Aberjhani's Blog: Notes of a 21st Century Digital Scribe

(2025 National Poetry Month poster featuring a quote by poet Naomi Shihab Nye and artwork by Christy Mandin) A recent article on the poetry of Marc Thomas, the author of Talking to the Machines and Oher Poems, made me think about why, and how much, I have always enjoyed celebrating National Poetry Month. As with Thomas’s work, which I first became aware of during a Local Author Day event in Savannah, Georgia (USA), it has largely been about the discovery of what different poets bring to t...

(“Angel of Freedom & Democracy Jazz Edition 2” conceptual digital art by author-artist Aberjhani utilizing elements of DALL-E digitech ©2025) 1.
A rainbow in one sense
is woven…
from a beautiful tear-stained reconciliation
between light chasing its need…
to at all costs avoid…
death by ignoble stagnation
and waterdrops’ thirsty desire
to discover themselves anew…
through a passion-driven dream of fire.

2.
That forest path known as Tzu’s way
is not so very different…
first a butterfly kiss that glows…...

(“Burning Embers of Hope & Destiny” digital art painting by Aberjhani ©2025)
Introduction
Long lauded for her masterful blend of science fiction and realistic social observations, author Octavia E. Butler’s name over the past decade has grown to command greater and greater attention as a highly-significant American master of literary innovation. That conviction has intensified with the tragic fires which decimated communities in southern California during the first half of January 2025 an...

Kamala Harris at the podium. (Public release photograph) ​In addition to Mexico making the pivotal move to elect a woman president before the U.S. (as discussed in part 1), here is a list of ten more countries which have accomplished that feat in the modern era. Included in each case is a short summary of the impact made by each leader. It is also interesting to note that people in some of these countries have elected several women into their top leadership positions.  1. INDIA: Indira Gh...

What will it mean if citizens of the United States of America, in November 2024, elect Kamala D. Harris as the first female president in the country’s history? What might it imply if they do not, and instead elect Donald Trump to the office for a non-consecutive second term?

For all the passionate proclamations declaring the U.S. as a leading defender of democracy around the world, the absence of a woman president in its 248 years of history poses a serious challenge to that claim. So does...

(“James Baldwin’s Immense Metamorphosis” digital painting by Aberjhani ©2024) Dear Readers,
Please enjoy this excerpt from a work in progress presented in honor of the James Baldwin Centennial 2024. 
On December 2, 1987, I was proudly seated in front of a brand new word processor, a technological upgrade from my plug-in electric typewriter, tapping away at the keys to complete the first draft of a novel when news came that author James Baldwin had died at his home in Saint-Paul-de-Vence,...

"Eiffel Tower Days and Deja vu Nights Number 1" digital painting by Aberjhani. Full art prints and decorative gift items may be purchased on artist-author's Pixels and Fine Art America website profiles. That I’ve been involved in a long-distance love affair with the city of Paris, France, for many years is something of which many readers already know quite well. I’ve shared that particular passion through books, artwork, and stories. With the 2024 summer Olympic Games, now officially tagge...

(“The Way Found out of No Way” digital art by Aberjhani for Bright Skylark LP ©2024)
A major part of Facebook’s enduring popularity is the platform’s ability to accommodate group discussions and functions. My own capacity for participating in such groups is limited because my offline creative endeavors. Despite those limitations, I do sometimes, through different groups, weigh in on issues impacting our shared human condition and inspired aspirations. Aside from on my own FB profile , the A...

Prior to March 24, 2024, my only time participating in The Book Lady’s and the Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home’s jointly-sponsored Local Author Day event was back in 2022. I was as amazed on that occasion at the way Savannahians and visitors alike flooded downtown’s Lafayette Square in support of the event as I was, and remain, this time around.

Dozens of authors enjoyed greeting some familiar readers while happily welcoming new ones, and, simultaneously, lending support to the O’Connor Chil...

(“Shakespeare Considered Sepia” 2024 digital painting by Aberjhani based on original 1623 First Folio engraving by Martin Droeshout.)

“Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one.”
​– Stella Adler (from Stella Adler on America's Master Playwrights)

​1. Different Times and New Places Have you ever noticed how that ultimate icon of English literature, William Shakespeare (1564–1616), sometimes pops up in places where you might least expect to find him? That w...