Angie's Diary

Does Book Marketing Work?

Hank Quense — Sat, 21 Mar 2026 13:05:50 +0000

Does Book Marketing Work?

Marketing a self-published book has a dual purpose, and only one of them concerns actually selling the book. The other goal is to tell people about the book. The reality is this: the day your book became available, thousands of other books did too. Since you are an unknown author (so far!), no one knows about your book, and no one cares that the book is available.

Marketing Effort

This, then, is the marketing situation. You have to tell the world that:

Your book exists and
Make them care enough that they investigate the book and purchase a copy.

Without this marketing effort, your book will languish in the realm of the unknown.

Marketing Tactics

How do you do this? There are many marketing tactics that can be deployed to spread the word about the book. A major problem with initial marketing efforts is deciding which tactics to use and which ones to ignore. A strategic marketing plan is vital to this decision-making. The most important part of the marketing plan is identifying your book's target customer. This information allows your marketing tactics to focus on where to reach those customers. Spending time and money on a gun enthusiast website to reach romance readers is not a good idea. Spending time and money on the general population is also a waste. Only a tiny portion of the general population will have an interest in the topic of your book. Concentrate on finding and reaching that tiny segment.

The Best Time to Start Marketing

Another fundamental question that often comes up is when is the best time to start marketing the book? Of course, the ideal time to begin your marketing efforts is several months before your book becomes available. However, if your book is already out, don't worry. You can still market the book. Actually, it is never too early or too late to start your marketing campaign. So let's get to the crux of the matter. You probably have questions that need answering. Here are two that come up a lot:

Does book marketing work?
Is it worth the time and money?

The answer to both questions is a definite yes.

Your Best Bet

To elaborate, let's compare book marketing to playing the lottery. If you buy a lottery ticket, you have a small, very small chance to win a ton of money. If you don't buy a ticket, you have no chance of winning the money. With book marketing, if you do the marketing stuff, you have a small, very small chance of making a ton of money through your royalties. If you don't do the marketing, you have zero chance of making money on the book. With the lottery, you can also win smaller amounts of cash. So too with book marketing. If you market the book, you may recoup your marketing investment through royalties and perhaps a bit more. So what I'm saying about marketing is that a bit of luck is also required to go along with the hard work. But that's true in almost every endeavor in life.

Conferences and Fairs

You can also influence your luck. How? Consider this. Your chances of getting hit by lightning are minimal, but you can substantially increase those chances by standing in an open field during a thunderstorm while holding a metal rod like a golf club. So, too, you can influence your book marketing luck by attending book conferences and fairs. You can also hang out where agents and publishers gather — either in person or online — which will increase your chances of being noticed.

Landing Page

Another way to increase your "luck" is by creating a great landing page. Think of your Amazon book page here. All your social media activity should be designed to do one thing: deliver visitors to this landing page. It's the landing page's job to sell the book (or not!). Your landing page has three critical elements to sell the book:

The cover
The book blurb
The description

To begin, a bland or generic cover will not impress visitors. When a visitor lands on the Amazon page, she will see at most six lines of text. Those lines have to convince her to click on the "read more" button. That's the job of the book blurb: persuade the visitor to read more. Then the book description sells her on buying the book.

Don't Bore Your Potential Customer

Consequently, this landing page is one of the most valuable market tools you have. However, don't waste this opportunity by using the synopsis as the blurb or description. A synopsis has its uses, but marketing isn't one of them. I've never read a synopsis that didn't bore me to tears. And boring a potential customer isn't wise. You have to use all your creative powers to write a description that convinces a visitor to spend money. So the real question is this: Will you market your book? This then is the reality of book marketing. Not marketing the book really isn't an option unless writing it was a bucket-list project. If your objective in writing the book was to have people buy it and read it, you must market it. Hank Quense has written a book called Book Publishing and Marketing Insights. If you're thinking of self-publishing, you should read this book first. You can download a free copy of the book.

Paratrooper in Algiers

James Strauss — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 03:32:53 +0000

Paratrooper in Algiers

He said he’d been in Algeria. Algiers, Algeria. I’d asked him how a country could have a city named the same thing as the country, but he’d ignored me. He was smoking an ugly-smelling foreign cigarette and wearing a pair of pants that were bloused into shiny black combat boots. Paratrooper boots. “Why are you smoking those here? And why are you wearing those boots?” I’d asked him, as we were standing in the foyer of an expensive restaurant. “Can’t stop. Was there,” he blew out a big puff of obnoxious white smoke, “It was bad. I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t stop. The cigarettes, the boots, they make me feel right.” He’d stared at me, the smoke between us fading slowly away, before finishing our discussion with a question. “I am alright,” he stared for seconds, before going on, “Aren’t I?” I’d been a child when that had happened. I’d never forgotten that man, nor the haunted look of his deep black eyes. But it was the tone of his voice that had indelibly burned everything else into my young mind. It had a dark, pathos-driven despair. The tone had riveted my attention, like the deep single play of a very low piano note. Although I’d not forgotten that time, I'd never associated it with it. I looked down at my boots. Desert boots. The new cool ones. The ones with inserts. Not like the old French Paratroopers. His had been polished to a high shine. My desert boots would never know the touch of anything except a brush. They were the most comfortable things I’d ever worn on my feet, which was why I always used them. Sitting alone on the park bench, my long legs sprawled out before me, I breathed out slowly, watching the smoke play down over them. I ground out the cigarette, not even half done, on the stone handle of the bench. It’d been years since the war. The wars. First Vietnam, then Desert Storm, and finally Afghanistan, with a few inconsequential actions in between. I’d been tested several times for post-traumatic stress. I didn’t have it. I shifted uncomfortably on the bench, looking down at my watch. I had twenty minutes before I went on. I was going to give a speech in front of a thousand people, about life. About truth, lies, justice, and mythology. I’d become a published author of thriller novels. And here I was sitting on a park bench in a public park, wearing an expensive suit, desert combat boots, and smoking a cigarette. Smoking was totally stupid, and I knew it. The boots were so out of place with the suit and the occasion that they did not bear consideration. I field-stripped the cigarette and tossed its remnants into the warm Santa Fe winds of autumn. I was wearing the boots and smoking because those things made me feel right. I closed my eyes, trying to keep my world from spinning about me. I felt the wind sweep across my body, then die out to sudden stillness. I saw myself standing in a foyer, looking down at a little boy. “I’m alright, aren’t I?” I whispered, but the boy just looked back at me, his eyes large, his body motionless.

