I bet you were hoping for some kind of preview into my story. Sorry to be a disappointment, but right now I’m not going to write that. I’m going to write about how difficult it is for me to start a blog. I’m not sure why. Something about it just…weirds me out. Maybe it’s because it’s completely brand new, and I could start it however I wanted. Yet, for some reason, it always freaks me out and I have a hard time writing the first blog entry.

It kind of feels like when I walk into a building alone. I don’t know what it is, but there are certain places that I absolutely hate walking in by myself. It’s not because I’m scared. It’s just something intensifies inside of me. It happens a lot when I go to church. I sit in my car and have to talk myself into getting out. The walk from my car to the door always seems to be the longest walk of my life. It’s the same way with work. It’s normally just those two places. It’s strange. Maybe it’s because I don’t know what is going to happen on the way to those doors or buses. Then again, isn’t all of life like that? But wouldn’t that make it fear? Yet, I don’t really feel afraid?

Now that I’ve gotten that out, I bet you would like to know a bit about this story I am writing. I can’t give away too much information yet. I also know that it’s not always the best idea for a writer to post a lot about their storylines online…and my story will never be online. But for the lucky few, when it’s where I want it to be, I will of course let you read it somehow. Mind you, I’ve been working on this story since I was around seventeen. I started it when I was a member of Jesse McCartney’s forum. That was a long time ago. It started out as a silly idea, which somehow worked into this gigantic plot. I’ve written it and rewritten it–and lost scenes and chapters that I had finished. You would think that I would have given up on it by now, but I haven’t. The plot keeps getting clearer in my mind.

So here is what I’m going to do. I’m going to give you the title, and the main character’s name. It’s not a lot. But for right now it is going to have to do.

Title: Play It in Piano
I played piano for ten years. It’s my favorite instrument. Something about it has always calmed my heart. I will come back to the title in the future.

Main Character: Hadley Jane Ellison. She is fifteen. And she drives me absolutely crazy sometimes. To me, she’s a real person. Maybe like another sibling I never had…but not quite. Or maybe she would be one of the kids I would babysit or mentor. She’s dear to my heart and one of my favorite characters that I have ever created.

I’ll get more into detail as I work on this blog. This is mainly for me, and a few others who want to follow my journey writing this. You can subscribe to my email if you like. If you happen to stumble upon this, feel free to comment.

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It is rather unfortunate to view life as a series of chapters. Altough major changes might come our way, but most of the time the transition is so delicate even a trained eye will fail to notice the progress. I’ve been waiting for a new chapter for quite some time, but I always have trouble defining ends and beginnings.

Maybe somewhere around the  summer of 2009. This summer I have climbed the Pyrenées. I have started an ordinary, paper-and-ink journal and for the first time I’m faithful to it. I synchronize it with the most troubling or sometimes even the happiest thoughts of my mind every week. I try to brutally honest.  This summer I have met very special people and although many of them got lost, some of them stayed. All in all this summer brought so much change, it might be considered as a new chapter. Still, I don’t feel much different from the little guy I was at 4. In my head adults are still taller than me. It creeps me out when I realize I’ve grown to be as tall as them. Us.

Writing, Reading, and Teaching Science Fiction, the first collection that I have contributed to, has been handed over to McFarland for publication. You can find my chapter “Revealing Critical Theory’s Real-Life Potential to Our Students, the Digital Nomads” in the first section on Teaching Science Fiction. The publisher doesn’t have a page up for orders yet, but they have given permission for us to post the abstracts, which you may find below. There is some additional information available on editor Karen Hellekson’s website here. I will give a link to the official McFarland page once it goes live.

