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Today’s interview is with Tory Gates. Welcome to the blog, Tory. Tell us something about yourself.

I’m a broadcaster, and have managed to survive 32 years in this business so far. I’ve had just about every job there is to have in it. Currently I’m the Morning Desk Anchor for the Radio Pennsylvania Network, which serves 65 radio stations across the state. I also am known as DJ`Riff, host of The Music Club on the London-based Radio-Airwaves Station. In addition, I am a singer/songwriter with the indie folk-rock duo the Dharma Fools.

 

At what point did you know you wanted to be a writer?

I’ve always been making up stories throughout my life, and I guess from an early age that was a way to get attention (laughs). Writing has always been a part of my career, both creating and editing…my first real story was a short western when I was about 14. It was terrible, but I was encouraged to let my freshman English teacher read it. I think that’s how I passed the class!

 

My first attempt at full-length writing didn’t happen until the early 90’s; I did a sci-fi novel which again was pretty bad. My real, serious effort did not begin until about 2007; it took, because I have not stopped writing since!

 

Tell us about your writing process. 

Usually, I will get an idea, but I try not to write anything for a while. I let a story “cook” upstairs for about 3-6 months, sometimes more. During that time, I’ll see if it’s anything like stuff I’ve previously written, or if I have something different. I’ll do character sketches and build a story line during that period. Eventually I commit to writing, and I don’t stop until the manuscript is done.

 

What is your favorite genre … to read … to write? 

I used to read a lot of history, because that was my interest in school. Growing up, I read a little of everything, partly due to what my English classes in school had me do. I was fortunate to be introduced to Tolkien at a very young age, and long before he became fashionable again! I read “The Hobbit” at nine, and “LOTR” at ten. It fascinated me, and that I think set the table for my imagination; it taught me to always look beyond. Today, I try to mix it up, but always to look for a writer that interests me, known or unknown.

Most of my writing is young adult/crossover fiction, in that my main characters tend to be young, but as is often the case, they and those around them are dealing with grown-up issues. I don’t like being tied down to one genre; I write YA, some adult fiction (my first book Parasite Girls is that, and I’ve done a mystery novel, which is unpublished.

 

What are you passionate about? 

Too many things for my own good! Radio was my first love, and I am a survivor in a business that is slowly bleeding itself to death. It’s what I first aspired to be, and it still pays the bills somehow. My writing, yes…the influences that surround that are many…music, always that.

 

What is something you cannot live without? 

Coffee, for one! Over time, I realize the things I thought I could not exist without can go away…gets easier as you get older.

 

It does at that! When you are not writing, what do you do? 

I write all the time, not just on paper or a computer screen. I tend to think an awful lot about my various projects, and how to make them work. When I’m working, that’s the focus there. I also swim to stay in shape, and I like to cook (vegetarian stuff).

 

Have you written any books that made a transformative effect on you? If so, in what way? 

I think my latest, A Moment in the Sun, did something for me, in that I began to see my writing style change. Again, as you grow older, you get a bit more experience, and you see how your direction gets focused.

A couple of unpublished works also have shown me things, in one in particular. I have a story called “Time the Healer,” which is about bullying and the violence and madness that stems from it, and what happens when you don’t deal with it. I went through it; no different than any other kid who could not fit in, but the story allowed me to re-examine the past, and how I somehow managed to move above it, and after a while, see how time did heal things to an extent.

 

Where do you get the inspiration for your novels? 

Small things lead to big things. Both Parasite Girls and A Moment in the Sun were inspired by BBC news articles, which dealt with social issues. I think I already had something written for each, but those triggered it.

Music, as well…one song can set an entire story in motion. Another of the unpublished, “Drifters,” is inspired by the Gordon Lightfoot song of the same name.

 

Nice. Love Lightfoot. What sort of research do you do for your novels? 

Depending on what kind of story I am writing, I will research the social, mental and political issues, and I’ll try to find what history I can if it pertains to the story, and putting you “there.”

Several of my stories are set in Japan, so I’ve made a study of customs, history, and social mores. They do not always fit, but you make them. I try my best to be accurate if I’m using an actual place for a setting.

 

If someone who hasn’t read any of your novels asked you to describe your writing, what would you say? 

I write in a style that hopefully takes you “there,” puts you in that spot, and you find youself amongst the characters, almost as if you are right there with them.

 

Do you have a special place where you write? 

