20151008.0624

I have noted, I think, needing to address a call for submissions of "age appropriate" materials, making the note here. The call does helpfully include a list of things to avoid in the work, namely adult language and references to sex, violence, death, religion, magic, and evolution. This presents something of a problem, as everything serves as a reference to one of them, if examined with sufficient rigor and through a particular critical lens.* My sense of humor also lends itself to treating some or all of the things the call for submissions asks to avoid, and my general aversion to censorship rails against the restrictions (although I concede that my right to free expression does not entail a right to be rewarded by others for its exercise). But I could use the money promised for accepted submissions, and so I mean to offer some; I have been mulling over what to treat for a while now.

One idea came to me in the shower this morning. The Mrs. and I have been eating beans for the past couple of days; we made a large batch of them and, trying to be thrifty, ate leftovers until they were gone. One of the natural consequences of such dietary choices evidenced itself while I was bathing this morning, and the smell of it, making obvious its cause, called food to mind. I was reminded that eating is one of the universal human experiences--even more than sex is, since there are people who remain lifelong celibates--and that, while writing about it could be construed as references to sex or violence,† it is not likely to be unless I spend time and effort making it so. I could write something like "Tongues flicking across the squash / sliding up and down its length / whetting it for the knife that / thrusts" or "I can taste its death as I eat / the coppery flavor of blood spilled remaining / a hint of suffering in the steak / as I take the meat into my mouth," and that would likely get me into trouble, but I need not. There are other things that I can say about food and eating, not less true, but more likely to earn me a bit of compensation for my work.

I am glad to have stumbled into such an idea. Indeed, I already have a good one for the first piece I will compose--and I will do it soon, interrupting other work that does not necessarily pay as well for reasons that ought to be fairly obvious. Others will likely follow after the first, and I will send off something to see if I can sell it. Perhaps I will. But if I do not, I am sure I can find another use for what I would write. I keep records of my writing against the idea of being worth study later on. And, if nothing else, my work might amuse Ms. 8 someday--and that is something I endorse whole-heartedly.

*Indeed, in literature classes I have taught, I have occasionally been challenged to read such things as numbers as signifying sex. The ubiquitous 69 is, of course, easy. The numbers 10 and 11 are perhaps less so--although they can be sexual references. So can the number 52. Or, if Roman numerals are to be used, 30. The students are typically titillated.

†The former shows up in cucumbers and similar foods, phallic in shape. The latter manifests in meat--although particularly devoted pacifists might argue that the harvesting of root and stem vegetables such as potatoes and broccoli might also count as violence, since the plant does not survive in such cases. Not being a gardener, botanist, or pacifist, I cannot say how correct such an argument might be.