F.F. White

This week, I won't be posting another comparison of east versus west. Though I have at least two more such articles to write, it shall have to wait. In light of last week's shooting, there are more important things to discuss.

How to recognize an extremist ... and what you can do

I was motivated to write the rather dark and insane verses in Gospels of Rage by social ignorance and our culture that perpetuates it. Of the several symptoms I can identify, none could demonstrate it better than the media reaction to the Batman movie slayings that happened last week. One commentator on KGO radio last night said, "I won't even mention the evil, we're just going to talk about the victims."

And it is tragic that such a thing should happen. We share in the grief, as we share it every time another very disturbed individual does something similar. Once, it could be relegated to another place, another time, but it is not "over there" anymore, and it is not "in a less civilized time" anymore either. It is in Colorado, and in New Mexico, and in New York, and in Norway, and in Oman, and on the Japanese subway, and in the cartel-besieged streets of Mexico, and everywhere else you can name. It is our problem, and it is up to us to help fix it, or we may expect more of the same.

So I say unto the commentator, unto my neighbors, my friends, and everyone else who gives a damn about people getting killed somewhere for no good reason, it's time we started talking about the evil. The evil is the problem, not the victims, so that is what we should focus on.

But how do we start? For too long, the media has shunned the idea of humanizing criminals, extremists, junkies, the poor, the insane, heretics, politicians, pundits, terrorists, minorities, foreigners or anyone else who is more conveniently a symbol, rather than a person. But the "evil-doers" here are people, and we should stop thinking about them like they aren't. Beyond any political agenda, beyond even justice, each one of them has a family, a life that led them to where they are now, and a future that we must reckon with. There was a time in each of their lives, sometimes hundreds of times, when someone wasn't paying attention. They ignored that a problem was forming, and instead reported nothing, said nothing, offered no help or advice, made no move to involve themselves in someone else's troubles, and even shirked their responsibilities to handle their children, the people in their care, or someone else's welfare. We have all been in this place before or shall be someday, and someone usually does the right thing, but there are far too many instances of abuse and stubborn neglect like we saw at Penn State to expect people not to react violently.

When you see something like this, you are looking at something that can motivate someone to do some crazy shit.

It maybe difficult to identify a killer as a person, but they are not fundamentally different from any of us. They are not impossible to understand, not impossible to stop, to circumvent, or to help. That is the first problem, seeing and showing human beings as being human. They are not symbols, their acts are, and what those acts symbolize is our reluctance to deal with them until they bring these atrocities to our attention with violence.

It is our fear to show them our compassion that allows these things to happen. The reality is that we are strong enough to fix these and many other ills, but we are taught to fear our strength, not just to hesitate to involve ourselves in another's problems, but to refuse to do so under any circumstances. Often, we are shown only how to hate our enemies, hate other people, hate the people who lose it and kill a lot of people. Yet it is we who can change this, but we must not be so foolish as to think of others as unlike us, and to have the courage to simply offer a hand when it is within our power to do so.

Stop being weak. And stop letting others be weak around you.

Hymn of the Fellow Sinner

I know you
want as I do,
thirst as I do,
grieve as I do.
These precious things we share
as strangers, for we all must hope.
Our hearts and larders may be bare
and this is how we cope.

But do you
fear as I do,
regret as I do,
hate as I do?
Do you think poorly of this life,
and bicker over fortune’s price?
Do you contend with strife
and storm for a glimpse of paradise?

I beg you
rue as I do,
cower as I do,
repent as I do.
Your pride is a false companion,
the messenger of our destruction.
Take my hand, I am your champion.
I’ll not deny you perdition.

For if you have tried and lost,
as I have,
then you understand the cost.

-Forest F. White

Many who have spent a portion of their adult lives in the northeast notice social differences when they end up working in the west. But there is a more fundamental difference, and it has to do with the earth, the wind, and how continents and oceans affect our lives.

