Michal is thinking about the prospect of enhancing his sizeable Fiction Corpus with yet another comic book; cites fatigue
Posted:
I accept the practicality of administering English as an international language for the world. I do question the unsurprising strategy by which the English tongue is presented for study.
Reenforcing a person's knowledge of a language isn't like developing a sharper spear. A language isn't merely a tool that you can learn to manipulate with greater amounts of precision. A living language cannot be cleaved from the competing values of a tribe 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 students to recite English is to rob them of its cultural context. An informed teacher must find a way to introduce it; the perceptive pupil goes out to seek it.
A dictionary has the potential to be an influential tool. A decent dictionary will describe a language based on a particular corpus, a set of writing of various size and consistency. Such a corpus could include everything from a book about literature to a bunch of science fiction books. I watched many nights pass forging my "mammoth" Fiction Corpus to form a special 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 prepared a million words and I have categorized them, reframing them - not merely to teach a tongue but to promote the human spirit, and to goad 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...
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.
Though I felt fully formed as a writer, and had been trained in visual language, it was my first time with a professional camera in my hands. I was just learning the ins and outs and had come to Europe to find as diverse a selection of subject matter as possible, preferably something that fit my aesthetic devotion to promoting body acceptance. Enter 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.
As far apart culturally as we may have been, we spent 6,000 miles in one car. We spent over 40 nights in one tent. We started learning how to listen to each other. We started learning how to accept our differences and how to let them help us instead of driving us apart. Slowly but surely, we started learning how to beat the devils that abuse us.
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 Field
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 field in some kind of way.
If you want to communicate an idea using the word field, 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 field is located in the fabric of a language, the better you will be at exploiting its cultural power.
Pronunciation of Field
I have yet to publish a pronunciation for the word field.
Video of me pronouncing "field."
Definition of Field
I have yet to publish the definition of field.
I'm sure it won't take too long.
Common use of field in illustrative example sentences
I have yet to come up with a fourth sentence using the word field.
Audio of me saying the sentence:
I have yet to come up with a fifth sentence using the word field.
Audio of me saying the sentence:
I have yet to come up with a sixth sentence using the word field.
Audio of me saying the sentence:
I have yet to come up with a seventh sentence using the word field.
Audio of me saying the sentence:
Usage of Field 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 field.
That doesn't mean it's not high on my list.
Table of Frequency for the Word "Field."
This table lists in descending order the total number of times that the word fieldand 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 field, 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 #7173
i think ill be managing our little operation for identification from our new field hospital.
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.
More than one Russian oil company raised itself an independent or 'independent but attached' battalion, just to gain itself a seat in the Presidium. For almost the same reason, Krupnik Holding was doing more than its fair share of recruitment. The Polish government, beleaguered with its own problems, and having very little to do in the way of oil, was totally uninterested in Panzer-Tank's privateering. Apart from a certain Polish educational institution, which possessed oil fields in Baku thanks to an ancient and once lost but then recovered endowment, Krupnik Holding was the only organization in Poland involved in the war effort. But instead of just pumping money into Panzer-Tank's war chest, Krupnik Holding was also raising troops. The prevailing theory among Jesus's coterie, considering that Panzer-Tank's daughter Zoe was engaged to be married to Leonard Cohen-Krupnik's son, was that the Krupniks were trying to accumulate enough votes in the Presidium to offset the Russian influence that might hamper Panzer-Tank's own interests. Thus, the Guderians and Krupniks were allying against the Russian threat, a situation which resulted in one dead Baron Cohen-Krupnik with Russian bullets in his head. But this was only theory.
"You know what he said to me? I said, 'Why is this one howling so much?' He said, 'He's howling for your daughter.' Can you believe that? I wanted to slap him in the face. Those dogs are starving; their ribs are poking out. I came by later with a boiled shank. That dog almost ripped it from my hand. I didn't want the Commandant to see it. Good thing he was out in the field somewhere.
We stopped bothering him. Sapper circled back to the birch grove. I lingered. Most of the hunters were a hundred and fifty meters away near the edge of the forest. Some of them climbed into a white electric truck and drove back down the way we came. The rest disappeared. I could hear their dogs barking in the distance. By the time I ambled my way to the forest's edge, I saw them two hundred meters away, walking around someone's cornfield. I wondered if they had shooting rights. There were fifteen men with barking dogs walking down one way, while another group spread itself down the other direction. Each man began covering about thirteen meters worth of cornfield. They were going to flush it out, whatever it happened to be. Wild boar, I guessed.
"This morning, before I left for the battlefield, I asked my grandfather's nephew whether he would join me for church. He's half-Czech, by the way. You know what he said? He said he would go to church only if the farář paid him - farář is their word for priest - but seeing as how he's expected to pay the farář, there's no way that he would ever go."
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.
Warfield, the future Duchess of Windsor in that adaptation of her memoirs. I'm sure you've heard absolutely nothing about it: the production was terrible and closed after a few weeks. Ms. Christie was not to blame, but since her future seemed to depend on the success of this production, and because it's so difficult for anyone to look good in a bad show, during my entire stay with her in Hampstead, she was in a constant state of fluster.