Writing, Reading, and Teaching Science Fiction

Edited by Karen Hellekson, Craig Jacobsen, Patrick Sharp, and Lisa Yaszek

McFarland & Company, Inc., 2010

Part 1—Teaching

1. Teaching with Science Fiction

Section edited by Craig Jacobsen

2. Grokking Rhetoric through Science Fiction: A Practical Examination of Course Construction

Jen Gunnels

Traditional teaching methods and materials for core curriculum all too often leave the student disengaged, or worse, confused. A text’s placement in the Western canon does not automatically make it accessible or engaging. It can leave the students bored and unconnected, and it can give them an inaccurate perception of rhetorical thought and the writing process. That is not to say that the canon is not important—it is—but often undergraduate core courses, especially mass courses such as rhetoric and composition, fall back on the same few texts. A reliance on canonical material—canonical to the instructor, but often unfamiliar to undergraduates—splits student focus between understanding the materials used to illustrate the concepts and the concepts themselves. A more accessible literature has the potential to free the student to concentrate on the new, often complicated, ideas being presented, and science fiction in particular can engage students who are studying core subjects by providing exemplar texts that clearly and compellingly illustrate major fundamental points. Here, I examine the use of science fiction in teaching basic undergraduate rhetoric and composition, and I reenvision its implementation. I include basic rhetorical elements that a course should cover, and I analyze a sample assignment, a brief rhetorical analysis of Tom Godwin’s 1954 story “The Cold Equations,” to illustrate basic rhetorical tools and wider arguments affecting rhetorical choices.

3. Incorporating Science Fiction into a Scientific Rhetoric Course

Michael J. Klein

Many of the scientific and technological achievements of the past century were prefigured by writers of speculative or science fiction. The scientific and technological achievements we view as commonplace (e.g., the Internet, wireless communication, advances in reproduction) were often discussed by literary authors decades before their “discovery.” Conversely, advances in science and technology drove authors to further their speculations and logically extend the discoveries of the day in their writing. In that spirit, I decided to expand the traditional canon of works I used in a scientific rhetoric course to include works of science fiction. The students in the course compared and contrasted the representation of science and scientists in fictional and factual accounts, examined the ways in which texts become important to a culture and a discourse community, and identified the means by which science informed science fiction, and vice versa, during the past century. I found that for undergraduates, the addition of literature made the concepts of scientific rhetoric more accessible and fostered greater conversation between students studying different subjects. The students in the humanities and social sciences used the literary works as a stepping stone to understanding the discourse within the scientific community. Conversely, students in the sciences and engineering recognized and appreciated the humanistic elements of science by seeing parallels in the works of fiction. These results speak to the benefits of increased dialogue among disciplines that address the concepts of science and technology.

4. Revealing Critical Theory’s Real-Life Potential to Our Students, the Digital Nomads

Jason W. Ellis

I propose a reading of Mike Resnick’s science fiction novel, Ivory: A Legend of Past and Future (2007), that engages critical poststructuralist theory and postcolonial theory for the purpose of providing a way to advance these theories in relation to the here and now of college undergraduate students. Ivory simultaneously promotes and challenges the practices of Orientalism, but my purpose is to engender further discussion regarding potential solutions to the problem of Orientalism presented in the text. Nomadology and rhizomatic resistance may provide a means to solve the problem represented in the novel. Ivory represents these concerns by showing how the fictional problem and its solution in fact epitomize our everyday digitalized and online existence. The novel explores models and provides examples of the online technologies that digital nomad students may use for self-empowerment and personal protection from the encroachment on their lives by the state and by global capital.

