Poetry

Memory Number 10689, Log Date March 19, 2025.  City 3458, Section 9 Northern Village

I sit quietly in my grandmother’s chair gazing out the large picture window in my house.  My eyes follow the blue jays as they quickly gather small twigs for their nest.

For a moment, I let my mind float back to when my mother was alive.  We would spend the entire day outside walking in the woods and listening to the birds.

I always felt alive in the springtime, a welcomed relief after a long, cold winter.

My wrist chip pings.  Within seconds, a hologram reminder appears – 14:00 meeting to discuss management of Watson Gen IV system. Sitting motionless, I watch the birds complete their task.  A sensor detects no moment and pings my wrist again, prepare for scheduled meeting in 3 minutes, 42 seconds.

Standing, I walk across the room and pick up my virtual reality helmet (VRs) and engagement gloves.  I have no motivation to work today yet it must be done.  My mind continues to wonder as I think about my niece and nephew.

They use VRs to experience nature instead of going outside, part of me is jealous of the VR programs they use.  The VR software is integrated into everything eliminating the separation between reality and VR.  We create our worlds and can alter our reality within the set rules during free time.

Altering memories and changing past events is popular with the kids and teens, most of the adults not have such time for such luxuries or care anymore about the past.

I use to spend time creating unique VR programs for competition to earn extra free time or a pass for rides outside the city.   Three years ago when I had to help support my brother’s family, I lost interest in the competition.

Amethyst, my niece, loves to listen to birds especially the extinct species.  About ten years ago, a non-profit organization hired scientists and software integrators to instruct a system to develop a program  enabling students to listen to extinct animal sounds.

The program is so popular, the non-profit sells a consumer version titled Feathers.  Amethyst uses the program to create new bird species for her VR system.  My favorite species are the large purple birds with orange beaks that only sing in the evenings.

+++This is draft of a science fiction manuscript and is covered by the Terms and Services and Copyright.

 

I started working on this blog post almost two years ago after I had purchased a banned book.  Being able to select any book and read it is part of our democratic freedom.

Until today, the blog was parked in my “Pending” folder. I would review the post, edit, and the click saved.  Writing is a process.  I almost posted the blog when I read Rachel Gillett’s article in Business Insider about Elon Musk’s ex-wife, Justin Musk.

The article focused on the lessons Justin Musk had learned from her former husband.  Her insight was brilliant and the article went viral on social media.

Justin Musk responded to a Quora thread about finding your passion which sparked the article by Gillett.  Musk stated, “It’s not what gives you bliss or makes you happy 24/7, but what you’re willing to suffer for – what you genuinely believe to be worth the sacrifice.”

The passions and dreams that reside in our soul require work and dedication.  Justine Musk talked about her emotional resonance and how it applied to her writings and life.  Her main point is that we often overlook what is at the roots of our passion.  What makes us tick and drives us to pursue our dreams.

Books provide an emotional resonance to me.  Being dyslexic I had a difficult time reading in school and still scan across many words I am unable to decipher.  Below is the original post.

Reading a Banned Book (2014)

For some, I walked on the edge today when I purchased a banned book.  I found the book at an estate sale for .50 cents and could not resist.  The lady of the house was not from Dallas as her book selection reflected a cosmopolitan traveler whom I suspect previously lived in New York City or Europe.

The banned book was The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein.  At home, I went through my collection of purchased books and started reading a couple of sentences from each book.  After the first two pages of Stein’s book, I was hooked and could not put it down.

A dog tells the story.  He dreams of becoming a man. I read the book within 48 hours and am completely dumbfounded why this book was banned.  I searched through the pages seeking an answer.  Anyone who spends time on the Internet sees the trash talk posted on social media networks which I believe is often far worse than what is written in this book.

The dog had compassion.  He took a stand for truthfulness and decency; he was a man of honor.

In high school, I read Catcher in the Rye, Huckleberry Finn, Animal Farm, A Separate Piece, and other literary classics that were often banned or considered controversial.

My mother taught high school AP English for 30 years and assigned many of these famous books. She always gave her students an option if they requested to read a different book.  I can remember when the first Harry Potter was published and how it was banned by schools and organizations.

Dr. Scott Peck wrote about how life is hard in his timeless book – The Road Less Traveled.  Learning how to deal with the hard knocks and messy aspects of life is not easy.   There is a time and place for everything.  Instead of banning books it is our responsibility as parents to discuss with our children why we believe a specific book or movie should not be read or viewed.

