Category: writing

‘Your Face in the Fire’ by Naomi Ruth Lowinsky

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books, writingLeave a comment

I’m pleased to see the release of Lowinsky’s sixth poetry collection on June 1. A Jungian analyst, Lowinsky creates poetry I greatly appreciate, including Adagio and Lamentation in 2010 from Fisher King Press.

From the Publisher

“Naomi Ruth Lowinsky’s soul was shaped by deep impressions made on her by India, where she lived for two years in the 1960s. It was there the Goddess claimed her. It was there that myths began singing to her. It was there her soul remembered other lives. It was there her stars insisted she learn to tend her fire. And the fire spoke: I am the heat of your passion. It is I who will show you your way.”

Blurb

“Naomi Ruth Lowinsky’s book of poetry: Your Face in the Fire, speaks with an impassioned voice which opens us up to that vast space which we find in Jung’s Red Book. It is a vibrant standpoint from which she encounters the mysteries of the psyche. Through her poetic imagination, we get to participate in her vision-making process. Nourished by her dreams that invite us to imagine with her as she expresses a lifetime of creating, engaging, reflecting, and reworking while showing us how her process is not only transformational for her but for anyone who opens up to the reality of their experiences of psyche’s being. The archetypal dimension shines through this book.” – Sam Kimbles

—Malcolm

Malcolm R. Campbell is the author of magical realism short stories and novels.

Watching ‘Friendly Persuasion’ Again and Still Enjoying the Story and Performances

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn Film, writingLeave a comment

“Friendly Persuasion is a 1956 American Civil War drama film produced and directed by William Wyler. It stars Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire, Anthony Perkins, Richard Eyer, Robert Middleton, Phyllis Love, Mark Richman, Walter Catlett and Marjorie Main. The screenplay by Michael Wilson was adapted from the 1945 novel The Friendly Persuasion by Jessamyn West. The movie tells the story of a Quaker family in southern Indiana during the American Civil War and the way the war tests their pacifist beliefs.” – Wikipedia

My pacifist beliefs were in their formative stages when this film was released, so I had many reasons for wanting to see it. I liked the film when I saw it in 1956 in the shadow of the Korean War and during an era when the Southern States still took a great deal of pride in their fight against the Union in the Civil War.

For those of my generation, I think “Friendly Persuasion” still holds up well, though I’m fair certain the light-hearted touch–rather a Disney-like approach–would be criticized today for its reliance on humor within the Quaker family more than its portrayal of more true-to-life battle scenes.

The film was drawn from the 1945 novel of the same name by Jessamyn West, a Quaker who wrote a plotless novel story about Quaker life. She was drawn into the making of the film through her willingness to pull together materials from her novel about the Civil War era that would make a cohesive story for the movie.

I found it interesting that while West was working on the book, she had tuberculosis from which she wasn’t expected to recover. Family stories about growing up as a Quaker were shared with her by family members, and had a strong influence on the first edition.

There are many types of Quaker beliefs, so I did not agree with those who criticized the movie for purported inaccuracies in dogma.

Fans of Gary Cooper will like his out-of-type performance in this film.

—Malcolm

With no outline, whatever happens is a surprise

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn writingLeave a comment

A few of my posts have mentioned the benefits I see in writing novels without the constraints of an outline.

Among other things, the freewheeling approach makes writing the book as much fun as reading the book. Every time I start a new chapter, I have no idea what’s coming.

In my novel-in-progress, an FBI agent is in an abandoned house with her prisoner. She glances out one of the back windows and sees 25 armed women standing at the edge of the woods behind the house. Seems like they’re planning to storm the place.

I wasn’t ready for this! Now I’ve got to figure out what the agent will do to get out of the potential mess. She can’t start shooting because many of the women are her friends.  She’s in disguise, so they won’t know her, and that’s good. I think. Maybe.

No outline = fun and/or thrills and chills at the keyboard.