Part 2—Reading

5. Reading and Writing SF

Section edited by Patrick Sharp

6. Reading/Writing Martians: Seeing Techn{emacr} and Poi{emacr}sis in The War of the Worlds

Charles Harding

From its opening lines, The War of the Worlds is concerned with seeing, or comprehending, through reading and writing. Wells’s novel emerges from a cultural environment in which a lack of foresight and illiteracy mark future-war stories and scientific discourse. Wells interrogates this cultural blindness and fosters competency by presenting his narrator as a scientific—that is, a knowing—spectator of the Martian invasion. The narrator strives to distinguish himself from those who exhibit nescience in relation to the attack. His insight proceeds from his ability to read—to comprehend and translate—what emerges from the Martian cylinders. The Martians figure as a prevision of a technologized future, and the narrator’s scrutiny of their features and annihilative machinery reveals a potentially dangerous element in humanity’s relationship to technology. This danger manifests in the Martians’ degenerate techn{emacr}, their transformation of the world into a totally mechanized and depersonalized system. Despite the forbidding nature of this futuristic world, the possibility remains that it may be averted. This possibility lies in poi{emacr}sis, or artistic producing, which in The War of the Worlds culminates in the narrator’s rewriting of the invasion. According to Heidegger, poi{emacr}sis constitutes a space for an essential reflection on the danger for humanity in technology. Wells’s novel offers an opportunity for reflection on future humankind, embodied in the Martians, and its relationship to advanced technology by inviting readers to see alongside the narrator as he scrutinizes the Martians and their techn{emacr}. With The War of the Worlds, Wells suggests that science fiction must be knowing fiction.

7. The Creation of Heinlein’s “Solution Unsatisfactory”

Ed Wysocki

Robert Heinlein’s short story “Solution Unsatisfactory,” which appeared in Astounding Science-Fiction in May 1941 under the pen name Anson MacDonald, is well known for its presentation of a precarious world situation after the development of a nuclear weapon. This story appeared well before the establishment of the Manhattan Project for the development of an atomic bomb. Knowledge of the state of nuclear physics in the time before the story’s creation is presented to show that its concept grew from an uncertainty regarding the means by which an atomic bomb could be constructed. The source of basic premise of the story, the use of radioactive dust rather than a bomb, is identified as Astounding’s editor, John W. Campbell Jr. Development of the story, while retaining the basic weapon concept, was then taken by Heinlein in a different direction than had been originally suggested to him. Possible sources of technical information available to Heinlein are then considered, and a connection shown to a friend of Heinlein who had just received his PhD in the field of nuclear physics, Robert Cornog. The dust idea presented in the story occurred shortly before the same idea appeared in a report developed to suggest possible military applications of atomic fission. Although the close timing between the work of fiction and the report has been noted previously in the literature, no effort had apparently been made to establish a connection. In this essay, I propose a definite connection.

8. Entropy, Entertainment, and Creative Energy in Ben Bova

Donald M. Hassler

Even though Ben Bova is discounted by some as an “easy” writer or, perhaps, even because of this fact, his usefulness as a representative of the genre has impressed me. Further, I like his storytelling both for its ease and for its consistency. So this essay is one of several I have written attempting to account for genre effects in SF. I discuss several recent Bova novels, each dealing with the extrapolation of what we know of one of the planets in our system; and I find, in fact, some rich resonance of what I call “genre effects” in these books. I write in part as a fan, as well as an academic who hopes to set enthusiasm into the larger context of literary study. Many of Bova’s storytelling techniques seem outdated because they appear in the same milieux as postmodern experimentation, and I evoke the family romance metaphor from Freud—we tend to seek out and to feel comfortable with the “generation” of our fathers. Much of my point, then, about Bova’s effects is captured in what I label in the title as “the entropy” of reading and genre. I argue that the vigorous generation, or family sense, in these science stories allows us to see beyond.

Part 3—Media

9. Media and Science Fiction

Section edited by Karen Hellekson

10. Investigating the Postmodern Memory Crisis on the Small Screen

Susan A. George

In this analysis of the importance and reliability of memory in the context of postmodern SF, I use close readings of two exemplar episodes ( “Adam” and “Sleeper”) of the television program Torchwood (2006–9) to explore the fundamental nature of humanity. Torchwood asserts that some essential qualities escape quantification. These qualities define the human and separate the human from the nonhuman. Memory is the locus of these qualities, not some metaphysical or religious construct called the human soul.