The weather

As Stephen Fry pointed out during his road-trip across the United States, the rain on the east coast is dramatically unlike the rain in England, even though it rains in England very often. Rain on the west coast is similarly soft unless a big tropical storm is sweeping up from the equator. In the west, snow is something that predominantly exists at high altitudes, to which we travel for recreation and from which our fresh water is collected as the snow melts each year. It is foggy on the coast and dry inland, and the reasons for this have to do with the direction the earth rotates and how the sun shines upon it. You see, prevailing wind currents follow a general pattern, with slow warm winds traveling east and towards the poles near the equator, and swifter cool winds traveling west and back towards the equator the closer to the poles you get. Illustrated, generally wind currents on follow this pattern:

Now, this means the wind on the west coast mostly comes off the ocean, which is cool, and from the southerly climes, which is warm. In general, this means mild temperatures and air that isn't polluted as oceans have very few factories, power plants, and geothermal vents to "enrich" them. This also means the air is clear, so the sun shines very bright, leading to an abundance of solar power opportunities, but also less ground water and almost no snow year-round at lower altitudes.

Perhaps one of the reasons north-easterners have a reputation for being all business is a response to their climate. They are in the path of winds that are also eastward, but to the west lies a large continent from which these winds have gathered moisture and pollutants. It is highly influenced by the seasonal solar conditions, so it is hot and humid in the summer, and cold and snowy in the winter. During interim seasons, there is a respite, but with occasional thunderstorms (like the one last week) that can drop over a foot of water in a matter of days. In the east, during inclement weather, it is not comfortable to sit still - people may greet you on the street, but most everyone has somewhere they need to be and don't want to linger in the bitter cold or stifling heat. The advantage to this is an abundance of fresh-water springs, lakes, and massive rivers that fill with the rainfall and snow, and evaporate slowly because of the high humidity. Fresh water in the east is a fantastic boon, and during the warm season, plant life is as thick and green as it is in the tropics. The sun quality is somewhat diminished, however, so solar energy solutions are less efficient and the northeastern winters can be accurately described as dark.

To the unacquainted observer, it may seem that the east is less pleasant than the west, and there is some truth to that, but this is a condition that is largely due to human living and life. I never understood the charm of christmas decorations, with their gay colors and lights, until I saw them on a house covered and surrounded by snow that had been so for months. Outside of the northwestern rain forests, there is almost nothing on the west coast that rivals the forests of the east. That King and Lovecraft write of them as dense, even sinister, miles upon miles of trees is because they can obscure entire towns in their midst. However, nothing can rival the sun in the west (which is shared by western europe and pacific islands as well) as it is mild and bright all the time. The hills spend half the year golden-brown with dry grass and shrubs, and wildfires are a constant threat. Yet I still love the light here, and the fresh scent of the air from the Pacific.

- Forest F. White

Having now past the launch of my published book, my next task is two-fold. I am to market the book and myself to a broader audience and gather critical feedback from them. The first task is fairly straightforward - introduce your treasured creative efforts to people in an appealing way. I find that most people like to meet people who have finished creative projects and can usually spare a little time to admire the fruits of your efforts. However, critical review and response is, by its nature, something people are reluctant to dispense. It is far safer in creative circles to be either unassuming or silent, and other times people are afraid of 'sounding stupid' even though nearly every opinion is an extension of truth.

It might not seem so, but criticism is a cultural taboo. Praise is always welcome but digging into someone else's work, especially when they often have no way to change it, seems unfair, and fans of their work won't appreciate your analysis unless you are clever. I found this out the hard way, as my first few reviews on Amazon of books I had read were consistently and repeatedly marked as unhelpful and some of them were even trolled by the ungrateful.

I encourage everyone not to be daunted by this, however. Being a critic is an intellectual legacy we all share. Often, whether or not you are considered a good critic has to do with your delivery and when it is done well, criticism is very helpful. The most successful critics I know, either in how they help me refine my work or in their coverage in respected journals, are consistent in a few general ways. Incidentally, when you read criticism of your work, it's good to look for these to identify someone who has a true stake in your chosen art-form:

1. They convey experience and informed perspective. This might seem textbook, but a good critic can connect different similar things together for comparison, and distinguish differences. This does sometimes mean some unflattering comparisons, but a critic's perspective is revealed by their sources of comparison. This also informs you of the caliber they ascribe to your work.
2. They don't skimp on specifics. Even if a critic is only talk about their enjoyment or dislike of a piece of work, they can point to specific points that evoked a reaction, or did not. Surely, every piece is not as important as the whole, but reductive glosses and generalizations are not very critical.
3. They state very clearly what something is. Often, art resists clear definition. This can stem from its subjects, its style, its context, its delivery, or a myriad of more subtle factors. A good critic can identify the essence of a piece and at least one clear purpose for its existence. This takes some practice and usually a good vocabulary, but knowing what you are talking about and informing others is a fundamental function of the critic. A review is unhelpful if it doesn't at least make some statement about what is being reviewed.

