My name is Jeongeui Son.
My major was illustration but I also like to paint landscapes, mainly with acrylic color.
I studied in university with a full scholarship for four years until I got a degree in art.
I began teaching art in school, mostly with kindergarten classes, meanwhile I had several exhibitions with others.
I am always fascinated by seeing things that have different meanings.
My artworks are basically grounded in my life. There is my spirit, my emotions, and my hope in my paintings.
I love myself.
l love the way I live.
I love even my past life which had lots of painful days.
I just love my life.
All of that is the basic theme of my paintings.
The mountain in the distance represents strength through patience.
The Cherry Blossoms represents new growth and birth.
The water that falls in the mountain flows down hill to nourish the cherry tree.
I can grow old in stronger like a mountain.
Life is circular.
The calmness of nature.
The water is calm.
There is my life, besides something positive around in the corner like my hope.
The rock represents strength.
Everything exists in the shadow of the hill even in the water calmly.
Storm Over South Africa: The Rutherford Chronicles Part 1 by Michael G. Bergen
Storm Over South Africa: The Rutherford Chronicles Part 1 is the history of the Anglo-Boer War that happened from 1899-1902. Mr. Bergen has done an impressive and extensive research into this very short war in South Africa. He begins with the major people in the war from short bios of their lives to how they became involved from the very beginning. The extensive research into each and every one is interesting and comprehensive. He brings all of it together and brings the story of the war alive for the reader. This is and excellent read for the history buff, particularly someone interested in South African history. This book is a must read for the home library of the history buff. I found it highly interesting and amazingly detailed. I highly recommend this book.
My Name is Tom is the story of Tom Joyce. His parents were two teens that lived in England in the 1970’s. The girl’s parents were staunch Christian, her boyfriend’s parents were not. The decision was made after Tom was born that the baby be given up for adoption. When Tom was born, the adoptive parents chose to name him Tom With their last name of Joyce. The adoptive mother was a staunch “Christian”, her husband was not, but went along with his wife’s decision. They also had a daughter. They adopted Tom so their family would be complete with one girl child and one boy child. As Tom grew older his mother became indifferent and always seemed angry or upset with Tom. He found solace in listening to rock on his record player. He became well versed in the latest bands, particularly those in England. When he became a teen, particularly an older teen, he became friends with guys that like the rave scene of the 80’s. He began going to raves on weekends and also began taking drugs, particularly Ecstasy with his friends. My Name is Tom is an excellent coming of age story set in England in the 70’s and 80’s. I enjoyed it very much and am sure that you will too.
Boston Darkens by Michael Kravitz may be fiction but it is completely plausible. It might be only one hundred pages, but a very powerful story is packed into that one hundred pages. It is about EMP’s, these are electromagnetic pulses. An EMP nuclear device has been set off and has completely stopped everything electronic, including all electricity, cars, cell phones, cell phone towers, all media except for survival radios. The Randal’s live in a nice neighborhood in Massachusetts. Most areas have been taken over by gangs, looting murder and other crimes. In Mr. Randal’s neighborhood the neighbors have come together to form a collaborative. They work together and share what they have to try to survive. Boston Darkens is a very plausible suspense thriller. It is very well written and will engage the reader to the very end. In just 100 pages it is not only a powerful fictional story, but is important to get people to start thinking of what could and might happen in this age where everything is run electronically. I absolutely loved it and highly recommend it.
Supremacy by K.M. Lovejoy is a humorous political thriller with S and M erotica. If you liked Fifty Shades, you will love Supremacy even more. Supremacy makes Fifty Shades look like a PG rated beginners manual for S & M. Peter Graves lives in Oakland, CA with his wife and they have two daughters. He is suffering from a cancer called astrocytoma. The only hope he has is from embryonic stem cells created from his own sperm. However, the Supreme Court justices need to pass it into law. The only one standing in the way with his vote is Justice Sylvester Johnson. Peter is also heavily into porn and meets Aletha Maxwell, an ex-CIA and gets heavily into the S&M scene. What happens next gives the reader a well written erotic political thriller that will keep you intrigued until the very end. If you love S&M erotica you will love Supremacy by K.M. Lovejoy.
cAtcHinG oN thE laSt bRowS fUrrOweD eNouGh to toUch
liPs aJar pUllinG hAir fRoM thE rOots
shAtteR sHattEr
cLouDed miNd
bReaKinG wAllS uN- til itS o v e r
Knock, Knock, Knock: Series of Haikus
do you go knocking on death’s door every time you take a wrong turn
do you knock and knock and wait and wait until it opens, just to run
are you scared of what is behind those big dark doors or ready to see
Mindless Chatter
My lips move always, attracting annoyed stares and icy eyes. Wait, the bus passengers are actually sitting next to me! A record of three minutes before they scoot two inches away.