Those tend to change. I can write just about anywhere. I often spend my time writing in coffee shops, because you can listen and watch people while you’re at it! And, coffee is a must! I just recently purchased a home in Harrisburg, an old row house. I’m still setting up my office, but it is comfortable, as is my bed. My cats are my editors! (laughs)

 

Do you find yourself returning to any recurring themes within your writing and, if so, are you any closer to finding an answer?  

I do tend to write and create for a lot of screwed-up characters! I think most of them are versions of me, or the varied personalities that have popped up in my psyche. A lot of them seem to be fighting their way out of nightmares…not sure what that means.

The point I make is to try and not base anyone on a specific person…most of my characters are several people. Rei, the lead in “A Moment in the Sun,” is a girl who is modeled after a childhood friend who died too young, but also certain other people that fit with her personal way.

I seem to have a lot of young people in my stories, and a lot of my work tends to revolve around school. You see that in manga and anime a lot…I think also, I go back to my youth and what I missed. I was not a very social person at school, and an indifferent student. The bullying and isolation I felt may have had a hand in that. I guess I’m looking back to bring forward to people today that what was faced, no matter how hideous, crazy or just plain weird, you live through it. You survive, and you move on.

 

Are you a plot driven or character driven writer? Why? 

Bit of both.

 

Do you write from an outline or are you a discovery writer?  Why? 

Both again…my story line is Chapter 1, Chapter 2, etc., but I never go in a straight line. I’m constantly dropping things in and yanking them out.

 

What point of view do you prefer to write, and why? 

I’ve never been able to do narrative very well. I think it’s because I’m still not fully comfortable with “me” doing the talking.

 

I’m going to drop you in a remote Alaska cabin for a month. It’s summer so you don’t have worry about freezing to death. I’ll supply the food and the mosquito spray. What do you do while you’re there and what do you bring with you? If you’re bringing books, what are they? 

 

Well, if I can go outside, a rifle, hiking boots and a camera. My laptop, lots of notebooks, paper and writing tools! Books would probably be a bunch of manga, I’d grab a few classics, and a three or four I’ve not read, and go from there.

 

Talk about your books individually. 

Published:

Parasite Girls was first put out in 2013, on Amazon.com and Smashwords. It is the story of a burnt-out journalist named Aidan, whose last assignment nearly got him killed. For no reason, he turns up on the Tokyo doorstep of his old college friend, Mima.

Aidan is trying to remake himself, and finds himself involved in Mima’s world of trying to get by…two of her dearest friends are living at home, and tagged by the very real stigma of “Parasite Single.” Aidan knows all have stories, and Mima and her friends all do.

There’s a crossroads all must hit at the same time, and the answer is different for each.

 

A Moment in the Sun is available on Sunbury Press Books, and Amazon. A 16-year-old girl named Rei appears to be the perfect Japanese teen, with looks, intelligence and art skills. She is, however, a survivor of self-isolation, known as “hikikomori.” She’s got out of it, and we see how Rei did it through flashbacks.

A friend introduces her to an online underground called the Dwellers. A missing friend from school, Sho, is one of them. Rei determines to get him out. She and Sho’s mutual friends realize they must all face their pasts before they can face their futures.

Right now, Sunbury and I are informally talking about my next, “Live from the Café.” It’s fiction with a YA/fantasy slant, about a strange little town in Quebec, and the odd little coffee shop that everyone hangs out at…and all the interesting people who “show up” there.

 

Was it your intention to write a story with a message or a moral? 

No. I leave that up to the readers to decide if there is one or not. I may have a message, but I don’t mean it in any kind of moralistic way.

 

What do you want readers to think or feel after reading one of your books?  

That you were entertained, but I also hope that you were made to think a little bit. I hope you found a character you liked, identified with, and perhaps you were given hope that no matter what your issue is, you can move forward and defeat anything in your path.

 

You can find Tory Gates and his books at the following –

Amazon

Facebook

Twitter

 

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There will be an interview and a sneak peek of my next book.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/11/29/trump-suggests-loss-of-citizenship-or-jail-for-those-who-burn-u-s-flags/

Could someone please get President-Elect Trump a copy of the Constitution and make him familiar with the First Amendment that acknowledges our right to freedom of expression? It doesn’t guarantee that right. It doesn’t give us that right. It acknowledges the trans-Constitutional right to self-expression so long as we are not harming others.

