Michal is considering the soundness of supplementing his sizable Fiction Corpus with a morality play about reading literature; cites fatigue
Posted:
I think highly of the potency of upholding English as a common language for the world. I do question the formalistic mode in which the English tongue is taught.
Fine-tuning one's command of a language isn't like bringing about a stronger mast. A language - a living tongue - is not merely an instrument that you can learn to exploit with a greater amount of precision. A shared tongue can not be dissociated from the competing values 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 person recite English is to rob him of its cultural context. A good educator has to prepare a plan for introducing it; the insightful student goes out to seek it.
A dictionary has the potential to be an influential tool. The best dictionaries define a language on the basis of a specific corpus, a body of written works of various size and consistency. Such a corpus may include everything from a book about literature to some famous short stories translated into modern English. I lost many a night laboring on my "lofty" Fiction Corpus to form a peculiar genre of dictionary based on the ability of one man to tell a story in myriad forms. It is a labor of love and listening.
I have strung together a million words and I have classified them, reformulating them - not simply to teach American vocabulary but to be an advocate for the human soul, and to encourage that spirit or soul 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...
On the second to last weekend of June, 2011, I had joined my fellow naturists at a gathering of the Naturist Society in rural Pennsylvania. The next day I left on a flight for Europe. By the end of the week I had unexpectedly met another naturist, a woman, who was destined to accompany me on a tour of Europe's great naturist resorts.
As an artist, from the beginning of my adult career, my work had been devoted to the problem of body acceptance, a goal that I would later learn was shared by a whole community of people called naturists, a humble portion of which I discovered residing in Poland, a country whose cultural conservatism does not lend itself readily to forward thinking. One of those forward-thinking Polish naturists happened to be Margo.
Though I was born in Europe, I had been brought up from a young age in America, living in states as diverse as Nebraska, Ohio and Connecticut. I was taught American values and saw reality from an American perspective. She was born and raised in a village in Poland. She went to work in the nearest town. The nearest city seemed like the center of the world. The American perspective was not something she was ever planning to see.
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
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 Age
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 age in some kind of way.
If you want to communicate an idea using the word age, 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 age is located in the fabric of a language, the better you will be at exploiting its cultural power.
Pronunciation of Age
I have yet to publish a pronunciation for the word age.
Video of me pronouncing "age."
Definition of Age
The word age is fetishized to mean something that is generally working against you rather than for you. It also an artifact that represents the time elapsed since the birth or creation of something. It can also refer to the act of time passing and allowing certain changes to occur in the composition of something.
Common use of age in illustrative example sentences
I have yet to come up with a fourth sentence using the word age.
Audio of me saying the sentence:
I have yet to come up with a fifth sentence using the word age.
Audio of me saying the sentence:
I have yet to come up with a sixth sentence using the word age.
Audio of me saying the sentence:
I have yet to come up with a seventh sentence using the word age.
Audio of me saying the sentence:
Usage of Age 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 age.
That doesn't mean it's not high on my list.
Table of Frequency for the Word "Age."
This table lists in descending order the total number of times that the word ageand 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 age, 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.
Frame #4158
reddit took expedia into the bondage room. fabulous. i cant hear a thing.
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.
"Yes: this is the one you'd be working in, Jesus. The storefront's on the other side. Not many people come in. It's pretty small - not a very good location, either. It's a block away from the main road, but there's nothing else around: nothing that would attract people. I keep it closed most of the time; the other stores are more important: I use this one mostly for storage. Local people buy stockings: that's about it."
Your grandfather was ruined. After years of devoting himself to 'justice,' proving torts of various size and scope, the career plaintiff was himself turned into a reprehensible, grossly negligent and most liable tort-feasor. He was made to forfeit whatever damages he otherwise would've gained in favor of the other parties to his wife's estate. Jesus, for reasons never made explicitly known to him, was not a party.
"She's got a velocipede, too. She's pretty rich. Anyway, to finish with the car: we said we're going to buy it a backpack: send it on a pilgrimage: to the Black Madonna! It's come of age: it's eighteen years old: the car can go on its own: it's not gonna hurt anyone. It'll keep up!" Sapper laughed.
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.
I can imagine how significant a look this was, how striking an exchange. But I am surprised you didn't remember it was Christmas Eve in Austria. I suppose you were somewhat disengaged from the rest of the evening, and that, consequently, in your memory, that shared moment somehow strayed out of context. But I remember that night very well, especially in connection with another night.
In reaching their conclusion they have given full deference to their egoism, and history must yield to a more fully developed understanding of the invidious quality of their absurdity - because I do not know how they can identify the privileges bestowed by the State on participants in a civic institution (marriage) as concrete reasons for that participation to be acknowledged as a civil right.
