iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 18h

Haven’t been online for a while, but the artwork continues. Here’s my latest….

000

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

I learned George Orwell wasn’t lying when he wrote “1984.”

140

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

Thanks; yes, I do see that activity on those pages.

010

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

I honestly didn’t see a lot of reading of banned books going on in this book. I did note a lot of discussion of subversive ideas among the students.

110

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

I belong to an online Torah study. It is conducted from a reconstructionist point of view and is quite progressive. We sometimes do projects like say, presentations about the history of Hebrew liturgy. I have made new friends and have learned so much. Important to keep my brain going at 66.

050

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

Well, I enjoyed both the story and the illustrations. First time I have read a graphic novel.

120

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

Thx for clarifying. Loved the book. Who did the illustrations?

110

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

Huh…I wonder where Trump gets his Adderral from? Would he sacrifice THAT?

020

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

I voted pro-library in our general election. Not sure what else I could do. Suggestions?

210

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

Are you married to the writer?

100

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

Didn’t know any of that; and yes, I’d like to learn more.

020

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

Well, for one thing you learn facts you might not learn otherwise. Like, South Korea had an authoritarian government at one time.

020

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

It took me a minute to figure out that the authoritarian measures mentioned in the book occurred in SOUTH Korea, not North Korea. I need to catch up on my history.

020

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

It took a HELLUVA long time to find a photo of a child who displayed the correct facial proportions for a future dramatic soprano. This one fit the description in the novel.

010

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

So…I did some illustrations of Willa Cather’s “The Song of the Lark.” One is a pic of Thea Krinborg as a child. The other is her music teacher, Mr. Wunch.

210

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

I’m guessing the amount of violence in the story. And I’m sure there are fundamentalists out there not happy that a preacher’s kid creates a religion which is essentially existentialism.

030

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

Only if you have a strong stomach.

020

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

Not sure they got it. Are they familiar with existentialism?

120

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

The entire book was quite grim. For me, the worst was Lauren finding a human arm that might, or might not, belong to her missing father. And at the same time hearing far away groaning that might, or might not, be coming from her father.

110

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

For one thing, Lauren got a lot of survivalist information from books. In addition, book knowledge seems to have inspired Lauren's new creed and has given her a certain amount of perspective about her situation.

021

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

I would be curious, given the primitive way the characters in this book are forced to survive, how technology in their world would be advanced enough for interstellar space travel.

130

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

Lauren seems to be inherently strong and resilient, and her father's influence probably helped to make her that way. Other strong women characters like Zahra, Natividad, Allie, Jill and Emery appear to be strengthened and toughened by the awful traumas that they have endured.

010

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

I think that Butler's choice to do an epistolary novel supports the narrative. The protagonist who writes the journal entries which make up this novel is highly intelligent and perceptive, and thus she provides a detailed description of the world in which she lives, and the people she knows.

020

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

What I saw in all the proverbs was a grim theology shaped by the grim circumstances in which the protagonist found herself.

010

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

Hahaha! You're probably right!

010

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

I did not find this work uplifting. It made "Handmaid's Tale" look like Disneyland.

120

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

I am reminded of Malcolm Gladwell's book, "David and Goliath." In this work, Gladwell asserts that the underdog triumphs in many instances because he is forced to be more innovative.

020

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

Are you talking about the book, or what’s actually going on now, lol? Because what Ms. Butler had to say in the 1990s is no longer speculative. Sad.

000

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

Like “Mango Street,” I would recommend this book to an aspiring young writer as a model of style.

030

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

It's hard to hear an African-American's story about racial harassment. My family is from Mississippi. My paternal grandfather was a state senator with ties to the KKK. In addition, he was a school superintendent who backed segregation in Vicksburg. He was a party to what Baldwin describes.

120

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

Speaking of which, just finished the Butler novel. Looking forward to discussing it next month.

020

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

I've read statements that the "administration" and the "government" don't care in regard to DEI. We must remember that almost half of the voters elected this administration. And I don't hear any complaints from the Trump voters I know about getting rid of DEI. So WHO really doesn't care?!

010

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

Baldwin's writing style was quite elegant and easy reading for me. But the subject matter was depressing. I've read accounts of growing up black from current authors, and they relate some of the same types of incidents involving racism, bigotry, etc. Some things don't change. (I'm WASP)

010

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

The Scottish-Bergonzi recording.

010

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 15/02/2025

If I could excise my knowledge of today’s politics from my mind, I could find some hope. Right now, I can’t.

020

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 15/02/2025

Amen to that, because we deprive ourselves of so much in terms of achievement, art, culture, music, STEM contribution.

010

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 15/02/2025

I regularly attend a Reconstructionist (progressive) Jewish Torah group. We are often reminded that the writers of the Tanakh (Old Testament) often linked fear and religion. Many fundamentalist Christians still do that.

020

Scooper1958 @scooper1958.bsky.social · 15/02/2025

I got a different description of Elijah Muhammad from that of Malcolm X.

150