From WP: What’s a ‘good death’? It’s not quite the peaceful drifting off I’d imagined for my dad.

But his death was not the peaceful drifting away I’d always imagined, where you floated into a calm, morphine-induced sleep, your breath came slower and slower and then simply stopped. He vomited blood over and over. A lifelong stoic who never complained of pain — even when he’d broken a hip the year before — he twitched restlessly in bed, eyes closed, his brow furrowed and his skin clammy.

Read it. 

This is why I am a firm believer in "death by hibachi." Not always easy to realize, however. My novel Last Rights deals with this.

A reputation abroad

¿Qué es ciberdrama?

Ciberdrama, también conocido como hiperdrama, es una forma de teatro que tiene lugar bien en espacios virtuales, bien en espacios reales con características similares a los videojuegos, como la división de las obras en escenas que pueden verse de forma independiente por un espectador móvil, capaz de moverse entre el escenario. En algunos casos, la audiencia puede elegir entre una escena y otra, ramificándose estas en otras escenas y creando un hilo narrativo diferente al que hubiera podido crear otro espectador. El concepto de hyperdrama fue acuñado por el teórico y académico estadounidense Charles Deemer, quien consideraba el drama tradicional como una forma de ciberdrama. Al respecto, ha escrito títulos como The New Hyperdrama e Hyperdrama: My Obsession with a New Theater Form.

Read more

City by City, the World Turns Out for Climate Strike

Check out the inspiring photographs.

In the beginning

One brave young lady started it this way at Swedish Parliament, Aug 2018  ...

A year later, millions around the world

Republicans are corrupt, Democrats are clueless

What climate crisis? Two hours into a three-hour debate, Democrats were asked about climate change and had a five-minute discussion. No one broke from the pack, defined by clueless commentators, to bring up what is supposed to be a life-threatening, planet-threatening emergency.

Next week the kids take to the streets. Millions and millions, around the world, I hope. Maybe they can wake somebody up.

'ABC and the DNC Should Be Ashamed,' Say Progressives, After Just One Question on Climate Crisis During Democratic Debate

"I don't know how Tom Perez and DNC leaders can look themselves in the mirror after tonight."

Read the story

Most livable countries

UN's top ten list:

1

Norway

0.953

2

Switzerland

0.944

3

Australia

0.939

4

Ireland

0.938

5

Germany

0.936

6

Iceland

0.935

7

Hong Kong

0.933

7

Sweden

0.933

9

Singapore

0.932

10

Netherlands

0.931

Love At Ground Zero

In my novel, 9/11 meets Romeo & Juliet.

John David Nugent

5.0 out of 5 starsHe Does It Again

June 3, 2004

Format: Paperback

In Love At Ground Zero, novelist, playwright, and teacher Charles Deemer presents a haunting story
 in the style of Romeo and Juliet about the love between an American boy and an Indonesian Muslim
 girl during the aftermath of the World Trade Center destruction.
Deemer puts the tale in present tense, occassionally passing cynical asides directed at the reader,
 making the novel not only a well-written narrative, but a challenging interactive experience.
One not only feels for the star-crossed protagonists, but also sees himself and his prejudices as the
 families regard one another with fear in light of present situations.
This is a novel which requires a second reading before an analysis can be made. As a rule, Deemer
 writes deep, moving, complex fiction which challenges the reader to think about himself and his own
 place in this changing world rather than the escapist shallow stories which purvade (sp?) Popular
 fiction today.
However, this novel deserves that second reading. And a third. And a fourth.
Definitely something which belongs in classrooms in later years.

Check it out.

Before poison

It may feel like the world's ending – but America has reason to hope Robert Reich

If stagnant wages, near-record inequality, climate change, nuclear buildups, assault weapons, mass killings, trade wars, opioid deaths, Russian intrusions into American elections, kids locked in cages at our border, and Donald Trump in the White House don’t at least occasionally cause you feelings of impending doom, you’re not human.

But I want you to remember this: as bad as it looks right now – as despairing as you can sometimes feel – the great strength of this country is our resilience. We bounce back. We will again.

Not convinced?

Read it.  More optimism than I have at the moment.

Trump's logic about Alabama

“In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality was tacitly denied by their philosophy. The heresy of heresies was common sense.” - George Orwell, 1984

Dorian strikes Bahamas, unprecedented (climate change)

The Last Act of the Human Comedy

There is one human story. Dressed in new clothing and using new tools, we endlessly relive it. If we still read philosophy, literature, history, poetry and theology we would not be surprised that greed, hedonism and hubris have easily defeated empathy and reason. But because we do not, because we spend hours each day getting little bursts of dopamine from electronic screens, we think we are unique in human existence. We are unable to see that the climate conditions that allowed civilizations to flourish during the last 10,000 years will soon be replaced by a savage struggle to survive.

Read the essay by Chris Hedges 

Labor Day

1934: Blood and Roses

The Legacy of the Wobblies

This musical and dramatic performance piece was written in the 1990s and performed on Labor Day at the First Unitarian Church in Portland with General Strike, a labor song group. It was a great experience.

Check it out.

Years later I got one of those unexpected perks that is never forgotten. I ran into one of the labor singers and she told me she still got goosebumps thinking of my rendition of Miner's Lifeguard. I cherish this because I've gotten so few compliments on my folksinging over the years ha ha.

Organized labor is making a small comeback. It needs a major one.