Michal declines to contemplate the viability of complementing his monumental Fiction Corpus with an encylopedia of science fiction ideas; cites fatigue
Posted:
I can't reject the soundness of administering English as an international language for the world. I don't believe in the blah blah blah plan by which English is taught.
Honing a person's adeptness with a language isn't like producing a sharper arrowhead. A language - a spoken language - isn't just an instrument that you can learn to use with greater amounts of precision. A common language can not be ripped from the professed knowledge of a clan 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.
Teaching a student to recite English is to rob him of its cultural context. A proper instructor has to create a strategy for introducing it; the smartest student goes out to seek it.
A dictionary can be an influential tool. The best dictionaries describe a language based on a particular corpus, a body of writing of varying scope and consistency. Such a corpus may include everything from a biography of fiction writers to the best fiction ever written. I lost many a sleepless night developing my "superb" Fiction Corpus to form a new 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 crafted a million words and I have dissected them, reshaping them - not merely to teach the English tongue but to defend the human spirit, and to propel that soul or spirit not just to recite but to happen.
Author's Note: I have been enjoined from sharing the details of my true romance adventure until such time that the other party is prepared to present her perspective on the affair arrangement...
When I arrived in Europe on the 20th of June, 2011, I had no plan and certainly no idea that by the end of the week I would be practicing photography with a woman I had never met, a naturist who had never before allowed herself to be photographed nude. It was the first of a whole series of firsts for the both of us.
I had come to Europe to document people practicing naturism. Preliminary arrangements had been made to meet with an Egyptian nudist visiting the Continent and there was some kind of Pan-European gathering scheduled to take place in Croatia. I had arranged for an assistant to come along with me to help with anything I needed, but when her passport was stolen the night before we were supposed to leave, my plans went awry. I decided on something less ambitious. I would visit a naturist sauna in the city of Bielsko-Biala, Poland which I had just found on the internet. When I got there, I met Margo.
I was from America, land of the free...home of the brave. She carried the weight of Old Europe...domestic and religious poverties...stifled creativity. Anger. Sadness. Yearning.
6,000 miles. One car. One tent. We started learning how to listen. We started learning how to open up. We started cooperating. Even when we were angry, even when it was so difficult that it didn't seem like it would turn out well, we stuck it out. We completed the trip and we came back happy. We had beaten the devil on the road. Back home more devils were waiting to abuse us. More anger. More fear. More sadness. This time we were prepared. This time we had each other and we could harken back to the joy and the trust and the suprise that 6,000 miles had created. We could remember what it was like to live in one tent.
6,000 miles across Europe with a complete stranger
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: Understanding the word Hills
A word can represent many things. First and foremost it represents a type of gesture. A specific way of speaking. A specific way of inscribing a mark. A specific way of moving your hand. To know one of these kinds of gestures is to know how to pronounce the word hills in some kind of way.
If you want to communicate an idea using the word hills, you will need to know what other people are made to think when you make the gesture. You will never have complete awareness of or control over the associations or identities that are invoked by a set of words, but you can know what was and what is a single word's jointly accepted definition, at least for a given place, thereby tracing a direction which will help you to understand what kinds of associations and identities are driving its use.
By using the word yourself, you enter into a long-standing albeit oftentimes unconscious debate over its definition, forever entangling yourself into the history of its use. The way you use it, and which other words you use it with carries weight.
The more you know about where the word hills is located in the fabric of a language, the better you will be at exploiting its cultural power.
Pronunciation of Hills
I have yet to publish a pronunciation for the word hills.
Video of me pronouncing "hills."
Definition of Hills
I have yet to publish the definition of hills.
I'm sure it won't take too long.
Common use of hills in illustrative example sentences
I have yet to come up with a third sentence using the word hills.
Audio of me saying the sentence:
I have yet to come up with a fourth sentence using the word hills.
Audio of me saying the sentence:
I have yet to come up with a fifth sentence using the word hills.
Audio of me saying the sentence:
I have yet to come up with a sixth sentence using the word hills.
Audio of me saying the sentence:
I have yet to come up with a seventh sentence using the word hills.