11. Text’s Resistance to Being Interpreted: Unconventional Relationship between Text and Reader in Watchmen

Ho-Rim Song

Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’s graphic novel Watchmen (1986–87) experiments with postmodern literary devices, forms, and style to problematize the conventional concept of interpretation. In particular, the text deconstructs the conventional relationship between text and readers as the interpreted and the interpreter, and by doing so, it calls into question readers’ perception of their own reality as well as that of the text. Watchmen ultimately claims that interpretation, or the act of finding truth or meaning, is meaningless for our postmodern reality.

12. ”Breathe, baby, breathe!” Ecodystopia in Brazilian Science Fiction Film

Alfredo Suppia

This analysis of four ecodystopian Brazilian SF films—Claudin{ecirc} Perina Camargo’s 93{deg} Tunnel (1972), José de Anchieta’s Stop 88 (1978), Roberto Pires’s Nuclear Shelter (1981), and Marcos Bertoni’s Armadillo Blood (1986)—demonstrates that ecodystopia is one of the most structured and long-lasting manifestations of science fiction in Brazilian cinema, offering critical and speculative visions at the crossroads of social, political, and environmental issues that continue to remain strikingly relevant today. These films shed light on Brazilian anxieties regarding modernization in the atomic era that reflect greater world ecological concerns that are only becoming more compelling.

Part 4—Women

13. Women and Writing

Section edited by Lisa Yaszek

14. Hail the Conquering Campbellian S/Hero: Joanna Russ’s Alyx

Eileen Donaldson

For many theorists, both feminist and not, the figure of an archetypal, active female warrior hero has been problematic. Many feminists believe it is gender stereotyping to suggest that women are unable to possess the force of the archetypal warrior hero and that this archetype is ultimately available to both men and women. I briefly define the nature of the archetypal hero and an argument is made for the active female s/hero who possesses the “masculine” powers of the hero and thus allows the archetypal power of the active warrior hero to pass to women. Joseph Campbell’s work on the archetypal hero of myth is drawn on extensively. One of the genres that allow an exploration of the s/hero is SF. I explore the s/hero in SF, particularly as she is evoked in Joanna Russ’s Alyx stories, published as short stories first and then collected in 1983 and published as The Adventures of Alyx.

15. Essentialism and Constructionism in Octavia E. Butler’s Fledgling

Kristen Lillvis

Although critics have argued that science fiction writer Octavia E. Butler confines her heroines to biologically determined sex and gender roles, in this article, I look beyond genetic predispositions and explore the influence of social and material conditions on her characters’ beliefs and actions. I use Butler’s final novel, Fledgling (2005), to investigate acts of sexual violence, demands of heterosexual sexual practices, and traditional notions of maternal roles as they affect the novel’s human and vampire species as well as Butler’s protagonist, a genetically engineered being whose biology aligns her with both species but whose amnesia frees her from a socially constructed consciousness. I posit that although biological tendencies may exist in the novel, Butler uses her heroine’s atypical beliefs about and responses to female behavioral norms to demonstrate that sex-specific characteristics become unavoidable truths only for the individuals and societies that choose to accept them as such.

16. Joanna Russ and the Murder of the Female Child: We Who Are About To{3.}

Rebekah Sheldon

In this essay, I investigate the violation of the rescue of the female child theme in Joanna Russ’s 1977 novel We Who Are About To{3.}. In stories like “The Second Inquisition” (1970), Russ positions the reader as the double of the child in the plot and rescues both by engendering the story as a hero. I assert that We Who Are About To{3.} rends open this closed loop through its refusal of proper narrative structure and its murder of the female child. I interpret this murder as an interrogation of the metaphysics of presence implicit in the rescue thematic, a move to a deconstructive writing practice and a liberation of the child from service as the site of future redemption.

17. Learning to Listen, Listening to Learn: The Taoist Way in Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Telling

James Thrall

Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Telling (2000) is more than simply a novel steeped in Taoism. It is, in fact, an attempt to make a political point by imagining a novel in a Taoist mode. Her protagonist moves beyond merely studying the Telling, a way of life modeled on Taoism, to becoming a practitioner herself. Le Guin contrasts her construction of the Telling’s grassroots system of communicating life wisdom through story with hierarchical systems of domination and control. By emphasizing the importance of properly engaged listening, which she sees as a key aspect of both Taoism’s and the Telling’s feminist principle, Le Guin advocates an alternative politics that embraces “peaceful anarchy” rooted in cooperation and discernment rather than conflict.

  This morning I nearly had a heart attack!  My precious friend, who I had given my first chapter to read and evaluate, came to me with a huge smile on her face.  She was bursting with joy to tell me that she had given my chapter to her mother to read.  Her mother.  The author.  The published, working, novelist.

  “Yowzas!” was about all I could muster, feeling my tummy do a backflip.  My friend, who I shall call Melissa for this post, warned me that she intended to give her the chapter for review.  I just didn’t know if I would ever be prepared to handle what her mother had to say about it.  I held my breath and nodded, waiting for the verdict…

  “She loved it,” Melissa gushed. 

  Um, score!! I thought to myself as I exhaled and felt my knees go weak, then I began interrogating her for more information.  I mean, I have to know everything she said!!

  Basically, in a nutshell, she told me that my character’s are strong and introduced well.  She was also surprised that I could write scenes well, knowing when to start and finish a scene and how to set it up so the reader knows enough info, but not too much.  She also said that my writing is active and not passive, which is something I have been striving to do.  All in all, she said that it is a very strong first draft and she is excited to see where this book goes.

  Hollaaaaaaa!    I am freaking out right now!!  I mean, seriously, freaking out!  If ever I need confirmation that I am on the right track and should continue to pursue my dream of being a writer, this was it.  Thank you Melissa and Melissa’s mom for giving the much-needed push to keep going. 

♥ B.C.

The faint, winter sun shone a mottled glow on the wood pannled wall as darker shadows rested below on the antique armoire. Clint stared blankly from his bed into the small mirror that adorned the door on the antique. Working up the strength to get up, Clint pushed aside the heavy blanket and sat on the edge of his bed. He looked toward his desk to see a flashing light; indication that his day was going to be tough. He stood and walked toward his cell phone, the cold linoleum against his feet giving him an extra shock and invigoration to bring him fully out of the dream world.

“We need to talk.” read the text message. It was from Leah Whitman, an associate of Clint’s, who had been scant lately.

“What do you want, Leah?” Clint said aloud.

Suddenly the phone on the desk buzzed a few times and the small red light flashed in notification.

“I remember where I put the maps.” read the message. Quickly it was overlapped by another “The maps to the underworld.”

“I don’t have time for this, Leah.” Clint said annoyed. “Remember our talk about how being dead for so long effects your memories?”

The phone did it’s dance of attention once again, “No! Listen to me, the guy that killed me was looking for maps to the underworld! I remember where his hideout is now!”

“Ok. Where?”

“Under the old military prison by the lake.”

Clint sighed and sat back down on his bed. He remembered his promise to the gods all those years ago and felt honor bound to follow this spirit’s directions no matter how insane she was or how many trails lead in the wrong direction. “Fine, Leah. But if this is another dead end, I’m sending you.” Clint said to the seemingly empty room. He felt the vibration on his mattress.

“This isn’t! I promise!”

With that, Clint opened the armoire door and pulled out some clothes. He dressed in denim jeans and a button down shirt. He mused on how he could get away with such sloppiness in the modern times. Not that he minded, the old days were too much of a hassle and Clint was a man of simplicity. Or was he a man anymore? As he looked in the mirror to straighten his hair, he pondered this immortality he’d been given. It wasn’t normal immortality, he rubbed a scar on his chest through the soft material of the shirt. He just wouldn’t age, he was just as vulnerable to knives, guns or anything as the mortals. “Why did they even give me this impossible mission?” Clint thought as he slipped on his double breasted jacket. It was his usual thought; he and his family were killed by a gang in the 1920’s. Durring the initial struggle, Clint had cut one of the men with a pocket knife. This prompted a punch to the face which knocked him back and unconscious. The next thing he knew, he was in a strange place. Beings he could only describe as deities told him what happened and that he had swallowed demon blood. So he wasn’t dead. They made a deal, he would eliminated the escaped demons and in return, the gods would give him his family back. He agreed because he loved his family, little did he know that the demons were ellusive. He’d been hunting the one that killed his family for 90 years now.

