Michal Recommends:
Michal's meditating on the thought of enhancing his imposing Fiction Corpus with real adult fiction stories; cites fatigue
Refining one's expertness with a language isn't like producing a hotter furnace. A language - a living tongue - is not just a tool that you can learn to manipulate with greater amounts of precision. A common language cannot be bisected from the professed knowledge of a circle of people of which it is a description. A language isn't recited; it happens - and keeps happening as long as a circle of people keeps using it.
To make a pupil recite English is to cheat him out of its cultural context. A good instructor must develop a plan for introducing it; the wisest pupil ventures out to seek it.
A dictionary - properly used - can become an influential tool. A decent dictionary will define words on the basis of a particular corpus, a body of writing of varying scope and consistency. They can include anything from a book about literature to a bunch of science fiction books. I watched many moons pass laboring on my "staggering" Fiction Corpus to form a peculiar kind of dictionary based on the ability of one man to tell a story in many different forms. It is a labor of love and listening.
I have constructed a million words and I have reduced them, reshaping them - not simply to teach a tongue but to describe the human soul, and to pressure that soul or spirit not just to recite but to happen.
A Better Way to Define English:
Grouped into Eight Types of Words
For intermediate students of English.
- the26392
- I15264
- to14009
- a10737
- of8381
- it7440
- and7151
- he6948
- in5812
- you5633
- she4659
- that4268
- for3730
- her3560
- my3432
- his3417
- me3378
- on3284
- not3129
- they2919
- with2638
- but2547
- if2252
- at2087
- we2017
- as1874
- this1814
- him1743
- from1724
- no1710
- there1709
- up1701
- its1623
- out1588
- all1580
- so1530
- your1447
- by1410
- about1299
- back1244
- them1158
- into1055
- or1044
- just947
- now944
- down869
- here861
- more841
- their802
- around796
- then757
- some745
- very727
- something696
- too689
- even650
- other596
- never578
- off562
- after532
- us526
- still522
- much515
- away514
- over506
- our493
- before469
- again457
- nothing453
- those451
- through432
- than419
- well411
- maybe401
- any368
- these352
- because333
- yes333
- most324
- anything323
- many314
- always308
- few302
- little293
- another290
- else290
- enough286
- while285
- least264
- ever262
- behind254
- far253
- until249
- every248
- almost241
- front240
- once226
- soon215
- inside214
- everything212
- without210
- though201
- onto200
- already199
- such198
- each195
- against189
- both178
- across175
- afraid168
- nobody167
- since161
- also157
- either153
- perhaps142
- along141
- between140
- yet136
- under132
- everybody130
- ago129
- tomorrow124
- alone122
- east120
- together118
- whatever118
- especially117
- please114
- south112
- except111
- north110
- west102
- whether97
- quite95
- sometimes95
- someone89
- instead86
- themselves86
- unless82
- upon82
- anybody78
- whom78
- above76
- near76
- among74
- otherwise74
- rather74
- during73
- alive70
- often69
- forward68
- mine67
- ahead66
- everyone64
- today64
- within62
- worth62
- anyway61
- although60
- however60
- everywhere59
- asleep58
- besides57
- tonight56
- apart55
- father's52
- nor52
- indeed45
- woman's45
- meanwhile44
- mother's44
- till44
- underneath42
- beyond41
- nowhere41
- grandfather's40
- anywhere39
- somehow39
- none37
- whenever37
- toward35
- below34
- neither33
- yesterday32
- ashamed29
- awake29
- therefore24
- hardly22
- yours21
- hers20
- beneath19
- beside17
- forth17
- aside13
- thus13
- wherever13
- bound12
- nowadays12
- whoever12
- dey11
- everyday10
- per6
- likely5
- sometime5
- abroad4
- aloud4
- elsewhere4
- theirs4
- alike3
- altogether3
- amongst3
- ours2
- whichever2
- backward1
- seldom1
- anyhow0
- inward0
- lately0
- moreover0
- outward0
Help End Child Sexual Abuse With Art
Strength and dignity are her clothing...
Proverbs 31:25
By the end of my first week in Europe in 2011, I had bought a car and out of the blue had met the woman who would join me on a 6,000 mile trek across the European continent, sharing the beat-up car that I had bought and the one small tent from Walmart that I had brought along with me on my flight.
I had come to Europe to experience European naturism, a movement whose philosophy matched my aesthetic of body acceptance and whose organizational structure and leadership I had thought almost exclusively restricted to the western half of the continent. I was shocked to learn that naturism had an official home in Poland, a country not especially known for its liberal culture. I was less shocked to discover that the home was owned by a Dutchman, but even more shocked to learn that it had been largely built by Margo.
From America I brought with me the American can-do spirit. She saw the car that I had bought, the terrible camp stove I had borrowed, and my sundry canned goods and challenged me to make-do. In my optimism I assured her that if we lacked for anything I would make up the difference. She assured me that if she lacked for anything she would find her way to the nearest airport and fly home. Luckily that never happened.
Each man grows up with his own kind of poverty. Even if he's got a warm house and plenty of food and a soft bed and plenty of entertainment, there's always something that a man needs. Sometimes he just needs to be listened to, if only by the birds and the trees, but preferably by another man, even if he's an artist from America who isn't very good at listening. By learning how to listen, we learn how to cooperate. By cooperating, we build a better world. In a better world, there are no devils to abuse us. A better world doesn't lend itself to abuse because a better world is populated by people who have learned how to listen.
