Each year at the end of March the Tennessee Williams Literary Festival takes place. For three years in a row I attended the Festival. Rather I should say some part of it because there are always several simultaneous events. In the other years I did not get to the Stanley and Stella Shouting Contest, but in 2008 I did. This is one of the contestents. Here are the other twenty-seven images from a series of photos I took at the gathering, the sign-up, and the balcony overlooking Jackson Square.

The Stanley and Stella Shouting Contest is where contestants shout up at a balcony performing their best impression of Stanley Kowalski as Marlon Brando did it in A Streetcar Named Desire. As it is New Orleans, cross-dressing is allowed as well as a reverse scenario in which Stellas shout to Stanley. Finalists perform again at the Festival closing ceremonies and winners are chosen there.

I’ll put the rest in 2 more gallery posts.

ACIM Speaks

podcast episode 105 (New)

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Something Inside

Is God a supernatural being? In this episode we explore atheism, The New Atheists, and leaving the future to God.

The episode concludes with a clip from artist Sam Harris, “Something Inside”.

• Preview One Mind Workbook
• Always - Sam Harris

Sam Harris Sam Harris (1984 album cover)
This album is no longer available.

 ACIM Speaks podcast ep108-new

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ACIM Speaks podcast

Rowe Camp is a conference center and workshop space in the hills of western Massachusetts. I forgot to say that in the podcast.

In this episode …

• Preview One Mind Workbook
• Sarah Benson memorial page
• Holy Harmony - Jonathan Goldman & Sarah Benson
• Molly Scott’s website
• Aaron Swartz memorial

In light of recent developments on the internet, I am compelled to write this article. I am writing a book in which the first chapter contains a narrator (that’s me) telling about getting his first computer, an Apple IIc. The book’s cover is done, but I do not want to reveal the title just yet.

Once the narrator is comfortable with the computer he wonders who invented such a thing, this computer that he is so happy with now. The satisfaction of his wonder comes in the form of a magazine article in which he is introduced to the two Steves. It is a turning point in the story. This is several thousand words into the chapter.

The narrator, still curious, returns to the computer store to buy a book about the computer. A bit of trivia is used to transition from telling how the computer works to how it was used and what happens after.

The magazine is long gone and the narrator initially thinks he got the magazine and the book at the same time, but in fact the original hand-writtten receipt for the book is still within the book’s pages.

Here is an excerpt from the work-in-progress:

I got a book called The Practical Guide to the Apple IIc. In spite of its title, the book is as much about the history and development of Apple, the company, as it is about the Apple IIc. Here we learn, for example, that Steve Wozniak invented the POKE, the term co-opted by one of the social media companies decades later. Members of the social media company didn’t much like the poke until Betty White explained its meaning on Saturday Night Live. It meant in its original form the same as it does now, simply: Remember me.

I did not mention and did not plan to mention facebook in the book. Should I consider a “placement opportunity” for the book as is customary in movies? I should be open-minded about it. There’s always the “Ask Me Anything” link above.

Here is a page scan from the Apple IIc book: