A. Mariel Westermeyer

No Place for a Puritan: The Literature of California's Deserts

admin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:01:00 +0000

Possibly some magnetic force field that beckons people to its promises of adventure, wealth, and sun blazed days, there is a pull toward California. Be it a fight for survival, a lost treasure, or ability to inspire, California and its sacred deserts are full of mysticism and brighter futures. On the other hand, California's offerings are in no way a given. The obstacles, being weather related or competitive in nature, are likely to break a person's soul. Being able to say you have survived it's land is almost like saying you have won the game; you took a chance with death and you have proven your worth. No other state has inspired so many forms of art. Iconic by design, this land is the perfect backdrop, and main character, for many written works.

The poetry, prose, and excerpts in No Place for a Puritan prove the obsession that humankind has for life on the edge in pursuit of some greater good while in the desert. The glimpses into desert life this anthology contains are of the truest embodiment of human existence; we live to struggle, and struggle to live.

Writers seem to find a freedom in the stillness that extreme quiet in the desert provides. W. Storrs Lee mentions the antagonist the desert provides in an excerpt of his 1963 novel, The Great California Deserts. How convenient and true is his statement. How ideal to set your characters in such a place where even vegetation can't pull though!

By including authors of long ago and authors of present standing, Nolan has encapsulated the trance that the desert can have on any point of time. An excerpt of Hunter S. Thompson's cult classic, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, brings to mind the drug-addled culture that the Californian desert hides.

The beautiful stories, recollections, and poems shared here are all too beautiful to name. The romanticism amongst trailer parks and treacherous landscape only encourages the reader to see it for oneself. Ruth Nolan has done a spectacular job gathering the pieces contained in this book to point out all of the deserts' offerings and takings to those who dare to encounter it. The desert still stands a mystery; centuries after humankind started writing about its splendors.

Another decadent plus to this anthology is that I've been reading it during one of the coldest spells in recent history. There is nothing better than the warmth fueled by the reminders of the sun and the land it graces on a continual basis. I miss the desert even more now.

Written by: A. Mariel Westermeyer, March 13th 2010

Stage Fright: 40 Stars Tell You How They Beat America’s #1 Fear

admin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:06:00 +0000

By Mick Berry, Michael R. Edelestein

See Sharp Press

The collection of interviews presented in Stage Fright is a well-rounded accumulation of several years of interviews with various publicly known speakers. Ranging from politicians to a timeless poet to comedians, this collection is rich with insight from the people that have spoken publicly and professionally for decades.

Mick Berry questions interviewees about when, why, and how they conquered their stage fright. Each person reveals moments of stage fright, how they worked to get rid of it, and how it fed their performance. David Burns, who leads workshops to help people conquer stage fright, describes how some of his clients overcome their fear. His strategy is to simply put them on stage and point out how their fears are controlling them. Reading about what so many performers have gone through is what is ultimately valuable about this collection.

Maya Angelou proved poetic in her interview, eloquently embracing her anxiety until this day despite some fifty years of bearing it all. I love Jason Alexander’s mantra of having strength, courage, conviction, and joy. He uses it as a personal reminder that because he is privileged to have the talents he has, it’s best to share them with the world.

The ideas shared by the interviewees help to ease the tensions of having to perform in public. Putting the ideas into action, however, might be another issue entirely. As a musician who has not played a show in nearly two years, I found this book to be a much needed wake up call. Hardly anyone can perform perfectly from the beginning. Performers have to allow themselves to feed off the “butterflies” to become better.

A running theme is the comforting fact that "the crowd is not out to get you." Either you will be liked and you will continue to perform or you will bomb—but life will go on either way.

Written by: A. Mariel Westermeyer, November 16th 2009

Pygmy

admin — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 22:07:00 +0000

By Chuck Palahniuk

Doubleday

Chuck Palahniuk has a following online; it’s even called The Cult. The fandom is well deserved. When a book evokes such emotion in the reader that you might just faint from graphic truth (such as in his novel Haunted), you have got to love it! Upon opening his latest novel, Pygmy, I felt as if I were taking a dip into the sexiest sea of twisted delights. I often had to stop reading mid-page to burst into a flurry of laughter brought on by his text. This man makes me feel alive, and I need more! The book left me questioning what is wrong with human nature, and what are we products of, exactly?

The story takes you through the inner tinkering of Pygmy, a pubescent terrorist foreign exchange student implant living in suburban America. The sexual explicitness throughout the story was humorously uncomfortable, yet strangely stimulating. Palahniuk’s satirical prowess is yet again screaming victory in the land of fictitious works.

