John Rullo's apocalyptic Planet Love

Sci-fic fiction from John Rullo that grows truer by the day:

 

Planet Love opens on a cold winter evening at a Long Island Open Mic. John is a member of the house band known as The Cocktails, and after backing up Big Vinnie on a cover of Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower,” Vinnie tells John about his encounter with a UFO. Although John is skeptical, he soon experiences a visit from a supernatural entity that overwhelms him and turns his life inside out. Just when he thinks he has seen the full picture, a string of events unfold that leads to both the end of the world as he knew it and his role in Earth’s rebirth. Based upon real life events, Planet Love’s story of hope, intrigue and mystery speaks to our everlasting search for the ground of our being and our unity with all life.

 

From Planet Love: The End of the World as We Knew It by John Rullo

 

For more on the book:

Planet Love:The End of the World as We Knew It: Rullo, John: 9780615475806: Amazon.com: Books

 

For more on John Rullo: John Rullo – GIANT STEPS PRESS

 

Giant Steps Press Is Looking for a Few Good Manuscripts

KIRPAL GORDON: I'm pleased to announce that Giant Steps Press is looking for fiction, non-fiction and poetry manuscripts. Please reference the SUBMISSION GUIDELINES at the very end of this blog entry for specifics, but in terms of who we are, let me say up front that we formed three years ago, an attempt by working writers to collectivize in the face of major changes in the lit industry. We've now assembled a team as talented as any I’ve had with the most technologically up-to-date and inspired indie publisher. I don't just mean printing; I mean the whole enchilada:

---book and cover design in PDF for Amazon CreateSpace upload/interface;

---Kindle upload/interface;

---Smashwords upload/interface (mobi, rtf, pdf, lrf, pdb, txt);

---ePub upload/interface (Apple iStore-compliance and Apple iPad/iBooks, Nook, Sony Reader, Kobo, and most e-reading apps including Stanza, Aldiko, Adobe Digital Editions);

---copy editing;

---proofreading;

---publicity;

---press kit;

---book launch press release (Scribd);

---GSP blog announcement and interview;

---book reviews;

---promotional video, audio and YouTube;

---literary event production, including catering and marketing.

We supply through one team everything that a writer could need, but each writer decides which of these services are relevant and worthwhile. We are not publishers in the traditional sense of the word; we're in business to offer writers help in developing their audience and publishing their next book. You tell us your expectations for your manuscript---print and ebook sales, reviews, shows, etc.---and we recommend paths to meet and exceed those expectations. Moreover, in contrast to the old writer-publisher model in which the former “is chosen and done to” by the latter, GSP is for writers seeking to become more responsible in the production-distribution of their own work and pro-active in collectivizing with other like-minded writers and collaborators.

Because bookmaking has shifted from decisions made by big conglomerates to individual writers choosing from a wide range of smaller and more numerous fulfillment-of-services model for paperback and eBooks, the real enemy as I see it is a lack of knowledge regarding options, whether from a publishing house, vanity press, POD service, agent, editor, publicist or marketing and promo outfit. Hey, it's the wild West out there. Some friends and literary associates, as well as clients I ghostwrite for, have been hustled by exploiters who over-promise and under-deliver, so it is a personal pleasure to offer prospective authors our complete list of services.

John, you came to book writing after thirty years of playing rock and roll. Would you pick it up from here with your story?

JOHN RULLO: As a songwriter/musician, I witnessed what I knew of the music business collapse right before my eyes. Slowly but surely the idea of getting “a record deal” faded into oblivion. Technology has made it possible for anyone to produce music at home and make it accessible to the world via the Internet. When I wrote my first book, Blind Spots, I had high hopes of getting a “publishing deal” but soon learned what had happened to the music industry had also taken a toll on the literary world...mom and pop book stores were rapidly becoming a thing of the past. It seemed that unless someone was a well-known celebrity, famous or infamous, chances of having a New York Times best-seller were less than zero. A friend in the business suggested I self-publish and recommended a publishing company whose name I won’t reveal. The finished product of Blind Spots was professionally done, beautifully formatted with an outstanding eye-catching cover. The only problem: unless I had endless dollars and time to invest in promotion, nobody would be aware of my work except for friends, relatives and my Facebook world. Without the resources to copy edit, proofread, format and design, vanity publishers could cost an unsuspecting author thousands while never making him/her a profit. In most cases, the publishing houses are raking in the big bucks by charging writers for an endless menu of services dangling the carrot of big royalties!