There in my mind, I saw quiet corners, back alleys, by the harbor, ocean liners, the continents from space, looking through a thick glass, wildfire, trouble on the steppe, horsemen, going to horse shows, dressage tournaments, Austria, rich people, descendants of nobility, the peasantry, young people with no future, old people, the sky, phasing of the moon, smiling moon, fortune smiling, powerful people, success, happiness, envy, envy, envy.
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.
Clark looked up the longitude and the latitude on his phone. He sent the information via text. Shephard heard Cathy say, "Hello?"
"Go to America. Tell them how beautiful road is in China. They will not believe. It is. I ask you: two things man build and see from space? One, Great Wall of China. Two, Great Highway in Tarim Basin, also in China-but more important: my province, Xinjiang. Long live Xinjiang. Long live China."
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.
(KOKOMO moans offstage.)
MS. JACKSON: What was that?
LESBIAN: What was what?
MS. JACKSON: That noise.
LESBIAN: What?
MS. JACKSON: Was that you?
LESBIAN: No.
MS. JACKSON: It sounded like a woman moaning. It came from the kitchen.
LESBIAN: You're imagining things.
– ACT I, lines 920-927
ALICE: I was taken aback.
FLETCHER: By whom?
ALICE: I was hit on by the nearest policemen I could find. I had just been mugged and middle-aged married policemen decided to hit on me.
FLETCHER: What did they say?
ALICE: They said I was too cute to be mugged. That's what they said.
FLETCHER: They weren't lying.
ALICE: I was so disappointed. They didn't want to help me. They didn't do anything except hit on me.
LESBIAN: They were married.
MS. JACKSON: And bored.
FLETCHER: What was the mugging like?
– ACT I, lines 147-156
GREY GOOSE: Every time you had her sweet fish sauce underneath your fingernails-
FLETCHER: You couldn't help but think: wouldn't it be lovely?
GREY GOOSE: We understand.
FLETCHER: We want it ourselves.
GREY GOOSE: It's only natural.
FLETCHER: Take advantage of this wonderful opportunity.
GREY GOOSE: We can't wait to see you do it.
MS. JACKSON: I'm not going to have sex with my cook!
– ACT I, lines 1152-1159
MS. JACKSON: I haven't invited you back yet.
GREY GOOSE: It wouldn't hurt to clean up, would it?
FLETCHER: (to KOKOMO) This is one kind of dusting you won't mind.
MS. JACKSON: What is this?
GREY GOOSE: I've had it. Go ahead and keep it: all of it. I don't even want it anymore.
FLETCHER: You hear that?
MS. JACKSON: Want what?
FLETCHER: We've got a witness. It's ours.
GREY GOOSE: Consider it my engagement present.
MS. JACKSON: What are you talking about?
– ACT II, lines 392-401
GREY GOOSE: I have an appointment with your lodger.
MS. JACKSON: With Luke?
GREY GOOSE: That's right.
MS. JACKSON: Are you sure it's not with Alice?
GREY GOOSE: I'm sure.
MS. JACKSON: Where's Kokomo? What have you done with her?
GREY GOOSE: She's fine.
MS. JACKSON: Is this an attempt to corrupt her?
GREY GOOSE: Give it a rest, woman. You've done enough damage to my reputation.
A story book full of short fiction stories. An interesting bedtime mystery. A fairy tale. Science fiction romance. Adult life. Uninspiring gay fiction. Horror.
Grandmother shrugged. Lifting her finger, she said, "St. Barbara is the patron saint of architects, builders, stonemasons, and artillerymen."
"And apparently marriage-minded women," I added.
Indiana smiled. She looked at me. "Is it your branch?"
Inside the cage stood a pretty little girl with the legs of a giant spider. From behind those legs a hairy abdomen suddenly poked down. It spewed a thin secretion across the faces of the men. They cried out and dropped to the floor. They started writhing in pain. Their movements jerked more and more until their limbs finally locked in a rigid posture. They heard helplessly the sound of a man calmly climbing up the stairs. It was Orbitz. The men recognized him. Unable to express their shock their eyes blazed with confusion and fury. Orbitz knelt among them. "I'm sorry," he said. "The creature poisoned you with a paralytic. At this dosage it's fatal. I didn't want any of you to die. It wasn't up to me. She didn't want to take any chances with her freedom. I wish I could stay with you until the end. Unfortuately the creature has a short refractory period. I have to surgically remove her gland before she's capable of killing me."
Further west the air fills with dust. Further west another ocean fills with fire. As the smoke clears my comrade and I face yet another shore. This one teeming with life. We wait. There may be hope in these masses. We watch the battles rage. We watch the battles die down. We land in a barren field.
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 age 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 "age." 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 "Age" page...
If you love women and art...
Michal's exporting art...is he kooks?
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.