6,000 miles across Europe with a complete stranger
Day 8
7/27/2011
⛺ 7༛♊25/24♀
Hoteli Baška
Baška, Croatia
THE DISAPPEARING WOMAN, THE DISAPPEARING MAN...
a collection of modern art prints and posters
During our trip across Europe, Margo very bravely opened up to me and to the camera. It was a difficult thing to do considering the scars that she carries. I wanted to share with the world her often joyful, often sad, often angry but always liberating experience except that the Internet is full of pictures of naked women and men and full of trolls who abuse them.
I realized that what I really need to point out is not the openness that Margo and I cultivated between ourselves, but the darkness that continues to surround us. When I censor nudity, I do so in a way that does not compromise the integrity of the human body. In censoring the photographs that Margo and I took during our trip, I was quick to notice that in those pictures where Margo was at her most open, at her most unguarded and most relaxed, in a word, when she was herself and basking in the sun I was forced to blacken her completely.
Why does our society drive people into darkness? Why can we not accept ourselves as we are? Why can we not accept our bodies? Have we truly become eunuchs? Or are we capable of defying the sickness that pits us against each other? Together we could conquer the devils that abuse us.
Whether you enjoy being nude or not, whether you've been photographed nude or not, but especially if, for you, like for Margo, it's something you never thought you would do, consider submitting your own photograph to be published in a censored manner as a form of protest against the ubiquitous presence of the human body on the internet, naked or not, that is published and duplicated ad infinitum without context and without regard for the identity or the needs of the individual being depicted.
Michal's Dictionary:
DefinitionsThe way to understand a language is to categorize its elements. Each word belongs in a box and there only so many boxes.
You only need eight boxes or eight categories of words to understand English. At the highest level, you have what-words and who-words, how-words and why-words, where-words and when-words, whose-words and which-words.
What-words can be further categorized into the same eight boxes. Artifacts are the what-what-words. Persons and people are the who-what-words. Fuels are the how-what-words. Fetishes are the why-what-words. Places and times, the where and when-what-words respectively. Acts are whose-what-words and Kinds are the which-what-words.
These linguistic categories relate to the seven categories of culture, which in turn I organize according to day of the week.
Just as Sunday can both start the week and end the week, Sunday or Victory Day (a day for artists) is related to both which-words and whose-words, or kinds and acts.
Monday or Labor Day (a day for capitalism) represents the how, or a fuel.
Tuesday or Family Day or Prayers Day (a day for love) represents the what, an artifact.
Wednesday or Assembly Day or Constitution Day (a day for law and order) represents the where, or place.
Thursday or Greenery or Science or Earth Day (a day to study movement) represents the when, or time.
Friday or Children's Day (a day to educate) represents the the who, or people.
Saturday or Armed Forces of Democracy Day (a day for hope and strength) represents the why, or fetishes.
Pronunciation of Definitions
I have yet to publish a pronunciation for the word definitions.
Video of me pronouncing "definitions." Definition of Definitions
Before you start going around defining things you should probably start by defining what a definition is in the first place and what it means to define something. definitions are works of art, because to define something is to draw a border around it, to place focus on a something out of the everything of the universe. To frame a work of creation is itself an act of creating. The frame can be black or white or something in between. It can be made of wood or metal or paper. It all depends on who's making the frame and who has earned the right to frame the work. In the case of the English language, there is no one original artist. It's a work in the public domain, so anyone has the right to define it. Whether or not a definition is accepted by the public is another matter. It all depends on their sense of justice. I hope the public accepts my definitions because I have striven to make them just. I hope you will consider them worthy of the truths that they frame.
An index for definitions
I have yet to index the section Definitions.
Samples of Fiction from Michal's Corpus
Michal's Fiction Corpus of Acceptance Literature (FiCAL) is presented under the Bare Bottom imprint. It is currently comprised of six bodies of work, each representing a different pillar of culture and incorporating a wide variety of writhing styles.
Back to Usage of Definitions in Death to McDonalds
A story bible for a comic book series set in a post climate-change California narrated by eight characters who live through a natural disaster that sinks Los Angeles and triggers a war with an expansionist Mexican government covertly supported by China.
Author's Note
"Definitions" does not make an appearance in Death to Mcdonalds.
Michal Slaby
Back to Usage of Definitions in The Gospel of Jesus H.
An experimental science fiction Christology that makes Jesus the hard boiled narrator of his own early years on a bizarro earth made dark by volcanic ash and informally ruled by a man from Mars who sells bottled air.
"Definitions" does not make an appearance in The Gospel of Jesus
- Michal Slaby
Back to Usage of Definitions in Sex for Children
A literature book narrated by a pair of siblings on either side of the Atlantic whose profoundly weird sexual experiences pose a serious challenge to their traditional understanding of mathematicians, marriage, gay young men and God.
"Definitions" does not make an appearance in Sex For Children.
- Michal Slaby
Back to Usage of Definitions in Tsiga Tsiga Tsiga
A collection of stories featuring a sexy Parisian ghost, a spooky Moon base full of vagina-faced aliens, a policeman with an Irish name, a truck full of watermelons, a flautist, and a man who has to see another man about a diseased horse.
"Definitions" does not make an appearance in Tsiga Tsiga Tsiga.
- Michal Slaby
Back to Usage of Definitions in Sorry Ms. Jackson
A real play. With drama in it. Talk fast. It takes two hours. Set in a guest house. In a small community. After a murder. Lots of suspicion. The characters learn to listen to each other. It's funny.
"Definitions" does not make an appearance in Sorry Miss Jackson.
- Michal Slaby
Back to Usage of Definitions in Miscellaneous Dingbats
A story book full of short fiction stories. An interesting bedtime mystery. A fairy tale. Science fiction romance. Adult life. Uninspiring gay fiction. Horror.
"Definitions" does not make an appearance in Miscellaneous Dingbats
- Michal Slaby