Audio of me saying the sentence:
Usage of Hills in Michal's Fiction 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.
I have yet to make a morphological analysis of the word hills.
That doesn't mean it's not high on my list.
Table of Frequency for the Word "Hills."
This table lists in descending order the total number of times that the word hillsand any of its morphological derivations appears in the Fiction Corpus, along with a breakdown of frequency by title, the respective rank of each word in the complete list of all words in the Corpus, as calculated both densely and competitively, as well as the percent increase in frequency of the word over the frequency of the next lowest rank in the complete list.
Percent Increase over next rank
RANK
WORD
Frequency
TOTAL # of occurences
MCDONALDS
JESUS
SEX
TSIGA
JACKSON
DINGBATS
dense
competitive
modern/sloppy
biblical/terse
poetic/high-brow
hard/fast
talky
mixed salad
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
I have yet to publish the table of frequency for the word hills, but I will get to it shortly. -Michal
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.
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.
Sundown approached. The drive back home to Treblinka was beautiful, even though a bit uncomfortable, thanks to the Polish Fiat. That was a very, very small car - good for enjoying the landscape, if you didn't mind bobbing up and down for the whole trip (and sometimes hitting your head). At least there were no hills: going uphill, you could seriously outrun the thing, not to mention outwalk it.
In those days, America was everywhere: in your eyes, in your ears, your nose, your mouth, your hair. You could smell it, taste it, brush it away with your hands - but it kept coming back. It was under your fingernails, lodged permanently between your toes, your legs, your buttcrack. Everywhere you went, you felt it. Walking down the street, you felt it. Everywhere you went, you found it. Getting off the bus, you found it: there it was! right there: in front of you: next to you and above you - always out of reach, like a dirty cloud. If you went to the store, you found it. If you went shopping, you found it. The shelves were never empty. If you went to the woods, you found it. If you went to the hills, you found it: America! the beautiful! Amber waves of grain! Purple mountains' majesty! Majestic, purple skies! filled with mountains! The haze! Once-fruited plain! Dizzy, dizzy, dizzy! The fox-trot! The twist!
"We survived how many regimes? Countless regimes from either side: we did it by sticking to our farms, Jesus, by keeping our heads up at the plough, by never letting go. That's how we survived. That's how the Old Republic lived on: in the hearts and minds of ploughmen. When you're in the hills, Jesus, men still use horses: machines would tip over. But those men are small farmers, Jesus - not big. Now what's happening? The climate's changed? All of a sudden, we can make it big on the world market? Sure, but let's not kill a way of life. Let's keep the good. You think these people around here want to be my friends? My neighbors? No: of course not! But: back in the day, we had business with each other: that's what makes for a community. And now what? There's no business: who could give a rat's ass what you do or who you are?
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.
So who is this Luka? Is he trying to live a dream? And who is this new friend of his? Who is Nike to be entering a partnership? Doesn't he worry about destroying dreams? Don't they both know that yeomanry's been dead or dying? Yeomen live on the hillsides only. For their own sakes, they dare not ply their trade on the plains of Europe. For we have consolidated agriculture, and, if Luka isn't careful, he'll become just another vīlicus: a slave to Nike or the next man who comes to control the revenue. But I wanted to save him. I wanted to ask Nike what the nature of this operation was. I wanted to know whether Luka were patronizing him: providing him with a cheap supply in exchange for percentage. But of course, naturally: Nike was in complete control. He led the conversation elsewhere.
– Title 3, Regarding a Dream, Chapter 2, The Second Day, Part 1, Labor & Economic Reform, Section 7, Being Pessimistic, Paragraph 2
So I ran: across the puddles of the road, along the sidewalk where the herringbone, undulating its miniature landscape of brick, now formed a miniature world of lakes and hills where my foot found its familiar patterns. I, leaping with irregular steps, passed those buildings which not so long ago were fresh in my experience, shuffling past the unconcerned remains of undergraduates - some wet behind the ears, some colleagues from not so long ago - but all now unfamiliar, threatening too from within their institutional shelter, so I had to avoid their faces, and hid my own as much from their imaginary judgment as from the now pelting rain, for I had neglected to bring an umbrella.