In conclusion, do not resist the urge to be critical, but when you speak or write critically, consider the important things critics can provide. If you have friends who have finished their own creative projects, try to review their work as this helps them in the long run, even if your opinion of the work is not high.

- Forest F. White

I was interviewed by reporters twice last month, and one of them appeared in the Cedar Grove/Verona Times. Besides that, I really like this reporter's style, as he followed up with the library representative and recorded a remarkable level of detail about the work and event in his article.

Verona poet gives a voice to retired servicemen

-F. F. White

Here is a short, low-quality video of me reading at the Montclair Public Library. I'm not happy with the performance, or the lighting, but this is the first video of me I know of.

-F. F. White

The United States Census Bureau tracks many things. Some of them would seem bizarre if not for their capacity to instruct us on what happens in our great society. Here are a few numbers I was able to find on their website:

• 2008, more than 2.3 million incarcerated
• 2007, more than 1.4 million military
• 2005, 32637 suicides
• 2009, 13756 homicides
• 2000, 2.1 million cases of domestic violence

This tells us is that a relatively small section of people experience these unsavory things in the span of a year. It does not tell us the cumulative numbers, so that we might know how many we have accumulated in 10 years, or in 50, or in a human lifetime. It also does not track anything that is not processed through official channels. There are no mercenaries or defense contractors in the military numbers. The homicides not proven in court become accidental deaths.

I conclude from this that we are blessed with a lower rate, per capita, of societal ills than in other eras. However, the undocumented items and our increased life-spans suggest that those exposed to these things in their lives might be as many as in other times. It is still a minority, but also that which we strive to change.

F. F. White

Today's broadcast, Ultimate Evil, is about the root of evil, or the essence of evil. The broadcast is now available immediately for download or steaming directly on my website:

The Pious Paradox Program

I mention two authors in the broadcast who have overwhelming influence in how we perceive ourselves - Dante and Shakespeare. There shall be ample opportunity to discuss Shakespeare in other contexts, so I'd like to comment on Dante this time.

According to Dante's Inferno, In the Ninth Circle of Hell is reserved for the treacherous and traitorous. This is perhaps the first place, outside of the Quran, where Satan is depicted as defiant and an enemy of God, which is the ultimate betrayal. Next to Satan, with their feet encased in ice, for Satan's wings continously flap a frigid wind from the void at the center of the earth, are two other ultimate betrayers - Judas and Brutus. In Dante's world-view, these characters epitomise the evil of betrayal, turning on great and virtuous men in their life-times for a pittance of power or flawed principles. If written today in America, our values might place less effective betrayers like Benedict Arnold or Richard Nixon there. However, that betrayel should occupy the ultimate evil space, I think, is appropriate. Every great human endeavor depends on the complicity of others. Even notoriously reclusive or solitary individuals must be afforded time and space to do their great work. A betrayer, someone who interferes with someone else's work after promising to assist them, can therefore always undermine progress. Other evils seem less intelligent and vindictive than the conscious denial of loyalty required for betrayal. So in this, I think Dante was correct. The ninth circle of hell, which is a reflection of our most damning judgment, is reserved for the treacherous and disloyal.

Incidentally, that means that the dog, among the most loyal of God's creatures, is also one of the most virtuous.

- F. F. White

Yep, it is finally here - F.F. White's Gospels of Rage.

It's available on Amazon and B&N, and some other places I don't know about yet.

Thanks for reading my posts through the years, and may your '10s be better than your '00s

-F.F. White

I have an aged powershot that I need to test. Here is a shot from my desk this morning.

-F. F. White