 

A good friend of mine just got suckered into dumping over three thousand dollars to a publisher just for making his 40-page short story into an Amazon-available e-book! Would-be authors need to be made aware of the money pit they could easily fall into when signing on the dotted line with most of the “Publishers” out there who are so willing to have their clients’ credit cards on file! More times than not, there is no human face or voice to answer their questions; all correspondence is done on-line and in rare instances by the telephone representative who in most cases only encourage writers to buy more of their services. Since collaborating with you and the formation of Giant Steps Press, I have since published two more books at a fraction of the cost of leaving a manuscript in the hands of the faceless publishers. I know that we can help writers avoid the mistakes I have made, steer them in the right direction and offer honest and necessary services while saving them hundreds of dollars.

Norm, as our new technologies director and member of our acquisitions team, how would you characterize the current state that writers face today?

 

NORMAN BALL: The whole game today is about control and self-promotion. Let's face it, the industry is flattening. With Amazon's 2011 foray into publishing its own roster of authors, literary agents and traditional publishers are quaking in their boots all over again. These traditional publishing routes will only slow further, especially for lesser-known authors, given the fresh uncertainties. The time is right though for collaborative initiatives, skill-sharing and creative-collectives. I think GSP is the right vehicle at the right time.

 

 

KIRPAL GORDON: You’ve taken two GSP titles beyond the Amazon CreateSpace print-on-demand and Kindle sites. What's it been like formatting ebooks in this new era?

 

 

NORMAN BALL: It's important for people to realize that GSP is really a portal and not a press at all. We provide a proven and travelled path into the various ebook and print platforms, and boy do you need an experienced Sherpa guide! You only need to spend a short time up on the Kindle and Createspace discussion forums to realize that we're very much in the realm of an inexact science. People are going crazy up there trying to get their books just right.

 

JOHN RULLO: I wasted a colossal amount of time formatting my second book in Kindle. I thought I could do it myself just like I had done my first book, but the number of mistakes just kept multiplying and customer service became an instant oxymoron!  Is Amazon's Kindle going the way of all monopolies?

NORMAN BALL: Hah! That's a whole 'nother debate, John. Amazon is the Walmart of everything Walmart isn't the Walmart of. One morning we'll awaken to discover Amazon has taken over the executive branch of government. They just scarfed up the Washington Post the other day. Within a GSP context though, it really doesn't matter who the behemoth du jour happens to be. GSP is an agnostic portal. No matter the letterhead, we'll tunnel ourselves in and we're bringing your book with us (gestures theatrically to the blog-reading audience).

But back though to the administrative realities of day-to-day book production, the problem with Createspace/Kindle is, as I see it, an existential one. There is no right way to do it. People adhere to an identical procedure only to achieve different results. The vagaries are huge. Exceptions are the rule. I'll cite but a few: appropriate bleeds on book covers, manipulating and arranging images, migrating MS Word mss over to HTM format and using Word in a preemptively smart way as it wasn't really designed to be a desktop publisher or provider of print-ready materials. The list goes on and on. So beyond guiding the book to the summit, GSP helps load the horse with the appropriate provisions before the trip is even undertaken.

Let me remind you also that when you're creating an eBook, you're shooting at as many as nine different platforms, each with it own optimal aesthetic i.e. the proverbial moving target. You have the family of Kindle products, the Nook, the iPad, the iPhone, etc. So you're trying to strike a balance between all these competing appliances. Finally, the reader fulfills part of the aesthetic experience by selecting his own background, font types and sizes etc. on the appliance itself. I cannot stress enough the fluidic nature of the eBook vis a vis the traditional 'static' presentation of the physical book. People need to be navigated through this morass. Buyer beware: One size does not fit all.

KIRPAL GORDON: Justin Luke, as marketing advisor to GSP, you have been most valuable in articulating the changes in the industry and for good reason. In terms of author-driven marketing and promotion that Norm mentioned, you scored the hugest possible hit with your first novel, Gulliver Travels, breaking the bank at Amazon, of all places, by the way, which led to a three book deal with ePublishing, print publishing, brick and mortar bookstore distribution and full PR marketing blitz. It’s this mastery of the new marketing technologies meeting the mastery of your material that gives us older fools hope in the aftermath of an industry destroyed by greed. In other words, you don’t need to be a midlist author waiting for someone to give you the big break. All that's over.

