Much less progress to report this week, mostly because my writing time went primarily towards trying to get my submission for January's Elegant Literature contest into some kind of halfway decent shape. That would be less frustrating if the effort was successful, but it was not.
Blog
Diné Bahaneʼ Review
When I eventually came across Diné Bahaneʼ, billed as the Navajo creation story, it immediately went on my reading list, and I was even more excited when I began the book. Not only is Diné Bahaneʼ exactly what it claims to be, it is also a serious, scholarly treatment of the story, as accurately translated from an oral tradition as Zolbrod could manage.
A Call to Stoicism
Stoicism is a personal philosophy, meant to guide you towards a satisfactory way of living.
Weekly Writing Update
I'm still struggling with how to rewrite the idea I have for January's Elegant Literature contest. I've now tried it as epistolary, as an in-world artifact, and as a traditional narrative, so we'll see what I come up with to try next week.
Pilgrim’s Progress Review
In the case of Pilgrim's Progress, I suspect it became a classic because it served as a blatant and approachable introduction to a certain school of Christian thought.
Progress’s Contradiction
We think of progress as a monodirectional activity, always advancing. There is reason for this, and it is supported by much of our experience of the world, but it misses half of the progress puzzle, and it fails to account for progress's contradiction.
Weekly Writing Update
I have been challenged. Specifically, I have been challenged by my wife to write a funny story involving a wizard who enslaves people with bread. We'll see how I do with Lord of the Levain.
Fourteen Exciting Engineering Projects
Each of these projects receives $175,000.00 in grants for phase one work - you can read more about the program here, where you will also find links to detailed descriptions of each of the projects.
Witches Abroad Review
Surprise: instead of the review for Pilgrim's Progress or Diné Bahane' that you might have been expecting, I took a break to read and review another Pratchett novel.
A News Story
Breaking news: we're discussing "the news" for today's post. A massive topic, with entire facets meritorious of their own posts, but for today I prefer to focus on the most fundamental questions when analyzing the news as a concept: what is the news, and is "news" valuable?