Reality Cheque

Maya Kavita — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 22:18:55 +0000

Reality Cheque

When I first thought of writing novels, I imagined myself like John Grisham, Stephen King, Patricia Cornwell, and other authors who'd been obscenely successful. I'd read somewhere that Grisham had moved out of state to get away from his fans. And that King lives in a gated complex on the coast of Maine. And Cornwell has an estate in the southern US. that is so massive it looks like the setting for a Danielle Steel novel. Oh yeah, she's obscenely successful, too. So tell me, how many of you writers out there have practiced your Oprah interview in the hope that a miracle might happen? I think it was much easier for those who started their careers decades ago, when the market wasn't super-saturated and when the web hadn't democratized writing to the point where anyone and their cousin could be an author But there endeth the whining. These days, in the new reality, there are so many books available in so many formats, marketed independently through the mainstream. And through various combinations of both indie and mainstream authors wanting to make their fortunes, or even make a decent living, should take note of the recent royalty figures posted on one of my favorite websites, by UK blogger, BubbleCow. Note that the conversion rate these days is about 1.5 Canadian dollars to the British pound. I doubt that the numbers are much different anywhere else in the world. Writers are looking at royalties of less than $2 per paperback book, and if what I've been told is true, and a bestseller in Canada is only 5,000 copies, I'm looking at a max of $10,000 for a year's work. I'd be much better off financially as a Walmart greeter. When I saw this link about royalties, as tweeted by @BubbleCow, I retweeted: "You gotta just love to write..." Do you?

Slavko Ray – Author Interview

Paul Collins — Tue, 02 Dec 2025 14:52:33 +0000

Slavko Ray

Slavko Ray, author of “When Cheers Are Not Enough.” Slavko Ray taught and coached secondary school students for twenty-eight years. A father of two, he is now retired and lives with his wife Christine in Erin, Ontario. When Cheers Are Not Enough is his debut novel.

Tell us about your background. Who are you, and where are you from?

My parents immigrated to Canada from a region in Yugoslavia that is now Slovenia in the 1950s. They settled in Hamilton, Ontario, which is where I was born, a kid brother to two older sisters. When I was seven, the family moved out of the city to Stoney Creek, into a neighbourhood that would be my home for the next twenty-odd years, bordered by farms of the Niagara fruit belt to the east, the Niagara Escarpment to the south, and the Lake Ontario shoreline to the north. My educational pursuits resulted in a Classical Animation diploma and a bachelor’s degree in Physics—Ed, and in Education. Soon after embarking on a career as a high school teacher, I met a lovely and talented chemistry teacher named Christine (who taught down the hall), and she eventually agreed to be my partner for life. Thirty years of marriage later, we have raised two bright and beautiful kids (Lucy and Ben) and are now settled into retirement, keeping busy with Gibson, our cattle dog, on eight acres of property in Erin, Ontario.

Tell us about your book and what inspired you.

The thought of writing a book like “When Cheers Are Not Enough” was just a bit of fancy after I retired in 2017, and it wasn’t until I attended the Toronto Raptors championship parade two years later and witnessed first-hand the passion of the city for its team that I was inspired to tackle such a project. The story depicts a year in the lives of four high school teachers, Baker, Conrad, Angus, and Masaccio, who occasionally meet to jam as a crude alt-rock garage band. They are also diehard fans of the Toronto Mighty Pines, a once-dynastic hockey franchise now mired in a fifty-seven-year Cup drought. Unwilling to stand idly by and watch another year of failure, the weekend rockers resolve to take their fandom to the next level by engaging in some amateur witchcraft. They enlist the vocal talents of a new teacher, Perreault, and restyle themselves as a musical coven. By transforming song lyrics into hockey spells, they create a magical playlist of tunes that call on supernatural forces to help with their hockey woes. But the question of whether performing song spells has a greater impact than chanting “Go Pines, go” can only be answered by how the Mighty Pines fare during what will prove to be an erratic and unpredictable 2019-2020 season.

What themes does your book explore, and what do you hope the readers will take away from this interview?

“When Cheers Are Not Enough” takes a light-hearted approach to what is, at its core, an exploration of the Canadian hockey-fan phenomenon. The main characters are just such fans, faithful and loyal to their team. They cherish every game along the journey to what they hope ends in a Cup, because they recognize that it’s the ordinary moments that can combine to make the overall experience more meaningful (unlike the contingent of fair-weather fans who dismiss the regular season and look beyond it to the playoffs). My hope is for the reader to understand and relate to the characters as they stick it out through a long season, juggling hope and heartache along the way. In fact, there is a moment in the story where a reference is made to the Book of Ecclesiastes and how we are reminded to treasure the wonders of each passing day - or, in the case of the hockey fan, each passing game, regardless of whether the games are played in January or June. That lesson is summed up in three words: “Enjoy it now.”

What prompted you to be an author, and were you influenced by a particular person, artist, or genre?