He knew that once he killed one, the rest would be easier to track down.

Chapter Arts Centre in Canton may have undergone a dramatic facelift, but it is certainly not the kneejerk response to a mid-life crisis.  The 38-year-old building has just gone through a 16-month redevelopment costing almost £4 million, and the message is loud and clear: Chapter is 38 years young, rather than 38 years old.

“It’s just the beginning,” said front of house operations manager Abi Davies.  “It’s going to be a sustainable project now, which is fantastic.”  She is not alone in her enthusiasm.  The centre officially relaunched on November 24, but the new building had been open for a month by then after work was completed in mid-October.

The entrance to the terrace at the back of Chapter

In its first few weeks the centre welcomed more than 50,000 people through the doors and sold more than 5,000 meals in its redesigned cafe bar, which has almost doubled in size during the refurbishment.  Abi said: “We’ve certainly seen a dramatic increase in the number of users now that we’ve doubled the space.”

Part of the redesigned cafe bar area

The success of the cafe bar is integral to Chapter; the centre relies on earned income to account for between 75 and 80 per cent of its turnover because it is a not-for-profit organisation and a registered charity.

View Larger Map

Local councillor Cerys Furlong said the importance of Chapter, based in Market Road, could not be overstated.  She said: “The refurbishment of Chapter has been well worth the wait, and the investment will ensure that it remains an important centre for the arts in Cardiff – and Wales as a whole – as well as a major landmark in Canton, well into the future.

“Chapter provides jobs within our local community, supports local artists in Canton, and makes a massive contribution to the local economy.”

Revamped seating area outside the centre's two cinema screens

The redesign project came a cost of £3.8 million, which was raised through a number of grants and awards but also some smaller schemes run by Chapter’s own fundraising team within the community.

Centre users were able to buy a brick to be used in the building or adopt a builder working on the project, as well as having the opportunity to furnish their homes with an original cinema seat dating back from the 1930s.

The building's history as a former school is reflected in the new design

Abi put the “overwhelming” support of customers down to the communal feel of Chapter and the importance of preserving its originality.  “It is still Canton’s community space but it is a beautiful building, and there is nothing in Cardiff that matches what this place does; nothing brings together artists, community groups and people who just want a cup of tea in this way so it’s extremely unique,” she said.

The two biggest donors to the project were the Arts Council of Wales, who made an award of £1,750,000, and the Welsh Assembly Government, who put forward a total of £850,000 in a series of different grants and schemes.

Nick Capaldi, chief executive of the Arts Council of Wales, said: “This imaginative refurbishment will greatly enhance the experience of Chapter for all of its many users and Arts Council of Wales is delighted to have been able to support the venue with a Capital Lottery Award.” 

Outgoing First Minister Rhodri Morgan attended the relaunch and he described Chapter as “one of Cardiff’s gems on the arts scene” before recounting his involvement in decorating the building prior to its initial opening in 1971.  He said: “If there is a better municipal arts centre than Chapter anywhere in Europe, I would like to see it.”

School desks and old tiles add character to the expanded cafe bar

That sentiment would appear to be widely held, with The Guardian’s Elisabeth Mahoney citing Chapter as a reason to move to South Wales on her television and radio blog last month.  

Abi said the centre’s reputation as being part of Canton’s bohemian community was one of the driving forces behind the redesign.  She said: “That idea of people coming and being attracted to Cardiff or South Wales is really exciting; I think Canton and Chapter has always been a magnet for artistic, cultural types and if they’ve got an even more fabulous building to come to it’s great.”

