|
Previous Columns
February 2004
Welcome to Flimsy Paper Heart month. For those of you who got something, here's a poem...
I'll stand with you
Your look
So subtle
and
so often
Thrown
Is wreathed
in
Too much shadow
and flame
To stand alone.
Melinda Sheffler, Ed.
November 2003
As the year ends and the last of the leaves slips under the porch where I'd never be able to get them out (good
thing it's not my porch), I look over my thoughts. It doesn't take long. So, instead of that, I leave you
with a seasonal poem. Happy Thanksgiving!
Yearly
Green
Straight through
to the
Brown
Of the years end.
In a
White
Blanket I will wait
for the
Green
To come
again
Melinda Sheffler, Ed.
October 2003
Happy Halloween! Here's a poem to warm your fall.
Rats, Bats, and Sassafras,
They all taste good in tea,
Please have a cup,
And drink it up!
Please, have some of my tea!
Melinda Sheffler, Ed.
August 2003 - A Poem for School
Here's a poem for those parents and children returning to those hallowed halls of school this month. Don't be afraid
to show off a bit. It shows you are more than what you once were.
"Rock On"
She stood up
from her finished paper
with a cheer:
"It's my birthday
I'm Cool
I'm Hot
I finish things before I start
Gimme a cool million,
'Cause I ROCK."
A happy dance
Filled the floor
My mocking smile
From the doorway
Stopped her dead
Killing her
Brief humanity
With embarrassment.
Melinda Sheffler, Ed.
June
2003, Time Travel
Everybody
knows that changing the past is dangerous. But, the present is just someone else's
past. (We hope). What rule says we can only change the bits
of history we belong in? And, who's to say where we belong in the first place? Nobody has told me to stay in 21st century. Not yet, anyway. If we could
travel, would we still feel that time-belonging? Or, would we belong to something bigger?
People's ideas of where they belong have certainly expanded in the past. At
one time, people's very name depended upon their town of birth. Jack London's
ancestors didn't get their names from his book covers, after all. Now people
say they are citizens of their country. It really is an emmense
change in thought for such a relatively small amount of time. Will someone someday
say, "I'm from the 2017 time zone," and think nothing of it?
Will
years, like fine wines, be labeled? "Delicate bouquet, sits well with lamb chops." Others will be called "dirty great pan of dishwater.
Avoid, or hold nose." Will my years be those latter years? Notice, I still call them mine. Will I ever bear the right to claim more
than those I see here?
Melinda Sheffler, Ed.
May 2003, Poetry
There are two kinds of poetry. One type is poetry for the sake of poetry, or beauty.
Poe's "The Raven is the best example I can think of. It's incredible and creates a gorgeous pathos, but it doesn't make
you want to do anything.
The other type of poetry makes the audience think about, or do, something in an entirely new
way. Blake's "Chimney Sweeper" is a good example. Its depiction of poor children forced to clean chimneys made
me mad when I first read it. If it had been a modern poem, I might have written a letter to Parliament about the
shameful misuse of children.
Which is better? It's hard to say. It is hard to categorize poetry, let alone make arbitrary judgements on its produce. The latter seems the more
logical choice. It attempts to improve society. But, how many people can quoth "The Raven" versus "The Chimney
Sweeper," despite the "Sweeper" being a much shorter poem? Perhaps logic and poetry were not meant to be together.
Perhaps, for the sake of world peace, we need both. What do you think?
Melinda Sheffler, Ed.
April 2003, An "Ivory Tower" -1938
In "The Ivory Tower," E.M. Forster says that we all feel the need for an seperate tower, a
place we can find solitude. And, he's right. Sometimes you just need some "me" time. Further, Forster says
the reasons for the ivory tower are fear and boredom. Fear, he states, is dangerous and unhealthy, while boredom draws
the poet's pen to paper.
On Forster's causes for the Ivory Tower (fear and boredom), it might be said that they are
the same thing. The latter being an excuse for the former. I don't think that's true, but I also don't think they are as mutually
exclusive as Forster makes them sound. Rather than thinking of them as two separate results, I see them as results of each
other. A contemplative mood comes on because of boredom. People get bored, so they go have a think. It is when the person
stays secluded for too long that they become fearful. Separation in the tower becomes seclusion, and then a siege of the mind.
However, I have never felt like I could shortly die at the hand of a Nazi either. Certain dramatic occurrences
could create situations where fear builds a tower before boredom can get a brick made. I maintain, though, that under normal
circumstances boredom comes first. That's why people can say the tower is really built on fear, others can say its built on
boredom, and they can both be right.