 

JUSTIN LUKE: Well, you fine fellas have many decades of collective writing experience, and I'm this young whippersnapper nerd upstart who sorta came out of nowhere. Giant Steps is doing just what its name cautions: taking some mighty big steps. You aren't just offering some bottled or boxed services--your coupling your artistic integrity and creativity to give future customers something better: professional services with an artistic heart. I'd use the term "consultancy" but it's so rigid and corporate-sounding. When our powers combine, we will offer dreamer-artists a strong shot in the arm and a realization of all they can do without the help of some big box publisher.

JOHN RULLO: As a founding member and the one with the most experience in the writing game, how do these changes play out for you, Kirpal? 

 

KIRPAL GORDON: We just launched New York at Twilight, my second title with GSP, which, thanks to this new team, looks and reads just right. The process went even more smoothly than with my first GSP title, Round Earth, Open Sky. 

As for experience, after finishing my post-grad degree, I worked in publishing as a copy writer, copy editor and proofreader; taught college writing; gave classes behind bars in GED language arts and produced a bi-monthly prison newsmagazine and an annual literay arts journal. I  also review literature and music; teach creative writing workshops; lead a spoken word/jazz band; do freelance journalism; interview artists and art activists; and over the last twenty years I've been a ghostwriter, editor, coach and literary consultant for a range of clients on over forty books and 250 articles.  

I've been involved in the indie press as a fiction, music and poetry editor. As an author of over twenty titles of my own original work, I've enjoyed great relationships with excellent presses that proved strong on literary merit but weak on marketing. They've all but disappeared in these changing times, thanks to increased fees from distributors, printers, storage rentals and the evaporation of the local book store.

So I'm glad to be helping writers find their own way into print and beyond, even more so now that I'm with this can-do, soup-to-nuts team. These new technologies confound me, but collectivizing with people whose skills exceed mine has changed my outlook considerably.

JOHN RULLO: Norm, you spoke briefly about the industry today as well as the advantages of going the GSP route. What do you think the future holds?

 

NORMAN BALL: As you touched upon, J, books are now where music was maybe ten years ago i.e. in a state of creative turmoil, except the creative part only became evident in the music world very slowly. For a long time it was just turmoil. Publishers should take some heart from that. While the bookcase may be leaning, the sky is not falling. For example, you may recall the RIAA throwing single moms in jail when their kids pirated tunes on Napster? I think these periodic business model eruptions create identity crises that ultimately lead industries to better self-awareness. Music got to know itself better and learned just how much of a social phenomenon it really is. Today, the performance venue is a potent source of sales. People buy stuff, CDs and T-shirts, at the back of the hall fresh from the buzz of a live performance. You have a pumped-up captive audience. Music is an encounter more than a shrink-wrapped product. There’s the souvenir effect too, where the energy of the encounter can feed into the product which becomes a relic or a keepsake of the event. Book fairs are a poor uncle by comparison. Quite simply, they don’t immerse anyone in the reference product. Yes, readings are okay. But books are not natural performers. Music is also an ambulatory pleasure that does not require your undivided attention. It’s portable. Reading is more demanding of your time and your posture. It’s hard to jog while reading.

 

KIRPAL GORDON: While music has both a private (solo listening) audience and a public one (live shows), don't books offer a solitary communion between reader and text?

NORMAN BALL: There’s a powerful Gutenberg bond, the tactile relationship to paper that Sven Birkerts really nails in his 1995 book The Gutenberg Elegies. Sure, there are a lot of social experiments underway around the periphery of this bond: opinion-sharing on goodreads.com, online Amazon reviews, enhanced ebooks, and the like. But as Birkerts pointed out, the relationship between author and reader is very much a ‘univocal’ one. We're speaking here of that little dictator, the omniscient narrator who, when he's in really good form, won’t let you put the book down.

So the book offers an intimate, quasi-spiritual relationship, not an immediately exterior or social one. The Wall Street Journal ran an article in January 2012 about the disappointing sales to date of many costly enhanced eBooks. Less may be more with books. You see, we’re in the tricky realm of the immersive versus the distractive—when does the distractive add up to the subtractive in book reading? It’s a testament to just how powerful the personal, reading experience is that the interactive bells and whistles have struggled to find traction.

