Return

I’m back!

Sorry for the long hiatus, but the past year has been pretty busy and difficult for me and I guess I just stopped thinking about blogging. Last summer I moved to Utah to attend my freshman year of college and was on my own for the first time in my life. Between attending classes, going to work, studying, dealing with roommates and trying and failing to be social there never seemed to be time to write. It’s not a good reason, I should have made the time, but it’s an excuse, albeit a good excuse.

I got back home to California about two months ago and was engulfed by the business of home (or maybe I just wanted to do nothing for a while; I don’t know). It hasn’t been until now that I felt like I should breathe new life into this blog, but I am sure that I should.

It’s good to have a blog. It helps you practice your writing, gives you a resource for advertising yourself and communicating to others, and it can be a fun creative outlet. I truly am sorry that I didn’t keep it up.

But now I’m bringing it back, and I have some great things to talk about. I want to focus on stories again, and not just my stories either. There are some amazing things going on in the world today which provide opportunities for story tellers of all kinds and they are so exciting I really want to share them with you! From webcomics to indie games, I want to talk about the amazing ways story tellers are changing the game, inventing new twists and how ordinary people can learn from them!

As you can probably guess, my old goal of selling however many short stories fell… short. I probably sold… eh, maybe 10. Possibly less. But you know, I’m learning more everyday about what I did wrong, and because of my failures I can now explain to people how they can avoid those roadblocks. As it turns out once you have written a story people don’t just buy it! Isn’t that crazy? You actually have to do a thing called “Marketing” and “Sell” them the idea! I know, it’s madness. The things I’ve learned and that I am still learning about marketing can hopefully help any kind of people be more successful, so I will be talking about that a bit as well in the future.

Another thing I’d like to do is write reviews for some of my favorite (and least favorite) stories. If you have any stories you would like me to review post a comment recommending it! I’m always looking out for great stories, and would love to hear from you.

And, of course, I will share some of the thoughts and feelings about other things I care passionately about. I have lots of opinions, and I would ask that you treat them as just that. If I should say something that offends you keep in mind that I mean no harm. I do not want to argue. Arguments are rash and emotional struggles that end with a victor and a loser, often with neither having changed their minds. I invite discussion. In my life I have met many people with different view and beliefs and often find that we can talk about our differences and both come away more enlightened than before and depart on friendly terms. Just something to think about.

I expect to post about once a week, probably on Saturdays unless something changes. I’m very excited to share with you some of these things, and I hope that you enjoy these stories as much as I do!

See you soon!

Josh

An Op-Ed Piece: No War on Women; War On the Homemaker

            A lot is being said on both sides of the aisle about a “War on Women.” Both sides claim the other is unfair to women, and many claim that working conditions remain unfair for them. While there is significant evidence to support all these views, the larger issue is being overlooked. This isn’t really a war on women: it is a war on the Homemaker, the original position of the woman in society.

            A homemaker, as the name suggests, cares for, manages, and organizes the home, as well as raise the children of the family. This role has throughout history been the job of women, but few understand just how much power this job had and how important it was. While men took other jobs like farming or banking, women were given total control of the home. This meant that they had to educate children, manage finances, bake, organize, maintain property, instill character, clean, entertain, set the best example possible for children and do many, many more things. This was and is a full time job that few today recognize as such, and which requires a broad base of knowledge and skills unlike any other profession.

            But does this job have any power? Quite a lot, actually, though it is a lot deeper a power than many understand. The strength of all societies relies on the inner strength of their people. If citizens do not have moral virtue, go uneducated, and possess no character to speak of, a society will devolve into anarchy or governments will be forced to effectively enslave their people. The basis for the intelligence and moral fiber of men and women lies in what they learn at home. Institutions and nannies have tried and failed to instill these lessons in people and children, and other family systems like the single parent household fail to be as effective too. In short, without the homemaker society would slowly collapse from moral, mental and emotional decay.

            In the Middle Ages this role was revered as it should have been, this reverence for women and their position being expressed in the idea of chivalry, and for a long time this idea stuck and women were greatly respected. Then, sometime in the 1800’s, men turned against the homemakers and devalued them, instituting rules in government to limit their freedoms and settle all disputes in the favor of men. When women grew aware of this they were naturally furious, and organized against it. This eventually developed into the feminist movement, but a key mistake was made: the feminists accepted the devaluation of the homemaker and instead wanted to do men’s jobs. Now nobody wanted to be a homemaker any more.