That is also why it
is important for us, especially those of us in the sequestered academic life, to create a balance in our lives. Some
need more tower than others; but neither the tower, nor the "chicken run" of the city, should dominate our lives. Why bother to balance? It stops fear and it's good for you;
what more reason do you need?
Melinda Sheffler, Ed.
Feb 2003 Another day, another column
Another dreary day, another endless night, another walk in someone else's shoes...Sounds like the
beginning of a cheesy detective novel, does it not? Fear not! It is I, Column Writer, who will save you from this
tragedy. Wait, what's that I see? In the distance? It's a bird; it's a plane; it's...a poor use of a semicolon.
Somewhere in a dark city that knows how to keep some really low-tech secrets; there stands a soul eager. Eager for what,
you ask? Eager for me to end this column. Thank goodness.
Melinda Sheffler, Ed.
December 2002 -Survived another Christmas
Well, the old year is coming to a close. Did you survive Christmas? I'm already thinking of New Year's resolutions
to break. Last year I came up with the idea to not talk about the weather in my column. Failed there. So,
this year I will come up with something that is absolutely impossible to fail. How about: Are there any original
one's left? Like: I will not consume any wood products. (I'll have to avoid Country Time Lemonade.)
I absolutely refuse to have any extinct animals as pets. (The Pteradactyl is "totally out" anyway.) AND, I will
not get lost in the Super Walmart ever again. (As if that would happen anyway...*nervous laugh.*) Anyway, stay
safe and have a happy new year!
Mel. Sheffler, Ed.
Nov. 2002 -Dropping a Clanger?
I have found new entertainment! Well, it's new to me. Somehow, I have stumbled upon a
lovely British comedy from the sixties called The Navy Lark. If you like terrible puns, word play, and...well...British
comedy, you'd have loved this. It's gone now, after being a successful radio and television show. You can still
find it floating around for sale on amazon or the occasional NPR station. If you ever get the chance, check it out.
Other than that, how's the weather in your neck of the wood? (Exactly what part of the woods is it's neck?
Hmmm... There's something to ponder this month.)
Ed. Mel. Sheffler
Sept. 2002 -I'm Back
Well. I have arrived. Who would have thought the difference between Grad school and undergrad was
500 hours in the library? That wouldn't have been my first guess. The work is interesting though. I won't
complain...too much. ;)
Back to work on this sight! Enjoy the weather while you can!
Ed. Mel. Sheffler
July 2002- Summer is Beautiful
Welcome! The summer is at it's best, hot and steamy. The movies this month have not been bad, but
there has been a real lack of anything "Whoa Baby". The type of movie that makes you just sit for a few minutes afterwards
staring at a blank screen, because you are so moved you can't move. I haven't seen any of those lately. Except
on rent. I rented Beautiful Mind last week. It is a beautiful movie. It surprises, tells a true story...it's
just beautiful.
I'm going back to school next month, so don't look for too many new reviews for a bit (Unless you send them in
to me, hint, hint), but once I get settled with a regular internet connection I'll be ready to really get back to work on
this site. Until then, behave!
Melinda Sheffler, Ed.
June 2002 --Apology Excepted
Good day to you all! Did you miss me? Did you notice there was no column for May? If you didn't, then
woe betide you. For those of you who did notice, you deserve an explanation. Well...it was my birthday month and
I was lazy. That's all you're going to get I'm afraid--a sorry excuse and a promise of a better future. But then,
isn't that all we ever get?
Well, summer is here and the heat is on. All the summer hits are starting to hit the big screen. What do you
think? I need some reviews from those of you out there in fandom. I haven't seen the new Star Wars flick, what's
the word? Also, it's been a while since I've had a book review passed under my nose. Anyone out there reading,
or is it becoming a lost art? Show me the reviews!
Melinda Sheffler, Ed.
April 2002 --Not about the weather
You know, I've been looking through my old columns and I've noticed something. Whenever I can't think of anything
to say I talk about the weather. Well from here on out I promise never to talk about the weather or seasons again.
After all, they are not nessesarily the same for all of my readers anyway, right? So I'll never again mention the weather.
Not even once will I speak it's simple name. Never again will its ever present head darken my column. The
last thing you will ever here me say in this column is weather.
Melinda Sheffler, Ed.
March, 2002 --The Oscars are in, wish the sunny weather was too!
Good Day! The Oscars have come out, with Lord of The Rings winning quite the show.