– Title 2, Regarding the Romaniac, Part 1, Section 11, Guidebooks, Paragraph 5, Clauses 6-10
You know, I would've excused myself: I'm curious too. But I doubt that anything would've happened. A desperately tired and confused Indiana would've done something. But in those days, there was every sign of normalcy. For instance, despite Indiana's overtures to the contrary, I ended up having to paint everything myself, which, of course, I expected. I also remember a conversation we had concerning her record player. I knew that Albert had an excellent collection of records, especially in the field of opera, and the primary reason for my accepting such a vulgar occupation was the knowledge that I could acquaint myself with some of the more famous recordings in his possession. So while Indiana was getting the paint, I began flipping through his wide collection. When she returned, she engaged me in the following dialogue:
At the time, it was merely for the sake of peace - or so it seemed. As far as I could tell, the weary Albert was casually withdrawing from the field of battle, so to speak. I assumed his intention was to return and make peace - at least, after the dust had settled. But, of course, I did not care to know all the details - at least, not enough to broach the subject.
– Title 3, Regarding a Dream, Chapter 4, The Fourth Day, Part 2, The Assembly & Government Reform, Section 6, Being Obedient, Paragraph 1
When you shifted, there was a swaying in the balance, a slight polarization in the field of energy. The core of the feeling suddenly shrank back from you, creating two arms as if to embrace you. Luckily, I had experienced the feeling around you before, so I was prepared for it - but not for this phenomenon. It was the most mind-boggling thing. Up till then, nothing on the outside had ever been able to influence the feeling that way. And apart from that singular incident, of which you are the heroine, there's only been one way for me to control the feeling, and that is to impose upon it a sort of psychological containment - more like a conscious ignorance really - something I developed around our mother, because there was a period in which I was constantly affected by her.
– Title 3, Regarding a Dream, Chapter 1, The First Day, Part 1, Victory & Calendar Reform, Section 5, Inflammation of the Loins, Paragraph 4, Clauses 15-21
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 shook his head. "Even if we could somehow bribe somebody at the fields, the executives would get involved. It's not worth the risk."
Tae left. By midday, he was near his field. He could see his rice was gone. Kwon's crop was still standing. Tae grimaced. He walked through the stubble to his tent. He put on some clothes. He paid Kwon a visit.
Any second now, thought Tae, the stress on that last button would overcome the tensile strength of the threads. The whole thing would crash.
"Jutsu and Nin will help with the beds," continued the woman with the strong features. "Till the fields. Mark them out. Don't forget. There's twelve of us."
"I know how to count," said Kung. "I didn't manage a hotel for nothing."
A wisp of steam rose from the rocks. Tae felt the urge to check it out. "Excuse me," he said. He left Kwon and Do behind. He climbed the rocks with his bare feet. He heard the sounds of splashing. Two women laughed. A man said, "That bean counter wanted us to till fields." It was Kung. "I showed her. We marked out the best spots for ourselves-right next to a hot spring. We should open a resort. Charge the others admission."
At the end of the irrigation ditch that he himself had grudgingly helped to build, Tae found Bo laboring in her field. "Good morning," he said. Bo looked up. Tae smiled. "It's a nice day for a walk." He gestured towards the desert. "Would you care to join me?" Bo looked at the landscape. She thought about it. She put down the rice plant she was holding. She wiped her hands. She looked at Tae. She nodded.
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.
"Field" 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.
I was taken to a football game. Not at a stadium. More like a field with a stand. My uncle called it "The Moldavian Wembley." This is where my stomach caught up with me. At some point during the first half I rushed out to find a toilet. The only permament structure I found had a long line sticking out of it. The portable toilets were crowded. I decided to find something further afield. At the very least a bush.
Light seeps in. A tunneling creature has freed us. We are lifted on the breeze. I leave my bags behind. I must cling to my comrade. For an instant a field lies ahead. Then the sky. Then the backs of doves. I wonder carelessly if we are approaching heaven but the spinning keeps its relentless pace.
Mark was so fast he could go up Update Street, hit his half of Hillview, and come back down to Profile before Bill the regular guy on Rural Route 2 could get two bites off his sandwich which he usually ate halfway down Download Street so he could enjoy the view of the football field.
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 field 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 "field." I hope I can get it done sometime soon. -Michal
If a 45-year-old businesswoman and hard working mother of three kids is going to pose nude for a calendar, it's gonna have to be a good one. Margo didn't start a coffee shop called the Vagina Cafe to win her favors from the establishment. Even as she dishes out prizes to the 20 women who placed last in the twentienth anniversary run of her town's biggest road race, her business, unlike everyone else, doesn't get mentioned. She was an official sponsor for Christ's sake! But the announcer just couldn't swallow his patriarchy and get the words "Vagina Cafe" out of his mouth. That's not something a proper gentleman would say in front of a crowd of humble God-fearing "ladies" who cherish their modesty! And a Body Acceptance Calendar is certainly not what a humble God-fearing book-seller like a Barnes and Noble would put on their shelves! So how do I expect to sell this in the mainstream? Maybe if you download the free versions a thousand billion times it might help. Start downloading.
Help maintain the "Field" page alive...
If you love women and art...
Michal is importing Polish art...is he touched?
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.
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