I always had a healthy respect for the printed word. Reading was never a chore for me as a kid, so long as I maintained my subscription to “Sports Illustrated”, my weekly font of information and inspiration. When, in college, I was struck with an urge to sample the classics, I turned to Melville, Shelley, Dostoevsky, and Flaubert, to name a few. At present, I find Umberto Eco to be an esoteric hoot, and anything by Annie Proulx is simply awesome. But my true inspiration - at the risk of sounding prosaic - would be “sports” in general. In my formative years, not a season went by without me playing and competing in some sport. And I never discriminated; hockey, basketball, football, swimming, wrestling... they all were equally worthy of my time. Unfortunately, while I can admit to having been a pretty good athlete, true stardom eluded me. I was the proverbial Jack of all trades and master of none, which probably explains why I devoted so many hours in my adult years to coaching. It brings to mind that brilliant line: “Those who can’t do, teach; and those who can’t teach, teach gym.” Funny enough, the line describes me perfectly. To wit, I spent 28 years as a high school teacher, and for many of those years, you guessed it, I taught Physics. Ed.

If you could compare your book to any other existing works, which ones would they be, and why?

Because of the role otherworldly spirits play in my story, an obvious comparison is to W. P. Kinsella’s “Shoeless Joe”. However, in making that comparison, one would need to reimagine Kinsella’s classic not as an ode to America and baseball, but as an ode to Canada and our cherished pastime of hockey. Otherwise, I would like to think of my book as something that stands alone in its depiction of sports fandom by combining ice hockey with alt-rock music, coven magic, spectral entities, and even a bit of romance.

How can your readers contact you? Or buy your books?

I can be contacted via e-mail at slavkoray@gmail.com, or people can check out my Instagram site @slavkoraywrites. “When Cheers Are Not Enough” is available in hardcover, paperback, and e-book formats through the FriesenPress Bookstore, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Indigo. Alternatively, if you prefer a signed copy, e-mail me directly, and I will arrange delivery. Thanks so much for this, Paul. It was a blast.

The End Of Grammar As We Know It

Maya Kavita — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 13:48:23 +0000

The End of Grammar

"Is is" is making a comeback of sorts, and Warren Clements of the Globe and Mail is careful to document its use in a recent article (link below). Grammar! What it is is the bane of the writer's (and the talker's) existence. To use it correctly or to use it the way you feel like using it is less a question of proper English anymore, but rather a question of who cares anyway. The thing is, we don't care. But the corollary to the thing is is that if we don't care about the grammar, then we also don't care about the meaning we lose when we lose the grammar. Might as well lose the spelling while we're at it. And dump context, relevance, all initial capitals, and punctuation, and use parts of speech interchangeably (as in verb the nouns and noun the verbs). Keeping this post short today. I can't be any cleverer with this stuff. Can't bring me to mess with our language, except in error. I'll leave it to Michelle Obama and others to carry the torch for its is-ing, and I'll go back to Strunk and White. Have a good day. Say what you mean and mean what you say.

Main Themes

Playful use of “is is.” The repetition of “is” highlights how grammar quirks can become normalized, even celebrated, despite seeming awkward.
Grammar is both a bane and a necessity. The author admits grammar frustrates writers and speakers, yet also acknowledges that abandoning it risks losing meaning.
Indifference toward rules. The piece suggests that many people don’t care about grammar anymore, which raises the question: if grammar is ignored, does communication itself suffer?
Slippery slope of neglect. By joking about discarding spelling, punctuation, and even parts of speech, the author warns that language could collapse into chaos if rules are abandoned entirely.
Respect for tradition. Despite the playful tone, the closing nod to Strunk and White (classic grammar authorities) shows a lingering respect for structure and clarity.

Does it Matter?

Language evolves: New forms of expression (like “is is”) reflect cultural shifts, but they also challenge traditionalists.
Balance is key: Total rigidity stifles creativity, while total disregard erodes meaning.
Humor as critique: The piece uses irony and exaggeration to spark reflection on how much grammar really matters.

Takeaway

The essay isn’t just about grammar—it’s about communication and meaning. If we dismiss grammar entirely, we risk losing the precision that allows us to “say what we mean and mean what we say.” Yet, the playful tone reminds us that language is also alive, flexible, and fun.