            The result of all this has been that neither the man nor the woman are expected to take care of children unless they have to. The job is empty, and nobody is willing to take it. Homes are now houses, cleaned by maids not moms. Raising children is now done by schools, nannies, the government and other organizations, but none of them do a good job of it. But worst of all, with no person loving, guiding, educating or inspiring children today, kids suffer in a thousand different ways, as has been shown by many different scientific studies. And still, people look at the world around us and wonder why things are so bad. What we are experiencing isn’t an ongoing war on women; women are fighting on both sides. We are experiencing the effects of losing the war on the homemaker: a war which we can still win if we try.

An Excerpt From "The Lady"

Hello Everyone! Boy it's been a long time since I posted, but I can assure you that I've been keeping busy. And guess what?
I just published my first story!
It's an allegory called The Lady and it's about a topic very near and dear to my heart, but I can't tell you what it is or it would ruin the story. I know, kind of a stupid corner to back myself up into, but what I can say is that it is about proper government and deals with sort of Utopian themes. Once you realize what it's about I think it opens up a new understanding of the idea it is based around, so I really hope lots of people read it.
I published it using Kindle Direct Publishing, which is very easy to use and allows you to publish short stories and books straight to the Kindle. I of course realize not everyone has a Kindle, but the neat thing is you don't even need one to read my story! Amazon offers a free kindle app for computers and other things here, so almost anyone can read my story!
It's only for a dollar, and everything I make from selling it is going straight to my education, so please buy it and spread the word! Also, writing a review would be super nice too!
And now I have a special treat for those who follow my blog: an excerpt from the beginning of the story (about two pages worth)! I hope you like it!

The Lady

By Joshua Christianson

            In a far away valley, nestled behind grassy hills, there is a beautiful land that few ever discover and where even fewer stay. If a traveler can find it and see it for what it is then they have found paradise, but if they fail to understand the true nature of the place then they leave and may never return.  At the center of this place sits a humble city, and in the center of this city stands a grand house where the leader of the land lives: the young, beautiful and mysterious Lady.

            On the first day of spring the Lady, as was her habit, paced intently along her wrap-around porch waiting to welcome those travelers who found their way to her door step. She had done this since before even the oldest of her friends could remember. She wore a plain, green dress and had long, brown hair, and as she walked her gaze shifted between the four roads that stretched out from her home: one to the North, one to the South, one to the East and one to the West. She was ever vigilant for searching souls.

            That morning she spotted a young and pompous man traveling down the East road towards her.

            “Good morning sir, how do you do?” She called out, but his eyes remained fixed on the ground. When he arrived at her doorstep he stopped, but did not look up. He wore a puzzled look on his face. “Would you like to come in and rest?” said the Lady, “I’m sure your journey has been long and tiresome. A nice bed, some good food and a pleasant stay are all yours, if you so wish.”

            The man said nothing and refused to look her in the eye, much like a guilty child returning to his mother. Then he shook his head and walked around the house.

            “This can’t be right. This can’t be right. They said it would be like…. No, this isn’t it…. Well maybe… no…” he mumbled. “Not this way…. Not like that. I’ve looked for so long I know what it’s supposed to look like.”

            “What is your name sir?” said the Lady. At this he finally addressed her, though his eyes stayed fixed on the ground.

            “My name is Professor Theodor Ristar. I am a great scholar from a far off land.”

            “And what is it you seek, Mr. Ristar?”

            “I search only for a land of peace, prosperity, love and goodness. Is that so much to ask? Well, apparently it is. I have searched for a very long time, looked down many different paths, and I have finally been led to this place but-”

            “Sir, you will be happy to know that you have reached such a place!” said the Lady, smiling. “I govern this land, and my people are peaceful, live in prosperity, and are filled with goodness and love. Let me but show you in and I will explain.”

            “No, madam. This cannot be it. I see evidence of work and toil,” he said, looking away from the house towards several fields and farms where some people were working.

            “A society cannot function well without hard work and effort, sir,” said the Lady. “Labor is the price of my hospitality. What you see there are my people working to grow food for-”

            “Heavy responsibility can be felt here like nowhere else,” he said, without listening. “It is almost palpable. People who live here can only be cut of a certain cloth, I am sure. No, I look for a land for the Anyman. You have one only for the best.” At this the Lady tried to speak, but the man, still refusing to look at her and circling the house, spoke over her. “Now, I know what you would say. You would say that a man can change and choose to live such a life. That he could mold himself to be better. Well, I am afraid that is just not the case. The people of my land have scientifically shown that all personalities are determined by environment and are subject to fate. It is ridiculous to think someone might change himself.  Nope. No, madam. This can’t be— Ah-Ha!”

