Pamela Jaye Smith & MYTHWORKS |
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In This Issue:
Ya Know...
Personal Mythologist
How're We Doing?
Articles/Books/Etc.
Coming Soon
Events
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Alpha Babe Academy
MYTHWORKS - Applied Mythology
Mythic Challenges - Create Stories that Change the World
Create Now - Empowering Youth through Arts Education & Mentoring
Center for Conscious Creativity - Creating a better future through Arts and Media
Entertainment Industries Council - Encouraging the Art of Making a Difference
BIRTH2WORK - When Parents Lead, Children Succeed
Thriver Sisterhood - Helping Women Sexually Abused as Children Thrive through Drama Therapy
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FREE INITIAL CONSULTATION
Find out how Applied Mythology can work for you, your projects, your organization.
Free 20 minute consultation. Just mention this newsletter when you email to set up an appointment!
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How do you know what you know?
How do you know what you don’t know?
How do you know what you can’t know?
In the Ancient Wisdom there’s the delineation: Ain, Ain Soph, Ain Soph Aur.
It’s the Known, the Unknown, and the Unknowable.
Donald Rumsfeld, US Secretary of Defense under Gerald Ford and George W. Bush, had a version of this:
“Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don't know we don't know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tends to be the difficult ones.”
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Epistemology is the Theory of Knowledge.
It’s an entire category of Philosophy that’s about how we know what we know.
Or think we know.
Rene Descartes (1596 – 1650 French philosopher) famously said, “I think, therefore I am” and it’s been the source for a lot of philosophy, speculation and humour.
As to the latter, Descartes walks into a bar and orders a drink. After he finishes that one the bartender asks, “Will you have another?” Descartes replies, “I think not”, and immediate vanishes.
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We were all once young enough to still know everything. And once you get past a certain age, you just shake your head and let them learn, those who are still young enough to know everything. Because truly, that’s where a lot of Change comes from. It’s the job of young people to criticize, rebel against, and strive to reform the existing systems. Some say it’s the only way to make progress.
Others say only the experienced have the wisdom to know what can change and what will not, and the cost of attempting either.
Unfortunately our brains tend towards confirmation bias. We believe what we want to believe and agree with information that agrees with what we already think. It’s tautology, a sort of self-validating logic.
Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable situation, where we’re called upon to hold two disparate yet presumed truthful thoughts at once. I like a solution to that that says don’t try to figure out either/or, just go for both/and.
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From the Wisdom Teachings comes the observation that –
Most people don’t have thoughts.
What they have are opinions about their emotions.
Given the current conflicts over what is and what is not, a good dose of Critical Thinking might bring more clarity to the confusion.
[I’ll be teaching a course on CT3 soon: Common Thinking < Critical Thinking < Creative Thinking.]
One of the great leaps in the evolution of humanity was the Age of Reason, or the Enlightenment, from 1685-1815.
Here’s a great book about this era:
“The Age of Reason Begins” - Will and Ariel Durant
Given the current lack of rigorous and critical thinking in so many arenas, it might just be time for another Age of Reason.
Of course, it’s all contingent on effective educational systems, which we can do, if the public and political will is there to do it.
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Know Yourself.
Seems like that would be fairly easy because, hey, who’s closer to you than you?
But let us recall what Plato observed:
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
Okay, I agree with that. But I’d also add:
“The over-examined life is not worth hearing about.”
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MYTH TIPS
Do you have a favorite thinking process? Where did you learn it?
Have you tried using the "5 Why's" to get to the core of an issue? If you keep asking "Why" to each answer you often find enlightening truths.
What are your parameters for "Truth"? Scientific evidence? An expert's advice or opinion? Intuition? Dogma? Policy?
If everyone followed the same rigorous quest for Truth, what would you want to Rules of Logic to include?
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So, what's next for You?
-- 20% Covid discount good until July 4th --
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Sequestering can resemble being in a chrysalis. You go in one way (caterpillar), spend some time in relative isolation making changes, and come out a different person (butterfly).