Carl Jung’s Journey to Find His Soul

Barbara Garro — Sat, 22 Nov 2025 12:49:02 +0000

Carl Jung's Journey

Title: Carl Jung's Amazing Diary Over Decades Chronicling His Journey to Find His Soul Liber Novus (New Book) (The Red Book) C.G. Jung, introduced by Sonu Shamdasani Half of this oversize red leather-bound Liber Novus (New Book) is devoted almost entirely to C.G. Jung's Oil and Watercolor fantasy painting from his awake, conscious explorations. Although the first half of the book, which includes the majority of the paintings, is in German, the second half is in English. I can tell you I was in heaven looking at these original Psyche Paintings of Jung for the first time. I hope you will let me know what you think once you have a chance to read this book. If you are an artist, it is a must-buy! Liber Novus, written before 1930 and not published until 2009, spans several years and offers insight into the foundational beginnings of personality analysis and other scholarly work, especially the individuation process. If that were all, that would be plenty. But Jung also speaks out loud about his own personal psychoanalysis process, his own hard-scrabble individuation process, and shares wonderful paintings of his fantasies. Take a walk inside the inquiring mind of Carl Jung. For me, the same INTJ Myers-Briggs type as Jung and Jungian scholar, this proved so enlightening, it took me inside my own mind in an eerily correct mirror. So many people, known concepts and familiar understanding for me, like a walk on a pre-prepared path. Delicious, like St. Paul’s Philemon, somehow connected to Elijah from Jesus’ transfiguration. Throughout Liber Novus, you will see the emergence of Jung’s beginnings of his psychological types and archetypes. Jung came from a Christian family, his father a pastor. So, do you have to understand the Bible to read the book? It helps. For example, in one Jung fantasy, he has Salome blind and with Elijah, when in reality, Salome, who danced for Herod and requested the head of John the Baptist be brought to her on a plate when Herod told her she could ask for anything because he enjoyed her dancing so, was actually the daughter of Herodotus. In Jung’s fantasy, a cross had Elijah at the top, representing rational thinking, and Salome at the bottom, representing feeling. The left cross beam represented the irrational interior, and the right cross beam represented the Serpent thinking sensation (inferior). Still, the dictionary, and I used it many times, especially words no longer in common usage, can enable you to read the book without worry, if you are willing to go the extra step of looking things up. Imagine traveling with Jung as he actively tries to reconnect with his soul and gain wisdom stored in the unconscious. Jung speaks of Logos, the spiritual principle and an old man who represents understanding, insight, foresight, legislation, and wisdom, and Eros as a maiden, the unspiritual principle of feeling. Within this purposely unscholarly volume, you will find dialogs about Jung’s inner state/s. St. Ignatius of Loyola’s fifth spiritual exercise instructs one to see with the eyes of the imagination the length, depth, and breadth of hell. Instructions: empty the consciousness, go under it. Beneath the threshold of consciousness, everything is animated in what Jung eventually named the collective unconscious.

Want to do your own paintings?

Get into this huge Red Book bound in red leather, hence the nickname that stuck, and a first look at the interior disclosure paintings. These alone, especially for this artist, occupied hours. Jung, although he never seemed to consider himself such, was an incredible artist, creating abstract images, for the most part, with phenomenal detail, pure originality, drawing and color skills—delightful to experience! Let me call your attention to Jung’s artwork on pages 79, 88-89, 105, the mandala on page 107, pages 115, 119, the gemstone on page 121, the mandala of Christ on page 127, the defiant snake on page 129, the mosaic head on page 133, the most amazing page 135…. Jung says next to the painting on page 154, The Bhagavad-Gita says: “whenever there is a decline of the laws and an increase of iniquity/then I put forth myself: for the resource of the powers and for the destruction of the evildoers/for the establishment of the law I am born in every age.” I see Jesus preaching on page 155. What will you see? Jung’s painting shows highly developed technical skills and proficiency, painting in both oil and watercolor. These paintings represent Jung’s fantasies—the myth-creating function of the mind. Here is Jung’s way to move into active imagination, a far superior introspective tool than passive dreaming, a conscious way of entering the unconscious realms more purposefully, targeted, and elucidating than dreams.

Empty the mind to produce a vacuum in the consciousness
Concentrate on a particular mood
Attempt to become as conscious as possible of all fantasies and associations that come up in connection with it
Allow whatever fantasy free play without departing from the initial effect in a free association process
Should lead to a concrete or symbolic expression of the targeted mood nearer to consciousness, making it more understandable
Draw, paint or sculpt the fantasy a) Visuals will see the inner image b) Auditories will hear inner words c) Kinesthetics can access through automatic writing or with a planchette (used with or without a Ouija board) to facilitate automatic writing
Experience an inner dialog to widen consciousness.

Clearly, these images occur outside the rational, conscious mind. Soul gives rise to images that were assumed to be worthless from the rational perspective, and there are five ways of using them—

Make use of them artistically if that is your gift
Please make use of them in philosophical speculation
Please make use of them in a quasi-religious way (this could lead to heresy and the founding of sects)
Empty the dynamics of these images and squander it in every form of licentiousness.
Please make use of them psychologically, which distinguishes them from art, philosophy, and religion.

Of course, writing this book over nearly two decades, Jung also worked. For example, in 1913-14, Jung saw about 5-7 clients a day, five days a week. Indeed, the connection and disconnection with Freud were mentioned. Freud’s analytic-reductive method was based on causality, and Jung felt it showed only half the picture. Jung used the constructive process of the Zurich school, which showed the whole of it. Life is lived anew, so it cannot be understood merely retrospectively. KEY: How, out of this present psyche, can a bridge be built into its own future? Imagine, after the assassination on June 28^th of Archduke Franz Ferdinand until the outbreak of war on August 1, 1914, Jung described having the feeling that he was an over-compensated psychosis—33 days! There are personal dreams and what Jung called “big” dreams that relate to the world at large. Also, private fantasies and public event fantasies, which Jung called “active imagination.” Psychotics experience these but are unable to integrate them and get swallowed up by them. Imagine also a being part God, part human, part animal land consider which one rules at any given time. (Appendix C of the Red Book) Below you, serpent; within you, man; and above you, God. Jung says of the afterlife—to him for whom solitude is Heaven, he goes to Heaven; to him for whom it is Hell, he goes to Hell. (Appendix C) Here, you get to look at the personal unconscious together with other conscious elements, the impersonal unconscious or collective psyche. So Jung presents people with three parts of knowing, the self, the conscious, and the personal unconscious acquired during a lifetime (the I), and the impersonal unconscious or the collective psyche inherited (the non-I). This can explain twins separated at birth meeting decades later wearing similar clothes and liking similar foods, things, and preferences. We stand between two worlds: external perceptions (rational) and the perception of the unconscious (irrational). Symbolic art can contain the rational and irrational. One more part of our personal self is the persona or the person we create and choose to present to others, our mask or chosen role on the stage, or our life that somehow arises out of the collective psyche. Individuation is achieved through a synthesis of the individual with the collective psyche, revealing the individual's lifeline. Jung called the anima (how the collective unconscious sees the subject) a counterpart to the persona. Anima-male’s female soul. Animus-female’s masculine soul. Jung’s fantasies, he claimed, came out of his inherited collective psyche—I-center of the field of consciousness a complex among other complexes, different from the self. The self-subject of a person’s totality includes the unconscious psyche, so the I is included in the self. Jung equated Hindu Brahman/Atman with the Self.