I know, seeing a flag deliberately set on fire elicits a visceral reaction in the flag-lover similar to the one I felt when I saw a picture of Jesus in a jar of urine. That deeply bothered me and I wanted to slap the artist around for a bit.

All feelings are allowed. Actions are limited.

Ultimately, the artist had a right to express himself in that way and I don’t have a right to assault anyone. He was still rude and inconsiderate, but that’s his right. But I also have a right to say he’s a piss-poor artist who nobody should ever pay a moment’s attention to. But I digress.

There was a West Wing episode where Penn & Jillett appeared to burn the American flag. Perhaps President-Elect Trump should sit down and watch the episode because it does a good job of explaining the situation. Then read the approximately eight pages of the US Constitution and just consider that people did not elect you to impinge upon our liberty.

Seeing the American flag deliberately set afire can cause some strong emotions in people who feel loyalty to that flag, but the reality is that it does not hurt anyone.

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I have yet to buy into the “buy local” movement. My reasons are sane and solid. It’s November in Alaska and you can’t grow anything here. Fairbanks has a great potato crop in the summer, Delta manages some really nice barley, and there is hope we might someday be able to grow industrial hemp here, but the fact is that we have about a 4 1/2 month growing season at best. cold soils that limit what grows here even in the summer, and the rest of the time the ground is frozen and you can’t grow anything in frozen ground.

Conversely, I am an advocate for local farms and especially for greenhouses that can grow food year-round because I am well-aware that a storm in the Pacific or a longshoremen strike in Seattle or the Port of Long Beach could see Alaskans fighting over that last potato.

But let’s be honest about the arguments for “buy local” and admit that they’re mostly fallacies.

When I sat down to draft the third book of Transformation Project, I was struck by how little Emmaus really could generate on its own. I gather things like crop yields and available foodstuffs from a real town in Kansas and I asked my mathy 17-year-old to check my figures. A farm town in Kansas would seem to be in a really good position for whether a food crisis brought on by a loss of transportation hubs … and it does have an advantage over other parts of the country that that import most of their food. My town has a lot of corn, a small amount of soy, a little bit of sorghum … and no means to process any of it from its harvested state into something useful. Even if I fictionalized and created a wheat harvest, they’d be hand-grinding wheat for flour.

Oh, my!

That works to my benefit for showing how ill-prepared Americans would be for the sort of man-caused disaster that I propose in the books, but it also made me well aware that the “buy local” movement doesn’t know much about reality.

Very few of the products that the Buy Local movement asks us to purchase “locally” are actually local. Here in Alaska, local produce is expensive produce. We only grow about 2% of our needs currently and then only in the summer months and the local farmers are very impressed with the quality of their goods, so $7 a pound tomatoes are the norm. Buying local artificially limits variety and increases cost.

And then there’s all of the rest of what goes into farming. The farming equipment isn’t produced locally. For the most part, neither is the fertilizer or the feed for farm animals, which themselves are often imported. The vehicle used to transport the goods to the farmers market wasn’t manufactured here and since the North Pole Refinery closed down, neither is the fuel. The bags that are used to store the produce aren’t made from a local source and the plastic produce boxes come from China.

 

The local “Local Market” employs a few people, selling mostly overpriced food that was shipped in from the Matanuska Valley (is 250 miles away “local”) or, in winter, from Seattle (is 2000 miles away “local”?), but nothing like the Fred Meyers does (it ships in from Seattle too), so I have to wonder if buying “local” might not put a lot of people out of jobs. Certainly truckers would need to find other employment.

Now, think about this —

If your town thinks it best to only purchase within its borders, then surrounding towns should logically follow suit. Inter-town trade would grind to a halt. In so doing, those towns would limit the number of people and the amount of money in the local economy – systematically making themselves poorer … or in the case of Emmaus, more likely to starve to death.

So, Emmaus has corn. Assuming they have the fuel to harvest it, how are they going to get the lye to nixolate it so that it becomes digestible. They have milk cows that require feed which they may or may not have once winter sets in. They might want some sort of oil for cooking and you can render oil from corn if you have the means to press it, but alas, there is no such machine in my subject town, so …. Then there’s the need for Vitamin C to ward off scurvy, but as far as I can tell, nobody grows anything much there that would provide that needed nutrient. There’s a nearby town that is growing sugar beets so if the Emausians want something sweet … but, no, if they’re going to adhere to the “local only” ideology … yeah …. Their options rapidly become very limited. My son believes about 10% of the town might survive the winter if they eat the organic corn, but then that means they have no seed for the following year. See the dilemma?

