beyond magazine

Type on the Tube

Janine has a collection of fantastic videos for Uppercase's Type Tuesday this week. If you don't have a lot of time, try the first one That's Life.

Buy Differently.

The month of November hosts Buy Nothing Day. I've received a few notices in my inbox reminding me to join up so that I can do nothing. It's an interesting concept and probably a necessary red flag to be waved in front of our bull of consumerism rampaging its way through the globe's china shop.

I'm a big fan of planting flags. But I've never been a big fan of the Buy Nothing Days and Christmases along with their associated campaigns. And you'd think that as the publisher of a no-ads arts magazine, this would be right up my billboard-free alley.

For one thing, it is a bad assumption that when you're on the internet today, you are buying nothing. I hear the same arguments for giving up paper magazines, as if the internet is available to everyone and doesn't have an environmental impact. Consider all the yucky parts and use of electricity as we all promote buying nothing on our plastic keyboards.

I can't quite put my finger on it - it's nothing after all, but there are a few things that make me less than enthusiastic. The places these campaigns originate from are often preachy and vitriolic. A good sermon motivates and inspires. These make me yawn like the hell-and-brimstone spitters of my youth. It is an either/or conversation and I'd like to hear something that pulls folks together. Maybe that's why I'm more fond of things like the Lights Out campaigns which has us seeing what our something - internet, television, appliances - is really doing.   

I also  know a whole lot of people that are very conscious of their purchasing decisions which is part of the pleasure of working with our contributors and volunteers. They don't blame everything on someone or some place else and they work to create beauty and meaning in their own little corners of the world. And some of those things - art, music, writing, etc. - need support They need someone thoughtful to trade a little something for their efforts.

And as the publisher of that no-ads arts magazine, I'd like someone to come up with a Buy Less, but Buy Different day. Take the time to purchase a little piece of art from a small gallery. When you buy something, leave the bag behind. Find out where your food comes frome. Subscribe to, let's say,  a no-ads volunteer run arts magazine . Those small differences that come with the way we trade with other human beings add up to a lot more than nothing.

Blankets.

A guest review of Blankets by Beyond ICU member, David Shepherd:

On the recommendation of a friend, I visited my local library and found a copy of Blankets, a graphic novel by Craig Thompson. I'm on-call for an early morning shift, and woke before call-time, so I picked it up to pass some time and wound up reading all 500+ pages straight through.

What a beautiful work of art. Simple, but poignant drawings, and a deeply human and moving story. His depiction of life as an outsider in mainstream evangelical culture is spot-on. The guilts, the pressures,
the utter surreality of growing up in that world echoed my own.

Especially poignant was a section where he burns all of his drawings and art. He states:

"I acted as if I was sacrificing a burnt offering before God ---- a new spiritual pact. But really I wanted to burn these childhood artifacts because the lines - meant for escape - served as a reminder instead. I wanted to burn my memories."

His writing and drawing blend together seamlessly to form a whole that goes beyond a mere story on page, but draws you in like a silent film. I put the book down and slept, and woke feeling cleaner, wholer, and more human than I have in a long time. It's like it set something very deep in me free. There is nothing like hearing someone else articulate something you never could, especially when you hadn't even realized you'd been trying.

Publisher's website.
Author Craig Thompson's website.

Moon is Down

Beyond ICU member and Five Foot Bookshelf contributor, David Shepherd offers up the following recommendation:

John Steinbeck's book, The Moon Is Down,  is about a Norwegian town occupied by German troops during World War II.  This short novel, only about 100 pages long, explores the relationships of the soldiers and officers and the people of the town they're assigned to. Eventually the hatred of the townspeople begins to wear down their sanity as they succumb to isolation, frustration, and the exhaustion that comes from constantly having to be on their guard against everyone around them. They slowly realize that nothing can stem the hatred of a conquered people.  It's a smart, incisive novel. Some quotes:

'We trained our young men for victory and you've got to admit they're glorious in victory, but they don't quite know how to act in defeat.  We told them they were brighter and braver than other young men.  It was a kind of shock to them to find out that they aren't a bit braver or brighter than other young men.'

Loft said harshly, 'What do you mean by defeat?  We are not defeated.'

And Lanser looked coldly up at him for a long moment and did not speak, and finally Loft's eyes wavered and he said, 'Sir.'

...and Lanser said, 'Don't talk for a moment.  I know what it is.  You didn't think it would be this way, did you?  You thought it would be rather nice."

'They hate us,' Prackle said, 'They hate us so much.'

'...you thought it would be fun, didn't you?...You're not a man anymore. You are a soldier.  Your comfort is of no importance and, Lieutenant, your life isn't of much importance.  If you live, you'll have memories. That's about all you will have.  Meanwhile you must take orders and carry them out.  Most of the orders will be unpleasant, but that's not your business.  I will not lie to you, Lieutenant.  They should have prepared you for this, and not for flower-strewn streets. They should have built your soul with truth, not led it along with lies.'

_________________________

Orden fingered his gold medallion.  He said quietly, 'You see, sir, nothing can change it.  You will be destroyed and driven out.'  His voice was very soft.  'The people don't like to be conquered, sir, and so they will not be.  Free men cannot start a war, but once it is started, they can fight on in defeat.  Herd men, followers of a leader, cannot do that, and so it is always the herd men who win battles, and the free men who win wars.  You will find that is so, sir.'

___________________________

Tonder said, 'I mean this: we'll be going home before long, won't we?'

'Well, the reorganization will take some time,' Hunter said.  'The new order can't be put into effect in a day, can it?'

Tonder said, 'All our lives perhaps?'

And Prackle said, 'Don't let him start it again!'

...'He's making out his report.  He's asking for reinforcements,' said Loft.  'It's a bigger job then we thought.'

Prackle asked excitedly, 'Will he get them - the reinforcements?'

'How would I know?'

Tonder smiled, 'Reinforcements!' he said softly.  'Or maybe replacements.  Maybe we could go home for a while.'  And he said, smiling, 'Maybe I could walk down the street and people would say, 'Hello' and they'd say, 'There goes a soldier,' and they'd be glad for me and they'd be glad of me.  And there'd be friends about, and I could turn my back to a man without being afraid.'

...Tonder went on, 'You really think replacements will come, Captain?'

'I didn't say so.'

'But you said they might.'

'I said I didn't know. Look Lieutenant, we've conquered half the world.  We must police it for a while. You know that.'

'But the other half,?' Tonder asked.

'They will fight on hopelessly for a while,' said Loft.

'Then we must be spread out all over.'

' For a while,' said Loft.

...He [Tonder] said, 'I had a funny dream.  I guess it was a dream. Maybe it was a thought.  Maybe a thought or a dream.'

Prackle said, 'Make him stop, Captain!'

Tonder said, "Captain, is this place conquered?"

"Of course," said Loft.

A little note of hysteria crept into Tonder's laughter.  He said, "Conquered and we're afraid; conquered and we're surrounded."  His laughter grew shrill.  "I had a dream - or a thought - out in the snow with the black shadows and the faces in the doorways, the cold faces behind curtains.  I had a thought or a dream."

Prackle said, "Make him stop!"

And Loft & Hunter laughed together and Loft said, "The enemy have found out how crazy.  I'll have to write that one home.  The enemy have learned how crazy the leader is."

And Tonder went on laughing. "Conquest after conquest, deeper and deeper into molasses...maybe the Leader is crazy. Flies conquer the flypaper. Flies capture two hundred miles of new flypaper!"