Women IQ vs. Marriage Prospects

Angelica Pastorelli — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 23:46:02 +0000

Women IQ

While it is an asset for men, a high IQ is a hindrance for women wanting to get married, according to a study by four British universities. The study found the likelihood of marriage increased by 35 percent for boys for each 16-point increase in IQ. But for girls, there is a 40 percent drop for each 16-point rise, according to the survey by the universities of Aberdeen, Bristol, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. The study is based on the IQs of 900 men and women between their 10th and 40th birthdays. "Women in their late 30s, who have gone for careers after the first flush of university, and who are among the brightest of their generation, are finding that men are just not interesting enough," psychologist and professor at Nottingham University, Paul Brown, said. Claire Rayner, writer and broadcaster, says that intelligent men often prefer a less brainy partner. "A chap with a high IQ is going to get a demanding job that is going to take up a lot of his energy and time," she said. "In many ways, he wants a woman who is an old-fashioned wife and looks after the home, a copy of his mum in a sense." The study has been published in the British Sunday Times newspaper. This study is fascinating but also controversial, because it touches on the intersection of intelligence, gender roles, and social expectations. Let me break it down clearly:

Key Findings from the Study

Conducted by four British universities (Aberdeen, Bristol, Edinburgh, and Glasgow).
Sample size: 900 men and women, tracked between ages 10 and 40.
Results:
- For men: every 16-point IQ increase → 35% higher likelihood of marriage.
- For women: every 16-point IQ increase → 40% lower likelihood of marriage.
Suggests that intelligence is perceived differently in the marriage market depending on gender.

Expert Commentary

Paul Brown (psychologist, Nottingham University):
- Highly educated women in their late 30s often find men “not interesting enough.”
- Implies that career-driven, intelligent women may struggle to find partners who match their intellectual and emotional expectations.
Claire Rayner (writer/broadcaster):
- Intelligent men often prefer less brainy partners.
- Reason: demanding jobs drain energy, so they seek traditional partners who manage the home — “a copy of his mum.”

Social & Cultural Context

These findings reflect traditional gender norms:
- Men’s intelligence is seen as an asset (linked to career success, status).
- Women’s intelligence is sometimes framed as a “threat” to traditional roles.
The study was published in the Sunday Times, which often reports on social trends with a provocative angle.
Critics argue such interpretations risk reinforcing outdated stereotypes rather than recognizing evolving dynamics in modern relationships.

Modern Perspectives

More recent research suggests:
- Marriage rates are influenced by education, career choices, and social expectations, not just IQ.
- Intelligent women may delay marriage for career or personal growth, but this doesn’t necessarily mean they are less likely to marry overall.
- In societies with more gender equality, the link between women’s intelligence and marriage likelihood is weaker or disappears.

Thought-Provoking Angle

This study raises a deeper question: Is the issue really women’s intelligence, or is it society’s perception of gender roles?

If men feel threatened by intelligent women, that says more about cultural conditioning than about women themselves.
As norms shift, intelligence in women is increasingly valued in relationships — not seen as a hindrance.

Reference

Why brainy women stay single Wise Men Are Open-Minded, Smart Women Aren't Does being smart and successful lower your chances of getting married?

In the Streets We Marched

Allen Forrest — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 17:42:39 +0000

In the Streets We Marched

In the streets with our signs—we marched. It felt good to let off some steam, a symbolic rant, our feet moving us onward, our signs swaying back and forth. We were few at the beginning and we never grew enough, but—we marched. Wherever we looked, we saw them, like deer in the headlights. They didn't know. They went along to get along with the majority, their peers, their bosses, family members, and officials. They did what they were told—we marched. Through a large intersection, they watched us from all corners, all sides, We chanted in unison- “Wake up, wake up, wake up!” They just stared like zombies. Some got angry, shook their fists, gave us the finger. Some called us crazy—we marched. They wore them, all of them. I wouldn't, couldn't, wear one. I thought it was evil, sick, a sociopathic lie. They pushed them on everyone, arrested or ticketed those who wouldn't wear one. They lived in fear and acted accordingly—we marched. We were so few in number, so outnumbered, we thought more would join. Slowly, a few more woke up and did join us—but still not enough. Our spirit had to make up for it, no matter how hopeless it looked—we marched. Every week we met and resolved to try again, and again, and again. The government called us names, the media made fun of us. We were out on a limb, the very edge. We had slogans and truisms that poked a hole in the official story—we marched. It went on for years, it went on until the majority's beliefs started to tear at the seams, fall apart. Instead of a victory for us, it was seen as a threat, we were demonized, demoralized, defunded, defrauded, and denied. It made the government mad, the media increased its attack—we marched. The atmosphere slowly changed. Restrictions lessened. The majority were told they could take them off. That they were allowed to breathe again. That they were allowed to resume normal programming. That they were allowed to be allowed. We slowly stopped rallying, less came, and less, until it was just a small core of us. As I look back on that time, I am glad of one thing—we marched.