 

KIRPAL GORDON: Give it time. Right now it’s a boutique service providing new opportunities for books with a niche market. Rather than threaten books and their unique entrancement, enhanced ebooks offer the drama of cinema and the enchantment of the oral tradition (spoken word) which has been around a lot longer than books. Instead of overstimulation, ebooks may end up offering hybrid media thrills for folks without the attention span that books require. 

 

NORMAN BALL: Well, I agree. You could see a hybridization of the book-reading experience and yes the affinity for physical books is in some part a generational phenomenon. Yet I think we'll find pulp to be a stubborn medium nonetheless, at least for some material segment of the reading public, and for a long time to come.

Digital goodies can feel like an obtrusive third-party in the reading experience. Too many hot links diffuse the encounter. eBooks should only very selectively point away from themselves. So yes, books have a lineage not easily overtaken. The industry is realizing that it was trying to foist, via enhanced ebooks, wannabe software apps in disguise. You can almost hear the outcry. God, not another app! People already have tons of software apps. When they buy a book, they’re buying a version of solitude. The ‘enhancements’ (hired actors reading passages, video evocations of certain key scenes, etc.) create a hypertextual ‘poly-vocal’ experience, to borrow again from Birkerts. Think Windows multitasking, except with binding and glue. People already have Facebook with all its prying fingers and obsequious detours. Maybe they want to unplug, curl up in the corner and engage one voice with a demonstrated knack for spinning a good yarn! Storytellers will never go extinct. So far, enhanced ebooks have been an application in search of a market. That’s rarely a good thing. Sales have been tepid.

KIRPAL GORDON: According to James Surowiecki's "E-Book Vs. P-Book," The New Yorker (July 29, 13), "In a recent survey by the Codex Group 97% of people who read e-books said that they were still wedded to print, and only 3% of frequent book buyers read only digital." However, I think any author must be aware of the potential of an electronic book, which is cheaper to make, cheaper to mail and cheaper to market. I think this is one of the best reasons for joining GSP---we're ahead of the curve with Norm now on board. As a poet-technologist-essayist-MBA-degreed insider, you stay informed on the subject in order to provide smart ways of navigating this new, ever-changing terrioty.

 

JOHN RULLO: I’m getting the sense we’ll have to make this a monthly discussion.

 

 

 

NORMAN BALL: Absolutely. Let me try to close this month’s loop by suggesting the death of the physical book, even more so than the CD, has been grossly exaggerated and will continue to be grossly exaggerated by industry watchers. Remember, the music industry analogy works only here and there for books. In 2011, digital music sales barely edged out physical sales at 50.3% (as reported by Neilsen Soundscan and Billboard). Given the hue and cry you’d be excused for thinking physical sales have vanished. They’re still half. Nevertheless, the book business is an industry in upheaval and will continue to change in the immediate and the long term.

 

JOHN RULLO: As the book industry changes, so are the up-to-the-minute options we offer writers. As a portal/collective on the look-out for how to best serve writers, not an old fashioned publishing house building a 21st century Bloomsbury group, any prose manuscript, fiction or nonfiction, qualifies for our attention. I know that some folks see us as publishers of the sci-fi genre with twisted visitations from the supernatural, but we want to suggest a bigger universe than that. In terms of content, length, genre---the sky's the limit.

KIRPAL GORDON: I think writers deserve to have their material read and responded to by literate and experienced people who aren't trying to take them to the cleaners. Hence to my way of thinking, good faith is best expressed by not charging a reading fee. If we can help writers achieve their stated goals, whether their books become a Giant Steps Press title or appear through another agency or portal, we will be serving a community that presently has no home.

 

NORMAN BALL: Writing is anything but a commodity. So it's hard to offer a commoditized price list. What we do is evaluate a manuscript and then offer a level of effort estimate that may include any partcular segment or a bundle of segments/services across the entire process. Our attention can begin near the very formative stages, say in the re-conceptualizing of a thesis or narrative through copy editing and proofreading to typsesetting, book cover design, Createspace interface, eBook formatting and finalizing. In the post-production phase, our services extend to product placement, writing press kits, offering audio-video support, doing interviews and reviews, marketing, promotion and creating readings and other events.

There's also the case of the busy executive who lacks the time or the writing skills to author his own book but nonetheless wants a book to get his ideas out into the marketplace. These projects can start pre-concept where ideas are coaxed and developed through interviews and discussions on the way to ghostwriting a book virtually from scratch as I completed recently, for example, with a home improvement book (see above).