When I was teenager my mother explained her reasoning why I could not see R-rated movies.  I did not always agree with my mother; however, I always respected her judgment. Now, I am a parent and can fully understand and appreciate her wisdom.   A teacher at heart she focused on educating me about difficult situations and subject matters.  She offered guidance as I learned to make my own decisions.

As a teacher, my mother was against book banning.  She believed it was important to educate her students and focused on teaching them how to make good decisions.  She discussed writers who offered her students an opportunity to study from afar the hardships of life, and then discuss solutions for handling these difficult situations.

As authors, it is our responsibility to make sure what we write and create is to the best of our ability and most importantly encourages our readers to think.  There are about two dozen books that have stayed with me through the years.  Reading these books forever changed my thinking, awareness, and perspective.

Conclusion

I know why I write and why it is important to me.  Just like Justin Musk discussed how we are willing to suffer and sacrifice for our passions.  We must be willing to stand up and make a difference for what we genuinely believe is worth our efforts.  Writing books is what is important to me for many reasons, and I make the effort to manage my dyslexia so I can write.

I think about the book, the emotions I felt while reading, and most importantly, I think about how I wished the dog in The Art of Racing in the Rain was a real person.

 

 

Every day we flood the Internet with an enormous amount of data from article postings to tweets and photos.

Most of the content we dump onto the digital highway is Internet litter; we cannot see this litter because the Internet and the data we produce is invisible.

We’ve become obsessed with stuffing the digital white space with useless words and images, as corporate brands and marketers generated content every minute of each day.

How many times have you experienced information overload?

We fear white space; it feels uncomfortable to have less information instead of more.  Producing generic meaningless content is easy; working to simplify your company’s message takes time.

Peter Coughter said it best “beauty is the purgation of superfluous.   Quality content occurs when everything that is superfluous is removed.”

Cutting through digital chatter requires strategic thought and the patience to take time to curate the words.

Our brains need empty white space to allow us time to think, a quiet moment to process our thoughts and solve problems.

We’ve become a society who believes more is better, creating simple effective content that speaks directly to the individual; feels out of place.  Elegance is moving past purgation of superfluous words to creating content that matters and has long term value.

Beauty is achieved by telling the reader a good story that explains your purpose and why you seek their attention.

Humans remember stories; we base the majority of our buying decisions on feelings and emotions.

Rudolph Schindler was a great architectural designer and understood the importance of purging content. “We are what our environment makes us and if our environment is such as to produce excellent health, beauty, joy, and comfort, it will reflect immediately in our lives.”

We are creating our digital lives and environment.  From the view of my Facebook page it is filled with mindless ads for products that I never use or would ever consider purchasing.

We click, share, and like without thinking, we repeat the same the information over and over to the point no one listens anymore.

Read, Share, or Delete?

Ask yourself; is your company stuffing customers’ email accounts with junk mail or flooding them with an endless sea of useless content?   What would you personally do with the content?  Would you share the information or delete it?

What is the purpose of the content?  What is the message you are seeking to send to your customers?  Can you define the message in two or three sentences?

Pretend you are talking to the customer – what would you say?  Could the content be edited down and still maintain the story’s message?

Think about the content that you read in your personal time.  What do you like to read and what stories do you feel compelled to share?

When in Doubt, Purge, and Edit Instead of Adding More.

Does your content include a hard sales pitch that could potentially turn away customers?   How much time do you spend purging and editing?

Place yourself in the individual’s shoes.  Think about when and where they will be reading this information and will it help solve their problem.

Curate the information and focus on what matters to your audience. Have you engaged with your customers in person or online?  What are they telling you and are you listening?

Purging information and crafting a simplistic message takes time and discipline.  SEO marketers have brain washed us into believing we need to add as many words as possible to our digital content.  Yet, when we add useless words, we create information overload for the individuals we are seeking to reach.

Will Your Content Stand the Test of Time?

Everything changes and everything stays the same.  Our products and services evolve over time, yet how we communicate with other humans remains the same.  We connect through authentic stories.

Think about the content you create, if it was an art piece would it be placed in a museum?  Would the story and message still resonate six months or five years from now?

Digital technology is just a tool we use to communicate and send information.   What we create must have value, if not we are ust tossing more digital litter onto the Internet highway.