The Scoop

Allen Forrest — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 15:53:00 +0000

The Scoop

The Karate tournament, a few weeks away, was on Byron's and his classmates' minds. Their instructor, a dark-haired, handsome man in his late 30s who resembled a Hawaiian Vic Morrow, Master Rueter, gave them the lowdown on who they would be fighting against. “They have a much different style than our Goju Kai. It's called Shotokan. They practice less kata and more fighting. They're well known for their powerful flying footwork. So, I am going to teach you a countermove. I call it the scoop-kick.” The students began practicing this counter move over and over until it became a reflex action for powerful kicks coming their way. In fact, the scoop-kick became a regular part of their training routine leading up to the tournament. This counter move consisted of your arm scooping down in a circular motion. Then using your fist you'd catch your opponent's kicking foot under their heel guiding it away from you while planting a counter strike to your opponent’s exposed mid-section. The power the opponent put into their kick was used against them. Byron wondered if he could make it work in a real fight. He was soon to find out. The day of the tournament, Byron arrived on time and ready. His father had reluctantly driven him across the bridge into Seattle on his Saturday off. Byron's father didn't come in to watch his son fight; instead, he went to the local University Library to do some reading. Byron didn't take it too hard. His father and he didn't always get along. So he said nothing, but thanks for driving him there. The tournament was being held in the large university auditorium. There were many Karate schools from all over the northwest of the U.S. and the southwest of Canada. Byron went into the locker room to get into his Gi. He was a green belt. He wore a fabric brace on his right wrist, which was sore from fights in the last couple of weeks. He thought about this vulnerability and decided to put the wrist support on his opposite uninjured wrist, so if his opponent decided to attack the bandaged injury, it would be the good wrist instead. The first matches were about to begin. Byron checked in for his age group: 14 years old. He would be paired with another young fighter. The fighting began. Byron found watching the other style of Karate interesting, and how some fighters were more aggressive than others, and one so aggressive that he actually kicked his opponent in the balls, who let out a blood-curdling scream and fell to the ground. Byron was glad he was wearing a jock strap with a cup to protect himself. After a while, Byron felt Mother Nature calling. Should he take a pee or hold it? He decided to go to the bathroom. When he got back, he found himself standing there for quite some time. He decided to check on the fighting order and when he was scheduled to fight. The referee checked the list of young fighters and said. “Byron Woods? We already called your name. You missed your fight. We paired your opponent with another boy.” Of all the bad luck, Byron thought. He inquired if there wasn't any way to fight. “We could pair you with an adult. Sit tight and wait for your name to be called,” said the referee. Byron waited. It was about 30 minutes before they worked him in. He went to the floor area were the match would be fought. His opponent wasn't in sight. Then a door opened and in walked a tall, wiry man in his mid-30s, an Australian from Canada. They stood opposite one another and bowed—Byron, 5'9”, 135 pounds vs. Australian 6'5”, 190 pounds. The match began. The first move the Australian made was one of their Karate style's famous flying rooster kicks. He sprang into mid-air and launched himself 6 feet across the match area with his right leg extended. The ball of his foot struck into Byron and sent him flying across to the other side of the floor. Wow, Byron thought. This guy isn't shy about attacking. Byron immediately got back up on his feet. He was lucky, not injured, just shaken up. The two opponents continued to maneuver with the occasional strike and counter strike, but the stalking of each other was much more apparent. Byron sensed a mean streak in this man and kept alert for his next kick. It was a while before it came, but when it did, it was not a flying kick but a hard straight thrust at Byron's torso. This time, Byron was ready. Just as his instructor had taught him, his right arm quickly curved down, and his clenched fist caught under the Australian's heel and guided it away from making contact, and his opponent went flying onto his rear end. Byron moved in for the strike to his midsection. Byron was on one knee, driving several punches into the other man while he was frantic, trying to maneuver away. It was a surprise for everyone watching. His older classmates in the stand cheered. The desperate look on the Australian's face said it all. He certainly wasn't expecting to have the tables turned. Soon, the opponent was back on his feet, but this time, he was the one who was shaken up. Now the stalking took on a more careful and crafty dimension. The Australian did not exude confidence at the start of the match, but he was no less determined to inflict pain on his opponent. Both fighters were locked in a staring contest. Circling and breathing hard, trying to dodge each other's attempts to strike. After a while, the referee called for a timeout. This was rare for the two opponents to take a rest in the middle of a match, but they both got down on folded knees with backs to one another for a few minutes. Then the referee signaled to get up and resume the match. The two opponents continued to stalk and circle one another. Byron was mainly waiting for the Australian to try another of his powerful kicks, but he was not kicking anymore, just punching. For the most part, Byron did the same; only occasionally did he try a kick, but the Australian always moved out of the way. The rest of the match was not very exciting for the audience in the bleachers, but it was filled with tension. Finally, the referee called the match over and announced the Australian had won by more points. It was that first kick he landed at the beginning of the match, Byron thought. He also thought it was a bit unfair since he did that counter move, the scoop-kick, and landed a few punches. He felt it was closer to a tie, but not according to the referee. The following week, their instructor stood before the class and reviewed the tournament's results. He was generally happy except about Byron missing his scheduled match and said so with his usual humorous sarcasm. Byron didn't know what to say, so he kept quiet, but deep down, he thought: I fought a man twice my age and size. I even used the counter move successfully in a real match. It was exciting and challenging to fight someone larger and older. Byron had been rather brave considering the odds. Too bad his instructor didn't see it that way.

