Grackle Stew -- The Blog

The blog has moved....

2009-10-09T18:24:00.001-07:00

Hey folks,

I'm trying to consolidate all my "stuff" so have moved my major blogging to here:

http://www.bobbi-chukran-art.blogspot.com

Should things change, I'll post another link.

Thanks!

bobbi c.

Governor Perry living large thanks to us taxpayers

2009-07-26T08:25:00.000-07:00

This is just wrong! As reported by the San Antonio News.

http://tinyurl.com/mrbb5p

bc

What would Molly say? "Raise more hell!"

2009-07-04T09:37:00.001-07:00

One of my heroes was Molly Ivins. She wasn't afraid to speak out, to tell the truth. I just ran across this article about Molly Ivins by Betsy Moon. It makes me miss Molly even more. I also enjoyed finding this list of her articles in the archive on the AlterNet site.

Here's one of my favorite quotes by her:

"What you need is sustained outrage...there's far too much unthinking respect given to authority."

Perhaps I'll embroider her motto, "Raise more hell!" on my underpants. I think she would approve.

Happy trails,

bobbi c.

Buy a book of poetry!

2009-07-04T09:01:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,

We have several conversations going on around the 'net about how people just don't ready poetry anymore. I wonder, why? I buy a lot of poetry and read it. Mostly, because I write poetry, and it inspires me, but also because I like to support the work of writers who I know make very little money on their art. And yes, writing poetry IS an art. I also read poetry because I can get a story, a short glimpse into somebody else's thoughts, in just a few words.

Next time you're in a bookstore, check out the poetry section. It's a whole different world out there these days, especially in the realm of women's poetry. Browse the section, pick out one for a gift for somebody you love, grab one that calls to you. What? Books don't call out to you from the shelves? How odd! Perhaps you aren't listening. :--)

happy trails,

bobbi c.

Johnny Depp in a fedora...

2009-06-12T12:03:00.000-07:00

I'm here to tell you.....just five words. Ponder this:

"Johnny Depp in a fedora."

Big guns, vintage cars, steam locomotives.

Need I say more?

Til next time....

bc

Texas playwriting blog....

2009-04-26T06:35:00.000-07:00

Please skip over to my Texas Playwright blog to read news of my ANNIERELLA play! Woohoo!

bobbi c.

Testing audio file

2009-04-23T08:17:00.001-07:00

Click to listen to part of an original story by Bobbi A. Chukran:

http://www.bobbichukran.com/audio/voicetest.mp3

Texas Outdoor Stories

2009-02-06T11:20:00.000-08:00

Friends,

Just discovered the Passport to Texas website, sponsored by the Texas Parks and Wildlife. They have online podcasts and story archives, a schedule of radio shows, etc. and it's just full of stories about the great Texas outdoors. All hosted by Cecelia Nasti. Check it out!

happy trails,

bobbi c.

Steel Magnolias

2009-01-20T13:23:00.000-08:00

We're going to see Steel Magnolias at our local community theatre on Friday night, and I can't wait to see it. I'm a big fan of the movie that came out years ago, but wanted to see the original play by Robert Harling, too. Our local community theatre here in Leander, the Way off Broadway Community Players, puts on some great productions. Check it out if you're in the area!

http://www.wobcp.org/

I've been a fan of theatre since I was a wee tot (LOL), and acted in numerous plays through our church and school, then in High School I was in four huge musicals. Way back then, I even wrote some short plays that I tried to get my sister and brother interested in. Most of those consisted of climbing into large cardboard boxes in the backyard and pretending that they were either spaceships or submarines. They were heavy on sound effects and meaningful dialogue. LOL. I believe if I'd been given one ounce of encouragement, I might have gone into drama in college instead of studio art. Still, over the years, I've enjoyed many plays and Broadway musicals performed and written by others.

Now that I'm much older, I'm revisiting the joy I had of live theatre all those years ago. I've even just finished what I hope is the last draft of an original play of my own and I'm getting it polished up to submit to several competitions. What goes around, comes around, I suppose. Motto of the day: It's NEVER too late!

happy trails,

bobbi c.

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T11:14:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, friends! I don't usually make resolutions, but I love this idea I picked up in a writer's group (thanks, Anastasia). Pick ONE word that you'll use to inspire yourself in the new year. The word I chose was COURAGE. I want to be courageous enough to post more of my poetry and stories online. Editors discourage writers from posting work online, because they want "unpublished" work. Yet, they want writers to come ready made with a platform, or an audience. Also, we've all heard about books that came about from blogs. What a conundrum! LOL. In any case, in spite of what a few editors think, I'll be posting more of my original stories here (or in another blog) this year.

Pick a word of your own...and see how it inspires you!

happy trails,

bobbi c.