This system of restricting trade and advocating a level of self-sufficiency is referred to as autarky.  History is riddled with different examples of this economic asceticism. Like the recent case of North Korea, most were despotic in nature and left a great many people in poverty.

In Transformation Project, the solution was found in trade with other towns. There’s still going to be some starvation (it’s an apocalyptic after all), but with an active trade network, the survivors won’t be so apt to malnutrition.

The Buy Local movement promotes subsistence disguised as “social capital” and regression disguised as “conservatism.”  Throughout the course of human events, the most prosperous economies have always fled from these fallacious ideas, not because of any moral superiority, but because the alternative was much better.  People in early Europe wanted spices from Asia and the Middle East. The Japanese Meiji Restoration modernized the country by opening its borders to trade.

In America, as Desrochers and Shimizu point out in The Locavore’s Dilemma,

If modern-day activists were to cling to any consistent notion of “local” food, a truly “made in the USA” agricultural diet would be limited to turkeys, some farmed native fish and shellfish, sunflowers, blueberries, cranberries, Jerusalem artichokes, and some varieties of squash.

Don’t get me wrong. I like my local’s farmer’s market and wander through there weekly (in the summer) to see what my local farming friends have on offer, but I recognize that it’s really not local and that there are more efficient ways to get our food — provided an earthquake doesn’t take out the Port of Long Beach.

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Way back when I was in college (35 years ago), I read a news article about a young man who was being sentenced to 25 years to life for killing his sister in a boating accident. The details faded over the years to where I only really remember the sentence, that it was off the coast of Long Island and that his father was rich. I didn’t know this guy. I don’t remember his name. He simply became one of the stories we writers collect for future examination.

At around the same time, a friend who was a Vietnam vet told me his story about PTSD … seeing stuff that isn’t there, but was once part of his daily existence, feeling blood on his hands … being caught on a horror that is long past, but just will not let you go.

Come forward 15 years and a friend of ours killed someone in a drunk driving accident and went to jail for four years. Brad and I became involved in prison ministry because of that and we helped our friend and several others reenter society after their incarceration. We walked these folks through their reentry.

My husband is a recovering alcoholic, so 12-Step is a part of our lives.

These are just building blocks to a story that finally coalesced about 15 years ago into a story about a Long Island trust-fund kid who went to prison for killing his sister in a drunken boating accident and is now being released after five years to find his way in the world carrying that horrible baggage with him.

 

It’s time to divide this house

I am a huge fan of Prairie Home Companion and Garrison Keillor’s work there … not really sure how I feel about the new one as yet … so when I saw this article I had to check it out. And I was totally surprised. Back in 2012, when many conservatives and liberty-mind folks alike brought up the subject of secession, we were told we were children who shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the Constitution, let alone a voting booth. But now, one of the progressive Democratic darlings is asking for the same thing.

https://www.adn.com/opinions/national-opinions/2016/11/26/its-time-to-divide-this-house/

I happen to think it is a great idea, although I’m sure Keillor and I would disagree on the reasons. I’m not seeking secession in a pout because my side didn’t win an election. I’m seeking succession for the good of the American people and the liberty of the rural/exurban dwellers. I’m just completely amazed that now that they aren’t in charge anymore the Left now thinks it’s a viable option. I haven’t changed my mind on the subject at all. It’s a good idea no matter who the president is.

• Author: Garrison Keillor
• Updated: 1 day ago
• Published 1 day ago

(Aaron Jansen / ADN Illustration)

So we have split up. Democrats and Republicans. Mutual loathing. So Thanksgiving was ruined, maybe Christmas. We Hillarians look at strangers in the airport and think, “You did, didn’t you. Yes, you did.” And they know who we are. If I were drowning and calling for help, they would throw me a large rock. If they were drowning, I’d toss them an anvil. Scripture says to love your enemy but it doesn’t say exactly when or how.

Broadway shows will now feel obliged to give lectures on diversity to any prominent Trumpist in the audience. Trumpists will explain, as one woman did, “Voting for him was the only way I could say that I exist.” (People who shoot up theaters may feel the same way.) The Trump faction will boycott chamber music concerts, wine tastings, lectures on Byzantine art and poetry readings, and Hillarians will boycott NFL games, casinos, gun shows and demolition derbies.