 

KIRPAL GORDON: Regarding the busy executive as well as the industry leader, the entrepreneur re-making our world and the service provider in the trenches who sees a better way to do things, what these people have in common is the need to expose their new and better idea to their niche market. In today's business world, a book that does this acts like a business card used to, that is, it defines who you are, etches your value into the minds of your prospects and puts your product or service on the map. When your book proves helpful or valuable to readers in your market, you have the best chance of developing a lifetime customer.

This is also true for fiction writers, whether they write in definable genre categories or not. Our approach is more about helping you build a brand than expecting your book to be a one-hit wonder. So to the question of how much your manuscript-into-book will cost, the best answer is that it's on you. Every book needs the same things: a cover, contents, a press release, a bio of the author, favorable exposure to your market and a plan to sell copies. What distinguishes us from others is that we custom tailor our service to each writer from a menu of many options. We advise you on your options, but you decide the path you want to take.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

Giant Steps Press is seeking manuscripts of creative nonfiction, essays, short stories, novels and poetry.

First reading period begins September 15, 2013; ends, December 15, 2013.

Please submit your MS as an email attachment (in DOC, DOCX or PDF), Courier 12pt, double-spaced, Chicago Manual of Style. Please include as well a brief cover letter outlining your background, prior writing credits, specific intents with the MS, snail mail address and phone number.

GSP is a service provider. We do NOT charge a reading fee. We will get back to you with a brief written appraisal of our interest in your work within ninety (90) days.

No snail-mail please.

Send to: giantstepspress@gmail.com

 

 

 

INDEPENDENCE DAY

When I was a kid growing up in Queens during the early 1960’s, I used to look so forward to the fourth of July. Mr. Forgione, the neighbor living directly across the street from us, would drive his Cadillac to the end of our dead-end block which was adjacent to acres of empty lot, a perfect location to simulate a war zone. Lit cigar positioned in the corner of his mouth, he would sanctimoniously exit his vehicle and walk in what appeared to be slow motion towards the rear of the car. We watched impatiently as Mr. F took his sweet time nonchalantly sorting through the dozens of keys on his filled to capacity key ring, feeling for the one which would unlock his trunk, finally revealing the treasure chest of illegal thrills. He pretended to be bored with the annual ritual, ignoring the yelps of excitement coming from all the neighborhood kids who marveled at the vast amount of explosives he generously shared with us year after year. It was the one day when my dad freely handed over his cigarettes to me so I could light the fuses of whatever fireworks I got my hands upon. Every now and then when he wasn’t looking, I would sneak a drag because, somehow, it made me feel cool.

Our block put on quite the fireworks display. Although we may have been a far cry from Grucci and the extravaganza staged by Macy’s, we believed it was most spectacular. The end of our street looked like a scene out of World War II. Bottle rockets, sky rockets, cherry bombs, sparklers, helicopters, and mats upon mats of firecrackers filled the sky with showers of shimmering light and thunderous booms and bangs. I used to think Mr. Forgione had to be a millionaire to be able to afford the infinite supply of fireworks he religiously donated to the 137^th Street Independence Day Celebration.

I distinctly recall how on the morning of every July 5^th, my friend and neighbor Bob Donohue would waddle up to my house and ring my doorbell first thing in the morning so we could scour the fields looking for duds. We collected the hundreds of firecrackers that didn’t ignite the night before, took them home, emptied the gunpowder and built our own super bomb. Curious, inventive, naïve and stupid, one year we stuffed the explosive dust into a glass jar along with bits of homemade shrapnel, which contained nuts, bolts and pebbles. We then attached a long fuse, and after our day-long project was complete, we returned to the sight of the previous night’s battleground, and placed our concoction inside one of the huge cement cylinders that sat like a mysterious structure in the middle of the lot, reminiscent of an ancient Sphinx or Stonehenge.  One day in the future I learned the weed-filled acres would soon be occupied with new roads and homes and the mysterious structures were nothing more than dry wells. We assumed it was a safe distance away from the homes bordering the lot. Experiencing the thrill of creating some mischief, we lit the fuse and ran for our lives. Standing at the edge of our street, we watched and waited. From where we stood, we could barely make out the sizzling of the slow burning fuse, and then suddenly we heard the loudest explosion echo from inside the walls of the dry well and immediately following the blast, I felt a sharp pain radiating from my shin. Not knowing what had hit me or bit me, I looked down to see blood trickle down my leg. My injury was caused by a fragment of the shrapnel that had been launched from our homespun weapon. “Shit!” I yelped in anger, “How could I be so stupid?” I hobbled home, disinfected my wound, and applied a bandage. Bob and I went back to the dry well the next day to see the extent of the damage caused by our little bomb. A few of the tiny screws were imbedded into the once grey cement walls that had been blackened by the blast. When I think about how such an amateurish, makeshift concoction assembled by two stupid kids could cause such harm, I could only imagine the devastation brought about by the real thing.