Interchanging Poetry – A New Poetic Genre

Mac McGovern — Sat, 05 Jul 2025 02:27:41 +0000

[caption id="attachment_108497" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Photo by Yaroslav Shuraev[/caption]

Interchanging Poetry

Poetry is the absolute beauty of the human heart, expressing emotion in a form that delights and leaves the reader with a sense of contentment on one end and a feeling of remorse on the other. No other form of writing has the ability and power to evoke the emotions created through poetry. There are more than sixty different forms of poetry commonly used today. Many forms from the Old World have been Americanized to suit the American style of writing. Interchanging Poetry is a narrative combining poetry with discussion, debate, dialogue, or description, using the poetry to emphasize the narrative. It is a new form of poetry that develops by interchanging literary devices to enhance poetic discourse. Generally, writers will incorporate a poem into their article, publication, or book to make a point or site as a reference. This is standard practice, giving the author of the poetry proper credit. This is not a common practice among poets, who write specific forms of poetry following established poetic formats. Often, poets wish they had a methodology to explain why they wrote a particular poem or as a follow-up to their thought process in creating the poem. When you write using the Interchanging Poetry format, you extend your ability to expound on the meaning behind the words written as poetic expression, giving the reader a greater insight into the wonderful world of what the mind conceived and has achieved through poetry. In developing this form, these qualifiers for identifying a work as Interchanging Poetry: (1) The entire work must be the original work of the author. (2) There must be an interchange folding the poetry into the narrative. (3) The poetry must enhance the theme. It may be any form desired. (4) Interchanging Poetry may be of any length and use as many poems as desired. (5) References may be cited if a quote or definition is used. When I write poetry, I usually do not feel compelled to explain why I wrote the piece. However, there are times I decide to write about a theme I believe needs clarification, and I can use narrative and poetry combined to bring power to my writing. One of the first interchanging Poetry poems written was about Breast Cancer. I had written several pieces related to the subject, but I never expressed how I felt or the impact of Cancer on my life. The following is a sample of my first attempt: Most people either know someone or know of someone who has suffered from Breast Cancer. Within my family, in the Navy, and my business career, I have known several courageous women diagnosed with this horrific disease. All decided to undergo a surgical procedure, from lymph node dissection to a mastectomy. Thankfully, all are survivors over 5 years; the longest post-surgery is 40 years, which speaks volumes for advances in treatment. The Scar is a poem about meeting someone, falling in love, marrying, being diagnosed with Breast Cancer, and seeing cancer not as an end, but as a new beginning. I write poetry about Breast Cancer from my perspective as a male and my belief most men respond in a like manner. The Long Ride is a reflection of The Scar from a different perspective, and Walk With Me is a poem of love and a journey to understanding. Rounding out this series of poems is my personal favorite, Love Remains True.

The Scar

When first we met, I marveled at your flawless flesh; nary a wrinkle or blemish did offset. Until cancer took your breast, leaving a scar, as obvious as a mountain range upon your once flawless flesh. The scar, a reminder of what had been and a symbol, not of an end, but a new beginning of life again.

The Long Ride

It is not an outward appearance whereby love does survive it is inner beauty takes love for the long ride You can see how poetry has been interchanged to clarify the meaning of the narrative, informing the reader why these poems are important. No longer does the reader need to question the meaning of the poem; it is understood. This is a partial sample of the original title, "Breast Cancer, A Poetic Expression." Interchanging poetry is fun to write. As a genre that can be used to teach both sentence structure and poetic expression to our youth, as well as increase appreciation for the beauty that is Poetry, it requires little practice to become proficient. Your readers will appreciate your thoughts as you write the poetry that expresses your innermost thoughts.

The Transformative Power of Respect and Humility

Neidy Lozada MATP — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 17:04:54 +0000

[caption id="attachment_108486" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Photo by Molly Champion[/caption]

The Transformative Power of Respect and Humility

I recently returned to Puerto Rico to visit my 81-year-old mother. The plane landed at night, and as I stepped into the heavy warmth of the Caribbean air, I knew—before anything else—that it would not be long before I heard the sound my soul had been longing for. The song of the coquí. That sacred sound is more than nostalgia. It is a homecoming. As I walked toward my sister's door, bags in hand and heart wide open, a coquí greeted me from the shadows. I stopped. I smiled. I listened. Then I danced—just a little—emulating its call, letting its music move through me. My sister opened the door, and I fell into her arms, laughing, still echoing that song. The coquí had welcomed me home; its song was not just a sound but a living thread that connected me to my past, my present, and my future. This is the kind of reverence we carry for our land. For its sounds. For its soul. I was born in Puerto Rico and lived there for 41 of the 62 years I have walked this Earth. The coquí's call is not just ambient noise from the trees—it is a rhythm etched into our bones. For those of us who now live away from the Island, it is the sound we seek as soon as we return. It signals that we are home—that we are safe, that we belong. Puerto Rico itself is a masterpiece—one of stunning beauty and unimaginable endurance. Our lush rainforests and winding rivers are cradles of life. Our beaches gleam like a painter's palette, kissed by waves that carry our secrets. The land is alive, breathing history through stone and soil, through roots and rain. The coquí, tiny and defiant, is its pulse. And our people? We are light and fire, rhythm, and soul. We are the descendants of the Taíno, whose wisdom still lingers in our plants, our rituals, our stars. We are forged from African strength, shaped by Spanish colonialism, and burdened—still—by the complexities of our relationship with the United States. This is where the story deepens. And darkens. Puerto Rico's history is not just beautiful—it is battered. Our lands were taken. Our autonomy stripped. We have been ruled without true representation, manipulated economically, and treated as expendable in countless ways. We were handed from one colonizer to another, our sovereignty the price of foreign convenience. Even today, our people are still burdened by external control over our economy, politics, and identity. Yet still, we rise. We rise through hurricanes—natural and political. We rise through diaspora, creating beauty wherever we plant ourselves. We rise with music, with protest, with prayer. And in our rising, we often extend hospitality—because our culture teaches us to welcome. To feed. To offer our best. But hospitality is not submission. And reverence should never be mistaken for silence. Recently, a tourist took to Reddit, seeking advice on how to kill the coquí because its song was "too loud" at night. They were staying on our land, breathing our air, enjoying our views—and yet, they were disturbed by the very song that defines this place. This is not just an ignorant question. It is a transgression. A desecration of something sacred. The coquí is not just a frog. It is not a nuisance. It is a symbol. A living memory. The voice of a people who have survived erasure after erasure and still find ways to sing. To want to silence the coquí is to echo the colonial impulse—to quiet what is native, what is alive, what is inconvenient to one's comfort. Tourists are, by definition, guests. And guests must know: you are stepping into a space that existed long before you. A space that has a spirit, a language, and a story. You do not get to rewrite it. You do not get to silence it. You get to listen. And if you are wise, you let it change you. You are not here to conquer or control but to appreciate and learn. You are here to hear the coquí, not to silence it. Respect is not a courtesy—it is a transformative force. And humility is not weakness—it is wisdom in motion. When you approach another culture, another land, or another history with these two values as your compass, you do not diminish what is sacred. You elevate your soul by standing in awe of what you do not yet understand. This is the path to true enlightenment and introspection. Come to Puerto Rico, yes. But come with reverence. Come knowing that you are entering a sacred space. Come with curiosity, not conquest. Come to learn, not to dominate. Come to hear the coquí, not to silence it. Because the coquí was singing long before you arrived. And God willing, it will still be singing long after you leave. And if you listen—really listen—you might just hear something more than a sound. This act of listening is not passive; it is an active engagement with the culture and history of Puerto Rico. You might hear the heartbeat of a people. You might hear the song of the land itself. And you might, if you are humble enough, remember what it means to belong. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luhtkxJ7ynA[/embed]