I’m sorry that I can’t help my mindless chatter. “I like milk. A funny thing. Milk from cows, goats, almonds, moms! Wow! Hey. Hay? I wonder what it is like living in hay. Itchy, I bet. Oh, how awful. The poor bugs stuck in there. Maybe they love it, the safety, until an animal chomps its way through the golden stack, I guess.”
Maybe I can be poetic. The sun and moon chasing each other, sharing the spotlight, oh a typical idea. Shall I get off here? Oh, but the ride is pleasant today, no need for walking.” “Me and window. I tag you. Blow gently on you, and rub my finger against you marking you like I see the children do.” The people around me mind their own business and sometimes, I wish they didn’t. I wish someone would talk to me, but I guess they think that I already got who I need. Just myself. Always talking with myself. I’m not anything dangerous, just a little lonely.
I see a family that gets on, each one of them putting in the dollar thirty-five. “Raised right. Yes. Not many like that anymore, no no no. Oh are you staying in the front? I miss smiles, please. Maybe I can feed the pigeons. It’ll make something happy. Happy. Oh that’s a bad word. Is happiness real? Everyone spends so much time looking for happiness! What is the point? What if they never find it. Oh no, I’m scaring the children.” I can’t look over at the children’s flushed cheeks without a concerned mother shielding them. Why is that?
The seat is getting moist. Maybe I should go. “Yeah, yeah, maybe I will go now. Oh, there’s a place nearby. Got the best candies. For sure. Yeah, yeah. I will use that dollar thirty-five I so kindly neglected to pay. I am a good citizen. Oh! Hope no one heard that. Heh.” I cackle, amused with myself. All I receive are more spines turned towards me.
Man, how I used to dream of rows and rows of people, clapping when I bow, or say something funny. Now, these rows and rows of filled up bus seats just turn their backs and stare at the ground. Shoot. “Next stop,” I mimic the bus lady, “Sallen and Walt.” I will get off, yes. Oh it is a nice day today. Light jacket weather. Yes, I suppose I shall grab some candies and bread then feed some pigeons. Ah yes. A nice day it is.
All aboard, readers! This month we’re charting our course over literary seas.
As we see in J.K. Durick’s poetry, life’s circumstances come and go like waves. There are some natural and seasonal patterns, but some of our existence is unpredictable. We do have choices at times, some ability to plot and steer our course, but we are also tossed by wind and water, floating out wherever they take us.
In the poem I mentioned earlier from J.K. Durick, a speaker sails on the open sea, checking the horizon to find the scene there both familiar and unfamiliar at once. His other pieces touch on the discombobulation of travel and the calm of off-season destinations.
Richard Slota’s novel Stray Son, reviewed by writer Mike Zone, presents a journey through space and time as the protagonist picks up the ghosts of his past on a trip that’s more about understanding than pat reconciliation. He becomes able to place his life’s traumas in a broader context.
Some of the destinations we may choose look good at first, but turn out to be only mirages as we approach. So it can be good to recalibrate our course.
Love and respect seem to be constant human desires as we travel through life. We need our crewmates!
Elizabeth Hughes, in her monthly Book Periscope column, looks over three titles: Kimberly Lake-Seibert’s The Adventures of Toby the Bear, Evelyn Blohm’s poetry collection Four Seasons, and Lesley Graham’s Star Warrior. Whether it’s the comfort of the warm little puppy Toby, the gentle verses and kind words of Evelyn Blohm, or the protection of the intergalactic Star Warriors in Graham’s novel, many of us need a little support to get through the day.
One of the choices we can make, as we trace our course on the map, is to love and respect ourselves and others.
The third installment of Christopher Bernard’s dense, heady novel Amor I Kaos presents the conundrum of why to love in a world where we don’t know what is meaningful, and presents the choice to love as a pathway out of isolation and selfishness, a way to make existential meaning. Allison Grayhurst, returning Canadian poet, looks to birds and human relationships to illustrate the fragile grace of existence, as we decide to care for each other despite our finiteness and imperfections. Michael Robinson gives us a sequence of free verse and prose poetry where, despite the many losses in his world, he finds acceptance from his mother, who enables him to extend the same to himself.
Finally, we should remember to look up every so often and calibrate our position by the vast array of stars.
Several submissions touch on the broader journey of existence, who we are as living creatures and our connection to a vaster universe.
