On writing Science Fiction at the Ripe Old Age of 80

My dear friend, thank you for coming here today and giving me encouragement and understanding. I figure that you must be wondering what an 80 year old woman can have to say about science fiction; what can my dreams be like you must ask yourself. I invite you into the secret room in my heart and share with you this perspective that I come from. I was born before televisions came into the home; any home. I have watched tv from its birth through its rough teenage years and through a ripening of technology where we can watch Israeli basketball games on one of 500+ channels possible to us. What a rich treasure trove of inanity and spectacular pathways to knowledge and experience the television brings into our homes every minute of the day. We can experience science and history; the Cosmos, the atom; Art, Music, Comedy, Drama...it goes on endlessly and you have to be very judicious with your television time to make the most of all the opportunities. I was born when computers were science fiction and fell in love with a computer the size of an airplane hangar. I then had a career in technology and watched as the computer grew wings and flew onto a desktop in every home in America and a great deal of the world. Now I have, as I am sure you do, facebook friends from all over the world, and wonder of wonders, we speak the same language of love and music and the Arts and science. We feel alike, we are alike-though each of us unique-and we are one human family. Think of it! We feel alike, we feel pain and love alike; and more than that we are all one with the Cosmos. Which brings me to Science Fiction. I deeply believe that there are other inhabited planets in the Cosmos and that the souls that we meet one day will also be very unique and probably quite a bit different from ourselves, BUT that they will feel deeply as we feel; the pain and the love. There will be the positive and the negative as is always the case when dealing with beings who have free will and freedom of choice, but we shall find that we are one with them also. ---------------------------------------- I am beginning to feel elderly. No more do I just walk out of my home before taking in weather reports and conditions for my area. In the winter I cannot any longer go outside without suitable garb and protection on. In the winter it is coats and scarves and hats, and in the summer it is sunblock, sunglasses, and a light sweater in case the breeze should cool off towards evening. At all times I wear the dreaded sensible shoes and now the doctor insists that I walk with a cane as I have osteopenia and a little balance problem. Vanity goes out the window as you age. Every morning I awake and rejoice that I am alive and kicking. I find myself cleaning the house every morning, which is much different from when I was younger, but I like to have the sense of order around me. As well as the fact, that if I don't put things in a certain place I will have lost them forever as my memory in some areas is very dim. All of the data is still in the organic computer but access to the data is running a little more slowly. Food is the focal organizing point of the day; three set meals mark each part of the day, and the cleaning up of those meals give the day substance and balance. The second organizing factor of the day is taking care of your health. There are the monthly doctor appointments, the organizing and taking of multiple medications and vitamin/minerals, and the monitoring of yourself and your diet. The month is ruled by going to the various doctor appointments which entail walking a mile to the bus, taking the bus to your destination, walking to the doctor's office, and then turning around and repeating the process in reverse. It has become very hard to get out and do all of the walking and taking of the bus, but those steps are very necessary to my health so I do them. I have become ever more aware of my own self and it seems that I can clearly distinguish the outline between my spirit and my flesh. I wonder often if I can hear the music of Heaven for the music is very enticing that runs through my mind. I feel my own mortality and it drags me down to earth. I teeter on the edge of a terror that I will harm myself in some dumb way just like I broke the end joint of my right index finger and I have no idea of how I broke it. It makes you really feel safe to walk out into the outside world. I have become the matriarch of a large interracial family and that is humbling and exciting at the same time. It is what I have definitley always prayed for, but now I have so many young people looking at me to see if I am as good as my word and what I teach them. I pray hard every day to grow ever wiser and stronger and to know what to say to each of them. I pray that I will live what I teach. This is my philosophy that I share with you for a moment. I feel like I need to write down my thoughts for my family and friends. It is all about love. The great truths are that we are love and that we are one...to be continued.