The striking appearance of the building, created by architects Ash Sakula, begins even from outside where a 60-foot lightbox is visible above the main entrance.  Artists have the opportunity to show their work in the lightbox for six months at a time, and the first piece is a work by 35-year-old Welshman Bedwyr Williams featuring 40 flies across the building’s frontage.

The 60ft lightbox is a dramatic addition above the main entrance

Inside, the design is underpinned by nods to the 1970s origins of Chapter but also the building’s history as a former high school.  The cafe bar has desks and satchels dotted around, and the wallpaper is in places incandescently-coloured and patterned.

These subtle but clever acknowledgements of the history of Chapter have set it up for a long and successful future.  Abi said preserving Chapter’s heritage was critical in ensuring the centre did not lose its connection with visitors after the refurbishment.

Furniture and decorations were carefully chosen to ensure Chapter's past was reflected

She said: “A lot of people were worried when the project went underway and was designed that it would lose the character of Chapter, because it is an old school, so the architects made sure that they restored or kept features like the old school tiles and they’ve retained the large pillars and the open space.

“It’s really important that it kept its character, this building, because it’s been here for such a long time, and people come here who used to go to school here so it’s really nice to keep that element to it.”

The future of Chapter looks bright; 38 years after it first threw its doors open, things have only just begun.

To find out the answers to the questions above, click here.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

I mentioned this project to my mother yesterday and she showed me a book she had read a couple of years ago entitled “A Year of Living Consciously: 365 Daily Inspirations for Creation a Life of Passion and Purpose” by Gay Hendricks. I browsed through it quickly and it’s actually pretty interesting. The book has a chapter for every day of the year with the author beginning with a little anecdote and ending with “A Conscious Living Practice for Today”. Here’s the first one:

A Conscious Living Practice for Today: On New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day, many of you make resolutions. You vow to lose that extra ten pounds, to start exercising, to save more money. I want to urge you to do those things that you know are necessary or worthwhile for you, but here, now, I am urging you to make a different kind of resolution. It is one that some might say I completely without merit, but I know better. Today, I urge you toward the following resolution: This year, I commit to living consciously, and I commit to having fun as I do. I commit to expanding my consciousness and my capacity for fun every minute of this year.

I do.

Find the book at: Amazon.com or at Amazon.ca

Image : http://www.flickr.com

Chapter 13 bankruptcy provides an important option and often unknown to consumers who have residential mortgages. Namely, the removal of a lien or junior "2" from your debt. Since the property value has decreased, a common complaint I hear is: "I can not believe that I do not pay more than my house is really worth."

If you purchased a home within three to four years 80/20 and financed by borrowing, or if you refinanced your house and took out a second mortgageChances are you can remove the second mortgage and other junior liens from your home.

Imagine … File a Chapter 13 bankruptcy eliminate all debts of credit cards, reduce car payments, for payments returned for a mortgage before and now, completely remove the second mortgage.

In addition, if the value of your home rebounds, as equity is yours.

It is important to realize that the abolition of mortgage 2 is only available in cases of bankruptcy from Chapter 13.The ideal candidate for this process has a 2nd mortgage on a house that is no longer considered equal to or greater than your mortgage 1. It is necessary to obtain compositions for the property and an assessment to determine the market value of the house.

If the works of the fair market value, a motion seeking court approval should be filed. The mortgage company may object to this proposal. This will require a hearing of evidence and perhaps an adversary complaint. If the court decidesthe fair market value of the house is less than what is owed on the first mortgage, second mortgage is "stripped" from the house and the debt associated with the second mortgage is an unsecured debt (in essence, be treated as a credit card debt). Generally, bankruptcy, chapter 13, a small percentage of unsecured debt is paid, if any.

When the proposal is approved, you will need to make any payment plan (for a period of 3 to 5 years) and obtain the discharge. Oncedebts are satisfied, the second mortgage is completely gone.

