Articles written by Duane Gundrum - Page 3

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About me - Duane Gundrum

A communications/political scientist from Northern California. Author of the novels "Innocent Until Proven Guilty" and "Thompson's Bounty". My most recently completed novel is a humorous Greek epic called "The Ameriad". I am currently working on a book of

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Arts & Humanities > Writing Tips How to create interesting characters: 19 of 43
Learning how to breathe life into secondary characters.Whenever we write our stories, one thing we tend to focus on successfully is the importance of characterization of our main characters. What we tend to often forget is those characters who show up for a short bit of time and then disappear because we're not writing about ... More..
Politics, News & Issues > US Elections Archives Election 2008: Obama meets the Clinton machine in the primaries: 7 of 15
Hillary's Narrative Versus Obama's Counter-NarrativeWe've all heard about how history repeats itself. Unfortunately, to take advantage of the historical lessons of the past, one must have an extensive knowledge of the past and an ability to metaphorically apply those lessons forward, or we end up with repeated assessments mak... More..
Politics, News & Issues > US Elections (Other) Parents should be allowed to cast as many votes as they have children: 8 of 14
The sole reason for having a process of voting in the first place is so that each person is guaranteed one vote per issue or candidate. This means that one person does not have the ability to vote for other people. During the early years of our government, one of the problems inherent in the system was that employers required... More..
Politics, News & Issues > War & Peace Should America or other powers charge for liberating the oppressed in other countries?: 19 of 32
You know, I'm all for the concept of bringing "freedom" to people, but it seems pretty bizarre to attack another country, take it over, install a government and then hand them a bill for our expenses. It would be a lot like the police breaking into a family house during a domestic violence situation, where the husband is obvi... More..
Creative Writing > Poetry Poetry: Struggle: 132 of 215
InspectionAt the crack of dawnBegins the daily roll callLike a mother pigeonTaking inventory from the night's lossesI inspect the ranks of the missingFor the missingThe night lossesThe recently injuredThe survivorsFuture casualtiesThere's HaroldHis perch at the BART entranceAlways a smileGreeting passer-bys with a"Morning, Os... More..
Education > Colleges & Universities (Other) Should college education be available to the many or reserved for the few?: 22 of 35
I grew up in a family with a mother who had only a seventh grade education. My father split the first chance he could get, which left this poor woman with few options but to work at crummy jobs just so she could provide for a son and daughter. She was too proud to take government assistance, and to be honest, she didn't know ... More..
Politics, News & Issues > Government & Policies Should former members of Congress be able to work as lobbyists after leaving Congress?: 8 of 12
One of the older adages of law enforcement is "follow the money". If you track the money to its source, you often find the reasons behind why people do what they do. With Congress, unfortunately, it is no different than this axiom of criminal justice.It is a truly sad commentary on our governmental system when our leaders are... More..
Entertainment > Music Business Should the music industry allow writers to quote song lyrics without permission?: 13 of 18
The music industry and writers really shouldn't be in conflict with one another. For one, they are not competing in a same venue, meaning that the value of a writer quoting song lyrics does not infringe upon the value of the lyrics for the music industry. The music industry still remains the sole beneficiary of profit for the... More..
Creative Writing > Short Stories Short stories: Meaning of life: 18 of 24
A Wonderful LifeHer name was Joanne, "but call me Joannie" is what she would always say to people. She had a wonderful life, and she would be the first one to tell you that."Robert's very successful," she would gloat, "so successful that I don't have to work if I don't want to. Oh, I'm not a housewife, at least not like those... More..
Politics, News & Issues > Soldiers & Veterans Backdoor draft: US Government strong-arming military retirees back into active duty: 4 of 5
Our priorities in growing our military seem really bizarre. I'm a veteran, and I'm 42 years old. I have actually been quite interested in joining back up and serving my country again. However, due to the fact that I spent a number of years getting two MA degrees and a Ph.D, I felt I might contribute this time around as a comm... More..