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May 2020

More Uplifting Literary Non-Covid-19 News,
with Stunning Photos





A purple finch social distancing outside my window. (Yes, I know he looks red.)
 

Okay, so it turns out the coronavirus pandemic wasn't a hoax after all.

In that case, WordFest remains suspended, continuing with the rest of the nation to respect the sane and safe guidelines from the CDC--except for Georgia and Texas where apparently neither safety nor sanity are required any longer.

Nonetheless, there is still uplifting literary news and information to share, such as our congratulations to Jan Marie Fortier who published her second novel,  The Girls from Seattle, and to Cynthia Smith for her winning haiku in this year's Columbia River Reader haiku contest---Vikki Carter continues to virtually interview writers for her podcast, Authors of the Pacific Northwest---and to help take your mind off the pandemic, read my review of  Cascadia's Fault: The Coming Earthquake and Tsunami That Could Devastate North America. It will make the pandemic look as insignificant as the White House once told us it was---Travel/ spiritual writer Pico Iyer offers a refreshingly different perspective on the pandemic, and in the same thoughtful vein, I offer what I like to think of as The Lighter Side of Death and Morbidity.

Here's what you'll find below: (Click on the article & never scroll again)


Good reading, good writing!

The Lighter Side of Death and Morbidity

Sure, anyone can be glum about a global pandemic, but what about the bright side? What about the opportunities it gives us to catch up on our reading, or have extra time to do our taxes? 

A global pandemic is also a great opportunity to ponder one’s mortality—or, if that makes you uncomfortable, ponder your neighbors’ mortality.  The wonderful thing about reflecting on your death is that it invariably makes you reflect on your life as well. How you lived it, and how you want to live the rest of it.
 

You can begin by studying the examples of those who faced their mortality before us and learn from them. The Stoic philosophers taught that you should think of each day as your last. This probably explains why they weren’t more popular on Rome’s cocktail party and orgy circuit.
 
Conversely, there is the school of thought that espouses we should live as if we were never going to die. Yet, both these attitudes—Live as if this was your last day, and Live as if you’re going to live forever—bring us to the same place: Live each day to the fullest, without dread, without demands.
 
For many people the main problem with death is its uncertainty: We don’t know what’s going to happen next—or even if there is a Next. Millions of monotheistic people (Christians, Jews, Muslims, Wall Street bankers) believe they will go to Heaven when they die, or anyway, hope they will. (Interestingly, those who believe in Hell usually see it as a place God intended for others.) But even believing in a heaven isn’t always as reassuring as you might think. The theosophist Frederick Myers once pressed a famous churchman on what he thought would happen when he died, until, exasperated, the man exclaimed, “Well, I suppose it will be all eternal bliss and joy but I don’t see why we have to dwell on such morbid subjects.”
 
Reincarnation has a certain appeal, especially now as more and more of us practice recycling, and there are even some who maintain that death is an illusion, a kind of metaphysical misunderstanding and really not necessary. For example, in 1875, the prophet and spiritualist Thomas Lake Harris famously announced that he had discovered the secret to eternal life and was immortal. (He died in 1906.)
 
If nothing else, it should be reassuring that those who have had Near Death Experiences frequently report that their “death” was accompanied by an enormous sense of relief and peacefulness. In fact, a number of them, including Carl Jung, the renowned psychoanalyst, experienced feelings of deep sadness and disappointment when “called back” to their life on earth, and this was even before Trump was president.
 
While respecting people’s many and differing beliefs on the matter, we are ultimately left with our own mortality staring into its own uncertainty, standing before a great mystery that we sense we are a part of, without knowing the particulars. When you honestly think about it, your death is theoretical until it actually happens—and then worrying probably becomes irrelevant.
 

Local Literary News

Congratulations to Jan Marie Fortier on her new novel!

Jan Marie lives in the hills of Kelso, Washington, with her husband Jerry. She has previously published a novel, titled Roots and Wildflowers, and a chapbook of poems, Falling Leaves: Poems from My Heart.

You can read Jan Marie's Book Chat interview here.


 
2020 HaikuFest salutes Cynthia Smith!

Gary Meyers, one of the judges of the 12th annual haiku contest sponsored by The Columbia River Reader, wrote to Cynthia:
“Each year we receive many finely crafted haiku that create the vivid images that are the definition of good haiku. But the judges all agreed that none has ever moved us more than those you submitted. In 17 syllables, you created pain from loss that some would find nearly impossible to bear.”

Cynthia wrote of losing both sisters and her mother in the space of one year.

Brief glimpses of light
A promise that hope exists
In the dark abyss.

Send your literary news for June to alan@alan-rose.com by May 30.




 

Travel & Spiritual Writer Pico Iyer on the Pandemic


The British essayist (Video Nights in Kathmandu) offers his take on a hidden benefit of the pandemic.
 
“My sense is that many of us have been living out of balance in recent years, with much more data than we have time to make sense of, with much more distraction than can ever make us happy, and with so much clutter in our heads or in our calendars that we can’t lay our hands on what is most essential.

“All of us are most concerned about those without homes or resources and the ill. But for those of us lucky enough to be safe, so far, and maybe to have jobs to return to, or roofs over our head, I think it offers us a perfect chance to think about what really sustains us.”

 
He advises: “Treat this moment as a chance to take a break, so as to return to your life with clearer direction and a more definite sense of priorities.”

From a discussion with Ron Charles, editor of The Washington Post’s Book Club newsletter (April 10, 2020)






 

Interview with Jan Marie Fortier  about her new novel, The Girls from Seattle.

About the book:

As she lives into middle age, Michelle invites several women to a special dinner she is hosting. Though all are friends from different periods of Michelle’s life in Seattle, none of them have met each other before this evening. What does Michelle want to discover from this meeting of strangers? What will it mean to each of them?


You can read Jan Marie's interview here







 
Vikki J. Carter produces the Podcast Authors of the Pacific Northwest, interviews with writers, editors and publishers, at www.squishpen.com

Episode 86: David James Roberts (https://davidjamesrobertsauthor.square.site). Writer, journalist, & documentarian, David James Roberts shares the inspiration for his book, The Paper Man.
 
Episode 87: Race Walters (https://www.racewaltersart.com) Debut author Race Walters discusses the journey to publish his first book: Mason: Us Versus the World. 
 





 

Book Review: 
Cascadia's Fault: The Coming Earthquake and Tsunami That Could Devastate North America 

by Jerry Thompson

Waiting for the Next Big Thing

If you can just get past the idea of catastrophic death and destruction, this is a fascinating tale of geologists acting as major sleuths in uncovering one of the earth’s deepest mysteries. The rather fantastical 19th century idea of Continental Drift matured into the 20th century theory we know today as plate tectonics, where not really “continents” but huge plates are shifting and moving over the earth as the planet continues to expand from its internal heating...


You can read the full review here.





 

Read a Good Book Recently?


Share your enthusiasm for a book in The Columbia River Reader's monthly feature, What Are You Reading?

Email me at alan@alan-rose.com with your book recommendation and why you liked it.






 

Photo-reflections:  
My Little Woodland Friends

Social distancing with humans has permitted me the time to cultivate non-human relationships on this hillside (the governor's orders said nothing about jays, chipmunks and squirrels,) and over these past eight weeks, we have made deeply satisfying connections based on trust, patience, and a whole lot of peanuts.
I consider them my little woodland friends.
They consider me a primary food source.
We're very close.


 
Find more news, reviews, interviews, and photo-reflections at www.alan-rose.com. and feel welcome to contact me at alan@alan-rose.com.
Copyright © 2020 Alan E Rose, All rights reserved.

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