He will be driven back down; he will run to his bedroom, and, looking out his western window, he will see the red horizon; he will see the sun spreading its arms across the foothills. He will say "Good evening," and he will try everything to welcome his unexpected guest. He will place her in the most comfortable bedroom, with the best view; he will tell her to unpack her bags and come down for dinner. At table, he'll be enamored. He will wonder at this beautiful creature. He will want to ask her many questions, but knowing this impolite, he will restrict himself to the most important ones. He will ask her if Happiness be her real name. She will look up at him and smile. She will say, "No, people call me Happiness. But my real name is Joy."
– Title 3, Regarding a Dream, Chapter 1, The First Day, Part 1, Victory & Calendar Reform, Section 1, Cancer, Paragraph 1, Clauses 9-19
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.
One day, Tae realized a woman was crying in Kwon's tent. He crossed his friend's field. He peered through the entrance. He could see Kwon consoling Do. Tae made a sound. Kwon came outside. He frowned. He said, "Do went for a walk in the hills. She caught Hong with Kong."
Tae's eyes went wild. "The boy?" Kwon nodded. "The old man?" Kwon nodded. "They were?" Kwon nodded. Tae laughed. "Six men. Six women. I guess they're lucky to have each other."
Gog continued the journey. He encountered a large salt lake [e.g. Lake Urmia]. The settlements along its eastern shores had recently felt Sargon's wrath. "They breed horses here," said the men. "There is good pasture. If we stay here, we can raid the plains and roam the hills at our leisure."
Gog sympathized with them. If the armies of Rusas were helpless against Sargon, what chance did he have? He allowed his chiefs to decide their own fates. Many chose, despite their qualms, to continue.
They marched southeast. They skirted the kingdom of Rusas. In the hills, they encountered a people named the Hayk. Their speech was almost intelligible. They said their king was named Bagadatti.
Sammy D stepped in front of young Ms. Davis Granville. She poked the black rubber into her belly. It crept slowly down to the dardanelles. It insinuated itself into the soft hillsides. The hard edge pressed up and out. It tipped the bird's nest. Davis fluttered in her denim jeans.
Sammy D grinned. She brought the instrument up to the woman's chin. She pushed it up. Davis yielded. Her lips presented themselves. Sammy D slowly encroached. Their breaths mingled.
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.
"Hills" does not make an appearance in Sorry Miss Jackson.
A story book full of short fiction stories. An interesting bedtime mystery. A fairy tale. Science fiction romance. Adult life. Uninspiring gay fiction. Horror.
"Hills" does not make an appearance in Miscellaneous Dingbats
This table lists in descending order of frequency a selection of word pairs that appear in the Fiction Corpus and groups them according to the morphological derivation of the word hills that appears in the pair.
Type
WORD
Frequency
TOTAL # of occurences
MCDONALDS
JESUS
SEX
TSIGA
JACKSON
DINGBATS
modern/sloppy
biblical/terse
poetic/high-brow
hard/fast
talky
mixed salad
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
I have yet to perform a collocation analysis of "hills." I hope I can get it done sometime soon. -Michal
Life is a spinning sphere with Joy at one pole and Sadness at the other. Each continuously feeding its pair. Joy flanked by the emotions of Trust on one side, Surprise on the other. Trust leading to Anticipation; anticipation leading to Fear. Surprise leading to Disgust; disgust leading to Anger. Anger and Fear fueling our Sadness. Sadness giving way, in time, to Joy; through Hope, an orientation towards Love. Love, an openness towards Joy, Trust and Surprise; the sum of emotion; emotion amplified by others. Multiplied and divided, in equal parts. Such that to those from whom it has been subtracted, we must add. Until we are whole.
Help me maintain the "Hills" page...
If you love women and art...
Michal's exporting art from Poland...is he brainsick?
Michal's Sales Pitch Lot 1: Silesian Handicrafts
T-shirt fundraiser for sale
Last T-Shirt with the logo that I designed.