[Election reflection: Division runs deep, Alaska remains red]

I have relatives who claim to be Christians who voted for Trump, though God told them clearly not to, but my relatives aren’t good at Aramaic. How do I feel about them? I don’t know. I’m thinking, I’m thinking. How would you feel if your favorite cousin told you he believes that white people should be able to live in all-white communities with all-white schools? (They can. Just go to North Dakota.)

President Obama, in his role as national sixth-grade civics teacher, believes the office will change the man. Ha. The man is 70. He has no ideas, no beliefs. His philosophy is simple: when he itches, he scratches.

So let’s talk about dividing the country. Why spend four years glaring at each other? A house divided against itself cannot stand, so let’s make a duplex. The experiment lasted for 150 years after Appomattox and in the end it failed. So let’s bind up our wounds and have an amicable divorce.

Democrats get the Northeast and the West Coast, plus a few miscellaneous states, and the Democratic cities — D.C., Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, Miami, Raleigh-Durham, Cleveland and so forth. Call it the Union. Our capital will, of course, be New York City.

Trump takes the Confederacy and the Corn Belt and his capital is the bunker deep under The Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, where the federal government planned to go in the event of a catastrophe, which is basically what we have now. Call that country Trump Country.

Divvy up the military. Equal access to holy sites. They can come to Arlington Cemetery, the Reagan Library, and Trump Tower. We get to go to wildlife refuges, Gettysburg, and the birthplaces of authors. We’ll sell the White House for a hotel and make the Capitol a museum, and rent out the office buildings. You take your Supreme Court justices, we’ll take ours.

You can have the flag since you invested so much in flag pins and decals. We’ll make a new flag, blue, with the planet Earth on it.

This is not that hard, people. Others have done it. Pakistan split from India, Norway from Denmark, Lennon left McCartney.

[Trump divided to win; can he unite to govern?]

Our country believes in competition and free enterprise and now it’s time to create a competition between the Union and Trump Country to see which one offers the better life to its people. My money is on the young people flocking to the cities, the centers of economic hustle and bustle like Seattle, Boston, Raleigh, Washington, Austin, where people seem to thrive on ferment, divergence, multiplicity, and a culture of mutual respect and toleration.

But I could be wrong about that. Hitler led Germany out of the confusion of democracy, created good jobs, built up the military, and united the country as never before. Germany had lost a war and Hitler made it great again.

When he staged Kristallnacht in November 1938, and went after the Jews, it was a huge success, on time and under budget. When he wanted to take over Czechoslovakia, he just went and did it. No problem. Looking back, one can see that his invasion of Poland in 1939 was a bad move, but it might have succeeded. Had Britain sued for peace, America was in no mood to intervene.

Europe and Russia might be united under one swastika today, and China and Korea united under the rising sun of the Emperor of Japan. And us. Three world powers. The U.N. could meet in a breakfast alcove. No journalists present, just three men making deals. Very simple. Tremendous efficiency. Just tremendous. Totally. You better believe it.

Garrison Keillor is an author and radio personality and regular contributor to The Washington Post.

The views expressed here are the writer’s and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email to commentary@alaskadispatch.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@alaskadispatch.com. 

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Stevie Turner

This week is an in-depth post that defines our blog or brand.

I don’t like to stick to one genre/brand when writing books, as I find it doesn’t give me enough scope.  Therefore I write humor, suspense, thrillers, and women’s fiction based on family dramas and relationships. You can find out more about my books by visiting my Amazon author page  http://bookShow.me/B00AV7YOTU

Next year I’m even going to try my hand at a science fiction novel, as I’ve had a particular plot going around in my head for a while.  The plot definitely fits the genre of science fiction, which has surprised me quite a lot as I do not really enjoy reading sci-fi stories.

My blog here on WordPress and also on the LitWorldInterviews blog site is centred around helping the self-published/Indie author.  I interview authors, and also write reviews of self-published books I have read and enjoyed.  I also review other authors’ books published through…

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I’ve been thinking about societal cohesion because in Daermad Cycle (my fantasy series), the secret for overcoming the advancing Svard invasion is for the Celdryans to ask the Kin to join them in the fight.