–Malcolm

Malcolm R. Campbell is the author of the four books in the Florida Folk Magic Series. They’re available in multiple formats including a Kindle volume that contains the whole series.

‘Journeys Out of the Body’ by Robert Monroe

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn new age, writingLeave a comment

“According to his own account, while experimenting with sleep-learning in 1958 Monroe experienced an unusual phenomenon, which he described as sensations of paralysis and vibration accompanied by a bright light that appeared to be shining on him from a shallow angle. Monroe went on to say that this occurred another nine times over the next six weeks, culminating in his first out-of-body experience (OBE). Monroe recorded his account in his 1971 book “Journeys Out of the Body” and went on to become a prominent researcher in the field of human consciousness. Monroe later authored two more books on his experiments with OBE, Far Journeys (1985) and Ultimate Journey (1994).” – Wikipedia  

(Learn More About Monroe in Ronald Russell’s book shown above with a link to its Amazon page)

From the Publisher

“The definitive work on the extraordinary phenomenon of out-of-body experiences, by the founder of the internationally known Monroe Institute.

“Robert Monroe, a Virginia businessman, began to have experiences that drastically altered his life. Unpredictably, and without his willing it, Monroe found himself leaving his physical body to travel via a “second body” to locales far removed from the physical and spiritual realities of his life. He was inhabiting a place unbound by time or death.

“Praise for Journeys Out of the Body

“Monroe’s account of his travels, Journeys Out of the Body, jam-packed with parasitic goblins and dead humans, astral sex, scary trips into mind-boggling other dimensions, and practical tips on how to get out of your body, all told with wry humor, quickly became a cult sensation with its publication in 1971, and has been through many printings. Whatever their ‘real’ explanation, Monroe’s trips made for splendid reading.” —Michael Hutchinson, author of Megabrain

“‘Robert Monroe’s experiences are probably the most intriguing of any person’s of our time, with the possible exception of Carlos Castaneda’s.’ —Joseph Chilton Pierce, author of Magical Child

“‘This book is by a person who’s clearly a sensible man and who’s trying to tell it like it is. No ego trips. Just a solid citizen who’s been ‘out’ a thousand times now and wants to pass his experiences to others.'” —The Last Whole Earth Catalog

Related Sources

The Monroe Institute – “Founded in 1971 by Robert A. Monroe, the Monroe Institute is widely recognized as a leading center for exploring and experiencing expanded states of consciousness. For over 50 years, our immersive programs have empowered participants to undergo profound transformations, gaining a fresh outlook on life and discovering a deep sense of purpose.”

HemiSync – “Combining rich atmospheric tones with ambient instrumentals and electronic accents, this peaceful composition leads you to a place of deep inner stillness. The Hemi-Sync® frequencies are designed to gently hold you in a state of “no time” — the perfect setting for escaping the rigors of the day, where you can relax and allow the tranquility to permeate your mind, body and soul. Length: 40 minutes.”

—Malcolm

PEN AMERICA MOURNS THE DEATH OF ‘WRITER’S WRITER’ PAUL AUSTER

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn authors, writingLeave a comment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 1, 2024

MANHATTAN, NY, AUGUST 19, 2022 Paul Auster reads a passage from Salman Rushdie’s book at a PEN America rally at the New York Public Library in Manhattan, NY. Photo by ©Jennifer S. Altman All Rights Reserved

(NEW YORK) — PEN America mourns the death of prolific author and longtime friend of PEN Paul Auster, who died on Tuesday at age 77. Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America, said the following:

“In addition to shaping the worldviews of generations of Americans through his bracing and beloved novels, Paul Auster was a writer’s writer, consistently standing in solidarity with authors in China, Iran, Russia and around the world who were persecuted for what he was able to do freely: exercise his imagination and tell stories.  A dean of New York City’s literary community, he was a friend and mentor to many and a treasured colleague and stalwart supporter of PEN America and writers in need everywhere.”

Auster, who once served as the Vice President and Secretary of PEN America, and his wife Siri Hustvedt have been active supporters of PEN America’s efforts on behalf of jailed writers worldwide. They joined other members of the literary community in PEN America’s event in support of Salman Rushdie after the horrific attempt on his life in 2022.

Auster participated in the PEN World Voices Festival and numerous other PEN events, including a 2009 event where he read a series of autopsy and death reports of detainees held in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan, and another where he read new poems from Liu Xiaobo, who received the 2009 PEN/ Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award.

Bad Plants – White Snakeroot

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn plants, writingLeave a comment

“Milk sickness, also known as tremetol vomiting or, in animals, as trembles, is a kind of poisoning, characterized by trembling, vomiting, and severe intestinal pain, that affects individuals who ingest milk, other dairy products, or meat from a cow that has fed on white snakeroot plant, which contains the poison tremetol.” – Wikipedia

White Snakeroot

Milk sickness, which likely killed Nancy Hanks, Abraham Lincoln’s mother, used to be prevalent in newly settled areas in the Middle West before farmers knew White Snakeroot (Ageratina altissima) with its charming and showy flowers was toxic and that when cattle rate it, they passed the poison along to humans.

Anna Pierce Hobbs Bixby is credited with discovering the plant’s toxicity of the plant to livestock and humans with the help of a Shawnee medicine woman.  She died about 1870, but her research about white snakeroot wasn’t published until the 1920s.

Amy Stewart, in Wicked Plants, writes that Bixby campaigned to eradicate the plant but that  “her attempts to notify authorities fell on deaf ears, perhaps because women doctors were not taken seriously.”

Like other poisonous, but beautiful, wildflowers, white snakeroot is often used in gardens featuring other dangerous ornamentals such as moonflowers and foxglove.

–Malcolm

Malcolm R. Campbell is the author of folk magic novels set in Florida.

Thank goodness I didn’t see ‘Night Watch’ when it first came out in 1973

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn Film, writingLeave a comment

I would have been ticked off paying for the tickets.

My wife and I were looking through the movies on DISH for something but didn’t really find it. The night before, we watched “Elvis” (2022 with Austin Butler and Tom Hanks) which we liked, so we took a chance on “Night Watch.”

What a mess. I liked Elizabeth Taylor and Laurence Harvey in “Butterfield 8,” but I didn’t think the same kind of chemistry was there in this mystery/thriller. Very different roles to be sure, but even so, I think the most patient viewers would have gotten tired of Taylor’s repeated claims that there were dead people in the boarded-up house next door. Frankly, Taylor–whose character was recovering from a nervous breakdown–was over the top manic about the dead people which nobody else saw, including the viewers and the police.

The reviews were mixed, “Time Out called it a “tired, old-fashioned thriller”; whereas The New York Times wrote, “Elizabeth Taylor, and about time, has got herself a good picture and a whodunit at that”; and Variety opined, “Lucille Fletcher’s Night Watch isn’t the first average stage play to be turned into a better than average film. Astute direction and an improved cast more than help”. – Wikipedia

“Tired” and “old-fashioned” summed up my reaction. But then, I never liked Laurence Harvey, merely tolerating him in “Butterfield 8.” How many of you have seen this film, either at the theater when it came out or years later on a satellite or cable channel? Did it seem tired to you? Would you have gone nuts if you ever saw bodies in your neighbor’s house on a dark and stormy night?

–Malcolm

Blinken must raise Tibet, Panchen Lama on China trip

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn writing, TibetLeave a comment

April 23, 2024

by International Campaign for Tibet

US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken must raise the “deteriorating” situation in Tibet both privately and publicly during his trip this week to China, the International Campaign for Tibet said today.

ICT, an advocacy group that promotes human rights and democratic freedoms for the Tibetan people, sent a letter to Blinken today, 22 April, 2024, on behalf of its roughly 50,000 members in the United States. Blinken is scheduled to visit China 24-26 April.

