Kevin Camp's Blog – September 2011 Archive (10)

Short Story, Part Four

Part Four

You are not their father. My kids have a father. At least that’s what I was told. Adults make plans and children fail to understand them. God laughs. Kids tend to live in the present, with much less of an eye to the future. When you are among them, you might as well be a parent, regardless of how you might choose to qualify your role. No one found this more initially terrifying than me. But it was a responsibility I seem to have adopted more smoothly than I…

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Added by Kevin Camp on September 30, 2011 at 7:00am — No Comments

Picnic at Hanging Rock: A Review

Director Peter Weir's 1975 film Picnic at Hanging Rock explores the contradictions of Australian culture, circa 1900. On an expansive, still largely unsettled island, the British have tried to import their haughty, tight-corseted ways into a provincial land of open spaces and wild animals. Never is this distinction more clear then at…

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Added by Kevin Camp on September 27, 2011 at 12:00pm — No Comments

Short Story, Part Three

Meeting her parents for the first time had been nerve-wracking. I expected their automatic disapproval and at first I received a cool reception. Mothers and daughters often have complicated, love/hate relationships and this was the case here. Her mother was a full generation older than my own, beholden to a time where quiet deference was the norm. In her world, there was always one more dish to put into the sink. Even in an advanced age, I could tell that her father was consumed by anger. In…

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Added by Kevin Camp on September 26, 2011 at 10:52am — No Comments

The Terrible Love of War

The author James Hillman wrote a book a few years back entitled A Terrible Love of War. In it, he discusses the complexities and paradoxes of war in the human psyche. I was struck by how many of these same contradictions and brutalities described rape culture and the violence that exists within each of us. That which we consider relative peacetime is often anything but. This is why Hillman titles one section “War is Normal” and another “War is…

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Added by Kevin Camp on September 23, 2011 at 5:11am — No Comments

Short Story, Part Two

For those who have not read it, or want to refresh their memory, Part One is here.

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Part Two

The criticism I got was much more subtle. I rarely got a cross look from a stranger. Instead, I got concerned conversations with my father. Dad wanted me to know that her looks were going to only diminish with time. Was I prepared for this? If I’d had the ability to…

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Added by Kevin Camp on September 21, 2011 at 10:47am — No Comments

Rejecting the Messiah Today

Those with nothing to lose will always gravitate to a message that removes hierarchy, in which we are all equal. It is a…

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Added by Kevin Camp on September 20, 2011 at 7:09am — No Comments

Short Story (Excerpt)

When I was in college, I routinely wrote short stories as part of weekly assignments for workshop. I've tried my hand again at the form, realizing how out of practice I am. Short essay seems to be more my forte. There's a satisfaction at drafting five to six paragraphs and then a conclusion, drawing it all together neatly. But, because I want to challenge myself, I'll enclose what I've written so far. Be aware that it ends abruptly.

A brief note. It is sexually graphic at places and I…

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Added by Kevin Camp on September 14, 2011 at 5:30am — No Comments

Male Allies as a Defense Against Sexual Assault

When he walked into the party, something about him seemed suspicious. His smile looked more like a leer; at no point was he ever not smiling. Within a few minutes of introduction, he interjected himself into the middle of a conversation I was having with someone else. Someone else happens to be a good friend of mine, a woman who is very physically attractive. Like a bullying defense attorney, he decided that putting me on the defensive by means of the third degree was a good strategy. I…

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Added by Kevin Camp on September 8, 2011 at 10:32am — 1 Comment

I Think I'm a Quaker, But..

I think I'm a Quaker, but...

I hear some version of this phrase all the time among Young Adult Friends. Our Meeting had a similar dialogue recently regarding membership. Some people took a very hard-line stance. Why wouldn't you want to be a member? What's holding you…

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Added by Kevin Camp on September 7, 2011 at 5:41am — No Comments

Silent Cinema: The More Things Change...

The Silent Screen has always been an interest of mine, especially viewed through a Feminist lens. Today, we are often inclined to find that films without live sound and spoken dialogue are dull, dated, and of interest only to a small group of aficionados. I have found that they provide insight into gender roles still intact today and their breakdown around male and female. We are still living down the legacy of the Victorian Era, whereby women were simply not…

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Added by Kevin Camp on September 2, 2011 at 6:30pm — No Comments