JamesSavik

I'll start: A Series of Unfortunate Events

This is General Robert E. Lee. He was the South's top General and had a brilliant record on the battlefield. Lee was a gentleman. He was quite civilized and not to leave a trail of horrible battlefield atrocities. He was well thought of on both sides of the lines. He actually went to West Point with many of the Northern generals and considered them friends. Recently when the furor over the state flags that took some of the symbols of confederate flags, I decided to read up on Robert E. Lee. Unfortunately many people have taken the position that anyone that had anything to do with the Confederacy was a monster or just plain evil by default. I would like to remind these people that it was a very different time. Slavery was a institution that was very literally biblical. Very few people saw the citizens of other countries as equals, much less members of other races. To judge them by current attitudes and prejudices is just plain ignorant. It may be how the half-wit academicians in your college teach history but, I would submit that they have their head up their ass. Let's consider the end of the Civil War. The South, once rich and fertile, was devastated. Cities and farms were burned. Railroads destroyed, bridges down and ferries burned. Generations of work were destroyed. In Mississippi 1/5th of the 1st budget for the reorganized state went to purchase artificial limbs for maimed soldiers. The complete disruption and displacement of people caused by the war killed 40% of the entire states population. Starvation and disease was rampant. There were people that wanted to continue the fight. They wanted to resist the occupation and make it a ongoing, bloody quagmire. General Lee went on a tour of the South where he was a strong and consistent voice for reconciliation despite the North's humiliating occupation. These are some of the things he said to the crowds of people who were begging him to lead them to freedom: Madam, don't bring up your sons to detest the United States government. Recollect that we form one country now. Abandon all these local animosities, and make your sons Americans. We must forgive our enemies. I can truly say that not a day has passed since the war began that I have not prayed for them. I think it wisest not to keep open the sores of war, but to follow the example of those nations who endeavored to obliterate the marks of civil strife, and to commit to oblivion the feelings it engendered. When asked by a woman on what she should do with a Confederate flag after the end of the American Civil War, he said quite simply: Fold it up and put it away. When you study people with an open mind, they will astonish you. Lee is not politically correct or considered a great man outside the South. In fact he is probably a great American hero. Had he been a different person, he could have easily turned the South into a long bloody quagmire of occupation. Our history may have been very different had this man and others not taken up the banner of national reconciliation. From what I've learned and, being a person of good conscious I have changed my mind on the confederate flag. Perhaps it is time as Lee suggested to Fold it up and put it away.

Justice Scalia delivers his dissent to the landmark ruling on Gay Marriage.

I would say yes but- when it grows back, it's like razor wire.

If you want to read a really good story that's based in Canada, Substitute Dad by Scribe1971 is a neat story and it wanders all over Canada. It's hosted at TedLouis.com

Those that can, do. Those that can't become critics.

Robert E. Lee in his own words. Please remember that in this time, racism was endemic. NO ONE, not even Lincoln, considered the races equal. Before the war: I can anticipate no greater calamity for the country than a dissolution of the Union. It would be an accumulation of all the evils we complain of, and I am willing to sacrifice everything but honour for its preservation. I hope, therefore, that all constitutional means will be exhausted before there is a resort to force. In this enlightened age, there are few I believe, but what will acknowledge, that slavery as an institution, is a moral & political evil in any Country. I tremble for my country when I hear of confidence expressed in me. I know too well my weakness, that our only hope is in God. After the War: The war... was an unnecessary condition of affairs, and might have been avoided if forebearance and wisdom had been practiced on both sides. Madam, don't bring up your sons to detest the United States government. Recollect that we form one country now. Abandon all these local animosities, and make your sons Americans. Obedience to lawful authority is the foundation of manly character. So far from engaging in a war to perpetuate slavery, I am rejoiced that slavery is abolished. I believe it will be greatly for the interests of the South. When asked about displaying the Confederate flag: Fold it up and put it away.

Vegetarian is an old indian word for "poor hunter"

Burn baby burn!

I don't think that there has ever been a great writer that wasn't a reader first. Read a lot. Read all sorts of stuff, all sorts of genres and all sorts of authors. See how the professionals do it. You'll see that there's a whole lot out there. Some of it will inspire you to write because, it would take REAL Talent to do much worse- and they probably made a movie out of it.

Time to get down, get lose and get funky! Play this and turn it up!

Q. What do they teach at a cow college? A. Cow-culus. Don't forget your cow-culator! PS- blame Drew. He started the math jokes.

I would in a second but... sigh... I know I'm too old for you. But... I will dance at your wedding!

It's not every day that we see history made. Please take a moment and think about how lucky we are to have lived to see this day.

It is very much a matter of style. Some authors use scene-length chapters that range from very short to moderately long. Johnathan Maberry uses very short chapters- some are just a few paragraphs. Have a look at any of his https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Ledger_Series books. I usually create multi-scene chapters which may have three to seven distinct divisions. That usually works out to between 8 to 14 printed pages in MS-word. In the Shadow of the Dragon (https://www.gayauthors.org/story/jamessavik/intheshadowofthedragon) is a good example. There are no hard and fast rules. You might even experiment a bit and see what you think fits you best.

Hey Matt- You Yankees rebelled too. You rebelled against King George. Had you lost, would you like being called a loser and economically exploited for things that happened generations before you were born? Are you a traitor to the British Commonwealth? Is there a rope somewhere for your treason!? While I'm slapping you off your high horse, I'd like to remind you that Southern schools were completely integrated a decade and a half before BOSTON. Think that one through carefully. Ask the Irish how well they were treated in the "free" North. Ask them about the company stores that kept them in debt to the company and working 16 hour days. Both sides have huge karmic debts and neither are innocent.

Since this thread has risen from the grave, I have written a short "fan-fiction" story. the War Inside

Just when you think humans are too stupid to live, they actually do something worthy.

You would have to be Southern to understand. We're stubborn. If you tell us what we have to do, we'll give you the finger. We also like to point out that we blistered yankee ass at odds less than 4:1. It took odds greater than that to dig us out. We're still pissed off about the rape of the South during Reconstruction where cowardly Northern Imperialists/robber barons permanently crippled the economies of the South with a long and humiliating occupation and corrupt political manipulation. We are also quite tired of being slammed for the sins of our fore-fathers by political opportunists who don't know jack shit about the South or our unique culture. Why do we seek to hold onto our flags? After being humiliated, spit on and driven into enforced poverty, over and over for generations, all you have is your pride. You should think of that flag as the South's middle finger.

A/C dies when its near 100 degrees