From a set of, I believe, twenty produced by Margo and given out to a portion of the last 20 women to finish the 20th anniversary Fiat Road Race in Bielsko-Biała, cf. the movie. This is the last one left in it's original packaging and my supporters - like the poor women of Bielsko - are going to have to fight for it. Whoever invests the most money with me, and who lets me borrow it to invest in the next lot, will not only be rewarded with some beautiful piece of art, but will get this priceless t-shirt as a reward for being my top supporter. $1000.00 or best offer. Remember to authorize me to hold the sum as credit against a future purchase and to authorize me to borrow against it.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #1 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
Felt handbag for sale
Felt bag by Dorota.
Entirely hand-sewn. Base: polyester felt, 100% PE. Motif: South American woolen yarn, dyed, 100% wool. Hand-worked with a needle. Unique and inimitable design. Inside: cotton fabric, closes with zipper, inside pocket. Available now for $220.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #2 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
Decorative collar for sale
Decorative collar by Zuzanna.
Ethnic layered cloth jewelry constructed on a cotton base and adorned with ribbons, tassels, and a yellow fringe. Fastened on the side with 11 buttons, fitted entirely with a pleasant lining. The style is an Indo-Asian-African multinational color combination. The collar is very extravagant and an extraordinary addition to any clothing, guaranteed to attract attention. Just a simple dress and a unique image is ready. Dry-cleaning recommended. Available now for $200.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #3 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
Seamless handbag for sale
Handbag by Sylwia.
Handmade from felted all-natural Australian and South American wool. Entirely felted, seamless. Finished with a white lining, inside is a small pocket. Lining is sewn and stitched in by hand. Available now for $180.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #4 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
Patchwork quilt for sale
Patchwork quilt by Alicja.
Bedspread made of cotton and polyester material. Inserted with polyester lining. 90 by 70 cm. Available now for $120.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #5 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
Nuno-felt shawl for sale
Shawl by Sylwia.
Scarf made with the nuno felting technique (wet felting fibre into a silk gauze) using South American wool. Two-sided scarf with latticework at the ends. Wholly in the colors red, black, green in an abstract pattern. Available now for $100.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #6 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
Clara the doll for sale
Clara by Alicja.
Clara loves roses and greenery, adores tormenting spiders with long legs and sleeping soundly in the afternoon. Cuddly toy made of cotton and polyester, stuffed with polyester lining. Available now for $70.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #7 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
Noah the doll for sale
Noah by Alicja.
Noah doesn't know what to like and what not to like but keeps wondering and thinking about it. Cuddly toy made of cotton and polyester, stuffed with polyester lining. Available now for $70.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #8 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
Black suspenders for sale
Black suspenders by Zuzanna.
Two-sided suspenders from black material with a rose motif on one side and striped cotton on the other. Connected by a leather triangle. Adjustable length. Hand washing in cold water recommended. Available now for $50.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #9 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
Orange suspenders for sale
Orange suspenders by Zuzanna.
Two-sided suspenders made of denim and orange material with a Polish floral folk design. Connected by a leather triangle. Adjustable length. Hand washing in cold water recommended. Available now for $50.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #10 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
Green suspenders for sale
Green suspenders by Zuzanna.
Two-sided suspenders made of denim and green material with a mountain folk design. Connected by a leather triangle. Adjustable length. Hand washing in cold water recommended. Available now for $50.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #11 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
Felt earrings for sale
Felt earrings by Dorota.
Material: South American woolen yarn, dyed, 100% wool. Hand-worked with a needle. Pendant of anti-allergenic metal. Available now for $40.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #12 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
Round ceramic earrings for sale
Round ceramic earrings by Dorota.
Material: Glazed ceramics, hand-molded. Available now for $40.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #13 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
Oblong ceramic earrings for sale
Oblong ceramic earrings by Dorota.
Material: Glazed ceramics, hand-molded. Available now for $40.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #14 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
'Coral' necklace for sale
Corals by Sylwia.
Necklace made of cotton pieces with organdy and decorated with beads, suspended on cotton strings. Can be worn as a necklace, as a brooch or as a belt tied at the side. Available now for $40.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #15 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.