 A Wolf At the Door Roy Peak by Julie Carpenter “First you live forever then you die”
And before you go, you should listen to Roy Peak’s new album. For this album, Roy slows down just a little. Like the aging wolf in “Walk with Me Now” he brings the reader along for a slow walk with some dark turns. In the meantime, there is beauty. As a writer, I find that I appreciate Roy’s music on a narrative level. Every album creates a mood and tells me a story. Someday, I’m going to just sit down and listen to each of Roy’s albums, follow the character he creates in my mind and do a series of short stories based solely on his music. Until that day, let me assure you that the mood of this album is right for reflection here at the end of the world.
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 This Other Me by Roy Peak Here's another original story by our friend and music editor, Roy Peak! Happy Peak Week Chickens!
Monday sucked. Kyle was late with the files I'd ordered which put me late for my meeting with Henderson which made me miss lunch which upset my stomach which caused me to spew all over Kolbinskie's shoes as he passed by my cube which made him order me to go home early. "Big meeting with Holpatrick and Ferguson tomorrow. Get some rest, Julia," and when I went outside to my car it was gone. Stolen. I waited forty-five minutes in the coffee shop for an officer to fill out a report. My cell was in the car and my husband ignored the forty calls I made to his cell from the payphone at the coffee shop--he never answered unknown numbers--so I had to catch a cab home. Twenty-one dollars and fifty-cents plus tip. It was dark when I finally walked up the driveway. In the garage sat Dan's BMW--he was always forgetting to close the garage door--and my Volvo wagon sat in the drive. Had the police already recovered it? Weird. As I walked toward the front steps I fished the house keys out of my purse. Something caught my eye as I passed by the window. I took two steps back and stared. There was a woman in my kitchen and she was washing the dishes. What the hell?  A Day Without Love WTF Parts 1 and 2 by Roy Peak A Day Without Love is the diverse musical project of Brian Walker, a Philadelphia musician who fearlessly crosses genre boundaries with his music. Walker has played numerous shows in nearly half the states across America, and sees his calling in music as a way to inspire hope and support to others in need.
His newest musical project was born out of the frustration he sees in a divided and inherently racist America, fiscal inequality, and voter rights. Titled WTF, and divided into two parts, Walker's vision is timely, and dares to not hold back its punches one bit.  Garden Day: Things Are Changing by Jarad Johnson I like to think that I appreciate every season for what it is. Spring is lush and abundant and full of excitement, summer is hot and sticky and a time of production, fall is a time of putting things to rest and bringing in the last harvest, and winter is a time of stillness. But, if I’m honest, spring and fall are my favorites. Summer is too hot, and winter is too cold. And if I had to pick between spring and fall? After much hemming and hawing, I’d say spring. Watching all the perennials emerge from the ground, sowing seeds, and planning my gardening year is a delight unlike any other. But there is something magical about the leaves turning, and the world winding down.
 Winning Down the Road As Ususal At the End by Julie Carpenter Winning
To win the game You must work with him Become hollow before it starts Scrape out your own insides It will be less painful to do it now Now he can wear your skin Like a suit Stretched and reshaped The very little that is left of you Is pushed to the edges The boundary, your own skin And yet… Your existence still stains the exterior, a thin coat of paint His lips must stop at yours His sense of touch Must end inside your fingertips The victory of inhabitation is finite The triumph smaller than you would have thought The trivial price of playing the game  Are We the Baddies? by Julie Carpenter This blog post is an older one, but I've been thinking a lot about narrative and empathy lately. In fact, Jarad, Morty, and I are thinking about doing a series of posts about the intersection of narrative, literature, politics and reality in general. So I decided to repost.
I wrote my master’s thesis on the use of narrative as an argumentative device. I believed then, and still believe, that stories are the best way to convince someone else of your truth, the best way to come to any idea at all of what the truth might be. Stories add layers of complexity. Narrative allows us to see that every person has choices to make but at the same time they are victims of the choices of other individuals, families, and societies, or even the natural world. Story embraces the paradox of life. Many things can be true at once when you see them in a narrative context. Life is messy and much more like a web than straight line. Stories create empathy and acceptance. Teaching your child to read, especially stories that are written with the perspective of a particular character or characters in mind, not only promotes academic success, but also empathy.  A Beautiful Poison Author Lydia Kang by Jarad Johnson I recently read the book, “A Beautiful Poison.” When I first picked it up, I thought it sounded like an antebellum novel. I kept picturing a woman in a large hoop skirt saying in an overwrought southern accent saying, “His love was a beautiful poison.” That didn’t happen, but it shows why you should be very careful what you name your novel. Especially around me.
This book is a lot of things – and not other things, like full of hoop-skirted women - but at its core it’s a murder mystery. It centers around a group of childhood friends, and someone is killing the people that are close to them.  Gardening Chores Jarad Johnson Fall is upon us. You know how I know? Because when I go outside in the morning, I have to put shoes on. I don’t like shoes to begin with, and when I went outside the other morning I came back with numb feet. Sigh. The seasons always sneak up on me, and now that the cold has come calling, I feel bad for complaining about the heat. Although the fall is my favorite time of year, aside from spring. The busyness and energy of spring is slowly winding down to the sleep of winter. For some plants, their time has come. The frost will take many of the plants I’ve grown this year, and almost everything is setting seed right now. I hope they’ll set enough to fill up many of the holes that were present in my beds this year. I overstretched my resources a bit this time around, but everything is about learning and growing. As I was looking around the other day, wondering if I should pull some weeds even though a move is ever imminent, I began to think about successes and failures, and what I would do differently in the future, even if that future is a few years down the line, when I will again have a garden to tend to.
 The Lava Never Sleeps Author Loreen Lilyn Lee by Julie Carpenter A Note from the author: I love interacting with readers and would love to meet with book groups. Contact info is on my web site. And thirdly, since travel is restricted these days, I encourage destination-reading! Books are a great means to "getting away" safely.
It has taken me some time to write this review, because this is a book to savor. I’ve reread several chapters simply to enjoy the language, and several more to think about the spiritual connections the author makes. There is even a chapter devoted to food that feels more like poetry than prose. This is a story that begins in Hawai’i in the 1950s and 1960s and, though the story moves with the author as she travels throughout the world, it somehow never leaves Hawai’i behind. It’s a story of finding home by coming to terms with the past, a story both universal and grounded in the context of every place the author goes. At its heart is always the beauty and abundance of the islands.  Old Gods of Appalachia Created by Steve Shell and Cam Collins by Jarad Johnson I love a good podcast. I listen to them while I’m walking or gardening, and sometimes a podcast is so good that I spend an entire afternoon walking up and down my road. Old Gods of Appalachia enthralled me so much when I first listened to it that I walked fifteen miles in one day. Yes, I was sore, but I was also addicted to this podcast. It has witches, horror, supernatural goings on. It’s well written, performed, and genuinely creepy.
(Note: there is no real way for me to review this podcast justice without discussing spoilers. If that’s an issue for you, go and listen to it first! Once you learn of the things that sleep beneath and the power that dwells within the forests, then read this review). |
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