Quote du jour

2008-12-08T16:35:00.000-08:00

Just thought I'd share this quote I just read by Edward Everett Hale:

"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. What I can do, I should do. And what I should do, by the grace of God, I will do."

Peace,

bobbi c.

Theresa Bayer's Manifesto on FUN ART!

2008-12-03T06:43:00.000-08:00

Dear friends,

You've gotta surf on over to my friend Theresa Bayer's post about FUN ART. Theresa is an Austin artist who does watercolors, acrylics and whimsical fun ceramics as well as caricatures.

Manifesto on Fun Art

Well worth reading. And while you're there, check out her wonderfully colorful, fun art. I own two of her paintings, and they give me joy every time I clap my peepers on them! Here's one of them:

"Cat with Moth" Acrylic on canvas on birch panel, 4 x 6. Copyright 2008 Theresa Bayer.

So get on over to her blog.....like, now! And put some fun into your art, for pete's sake!

happy trails,

bobbi c.

Tweeting!

2008-10-21T19:53:00.000-07:00

I'm on Twitter now, if anyone cares to follow me.

http://twitter.com/bchukran

thanks bunches!

bobbi c.

New work in Clockwise Cat Literary Journal!

2008-08-06T22:46:00.001-07:00

I'm just pleased as punch to see two of my short short stories appear in the July issue of the Clockwise Cat,an online progressive literary journal.

Take a lookee, they're ABSURD (according to the editor, Alison Ross)! I LOVE absurd!

bobbi c.

Thursday is Poem in Your Pocket Day!

2008-04-16T19:23:00.000-07:00

Well, I had good intentions of proliferating poetry all over the place tomorrow...really I did. Turns out, Husband's taking me to the big town (Austin) to see Lord of the Dance as part of my belated birthday hoo-hah. I can just see myself getting arrested for "leafletting" the crowd, or solicitation. Maybe I'll just take a small discreet stack of them and leave them in the restrooms. I have other things to do before then, maybe I can slip a few poems to unsuspecting "victims"! LOL.

Happy trails (and happy writing)!

bobbi c.

Poem a day for National Poetry Month

2008-04-08T07:32:00.000-07:00

Friends,

My friend Janet over at her Riehl Life blog has been posting a poem a day in honor of National Poetry Month. There's some good work there, go check it out!

Happy trails!

bobbi c.

Another proliferator of poetry....

2008-04-02T10:01:00.000-07:00

Check out the website of the Guerilla Poetics Project. They make little broadsides (poetry on small cards)that are sent out to operatives to be stealthily placed in books. COOL idea!

Get the scoop here:

http://www.guerillapoetics.org/

And speaking of proliferating poetry, I'm working on some handmade cards and such to hand out on Poem in a Pocket Day later this month.

Until next time,

Happy trails!

bobbi c.

April is National Poetry Month

2008-04-01T06:48:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,

Check out all the doin's for National Poetry Month here!

http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/41

And don't forget, the 17th is Poem in a Pocket day. That's where you stuff your pockets full of poems (any shape, size, whatever) then hand them out everywhere you go. I intend to print up some of mine on little bookmarks or something and hand them around on that day. Won't the folks at the hardware store be surprised!

Personally, between you, me and the fence post, I don't know why we need a special day to do this, but it's a start, right?

You can also read about a poetry contest on that page, and a chance to win a piece of gorgeous jewelry by Jeanine Payer.

And speaking of poetry, I've been busy submitting some of my new work to on-line journals and a few contests. It's time to get those poems OUT THERE, know what I mean? I've also been working on some artist book/chapbook ideas to combine my artwork and writing.

Here's to proliferating poetry,

bobbi c.

The Independent Authors Guild

2008-03-13T09:26:00.000-07:00

I was jazzed when I happened upon the website for the Independent Authors Guild. I love their attitude, and the fact that they have member's book covers and links for ordering on their site, too.

With the recent hoo-hah about the new Sisters in Crime policy of eliminating self-published or POD books from their members catalog, I expect this whole issue will be getting a lot of notice online. Let's just say that many former members will NOT be renewing their membership because of this new elitist rule. (BTW, did you know that SinC was formed in the beginning because of the exclusionary policies of the (mostly male writers) Mystery Writers of America? Interesting, huh?)

Check out the IAG site...there are many indie authors there with worthwhile books!

(And we don't want ME to get started on how un-earth-friendly and how un-green the whole publishing world is now, do we? :--))

Happy trails!

bobbi c.

Fantabulous idea! Broadsided Press

2008-03-07T09:24:00.000-08:00

Hello poetry lovers!

I just ran across this amazing website from Broadsided Press. They publish a poem and art combo on a broadside that you can print out and post somewhere. You can sign up to be notified when they post new projects on their site.