In the letter, ICT President Tencho Gyatso urges Blinken to “raise the issue of Tibet during your meetings with Chinese leaders later this week as well as publicly in front of the press.”

The topics for Blinken to address include China’s kidnapping of the Panchen Lama, the high-ranking Tibetan Buddhist leader who will turn 35 during Blinken’s trip; China’s attempts to interfere in the succession of the Dalai Lama, who is now 88; and China’s responsibility to resume negotiations with Tibetan leaders to resolve Tibet’s status.

China has occupied Tibet, a neighboring country in the Himalayas, for over 65 years, turning it into one of the worst human rights crises in the world. Under China’s iron rule, Tibet now has a global freedom score of 0 out of 100, according to the watchdog group Freedom House. Click here to read more.

Kissing Gates

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn kissing gate, writing

A kissing gate is a traditional way of allowing access, but not security, between a pasture or other open area used for livestock, and the grounds of an estate where animals are not permitted. In a modern farm, one would probably place a latching gate there with or without a padlock as needed.

Today a kissing gate might be built to accommodate a wheelchair.

wood kissing gate

For people wearing good clothes, the kissing gate–which has no latch and doesn’t have to be dragged open and closed–allows people to easily step into a small enclosure, frequently circular, and then push the hinged gate and step through into the other side of the enclosure one at a time. The enclosure is too small for a cow or horse, so the gate effectively keeps out livestock.

The kissing gate was an easy solution where many people might come and go in a setting where a stile (more or less a set of steps built into a fence) doesn’t serve for people wearing formal clothes or for the elderly or infirm where climbing up and over the fence is unwise or ungainly. The kissing gate was frequently used to keep livestock out of rural cemeteries built within or next to a pasture.

The name which has been in use since the 1870s refers to the gate touching the metal or wood enclosure and not to the gate being a place where people meet for trysts.

–Malcolm

The four novels in the Florida Folk Magic Series can be bought together in one Kindle volume. The series features a conjure woman and her friends battling the KKK in the Florida Panhandle in the 1950s.

Good Plants: Yarrow

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn herbs, writing4 Comments

“I always keep yarrow in my medicine bag, as it has many uses. It is also called nosebleed plant, squirrel’s tale, plumajillo, and soldier’s woundwort. I recognize it by its leathery leaf shape, texture, and scent. It’s in the Aster/Daisy family. It is found in temperate zones throughout the world.” – Nicole Apelian in ‘The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies.'”

According to Wikipedia, “Achillea  is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, known colloquially as yarrows. The plants typically have frilly leaves. The common name “yarrow” usually refers to A. millefolium. The genus was named after the Greek mythological character Achilles, whose soldiers were said to have used yarrow to treat their wounds; this is reflected by common names such as allheal and bloodwort. The genus is native primarily to Eurasia and North America.”

As always, consult with a doctor and/or an herbalist before using this plant for medical purposes, especially any involving internal use.

Web MD says that “Yarrow contains chemicals that might help to stop stomach cramps and fight infections. People commonly use yarrow for eczema, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), wound healing, and many other conditions, but there is no good scientific evidence to support these uses.”

According to VeryWell Health, “In test tube studies, yarrow’s active ingredients have been shown to work as antibiotics, antioxidants, antiproliferatives (slowing cell growth), and more. These properties make yarrow a supplement of interest for almost everything from multiple sclerosis to cancer.”

Following that introduction, the site lists specific uses, including wounds, skin inflamation, menstrual paint, IBS (irritual bowel syndrome), and ailments for which its use has been studied. Check the site for site effects and precautions.

It can be purchased over the Internet (Caring Sunshine  and others) in addition to herbal shops.

My go-to reference is The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies, however I also like to check the Mayo Clinic and Web MD sites for additional information. You can also find sites/posts by herbalists that focus on one herb or ailment.

–Malcolm

Malcolm writes novels about conjure including “Conjure Woman’s Cat”  set in the Florida Panhandle.