Under the existing bankruptcy law, debtors are not able to force a first mortgage to change the terms of borrowing for loans of their principal residence. Many lenders realize the alarming state of the economy are willing to negotiate a modification of their mortgage, which allows the debtor to reduce their monthly payments. This is a relatively recent development for many donors who had already refused to grant such requests.This modification can significantly help an owner who wants to keep their house, but suffered a drop in income and home values. The advantage is even more evident when used in combination with removal of a second mortgage for borrowers who have both a mortgage first and second.

In addition, recently presented to Congress during the first week of 2009, which now allows judges in bankruptcy from Chapter 13 to modify first mortgages by:

reductionamount of the secured claim (for example, lowering the balance of the mortgage / deed of trust which is secured by your home);
changes in the rate of interest on the loan or change the setting to adjust for certain loans and / or
-modify the duration of the loan.

This bill, if passed, would finally give some relief to homeowners. In the past, mortgages have strongly opposed such a change. However, this period may be different. News reports indicate Citigroup has already proposedhe would support this legislation with minor changes, one of which is to ask the owner of a house at the first attempt to modify the loan directly with the creditor (s) before the loan can be modified by a judge bankruptcy.

Friends Link : tw-edinburgh http://income-opportunity.ipacapao.com/

Well I am not a newbie blogger anymore.  I have decided that since I have started a new chapter in my life that I should start a new blog.

I intend to blog… most of the time… when I feel I have something I want to get out there.  I will be blogging on all things (I get these crazy whims and well I will share. Alot.)

Mainly this will be about ME and mine… I love to cook, I love geography and smart stuff.  You will learn more about me as I go.  I will blog about everything so enjoy…

Chapter One of Book one is nearing completion. I also received a 25/20 on my assignment I posted earlier.

A mobile library which serves rural communities is helping to spread the internet revolution in a county…. From BBC News. Full story

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Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar Asqalani | Language: English | Format: PDF | Pages: 579 | Size: 27 MB
In this book, Allama Hafiz Ibn Hajar Asqalani has recorded the true significance of almost each Hadith, thus making it more valuable and useful in many respects. He has also mentioned the origins of the Ahadith and made a comparison of the versions in case the source are more than one. One more distinctive feature, along with others, is that the versions have also been shortened to present just the main purpose of the Hadith according to its classification under the chapter. Because of these preferential qualities, Bulugh Al-Maram has been accepted widely and is among the most sought after books of Ahadith.

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Most people think of a “book” when they hear the word “author”.  But I have come to believe that we are all authors, we are all writing the stories of our own lives on a daily basis.  What we create, what we decide, what we choose to do with our time are all the elements that create the stories we live.  Just as writers focus on the structure of a paragraph, we as life authors need to focus on the structure of what we want to create for ourselves on a daily basis.   What is so incredibly wonderful, is that we can redesign, reshape, or recreate our experience at any moment we choose to.  We can change the words we use, we can change the actions we take, we can change the direction of our story… because we have the pen to do so. 

When we start to take responsibility for our lives, we begin to take control of how our life unfolds.  I have found that most people who are unhappy in their lives, blame someone else, their life circumstance, or simply that life has been unfair to them.   Yes, there are times and circumstances that are out of our control, but as we’ve heard so many times before, it’s not what happens to us that makes the difference, it’s what we do with it and how we deal with it. 

It’s never to late to write a new chapter in your life, no matter your age or your situation.  What are your dreams?  Take a piece of paper and write out the story you want for your life…. you just might be suprised at what changes begin to take place.  You just might find yourself on the BESTSELLER list of life!

“Rose-colored glasses are never made in bifocals.  Nobody wants to read the small print in dreams.” – Ann Landers

When:Thursday Dec 3rd! (TOMORROW) 6:30-9
Where: 3338 M St. NW (FotoWeek Central One)

We hope you can come out and join us for great food, drinks and merriment! Open to all!