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An Occasional Post

Turn Off, Tune out, Drop In

In the late sixties, the counterculture adopted Timothy Leary’s phrase, “turn on, tune in, drop out” as its mantra. According to Wikipedia (and quoted from Leary’s autobiography), this is what Leary meant:

‘Turn on’ meant go within to activate your neural and genetic equipment. Become sensitive to the many and various levels of consciousness and the specific triggers that engage them. Drugs were one way to accomplish this end. 'Tune in' meant interact harmoniously with the world around you - externalize, materialize, express your new internal perspectives. 'Drop out' suggested an elective, selective, graceful process of detachment from involuntary or unconscious commitments. 'Drop out' meant self-reliance, a discovery of one's singularity, a commitment to mobility, choice, and change.

I propose revising Leary’s phrase (I’m a writer, after all) for the present time. Turn off, tune out, and drop in. Why? Read More 
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Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks

In my teens, I was active in the civil rights movement, though I lacked the courage to go to Mississippi in 1964. I did join picket lines, march in New York and Washington, and participate in other assorted and now forgotten (by me—it’s a memory thing) protests. Needless to say, I have never stopped caring.

Here’s something that makes me slightly nuts—in fact, it’s become such a pet peeve that I rattle on incessantly at writers’ conferences/retreats and annoy even myself. Why is there no picture book about Rosa Parks that tells the complete and true story?  Read More 
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