonviolence in Early Christianity
Keith Akers

The Practical Peacemaker
How Simple Living Makes Peace Possible
Kate Lawrence

Challenging the "Religion" of Economic Growth

kate [at] lanternbooks [dot] com (Kate Lawrence) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 11:48:19 CST

Growthbuster Dave Gardner in action against growth profiteers.

A Practical Peacemaker Ponders . . .

For those of us concerned about poverty, environmental degradation, and climate change, the idea that economic growth underlies these problems will probably not come as a surprise. Growth-- higher production of consumer goods, stepped-up extraction of resources, more and bigger houses, freeways and shopping malls--has been accepted almost unconditionally as the best way to run governments and assure prosperity. It is seen as the most potent answer to lifting people out of poverty and assuring full employment. Go out and shop more, we are told. Few people dare to publicly challenge the American religion of growth, and those who do should be read, supported, and discussed.

Or in the case of one new documentary, watched. I'm referring to Growthbusters: Hooked on Growth (remember Ghostbusters?), in which Dave Gardner, a courageous citizen of Colorado Springs, Colorado, becomes sufficiently fed up with the development, congestion, and depletion of resources he sees around him to run for his city council. The film follows his campaign, interspersed with headlines and newsclips from around the world praising growth, and shows the destructive effects of such growth. Gardner keeps it from becoming too heavy with a generous dose of humor; for example, he calls the Pope to offer him Endangered Species condoms.

Growthbusters is effective because it not only provides viewers with the reasons to oppose growth, but shows an average guy stepping forward and challenging his city officials. He comments that his campaign for city council often took him outside his comfort zone, but he did it anyway. I was glad to see a long segment on overpopulation, a subject often considered too controversial to address. I hadn't realized how many countries are actually encouraging couples, by giving tax breaks and bonuses, to have more children--this is madness! A segment on the Transition movement was included, but I would have liked to see more on what a steady-state economy might look like, as well as something on the environmental effects of diet, specifically showing the benefits of plant-based diets. However, the film is still powerful; its message is critically important to share with as many people as possible. Keith and I hosted a screening last night, and attendees were favorably impressed. Here's how to schedule a screening in your area.

Related Titles

The Practical Peacemaker
How Simple Living Makes Peace Possible
Kate Lawrence

Becoming a Short-Story Author

martin [at] lanternbooks [dot] com (Martin Rowe) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:52:12 CST

You gotta start somewhere.

Once a week or so, a friend contacts me and tells me that she or he has written a novel or a bunch of short stories and wonders if I have any advice for them on getting published. I've already written a blog about the novel, but thought I'd put down my thoughts on short stories here.

In a recent issue of Poets & Writers magazine, four editors of literary journals lamented the fact that very few of the many individuals who submit stories or poems to their periodicals were subscribers. What did it say, they wondered, that writers weren't apparently interested in reading what other writers produced and didn't support the very outlets in which they were so eager to be published? None of them had an answer to this discouraging phenomenon.

Centuries ago, literacy rates were so low that writers and readers were few and far between. If you could read and write, you were speaking from and to an elite, and you were likely to be noticed. The rise of the reading public in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries gave writers a much larger audience. Because there were few publishers, the relatively few writers reached quite substantial markets. These days, any fool can set up a publishing concern and write a book, and publish it on demand or electronically. However, the number of readers has not increased much in decades. The result is that lots of writers and outlets are chasing the same number of readers—which means that a book that might have sold 10,000 copies four decades ago now does well to reach 2,000 today.

Given these market realities, then, how should you approach publishing your short stories? In no particular order (and with a pinch of cynicism), here are some options:

Subscribe to literary journals that you want to be published in. Write to the editors; tell them how much you like the work and comment on it; go to the journal's fundraising parties and meet and greet the other authors and editors. Feign interest in others and they may feign interest in you—at least enough to publish you.
Get into an MFA program, where you will have published authors as your advisors. Wine and dine them and show them your work. Make them your mentors, and ask them to write an introductory letter to the journal(s) or their agent on your behalf. Then do as above.
Enter competitions. You will have to spend money. You will lose many, many, many times. But you may win once or twice, and you will be published. This will build your resume with book publishers.
Publish your short stories separately as downloadable e-books. An e-book can be any length. Turn each story into a self-contained unit. You can charge for the download or make it free. Either way, you bypass the publishing gatekeepers. If you "sell" lots of copies, you can then tell a publisher that you've a built-in market. Visit Smashwords for more.
Read your stories aloud. Visit your local bookstore, library, old age persons' home, shopping mall, high school, neighborhood cafe etc. and read your work aloud. Do poetry slams. Invite friends around for an evening. Build your audience. Who knows who might come along as a friend of a friend to take you to the next stage of getting published?
Start your own salon. Tired of not being heard? Create your own salon and invite other people in your same situation to read their work. You'll meet friends, like-minded souls, and maybe an agent or publisher will show up and lift up the light of their countenance upon you.
Record your work. Get a microphone and use your audio recording software on your computer and read your work. Sell or give it away on iTunes or CD Baby. You're building your audience and perhaps making some money on the side. More importantly, your stories are being heard.
Publish the stories yourself. Use xlibris, iUniverse, Lulu, or Author Solutions. You'll have to pay money for typesetting, a cover, and printing anywhere from one to one thousand copies. But you'll have books that you can sell. If you sell thousands, you can approach a "regular" book publisher to take on your costs and risk—and to keep most of the profit.
Take it on the road. If you can afford to take time off and you have the resources, then go on a road trip, reading your work wherever you can. If applicable, create an evening lecture or an all-day or weekend workshop out of it. Become an expert.

Remember: a writer is in the business of communication. It's no longer good enough (if it ever was) for you, like Emily Dickinson, to sit in your house waiting for posterity to shower you with honors. You need to be confident in public, a capable reader/performer, and possessed of a wide and engaged circle of friends/supporters. Somehow the reading public kept their spirits up in spite of the fact that they were unaware of your writing, and they'll probably keep their chins up even after you bring your work into the world. So you need to maximize the number of ways you reach out to (and create) your audience. Be flexible, creative, and committed.

It's finally worth pointing out that only in the rarest of circumstances does the amount of effort, time, and angst you put into a book equal the financial rewards, level of fame, or number of opportunities you'll receive in return. You must write because you feel compelled to: because an idea or character is knocking at the inside of your skull, demanding to be released. There are, to be sure, collateral benefits, but you should not rely on these. Write because you're a writer, and that's what you do.