A New Light, A New Day

Wow, so here we are, my own real web page and our first real blog. Where to start? I have been writing for years, I used to keep an active blog on Myspace. Does anybody remember Myspace? Shesh, I am old right. After that, I got a Live Journal, I admit no one ever read that but not because I wasn’t interesting. I barely ever posted. I always kept a journal growing up, too. My first “diary” I was eleven. I loved writing, would write stories and poetry as a kid.
We have started The Shade of Writing as a Shadow’s Lair family venture. The Shadow’s Lair Family is a family of two dads and two kids, not to unusual. We love to travel, and will post about our travels, everyday lives, fantasy writings, and just a general hodgepodge of things. We also have a goal to one day own a family farm and shop. We will use this blog to update our progress on this goal. For those of you who found this after following the Shadow’s Lair for years, thank you for your continued support. If this is your first time reading our writing, welcome and thank you. Feel free to follow us on Patreon.

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Left to Right Cera, Jayson, Damien, Aaron, 2011 Maryland Hiking trip

I GAVE UP THINKING LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!!

This is great wisdom for Wednesday.

A LIGHT IN A DARK PLACE

People tell me I think and talk a lot.  Well more emphasis on the talk a lot part.  I love this about me most of the times. Its not because I talk jibber jabber things that makes no sense. I talk a lot mostly because I have so much to say.  Some of my friends are reading this and are nodding their heads in agreement. download.jpg

They don’t tell me “I talk too much”, atleast not since I have been a young adult. People pretty much know that I have a lot of interesting things to talk about. Despite that it can be a bit excessive. Everyone has their own thing. That is mine. I have this thing about me and if you relate comment and tell me that you do below. I think … A LOT. It isn’t a terrible thing to me. I know so many people in…

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My Opinion on Theater

 By Damien Knight

I have read many plays and acted in a few including a production that my father wrote for church. I do not believe a good play has to have a traditional linear story. Some stories work well with flashback scenes or starting at the end then going back and then returning to the end scene. These sorts of story lines are more difficult but very captivating. A linear story line is the simplest method of telling a story and can keep an audience on track but if not done right can also seem trite.

Most plays I have seen lasted two hours. This seems like the ideal length for a play. It can be shorter but any shorter than an hour would seem like a skit and not a full play. The best plays can be on various topics such as “Steel Magnolias” which is inspired by the strength of southern women, or “Midsummer’s Night’s Dream” where the story is about unrequited love’s reversal due to fairy pranks. These both performed on the stage have a great flow of dialogue essential for a good play. Within moments reading the script you know who the characters are and what the dilemma is.

I have a love of theater and a great play requires an unexpected turn of events and when I performed as Pontius Pilot in the Easter play my father wrote I personally believe I acted in the greatest play I ever had. The retelling linear and the crowed chants crucify him. Pontius washes his hands but the twist was the man we follow as the main character is not Jesus but the thief he forgives. For me, the most important element a playwright should consider is keeping the audience interested.

The Words That Break Your Spirit

By Damien Knight

I am use to having little to no money. I once was so poor that I had found 20 ways to use scraps to flavour ramen. Still when you look your youngest in the eye and tell them :

“Please quit begging I don’t have food to give you.”

Those are words that break a mans spirit. I blog because I love to write but I also am doing this so I never have to look my children in the eye and tell them we can’t eat. We come a long way since 2009.

I am grateful to everyone who reads my posts. Please if you like our pieces support us on Patreon.

 

“I Think Therefore”

By Damien Knight

Descartes philosophy “I think therefore I am” is one of the most famous phrases. Through a series of meditations he at one point decided that he could trust nothing he sensed. As he watched wax melt, he realized he no longer could use his senses to perceive the wax and that lead him to conclude that knowledge is not obtained by sense. Using a pattern of doubt he observed that senses can deceive but his innate knowledge does not. Using doubt of the senses Descartes declared a rationalist view determined that knowledge came from innate ideas.

Hume was an empiricist believing knowledge came from the senses. He came to this much the same way Descartes came to the knowledge came not from the senses. Like Descartes establishing innate ideas through doubt Hume established a skeptical view of knowledge obtained. Whereas doubting the senses established that knowledge is not sense related. Hume denied that we can have knowledge of the world we take for granted. Like Descartes he first acknowledged that knowledge we initially have of the world is our perceptions which make up impressions and ideas. Our impressions being our senses our ideas being our thoughts, He determined that all ideas came from sense impression and therefore knowledge of the world is senses only. His view lead to a similar doubt of the world perhaps not existing at all just a Descartes innate knowledge view did.

I would be more inclined to agree with Hume that everything is sense perception. I am a Biology major everything we study we touch, taste, see and our research is based on what we experience.

Frogs- The Thin Green Line

By Damien Knight

An essay about the frog documentary “The Thin Green Line”

This video was about the various causes of frog decline. It starts with talking about how frogs have been around 250 million years. The video shows two similar frogs with different parenting styles. How frogs protect themselves from predators with camouflage or poison. Frogs though are in danger; they are a bellwether animal or an animal that can mark important changes in the ecosystem. This is due to their porous skin which they drink and breathe through.

The main reason frogs are disappearing is a fungus called Chytrid that attacks the frog’s skin making them unable to breathe. The other major cause is other parasites, chemical dumps and habitat loss or change. Various arks are in place holding and breeding rare frogs to re-establish in the wild. The dangerous chemicals affecting these frogs can have long-term effect on us.

I found the video interesting as I had never heard of Chytrid. I knew about the parasite that added limbs but was unaware that other disfigurements had been found. It made me feel even worse for accidentally stepping on a toad the other day. I knew female frogs could become male or at least heard they could but was shocked that a fertilizer chemical was turning males into females. Over all was very educational.