Monday, September 15, 2008

Festivals, Mixed Up Senses and Mars

This weekend I'm doing the unthinkable. I'm sneaking away from the festival that I've been coordinating for several years to attend the book festival. I've always lamented the fact that they are always on the same weekend. Well, now that I have a book of my own, it's a no-brainer. I have to sneak over there.

For all you folks that are local, listen up! The Sonoma County Book Festival is this weekend in the Old Courthouse Square in Santa Rosa, CA. It's the literary place to be this weekend. But when you're hungry or you want to dance, well, that's when the Glendi comes in. Glendi is an ethnic food festival held in Santa Rosa with live bands, dancing and food from Eritrea, the Balkans, Russia and the Middle East. It's the best party in town. It's open 11-9 Sat and noon-6 Sun.

The following weekend, Sept. 27, I'll be reading from the new RWC (Redwood Writers Club) anthology, Vintage Voices: Four Part Harmony at North Light Books and Cafe in Cotati, CA. My piece in the anthology is "The Rosary", the true story about finding my sister. It's the two-for I mentioned a while back. It will also be included in a themed anthology about fate.

I don't have any more appearances after that until November, unless I crash an open mic around here. I have to stay close as I have a new grandson making his debut toward the end of October. :)

I just watched a show on the science channel on synesthesia called When Senses Collide. I'm fascinated by synesthesia. I read a story some time ago, probably in Asimov's, in which the protagonist was a synesthete. I think it was set in Brazil. I can't remember what particular senses were crossed with him, but the whole idea really got me thinking.

Synesthetes can hear colors, taste words, see numbers suspended in air, associate color to numbers, etc. This is more prevelant in novelists, poets and artists. Do you know someone who has mixed up senses? Do you have mixed up senses? I'd love to hear about it.

I'm reading Ben Bova's Mars Life and lovin' it. I got to wondering today whether we'll always be looking to change our environment to suit our needs or whether we'll some day be able to change ourselves to adapt to the environment. Why not? What with global warming, sun dimming, super volcanoes, meteors, etc., we may have to adapt to our own changing environment. Maybe we'll have to become Martians to live on Mars instead of Terraforming every planet we settle.

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