Friday, January 1, 2010
It's a New Year. Why not also be a New You?
As I survey my past, I see that I have fulfilled many of my wild dreams of youth. I've had a successful career in advertising and marketing. I've been a successful musician, grinding out a new CD every month, for many years now.
I've proven my marketing expertise and music creativity by practicing them both in New York City. In the case of marketing, I was highly paid, but in music, I perform and distribute the music compositions free of charge.
I have room to grow and expand, new heights to reach in marketing and music, so I'm not complacent or smug about my achievements.
But in writing, I haven't accomplished my original goals: to have lots of published books. I abandoned this goal as being egocentric and even superfluous in light of my avid blogging. I generate tons of text in the digital realm. Why publish anything on paper?
Yet, there's something special about a book that fits nicely in the hand. You can interact with it, underlining, yellow highlighting, scribbling notes and questions and "see p. 256" and "this makes no sense at all" in the margins. You don't have to plug a book into an electrical outlet. You don't need a Wifi connection or other internet access to read a book. I love books.
So I've decided that, although I did publish one book, my "Bicycle Fever: Peoria Races from 1890 to 1990" a while back, I've failed to publish the many other books that have floated around in my head, and now I must correct that omission, fill that void.
Here are a few of the books I'm planning to write and try to get published in 2010:
(1) "Social Media Training for Business"
The opportunities and pitfalls for companies that attempt to communicate in social networking sites. How to effectively use social media to provide customer service, sales messages, and altruistic sharing in online communities. Why too much focus on company news, inspirational quotes, and commercial hype are counter-productive in social media.
(2) "God vs. Oppressors of the Poor"
An examination of a relentless thread running through the Old and New Testament: rich oppressors of the downtrodden, weak, and impoverished. Why the Bible uses the word "exploitation" and "oppression" so frequently. What Jesus thought about wealth, the love of money as the root of all evil, and how it was more likely to see a camel go through the eye of a needle than see a rich man enter heaven. A rebuke to the "Prosperity Gospel" deception advanced by televangelists (wearing $5,000 suits and big gold jewelry) who beg for contributions, rather than trusting God to meet their needs.
(3) "Jesus Was Not a Warmonger"
Why pastors who support war are in opposition to Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount, and the non-violent revolution of the Early Church saints. How Constantine perverted Christianity with his "In This Sign Conquer" delusion and the demonic ecclesiastical errors that spawned the sadistic Crusades and "Just War" doctrines. A critical assessment of the "live by the sword, die by the sword" statement of Jesus and how individuals and nations can "turn the other cheek" without being suicidal or masochistic.
(4) "Art Against Society"
A meditation on Theodor Adorno's masterpiece Aesthetic Theory, teachings of Ethnomethodology, and the writings of Jacques Derrida on art. How authentic art means being a Socratic gadfly or thorn in the side of status quo social mechanisms. Why revolution and dissent in artistic productions can have far more impact that political parties and golden tongued orators.
(5) "Selected Biblical Commentary" or better: "Meditations on Scripture"
Controversial contemplations on some of my favorite verses, that most people misinterpret or don't fully appreciate. How some of Jesus' miracles can be seen as practical jokes or social subversion, while still glorifying God and helping suffering people. Paying a tax with a coin from the mouth of a fish (thus, not taking money from his own wallet or the group's funds), turning water into wine (thus, drinking alcohol per se cannot be a "sin"), and asking whose image was on a coin, then saying if Caesar's face is on it, it must belong to him (thus, you'd have to give all your money to Caesar, not just the tax payment!), are a few examples.