Hello, hello, hello!

Well, I'm sure you all have gotten the President's State of the Union address last week, and, of course, we all found out that the union is in a very bad state (no surprise there!).  He did touch on many subjects that are near and dear to our hearts, though, such as health care and bringing our troops home as soon as possible, and he also stated that we're all in this together, and, since we are all in this together, we might as well stick together and work together to get ourselves out of the mess that Bush and his cronies got us into.  And please be patient, because, after all, these things do take time.  At least, that how I took the State of the Union address.

So J.D. Salinger died this past week.  Not to be disrespectable and all but, from the way he kept our of public sight, I thought he was already dead (as I'm sure many of you did as well).  Well, anyway, he did write one of the most respected and treasured (and banned) books of the past century, Catcher in the Rye, which I haven't read yet but am sure to get around to reading it very soon.  I hear it's a very good read, about teenage angst and feeling like a stranger in a strange land (which pretty much sums up the adolescent years, folks).  Totally unlike all the books my generation have read.  Of course, all my generation seemed to have ever read was Harry Potter and Marvel comic books.  Hardly the literary masterpieces that Catcher in the Rye was, if you want the truth.

If you want to know what the saddest part of this whole thing is, it's this:  If Catcher in the Rye was written today, it probably wouldn't get published.  Why, you may ask?  Is it because this generation is more illiterate?  Hardly!  The majority of people today do know how to read.  It's just that they choose not to read, and when they do read, they choose to read that which does not offer very much mental or intellectual enlightenment, such as tabloids.  As a matter of fact, the vast majority of stuff being sold in book stores today is as heavily steeped in tabloid journalism as a Lipton tea bag is in very hot water.  You see, in Salinger's time, books were mainly published for the intellectual value they gave the reader, and if it was a best seller, that was an added bonus.  Now, the main thing that many publishers go by as far as publishing books are concerned is whatever sells.  And, it seems, that tabloid journalism is what's selling today.  Just look at all of the celebrity tell-all books that are selling very well in the stores today, as well as the tabloid-style fictional novels as well.  A lot of people seems to think this all goes back to Jacqueline Suzann's' Valley of the Dolls, and they could be right.  Well, anyway, a normal, mainstream writer wouldn't stand a chance in today's literary market, and, I really do believe, that's the reason why many writers have taken to blogging on line, because they can't make a descent living writing and they have to turn to blogging just to keep their writing skills fresh and up to date.

Well, that's all the time we have for this week.  Until next week, be well, stay well, and don't forget to give what you can to help Haiti!

Sincerely,




Marley Sue