             He had stumbled on the northern road, and immediately marched away without so much as a word of goodbye. She sighed as she watched him go. A man so set in his ways would never find what he sought, for he could not properly see at all.

The Contradiction That I Am

This little blog of mine is called Serious Joshing for a reason. I spent quite a bit of time thinking about the title, and, while it lacks any particular focus as a proper blog might, I decided on the name because it so perfectly fits who I am.
You might have noticed that when I post something silly I end with "Just Joshing, Josh," and when I post something serious I end with "Seriously Yours, Josh." This is because I am a sort of contradiction.

I am very serious. Always have been. I have a picture of my toddler self pointing importantly at something while sitting in my grandpa's arms. My mother always tells me that when I was young that I frowned in concentration so much that a little "v" would appear in between my eyes. Whenever this happened she would take her finger and rub me there until I smiled or laughed it away. As I've grown up I've always tried to understand things, take other people seriously and do my work with the greatest of care. I was called an overachiever in class, and I'm a perfectionist by nature. I have the misfortune of being easily duped by others because I take them seriously when I shouldn't, and often times I find myself on the outskirts of a group of people studying them rather than joining the conversation.

But on the other hand, I am very dramatic and love being silly. I wear an over-shirt because it feels like a cape to me when it flows out behind me in the wind. I like to run fast, because it feels epic. I enjoy making grand entrances, like throwing open a door and standing there with a serious look on my face. When someone says something surprising I chime in "dun-dun-DUHHHNNNNNN!" I am, at this moment, wearing a trench coat because I like it. I also have a rather ridiculous guilty pleasure: I like to watch animated superhero movies and t.v. shows, even if they aren't very good. I like country and pop, but a lot of Disney music more amazing to me and I prefer it more. In fact, I like to dance with my little brother to Disney songs and did so but a moment ago to Under The Sea, which I oddly know all the words to. I often wax poetic and use my words in such a fashion as is more appropriate to the languages of the past centuries. I am, indubitably, dramatic, ridiculous, and silly.

I have naturally struggled to balance these two parts of myself in my daily life, and have done so in a variety of ways. I've performed in several plays, for one thing, because my seriousness allows me the discipline to memorize lines, but the drama to perform. I intend to be a writer, which means I need to have a great grasp on serious topics, yet the lightness to communicate in a humorous manner through writing. I once came up with a logical reason for silliness. I draw, which allows me to be artistic (silly) and insert various symbols and themes into my art (serious).

Heck, now that I think about it, maybe I'm making too big a deal out of this whole thing, which is quite probably totally normal to everyone! Yet, I am so serious I have taken the time to recognize this contradiction in nature, and then so dramatic that I insist on making a big deal out of it and presenting it to the world! Perhaps this is all supremely normal and I am merely exaggerating it's normality! Well, if so then I like the idea. There is no such thing as normal in this life, and pointing that out to other people seems like a fine idea.

Maybe that's a good theme for this blog...

Well, whether or not this is normal or crazy, it is an integral part of who I am that I have been thinking about recently. And, to be honest, I think I might finally be getting the hang of being the sort of person whose name means both "to jest or joke" and is derived from a leader who lead his people into the promised land.

Seriously Joshing (since this has been both a serious and silly post),
Josh

A Declaration

A short while ago I participated in a wonderful conference, and our speaker talked about the steps to live a revolutionary life. In that speech he showed how to set a goal and accomplish it, as well as create and live a revolutionary life.
First, he said to Declare yourself; declare what you want to accomplish. Then we needed to Pledge ourselves to achieving that goal. Then we needed to Sacrifice in order to achieve it. We would then have to Fight off the people and things that would try and stop us. We would have to Govern Ourselves to get there. And, when we got there, we should Enjoy the Freedom.
He challenged us at the end of the speech to go home and declare a goal of ours which we could accomplish in one year, and if we could return to him a year later having completed that goal he would take the winners out to a Winner's Dinner and talk with us about our futures. His requirements for this declaration were that it be done in public and within a week of the conference.
So, today I want to declare my goal. Though it has been more than a week since the conference, I did declare it already to several people in my home school group within the time limit so I hope it counts.