Private Equity Using Back Floating Rate Loans to kill Business

Paul Collins — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 13:02:36 +0000

Private Equity Using Back Floating Rate Loans to Kill Business

“For movie theaters, for the communal experience” is “an outmoded idea,” Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos told Time Magazine, “I think it is — for most people, not for everybody," he would add...........or how about..........“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” Thomas Watson, president of IBM, said in 1943. By the way, does everyone not know that top executives and CEOs earn $ 200 million per year, including a golden parachute? I'll give corporate corruption one ounce of credit: they know how to make a lot of money, and that's it. In 2008, bankers and hedge fund owners bankrupted the world’s economy by making unethical bets, and they didn’t even hide their bad corporate corruption. Fast-forward to 2025, and they're doing the same thing, but under the guise of private equity. More information can be found on the SPGlobal article called ‘PE-backed company bankruptcies in US reach record high in 2024’. If one didn’t see the graph in this article (Angie’s Diary should post it too), in 2024, private equity bankrupted 110 companies and got away with it, too, like they are now. Just look at the graph on the SpGlobal link. That’s right, private equity bankrupted 110 businesses that were making money, and that includes financially successful stores, including Joann’s and the Hooters Restaurant chain. If you are bored, take a look at the Canadian media. The Bay Department stores were liquidated, and that company, which had been in business for 350 years, laid off over 9,000 people across Canada. Any hoo, naturally, was private equity behind the Bay Department Store debacle? How did they do it? Over the last three years, private equity has taken out $ 3.8 trillion in adjustable-rate loans. Every 30 to 60 days, every loan from these firms has been stacked onto the ledgers of companies like Joann’s, Hooters, and the Bay Department store chain, burying them in red ink. That’s why these once successful companies are going bankrupt right before our very eyes, even though they were still making money. Corporate corruption is driving them out of business because big businesses are forcing them to pay off the adjustable-rate loans. If one thinks, the horror ends there…For one thing, why would the banks give these risky loans, knowing they're going to fail? The answer is that the banks repackage these adjustable-rate loans (known as CLOs) and it is repackaged and sold off to our pension system as debt—and they are sugar-coating this by telling everyone: “You’re diversifying your portfolio, buddy!” Thus, business bankruptcies have skyrocketed, and adjustable-rate loans are a significant contributing factor. If one examines the 2008 financial crisis, there were $ 1.1 trillion in adjustable-rate loans; however, by 2025, that same debt had grown to $ 3.8 trillion. So, subprime mortgages amounted to 1.3 trillion, and everything was held by private equity and the same crowd that brought you the 2008 meltdown now owns the most significant number of houses, apartments, major land holdings galore—it’s not just housing. Thus, if private equity had not interfered with bankruptcies, these 110 businesses (and counting) would not be debt-ridden and underwater. Thousands of employees now have no job, no pension, and private equity is doing this because they know the banks would not be bailed out again. In the US, there are no regulatory bodies or laws to stop private equity from doing this. Greed motivates corporate corruption to accumulate cheap debt, and they believe zero percent interest is here to stay. They took adjustable-rate loans, allowing them to refinance forever, and were able to secure larger loans because the bigger debt would accrue interest at a lower rate. The banks were happy to give them these loans because the banker would also earn bigger fees and write it off, too, and it would not be on the bank’s ledger either. Private equity even wrote the contracts to say they never owned these firms but were onboard in an advisory position, no employers, and they even sold the lands from under these companies, enabling them to earn more money (you guessed it) at the expense of those 110-plus firms that have gone under. Therefore, the banks are not to blame or affected because they have passed the debt on to the pensions. More importantly, these pensions put the debt on the books; they can project the value of the debt on the companies in question for up to 10 years, and during that time, the bad debt comes crashing down. In the end, we’ve allowed Wall Street and the Big Banks to make an enormous fortune on bankrupting once successful companies. Adjustable-rate debts will cause a domino effect, and the House of Cards will fall. Private Equity functions in such a way because they exist under a Carried Interest Loophole and… it will be surprising to some, President Trump, oddly enough, is the only one talking about this… ft.com, and nytimes.com