Author: Shannon Turlington
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Some thoughts on George Orwell’s 1984 inspired by the so-called Birther debate and other current events…
Like most people who have read 1984, it profoundly affected my way of thinking about power and political systems. Orwell introduced concepts and language into the general consciousness, such as “doublethink” and “Big Brother.” The struggle against political oppression and the tyranny of the powerful few over the many seems to be a never-ending one,…
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The Big Lebowski (as Told by Donny)
I’m going through one of my notebooks and saving out the good stuff. Here is a “found” poem, so to speak: a summary of The Big Lebowski, as told (mostly) by Donny’s lines of dialogue, with just a little help from Walter. Enjoy. The Big Lebowski (as told by Donny) [Donny, you’re out of your…
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How the time does go by…
So I was driving along on this beautiful sunny day, bopping along to Jackson Browne‘s great song, “The Load-out,” when it occurred to me how many anachronisms that song contains, at least from an early 21st-century point of view. Eight-tracks, cassettes, disco, truckers on CB. Richard Pryor! Anyone younger than me must think Browne is…
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How to have a conversation with a book…
In school as an English major, I learned how to interpret symbolism in literature. Take Moby Dick, for instance. My professor made a point, which I still remember, of how Ahab’s hat symbolized his manhood, which the whale stole from him. He likened that to the scene in Thelma and Louise when the girls blow up the…
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A few words from writers about drinking…
“When I have one martini, I feel bigger, wiser, taller. When I have a second, I feel superlative. When I have more, there’s no holding me.” — William Faulkner “Faulkner was a big drinker, went on wild binges, but he never wrote much while drunk. He and others drank to broaden their vision, their…
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Analysis and thoughtful writing not endangered after all…
I like this take from Clive Thompson on how the blog, once a literal log of Websites, is now becoming a forum for longer, in-depth analysis once reserved for magazines and newspapers. His thesis is that Twitter and similar tools have replaced the quick link-sharing function once served by blogs, and that these social networks…
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About evidence that there are other universes…
The other day I read this, about evidence that there are other universes outside our own. I imagined each universe as a soap bubble, floating in nothingness and occasionally bumping into one another. And I thought to myself: “Nothing we do matters at all.”
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Write that novel or not, but treat readers right
So, this article over on Salon.com, prompted some thoughts: Better yet, DONT write that novel. The rant is a response to the annual write-a-thon, National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWrMo, as it’s known around the Interwebs, encourages writers and would-be writers to bang out a first draft in a month in an effort to just get it…
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Me on the Huffington Post
Here’s a list I originally wrote for Flashlight-Worthy Book Recommendations that was recently revamped and republished on the Huffington Post: 11 Zombie-Free Flashlight Worthy Novels to Help You Survive the Apocalypse (PHOTOS). Woohoo! Big time!
Shannon Turlington 