Say or think what you will, but I am no longer a fan of fireworks or the Fourth of July. Let’s face it, fireworks represent the “bombs bursting in air,” and to me, bombs only mean bloodshed, death and destruction. I thoroughly understand how Independence Day is supposedly a celebration of our country’s independence, yet at the same time I wonder about how free we really are. Granted, compared to the rest of the world, I guess we can safely pretend to be free. The question is, from what and from whom have we been liberated? According to the pages of history, courageous souls from England flocked to these shores seeking religious freedom. Once they got here, they encountered the American Indians, who as far as I could tell, had it pretty together, spiritually speaking. They saw and revered the wondrous workings of nature. Along came the white man with his Monotheistic God, his Christianity, its doctrine and its many variations, and before long, Native American spirituality went out the window and religion set its nasty claws into the soil of the brave new world, setting the stage for rape, bloodshed, greed, deception and slavery; all Godly behavior I’m certain!

Not for anything, but the biggest culprits of unrest and global violence all stem from the three religions that emanated from the god of Abraham; Christianity, Judaism and Islam. From their inception to this very day, people are dying unnecessarily over religious differences. Why is it that absolutely no blood has ever been spilled over Eastern religions such as Buddhism or Hinduism? To me, all religion is delusional and unproven, but if I had to choose one, it would certainly be one that propagates non-violence! 

So here we are in the 21^st century, in the land of the free, the melting pot of race and religion, where government is deceitful and people are divided. When I see the flags waving and the fireworks exploding on this Fourth of July, I have to ask myself if Americans really believe they are as free as they think they are. Admittedly, I agree that up until now, our freedoms have been better than those of most other countries around the globe. We do not live under the reign of a mad dictator…yet! As far as I’m concerned, freedom means not having to live in fear, judgment, prejudice and anxiety, yet we live in a nation where millions pop anti-depressants daily, where people are judged by race, creed and sexual preference, and where churches are full of those who claim to be believers because they live in fear of the consequences of a place of eternal torment, Hell! We drive along roadways where there are hidden cameras at almost every intersection waiting to catch an unsuspecting driver streak past a yellow light. Technology makes it possible for government agencies to pinpoint our every move through the use of our cell phones, credit cards and E-Z passes. We are scanned, screened and body searched at airports, sporting arenas and concert venues. I have read that as much as 53% of every tax dollar has gone to funding the wars most of us are opposed to. Try and stop paying your taxes and see where that lands you! We live in a nation where politicians continue to lie, cheat and live adulterous lives, yet because they have been initiated into the “club,” their futures are secure with comfortable pensions and lifelong medical coverage, while the citizens of the country can’t find jobs with salaries substantial enough to meet the high cost of living, have lost their life savings due to the fraud on Wall Street, and can’t afford medical insurance. A rumor that Social Security may no longer exist for future generations is a disheartening thought to say the least. Are we really free?

It has been said that “The truth shall set you free!” I guess the answer is to find the truth. The one truth we all can be sure about is that we die. Where we go after we die is all speculation and in many cases wishful thinking. So basically, all we can be sure about is that once we are born we are on the inevitable path to our death. That should be more than enough to make humans realize we are all equal. No one is any better than the next. The simple notion of our mortality should be reason enough to squash our egos and inspire us to live as one. I think if and only when we are able to come to that place, we may finally be on the path to freedom. Until then, let’s all take a long hard look into the mirror and face the sad truth…we just pretend to be free.   

            

       

JUST SAYING

I grew up in a country at a time when even the neighborhood Good Humor man could afford a modest home in a decent suburban community, pay his bills and provide for his family. Little did I know that while everyone seemed to be happily chugging along, behind the scenes were very powerful, soulless men with evil, greedy hearts, who were members of a secret society responsible for devising a scheme that would ultimately allow them to control the world’s finances by perpetuating the crippling of the unsuspecting, hard-working middle class. Sounds like a bit of a horror movie, doesn’t it?  