It can be a rich opportunity for self-reflection and re-designing.
It can also be a time to focus on that creative project you’ve always wanted to do.
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Want to develop out that idea you've had for a long time now?
Our Brainstorming Session can help you solidify your inspiration and sort all those great ideas into workable form.
“Suffice it to say, if you’re on a quest to bring your work to the next level and then get it out to the world in the most appealing (buyable) way, make sure Pamela Jaye Smith is on your brainstorming team from the beginning!” Reece Michaelson
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Got a story almost ready to pitch?
Besides recent requests from a couple of well-known production companies for the proposal and scripts, we just got another request last week for our TV series proposal "Operation Magic Fire", a limited series inspired by Norse myths, set in Afghanistan.
We can craft Pitch Materials for your projects, too.
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YOUR PERSONAL MYTHOLOGIST
Want to change your life? Change your story? The myth you’re living? The ArchePath you’re walking?
I can help you identify and then better live your personal myth.
We’re currently offering twenty percent [20%] off our Consulting Services, from your creative stories to Personal & Organizational Mythology -- good until July 4th.
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So what are people doing now to improve the situations identified in the Millennium Project's 15 Global Challenges?
http://www.millennium-project.org/projects/challenges/
Here are more individuals, groups, organizations, and services helping to make things better.
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Patriotic Millionaires promote greater tax equity and protest outside Jeff Bezos’s homes.
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“Those who can’t see the future won’t pay for it.”
Monty Hayes McMillan - Triality Consulting
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"The Climate Crisis requires a new culture and politics, not just new tech."
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/24/climate-change-crisis-culture-politics-technology
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The Pan Pacific and Southeast Asia Women’s Association (PPSEAWA) is the only international women's organization devoted to families, peace and understanding in the Asia Pacific region.
Since the founding of PPSEAWA in 1928, in Honolulu, Hawaii, its membership has grown to 23 national associations, many having several local chapters. It is an all volunteer organization and is financed by contributions from individuals, organizations, and PPSEAWA member associations.
I served as President of the Los Angeles chapter in 2003 and very much value my time with PPSEAWA. One of our projects was providing scholarships for schoolgirls in Kham, a traditional province of Tibet.
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MYTH TIPS
Who do you think is doing effective work addressing some of the Global Challenges?
How might you contribute to their activities?
How can you spread the word about their work?
What do you hear from the children in your life about what they'd like to do, or are already doing?
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DINNER TO DIE FOR
A married couple from up north decided to try a restaurant in a small Southern town and dined on fried chicken.
When they finished, the woman told the waitress, “That was simply delicious. Please, miss, would you tell us how you prepare your chickens?”
After a short pause, the waitress replied, “Well, ma’am, around here we don’t do anything real special. We just tell ‘em straight out: ‘You’re gonna die.’”
Butter My Butt and Call Me a Biscuit: And Other Country Sayings, Say-Sos, Hoots, and Hollers - Allan Zullo and Gene Cheek
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Literally – Light
…from the stars above and around us.
NASA’S Astronomy Picture of the Day / click and be wowed.
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DISCOURSE ON METHOD - Rene Descartes
If I think, I am.
If I don't exist, how do
I know about me?
Haiku from “Haiku U. – From Aristotle to Zola, 100 Great Books in 17 Syllables” by David M. Bader
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The director of episodes in a long-running TV series said about one of the penultimate ones, “XXX didn’t just jump the shark, they jumped the aircraft carrier”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark
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Articles, Books, Podcasts, Etc. |
Susan Burritt’s S.O.S. GOD
Susan has videos where she reads some of the poems in her charming and helpful children’s book.
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Remembering Ellison Onizuka – Ellison Onizuka was the first Asian American to fly in space. He was a member of NASA's Astronaut Class of 1978, also known as the Thirty-Five New Guys, the first astronaut class in nearly a decade and also the first to include women, Hispanics, Asian, and African Americans.
