September 11 and Other Historical Dates

 Most people can remember where they were and what they were doing when traumatic events happen.

On Tuesday, September 11, 2001

I was in my living room, watching a rerun of L.A. Law, with my sleeping puppy, Echo, on my lap. The program was interrupted by breaking news and I watched in shock as the second plane crashed into the tower. Our house renovator, John, came into the living room, took one look at the tv, and this man who never swore in front of me used some colourful language. I called my mother and told her to turn on the tv.

On Friday, November 22, 1963

I was in front of my gym locker, getting dressed after a Phys Ed class. A rumour started about President Kennedy being shot. I didn't believe it, until it was confirmed in my next class, Geography. Our teacher told us to go home.

On Thursday, September 8, 2022

I was on Twitter when I noticed the news about Queen Elizabeth II's death. Although we knew that Queen Elizabeth was getting old and frail, she seemed as if she would just go on forever. Her death last Thursday is the end of an era and an historic moment. She's joined Prince Phillip. Rest in peace, Your Majesty.

No Bear Hugs: The Importance of Copyright

 Copyright.

It's something all authors need and take for granted.

We place that little symbol on the copyright page of our self-published book. Our traditional book publisher does that. The newspaper or magazine or ezine where we publish articles, short stories, or poems.

I'm not a lawyer and am not giving legal advice here. I'm just noticing something disturbing in an article in today's Toronto Star about the new

WINNIE THE POOH movie FOR ADULTS, that's a HORROR SLASHER MOVIE.

What????!!!!

I'm not going to give it any free publicity by naming it, but you can easily do a search to find its name.

I couldn't help groaning and shaking my head several times as I read the article. (The journalist was clearly as shocked and disgusted as I was.)

Apparently, the copyright protection for Winnie the Pooh has gone into public domain.

 Anyone can write whatever screenplay or novel or whatever they wish. But sometimes common sense and decency should be at play as well a crass desire to cash in a childhood classic's popularity and turn it into the exact opposite of the author's intention.

I'm going out on a tree limb to guess the intention of author, A.A. Milne:

To share some gentle wisdom and humour that will help a child, lull them to sleep, or brighten their day.

Let this be a lesson to all authors about copyright protection. You'd think 100 years would be long enough to protect a children's classic from this sort of thing. Guess not.

The thought of this new horror movie can be expressed best by Eeyore:

"It moved me to tears."