Category: Uncategorized

Originally a Twitter thread, found here. Minor editing, spelling & reformatting in this version.

Putting on my behaviorist hat for a thread. Our popular narrative arcs tell us that the story ends when we successfully escape the monster, defeat the corrupt government, flee the abuse, walk free of oppression.

This is where we end stories.

Our narratives lie to us. We are not made whole when the narrative ends. The conclusion of one lifecycle of narrative spawns the next. We move from the resolution into the next origin story, and as we proceed into the next cycle, we carry with us the damage, and skills, we gained in our previous cycle.

If you walked away from something that keeps people trapped in dysfunction, congratulations! Maybe you survived your parents’ divorce. Maybe you survived them staying together. Someone cruel who exercised their power over you, in college or a job. Your own marriage. A church. Continue reading “After Exit: Sick Systems & Repairing the Damage” →

Expanding on a twitter thread found here: https://twitter.com/czedwards/status/1126563204543307777?s=21

Let’s talk about cardiac cells.

You know we can grow them in a Petri dish? When they’re alone, they just twitch. But if they’re touching? They start beating together. It’s What They Do.

Hearts are simple.

They’re just muscle pumps.

It’s why we can yank & reinstall if we have parts.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/feb/02/stem-cell-research-heart-disease-long-qt

Cardiac cells are kinda cool because of the ion channel stuff, but they’re really basic, and there’s a reason they’re early in fetal development. They’ve got to get organized early, but when a “fetal heartbeat” is detectable? It’s a streak of flutter. It fits on a pinky nail.

With lots of room to spare. Continue reading “Cardiac Cells and How Communities Can Learn to Beat Again.” →

This was originally a Twitter thread, posted on 22 APR 02019.

Changes from the Twitter version: Lightly edited or re-expanded from the original text, linked to sources, and notes.

To an extent, Generational Theory is bullshit. There are no dividing lines between people born in, say, 1944 versus 1946.

Their experiences, if they are of the same race, nationality, gender, class, and socioeconomic status, are likely to be far more similar than different.

But that similarity is primarily the effect of all of the other axes.

Growing up in abject rural poverty versus extremely affluent, urban Old Money Knickerbocker society is a bigger divide, even if both people were born on the exact same day.

Generational Theory exists primarily as a marketing tool, and as media frame, because it’s easier to market goods & services to generally similar groups of people.

Generational Theory is also the result of homogeneity in media markets that evolved in the mid 20th century. Continue reading “Generational Theory, As Exemplified by The Avengers (MCU)” →

I was PLANNING to #amwriting in my cave.

But SOMEONE failed to properly charge the hardware overnight. (That would be me. Sherlock would be convinced I’m drunk, but nope, just nearsighted.) I have just plotted a NEW swerve, but it’s gonna percolate.

Instead, a craft lesson.

This is how I write. It’s a way to write. It’s not necessarily the way everyone should write. But it’s how I do it, and I’m willing to break it down using my own (OMG I’m So Sorry) old drafts.

Continue reading “A Craft Demonstration on Constructed Language” →

What follows is an example of Rien’s Rebellion as published, specifically to illustrate the evolution of the constructed language of Galantier. This is purely because I have access to my own drafts and the decisions that drove the evolution of Rebellion from Disney Princess Plays Virginity Porn with Robin Hood into … what it is.

As a reminder: the finished version of Rien’s Rebellion is available at Smashwords and Amazon, and I’m always delighted to have new readers.

As the tweeted article points out, the constructed language is bold and textual world building is (individual words in) italic. (Thoughts are also in italic. Sorry.)

Continue reading “Rien’s Rebellion: Kingdom Ch 1 – Constructed Language” →