A Beautiful Mind won the big one though! That will be another feather for the wonderful Mr. Russell Crowe, who did rather
well last year as well. We wish him all the best.
As summer rolls closer and closer I can't help but wonder what will be the new blockbuster?
The next Lord of the Rings movie, based on the second book of JRR Tolkien's trilogy is due to come out in a few months.
The Second story of the Star Wars Trilogy is also coming up soon. Will there be an unexpected breakthrough? I
don't know about the rest of you, but I'm looking forward to good weather and exceptional theatre popcorn!
--Melinda Sheffler, Editor
February, 2002 --Choices
Sometimes life gives you an abundance
of choices. Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes
that's a good thing and sometimes it isn't. Sometimes the reason it isn't a good
thing is not because you don't like the choices, or because you don't like the company, but because you want an escape hatch. Sometimes we're afraid to make the choice we know is the only choice just because
it narrows our choices!
It may sound ridiculous, but people have
always done it. Nero burned Rome because they limited his choices.
The Celts fought England because the king narrowed
their choices. Millions of people choose to live alone every day because they
don't want to limit their choices. Some people have no true friends because they
don't want to limit their choice of acquaintances.
Whatever the choice is that you make
today, make it a good one. Don't waver, don't wait and don't hold back. If you loose the right choice by waiting for another, then you've lost all of them
and perhaps more.
- Melinda
Sheffler, Ed.
Jan., 2002 New Year's Resolutions
Well, another year has come to us. Fifty million ads have already told you what your New Years resolutions should be,
could be for 20 dollars less than last year, or could be for FREE (plus S&H). I'm not going to do it. I know what your
resolutions should be, and I could tell you, but why bother? You know them twice as well as I do, and yet you still ignore
them.
Instead, I'm going to selflessly write about my new computer. It is a thing of beauty to behold. All the newest
lovelies are there--WindowsXP, CD-RW, faster modem. Things that used to take me hours now take 2 minutes.
Now that
I've really gotten to know my new machine (i.e. spent hours playing with it) you would think I'd start saving time. I'm still
waiting for my Rest and Relaxation to arrive. All-in-all, I think I've logged a good hundred hours depressing it's lovely
keys this week. The problem is, I keep thinking of bigger and more impressively complex things for it to do. (When I say 'impressively'
I mean pointlessly.)
A friend of mine was talking about the advancement of computers the other day, and I had to agree.
The difference from my computer and the one my father owned when I was young is like the difference between 'run, boy, run'
and 'hasten, lad, accellerate your perambulation.' Another example: in two years my high-tech machina will be so outdated
I wouldn't bother giving it to a dog. So, why is it I spend just as much time on it as before.
Perhaps there is a
New Years resolution in that. I resolve to spend less time on the computer. Yeah, that sounds good. Maybe I'll try that next
year.
Melinda Sheffler, Ed.
December 22nd, 2001 --A Fresh Look at Christmas
This Christmas I think the most important thing to remember is what
parents have been telling kids for years. "We don't have to have Christmas, not everyone does you know!" Usually
that's followed by a, "we CAN take those presents back," but I want to focus on the first part.
We have
had Christmas for so long we come to expect it. We don't question it. In Christmas cartoons, the idea is an spoken of in
terms of the worst horror possible, something that just can't be! We call our presents gifts, but gifts are only so demanded
at this point in the year! We're becoming expectant, every year more so.
This year, try to think of your Christmas
gifts as if you've never received one before. When family and friends come to call, try to pretend you haven't been expecting
them for months and didn't know it was their turn to come.
In light of this year's attack especially, we need to remember
that Christmas isn't the right of every American, it's a gift to every human.
-Melinda Sheffler, Ed.
November 12th, 2001
I was checking my junk e-mail the other day and I came across one with an interesting subject--"So,
how bad do you want it?" The actual content of the letter is less than worth mentioning, but the subject caught my brain.
So, how bad do you want it?
The more I thought about it, the bigger the phrase became. Soon it was encompassing
life, the universe and everything (to coin a phrase). It takes in the bigger ideologies, such as...How bad do you want freedom?
If you go cosmic...how bad do you want hope? Enough to fight for it? Enough to give your soul to the asking? Taking it
down to the everyday man... How bad do you want the TV off? Enough to get up and turn it off? On the most basic of all levels...
How bad do you want food? Bad enough to find and cook it? Let's go a little more current with the worldwide view...How bad
do you want peace? Bad enough to loose a little freedom? How much freedom are you willing to loose? That's what Bin Laden
is asking.