Here I am some fifty years later, witnessing close friends and relatives who have toiled through the years only to watch their houses go into foreclosure and lose everything they’ve worked for, such as retirement funds and pensions. Several of my acquaintances have gone into bankruptcy as the American Dream they labored to achieve is slowly turning into an irreversible nightmare.

As a kid, everything made sense to me. Life was simple with easy steps to follow; get a college degree, find a job, invest in a house, raise a family, buy a bigger house with the profit from the sale of the first house, retire and live happily ever after. I was planning on providing for my children and allowing them to have the same or even better opportunities, paving their road to a secure future. It seemed foolproof, what could possibly go wrong?

One by one, local businesses are shutting down. Jobs are scarce and salaries can’t keep up with the rising costs of life’s basic necessities. For sale signs are staked into the front lawns of every other home in every town. Gasoline prices are nearing five dollars per gallon, fruits and vegetables are being genetically modified depriving human beings of the nutrients mother earth was designed to provide for us. Safely grown organic produce is so expensive, only the wealthy can afford them. Processed foods are not fit for human consumption, yet they are the bulk of what is affordable and available on supermarket shelves. We are what we eat, therefore the majority of the nation is sick and under the care of doctors who only know how to write out prescriptions for pharmaceutical drugs. Medical insurance plans will not cover safe homeopathic remedies, but gladly cover the astronomical costs of synthetic drugs with harmful side effects, thereby keeping the population ill, addicted to pills and fattening the ever increasing pockets of the pharmaceutical companies who just happen to be in cahoots with the FDA. Coincidence, I don’t think so!

How did this happen? I can’t say for certain, but I have some theories. North America was once a land occupied by Native Americans who revered the Great Spirit, the Earth and everything upon it. Religiously oppressed white men from across the ocean set sail for new lands in search of religious freedom. When they arrived, in the name of the God customized to suit their needs, they swindled, raped, slaughtered and spread disease, wiping out virtually millions of America’s inhabitants. The “civilized” white men colonized and set up governments under the pretext they were here with God’s blessings and all those who followed bought it hook, line and sinker. Not unlike the Jews who were thoroughly convinced that the nation of Israel was the apple of God’s eye, the early settlers believed wholeheartedly America was the new Promised Land. The indoctrination process had begun and America eventually grew into an arrogant, greedy, self-righteous nation underhandedly causing havoc around the globe with the pretense God was on their side, “One nation under God, with liberty and justice for all,” a lie just as blatant as the ones claiming that Honey Nut Cheerios lowers cholesterol or Wonder Bread grows strong bodies in twelve ways!

The sacred philosophy of the country’s natives vanished right along with them. What was once deemed as hallowed ground became disrespected and abused as an Industrial Revolution with no conscience for the environment, ravaged the land and polluted the skies and rivers. Not satisfied with what existed within our own borders, we began to terrorize the globe, instigating wars with no regard for the planet or human life, all under the false premise that God was rooting for us. The greed has escalated to the point where American politics has become a joke, our crumbling nation is the laughing stock of a volatile planet and people worldwide are defenseless and fed up. Has anybody figured out that maybe the contrived God this crooked nation has been claiming to honor and serve since annihilating practically an entire race is a far cry from any semblance of truth?  

Depending upon one’s mindset, we are currently living in an age that can be looked upon as very exciting or very frightening. There’s no doubt that every system created by man is on the verge of collapse. Government, religion and economics are failing. The human race has become so consumed by the illusion of materialism, people have forgotten to give credence to the reality of spirit. What would inspire a thinking person to believe that a Divine Entity capable of creating an infinite Universe might even consider favoring a geographical location on a speck in the cosmos such as The United States of America or a religious cult such as Christianity? The notion is totally preposterous. The occupants of Earth desperately need to unite, redefine themselves as Earthlings, and join in an undying effort for the common good to develop ecological alternatives to fossil fuel energy. They need to succeed in restoring the soil and the waterways so that our food source will once more grow in abundance and provide the essential nutrients. When a belief system has been advocating an escape plan to the so-called inevitable end of the world to its millions of brainwashed followers for the past two-thousand years, why would any of them be overly concerned with caring for a planet they assume will one day explode into oblivion?  Unless human beings alter their manner of thinking, readjust their value systems and rise above the physical, they cannot and will not survive. Unless we learn to respect one another, recognize each other as a collective soul, and rise up to a higher level of consciousness, survival will be out of the question. It is time to revolutionize by recognizing the Divine within and allowing the positive energy of love to guide and sustain us. It is time to tear down the dark walls of the boxes that have been dividing us and to step into the eternal light. It is time for all men to acknowledge the false security of the comfort zones we created for ourselves. This era calls for the disabling of our stubborn egos, to let go of the unproven theories we wrongly defend, realize our connection to all life and to finally identify ourselves as One. Those of us who continue to remain asleep by clinging to the lies, misgivings, delusions and agendas of a misguided past will be in for a rude awakening. World without end, Amen!          

