Bloviations

In case you haven’t heard, Jacksonville, NC has been pretty big news lately.

It started with the public inquiry into a Marine Special Operations unit’s questionable shooting on civilians in Afghanistan and ended with the murder of Marine Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach.

I haven’t written about either because both of them are examples of serious failures of leadership by senior Marine leaders and I frankly don’t find that interesting (much less fun) to write about.

So, until I find my muse, here’s some stuff you can do:

If you’re into photography, check out dSLR Geeks. It’s a young forum with some good information and links for photographers. You can also check out DIY Photography.net for cheap and (relatively) easy ideas for lighting, backgrounds, and other photorific type stuff. You should definitely check out the Strobist. In fact, if you could only read one of the sites, visit Strobist. David Hobby has great ideas and reading his blog (and using what you learn) will definitely make you a better photographer and will help you create better photographs by using light.

If painting is more your thing, check out WatercolorPainting.com. It’s a great resource for watercolor techniques, information, and ideas. Also check out the Onslow Outdoor Painting Society blog. This group of en plein aire artists are great to watch and even more fun to chat with. The Jacksonville-Onslow Council for the Arts has a blog, too. The Council is having their annual Soup in a Bowl event in March. Tickets (which are pottery bowls hand-made by Ben Watford of New Bern) are available for $10 at the Council’s gallery.

There’s something for writers, too. The Council is having a writing competition for short stories and poetry to publish in “The New River High Tide.” The deadline is February 29th and any entries must be postmarked by that date. All entries must be original, unpublished, and not have been submitted to any publication or other competition. Poems should be 32 lines or shorter and submitted on individual sheets of paper (an individual can send up to 5 submissions). Short stories must be 5,000 words or less. All pages of short stories should be clipped. None of the submissions should have identifying information (names). That information should be sent on a separate sheet (mailed with the submissions) and have name, address, telephone number, and titles of the submissions. Submissions can be sent by email (jaxarts@topsailnet.net), but contact the Council for instructions and format (910-455-9840), mailed to Council for the Arts, Poetry Submission, PO Box 34, Jacksonville, NC 28541-0034, or hand-delivered to Jacksonville-Onslow Council for the Arts, 826 New Bridge St, Jacksonville, NC 28540.

There’s lots to do. Go out and be creative. I’ve gotta go find my motivation.