Pygmy reflects on the various activities of everyday American life as truly absurd actions in a perverse and awkward society. He parades us through big-box stores, the town’s “religion propaganda distribution outlet,” and ponders scholastic shortcomings, all while conniving his way into various illegal actions to work up to his and his fellow terrorists’ “Operation Havoc.”

Cacophonic explosions within Pygmy’s head lead to many devilish deeds. However, a sugary sweet reinvention occurs, suggesting that even programmed human beings can reconfigure themselves. This serves as a surefire reminder that the mind is a powerful weapon that just might also provide peace, possibly. Pygmy often draws on quotes that were drilled into himself and his cohorts from an early age that seem to fuel them in every situation. Most often these quotes were of fascist, communist, and all around extreme iconic thinkers. These shocking tidbits of actual recollections of figureheads past greatly impact the novel’s outcome. Most of the quotes Palahniuk includes are stunning in their impact, and made me want to fight a little, such as Benito Mussolini's assertion that, “War is to man what maternity is to a woman.”

You have to stop and rearrange your thought process every time you pick up the book. This style is a departure from his previous novels—more of a structured, militant mind process of events recounted by the main character. Many times after putting the story down, I would find myself thinking similarly to the character. Each process or action noted, each bizarre human encounter was now a new experience.

My only disappointment with this offering from Palahniuk is that I wasn’t disturbed as greatly as I have been whilst reading some of his other novels. Don’t get me wrong, more than likely I’ll read Pygmy again. It’s a country of it’s own, a ride into a mindset that is foreign and convoluted. Cheers to a man who seems to be unafraid to push his limits in challenging the public and making people think differently after reading. This is entertainment.

Written by: A. Mariel Westermeyer, July 28th 2009

Living in the Face of Death

admin — Sun, 03 May 2009 10:42:00 +0000

By Glenn H. Mullin

Snow Lion Publications

This profound collection of Tibetan Buddhist writing on the subject of death and transcendence is a gorgeous initiation into the thoughts shared by those that follow this religion/set of beliefs. Mullin chose a variety of writings that approach the inevitable by former Dalai Lamas, yogis, mystics and spiritual teachers. As a whole the collected works are easily digestible and clear in their impact. There is only one sure thing in this life, why not prepare for it while there is time by becoming comfortable with one’s own impermanence?

The preface, written by the late Elizabeth Kubler-Ross (who wrote On Death and Dying), greatly praises Mullin’s collection; the writings bridge a gap between Eastern and Western thought on the subject of death. Western culture views death mostly as a taboo subject when it comes to everyday life. However, the American obsession with homicidal television shows and movies that typically glorify outlandishly dramatic death might be a coping mechanism to lessen the tragedy of matter.

In Buddhist thought, there is a continual birth and death of the mind from one moment to the next. Daily, the body and mind go through the process of dying. When falling asleep, dream state is the in between state or Bardo, and then the body enters rebirth, or the waking state. This essential thought strikes me as being an amazing step in understanding the process of death.

Meditating upon the subject of death daily awakens the practitioner to the importance of every moment spent, as Geshe Ngawang Dargye suggests. When one embraces this thought, it is easy to dwell in the current moment and live accordingly to a morally accountable existence.

Through the book, Mullin shares details of the Gye-re Lama’s death. Many spiritual leaders in Tibetan religion have made their final teachings—that of their witnessed deaths—to be of great significance to their disciples.

Mullin also shares with readers many prayers and mystic approaches to realizing the signs of death, and subtle meditations to hopefully prolong the life that is at stake. Longevity methods are to be applied once one has been made aware of the signs of death. When this has been done, and death is still pending, it is suggested by Tibetan Buddhism to begin the act of transference of consciousness.

The collection contains a guideline to the prayers and meditations that should be said in honor of the dead. Within this information lies the process with which the body should be dealt with according to Tibetan Buddhism.

Mullin's work as a whole is a graceful attempt to address the issues that are often shunned in our culture. While death is not an easy topic to address, it is one that should not be avoided.

I’ll share one thought that proved most valuable as I read the collection. Mullin included a sermon from the thirteenth Dalai Lama, Gyalwa Tubten Gyatso “Death and the Bodhisattva Trainings.” From that he shared a poignant reflection that we all could take heed.

“Procrastination leads to further procrastination, and in the end death strikes and leaves us empty handed. Alternatively, if we grab the opportunity while we have the chance, the essence of a meaningful life can become ours.”

Written by: A. Mariel Westermeyer, May 3rd 2009