These are big, important topics that we each deal with every day. Choices have to be made and each
person has to decide how important a thing is for them at that moment. Remember that there are always consequences, good
and bad. How odd it is that every choice can be boiled down to such a simple question. Don't let it weigh you down though.
It's still your answer, no matter who asks the question. So, how bad do want it?
--Melinda Sheffler, Ed.
Diamond in the Rough Oct. 1st, 2001
I hear people talk about the selfless acts of children and the tender, continual
gifts from youth. Do these people know any real children? Children, by nature, are selfish. The phrase 'give 'em an inch
and they'll take a mile' was created expressly for the purpose of describing kids. No one else will ask more from you, anywhere.
When they give you something it means they want something. They want praise, money, things, a new toy, or just love.
When they get that something they cheerfully ask for more.
So am I down on children? NO! The reason those gifts
are so precious to us is because they are so rare. We get them, not someone else. It is quite a privilege to except a last
piece of candy from a three year old, or have a teenager want to do...anything...with you.
It is because the gift
is so precious to the giver that it is precious to us. It becomes a diamond in the rough.
Shark Attack! ----Sept. 9th, 2001
I was driving down the road the other day, listening to the radio report on
the recent shark attacks. So absorbed was I in the news that I missed the police officer lying in wait just a few feet away!
Luckily, I was going under the speed limit, but it made me think...the sudden rush of adrenaline and the touch of panic...sharks!
Are police really sharks? Of course not. But, the similarities are striking. They both lie in wait for the big fish,
leaving the little speeders to slip by. The feeling one get as one sees them along the oceans of American Highways is like
seeing a shark fin come out of the water about thirty feet away. And when one flashes their lights behind you? Feel that sense
of doom? You're about to be eaten. You may even loose an arm an' a leg.
Perhaps they should both wear full signs,
like an airport parking lot. Hang a little hook on their back fin or window that says 'exceeding capacity' or 'all full up
for today'. Think of the sighs of relief! Children could safely play in the ocean. Father's could speed home from work to
their loving families. Ok, maybe that's a bit melodramatic, but wouldn't it be nice?
By: Melinda Sheffler
Aug. 2001
Have you noticed it? A lack of communication during travel? If you don't get that treated it could kill
you. Ok, maybe not kill you, but it certainly will leave you depressed.
Every day Americans travel for hours to
see our fantastic natural sites scattered all over the US. We then spend five minutes in awe, get back in the car, and drive
those endless hours home. Obviously the main purpose of travel is no longer to 'get there'. It must be the communications
shared along the way. So what happened?
For a long time (the simple ages before the car) the purpose WAS to just
get there. I figure, when your walking beside a wagon for days on end, like the pioneers did, that's about all that keeps
you going. Thinking, 'I'll be there...someday I'll be there'. I can only imagine what they talked about. They had to talk
as they traveled, you see, to fight off the boredom.
As we raced into the fifties, travel speed became the ultimate
thrill. You could now travel, if you had the money, anywhere in the world in a matter of days. Thus began the rush, look,
and leave syndrome I mentioned earlier. Everyone wanted to see everything before his or her neighbor did. Ah, but travel wasn't
as fast as it seemed! There were still hours of boredom between here and there. So we created car games and getting there
became half the fun.
Now we've taken car games to a new level. Game boys, computers, in-car TVs, personal CD players,
cell phones, have I forgotten anything? I'm sure I have. Notice all these things keep us from talking to each other? No communication
is had, at least not w/ people in the car. In fact, we avoid it like the plague. You know what? I think we should talk about
it. All of us. Put down the cell phone, turn off the Game Boy, close the book for a bit, and talk. Just talk.
-Melinda
Sheffler
Romana1@hotmail.com
If you're thinking of contributing, be sure to take a look at the "Contributor's Guidelines" section on this page.
|
 |
|
Contributor's Guidelines (FAQs):
How long should my contribution be?
Movie reviews:
under 250 words
Book reviews:
under 500 words
Articles:
under 1000 words
Will you edit my work after I send it in?
Yes, but only major errors.
Turn your work in ready for publication.
What if I see an error after it's already on the Site?
LET
ME KNOW! It can still be changed.
What if I want to publish my articles/reviews somewhere else?
If
someone else buys total rights to your contribution, let me know. I'll need to remove it from the site in accordance with
the law. If they buy 'one time' rights, it can be left online.
What if I think it is no longer timely, or
just don't want it online anymore?
Let me know at the address below. It's your piece, you choose.
Where do I send my submission?
Thank you for your questions.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