I declare that I will sell 35,000 copies worth of short stories through Kindle Direct Publishing at $1 each in order to pay for a year of college.

So there.
I'm confident I can achieve the goal, I only need to market myself well and keep up my writing. I already have one book lined up to sell about freedom, I only need to hear some constructive criticism from my mentor.

I can do this.

Seriously Yours,
Josh

Kony Phony

Oh dear. Here we go again.

There's a video going viral talking about this evil guy named Joseph Kony, talking about how he's capturing children, forcing them to do terrible things, and getting away with it in Uganda. If all that is being said about him is true he is one of the most evil men out there, and I believe what is being said. Girls and women taken advantage of. Children forced to kill their parents. Mutilation and torture of other people. All of it is a real tragedy and tugs at the heart strings.

But I was never one to be swayed blindly by emotion unlike other people, and this thing is fishy all the way around.

Here is a link to an article which has thought a lot more about what appears to be rotten in the state of Uganda, and I shall let it handle the doubt of the issue. I won't presume to tell you whether this is suspicious or not, given how little I've studied the matter, but I don't need to since other people can do that for me.

What I will say is that arresting Kony won't help.

If Kony is killed it will create a power vacuum and the people who followed him will need a new leader and those who once fought him will need a new cause.

This is an extremely dangerous position and so many things could go wrong it's insane. If you take a look at history you will see that very rarely do things actually work out. I'll give you a couple of examples of what might go wrong.

1) Kony's incarceration will lead to his followers finding a new leader. This leader might be more aggressive, more angry and come to be more hated than even Kony.

2) The same thing as number 1, only lots of new leaders pop up and the hydra grows several more heads.

3) Kony and his group completely are completely dissolved and the people he hurt, now without a cause to fight for or entrapped in a desperate fight for survival, have no idea what to do so they elect a leader who ends up as bad as Kony.

4) same as number 3, only they don't get to elect a new leader. Instead the army that captures Kony decides to oppress the people now that the threat is gone.

Any combination of these things might arise as well.

What people don't understand is that freedom and peace are rare. They were fought for with brains and brawn and exist in a precarious balance where they may be lost at any time. Murder, rape, mutilation, genocide, slavery, torture... All of these are normal, albeit wrong, if you study history.

If you think that killing or capturing Kony will fix Uganda think again. The problems are deeper than a single man, and if anyone thinks killing him is going to stop the horror they are wrong. The French during their revolution thought killing the nobles would work, but it didn't. Hundreds of thousands were actually killed because of those revolutionaries. What we have in America is not so simple that you can achieve the same thing in Uganda just by killing another man.

No, those people are blind. They see a dog while they fight a dragon, and they use guns where they should use wisdom.

Instead, these people ignore America, where our freedoms slowly erode. This, the last best hope of man on earth, the only nation which has ever managed to maintain freedom and inspire the world to try and do the same, is slowly sliding into the depths. Rally behind saving that, not behind capturing a man.

Consider what I've said. Don't get suckered in by the video and blindly pledge your support. At the very least think for yourself. The biggest problem we suffer from in this world is that people don't think for themselves.

Seriously yours,
Josh

What I've Been Up To

Hello Everyone!
Sorry for that three week break there, but I've been up to a lot these past few weeks. I think I might have found a way to use my writing to pay my way through college! The tricky part is getting 100,000 people to buy something for a dollar... Which, I will admit, will be very, very tricky. The whole idea is that I write short stories, much like the ones I've put on here but deeper and better, and publish them directly to the kindle. If I can sell at least 100,000 of one short story (or, if I can sell 10,000 of ten short stories) then I can pay for all of my college! Maybe a little bit crazy an idea, I know, and the odds aren't very much in my favor, but I've realized that the great men of the world basically all yelled out at the world "Screw the odds! I'll do what I think is right and pursue my happiness!"
So yeah, I'm going for it.
I'm going to send out the first story I publish to lots of different people who will hopefully review it and promote it for me. I'm really hopeful too! This short story is really good and communicates some very important lessons about freedom. It's my favorite story so far.
Anyways, I'll try and write more but I'm hoping to get really into my writing now. No idea what that will mean for this blog (I could be writing more regularly or barely at all), but I'm happy with how my life and writing career is going!

Seriously yours,
Josh