Broadsides are like flyers, the forerunners of billboards, posted on windows, telephone poles, you name it...anywhere that an unsuspecting passerby is likely to stop and read it.

What a great idea for getting poems OUT THERE where they belong...in front of eyeballs!

dig it!

bobbi c.

Published Poet!

2008-03-01T18:52:00.000-08:00

Dear friends,

I was excited to hear that a poem I submitted to the Story Circle Network Journal will appear in the March issue! This is my first published poem, and it's just as exciting as getting the acceptance letter to my first published article or book way back years ago. I've been writing poetry since I was a pre-teen, but have never had the joy of getting it published...until now.

Check out the Story Circle website for more information.

Happy trails!

bobbi c.

Multi-faceted?

2008-02-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

Dear friends,

I've been thinking a lot lately about specializing, focusing and whether I have the energy to apply to two different activities or not...namely, my writing and my artwork. Now that I'm involved with a wonderful group of poets and people who do different types of writing, I'm realizing that MANY of them also do artwork. Ideally, I think, we find ways to combine the two. I'm becoming enamored (again) with the concept of mixed-media collage, and using my artwork on the covers of literary journals and submitting it for publication in the journals. I've updated my art page and included a few of my older collage pieces there.

http://www.bobbichukran.com/artbybobbichukran.html

My biggest challenge is to convince my brain that it's OK to do both...

Happy trails!

bobbi c.

The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature

2008-02-18T08:11:00.000-08:00

Folks!

I just ran across the best online literary journal I've seen in a long time (well, at least since last week)...The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature. I'm pleased as a speckled pup to find this, because it just does my heart good to see folks writing about things such as grits and sweet tea and biscuits and well, DEAD MULES! LOL. Seriously, I've always felt a little strange because I am a native Texan, but was influenced a lot by my grandmother, who cooked a heckuva lot of fried chicken in her lifetime. My family is full of catfish catchin' people, NOT cowboys. I never understood this, because as everyone knows, Texas is all cowboy, right? Wrong! Turns out, Mamaw was from Georgia, so that explains it...As far as I'm concerned, I'm a Southern, Texas native.

Whew! And here I was, thinking that there just wasn't anywhere in the whole world that I'd fit in. I'm gonna send them some poetry!

Bless their hearts!

bobbi c.

Poetry Prompt--Lines from songs...

2008-02-15T12:15:00.000-08:00

Dear poetry lovers!

I've been listening to Texas singer/songwriters this afternoon and groovin' on the evocative lyrics. I find myself jotting down snippets of words and phrases and poems start coming to me. It's hard to listen and write at the same time for me, but I manage to get some pretty interesting stuff down anyway. Just a few bare words and such that I might be able to build whole poems from later.

It occurs to me that listening to music is another way to prompt some new poetry. I suppose any kind of music would do, although I prefer the Texas writers because they tend to use some of the same types of language that I use, and write about Texas in a way that also helps to jog my memory.

Here are a few lines I jotted down:
"me and my friend went...."
"the neon beer signs..."
"waiting for the train..."

You get the idea. I'm not copying the songwriters by any means. I'm using their imagery to jog something loose in my own head. And just so you know, the musicians were Steven Fromholz, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Lyle Lovett and Guy Clark.

Try it!

Happy Trails,

bobbi c.

Write a Love Poem--Poetry prompt

2008-02-12T06:40:00.001-08:00

Dear readers,

Many people would love to write poetry, but they just don't know how. When I was a pre-teen and teenager, I wrote a lot of sappy love poetry and poems about my cats or my mother, and at that time, had no Critical Mind telling me that they were no good. When I was in college, I wrote a lot, but didn't write poetry. At some time in there, the Critic arose and told me that poetry was just for special writers who were somehow different than the rest of us. Yet, my professors told me that my writing was lyrical, and musical. I wonder why one of them didn't ask me "Why don't you write poetry?" I think if they had, I would have discovered it way before the age of 49.

Like I did back then, many people think that writing poetry is hard, or only for those gifted writers. But that's wrong! Anybody can write a poem. It doesn't have to rhyme. Freeform verse, to me, is more exciting than any rhyming poem. Why not try to write a poem to someone you love for Valentine's Day?

Start out with the line "I remember when you...." Or how about "There are many reasons why I love you..." then write out your thoughts. Or if those don't get you going, write something about the antique rose photo above. How about "You remind me of an antique rose because...." See where that takes you. Then, the best part of all, GIVE that poem to someone else. Print it out, put it in a card (handmade, hopefully), or send it by e-mail....share your words and thoughts and feelings with others.

Poetry is easy, really. We're the ones who try to make it hard.

Happy trails,

bobbi c.
http://www.bobbichukran.com