The Road No Longer Taken: A Photo Essay

 Greetings and well met, fine friends one and all!

It has been many months since my last publication, though it's not been for want of a lack of material or motivation. So, first, a bit of news ...

From late November of last year through March of this, I took part in a video project that led to my writing 16 short stories; the stories were all based on myths, folktales and legends from around the world  --some well-known, some not. In some cases, I constructed stories that were largely original, built around parables that were often brief and without much context. In any case, I hope to share more about this particular project at some point.

Apart from that, I've continued with a number of works in the hopes of submitting one thing or a dozen to the various online magazines, publications and anthologies that can be found around the world. One is a post-apocalyptic, survival story based in Taiwan that, at its heart, is about the need for connection even when communication is difficult. Another is a philosophical dilemma revolving around the concepts of neurology, execution and redemption. (I've really come a long way on this one!). Finally, I've recently finished the first of a series that I'm calling 'Stupidioms' about obnoxious phrases that society takes for granted as wise aphorisms but may in fact be at the very least problematic if not plainly ridiculous.

For now however, I've put together a brief photo essay of one of my regular jaunts in the country I've come to call home. Robert Frost may have taken the road less traveled by, but some roads are simply forgotten to time ... 

- DH

(A little music for the journey)

Old Gods with New Eyes - A Script

     Written in the first week of October, I originally began preparing this piece for a competition hosted by Antigone, an open forum for articles on the classics of Ancient Greece and Rome. Very heady stuff, worth checking out. Alas, the scope of my ambition for this particular piece went beyond the limits of the competition and so did the word count by quite a wide margin. But as they say, "Whatevs." I enjoyed the process and continued to tinker with the piece over the month as I put it into a respectable and presentable format. I would've published it sooner had my family and I not--finally!--succumbed to the scourge that is Covid-19 over the Halloween weekend. With our recoveries well under way, and without further delay, it is time at last to share my latest work. Enjoy! - DH

Fragment: The Hidden World

     Another little piece, this one dates back many years and I just happened upon it again the other day. For what it's worth, it's based on a true story; what you read here are events I witnessed with my very own eyes. The inset artwork is a detail (slightly manipulated) from 'Cubic Space Division' by M.C. Escher, a lithograph from 1952. Besides being fascinated by Escher's work, general aesthetic and philosophy, much of his work speaks to the idea of hidden worlds, and I find a peculiar resonance between this particular work and the subject of this Fragment. Perhaps you will sense it as well.     

    For whomever it may interest, the background image is my own work--an artistic manipulation of a photo appropriate to the subject matter. I usually will do a few different versions of these Fragments, trying to work out the best balance of words and images. As someone who has no professional experience in design but only a genetic one, I do the best I can with my limited tools and knowledge. In any case, I enjoy it, but as Escher said, it can be a challenge to bring forth into daylight what one has envisioned in the darkness of one's mind. Included below are two of the other variations I came up with; ultimately, I went with the version selected as a result of extensive market research. That is, I asked my 5-year old and he chose the one you see above. I couldn't help but agree. No, seriously, he can be quite insistent.

All the best,

DH

Fragment: The Misplaced Cog

In keeping with the previously published Fragment, here is another bit of writing--actually two bits--that lives in its own little space. While I will let the writing speak for itself, I should mention that the background image is borrowed (without permission) from a graphic novel titled 'Neurocomic' written and illustrated by Drs Matteo Farinella and Hana Ros, and published by Nobrow Press. 

And of course, the lyrics that make up the second part of this Fragment are a parody of "Home on the Range", considered one of the 100 greatest songs of the American West. It speaks to my origins, I suppose ... Sing along, everybody!!!

 In an interesting occurrence of serendipity, not long after I wrote the above, I came across an interview on the YouTube channel Theories of Everything, hosted by Curt Jaimungal. In an interview with theoretical physicist Abhay Ashketar, Prof. Ashtekar discusses something very much along these lines. The particular part of the discussion, of what is a very long interview, begins at about 19:30 and continues for about four minutes. Much of the interview is about mathematics and physics that is unfortunately beyond on the capacity of this particular mind but for the first 30 minutes or so. The channel is generally quite interesting if you're into some ... headier topics. ;^)

Fragment: Pia Mater

The first of many perhaps, I hope and intend for Fragment to be a series of brief writings of various types, whether musings on a particular topic or brief explorations of as yet undeveloped ideas. Ideally, the fragments as presented will have a completeness in of themselves that will not require any more than a page. This first Fragment has, in my humble opinion, that sense of completeness.

I've long been fascinated by dreams--by my own dreams as much as dreams and dreaming in general. There have been many a morning when a dream was so vivid and yet so bizarre, so muddled and yet so full of meaning, that I had to write it down as soon as I could. The following is a fragment of one such dream, merely a piece of a longer dream of which only this piece remained powerfully resonant as the new day broke upon my slumbering consciousness. I've titled it Pia Mater, Latin for "tender mother", also name of the third and lowest of the meningeal layers that surround the brain and spinal cord. While modern science remains unable to delve too deeply into the nature of dreams, the title struck me as appropriate, suggestive of a place in the mind where even trepannists fear to tread. - DH

P.S. Future fragments will feature far less prelude, certainly shorter than the pieces themselves!