You may not know it, but a quote from Onizuka is printed on the last page of every U.S. passport. “Every generation has the obligation to free men’s minds for a look at new worlds ... to look out from a higher plateau than the last generation.”
On Jan. 28, 1986, Onizuka lost his life when Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after launch.
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RAINDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2021
MWP books for media-makers – including my POWER OF THE DARK SIDE and ROMANTIC COMEDIES – are available with special discounts.
In collaboration with the Raindance Film Festival 2021. Receive £10 off any Raindance film course with the purchase of a book. Valid until December 30, 2021. Upon purchase of the book, a promotion code will be sent for you to claim this offer.
All books supplied with free delivery to any UK address
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DANGER DIVA is a cyberpunk musical/thriller about a hard rocking singer who is coerced into becoming an electronically enhanced new-music diva by her high tech billionaire patron.
And – there are T-shirts available for only $19.99.
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Rex Baron is one of my favourite authors. Here's HEXE, his 8-volume series of stories about 'Witches, Warriors, Magic & Murder.
I reread the stories for probably the 5th or 6th time. The saga takes place in Hollywood in the Silent Film era, in Nazi Germany, a Southern California college town in the 1980s, and back in Hollywood in the 20-teens.
Do give it a read!
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ART FOR ALL
MUSIC – Royalty Free
IMAGES from Paris museums -- 100,000 images online for unrestricted public use!!!
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A treasure trove of books, movies, songs, and cartoons.
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Our Mythic Challenges consultations offer Mythic Themes, Archetypes, and Symbols to help you 'Create Stories that Change the World'.
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Email to schedule a FREE 20 minute discussion on how we can assist your message goals.
Story services include Brain Storming, Consultations, Coaching, Book Planning, Editing, and Writer-for-Hire.
Mythic Tools work for any style, any genre, and any platform, from printed book to Virtual Reality.
!!! MAKE GREAT MYTHS !!!
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Coming Soon
The KURULTAI Stories
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History repeats itself so that everyone has the chance to be and do everything.
A group of souls intertwine lives through time and space in varying roles and relationships. Lovers now, warriors another time, parents now, siblings then, who kills whom, where is betrayal, where loyalty?
And always the battle between the Darkness and the Light. How can you tell who's on which side when the players in the KURULTAI keep changing between lifetimes?
As these individuals reincarnate together again and again in diverse times and places, sometimes they can access their other past or future lives, but sometimes not. The mission of the KURULTAI is to help humanity evolve and save the world.
But first they must wake up and realize that. Then they must find the means to overcome the Darkness...and those among them who serve it.
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HEIR APPARENT, a KURULTAI Story |
HEIR APPARENT
Brother Charles is a monk in 14th century France who knows he’s really special.
His English lady-in-waiting mother always tells him that as she secretly trains him in the ways of the KURULTAI. As the first-born, illegitimate, unacknowledged son of Charles the VI, King of France, Brother Charles has become a pawn in the Great Game, though he considers himself a major player.
He makes his way, along with another young monk he both favours and tries to protect, to a clandestine gathering where the fate of France is to be decided by those pulling strings behind the scenes.
Along the way the monks trace the pilgrimage path of Cathedrals, encounter secret Masons, learn about the ancient cult of the Black Virgin, and find themselves at the center of power-plays both bigger and more immediate than they imagined.
Will Brother Charles see the truth before it’s too late?
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Pay the Piper, Dancer, and Other Stories |
by - Pamela Jaye Smith, Geffrey von Gerlach, and Kaye G. Gregory
Two of the pieces placed in the semi- and quarter-finals of the ScreenCraft Short Story contest.
Hope you enjoy them!
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Coming Events
To book Pamela Jaye for events or workshops, contact us.
Online Classes, Coaching, Virtual Retreats.
Private Courses available with extensive feedback and one-on-one conversations via email, Zoom or phone.