I set that up in the first book The Willow Branch. “A healer must mend a fractured kingdom and bring two enemy races together before a greater threat can destroy them both.” Now I have to start bring it about.

The problem is that the Kin have every reason not to trust the Celdryans. The Celdryans pushed them off their lands into inadequate mountain enclaves and have maintained that exile by fomenting bigotry in Celdryan children for generations. Now that it is convenient and necessary, the Celdryans can’t expect the Kin to just join them and then later see themselves once more subjugated by the Celdryans.

That’s the problem with deeply divided societies. They are often divided because of entrenched mistrusts borne of a huge amount of disrespect. Yeah, maybe the Celdryans think it would be better for the Kin to join them in fighting the Svard because it gives both groups a chance of prevailing, but the existing division has worked better for the Kin than previous attempts at cohesion have. Demands for inclusion sound like demands for their subjugation, which makes them feel threatened.

It’s something we ought to be considering in the United States right now. Approximately 40% of the country voted like a minority group and swung an election. I had a guy on the Alaska Dispatch the other day ask me “What should Hillary supporters do to reach out to Trump voters and bring about unity?” Not being a Trump voter, I couldn’t really answer him. Instead, I suggested exactly what I’m saying in this post.

If you want cohesion with a group within your society that you have previously treated like crap, demanding cohesion (sometimes called “unity”) is not how to go about it. In fact, it’s probably counter-productive. Nobody wants to abandon their own identity to become someone “other” and submit to majoritarian dominance. Those who are now stomping their political feet and demanding that they be allowed to stay in charge after they lost an election are only making the divisions deeper.

Stop talking about unity and cohesion and try listening for a while. Try showing some respect to those “unskilled illiterates” in the “flyover states” who mine the energy that heats your home, grow your food, and provide so many things in your life that you take for granted. Get to know some of them as — gasp — equals. Walk for five minutes in their shoes. Get to know what is important to them and, more importantly, why it is important to them. Pause and ask yourself if you really know what the best lifestyle is or are you just clinging to your own social niche because it’s all you know.

If you really want to build a harmonious, unified society, take one for the team.  Discard your anger, swallow your pride, and show out-groups unilateral respect and friendship. Let them teach you for a couple of years and then see where you stand on the other side. Your new friends might have come to accept some of your position and you may have come to accept … or at least understand … some of their positions.

Whoa, that sounds like “cohesion”.

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So we’re supposed to write a pillar post. I’d somehow missed this as a “thing”. Maybe you should go check out my fellow authors to see what they’re writing.

WordPress:
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Okay, a pillar post is an article that defines the brand of your blog. Well, I write pillar posts all the time. It may not be how other authors do it, but it’s what I ended up doing because writing about writing exclusively just bored me to tears. I would have blogged every few months and probably quit a long time ago if I’d taken that route. And it turns out, blogging about some of the things I blog about are good marketing techniques for the audience some of my books are written for.

So instead of writing a pillar post (which is an everyday occurrence here on Aurorawatcher Alaska), I decided to tell you what my pillars are … you know, in case you haven’t figure it out yet.

So there are four pillars to my blog.

Pillar #1 is writing. I’m a writer, so that makes sense. I write about my books, I write this blog hop series, and sometimes, when I have something to say that I deem worthwhile, I write about writing. Oh, and I offer author interviews — to pretty much anyone, so long as you aren’t X-rated. You can usually find this pillar active on Mondays and Wednesdays.

But I knew pretty early in my blogging career that I couldn’t just write about writing because I don’t see myself as a writing guru. Even if I mixed formatting and publishing into it, I’d run out of topics really quickly and repeating myself seemed like a boring idea. If I was going to blog on a consistent basis, I was going to need to find topics that interested me as much as they might interest readers.

Pillar #2 is political philosophy. I do NOT mean politics. I’m reaching the “I don’t give a crap about the election” attitude, so politics may never darken my blog again. I mean political philosophy. Why do we vote the way we do? What is important to us? Education on history and economics comes in there. Discussions of the logic of voting the way that we vote. I’m talking the philosophical underpinnings of our government and why we vote the way we vote and whether it is even worthwhile to vote.

Pillar #3 is faith. I do NOT mean religion. If you want to know how to perform acts of contrition or what religious guru you should listen to, go read another blog. I have mentors I admire, but they’re human and as such fallible. The only Person I will ever point to as someone to emulate in all things is Jesus Christ. I try to base what I write on His book, the Bible, and my experience with Him, though occasionally I find a human-written book worth highlighting.

