On February 19, the New York State Parks Commissioner slated 41 parks for outright closure. These parks have been bequeathed in perpetuity for public enjoyment and conservation. Outright closure of these parks, and others outside the region, would seem to be incompatible with this spirit of conservation. Read more….. »
“Gone Tomorrow” by Heather Rogers
It is easy to live with the delusion that when something is discarded it somehow magically disappears from the world. Obviously it does not, but not many people are willing to delve into the next stage of the life of detritus. So, where does the trash go when we have divorced it from our lives? Heather Rogers explores this question in her book, “Gone Tomorrow”. Read more….. »
“Water” by Steven Solomon
Many histories of the world have chronicled civilizations via religion, culture, and the physical environment in which a society creates itself. Steven Solomon has entered his contribution of grand world historical accounts with his new book, “Water”. As may be gleaned from the title, Solomon writes how human civilization has been affected by that most universal of substances, water. How civilizations have utilized it to grow their civilization, have managed it to help them survive, and what they have done when it runs scarce are just some of the ways that Solomon writes about the entwining relationship with this vital substance. Read more….. »
Comparing Hurricane Katrina to the 2010 Haitian earthquake
When a natural catastrophe occurs, the response to the tragedy is imperative to how well the survivors manage in the aftermath. How quickly search and rescue teams find those in the rubble, how much triage is able to rescue the wounded, and how quickly aid and other vital services get to those left in the aftermath is a reflection of how successful the recovery effort is. Read more….. »
Animals and “human” emotions
There once was a young dog who was adopted into a home. When he first entered his new den, he met another dog, one who had been there for years before him. This young dog, he was excited. Another canine friend for him to play with, one he could chase around the house or wherever else he pleased. He immediately took up this new endeavor. The sound of two dogs scampering to and fro became a common occurrence. Read more….. »
Travel Destinations: The Galapagos Islands
The whole concept of a “bucket list” has become popular since the movie with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Ironically, I first encountered the movie on a plan en route to the Kona Coast in Hawaii. This had been a place I had wanted to go for years. Without realizing it, I’d created a bucket list and had just crossed off something. But that doesn’t mean my bucket list of destinations was now empty. Costa Rica sounded nice. So did the Galapagos Islands. Read more….. »
Farewell to the Chevy van
I sat in the passenger seat of the Chevy van, a place which had sat on and off for the last fourteen and a half years. Humidity was building up in this early hot summer morning. In that steam, a drop of water crawled down the windshield, like a teardrop. In the state of mind that I was in, it seemed as though the van was crying, knowing that it fate was sealed. Read more….. »
“How to Break a Terrorist” by Matthew Alexander
After the attacks on September 11 in New York and Washington, the United States was thrust into a direct confrontation with terrorism. What was the best way to combat terror? How terrorists were brought to justice, questioned and detained became a debate of the ethics involved in the vindication of those lost in the terrorist attack, as well as those who were killed in the military exercises afterwards in Iraq and Afghanistan. Read more….. »
“Arctic Fox: Life at the Top of the World” by Garry Hamilton
With global warming in the public eye, a lot more attention has been given to the life that will be affected by it. Most experts believe that climate change is adversely affecting the polar regions more quickly than the rest of the world. Read more….. »
First Church of the Streets Archives
I have added this page to my blog so you can view and comment about my E-Zine First Church of the Streets which ran from 4/2003 to 11/2008 All comments should be made on this page and include the month/year of the article so we can know what you refer to 
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The “First Church of The Streets” e-zine is a means of answering these questions. It is non-sectarian in the sense that it doesn’t rely on any one religion to satisfy these answers. Neither does the church of the streets negate religion for comfort in secular classic philosophy. With it not being constrained to any particular dogma, the church of the streets can employ any or all of these methods. It is also free to use those schools which are considered too foolish to answer anything by so-called higher thinkers, such as popular culture. Just as religion and philosophy seem to give comfort to many in times of uncertainty, to many, popular culture is a refuge and an oasis. In this respect, it is as much a part of the church of the streets as anything else. History
Starting in 1998 I started posting my poetry and short stories online. My first website was an inclusion of these writings. When I completed my first two novels, I made them available online, in their entirety: New Earth Works. The E-zine was a natural extension of this activity. It went online in April 2003. It includes observations, as well as expository thinking. |
To Love and To Fall
To Love and To Fall
“To Love and to Fall” follows the story of a man who battles the demons of his family’s alcoholic past. As he fights to overcome this shadow, he finds he has his own inner hell to face. He has to choose to face his inner hell or be conquered by it.
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The Minstrel
Synopsis
“The Minstrel” is a 130,000 word novel that takes place over the course of four months, with the exception of the conclusion, which takes place three years after the rest of the story. Its genre is that of subterficial urban drama, where many things seem to be happening below the surface for those characters that are willing to look. The perspective follows the experiences of seven disparate characters from an intimate third point of view: the protagonist, Raul Valesquez, a middle-aged Latino amnesiac searching for the daughter he has lost; Cindy DiEsposito, a thirtyish Caucasian woman who lives on the streets hiding from her abusive husband; Emmanuel Jackson, a fortyish African-American who to the outside eye is a charismatic Christian minister but internally is imprisoned by a crime he committed in his past; Jonathan Pfeifer, a Caucasian paralegal in his early thirties who is caught in a spiritual quagmire where he realizes that the cultural goals he pursues as an adult pale next to the idealism of his youth; his boss Russell Frawley, a playboy Caucasian lawyer in his late forties who finally finds meaning in his life of cynicism after meeting and falling in love with Cindy; Russell’s wife Joan Taylor Frawley, an alcoholic who is paying the price for giving up her individuality to fit the social norms of wife and mother, avenging her losses in such a way as to take down everyone in the society with her, and Carmen Sanchez, a middle-aged Latina nurse who is the key to Raul’s lost past. These people, representing conflicting sides of general society, come together in such a way that their latent prejudices and fears explode upon one another. Read more….. »