Regular asynchronous group classes include feedback on exercises.
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StoryBoard Development Group
-- Virtual Meeting --
June 14, Monday / 7-10 pm Pacific time
We’ll be discussing the script and the film MINARI.
I’ve been presenting at SBDG for many years and always so enjoy the lively and insightful discussions. Hope you can join us online.
Once we can meet again in person, their monthly events are at Fox Studios here in LA.
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Asynchronous courses - do it on your own time and schedule. Written Lessons posted Mon-Wed-Fri. Post your Exercises any time on the Lesson comments page if you like. Instructor responds to posted Exercises Thu & Sat.
SAVVY AUTHORS offers lots of varied courses from quite good instructors. Do visit their website and see.
· Symbols. Images. Codes
08/09/21-09/05/21
· Alpha Babes
10/25/21-11/21/21
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My blogs for Savvy Authors --
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Ongoing in different locales --
And now, ONLINE. See if one of the upcoming sessions might work for your writing goals and your schedule.
I was a mentor in July 2019 at Marouatte Castle, The Dordogne, France
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It was a very rich creative time with writers and mentors all dedicated to telling great stories and supporting each other. Learn about the art, craft, and business of story-telling.
And do so in amazing, inspiring places.
Check Rocaberti for other upcoming retreats with book and media industry Mentors.
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Federation of African Screenwriters Conference & Festival
Rescheduling.... Johannesburg, South Africa
Jurist for the 2020 MUSE Awards.
Pamela Jaye has been invited to be on a panel and will also be presenting a workshop on:
"WOMEN WARRIORS IN MEDIA" How do we change the world through story, in any media platform? How does social media have the power to inspire social change, as well as entertain?
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Saturday, August 7, 2021
10am - 1pm / via Zoom
DOES YOUR STORY HAVE A PASSPORT?
Kathie Fong Yoneda & Pamela Jaye Smith
In today's tech-heavy media world that's often quite divisive, it's a smart move to make your stories as universal as possible to reach a wider audience and help create more inter-connectivity and open-mindedness between people of all ages - especially children and young people.
Using timeless principles of story-telling, this interactive presentation will explore how you too can craft IP that publishers, agents, managers, and media producers will find relevant and attractive.
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Even if your story takes place in a remote village or on another planet or dimension, you can touch upon global issues and universal archetypes that readers in many other places can relate to - while still keeping your story unique to you.
So get your Story a Passport and give it wings to travel round the world!
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October – Los Angeles
Presentation on Mythic Tools to visiting Copenhagen Film Students of Jorn Faurschou, Award-winning Danish filmmaker.
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PITCHING YOUR PROJECTS
There are lots of on-line PitchFests going on all the time, plus many listing services like Virtual PitchFest, InkTip, ISA, Stage32, Greenlight My Movie, and more.
We can help you get your story ready to pitch, be it a Story Consultation, writing the Pitch Materials for you depending on your projet -- [Logline, Pitch, Synopsis, Market Appeal, Series Bible, Pitch Deck], selecting the target companies most appropriate for your project, or Pitch Coaching by Zoom or in person.
Email us for more details.
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ONGOING
Story consultations and coaching for all media and genres - from initial brain-storming to private classes to detailed feedback and suggestions.
Personal Myth Consultations -- Who are you? Who and what do you want to be? What's your ArchePath? What myth are you currently living? Understand your Personal Myth and empower your life.
Email for a Free 20 minute consultation on how we might work together to enhance your creativity and accomplishments.
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Give us a call and use the Free 20 Minute Consultation to discuss how we might help you craft your own creative projects using Mythic Themes, Archetypes, and Symbols.
Mythic Tools work in any genre, any style, and any platform from novels to features to web series or XR, from fiction to non-fiction to message media.
Pamela Jaye & the MYTHWORKS Team
323-874-6447
email
MYTHWORKS
Mythic Challenges
Alpha Babe Academy
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