Pillar #4 is Alaska because Alaska is my home and it is a unique place that most people don’t know much about. Alaskans have a unique perspective on the world and on the United States because of our own history.

This does not mean that I don’t occasionally wander off from my pillars for a while. I’ve posted sourdough bread recipes and explained the finer point of waterless bathrooms in Alaska. I’ve told hiking, bear and fishing tales. I’ve also done a fair bit of linking to the articles of other sites because they say things better than I could.

Whenever my research as a writer opens up a new topic, I may wander in that field for a while. But you can rest assured that I will probably return to my pillars in a while just because those are what I’ve built my blog upon.

So how did I select the pillars of my blog? By the way, the numbers have nothing to do with order or priority. They’re interchangeable and that’s really how I ended up with these four pillars.

The most important thing in my life is my faith. There is nothing in my life that is not touched by what I believe and my relationship with my Savior. I know there’s a contingent in our country who believes that Christians should leave their “religion” at home except for Sunday morning church, but I can’t. It’s like my skin. It’s got to come with. I carry it with me everywhere I go. My coworkers may not realize that the good service I give is a direct result of Jesus in my heart, but it is. It just simply makes me the person that I am.

A part of my faith is a strong belief that a person comes to Jesus alone. We don’t accept Christ as families. We can’t drag our spouses or our children kicking and screaming to the same place we are. We can scatter breadcrumbs. We can point the way. We can pray. We can discuss and even sometimes debate, but ultimately, we stand before Jesus alone and give our own hearts to Him. That belief translates — as it did with the anabaptist believers in the Reformation era — into a strongly held philosophy of non-force toward others in all things. I’m not responsible for you. I can discuss and debate with you, I can pray for you, and I can point the way in the right direction, but I can’t force you to do anything.

And, therein is my political philosophy. Others who came before me gave it titles like “classic liberal”, “libertarian”, “anarchism”, “the non-aggression principle”. I appreciate those philosophers and thinkers. I don’t agree with them entirely. I think Christians are held to a standard by God and that the churches have a duty to support that standard within our congregations. I take a different view outside the church. If you aren’t a Christian, so long as you’re not demonstrably hurting anyone else …. I’ll pray for you to see the light, but I don’t want to make laws to force you to open your eyes. Conversely, I’ll resist strongly any attempt on your part to force my compliance with philosophies and activities God has said Christians must reject.

See how those two pillars are interwined? All of them are really. If you look at my stool picture, you’ll see that there’s a rail that binds all four pillars to one another. Because that is how I view it. None of them are separate. They are all important and interwined.

Being an Alaskan is also something that seems to exist on a DNA level. There are people who live here for decades who never really seem to espouse “Alaska” and then there are people who “get” it the day they get off the plane. A part of Alaska is that rugged individualist mindset. Alaskans learn to do things for ourselves and do them our own way. There are times when there is simply no one around to help us, so we have to know how to do things on our own. That practical mindset leads to a penchant for individual activities. Alaska’s longtime Senator Ted Stevens famously declared “I fish alone, I hunt alone and I vote alone.” That’s pretty much the Alaska mindset in a nutshell.

This is not to say that Alaskans aren’t good at community. We’re very helpful to folks who need help. We stop for motorists who are broken down. We’ll catch your loose dog and pen him up in our yard so Animal Control doesn’t take him away to dog jail. We’ll swap that green birch you’re trying to burn with some of our dry birch firewood so that you will stop smoking us out. We’re actually very giving.

These are subjects where there are others laboring to educate the world, but there is room for more people to present their views. And, I hope, that some of my efforts fall on fertile ground and that people consider that there are different ways to do things than we do them now.

So, then there’s Pillar #4 or, er … writing. They say “write what you know”. And these are things I know. Someday, I might base a book in Alaska, but for whatever reason, I’ve never felt that calling. My Christianity and political philosophy find their way into my books, however. Writing is something I’ve done since before I could write. I’m a natural-born storyteller. I find it so much easier to communicate in writing than to stand in front of crowd and speak to people. So, of course, while I’m improving my craft, I will share that and thus the writing-related posts.

So, not exactly the definitive “pillar” post, but since I do those all the time, you can now know what to expect on the blog more often than not. These are my pillars.