MEET THE NEW YEAR, SAME AS THE OLD YEAR?

~2012 is just days away; the year everyone seems to be talking about. Some folks like to interpret the alleged Mayan prediction as being the literal end of the world as we know it. Some folks claim that the world is not going to end, but this particular civilization will. Other folks believe it’s not going to be the end of anything, but stand firm on the belief that a shift in consciousness will occur causing structure to collapse and people to awaken to the bigger picture. Just like Y2K, I don’t think anything of great magnitude is going to happen. Thousands upon thousands of people will gather in Times Square to watch the ball drop, wish each other a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year and by the time they recover from their hangovers on January 1^st, the same shit will start all over again. We will continue to make the same mistakes, swallow the same lies, follow the same traditions, believe the same illusions and allow the faceless controllers of the world to create distractions and continue to pull the strings.

~I’m not at all thrilled about how jaded I’ve become to welcoming a New Year. With all the wake-up calls this world has encountered throughout the past centuries, we continue to remain asleep. I certainly don’t want to be burdened by the thought that the human race is hopeless. I want desperately to believe things will get better; that the quality of life will improve for all the underprivileged, undernourished, suffering citizens of Planet Earth. I don’t particularly care in what manner this improvement will come about. I welcome change for the better and it doesn’t necessarily have to occur the way I envision it. I’ll take it any way we can get it. Whether it’s going to be Jesus crashing through the clouds carrying a sword and riding a White Horse, the spaceships circling down from other galaxies, or rays of positive energy beaming down from distant stars, I don’t care; just bring it on!

  

~Are we on our own? I certainly hope not, because if we are, judging from our past history and recent events, we’re doomed! I would love to be convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt that there is a God of Love sitting on a heavenly throne who we can summon at a moment’s notice to intervene in our affairs and make all things right. I don’t know of a time in Biblical history, from when man first acknowledged the God of Abraham, that there was ever a day of peace on Earth. If this God of Abraham is real, why has he been so removed from the hearts of men that they can kill, cheat, lie and ravage the planet which nourishes them? Could it be the God of Abraham is just the figment of one man’s imagination who won favor with his people simply because of the gratifying promises they needed to hear? If actions speak louder than words, there certainly isn’t enough action occurring to prove this particular God’s existence. The God of the Bible seems more like wishful thinking. This doesn’t mean I don’t believe in a Creator. The One I need to believe in is just too big to put in a box.

~Have earthlings been visited by other life forces? Logic tells me that humans of past civilizations were either very much advanced, or alien beings were here to help our primitive ancestors along. Explain the mathematical precision of the Pyramids, the plumbing in the lost city of Pompeii, or the location of Stonehenge aligning with the latitudinal and longitudinal position of the winter and summer Solstice? How could early civilizations, such as the Egyptians and Mayans, have known Earth’s place in the solar system and invented advanced calendars when future civilizations reverted to believing the world was flat? Where did the knowledge disappear to?

~Do humans have eternal souls inhabiting temporal physical bodies and is life just a recurring chain of events whereby we ultimately become one with the Creator when we attain the highest level of consciousness? Not a bad thought and it certainly makes more sense than being banished to Bogey Land or meeting our deceased loved ones on golden streets beyond some pearly gates. Is all physical life just a means of a Spiritual Creator entertaining himself? Is the gift of life we live strictly for the purpose of fulfilling the Creator’s personal need of expression? Does each of us eventually return to and become One with the Source of all creation?

 ~I don’t know the answer to any of the above questions but I do know that anything’s possible. My resolution for the New Year is to be more open, more positive and more loving. I will openly admit that I can’t be sure of anything except for the fact that one day the physical body I inhabit will perish. If another journey is awaiting me, I welcome it. I only hope I learned a few lessons in this lifetime that will bring me closer to home. In the meantime, I wish everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year and a step closer to the Light.